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0:10 · The Athenian Parthenon is perhaps the most well recognized of all the ruins of the ancient world,
0:16 · but how exactly did it become a ruin? Was it some ancient battle? Was it some
0:22 · natural disaster in antiquity? Well it was neither. It might surprise you to
0:27 · find out that the Parthenon remained largely intact into the early modern
0:31 · era. The 1687 destruction of the Parthenon is history that deserves to be remembered.
0:39 · The temple we call the Parthenon was constructed during the Golden Age of Athens in the 5th Century
0:44 · BC replacing an earlier, but unfinished temple that was destroyed by the Persians after the
0:49 · Greek defeated Thermopylae. Athens was at its height at the head of the Delian League which
0:55 · made it a virtual Athenian Empire. Much of the famous Acropolis was built under the Athenian
1:00 · leader and general Pericles. Jeffrey Hurwit, a historian and author of The Athenian Acropolis
1:06 · explains that Athens under Pericles wanted to promote itself as the greatest of Greek cities.
1:12 · The temples built at this time likely include the Temple of Athena Polias,
1:16 · The Great Gate to the Acropolis and the Temple to Athena Nike in addition to the Parthenon. The
1:22 · earliest sources called the building the Temple, and Parthenon seems to have been associated with
1:27 · the giant statue of Athena Parthenos housed within. Parthenos, meaning maiden virgin or
1:33 · unmarried woman. The temple was built under the supervision of the artist Phidias who sculpted the
1:39 · 42-foot statue as well as the architects Ictinus and Callicrates. Construction began in 447 and
1:46 · was largely completed only nine years later in 438 although decorations continued to be added
1:51 · for years afterwards. The Parthenon was considered a triumph of architecture even when it was first
1:57 · built. The entire building is subtly curved inward including the columns, and the columns themselves
2:02 · are fatter in the middle, likely to counteract the illusion from a distance that columns have
2:06 · a waist. Hurwit wrote that, “The Parthenon is a building, but is also almost a sculpture.”
2:12 · That it has been described as the culmination of the development of the Doric order, a type
2:17 · of architecture that Greeks were famous for, as well as combining ionic architectural features.
2:22 · Slight slopes allow the building to effectively shed rain water and it was built to withstand
2:27 · earthquakes. A modern engineer said the design has excellent seismic performance properties. It
2:32 · survived a significant earthquake in 426 BC almost unscathed. It was also filled with a large number
2:38 · of masterfully made sculptures and carved freezes which depicted various parts of myth and history.
2:44 · It was not entirely left alone in the history that followed. A fire damaged the statue and temple
2:49 · battle in the 3rd Century A.D and destroyed the sanctuary's roof which was replaced.
2:54 · The building was damaged in 276 when Athens was
2:58 · sacked by pirates. Because don't all good stories involve pirates?
3:04 · For most of a thousand years it remained dedicated to Athena,
3:07 · but the already ancient building was weathering more than just storms, but waves of history.
3:13 · Greece became a part of the Roman Empire which associated Athena with the Roman deity Minerva,
3:17 · and in turn the Roman Empire slowly became christianized. Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II
3:23 · decreed in 435 that all pagan temples be closed; however the Parthenon remained a center of pagan
3:29 · resistance. At some point the great statue was looted and taken to Constantinople where
3:34 · it was lost. The temple was first converted to a Christian church a few decades after the decree,
3:40 · dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was a major Orthodox church in the Byzantine era visited
3:45 · by pilgrims and emperors alike. The Fourth Crusade saw the region ruled by the Latin Empire and the
3:51 · Orthodox church became instead a Catholic one. In 1456, Ottoman Turkish forces invaded Athens and
3:57 · the Acropolis itself was besieged. The Parthenon was transformed into a mosque before 1500,
4:03 · although the circumstances are unclear. According to archaeologist Samuel Walter Miller it was
4:09 · converted because the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror found the Athenians plotting against his rule.
