Earth proudly wears the Parthenon
as the best gem upon her zone. - Emerson
I'm so excited.
Truly.
I’ve been waiting for this all my life. I've kept its postcard under my pillow and dreamed of seeing it in person for years.
Well, today is the day when I finally get to say, Hello. Nice to meet you.
There, glittering in the distance, dominating the Acropolis hill in Athens, is the Parthenon - surely the most important monument of ancient Greece and one of the most famous in the world.
I can’t believe it.
It's like an old friend just waiting for me to come over to see sculptures of centaurs and the battle between gods and giants in high relief.
Dedicated to the goddess Athena, it glows with its supermodel cheekbones despite its being damaged by an explosion in 1687.
Measured by the top step of the base, the building is 101.34 feet wide and 228.14 feet long. There are eight columns each on the east and west, and seventeen each on the north and south.
The shafts are simple and tapered. They're wider at the top than the base in true Doric form.
The dimension and proportion?
PERFECT.
Its architects obviously did not trust their imagination for the measurements. Rather, they followed the adage, Measure twice and then measure again.
I stand in awe at the simplicity of its architecture.
The capitals of the columns which directly support the weight of the ceiling are smooth, without decoration, and are flared. The top of the columns is undecorated. On its top triangular pediment would have been the statues of deities, unfortunately lost through damage over the centuries.
As I walk through the cella, a walled interior rectangular chamber, I feel as though the tales in my high school Mythology 101 had come alive. That one in which Athena sprung at birth from the head of Zeus, fully-grown and arrayed in arms. Or the weaving contest with Arakhne whom she transformed into a spider.
The Parthenon is an architectural masterpiece. A marvel of composition and clarity.
Magnificent.
Aesthetically balanced.
Let it shine on as a living story of the glory that was Greece.
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