Hidden Human Story : Greece

Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Hephaisteion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hephaistos.temple.AC.01.jpg

The Temple of Hephaestus, also known as the Hephaisteion or earlier as the Theseion, is a well-preserved Greek temple; it remains standing largely as built. It is a Doric peripteral temple, and is located at the north-west side of the Agora of Athens, on top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill. From the 7th century until 1834, it served as the Greek Orthodox church of St. George Akamates.

Hephaestus was the patron god of metal working and craftsmanship. There were numerous potters' workshops and metal-working shops in the vicinity of the temple, as befits the temple's honoree. Archaeological evidence suggests that there was no earlier building on the site except for a small sanctuary that was burned when the Persians occupied Athens in 480 BC. The name Theseion or Temple of Theseus was attributed to the monument under the assumption it housed the remains of the Athenian hero Theseus, brought back to the city from the island of Skyros by Kimon in 475 BC, but refuted after inscriptions from within the temple associated it firmly with Hephaestus.

Acropolis of Athens

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Attica_06-13_Athens_50_View_from_Philopappos_-_Acropolis_Hill.jpg

The Acropolis of Athens (Greek: Ακρόπολη Αθηνών) is an ancient citadel located on a high rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and containing the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. The word acropolis comes from the Greek words ἄκρον (akron, "edge, extremity") and πόλις (polis, "city").^[1] Although there are many other acropoleis in Greece, the significance of the Acropolis of Athens is such that it is commonly known as "The Acropolis" without qualification.

While there is evidence that the hill was inhabited as far back as the fourth millennium BC, it was Pericles (c. 495 – 429 BC) in the fifth century BC who coordinated the construction of the site's most important buildings including the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike.^[2]^[3] The Parthenon and the other buildings were seriously damaged during the 1687 siege by the Venetians in the Morean War when the Parthenon was being used for gunpowder storage and was hit by a cannonball.^[4]

The Acropolis was formally proclaimed as the preeminent monument on the European Cultural Heritage list of monuments on 26 March 2007.^[5]

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acropolis_of_Athens

List of Ancient Roman and Greek Monoliths/Temples/Ruins

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Artemis_Efes_Museum.JPG

Here is a list of ancient Greek/Roman ruins/temples/monoliths from Wikipedia:

Greek monoliths

Below a selection of Greek monoliths sorted by their date.

