Weather Phenomena and Immortality: The Well-Adjusted Construction in Ancient Greek Poetics Phoebe Giannisi The present text traces a chain of thought that tries to connect the ancient Greek view of the well-adjusted construction, a kind of artistic prototype, to immortality. The Homeric, Pindaric, and Sophoclean metaphors on construction speak about resis- tance to weather phenomena, as a substitute for death resistance, and thus immortality. Based on this consideration, the roof con- struction for Greek temples can be seen as a sort of narration, a combat against the death forces of weather phenomena. Since this combat against mortality is also the aim of every poetic work, metaphors concerning well-adjusted construction concern not only architecture but also reflect Ancient Greek poetics. 1. Artifacts for weather phenomena protection In a famous choral part 1 of Antigone, Sophocles speaks about the human being as deinos (įİινóς), a “terrible wonder.” 2 The passage is emblematic for our subject: [332] Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man. [335] This power spans the sea, even when it surges white before the gales of the south-wind…. [355] … he has taught himself, how to flee the arrows of the inhos- pitable frost under clear skies and the arrows of the storming rain. From the Things Themselves: Architecture and Phenomenology © Jacquet and Giraud, Kyoto University Press / EFEO, Kyoto, 2012 Do not circulate without permission of the editors