MODULE 2.

1
Classical Architecture and the
Western Succession
Module 2 Overview
2.1 Greek Architecture
2.2 Roman Architecture
2.3 Early Christian Architecture
2.4 Byzantine Architecture
2.5 Romanesque Architecture
2.6 Gothic Architecture
2.7 Renaissance Architecture
2.8 Modern Architecture
2.9 Postmodern Architecture
Greek Architecture
Map of the Greco-Persian Wars and the Greek city-states.
Greek (800-300 B.C.)
▪ Delicacy of outline, perfected proportions and refined
treatment.
▪ Based the different proportions of their construction
systems on mathematical ratios.
▪ The first manifestation was a wooden structure of
upright posts supporting beams and sloping rafters.
▪ Completed with sophisticated optical corrections for
perspective.
Greek (800-300 B.C.)
▪ Major public buildings were built with limestone and
marble. Blocks of stone were held in place by bronze
or iron pins set into molten lead.
Phases
Aegean, Hellenic, and Hellenistic
AEGEAN PERIOD
▪ Structures were generally rough and massive.
▪ The capital is ornamented with a square abacus, and
a circular bulbous echinus.
▪ Cyclopean walls: large stones without mortar, on clay
bedding.
▪ Use of corbelled arch.
▪ Megaron: single-storey dwelling with a central room
and porticoed entrance; columns support roof;
thalamus (bedroom).
The Lion’s Gate
Mycenae, Greece.

Part of the citadel palace of

Agamemnon; Cyclopean walls of
boulders weighing 5-6 tons were eased
into alignment with pebbles.
Treasury of Atreus
Beginning in the late Bronze Age, the
kings were buried outside the city in
great beehive—or tholos—tombs,
monumental symbols of wealth and
power.
Section and plan, Treasury of Atreus.
HELLENIC PERIOD
▪ Of or pertaining to ancient Greek history, culture and
art.
▪ The temple became the chief building type.
▪ Columnar and trabeated; Carpentry in marble
▪ Materials used were timber, stone, and terra cotta.
▪ Refinements to correct optical illusion (entasis,
swelling of columns)
▪ Structures were ornamented with sculptures, colors,
and mural paintings.
HELLENISTIC PERIOD
▪ Greek culture was modified by foreign elements.
▪ A diversion from religious building types; civic
structures were also built; later will be an inspiration
for Roman architecture.
▪ The design and layout of buildings are symmetrical
and orderly.
▪ Moldings were used for decorations.
▪ Temple entrances faced east.
Greek Temples
The chief building type of the Hellenic Period.
1) First Temple of Apollo at Thermos, Greece; 2) Plan: Later Temple of Apollo at Thermos.
Acropolis
"City on the height." In classical Greek architecture, a
city stronghold or fortress constructed on higher
ground than surrounding urban fabric.
The Acropolis of Athens. (Reconstructed model)
 1 Parthenon
3 Erechtheum
4 Statue of Athena Promachos
5 Propylaea
6 Temple of Athena Nike
12 Altar of Athena
15 Odeon of Herodes Atticus
16 Stoa of Eumenes
18 Theatre of Dionysus
Eleuthereus
19 Odeon of Pericles

The Acropolis of Athens.

Temenos
The sacred area or enclosure surrounding a classical
Greek temple.
Propylaea
A monumental gateway to a sacred enclosure,
fortification, town or square.
Parthenon
Athens, Greece. Ictinus and
Callicrates.

Built from 447-438 B.C. in honor of

Athena, the city’s patron goddess.
Used the proportion 2n+1 in determining
the number of columns on the sides of a
temple (n=number of columns at front)
 Naos or cella, principal
chamber; enclosed part of the
temple where the cult image
was kept.
Pronaos or anticum, an open
vestibule before the cella.
Epinaos or posticum, rear
vestibule.
Opisthodomos, a small room
in the cella as for a treasury.

Parts of a Greek temple.