Date	Building / Object	Location	Monolith	Weight (in t)
~650 BC	Nikandre Dedication^[5]	Delos, Greek isles	Figure	000025 !~1110.25
~650 BC	Fortification wall ^[5]	Leontinoi, Sicily	Wall blocks	000175 !~1111.75
~640 BC	Temple of Poseidon ^[5]	Isthmus, Greek mainland	Wall blocks	000050 !~1110.5
~630 BC	Temple A ^[5]	Prinias, Crete	Frieze slab	000050 !~1110.5
~610–590 BC	Sounion Kouros ^[5]	Sounion, Greek mainland	Figure	000200 !111~2
~610–590 BC	Naxian colossos ^[5]	Delos, Greek isles	Base	003400 !~1134
~610–590 BC	Naxian colossos ^[5]	Delos, Greek isles	Figure	002300 !11~23
~590–580 BC	Temple of Artemis ^[5]	Kerkyra, Greek isles	Pediment slab, central	000325 !~1113.25
~590–580 BC	Temple of Artemis ^[5]	Kerkyra, Greek isles	Architrave block	000500 !~1115 or 6.25
~565 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Syracuse, Sicily	Stylobate block	002400 !~1124
~565 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Syracuse, Sicily	Column shaft	003500 !~1135
~565 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Syracuse, Sicily	Architrave block	002025 !~1120.25
~560–550 BC	Temple of Artemis ^[5]	Ephesos, Asia Minor	Architrave block, central	004125 !~1141.25
~555 BC	Olympieion ^[5]	Syracuse, Sicily	Stylobate block	002025 !~1120.25
~550–530 BC	Temple C ^[5]	Selinunte, Sicily	Stylobate block	001250 !~1112.5
~550–530 BC	Temple C ^[5]	Selinunte, Sicily	Architrave block	001600 !~1116
~540 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Corinth, Greek mainland	Column shaft	002600 !~1126
~540 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Corinth, Greek mainland	Architrave block	001000 !~1110
~535 BC	Temple D ^[5]	Selinunte, Sicily	Architrave block	001375 !~1113.75
~525 BC	Temple FS ^[5]	Selinunte, Sicily	Architrave block	002100 !~1121
~520–409 BC	Temple of Apollo ('GT') ^[5]	Selinunte, Sicily	Column drum in quarry (Cave di Cusa)	007300 !~1173
~520–409 BC	Temple of Apollo ('GT') ^[5]	Selinunte, Sicily	Architrave block	004000 !~1140
~520–409 BC	Temple of Apollo ('GT') ^[5]	Selinunte, Sicily	Cornice block	001250 !~1112.5
~520 BC	Colossos of Apollona ^[5]	Naxos, Greek isles	Figure	006900 !11~69
~520 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Naxos, Greek isles	Lintel block	002200 !~1122
~520 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Naxos, Greek isles	Threshold	002225 !~1122.25
~520 BC	Temple at Parikia ^[5]	Paros, Greek isles	Lintel block	002200 !11~22
~515 BC	From about that time on, cranes are assumed to have become common on Greek construction sites, leading to a sharp reduction of block sizes.^[2]
~515 BC	Olympieion ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Column drum	000900 !~1119
~500–406 BC	Olympieion ^[5]	Akragas, Sicily	Abacus block, central	001150 !~1111.5
~500–406 BC	Olympieion ^[5]	Akragas, Sicily	Architrave block	000925 !~1119.25
~500–406 BC	Olympieion ^[5]	Akragas, Sicily	Architrave block	001100 !~1111
~500–406 BC	Olympieion ^[5]	Akragas, Sicily	Architrave block	001400 !~1114
~500–406 BC	Olympieion ^[5]	Akragas, Sicily	Metope block, lower (angle)	001350 !~1113.5
~500–406 BC	Olympieion ^[5]	Akragas, Sicily	Cornice block	001150 !~1111.5
~500 BC	Temple of Aphaia ^[5]	Aigina, Greek isles	Column shaft	000600 !~1116
~480–460 BC	Temple ER ^[5]	Selinunte, Sicily	Architrave block	001700 !~1117
~468–457 BC	Temple of Zeus ^[5]	Olympia, Greek mainland	Stylobate block	000850 !~1118.5
~468–457 BC	Temple of Zeus ^[5]	Olympia, Greek mainland	Architrave block	001650 !~1116.5
~460 BC	Temple of 'Poseidon' ^[5]	Paestum, Magna Graecia	Architrave block	001150 !~1111.5
~448–437 BC	Parthenon ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Architrave block	000950 !~1119.5
~448–437 BC	Parthenon ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Lintel block, largest	000900 !~1119
~437–432 BC	Propylaia ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Architrave block, central	001250 !~1112.5
~437–432 BC	Propylaia ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Lintel block, largest	001225 !~1112.25
~437–432 BC	Propylaia ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Lintel block, relieving ^{[A 1]}	000875 !~1118.75
~437–432 BC	Propylaia ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Ceiling beam, west porch	001000 !~1110
~421–405 BC	Erechtheion ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Block over Pandroseion	001150 !~1111.5
~421–405 BC	Erechtheion ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Lintel block, north door	000725 !~1117.25
~421–405 BC	Erechtheion ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Ceiling beam, north porch	001000 !~1110
~420 BC	Temple of Segesta ^[5]	Segesta, Sicily	Architrave block	001250 !~1112.5
~366–326 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Delphi, Greek mainland	Architrave block	000925 !~1119.25
~350 BC	First in Ionia, the weight of the lifted blocks begins to match again that of the Archaic period, indicating a mastery of the winch and compound pulley hoist by now.^[6]
~340 BC	Temple of Zeus ^[5]	Nemea, Greek mainland	Architrave block	000675 !~1116.75
~340 BC	Temple of Zeus ^[5]	Nemea, Greek mainland	Lintel block	000875 !~1118.75
~310 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Didyma, Asia Minor	Threshold	004675 !~1146.75
~310 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Didyma, Asia Minor	Lintel block ^{[A 2]}	004800 !~1148
~310 BC	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Didyma, Asia Minor	Jamb ^{[A 3]}	007150 !~1171.5
~170 BC	Olympieion ^[5]	Athens, Greek mainland	Architrave block, largest	002325 !~1123.25

Roman monoliths

Below a selection of Roman monoliths sorted by their date; the list also includes work on Greek temples which was continued into the Roman era.

