Theodoros of Samos

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Heraion of Samos, remains of the 2nd temple

Theodoros of Samos was an ancient Greek architect, engineer and artisan (ore caster, gem cutter) in the middle of the 6th century BC. Chr.

He came from Samos and, according to Herodotus and others, was the son of Telekles and a colleague of Rhoikos . Diodor and Diogenes Laertios made him his son.

According to the natural history of the elder Pliny , he invented the square, spirit level, lathe and key. He is said to have introduced a new bronze casting method after Pausanias and Plato and to have worked with Rhoikos on this. Possibly this is with the around the middle of the 6th century BC. To combine the emerging technology, not to rivet individually cast bronze workpieces, but to fuse them with cast bronze. Only now were cast bronze statues possible, as finds from Athens prove. Helmuth Schneider also sees Theodoros and Rhoikos as those who first transferred the hollow casting of bronze to larger sculptures, while this technique has been used for small-format objects such as the griffin heads of kettles - also in Samos - since the 7th century BC. Is proven. Theodoros was generally known for the quality of his work in various fields and was one of the first “technicians” whose names have been passed down.

Various authors have ascribed to him:

  • A large silver crater with a capacity of 600 amphorae (1800 liters), gift from Croesus to Delphi
  • a golden crater
  • Engraving of the Ring of Polykrates , a gold signet ring with an emerald
  • the golden vine that belonged to the treasure of the Persian kings
  • Cult image of Apollon Pythios on Samos
  • A self-portrait Theodoros had a reputation according to Pliny because of its portrait resemblances and his self-portrait (with file in his right hand and steering a quadriga with his left hand) because of its delicacy and smallness, and was brought to Präneste.

He worked a lot with Rhoikos. With this he built the Heraion of Samos ( Dipteros ). Theodoros also wrote about the temple on Samos. Theodoros is said to have given important advice regarding the foundation in a swamp area when building the Dipteros (Temple of Artemis) at Ephesus . He had already made experience with the Heraion with swampy building ground and proposed a layer of charcoal and sheepskin in Ephesus, which in his opinion would hold up the groundwater in the foundation. After Pausanias, the Skias in Sparta also came from him.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Herodotus 3:41; Pausanias 8,14,8; 10.38.5.
  2. ↑ Diodorus 1.98.3; Diogenes Laertios 2.103.
  3. ↑ Pliny, Natural History 7,198.
  4. ↑ Pausanias 8,14,8; 9.41.1; 10.38.6; Plato, Ion 533b.
  5. ↑ In this sense, Peter Cornelis Bol suggested the interpretation of the tradition: Peter Cornelis Bol: Antike Bronzetechnik. Art and craft of ancient ore formers. CH Beck, Munich 1985, p. 118.
  6. ^ Helmuth Schneider in: Dieter Hägermann and Helmuth Schneider: Landbau und Handwerk 750 BC. Until 1000 AD (= Propylaea history of technology. Volume 1). Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1991, p. 105 f.
  7. ↑ Herodotus 1:51.
  8. ↑ Athenaios , Banquet of the Scholars 12,514 f.
  9. ↑ Herodotus 3:41, 1, Pausanias 8:14, 8
  10. ↑ Himerios 31.8.
  11. ↑ Diodorus 1.98.5; Athenagoras 17.
  12. ↑ Pliny, Natural History 34, 83.
  13. ↑ Herodotus 3.60; Pliny, Natural History 34.83.
  14. ^ Vitruvius 7 Praefatio 12.
  15. ↑ Diogenes Laertios 2.103.
  16. ^ Wilhelm Osthues: Building knowledge in ancient Greece . In: Jürgen Renn among other things: The history of knowledge of architecture. Volume 2, Edition Open Access 2014
  17. ↑ Pausanias 3:12, 10.
personal data
SURNAME Theodoros of Samos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek architect and engineer
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 6th century BC BC or 5th century BC Chr.