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to the Greeks gave birth to philosophy. The reason was applied to all sciences, which devoted themselves to reach perfection and the truth and the result was the emergence of think tanks such as the Schools and Academies. The first reference to mathematics and science in general as a philosophical concept we have in Ionia, Asia Minor (now Turkey) where Thales founded a school whose main feature was the naturalistic explanation of the phenomena surrounding. Athens later becomes the most important cultural center of antiquity and characters emerge as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle to make blush of timidity modern philosophers. 
The Dorífero. copy of a work of Policleto .- (The carrier launches). 2.12 mts. Archaeological Museum of Naples. The beauty is conceived as the result of mathematical calculations. The famous Canon of Polykleitos unfortunately lost explains the principles of the system of proportions that the human body should have, among other measures indicated that the head should be the seventh of the body.
3 .- natural and idealized representation of the human figure .- The human body was the main reason of Greek art. For millennia the man had been considered a subject to be despised despots gods and kings, but the Greeks gave dignified and self-worth as an individual and thinking "... The world is full of wonders - Sophocles said - But nothing is as wonderful as the man himself ... "
Now this natural representation of the human form was idealized and perfect answer to a conception of the human body, flawless tangible, only sculpted figures of gods and young athletes in fullness of its beauty.
only from the Hellenistic period, through the exploration of human emotion, a deeper knowledge of anatomy and the pursuit of individuality will reach a realistic concept of man. In this last phase of Greek art, it represents a human being full of emotion and shortcomings, so for example if you're dying embodies the pain and agony if you are elderly your wrinkles are seen on the marble.
Venus de Milo .- Anonymous. (Aprox.130 to 100 BC) (211 cm.) Marble. Louvre Museum. It is one of the most representative sculptures of Hellenistic period, a paradigm of beauty and sensuality of women, admired by all and copied by artists like Dali. Milo was found in one of the Cyclades islands and unearthed by a farmer who sold the French ambassador in 1819. The Turkish government claimed the statue in 1960 arguing that the statue had been taken illegally from the island under the rule of the Ottoman Empire at that time. By being denied the statue threatened that if not returned, it would never recover their arms. As for his arms, no one believed they were in possession of the Turks and it is assumed that one held the robe and the other the apple of gold award from the Prince Paris to Aphrodite, by winning the most beautiful goddess Olympus, which provoked the end of the Trojan War.
4 .- .- foreshortening The great discovery of Greek art was the foreshortening. Although during the Archaic period the sculptures were rigid, symmetrical and subject to the law of the frontal, little by little the Greek artist started to represent the human figure in the same perspective that the see, giving natural movement. It is only during the Hellenic period, the Greeks achieved mastery of foreshortening and consequently the body turn and twist giving a new perspective to the human figure in motion.
The foreshortening is used in painting and sculpture to represent a body part is rotated relative to the rest. According to the encyclopedia Wikipedia, foreshortening is to reduce the length of the objects under the rules of perspective, is the term used to refer to a body at an angle or perpendicular to our eye level.
The foreshortening occurs mainly in the Hellenistic period, circa 320 BC, as indicated and then longer used during the Middle Ages, reappearing in the Renaissance.
Laocoon and his sons .- (2.45 mts) white marble. Vatican Museum. Rhodes School Hellenistic period .- It is a Greek original found in 1506 on land that had been part of the Palace of the Emperor Titus. Miguel Angel helped identify it as the work described by Pliny the Elder. When he found he lacked the right arm of Laocoon, he's one of the sons, the hand of another child, and parts of the snakes, Miguel Angel proposed restoring and even held the arm of Laocoon but never to colocársele. In 1905 he found his arm, as Michelangelo had sculpted and restored the work. Represents the priest Laocoon and his sons devoured by two sea snakes, which were deserving punishment for trying to warn the Trojans of the danger of the famous Trojan horse. The figures appear in different scale, reminiscent of Egyptian art that gave the larger figure. This work follows the pyramid and the most noticeable feature is the foreshortening, the bodies turn its central axis masterfully.
