h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Tav

I'm your Sub-editor for Ancient Greek Architecture. The new version is A87920094 - please subscribe!

I enjoyed reading this again - it will be an asset to the Edited Guide

I notice there were a couple of outstanding questions in the Peer Review thread - I changed the bit Dmitri pointed out. I wasn't quite sure about the introduction before, but on second reading I like it - buildings are clearly mentioned in the second paragraph so you have set the scene well

I had just a few little questions as I read through:

What is a 'cornice'?

"or the need for the whole temple including its base being in fact bent upwards in its centre" - I can't visualise 'bent upwards' - can you describe that more for me, please?

What is a 'cella'?

Thank you!

Hi

A cornice is a decorative part of a building. Um... hard to explain for me because to me it seems to be such a basic term. It's a horizontal element, you may know it from old houses as a number of concave and convex elements under or above a window or below the roof. https://stuckleistenstyropor.at/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/6/thumbnail/312x157/beff4985b56e3afdbeabfc89641a4582/g/e/gesims-koln.jpg

The base of the temples were not completely flat but each side is slightly going upwards to its center. This picture is a very exaggerated version: https://www.math.uni-bielefeld.de/~ringel/opus/panorama/kurvatur1.jpg

The cella (think 'cell') is the windowless chamber in the center of the temple, used to store the statue of the god it is dedicated to.

I'm trying to think of a footnote for 'cornice'.

Thank you

Thanks for explaining the curvature and the cella - I have tweaked accordingly

Reading again, I could visualise the cornice as something sitting above the frieze, but the phrase "The cornice is large, cantilevered and shows many ornamental decorations" made me wonder if I was thinking of the right thing - how should I visualise 'cantilevered'?

cantilever means something that sticks out without being carried by a column or something.
https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-24c53521ba8b1aabb3b1f76ae260cd55

In case of a temple:
http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/58000/58095/58095_ionic_order_md.gif
As you can see the cornice gets larger to the top. It stretches more and more outwards. In this case the cornice is not only concave and convex but has quite elaborate decorations.

(the more simple concave and convex cornices in much later are mostly made of stucco and undrlying plaster or even bricks. The builders had a wooden mold with the negative shape of the cornice, which they would pull along the facade horizontally to get the shape they wanted. In the 19th Century lots of shapes also came as pre-fabricated clay or concrete pieces which were stuck to the wall and painted.)

Footnote for cornice:
A cornice is a decorative element on a facad which usually spans the whole length of a building and defines different horizontal areas on the facade. They can be located for instance above the base, below the roof, between two storeys of define a horizontal band of windows. Simple cornices are just raised stripes of plaster. More elaborate versions are built up of concave and convex shapes or even ornamental decorations that repeat many times over the length of the building.

Does that make sense?

Thanks Tav - the Cornice footnote makes sense, so I added it in and can visualise it too

Thank you very much for the diagrams of 'cantilevered' - I was visualising the 'braced cantilever with tensile stay' because I have seen bridges that use that technology. I didn't realise there were also 'simple cantilever' and 'braced cantilever with compressive strut' so I learned a lot there I've added a footnote, but feel free to suggest changes.

Have a read through and let me know if everything is OK for you

thanks a lot for subbing, I think it's good.

... now I have to finish the pictures

Ok, idea for the last paragraph:

A very last sentence
Everything floatsPanta Rhei - everything floats - a famous quote by the philosopher Heraclitus who wanted to describe that nothing ever stays the same and everything is in a constant state of flux., but the Greeks continue to leave their impression on human culture.

Thanks Tav - I added that in and applied the photos too so the Entry looks great

Thank you!

Congratulations! Your Entry is on the Front Page today

Thank you!