The Pathenon Part 1: Why Is The Land Called Athens, and the Story of the Pictures On the Parthenon Roof.

I learned about ancient history from various of MOOC, which are Khan Academy, Coursera, and edX. From Khan Academy, I learned about the Pathenon. And I'd like to share some of my knowledge about the Parthenon in this blog.

These pictures are from the internet, because I've never been to Greece.The Parthenon was built in Athens, Greece, and the picture above is how it should look like. It's the replica. But the real one is like this:

http://www.shunya.net/Text/Herodotus/images/Parthenon.jpg

I'll write The Parthenon in some parts, and this is the introduction. The Parthenon is a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, who is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civillization, law and justice, mathematics, strength, war strategy, and arts and crafts. And they dedicated this temple to her, and named the land Athens. This is how the myth goes, Poseidon and Athena wanted that land, which was previously named Attica, and the people didn't know which to choose. Poseidon is the god of the seas. So each god decided to give the citizens a gift, and the citizens were to choose which gift they liked, and then the god or goddess who mad that gift will be picked. Poseidon gave them a well which was filled with saltwater and would make them win any battle on sea. But Athena gave them an olive tree, and they could eat its fruit, they could use its wood for firewood, and they could use the oil for the light. So the citizens chose her, and they made this temple for her.

Inside the temple, there's a giant gold Athena statue, but now it's gone because of wars, earthquake, and other things. At the top of the roof, there are pictures of Athena and Poseidon fighting. 

https://slowpainting.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/parthenon-and-color/

Athena is at the left side, and Poseidon is at the right side. The roof is a replica too. And below is the replica of the gold statue of Athena:

http://www.nashville.gov/Parks-and-Recreation/Parthenon/Athena.aspx

And that's the end of Part 1. Thank you for reading.


To be continued.