A. Here are stills from a silent video “A brief history of the Parthenon” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_EI4pB_SS1qzxhi_ZhJt5LCx60jD3fkW/view?usp=sharing

1) Please put them in the right order, and complete with the subtitles you can read on the video.

Number 1: 3000 B.C. The Acropolis rock.

2) Here is a view of the wall around the Acropolis: what can you notice?

Can you explain why?

These walls were called “cyclopean walls”. Find out why. Give another example in ancient Greece.

B. Here is a link to another video, which is quite easy to understand. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BsEVLsKDCM1yyzCdk4k3I31MhzideQgb/view?usp=sharing Anyway, here is the script, with gaps to fill in and comments to add.

The story begins here, high on the hill by the ……………………………………, close to the Parthenon of the Acropolis.

A seed was planted at this very place that is proved to be eternal. Eternal in representing respect for nature, culture, honourable leadership and respect for all of humanity. A simple tree stands here; yet a tree is never simple. This is an old tree, precious for its many gifts. This olive tree tells us the story of the Acropolis: from its beginning with moments of greatness through history and even moments of suffering, all the way to today, Gods’ enlightened leaders and philosophers have all stood by this very spot, this very tree. Their strength, their vision and their sense of justice was born as a gift for the rest of the world, just as every tree starts with a seed and enjoys seasons. So too do the great masterpieces.

Let’s start at the East pediment of the Parthenon. Here is was remains on the site:

And here is a reconstruction of the Eastern pediment (Museum of the Acropolis, Athens)

Athena was given several names. Explain them: At the centre is ……………… , ever powerful God and the father - Pallas of all and, born from his head, his intellect, is Athena, his daughter.

Athena is the goddess of war and wisdom and not any war, a just war balanced with responsibility and she is also the - Parthenos goddess for knowledge in the sciences and the arts.

- Nike

Along with Zeus and Athena on the East pediment are Demeter, the goddess of law, of marriage, the seasons and then the harvest, and then her daughter Persephone, the goddess of Spring and the one who treasures the potential in all seeds. There is also , the God of wine, and there, on the side, is , the god of sun who arrives each morning to greet the gods. Then there is Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, of virginity and purity.

Helios in his chariot, early 4th century BC, Selene (Roman sarcophagus) Athena's temple, Ilion What are the attributes of each God? What do they symbolically mean?

Then Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, home and of the sense of community; and then there is Dione, the goddess of the earth and the mother of Aphrodite and then sealing the story is Selene, the goddess of the moon. Each morning the sun illuminates the world of the gods who remind all who are in its presence of their power, protection and guidance while also knowing the beauty of nature’s cycle. As the sun rises, the moon sets and then starts again to live from the bounty of earth with wine, the seeds planted in the earth and then the harvest to value the family and community and purity of heart and then, into the night, Selene protects until Helios arrives again as in life there are always these cycles and challenges.

C. Let’s stop at the Erechtheion Once again, a video. But this time, without any subtitles or transcription… https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r90Ywm1h1Ye1P8p7W07YEkzJMRXmdiLO/view?usp=sharing Answer the following questions: 1) Why was Athena also called “Polias”?

2) What is the typical shape of a Greek temple? You can sketch one of them

3) What solution did the architects choose to accommodate the temple to its location?

4) How many shrines are there in traditional temples?

Definition: A shrine. is a holy or sacred site dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated. Example: The Mithraeum, also known as the Temple of Mithras, is a Roman mithraeum (a shrine to Mithras) that was uncovered in September 1954 during excavation work for the construction of Bucklersbury House, a 14-storey modernist office block to house Legal & General. As a compromise between redesigning the new building and abandoning the archaeological site, the ruin was dismantled and moved 100 metres to Temple Court, Queen Victoria Street, where in 1962 the foundations were reassembled at street level for an open-air public display.

White marble relief depicting Mithras slaying the bull, found at the site and on display at the

Since the discovery of an opening in the roof of the north porch When the worshippers of Zeus on the Acropolis gained the of the Erechtheion there can be little doubt as to the identity of ascendency over those who worshipped Poseidon, an altar to the god who in the belief of the Athenians of the fifth century Zeus Hypatos was set up beside the former trident marks made the marks in the rock below. The place where a which had become those of a thunderbolt. thunderbolt of Zeus struck remained hypaethral (= with no roof). Zeus however may not have been the only god to whom Erechtheus in Greek mythology was the name of an archaic the marks were attributed in the long history of the sacred site. king of Athens, the founder of the polis There are two traditions to be explained. According to one, Poseidon drove Erechtheus into an opening in the earth with blows of his trident because the god wanted to avenge the death of his son, killed during a battle by Erechtheus ; according to the other, Zeus at the request of Poseidon hit Erechtheus with a thunderbolt. The first, that of Euripides, shows that Poseidon acted without reference to Zeus in disposing of his rival. The second subordinates Poseidon to Zeus. The two traditions may be easily reconciled by the assumption that Zeus displaced Poseidon as protagonist in the story. The memory however of Poseidon's participation in the event survived. It is then possible that the marks in the rock under the floor of the north porch of the Erechtheion were at first those of Poseidon.

5) What was to be kept in the 2nd shrine of the Erechtheion?

6) Which order does the Erechtheion belong to? Describe it.

7) What allows the Erechtheion to give a deep impression of continuity?

8) What is the “porch of the maidens”? These maidens are not statues but………………………………….

9) The stance of these maidens is in contrapposto. What does it mean? What Italian Renaissance artist also used the contrapposto in a very sophisticated way? Give an example of his work.

10) These maidens are thought to take part in the Great Panathenaic Procession. What was it?