.- 5.-Polychrome long been believed that the white marble temples and sculptures were typical of Greek beauty, even the great archaeologist Winckelmann in his "History of ancient art" spoke of the whiteness of the marble as a aesthetics rule "... like white is the color that reflects as much light rays, is more noticeable and therefore a body will be much more beautiful the whiter it ... "It is so radiantly Winckelmann idealized white marble and rose to the rank of law, respected by Michelangelo, Bernini, Antonio Canova, etc. to make their sculptures. ("Greek Art." Michael Siebler, Edt. Taschen. P. 23)
But the discovery of new sources Greek archaeological study with modern tools and devices have demonstrated the falsity of that fact. The reality is that Greek art was polychrome.
We therefore get used to the idea of \u200b\u200ba Parthenon with its walls, reliefs and colorful columns, because the Greeks believed that a work was not completed until the painters did their work.
"... Pliny the Elder includes an anecdote that illustrates this thesis. On one occasion by asking what their favorite marble sculptures, the famous sculptor Praxiteles answered "Nicias manum quibus admovisset" (those who put their hands Nicias). Accordingly, not only highlighted Nicias for his paintings, but also for his "cirumlitio" by fully painting a statue ... "(" Greek Art. "Michael Siebler, Edt. Taschen. p. 25)
map expansion of Greek culture. red symbols represent the Greek colonies, while the yellows are Phoenician colonies 
Kouros and Kores .-. statues are stiff and symmetrical, which comply with the principle of frontal or frontal, typical of Egyptian sculpture, the figure is made to be viewed from the front. Kouros or Kuros word means young man often depicted nude. The Kores or female figures have the same characteristics of their male counterparts, but are represented naked. Note in both illustrations the typical "archaic smile."
chryselephantine Zeus. Phidias. (Aprox.432 BC) is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The statue average 12 feet tall and was sculpted in ivory overlaid with gold and precious stones. According to testimony at the time, God was sitting on a throne with a naked torso and head crowned with an olive branch. In his right hand holding a Nike (Victory) and the other a scepter topped with an eagle. Appeared on the throne in relief scenes of the birth of Aphrodite, goddess of love and the killing of the children of Niobe. Reproduction more reliable for the currency of Elis, in one side appears enthroned Zeus and the other details of his head. According to literary sources, Phidias to make the statue of Zeus established the idea of \u200b\u200bwhat a god should be. Perhaps the statue was transported to Constantinople where it was destroyed by fire.
literary flourishes in the tragedy with Aeschylus, Sophocles and Eurípedes, comedy with Aristophanes, history with Herodotus and Thucydides, and finally emerge Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in Philosophy.
Recreation Acropolis of Athens .-
The two great powers are the cities of Athens, and Sparta great cultural development characterized by his spirit and military training Both come into conflict during Peleponeso War, a bloody civil war that brought about the end of the Athenian hegemony and democracy and the weakening of city-states.
4 .- Hellenistic Period.
Alexander Mosaic. (5.82 x 3.13 mts.). (Approx. 200 BC). Found in the House of the Faun in Pompeii, now in the Archaeological Museum of Naples. The size of the tiles is 2 to 3 cm and the total number to 1,500,000. The mosaic is considered a faithful copy of one of the paintings Eretria philoxenos or Apelles and represents the battle of Issus, where Alexander defeated Darius III of Persia. In the scene shows Alexander with her head uncovered and attacking with the spear. Persian soldiers are terrified and disarray in their ranks, on the ground are broken arms, horses, knocked down and killed or wounded soldiers. The colors of the mosaic are: white, yellow, red and black, all in various shades. The Roman city of Pompeii, buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD absorbed the culture, customs and religion of the Magna Grecia.
Greek architecture .- Greek
The main buildings are:
THE TEMPLE:
The king of Greek architecture is conceived as the temple abode of the gods, its interior was reserved to house the statue of the patron deity and which only allowed access to the priests. Greek temples did not fulfill the duties of a church as a meeting place of the faithful in prayer, for it was built to be admired only from outside.
