Ancient Greek

architecture

Ancient Greek architecture came from the

Greeks, or Hellenics, whose culture
flourished on the Greek mainland, the
Peloponnese, the Aegean Islands, and in
colonies in Anatolia and Italy for a period
from about 900 BC until the 1st century
AD, with the earliest remaining
architectural works dating from around
600 BC.[1]
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
architecture is best
architecture
known for its
temples, many of
which are found
throughout the
region, with the
Parthenon regarded,
now as in ancient
times, as the prime
example.[2] Most
Top: The Parthenon
remains are very
(460–406 BC);
incomplete ruins,
Centre: The
but a number
Erechtheion (421–
survive substantially 406 BC); Bottom:
intact, mostly Illustration of Doric
outside modern (left three), Ionic
Greece. The second (middle three) and

important type of Corinthian (right

two) columns
building that
survives all over the Years c. 900
active BC–1st
Hellenic world is the
century
open-air theatre,
AD
with the earliest
dating from around
525–480 BC. Other architectural forms
that are still in evidence are the
processional gateway (propylon), the
public square (agora) surrounded by
storied colonnade (stoa), the town council
building (bouleuterion), the public
monument, the monumental tomb
(mausoleum) and the stadium.

Ancient Greek architecture is distinguished

by its highly formalised characteristics,
both of structure and decoration. This is
particularly so in the case of temples
where each building appears to have been
conceived as a sculptural entity within the
landscape, most often raised on high
ground so that the elegance of its
proportions and the effects of light on its
surfaces might be viewed from all
angles.[3] Nikolaus Pevsner refers to "the
plastic shape of the [Greek] temple [...]
placed before us with a physical presence
more intense, more alive than that of any
later building".[4]

The formal vocabulary of ancient Greek

architecture, in particular the division of
architectural style into three defined
orders: the Doric Order, the Ionic Order and
the Corinthian Order, was to have a
profound effect on Western architecture of
later periods. The architecture of ancient
Rome grew out of that of Greece and
maintained its influence in Italy unbroken
until the present day. From the
Renaissance, revivals of Classicism have
kept alive not only the precise forms and
ordered details of Greek architecture, but
also its concept of architectural beauty
based on balance and proportion. The
successive styles of Neoclassical
architecture and Greek Revival architecture
followed and adapted ancient Greek styles
closely.

Influences

Geography

The mainland and islands of Greece are

very rocky, with deeply indented coastline,
and rugged mountain ranges with few
substantial forests. The most freely
available building material is stone.
Limestone was readily available and easily
worked.[5] There is an abundance of high
quality white marble both on the mainland
and islands, particularly Paros and Naxos.
This finely grained material was a major
contributing factor to precision of detail,
both architectural and sculptural, that
adorned ancient Greek architecture.[6]
Deposits of high-quality potter's clay were
found throughout Greece and the Islands,
with major deposits near Athens. It was
used not only for pottery vessels but also
roof tiles and architectural decoration.[7]

The climate of Greece is maritime, with

both the coldness of winter and the heat
of summer tempered by sea breezes. This
led to a lifestyle where many activities
took place outdoors. Hence temples were
placed on hilltops, their exteriors designed
as a visual focus of gatherings and
processions, while theatres were often an
enhancement of a naturally occurring
sloping site where people could sit, rather
than a containing structure. Colonnades
encircling buildings, or surrounding
courtyards provided shelter from the sun
and from sudden winter storms.[6]

The light of Greece may be another

important factor in the development of the
particular character of ancient Greek
architecture. The light is often extremely
bright, with both the sky and the sea vividly
blue. The clear light and sharp shadows
give a precision to the details of the
landscape, pale rocky outcrops and
seashore. This clarity is alternated with
periods of haze that varies in colour to the
light on it. In this characteristic
environment, the ancient Greek architects
constructed buildings that were marked by
the precision of detail.[6] The gleaming
marble surfaces were smooth, curved,
fluted, or ornately sculpted to reflect the
sun, cast graded shadows and change in
colour with the ever-changing light of day.
 The rugged indented coastline at The Theatre and Temple of Apollo The Acropolis, Athens, is high above
Rhamnous, Attica in mountainous country at Delphi the city on a natural prominence.

The Islands of the Aegean from

Cape Sounion

History

Historians divide ancient Greek civilization

into two eras, the Hellenic period (from
around 900 BC to the death of Alexander
the Great in 323 BC), and the Hellenistic
period (323 BC – 30 AD).[8] During the
earlier Hellenic period, substantial works
of architecture began to appear around
600 BC. During the later (Hellenistic)
period, Greek culture spread as a result of
Alexander's conquest of other lands, and
later as a result of the rise of the Roman
Empire, which adopted much of Greek
culture.[1][9]

Before the Hellenic era, two major cultures

had dominated the region: the Minoan
(c. 2800 – c. 1100 BC), and the Mycenaean
(c. 1500–1100 BC). Minoan is the name
given by modern historians to the culture
of the people of ancient Crete, known for
its elaborate and richly decorated Minoan
palaces, and for its pottery, the most
famous of which painted with floral and
motifs of sea life. The Mycenaean culture,
which flourished on the Peloponnesus,
was different in character. Its people built
citadels, fortifications and tombs, and
decorated their pottery with bands of
marching soldiers rather than octopus and
seaweed. Both these civilizations came to
an end around 1100 BC, that of Crete
possibly because of volcanic devastation,
and that of Mycenae because of an
invasion by the Dorian people who lived on
the Greek mainland.[10] Following these
events, there was a period from which only
a village level of culture seems to have
existed. This period is thus often referred
to as the Greek Dark Age.

