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Greek Ideals: Excellence and Concern for Community

             The Ideals of ancient Greece took the Greeks to cultural, architectural, philosophical, and creative heights and advancements. Two ideals, in particular, Excellence and Concern for Community had Greeks constantly challenging and changing their ways of life to achieve the highest form of each ideal. I will give examples of Excellence and Concern for Community, showing how the Greeks challenged these ideals and developed further due to them.
             The ideal of excellence is shown in the pursuit of perfection in Greek architecture. This search for excellence took place mainly in the Hellenic Age 479-323 B.C. It is in this time the Greeks took the architecture of the Doric Order temples and created the Ionic Order. "Influenced by the Pythagorean quest for harmony through mathematical rules, the eastern builders had standardized six as the perfect number of columns for the ends of temples and thirteen, or twice the number of end columns, for the sides. These balanced proportions, along with simple designs and restrained decorative schemes made the eastern temples majestically expressive of Classical Ideals" (Matthews & Platt 72). .
             Temples were now being built in marble, rather than limestone. This enhanced the beauty of the architecture of the temple by the sheen of the marble in comparison to previous temples and the dullness of the limestone. Other aesthetic changes in temples, in the Greeks search for excellence, were the running frieze. Rather than alternating the metropes and the triglyphs, the newer Ionic temples had a frieze with continuous sculptures. Also, the capitals on Ionic columns were decorated with a curved top in comparison to the flat tops of Doric capitals. .
             The above alterations and changes in designs of temples are evident in the architectural designs of Ictinus and Callicrates, who "perfected the eastern-style Doric temple in the Parthenon" (Matthews and Platt 72), showing the Greeks search for excellence in architecture.


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