Alexandria University Faculty of Fine Arts

Department of ArchitecturePreparatory Grade 2014/2015

Architectural Drawing and Design Studio1st Semester/November 2015

Architecture of the Antiquity

I ) Classical Greece

TheP A R T H E N O N

Conception, Principles and Design

Preparatory Grade/ Course Faculty Edited In: 15th November 2015

Contents

1. Introduction: 21.1) Greece 21.2) PARTHENON; centre of ACROPOLIS 3

2. Classical Greek Orders 4

3. Orders of the PARTHENON 4

4. Architecture of the PARTHENON 5

5. Architectural Drawings: 6 I) The Acropolis 6II) The Doric Order 7III) Evolution of the Doric Order 8IV) The PARTHENON 9

6. Project Worksheets: 10I-a) Typical section-façade. 10I-b) Typical section-façade (Rendered). 11 II-a) Detailed section-façade (Rendered). 12

II-a) Detailed section-façade (Rendered). 13 III-a) Main Façade. 14III-a) Main Façade (Rendered) 15

IV) Plan 16V) Section. 17

7. Elements. 18I) Pediment. 18

II) Metope & Acroterion. 19 III) . Naos of Athena Parthenos 20

8. Rendering schemes 21I) Typical column. 21

II) Main Facade. 22 III) Cut-away perspective 23IV) Athena Promachos. 24II) The Acropolis. 25,26

9. Project Breakdown 27

1.1 Greece“The Cradle of Western Civilization”

Ancient Greece, indeed, lives on in modern culture, evidenced by an ever-present fascination with thetales of Homer, Greek drama, and the spectacular stories associated with Greek mythology. In the rise ofSparta and Athens, and the origins of democracy in Greek society, people today find a wealth of relevantmaterial for understanding not only ancient Greece, but the modern world. And there is no greater fount oflearning than that supplied by the immortal philosophers of Greece: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

The civilization of ancient Greece flowered more than 2500 years ago but it influences the modern wayof life. Greece is a peninsula in southeastern Europe. The people of the region attempted to explain theworld through the laws of nature. They made important discoveries in science. They developed democracy,where people govern themselves rather than being ruled by a king. The Greeks also valued beauty andimagination. They wrote many stories and plays that continue to be performed today. The ancient Greeksdeveloped a great deal of what we take for granted. This is why Greece is often known as the Cradle ofWestern Civilization.

Most of the great city-states of ancient Greece, such as Athens, Sparta, and Corinth, existed within theborders of modern Greece. But in ancient times—especially during Greece’s “Golden Age” in the 5thcentury B.C.—Greek colonies stretched from the Iberian Peninsula to the Black Sea.

Two geographic facts help explain why the ancient Greeks spread themselves out over such a broad area.First, their homeland is extremely mountainous and rocky, with most of the farmland relegated to a fewfertile valleys and strips along the seacoast. Second, nearly all of Greece was no more than one or two day’stravel from the sea. As a result, the sea became Greece’s lifeline and, ultimately, its source of power andgreatness. The Greeks traded their abundant supplies of limestone, clay pottery, and olives for grain, linen,and papyrus from other Mediterranean peoples.

The sea helped to shape Greece’s culture. Its greatest mythological heroes, such as Jason and Odysseus,spent much of their lives on ships. Many great Greek thinkers, like Anaximander and Ptolemy, did not livein Athens or other mainland cities. They lived in far flung places—Anaximander and Ptolemy lived inMiletus and Alexandria, respectively—but they were Greeks nonetheless. Their influence spreadthroughout the Mediterranean due to the traffic of slow, stubby trading ships that made Greece first asuperpower and later the cultural heart of the Mediterranean.

1. Introduction:

Map of Ancient Greek Empire

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“High city” or “City on the hill” (for that is what Acropolis means). Almost every Greek city-state (or Polis)had one, but no other Acropolis was as successful as the Athenian: a massive urban focus that was alwayswithin view and that at various times throughout it’s virtually uninterrupted 6000-year-long culturalhistory served as dwelling place, fortress, sanctuary and symbol-often all at once.

Built as a temple for the goddessAthena, the Parthenon was constructedduring the Classical Period (circa 490–323 bc), which began upon the defeat ofthe reigning Persian Empire. Thisperiod encompassed the golden age ofGreece, a time when literature, art,theater, and philosophy Flourished.

With its many iconic features, theParthenon—designed to symbolize theideals of art, science, and democracy—was the first building ever to beconstructed entirely of marble. TheParthenon includes subtle architecturalrefinements that together make itappear visually perfect, although therehas been much debate about just whythe builders incorporated theserefinements.

