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Beginning Again with the Classical Orders: Rhythms of Justice, Nature, and Architecture

Antonios Thodis (Dissertation, 2023)

Sanctuary of Zeus at Ancient Nemea, view capturing the impression of the Temple of Zeus and sacred grove relation in ancient time. At the foreground is the restored temple’s east facade with ramp access and the remains of the long altar, at the background vegetation that includes cypress trees. The position of the trees that are seen today is not exactly that of antiquity, photo by Antonios Thodis. «The copyright of the depicted monuments belongs to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports (ν.3028/2002)»
Sanctuary of Zeus at Ancient Nemea, view capturing the impression of the Temple of Zeus and sacred grove relation in ancient time. At the foreground is the restored temple’s east facade with ramp access and the remains of the long altar, at the background vegetation that includes cypress trees. The position of the trees that are seen today is not exactly that of antiquity, photo by Antonios Thodis. «The copyright of the depicted monuments belongs to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports (ν.3028/2002)»
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Sanctuary of Zeus at Ancient Nemea, view capturing the impression of the Temple of Zeus and sacred grove relation in ancient time. At the foreground is the restored temple’s east facade with ramp access and the remains of the long altar, at the background vegetation that includes cypress trees. The position of the trees that are seen today is not exactly that of antiquity, photo by Antonios Thodis. «The copyright of the depicted monuments belongs to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports (ν.3028/2002)»
Sanctuary of Zeus at Ancient Nemea, view capturing the impression of the Temple of Zeus and sacred grove relation in ancient time. At the foreground is the restored temple’s east facade with ramp access and the remains of the long altar, at the background vegetation that includes cypress trees. The position of the trees that are seen today is not exactly that of antiquity, photo by Antonios Thodis. «The copyright of the depicted monuments belongs to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports (ν.3028/2002)»

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DISSERTATION

The dissertation engages a well-established topic that demands reconsideration, the meanings of the architectural orders as they emerged and were used in ancient Greece during the Archaic and Classical periods. The research seeks to offer a comprehensive understanding of the role and meanings of the three orders, with a particular focus on their use in Greek temples. A basic premise of this study is that there were several dimensions of significance for the orders, evident in the buildings, but also articulated in ancient Greek myth and ritual, cosmology, and philosophical thought, and informed by the polis’ unique relation with its productive territory and ancient Greeks’ understanding and relation to Nature as Kosmos. The narrowly conceived anthropomorphism of the orders’ columns is reconsidered by demonstrating their analogical and metaphoric relation both to the anthropic body and to the arboreal world. Likewise, it is shown that the orders were compatible and complementary, tied through the overarching theme of seasonality.

Antonios Thodis