Many people would like to make their own Greek temple in which to sit and pluck a lyre in the moonlight but are afraid to try because they don’t know exactly how to go about it.

Actually, there is nothing difficult about it, if you follow the simple, step-by-step instructions. After you have made this easy, small temple, you can go on, with no trouble, to a more elaborate one. There’s really no limit—you can make as many as you like, and you can make them bigger and bigger and more and more splendid and decadent.

The first step is to select a suitable site. I suggest a nice flat hilltop with a lovely view. If you find a good hilltop that is too pointy, level it carefully. In any case, make absolutely certain that you have a nice, smooth, level place well tamped down on which to set your temple. This is extremely important?and the reason will become clear as you progress.

Having selected your site, and levelled it carefully, you may start making your plinth. Now keep in mind that although you may have seen high plinths faced with carvings, this is not at all necessary. A plinth can be very simple, and that is how I think you should start your first temple. Simply collect a lot of nice, square flat stones and lay them out exactly as shown in Figure 36. You will notice that after each three layers of stones, you make the succeeding three layers smaller, thus making nice little steps all around without even having noticed that you’ve done it. Please make sure that each stone is level, and pressed up close to the next one before going on. Take my word for it, this is vital.