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How Architecture Can Be Applied to Plato's Definition of the Ideal Person as Kalo K'Agatho

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This essay will be demonstrating how architecture can be applied to Plato’s definition of the ideal person as Kalo k’agatho. This essay will be examining the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the Parthenon, the Erechtheion and the Temple to Apollo at Bassae. The first monument this essay will be discussing is the Temple to Zeus at Olympia. The Temple to Zeus was constructed between C. 470 to 450 BCE, having this temple belong to the Early Classical Period. The Temple of Zeus had the typical features of the Doric Order, a perisytle, with a rule that the number of columns on the sides should be one more than double on the front and back (thus the perisytle is 6 X 13), a pronaos, a cella and an opithodomos. The two columns between the anta in the pronaos and the opithodomos align with the columns along the front and back of the temple. The temple was constructed in limestone as well as marble for the roof tiles and the sculptures. Over the entrances of the pronaos and opisthodomos, there were metopes of the 12 labours of Herakles, athla 1-6 over the opithodomos (west) and athla 7-12 over the cella (East). One of the main features that this temple is “good to look at” is because of the pediments. The west pediment depicts the Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs, while the east pediment depictions the horse race of Pelops and Oinomaos. As this is the Temple to Zeus, the figure of Zeus as in the center of the East Pediment, whiles Apollo was the center figure for the west pediment. The

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