Mnesicles

views updated May 23 2018

Mnesicles (fl. 437–420 BC). Athenian architect of the time of Pericles (460–429 BC), he designed the monumental Doric Propylaea, or entrance-gate to the Acropolis (437–432 BC). It was a precedent for numerous Neo-Classical gates, including Langhans's Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, and von Klenze's Propyläen, Munich. Mnesicles has been credited with the design of the stoa of Zeus Eleutherios (c.430 BC) in the north-west corner of the agora in Athens, which had projecting wings at each end, and his name has also been associated with the Erechtheion (421–405 BC), but the evidence is lacking.

Bibliography

Bungaard (1957);
Dinsmoor (1950);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
Tiberi (1964)