Greek Architecture Quals

 Doric Order. Temple of Aphaia at Aegina

Small hexastyle temple built at beginning of the 5th c. to local goddess Aphaia. Most of building built from limestone with sculptures on pediment and acroteria Parian parble. Metopes were limestone painted black. Shows features of Doric order temple with fluted columns resting directly on 3-stepped stylobate, column capital with Echinus and Abacus and triglyph and metope frieze.

 Samos. Heraion I and II. Plan of sanctuary with Hekatompedon I

7th c. BCE

First Heraion: first half 8th c. BCE

-little remains, but there was a thick socle of dressed stone reinforced by wooden posts.

Second Haraion: 670 BCE, built after first one was destroyed.

Earliest predecessors of characteristic Greek temple. 6 × 18 posts disconnected from walls, full weight of the walls made up of dressed limestone blocks. Earliest iteration of peripteral type temple layout and a temple with stone walls.

Samos: Temple of Hera I Plan Hekatompedon I, 2nd phase
 c.700 B.C

Second Haraion: 670 BCE, built after first one was destroyed.

Earliest predecessors of characteristic Greek temple. 6 × 18 posts disconnected from walls, full weight of the walls made up of dressed limestone blocks. Earliest iteration of peripteral type temple layout and a temple with stone walls.

Unlike later temples, one straight row of columns down the center of naos, which blocks view of cult image.

 Samos: Sanctuary of Hera Plan 2nd Heraion w/ early sanctuary restored (early 7th C. BC)

Second Haraion: 670 BCE, built after first one was destroyed.

Earliest predecessors of characteristic Greek temple. 6 × 18 posts disconnected from walls, full weight of the walls made up of dressed limestone blocks. Earliest iteration of peripteral type temple layout and a temple with stone walls.

Unlike later temples, one straight row of columns down the center of naos, which blocks view of cult image.

Development of polis religion with development of poleis. Hera patron deity. Show shift to rectangular buildings like megara rather than earlier apsidal buildings.

Isthmia. Archaic Temple of Poseidon. Restoration at southwest corner

7th c. BCE

Possibly first temple to have a tiled roof, but not later pan and capping arrangement. Walls made of ashlar masonry. Architects must not have been used to this construction technique since they used unnecessary pilasters to shore up walls. Wooden peristyle on continuous stone foundation rather than individual column bases. Walls under eaves were decorated with paintings that do not survive. Row of wooden columns holding up the roof interrupted view of god’s statue and required lateral doorways.

Shows early experimentation in temple design. Some things are common later like a peristyle, roof tiles, ashlar masonry and continuous foundation. But hipped roof, pilasters, and layout were not continued in other temples.

Thermon. Apollo Temple C. Plan.

640-625 BCE

Had triangular pediment in front, a hipped roof in the back and a row of columns bisecting the naos. The metopes survive in fragments and were brightly painted terracotta likely created by Corinthian vase painters. Show mythological scenes including Perseus and gorgon. Columns down center of naos a feature of early temples like Poseidon at Isthmia and Hera at Samos. This Archaic temple replaced a bronze age and a geometric apsidal temple at the same location.

Corfu. Temple of Artemis. Facade reconstruction.c. 590

First stone temple in Greek world with a carved pediment. At the center is Medusa and her offspring flanked by panthers, with the battle between gods and giants in the corner. Pediment carved and painted. Shallow relief with figures pressed up against front plane of stone block, made by drawing design on flat surface and cutting away stone to produce silhouettes. Medusa runs in a pinwheel pose. Pegasus and hero Chrysaor sprung from Medusa’s neck when she is beheaded. Here mythological time compressed, and she appears with them. Early example of cohesive narrative in temple decorative scheme. Euripides tells that Medusa originally created to fight with the gods against the giants. Past, present, and future of Medusa myth compressed into a narrative instant on the pediment.

Temple of Hera

Built ca. 600 BC; wooden columns were replaced with stone ones gradually between the Archaic period and Roman times(2nd century BC - 4th century AD)

Phase I: Late Geometric, horseshoe plan

Phase II: c. 600-590 Doric structure with stone foundation, mudbrick walls and wooden columns

-slowly replaced by subscription like stone columns at other sites 

-innovative in introducing double row of columns in central hall instead of one row down center of it as previously

-called temple of Hera because of account of Pausanias, but martial offerings indicate it was likely a joint temple of Zeus and Hera, remained temple of Hera alone once Zeus received a new limestone temple in 5th c.

