“The Minotaur” and Aeschylus Agamemnon.ppt

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In Doric temples the columns almost invariably stood directly on the floor, tapering upwards towards the roof. They were composed of a number of superimposed drums, held together by dowels of wood or bronze, and were generally fluted (i.e. cut with concave grooves the length of the column)— examples without grooves are unfinished. The flutes were possibly meant to imitate the grooves made by a convex-bladed adze used to trim the original logs, although this type of decoration has a long, long pedigree in Egypt.? http://www.odysseyadventures.ca/articles/greektemple/greek_temple.htm * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Agora and council The scale of these public buildings was usually no greater than the size required to fulfill their function, such as the complex of buildings on the agora’s western edge in which the council of five hundred held its meetings and the public archives were kept. The Acropolis 447 BCE Since the assembly convened in the open air on a hillside above the agora, it required no building at all except for a speaker’s platform. In 447 B.C., however, at Pericles’ instigation, a great project began atop the Acropolis, the mesa-like promontory at the center of the city, which towered over the agora. Parthenon Most conspicuous of all were a mammoth gate building with columns straddling the broad entrance to the acropolis at its western end and a new Athena temple, the Parthenon, to house a towering image of the goddess. Video: NOVA | Optical Tricks of the Parthenon | PBS /watch?v=vzhA3yiEofIfeature=related Expensive construction program These buildings alone cost easily more than the equivalent of a billion dollars in modern terms, a phenomenal sum for an ancient Greek city-state. The program was so expensive that the political enemies of Pericles railed at him for squandering public funds. The finances for the program apparently came in part form the tribute pa