The Parthenon | History | Acropolis of Athens | Greece | 4K

The Parthenon is the most famous monument in the Greek world. Built almost 2500 years ago, it’s advanced architectural details continue to amaze us today. It was the most heavily sculpted Greek temple ever built, including a colossal statue of Athena, built by the greatest sculptor of his time. We will go through the story of this building and it’s transformation over time from an ancient treasury filled with gold and silver, to a beautifully decorated church and mosque.
Books!
The Parthenon - Mary Beard amzn.to/2X8vqf5 (Audiobook amzn.to/3nckUhH)
The Archaeology of Athens - John M. Camp amzn.to/3toKXTY
The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present amzn.to/3lafz7J
The Complete Greek Temples amzn.to/3tqAyHi
Greek Art And Archaeology c. 2500 - c.150 BCE amzn.to/3hiyjRt
The Acropolis: The New Acropolis Museum amzn.to/3nlDEvn
The Acropolis: Through its Museum amzn.to/3toP962
Ancient Greek Architects at Work: Problems of Structure and Design amzn.to/3he5sxE
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Disclaimer: This video is intended for educational and general informational purposes only. It is not considered a substitute for professional advice or further research. Any action, or inaction, taken by you based on the information contained in this video is at your own risk.
Images:
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James Stuart
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Paul Hudson from United Kingdom / CC 2.0
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John Pentland Mahaffy
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AH Smith, British Museum
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[@HistoryVictorum]

Additional Notes! 1. To clarify, Theseus was the founder Athens as a united nation including territory in Attica. This does not mean he was the first king of Athens, which is the legendary Cecrops I - James 2. The pool in front of the chryselephantine colossus may have been made of olive oil, used on the ivory parts of the statue, to let this material remain elastic - Massimo Squecco 3. I mention the Romanized name "Hercules" first because it is the name that is most widely known today, but the Greek name is actually "Heracles" -James 4. I am using the country of Turkey simply as a helpful geographic reference, if we were to look at a globe today. This is not meant to suggest at all that the country existed thousands of years ago. -James

[@gchan1137]

Thankyou. here www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/65720800?asc=u

[@Christiswithus]

[@gwwayner]

Would love to see the Parthenon completely restored. Ancient Greek architecture is so inspirational; so unlike the cold sterile skyscrapers of today.

[@vivianvaldi7871]

So right ! Skyscraper, I love you. But same warlords, with armies of employees. Vaults buildings are now built in what we call neoclassical style, nothing has really changed yet, just no more paint on it. Cultural links with the colonial greek empire, when they happen, have to stay somewhat discreet.

[@godless-clump-of-cells]

Cold, sterile skyscrapers? Do you mean the same architectural feats of engineering the Greeks would have likely attributed to as being the work of the gods?

[@nicoangel690]

@@godless-clump-of-cells your point falls flat......go back an rethink your post

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

@@godless-clump-of-cells 🤡🤡🤡🤡

[@isaacwalker5124]

Nashville Tennessee has a full size replica of the Parthenon as it would be when it was first built. Look it up. Pretty amazing

[@IvanValerioCortesi]

A big thank you to the Greeks for the culture the democracy that they have given us a world Greetings from Rome

[@evalentina81]

James you did a fantastic video, I am a guide here in Greece and really think you said it all in the most understandable way for everybody

[@creekers1135]

My amazing bloodline.❤️🇬🇷❤️

[@johnnyathanasiadis7884]

the greeks were and still are amazing

[@DipayanPyne94]

Probably not anymore. They need to improve.

[@fluffingfluff]

@@DipayanPyne94only greeks still think they are great, pride turned into arrogance, and arrogance turned into ignorance, and now Greece is a perfect third world country.

[@picknmiks4318]

Not anymore…

[@drmonicajackson]

The ultimate expression of precision, truth and beauty

[@jasonavina8135]

Absolutely incredible. I must travel there at least once in my life to see the beginnings of modern civilization and democracy.

[@holeshothunter5544]

to see these sculptures take a trip to the British Museum. The brits stole it all. Very catholic of them.

