Parthenon

The Parthenon in Athens is a temple to the goddess Athena. It is built entirely of marble, and is a fine example of Doric architecture, in which the orders or columns do not have a base. The architects used the mathematical principal of the golden section to give it proportions pleasing to the eye.

Riders in a Procession to the Acropolis, part of the sculptures known as the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, by the Greek sculptor Phidias (490-430 BC).

Temple of Athena Parthenos (‘the Virgin’) on the Acropolis at Athens; built 447-438 BC by Callicrates and Ictinus under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias, and the most perfect example of Doric architecture. In turn a Christian church and a Turkish mosque, it was then used as a gunpowder store, and reduced to ruins when the Venetians bombarded the Acropolis in 1687. The Elgin marbles were removed from the Parthenon in the early 19th century and are now in the British Museum, London.