Ancient Greek architecture

"Greek architecture" redirects here. For architecture inmodern Greece,seeModern Greek architecture.

Ancient Greek architecturecame from theGreeks,or Hellenes, whosecultureflourished on the Greek mainland, thePeloponnese,theAegean Islands,and in colonies inAnatoliaand Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural works dating from around 600 BC.

Ancient Greek architecture

Top: TheParthenon(460–406 BC); Centre: TheErechtheion(421–406 BC); Bottom: Illustration ofDoric(left three),Ionic(middle three) andCorinthian(right two) columns
Years active	c.900 BC–1st century AD

Ancient Greek architecture is best known for itstemples,many of which are found throughout the region, with theParthenonregarded, now as in ancient times, as the prime example.Most remains are very incomplete ruins, but a number survive substantially intact, mostly outside modern Greece. The second important type of building that survives all over the Hellenic world is theopen-air theatre,with the earliest dating from around 525–480 BC. Otherarchitectural formsthat 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 thestadium.

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.Nikolaus Pevsnerrefers 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".

The formal vocabulary of ancient Greek architecture, in particular the division of architectural style into three defined orders: theDoric Order,theIonic Orderand theCorinthian Order,was to have a profound effect onWestern architectureof later periods. Thearchitecture of ancient Romegrew out of that of Greece and maintained its influence in Italy unbroken until the present day. From theRenaissance,revivals ofClassicismhave 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 ofNeoclassical architectureandGreek Revival architecturefollowed 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.There is an abundance of high quality whitemarbleboth on the mainland and islands, particularlyParosandNaxos.This finely grained material was a major contributing factor to precision of detail, both architectural and sculptural, that adorned ancient Greek architecture.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.

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.

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.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 atRhamnous,Attica

The Theatre and Temple of Apollo in mountainous country atDelphi

The Acropolis,Athens,is high above the city on a natural prominence.

The Islands of the Aegean fromCape 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).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.

Before the Hellenic era, two major cultures had dominated the region: theMinoan(c. 2800– c. 1100 BC), and theMycenaean(c. 1500–1100 BC). Minoan is the name given by modern historians to the culture of the people of ancientCrete,known for its elaborate and richly decoratedMinoan palaces,and for its pottery, the most famous of which painted with floral andmotifs of sea life.The Mycenaean culture, which flourished on thePeloponnesus,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.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 theGreek Dark Age.

Art

Black figureAmphora,Atalante painter (500–490 BC), shows proportion and style that are hallmarks of ancient Greek art

The Kritios Boy,(c. 480 BC), typifies the tradition of free-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)with sculpture being further divided into Severe Classical, High Classical and Late Classical.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.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.

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.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,and many of the largest recorded statues of the age, such as the lostchryselephantinestatues 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.

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

Thereligion of ancient Greecewas 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.The natural elements were personified as gods of the complete human form, and very human behaviour.

The home of the gods was thought to beOlympus,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 chastity, 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; andDionysus,the god of wine and fruit-bearing plants.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.

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.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 precedingMycenaeanandMinoancultures and that of the ancient Greeks, with much of the techniques and an understanding of their style being lost when these civilisations fell.

Mycenaean architectureis marked by massive fortifications, typically surrounding a citadel with a royal palace, much smaller than the rambling Minoan "palaces", and relatively few other buildings. Themegaron,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 ofashlarstoneorthostatslined the base of walls in some prominent locations.

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.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 bycolonnades.This form was adapted to the construction ofhypostylehalls 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,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.Thisarchitectural formdid not carry over into the architecture of ancient Greece, but reappeared about 400 BC in the interior of large monumental tombs such as theLion Tomb at Knidos(c. 350 BC).

Types of buildings

Main articles:Ancient Greek temple,Ancient Greek theatre,Acropolis,Agora,andStoa

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 orpronaos,above which rose a low pitched gable orpediment.This form is thought to have contributed to temple architecture.

