GREEK ARCHITECTURE

Submitted By:

Aejaz Rashid Dar

 INTRODUCTION TO GREEK ARCHITECTURE
Greece is a country in south eastern Europe on the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula,
bordering the Mediterranean Sea in south and the Ionian Sea in west.Greece is bordered
by Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Republic of Macedonia, and it shares maritime borders
with Cyprus, Egypt, Italy, and Libya.The peninsular mainland offers a quite mountainous
landscape. Then there is the Peloponnese peninsula, it is more an island because it is
separated from the mainland by the Gulf of Corinth. And then there are the Greek islands, a lot
of islands, many, more than 1,000 anyway. The ten largest islands by area are Crete, Euboea,
Lesbos, Rhodes, Chios, Cephalonia, Corfu, Lemnos, Samos and Naxos. The most populous
islands are Crete, Euboea, Rhodes, Corfu, Lesbos, Chios, Kefalonia, and Zakynthos.
Greece covers an area of 132,000 km², making it slightly larger than half the size of the United
Kingdom, or slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Alabama.The country has a population is
about 11.5 million people (in 2016). Largest city and the national capital is Athens,
spoken languages are Greek (official) and Turkish (predominantly spoken by a minority of Turks
in Western Thrace).The map is showing Greece and the surrounding countries with international
borders, the national capital Athens (Athina), administrative capitals, major cities, main roads,
railroads, airports, and the location of Mount Athos (Agion Oros) and Mount Olympus (Oros
Olympos, highest peak is Mytikas, 2 917 m (9 570 ft)).

POLITICAL MAP OF GREECE (HELLENIC REPUBLIC)

Cities and towns in Greece:

The map shows the location of following Greek cities and towns:
Largest cities: Athens (pop: 3 million), Thessaloniki (pop: 790 000), Patras (pop: 215 000),
Heraklion (pop: 173 000), Larissa (pop: 163 000),
Volos (pop: 144 000), Rhodes (pop: 144 000), Ioannina (pop: 112 000), Chania (pop: 112 000),
Chalcis (pop: 112 000)
Other cities and towns:
Agios Nikolaos, Agrinio, Alexandroupoli, Amaliada, Amfissa, Argos, Argostoli, Arta, Chios, Corfu
(Kerkira), Corinth, Drama, Edessa, Egio, Ermoupoli, Florina, Gianitsa, Grevena, Igoumenitsa,
Kalamata, Karditsa, Karpenisi, Kastoria, Katerini, Kavala, Kilkis, Komotini, Kozani, Lamia,
Lefkada, Livadia, Marathon, Megara, Messolongi, Mytilene, Nafplio, Orestiada, Piraeus, Pirgos,
Polygyros, Preveza, Ptolemaida, Rethymno, Salamina, Serres, Sparta, Thebes (Thiva),
Tirnavos, Trikala, Tripoli, Vathi, Veria, Xanthi, and Zakinthos.
 

Greek architecture refers to the architecture

of the Greek-speaking peoples who
inhabited the Greek mainland and the
Peloponnese, the islands of the Aegean
Sea, the Greek colonies in Ionia (coastal
Asia Minor), and Magna Graecia (Greek
colonies in Italy and Sicily). Greek
architecture stretches from c. 900 B.C.E. to
the first century C.E. (with the earliest extant
stone architecture dating to the seventh
century B.C.E.). Greek architecture
influenced Roman architecture and
architects in profound ways, such that
Roman Imperial architecture adopts and
incorporates many Greek elements into its
own practice. An overview of basic building typologies demonstrates the range and diversity of
Greek architecture.

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 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.

Ancient Greece Timeline :

Date Summary Detailed Information

2000 BCE First Settlers Wandering tribes begin to settle in Greece

Bronze Age Greece was inhabited by the

Mycenaean
1600 BCE Mycenaean people. They took their name from
Greece
the capital city of their land, Mycenae.

The Trojan war between the Greeks and the

1194 BCE Trojan War
Trojans (inhabitants of Troy) began

The Trojan war ended when the Greeks used a

1184 BCE Trojan War wooden horse to invade and overrun the
Trojan city of Troy

Mycenaean Greece was invaded by Dorian

Dorian tribesmen from the north. The Dorians had
1100 BCE
Invaders iron weapons which they use to good effect to
defeat and conquer the Mycenaeans.
 The Greek alphabet was developed from the
c. 850 BCE Alphabet
Phoenician alphabet.

Homer composed his poems – the Iliad and

the Odyssey. The Iliad is an epic poem set in
c. 800 BCE Homer the Trojan War while the Odyssey tells the
story of the adventures of Odysseus on his
return from the Trojan war.

