appearance would not come up to expectation. If, on the other hand, the same
thing were to happen to Athens, one would conjecture from what met the eye that
the city had been twice as powerful as in fact it is.
(1, 10)Thucydides’ words are prophetic. The Parthenon, even in its ruined state, has become
an inspiring symbol of Athenian greatness and of the spirit that distinguished the
Athenian from the Spartan, a symbol of the Athenian cultivation of the Greek feeling
for beauty that the Spartans had repressed. (There are no Spartan remains to stir the
imagination.) More than a symbol, it is a real cultural emblem, the marble embodi-
ment of the Classical spirit (fig. 56a).
The motive force behind its building is suggested by the later Greek historian
Plutarch (ADc. 50–120):
When the Spartans began to be vexed by the growing power of Athens, Pericles,
by way of encouraging the people to cherish ever higher ambitions and making
them believe themselves capable of great achievements, introduced a proposal
that all the Greeks... should be invited to send delegates to a congress at Athens.
The subjects to be discussed were the Greek sanctuaries which had been burned
down by the Persians... and the security of the seas.
(Life of Pericles, 17)238 THE GREEKS
FIGURE 54 Model restoration of the Athenian Acropolis with the Propylaea and the
temple of Athena Nike (completed in 424) in the right foreground; the Parthenon
(completed in 432) beyond and the Erechtheum (completed in 406) to the left centre
Source:Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto © ROM