Subject: [HM] BOOK: Mathematics, Music, Architecture in Ancient Greece
From: Antreas P. Hatzipolakis (xpolakis@otenet.gr)
Date: Sat Mar 18 2000 - 08:23:11 EST
Recently appeared a publication of a posthumous work of the Greek architect
Alexander N. Papanikolaou (1949-1998) by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
(yes, we have such a ministry! Visit its web site: http://www.culture.gr )
Bibliographic details:
Alexander N. Papanikolaou: Mathematics, Music, Architecture in Ancient Greece.
[in Greek with English Summary].
Athens: The Hellenic Ministry of Culture, 2000. 29 x 20.5 cm; 142 pages.
ISBN: 960-214-265-0
The author studies the geometrical analogies of some Ancient Greek Temples
(The Parthenon, The Temple of Hephaistos in Athens, of Poseidon at Sounion,
and of Nemesis at Ramnous).
Note that the Parthenon was also studied by C. Caratheodory (U"ber die Kurven
am Sockel des Parthenon und die Absta"nde seiner Sa"ulen [in Greek].
Paneg. of the Greek Archaeological Society, Athens 1937).
Following I am quoting a passage from the English Summary (especially for
you, Milo :-))
<quote>
Evidently the architect of the temple of Poseidon at Sounion used the scales
1/1 and 1/10 in designing the monument. The measure used in the design and
construction of the temple was the Egyptian cubit, in both its forms, the
royal Egyptian cubit (length: 0.5236 m.) and the common Egyptian cubit
(0.4488 m.).
</quote>
Antreas
Addendum: This is a related item from Zbl:
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Johnson, W.: The students of the "Systematic deviations from ordinary
rectilinear construction" in the Athenian Parthenon.
Int. J. Mech. Sci. 39, No.8, 957-963 (1997).
Certain small "systematic deviations from the straight line" were
engineered by Athenian architects of the 5th century B.C. with the aim of
attaining visual aesthetic excellence for certain sacred buildings on the
Acropolis. Buildings where aesthetic appeal (based to some extent on
mathematical calculations) precedes fitness for structural function are
rare. This paper describes briefly works of mainly 18th and 19th century
architects who were interested in the phenomenon and who attempted to
describe and explain it. They and their major related works are as follows:
Vitruvius (around 1st century B.C.), {\it The Ten Books on Architecture};
James Stuart (1713-1788), {\it The Antiquities of Athens}; Nicholas
Revett (1720-1784); John Pennethorne (1808-1888), {\it The Geometry and
Optics of Ancient Architecture}; Francis Cranmer Penrose (1817-1903),
{\it Anomalies in the (Ordinary Rectilineal) Construction of the Parthenon,
Principles of Athenian Architecture}; William Watkiss Lloyd (1813-1893);
Thomas Leverton Donaldson (1795-1885); Charles Robert Cockerell
(1788-1863).
[ R.Dimitric (Berkeley) ]
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