First recorded Olympic games. The games

First Olympic
776 BCE were held at Olympia. There was one event –
Games
the men’s 200m sprint.

First This was a disagreement between the

743 BCE
Messenian War Messenians and the Spartans that led to war

First The first Messenian war ended in victory for

724 BCE
Messenian War the Spartans

The rule of aristocratic leaders was

challenged by lesser aristocrats or wealthy
Rise of tradesmen who wanted to overthrow the
650 BCE
the Tyrants monopoly of the aristocrats. Known as tyrants
they seized power from the aristocracy and
took over rule in their stead.

The laws of Athens had previously been a set

of oral laws. Draco introduced a new set of
Draco’s Code
621 BCE harsher laws which were written down for all
of Law
to read. For many crimes the punishment was
death.

600 BCE Money The first Greek coins appeared.

508 BCE Democracy Democracy began in Athens.

 The philosopher and mathematician,
495 BCE Pythagoras
Pythagoras, died in Metapontum.

The First Persian war began when Persia sent

First Persian
490 BCE an invasion force into Athens in retaliation for
War
its participation in a Greek raid on Persia.

Battle of The Greeks defeated the Persians in the

490 BCE
Marathon Battle of Marathon

Second The Second Persian war began when Persia’s

480 BCE
Persian War King Xerxes led an invasion force into Greece.

August/September Battle of The Persians defeated the Greeks in the Battle

480 BCE Thermopylae off Thermopylae

September 480 Battle of The Greeks defeated the Persians in the Battle
BCE Salamis of Salamis

The Parthenon was completed. The temple

Parthenon was built in Athens to house a statue of
432 BCE
completed Goddess Athena so that she could watch over
the city.

Peloponnesian The Peloponnesian wars between Athens and

431 BCE
Wars Sparta.

Athens lost the Peloponnesian Wars. The

Peloponnesian Athenian democratic government was
404 BCE
Wars removed and replaced by a ruling body of 30
tyrants.

403 BCE Democracy Democracy was restored to Athens.

 The philosopher Socrates, founder of
philosophy, was charged with impiety (being
399 BCE Socrates
disrespectful to the Gods) he was found guilty
and executed.

The philosopher Plato, student of Socrates,

380 BCE Academy
founded the Academy in Athens.

359 BCE Philip II Philip II became King of Macedon

The philosopher, Plato, student of Socrates,

347 BCE Plato founder of The Academy and author of The
Republic died in Athens.

339 BCE Catapult The Catapult was invented at Syracruse

Battle of
338 BCE Philip II, King of Macedon conquered Greece
Chaeronea

The League of Corinth, a federation of Greek

League of
338 BCE states, was founded by Philip II to boost
Corinth
support against Persia.

Philip II, King of Macedon was assassinated –

Alexander the
336 BCE his son Alexander became King of Macedon.
Great
He was later known as Alexander the Great

335 BCE The Lyceum Aristotle founded the Lyceum in Athens

Alexander conquered the Persians and

333 BCE Persia
declared himself King of Persia.

331 BCE Egypt Alexander conquered Egypt and made

 Alexandria the capital of his newly gained
land

Alexander the Great died. His son had not yet

Alexander the
323 BCE been born so his conquered lands were
Great
divided between his top generals.

Aristotle, philosopher, mathematician, student

322 BCE Aristotle
of Plato, tutor of Alexander died in Euboea.

c. 265 BCE Euclid Euclid, the inventor of geometry, died.