Indeed, the role of the Greek temple was usually host the hieratic and impressive image of the god in whose honor was built, the priests and priestesses were responsible for performing the rites sacred as the men gathered outside before the porch.
The Greek temple was created as rudimentary wooden and adobe buildings erected in the woods. Ancient myths refer to shrines built outdoors. Apollonius of Rhodes wrote that "... Argonauts stopped at an island where prepared (for Apollo) in a shady forest, a splendid venue and an altar built of stacked stones ..." ("Greece from Mycenae to the Parthenon, Henri Stierlin , edt. Taschen.pag 40).
In this regard, we note that many trees were attributed to the gods: Athena was identified with the olive the laurel Apollo, Zeus with oak Dionysus with grapes ... the wooden temples were built to honor the god for sites populated by trees.
Later, during the Archaic period the temple was petrified, resulting in a strictly mathematical technique that spans from Asia Minor to the Magna Grecia in southern Italy. Thus, the old wooden buildings are ennobled with marble and the room indented or "cell" is surrounded on one side and later on all sides by "Peristyle" a series of columns forming a portico around the sanctuary. This colonnade surrounding one of its most distinctive features of the Greek temple and the sacred world communicates of the cella to the outside world of nature.
It is obvious the association between the temple and sacred grove. The peristyle or portico períptero represents the forest and has its origin in the free worship the gods and the aforementioned primitive wooden constructions. Varro, described the inauguration of a shrine stressing that "... the temple is a limited space with trees ..." ("Greece from Mycenae to the Parthenon, Henri Stierlin, edt. Taschen.pag. 41). Consequently, for the Greek temple was nothing more than a sanctuary surrounded by sacred trees.
From the above, it is easy to conclude that the colonnade is the recollection periptera or evocation of the sacred grove. "... The exterior colonnade or portico recalls surrounding vegetation, whose stems and trunks sprout from the ground to form, under sunlight, a place of convergence among men and divinities, a loop between earth and sky. The peristyle of the temple embodies, therefore, the sacred forest, the memory saved sanctuaries across the mutation that represents the stage of "petrified" of the structures built when the temple is built entirely on hard, first in blocks of tufa and then crystal surfaces marble ... "(" Greece from Mycenae to the Parthenon, Henri Stierlin, edt. Taschen.pag. 41 and 42)
Greek temple features .-
1.-Materials: early architecture was made of wood and mud or clay, which no remains are preserved. Subsequently incorporate other materials such as stone and marble with which they were created magnificent temples. The roofs were covered with wood and tiles.
lintel 2 .- Architecture: It uses a structure called horizontal lintel or architrave to cover the space between two pillars or columns.
In the history of architecture, three elements structural factors that have given rise to three types of buildings. The first and most basic is the threshold, giving rise to the lintel and lintel architecture used for example in dolmens, Egypt and Greece, the second is the arc that made the vaulted architecture and the third discovery was the use of steel and concrete of modern varieties with which it forms an internal skeleton that allows buildings to have the most different and daring ways. The Greeks, as noted above lintel architecture adopted for the construction of their temples, however know a sort of vault (Mauselo of Atreus).
3 .- Column: The basic element of Greek architecture and grace is the column 
as to its characteristics we can distinguish three styles: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, which will be explained later.
"... Everything Greek monument is based on the column. Of force or rely upon this slender proportions of the church. The ratio between the diameter and height of the column, called by the Greeks ratio module, forms the building. With his concern for clarity and unity, the Greeks fell to three architectural expressions: nobility, grace and luxury, correspuestas by three orders: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian ... " ("History of Art." Germain Bazin. Edic. Omega, pág.74)
The column is composed of three elements: based, shaft and capital.
The based is the foot or bottom of the column which supports the shaft.
The shaft is the main body of the column. The Greeks built by attaching cylindrical sections one above the other, protruding central part in order that the visual perspective does not seem disproportionate to perform them, also their thickness was decreasing from the bottom up.
