Building Programmes
Cimon's Building Programme
Cimon, a rich aristocrat, gained fame for his costly benefactions to Athens; he opened orchards to let people pick whatever they wanted, financed shade trees and running tracks in open areas and he paid for the construction of the footings for the massive defensive wall that linked Athens to the harbour at Piraeus. In the agora, Cimon commisioned three Herms at the north-west entrance where many more were later set-up, making the area become known as 'the Herms'. Between 470 BC and 460 BC, the Tholos was constructed. It was the headquarters of the Prytaneis (Executive Committee) of the Boule (Council of 500). It was residence for the tribal contingent who dined there at public expense and a third of the members slept there each night so that somebody was always available in the case of an emergency.
His brother-in-law also financed other public buildings, including the infamous 'Painted Stoa' in the agora between 475 BC and 470 BC. It had a Doric-facade with Ionic-style columns inside. It was famous for its status as an art gallery - it had painting depicting the Greeks versus the Amazons, the Greeks versus the Trojans, the Athenians versus the Spartans and the Athenians versus the Persians. They were later copied for dedications of shields.
His brother-in-law also financed other public buildings, including the infamous 'Painted Stoa' in the agora between 475 BC and 470 BC. It had a Doric-facade with Ionic-style columns inside. It was famous for its status as an art gallery - it had painting depicting the Greeks versus the Amazons, the Greeks versus the Trojans, the Athenians versus the Spartans and the Athenians versus the Persians. They were later copied for dedications of shields.
Perikles' Building Programme
Perikles built the Temple to Hephaestion in the agora. It is likely that he did not break the 'Oath of Plataea' as it was not constructed on a place that had previously been used for a temple. It is the best-preserved Classical Greek temple and was built entirely out of marble. It had numerous decorative features: the front metopes depict the Labours of Heracles, the side metopes depict the Labours of Theseus and the interior friezes depict the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs.
The Parthenon was commissioned by Perikles and of great architectural design, and has become a symbol for civilised culture in the world. However, it was financed by seizing the funds of the Delian League.
The Parthenon was representative of standard architectural design of Greek temples but was on a far grander scale; it was eight-columns-by-seventeen-columns in size rather than the more common six-columns-by-thirteen-columns, and each was in the Doric-style. It was 230-ft long and 100-ft wide, and was made of about 20,000 tonnes of marble. The Parthenon was built with subtle curves and inclines which gave the impression of completely straight lines (due to the natural curvature of the human eye). This was a statement about the human ability to construct order out of the entropic disorder of the natural world. There were also Doric-style decorations in the pediments of the temple. The metopes depict the Lapiths versus the Centaurs, the Gods versus the Giants, the Greeks versus the Trojans and the Greeks versus the Amazons.
The Parthenon Frieze was designed in Ionic-style, rather than the Doric-style that had been used elsewhere. It depicted the Panathenaic festival with men riding spirited horses, women carrying sacred implements and the gods over-watching the parade. A temple adorned with pictures of citizens amounted to a the suggestion of a special intimacy between Athens and the gods - this was unique.
As like most Greek temples, only priests and priestesses were normally allowed inside the temple. Public religious ceremonies took place at the open-air altar, outside the east-end of the temple.
See also:
http://puffin.creighton.edu/eselk/intro-phil_on-line-course/Intro-phl-ol_Plato_Apology-Crito/Parthenon-history-sculpture_pg1.htm
http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/parthenon.html
The Erechtion was built on a steep-slope, in the Ionic-style, after the Parthenon which it competed with visibly. It incorporated pre-existing features: the altars to Zeus, Poseidon, Erechtius and Hephaestion, statues of Zeus and Athena and physical remnants of the struggle between Athena and Poseidon for possession of the city (marks of Poseidon's trident and well of sea-water and Athena's olive-tree).
The Parthenon was commissioned by Perikles and of great architectural design, and has become a symbol for civilised culture in the world. However, it was financed by seizing the funds of the Delian League.
The Parthenon was representative of standard architectural design of Greek temples but was on a far grander scale; it was eight-columns-by-seventeen-columns in size rather than the more common six-columns-by-thirteen-columns, and each was in the Doric-style. It was 230-ft long and 100-ft wide, and was made of about 20,000 tonnes of marble. The Parthenon was built with subtle curves and inclines which gave the impression of completely straight lines (due to the natural curvature of the human eye). This was a statement about the human ability to construct order out of the entropic disorder of the natural world. There were also Doric-style decorations in the pediments of the temple. The metopes depict the Lapiths versus the Centaurs, the Gods versus the Giants, the Greeks versus the Trojans and the Greeks versus the Amazons.
The Parthenon Frieze was designed in Ionic-style, rather than the Doric-style that had been used elsewhere. It depicted the Panathenaic festival with men riding spirited horses, women carrying sacred implements and the gods over-watching the parade. A temple adorned with pictures of citizens amounted to a the suggestion of a special intimacy between Athens and the gods - this was unique.
As like most Greek temples, only priests and priestesses were normally allowed inside the temple. Public religious ceremonies took place at the open-air altar, outside the east-end of the temple.
See also:
http://puffin.creighton.edu/eselk/intro-phil_on-line-course/Intro-phl-ol_Plato_Apology-Crito/Parthenon-history-sculpture_pg1.htm
http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/parthenon.html
The Erechtion was built on a steep-slope, in the Ionic-style, after the Parthenon which it competed with visibly. It incorporated pre-existing features: the altars to Zeus, Poseidon, Erechtius and Hephaestion, statues of Zeus and Athena and physical remnants of the struggle between Athena and Poseidon for possession of the city (marks of Poseidon's trident and well of sea-water and Athena's olive-tree).