The mathematician and engineer, Archimedes,

212 BCE Archimedes
was assassinated in Syracuse.

The Romans defeated the Greeks at the Battle

146 BCE Roman Empire of Corinth and Greece became part of the
Roman Empire

Greek mythology :
The Greek mythology that is known today is mostly from Greek literature and the
representations on visual media dating back from the Geometric period from c. 900
BC to c. 800 BC onward. The literary and archaeological sources sometimes prove to
be mutually supportive and sometimes in conflict. However, in many cases the
existence of this corpus of data is a strong indication that many elements of Greek
mythology have strong factual and historical roots.
The Greek mythology has no original text like the Christian Bible or the Hindu Vedas
that introduces all of the myths’ characters and stories. Instead, the earliest Greek
myths were part of an oral tradition that began in the Bronze Age, and their plots and
themes unfolded gradually in the written literature of the archaic and classical
periods. The Greeks believed in gods and goddesses, who they thought, had control
over every part of people's lives. The Ancient Greeks believed that they had to pray
to the gods for help and protection. They made special places in their homes and
temples where they could pray to statues of the gods and leave presents for them.
Goddess Athena
 The Greeks had a different gods for almost everything. They imagined that the gods
lived together, as a family, up on the top of Mount Olympus. They did not see them as
perfect, but just like people. In the Greek myths the gods argue, fall in love, get
jealous of each other and make mistakes.
In Greek mythology the pantheon of deities who were said to live on Mount Olympus,
the highest mountain in Greece. From their perch, they ruled every aspect of human
life. Olympian gods and goddesses looked like men and women (though they could
change themselves into animals and other things) and were as many myths recounted
vulnerable to human foibles and passions.
Greek Mythology: The Olympians
At the center of Greek mythology is the pantheon of deities who were said to live on
Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. From their perch, they ruled every
aspect of human life. Olympian gods and goddesses looked like men and women
(though they could change themselves into animals and other things) and were–as
many myths recounted–vulnerable to human foibles and passions.
The twelve main Olympians are:
 Zeus (Jupiter, in Roman mythology): the king of all the gods (and father to
many) and god of weather, law and fate
 Hera (Juno): the queen of the gods and goddess of women and marriage
 Aphrodite (Venus): goddess of beauty and love
 Apollo (Apollo): god of prophesy, music and poetry and knowledge
 Ares (Mars): god of war
 Artemis (Diana): goddess of hunting, animals and childbirth
 Athena (Minerva): goddess of wisdom and defense
 Demeter (Ceres): goddess of agriculture and grain
 Dionysus (Bacchus): god of wine, pleasure and festivity
 Hephaestus (Vulcan): god of fire, metalworking and sculpture
 Hermes (Mercury): god of travel, hospitality and trade and Zeus’s personal
messenger
 Poseidon (Neptune): god of the sea
Other gods and goddesses sometimes included in the roster of Olympians are:
 Hades (Pluto): god of the underworld
 Hestia (Vesta): goddess of home and family
 Eros (Cupid): god of sex and minion to Aphrodite
Greek Mythology: Heroes and Monsters
Greek mythology does not just tell the stories of gods and goddesses, however.
Human heroes—such as Heracles, the adventurer who performed 12 impossible
labors for King Eurystheus (and was subsequently worshipped as a god for his
accomplishment); Pandora, the first woman, whose curiosity brought evil to mankind;
Pygmalion, the king who fell in love with an ivory statue; Arachne, the weaver who
was turned into a spider for her arrogance; handsome Trojan prince Ganymede who
became the cupbearer for the gods; Midas, the king with the golden touch; and
Narcissus, the young man who fell in love with his own reflection—are just as
significant.
Monsters and “hybrids” (human-animal forms) also feature prominently in the tales:
the winged horse Pegasus, the horse-man Centaur, the lion-woman Sphinx and the
bird-woman Harpies, the one-eyed giant Cyclops, automatons (metal creatures given
life by Hephaestus), manticores and unicorns, Gorgons, pygmies, minotaurs, satyrs
and dragons of all sorts. Many of these creatures have become almost as well known
as the gods, goddesses and heroes who share their stories.
Greek Mythology: Past and Present
The characters, stories, themes and lessons of Greek mythology have shaped art and
literature for thousands of years. They appear in Renaissance paintings such as
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Raphael’s Triumph of Galatea and writings
like Dante ’s Inferno; Romantic poetry and libretti; and scores of more recent novels,
plays and films.

Geography :
The mainland and islands of Greece are 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 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. 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
landscape, pale rocky outcrops and seashore. This clarity is alternated with periods of haze that
varies in color to the light on it. In this characteristic environment, the Ancient Greek architects
constructed buildings that were marked by precision of detail. The gleaming marble surfaces
were smooth, curved, fluted, or ornately sculpted to reflect the sun, cast graded shadows and
change in color with the ever-changing light of day
  THE INFLUENCE OF ANCIENT GREEK ARCHITECTURE :

Ancient Greece is often considered the cradle of the western world. Its art, literature, political
thought, and even its very language have influenced western society for thousands of years,
and continue to influence us today.
One very obvious area of influence is architecture: Just look at the downtown of nearly any
major city in the U.S., or many of the great cities of Europe. Ancient Greek influence is lurking
within the facades of buildings as varied as the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the
Prado Museum in Madrid, and Downing College, Cambridge University, in Cambridge, England.
Read on to learn about the basic elements of ancient Greek architecture, as well as how those
elements influenced Roman architecture in ancient times and Neoclassical architecture, Federal
style, Georgian Revival, and Beaux-Arts style architecture over the past several hundred years.
Influence of light :-The ancient Greece expressed a reverence for the sun and its numinous
powers, light being one of them, a characteristic visible in the architecture of places of worship
and Greek dwellings and places of worship. Following the design of Egyptian temples, the
ancient Greeks typically oriented the front façade of their temples eastward. The important
religious ceremonies took place in the eastern section of the temple, which was illuminated by
the early morning rays of the sun.