Plan of the House of Colline, 2nd century BC

The House of Masks, Delos, 3rd century BC

The House of Masks

Themosaicfloorof 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.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 developedperistyle(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.

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.

Public buildings

The rectangulartempleis the most common and best-known form of Greek public architecture. This rectilinear structure borrows from the Late Helladic, Mycenaeanmegaron,which contained a central throne room, vestibule, and porch.The temple did not serve the same function as a modern church, since the altar stood under the open sky in thetemenosor sacred precinct, often directly before the temple. Temples served as the location of acult imageand 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 theirvotive offerings,such as statues, helmets and weapons. Some Greek temples appear to have been oriented astronomically.The temple was generally part of a religious precinct known as theacropolis.According toAristotle,"the site should be a spot seen far and wide, which gives good elevation to virtue and towers over the neighbourhood".Small circular temples,tholoiwere also constructed, as well as small temple-like buildings that served as treasuries for specific groups of donors.

Porta Rosa, a street (3rd century BC)Velia,Italy

The reconstructedStoa of Attalos,the Agora, Athens

The Bouleuterion, atPriene

The Stadium atEpidauros

During the late 5th and 4th centuries BC, town planning became an important consideration of Greek builders, with towns such asPaestumandPrienebeing laid out with a regular grid of paved streets and anagoraor central market place surrounded by a colonnade orstoa.The completely restoredStoa of Attaloscan be seen inAthens.Towns were also equipped with a public fountain where water could be collected for household use. The development of regular town plans is associated withHippodamus of Miletus,a pupil ofPythagoras.

Public buildings became "dignified and gracious structures", and were sited so that they related to each other architecturally.Thepropylonor porch, formed the entrance to temple sanctuaries and other significant sites with the best-surviving example being thePropylaea on the Acropolis of Athens.Thebouleuterionwas a large public building with ahypostylehall 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.

Every Greek town had an open-airtheatre.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, theorchestra.Behind the orchestra was a low building called theskênê,which served as a store-room, a dressing room, and also as a backdrop to the action taking place in the orchestra. Anumber of Greek theatressurvive almost intact, the best known being atEpidaurusby the architectPolykleitos the Younger.

Greek towns of substantial size also had apalaestraor agymnasium,the social centre for male citizens which included spectator areas, baths, toilets and club rooms.Other buildings associated with sports include thehippodromefor horse racing, of which only remnants have survived, and thestadiumfor foot racing, 600 feet in length, of which examples exist at Olympia, Delphi, Epidaurus and Ephesus, while thePanathinaiko Stadiumin Athens, which seats 45,000 people, was restored in the 19th century and was used in the 1896, 1906 and 2004Olympic Games.

ThePalaestraat Olympia, used for bo xing and wrestling

TheTheatre of Dionysus,Athens

Pebble mosaic floor of a house at Olynthos, depictingBellerophon

The altar ofHiero IIat Syracuse

Structure

Post and lintel

Parts of an Ancient Greek temple of the Doric Order:
1.Tympanum,2.Acroterium,3.Sima4.Cornice5.Mutules7.Frieze8.Triglyph9.Metope
10.Regula11.Gutta12.Taenia13.Architrave14.Capital15.Abacus16.Echinus17.Column18.Fluting19.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.

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.

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 historianPausaniaslooking at the Temple of Hera at Olympia in the 2nd century AD.

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 asentasis.Each column has acapitalof two parts, the upper, on which rests the lintels, being square and called theabacus.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 asfluting.This fluting or grooving of the columns is a retention of an element of the original wooden architecture.

Entablature and pediment

The columns of a temple support a structure that rises in two main stages, theentablatureand thepediment.

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 thearchitravemade 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 thefrieze.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 calledmetopes,which fill the spaces between vertical rectangular blocks calledtriglyphs.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 thecornice,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. Thetympanumis 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 thecrepidoma,generally of three steps, of which the upper one which carried the columns was thestylobate.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 finestashlarmasonry was usually employed for temple walls, in regular courses and large sizes to minimise the joints.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.

