3.1: The Ancient Greek View of the Cosmos

Archeology shows that the ancient Greeks had a complex understanding of advanced math, including geometry and calculus, which allowed them to construct consecutively larger temples to their patron, Athene, atop the footprints of the previous temples. One of the most impressive details of the construction resides in the east, or front facing pediment (the pediment sculptures currently reside in the British Museum), which held the sculpture of the Birth of Athene. From any perspective, the lines of the pediment look perfectly linear, yet, this is an optical illusion. The ancient architects, Ictinus and Callicrates, understood that if they made all the lines linear on such a large scale the center lines would appear to sag when viewed from a distance. To counter this effect, they gently bowed the structure from the foundation upward, including the steps, the colonnade and the famous pediment. To achieve the arc, they beveled the marble blocks within the foundation and angled the columns slightly inward, and even constructed the anchoring corner columns moderately thicker to balance the effect. Understanding that even the individual columns would look concave if constructed straight, they used entasis, a slight convex curve along the middle of the column to correct for the visual illusion (Pruitt).

Adorning the temple are sculptures created by Pheidais that tell the story of Athene’s birth. Revealing the miraculous event from several angles, the sculptures are remarkable for several reasons, firstly for being complete on all sides, including the back which was not fully visible from the original placement. The artist’s awareness of complex human movement and the colossal importance of that moment inspired him to craft immortals that were not only striking to look upon, but who also seemed to come alive within the moment of this cosmic birth. In their original form, the sculptures would have fulfilled the polis’ image of the Olympians, both in stature and beauty. Their position just under the roof of the Parthenon is symbolic of their prominence in the ancient Greek world view, where the gods lived in the layer between the firmament of the clouds and the roof of the heavens.

Reconstructions of the sadly damaged pediment further reveal the attentive skills of the sculptor who balanced the architectural design of Ictinus and Callicrates, by creating a scene that starts in the far left corner, panning right over twenty Olympian figures. Echoing the dawn birth, the scene starts with the heads of the horses of Helios’ [HEE-lee-os] chariot as he pulls the sun to light the scene. The heads of the charging steeds wake the reclining figure of Dionysus [thEE-oh-nee-sus], who lifts his head just in time to attend the birth (and to avoid being trampled). To his right elbow are the figures commonly thought to be Persephone [per-SEF-oo-nee] and Demeter [de-MEET-er] (albeit anachronistically, as Zeus is also later the father of Persephone). These two figures, carved from the same piece of marble, touch each other with a maternal familiarity. To their immediate right, a goddess, likely Artemis or perhaps Hebe [Hee-BEE], is shown fleeing from the spectacle, her shawl caught in a gust of wind indicating her rapid flight, while her sibling, Ares, with his spear and shield ready to defend, appears both awed and tense. Eros [AIR-ros], pictured as a diminutive, childlike god, appears to mimic the stance of his warlike uncle, but in diametrical contrast is ready to respond with love’s arrows. Both of their stances are mirrored in the gods who balance the pediment on the right side. Apollo, holding his lyre, represents music, since Helios (in this scene) represents the sun, and Hephaestus [he-FAS-tus] who retreats in surprise, his ax still recoiling from the stroke that birthed Athene, looks on with the same tense amazement. Hera and Poseidon sit upon cushioned benches signifying their importance to the scene and frame Zeus. Hera’s consternation foreshadows her long life of frustration at her husband’s lack of fidelity and at his appropriation of the female birthing function, while Poseiden’s confused expression foreshadows his later conflict with Athene over the patronage of Athens. All eyes in the sculpture are faced toward the portentous birth, as Nikê [NI-kee], who was born simultaneously, crowns Athene with the laurels of knowledge. At the opposite end, the goddess Selene drives the moon to end the day and the scene.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Serving as the most complete family portrait of the Olympian family, the sculpture captures many stories of this complex family, including Zeus’ mastery and reversal of his own fatal destiny. Parthenon east pediment reconstruction, Acropolis Museum. (CC BY NC, via Piqsels)

An entire myth is captured in this scene, and from it historians and researchers have extrapolated the context, the emotions and the impact of the event. More significantly, they’ve extracted the appearance, reaction, and assignment of the gods based upon the fragments of the originals which were greatly damaged throughout ongoing wars, and deliberate demolition from the invading armies who sought to redesign the temple of Athene into reflections of their own religions, including a Christian church and later, a mosque. Of the surviving fragments, many are held in the British Museum in London and in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Other fragments are housed in museums around the world as Greece makes ongoing efforts to repatriate them. Knowing this fraught history, it’s indeed impressive that the bones of the Parthenon still stand. Its fortitude is a reflection of the integrity of the original design and construction.

The achievements of the ancient Greeks speak to their awareness and knowledge of the physical world, and even without the ability to see the earth from a cosmic perspective, they were cognizant that the land curved in a sphere. References to Atlas, the Titan doomed to carry the earth upon his shoulders, speak of the earth as a globe that rests under the heavens.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): The Titan Atlas lifts up the earth which the ancient Greeks perceived to be sphere-shaped. (CC BY Public Domain Max Pixel)

Hesiod’s descriptions of the universe and the earth’s place within it infer both a cosmogony (an account of the universe’s creation and arrangement) as well as a cosmology (an explanation or theory about the universe’s design, function and nature). The Theogony is primarily an attempt to explain the origin of the gods, their function within Olympus and upon earth, but it was only one vision of ancient Greece’s cosmogony and cosmology. Other versions existed and informed Hesiod’s view; however, only fragments of many still exist, and other versions are much more condensed than the detailed and character-rich version of Hesiod's. Hesiod’s version is one of the best surviving due to the exciting pacing of the narrative and the vivid imagery of the gods’ births, and largely, it’s completeness.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Hesiod’s description of the three-storied universe emphasizes the supremacy of the gods above the vault of Heaven and the sphere of the mortals, while the realm of Hades and the dreaded pit of Tartarus resides deep within Earth. (CC BY, image by D. Murray 2024)

To best appreciate Hesiod’s version of creation, it’s useful to understand creation stories of influential cultures who lived prior to, alongside, or just after the Ancient Greeks.