The capital, derived from the Greek word meaning head hood and is at the top of the column, serves to support the horizontal entablature, although their forms are very different, they usually have three parts: the collar piece that joins the shaft, a drum or main body usually ornate and an abacus, upper part which supports the lintel.
4 .- peristyle or colonnade periptera: is a series of columns surrounding the cella or room which houses the divine image, forming a portico that runs along the entire temple, and as explained above, evokes the sacred forest, petrified at the prospect of permanence. The gates are the entrance that connects nature with the divine world. Arguably, the peristyle is the main contribution of the Greeks to the architecture.
not be confused with the Roman peristyle courtyard house surrounded by columns and adorned with fountains.
Temples of Paestum, a city of so-called Magna Grecia in southern Italy, dedicated to the gods Poseidon (front) and Hera (back). They are very well preserved, because they suffered from the onslaught of the Persian invasions and Greece. Note the number of columns that make up the two colonnades and whose function is to support the architrave. Archaic Period, Doric.
ornamental sculpture .- 5 .- The Greek temples were decorated with reliefs of the pediments and friezes, which not only meet aesthetic work, but also had a philosophical function.
The study of ornamental sculpture of the temples reveals the beliefs of the Greeks and indicates that there is a universe in which man is surrounded by gods and monsters.
Thus the struggle against the Lapita centaurs, the struggle of giants, the labors of Hercules, the fight against the Amazons deal with the eternal confrontation between good and evil, of civilization against barbarism, of reason against the irrational. The temple is then to represent the balance between these two forces. Recreation
pediment and the metopes of the Parthenon sculpted and painted.
6 .- Architecture .- polychrome While it is true that today we are seduced by the white marble of Greek temples, glittering in the sunlight, at the time were enriched by chromatic effects.
Archaeologists and historians from the studies presented in 1762 which concluded that the Greek temples were multicolored. Are now fully demonstrated that Greek architecture was not a product of pale marble art, but it offered rich nuances and eg triglyphs and metopes funds could be a blue and red capitals and architraves. The temple and the reliefs were covered with a thin layer of plaster on which the colors were applied.
7 .- .- Aesthetics Symmetria The aesthetics of Greek buildings was closely related to the value that Pythagoras gave the numbers. ".. The number is the beginning of all things. It represents the eternal nature of reality. The number pre-exist in the spirit of God and the divine number is at the origin of rhythm and harmony, which depends on the relationship between proportions. The numbers are that give the work its beauty and perfection ... "(" Greece. From Mycenae to the Parthenon. "Henri Stierlin. Edt.Taschen, p. 61)
This conception of number, proportion is what the Greeks called" Symmetria " understood as a system of proportions that tends to balance and harmony of the building. This law applies not only result in the architecture, but music rules the entire universe. From there the squadron, inspired by the mathematician Pythagoras, is the tool of architects.
"... By combining the relative dimensions (height, width, thickness) of the various elements, that is the support (column) the interval (between the columns) and the sustained surface (the entablature), could achieve, according to his genius, the effects of rhythm and harmony that are the architecture itself, conceived by the Greeks as the science of numbers ... "(" History Art. "Germain Bazin. Edic. Omega, pág.74)
ELEMENTS OF A GREEK TEMPLE .-
columns can have different forms according to the three Greek orders (Doric, Ionian and Corinthian). They are the support of lintel or header, a horizontal piece that connects them to each other. In some cases the front column heights can be replaced by women, or Caryatids.
rests on the columns entablature entablature This in turn is composed of three parts: architrave, frieze and cornice.
The Tholos at Delphi. This circular building was constructed between AD 380 and 360 BC It has 20 Doric columns arranged in a circle outside diameter 14.76 meters, with 10 Corinthian columns inside. Three of the Doric columns were restored, improving the aesthetics of the monument, making it the most iconic and photographed temple of Delphi.
was a civilian building for the celebration of performances and dramatic performances, every Greek city had an outdoor theater built on a hill on which the stands were cut in a semicircular shape, so that the natural inclination of the terrain would allow viewers the full picture of the stage. The theaters were built with a simplicity and economy and had remarkable elements of three parts: the bleachers for spectators, circular orchestra for the choir and a scene before a wall decorated architecturally. These buildings were dedicated to the god Dionysus. Examples: the theater of Dionysus at the Acropolis, the Theatre of Epidaurus, the theater of Herod ...