[@pickacard4474]

My country 💙

[@znmotorsports6437]

Nice place 👌

[@pickacard4474]

@@znmotorsports6437 it is u have to see also the beaches and the food

[@nicoangel690]

ZITO MAS......ZOUN

[@ankitameena5684]

Parthenon is really so touchable historical place.... I'm feeling so glad to watch this 😊

[@lechristine1372]

I mean you would be amazed how AC Oddessey remaked the Parthenon from this to their own , specialy that Gigantic Statue of Athena with the Bronze Helmet , Spear and Shield, . . . I really liked that statue.

[@HistoryVictorum]

Love what Assassin's Creed did. So good. -James

[@elisabethschultzmaddalozzo5301]

É possível traduzir?

[@papertoyss]

Fun fact: Vitruvian man, the drawing made by Leonardo da Vinci in about 1490, was actually a copy of an anaglyph used in the construction of the Parthenon. This anaglyph was being used as a length converter (a canon - a accepted standard), as the workers in the Parthenon came from different places of the Greek world and used different measuring units of length.

[@roryo1970]

Really enjoyable video with no special effects, melodramatic music or sentimentality. Well done.

[@massimosquecco203]

Thank you so much! lots of information I didn't have before.

[@supremereader7614]

That was a wonderfully done video. Thank you for showing the reconstruction of the gold ivory statue of Athena .

[@SARHistories]

This is on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing! I’ve just subscribed!

[@jrccandleco7939]

Very well narrated!! thank you!!!

[@tsokhmer7168]

So beautiful here, I actually just went to acropolis today.

[@MilledSteel]

Great quality history

[@reason827]

Very beautiful.

[@prasadhapuarachchi7337]

Thank you for sharing ❤

[@gretchengraef3012]

This video was more useful to me than the information provided at the Acropolis Museum where I just went in October 2022. Thanks so much.

[@nicoangel690]

History Victorum Well done ....in a retrospective brilliance of research ...exposition....solid vocal delivery with mesmerizing musical background effect.. and, indeed, of your seemingly love for my people's glory of Art in world history.

[@joeysoprano8405]

Great video! THANKS.

[@joefernandes1359]

Thank you. An excellent, informative video.

[@robbanks1686]

Awesome review

[@hicbirfikrimyok1966]

Excellent! Interesting, inforative & inspiring!!

[@francoisedandre3644]

7.10 Image : dans la sculpture, le temps arrêté parvient jusqu'à nous directement, par le regard. MAGNIFIQUE !

[@antjetautkus5506]

Thx👌 Super done 👍

[@robcarter533]

🤔 James, You are a True scholar! So informative and a delight to listen to! Thank you so much!

[@francoisedandre3644]

La musique accompagnant cet excellent documentaire, ennoblit à merveille la vidéo !

[@JoshuaFagan]

This is so useful and comprehensive! Thank you. I'm watching it for an art history class.

[@fathanfamily7538]

HELLO friend GOOD evening THANK you for GREAT SHARING greatting FROM INDONESIA

[@mikel3359]

Art at its best

[@alexandercle]

Many thanks for your hard work and sharing. Paideia Society

[@arisjatmika]

Hope someday i can visit Athens Greece 💖💖💖 😊🙏🏻

[@user-pm7cc9mx6j]

I hope that you will... I believe that is one of the most beautiful things to do in your life!!!

[@nicoangel690]

do not hope..... usual the sad excuse of negative accomplishment in one's existence,,,,, just GO....traveling throughout the world you'll see many beautiful cultures...but in ELLAS ( Greece ) ...... "One Will Find Himself"....so go and feel this ancient saying from the Oracle and you shall understand my words when you arrive ......Zito !

[@bluedog562]

I’m here today! Visiting the Parthenon in the morning.

