Dutch scholars claim that the name “Parthenon” – popularised in the Roman period - originally belonged to an entirely different building, not the vast stone temple that looms over Athens and attracts millions of tourists a year.It's hard to correct an error that old.
The real Parthenon was in fact an ancient Greek treasury which contained offerings to the goddess Athena, according to the research by Utrecht University.
Today known as the Erechtheion, it is located about 100 yards from the main temple on the Acropolis, the massive rocky escarpment that rises from central Athens.
Rather than being known as the Parthenon, the big temple should be known by its original ancient Greek name, the tongue-twisting Hekatompedon.
Getting It Wrong
Apparently we've been mistaken about the name of a building for thousands of years.
I agree that it'd be tough to get people to change the name now, but man, oh man, do I like to say "Hekatompedon". I'll get on the renaming bandwagon for that.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of curious to me that in a place where the same people live now as then (Greeks), that the name would change. Why did the locals not pass on the knowledge of the correct name?
ReplyDeleteThe Erechtheion is most famous for it's Porch of the Caryatids- which is notable as the best example of sculptural female columns.
Now when you said “female columns,” I envisioned columns that function somehow like a female plug end. But no, you meant columns made to look female.
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