Parthenon (Acropolis)
Summary
TLDREl script describe el Partenón, un templo marfil dedicado a la diosa Atenea, situado en la cima de la Acrópolis en Atenas. Representa no solo la arquitectura dorica con elementos iónicos, sino también la influencia en la democracia y la perfección clásica de la civilización occidental. Detalla su historia, desde su construcción en el siglo V a.C. hasta su destrucción y transformaciones posteriores, incluyendo su uso como iglesia, mezquita y almacén. La narración resalta la maestría en matemáticas y la estética que otorgan un sentido de dinamismo y equilibrio al monumento, así como su papel en la batalla de la cultura griega contra el caos y la barbarie.
Takeaways
- 🏛️ El Partenón es un enorme templo de mármol dedicado a la diosa Atenea, ubicado en la cima de un acantilado en la ciudad de Atenas, con vistas al mar Egeo.
- 🏙️ Atenas era solo una de las muchas ciudades-estado griegas, que poseían una acrópolis o colina fortificada dentro de sus límites debido a su naturaleza beligerante.
- 📆 El Partenón data del siglo V, época en que Atenas era la ciudad-estado más poderosa y se convirtió en un lugar sagrado en lugar de uno defensivo.
- 🏛️ El estilo arquitectónico del Partenón es dorico, con elementos iónicos, y es considerado un símbolo de la arquitectura clásica y el nacimiento de la democracia.
- 🗽 El Partenón ha tenido una gran influencia en la arquitectura occidental, con edificaciones en Washington D.C. que muestran esta influencia.
- 🗳️ La democracia en Atenas era limitada; solo unos 50,000 de los 300,000 a 400,000 habitantes eran considerados ciudadanos, excluyendo a mujeres y esclavos.
- 🎨 El Partenón está decorado con esculturas que cubren metopes, frontones y un friso que rodea los cuatro lados del edificio, obra posiblemente supervisada por el escultor Fidias.
- 🌳 La ciudad de Atenas recibió su nombre de Atenea, y hay una leyenda sobre cómo Atenea y Poseidón compitieron por ser el patrón de la ciudad, con Atenea ganando con su regalo del árbol de olivo.
- 🏺 El Partenón también funcionó como un depósito y tesoro, y se cree que estuvo lleno de objetos valiosos, incluyendo una estatua de Atenea de oro y marfil.
- 📏 La perfección aparente del Partenón se basa en una serie de distorsiones sutiles que corrigen las imperfecciones de nuestra visión, demostrando el uso avanzado de matemáticas y habilidades de construcción de los griegos.
- 🔍 El Partenón muestra una maestría en la proporción y el equilibrio, con columnas que se ensanchan ligeramente hacia el centro y un estylobato que se eleva en el centro para evitar la acumulación de agua de lluvia.
- 💥 El Partenón sobrevivió en relativamente buen estado hasta el siglo XVII, cuando fue gravemente dañado por una explosión de pólvora durante un conflicto, y posteriormente por el robo de esculturas por parte de Lord Elgin.
Q & A
¿Qué es el Partenón y qué representa?
-El Partenón es un enorme templo de mármol dedicado a la diosa Atenea, ubicado en la cima de un acantilado en la ciudad de Atenas, desde donde se domina la ciudad y el mar Egeo. Representa no solo el nacimiento de la democracia, sino también una refinada perfección arquitectónica que ha tenido una gran influencia en la historia occidental.
¿Por qué era importante la acrópolis en las ciudades-estado griegas?
-La acrópolis era una colina fortificada dentro de la ciudad, que servía como un lugar de defensa para los estados en guerra. Era común en muchas ciudades-estado griegas, incluida Atenas.
¿Cuál fue el papel de Atenas en el siglo V a.C.?
-En el siglo V a.C., Atenas era la ciudad-estado más poderosa, y es en este periodo cuando se construyó el Partenón, convirtiéndose en un lugar sagrado en lugar de uno defensivo.
¿Cómo se relaciona el Partenón con la democracia?
-El Partenón se ha convertido en el símbolo del nacimiento de la democracia, aunque fue una democracia limitada, ya que solo unos 50,000 de los 300 a 400,000 habitantes de Atenas eran considerados ciudadanos con derecho a participar en el gobierno.
¿Cuál es la historia detrás del nombre de Atenas y el Partenón?
