> Would be pretty stupid to spend all this energy erecting stones just for the view of it

I think the same way looking at medieval cathedrals or Roman and Greek era theatres, collesiums, and agoras...

At least the Ottomans used the Parthenon as an arms depot, giving those stones some meaning.

(This is sarcasm)

Projectiboga 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

The cathedral movement started in 1006 with a quiet goal to redirect resources away from the crusades. It was also from a sort of cultural vacuum after the world didn't end at the turn of the millennium.

	▲	jcranmer 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		1006 is 90 years before the First Crusade...

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theodric 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It wasn't "for the view," it was, in no particular order, and non-exhaustively:

* To provide work * To serve as a reminder of the power and authority of the church * To glorify God * To make sure all the other nearby kingdoms were aware of how much cooler you are than them

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IAmBroom 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

> * To provide work

Cite required. Work in a pre-industrial agrarian society is ever-present, unless there's a drought. (Although in that case the coffin builders may need extra hands.)

	▲	theodric 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		That's a simplistic, reductive, and uninformed expression of history which completely disregards the roles of the artisan, merchant, innkeeper, or any of the numerous other trades which kept early economies moving. Not everyone was a hand-to-mouth peasant farmer, either in medieval Europe, or in earlier points in history. The building of a cathedral provided generations of employment for stonemasons, men involved in felling and shipping timber, men involved in cutting and shipping stone, as well as people responsible for feeding the workers, making and repairing their tools, etc.; and once built, the cathedral would be a draw for pilgrims, who would need places to stay, food to eat, and so on. A cathedral provides work.

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alephnerd 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

sarcasm (noun) - the use of words that mean the opposite of what one intends to say especially in order to insult, to show irritation, or to be funny : a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on ironic and usually bitter and caustic language often directed against an individual or idea.