Art

Black figure Amphora, The Kritios Boy,

Atalante painter (500–490 (c. 480 BC),
BC), shows proportion and typifies the
style that are hallmarks of tradition of free-
ancient Greek art standing figures

The art history of the Hellenic era is

generally subdivided into four periods: the
Protogeometric (1100–900 BC), the
Geometric (900–700 BC), the Archaic
(700–500 BC) and the Classical (500–323
BC)[11] with sculpture being further divided
into Severe Classical, High Classical and
Late Classical.[1] The first signs of the
particular artistic character that defines
ancient Greek architecture are to be seen
in the pottery of the Dorian Greeks from
the 10th century BC. Already at this period
it is created with a sense of proportion,
symmetry and balance not apparent in
similar pottery from Crete and Mycenae.
The decoration is precisely geometric, and
ordered neatly into zones on defined areas
of each vessel. These qualities were to
manifest themselves not only through a
millennium of Greek pottery making, but
also in the architecture that was to emerge
in the 6th century.[12] The major
development that occurred was in the
growing use of the human figure as the
major decorative motif, and the increasing
surety with which humanity, its mythology,
activities and passions were depicted.[1]

The development in the depiction of the

human form in pottery was accompanied
by a similar development in sculpture. The
tiny stylised bronzes of the Geometric
period gave way to life-sized highly
formalised monolithic representation in
the Archaic period. The Classical period
was marked by a rapid development
towards idealised but increasingly lifelike
depictions of gods in human form.[13] This
development had a direct effect on the
sculptural decoration of temples, as many
of the greatest extant works of ancient
Greek sculpture once adorned temples,[14]
and many of the largest recorded statues
of the age, such as the lost
chryselephantine statues of Zeus at the
Temple of Zeus at Olympia and Athena at
the Parthenon, Athens, both over 40 feet
high, were once housed in them.[15]
Religion and philosophy

Above: Modern model of ancient Olympia

with the Temple of Zeus at the centre

Right: Recreation of the colossal statue of

Athena, once housed in the Parthenon, with
sculptor Alan LeQuire

The religion of ancient Greece was a form

of nature worship that grew out of the
beliefs of earlier cultures. However, unlike
earlier cultures, man was no longer
perceived as being threatened by nature,
but as its sublime product.[9] The natural
elements were personified as gods of the
complete human form, and very human
behaviour.[6]

The home of the gods was thought to be

Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece.
The most important deities were: Zeus, the
supreme god and ruler of the sky; Hera, his
wife and goddess of marriage; Athena,
goddess of wisdom; Poseidon, the god of
the sea; Demeter, goddess of the harvest;
Apollo, the god of the sun, law, healing,
plague, reason, music and poetry; Artemis,
goddess of the moon, the hunt and the
wilderness; Aphrodite, goddess of love;
Ares, God of war; Hermes, the god of
commerce and travellers, Hephaestus, the
god of fire and metalwork; and Dionysus,
the god of wine and fruit-bearing plants.[6]
Worship, like many other activities, was
done in the community, in the open.
However, by 600 BC, the gods were often
represented by large statues and it was
necessary to provide a building in which
each of these could be housed. This led to
the development of temples.[16]

The ancient Greeks perceived order in the

universe, and in turn, applied order and
reason to their creations. Their humanist
philosophy put mankind at the centre of
things and promoted well-ordered
societies and the development of
democracy.[9] At the same time, the
respect for human intellect demanded a
reason, and promoted a passion for
enquiry, logic, challenge, and problem-
solving. The architecture of the ancient
Greeks, and in particular, temple
architecture, responds to these challenges
with a passion for beauty, and for order
and symmetry which is the product of a
continual search for perfection, rather than
a simple application of a set of working
rules.
Architectural character

Early development

There is a clear division between the

architecture of the preceding Mycenaean
and Minoan cultures and that of the
ancient Greeks, with much of the
techniques and an understanding of their
style being lost when these civilisations
fell.[5]

Mycenaean architecture is marked by

massive fortifications, typically
surrounding a citadel with a royal palace,
much smaller than the rambling Minoan
"palaces", and relatively few other
buildings. The megaron, a rectangular hall
with a hearth in the centre, was the largest
room in the palaces, and also larger
houses. Sun-dried brick above rubble
bases were the usual materials, with
wooden columns and roof-beams. Rows
of ashlar stone orthostats lined the base
of walls in some prominent locations.[17]

The Minoan architecture of Crete was of

the trabeated form like that of ancient
Greece. It employed wooden columns with
capitals, but the wooden columns were of
a very different form to Doric columns,
being narrow at the base and splaying
upward.[10] The earliest forms of columns
in Greece seem to have developed
independently. As with Minoan
architecture, ancient Greek domestic
architecture centred on open spaces or
courtyards surrounded by colonnades.
This form was adapted to the construction
of hypostyle halls within the larger
temples. The evolution that occurred in
architecture was towards the public
building, first and foremost the temple,
rather than towards grand domestic
architecture such as had evolved in
Crete,[3] if the Cretan "palaces" were
indeed domestic, which remains uncertain.
Some Mycenaean tombs are marked by
circular structures and tapered domes
with flat-bedded, cantilevered courses.[10]
This architectural form did not carry over
into the architecture of ancient Greece, but
reappeared about 400 BC in the interior of
large monumental tombs such as the Lion
Tomb at Knidos (c. 350 BC).

Types of buildings

Domestic buildings

The Greek word for the family or

household, oikos, is also the name for the
house. Houses followed several different
types. It is probable that many of the
earliest houses were simple structures of
two rooms, with an open porch or pronaos,
above which rose a low pitched gable or
pediment.[8] This form is thought to have
contributed to temple architecture.

Plan of the House of Colline, 2nd The House of Masks, Delos, 3rd The House of Masks
century BC century BC

The mosaic floor of a house at

Delos
The construction of many houses
employed walls of sun-dried clay bricks or
wooden framework filled with fibrous
material such as straw or seaweed
covered with clay or plaster, on a base of
stone which protected the more vulnerable
elements from damp.[5] The roofs were
probably of thatch with eaves which
overhung the permeable walls. Many
larger houses, such as those at Delos,
were built of stone and plastered. The
roofing material for the substantial house
was tile. Houses of the wealthy had
mosaic floors and demonstrated the
Classical style.
Many houses centred on a wide passage
or "pasta" which ran the length of the
house and opened at one side onto a
small courtyard which admitted light and
air. Larger houses had a fully developed
peristyle (courtyard) at the centre, with the
rooms arranged around it. Some houses
had an upper floor which appears to have
been reserved for the use of the women of
the family.[18]