-La ciudad y el templo están nombrados en honor a Atenea debido a un mito en el que dos dioses, Poseidón y Atenea, compiten por ser el patrón de la ciudad. Los atenienses eligieron el regalo de Atenea, un olivo, representando la prosperidad y la paz, en lugar del poder naval simbolizado por el agua salada que surgió cuando Poseidón golpeó una roca.
¿Qué características definen una templo dórico y cómo se diferencia del estilo iónico?
-Un templo dórico se caracteriza por tener columnas masivas con ranuras anchas y poco profundas, y un capital simple con un abaco rectangular. En el Partenón, también se encuentran elementos iónicos, como una frieza que rodea los cuatro lados del edificio y cuatro columnas iónicas en el interior del extremo oeste.
¿Qué elementos escultóricos adornaban el Partenón?
-El Partenón estaba cubierto de esculturas, incluyendo metopes con escenas de batallas, el frente con la historia de Atenea y Poseidón compitiendo por ser el patrón de la ciudad, y una frieza que representaba posiblemente la Procesión Panathenaica en honor a Atenea.
¿Qué significaba el Partenón para los atenienses después de la guerra persa?
-Después de la invasión persa, que destruyó el templo anterior a Atenea, el Partenón fue construido como un símbolo de la resiliencia y el triunfo ateniense, representando la civilización sobre la barbarie y el pensamiento racional sobre el caos.
¿Cómo se financió la construcción del Partenón?
-Se cree que Pericles, el líder de Atenas, financió la construcción del Partenón a través de los fondos del Tesoro de la Liga Delica, una alianza de ciudades-estado griegas que pagaban un tipo de impuesto para proteger a Grecia de la Persia.
¿Cómo se veía originalmente el Partenón y cómo ha cambiado con el tiempo?
-A diferencia de lo que hoy se considera un ruina, el Partenón originalmente estaba cubierto de colores brillantes y no era un edificio pristinamente blanco. Con el tiempo, ha sufrido daños significativos, especialmente después de una explosión de polvora en el siglo XVII y la posterior remoción de esculturas por Lord Elgin en el siglo XVIII.
¿Qué técnicas arquitectónicas y matemáticas utilizó Iktinos para dar la impresión de perfección en el Partenón?
-Iktinos utilizó técnicas como la entasis, que implicaba un ligero abultamiento de las columnas hacia el centro para dar una sensación de organicidad y expresar la carga del edificio. También se utilizaron distorsiones sutilmente calculadas para corregir las imperfecciones de la visión humana y dar la impresión de perfección, mostrando una maestría en la matemática y el uso de la piedra.
¿Qué ha sido el destino del Partenón después de su construcción y cómo está actualmente?
-Después de su construcción, el Partenón ha servido como templo griego, iglesia ortodoxa, iglesia católica y mezquita. En el siglo XVII, fue gravemente dañado por una explosión de polvora. En el siglo XVIII, Lord Elgin se llevó muchas de las esculturas, y actualmente el Partenón está en proceso de restauración, con una gran presencia de grúas y andamios para mantenerlo de caer en peores condiciones.
Outlines
🏛️ La Parthenón y su Influencia Arquitectónica
El primer párrafo introduce al espectador al Parthenón, un templo de mármol dedicado a la diosa Atenea, situado en lo alto de un acantilado en la ciudad de Atenas, con vistas al mar Egeo. Se menciona que Atenas era una de las muchas polis griegas que tenían una acrópolis, un terreno fortificado dentro de la ciudad debido a su naturaleza beligerante. El Parthenón data del siglo V, época en que Atenas era la más poderosa de las polis y se había convertido en un lugar sagrado en lugar de uno defensivo. La voz en off destaca la influencia del edificio no solo por ser el símbolo del nacimiento de la democracia, sino también por su refinamiento arquitectónico extraordinario. Además, se hace referencia a la democracia limitada de la época, que solo permitía la participación de unos 50,000 ciudadanos en una población de 300 a 400,000 habitantes.
🗝️ La Democracia y el Mito de Atenea y Poseidón
Este párrafo profundiza en la idea de democracia en Atenas, señalando que aunque era limitada, fue un experimento significativo en participación gubernamental. Se narra el mito de cómo Atenea y Poseidón compitieron por ser el patrón de la ciudad, ofreciendo regalos simbólicos: Poseidón, el mar, y Atenea, una higuera, representando la prosperidad y la paz. Los atenienses eligieron el regalo de Atenea, y el templo está dedicado a ella. Además, se describen los elementos arquitectónicos del templo, como los columnas dóricas con sus características y el friso iónico que rodea el edificio, mostrando una combinación de estilos arquitectónicos.