4:14 · Each of these successive eras came with changes, rooms were converted, walls were
4:19 · built between columns and various pieces were vandalized for being too pagan; graffiti and
4:24 · white paint covered over other pieces. A tower was built and the Muslims then added a minaret,
4:29 · however most of the building was the same as it had been when Pericles walked its halls,
4:34 · with many of the original freezes and sculptures. A Turkish traveler in 1667 marveled at its
4:40 · construction writing that it was, “a work less of human hands than of Heaven itself.”
4:45 · A French artist in 1674 was able to sketch its sculptural decorations;
4:49 · they remained some of the only images of the lost pieces of the Temple.
4:54 · Some two Millennia after its construction it was still one of the true wonders of the
4:58 · ancient world that visitors could still experience, but that was not to last.
5:05 · Beginning in the late 1600s the Ottoman Empire began pressing into Europe. In the 1680s
5:10 · Ottomans attacked the Austrian Habsburg monarchy. The Turks nearly captured Vienna before Christian
5:15 · Alliance stalled the Ottoman invasion. To face the threat of the Muslim Ottomans, Pope Innocent XI
5:21 · initiated a Holy League, which included the Holy Roman Empire, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth,
5:27 · the Venetian Republic and Russia. The Great Turkish War, also called the Wars of the Holy
5:32 · League, was actually a series of wars between the Ottomans and the European powers. Before the
5:37 · Great Turkish War the Ottomans and Venetians had already fought a series of conflicts, beginning
5:42 · with the Venetian participation in the Crusade of Nicopolis in 1396. In 1463, the two powers fought
5:49 · the first of what would become seven wars, largely fought in the Aegean, Greece and various islands.
5:55 · In 1684, the Venetians took advantage of the Ottoman War against the Habsburgs to invade
5:59 · the Mauryan Peninsula better known as the Greek Peloponnese in the Mauryan War, it was meant to
6:06 · avenge the Venetian defeat in the previous war where the Ottomans had taken control of Crete.
6:11 · The Mauryan War was the only one of the many wars where Venice declared war on the Ottomans rather
6:16 · than the other way around. The Venetians were able to successfully push the Ottomans out of
6:20 · the Peloponnese and by 1687 the Venetian forces were advancing into Central Greece to secure
6:26 · the peninsula. On September 21st 1687, a Venetian Army landed near Athens while the Venetian Fleet
6:32 · entered the Athenian Port of Piraeus. The Ottomans evacuated Athens but the garrison retreated to the
6:38 · Acropolis to wait for Ottoman reinforcements. The Siege of the Acropolis was devastating to
6:44 · the ancient buildings that remained there. The Ottomans destroyed the Temple of Athena Nike
6:48 · near the Parthenon for the placement of cannons while the Venetians placed cannons and mortars on
6:52 · the heights around the city to prepare to bombard the Turkish soldiers. On the 25th of September,
6:57 · a Venetian shell destroyed the vaunted gateway to the Acropolis when a powder magazine exploded.
7:03 · The Venetian invasion was led by General Francesco Morosini and Swedish officer Otto Wilhelm
7:08 · Konigsmarck. Morosini had led the Venetians to victory over the Peloponnesus and he achieved
7:14 · great fame thanks to the successful campaign, becoming the first person to have a bronze bust
7:18 · placed in the Great Hall in Venice while he was still alive. He was said to dress only in red
7:24 · and never went into action without his cat beside him… because don't tell good stories involve cats!
7:30 · The Venetians bombarded the Turkish positions on the Acropolis for six
7:34 · days beginning on September 23rd. On September 26th a mortar fired a round
7:39 · which arced over the Acropolis to land squarely on the Parthenon and
7:43 · apparently through a weak spot on the roof as previous shots had rolled off the angled tiles.
7:48 · Hitting the monument was tragedy enough however the Turks had been used in the temple as a powder
7:53 · magazine. Greek architect and archaeologist Cornea Castillaslani described the ensuing explosion.
7:59 · “Three of the sanctuary's four walls nearly collapsed and three-fifths of the sculptures from
8:04 · the freeze fell. Nothing of the roof apparently remained in place, six columns on the south side
8:09 · fell, eight from the north as well as whatever remained from the eastern porch except one column.
