The Greek East: Temples and Engineering

This chapter highlights the development and major achievements of temple construction and engineering in the Greek East, placing them against a larger intercultural background as a foundation for further exploration of the characteristically Greek interests in theory, scale, and design. In order to more fully explore the innovations and intercultural context underlying the reshaping of the environment in Archaic Ionia, the chapter focuses on the all-marble, truly Ionic Artemision at Ephesos and the Tunnel of Eupalinos at Samos. The most complete evidence for such engineering pertains to the truly gigantic Kroisos Temple at Ephesos. As in Archaic Ionian temple architecture, the tunnel of Eupalinos is perhaps best understood against the larger context of fluid intercultural knowledge and traditions made possible by the tensions and shared achievements of the recently dissolved Neo-Assyrian world, but created at a larger scale with great skill and innovation.