Archaeologist: How did the Parthenon' s stonemasons manage to carve columns that all bulged outward in the center in precisely the same way  One hypothesis is suggested by the discovery of a scale drawing of a column etched into the stone of a Greek temple at Didyma  The drawing is a profile view of a column surrounded by a grid, which makes it possible to determine the correct width at every height of the column
The stonemasons who carved the Parthenon' s columns may have relied on a drawing like the one at Didyma
The construction of the temple at Didyma was begun over a century after the Parthenon was constructed.