Callicrates or Kallikrates (; ) was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

architect active in the middle of the fifth century BC. He and

Ictinus Ictinus (; , ''Iktinos'') was an architect active in the mid 5th century BC. Ancient sources identify Ictinus and Callicrates as co-architects of the Parthenon. He co-wrote a book on the project – which is now lost – in collaboration with C ...

were

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s of the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...

(

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, ''Pericles'', 13). An inscription identifies him as the architect of "the Temple of Nike" on the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...

(IG I³ 35). The temple in question is either the

amphiprostyle In classical architecture, amphiprostyle (from the Greek (''amphi''), on both sides, and (''prostylos''), a portico) denotes an ancient temple with a portico both at the front and the rear, where the columns on the narrow sides are not between ...

Temple of Athena Nike The Temple of Athena Nike (Greek: Ναός Αθηνάς Νίκης, ''Naós Athinás Níkis'') is a temple on the Acropolis of Athens, dedicated to the goddesses Athena and Nike. Built around 420 BC, the temple is the earliest fully Ionic temp ...

now visible on the site or a small-scale predecessor (

naiskos The ''naiskos'' (: ''naiskoi''; , diminutive of ναός, "temple") is a small temple in classical order with columns or pillars and pediment. Ancient Greece Often applied as an artificial motif, it is common in ancient art. It is also found in ...

) whose remains were found in the later temple's foundations. An inscription identifies Callicrates as one of the architects of the Classical circuit wall of the Acropolis (IG I³ 45), and Plutarch further states (loc. cit.) that he was contracted to build the

middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

of three defensive walls linking

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

and

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

. A

crater A crater is a landform consisting of a hole or depression (geology), depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet. A crater has classically been described ...

on the planet Mercury was named in his honor.

References

Sources

''Pericles'' 13
5th-century BC architects Ancient Greek architects 5th-century BC Athenians Parthenon Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{Greece-architect-stub