Solar design principles transcended the symbolic reverence for the sun found in the religious
buildings of ancient Greece. It was a useful, perhaps even necessary commodity that provided a
source of warmth in domestic architecture. A dialogue between light and shadows appeared as
a fundamental design element of the Greek vernacular architecture. Buildings were built with
thick walls that transferred the solar heat of winter or the coolness of the summer night into the
interior, while deep whitewashed wall apertures ushered light into the space.

The Greeks believed in democratizing solar access, as was apparent in the town planning of
model communities such as Olynthus and Priene. Built in the fourth century ad, Priene was one
of these solar cities attesting to the Greeks' genuine appreciation of the goodness and power of
the sun.

Geographical:- Greece is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and her many natural
harbours made it easy for those early traders, the Phoenicians, to carry on extensive commerce
with the country. This sea influence also fostered national activity and enterprise, just as it has
done in Great Britain ; while the proximity of a multitude of islands, colonised from the mainland
and keeping up communication with it by sea, produced a race of hardy and adventurous
colonists. Ancient Greece, however, extended geographically far beyond the mainland and
adjacent islands, and thus ruins of Greek buildings are found in the Dorian colonies of Sicily and
South Italy, and in the Ionian colonies of Asia Minor. The mountainous nature of the country
separated the inhabitants into groups or clans, and was thus responsible for that rivalry which
characterised the old Greek states, both in peace and war.
 Geological :-The chief mineral wealth of Greece was in her unrivalled marble, the most
beautiful and monumental of all building materials, and one which facilitates exactness of line
and refinement of detail. This marble is found in abundance, notably in the mountains of
Hymettus and Pentelicus near Athens, and in the islands of Paros and Naxos. The Greeks
attached so much importance to the quality of fine-grained marble for producing exact outlines
and smooth surfaces that, as in the Temples at Paestum, they even coated coarse-grained
limestone with a layer of marble " stucco " in order to secure this effect, which is the great
characteristic of their architecture.

Climatic:-The climate was intermediate between rigorous cold and relaxing heat ; hence the
Greek character, combining the energy of the north with the lethargy of the south, produced a
unique civilisation. The clear atmosphere, largely resulting from the rocky nature of the country
and the absence of forests, was conducive to the development of that love of precise and exact
forms which are special attributes of Greek architecture. The climate favoured an outdoor life,
and consequently the administration of justice, dramatic representations, and most public
ceremonies took place in the open air, and to this is largely due the limited variety of public
buildings other than temples. The hot sun and sudden showers were probably answerable for
the porticoes and colonnades which were such important features.

Religious:- The Greek religion was in the main a worship of natural phenomena, of which the
gods were personifications, and each town or district had its own divinities, ceremonies, and
traditions. There are also traces of other primitive forms of religion, such as the worship of
ancestors and deified heroes. The priests who carried out the appointed rites, in which both
men and women officiated, were not an exclusive class, and often served for a period only,
retiring afterwards into private life.

Social:- The Minoan civilisation of the early Pelasgic inhabitants belonged to the bronze age,
as is evident from remains found near the AEgean Sea, particularly in Crete, Hissarlik (in the
Troad), Mycenae, and Tiryns, and this early civilisation fell before the courageous Achaeans or
Homeric Greeks from the north. The poems of Homer, apparently a Pelasgic bard who sang for
Achaean masters, picture Greek life as it was about the twelfth century B.C. The Achaeans, in
their turn, succumbed to an influx of Dorians from farther north, who established themselves at
Sparta and elsewhere in the Peloponnese. In Classical times the land was peopled by Ionians
(descendants of the Pelasgi), AEolians (descendants of the Achaeans), and by Dorians. Dorian
Sparta and Ionian Athens were the principal centres of Greek national life. It was not till some
five hundred years after the war against Troy, which affords proof of early intercourse between
Greece and Asia, that the new Hellenic civilisation showed itself in the construction of the Doric
Temple of Corinth (B.C. 650). The poems of Hesiod (c. B.C. 750) depict the gloomy outlook and
sordid life of the Boeotian peasantry at this time when art was almost in abeyance. The people
of the various Greek states were united by devotion to their religion, and by religious festivals,
as well as by their love of music, the drama, and the fine arts, and also by national games and
by emulation in those manly sports and contests for which they were so distinguished. The
Greeks were great colonists, and emigration, especially to Asia Minor, South Italy, Sicily, and
the coasts of the Mediterranean, was directed by government as early as B.C. 700, not only to
develop trade, but also to provide an outlet for the superfluous population, and so reduce
internal party strife. Thus the colonies, as usually happens, were often peopled by citizens of a
more energetic and go-ahead character than those on the mainland ; and therefore some of the
most important Greek architecture in the Doric style is in South Italy and Sicily, and in the Ionic
style in Asia Minor.

