Iktinos biography template

Mid-5th-century BC Athenian architect

This article is about the architect. For the mythological character, see Ictinus (mythology).

Ictinus (; Greek: Ἰκτῖνος, Iktinos) was an architect active in the mid 5th century BC.^[1][2] Ancient sources identify Ictinus and Callicrates as co-architects of the Parthenon.

Iktinos biography template

He co-wrote a book on the project – which is now lost – in collaboration with Carpion.^[3]

Pausanias identifies Ictinus as architect of the Temple of Apollo at Bassae.^[3] That temple was Doric on the exterior, Ionic on the interior, and incorporated a 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.^[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.

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