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... the side walls of the cella, but with the entrance to the staircases at right angles to the door of the cella.8 The drawing by Krauss shows that in the temple of Athena the typical intermediate treads are 0.533 m wide, 0.343 m deep, with a riser 0.235 m high. The design with carved treads was used again in the later temple of Hera II at Paestum ( fig. 8). The larger scale of this temple provided space for a wider stair, and apparently only one stairwell was actually ...
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... It has been speculated that the destination of such stairs was a walkable attic above the cellaprobably for storage (cf. Miles 1998Miles /1999Miles 2016, 212;Fig. 28, cf. ...
... It has been speculated that the destination of such stairs was a walkable attic above the cellaprobably for storage (cf. Miles 1998Miles /1999Miles 2016, 212;Fig. 28, cf. ...
... The helical staircases were adopted in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, as witnessed by multiple ancient ruins, but their use was mainly reserved for monumental buildings (Miles 1998). Their emergence as an architectural theme mainly links to medieval stereotomic experiments where the helical staircase develops its spatial potential, first experimenting with the dissolution of the outer walls and then the progressive emptying of the central well (Templer 1995: 60-72), and test different geometrical solutions (Benítez Hernández and Valiente López 2015). ...
The paper deals with the unpublished survey and geometric analysis of the circular helical staircase built around 1660 in Palazzo Spada’s wing on Via del Polverone in Rome. Its role in the development of the place and the history of its design process are addressed thanks to historical drawings and the reference model proposed both in the treatise and construction between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. A description of the 3D digital survey procedures is followed by the reconstruction of a NURBS 3D model that describes the staircase and its geometric properties. Three helical turns of the staircase undergo an in-depth analysis of the slope angle thanks to the development of the helical lines. This leads to the recognition of the main features of this staircase: its unique central structure; the implementation of geometrical proportions descending from Andrea Palladio’s treatise; the changes of the slope angle that characterize the staircase flights and the space they generate.
This paper discusses the development of monumental temple building in Sicily and Magna Graecia in the early Classical Period in terms of style and design in relation to cult and political structures. It is demonstrated that there was a coherent style that defined a moment of rapid construction in Western Greece in 480 B.C., and that the noteworthy building in Sicily eventually influenced mainland Greek architecture. This moment of intense construction is one result of the victory over the Carthaginians in the Battle at Himera, which ushered in an exuberant political environment driven by ambitious tyrants that revised the urban built environment and cult distribution in Sicily.
Trajan’s Column in Rome (AD 113) was the model for a modest number of other spiral columns decorated with figural, narrative imagery from antiquity to the present day. Most of these wind upwards to the right, often with a congruent spiral staircase within. A brief introductory consideration of antique screw direction in mechanical devices and fluted columns suggests that the former may have been affected by the handedness of designers and the latter by a preference for symmetry. However, for the historiated columns that are the main focus of this article, the determining factor was likely script direction. The manner in which this operated is considered, as well as competing mechanisms that might explain exceptions.
A related phenomenon is the reversal of the spiral in a non-trivial number of reproductions of the antique columns, from Roman coinage to Renaissance and baroque drawings and engravings. Finally, the consistent inattention in academic literature to the spiral direction of historiated columns and the repeated publication of erroneous earlier reproductions warrants further consideration.
The exteriors of Greek temples, stoas, and monuments have had an enormous aesthetic impact on many subsequent architectural styles and periods. Typically photographers of ancient Greek buildings artfully position their cameras to catch finely sculpted columns and entablature against a pellucid blue sky. From the Archaic to the Hellenistic period we see a rich blossoming of architectural ornamentation, attention to lighting, and increasing accommodation to the experience of the devotees inside the building. Furnishings were added to the built structure that enhanced the atmosphere of an honorable and worthy setting for the cherished statue: paintings, tapestries, lamps, tables, thrones, cupboards and chests of votive offerings, and commemorative offerings of all sorts such as shields, armor, and historical and natural relics. This chapter describes the highlights of these developments and customs according to recent research, so as to give a more complete picture (inside as well as out) of Greek temples.
This chapter outlines the history of temple architecture and decoration in South Italy and Sicily, from the foundation of the Greek settlements in the second half of the eighth century to the advent of Rome in the third century BCE. Although the presentation is selective, it offers a more effective idea of the development of one of the most significant forms of expression in the art and architecture of the western Greeks. The only evidence for a sacred building of the Geometric period in the entire West is an oikos at Syracuse dated to circa 710-700 BCE. The temple at Foce del Sele features one of the most significant gatherings of mythological representations in Archaic Greek temple decoration. The Temple of Hera at Selinous is archaeologically dated to 460-450 BCE, which closely corresponds to the early Classical style of its carved metopes, decorating the friezes of pronaos and opisthodomos.
Euhemerus, the famous theorist on the nature of the gods who lived around 300 BC, has usually been discussed as a disembodied intellectual figure, with scholars focusing on his literary and philosophical sources and influence. Although he is called "Euhemerus of Messene," there is uncertainty as to where he was born, lived, and worked, in particular whether he came from Sicilian or Peloponnesian Messene. Until now, the conquests of Alexander the Great and the establishment of the Successor Kingdoms have been considered the only context for Euhemerus. This paper will draw upon literary, historical, and archaeological evidence to argue that Euhemerus belongs in a Sicilian context. The long history of the worship of rulers in Sicily from the oikistai to the tyrants of Syracuse, the wealth of Sicily, the proximity of the Lipari Islands, the multiethnic milieu of Sicily with its vigorous interaction and syncretism, all contributed to Euhemerus' experiences and thought. We suggest that centuries of Sicilian cultural and political experience, not merely the "phenomenon" of Alexander the Great and the dawn of the Hellenistic Age, provided the impetus to the ideas of Euhemerus, and that Euhemerus brought this Sicilian contribution to bear on the new problems of the wider world. Copyright © 2006 by The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