🏛️ El Desarrollo y el Uso del Parthenón
El tercer párrafo explora el significado detrás de la construcción del Parthenón, que reemplazó un templo anterior destruido por los persas. Se destaca la importancia de la Guerra Persa en la mentalidad ateniense y cómo esta experiencia influyó en la construcción del Parthenón. Se menciona que Pericles, líder de Atenas, financió la construcción con fondos de la Liga Delica, una alianza de polis griegas que habían pagado tributos para protegerse de Persia. El templo también sirvió como un depósito y tesoro, reflejando la riqueza y poder de la ciudad. Además, se discuten las técnicas arquitectónicas y matemáticas utilizadas para dar la ilusión de perfección en el edificio, como la entasis en las columnas y las sutilezas en la disposición de las triglyphs y metopes.
🗿 La Perdida y Restauración del Legado del Parthenón
El último párrafo reflexiona sobre la transformación del Parthenón a lo largo de la historia, desde su función original como templo griego hasta su uso como iglesia ortodoxa, catedral católica y mezquita. Se narra cómo un ataque en el siglo XVII y la explosión de polvora en su interior destruyeron gran parte del edificio. También se menciona el controvertido robo de esculturas por parte de Lord Elgin, que se llevaron a Inglaterra y que Grecia espera reintegrar algún día. Finalmente, se describe el estado actual del sitio, con importantes esfuerzos de restauración para preservar lo que queda de este importante legado arquitectónico y cultural.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Parthenon
💡Acróstolio
💡Démocracia
💡Estilo Dórico
💡Frieza
💡Metope
💡Fidias
💡Entasis
💡Estilo Iónico
💡Pericles
💡Restauración
Highlights
El Partenón es un enorme templo de mármol dedicado a la diosa Atenea.
Se encuentra en una elevada roca en la ciudad de Atenas, con vistas a la ciudad y al mar Egeo.
Atenas era una de las muchas polis griegas, cada una con una acrópolis fortificada.
En el siglo V, Atenas era la más poderosa y el Partenón data de ese periodo.
El Partenón simboliza el nacimiento de la democracia, aunque era una democracia limitada.
La arquitectura del Partenón influenció enormemente la arquitectura occidental posterior.
La construcción del Partenón está asociada con la reforma democrática del siglo V en Atenas.
El Partenón es un templo dórico con elementos iónicos, lo que refleja una combinación de estilos.
El templo estaba cubierto de esculturas, incluyendo metopes, frontones y un friso que rodea los cuatro lados.
La escultura del frontón superior muestra la historia de Atenea y Poseidón compitiendo por ser el patrón de la ciudad.
El Partenón fue diseñado con una serie de distorsiones sutilmente calculadas para corregir imperfecciones visuales.
La proporción y la armonía del Partenón se basan en matemáticas y proporciones ideales.
El templo también funcionó como un depósito y tesoro, reflejando la riqueza y poder de Atenas.
El Partenón fue financiado en parte por el tesoro de la Liga Delica, dirigido por Pericles.
La escultura de Atenea, hecha de oro y marfil, fue parte del tesoro del templo.
El Partenón ha sufrido daños significativos a lo largo de la historia, incluyendo su destrucción en la guerra del siglo XVII.
Algunas de las esculturas del Partenón fueron trasladadas al Reino Unido por Lord Elgin, lo que ha causado un debate sobre la propiedad y el retorno de las mismas.
El Partenón es un monumento a la genialidad de los atenienses y al espíritu humano en general.
El sitio del Partenón está actualmente en proceso de restauración para preservarlo.
Transcripts
(lively piano music)
Voiceover: We're looking at the Parthenon.
This is a huge marble temple to the goddess Athena.
Voiceover: We're on the top of a rocky outcropping
in the city of Athens very high up
overlooking the city,
overlooking the Aegean Sea.
Voiceover: Athens was just one of many Greek city states
and almost everyone had an acropolis.
That is had a fortified hill within its city
because these were warring states.
Voiceover: In the 5th Century
Athens was the most powerful city state
and that's the period that the Parthenon dates to.
Voiceover: This precinct became a sacred one
rather than a defensive one.