Corinth. Temple of Apollo. Restored plan, c 540 BCE

Unique example of both an adyton and opisthodomos coexisting in same temple. In temples with both, opisthodomos usually gives access to interior of the temple.

 Selinus: Temple C reconstruction gorgon head from center of pediment
c.540 B.C

Archaic Sicilian Doric temples tend to be decorated with Gorgon heads, similar to Temple of Artemis at Corfu. Apotropaic function or assertion of Greek identity in context of colony? Metopes stone and pediment (shown here) terracotta. Selinus also a Corinthian colony.

Temple C, view from the southwest with ruins of Temple B in the foreground
 Date:     c. 550-525 BCE

Temple C located on Acropolis of site, so likely dedicated to poliadic deity, but unclear which one. Temple decorations at this time not yet specific to the deity the temple is dedicated to. Hexastyle dipteral temple as is typical for Doric order.

 Paestum: Basilica or temple of Hera: plan
    Title:     Hera I
    Date:     c.530 B.C

Experimental architecture. Mainland back porch was replaced with Western or Sicilian inner room instead. A row of columns ran down the center of the hall in an old fashioned style. Interior columns the same size as exterior columns. More columns in exterior colonnade than is typical for Doric order temple, and unusually wide building. Two entryways into the hallinstead of one central one. Likely built like this to accommodate religious processions. Columns of same size would have created visual unity in religious processions.

Paestum. Temple of Athena. Elevation and plan with altar.

Late 6th c. BCE, c. 500

New temple of Athena replaces older one from 580 in rebuilding effort in Paestum to replace destroyed city of Sybaris as major city center. Exterior columns Doric, but inner columns Ionic, created a “forest of columns” effect like an Ionian temple. First time Ionic columns are integrated into a Doric temple in Italy. Columns employ entasis, aka bulge out in the middle.

There is no opisthodomos nor adyton, inner room or back porch.

Paestum Temple of Athena, late 6th c. BCE, view from NW

Doric columns have floral carving on capital like at nearby temple of Hera and entasis.

Exterior colonnade has 6 × 3 arrangement on 3-stepped krepis, which will be later standard Doric temple order. Integration of Ionic columns in the inner pronaos is unique.

Aeolic Order capital from temple at Neandria
    Date:     2nd qtr. 6th C. B.C

Aeolic order comes from NE botanical motifs. Possible origin of Ionic order.

Didyma. Temple of Apollo. Reconstruction of order.

Part of trend towards impressive Ionic temples with deliberately archaizing elements in 4th c. BCE with dentils instead of continuous sculpted fireze and Asiatic instead of Attic column bases. Ionic temples in E Greece can have sculpted figures on column drums like column at far right. Possibly referencing sculpted column bases at Archaic temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

 Ephesus: Temple of Artemis IV miscellaneous Ionic capital
    Date:     c.560 B.C

Shows that Ionic volutes developed from NE botanical motifs. Columns at temple of Ephesus were paid for via subscription by local elites and were all unique, assimilating elite display into polis cult.

Siphnian Treasury at the Sanctuary of Apollo, Delphi [reconstruction of the entrance facade]
    Date:     ca. 530-525 B.C.E.

-built by island of Siphnos, attacked and conquered by pirates c.525 BCE

-most elaborate building at Delos, all marble, Ionic order

-Kore columns aka caryatids, poss dedicated by wealthy women?

-N architrave frieze shows Achilles battling Memnon for body of Greek soldier at Troy (

-N and E sides of frieze use deep relief with foreshortening, south and west sides do not, show pitfalls of sylistic dating since created at same time

-also N frieze (shown here): Gods on Olympos weighing fate of two battling heroes, like Siphnia weighs mineral wealth using scales

-but also elite heroic culture that shored up status of those who held political power

Athens. Temple on the Ilissos. Elevation: Portico, 449 BCE

Amphiprostyle plans with columns only on the short sides. Dedicated to one of the rivers by Athens.

