Scale, Architects, and Architectural Theory

Along with Ionian abstract thinkers like Anaximander in the sixth century BCE, Archaic architects were the earliest Greek prose writers. Whereas Anaximander and others wrote about the nature of the universe, architects like Theodoros, Chersiphron, and Metagenes wrote about their discoveries and successes in the sphere of building construction. In the theory of Hellenistic architects focused on questions of design, there developed an interest in scale, which enabled the design of buildings through graphic means for the envisioning of buildings from the abstract, disembodied aerial view of ground plans. With extensive reference to the Didymaion, this chapter explores scale planning in Hellenistic architectural theory as reflected in Vitruvius. The theoretical processes and principles scale design developed first in traditional methods of construction that preceded common application of reduced scale in the art of building, which was unlikely to have taken place prior to Hermogenes in the later third century BCE.