Historical:- Whether or no the war with Troy, described by Homer, be an actual fact, the
incidents related have a substratum of truth, and the tale probably arose out of the early
conflicts of the Greeks in Western Asia ; while for the fourth and fifth centuries B.C. there are
the more or less reliable histories of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon. The cities of
Greece had by this time settled down to their several forms of government—tyrannic,
aristocratic, or democratic—and most of their colonies had been founded. The Persians under
Cyrus, having captured Sardis, overthrew the kingdom of Lydia ; whereupon the Ionian Greeks
of Asia Minor became subject to Persia, and it was their revolt (B.C. 499–493), which led to the
Persian wars. The first great Persian invasion was ended by the victory of the Greeks at the
battle of Marathon (B.C. 490) ; and the second invasion by Xerxes was terminated by the naval
victory of Salamis (B.C. 480) and the land battle of Plataea (B.C. 479). The national exultation
over these victories is largely responsible for the fact that the most important temples were built
in the fifty years which followed the battles of Salamis and Plataea. The rule of Pericles (B.C.
444–429) marks the climax of Athenian prosperity, but the wonderfully rapid growth of Athens
excited the jealousy of the slower Spartans, and this brought about the Peloponnesian war (B.C.
431–404), which ultimately established the supremacy of Sparta, but her arbitrary and high-
handed conduct roused other states against her, and the leadership passed successively to
Thebes and Macedonia. The latter had hitherto been considered a half-barbarian state ; but
thanks to the ability of Philip, King of Macedonia, and of his son Alexander the Great, it rose to a
leading position in Greece. In B.C. 334 Alexander set out on his great expedition, and in six
years he subdued the Persian Empire, having besieged and taken Tyre en route and received
the submission of Egypt, where he founded the famous city of Alexandria, and thus brought
Egypt and Greece into contact with one another. His conquests extended to Northern India, and
Hellenic art and civilisation thus spread through Western Asia. On his death at Babylon (B.C.
323) the empire he had created was split up among his generals and Egypt fell to Ptolemy, who
founded a dynasty (p. 16) ; while in Greece an unsuccessful attempt was made to start leagues
between cities, such as the Achaean and AEolian Leagues. The natural isolation and mutual
animosity of the Greek communities afforded all too good an opportunity for the intrusion of the
centralised and united power of Rome, and thus Roman interference gradually increased until
Greece became a Roman Province (B.C. 146). En revanche, where arts, not arms, were
concerned,

 GREEK ARCHITECTURAL ORDERS :
An architectural order describes a style of building. In Classical architecture, each order is
readily identifiable by means of its proportions and profiles as well as by various aesthetic
details. The style of column employed serves as a useful index of the style itself, so identifying
the order of the column will then, in turn, situate the order employed in the structure as a whole.
The classical orders—described by the labels Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—do not merely serve
as descriptors for the remains of ancient buildings but as an index to the architectural and
aesthetic development of Greek architecture itself.
The Doric order
The Doric order is the earliest of the three Classical orders of architecture and represents an
important moment in Mediterranean architecture when monumental construction made the
transition from impermanent materials—like wood—to permanent materials, namely stone. The
Doric order is characterized by a plain, unadorned column capital and a column that rests
directly on the stylobate of the temple without a base. The Doric entablature includes a frieze
composed of trigylphs—vertical plaques with three divisions—and metopes—square spaces for
either painted or sculpted decoration. The columns are fluted and are of sturdy, if not stocky,
proportions.

Iktinos and Kallikrates, The Parthenon, 447-432 BCE, Athens

The Doric order emerged on the Greek mainland during the course of the late seventh century
BCE and remained the predominant order for Greek temple construction through the early fifth
century BCE, although notable buildings built later in the Classical period—especially the
canonical Parthenon in Athens—still employed it. By 575 BCE, the order may be properly
identified, with some of the earliest surviving elements being the metope plaques from the
Temple of Apollo at Thermon. Other early, but fragmentary, examples include the sanctuary of
Hera at Argos, votive capitals from the island of Aegina, as well as early
Doric capitals that were a part of the Temple of Athena Pronaia at Delphi in
central Greece. The Doric order finds perhaps its fullest expression in the
Parthenon, c. 447-432 BCE., at Athens designed by Iktinos and Kallikrates.