Delphi: Athenian Treasury: Ext.: Facade

5th c. BCE

-Doric order, metopes with scenes of Athenian hero Theseus fighting Amazons and pan-Hellenic hero Heracles fighting Geryon.

-completely built in marble, meant to one-up earlier Alkamonid temple at Delphi, civic power triumphing over power of artistocratic families. Next to Alkamonid temple to assimilate it into the city-state.

Aegina. Temple of Aphaia. Isometric reconstruction drawing.

ca. 490-480 BCE

Small hexastyle temple built at beginning of the 5th c. to local goddess Aphaia. Most of building built from limestone with sculptures on pediment and acroteria Parian parble. Metopes were limestone painted black. Shows features of Doric order temple with fluted columns resting directly on 3-stepped stylobate, column capital with Echinus and Abacus and triglyph and metope frieze.

Temple of Aphaia (Temple of Athena Aphaia), east façade

Early 5th c. BCE

Small hexastyle temple built at beginning of the 5th c. to local goddess Aphaia. Most of building built from limestone with sculptures on pediment and acroteria Parian parble. Metopes were limestone painted black. Shows features of Doric order temple with fluted columns resting directly on 3-stepped stylobate, column capital with Echinus and Abacus and triglyph and metope frieze.

Aegina. Temple of Aphaia. Plan.

Early 5th c. BCE

Small hexastyle temple built at beginning of the 5th c. to local goddess Aphaia. Most of building built from limestone with sculptures on pediment and acroteria Parian parble. Metopes were limestone painted black. Shows features of Doric order temple with fluted columns resting directly on 3-stepped stylobate, column capital with Echinus and Abacus and triglyph and metope frieze

Has back porch, opisthodomos.

Temple of Zeus Olympios (Olympeium) plan
    Date:     ca. 470-460 B.C.E.

Telamon from the Temple of Olympian Zeus

480 BCE

 Agrigento: Olypieum reconstruction side
Date:     c.510-409 B.C

Paestum: Temple of Poseidon (Hera II) restored plan
    Date:     c.460 B.C

Part of process of monumentalization of Paestum. This temple stands atop earlier temple of c. 550 BCE that would have been wood and terracotta. Doric order temple. The columns curve or have entasis. 6 × 14 instead of the usual 6 ×13 columns on exterior colonnade. Cella uniquely has two rows of 7 columns arranged in tiers, may have been added by the architect to support the roof of the structure. The exterior columns are very large and so have 24 instead of the usual 20 flutes. Though in Sicily it is in conversation with other Greek temples as it resembles the temple of Zeus at Olympia.

Has opisthodomos of mainland Greece rather than adyton that tends to be preferred in Sicily.

Temple of Neptune (Actually Hera II), Paestum, Italy, 5th c. BCE

Part of process of monumentalization of Paestum. This temple stands atop earlier temple of c. 550 BCE that would have been wood and terracotta. Doric order temple. The columns curve or have entasis. 6 × 14 instead of the usual 6 ×13 columns on exterior colonnade. Cella uniquely has two rows of 7 columns arranged in tiers, may have been added by the architect to support the roof of the structure. The exterior columns are very large and so have 24 instead of the usual 20 flutes. Though in Sicily it is in conversation with other Greek temples as it resembles the temple of Zeus at Olympia.

Temple of Hera II (Temple of Neptune; Temple of Poseidon), Paestum
c. 460 BCE

Doric order temple. The columns curve or have entasis. 6 × 14 instead of the usual 6 ×13 columns on exterior colonnade. Cella uniquely has two rows of 7 columns arranged in tiers, may have been added by the architect to support the roof of the structure. The exterior columns are very large and so have 24 instead of the usual 20 flutes. Though in Sicily it is in conversation with other Greek temples as it resembles the temple of Zeus at Olympia.

Olympia. Temple of Zeus. Section of porch and east facade.

475-450 BCE

Internal frieze shows Labors of Heracles. Unique in showing a unified narrative, different events from Heracles’ life and establishing narrative continuity like showing Athena “aging” from a maiden to a mature woman in later labors. Appropriate because Heracles laid out sanctuary of Olympia.

Expresses psychological state of characters through poses and lines of sight of the figures.

