Quote Originally Posted by araveugnitsuga View Post
They were rather simple though, roof over excessively thick columns placed all around. And the ruins are prove of materials being resistant in most cases, not necessarily design, at least for the Greeks.
Oh no doubt, the materials are superior.
But so was the construction. The Parthenon in Athens is a particularly fine example consisting of stones fitted so close together that cracks run across the divide as if they were one. Furthermore, the basic design may be simple, yes.
But that's an optical illusion.
The Greeks were primarily concerned not with achieving perfection in construction but achieving what looked perfect, so they subtly altered their structures. The floor of the Parthenon is curved upwards to prevent the illusion that it sags. The columns bulge outwards with a curve with a radius of over a mile in order to prevent the appearance that they narrow towards the middle. Each part of each column is unique.
And they did all of us with a workforce that used three different systems of measurement and were mostly illiterate.

It's kind of the same with the medieval cathedrals, but a lot of them were rushed and/or too ambitious so they can't make the same claim.