8:14 · With them fell the enormous marble carvings which had stood for two thousand years.” The spectacular
8:21 · explosion killed 300 people, not just soldiers but civilians who had huddled in the Acropolis for
8:25 · safety. Fires were started throughout Athens and chunks of marble fell upon the Turkish defenders.
8:31 · In his report back to Venice Morosini called the shot miraculous or fateful. Morosini specifically
8:37 · praised the Count of San Feliz who had been in charge of the Venetian morters.
8:41 · Konigsmarck's feelings are only recorded in a letter from one of the general's wife's companions
8:46 · who wrote, “How reluctantly Count Konigsmarck saw himself compelled to destroy the beautiful
8:51 · temple. The bombs did their work and this temple can never again be re-erected in this world.”
8:57 · A 17th century biography of Morosini had the general bemoan Athens cultural heritage which is,
9:02 · “Now reduced.” The dramatic explosion did not however induce the Turks to surrender. They held
9:08 · on through two more days of bombardment finally surrendering when an Ottoman relief army was
9:12 · repulsed on September 28th. The Turkish Defenders surrendered on the condition that they could
9:17 · be transported to Smyrna. There has long been debate about whether the shots were deliberate,
9:22 · that is whether the Venetians were aiming at the Parthenon or not. There's a report from a German
9:27 · officer's diary that claims the Venetians captured a deserter who told them about the powder magazine
9:32 · in the temple because the Turks believe that the Christians would not do any harm to the temple.
9:37 · The account goes on to say that several mortars were directed against the Parthenon itself.
9:41 · Other authors pointed to Venetian reports that the Count of San Feliz was reprimanded for failing to
9:46 · hit his targets, implying that the mortars were not accurate enough to deliberately target the
9:51 · sanctuary. One report describes the fateful round flying “capriciously and irregularly.”
9:56 · It's difficult to know for certain with the surviving sources, however it's clear that the
10:01 · Acropolis was the target of systematic bombardment hoping to quickly displace the Turkish defenders.
10:06 · Perhaps the greatest tragedy was how little capturing Athens did for the Venetians. They
10:11 · were unable to protect their power far from the city, and only six months later they abandoned
10:15 · the city altogether. The terrible destruction also began years of looting. The Venetians
10:19 · attempted to loot several statues including sculptures of Poseidon and Athena's Horses.
10:24 · The Great Lion Statue that stood in Piraeus was removed to Venice where it remains to
10:29 · this day. Especially valuable remnants were sold or looted by the Turks when they returned
10:33 · and pieces of the ruin were used to build a mosque inside the shell of the old building.
10:38 · True archeology and study of the ruins only followed a century later, and in 1801,
10:42 · the Earl of Elgin supposedly obtained an edict from the Turkish Sultan which allowed him to
10:46 · take the so-called Elgin marbles, an act which has provided continuing controversy.
10:51 · Sometimes, maybe all too often, the plot of history is written as a tragedy. The Parthenon,
10:59 · one of the most extraordinary buildings ever built by humanity and an amazing record of a
11:03 · lost civilization, survived almost unscathed for millennia. It served as a worship place
11:10 · for multiple religions only to be unceremoniously destroyed in a war that almost no one remembers.
11:19 · That accomplished almost nothing. The Ottomans reconquered the Peloponnese by 1714, and the
11:25 · Republic of Venice itself ceased to exist by 1797. They are forgotten, but their damage remains.
11:34 · And repairing or replacing that damage is likely an impossible task because even the
11:39 · record of the decorations is incomplete, and the pieces are now dispersed and lost. The best we
11:45 · can do is view reproductions that are based on conjecture like the one in Nashville Tennessee.
11:50 · And yet the amazing ruin that is left stands as a testament to our past,
11:56 · and evokes the words of Pericles, “Mighty indeed are the marks and monuments of our Empire.”
12:06 · I hope you enjoyed this episode of the History Guy. Check out our community
12:09 · on the historyguyguild.locals.com, our webpage at thehistoryguy.com,
12:14 · and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the History Guy on Cameo.
12:20 · And if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history, all you have to do is subscribe.