Integration of depicted and architectural space:

-compositions clear masses with painted backgrounds of red and blue making the figures pop

-carved deeply, figures standing at an angle to the back of the relief to give illusion of greater depth, no longer aligning figures with front of block like in Archaic period

-Heracles interacts with architectural elements. When he holds up the sky in the Atlas scene, he seems to be holding up the architrave itself. He appears to be building the temple through his labors

This shows east side metopes 7-12

The Erymanthian Boar, Horses of Diomedes, Cattley of Geryon, Apples of the Hesperides, Cerberus, Augean stables

 Olympia. Temple of Zeus. Reconstruction of east facade.

470-460 BCE

-Doric style, columns more slender than in Archaic

-built from limestone stuccoed to look like marble, and painted red and blue

-external metopes blank, but not internal ones

-pediments have marble sculptures with deep folds of drapery used to model figures, typifying Early Classical Style

1. Cloth draped in a way to suggest motion even if body static

2. Modeling lines: run in long curves over a surface to emphasize volume

3. Chain lines: hang from two or more points like swagging

Here E. Pediment showing preparations for the race between Pelops and Oinomaos for the hand of Hippodameia, who are standing on either side of Zeus who is in the center. Hippodameia and her mother standing on either side of the two men. 5 upright figures line up with the triglyphs and columns immediately under them.

This race the mythical origins of the Olympic games

Zeus turns toward Pelops because he is going to win.

Olympia: Sanctuary Plan

Date:     5th C. B.C

Athens: Acropolis Model under Early Roman Empire

5th c. BCE

Athens. Acropolis. Plan.

400 BCE

  Creator:     Designed by architects Ictinus and Callicrates; statues by Phidias
    Title:     Acropolis, Parthenon
    Date:     Built between 448 and 438 BC at the site of the Archaic hekatompedon; decorated in 438 - 432 BC; transformed into a church in the 6th century, into a mosque in the 15th and into an arsenal in the 17th

 Creator:     Designed by architects Ictinus and Callicrates; statues by Phidias
    Title:     Acropolis, Parthenon
    Date:     Built between 448 and 438 BC at the site of the Archaic hekatompedon; decorated in 438 - 432 B

 Creator:     Mnesikles (architect).
    Title:     Acropolis. Propylaia. Exterior. View from below.
    Date:     437-432 BC

Acropolis. Propylaia

 Creator:     Mnesikles (architect)
    Date:     437-432 BC

    Creator:     Mnesikles
    Title:     Athens. Acropolis. Propylaea. Plan, ca. 700.

Title:     Athens: Acropolis: Temple of Athena Nike: Ext.: View from S (Odeion)
    Date:     c.427 B.C

   Title:     Athens (Acropolis): Temple of Athena Nike : Ext.: E Entablature South 1/3
    Date:     c.427B.C

 Acropolis. Temple of Athena Nike. View from the east.
    Date:     ca. 435-425 BC

Acropolis, Erechtheion, Temple of Athena Polias

 Creator:     Probably originally designed by Mnesicles; Philocles cited as architect in the last period construction
Acropolis, Erechtheion, Temple of Athena Polias
    Date:     Built between the years 438 and 406 or 405 BC, probably to replace an earlier 6th-century temple; renovated between 27 BC and 14 AD after a fire destroyed original roof; in the 7th century AD converted into a church. In 1676 it became a Turkish residence and harem.

  Title:     Athens: Acropolis: Erechtheion or temple of Athena Polias

General view (by architect Mnesicles?) from Southeast
    Date:     421-405 B.C

    Creator:     Probably originally designed by Mnesicles; Philocles cited as architect in the last period construction
    Title:     Acropolis, Erechtheion, Sanctuary of Athena Polias
    Date:     Built between the years 438 and 406 or 405 BC, probably to replace an earlier 6th-century temple;

   Creator:     Iktinos
    Creator:     Kallikrates
    Title:     Athens. Acropolis. Parthenon. Exterior view. Detail: Curvature of north colonnade.