This building has had tremendous influence
not only because it becomes the symbol
of the birth of democracy,
but also because of its
extraordinary architectural refinement.
The period when this was built in the 5th century
is considered the high classical moment
and for so much of western history
we have measured our later achievements
against this perfection.
Voiceover: It's hard not to recognize
so many buildings in the west.
There's certainly an association
especially to buildings in Washington D.C.
and that's not a coincidence.
Voiceover: Because this is the birthplace of democracy
it was a limited democracy
but democracy nevertheless.
Voiceover: There was a series of reforms
in the 5th century in Athens
that allowed more and more people
to participate in the government.
Voiceover: We think that the city of Athens
had between 300 and 400,000 inhabitants
and only about 50,000 were actually considered citizens.
If you were a woman, obviously if you were a slave
you were not participating
in this democratic experiment.
Voiceover: This is a very limited idea of democracy.
Voiceover: This building is dedicated to Athena
and in fact the city itself is named after her
and of course there's a myth.
Two gods vying for the honor
of being the patron of this city.
Voiceover: Those two gods are Poseidon and Athena.
Poseidon is the god of the sea
and Athena has many aspects.
She's the goddess of wisdom,
she is associated with war.
A kind of intelligence about creating
and making things.
Voiceover: Both of these gods
gave the people of this city a gift
and then they had to choose.
Poseidon strikes a rock
and from it springs forth
the saltwater of the sea.
This had to do with the gift of naval superiority.
Voiceover: Athena offered in contrast an olive tree.
The idea of the land of prosperity, of peace.
The Atheneans chose Athena's gift.
There actually is site here on the acropolis
where the Atheneans believed
you could see the mark of the trident
from Poseidon where he struck the ground
and also the tree that Athena offered.
Voiceover: Actually the modern Greeks
have replanted an olive tree in that space.
Let's talk about the building.
It is really what we think of
when we think of a Greek temple
but the style is specific.
This is a Doric temple.
Voiceover: Although it has Ionic elements
which we'll get to.
Voiceover: The Doric features are really easy to identify.
You have massive columns with shallow broad flutes
the vertical lines.
Those columns go down directly
into the floor of the temple
which is called the stylobate
and at the top the capitals are very simple.
There's a little flare
that rises up to a simple rectangular block
called an abacus.
Just above that are triglyphs and metopes.
Voiceover: It's important to say that this
building was covered with sculpture.
There were sculpture in the metopes,
there were sculpture in the pediments
and in an unprecedented way a frieze
that ran all the way around four sides of the building
just inside this outer row of columns that we see.
Now this is an Ionic feature.
Art historians talk about how this building combines
Doric elements with Ionic elements.
Voiceover: In fact there were four Ionic columns
inside the west end of the temple.
Voiceover: When the citizens of Athens
walked up the sacred way
perhaps for religious procession or festival.
They encountered the west end
and they walked around it
either on the north or south sides
to the east and the entrance.
Right above the entrance in the sculptures of the pediment
they could see the story of Athena and Poseidon
vying to be the patron of the city of Athens.
On the frieze just inside they saw themselves
perhaps at least in one interpretation
involved in the Panathenaic Procession,
the religious procession in honor of the goddess Athena.
This was a building that you walked up to,
you walked around and inside
was this gigantic sculpture of Athena.
Voiceover: These were all sculptures that we believe
were overseen by the great sculptor Phidias
and one of my favorite parts are the metopes.
Carved with scenes that showed
the Greeks battling various enemies
either directly or metaphorically.
The Greeks battling the Amazons,
the Greeks against the Trojans,
the Lapiths against the Centaurs,
and the Gigantomachy.
The Greek gods against the titans.
Voiceover: All of these battles
signified the ascendancy of Greece
and of the Atheneans of their triumphs.
Civilization over barbarism,
rational thought over chaos.
Voiceover: You've just hit on
the very meaning of this building.
This is not the first temple to Athena on this site.
Just a little bit to the right
as we look at the east end
there was an older temple to Athena
that was destroyed when the Persians invaded.
This was a devastating blow to the Atheneans.
Voiceover: One really can't overstate the importance
of the Persian War for the Athenean mindset
that created the Parthenon.
Athens was invaded and beyond that
the Persians sacked the acropolis,
sacked the sacred site, the temples.
Destroyed the buildings.
Voiceover: They burned them down.
