Symeonoglou’s article “The Doric Temples of Paestum” aimed to shed light on the significant architectural structures and differences of Doric temples. She purports that many may find that Doric temples all resemble one another at least to a certain degree. But, with a trained eye one would could point out the variations and differences among these beautiful Doric temples. According to Symeonoglou, variations among Doric temples could be found in the number of columns and passages, the unique details of execution to attest to the architect (Symeonoglou 2011: 50).
Symeonoglou examines three cases to support the overall thesis that there are distinct variations among Doric temples, but also more importantly, that the …show more content…
Symeonoglou states that there is evidence in this temple to show that there are elements that were later a part of the Doric order (Symeonoglou 2011: 56). This indeed a temple of elegant appearance for its proportions, even though it is considerable smaller than the temple of Hera I. The temple of Athena has measures of 14.54 by 32.88 meters which, corresponds to 44 by 100 ancient Doric feet, which makes this temple a hecatompedon (a 100-foot temple. It is important because the 100 feet even number represents religious architecture) (Symeonoglou 2011: 56). Symeonoglou points out that the ratio of these measurement is almost exactly 4:9 and represents the ‘perfect’ number of columns: 6 by 13 (Symeonoglou 2011: 56). All the interaxials in this temple are the same size, which measure 2.62 meters (Symeonoglou 2011: 57). The author articulates that this is the first instance in Doric architecture where all the measurements of the structure are based and has been recognized as the first temple built with rules of proportionality (Symeonoglou 2011: