Penrose's volume: An investigation of the principles of Athenian Architecture

Abstract

We describe the contents of the second edition of Penrose's book of 1888 about his on-site investigations, findings and conclusions concerning his researches into Athenian Architecture. The volume emphasises, “the incorrectness of the belief that the system of design in (classical) Greek architecture was absolutely rectilinear”. We review only the chapters of his book of immediate relevance to us, though referring to seven Appendices (the first by author W. W. Lloyd), for historical and mathematical background. The attention of the reader is drawn to an accompanying paper [2] giving the biographies of, mostly, English investigators who, principally, explored the title subject before Penrose, extending over a period of about 150 years.