In fact, the Atheneans took a vow
that they would never remove the ruins
of the old temple to Athena.
Voiceover: So they would remember it forever.
Voiceover: But a generation later they did.
Voiceover: They did, well there was a piece
that was established with the Persians
and some historians think that
that allowed them to reneg on that vow
and Pericles, the leader of Athens
embarked on this enormous,
very expensive building campaign.
Voiceover: Historians believe
that he was able to fund that
because the Atheneans had become the leaders
of what is called the Delian League.
An association of Greek city states
that paid a kind of tax
to help protect Greece against Persia
but Pericles dipped into that treasury
and built this building.
Voiceover: This alliance of Greek city states,
their treasure, their tax money, their tribute
was originally located in Delos
hence the Delian League,
but Pericles managed to have that treasure
moved here to Athens
and actually housed in the acropolis.
The sculpture of Athena herself
which was made of gold and ivory
Phidias said if we need money
we can melt down the enormous amount of gold
that decorates this sculpture of Athena.
Voiceover: Since that sculpture doesn't exist any longer
we know somebody did that.
(chuckles)
We need to imagine this building
not pristine and white
but rather brightly colored
and also a building that was used.
This was a storehouse.
It was the treasury
and so we have to imagine
that it was absolutely full of valuable stuff.
Voiceover: In fact we have records
that give us some idea of what was stored here.
We think about temples or churches or mosques
as places where you go in to worship.
That's not how Greek religion work.
There usually was an altar on the outside
where sacrifices were made
and the temple was the house of the god or goddess,
but with the Parthenon
art historians and archeologists have not been able
to locate an altar outside
so we've wondered what was this building?
One answer is it was a treasury.
Voiceover: It also functions symbolically.
It is up on this hill.
It commands this extraordinary view
from all parts of the city,
and so it was a symbol of both the city's wealth and power.
Voiceover: It's a gift to Athena.
When you make a gift to your patron goddess
you want visitors to be awed
by the image of the goddess that was inside
and of her home.
Voiceover: This isn't any goddess.
This is the goddess of wisdom
so the ability of man to understand our world
and its rules mathematically,
and then to express them in a structure like this
is absolutely appropriate.
Voiceover: Iktinos is a supreme mathematician.
I mean we know that the Greeks
even in the archaic period before this
were concerned with ideal proportions.
Voiceover: Pythagoras.
Voiceover: Or the sculptor Polykleitos
and his sculpture of the Doryphoros
searching for perfect proportions and harmony
and using mathematics as the basis
for thinking that through.
Voiceover: We have that here.
Voiceover: To an unbelievable degree.
Voiceover: What's extraordinary is
that it's perfection is an illusion
based on a series of subtle distortions
that actually correct for the imperfections of our sight.
That is the Greeks recognize
that human perception was itself flawed
and that they needed to adjust for it
in order to give the visual impression of perfection.
Their mathematics and their building skills
were precise enough to be able to pull this off.
Voiceover: Every stone was cut to fit precisely.
Voiceover: When we look a this building
we assume it's rectilinear,
it's full of right angles,
and in fact there's hardly a right angle in this building.
Voiceover: There's another interpretation
of these tiny deviations
that these deviations give the building
a sense of dynamism.
The sense of the organic
that otherwise it would seem static and lifeless.
The Greeks had used this idea
that art historians call entasis before
in other buildings.
Slight adjustments.
For example, columns bulge toward the center.
This is not new
but the degree to which it's used here
and the subtlety in the way it's used is unprecedented.
Voiceover: For instance in those Doric columns
you can see that there's a taper
and you assume that it's a straight line
but the Greeks wanted ever so slight
a sense of the organic.
That the weight of the building was being expressed
in the bulge, the entasis of the column
about a third of the way from the bottom.
In this case every single column
bulges only 11/16th of an inch
the entire length of that column.
The way that the Greeks pulled this off
is they would bring column drums
up to the site.
They would carefully carve the base and the top
and then they would carve in between.
Voiceover: We see this slight deviation in the columns
but we also see it not only vertically
but also horizontally in the building.
Voiceover: That's right.
You assume that the stylobate,
the floor of the temple is flat but it's not.
Rain water would run off it
because the edges are lower than the center.
Voiceover: But only very, very slightly lower.
Voiceover: Across the long side of the temple
the center rises only 4 3/8 of an inch
and on the short side of the temple
on the east and the west side
the center rises only by 2 3/8 inches.
