To reflect Pericles' Pan-Hellenic claims for Athens, the Parthenon was uniquely designed as a Doric temple with several Ionic features. The original width was intended to be 23.533m. The temple was extended to 30.88, and so wider than the temple of Zeus in Olympia. It however, was not so greatly extended in length. The original length at 66.94 with six by sixteen columns gave a surprisingly long affect. The new length, 69.503, accommodated one extra column, making a total of seventeen, and the façade now accommodated eight instead of six. The dimensions of the stylobate 230 x 102 were in the same proportion. Instead of clay the roof tiles were marble. The porch of the Naos had six Doric columns; the Naos itself was extremely high so that it could hold the enormous statue of Athena that was sculptured by Pheidas. The inside walls were surrounded by a two story Doric colonnade, creating an isle that ran along around the statue. The Doric Naos was complemented by the Opisthodomos, which had four Ionic columns rising in the centre.The temple was to be made completely of marble and there were to be no spared expense. Even the tiles that were vast were made from heavy marble slabs. Near Athens was Mount Pentelikon, were a source of coarse marble was found and Pentellic marble that was used throughout the creation of the Parthenon. The cella was non-standard, having two rooms, one larger than the other that faced eastwards. This room contained Pheidas’ gold and ivory statue. The other smaller room that faced westwards, and was square in shape held treasures that were donated to the sanctuary. The smaller westward room contained four single Ionic columns, they were much slender than the Doric so they were able to reach the floor without taking up to much of the internal quarters. The eastward facing room had two storey Doric columns. The storeys linked together behind the massive statue of Athena on the end wall. In front of both these rooms were porches which again differed to the ordinary layout of a temple They were Prostyle rather than inantis, which meant that in an ordinary temple where the porches were formed by rather large extensions of the side walls, with a pair of columns in between. In the Parthenon the extension of the side walls was relatively short, and the porch colonnades were placed with their columns some way in front of the side walls. The width of the cella was the same as that of six columns, which were therefore needed to support the porch. Both the door ways at the front and the back of the Parthenon were substantial; the doorways opened inwards in the traditional Greek fashion and were made from the best selected cypress wood, embellished in the typical Doric style. As the Greek architects became more sophisticated with their designs they introduced optical refinements that changed the shape of the already geometrical form, these were illusions that beauty of the building was enhanced. Optical enhancers were at there most extreme in the Parthenon for their was not one line that was actually straight. To the viewer the vertical column seems to be narrower in the middle of the column than at the top or bottom. To counteract this, the each exterior Parthenon column has a very slight bulge in the middle. The upper diameter of each is slightly narrower than its base diameter, this was called entasis. Additionally, these columns slant inward, so that they would meet, were they extended one mile into the sky. The four outside corner columns slant inward diagonally. The three levels of the crepidoma are slightly domed in the centre because to the eye purely horizontal lines would have appeared to dip in the middle
The Parthenon was not only famous for its spectacular size and its use of marble. Externally it held more sculptures than any other temple. The Parthenon featured four types of sculpture: the statue of Athena housed in the naos, the Ionic frieze along the outside of the naos wall, the Doric metopes on the entablature above the colonnade along the outer sides of the whole structure, and the sculptures of the pediments under each end of the roof. The pediment was created when Greek temple makers created a sloped roof that went over the entablature this left a triangle that was bland and needed decorating. The pediment sculptures carried elaborate engraving on the east end of the birth of Athena and the west the contest between Athena and Poseidon for the patronage of Athens. On the external entablature, there were 92 metopes were decorated with Greeks fighting Trojans and Lapiths against Centaurs. To make the overall effect of the Parthenon even more impressive the entablature that was on the Doric porches were replaced from the ordinary metopes and triglyph’s to a continuous Ionic Frieze. These Friezes were made to run along the top of the walls from one end to the other, so they were continuous sculptures. The Ionic frieze was about three hundred and twenty five feet long and three feet three inches in height. To help the Athenians that were admiring it the upper portion of the frieze was carved two inches thicker than that of the lower. The sculpture is that of the Great Panathenaia, which took place every four years in honour of Athena. The sculpture of Athena that was positioned inside the east room of the cella was seven foot high. It sat on a wooden frame; the statue was most elaborate with ivory skin, a robe made of pure gold and a gem encrusted base. The statue would nowadays be worth five million pounds. Next to the statue sat a pool of olive oil so that air was constantly filled with moisture which prevented the ivory from cracking. These sculptures were not just decorative they were there to remind the Athenian people of their history, their past and that it had not been an easy accomplishment to get to where they were now. The Athenians would have to honour and remember all the people that had died during the period when Athens was coming to its most influential peak. This was how the Parthenon differed from any other temple that had ever been built.
