A day in the life of an ancient Greek architect - Mark Robinson
-
0:07 - 0:12As dawn breaks over Athens,
Pheidias is already late for work. -
0:12 - 0:15The year is 432 BCE,
-
0:15 - 0:18and he’s the architekton,
or chief builder, -
0:18 - 0:22for the Parthenon—
Athens’ newest and largest temple. -
0:22 - 0:27When completed, his masterpiece will be
an enormous shrine to the goddess Athena, -
0:27 - 0:31and a testament to the glory
of the Athenians. -
0:31 - 0:36But when he arrives onsite he finds
five epistatai, or city officials, -
0:36 - 0:38waiting to confront him.
-
0:38 - 0:40They accuse Pheidias of embezzling gold
-
0:40 - 0:44designated for the temple’s
sacred central statue. -
0:44 - 0:48He has until sundown to provide
all the temple’s expenses -
0:48 - 0:54and account for every flake of gold—
or face the judgement of the courts. -
0:54 - 0:59Though he’s insulted by these
false charges, Pheidias isn’t surprised. -
0:59 - 1:02Pericles, the politician
who commissioned the Parthenon, -
1:02 - 1:05has many enemies in city government,
-
1:05 - 1:08and this project
is somewhat controversial. -
1:08 - 1:12The public is expecting a classic temple
in the Doric style: -
1:12 - 1:16simple columns supporting
a horizontal entablature, -
1:16 - 1:18crowned with a triangular roof.
-
1:18 - 1:23But Pheidias’ plans are far more radical
by Athenian standards. -
1:23 - 1:28His designs combine Doric columns
with a sweeping Ionic frieze, -
1:28 - 1:34hosting a vast panorama of the city’s
Great Panathenaic festival. -
1:34 - 1:39Not only will this sculpture show
humans and gods side by side— -
1:39 - 1:42something never before seen
in a temple’s décor— -
1:42 - 1:46it will also cost much more
than the traditional approach. -
1:46 - 1:51Praying to the Gods that his colleagues
have been keeping track of their spending, -
1:51 - 1:54Pheidias sets off to prove his innocence.
-
1:54 - 1:59First, he checks in with his architects
Iktinos and Callicrates. -
1:59 - 2:00Rather than using a blueprint,
-
2:00 - 2:04they pore over the syngraphai,
or general plan, -
2:04 - 2:07and paradeigma, a 3D model.
-
2:07 - 2:12Without an exact blueprint, the team
often has to resolve issues in real time, -
2:12 - 2:18guided only by careful calculation
and their instinct for symmetry. -
2:18 - 2:22Maintaining this symmetry
has proven especially difficult. -
2:22 - 2:28The Parthenon is built on a curve
with the columns leaning slightly inwards. -
2:28 - 2:29To project strength,
-
2:29 - 2:33and potentially keep the columns
looking straight from a distance, -
2:33 - 2:39the architects incorporated entasis,
or slight bulging, in each column. -
2:39 - 2:41For the temple’s other elements,
-
2:41 - 2:46the team calculates symmetry by employing
relatively consistent proportions -
2:46 - 2:47across the design.
-
2:47 - 2:52But their shifting plans require
constant recalculations. -
2:52 - 2:55After helping solve one such computation,
-
2:55 - 2:57Pheidias collects his colleagues’
gold records -
2:57 - 3:01and heads off to receive
a special delivery. -
3:01 - 3:05Immense marble blocks for the Parthenon’s
pediment have just arrived -
3:05 - 3:08from quarries at Mount Pentelikon.
-
3:08 - 3:10The usual ramps would collapse
-
3:10 - 3:14under the weight
of these 2 to 3 ton stone blocks, -
3:14 - 3:18so Pheidias orders the construction
of new pulleys. -
3:18 - 3:20After recording the additional expense
-
3:20 - 3:23and supervising
the construction all afternoon, -
3:23 - 3:26he finally arrives
at the sculpture workshop. -
3:26 - 3:31His sculptors are carving
92 mythical scenes, or metopes, -
3:31 - 3:34to decorate the temple.
-
3:34 - 3:38Every carving depicts fighting
from different epic battles— -
3:38 - 3:42each a mythical representation
of Greece’s victory over Persia -
3:42 - 3:45about 40 years earlier.
-
3:45 - 3:49No temple has ever used
so many metopes before, -
3:49 - 3:54and each scene adds to the temple’s
ballooning expenses. -
3:54 - 3:58Finally, Pheidias turns
to his primary responsibility, -
3:58 - 4:01and the focal point of the entire temple.
-
4:01 - 4:05Covered in thick layers of gold,
minutely decorated, -
4:05 - 4:08and towering above her worshippers,
-
4:08 - 4:14this will be a statue of the city’s
patron and protector: Athena Parthenos. -
4:14 - 4:18When the temple is complete,
throngs will gather on its perimeter— -
4:18 - 4:21offering prayers, performing sacrifices,
-
4:21 - 4:26and pouring libations
for the goddess of wisdom. -
4:26 - 4:28Pheidias spends the rest of the day
-
4:28 - 4:30designing finishing touches
for the statue, -
4:30 - 4:35and as the light fades,
the epistatai arrive to confront him. -
4:35 - 4:39After looming over his records,
they look up triumphantly. -
4:39 - 4:43Pheidias may have accounted
for the temple’s general spending, -
4:43 - 4:47but his records show no mention
of the statue’s gold. -
4:47 - 4:52At that moment, Pericles himself arrives
to save his chief builder. -
4:52 - 4:56The temple’s sponsor tells
them that all the gold on the statue -
4:56 - 5:01can be removed and weighed individually
to prove Pheidias’ innocence. -
5:01 - 5:03Assigning laborers to the task—
-
5:03 - 5:07and charging the officials to watch
them late into the night— -
5:07 - 5:10Pheidias and his patron
leave their adversaries -
5:10 - 5:12to the mercy of mighty Athena.
- Title:
- A day in the life of an ancient Greek architect - Mark Robinson
- Speaker:
- Mark Robinson
- Description:
-
View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-ancient-greek-architect-mark-robinson
The year is 432 BCE. As dawn breaks over Athens, Pheidias is already late for work. He is the chief builder for the Parthenon — Athens’ newest and largest temple— and when he arrives onsite, city officials accuse him of embezzling gold from the temple’s sacred central statue. He has until sundown to prove his innocence or face the courts. Mark Robinson outlines a day in the life of a Greek architect.
Lesson by Mark Robinson, directed by Hana Tintor & Laura Martinović.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 05:13
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