Iktinos and Kallikrates (Phidias directed the sculptural program), Parthenon, Athens, 447 - 432 B.C.E. Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Steven Zucker and Beth Harris.
This time the folks at Smarthistory have really surpassed themselves .This video has more information about the Parthenon than most longer documentaries on the subject. Those involved in its making deserve a place among the immortal gods for their achievement in bringing this magnificent building almost back to life.
Thanks so much for the very kind words! Its just me (Steven) and Beth who make these videos. We just want to help make our shared cultural history accessible and its comments like yours that keep us going.
Architecture and architectural elements are very difficult to understand yet you've been able to communicate in a simple and concrete manner that is easy to comprehend. Teachers can learn from your style. Indeed, thank you so much!
I enjoy this video thoroughly. My humanities professor showed this in class and I've gone back to it ever since for notes on this magnificent piece of art. I love every video that you and Dr. Beth produce! Thank You for all of your work!
The best and most comprehensive lesson on the Parthenon I have heard, or read for that matter. It allows viewers to appreciate the original structure, architects, and the present ruins so much more. It also makes the individuals who created the building that much more mysterious - how did they come to learn such skills and techniques? One wonders if they did, in fact, receive inspiration from their gods!
Thank you for this very informative short video fo the Parthenon.. I've visited it once alone in 2019 and excited to visit it again with my kids in a month again.. Thanks again.
tennysonford Blackbird yeah well, people climbing and sitting on ancient monuments is a large part of why we aren’t allowed to enter many archaeological sites anymore.
This is absolutely amazing, instantly subscribing to ace all my art history exams and also for pure enjoyment, such fascinating stuff in attractive voices, quick to the point, well demonstrated with pictures. I feel such strong urge to go back in time to be able to see this stunning temple. Thank you.
I'd never heard the Athenian foundational myth before watching this video. That story about Poseidon and Athena vying to be the patron deity of the city is just terrific.
I love these, they’re so easy to understand, and I can tell that the commentators are so passionate! It really makes a difference when the commentators on videos are interested in the topic.
Yup, fantastic place. This poor boy was there courtesy of the US navy. I got paid to go! Our captain was retiring soon and we went to all kinds of cool places. I slept a lot. The ship was USS Sierra AD-18, since turned into razor blades in 1992.
Just to clarify for anyone who doesn't know this, Elgin was Scottish, not English. The umbrella term "British" doesn't really allow for that distinction and confuses people unfamiliar with the nations that make up the United Kingdom.
Omg thx 😊 so much this really helped and it was really easy to understand I needed to do this for art but I’m not very good at it but this really helped my annotations and it showed all the cultural things to .i ended up getting a 85 even though I am only really good at sport and English and a bit of maths .Its just so easy to understand by watching this video literally saved me I also subbed
i am doing a project of this and i am building a 3D modal and i am doing parthenon building because it looks cool and i want to learn more about this building so this will help me alot!!
The pediment of the east side (right above the entrance) showed the birth of Athena, while the pediment of the west side showed the the conflict between Athena and Poseidon.
Thank you for this excellent upload. Just so that people watching are aware, you reversed the East and West pediments when commenting on the sculptures in their respective tympanums.
1) Greece was occupied by the Turks. Elgin was the embassador of GB to Constantinople. He used his position to obtain a firman from the sultan.He never obtain it! He went in Athens and obtain a licence from (voeboda) the Turk mayor of Athens for Restauration!!! This is the only document ,translated in Italian,that the english state has, and there is not the authentic signature of the Turk mayor!!! 2) The marbles were still on the Parthenon. Elgin damaged both the stucture and many marbles in the attempt to remove them. 3) One sculture at least fall during the process and broke into pieces. 4) The boat sank with its load during the voyage from Athens to GB. The marbles rest in the bottom of the sea for a few years before Elgin managed to recover them from the wreck. The damages are not documented but it's obvious there was damages. 5) Elgin store the marbles in his coal reserve. He intended to use them to decorate his country house. 6) When he finaly tried to sell them to the British Museum, the british parliement washed its hand concerning the looting, in other words, recognised it was a looting indeed. 7) The British Museum "cleaned" the marbles using wired brushes from any remaining traces of polychromie in order to make them match with their conception of white purety in greek art.
