Dose of STEM: Engineering marvels of the ancient world

“Beauty perishes in life, but is immortal in art.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

History teaches us that several civilizations have come and gone from the dawn of human life, creating and infusing culture and practices that are still prevalent around the world. Each of these periods proved to be a time where fine arts and crafts flourished, giving us the pottery, fabrics, and paintings now carefully preserved in museums for all to see. But most of all, the rapid burgeoning of architecture in these settlements was what resulted in the construction of several monuments that stand tall as exalted symbols of culture and prowess to this day.

The Parthenon

Built as a tribute to the goddess Athena, the colossal structure sits on the Acropolis of Athens. Having withstood plunder, natural disasters and bombardment, it is still an allegory of the Athenian empire at the zenith of its power. With a height of 14m and base dimensions of 30.8 m x 69.51 m, it is believed to have been constructed using 100,000 tonnes of marble from a quarry about 10 miles from Athens.

Located right on top of a rock, the Parthenon does not have any foundation, which, in theory, should make it extremely vulnerable to earthquakes. But the structure has three levels of “seismic isolation”. The first level is the numerous large and completely smooth marble slabs the structure stands on. The second is the metal joints of each layer, surrounded by lead, which is now used as a seismic damper since the deformation of lead converts the kinetic energy of the earthquake to thermal energy, serving as an effective energy dissipation mechanism. Finally, the columns consist of multiple layers of perfectly cut rocks, which ensure that the Parthenon oscillates and does not collapse in the event of an earthquake.

Another aspect of its eccentricity is the slight curvature of the columns; the columns are not perfectly straight along the vertical axis. They have a slight protuberance near the middle called the entasis, and the columns have been crafted this way to correct the optical illusion of concavity produced by a straight shaft.

In conclusion, as perfectly summarized by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Earth proudly wears the Parthenon as the best gem upon her zone.”

Mohenjo-Daro

The Mohenjo-Daro, which means “Mound of the Dead Men” in the language Sindhi, located in modern-day Sindh, Pakistan, was one of the most sprawling settlements of the Indus Valley civilization. It was the most advanced city of its time, with remarkably avant-garde civil engineering and urban planning.

The city had a well-planned street grid, near standardized proportions of architectural components, and most famously, a highly elaborate and organized drainage system, all of which were testaments to the technical prowess of the city’s inhabitants.

The buildings were rectilinear and were arranged in a grid-like pattern, with the regularity of surrounding streets providing easy access to all areas. Each of the streets had a series of drains running along them that were connected to large sewers on the main streets. Drains exiting the city had wooden doors and removable brick paving on top to allow cleaning. Furthermore, wells were located throughout the city, and almost every home has a designated bathing area and drainage system.

Finally, the city had a huge public bath, known as the “Great Bath”, measuring 12m in length, 7m in width, and 2.4m in depth. Finely fitted bricks, gypsum plaster, and a thick layer of bitumen made the tank watertight.

Giza Necropolis

Also known as the Giza Pyramid Complex, this encompasses the Great Pyramid of Giza (Pyramid of Khufu), the Pyramid of Menkaure, the Pyramid of Khafre, their associated pyramid complexes, and the Great Sphinx of Giza. The Great Pyramid was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world (the only one that still exists), and these ruins were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

These structures are some of the largest pyramids ever built in Egypt, and they house the remains of three Old kingdom pharaohs — Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. The Pyramids are a defining symbol of both the divine stature held by the rulers of Egypt and Egypt itself.

Despite not having modern tools or surveying equipment, the pyramids are nearly symmetrical. The Great Pyramid was the tallest human-made structure for a staggering 4000 years until the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889.

The Pyramid of Khufu is believed to contain more than 2 million stone blocks, and scientists reckon that the Egyptians used log rollers and sledges to move the stones into place. The orchestration and logistics of the process of lifting and placing the stones so precisely seem to be an impossibility by modern standards. The interior has several narrow corridors and hidden passageways that could have been constructed to prevent the theft of the vast amounts of riches buried with the pharaoh. Unfortunately, most of the treasures the pyramids once housed were looted within 250 years of completion.

Architecture, considered in the sense of the precision of measurements, the colossal scales of planning, and the fidelity of implementation, is scientific and mathematical in every sense. On the other hand, perceiving the result of architecture as transforming into an allegory or giving aesthetic pleasure, then the same discipline becomes more an art than a science. This is what makes architecture a great example of the correlation and interdependence of STEM and Arts and an attestation of the wondrous things that can be created if the two go hand-in-hand.

“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.” ~ Frank Gehry

Sources:

1. How the Parthenon was built to withstand anything: https://greekreporter.com/2021/07/08/pathenon-construction-engineering/

2. How the ancient Greeks designed the Parthenon to impress - and last: https://www.history.com/news/parthenon-acropolis-ancient-greece-engineering

3. An Overview of Harappan architecture and town planning: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/695/harappa-an-overview-of-harappan-architecture--town/

4. Pyramids of Giza - Wonders of the Ancient world: https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/travels-geology-pyramids-giza-wonders-ancient-world/

Image Sources:

1. The Parthenon by Spencer Davis on Unsplash

2. Pyramids of Giza by Alex Azabache on Unsplash

3. Mohenjo-Daro by Noman Bukhari on Unsplash