Date ^{[A 4]}	Building / Object	Location	Monolith	Weight (in t)	Comment
000 !1st c. BC	Apollo statue ^[5]	Vitr. 10.2.13 ^[7]	Base	005100 !~1151?
002 !10 BC	Flaminian Obelisk ^[8]	Rome, Italia	Obelisk	026300 !~1263	From Roman Egypt by obelisk ship^[8]
002 !10 BC	Campensis Obelisk ^[8]	Rome, Italia	Obelisk	023000 !~1230	From Roman Egypt by obelisk ship^[8]
037 !37–41 AD	Vatican Obelisk ^[9]	Rome, Italia	Obelisk	036100 !~1361	From Roman Egypt by obelisk ship^[8]
100 !1st–2nd c.	Stone of the South ^[10]	Baalbek, Roman Syria	Block in quarry	100000.12 !~1000.12
100 !?	Unnamed monolith ^[11]	Baalbek, Roman Syria	Block in quarry	124200 !~1242
100 !1st–2nd c.	Layer beneath Trilithon ^[12]	Baalbek, Roman Syria	Blocks, several	035000 !~∅350	Podium of Jupiter temple
100 !1st–2nd c.	Trilithon ^[12]	Baalbek, Roman Syria	Blocks, three	080000 !~∅800	Podium of Jupiter temple
100 !1st–2nd c.	Temple of Jupiter ^[5]	Baalbek, Roman Syria	Column drum, lower	004850 !~1148.5
100 !1st–2nd c.	Temple of Jupiter ^[5]	Baalbek, Roman Syria	Architrave-frieze block, central	006300 !~1163	Lifted by cranes to height of 19 m^[13]
100 !1st–2nd c.	Temple of Jupiter ^[5]	Baalbek, Roman Syria	Cornice block, corner	010800 !~1108	Lifted by cranes to height of 19 m^[13]
101 !1st–3rd c.	Granite column ^[14]	Mons Claudianus, Roman Egypt	Column shaft in quarry	020700 !~1207
113 !113	Trajan's Column ^[15]	Rome, Italia	Pedestal	007700 !11~77
113 !113	Trajan's Column ^[16]	Rome, Italia	Base	005500 !~1155
113 !113	Trajan's Column ^[17]	Rome, Italia	Column drum, typical	003200 !11~32
113 !113	Trajan's Column ^[16]	Rome, Italia	Capital	005330 !~1153.3	Lifted by cranes to height of 34 m^[16]
150 !2nd c.?	Temple of Apollo ^[5]	Didyma, Asia Minor	Architrave block	002050 !~1120.5
297 !297	Pompey's Pillar ^[18]	Alexandria, Roman Egypt	Column shaft	028500 !~1285
306 !306–313	Basilica Nova ^[5]	Rome, Italia	Column shaft	010300 !~1103
357 !357	Lateran Obelisk ^[8]	Rome, Italia	Obelisk	050000 !~1500	From Roman Egypt by obelisk ship^[8]
530 !530	Mausoleum of Theodoric ^[19]	Ravenna, Italia	Roof slab	023000 !~1230	Constructed under Ostrogoths^{[A 5]}

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_Greek_and_Roman_monoliths

Monday, November 4, 2013

As always, I look for connections to ancient mythology every where I go. The Art Institute of Chicago was no exception. I've heard the Institute has over 200,000 pieces of art in their collection with multiple rotating exhibits throughout the year. I zeroed in on some ancient art from Greece, Rome, and Egypt. Enjoy.