This helped me a lot with my Armenian homework!! We're supposed to write about the oldest object in our house. I had an old stone decorating thingy so I'm writing about that 😁
I actually feel angry that people used this amazing building to hold explosives and things like that and just recently destroyed it so we can't see it. It ticks me off (I don't know why it makes me so angry, but it does). It also makes me very sad that I can't one day see the full temple, or as full as it was before bombs went off.
7:25 isnt there an altar outside of the parthenon? Im currently reading various texts about the parthenon, its artwork and history, and according to them there was (is?) an altar on the East side of the building, for sacrifices. Anyway i really like this video, and i think you both did a wonderful job narrating. very soothing voice and easy to follow.
Great video! I used this video in my art history survey class. Thanks! One correction: Lord Elgin removed the marbles not in the 18th century, but from 1801 to 1812.
Yes, thanks. The Firman was written in 1801 and we say "received permission," so we were indeed off by a year - but more than that, its a bit misleading.
@Smarthistory what type of piano genre music plays before and after your videos? I absolutely 💕💕💕 this type of piano 💝 music usually listen to jazz piano
Lord Elgin didn't just remove the fallen sculptures.He had them cut off from the pediments.He did the same with the kariadit from Erextheion next to the parthenon.
Beth and Steven, have either of you visited the full-size replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, TN? It is complete with pedimental sculpture and the colossal statue of Athena Parthenos inside.
Athena was my favorite of the Greek pantheon, but I don't blame whoever decided to put that statue to better use, lol. It must've been incredible to see, though.
I've watched this videos of yours thousands of times and I always learn something priceless By the way, what's is the name of the intro piano theme? I love it because now I associate it with this sober elegance and culture.
look today at any masonic lodge or grove. that's the equivalent of the parthenon. also if you're looking for the roman version of parthenon it's called st peter's basilica
the same devil the wicked degenerate hellenes worshipped ran a pestilence through the great mass of greeks and down their numbers went! then the roman pagans tore down the rest of it when they conquered hellas. the reason why the ancient temples of greece are in ruins.
Uma questão de honra, de justiça, de pertencimento. Os mármores de Elgin, que estão no British museum, devem ser devolvidos à Grécia. Seria uma coisa linda, ver todas as esculturas do Parthenon de volta de onde foram saqueadas/tiradas.
Very nice and informative video! However, the sculptures on the east pediment of the Parthenon, above the entrance, depicted the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus, a synthesis largely lost today. The quarrel of Athena and Poseidon was depicted on the west pediment.
The marbles belong to Greece and to the Acropolis no matter what. Elgin and the British Empire won't be morally justified for what they did to the Parthenon as well as across the world.
Sorry, its not that simple. Elgin purchased the marbles with the consent of the ruling officials at the time . To say , well the Ottomans should not have done that is simplistic, they have ruled Greece for 100s of years. It was infact Great Britain that ended the Ottoman rule over Greece, yet they get no thanks for that, just some moaning about marbles, that would have been destroyed if they had been left there
@@littlezit2 Lord Elgin has never purchased those marbles legally. In the beginning, the sultan refused to sell them. But he got the marbles by corruption. This Scott Man has never been able to bring any proof of the purchase. Either the BM today. And despite of 400 years of occupation of Greece, nobody doesn't may say the Turkishs were the legal owner of the Acropolis and the Parthenon, that why the BM isn't the legal of the Parthenon friezes and it won't never be the case.
@@laurentdedry5653 Wrong. He paid for them. Greece was under Ottoman rule for 400 years as you say. It was the UK btw who helped free Greece from Ottomans. 400 years is long enough to consider the Ottomans in charge of said objects , they were in charge of everything else. To say they were stolen is a stretch ! I think they should be returned to Greece, but Greece should pay for their cost and upkeep. Elgin, also did not make a profit on them.