A year after the Parthenon was completed in 432 BCE, however, Pericles went to the citizens for fundsto equip an army against the threat of Sparta. He suggested that, if necessary, the statue of Athena couldbe stripped of gold to provide the funds. The Spartans later turned the Parthenon into an army barracks.For the next two millennia, the iconic building was taken over by Romans, barbarians, Christians,Muslims, and Turks. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Europeans plundered its sculptures.

1.2 PARTHENON; center of ACROPOLIS

The Acropolis of Athens

Depiction of the PARTHENON

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2. Classical Greek Orders:

Comparative reproduction of Greek Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders

3. Orders of The PARTHENON:

The Parthenon is a peripteral octostyleDoric temple with Ionic architecturalfeatures. It stands on a platform orStylobate of three steps. In common withother Greek temples, it is of post and lintelconstruction and is surrounded by columns("peripteral") carrying an Entablature.There are eight columns at either end("octostyle") and seventeen on the sides.There is a double row of columns at eitherend. The colonnade surrounds an innermasonry structure, the Cella which isdivided into two compartments. At eitherend of the building the gable is finishedwith a triangular Pediment originally filledwith sculpture.

The columns are of the Doric Order, withsimple capitals, fluted shafts and no bases.Above the Architrave of the entablature is aFrieze of carved pictorial panels (Metopes),separated by formal architecturalTriglyphs, typical of the Doric Order.Around the cella and across the lintels ofthe inner columns runs a continuoussculptured frieze in low relief. This elementof the architecture is Ionic in style, ratherthan Doric. Architectural Elements of The PARTHENON

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4. Architecture of The PARTHENON:

The Parthenon, is regarded as the finest example of Greek architecture. The temple, wrote JohnJulius Cooper, "enjoys the reputation of being the most perfect Doric temple ever built. Even inantiquity, its architectural refinements were legendary, especially the subtle correspondencebetween the curvature of the stylobate, the taper of the naos walls and the entasis of thecolumns.

Entasis refers to the slight diminution in diameter of the columns as they rise, though theobservable effect on the Parthenon is considerably more subtle than on earlier temples. Thestylobate is the platform on which the columns stand. As in many other classical Greek temples, ithas a slight parabolic upward curvature intended to shed rainwater and reinforce the buildingagainst earthquakes.

The columns might therefore be supposed to lean outwards, but they actually lean slightlyinwards so that if they carried on, they would meet almost exactly a mile above the centre of theParthenon; since they are all the same height, the curvature of the outer stylobate edge istransmitted to the architrave and roof above: "All follow the rule of being built to delicatecurves," Gorham Stevens observed when pointing out that, in addition, the west front was built ata slightly higher level than that of the east front. It is not universally agreed what the intendedeffect of these "optical refinements" was; they may serve as a sort of "reverse optical illusion".

As the Greeks may have been aware, two parallel lines appear to bow, or curve outward, whenintersected by converging lines. In this case, the ceiling and floor of the temple may seem to bowin the presence of the surrounding angles of the building. Striving for perfection, the designersmay have added these curves, compensating for the illusion by creating their own curves, thusnegating this effect and allowing the temple to be seen as they intended. It is also suggested that itwas to enliven what might have appeared an inert mass in the case of a building without curves,but the comparison ought to be with the Parthenon's more obviously curved predecessors thanwith a notional rectilinear temple.

Some studies of the Acropolis, including the Parthenon, conclude that many of its proportionsapproximate the Golden Ratio. The Parthenon's façade as well as elements of its façade andelsewhere can be circumscribed by Golden Rectangles.

A copy of the original PARTHENON in Tennessee, Nashville, USA

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5.1 The Acropolis

5. Architectural Drawings:6

5.2 The Doric order

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5.3 Evolution of the Doric order

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5.4 The PARTHENON

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106. Project Worksheets: I-a Typical section-façade.

6. Project Worksheets: I-b) Typical section-façade / Rendered. 11

II)Order DetailsProject Worksheets:11

6. Project Worksheets: II-a) Detailed Section-façade. 12

II)Order DetailsProject Worksheets:11

6. Project Worksheets: II-b) Detailed Section-façade/ Rendered. 13

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7. Elements:I) Pediment. 18

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7. Elements:II) Metope & Acroterion.

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7. Elements:III) Naos of Athena Parthenos.

218. Rendering Schemes: I) Typical Column.

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8. Rendering Schemes: II Main Facade.

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8. Rendering Schemes: III)Cut-Away Perspective.

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8. Rendering Schemes: IV)Athena Promachos.

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8. Rendering Schemes: V)The Acropolis.

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8. Rendering Schemes: V)The Acropolis.