The CSA Propylaea Project
Welcome to the Introduction of the Final Report of the CSA Propylaea Project. The project, which began as an idea in 1999, was intended to create a unified digital (i.e., computer-based) resource concerning the Propylaea. This Final Report, which consists of many web documents as well as digital files available for download, includes all materials created in the course of the project — and all supporting materials. Thus, these materials serve as the project's final publication. It should be noted that these documents have not been subjected to peer review.
The Propylaea is the magnificent entrance structure that has guarded the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens since shortly after the middle of the fifth century B.C.E. Designed by the architect Mnesicles, the Propylaea stands today as a glorious testimony to the creativity of the architect and to the soaring power and majesty of the ancient Greek architectural vocabulary when put to use by a master such as Mnesicles.
The central aim of the project was to create a single, integrated, digital resource for any student of the Propylaea. This digital resource was to include both textual and photographic material (some already extant), and it was to include a stone-by-stone CAD model of the building itself. Being digital, this material was to be made available via the propylaea.org website; it was assumed that the project website would ultimately cease to function and that the material would be placed in a digital archives. Thus, the material is now available via the Archaeology Data Service, not the website of the CSA Propylaea Project, which will exist for some time merely to point readers to the relevant ADS pages. Some of that material is available here. Other parts were not completed before the project was terminated near the end of 2008. For scholars and others who wish to examine the project in detail, the recommended starting page is the Project Introduction; for those who have a more general interest in this topic, the better starting point is the Project Background and Rationale.
Please note that there are no Greek translations of this or other pages describing the work of the project. Greek translations had been posted previously on the project website. It became apparent that the difficulties of maintaining up-to-date translations made it preferable to omit translations of any kind. Furthermore, online translation facilities, while not yet adequate for anything so complex as this material, will become more and more useful and will soon take the place of supplied translations, providing virtually any language for any reader. It is important to realize, however, that automated translations remain inadequate at this time (2013); readers should be wary of relying upon any such translation and should be sure to use the posted, English version of any web page for quotation or other citation.
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