Ancient Art

p Comparison Between The Parthenon in Athens

And the Coliseum in Rome

In this essay I intend to compare and contrast the Parthenon in Athens Greece and the Coliseum in Rome Italy . Both of these buildings were built by ancient cultures that could be considered the superpowers of ancient times . Greek culture was an island culture and this is reflected in the elegant curves and lines of their temples and public buildings The Romans to were a great nation but they became known more for their technical advances such as the invention

of concrete and the invention of the barrel vault

The Parthenon served both as the main Temple to Athena in the Greek City of Athens as well as one of Athens main cultural centers Well-known Greek architects Ictinus and Callicrates built the Parthenon in 447 B .C . after the Greeks experienced a devastating was with the Persians . Much of the city of Athens was destroyed at this time , and many of the buildings that we know as famous Greek buildings now were rebuilt , or built at this time

The Parthenon is a rectangular building that is 101 .34 wide by 228 .14 feet long . The building is made of marble . The Parthenon uses a combination of Doric and Ionic column styles and has a peaked roof . The building originally had beautifully sculpted friezes along the eaves of the roof that depicted stories from Greek myth and legend . These friezes are now in the British Museum in London England . The building also originally housed a 40 ft tall statue of Athena covered in gold leaf but this was destroyed when Greece became a Christian nation in the 5th century A .D

The Parthenon has served several purposes throughout the course of history . These have mainly remained religious including a Greek Orthodox Church and a Mosque . The building has also been greatly damaged by war and time . The British removed much of its statuary in the 19th century in an effort to preserve the deteriorating conditions of the statues . It has also suffered damage from bombing , and acid rain as the pollution and often-chaotic political situation in Greece have caused the conditions of their ancient sites to deteriorate

The Coliseum in Rome , Italy was build between 72- 80 A .D . by the Roman Emperor Vespasian . The original purpose of the building was to serve as a cultural center where the Romans would hold Gladiator matches , plays and circuses . Generally they would be all part of a single evening , or afternoon 's entertainment , rather like the Vaudeville performances of the 19th century . The building was used for this purpose for over 500 years until the 6th Century

The building is circular and measures 48 ft high by 615 ft long by 510 ft wide . The Coliseum uses a combination of Doric , Ionic and Corinthian columns as structural supports . It also has two features that are uniquely Roman , the barrel vault , and durable concrete . The barrel vault is the use of multiple arches...