B22.027 Temple of Hephaestus

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Denis Baly

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B22.027

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The Temple of Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire. Trachtenberg says the following about the temple: "The Temple of Hephaestus … the best preserved of all Greek temples, is a contemporary of the Parthenon—and may be slightly earlier in design … . It embodies all the refinements of the late Acropolis building—but to excess. It lacks vitality. The entablature is too high, the columns too slim. Its unstable proportions have been explained by the viewpoint toward the low hillside on which the Hephaesteum sits; and indeed, from below, the foreshortening of the columns and entablature does result in a more balanced effect" (99). (Source: Trachtenberg and Hyman, Architecture, from prehistory to post-modernism: the western tradition, 1986)

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