Was the Parthenon in Athens, Greece actually used as a bank..and not a temple?have heard this...but is this true? is this the original purpose of it? or was it like a "market" or "Stock exchange"? can explain? why many think it was a temple? to what? and when maybe it was? | |
The 'Parthenon' was one of the biggest and grandest...'temples'...of the ancient world 430BC-200AD.
It's grand columned hall and massive high roof housed a gold covered statue of the goddess Athena 100' tall.
On the outside it was covered with many 100's' ft. of marble statues and art.
It was the crowning point of the 'acropolis' (fortified fortress) of Athens...rebuilt after victory in the 'Persian Wars' in the 400'sBC.
It's original purpose...was the best and biggest temple in Greece 400BC-200AD befitting 'Athens' as top Greek power.
Greece and the European world turned 'Christian' (200AD-600AD) and 'pagan' temples were then no longer allowed. It was then used as a 'treasury' in the 'Middle Ages' (800AD-1200AD) and as a 'arsenal' when it was 'blown up' and mostly destroyed by the invading Muslim Turks in the 1600's.
What still stands today is a ruin 1/10 it's original splendor.
There is a lot of misinformation on this subject that can be read in books and heard from tour guides. But archaeologists focus on contemporary documents to handle such questions. Much of the misinformation here comes fromt eh confusion of the Athena Parthenos sculpture by Pheidias (gold and ivory, containing much of Athens' gold reserves) with the sacred image of Athena, which was made of wood, and kept in the Erechtheion once the last parts of the Old Temple of Athena were destroyed.
From inscriptions and ancient texts, the Parthenon seems to have been built to be more a state treasury than a sacred temple. I'm currently trying to find the first written source (probably 18th-century or later) suggesting only priests were allowed on the grounds. I have personally examined most of the inscriptions relating to the building in the Epigraphical museum, etc. and can find no supporting evidence for the claim. Of interest, and pre-dating the Parthenon is the "Hekatompedon Inscription," giving rules for use of the Acropolis. Far from "only priests can enter the buildings," it gives rules like "Don't build unapproved fires," "Dung Throwing only in designated dung-throwing areas," etc.
It was a temple, but ancient temples were shrines for the image, most of the worship and sacrifices took place in the temple courtyards, you should not think of them as being like churches or the big Hindu and Buddhist temples. There is very little space in the interior of the building.
Temples were used as banks. It was hoped that no one would be so sacrilegious as to steal from under the direct gaze of the Goddess, and generally this held true, it was only conquerors who plundered temples. The temple at Delphi was used by several rival states as a banking depositary, rather like a Central Bank.
The Agora, was the market place, but sometimes the temple precincts must have looked like a cross between a cattle market and a slaughterhouse as people bought their chickens, sheep and cattle there before having them sacrificed.
Original purpose was to house the statue of Athena - the patron Godess of the city. Only priests had access to the interior and much of the worship activity took place in front of it. There is no doubt it was a temple. It is actually a construction in marble of a wooden architecture which unlike the originals has survived to the present era.
In use it was quite unlike the basilica of the Jews in Jerusalem (Solomons Temple) - where Christ threw out the moneylenders.
The outside was decorated with the sculptures now in the British Museum having been granted to Lord Elgin by the occupying Sultan.
It was used in the time of the Turks as an ammunition store, with catastrophic results.
No the Parthenon was a commemorative temple. The 'banks' and traders worked off the sacred ground of the Acropolis in the Agora to the NW.
No. It was used as a storage facility and not as a temple.
