MEANINGS IN GREEK ARCHITECTURE
A NEW APPROACH TO AN ANCIENT QUESTION
The optical corrections of the Greek Doric temple have been a controversial question in the history of architecture. They were first mentioned by the Roman architect and writer Vitruvius. According to him they were meant to prevent optical distortions that otherwise would make the temple look faulty. This explanation has ever since been repeated by most scholars although some of them maintain that the corrections were actually implemented to bring vitality to the otherwise too static appearance of the temple.
Tapio Prokkola, the author of this book, is both an architect and a historian of ideas. He presents an entirely new theory about the meaning of the optical corrections of the Doric temple. This theory is based on an analysis of the value system and ideals of the ancient Greeks. As a result of this analysis, he claims that the most central ideal of the Greeks living in city-states and building Doric temples was the ideal of unity in plurality. This ideal was based on their living conditions in the polis and enlivened by the ancient heroic evaluations inherited from their Homeric tradition. All of the most important features of life were organized according to this ideal: the polis itself, its military organization – the hoplite phalanx, and finally -- the Doric temple, which was the ultimate symbol of the city-state. All the optical corrections as well as many other insistent features of the Doric temple were simply means of the architects to make the temple to comply with this ideal.
The author presents the development history of the Doric temple and shows how the temple was developed from an uncertain beginning through many, often contradictory phases until the final goal, the ideal of unity in plurality, was finally achieved in classical temples precisely with the help of the optical corrections.
The author also claims that all earlier interpretations have been based on a misunderstanding of the words of Vitruvius, and that in fact the words of Vitruvius were actually most likely based on a misunderstanding of the words of Ictinus, the designer of the Parthenon, because of different ideals between Classical Greece and the early Roman Empire. This theory has been presented in the most compelling form, and certainly nobody, who reads this book, can look at a Doric temple with the same eyes as before.
The book is lavishly illustrated including 60 different temple plans, 30 facades and several other drawings and photographs.
A NEW APPROACH TO AN ANCIENT QUESTION
The optical corrections of the Greek Doric temple have been a controversial question in the history of architecture. They were first mentioned by the Roman architect and writer Vitruvius. According to him they were meant to prevent optical distortions that otherwise would make the temple look faulty. This explanation has ever since been repeated by most scholars although some of them maintain that the corrections were actually implemented to bring vitality to the otherwise too static appearance of the temple.
Tapio Prokkola, the author of this book, is both an architect and a historian of ideas. He presents an entirely new theory about the meaning of the optical corrections of the Doric temple. This theory is based on an analysis of the value system and ideals of the ancient Greeks. As a result of this analysis, he claims that the most central ideal of the Greeks living in city-states and building Doric temples was the ideal of unity in plurality. This ideal was based on their living conditions in the polis and enlivened by the ancient heroic evaluations inherited from their Homeric tradition. All of the most important features of life were organized according to this ideal: the polis itself, its military organization – the hoplite phalanx, and finally -- the Doric temple, which was the ultimate symbol of the city-state. All the optical corrections as well as many other insistent features of the Doric temple were simply means of the architects to make the temple to comply with this ideal.
The author presents the development history of the Doric temple and shows how the temple was developed from an uncertain beginning through many, often contradictory phases until the final goal, the ideal of unity in plurality, was finally achieved in classical temples precisely with the help of the optical corrections.
The author also claims that all earlier interpretations have been based on a misunderstanding of the words of Vitruvius, and that in fact the words of Vitruvius were actually most likely based on a misunderstanding of the words of Ictinus, the designer of the Parthenon, because of different ideals between Classical Greece and the early Roman Empire. This theory has been presented in the most compelling form, and certainly nobody, who reads this book, can look at a Doric temple with the same eyes as before.
The book is lavishly illustrated including 60 different temple plans, 30 facades and several other drawings and photographs.