--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
0:10	·	The Athenian Parthenon is perhaps the most well recognized of all the ruins of the ancient world,
0:16	·	but how exactly did it become a ruin? Was it some ancient battle? Was it some
0:22	·	natural disaster in antiquity? Well it was neither. It might surprise you to
0:27	·	find out that the Parthenon remained largely intact into the early modern
0:31	·	era. The 1687 destruction of the Parthenon is history that deserves to be remembered.
0:39	·	The temple we call the Parthenon was constructed during the Golden Age of Athens in the 5th Century
0:44	·	BC replacing an earlier, but unfinished temple that was destroyed by the Persians after the
0:49	·	Greek defeated Thermopylae. Athens was at its height at the head of the Delian League which
0:55	·	made it a virtual Athenian Empire. Much of the famous Acropolis was built under the Athenian
1:00	·	leader and general Pericles. Jeffrey Hurwit, a historian and author of The Athenian Acropolis
1:06	·	explains that Athens under Pericles wanted to promote itself as the greatest of Greek cities.
1:12	·	The temples built at this time likely include the Temple of Athena Polias,
1:16	·	The Great Gate to the Acropolis and the Temple to Athena Nike in addition to the Parthenon. The
1:22	·	earliest sources called the building the Temple, and Parthenon seems to have been associated with
1:27	·	the giant statue of Athena Parthenos housed within. Parthenos, meaning maiden virgin or
1:33	·	unmarried woman. The temple was built under the supervision of the artist Phidias who sculpted the
1:39	·	42-foot statue as well as the architects Ictinus and Callicrates. Construction began in 447 and
1:46	·	was largely completed only nine years later in 438 although decorations continued to be added
1:51	·	for years afterwards. The Parthenon was considered a triumph of architecture even when it was first
1:57	·	built. The entire building is subtly curved inward including the columns, and the columns themselves
2:02	·	are fatter in the middle, likely to counteract the illusion from a distance that columns have
2:06	·	a waist. Hurwit wrote that, “The Parthenon is a building, but is also almost a sculpture.”
2:12	·	That it has been described as the culmination of the development of the Doric order, a type
2:17	·	of architecture that Greeks were famous for, as well as combining ionic architectural features.
2:22	·	Slight slopes allow the building to effectively shed rain water and it was built to withstand
2:27	·	earthquakes. A modern engineer said the design has excellent seismic performance properties. It
2:32	·	survived a significant earthquake in 426 BC almost unscathed. It was also filled with a large number
2:38	·	of masterfully made sculptures and carved freezes which depicted various parts of myth and history.
2:44	·	It was not entirely left alone in the history that followed. A fire damaged the statue and temple
2:49	·	battle in the 3rd Century A.D and destroyed the sanctuary's roof which was replaced.
2:54	·	The building was damaged in 276 when Athens was
2:58	·	sacked by pirates. Because don't all good stories involve pirates?
3:04	·	For most of a thousand years it remained dedicated to Athena,
3:07	·	but the already ancient building was weathering more than just storms, but waves of history.
3:13	·	Greece became a part of the Roman Empire which associated Athena with the Roman deity Minerva,
3:17	·	and in turn the Roman Empire slowly became christianized. Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II
3:23	·	decreed in 435 that all pagan temples be closed; however the Parthenon remained a center of pagan
3:29	·	resistance. At some point the great statue was looted and taken to Constantinople where
3:34	·	it was lost. The temple was first converted to a Christian church a few decades after the decree,
3:40	·	dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was a major Orthodox church in the Byzantine era visited
3:45	·	by pilgrims and emperors alike. The Fourth Crusade saw the region ruled by the Latin Empire and the
3:51	·	Orthodox church became instead a Catholic one. In 1456, Ottoman Turkish forces invaded Athens and
3:57	·	the Acropolis itself was besieged. The Parthenon was transformed into a mosque before 1500,
4:03	·	although the circumstances are unclear. According to archaeologist Samuel Walter Miller it was
4:09	·	converted because the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror found the Athenians plotting against his rule.
4:14	·	Each of these successive eras came with changes, rooms were converted, walls were
4:19	·	built between columns and various pieces were vandalized for being too pagan; graffiti and
4:24	·	white paint covered over other pieces. A tower was built and the Muslims then added a minaret,
4:29	·	however most of the building was the same as it had been when Pericles walked its halls,
4:34	·	with many of the original freezes and sculptures. A Turkish traveler in 1667 marveled at its
4:40	·	construction writing that it was, “a work less of human hands than of Heaven itself.”