@@littlezit2 No matter how long a country is occupied, an occupater remains an occupater, even he took the whole country in charge. And since when to negociate some stuffs which don't belong to you has become legal. Lord Elgin only smuggled with a sultan who didn't represent the Greek people. He took the friezes only to decorate his mansion, not to offer to Humanity, he just sold them because he was ruined. That why those marbles should return to Greece right away. Of course UK helped Greece during its independance war, but you forgot mention that France and Russia helped also. And for the cost and the upkeep, I hope you are kidding, because the BM did so many mistakes for the preservation of those marbles and once again isn't the legal owner.
Umi well then it’s not very fit for purpose lol, democracy needs more democracy in that case. Where are the plebiscites/referendums? Where is the accountability, and why do governments seem to listen more to money than to people?
we are a republic (a representative democracy in other words). a true democracy would require the vote of everyone, which just isn't feasible for a nation with 350 million people
Which history should be privileged? The 5th century B.C.E. or perhaps when the temple was under Alexander the Great or under Rome (with Nero's additions). Or perhaps the Parthenon when it was a church or when it was a mosque? Or maybe we should focus on the first temple that stood in this spot? Or, perhaps,...simply preserving the ruins as they are now, speaks to this complex history better than any single restoration could. Quelle histoire privilégier ? Le 5ème siècle avant notre ère. ou peut-être lorsque le temple était sous Alexandre le Grand ou sous Rome (avec les ajouts de Néron). Ou peut-être le Parthénon lorsqu’il était une église ou lorsqu’il était une mosquée ? Ou peut-être devrions-nous nous concentrer sur le premier temple qui se trouvait à cet endroit ? Ou peut-être que… simplement préserver les ruines telles qu’elles sont aujourd’hui témoigne de cette histoire complexe mieux que n’importe quelle restauration.
Parts that are damaged or can be damaged are being rebuild, but archeologist don't like the idea of a fully rebuild parthenon because according to them it loses the historical value. But at least Acropolis will be rebuild as it was 1800s, cause we have enough information to be 100% sure how it looked back then.
432BC isn't 5th century! Unless I'm ignorant on the language here. Edit: okay I googled, it's "5th century BC" worth saying it, for people who might not know!
@@smarthistory-art-history I did assume BCE meant "Before Christ Existed" but okay, before common era. Still, the speakers in this video say "5th century" on multiple occasions, when it should in fact be "5th century BCE" these are two different times, 1000 years apart.
I learned a lot in this video though, about the Doric Order, entasis, the high classical period, about the many structural and architectural feats of the Parthenon itself, all of which I had no idea about before. I love that image of making a pilgrimage to the great monument, viewing it from multiple angles along the way, "touching" doesn't do the feeling justice. Great video, despite it 9 years old now!
It is confusing. 5th century can be used correctly as a shorthand for either period, even thought they are so far apart. Like so much of our language, the only way to know is by contextual clues given around the phrase.
Curious, Athena is a female, a girl and she was the god they chose to worship over Poseidon as their top god the temples were dedicated and built in her honor, yet still your saying women, girls had no right to vote or leadership or decision making roles that sounds very very suspect to me like some information most be incorrect here, think about it
This is actually quite common. Goddesses can be idealized while living women are discriminated against. In the political realm, women can be rulers in societies that also restrict the role women can otherwise play. Queen Victoria ruleda country that didn't allow married women to own and control property until the law was changed in 1882.
Though it's generally right what smarthistory replied, we still don't have a much clear view about women and also slaves throughout the various eras of the ancient greek world, it's an interesting subject and not easy or wise to conclude
Parthenos means virgin in Greek. Parthenon is the resort of the virgin. Athena was a virgin like many other goddesses in other civilizations, even like virgin Mary in Christianity to whom they dedicated Parthenon afterwards, when Pagan times ended.