[@scott49140]

im kinda new to learning about this and there was so much information in this video, however im not complaining i just have to go back and view it again bit by bit so i take it all in dont really know too much about greek mythology yet, but im excited to learn slowly

[@sortaforida718]

Just came here from Miami. Walked to the top yesterday. Was very cool

[@AlexReiter1988]

Amazing how they put those big stones up there

[@nothingishere111]

they use machines,

[@laash8863]

Thanks 🥰🥰

[@senthilkumar5007]

Great city

[@RP-mm9ie]

amaze us today.

[@JamesAdams-ev6fc]

Hold on to the idea that the inner columns and the cella define an inner building within the outer frame of the outer columns, the architraves, the pediments, the metopes, and so on. That inner building's reconstruction has the green light, so more wonders lie in store.

[@user-qu2ed1bg2e]

Thanks

[@ilyasumar2286]

omg i went to the Acropolis today this is my seventh time, would go again

[@ramonaflorescu2070]

Very interesting Acripolis of Athens/Grecee is the most important building of architecture from Greece! Acripolis is like a museum.... like a History museum! Acripolis has a lot of sculpures! Greece has a big and a beautifull History! Yeah.. Very interesting! I will give you s like :)) 👏👏👏👏

[@ramonaflorescu2070]

Sculptures*

[@ramonaflorescu2070]

You have a like from me! :))

[@nicoangel690]

PARTHENON.....the greatest brilliance of Art in Western Civilization

[@viciouslady1340]

But the museums are not be missed either.

[@dianasophia9237]

Oh my goodness, thank you for this! I love learning from short videos like this. Could you provide the song that plays at 10:00? So haunting, it’s beautiful.

[@chasllewellyn7336]

I am also VERY interested in knowing what song that is. It is beautiful!

[@chasllewellyn7336]

"Corals Under the Sun" by Yehezkel Raz and Sivan Talmor

[@freedomfighteralpha]

Well, that was an awesome presentation. Wow. Imagine hanging out there with a metal detector

[@alpananamdeo]

thx u for the information now i will get first in my class yay

[@nathanericschwabenland88888]

I would like to very much visit the Parthenon since I am over age twenty one years old it used to be ancient Egypt but things change over time

[@nathanericschwabenland88888]

Once I turn age thirty four years old I will visit the Roman colosseum because of progression issues

[@nathanericschwabenland88888]

Right now I am age thirty one years old

[@nathanericschwabenland88888]

Architecture is over looked these days

[@manstarxranx9209]

Greece is the great civilization of Europe and the world!

[@rayvanwayenburg998]

I hope they reconstruct the temples on the acropolis one day. The Greeks and Romans did in the past so there’s no need to be so precious about it now. Even the application of colour.

[@Jayhawkfinance]

Song used in the background?

[@starcapture3040]

Can you do a video on the acropolis of Amman?

[@TWOCOWS1]

Excellent production, historical and educational. You bring up historical points that none others here have. Thank you. Fab. If I may. As you mention at one point, it is not clear at all if Parthenon was a temple, but most likely the treasury, nor did it made it to the list of the Seven Wonders, listed by Greeks themselves. The Greek temple of Artemis or Apollo in Ionia were two of the Seven Wonders, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, not that of Athena at Parthenon was among the Seven wonders. So, what do these say about Parthenon at the time of the Greeks themselves?

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

One can argue that the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was much more Grand than the Parthenon! My Opinion from what we know about it.. Then again, the Parthenon was built at an Epic Location

[@user-up2iz8qv2r]

Хоть под старость в Ютубе Божественное увидеть!!! Спасибо!!! Конечно...лучше наших-КМВ!!!

[@MH-ms1dg]

4:46 woah, is that the Metope of the Annunciation?

[@tharushasan6887]

Thank You History Victorum

[@user-yp6ol4ug6b]

It amazes me how it is that our ancestors could create masterpieces everywhere using only a minimum of technical means, taking care of food and survival and doing such colossal work. In our time, having machines and equipment, we cannot even do something like that, create a masterpiece of the same level. Our ancestors were geniuses, and we are their descendants - losers (Capable only of killing, so that some banker would build himself a villa

[@yukiyu6241]

Half of Parthenon is in British Museum., the best statues and stone made tablets., you Greeks should demand its return!!

