1) While reading Hersey, I have to say I was at first shocked by the content of his work on architecture and sacrifice. The sheer detail he goes into was enough for me to question the work I have chosen as my field. First of all, I never knew that architecture had such a seemingly gruesome background. As it appears, even through the shock and the horror, I was able to find some validity in what Hersey had to say.
Hersey’s work gained validity in my mind when I began finding parallels between his work and Roth’s on the subject of the sacred groves of trees, and how the different orders portrayed these ritual sacrifices. These ancient groves are now thought to be portrayed by the colonnades surrounding temples (Roth, pg.230). It was on these trees that the Greeks hung sacrificial offerings such as bones, skulls, fingers, and other ”sacred” parts of the sacrifice. This explains the double meaning behind the parts of the column. In addition to trees, allusions are made to the human body such as: the base (the foot), bands around the base (rope/bound feet), flutes in the shaft (slit throats, blood vessels, draining blood), and the capitol (the severed head of the sacrificed with a lock of hair [scrolls, acanthus, volutes]), and dental molding to represent the teeth.
As it turns out, the Greeks were not only masters of order, symmetry, and idealism, they were also masters of symbolism; giving meaning to everything that they built. So much so even dismemberment, and sacrifice can be found pleasing. Until you get to the meat of it, so to speak.
Very nice comments
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