City houses were built with adjoining walls

and were divided into small blocks by
narrow streets. Shops were sometimes
located in the rooms towards the street.
City houses were inward-facing, with major
openings looking onto the central
courtyard, rather than the street.[8]

Public buildings

The rectangular temple is the most

common and best-known form of Greek
public architecture. This rectilinear
structure borrows from the Late Helladic,
Mycenaean megaron, which contained a
central throne room, vestibule, and
porch.[19] The temple did not serve the
same function as a modern church, since
the altar stood under the open sky in the
temenos or sacred precinct, often directly
before the temple. Temples served as the
location of a cult image and as a storage
place or strong room for the treasury
associated with the cult of the god in
question, and as a place for devotees of
the god to leave their votive offerings, such
as statues, helmets and weapons. Some
Greek temples appear to have been
oriented astronomically.[20] The temple
was generally part of a religious precinct
known as the acropolis. According to
Aristotle, "the site should be a spot seen
far and wide, which gives good elevation
to virtue and towers over the
neighbourhood".[3] Small circular temples,
tholoi were also constructed, as well as
small temple-like buildings that served as
treasuries for specific groups of donors.[21]

Porta Rosa, a street (3rd century BC) The reconstructed Stoa of Attalos, The Bouleuterion, at Priene
Velia, Italy the Agora, Athens

The Stadium at Epidauros

During the late 5th and 4th centuries BC,

town planning became an important
consideration of Greek builders, with
towns such as Paestum and Priene being
laid out with a regular grid of paved streets
and an agora or central market place
surrounded by a colonnade or stoa. The
completely restored Stoa of Attalos can be
seen in Athens. Towns were also equipped
with a public fountain where water could
be collected for household use. The
development of regular town plans is
associated with Hippodamus of Miletus, a
pupil of Pythagoras.[22][23][24]

Public buildings became "dignified and

gracious structures", and were sited so
that they related to each other
architecturally.[23] The propylon or porch,
formed the entrance to temple sanctuaries
and other significant sites with the best-
surviving example being the Propylaea on
the Acropolis of Athens. The bouleuterion
was a large public building with a
hypostyle hall that served as a court house
and as a meeting place for the town
council (boule). Remnants of bouleuterion
survive at Athens, Olympia and Miletus,
the latter having held up to 1,200
people.[25]

Every Greek town had an open-air theatre.

These were used for both public meetings
as well as dramatic performances. The
theatre was usually set in a hillside outside
the town, and had rows of tiered seating
set in a semicircle around the central
performance area, the orchestra. Behind
the orchestra was a low building called the
skênê, which served as a store-room, a
dressing room, and also as a backdrop to
the action taking place in the orchestra. A
number of Greek theatres survive almost
intact, the best known being at Epidaurus
by the architect Polykleitos the Younger.[22]

Greek towns of substantial size also had a

palaestra or a gymnasium, the social
centre for male citizens which included
spectator areas, baths, toilets and club
rooms.[25] Other buildings associated with
sports include the hippodrome for horse
racing, of which only remnants have
survived, and the stadium for foot racing,
600 feet in length, of which examples exist
at Olympia, Delphi, Epidaurus and
Ephesus, while the Panathinaiko Stadium
in Athens, which seats 45,000 people, was
restored in the 19th century and was used
in the 1896, 1906 and 2004 Olympic
Games.[25][26]

The Palaestra at Olympia, used for The Theatre of Dionysus, Athens Pebble mosaic floor of a house at
boxing and wrestling Olynthos, depicting Bellerophon
The altar of Hiero II at Syracuse
Structure

Post and lintel

Parts of an Ancient Greek temple of the

Doric Order:
1. Tympanum, 2. Acroterium, 3. Sima 4.
Cornice 5. Mutules 7. Frieze 8. Triglyph 9.
Metope
10. Regula 11. Gutta 12. Taenia 13.
Architrave 14. Capital 15. Abacus 16.
Echinus 17. Column 18. Fluting 19. Stylobate
The architecture of ancient Greece is of a
trabeated or "post and lintel" form, i.e. it is
composed of upright beams (posts)
supporting horizontal beams (lintels).
Although the existent buildings of the era
are constructed in stone, it is clear that the
origin of the style lies in simple wooden
structures, with vertical posts supporting
beams which carried a ridged roof. The
posts and beams divided the walls into
regular compartments which could be left
as openings, or filled with sun dried bricks,
lathes or straw and covered with clay daub
or plaster. Alternately, the spaces might be
filled with rubble. It is likely that many early
houses and temples were constructed
with an open porch or "pronaos" above
which rose a low pitched gable or
pediment.[8]

The earliest temples, built to enshrine

statues of deities, were probably of
wooden construction, later replaced by the
more durable stone temples many of
which are still in evidence today. The signs
of the original timber nature of the
architecture were maintained in the stone
buildings.[27]

A few of these temples are very large, with

several, such as the Temple of Zeus
Olympus and the Olympians at Athens
being well over 300 feet in length, but
most were less than half this size. It
appears that some of the large temples
began as wooden constructions in which
the columns were replaced piecemeal as
stone became available. This, at least was
the interpretation of the historian
Pausanias looking at the Temple of Hera
at Olympia in the 2nd century AD.[3]

The stone columns are made of a series of

solid stone cylinders or "drums" that rest
on each other without mortar, but were
sometimes centred with a bronze pin. The
columns are wider at the base than at the
top, tapering with an outward curve known
as entasis. Each column has a capital of
two parts, the upper, on which rests the
lintels, being square and called the
abacus. The part of the capital that rises
from the column itself is called the
echinus. It differs according to the order,
being plain in the Doric order, fluted in the
Ionic and foliate in the Corinthian. Doric
and usually Ionic capitals are cut with
vertical grooves known as fluting. This
fluting or grooving of the columns is a
retention of an element of the original
wooden architecture.[27]
Entablature and pediment

The columns of a temple support a

structure that rises in two main stages, the
entablature and the pediment.