[@ddpp1420]

Correction, It shows Herakles also known as Hercules

[@HistoryVictorum]

Hey Dd Pp. I added your comment to the notes. I said "Hercules" first because it is the name most known to us today, but you are right I should have clarified which is actually Greek! -James

[@Kolious_Thrace]

Great video but just an info: The Trojan war was not a war between Greeks and Trojans Trojans were also Greeks! That was a civil war! Greek tribes like Athenians, Spartans, Achaeans went to war with another Greek tribe the Trojans Thracians, also a Greek tribe, were allies with Trojans All these written in the books are turkish propaganda to claim Troy as a part of their History! Troy had another name! It was called Ίλιον/Ílion = Helios means Sun The city was dedicated to the Sun God Apollo which was the patron God of Troy Ílion > Iliad (of Homer) the story of Troy/Ílion The lands and tribes of Minor Asia, also Greek! I see all these ancient temples in Minor Asia to be called ‘’Roman’’ no, they are Greek! Greeks had three styles! Ionian Corinthian Doric Romans adopted and made their temples with Corinthian style columns Also, in the picture said the Ephesian temple of Diana... It is the Temple of Àrtemis! The Romans also adopted the Greek pantheon and translated their names into Latin! I hate when I hear people say Venus, Minerva, Diana, Neptune and Juno are Roman Gods when in reality their are Greek Gods with their names translated to Latin! Zeus became Jupiter Hera became Juno Artemis became Diana Athena became Minerva Hermes became Mercury Poseidon became Neptune Ares became Mars Aphrodite became Venus Hestia became Vesta Hades became Pluto Kronos became Saturn....etc etc

[@ddpp1420]

99% correct , they were Greco/Atlanteans (Minoans)

[@lovme2x]

They are Roman gods so yeah lol

[@israelizzyyarrashamiaak766]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 excellent comment.

[@MrJm323]

"Trojans were also Greeks!" No, they were not. While the Trojans may have been heavily influenced by the Greeks and were worshipping deities which corresponded to Greek deities, modern scholarship holds that they were speakers of a dialect called "Luwian", and so are considered to be Hittites.

[@Kolious_Thrace]

@@MrJm323 you are wrong! Trojans were Hellenes! The city was called Ήλιον / ílion because it was dedicated to the Helios God Apollo The poem has the title Iliad because of the city of Ílion aka Troy Homer himself wrote about Achaeans and Trojans: ‘’Τὸ Ὅμαιμον, τὸ Ὁμόγλωσσον, τὸ Ὁμόθρησκον καὶ τὸ Ὁμότροπον. Ἤτοι, τὴν κοινὴ καταγωγὴ καὶ γλῶσσα, τὴν ἴδια θρησκεία, τὰ κοινὰ ἤθη καὶ ἔθιμα’’ Which means: Ομόαιμον/omò-emon: the same blood Ομόγλωσσον / omò-glosson: the same language Ομόθρησκον/omò-thriskon: the same religion Ομότροπον/omò-tropon: the same way of living! Trojans had the same blood and way of living with the rest of the Hellenes. They had the same Gods and the same language! They were speaking to each other without needing translation! Herodotus said that Hellenes are all of these that the had the same blood, language and the same way of living, the same customs. You and modern scholars know better than Homer and Herodotus if they weren’t Hellenes? 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Rodmic-hd9pn]

So is this statue still in existence or not?

[@derrickmcadoo3804]

So who created the massive stone base it sits on?

[@massimosquecco203]

PS I have just a correction: the pool in front of the chryselephantine colossus was made of olive oil, used on the ivory parts of the statue, to let this material remain elastic ( otherwise it would crack) and gleaming. At least that's what I've heard and I think it makes sense, so I add it to your excellent report.

