Chapter 9 The Timaeus and Durham Cathedral

In: The Legacy of Plato's Timaeus
Author:
John Shannon Hendrix
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Type:
Chapter
Pages:
255–287
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004705838_010

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Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate the importance of the Timaeus in medieval architecture. The chapter examines the architecture of Durham Cathedral in relation to the abridged translation of the Timaeus by Calcidius, of which a copy was in the cathedral library at the time of the construction of the present building, along with copies of the Glosses on Plato by Bernard of Chartres and comments on the Timaeus in the Platonic Notes also related to Bernard’s school. The chapter then considers the architecture of Lincoln Cathedral in relation to the cosmological writings by Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln (1235–1253), De Luce and De lineis, angulis et figuris, which were derived from the Timaeus. The chapter concludes by highlighting the continued adoption of the Timaeus as the foundation of architecture in the Renaissance.

Citation Info

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The Legacy of Plato's Timaeus

Cosmology, Music, Medicine, and Architecture from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century

Series:  Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, Volume: 353
Cover The Legacy of Plato's <i>Timaeus</i>
E-Book ISBN:
9789004705838
Publisher:
Brill
Print Publication Date:
16 Dec 2024
Front Matter
Chapter 1 Introduction: from Plato’s Text to the Beginnings of Modern Science – towards a New Understanding of the Disciplinary Inheritance of Plato’s Timaeus
Part 1 The Timaeus and its Reception in Late Antiquity
Part 2 The Medieval Timaeus
Part 3 The Timaeus in the Renaissance
Back Matter

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