The Athens building programme of Pericles

After the end of the Persian Wars, Athens, although destroyed, was found to be the strongest of all Greek cities. It owed this mainly to its navy, which had played a decisive role in the Greek victory at the Battle of Salamis in September 480 BC, which forced Xerxes to return to Persia in disgrace. The following year at the Battle of Plataea, the Persian army that had remained in Greece, led by Mardonius, was finally defeated. Two years later the Athenians were placed at the head of a large alliance of Greek cities, mainly from the Aegean islands and Asia Minor; the alliance continued the war against the Persians, taking it to the Asia Minor coast and the eastern Mediterranean, with the declared aim of eliminating the Persian threat once and for all.

The centre of the alliance was Delos, the small island of the Cyclades in the centre of the Aegean, where the most important Ionian sanctuary was located. There was the common treasury of the alliance, i.e. the money contributed annually by the allies for the common war effort. The leadership of the alliance, however, undoubtedly belonged to the Athenians, who increasingly decided and conducted warfare on their own, without the contribution of the other allies. In 454 BC the Athenians took the decision to transfer the alliance’s treasury to their city, which enabled them to manage the money without having to account to the allies. Thus the alliance became a hegemony, as the monetary contribution paid by the allies to the common fund became a tax that they were now obliged to pay to Athens.

A decisive factor in the transfer of the allied fund to Athens was the intervention of Pericles, who persuaded the Athenians to use the accumulated capital, which they could now freely manage, to carry out an extremely ambitious building programme. The first and most important decision was to remodel the city’s most important sanctuary, the Acropolis, which had been burned by the Persians in 480 BC, and to build new temples on the site of the destroyed ones, the first being the great centenarian temple of Athena, which was still being built when Xerxes’ army captured Athens and burned the Acropolis. The Athenians traced the fire-ravaged flywheels of the columns of this temple on the northern wall of the Acropolis, so that when they saw them they would remember the desecration that the sanctuary of Athena had suffered. With the money they now had at their disposal, they wanted to erect a larger and more splendid temple to the goddess in the same place, the one we now call the Parthenon.

How much importance the Athenians attached to their victories against the Persians, especially at Marathon, where they fought alone, without help from the other Greeks, is shown by the fact that they dedicated to the Acropolis almost 40 years after the battle, around the middle of the 5th century, a huge bronze statue of Athena (9 m high including the base), the work of Phidias. This statue, according to the inscription accompanying it, had been made with the tenth of the spoils of the Battle of Marathon. The goddess was depicted standing with helmet, shield and spear. The crest of the helmet and the spearhead of the statue could be seen from Sounion when the atmosphere was clear.

In addition to the rebuilding and remodelling of the Acropolis, Pericles’ building programme included the construction of other temples in sanctuaries in Attica, a new ritual for the celebration of the Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, a covered odeon next to the Dionysian theatre at the southern foot of the Acropolis for musical events, and other public buildings. Provision was also made for the construction of large and costly statues of the gods, the first among which was the gold and ivory statue of Athena, the work of Phidias, which was erected inside the Parthenon. The purpose of this project was not only to adorn Athens and to show off its power by making it the most glorious city in Greece, but also to give work to the craftsmen, professionals and workers of the city and to make it a centre of the arts. Thus Athens acquired the monuments for which it is known throughout the world even today.

Pericles’ proposal for the construction of large and luxurious public buildings was fiercely opposed by his political opponents, who belonged to the aristocratic faction. They argued that it was a sign of arrogance and an insult to the allied cities, which were paying for the continuation of the war against the Persians, for the Athenians to spend their money to brighten up their city with luxurious constructions, thus showing off the power and wealth they had acquired with the help of their allies. Plutarch (Pericles 12-13) in his biography of Pericles gives us the discussion that took place in the assemblies and the arguments heard on both sides, and at the same time gives us information about the construction of the most important of the buildings in the project:

“But that which most pleased the Athenians and adorned their city, making the rest of the people very much impressed-and which remains the only tangible testimony that that power which Greece is said to have once possessed, nor her old bliss, is not a lie-was the construction of the monuments dedicated to the gods. Of all the works of Pericles’ policy it was this that was most envied by his enemies; so they cried out in the assemblies, accusing the people of being shamed and maligned, because he had carried to his own city from Delos the money of the Greeks, when the best argument they could put forward was that they had taken the common money to keep it in a safe place because they feared the barbarians, Pericles deprived them of it, so that Greece gives the impression that she is suffering a brutal insult and an open tyranny, seeing that with the money she is obliged to contribute to the war we adorn our city with gold and brighten it up, like a philandering woman, embellishing it with precious stones and statues and costly temples.

But Pericles was developing among the people the opinion that there was no point in accounting to the allies for money, when they were fighting to defend them and keep the barbarians at bay, when they were contributing neither horse, nor ship, nor soldier, but only money. This money does not belong to those who give it, but to those who receive it, provided they perform the services for which they received it. Since, therefore, the city is now provided with all that it needs for war, it must spend its revenues on these works, which will bring it immortal glory when they are finished, while they will maintain prosperity while they are being constructed, as they will bring many and various jobs and create diverse needs, which will revive all trades and mobilize all productive forces, providing gainful employment for the whole city, which will thus be able by itself to adorn itself and at the same time to feed itself.

