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Athens Page 20

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THE  TEMPLES (II)

The temple has two main purposes:
- It used to house the statue of the god ( in a room called “naos” or “cella”)The Parthenon used to shelter the statue of Athena, Parthenos(young girl), it had been sculptured by Pheidias; it was all in pure god (more than 1000 kg= 2000 pounds=about 285 stones) and in ivory (as we say “chryselephantine”. It was  12 meters high(40 feet). This statue disappeared and was carried to Constatinople.
- It used to contain the riches, the treasure of the city, for an example (the room of treasure)
- The entrance faces East but the pilgrims were not entitled in . It was not a place of worship. The offices took place outside on an altar standing in front of the temple (see map)
- If the temple was surrounded with a colonnade (peristyle), as it was the case, it was called “periptery”

Reconstitution du Parthénon en 3 dimensions par Benjamin Bradu

Cliquer sur les 2 statues d'Athéna (reconstitution du musée de Toronto et copie romaine) pour agrandir et en savoir plus.

Cliquer sur la copie d'époque romaine du bouclier d'Athéna pour voir le combat des Amazones