The entablature is the major horizontal

structural element supporting the roof and
encircling the entire building. It is
composed of three parts. Resting on the
columns is the architrave made of a series
of stone "lintels" that spanned the space
between the columns, and meet each
other at a joint directly above the centre of
each column.
Above the architrave is a second
horizontal stage called the frieze. The
frieze is one of the major decorative
elements of the building and carries a
sculptured relief. In the case of Ionic and
Corinthian architecture, the relief
decoration runs in a continuous band, but
in the Doric order, it is divided into sections
called metopes, which fill the spaces
between vertical rectangular blocks called
triglyphs. The triglyphs are vertically
grooved like the Doric columns, and retain
the form of the wooden beams that would
once have supported the roof.
The upper band of the entablature is called
the cornice, which is generally ornately
decorated on its lower edge. The cornice
retains the shape of the beams that would
once have supported the wooden roof at
each end of the building. At the front and
rear of each temple, the entablature
supports a triangular structure called the
pediment. The tympanum is the triangular
space framed by the cornices and the
location of the most significant sculptural
decoration on the exterior of the building.
Masonry

Every temple rested on a masonry base

called the crepidoma, generally of three
steps, of which the upper one which
carried the columns was the stylobate.
Masonry walls were employed for temples
from about 600 BC onwards. Masonry of
all types was used for ancient Greek
buildings, including rubble, but the finest
ashlar masonry was usually employed for
temple walls, in regular courses and large
sizes to minimise the joints.[8] The blocks
were rough hewn and hauled from quarries
to be cut and bedded very precisely, with
mortar hardly ever being used. Blocks,
particularly those of columns and parts of
the building bearing loads were
sometimes fixed in place or reinforced
with iron clamps, dowels and rods of
wood, bronze or iron fixed in lead to
minimise corrosion.[5]

Openings

Door and window openings were spanned

with a lintel, which in a stone building
limited the possible width of the opening.
The distance between columns was
similarly affected by the nature of the
lintel, columns on the exterior of buildings
and carrying stone lintels being closer
together than those on the interior, which
carried wooden lintels.[28][29] Door and
window openings narrowed towards the
top.[29] Temples were constructed without
windows, the light to the naos entering
through the door. It has been suggested
that some temples were lit from openings
in the roof.[28] A door of the Ionic Order at
the Erechtheion (17 feet high and 7.5 feet
wide at the top) retains many of its
features intact, including mouldings, and
an entablature supported on console
brackets. (See Architectural Decoration,
below)[29][30][31]
 Structure, masonry, openings and roof of
Greek temples

The Parthenon, shows the common Temple of Hephaestos, fluted Doric Erechtheion:
structural features of Ancient Greek columns with abacuses supporting masonry, door, stone
architecture: crepidoma, columns, double beams of the architrave lintels, coffered
entablature, pediment. ceiling panels

At the Temple of Aphaia, the

hypostyle columns rise in two tiers,
to a height greater than the walls, to
support a roof without struts.
Roof

The widest span of a temple roof was

across the cella, or inner chamber. In a
large building, this space contains
columns to support the roof, the
architectural form being known as
hypostyle. It appears that, although the
architecture of ancient Greece was initially
of wooden construction, the early builders
did not have the concept of the diagonal
truss as a stabilising member. This is
evidenced by the nature of temple
construction in the 6th century BC, where
the rows of columns supporting the roof
the cella rise higher than the outer walls,
unnecessary if roof trusses are employed
as an integral part of the wooden roof. The
indication is that initially all the rafters
were supported directly by the entablature,
walls and hypostyle, rather than on a
trussed wooden frame, which came into
use in Greek architecture only in the 3rd
century BC.[8]

Ancient Greek buildings of timber, clay and

plaster construction were probably roofed
with thatch. With the rise of stone
architecture came the appearance of fired
ceramic roof tiles. These early roof tiles
showed an S-shape, with the pan and
cover tile forming one piece. They were
much larger than modern roof tiles, being
up to 90 cm (35.43 in) long, 70 cm
(27.56 in) wide, 3–4 cm (1.18–1.57 in)
thick and weighing around 30 kg (66 lb)
apiece.[32] Only stone walls, which were
replacing the earlier mudbrick and wood
walls, were strong enough to support the
weight of a tiled roof.[33]

The earliest finds of roof tiles of the

Archaic period in Greece are documented
from a very restricted area around Corinth,
where fired tiles began to replace thatched
roofs at the temples of Apollo and
Poseidon between 700 and 650 BC.[34]
Spreading rapidly, roof tiles were within
fifty years in evidence for a large number
of sites around the Eastern Mediterranean,
including Mainland Greece, Western Asia
Minor, Southern and Central Italy.[34] Being
more expensive and labour-intensive to
produce than thatch, their introduction has
been explained by the fact that their
fireproof quality would have given desired
protection to the costly temples.[34] As a
side-effect, it has been assumed that the
new stone and tile construction also
ushered in the end of overhanging eaves in
Greek architecture, as they made the need
for an extended roof as rain protection for
the mudbrick walls obsolete.[33]
Vaults and arches were not generally used,
but begin to appear in tombs (in a
"beehive" or cantilevered form such as
used in Mycenaea) and occasionally, as an
external feature, exedrae of voussoired
construction from the 5th century BC. The
dome and vault never became significant
structural features, as they were to
become in ancient Roman architecture.[8]
Temple plans

Plans of Ancient Greek Temples

Top: 1. distyle in antis, 2. amphidistyle in antis, 3. tholos, 4. prostyle tetrastyle, 5. amphiprostyle tetrastyle,
Bottom: 6. dipteral octastyle, 7. peripteral hexastyle, 8. pseudoperipteral hexastyle, 9. pseudodipteral
octastyle

Most ancient Greek temples were

rectangular, and were approximately twice
as long as they were wide, with some
notable exceptions such as the enormous
Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens with a
length of nearly 21⁄2 times its width. A
number of surviving temple-like structures
are circular, and are referred to as
tholos.[35] The smallest temples are less
than 25 metres (approx. 75 feet) in length,
or in the case of the circular tholos, in
diameter. The great majority of temples
are between 30 and 60 metres (approx.
100–200 feet) in length. A small group of
Doric temples, including the Parthenon,
are between 60 and 80 metres (approx.
200–260 feet) in length. The largest
temples, mainly Ionic and Corinthian, but
including the Doric Temple of the
Olympian Zeus, Agrigento, were between
90 and 120 metres (approx. 300–390 feet)
in length.

