Ancient+Greek+Architecture+&+The+Parthenon

====How in the world is the Parthenon of Athens in Greece Still standing? The ancient Greek Athenians were very innovative. They did a lot of scientific research and experiments which led to great success in construction. The ancient Athenians built the Parthenon and it is still standing with a few things dismembered, but after 2,500 years, there had to of been some very smart thinking put into the construction of the building.====

====The tools the ancient Athenians utilized are suspected to be far more powerful than the modern tools that we utilize today for carving and other arts. Hand tools were all they had, to sharper marble and other surfaces and for basic construction of structures. By analyzing the surfaces of marble stone in the Parthenon, the tools must have been much sharper and durable than those of today. Supposedly their tools were so advanced due to their metallurgical experimentation, that lasted for centuries during their time in the 400B.C.s. Variables such as regulating forging temperature and the amounts of added elements would affect the durability and efficiency of their tools. Through research and analysis, they were able to carve at more than double the rate and efficiency of today’s modern craftsman.====

====The materials that were used in the construction of the Parthenon were those such as marble and iron. Marble blocks were used and carved. Iron was also used for fusing together marble blocks. The marble was from Mount Pendeli and required a large number of people to transport to the construction site.====

====There are definitely differences between the way that they built and the modern techniques that the ancient Athenians had used for construction. A major difference is that they did not have modern tools which would allow them to have everything easily shaped and placed in their corresponding location. The Athenians used their own technologies. They used a plethora of mathematics and geometric skills to design every single angle of this building to keep it stable and apparently standing 2,500 years later from construction. We, these days, can get lumber as big as we would need to build our homes and we can have them nailed, stapled, or screwed together. In these times, they would use iron clamps in the grooves of these stones and then molten lead was poured over the area to cushion the blocks from seismic shocks and to protect the clamps.====

[[image:ALoganUncopyrightParthenon.jpg align="left" caption="Parthenon of Athens, Greece"]]
====The ancient Athenians seemed to be able to use the abilities of humans and experimental science for their construction skills. Today, we use use things based off of research such as machines to easily place larger objects in different places and doing basic geometrical calculation to determine where weight is going to be diverted. The ancient Athenians would e building most likely as a structure to divert wait also.==== ====The ancient Athenians of Greece were very smart, their skills led to the construction of the Parthenon. We still have yet to study what kept this ancient building standing for the long time of 2,500 years. It is interesting to us because they were a lot older, but for them, it is only the way they constructed their building. We have yet to comprehend their knowledge correctly of construction, especially of the Parthenon.====

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//Written By Logan//

Sources:

Cole, Karl. "The Parthenon." //School Arts// 100.8 (2001): 39. //Student Resource Center - Bronze//. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. <@http://find.galegroup.com/gps/start.do?prodId=IPS&userGroupName=lejar_acad>.

Hadingham, Evan. "Unlocking mysteries of the Parthenon: efforts to restore the 2,500-year-old temple of Athena are yielding new insights into the astonishing feats of the golden age's master builders." //Smithsonian// Feb. 2008: 36+.//Student Resource Center - Bronze//. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. <@http://find.galegroup.com/gps/start.do?prodId=IPS&userGroupName=lejar_acad>.

Images:

Non-Copyrighted Images from Flickr.  Greek Parthenon. 12 December 2009. <@http://www.flickr.com/>