The ParthenonBuilding the Parthenon was a greater feat than ever before. Work on the Parthenon began in 477 BC. A much smaller sanctuary already stood at this site, to which we can attribute various surviving decorative elements: lions and serpents, a cornice incised with flying birds, and a blue-bearded trinity that may represent Cecrops, Erechtheus, and Poseidon. If such a building actually existed, it was demolished to make way for a huge limestone platform, measuring approximately 252 feet by 103 feet, which was built as the base for the new temple. The slope of the Acropolis was such that if on the north side the foundations rested directly on the bedrock, the south-east corner had to be built with no less than twenty-two courses, in order to correct a difference in height of thirty-five feet . This was just the beginning of the temple. The actual base of the new temple was smaller than the platform, as can still be clearly seen. The temple itself was Doric, with a peristyle of six columns at each end and sixteen on the sides. With the exception of the lowest course of the base, the structure was to be built entirely of Pentelic marble. The first year of construction was almost entirely devoted to the extraction and transport of Mount Pentelicus marble, this pure white, fine-grained stone which, due to its light iron content, weathers until the pale honey gold so characteristic of the Parthenon itself. This part of the work, too often ignored or taken for granted, presented formidable obstacles which were overcome only with extraordinary ingenuity. The chisel marks can still be seen where the rectangular blocks were first cut out and then separated from the rest of the excavation using water --...... middle of paper..... .more than the humans standing nearby. In my findings, I discovered that not only was there one Parthenon, but there were several. The Parthenon has been rebuilt several times during its existence. The information about the temple was very comprehensive, but I found that there are many discrepancies in all the writings about the Parthenon. There was a lot of confusion about the exact number of columns; this is the only big confusion I found. Bibliography: Green, Peter. The Parthenon. New York: Newsweek, 1973. Hambidge, Jay. The Parthenon. New Haven: Yale University, 1924. MacDonald, William L. The Pantheon. Cambridge: Harvard University, 1976. Neils, Jenifer. “Reconfiguring the gods on the Parthenon frieze.” The Art Bulletin 81.1 (March 1999): 6-20. http://homer.reed.edu/Parthenon.html, The Parthenon, designed by: David Silverman.