The temple rises from a stepped base or

stylobate, which elevates the structure
above the ground on which it stands. Early
examples, such as the Temple of Zeus at
Olympus, have two steps, but the majority,
like the Parthenon, have three, with the
exceptional example of the Temple of
Apollo at Didyma having six.[36] The core
of the building is a masonry-built "naos"
within which is a cella, a windowless room
originally housing the statue of the god.
The cella generally has a porch or
"pronaos" before it, and perhaps a second
chamber or "antenaos" serving as a
treasury or repository for trophies and
gifts. The chambers were lit by a single
large doorway, fitted with a wrought iron
grill. Some rooms appear to have been
illuminated by skylights.[36]

On the stylobate, often completely

surrounding the naos, stand rows of
columns. Each temple is defined as being
of a particular type, with two terms: one
describing the number of columns across
the entrance front, and the other defining
their distribution.[36]

Examples:
Distyle in antis describes a small temple
with two columns at the front, which are
set between the projecting walls of the
pronaos or porch, like the Temple of
Nemesis at Rhamnus. (see above, figure
1.) [35]
Amphiprostyle tetrastyle describes a
small temple that has columns at both
ends which stand clear of the naos.
Tetrastyle indicates that the columns are
four in number, like those of the Temple
on the Ilissus in Athens. (figure 4.) [35]
Peripteral hexastyle describes a temple
with a single row of peripheral columns
around the naos, with six columns
across the front, like the Theseion in
Athens. (figure 7.) [35]
Peripteral octastyle describes a temple
with a single row of columns around the
naos, (figure 7.) with eight columns
across the front, like the Parthenon,
Athens. (figures 6 and 9.) [35]
Dipteral decastyle describes the huge
temple of Apollo at Didyma, with the
naos surrounded by a double row of
columns, (figure 6.) with ten columns
across the entrance front.[35]
The Temple of Zeus Olympius at
Agrigentum, is termed Pseudo-periteral
heptastyle, because its encircling
 colonnade has pseudo columns that are
attached to the walls of the naos. (figure
8.) Heptastyle means that it has seven
columns across the entrance front.[35]

Proportion and optical illusion

The ideal of proportion that was used by

ancient Greek architects in designing
temples was not a simple mathematical
progression using a square module. The
math involved a more complex
geometrical progression, the so-called
golden mean. The ratio is similar to that of
the growth patterns of many spiral forms
that occur in nature such as rams' horns,
nautilus shells, fern fronds, and vine
tendrils and which were a source of
decorative motifs employed by ancient
Greek architects as particularly in evidence
in the volutes of capitals of the Ionic and
Corinthian Orders.[37]

The ancient Greek architects took a

philosophic approach to the rules and
proportions. The determining factor in the
mathematics of any notable work of
architecture was its ultimate appearance.
The architects calculated for perspective,
for the optical illusions that make edges of
objects appear concave and for the fact
that columns that are viewed against the
sky look different from those adjacent that
are viewed against a shadowed wall.
Because of these factors, the architects
adjusted the plans so that the major lines
of any significant building are rarely
straight.[37] The most obvious adjustment
is to the profile of columns, which narrow
from base to top. However, the narrowing
is not regular, but gently curved so that
each column appears to have a slight
swelling, called entasis below the middle.
The entasis is never sufficiently
pronounced as to make the swelling wider
than the base; it is controlled by a slight
reduction in the rate of decrease of
diameter.[8]

The main lines of the Parthenon A sectioned nautilus shell. The growth of the nautilus corresponds
are all curved. These shells may have provided to the Golden Mean
inspiration for voluted Ionic
capitals.

The Parthenon, the Temple to the Goddess

Athena on the Acropolis in Athens, is
referred to by many as the pinnacle of
ancient Greek architecture. Helen Gardner
refers to its "unsurpassable excellence", to
be surveyed, studied and emulated by
architects of later ages. Yet, as Gardner
points out, there is hardly a straight line in
the building.[38] Banister Fletcher
calculated that the stylobate curves
upward so that its centres at either end
rise about 65 millimetres (2.6 inches)
above the outer corners, and 110 mm
(4.3 in) on the longer sides. A slightly
greater adjustment has been made to the
entablature. The columns at the ends of
the building are not vertical but are
inclined towards the centre, with those at
the corners being out of plumb by about
65 mm (2.6 in).[8] These outer columns are
both slightly wider than their neighbours
and are slightly closer than any of the
others.[39]
Style

Orders of ancient Greek architecture

above: Capital of the Ionic order

showing volutes and
ornamented echinus

above: Capital of the Corinthian Order

showing foliate decoration and
left: Architectural elements of vertical volutes.
the Doric order showing simple
curved echinus of capital

Orders

Ancient Greek architecture of the most

formal type, for temples and other public
buildings, is divided stylistically into three
Classical orders, first described by the
Roman architectural writer Vitruvius.
These are: the Doric order, the Ionic order,
and the Corinthian order, the names
reflecting their regional origins within the
Greek world. While the three orders are
most easily recognizable by their capitals,
they also governed the form, proportions,
details and relationships of the columns,
entablature, pediment, and the stylobate.[3]
The different orders were applied to the
whole range of buildings and monuments.

