Robin Rhodes' Architecture and Meaning on the Athenian Acropolis Study Guide

Study Questions

1. Why are we attracted to classical architectural form?

2. Rhodes argues that ruins make the observer "an active participant in the reconstruction of history" (p. 2). How did the Athenians of the 5th century respond to ruins in the reconstruction of the buildings on the acropolis? Offer examples of ruins in the places you have lived and visited that invite such participation.

3. What constitutes monumental art? How did it develop in Ancient Greece? What is the relationship between ritual and monumentality?

4. What did the ancient Greeks understand about their place in the universe?

5. Explain the relationship Rhodes sees between myth and landscape. What do you think of his argument?

6. Take one of the myths to which Rhodes makes reference and research the myth further. What does the myth tell us about how the ancient Athenians understood their physical world and their relationship to the gods?

7. How did the changes in temple construction and ornamentation reflect changes in the Athenian world view?

8. Read pp 18-26 with care. When you read The Oresteia, think about the changes in temple decoration and what that might imply about a change in world view.

9. Think about the function of gateways. How do they help us understand the monumentality of the acropolis, for example?

10. What proof does Rhodes offer for his assertion that the Periclean building program on the acropolis is more than a simple rebuilding of the earlier acropolis?

11. What function did the acropolis in Athens serve?

12. What stories (myths/ historical accounts) are represented on the acropolis? Did the stories change over time? How do the stories on the Parthenon explain Rhodes's sense of processional architecture?

13. What two architectural orders predominate on the acropolis? How do the function symbolically?

14. Describe the main structures on the acropolis. How is each a representation of and deviation from the architectural canon that existed when it was constructed?

15. How do artistic refinements enhance the Parthenon? The Temple of Athena Nike?

16. Explain the difference in narrative, emblematic, and confrontational sculpture. How do these changes reflect changes in the conception of divinity?

17. Explain the relationship the Rhodes finds between the increased attention to interior space and the accessibility of the temple to individuals.

Return to Acropolis Resources
Return to World Views Home Page
Comments to: Catherine Collins Please send comments and suggestions!
Last update: 08-19-02