UK mathematician debunks myth around Parthenon’s optical illusions

Study challenges belief that temple’s curves were designed to correct optical illusions that would have ruined its clean lines

Goriely, who assesses and dismisses other supposed “optical corrections” in his paper concedes he “fell into a bit of a rabbit hole” pulling all the evidence together. He suspects the Parthenon’s architects had other reasons for the architectural features.

The curve of the base may have prevented rain puddles forming and curved columns might simply have felt more organic and visually pleasing to the ancient Greeks, he writes in Royal Society Open Science.