To those of suitable age and physical strength the campaigns provided an opportunity to benefit financially from the public treasury. But because Pericles did not want the multitude of peons who were not serving in the army to be left without an income, nor to be paid without working, he resolutely proposed to the people the undertaking of great constructions and the planning of complex and long-term projects, so that those who lived in the city could benefit and have a share of the public property. The raw materials for these projects were stone, copper, ivory, gold, ebony, cypress; there were also professionals who knew how to work them (masons, clay-makers, clay-makers, bronze-makers, stone-masons, painters, goldsmiths, ivory craftsmen, painters, decorators, sculptors) and those who could send and transport them by sea (merchants, sailors and governors) and by land (coachmen and trampers and coachmen and rope-makers and rope-makers and liners and leather-workers and road-makers and metalworkers). So just as the general has his troops, so each profession had an organized body of craftsmen and workers, which became the cohesive group and the body that served it. Thus it may be said that necessities distributed and diffused prosperity to all ages and classes.

The monuments therefore rose and were of imposing size and unparalleled beauty and grace, as the craftsmen vied with each other to make their creations as beautiful as they could. But most amazing of all was the speed of execution. For these works, each of which seemed to take generations to complete, were all finished in the course of one man’s political career. It is said that once when Agatha once boasted that he was making his painted figures quickly and effortlessly he heard Zeus say to him: “But I need a lot of time.” Indeed, fluency and speed in execution do not give a work of art permanent majesty or perfect beauty; the time that the artist invests in its construction, together with the effort, is the element that gives the creation duration and strength. This is precisely what makes Pericles’ works so wondrous, that they were constructed in a short period of time to last through time. Indeed each of them already looked like an antique, yet its brilliant appearance makes it look new and freshly finished even today. Thus the works exude a youthfulness that keeps their appearance untouched by time, as if they have kept within them an evergreen freshness and an untamed soul.

All were directed and all were supervised by Phidias on his behalf, though the works were given to great architects and artists. Thus the centenarian Parthenon was built by Callicrates and Ictinus. The Eleusis Ceremonial Hall was begun by Koribos, who erected the columns on the floor and joined them to the architraves. When he died, Metagenes of Xypetis placed the frieze and the upper columns, while Xenocles of Cholargos completed the apse above the palace. As for the Long Wall, which Socrates says that he himself heard Pericles suggest its construction, it was Callicrates who undertook to build it. […]

The Odeon, whose internal arrangement includes many benches and many pillars, and whose roof is sloping and downward and terminates in a top, is said to resemble the tent of King [Xerxes] and to have been made after its model. […]

The Acropolis Propylaea were built in five years with Mnisiklis as architect, and a paradoxical chance incident, which occurred while they were being built, proved that the goddess [Athena] was not only not indifferent, but cooperated and helped to finish the work. The most industrious and eager craftsman slipped and fell from a height and was in such a bad condition that the doctors predicted his end. So as Pericles was distressed, the goddess appeared in his dream and ordered a cure, which, by applying it, Pericles quickly and easily cured the man. That is why he erected a bronze statue of Athena’s Health on the Acropolis near the altar that existed, as they say, from earlier times.”

The works of Pericles’ programme are a milestone for ancient Greek art not only because they opened new paths and became models for later artistic creation, but also because artists from all over Greece collaborated or studied in them, and then spread their experiences everywhere. The great works of Athens (built between 450 and 405 BC) are the main reason why the arts flourished in Greece in the second half of the 5th century BC. In these years a new aesthetic was formed and dynamic stylistic trends developed, which quickly spread, giving a new impetus to the arts. It is therefore appropriate to mention the most important of these works.

In the Acropolis, apart from the Parthenon, which we shall examine in greater detail, a new monumental entrance was constructed on the west side, the Propylaea, designed by the architect Mnisiklis in the years 437-432 B.C. (fig. 193). The building has two facades of Doric style on the east and west sides, with a width of slightly more than 18 m (fig. Near the eastern façade and 15.25 m from the western façade there is a transverse wall with five gates, the central one of which is 4 m wide, through which the chariots, horsemen and animals were led to the Acropolis for sacrifice. The narrower side entrances are at a higher level and were intended for those who entered the Acropolis on foot. Because of the slope of the ground, the western façade is lower than the eastern façade. The roofed area between the facades has a monumental configuration with two rows of three tall Ionic columns supporting a roof of marble slabs with faceted ceilings. In the north wing of the Propylaea (ascending on the left) there is a large hall with a proscenium and two windows to the right and left of the entrance. Important paintings were exhibited there and that is why the room is known as the Gallery. The Peloponnesian War, which broke out in 431 BC, is probably the reason why the work on the Propylaea was not completed, leaving the south wing undecorated. A clear indication that the work was interrupted before it was finished is that the stones in the walls still retain their lifting elbows.