Delphes

Bommelaer, Jean-François

doi:10.3406/bch.2002.7102

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The earliest examples are found at Delphi. Here, a pair of V-shaped holes occurs on the top of a column drum that has tentatively been attributed to the treasury of the Corinthians, which would suggest a date within the second half of the seventh century (Østby 2000, 242; Bommelaer 1991, 154). Similar cuttings have been observed on column drums and capitals from the early Temple of Athena Pronaia (weighing about 300 kg) and on drums from the early Temple of Apollo (weighing up to about 900 kg), both dated to the first half of the sixth century.…”

Section: Early Lifting Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Interpreting Rope Channels: Lifting, Setting and the Birth of Greek Monumental Architecture

Pierattini

2019

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

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The first stone ashlar blocks of Greek architecture, those of the mid-seventh-century temples at Isthmia and Corinth, pose a problem for understanding the beginnings of Greek stone construction.1 Their peculiar feature is the presence of grooves plausibly explained as a way to move the blocks with ropes. Yet scholars disagree about how these ropes would have been used, and during what stage of construction. The first excavators of the two temples suggested that the ropes would have served to lift each block into place, and were subsequently extracted from the grooves once the block had been set against its neighbour. Later scholars dismissed this theory as both inconsistent with the evidence and technically impracticable, questioning whether lifting machines were used in Greek construction as early as the mid-seventh century. Currently, the widely accepted view holds that the crane appeared in the Greek world only in the late sixth century. An alternative hypothesis is that the grooves were cut early in the construction process so that ropes could be used to manoeuvre the blocks within the quarry. However, the ‘lifting’ theory continues to have its adherents. Clarifying the significance of these parallel grooves is thus a matter of some importance to the history of Greek construction. This article reassesses the alternative theses on the basis of a new examination of the evidence, and demonstrates that the idea that the grooves served for lifting is the most plausible. Furthermore, it argues that forerunners of the crane appeared in Greece well before the late sixth century. Finally, by examining how the blocks would have been manoeuvred into place after lifting, it contends that the grooves also served the purpose of placement, with a method anticipating the Classical period's sophisticated lever technique.

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Section: Early Lifting Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Interpreting Rope Channels: Lifting, Setting and the Birth of Greek Monumental Architecture

Pierattini

2019

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

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“…Its reputation centred on the political decisions taken after consultation of the Oracle, especially during the period of colonisation of the Archaic period ( c . eighth to sixth centuries BC), when cities sought her consent and guidance (Bommelaer 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

Delphi4Delphi: first results of the digital archaeology initiative for ancient Delphi, Greece

Liritzis¹,

Pavlidis²,

Vosynakis³

et al. 2016

Antiquity

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Digital media and learning initiatives for virtual collaborative environments are contributing to the definition of new (sub-)disciplines in archaeological and heritage sciences. New nomenclature and terminology is emerging such as cyber archaeology, cyber archaeometry, virtual worlds and augmented and immersive realities; and all of them are related to museums and cultural heritage—tangible, intangible or natural (Forte 2010; Liritzis et al. 2015).

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Delphes

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Interpreting Rope Channels: Lifting, Setting and the Birth of Greek Monumental Architecture

Interpreting Rope Channels: Lifting, Setting and the Birth of Greek Monumental Architecture

Delphi4Delphi: first results of the digital archaeology initiative for ancient Delphi, Greece

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