Parts of a Greek temple.
Parthenon
Optical Corrections

▪ Entasis, a slight convex curve in

the shaft of a column;

▪ the stylobate curves upward;

▪ the columns taper toward the top;

▪ the columns at the corners angle

inwards and are thicker than the
others;

▪ and the column flutes deepen

toward the top.
Planning of Temples
Greek and Roman temples are described according
to the number of columns on the entrance front, the
type of colonnade, and the type of portico.
Terminologies.
Number of columns
▪ 1 - hemostyle ▪ 7 - heptastyle
▪ 2 - distyle ▪ 8 - octastyle
▪ 3 - tristyle ▪ 9 - enneastyle
▪ 4 - tetrastyle ▪ 10 - decastyle
▪ 5 - pentastyle
▪ 6 - hexastyle ▪ 12 - dodecastyle
Column arrangement
▪ Determines the type of colonnade a classical temple
has.
 In-antis: anta, columns are
between anta and at front.
Amphi-antis: double anta, at
front and rear.
Prostyle: portico at front only.
Amphiprostyle: porticoes at
front and rear.
Peripteral: columns on all
sides.
Pseudo-peripteral: columns
attached to naos.
Dipteral: double line of
columns surrounding the naos
Pseudo-dipteral: like dipteral,
but inner columns are
attached to the naos.

Variations in column arrangement.

Intercolumnation
The systematic spacing of columns expressed as
multiples of column diameters.
▪ 1.50D Pycnostyle
▪ 2.00D Systyle
▪ 2.25D Eustyle
▪ 3.00D Diastyle
▪ 4.00D Araeostyle
Vitruvius’ (Roman architect) Rules for the Diameter, Height, and Spacing of Columns.
The Greek Orders
An order is one of the predominating styles in
classical architecture. The orders of ancient Greek
classical architecture: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
The Greek Orders
▪ Doric

▪ Ionic

▪ Corinthian
DORIC
▪ Oldest, simplest and most massive of the three Greek
orders.
▪ Developed in Greece in the 7th century B.C.
Characteristics
▪ Fluted (concave curves) columns
having no base;

▪ Capital: square abacus at top,

rounded echinus at the bottom;

▪ Entablature: plain architrave, a

frieze of triglyphs and metopes,
and a cornice, the corona on which
has mutules on its soffit.

▪ Column: H= 4-6 * column base ⌀

Entablature: H=1 3/4 * lower ⌀
Parthenon
Athens, Greece. Ictinus and
Callicrates.
IONIC
▪ Developed in the Ionian Islands (now western Turkey)
in the 6th century B.C.
▪ Used for smaller buildings and interiors.
Characteristics
▪ Fluted columns typically had
molded bases.

▪ Capital: spiral volutes.

▪ Entablature; consists of an
architrave of three fascias, a richly
ornamented frieze, and a cornice
corbeled out on egg and dart and
dentil moldings.

▪ Column: H=9 * column base ⌀; 24

flutes separated by fillets
Entablature: H=2 ¼ * column ⌀
Temple of
Athena Nike
Athens, Greece. Callicrates.
CORINTHIAN
▪ Named after the city of Corinth, where sculptor
Callimachus supposedly invented it after he spotted
boblet surrounded by leaves.
▪ Similar to the Ionic order in its base, column, and
entablature, but its capital is more ornate, carved with
two tiers of curly acanthus leaves.
Characteristics
▪ Similar in most respects to Ionic
but usually of slender proportions.

▪ Capital: deep-bell shaped

decorated with acanthus leaves
and an abacus with concave sides.

▪ Column: H=10 * column base ⌀

Temple of
Apollo Epicurius
Ictinus. Bassae.

The Corinthian order used for the first

time; Built of fine-grained, brittle grey
limestone; details in marble, roof of thin
marble slabs.
Figured columns
▪ Caryatid: Also kore, a carved statue of a draped
female figure which functions as a column.

▪ Canephora, canephore, canephorum, kanephoros:

`basket-carrying´; a carved statuesque column of a
draped female figure carrying a basket, or with a
basket on her head.
Figured columns
▪ Atlas, telamon (Gk.) plural atlantes: a massive
carved statuesque stooping male figure, often serving
as a columnar support for a pediment.

▪ Herm, herma plural hermae: a square tapered column

capped with the carved head, bust or torso of a figure,
usually Hermes; originally used by the Greeks as a
boundary marker, later as decoration.
1) Treasury of Siphnos, Delphi, Greece, c.525 BC; 2) Erechtheion, Athens, Greece, 420–406 BC, Mnesikles;
3) Palazzo Ducale, Venice, Italy, 1300–1400; 4) Palazzo Valmorana, Padua, Italy, 1566, Andrea Palladio
Erechtheion
Athens, Greece. Mnesikles.
Civic Buildings
AGORA
Tyre, Lebanon.

