Did Julian the Apostate Rebuild the Parthenon

Bibliographic Data

ID4539244
AuthorsAlison Frantz (corresponding author)
Year1979
Volume83
Issue4
Pages395-401
Publication date1979-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/504138
OpenAlexW2335139044
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited1

At some undetermined date in late antiquity the interior colonnade of the Parthenon was destroyed and a new set of columns erected in its place. In 1973 John Travlos advanced the theory that the destruction occurred during the Herulian attack on Athens in A. D. 267 and that the reconstruction was effected in 362/3 by Julian the Apostate. But in 1970 a large number of fragments, recognized as coming from the original colonnade, were discovered in the Agora, built into a wall of the middle of the 5th century after Christ. This raises the problem of where the columns had been if the destruction took place two centuries earlier. The present article reopens the question. Earlier studies are reviewed briefly and Travlos' arguments are countered in detail. An alternative solution is offered: that the colonnade was destroyed at the end of the 4th century and that the rebuilding took place during the first quarter of the 5th, the damaged columns having been removed to the Agora to be drawn on for material for new building operations. A tentative hypothesis is advanced that the instigator of the undertaking was Herculius, Praetorian Prefect of Illyricum from 407 to 412, and a known pagan

Agora · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Quarter (Canadian coin · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Computer Science · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Philosophy

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