Abstract
The origins of architectural craftsmanship in ancient Greece are to be found in the archaic arts of tectonics. The first Greek architects, appearing under that name around the 6th century BC, rose out of and based their work on this age-old tectonic tradition, which semantically underwent a transformation during the time from Homer to Plato, the latter relegating the tektones to a lower rank in the order of craftsmanship. Through a detailed reading of the ancient Greek testimonies of the tectonic tradition, the paper demonstrates that in the Homeric tradition the tektones were hailed as versatile, first-rate craftsmen who created wonders out of matter, but in classical times they fell from their high status of old. In Plato’s writings tectonics ends up at the lower end of the epistemological and ontological scale.
Highlights
Hector went to the fine house of Alexandros
Rhoikos and Theodorus would surely benefit from each other’s knowledge, complementing each other, and their architectural fame is invested with all the distinctive attributes of the ancient tectonic tradition: They are highly skilled, versatile craftsmen with a divine status and they are in possession of the technical know-how to create wonders out of matter in hitherto unseen ways
The ancient tectonic tradition was still present in the minds and the works of the first architects, who rose out of it and relied on its wisdom in order to carry out the monumental works of the 7th and 6th centuries BC
Summary
The origins of architectural craftsmanship in ancient Greece are to be found in the archaic arts of tectonics. The first Greek architects, appearing under that name around the 6th century BC, rose out of and based their work on this age-old tectonic tradition, which semantically underwent a transformation during the time from Homer to Plato, the latter relegating the tektones to a lower rank in the order of craftsmanship. Through a detailed reading of the ancient Greek testimonies of the tectonic tradition, the paper demonstrates that in the Homeric tradition the tektones were hailed as versatile, first-rate craftsmen who created wonders out of matter, but in classical times they fell from their high status of old. In Plato’s writings tectonics ends up at the lower end of the epistemological and ontological scale
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