History of the Nashville Parthenon and the Tennessee Centennial

The true center- piece of the Nashville Parthenon is the 41 foot 10 inch tall gold leafed statue of the Goddess Athena. Alan LeQuire should be lauded as one of the premiere sculptors of the world for his awe-inspiring recreation.

During the reign of Pericles, the original Athena Parthenos created by Pheidias in the years 449 to 432 BC was constructed of Gold and Ivory plates, attached to a frame made up of wood, metal, clay and plaster. Athena's clothing and armament were made up of Gold and her face, hands and feet were of Ivory. Her eyes were constructed of precious jewels.

When Christianity swept the Roman Empire by the year 500 AD, many of the former pagan temples were rededicated as Christian Churches, This also included the Parthenon. By this time the Great Athena Sculpture by Pheidias had disappeared.

As a footnote, while researching for this article, I learned that Pheidias had created a huge statue of Zeus, and also a smaller, earlier bronze and ivory version of an Athena statue, called Athena Promachos.

Greece had been left in ruins in the year 480BC by the Persians. All of the buildings and statues created during the rein of Pericles 40 years later, were grander scale recreations of earlier structures, including the Athena Parthenos.

I don't think that anyone really knows what happened to the Athena Parthenos, but there are written records of the Athena Promachos and by some accounts, the Athena Parthenos being moved by the Byzantine Empire to Constantinople in the the 5th century AD. Most of the Constantinople history only lists a bronze and ivory statue (Athena Promachos). Wether both statues were there or not, the fact remains that all of the statues and the many of the buildings of Constantinople were completely destroyed by a public mob in the year 1203AD.

The main thing that struck me during my research was; Archeologist discovered a small workshop of Pheidias, at the location where the Zeus statue was created. At the bottom of a pit they discovered a Tea cup, which had the name of Pheidias etched into it.

It dawned on me that Pheidias was probably one of the greatest artist of all time, and the only thing that the world still has, that he had created is.......The Tea Cup.

For a Photo Gallery of the Nashville Parthenon Click Here

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