The Doric order developed on mainland

Greece and spread to Magna Graecia
(Italy). It was firmly established and well-
defined in its characteristics by the time of
the building of the Temple of Hera at
Olympia, c. 600 BC. The Ionic order co-
existed with the Doric, being favoured by
the Greek cities of Ionia, in Asia Minor and
the Aegean Islands. It did not reach a
clearly defined form until the mid
5th century BC.[27] The early Ionic temples
of Asia Minor were particularly ambitious
in scale, such as the Temple of Artemis at
Ephesus.[12] The Corinthian order was a
highly decorative variant not developed
until the Hellenistic period and retaining
many characteristics of the Ionic. It was
popularised by the Romans.[8]
Doric order

The Doric order is recognised by its

capital, of which the echinus is like a
circular cushion rising from the top of the
column to the square abacus on which rest
the lintels. The echinus appears flat and
splayed in early examples, deeper and with
greater curve in later, more refined
examples, and smaller and straight-sided
in Hellenistic examples.[40] A refinement of
the Doric column is the entasis, a gentle
convex swelling to the profile of the
column, which prevents an optical illusion
of concavity.[40] This is more pronounced
in earlier examples.
Doric columns are almost always cut with
grooves, known as "fluting", which run the
length of the column and are usually 20 in
number, although sometimes fewer. The
flutes meet at sharp edges called arrises.
At the top of the columns, slightly below
the narrowest point, and crossing the
terminating arrises, are three horizontal
grooves known as the hypotrachelion.
Doric columns have no bases, until a few
examples in the Hellenistic period.[40]

The columns of an early Doric temple such

as the Temple of Apollo at Syracuse, Sicily,
may have a height to base diameter ratio
of only 4:1 and a column height to
entablature ratio of 2:1, with relatively
crude details. A column height to diameter
of 6:1 became more usual, while the
column height to entablature ratio at the
Parthenon is about 3:1. During the
Hellenistic period, Doric conventions of
solidity and masculinity dropped away,
with the slender and unfluted columns
reaching a height to diameter ratio of
7.5:1.[40]

The Doric Order

The Temple of Hephaestos, Athens, is a
well-preserved temple of peripteral
hexastyle plan.
 The entablature showing the The tapered fluted columns,
architrave, frieze with triglyphs and constructed in drums, rest directly
metopes and the overhanging on the stylobate.
cornice

The Doric entablature is in three parts, the

architrave, the frieze and the cornice. The
architrave is composed of the stone lintels
which span the space between the
columns, with a joint occurring above the
centre of each abacus. On this rests the
frieze, one of the major areas of sculptural
decoration. The frieze is divided into
triglyphs and metopes, the triglyphs, as
stated elsewhere in this article, are a
reminder of the timber history of the
architectural style. Each triglyph has three
vertical grooves, similar to the columnar
fluting, and below them, seemingly
connected, are guttae, small strips that
appear to connect the triglyphs to the
architrave below.[40] A triglyph is located
above the centre of each capital, and
above the centre of each lintel. However, at
the corners of the building, the triglyphs do
not fall over the centre the column. The
ancient architects took a pragmatic
approach to the apparent "rules", simply
extending the width of the last two
metopes at each end of the building.
The cornice is a narrow jutting band of
complex molding, which overhangs and
protects the ornamented frieze, like the
edge of an overhanging wooden-framed
roof. It is decorated on the underside with
projecting blocks, mutules, further
suggesting the wooden nature of the
prototype. At either end of the building the
pediment rises from the cornice, framed
by moulding of similar form.[40]

The pediment is decorated with figures

that are in relief in the earlier examples,
though almost free-standing by the time of
the sculpture on the Parthenon. Early
architectural sculptors found difficulty in
creating satisfactory sculptural
compositions in the tapering triangular
space.[41] By the Early Classical period,
with the decoration of the Temple of Zeus
at Olympia (486–460 BC), the sculptors
had solved the problem by having a
standing central figure framed by rearing
centaurs and fighting men who are falling,
kneeling and lying in attitudes that fit the
size and angle of each part of the
space.[38] The famous sculptor Phidias fills
the space at the Parthenon (448–432 BC)
with a complex array of draped and
undraped figures of deities, who appear in
attitudes of sublime relaxation and
elegance.
Ionic order

The Ionic order is recognized by its voluted

capital, in which a curved echinus of
similar shape to that of the Doric order, but
decorated with stylised ornament, is
surmounted by a horizontal band that
scrolls under to either side, forming spirals
or volutes similar to those of the nautilus
shell or ram's horn. In plan, the capital is
rectangular. It is designed to be viewed
frontally but the capitals at the corners of
buildings are modified with an additional
scroll so as to appear regular on two
adjoining faces. In the Hellenistic period,
four-fronted Ionic capitals became
common.[42]

The Ionic Order

The Erechtheion, Acropolis, Athens: a
building of asymmetrical plan, for the
display of offerings to Athena

Corner capital with a diagonal volute,

showing also details of the fluting
separated by fillets.
Frieze of stylised alternating palms
and reeds, and a cornice decorated
with "egg and dart" moulding.

Like the Doric order, the Ionic order retains

signs of having its origins in wooden
architecture. The horizontal spread of a
flat timber plate across the top of a
column is a common device in wooden
construction, giving a thin upright a wider
area on which to bear the lintel, while at
the same time reinforcing the load-bearing
strength of the lintel itself. Likewise, the
columns always have bases, a necessity in
wooden architecture to spread the load
and protect the base of a comparatively
thin upright.[42] The columns are fluted
with narrow, shallow flutes that do not
meet at a sharp edge but have a flat band
or fillet between them. The usual number
of flutes is twenty-four but there may be as
many as forty-four. The base has two
convex mouldings called torus, and from
the late Hellenic period stood on a square
plinth similar to the abacus.[42]

The architrave of the Ionic order is

sometimes undecorated, but more often
rises in three outwardly-stepped bands like
overlapping timber planks. The frieze,
which runs in a continuous band, is
separated from the other members by
rows of small projecting blocks. They are
referred to as dentils, meaning "teeth", but
their origin is clearly in narrow wooden
slats which supported the roof of a timber
structure.[42] The Ionic order is altogether
lighter in appearance than the Doric, with
the columns, including base and capital,
having a 9:1 ratio with the diameter, while
the whole entablature was also much
narrower and less heavy than the Doric
entablature. There was some variation in
the distribution of decoration. Formalised
bands of motifs such as alternating forms
known as egg-and-dart were a feature of
the Ionic entablatures, along with the
bands of dentils. The external frieze often
contained a continuous band of figurative
sculpture or ornament, but this was not
always the case. Sometimes a decorative
frieze occurred around the upper part of
the naos rather than on the exterior of the
building. These Ionic-style friezes around
the naos are sometimes found on Doric
buildings, notably the Parthenon. Some
temples, like the Temple of Artemis at
Ephesus, had friezes of figures around the
lower drum of each column, separated
from the fluted section by a bold
moulding.[42]
Caryatids, draped female figures used as
supporting members to carry the
entablature, were a feature of the Ionic
order, occurring at several buildings
including the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi
in 525 BC and at the Erechtheion, about
410 BC.[43]

The Corinthian Order

The Temple of Zeus Olympia, Athens,
("the Olympieion")
 The tall capital combines both semi-
naturalistic leaves and highly stylised
tendrils forming volutes.