4:45	·	A French artist in 1674 was able to sketch its sculptural decorations;
4:49	·	they remained some of the only images of the lost pieces of the Temple.
4:54	·	Some two Millennia after its construction it was still one of the true wonders of the
4:58	·	ancient world that visitors could still experience, but that was not to last.
5:05	·	Beginning in the late 1600s the Ottoman Empire began pressing into Europe. In the 1680s
5:10	·	Ottomans attacked the Austrian Habsburg monarchy. The Turks nearly captured Vienna before Christian
5:15	·	Alliance stalled the Ottoman invasion. To face the threat of the Muslim Ottomans, Pope Innocent XI
5:21	·	initiated a Holy League, which included the Holy Roman Empire, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth,
5:27	·	the Venetian Republic and Russia. The Great Turkish War, also called the Wars of the Holy
5:32	·	League, was actually a series of wars between the Ottomans and the European powers. Before the
5:37	·	Great Turkish War the Ottomans and Venetians had already fought a series of conflicts, beginning
5:42	·	with the Venetian participation in the Crusade of Nicopolis in 1396. In 1463, the two powers fought
5:49	·	the first of what would become seven wars, largely fought in the Aegean, Greece and various islands.
5:55	·	In 1684, the Venetians took advantage of the Ottoman War against the Habsburgs to invade
5:59	·	the Mauryan Peninsula better known as the Greek Peloponnese in the Mauryan War, it was meant to
6:06	·	avenge the Venetian defeat in the previous war where the Ottomans had taken control of Crete.
6:11	·	The Mauryan War was the only one of the many wars where Venice declared war on the Ottomans rather
6:16	·	than the other way around. The Venetians were able to successfully push the Ottomans out of
6:20	·	the Peloponnese and by 1687 the Venetian forces were advancing into Central Greece to secure
6:26	·	the peninsula. On September 21st 1687, a Venetian Army landed near Athens while the Venetian Fleet
6:32	·	entered the Athenian Port of Piraeus. The Ottomans evacuated Athens but the garrison retreated to the
6:38	·	Acropolis to wait for Ottoman reinforcements. The Siege of the Acropolis was devastating to
6:44	·	the ancient buildings that remained there. The Ottomans destroyed the Temple of Athena Nike
6:48	·	near the Parthenon for the placement of cannons while the Venetians placed cannons and mortars on
6:52	·	the heights around the city to prepare to bombard the Turkish soldiers. On the 25th of September,
6:57	·	a Venetian shell destroyed the vaunted gateway to the Acropolis when a powder magazine exploded.
7:03	·	The Venetian invasion was led by General Francesco Morosini and Swedish officer Otto Wilhelm
7:08	·	Konigsmarck. Morosini had led the Venetians to victory over the Peloponnesus and he achieved
7:14	·	great fame thanks to the successful campaign, becoming the first person to have a bronze bust
7:18	·	placed in the Great Hall in Venice while he was still alive. He was said to dress only in red
7:24	·	and never went into action without his cat beside him… because don't tell good stories involve cats!
7:30	·	The Venetians bombarded the Turkish positions on the Acropolis for six
7:34	·	days beginning on September 23rd. On September 26th a mortar fired a round
7:39	·	which arced over the Acropolis to land squarely on the Parthenon and
7:43	·	apparently through a weak spot on the roof as previous shots had rolled off the angled tiles.
7:48	·	Hitting the monument was tragedy enough however the Turks had been used in the temple as a powder
7:53	·	magazine. Greek architect and archaeologist Cornea Castillaslani described the ensuing explosion.
7:59	·	“Three of the sanctuary's four walls nearly collapsed and three-fifths of the sculptures from
8:04	·	the freeze fell. Nothing of the roof apparently remained in place, six columns on the south side
8:09	·	fell, eight from the north as well as whatever remained from the eastern porch except one column.
