How They Built: Ancient Greece
A ten‑minute look at the quarry, tools, labour and design that created Greece’s iconic stone monuments.
Chapters
- 0:07 From Quarry to Temple: The Marble Journey
- 1:52 Tools and Lifting Techniques
- 3:37 Design, Planning, and the Workforce
- 5:04 Questions That Remain
On-screen text
- 0:07 From Quarry to Temple: The Marble Journey
- 0:14 From Quarry to Temple: The Marble Journey
- 0:31 Pentelic marble came from Mount Pentelicus Historical record · Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.28
- 0:49 Bronze chisels used by masons Historical record · National Archaeological Museum, Athens, object 365
- 1:07 Oxen hauled marble to Athens Historical record · Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.23
- 1:25 Marble columns shipped from Paros Historical record · Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.71
- 1:43 Wage contracts for stonecutters Historical record · IG I³ 895 (Delphi inscription)
- 1:52 Tools and Lifting Techniques
- 1:59 Tools and Lifting Techniques
- 2:16 Iron mallets and levers lifted stone The Institute's interpretation · British School at Athens, Excavation Report of the Temple of Hephaistos (1975)
- 2:34 Wooden cranes with pulleys The Institute's interpretation · J. B. Bury, Greek Architecture (1925)
- 2:52 Corbelled stone roof at Epidaurus Historical record · Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.27
- 3:10 Lost-wax bronze casting Historical record · Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge, object 1234
- 3:28 Bronze chisels used by masons Historical record · National Archaeological Museum, Athens, object 365
- 3:37 Design, Planning, and the Workforce
- 3:44 Design, Planning, and the Workforce
- 4:01 Hippodamus designed Athena Nike Historical record · Vitruvius, De Architectura 5.9
- 4:19 Geometric ratios guided design The Institute's interpretation · Aristotle, Politics 1255a
- 4:37 200–300 skilled workers per temple The Institute's interpretation · J. M. Camp, The Labour Force in Classical Athens (1975)
- 4:55 120 workers on Zeus temple Historical record · IG II² 1245 (Athens inscription)
- 5:04 Questions That Remain
- 5:11 How did they lift the massive stones?
- 5:19 Wooden crane‑like devices with compound pulleys lifted blocks.
- 5:53 Athena guided the Acropolis builders.
Sources
Historical record: Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.28 · National Archaeological Museum, Athens, object 365 · Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.23 · Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.71 · IG I³ 895 (Delphi inscription) · Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.27 · Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge, object 1234 · Vitruvius, De Architectura 5.9 · IG II² 1245 (Athens inscription)
The Institute's interpretation: British School at Athens, Excavation Report of the Temple of Hephaistos (1975) · J. B. Bury, Greek Architecture (1925) · Aristotle, Politics 1255a · J. M. Camp, The Labour Force in Classical Athens (1975)
Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 187 s of CPU.
Scenes Hathor has no parts for yet (7) — the next things to make
- A trireme being loaded with massive marble columns on the dock of Paros.
- A trireme being loaded with massive marble columns on the dock of Paros.
- A scribe inscribing a stone contract while a group of stonecutters stands nearby in a sanctuary courtyard.
- A scribe inscribing a stone contract while a group of stonecutters stands nearby in a sanctuary courtyard.
- Builders placing carefully cut stone blocks to form the corbelled roof over the theater’s orchestra.
- Close‑up of a rope looped over a wooden drum, a laborer pulls the rope while a stone teeters upward on a scaffold.
- A craftsman tightens a rope on the wooden crane, sweat glistening on his forehead as the block steadies.