Parthenon

    The temple stands on the conventional three steps, below which the foundation platform originally created for its predecessor remained visible on the west, south and east sides of the building.  The cella consisted of two rooms end to end with hexastyle prostyle porches. Inside the colonnades, towards the end, there stood the gold and ivory statue of Athena Parthenos, the work of Phidias, representing Athena fully armed with spear, helmet, aegis and, accompanied by a snake, and holding in her extended right arm a statue of victory. The ceiling was of wood, with painted and gilded decoration. Light was admitted, as normally in Greek temples, only through the doorway when the great doors were opened.

    Dimensions of the temple at the top step are 101 by 228 ft. The steps were 20 in high, too high to use, so intermediate steps were provided at the center of each of the short sides. The eastern room was 98 ft by 63 ft, with internal Doric colonnades in two tier, structurally necessary to support the roof timbers.

    In the late sixth century the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church, and from about 1204, under the Frankish Dukes of Athens, it served as a Latin church, until in 1458 it was converted by the Turkish conquerors into a mosque