8:14	·	With them fell the enormous marble carvings which had stood for two thousand years.” The spectacular
8:21	·	explosion killed 300 people, not just soldiers but civilians who had huddled in the Acropolis for
8:25	·	safety. Fires were started throughout Athens and chunks of marble fell upon the Turkish defenders.
8:31	·	In his report back to Venice Morosini called the shot miraculous or fateful. Morosini specifically
8:37	·	praised the Count of San Feliz who had been in charge of the Venetian morters.
8:41	·	Konigsmarck's feelings are only recorded in a letter from one of the general's wife's companions
8:46	·	who wrote, “How reluctantly Count Konigsmarck saw himself compelled to destroy the beautiful
8:51	·	temple. The bombs did their work and this temple can never again be re-erected in this world.”
8:57	·	A 17th century biography of Morosini had the general bemoan Athens cultural heritage which is,
9:02	·	“Now reduced.” The dramatic explosion did not however induce the Turks to surrender. They held
9:08	·	on through two more days of bombardment finally surrendering when an Ottoman relief army was
9:12	·	repulsed on September 28th. The Turkish Defenders surrendered on the condition that they could
9:17	·	be transported to Smyrna. There has long been debate about whether the shots were deliberate,
9:22	·	that is whether the Venetians were aiming at the Parthenon or not. There's a report from a German
9:27	·	officer's diary that claims the Venetians captured a deserter who told them about the powder magazine
9:32	·	in the temple because the Turks believe that the Christians would not do any harm to the temple.
9:37	·	The account goes on to say that several mortars were directed against the Parthenon itself.
9:41	·	Other authors pointed to Venetian reports that the Count of San Feliz was reprimanded for failing to
9:46	·	hit his targets, implying that the mortars were not accurate enough to deliberately target the
9:51	·	sanctuary. One report describes the fateful round flying “capriciously and irregularly.”
9:56	·	It's difficult to know for certain with the surviving sources, however it's clear that the
10:01	·	Acropolis was the target of systematic bombardment hoping to quickly displace the Turkish defenders.
10:06	·	Perhaps the greatest tragedy was how little capturing Athens did for the Venetians. They
10:11	·	were unable to protect their power far from the city, and only six months later they abandoned
10:15	·	the city altogether. The terrible destruction also began years of looting. The Venetians
10:19	·	attempted to loot several statues including sculptures of Poseidon and Athena's Horses.
10:24	·	The Great Lion Statue that stood in Piraeus was removed to Venice where it remains to
10:29	·	this day. Especially valuable remnants were sold or looted by the Turks when they returned
10:33	·	and pieces of the ruin were used to build a mosque inside the shell of the old building.
10:38	·	True archeology and study of the ruins only followed a century later, and in 1801,
10:42	·	the Earl of Elgin supposedly obtained an edict from the Turkish Sultan which allowed him to
10:46	·	take the so-called Elgin marbles, an act which has provided continuing controversy.
10:51	·	Sometimes, maybe all too often, the plot of history is written as a tragedy. The Parthenon,
10:59	·	one of the most extraordinary buildings ever built by humanity and an amazing record of a
11:03	·	lost civilization, survived almost unscathed for millennia. It served as a worship place
11:10	·	for multiple religions only to be unceremoniously destroyed in a war that almost no one remembers.
11:19	·	That accomplished almost nothing. The Ottomans reconquered the Peloponnese by 1714, and the
11:25	·	Republic of Venice itself ceased to exist by 1797. They are forgotten, but their damage remains.
11:34	·	And repairing or replacing that damage is likely an impossible task because even the
11:39	·	record of the decorations is incomplete, and the pieces are now dispersed and lost. The best we
11:45	·	can do is view reproductions that are based on conjecture like the one in Nashville Tennessee.
11:50	·	And yet the amazing ruin that is left stands as a testament to our past,
11:56	·	and evokes the words of Pericles, “Mighty indeed are the marks and monuments of our Empire.”
12:06	·	I hope you enjoyed this episode of the History Guy. Check out our community
12:09	·	on the historyguyguild.locals.com, our webpage at thehistoryguy.com,
12:14	·	and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the History Guy on Cameo.
12:20	·	And if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history, all you have to do is subscribe.