Thursday, May 25, 2023
Beneath The Parthenon: Life, Secrets and Mysteries of The Free World's Icon (3)
Monday, May 15, 2023
The Riace Bronzes: A Hellenist On The Unsolved Mystery
Thursday, May 11, 2023
Beneath The Parthenon: Life, Secrets and Mysteries of The Free World's Icon (2)
When the Persians tried to invade Greece for a second time in 480 BCE, they managed to penetrate enough to destroy everything on the Akropolis. So the buildings we see now, or the remains of them, were built or reconstructed after the Persians lost the war and were driven back across the Aegean to Asia Minor. This means that other buildings stood there previously.
Shortly after, great Athenians like Perikles decided that Athens had to show Persia and the world who had won, and rightly so. New projects and recovery efforts were set into play, with great men like Perikles and an army of builders, sculptors and artists at his side. Athens was determined to be the greatest it had ever been, and it accomplished that goal, bringing in what we have come to call the Golden Age of Athens.
Who Is This Perikles People Speak Of?
The ideal of a free people, of a democracy and a republic, came from the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans. It did not come from Abrahamic society because they have never ruled without authoritarianism or totalitarianism, and it did not come from an atheist society because there has never been such a society in human history. The ancient Gods, cultures, and their people take us to the peaks of the human summits, and the best of the human experience.
It's important to begin the modern Akropolis with the genius of Perikles, as he spearheaded the first project thereon, the Parthenon. Dubbed the First Citizen of Athens by the historian Thucydides, Perikles was born in 495 BCE into a very respected and prosperous military and political family, and rose to the ranks of a revered Statesman, politician, Orator, and General.
Not only did he elevate Athens closer to heaven than it has ever been before or since, his speeches have circulated around the world and through time to even inspire people like Abraham Lincoln when he wrote the Gettysburg Address, thinking of Perikles' Funeral Oration as the basis.
Perikles loved his City, her people, and believed they could be the leaders and benefactors of the entire Greek World. However, he was not unaware of the greatness of other cities, temples and the people who built them, which is why he employed the best artists he could find to build the Parthenon, including the famous sculptor of Zeus' statue at Olympia, Pheidias.
Before the Parthenon, the temple at Olympia was the greatest of the Greek World; Perikles was about to outdo that. He called on the best of the best to raise the columns, lay new foundations never before done, do the 360 degree sculpting (also never before done on a Greek temple), and build the grand statue of Athena Parthenos that would stand inside the Parthenon to a height of 40 feet, made of pure gold and ivory.
The Parthenon's total cost to build, not maintain, was 7 million USD, or 470 Silver Talents in Hellas. Perikles would live to see his great vision reach completion, but unfortunately, only for 3 years. He died in 429 of the infamous Plague of Athens that struck during the Peloponnesian War.
But the real glory and all the mysteries of the Parthenon and the temples around it would come into being inside their doors.
Part 3 Coming Next Week.
In the Goodness of the Gods,
I'll see you at the next Herm down the road,
Chris Aldridge.
Thursday, May 4, 2023
Beneath The Parthenon: Life, Secrets and Mysteries Of The Free World's Icon (1)
Monday, April 24, 2023
When The Soothsayer Showed Up The Scientist
*Literary- Aird, Hamish, Pericles, The Rise and Fall of Athenian Democracy, The Rosen Publishing Group, New York, New York, 2004, pp. 24-25.
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Does Medusa Shed A Tear Above My Temple Doors?
Sunday, January 15, 2023
How Hellenism Humbled A Man's Masculinity
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Put The Iliad Under Your Pillow
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
How I Know The Gods Love Humanity
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
The Fight
Friday, November 4, 2022
Each Time I Break, The Gods Put Me Back Together
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
How Can Reincarnation and Ancestor Worship Coexist?
Sunday, August 14, 2022
The Pythia Was An Oracle, Not A Psychic
Sunday, August 7, 2022
Why Don't The Gods Talk To Us Like People Do?
Saturday, July 23, 2022
Hellenism Lost Is Honor Lost
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