Anaximander and the architects : the contributions of Egyptian and Greek architectural technologies to the origins of Greek philosophy

352 Pages·2001·7.95 MB·English

by  Anaximander

Anaximander
and the Architects
GREECE TURKEY
Ephesus
Athens Samos Didyma
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
Cairo
Giza
Saqqara
Memphis
EGYPT
Karnak
Thebes
Luxor
Edfu
N
Mediterranean, ile
R
indicating iv
e
multicolumned r
temple sites in
Egypt and
Ionian Greece
Abu Simbel
as of sixth
century BCE
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SUNYSERIESIN
ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY
Anthony Preus, editor
A
NAXIMANDER
ND THE
RCHITECTS
✦
ROBERT HAHN
The
Contributions
of Egyptian and Greek
Architectural Technologies
to the Origins of Greek Philosophy
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by
STATEUNIVERSITYOFNEWYORKPRESS,ALBANY
© 2001 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission.No part
of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means including electronic,electrostatic,magnetic tape,mechanical,
photocopying,recording,or otherwise without the prior permission
in writing of the publisher.
For information,address State University of New York Press,
90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany,NY 12207
Production and book design,Laurie Searl
Marketing,Patrick Durocher
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hahn,Robert,1952–
Anaximander and the architects :the contributions of Egyptian and Greek architectural
technologies to the origins of Greek philosophy / Robert Hahn.
p. cm.— (SUNY series in ancient Greek philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-4793-6 (alk.paper) — ISBN 0-7914-4794-4 (pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Anaximander.2.Architecture,Ancient—Egypt—Influence.3.Architecture,
Ancient—Greece—Influence.I.Title.II.Series.
B208.Z7 H34 2001
182—dc21
00-036567
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Amy
Page vi blank.
Contents
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi
PREFACE xvii
INTRODUCTION 1
Chapter 1
ANAXIMANDERANDTHE ORIGINS OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY
15
The Problem and the Three Tiers of Explanation 15
The Conventional View and Its Discontents 21
The New Contributing Thesis:Technology as Politics 39
Chapter 2
THE IONIAN PHILOSOPHERSANDARCHITECTS
47
Fixing Anaximander’s Date:The First Philosophical Book in Prose 47
Archaic Prose Writing:Pherecydes’Cosmogony
and Legal Inscriptions 50
viii
Anaximander
and the
Architects Prose in Archaic Architectural Treatises and the
Community of Thales and Anaximander,Theodorus
and Rhoikos,Chersiphron and Metagenes 55
The New Connection:The Contribution of the Egyptian Architects
to the Ionian Greek Architects of the Archaic Period 66
An Overview of Monumental Temple Projects in Archaic Ionia 69
The Meaning of the Temple:Design Choices 86
Chapter 3
THETECHNIQUES OFTHEANCIENTARCHITECTS
97
The Evidence for Imagining in Plan or Aerial View 97
The Evidence for Models 120
The Theory of Proportions 137
The Techniques of Anathyro\sis and Empolion 149
Chapter 4
ANAXIMANDER’STECHNIQUES
163
Architect,Philosopher,and the New Vision Supplied by
the Application of Geometrical Techniques 163
Homer’s World Picture 169
Hesiod’s World Picture 172
Anaximander’s World Picture:The Plan or Aerial View 177
Anaximander’s World Picture:Three-dimensional Views—The Side,
Elevation,Oblique,and Axonometric Views 200
ix
Contents
Chapter 5
TECHNOLOGYAS POLITICS:
THE ORIGINS OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY
IN ITS SOCIOPOLITICAL CONTEXT
219
Re-Framing the New Narrative Account 219
The Aristocratic Patrons of Archaic Temples 223
Technology as Politics:The “Argument”for the
Appropriation of Civic Authority 226
NOTES 241
BIBLIOGRAPHY 295
INDEX 315