WHAT I'VE DONE

Jay Hambidge in The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry (1919 CE) described a lost geometry he believed was used to design the shapes of Greek vases and possibly sacred temples, including the Parthenon. (11,12)

After studying Hambidge’s work, I came to realize that Dynamic Symmetry is a “fractal” system of interrelated Square Root Rectangles. Each Square Root Rectangle can be subdivided to produce reciprocals of smaller, similar rectangles, and those rectangles can be subdivided infinitely. (“Fractal Geometry” was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975 CE).

This led me to understand that there are four geometrical diagrams used in the design of the Parthenon: the Square and its grid lines (13,14), the Golden Rectangle and its Fibonacci Series of numbers (10,18), the Root Five Rectangle and its relationship to the Golden Rectangle (16,17), and the Root Five Rectangle and its reciprocal subdivisions (19,20).

(13)

(14)

(10)

(18)

(16)

(17)

(19)

(20)

When these diagrams are used in the “ground plan, elevation, and perspective” (Vitruvius 30 BCE), they create the three dimensional form of the Temple. (21) In addition, smaller fractal Squares, Golden Rectangles, and Root Five Rectangles serve as “modules” that establish the proportional grid line relationships for positioning all of the other architectural elements.