[@HistoryVictorum]

Love it, that makes sense to me as well. Thanks for the comment! I'll pin this so that others can see. -James

[@ddpp1420]

@@HistoryVictorum You’ve done a great job but Why don’t you answer and acknowledge other comments on your mistakes

[@margaridavelhinho1478]

Why do I feel like the background music is similar to the ones used in H20 Just Add Water sometimes? Like???

[@haroldbridges515]

Very good video. I do have one correction. Lord Elgin's title is pronounced with a hard, not a soft, "g." At least according to Christopher Hitchens.

[@MaulanaSalahudinChan-ik9gp]

Alexandre The Great is in Al Kahf 83 -99 . Thank you .

[@funbobby7778]

Music?

[@Xxpobsjelollllkbaikk]

❤

[@Williplier]

What is that music at 5:43

[@HistoryVictorum]

Hey William. That song is called "Corals Under the Sun" by Yehezkel Raz and Sivan Talmor. -James

[@Evagelopoulos862]

Friese is a modern English word from Latin "fregio". In Greek is zoophoros mean life-carrying.

[@andersongraff7975]

So this is what they say about the acropolis where the Parthenon is....

[@rahmatyavery5369]

My sister name is Athena ❤️🌹

[@Chicagohitman000]

you lost me at the point when turkey was mentioned .its totally inaccurate as there was no turkey, then and didn't contribute anything mentioned here .please do some research thank you and good luck sir.

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

FACTS 💯 Very irresponsible when those "mistakes" happen. I don't think he meant it on purpose though... People should always say in Asia Minor or Anatolia....or at the worst..what is present day turkey. Make sure people know that turkish civilization has Nothing to do with any of these things..

[@ADPproductionsGR]

Turkey did not exist at the time, so the historically correct phrase should be something along those lines... "Where today's Turkey was built many centuries after". Other than that the video is very nicely done!

[@brainstormingsharing1309]

👍👏👍👏👍

[@christrap4153]

Ionian style was a Greek colony. Nothing to do with turkey. Be careful in your description

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

FACTS 💯 Very irresponsible when those "mistakes" happen. I don't think he meant it on purpose though... People should always say in Asia Minor or Anatolia....or at the worst..what is present day turkey. Make sure people know that turkish civilization has Nothing to do with any of these things..

[@sophiapapadopoyloy1050]

Turkey didn't exist

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

FACTS 💯

[@Kivas_Fajo]

Doesn't Akropolis just mean upper city?

[@Rodmic-hd9pn]

Wasn’t the statue destroyed

[@MadKingOfMadaya]

*_The fact that the Athenians built the Parthenon almost entirely with Marble means they anticipated another inferno._*

[@drackkor725]

They could have restored all of these monuments 10 times over no idea why they drag their feet.

[@azazelsamael6957]

Respected old greek engineering...

[@johnhall7850]

Lord byron objected? My gggggg uncle.😁 good.

[@lechristine1372]

15 years to build only destroyed in one day

[@OwainCynanRoberts]

They say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is…

[@giovannilagunas]

Haha😂😂😂 I see the work can I working 🎉🎉🎉

[@pluffer241]

I like your material but please slow down your talk

[@v.britton4445]

Wish I had billions to restore the Acropolis.

[@davidwalker5054]

We like to think we are better at everything than our ancesters but we are wrong. Even with all the modern technology at hand we can not equal the perfection of the parthenon or the pyramids in sculpture no one has come close to michaelangelo's pieta. Stradivarius violins are unequalled. And no modern artist can equal Rembrant. In music Beethoven Mozart stand apart

[@squigglesquaggle6553]

Elgin not Eljin

[@CarterKey6]

Westerners are amazing

[@nothingishere111]

They take from Easterners/

[@CarterKey6]

@@nothingishere111 westerners created everything what would they take from easterners?

[@nothingishere111]

@@CarterKey6 Greece was in the middle of two worlds. East and West, They travel extensive to Asia and Europa. To Africa and even to Scandinavia and the Americas. I;m sure they "give and take" knowledge and arts "from and to" many places. Mesopotamia, India, Egypt... They all have something to give. what separated Greece from Others was the emphasis to (PEDIA} education..