The Ionic order

As its names suggests, the Ionic order originated in Ionia, a coastal region
of central Anatolia—today Turkey—where a number of ancient Greek
settlements were located. Volutes, scroll-like ornaments, characterize the
Ionic capital, and a base supports the column, unlike the Doric order. The Ionic order developed
in Ionia during the mid-sixth century BCE and had been transmitted to mainland Greece by the
fifth century BCE. Among the earliest examples of the Ionic capital is the inscribed votive
column from Naxos, dating to the end of the seventh century BCE.
The monumental temple dedicated to Hera on the island of Samos, built by the architect
Rhoikos c. 570-560 BCE, was the first of the great Ionic buildings, although it was destroyed by
earthquake in short order. The sixth century BCE Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, a wonder of
the ancient world, was also an Ionic design. In Athens, the Ionic order influenced some
elements of the Parthenon, 447-432 BCE, notably the Ionic frieze that encircles the cella of the
temple. Ionic columns are also employed in the interior of the monumental gateway to the
Acropolis, known as the Propylaia, c. 437-432 BCE. The Ionic was promoted to an exterior
order in the construction of the Erechtheion, c. 421-405 BCE, on the Athenian Acropolis, image
below.

North porch of the Erechtheion, 421-407 BCE, marble, Acropolis, Athens

The Ionic order is notable for its graceful proportions, which produce a more slender and
elegant profile than the Doric order. The ancient Roman architect Vitruvius compared the Doric
module to a sturdy, male body, while the Ionic was possessed of more graceful, feminine
proportions. The
Ionic order incorporates a
running frieze of
continuous sculptural relief,
as opposed to the
Doric frieze composed
of triglyphs and metopes.
The Corinthian order

Corinthian capital

The Corinthian order is both the latest and the most

elaborate of the Classical orders of architecture. This
order was employed in both Greek and Roman
architecture with minor variations and gave rise, in turn,
to the Composite order. As the name suggests, the
origins of the order were connected in antiquity with the
Greek city-state of Corinth, where, according to the architectural writer Vitruvius, the sculptor
Callimachus drew a set of acanthus leaves surrounding a votive basket (Vitr. 4.1.9-10). In
archaeological terms, the earliest known Corinthian capital comes from the Temple of Apollo
Epicurius at Bassae and dates to c. 427 BCE

Acanthus leaf

The defining element of the Corinthian order is its elaborate, carved capital, which incorporates
even more vegetal elements than the Ionic order does. The stylized, carved leaves of an
acanthus plant grow around the capital, generally terminating just below the abacus. The
Romans favored the Corinthian order, perhaps due to its slender properties. The order is
employed in numerous notable Roman architectural monuments, including the Temple of Mars
Ultor, the Pantheon in Rome, and the Maison Carrée in Nîmes.

 ARCHITECTURAL TOPOLOGIES :
The ancient Greeks made use of infinite arguments and processes (limits), e.g. in the method of
exhaustion and in proofs by infinite descent. They knew that for each length rr (arbitrary large or
small) and each point PP, a circle with centre PP and radius rr can be drawn and is "contained
in space". This can be thought of as "every circle is collapsible to a point which itself is
contained in space". The Greeks were aware of the properties of geometric figures. It could be
said that mathematics in general owes its credibility to ancient Greece. Of the all architectural
forms of ancient Greece, the temples were the best the best known and the most common.
Other important topologies include, the tholos, the circular temples, the proplyon, the fountain
house, agoras, sotas and the bouleuterions.

Greek architecture consists of essentially building types that were enriched and refined over
time, but rarely abandoned or replaced. It began with simple houses of the Dark Age and
culminated in the monumental temples of the Classical Period and the elaborately planned cities
and sanctuaries of the Hellenistic Period. Thus, the raw materials available and the technologies
developed to utilize them largely determined the nature of their architecture.

Principal Building Materials Wood :

used for supports and roof beams.
Unbaked bricks – for walls, especially of private houses.
Limestone and marble – for columns, walls and upper portions of temples and other public
buildings.
Terracotta (baked clay) – for roof tiles and architectural ornaments.
Metals (especially bronze) – for some decorative details

Religious Architecture :
Open-air altars – served as the focus of prayer and sacrifices.
Temples – housed the statue of a god or goddess to whom the sanctuary was dedicated.
Treasury – a small-temple like building, in which offerings to gods and goddesses are made by
city states and citizens at sanctuaries such as Olympics and Delphi.

