 |
The Old Athena Temple |
|
The Old Athena Temple |
page updated April 29, 2003
| The Problem | When LEARNING SITES was called upon (in 1999) to create a simple massing model of the major 5th-century elements of the Acropolis for a re-analysis of the excavation data, we discovered that, although the monuments themselves are well known, the actual dimensions of each building, each site feature, and each topographic contour are not accurately documented. The task that we were given depended upon achieving the most accurate model possible with regard to the relative positions of buildings and features on the Acropolis. Thus the discrepancies that we found in the measurements given for the horizontal locational relationship of the buildings to each other and for the relative elevational position of each building caused us no little amount of concern. Some of the most widely published plans of the Acropolis, those that show the 5th-century remains, disagree widely among themselves in these regards. |
| The Solution | Throughout this project, we consulted numerous
sources relating to the excavation of the monuments and their architectural
details, as well as resources giving information about the precise elevational
location and geographical position of each natural and constructed feature
on the hill. The sources ranged from 19th-century reports to the
latest scientific study of the buildings by the Greeks. Many hours
were spent interpreting the disparate sets of dimensions, elevations,
and drawings before proceeding with the 3D digital re-creation.
Our resulting virtual reality re-creation of the major monuments on the Acropolis (a single image from the model appears below), allowed the researcher to simulate a walk around the 5th-century monuments. This made it possible to test accurately, in a three-dimensional context, hypotheses about ancient sight lines and space utilization, and references to bedrock cuttings mentioned in early excavations on the hill. Only an accurate 3D model could permit such detailed speculations to be validated. To read more about the analysis of the sources and the probability that the Archaic temple to Athena was not demolished after the sack by the Persians, please see the article by Gloria Ferrari. |
Aerial view of the virtual reality Acropolis massing model; showing the Old Athena Temple ghosted. |
||
|
| Reference
Information
page created: January 18, 2002 page updated: April 29, 2003 you are here: Learning Sites Home page ==> Learning Sites Index page ==> Acropolis, Athens, Greece Homepage ==> The old Athena Temple this page's URL is: http://www.learningsites.com/Acropolis/Acropolis_html-pgs/Acropolis_1999_OAT.html page author: Learning Sites, Inc. © 2002-2010 Learning Sites, Inc. |