The placing of the grand and expensive statue of Athena in the new Parthenon seems to be rather more political rather than a religious act. The Parthenon was an example of state propaganda because Athena who was not only inside the temple, in the form of a huge ivory and gold carved statue but also on all the external pediments retelling the story of her birth. The entirety of the scenes on the metopes told the victories of the Athenians over barbarian people. Then there was the Ionic frieze which told the Panathenaic procession which was dedicated to the goddess Athena. The extreme decoration that has never been seen before on Greek temples was never achieved again in mainland Greece. The many sculptures and references to Athena were very rare and not normal for typical temples, and also it was uncommon for all the metopes to be carved, like they were on the Parthenon. These depictions on the stones were meant to remind the Athenians of their victories, and most definitely there most recent victory over the Persians. In fact, the Parthenon and all its sculptures stood as a visual symbol of the power and the greatness of Athens. It was a celebration of Athenian superiority in the Greek world. The Parthenon along with the many other buildings in the Acropolis was built from huge amounts of money that they had recently removed from the Persians. The Parthenon was obviously a very powerful political statement. The Greeks believed in special deities and these were highly political, they favoured those who offered gifts at their sanctuaries and spent large sums of money at their festivals. If hugely expensive animals were sacrificed to the Gods in honour of the God of the temple, then the Greeks would pay these people special consideration. The Parthenon would therefore have been state propaganda and also more political than religious because in the festival in honour of Athena, the Panathenia, there were many offerings and sacrifices from allies of Greece. All these special differences had propaganda purposes. The new Parthenon was a patriotic shrine that by honouring Athena glorified the proud ness and greatness of Athens itself.
The Athenians were very proud of there democracy, this too was presented in the Parthenon. Every four years the Athenians would gather in the Agora and make there way up to the Acropolis where they would represent a cloak to the goddess Athena. The procession of young boys and women was carved onto the continuous frieze around the pediment of the Parthenon. This was odd because before temple sculptures had only ever been of heroes or the Gods, but the Parthenon made time for the regular people of Athens, the too were given a place of honour on the temple of their Goddess. This is a clear celebration of Athens’s achievement, greater than that of the defeat of Persia. They had managed to incorporate their people in with religion and culture making the people of Athens feel apart of history, that they too were honoured. They were special to be part of this because they did this know where else in Greece. As a symbol of Athens’s military and political achievements, the Parthenon had to be particularly excellent in design and construction. As it was the home of the cities patron Goddess it had to be perfect. The buildings ratio is come to be known as the Golden Section, which has come to be the most beautiful ratio in the entire western world. There are many refinements in the Parthenon which were to make the building to appear perfect, these were the optical refinements.
The Parthenon was a product of religious deities that the Greeks believed in. The traditional myths were very much a live in the Parthenon. Both the pediment and the frieze relate to the myth of Athena. The commemorative sculptures of the fallen warriors and the stress that was received on the ideal citizens, where the faces of the citizens are hardly differentiated, because of the way that the frieze was made the citizens were hidden behind columns meaning that they were meant to be read at intervals making them seem like they were different people rather than long processions of them. Have to be seen as if they came from a religious motive. Besides these facts the Parthenon was a temple which indicated the importance of tradition and religion. It was linked with all the other temples that were in the temenos so that Parthenon would be seen as the focus for the biggest and grandest festival that the ancient world ever saw.
The Parthenon is designed on the basis of a Doric temple, except it has Ionic alterations which make the Parthenon the exceptional building that it is. The ideas that are behind the Parthenon are the making of a typical temple though, the Parthenon was designed to impress and glorify the city of Athens. The Parthenon which differs from the typical Doric temple in the way that it is 8 x 17 in columns, rather than 6 x 13, the fact that the frieze is continuous and made in the Ionic order with sculptures of everyday citizens rather than Gods and Heroes, making again the Parthenon that much more extravagant. The idea for the Parthenon was to impress therefore it would never make an impact on if it was the standard Doric temple. It had to be moderated to make it that much more striking. Pericles wanted to prove to the Spartans (who they had just defeated) that they were now the dominate city in Greece. The Parthenon was to represent these political reasons. It. Incorporating the most pleasing affects which would create the agreeable overall shape. So the Parthenon could never have been a typical Doric temple. Therefore, making it the most impressive temple that the Ancient world has ever seen, although it was never to be made in the typical Doric Style, it simply was far too politically important. It was a ‘reflection through deliberate perfection’.