The Invention of the known "Classic": Context, part 1: The Parthenon

    During the Golden Age of Greece, the Greeks built what would later become the physical representation that would immortalize new ideals that where surfacing at the time: the appreciation of art and beauty, the trust and belief in the sciences, and the newly issued form of democratic government. The symbol that was to embody their ideals, beliefs and values being the Parthenon. After being constantly attacked and destroyed by both man and nature, it's remains continue to be a reminder of what human beings were capable of at a time where modern society considers it to have had limited technologies. However, the urgencies to understand how humankind was able to design such structure has unraveled how close the Parthenon is to collapsing and has, as well, become a rescue mission for experts to prevent this. 

    The Parthenon stands at approximately 14m tall and appears to be geometrically symmetrical with interchangeable parts. However, due to subtle curves that differ by fractions of a millimeter, each individual piece is unique to it's position. To repair and restore the Parthenon, a team of experts such as architects, stonemasons, and archeologists (all part of the Acropolis Restoration Project) must take apart, study and reassemble it's remaining pieces to better understand how the ancients came to design with such precision. The ancient design methods used by the Greeks to making the Parthenon hve been dubbed the Secrets of the Parthenon. 

    The Parthenon along with various other Greek structures of the time have very few right angles and seem to be purposefully designed with curves instead of straight lines. Many experts, such as Harvard neurobiologist, Prof. Margaret Livingstone, believe that the ancient Greeks were aware of optical illusions and used this as an advantage to trick the eye. To further our understanding, Livingstone explains:

    "...If you have two straight lines, if you add converging lines, these two lines seem to bow in the middle. So if the floor of the Parthenon has converging cues as to depth and perspective, you could have an illusory sag in the floor of the Parthenon."

This meaning that to create a structure that appears to be perfect, the Greeks would've had to use illusionary methods to trick the onlooker's visual understanding. This being only one of the many ancient methods used by the Greeks that the restoration teams has taking to understanding. In addition, the restoration team has had to use other ancient design and construction methods and tools used by the Greeks to better understand the process and results of the Parthenon as well. 

   The Parthenon was once a symbol of greatness and now it's ruins stand in the process of it's repair to shed memory to it's quality and ancient meaning. The Parthenon holds many secrets to its initial construction and it continues to be in the process of restoration. 

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P.S. I talked about only one of their design methods as to not make this a list-based essay. However, if interested, more information on this here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/secrets-of-the-parthenon/