The Parthenon: architects, orders and marble

The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.

What the source says

Under "449-432 B.C." the Met's timeline for ancient Greece states: "The Greek architects Iktinos and Kallikrates design and build the Parthenon, the temple of Athena Parthenos on the Akropolis at Athens." The temple, it continues, "is the principal element in Perikles' building programs overseen by the sculptor Pheidias." Source 1.

How the temple is described

The entry gives three features: "The Parthenon incorporates the Doric and Ionic orders and is made predominantly of Pentelic marble. It houses Pheidias' gold and ivory cult statue of the Parthenos." Three roles appear in the same lines: the two architects who design and build, the sculptor who oversees the programs and made the cult statue, and Perikles, whose name the entry attaches to the programs. The entry does not divide the work among them beyond these words. Source 1.

Dating

449-432 B.C. is the heading of the entry, a range that the text does not break down: it does not say when design ended, when building began or when the statue was installed. The range lies entirely inside the site's Classical period, ca. 480-323 B.C., and overlaps the shorter bar on the same page, "Age of Perikles, Athens, ca. 440-429 B.C."; the article is placed in the Classical period. Source 1.

What the entry leaves out

The entry does not say which parts of the building are Doric and which Ionic, what materials were used besides the Pentelic marble, which is only "predominantly" so, or what became of the cult statue. It gives no dimensions and no description of the building's sculpture. "Design" in this article therefore means only what the entry names: architects, a building program, two orders, a marble and a statue.

A later use

The building outlived the period in which it was built. The Met's timeline for the Balkan Peninsula records under 529 that "the Parthenon is converted for use as the city's cathedral and the temple's interior is decorated with Christian frescoes." The site keeps the article in the Classical period, the period of construction, and mentions the later use for orientation only. Source 2.

Scope of reading: two Met timeline pages were read on 24 October 2026: "Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.-1 A.D." (the entry for 449-432 B.C.) and "Balkan Peninsula, 500-1000 A.D." (the entry for 529). No architectural survey, excavation report or study of the building was read.