The Parthenon

The Secrets of the Parthenon

As I watched the film Secrets of the Parthenon I continually found myself in awe of what was being unfolded in the video. The precision, pain-staking effort, and crazy thinking put into the building of the Parthenon blew my mind. Never would I have thought that the Parthenon, was asymmetrical because of how perfectly my eyes trick me. It was absolutely fascinating to learn that the Greeks created their building imperfect on purpose, in order to make the optical illusion of perfection. Also, the symbolism of the building to the Greeks was something of immense value and accomplishment to them. The video showed me just how amazing the minds, who were behind the building of the Parthenon, of Greek ancients were, as well as show just how much, the Parthenon means to the culture of Greece.

I was very much impressed by the precision of the building of the Parthenon, specifically: using optical illusions to make the building look perfect, and the way in which ancient stone masons could perfectly fit huge blacks of marble together. The optical illusions blew my mind to begin with, although once explained, they made perfect sense, because with the two parallel lines being formed with the roof and floor, then adding the pillars in, if everything had been straight lines, the building would have looked like it sagged. Instead, to make the building look absolutely perfect, the ancient architects formed the floor in a convex shape. Then, when the columns were formed, they were also made with a curving shape to provide more structure to the building, but also to provide the illusion of straight pillars. There are literally no straight lines in the building. The desire to have absolute perfection, brought forth a beautiful and amazingly crafted structure, which was also so perfectly crafted, that the marble sections fit together so beautifully, without big seems.

The ancient architects were so skilled in their trades, that they could...