Funerary Architecture :
Circular earthen mounds covering built tombs.
Rectangular earthen mounds with masonry façades.
Mausoleums (large independent tombs) or large stately tomb.

Public Buildings :
Council House – venue where a governing council meet.
The law court.
The fountain house – a building where women filled their vases with water from a community
fountain.
Stoa – a roofed colonnade or porticoes open and having column on one side, and often with
rooms set along the rear wall
Agora – an open assembly area or market place. It is the principal public gathering place of the
city in which all other structures are lined.

Private Houses :
They took many forms. They are:
Early dwellings had just one room in the shape of a rectangle, oval or a rectangle with a curved
back wall (an apse).
The multiple rooms’ houses had airy and pleasant interiors, as they were generally organized
around a small courtyard.
The houses were never impressive from outside because their walls were of flimsy mud-brick or
small stones.

Entertainment and Recreation Buildings :

Open-air theatre
Roofed concert hall.
Gymnasium – an open field surrounded by rows of columns, where youths met for exercise and
intellectual discussions.
Stadium/Wrestling ground.
Public Baths.

 TEMPLES :
The Greeks referred to temples with the term "dwelling;" and temple derives from the Latin term,
templum. 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 2½ times its width. A number of surviving temple-like
structures are circular and are referred to as tholos. The smallest temples are less than 25
metres in length or in the case of the circular tholos, in diameter. The great majority of temples
are between 30–60 metres in length. A small group of Doric temples including the Parthenon
are between 60–80 metres in length. The largest temples mainly Ionic and Corinthian, but
including the Doric Temple of the Olympian Zeus, Agrigento were between 90–120 metres in
length.
Greek temples are often categorized in terms of their ground plan and the way in which the
columns are arranged. A prostyle temple is a temple that has columns only at the front, while an
amphiprostyle temple has columns at the front and the rear. Temples with a peripteral
arrangement (from the Greek πτερον (pteron) meaning "wing) have a single line of columns
arranged all around the exterior of the temple building. Dipteral temples simply have a double
row of columns surrounding the building. One of the more unusual plans is the tholos, a temple
with a circular ground plan; famous examples are attested at the sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi
and the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidauros.

Parthenon
The Parthenon is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the
goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. The Parthenon is
regarded as the finest example of Greek architecture. The Parthenon is a peripheral octastyle
Doric temple with Ionic architectural features. It stands on a platform or stylobate of three steps.
In common with other Greek temples, it is of post and lintel construction and is surrounded by
columns ('peripheral') carrying an entablature. There are eight columns at either end ('octastyle')
and 17 on the sides. There is a double row of columns at either end. The colonnade surrounds
an inner masonry structure, the cella, which is divided into two compartments. At either end of
the building the gable is finished with a triangular pediment originally occupied by sculpted
figures. The columns are of the Doric order, with simple capitals, fluted shafts, and no bases.
Above the architrave of the entablature is a frieze of carved pictorial panels (metopes),
separated by formal architectural triglyphs, typical of the Doric order. Around the cella and
across the lintels of the inner columns runs a continuous sculptured frieze in low relief. This
element of the architecture is Ionic in style rather than Doric.

Measured at the stylobate, the dimensions of the

base of the Parthenon are 69.5 by 30.9 metres
(228 by 101 ft). The cella was 29.8 meters long
by 19.2 meters wide (97.8 × 63.0 ft). On the
exterior, the Doric columns measure 1.9 metres
(6.2 ft) in diameter and are 10.4 metres (34 ft)
high. The corner columns are slightly larger in
diameter. The Parthenon had 46 outer columns
and 23 inner columns in total, each column having 20 flutes. (A flute is the concave shaft carved
into the column form.) The roof was covered with large overlapping marble tiles known as
imbrices and tegulae. An extraordinary statue of Athena was housed in naos/cella within the
Parthenon. This statue was sculpted by Phidias. This statue doesn’t exist any longer but is
believed to have been 12 meters high. It was carved in wood and covered in ivory and gold. It
depicted a woman wearing goatskin shield known as an aegis. In her right hand, was the 6 feet
tall statue of Nike, a Greek Goddess, and in her left hand was a shield that showed battle
scenes. Two griffins and a sphinx stood on her helmet and there was a large snake behind her
shield.

