Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Old Time Architecture
I always think about how people living in times like Ancient Greece can build such amazing objects. I am researching the Epidaurus theater for our project and it is baffling me. The people of the time carved 55 rows of seats out of a mountain! It drives me crazy not knowing how they did this amazing architecture. What really amazes me though is how the Egyptians built the great pyramids. No one knows how they carried those huge stones up so high, or how they have stayed in place for so many years. It just amazes me that the Egyptians and the Greeks built such amazing structures without our current day technology or advancements.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I agree Ashley, how they were able to use so much physical labor before technology amazes me. But they were still able to complete it, maybe not easily, but still full of quality. This aspect also kind of ties into how Macondo did not need technology and progress. This progress arguably was part of what led to the downfall of the town. For example, when the train and the banana company came in, it created more problems than solutions. They were doing just fine before these outsiders came along and interjected their progress upon the town.
It's also crazy how these things still exist today. Because the ancient Greeks, Romans, etc. built things out of stone, the structures were really sturdy. Even though the building process was slow, we still have so many remnants remaining--the Greek pantheon, the Roman colosseum, the cities of Ephesus and Pompeii, the temple of Apollo--just to name a slight few. I visited a few of these over the summer and it's honestly so awesome to see these things. In a way I kind of think it's unfortunate that we do not still build things like this today. Our materials are easier to obtain and they provide for faster building. However, they won't last through the test of time like these ancient structures(many of which have survived natural disasters like volcanic eruptions and earthquakes).
I agree with Belin, how things that were new were not always good. As in Macondo, sometimes newer things are not always the best things. Just as Madison said, things in the Roman/Greek/Egyptian times may have taken 100 times as long to create, but were made with better quality. These things last for thousands of years, whereas the new things and buildings that we make today break or must be updated within a few years. I also have visited these places, and I entirely agree that they are awe-inspiring to see! Like Ashley, I always wonder how these magnificent structures were truly able to happen with just human labor. It would be interesting to travel back in time and witness these fantastic constructions..
It really is interesting how much time, dedication, and planning went into these structures. As I am researching some of the major monuments, they took an extraordinary amount of time to build. The Temple of Olympian Zeus for example, was started in Athens in the 6th century B.C., but was not completed until 2nd century A.D.! Although only a few fragments remain of this structure, it was formerly known as the “largest and most impressive temple in Greece”. Someone working on one of these monuments could have spent their whole life working on a structure and died without ever seeing the final product. That takes true devotion!
Post a Comment