The Hekatompedon or Hekatompedos called also as the first Parthenon

Parthenon

The Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their virgin patron. Its construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although...

 was an archaic temple

Greek temple

Greek temples were structures built to house deity statues within Greek sanctuaries in Greek paganism. The temples themselves did usually not directly serve a cult purpose, since the sacrifices and rituals dedicated to the respective deity took place outside them...

 built from limestone, some say that it was placed in the position of the present Parthenon. The temple built in the second half of 6th century BC, during the Peisistratids age, and was the older temple of Athena Polias, the most sacred building of Athens all-time. It's foundations were discovered by the German archaeologist Wilhelm Dorpfeld

Wilhelm Dörpfeld

Wilhelm Dörpfeld was a German architect and archaeologist, the pioneer of stratigraphic excavation and precise graphical documentation of archaeological projects...

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It is identified by some archaeologists with the remains of a building in the southern part of the Mycenaean

Helladic period

Helladic is a modern archaeological term meant to identify a sequence of periods characterizing the culture of mainland ancient Greece during the Bronze Age. The term is commonly used in archaeology and art history...

 wall of Acropolis

Acropolis

Acropolis means "high city" in Greek, literally city on the extremity and is usually translated into English as Citadel . For purposes of defense, early people naturally chose elevated ground to build a new settlement, frequently a hill with precipitous sides...

, a building which considered to be the ancient temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

 (in the place of the Mycenaean palace).
It is called also UrParthenon (Primary Parthenon), and had a length of 100 attic feet (32,80 m). Have been saved the sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 of the pediments, the famous "three-headed daemon", and the lions of limestone, exhibited in the Acropolis Museum

Acropolis Museum

The Old Acropolis Museum was an archaeological museum located in Athens, Greece on the archeological site of Acropolis. It is built in a niche at the eastern edge of the rock and most of it lies beneath the level of the hilltop, making it largely invisible. It was considered one of the major...

. In the main temple was placed the wooden statue (from olive wood) of Athena Polias, and in the megaron

Megaron

The megaron is the great hall of the Grecian palace complexes. It was a rectangular hall, fronted by an open, two-columned porch, and a more or less central, open hearth vented though an oculus in the roof above it and surrounded by four columns. It is the architectural predecessor of the...

 (or opisthodomos

Opisthodomos

An opisthodomos can refer to either the rear room of an ancient Greek temple or to the inner shrine, also called the adyton ; the confusion arises from the lack of agreement in ancient inscriptions. In modern scholarship, it usually refers to the rear porch of a temple...

) votives, the treasure

Treasure

Treasure is a concentration of riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered...

s, and material of the worship. There were coloured depictions on the metopes with scenes from the life of Heracles

Heracles

Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...

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External links

• Greek thesaurus - the Hekatompedon temple)