ABSTRACT
Schliemann discovered a city thought to be the ancient city of Troy, made famous by the stories of Homer. Some of the houses he found there were based on the simple form of two parallel walls (above right). The gateway, or propylon, was formed of two parallel walls too, extending the experience of transition from outside the city wall to inside. Although the houses of Troy would have had focuses in their hearths, they do not appear to have taken advantage of the focusing power of parallel walls. This comes about by combination of the line of direction, the convergence of perspective lines and the frame created by the walls with the roof above and the ground below. Vincent Scully, in his book The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods, suggested that the ancient Greeks used the sense of direction and focus created by parallel walls to relate their buildings to sacred sites on the peaks of distant mountains.