Greek Theatre Epidaurus. (IV century BC) built by Polykleitos, the young, for Asclepeia holiday celebration in honor of the god Asclepius or Aesculapius, the god of medicine. Tests were performed gymnastics, theater and music concerts. It consists of a 20-meter circular orchestra diameter, a semicircular tiers carved into the slope of the land, suitable to receive 14,000 spectators and a building or scene in ruin. The sound is extraordinary and you hear the voice actors from the last step. Had two types of steps, some with backs and arms for other personalities and simple for the people. Are currently giving performances. The city of Epidaurus became the largest treatment center of antiquity.
Odeon of Herodes Aticus Hellenic Period .- .- Built on the Acropolis of Athens by the Roman consul Herodes Aticus in the year 161, in honor of his wife. It had capacity for 5,000 spectators and is currently remodeling and present musical and other measures as the Miss Universe 1973.
Agora .- Among the buildings major public utility is the agora or public square, an open space used for social gatherings, meetings, markets and even was used by teachers to teach their disciples, was usually surrounded by the most important buildings of the city. The agora is an urban invention of the Greeks and has its equivalent in the Roman Forum.
"... The Agora was the center of the commercial, political, religious, social administration and Athens and was the place where the Athenians gathered to exchange ideas and goods, learn, discuss, criticize the government or simply to talk . In short, the Athenian agora was the place where democracy was conceived the first History. In the Agora were administrative buildings, temples, public utilities, courts, theaters, schools, libraries and portals ("stoas') ..."
( www.guiadegrecia.com/images/agora-5.jpg )
The bouleterion or Council of Five Hundred was the real administrative or governing body of Athenian democracy. Worked in the council chamber, court and other public offices. Unfortunately not retain any of these buildings.
At first the Boule was composed of 400 advisers at the time increased Cleisthenes to 500. They were chosen annually by lot from among citizens over 30 years and received a salary of five coins or mites. The Greeks also built
stages for the celebration of sports, the oldest is in Olympia in the Peleponeso, there were the first Olympic Games in 776 BC The stadium had about 200 meters long. Gyms and indoor lectures perimeter and without covers that served as a sports center, cultural and social. Over time, the sports concept of the arena, where they fought and box was extended and its headquarters is also carried on philosophical discussions. Racecourses, where they held horse racing and other buildings as bridges, fountains, etc. .
Outline of the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian respectively. The first two coexisted and reached its peak in the classical age The third is typical of the Hellenistic period. -
The Doric .-
is not until the following century when the style develops fully. This is the order 
n after the Dorians, though both styles co-existed in Greece and are subsequently inherited by the Romans. 
Temple Athena Nike, or Victorious Athena Kalicrates .- .- the edge of the abyss, like the prow of a ship, the small temple of Nike held a key point in the layout of the Acropolis. Note the columns with volutes and continuous frieze decoration characteristic of Ionic .-
Temple of Athena in Priene, Ionia, Asia Minor (now Turkey) .- Work of Pythian, author of Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Only five remain standing Ionic columns, with their scrolls, which allow an imperfect appreciation of the construction
The Erechtheion .- Mnesicles (approx. 421 to 406 BC) Ionic Order. Temple complex dedicated to the Greek Acropolis multiple services. Dedicated to the gods Athena and Poseidon Erechtheus and hero. Has been used as a church for Christians and the Ottoman harem has four very different fronts, north lobby showing an elegant Ionic columns on the south the famous porch of the Maidens, famous women shaped columns on the east chapel Athena and the west one species of windows.