 THEATER :

Theatre at the Sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus, c. 350 - 300 B.C.E., photo: Steven Zucker
 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The Greek theater was a large, open-air structure used for dramatic performance. Theaters
often took advantage of hillsides and naturally sloping terrain and, in general, utilized the
panoramic landscape as the backdrop to the stage itself. The Greek theater is composed of the
seating area (theatron), a circular space for the chorus to perform (orchestra), and the stage
(skene). Tiered seats in the theatron provided space for spectators. Two side aisles (parados,
pl. paradoi) provided access to the orchestra. The Greek theater inspired the Roman version of
the theater directly, although the Romans introduced some modifications to the concept of
theater architecture. In many cases the Romans converted pre-existing Greek theaters to
conform to their own architectural ideals, as is evident in the Theater of Dionysos on the slopes
of the Athenian Acropolis. Since theatrical performances were often linked to sacred festivals, it
is not uncommon to find theaters associated directly with sanctuaries.

These theatres were generally made by hollowing out the slope of a hill inside or near a city.
These were large and open-air structures.
The theatre consists of the following parts:
Theatron: The semi-circular tiered seating area for spectators. o Orchestra: The circular space
for the performance.
Skene: A low building behind the orchestra that served as a store room, a dressing room and
the backstage.
Koilons: Parts in to which the theatron is divided.
Diazoma: The passages which divide the theatron into koilons. Some of the examples of Greek
theatres include, the theatre at Epidauros, the theatre of Dionysus, etc.

The Theatre of Dionysus

The theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus is located on the South slope of the acropolis of Athens. It
was first built in the 6th century BC. The development of this theatre began with the construction
of the orchestra, the circular floor with a diameter of 18 meters. This orchestra had an altar at
the centre and was used for dramatic performances. The auditorium is thought to have been set
into the hillside with wooden benches for the spectators and the skene was built on the opposite
side of the orchestra. In the mid-4th century BC, the wooden seats were replaced with tiers of
stone seats that had the capability to accommodate as many as 17000 spectators. An
enhanced form of the skene was also constructed.

The Theatre of Dionysus

 AGORA :
The word “agora” is
derived from a Greek term
“ageirein” which means to
gather. Agoras were a
crucial component of all
Greek villages and towns
around the
Mediterranean. An agora
was the town square, the
centre of social and public
life. An agora was an
open space that served as meeting grounds for the citizens. Stoas, temples, markets,
administrative and public buildings, places of entertainment and monuments were present near
or around the agoras.

Greek Agora

 STOA :
Stoa (στοά) is a Greek architectural term that describes a covered walkway or colonnade that
was usually designed for public use. Early examples, often employing the Doric order, were
usually composed of a single level, although later examples (Hellenistic and Roman) came to be
two-story freestanding structures. These later examples allowed interior space for shops or
other rooms and often incorporated the Ionic order for interior colonnades.

P. De Jong, Restored Perspective of the South Stoa, Corinth, photo: American School of Classical

Studies, Digital Collections

Greek city planners came to prefer the stoa as a device for framing the agora (public market
place) of a city or town. The South Stoa constructed as part of the sanctuary of Hera on the
island of Samos (c. 700-550 B.C.E.) numbers among the earliest examples of the stoa in Greek
architecture. Many cities, particularly Athens and Corinth, came to have elaborate and famous
stoas. In Athens the famous Stoa Poikile (“Painted Stoa”), c. fifth century B.C.E., housed
paintings of famous Greek military exploits including the battle of Marathon, while the Stoa
Basileios (“Royal Stoa”), c. fifth century B.C.E., was the seat of a chief civic official (archon
basileios).

Stoa is a Greek architectural term that describes a covered walkway or colonnade that was
usually designed for public use. Early examples, often employing the Doric order, were usually
composed of a single level, although later examples came to be two-story freestanding
structures.
These later examples
allowed interior space
for shops or other rooms
and often incorporated
the Ionic order for
interior colonnades.

The Stoa of Attalos

Greek city planners came to prefer the stoa as a device for framing the agora of a city or town.
The South Stoa constructed as part of the sanctuary of Hera on the island of Samos (c. 700-550
B.C.E.) numbers among the earliest examples of the stoa in Greek architecture. Many cities,
particularly Athens and Corinth, came to have elaborate and famous stoas.

 BOULEUTERION :
The Bouleuterion was an important civic building in a Greek city, as it was the meeting place of
the boule (citizen council) of the city. These select representatives assembled to handle public
affairs and represent the citizenry of the polis (in ancient Athens the boule was comprised of
500 members). The bouleuterion generally was a covered, rectilinear building with stepped
seating surrounding a central speaker’s well in which an altar was placed. The city of Priène has
a particularly well-preserved example of this civic structure as does the city of Miletus.
 Greek Bouleuterion

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greece/a/introduction-to-greek-architecture

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https://www.archinomy.com/case-studies/building-typologies-of-greek-civilization/

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