Quoting from Woodbridge,”In his book,
The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture
, George Hersey conjures up a vivid picture of the primordial temple as an altar set in a grove of trees, perhaps roped off to indicate a holy precinct. The trees were hung with the trappings of sacrifice, with the fruits and flowers of the harvest, and with the physical remains of sacrificial fowl and animals. According to Hersey, the latter were valued because they used to reassemble the victim and thereby turn the taking of life into a whole new service. Thus, battle trophies composed of the slaughtered enemies’ armor were exhibited not only as symbols of victory but also as a propitiation to the spirit of the deceased. Similarly, the bleached skulls of oxen, the beaks and claws of birds, and their many small bones were strung together on lines and displayed along with votive tablets and other paraphernalia used to invoke the divine presence.”
To me, this adequately explains the use of many combinations of unrelated details used in decorating buildings. The Classical world used them in this way and through the years they have been copied, ornamented, stylized, and used as a basis for completely different ideas. Understanding the basics helps in understanding the use of ornament during various architectural periods.
The ancient Greeks worked out an exquisite language of structural details that, according to some theories, served the purpose of memorializing the construction of the original wooden temples when longer-lasting stone became the preferred building material. The Roman architectural writer Vitruvius from whom we derive most of our knowledge of Greek building practices, is an important source of this explanation for the form of the temple. Accordingly, the parts made from three tree trunks became stone columns that supported the horizontal superstructure called an entablature, formerly a series of wood beams, which in turn supported the roof.
According to Vitruvius, the so-called classical orders, or types that comprised the columns and the entablature were named for their place of origin and the people who created them, the Dorians, the Ionians, and the Corinthians.
The Doric temple which appeared in the fifth century B.C., seems to have its basis in stone corn cribs which were used in various parts of the world. They have stone walls cut with slits very much like triglyphs. Also, the cribs are raised on stone posts capped with disks which were probably designed to keep rats and mice away. However they suggest the form of Doria capitals. It has been suggested that the whole Doric entablature was a compressed symbolic upper floor which is analogous to the barn lofts used for storing grain.
Quoting from
Details
, “one interpretation of the Corinthian capital is based on the tale of a young maiden of the Greek city of Corinth who died before marriage and was duly buried. Her nurse gathered up some of her favorite possessions and put them in a basket, which she placed on the maidens grave as a memorial. She covered the basket with a tile to weigh it down and keep out the rain. The nurse failed to notice that she had set the basket on top of an acanthus shoot, which, struggling to grow, curled its tendrils out from under the basket. In time, the leaves unfolded around the base of the basket and beneath the tile lid. Who should be passing by but an architect, Callimachus, who was inspired to use the composition for a column capital.” (See fig.l)
(figure available in print form)
Hersey discusses the possibility that real human beings may have been lashed to the temple supports as sacrificial offerings. This would explain the names for many parts of the column, “It is possible to see the leafy bands around Corinthian capitals as head bands or the volutes above as tightly coiled braids of hair.” (See fig.2)
(figure availble in print form)
The theories behind the origins of various structural elements of building, and ornaments is fascinating. I expect my students will get excited about the ornaments used in our building. I would have each student research, study, and write about one of the ornaments or symbols they described in lesson 3. I would guide their thinking so that they could discover if there was any correlation between the purpose of our building and its ornamentation. For example, if a human figure was used what would it be holding in its hand?