Pergamon Altar of Zeus at .- Ionic Order. (197-159 BC) - Work of the Hellenic era .- The temple was built during the reign of Eumenes II in the city of Pergamum. In 1886 he was transported, moved and rebuilt in the city of Berlin, thanks to a financial settlement with the Turkish government, which received 20,000 marks in return. The building rises broadly on a podium decorated with monumental reliefs of 2.30 x 113 meters, which deal with the Gigantomachy and the struggle of the Olympian gods against the giants. At the end of World War II, the altar was moved to Moscow, as spoils of war, where he remained until 1959. He is currently in Berlin at the Pergamon Museum.
THE CORINTHIAN .-
This style, much more ornate than the previous ones or refilled appears from the V century BC 
. and will differ only in the capital of the Ionian.
In fact, the Corinthian capital is inverted bell-shaped and is decorated with acanthus leaves, alternating with long, short of which hatch into little spirals that will serve to support the abacus.
be attributed to the sculptor Kalimac the invention of the Corinthian capital. Within this style stands the temple of Zeus in Athens (174 BC) and Lisícrates lantern in Athens, a memorial commissioned by the poet Lisícrates to present the trophy won in the contest theater.
Temple of Zeus in Athens .- Also known as Olimpeion. It was built in V century BC by the tyrant Pisistratus, after his death was abandoned. During the Macedonian domination, the Roman architect Cossutius continued with its construction. In times of Roman rule, the general Sulla took two of his columns to adorn the Roman Temple of Jupiter Capitoline. Finally the emperor Hadrian, a great admirer of Greek culture ordered its completion in the second century. It is the largest Greek temple, was 96 x 40 meters and 104 columns Corinthian, each 17 meters high, which are only 15 feet.
Lísicrates .- The lantern ( 334 BC) (6 x 2.8 meters) .- M Hellenistic Period 
onumento memorial erected in Athens at the time of Alexander the Great as a tribute to the winner of a contest theater. On a square base architecture is a monument of six Corinthian columns above shows a basket of acanthus leaves on which rested the prize, now disappeared. The frieze was decorated with reliefs of the god Dionysus.
as sacred rock in which were concentrated the main religious buildings. 
Mnesicles The Propylaea .- 5 .- monumental marble door gave access to the Acropolis. It combined Doric and Ionic styles. In one of its wings was the first art gallery located in the world which outlined the work of Polygnotus Greek painter, known by the descriptions given by historians of the period.
Next to the staircase access Propylaea is the famous Temple of Athena Nike or Athena victorious. This temple was erected to commemorate the naval battle of Salamis, in which the Greeks defeated the Persians during World War II medical.
The Temple of Athena Nike was built in marble, in the year 427 BC by the architect Kalicrates in Ionic and housed inside a winged image the goddess, which cut off his wings so that he could never abandon the city.
Each facade has 4 elegant Ionic columns, which are raised on a stepped platform, plus two other columns are the effect of the tiny portal cella. A fully sculpted frieze tells the struggle of the Greeks against the Persians and it highlights a magnificent relief of the goddess Athena tying his sandal. The temple has no pronaos. Its small size 5 meters by 5 meters makes it stand out among all the great temples of the Acropolis.
Temple of Athena Nike. (approx. 427 BC) Kalícrates. (5 x 5 m and 8 m. tall.) Jewel of the Ionian architecture, its facade is made up of four graceful columns and has a continuous sculpted frieze around the building gives alluding to medical wars.
tying Athena sandal .- Her transparent dress is the technique of wet garments invented by Phidias, which causes a cascade of pleats highlight the female form of the goddess. It has been attributed to the sculptor Callimachus, creator of the Corinthian capital. Originally it was in the temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis.
Once doors flanked Propylaea was in central statue of 9 meters high Promak Athena, patron goddess of the city in bronze by Phidias, which has not been preserved, on both sides of this sculpture was erected the Parthenon and the Erechtheion.
