Editing Ictinus

{{Short description|Mid-5th-century BC Athenian architect}}
{{about|the architect|the mythological character|Ictinus (mythology)}}

'''Ictinus''' ({{IPAc-en|ɪ|k|ˈ|t|aɪ|n|ə|s}}; {{langx|el|Ἰκτῖνος}}, ''Iktinos'') was an [[architect]] active in the mid 5th century BC.<ref>{{cite book | first=Leland M. | last=Roth | year=1993 | title=Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History and Meaning | edition=First | publisher=Westview Press | location=Boulder, CO | isbn=0-06-430158-3 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/understandingarc00roth/page/203 203] | url=https://archive.org/details/understandingarc00roth/page/203 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | first = F. E. | last = Winter | year =1980 | title = Tradition and innovation in Doric design: the work of Iktinos | journal = American Journal of Archaeology | issue = 4 | pages = 399–416 | doi = 10.2307/504069 | volume = 84 | jstor = 504069 | publisher = American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 84, No. 4| s2cid = 192992538 }}</ref> Ancient sources identify Ictinus and [[Callicrates]] as co-architects of the [[Parthenon]]. He co-wrote a book on the project – which is now lost – in collaboration with [[Carpion]].<ref name="FlemingHonour1999">{{cite book|author1=John Fleming|author2=Hugh Honour|author3=Nikolaus Pevsner|title=The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ukZgQgAACAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-051323-3|page=277}}</ref>

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] identifies Ictinus as architect of the [[Temple of Apollo at Bassae]].<ref name="FlemingHonour1999" /> That temple was [[Doric order|Doric]] on the exterior, [[Ionic order|Ionic]] on the interior, and incorporated a [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] column, the earliest known, at the center rear of the [[cella]]. Sources also identify Ictinus as architect of the [[Telesterion]] at [[Eleusis]], a gigantic hall used in the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ictinus |volume=14 |page=275}}</ref>

[[Pericles]] also commissioned Ictinus to design the [[Telesterion]] ("Hall of Final Things") at [[Eleusis]], but his involvement was terminated when Pericles fell from power. Three other architects took over instead.<ref name="FlemingHonour1999"/> It seems likely that Ictinus's reputation was harmed by his links with the fallen ruler, as he is singled out for condemnation by [[Aristophanes]] in his play ''[[The Birds (play)|The Birds]]'', dated to around 414 BC. It depicts the royal kite or ''ictinus'' – a play on the architect's name – not as a noble bird of prey but as a scavenger stealing sacrifices from the gods and money from men. As no other classical author describes the bird in this fashion, Aristophanes likely intended it to be a dig at the architect.<ref>Bishop, C. (2017) 'The dissemblance of the constructed landscape in Ausonius' Mosella', Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, vol. 13, pp. 1-17</ref>

The artist [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres]] painted a scene showing Ictinus together with the lyric poet [[Pindar]]. The painting is known as [https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jean-auguste-dominique-ingres-pindar-and-ictinus ''Pindar and Ictinus''] and is exhibited at the [[National Gallery, London]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Ictinus}}
*[[Plutarch]], [http://nlp.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0007,012:13 ''Pericles'' 13]

{{Acropolis of Athens}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:5th-century BC architects]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek architects]]
[[Category:5th-century BC Athenians]]
[[Category:Parthenon]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]