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Greek Athena: temples and statues of the goddess. History, legends and description. Temple of Athena-Pallas

Athene patronizes the aspiring to cognition, cities and states, sciences and crafts, mind, skill, helps those who pray to her to increase their ingenuity in this or that matter. At one time, she was one of the most revered and beloved goddesses, competing with Zeus, because she was equal in strength and wisdom. She was very proud that she was forever a virgin.

Birth of Athena

She was born in an unusual way, like most divine creatures. According to the most common version, the Almighty Zeus listened to the advice given by Uranus and Gaia, after which he absorbed his first wife, Metis-Wisdom, at the time of her pregnancy. A son could have been born, who would have overthrown the thunderer as a result. After the takeover from the head of Zeus, his heiress, Athena, was born.

Description

The warrior goddess was different from her companions in the pantheon in that she had an extremely unusual appearance. Other female deities were tender and elegant, while Athena did not disdain to use the male attribute in the conduct of business. So, she was remembered wearing armor. With her was her spear.

Another patroness of urban planning kept an animal near herself, to whom the sacred role was given. She wore a Corinthian helmet with a high crest on the top of her head. It is characteristic for her to wear aegis, which was covered by the skin of a goat. This shield was adorned with a head that in the past lost the Medusa (gorgon). The winged goddess Nika is a companion of Athena. By the sacred tree, the ancient Greeks considered the olive and connected it directly with this deity. The symbol of wisdom was an owl, which was not inferior in this responsible role to the snake.

According to legend, Pallas had gray eyes and fair hair. Her eyes were great. In addition to beauty, she also had good military training. She carefully polished the armor, was always ready to fight: the spear was on the ascent, and the chariot - ready to rush to the battle for justice. In preparation for the battle I applied for help to the blacksmiths-blacksmiths.

Shrines erected in her honor

She came to us from antiquity, but they still worship the goddess today. Widely revered Athena. The temple is the place where everyone can come and address it. People try to preserve these places of worship.

One of the most significant buildings that glorify the goddess is the temple created by Pisistratus. Archaeologists excavated two pediments and other details. Built Hecatompedon in the sixth century BC. The dimensions of the cell reached 100 feet. It was found in the nineteenth century by German archaeologists.

On the walls of the building there were paintings from the mythology of the ancient Greeks. For example, you can see Hercules in the fight against the terrible monsters. Extremely picturesque place!

When the Marathon battle was over, began the construction of an Opitodom, also dedicated to the warrior. The construction was not completed, as the Persians soon carried out the attack and plundered the city. There was a discovery of drums of columns from the northern walls of the Erechtheion.

One of the most significant architectural monuments of Ancient Greece is also the Parthenon. This is a unique building, erected in honor of Athena the Virgin. The building dates from the middle of the fifth century BC. The architect is Callikart.

The old Parthenon left behind a few details that were used to build up the Acropolis. This was done by Phidias, when the era of Pericles was going on. In connection with the wide veneration of Athena, the temples in her honor were numerous and pompous. Most likely, many of them are still not found and will pleasantly please us in the future. Although now there are a lot of buildings that represent a rich historical heritage.

Temple of the Erechtheion in Athens can be called an outstanding monument. It was built by Greek architects. There is a temple of Athena-Pallada in the north - near the Parthenon on the Acropolis. It was built between 421 and 406 BC, according to archaeologists.

Athena inspired people to create a beautiful structure. The temple is a sample of an Ionic order. In addition to the goddess of war and knowledge, in these walls you can honor the ruler of the seas of Poseidon and even the Athenian king Erechtei, which we can learn from legends.

Historical reference

When Pericles died, Greece began building the temple of Athena, whose construction was not such a simple task and was completed at a time when the city was wrecked.

According to legend, at the point where the building was built, the goddess warrior and Poseidon once argued. Everyone wanted to become the ruler of Attica. Information about the temple of Athena includes references to the most important relics of the policy kept here. Previously, the Archaic Hecatompedon was built for this, which was built during the reign of Pisistratus.

The temple was destroyed during the Greco-Persian confrontation. For this place, too, the great role played by the goddess Athena. The temple included her wooden idol, which was supposed to have fallen from the sky. Hermes was honored here.

In the temple, great importance was attached to the flame of the golden lamp, which never faded. It was enough to pour oil on it only once a year. The temple was named in relation to the remains, which used to be the coffin of Erechthea. In addition to all of the above, there were many other shrines, which, incidentally, were not so important.

Serving the warrior goddess

Temples and statues of Athens as one of the most important Greek deities are numerous and impressive. With the goddess, the olive tree was tied, which was burned in 480, but it grew out of the ashes and continued to live.

The tree grew close to the sanctuary temple dedicated to the nymph Pandros. Entering the holy place, one could look into the waters of a well, replenished from a salty water key. It was assumed that God himself Poseidon knocked him out.

Transfer of ownership of the temple

Not always within these walls was the goddess Athena. The temple for a time belonged to Christians who held their worship services here during the time of the Byzantine Empire.

Until the 17th century, the building was monitored, supported and tended. Damage was inflicted when the year 1687 brought to Athens the troops of Venice. During the siege the shrine was damaged. When the independence of Greece was restored, the fragments that fell, were put in the right places. Unfortunately, at the moment nothing is left but the ruins, unfortunately. You can still see the old features in the portico of Pandrosa, which is on the north side.

Lord Elgin, who was sent by the British to Constantinople in 1802, received permission from Sultan Selim III to export from the country all the parts of the shrine found on which inscriptions or images could be found. One caryatid temple was transported to the territory of Britain. Now this relic, like the Parthenon frieze, is an exhibit of the British Museum.

Architectural design

This sanctuary has an unusual asymmetric layout. This is due to the fact that there was a difference between the heights of the soil on which the building passed. From the south to the north, the ground level decreases. There are two cells. In each of them an entrance had to be built. The relics of antiquity are abundantly filled. The parishioners came in from two entrances: the north and the east. Ionic porticos were their decoration.

In the eastern part of the Erechtheion, which was located higher, there was a space dedicated to the keeper of the city, which was Athena-Polyada. The image of the goddess from the tree was kept here. When the Panafites passed, they made an offering to him of a new peplos. In the portico of this cell there are columns, whose number is six.

Internal view of the temple

In the western part of the temple you could see things and elements that glorified Poseidon and Erechthea. On the front side, there is a restriction that two antes create. Between them - the four half-columns.

Confirmed the presence of two porticoes: northern and southern. The frame of the door entrance opening from the north included a thread that included sockets. The southern side is notable for the famous Portico of the Caryatids.

It was named so in honor of the six statues of a height of just over two meters. They support the architrave. The structure of the statues includes the Pentelikonsky marble. Today instead of them there are copies. As for the originals, their repository was the British Museum. Lord Elgin brought in one caryatid.

Also the museum of the Acropolis contains the rest. Pandroseyon - this was the name of the portico of the caryatids. Pandrosa was the daughter of Cecrops. In honor of her, the structure is named. As a plot on the basis of which the frieze was built, myths about the cecropids and the Erechthea were taken. Some of the remains of the monument have survived to this day. The statues, the material for which was Paros marble, was fixed before the dark background, which formed the Eleusinian material.

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