Acropolis of Athens. Aerial . First observed the Propylaea, monumental gates through which they accessed. In one of its sides is the small and beautiful temple of Athena Nike. Behind is the Parthenon, the most perfect of Greek temples and the Erechtheion with its famous caryatids. Also see part of the defensive walls Pelárgikon calls. In the center of the Acropolis was a bronze statue of the goddess Athena by Phidias, now defunct.
The Erechtheion was built in the years 421 to 406 BC, the Greek temple complex so strongly contrasted with the sobriety of the Parthenon.
The temple is dedicated to various gods and heroes, and was home to various cults or rites. This multiplicity of functions answered the many spaces in the building.
Its plant is disconcerting on two levels and possibly is associated with the myth about the competition held between the gods Athena and Poseidon to be recognized as the protectors of the city. Poseidon flow a fountain of salt water with his trident, Athena turn germinated an olive tree, which is why the city was dedicated. The Greeks considered the Acropolis and the site of the annual competition celebrating the cult of the olive.
has four completely different fronts: to the east is a cover with six Ionic columns, which leads into a rectangular sanctuary or cella, which was the cult statue of Athena. At the bottom of the cella or naos other cella was divided into two spaces dedicated to Hephaestus and twins Butes respectively. Here on the west side was another rectangular sanctuary dedicated to Erechtheus, Greek hero, founder of the city of Athens. The facade south leading into the sanctuary of the god Poseidon and finally in the north facade front porch appears moving towards the cliff, known as the porch of the Caryatids, where the columns are replaced by six statues of women, in the pure ionic .
The Erechtheion is a composition of "baroque" in which he combines the elegance of the Ionic columns, the columns or Cariátides female figures and an intricate and asymmetric plant with several shrines.
The Erechtheion .- (421 to 406 BC) Ionian style. Hero is named after Erechtheus, founder and king of the city Athens and Poseidon who have preferred to sacrifice for the goddess Athena as protectress of the city. Butes his twin brother was the priest of the goddess, which is why both were given death worship in the temple. The myth tells that Erechtheus was very close three daughters, who had sworn that dead one, the other two would continue to stay together forever. Once the contest between Poseidon and Athena to achieve the city, the angry sea god sent his son Eumolpus to conquer the city. The oracle was consulted and he predicted that the city would be spared only if they sacrificed a daughter of Erechtheus. This was done and the other two doing their oath committed suicide. Erechtheus beat Eumolpus in the battle but he was assassinated by angry Poseidon with his trident.
The Erechtheion. Porch of the Caryatids .- inaccessible from the inside, is named after the six statues of girls or Kores, which serve as columns. Currently the original columns were removed and their copies are exhibited. Five of the Caryatids are in the Acropolis Museum and the sixth in the British Museum.
Caryatid .- The caryatids are sculptures shaped women, whose role was to provide support 
or column. Currently none of the caryatids originals are in the Erechtheum have all been moved to museums and copies have their place. The name comes from the city of Caria, destroyed during the Wars of Medicine, the women were turned into slaves, and sentenced to a punishment heavier tasks. In these sculptures, the Greeks remain the punishment for all eternity.
friezes of the Parthenon. Panathenaic Procession Phidias .- .- British Museum. Known as Elguín marbles, the British Earl stripped the Parthenon of its relief to take them to England. Currently there is a claim of Greece so that the marbles be returned to him. The original frieze is 160 meters x 1 meter, consisting of 378 figures and 245 animals coming to the festival in honor of the goddess Athena. The frieze that way continuous around the cella, was a novelty in the Ionian made Doric temple. Is carved in bas-relief unlike the gable, in which the figures are in the round and in the metopes, which are in high relief.
Finally, note that the Parthenon kept in good condition nearly two thousand years, despite being intended for different uses: church, mosque and later Turkish magazine. In 1687 the Venetian army under the command of Francesco Morosini laid siege to the Acropolis, the Turks, under the belief that the Europeans would not dare fire at the temple, stored gunpowder. However a Venetian bomb destroyed the magazine wreaking havoc on the structure. Later, in the early nineteenth century English Lord Elgin robbed the temple of the reliefs that were and moved to England where they are still in the British Museum.
