The most impressive element of the Parthenon is its sculptures. The first ones that were completed – it is assumed that they were taken from another construction – were the“ metopes” around the external colonnade. They were depicting the Athenians fighting with mythical heroes, Amazons, Centaurs and the Trojans. In every edge of the temple there was a huge anaglyph pediment, despite the fact that the curved figures are partially preserved. In the west side, the sculptures which would be seen first by the ones who ascended in Acropolis from the“ Agora”, were Poseidon and Athena fighting for the possession of the city of Athens, while in the east side, in the facade of the temple, Athena appeared to be born from the head of the father of gods Zeus. Around the temple, the internal walls and the its colonnade, which is only visible from below, are run by the frieze, the biggest part of which is located now in the British Museum. All along the west side, riders were depicted, who were lined up to their position.
The frieze is regarded to be a depiction of the Panathinaia ceremony and it is said that the celebration of 490 BC is depicted, exactly before the Marathon battle. The riders were very young men, who were about to die as heroes in the battle field. The textile that is offered is the veil, with which an ancient statue dedicated to Athena – it was then housed in Erechtheion – would be dressed after the completion of the celebrations. Even if the frieze does not constitute a depiction of the Panathinaia celebration, it could have been drawn so that the Athenian people would be shown in the peak of their democratical and political power. In this way, the frieze itself constituted a propaganda tool.
As the Parthenon was about to be completed, Perikles ' attention was caught by the possibility of creating a series of monumental gates to Acropolis, named“ Propylaia”. The Propylaia were built within 437 and 432 BC. The construction was built at an inconvenient position, at the west edge of the rock, exactly at the point where the upward path which leads to Acropolis becomes flat. There was a huge central opening wide enough so that animals that were about to be sacrificed could pass. Then, there were smaller doors from both two sides. The internal passage through the door was surrounded by columns in Doric style.
Both sides had public halls. The one to the north side appears to have been designed for formal meals, but then it turned into a painting room. The whole construction provided the suitable foretaste for what the visitor was about to see, as he was coming in this holy place. As someone was coming in the internal place, he was faced with a huge statue, now vanished, of Promaxos Athena, which is the statue of the goddess Athena in her role as protector of the town.
In 429 BC, Perikles was dead, the town had been harshly agonized by pestilence and the Peloponnesian war was in progress. The fact that the constructional program was continuing despite all these difficulties shows much regarding the resilience of the city. A suitable construction was compulsory for the north side of Acropolis. The place was a holy point which included a holy olive tree, the ancient worshipping statue of Athena, a holy altar dedicated to Erechtheas, as well as the Kekropas ' grave. Kekropas was a king that was combined with the evolution of the civilization with the form of the writing and the enactment of monogamy in the city. The building that was constructed, known as Erechtheion, was not as astonishing as Parthenon, but much more complexly designed. The
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