The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-12-21
THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION
Stone Robes That 1love i'm the Wind
Written 10 me Times bu Win Duraat

A S you stand before 1t (the Par
L n thepon) the first impression is
one of desolation.
Under your feet crackle and glis-
ten fragments Of marble that once
were part Of the temple. You take
chip in your hand and examine it;
1t is of sparkling white and comes
from Mount Petenlicus, where you
may still see the quarries and run
ways that provided the marble for
the Parthenon.
Then that impression Of ruin
passes for a while. and the COM
bined simplicity and power Of the
edif1ce envelopes you.
This is no mere beauty, as the
Alhanlbra has beauty, or the Tai
Mahal; it is grandeur, sublinity, the
masculine majesty Of mountains or
the sea.
Nothing could be less pretentious
or more impressive; these unadorned
Doric columns, this simple triangu-
lar pediment, this plain rectangular
design-here are no frills Of any
kind, no bizarre establishment of
details, no romantic dominance OF
any part over the whole.
For its greatness is in its en-
tirety rather than in its parts. II
was so placed that one might See 1t
all at glance; it is not suffocated
by its surroundings, as are so many
cathedrals of the Gothic age; it is
not buried In chaos Of dwellings,
work shops and stores. invisible ex-
cept in details; 1t stands on the
city's peak (Acropolis). with nothing
between it and the sun, its golden
pillars visible even from the Aegean.
You mount the broken stepa Cor
"stereobate") to where the columns
rise from the topmost step Cor "styl-
obateD. Note the curative of this
Stylobate; see how 1t slopes slightly
downward at either end.
It is but one instance of Ictinus'
antipathy to straight lines; every
where in the Parthenon, as in the
space Of Einstein's physics, straight
lines are curved.
All horizontal lines are percepti-
bly, convex, all vertical lines incline
little toward the center, all corner
lines toward the diagonal.
These architects knew life and
love and mans instructive prefer
ence for curved lines; by avoiding
mechanical monotony they gave vi
tality and freedom to dead stone,
and mitigated the austerity without
losing the sublimity of the Doric
style.
For this style, as its name reveals,
had come from Sparta, as cold and
hard as marble itself; its glory lay
in its strength, but it needed a
touch Of gentleness to give it beauty.
OBSERVE that the columns in
" this Doric style have no base;
they rise Immediately from the
plinth Cor supporting stone) in
graceful, "f1uted" shafts - not
smoothly round. but indented with
graceful grooves.
They narrow slightly in a gradual
'entasis" Cor inward leaning) at the
top, not merely because this is more
pleasing to the eye, nor only be-
cause a column broader at its base
than at its summit gives comfort
ing impression of stability, but be-
cause, presumably, the temples were
Of wood and the first columns were
tapering trees.
Each is crowned at the top with a
curved "necking," a round "ecilinus"
and square "abacus," all three
uniting to form the capital"
Across the capitals runs thre Ear
chitrave," or main beam, indicating
again the timper origin Of the Doric
style.
Over the architrave in the outer
'frieze" CTR. frise, a ruff, alternate
ly Of "triglyphs'' (three carved
vertical Ines, where were original
ly the ends of beams, and "metopes"
cope, hollow, and meta, between),
here adorned with powerful reliefo.
These metopeS, numbering ninety
two, ran entirely around the Par
thenon and told the baIbaric tale Of
how the LapithS vaged their
legendary war against the centaurs
"a strange blend of animals and
men.
Above the frieze is the slim tri-
angle formed by the western end Of
the roof, constituting one of those
two 'pediments," which are the
supreme glory of the Parthenon.
They have been cruelty mutilated
by time and war and thievery; all
the heads save enc are gone; and
yet the sculptor Canova said of the
SURVIVING fnrsns.l "AlI other statues