Corinthian order

The Corinthian order does not have its

origin in wooden architecture. It grew
directly out of the Ionic in the mid 5th
century BC, and was initially of much the
same style and proportion, but
distinguished by its more ornate
capitals.[44] The capital was very much
deeper than either the Doric or the Ionic
capital, being shaped like a large krater, a
bell-shaped mixing bowl, and being
ornamented with a double row of acanthus
leaves above which rose voluted tendrils,
supporting the corners of the abacus,
which, no longer perfectly square, splayed
above them. According to Vitruvius, the
capital was invented by a bronze founder,
Callimachus of Corinth, who took his
inspiration from a basket of offerings that
had been placed on a grave, with a flat tile
on top to protect the goods. The basket
had been placed on the root of an
acanthus plant which had grown up
around it.[44] The ratio of the column height
to diameter is generally 10:1, with the
capital taking up more than 1/10 of the
height. The ratio of capital height to
diameter is generally about 1.16:1.[44]

The Corinthian order was initially used

internally, as at the Temple of Apollo
Epicurius at Bassae (c. 450–425 BC). In
334 BC, it appeared as an external feature
on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in
Athens, and then on a huge scale at the
Temple of Zeus Olympia in Athens (174
BC–132 AD).[44] It was popularised by the
Romans, who added a number of
refinements and decorative details. During
the Hellenistic period, Corinthian columns
were sometimes built without fluting.[44]
Decoration

Architectural ornament

Architectural ornament of fired and

painted clay

This Archaic gorgon's head antefix has The lion's head gargoyle is fixed to a
been cast in a mould, fired and painted. revetment on which elements of a
formal frieze have been painted.

Early wooden structures, particularly

temples, were ornamented and in part
protected by fired and painted terracotta
revetments in the form of rectangular
panels, and ornamental discs. Many
fragments of these have outlived the
buildings that they decorated and
demonstrate a wealth of formal border
designs of geometric scrolls, overlapping
patterns and foliate motifs.[45] With the
introduction of stone-built temples, the
revetments no longer served a protective
purpose and sculptured decoration
became more common.

The clay ornaments were limited to the

roof of buildings, decorating the cornice,
the corners and surmounting the
pediment. At the corners of pediments
they were called acroteria and along the
sides of the building, antefixes. Early
decorative elements were generally semi-
circular, but later of roughly triangular
shape with moulded ornament, often
palmate.[45][46] Ionic cornices were often
set with a row of lion's masks, with open
mouths that ejected rainwater.[28][46] From
the Late Classical period, acroteria were
sometimes sculptured figures (see
Architectural sculpture).[47]

In the three orders of ancient Greek

architecture, the sculptural decoration, be
it a simple half round astragal, a frieze of
stylised foliage or the ornate sculpture of
the pediment, is all essential to the
architecture of which it is a part. In the
Doric order, there is no variation in its
placement. Reliefs never decorate walls in
an arbitrary way. The sculpture is always
located in several predetermined areas,
the metopes and the pediment.[45] In later
Ionic architecture, there is greater diversity
in the types and numbers of mouldings
and decorations, particularly around
doorways, where voluted brackets
sometimes occur supporting an
ornamental cornice over a door, such as
that at the Erechtheion.[28][30][45] A much
applied narrow moulding is called "bead
and reel" and is symmetrical, stemming
from turned wooden prototypes. Wider
mouldings include one with tongue-like or
pointed leaf shapes, which are grooved
and sometimes turned upward at the tip,
and "egg and dart" moulding which
alternates ovoid shapes with narrow
pointed ones.[28][45][48]

Architectural sculpture

The Archaic Gorgon of the western

pediment from the Artemis Temple of
Corfu, Archaeological Museum of
Corfu.

Architectural sculpture showed a

development from early Archaic examples
through Severe Classical, High Classical,
Late Classical and Hellenistic.[1] Remnants
of Archaic architectural sculpture (700–
500 BC) exist from the early 6th century
BC with the earliest surviving pedimental
sculptures being fragments of a Gorgon
flanked by heraldic panthers from the
centre of the pediment of the Artemis
Temple of Corfu.[49] A metope from a
temple known as "Temple C" at Selinus,
Sicily, shows, in a better preserved state,
Perseus slaying the Gorgon Medusa.[41]
Both images parallel the stylised depiction
of the Gorgons on the black figure name
vase decorated by the Nessos painter (c.
600 BC), with the face and shoulders
turned frontally, and the legs in a running
or kneeling position. At this date, images
of terrifying monsters have predominance
over the emphasis on the human figure
that developed with Humanist
philosophy.[49]

Early pedimental sculptures, and those on

smaller temples, were usually in relief, and
the late free-standing ones were often in
terracotta, which has survived only in
fragments. The sculptures were covered
with a layer of stucco and painted or, if
terracotta, painted with the more
restrained fired colours of Greek
pottery.[50]
The Severe Classical Style (500–450 BC) is
represented by the pedimental sculptures
of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (470–
456 BC). The eastern pediment shows a
moment of stillness and "impending
drama" before the beginning of a chariot
race, the figures of Zeus and the
competitors being severe and idealised
representations of the human form.[51] The
western pediment has Apollo as the
central figure, "majestic" and "remote",
presiding over a battle of Lapiths and
Centaurs, in strong contrast to that of the
eastern pediment for its depiction of
violent action, and described by Donald E.
Strong as the "most powerful piece of
illustration" for a hundred years.[51]

Classical figurative sculpture from the eastern

pediment of the Parthenon, British Museum.

