Golden Age Of Athens

The Golden Age of Athens was a time period when Athens reached its height of influential capacity and success. The Golden Age started around 480 BC to about 404 BC in the Polis of Athens. Just getting out of the Persian Wars, there was much advancement especially within architecture, literature, art, and philosophy which have been brought through time and which was highly important to Greeks. Two examples that show how important this period was and still influences life today are the Parthenon and the Temple of Olympian Zeus (The Olympian Temple). These two symbolized the power of Athens and a vision of life to the classical Athenians. The Parthenon was built originally as a temple to all the gods and to this day is still one of the best preserved Ancient monuments with its 46 great columns. The Parthenon was built to supplant the temples of the earlier cultures prior and to experience also the great Greek goddess, Athena. Built atop the Acropolis, the Parthenon was built with brilliant white marble of
The temple was a very similar style to the Parthenon but this structure didn’t have the same quality. The columns were made of local shell limestone and covered with white stucco. The Temple of Zeus was the perfect example of Doric architecture. The Olympian Temple was redone due to all the events throughout history that had taken place and all the abandonment that occurred during the process of building this temple. Originally consisting of 104 columns, time and history has left the temple with nothing but 15 columns that remain standing. Although not much information is known on when the temple of Zeus was destroyed but it was probably an earthquake during the mediaeval period that had caused it to come down and also prior fires due to Theodosius II’s order. The Temple of the Olympian Zeus is considered one of the finest ancient monuments of Greece. It originally exceeded the Parthenon in