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

@@nothingishere111 And also their great sense of taking ideas & creating something Uniquely Greek..

[@Recordman42]

The neoGreek government had no respect for the monument and layered cement pathways which eventually are broken up as seen also in the video. What a shame...

[@jessemclinden9789]

Alexa:…the door?

[@markgrunzweig6377]

The 4 X 9, and not the Golden rect. fits within the summerian 6's. 4x9 = 36. 360 dayd a year (5 holy days which didn't count, which are now shopping days) 360 degrees etc. 3+6 = 9, the number of the Godess. 3x6 = 18 = 9 etc.. A compass eteched a circle on the flat area, where the Parthenon was built Athena (wisdom) So, ask your grandmother!! Lol! Wonderful documentary!!! Solved the mystery why the G. Ratio wan't used! Of course it's all a mystery, and that's the wonder and vivality of life. I don't have a cell phone etc., to keep the mystery when I venture out through my day! Need a manager? I only take 10% after we make sustainability!!!! Any number 20's in your studies?

[@HistoryVictorum]

Awesome! If we need a manager we'll keep you in mind. Haha. -James

[@markgrunzweig6377]

@@HistoryVictorum Thanks, Ha,ha! I can do the soft soap and the tough character, so you can always play the high part. LIke FDR once told a group of reporters from the rear of his train car, upon a return to D.C.: "I'm a tough guy!" Lol!

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

People should always say in Asia Minor or Anatolia...or at the worst..what is present day turkey. Make sure people know that turkish civilization has Nothing to do with any of these things..

[@markgrunzweig6377]

The Pysche (heart/gut/ center of chest, conciousness) loves curves, the older the building the rounder it is like time actually is (on old round clock) modern buildings are rectangle of the mind (head), based on an ideology, which is America's religion, albeit a false one.

[@twstf8905]

Of COURSE cultural and historical artifacts should be returned to their home countries! The Elgin Marbles especially. Or, as they should be called; The Parthenon Marbles. Because Lord Elgin didn't "rescue" them from the Parthenon ruins for curative posterity, he made a deal with the Ottoman Empire at the time who were occupying Athens for half of the collection, (amongst many other artifacts,) for personal display in his own private collection, otherwise he would have negotiated for them all!! He only eventually sold them to the British Parliament shortly before his death, which is how they ended up where they are now. It's not as if they were rescued restored and donated for conservation purposes, like some would have people believe. (As evidenced in this "debate.") It's telling that the only people seriously asking that question, whether or not it "should" happen, are the people living in or are the people in control of the places in which the cultural and historical artifacts are currently being kept. No outside observers or especially the property's rightful owners even consider it debatable in the slightest! The British Museum is the most stark example, but they're certainly not the only ones hoarding massive amounts of other people's property. And unless they're prepared to allow Egypt, for example, to come to the Avesbury plain and dig and package up and then haul away Stonehenge, for whatever reason or excuse, for "conservation" at the Cairo Museum, everything that's being hoarded away inside the British Museum should be _immediately_ returned to the countries from where they came. "Enlightened" and "cosmopolitan" conception of culture or not, the mere fact that the British Museum is demanding a prerequisite to Athens to officially renounce ownership of the Parthenon Marbles is the most telling concept of all! Why, if the British Museum is so affirmed of their legal rights to the artifacts does it make a declaration of renouncement for the property a prerequisite for even agreeing to LOAN the Marbles to Greece?! If ownership was so secure, there wouldn't be any need for hedging, whatsoever. Indicating that not even the British Museum is confident in their own propriety. Not to mention that confidence would have rendered any such debate obsolete, to begin with! What they can't avoid is that legal ownership is tenuous, at BEST. The whole reason these debates even occur. And, clearly also the whole reason they're insisting the Greeks commit to renouncing ownership as a prerequisite to even lending the Marbles, to Greece herself. Of course Stephen Fry is right; The Imperialistic shamelessness knows NO bounds. Full stop. ✌️

[@andreasweber1309]

Hätte gerne einen Deutschen Untertitel