Today in class we learned and discussed the origin of typography.
One thing I took from this slideshow that relates to the topic I’m researching was that language and typography changed significantly over the course of thousands of years, much like architecture has. My group explored architecture in Ancient Greece and we decided to specialize on The Parthenon.
The Parthenon is a symbol of Athens and a famous example of classical Greek architecture. It was built in honour of the goddess Athena between the years of 447-432 BCE. The Parthenon has undergone many changes after its construction. A century later it was converted into a Christian church and in the 15th century The Parthenon was turned into a mosque when the Ottomans ruled. The Parthenon was left in ruins after a battle between the Venetians and Ottomans in 1687 but since then has been modified and reconstructed several times. Today it still stands and attracts tourists from all over the world.
When doing research on The Parthenon, one thing that stood out to me was that it was built in honour of the gods. Looking back on our lecture in class, I compared Greece with other ancient civilizations and thought about all the things other civilizations would create in order to communicate to a higher power.
For example, in ancient Egypt, death books were created in order to show what would happen in their afterlife and architecturally speaking pyramids were created in honour of the gods.
The construction of The Parthenon was a slow process but its impact is long lasting and both language and architecture has come a very long way.
References used:
B., M. “Parthenon.” The Classical Tradition, edited by Anthony Grafton, et al., Harvard University Press, 1st edition, 2010. Credo Reference, https://ezproxy.capilanou.ca/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/parthenon?institutionId=6884. Accessed 18 Sep. 2019.
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