Parthenon

“The Parthenon is a celebrated temple at Athens, consecrated to Athena or Minerva, the protectress of the city, built on an elevated rock near the Acropolis, and has always been regarded as the most exquisite and perfect example of Grecian architecture. The Parthenon was erected about 448 B. C., in the time of Pericles, Phidias being the chief sculptor. It had a length of 228 feet, by a breadth of 100; it had eight columns beneath each pediment, and 15 on each side, exclusive of those at each end of the pediments, with which they formed 16 intercolumns, of 46 columns in all, exclusive of those within the building. This magnificent fane had resisted the ravages of time down to the 17th century, being by turns a pagan temple, a Christian church, and also a Turkish mosque, till at the siege of Athens by the Venetians, in 1687, a shell fell on the roof of the Acropolis or citadel, which, firing the magazine beneath, shattered that building and the Parthenon into blackened ruins."—(Charles Leonard-Stuart, 1911)

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