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A portal for class development, this site is also 
under development. . . (01/24/01)

The Acropolis

The Parthenon

Hampden-Sydney College

Western Culture Core

Course Development

Mary Prevo, Fine Arts

Prevo Resource and class page
The materials used were stone, bronze, ivory, gold, ebony, and cypress wood, while the arts or trades which wrought and fashioned them were carpenters, molders, founder, stonecutters, dyers, goldsmiths, ivory-workers, painters, embroiderers, engravers, and besides these the carriers and suppliers of the materials .  .  . As then the buildings arose, no less impressive in size than exquisite in form, the artists strove to out vie the material and design with the beauty of their workmanship.  And yet the most wonderful thing was the speed with which they were completed . . . In fact, the entire project was carried though in the high summer of one man's administration . . . created in so short a span, and yet for all time.
                                            - (Plutarch, Life of Pericles, second century AD)

Internet Sources:

Bibliography:

Note: I have focused on what's available in Eggleston.

Neils, Jenifer, ed. The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present.  London and New York:  Cambridge Unversity Press, 2005.  (Eggleston DF 287.P3 2005).  
One stop shopping for anyone who wants to get the latest on the setting, history, architecture, sculpture, iconography of the building in 5th century Athens.  Additional articles cover the life of the Parthenon after antiquity, the story of photographing the Parthenon, and the building's impact on modern architecture.  The authors' purpose is to present a volume that "will be useful to both students coming to the building for the first time as well as seasoned scholars who want an update on its history and influence." p. 5.

Ferrari, Gloria. "The Ancient Temple of the Acropolis at Athens."  American Journal of Archaeology.  Volume 106:1 (Jan., 2002), pp. 11-35. (available on-line at www.ajaonline.org.)
"This article concerns the Archaic temple of Athena that was set on fire in the Persian sack of Athens and its function in the monumental reconstruction of the Acropolis under Pericles. A new analysis of archaeological, epigraphical, and historical sources leads to the conclusion that the temple was neither destroyed in the assault nor taken down at a later date, but that, as Dörpfeld argued, it remained standing until well into the Roman period. Further, it is argued that the old temple was the core of an extensive choreography of ruins, other parts of which have been recognized for some time, and that this temple is the background against which the new Periclean buildings acquire their meaning." - abstract from AJA online http://www.ajaonline.org/archive/106.1/ferrari_gloria.html. (accessed May 6, 2002).
 
Hurwit, Jeffrey M. The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Eggleston: Oversize, DF 287.A2 H87 1999.
A thorough, up-to-date monograph with a narrative consideration of the site, the goddess, the ancient inscriptions and literature about the site, and an individual section on each building through time. I like the appendices, which include texts of Pausanius and Plutarch, measurements and other basic data on each structure and a chronology of the site.  Also a good read.

Economakis, Richard, ed. Acropolis Restoration: The CCAM Interventions. London: Academy Editions, 1994.  Eggleston: Oversize DF 287.A2 A47 1994.
Big, beautiful photographs and drawings of the present state of the acropolis and the restoration projects currently underway and proposed.  The text includes the international guidelines they are working within and a survey of scholarly opinion about the interventions, as well as a history of past alterations and restorations.

Connelly, Joan B. "Parthenon and Parthenoi:  A Mythological Interpretation of the Parthenon Frieze." American Journal of Archaeology. 100 (1996): 40-50.  

Perry, Gill and Cunningham, Colin, eds. Academies, museums, and canons of art. New Haven : Yale University Press in association with the Open University, 1999. N7480.A27 1999.
An attempt, perhaps successful?, to provide a sort of workbook for arguing through the 'canon.'  It includes a chapter devoted to the Elgin marbles that considers their status as 'masterpieces.'  It looks interesting.  We may want to test it.

Sutton, Robert Kent.  Americans interpret the Parthenon : the progression of Greek revival architecture from the East Coast to Oregon, 1800-1860. Niwot, Colo. : University Press of Colorado, 1992.  NA710.5.G73 S88 1992.
Greek Revival architecture in America, a good basic survey for examples of American Greco-mania, from the loose allusion to the precise copy.  Watch the Parthenons spring up across the country, manifesting its/their destiny/ies.  See also the solid and venerable Talbot Hamlin. (Greek Architecture in America. NY: Dover, 1944.)

Green, Peter.  The shadow of the Parthenon; studies in ancient history and literature.  Berkeley, University of California Press, 1972. DF77 .G795 1972.
The title essay in this volume is a wonderfully-written, cranky alternative view to the Parthenon and Periklean Athens as perfect things of beauty.   It is refreshing in its pre-Post-Modern, Marxist directness.  We forget how only 30 years ago it was still a big deal take bombard the canonical.

Brommer, Frank. The sculptures of the Parthenon : metopes, frieze, pediments, cult-statue.  foreword by John Boardman ;  [translated by Mary Whittall] London : Thames and Hudson, 1979.  NB91.A7 B8713 1979.  Pictures.

Wilson, Benjamin Franklin,  The Parthenon of Pericles and its reproduction in America. Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1937.  NA281 .W5 1937.
An ode to a newer building.  The hows and whys of the Nashville Parthenon. Quaint.


Internet Image Sources:

A note on copyright.  Many of the sites listed below are copyright free.  Take a moment to read each site's use statement.  I always try to acknowledge my sources with a citation in the page and a link to the original. When in doubt about the use of an image, make a link directly to the server where it lives.  Sooner,  rather than later, the image copyright mess will get solved.

Harpy Database, Kathryn Andrus-Walck, est. 1996.  An excellent site for images of ancient art.

Art Images for College Teaching - Ancient Art.

Art History on the Web - a good portal site, maintained by Professor Christopher Witcombe, Sweet Briar College..



* Image source: The Hellenic Ministry of Culture. "The Acropolis of Athens." The Acropolis Museum Website, Athens. 1995-1998. January 24, 2001. <http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21101a/e211aa01.html>