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.Door and window openings narrowed towards the top.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.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)

Structure, masonry, openings and roof of Greek temples

TheParthenon,shows the common structural features of Ancient Greek architecture:crepidoma,columns, entablature, pediment.

Temple of Hephaestos,fluted Doric columns with abacuses supporting double beams of the architrave

Erechtheion:masonry, door, stone lintels, coffered ceiling panels

At theTemple of Aphaia,the hypostyle columns rise in two tiers, to a height greater than the walls, to support a roof without struts.

Roof

Further information:List of Greco-Roman roofs

The widest span of a temple roof was across thecella,or inner chamber. In a large building, this space contains columns to support the roof, thearchitectural formbeing known ashypostyle.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.

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 ceramicroof 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 (1.18–1.57in) thick and weighing around 30 kg (66 lb) apiece.Only stone walls, which were replacing the earliermudbrickand wood walls, were strong enough to support the weight of a tiled roof.

The earliest finds of roof tiles of theArchaic period in Greeceare documented from a very restricted area aroundCorinth,where fired tiles began to replacethatchedroofs at the temples ofApolloandPoseidonbetween 700 and 650 BC.Spreading rapidly, roof tiles were within fifty years in evidence for a large number of sites around the EasternMediterranean,including MainlandGreece,WesternAsia Minor,Southern and CentralItaly.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.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.

Vaultsandarcheswere 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,exedraeofvoussoiredconstruction from the 5th century BC. Thedomeand vault never became significant structural features, as they were to become inancient Roman architecture.

Temple plans

Further information:List of Ancient Greek temples

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 enormousTemple of Olympian Zeus, Athenswith a length of nearly 21⁄2times its width. A number of surviving temple-like structures are circular, and are referred to astholos.The smallest temples are less than 25 metres (approx. 75 feet) in length, or in the case of the circulartholos,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 theParthenon,are between 60 and 80 metres (approx. 200–260 feet) in length. The largest temples, mainly Ionic and Corinthian, but including the DoricTemple of the Olympian Zeus, Agrigento,were between 90 and 120 metres (approx. 300–390 feet) in length.

The temple rises from a stepped base orstylobate,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.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.

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.

Examples:

• Distyle in antisdescribes a small temple with two columns at the front, which are set between the projecting walls of thepronaosor porch, like the Temple of Nemesis at Rhamnus.(see above, figure 1.)
• Amphiprostyle tetrastyledescribes a small temple that has columns at both ends which stand clear of thenaos.Tetrastyleindicates that the columns are four in number, like those of the Temple on the Ilissus in Athens.(figure 4.)
• Peripteral hexastyledescribes a temple with a single row of peripheral columns around thenaos,with six columns across the front, like the Theseion in Athens.(figure 7.)
• Peripteral octastyledescribes a temple with a single row of columns around thenaos,(figure 7.)with eight columns across the front, like the Parthenon, Athens.(figures 6 and 9.)
• Dipteral decastyledescribes the huge temple of Apollo at Didyma, with thenaossurrounded by a double row of columns,(figure 6.)with ten columns across the entrance front.
• The Temple of Zeus Olympius at Agrigentum, is termedPseudo-periteral heptastyle,because its encircling colonnade haspseudocolumns that are attached to the walls of thenaos.(figure 8.)Heptastylemeans that it has seven columns across the entrance front.

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-calledgolden mean.The ratio is similar to that of the growth patterns of many spiral forms that occur in nature such as rams' horns,nautilusshells, 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.

${\frac {1}{\varphi }}=\varphi -1;\;\varphi ={\frac {1+{\sqrt {5}}}{2}}\approx 1.618$

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.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, calledentasisbelow the middle. Theentasisis 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.

The main lines of the Parthenon are all curved.

A sectionednautilusshell. These shells may have provided inspiration for voluted Ionic capitals.

