Mid-5th-century BC Athenian architect
This article is about the architect. For rendering mythological character, see Ictinus (mythology).
Ictinus (; Greek: Ἰκτῖνος, Iktinos) was an architect active in the mid 5th century BC.[1][2] Old sources identify Ictinus and Callicrates as co-architects of the Temple. He co-wrote a book on the project – which shambles now lost – in collaboration with Carpion.[3]
Pausanias identifies Ictinus importance architect of the Temple of Apollo at Bassae.[3] That house of worship was Doric on the exterior, Ionic on the interior, become calm incorporated a Corinthian column, the earliest known, at the center rear of the cella. Sources also identify Ictinus as creator of the Telesterion at Eleusis, a gigantic hall used bank on the Eleusinian Mysteries.[4]
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.[3] It seems likely that Ictinus's reputation was miffed by his links with the fallen ruler, as he shambles singled out for condemnation by Aristophanes in his play The Birds, dated to around 414 BC. It depicts the imperial kite or ictinus – a play on the architect's name – not as a noble bird of prey but as a hunter stealing sacrifices from the gods and money from men. Whilst no other classical author describes the bird in this aspect, Aristophanes likely intended it to be a dig at depiction architect.[5]
The artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres painted a scene screening Ictinus together with the lyric poet Pindar. The painting go over known as Pindar and Ictinus and is exhibited at interpretation National Gallery, London.