What happens is it cracks.
Our eye would naturally see a straight line
seem as if it rises up at the corners a little bit
so it seems to us to be perfectly flat.
The columns are all leaning in a little bit.
Voiceover: You would expect the columns
to be equidistant from one another
but in fact the columns on the edges
are slightly closer to one another
than the columns in the center of each side.
Voiceover: Architectural historians have hypothesized
that the reason for this
is because the column at the edge
is in the sense an orphan.
It doesn't have anything past it.
Therefore, it would seem to be less substantial.
If we could make that column
a little bit closer to the one next to it
it might compensate
and it would have an even sense of density
across the building.
Voiceover: Placing of the columns
closer together on the edges create a problem
in the levels above.
One of the rules of the Doric Order is that
there had to be a triglyph
right above the center of a column
or in between each column.
Voiceover: They also wanted the triglyphs
to be at the very edge
so one triglyph would abut against another triglyph
at the corner of the building.
If in fact you're placing your columns closer together
you can actually solve for that problem.
You can avoid the stretch of the metope
in between those triglyphs that would result,
but because the columns are placed so close together
they had the opposite problem
which is to say that the metopes
at the ends of the building would be too slender.
What Phidias has done in concert
with Iktinos and Kallikrates the architects
is to create sculptural metopes
that are widest in the center
just like the spaces between the columns
and actually the metopes themselves
gradually become thinner
as you move to the edges
so that you can't really even perceive the change
without measuring.
Voiceover: The general proportions of the building
can be expressed mathematically as
X equals Y times two plus one.
Across the front we see eight columns
and along the sides 17 columns.
That ratio also governs the spacing
between the columns
and its relationship to the diameter of a column.
Math is everywhere.
Voiceover: If we look at the plan of the structure
we see the exterior colonnade on all four sides.
On the east and west end
it's actually a double colonnade
and on the long sides, inside the columns
a solid masonry wall.
You can enter rooms on the east west only.
The west has a smaller room
with the four Ionic columns within it
but the east room was larger
and held the monumental sculpture of Athena.
It's interesting.
The system that was used to create a volt
that was high enough to enclose a sculpture
that was almost 40 feet high was unique.
There was a U shape of interior columns
at two storeys.
They were Doric and they surrounded the goddess.
The sculpture is now lost
but the building is almost lost as well.
Here we come to one of the great tragedies
of western architecture.
This building survived into the 17th century
and was in pretty good shape for 2000 years
and it's only in the modern era
that it became a ruin.
Voiceover: First it was as we know
an ancient Greek temple for Athena
then it became a Greek orthodox church
then a Roman catholic church and then a mosque.
In a war between the Ottomans
who were in control of Greece
at this moment in history in the 17th century
and the Venetians.
The Venetians attacked the Parthenon,
the Ottomans used the Parthenon
to hold ammunitions, gunpowder.
Gunpowder exploded from the inside
basically ripping the guts out of the Parthenon.
Voiceover: Then to add insult to injury in the 18th century,
Lord Elgin received permission from the Turkish government
to take sculptures that had already fallen off the temple
and bring them back to England.
The [lie] and share of the great sculptures by Phidias
are now in London.
Greece recently has built a museum
just down the hill from the acropolis
specifically intended to house these sculptures
should the British ever release them.
Voiceover: Some have argued
that Elgin saved the sculptures
that would have been further damaged
had he not removed them,
but what to do about the future is uncertain.
Voiceover: At least one theory states
that this building was paid for
by plundered treasury from the Delian League
so there's a long history of contested ownership.
Voiceover: As we stand here very high up
on the acropolis overlooking the Aegean Sea,
islands beyond and mountains
on this glorious day,
I can't help but imagine standing inside
the Parthenon between those columns
which we can't do today.
Voiceover: The site is undergoing tremendous restoration.
There are cranes, the scaffolding
to maintain the ruin and not let it fall
into worst disrepair.
Voiceover: But if we could stand there
what would it feel like?
Voiceover: There is this beautiful balance
between the theoretical and the physical.
The Greeks thought about mathematics
as the way that we could understand the divine
and here it is in our world.
Voiceover: There's something about the Parthenon
that is both an offering to Athena,
the protector of Athens,
but also something that's a monument
to human beings, to the Atheneans,
to their brilliance,
and by extension I suppose in the modern era
human spirit generally.
(lively piano music)
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