The reliefs and three-dimensional

sculpture which adorned the frieze and
pediments, respectively, of the Parthenon,
are the lifelike products of the High
Classical style (450–400 BC) and were
created under the direction of the sculptor
Phidias.[52] The pedimental sculpture
represents the Gods of Olympus, while the
frieze shows the Panathenaic procession
and ceremonial events that took place
every four years to honour the titular
Goddess of Athens.[52] The frieze and
remaining figures of the eastern pediment
show a profound understanding of the
human body, and how it varies depending
upon its position and the stresses that
action and emotion place upon it.
Benjamin Robert Haydon described the
reclining figure of Dionysus as "the most
heroic style of art, combined with all the
essential detail of actual life".[53]

The names of many famous sculptors are

known from the Late Classical period
(400–323 BC), including Timotheos,
Praxiteles, Leochares and Skopas, but
their works are known mainly from Roman
copies.[1] Little architectural sculpture of
the period remains intact. The Temple of
Asclepius at Epidauros had sculpture by
Timotheos working with the architect
Theodotos. Fragments of the eastern
pediment survive, showing the Sack of
Troy. The scene appears to have filled the
space with figures carefully arranged to fit
the slope and shape available, as with the
earlier east pediment of the Temple of
Zeus at Olympus. But the figures are more
violent in action, the central space taken
up, not with a commanding God, but with
the dynamic figure of Neoptolemos as he
seizes the aged king Priam and stabs him.
The remaining fragments give the
impression of a range of human emotions,
fear, horror, cruelty and lust for
conquest.[47] The acroteria were sculptured
by Timotheus, except for that at the centre
of the east pediment which is the work of
the architect. The palmate acroteria have
been replaced here with small figures, the
eastern pediment being surmounted by a
winged Nike, poised against the wind.[47]

Hellenistic architectural sculpture (323–31

BC) was to become more flamboyant, both
in the rendering of expression and motion,
which is often emphasised by flowing
draperies, the Nike Samothrace which
decorated a monument in the shape of a
ship being a well-known example. The
Pergamon Altar (c. 180–160 BC) has a
frieze (120 metres long by 2.3 metres
high) of figures in very high relief. The
frieze represents the battle for supremacy
of Gods and Titans, and employs many
dramatic devices: frenzy, pathos and
triumph, to convey the sense of conflict.[54]

Metopes, friezes and caryatid

Archaic metope: Perseus Severe Classical metope: High Classical frieze: Hellenistic frieze: Battle of
and Medusa, Temple C at Labours of Hercules, Temple of Panathenaic Ritual, Gods and Titans, the
Selinunte. Zeus, Olympus Parthenon, Athens Pergamon Altar.

Ionic caryatid from the

Erechtheion, Athens

See also

Ancient Greek art Architecture

portal
Ancient Roman
architecture
Byzantine architecture
Classical architecture
Greek culture
 Greek technology
List of ancient architectural records
List of ancient Greek temples
Modern Greek architecture
Outline of classical architecture

References

Citations

1. Boardman et al. 1967.

2. Lawrence 1957, pp. 83–84.
3. Gardner, Kleiner & Mamiya 2004, pp. 126–
132.

4. Pevsner 1943, p. 19.

5. Boardman et al. 1967, pp. 10–14.
 6. Fletcher 1996, pp. 89–91.
7. Higgins & Higgins 1996, Chapter 3.
8. Fletcher 1996, pp. 93–97.
9. Gardner, Kleiner & Mamiya 2004, pp. 110–
114.

10. Gardner, Kleiner & Mamiya 2004, pp. 90–

109.

11. Fletcher 1996; Gardner, Kleiner & Mamiya

2004.

12. Strong 1965, p. 35.

13. Strong 1965, pp. 33–102.
14. Strong 1965, pp. 39–40, 62–66.
15. Fletcher 1996, pp. 119–121.
16. Strong 1965, pp. 35–36.
17. Lawrence 1957, pp. 65–67.
18. Fletcher 1996, pp. 151–153.
19. Neer 2012.
20. Penrose 1893, pp. 42–43.
21. Boardman et al. 1967, pp. 49–50.
22. Strong 1965, pp. 74–75.
23. Fletcher 1996, p. 97.
24. Moffett, Fazio & Wodehouse 2003, pp. 62–
64.

25. Fletcher 1996, pp. 147–148.

26. "Official Report 2004 vol. 2" (https://digital.l
a84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll8/id/4
3496/rec/84) . digital.la84.org. p. 237.
Retrieved 2023-08-13.

27. Strong 1965, pp. 38–40.

28. Fletcher 1996, p. 107.
29. Fletcher 1996, p. 155.
30. Fletcher 1996, p. 159.
31. Boardman et al. 1967, p. 25.
32. Boardman et al. 1967, p. 12; Rostoker &
Gebhard 1981, p. 212.

33. Goldberg 1983, pp. 305–309.

34. Wikander 1990, pp. 285–289.
35. Fletcher 1996, pp. 107–109.
36. Fletcher 1996.
37. Fletcher 1996, p. 126.
38. Gardner, Kleiner & Mamiya 2004, pp. 138–
148.

39. Moffett, Fazio & Wodehouse 2003, pp. 50–

53.

40. Fletcher 1996, pp. 108–112.

41. Strong 1965, pp. 58–60.
42. Fletcher 1996, pp. 125–129.
43. Boardman et al. 1967, pp. 45, 49.
44. Fletcher 1996, pp. 137–139.
45. Boardman et al. 1967, pp. 22–25.
46. Fletcher 1996, p. 163.
47. Boardman et al. 1967, p. 435.
48. Fletcher 1996, p. 164.
49. Strong 1965, pp. 39–40.
50. Lawrence 1957, pp. 110–111.
51. Strong 1965, pp. 61–62.
52. Gardner, Kleiner & Mamiya 2004, pp. 143–
148.

53. Gardner, Kleiner & Mamiya 2004, p. 145.

54. Boardman et al. 1967, pp. 509–510.
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Cartwright, Mark (6 Wikimedia

Commons
January 2013). "Greek
has media
Architecture" (https://w related to
Ancient
ww.worldhistory.org/Gr
Greek
eek_Architecture/) . architecture.

World History
Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 May 2021.

The Foundations of Classical

Architecture Part Two: Greek Classicism
(https://www.classicist.org/articles/the-
foundations-of-classical-architecture-gre
ek-classicism/) – Free educational
 program by the ICAA (published August
29, 2018)

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