A market or meeting place in a Greek

city, the hub of public life where the most
important public buildings were situated.
THEATRON
Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus.

Designed for the presentation of plays in

which choral songs and dances were
prominent features.

Open-air, usually hollowed out of the

slope of a hillside with a tiered seating
area around and facing a circular
orchestra backed by the skene, a
building for the actor’s use.
Parts of a Greek theater.
STOA
Stoa of Attalos. Athens.

An ancient Greek portico, usually

detached and of considerable length,
used as a promenade or meeting place
around public places.
PRYTANEION
Prytaneion of Panticapaeum. Ukraine.

Senate house; A public town hall for the

citizens of ancient Greece, containing
state banquet halls and hospitality
suites.
BOULEUTERION
Bouleuterion. Priene.

Council chamber with rows of stepped

benches surrounding a central platform.
ODEION
Ephesus Odeon. Turkey.

A roofed theatre building in antiquity,

especially one for the performance of
vocal and instrumental music.
STADION
Nemea Stadion. Greece.

An ancient Greek elongated sports

venue with rounded ends, surrounded
on all sides by banked spectator stands;
venue for foot racing.
HIPPODROME
Hippodrome. Tyre, Lebanon.

An open or roofed track or arena for

chariot and horse racing in ancient
Greece.
PALAESTRA
Palaestra, Vaison-la-Romaine.

Wrestling house; A place used for the

instruction and practice of wrestling and
athletics.
GYMNASION
Pompeii Gymnasion.

An ancient Greek centre for sports, with

buildings, playing areas and baths.
Residential Buildings
Megaron
▪ An early Greek dwelling type.

▪ A long rectangular central hall in a

Mycenaean palace complex, which
may have served as a temple.

▪ Parts consists of an open porch, a

vestibule, and a large hall with a
central hearth and a throne.
 1 prodomos – porch
2 doma – main room
3 thalamos – rear chamber
4 hearth

Megaron, Dimini, Thessaly (Greece), neolithic period.

Prostas
A Greek dwelling-type entered from the street via a
passage to an open courtyard, around which all spaces
are arranged; the principal rooms are accessed via a
niche-like anteroom or prostas.
 5 court, courtyard
6 prostas – anteroom
7 prothyron – entrance
8 thyroreion – entrance passage
9 pastas – veranda
10 andron – mens' dining room
14 room's function uncertain;
bed chamber, living room, store etc.

Prostas house, house 33, Priene, Ionia (modern Turkey), 200–100 BC.
Pastas
A dwelling-type from the classical period of northern
Greece, 423–348 BC, with a courtyard in the centre of
the south side and deep columned veranda or pastas
affording access to rooms.
 5 court, courtyard
8 thyroreion – entrance passage
9 pastas – veranda
10 andron – mens' dining room
11 kitchen
14 room's function uncertain;
bed chamber, living room, store etc.

Pastas houses, Olynthus (Greece), c.300 BC.

Peristyle
A Greek dwelling-type whose open courtyard is
surrounded by colonnades on all sides, often more
luxurious than a prostas or pastas house.
 5 court, courtyard; 8 thyroreion – entrance passage; 9 pastas
– veranda; 10 andron – mens' dining room; 11 kitchen; 12
peristylion – peristyle; 13 hestia, eschara – altar; 14 room's
function uncertain; bed chamber, living room, store etc.

Peristyle house, Maison de la Colline, Delos (Greece), c.200 BC.

Urban Planning
Hippodamian Grid System
A rectilinear town layout in which blocks of dwellings are
divided up by narrow side streets linked together by
wider main roads, developed by the Ionian Hippodamus
of Miletus in the 5th century BC.
 A acropolis: citadel
B gate
C via sacra, sacra via: sacred road
D city walls
E agora: main square

MILETUS, Ionia, Ancient Greece (now Turkey); town plan probably by Hippodamus of Miletus c.450–400 BC.
 G nymphaeum: fountain house,
nymph temple
H temple
K plateia (pl. plateiai): main street
L steponos (pl. steponoi): side street
M gymnasion: sports hall
N stoa: colonnaded court
O thermae: baths
Q heroon (monopteros): heroic shrine
R synagogue (basilica)
T warehouse

MILETUS, Ionia, Ancient Greece (now Turkey); town plan probably by Hippodamus of Miletus c.450–400 BC.