The Parthenon
The Parthenon was built in Ancient Greece, where they believed in some gods like Athena. In 449 BC, the Athenian statesmen asked the sculptor Phidias to rebuild the acropolis, that was the great Parthenon. Eight years later, the invading Persians burned it down while it was half built. It took two years to plan the new Parthenon. The building was 228 feet long, 65 feet high and 101 feet wide. In one of the rooms, there was a 40 feet high statue of the goddess Athena.
There were 46 columns all around the 4 sides of the Parthenon. The Parthenon had to be built in the following way:
1. They cut white marble from a mountain about 16 kilometers from Athens. The marble was cut into blocks to make the temple walls and into drums to make the columns.
2. The marble was carried by carts pulled by oxen to the foot of the Acropolis, and then they would check it to make sure it was not cracked.
3. Mules dragged the marble up the hill. As a reward for the mules that worked hard, the slaves would let them free.
4. Stone-masons used iron and bronze tools to shape the drums and blocks. They lifted the marble with pulleys and cranes , and moved it into place with levers. H-shaped iron clamps were used to hold the blocks or marble together.
5. Carpenters, artists and sculptors finished the temple roof and decorations