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Why did the Ottoman forces store ammunition inside the Parthenon?
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Parthenon
Night view of the Parthenon, Athens.
The Ottoman forces used the Parthenon to store ammunition during their war against the Venetians in the 17th century.1
At the time, the building was serving as a mosque, and the Ottomans utilized the structure as a powder magazine to support their military defenses on the Acropolis. This decision proved catastrophic on September 26, 1687, when Venetian artillery, firing from the Hill of the Muses, scored a direct hit on the temple. The resulting explosion of the stored gunpowder destroyed the center of the building, transforming the ancient structure into the ruin seen today.12