The growth of the nautilus corresponds to the Golden Mean

TheParthenon,the Temple to the GoddessAthenaon theAcropolisin Athens, is referred to by many as the pinnacle of ancient Greek architecture.Helen Gardnerrefers 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.Banister Fletchercalculated that thestylobatecurves 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).These outer columns are both slightly wider than their neighbours and are slightly closer than any of the others.

Style

Orders of ancient Greek architecture

above: Capital of the Ionic order showing volutes and ornamented echinus





left: Architectural elements of the Doric order showing simple curved echinus of capital

above: Capital of the Corinthian Order showing foliate decoration and vertical volutes.

Orders

Ancient Greek architecture of the most formal type, for temples and other public buildings, is divided stylistically into threeClassical orders,first described by the Roman architectural writerVitruvius.These are: theDoric order,theIonic order,and theCorinthian 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 thestylobate.The different orders were applied to the whole range of buildings and monuments.

The Doric order developed on mainland Greece and spread toMagna Graecia(Italy). It was firmly established and well-defined in its characteristics by the time of the building of theTemple of HeraatOlympia,c. 600 BC. The Ionic order co-existed with the Doric, being favoured by the Greek cities ofIonia,inAsia Minorand theAegean Islands.It did not reach a clearly defined form until the mid 5th century BC.The early Ionic temples of Asia Minor were particularly ambitious in scale, such as theTemple of ArtemisatEphesus.The Corinthian order was a highly decorative variant not developed until theHellenisticperiod and retaining many characteristics of the Ionic. It was popularised by the Romans.

Doric order

The Doric order is recognised by its capital, of which theechinusis like a circular cushion rising from the top of the column to the squareabacuson 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.A refinement of the Doric column is theentasis,a gentle convex swelling to the profile of the column, which prevents an optical illusion of concavity.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 calledarrises.At the top of the columns, slightly below the narrowest point, and crossing the terminating arrises, are three horizontal grooves known as thehypotrachelion.Doric columns have no bases, until a few examples in the Hellenistic period.

The columns of an early Doric temple such as theTemple of Apolloat 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.

The Doric Order
The Temple of Hephaestos, Athens, is a well-preserved temple ofperipteral hexastyleplan.

Theentablatureshowing thearchitrave,friezewithtriglyphsandmetopesand the overhanging cornice

The tapered fluted columns, constructed in drums, rest directly on thestylobate.

The Doricentablatureis in three parts, thearchitrave,thefriezeand thecornice.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 intotriglyphsandmetopes,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, areguttae,small strips that appear to connect the triglyphs to the architrave below.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 complexmolding,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.

The pediment is decorated with figures that are inreliefin the earlier examples, though almost free-standing by the time of thesculpture on the Parthenon.Early architectural sculptors found difficulty in creating satisfactory sculptural compositions in the tapering triangular space.By the Early Classical period, with the decoration of theTemple of Zeusat Olympia (486–460 BC), the sculptors had solved the problem by having a standing central figure framed by rearingcentaursand fighting men who are falling, kneeling and lying in attitudes that fit the size and angle of each part of the space.The famous sculptorPhidiasfills 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

TheIonic orderis recognized by itsvolutedcapital, in which a curvedechinusof 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 orvolutessimilar to those of thenautilusshell 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.

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

Corner capital with a diagonalvolute,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.The columns are fluted with narrow, shallow flutes that do not meet at a sharp edge but have a flat band orfilletbetween them. The usual number of flutes is twenty-four but there may be as many as forty-four. The base has two convex mouldings calledtorus,and from the late Hellenic period stood on a square plinth similar to theabacus.

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 asdentils,meaning "teeth", but their origin is clearly in narrow wooden slats which supported the roof of a timber structure.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 asegg-and-dartwere 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 thenaosrather than on the exterior of the building. These Ionic-style friezes around thenaosare 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.

Caryatids,draped female figures used as supporting members to carry the entablature, were a feature of the Ionic order, occurring at several buildings including theSiphnian Treasuryat Delphi in 525 BC and at theErechtheion,about 410 BC.

