How a 17th-Century Gunpowder Depot Shattered the Parthenon
The Parthenon survived largely intact for over two thousand years as a Greek temple, Christian church, and Ottoman mosque. That ended on September 26, 1687, during the Morean War. Believing the ancient landmark was too sacred to target, Ottoman forces used it to store gunpowder. But a Venetian mortar shell struck the roof directly, igniting the magazine. The resulting explosion obliterated the building's interior and collapsed 28 towering marble columns.
Two Millennia of Continuity and Conversion
Completed in 438 BC under the political leadership of Pericles and the artistic direction of the sculptor Phidias, the Parthenon was conceived as the centerpiece of the monumental rebuilding of the Acropolis. Dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the patron goddess of Athens, the temple was built almost entirely of Pentelic marble. It represented the pinnacle of the Doric order, balancing structural precision with deliberate optical refinements, such as slightly curved horizontal lines and inclined columns. For nearly a millennium, the building served its original civic and religious function as a treasury and monument to the Athenian polis.
When classical antiquity gave way to the Christian Roman Empire, the Parthenon did not fall into ruin. Instead, it was adapted. In the sixth century AD, it was converted into a Christian basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary, known as the Church of the Panagia Atheniotissa. This transition required structural alterations, such as creating an apse at the eastern end, cutting doorways through the cella walls, and removing some internal columns. Later, during the Frankish period following the Fourth Crusade, the building became a Roman Catholic cathedral under the rule of the Duchy of Athens, complete with a bell tower near the entrance.
Following the Ottoman conquest of Athens in the mid-fifteenth century, the monument underwent yet another reinvention, becoming a mosque. The existing Frankish bell tower was extended to serve as a minaret, and the interior was adjusted for Islamic worship. Despite these cumulative architectural reconfigurations across more than two thousand years, the core structure—including the exterior colonnades, the majority of the sculptured frieze, and the marble ceiling beams—survived remarkably intact.