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.The capital was very much deeper than either the Doric or the Ionic capital, being shaped like a largekrater,a bell-shaped mi xing bowl, and being ornamented with a double row ofacanthusleaves above which rose voluted tendrils, supporting the corners of the abacus, which, no longer perfectly square, splayed above them. According toVitruvius,the capital was invented by a bronze founder,Callimachusof 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.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.

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.

The Corinthian order was initially used internally, as at theTemple of Apollo Epicuriusat Bassae (c. 450–425 BC). In 334 BC, it appeared as an external feature on theChoragic Monument of Lysicratesin Athens, and then on a huge scale at the Temple of Zeus Olympia in Athens (174 BC–132 AD).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.

Decoration

Architectural ornament

Architectural ornament of fired and painted clay

This Archaic gorgon's headantefixhas been cast in a mould, fired and painted.

The lion's head gargoyle is fixed to a 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 paintedterracottarevetments 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.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 calledacroteriaand 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.Ionic cornices were often set with a row of lion's masks, with open mouths that ejected rainwater.From the Late Classical period, acroteria were sometimes sculptured figures (seeArchitectural sculpture).

In the three orders of ancient Greek architecture, the sculptural decoration, be it a simple half roundastragal,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.In later Ionic architecture, there is greater diversity in the types and numbers of mouldings and decorations, particularly around doorways, where volutedbracketssometimes occur supporting an ornamental cornice over a door, such as that at the Erechtheion.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.

Architectural sculpture

The ArchaicGorgonof the westernpedimentfrom the Artemis Temple of Corfu,Archaeological Museum of Corfu.

Architectural sculptureshowed a development from early Archaic examples through Severe Classical, High Classical, Late Classical and Hellenistic.Remnants of Archaic architectural sculpture (700–500 BC) exist from the early 6th century BC with the earliest survivingpedimental sculpturesbeing fragments of a Gorgon flanked by heraldic panthers from the centre of the pediment of theArtemis Temple of Corfu.A metope from a temple known as "Temple C" at Selinus, Sicily, shows, in a better preserved state,Perseusslaying the GorgonMedusa.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.

Early pedimental sculptures, and those on smaller temples, were usually inrelief,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.

TheSevere 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.The western pediment has Apollo as the central figure, "majestic" and "remote", presiding over a battle ofLapithsandCentaurs,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.

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 sculptorPhidias.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.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 ofDionysusas "the most heroic style of art, combined with all the essential detail of actual life".

The names of many famous sculptors are known from the Late Classical period (400–323 BC), includingTimotheos,Praxiteles,LeocharesandSkopas,but their works are known mainly from Roman copies.Little architectural sculpture of the period remains intact. TheTemple of Asclepius at Epidauroshad sculpture by Timotheos working with the architect Theodotos. Fragments of the eastern pediment survive, showing theSack 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 ofNeoptolemosas he seizes the aged kingPriamand stabs him. The remaining fragments give the impression of a range of human emotions, fear, horror, cruelty and lust for conquest.Theacroteriawere 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 wingedNike,poised against the wind.

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, theNike Samothracewhich decorated a monument in the shape of a ship being a well-known example. ThePergamon 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.

Metopes, friezes and caryatid

Archaic metope:Perseus and Medusa,Temple C at Selinunte.

Severe Classical metope:Labours of Hercules,Temple of Zeus, Olympus

High Classical frieze:Panathenaic Ritual,Parthenon, Athens

Hellenistic frieze:Battle of Gods and Titans,the Pergamon Altar.

Ionic caryatid from the Erechtheion, Athens

See also

• Ancient Greek art
• 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

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External links

• Cartwright, Mark (6 January 2013)."Greek Architecture".World History Encyclopedia.Retrieved8 May2021.
• The Foundations of Classical Architecture Part Two: Greek Classicism– Free educational program by the ICAA (published August 29, 2018)
• Joseph Woods(1828),Letters of an Architect, From France, Italy, and Greece.