   Title:     Greek Agora, Temple of Hephaistos/ Theseion
    Date:     Designed during the first half of the 5th century BC; built ca. 440 BC
    Location:     Athens, Greece
    Style Period:     Doric, Ionic frieze; Classical Greece
    Description:     On the Greek Agora's west edge, lies a Doric peripteral hexastyle temple of Hephaistos, also known as the Theseion. The building is well preserved mainly because it was later transformed into a Christian church. It was designed during the first half of the 5th century BC, perhaps under Cimon, but was built probably at the same time as the Parthenon (circa 440 BC). The structure was built using Pentelic marble and it has a rectangular plan with a peristasis of six on thirteen columns. This temple incorporated a combination of Early Classical architecture together with features borrowed from the Parthenon. While its pronaos and opisthodomos are deep, the cella is similar to that of the Parthenon. Fragments of the pediment and acroteria, attributed to Alcamenes, still remain. There were found 18 metopes on the eastern side and the ends of the long sides adjacent to it are all made of Parian marble like the rest of the sculptural decoration of the temple. They are all pre-Phidian in style, however the Ionic frieze of the pronaos and opisthodomos, a centauromachy, is in the Phidian style. 

Had statues of Athena and Hephaestus, were metalworkers in surrounding area in 5th c.

Temple of Hephaestus ("Theseion") plan
    Date:     ca. 449-444 B.C.E.
    Location:     Agora, Athens, Greece

Later converted into a church. Quintissential peripteral Doric temple. Peristatis follows regular principles of Doric temple. 6 × 13 columns. Metopes with Heracles in front, only 4 on sides showing deeds of Theses. Cella building has two porches distyle in antis. Porches decorated with inner Ionic friezes showing gods witnessing combat and Theseus in pose of Tyrannicides fihting centaurs and architraves with a Lesbian molding instead of Doric tainia and regulae.

So similar to Temple of Poseidon at Sounion possibly designed by same architect.

Soúnion, Attica, Temple of Poseidon

    Culture:     Greek

c. 440 BCE

Doric order with 6 ×13 standard column arrangement, very similar to Hephaisteon in this as well as internal continuous Ionic frieze over porch. But has plain external metopes. Located on island promontory over busy shipping route, so temple to Poseidon is appropriate.

    Title:     Temple of Apollo Epikurios plan
    Date:     ca. 420 B.C.E.

Bassae, Greece

-built over earlier shrine with proportions resembling an Archaic temple. Longer than usual at this date, and 15 instead of the expected 13 columns on long sides (with 6 columns on short ends)

-perhaps due to cultic need for sacred area in back of main hall, but also makes it look older

Bassae: Temple of Apollo Epikourios: Ext.: view from NW
    Date:     Late 5th C. B.C

-Doric columns in peristyle shorter than normal and have carved rings under capitals in emulation of 6th c. buildings

-innovative in mixing orders like the Parthenon

-Doric facade with interior piers rendered as engaged Ionic columns, like Parthenon had a carved interior frieze inside of the main hall

  Title:     Bassae: Temple of Apollo Epikourios: Ext.: S view toward adyton
    Date:     Late 5th C. B.C

Unique single column at the end of the naos before the shrine. This column had a new kind of capital: Corinthian with acanthus scrolls and leaves. Like a synthesis of Doric and Ionic capitals, epitomizes Iktinos’ synthetic style in designing this temple.

Late 5th c. Greek Temple, Segesta, Italy

    Creator:     Built by the Phocian architect Theodoros
    Title:     Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, Tholos Heroon of Phylakos
    Date:     Built 380-370 BC

 Creator:     Built by the Phocian architect Theodoros
 Title:     Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, Tholos Heroon of Phylakos
 Date:     Built 380-370 BC

 Delphi: Tholos Plan: construction details section with corinthian capital; inner columns

5th c. BCE

Epidauros: Tholos Plan:
    Date:     c.360-330 B.C

-location of cult of Asklepios

-Epidauros was a major cult site for pilgrims coming to be healed in the 4th c.

-Early use of Corinthian order columns on outside of temple

 Greek Theater in Delphi, Greece
Date:     Originally built in the 4th century BC; renovated in the 2nd century BC

Tegea: Temple of Athena Alea Plan
Date:     c.360 B.C

Temple of Athena Polias
    Date:     Built from the mid-4th century BC to the 2nd century BC

Architect: Pytheos
    Location:     Priene, Turkey
    Style Period:     Ionic, Hellenistic

Laid out in a grid like the city of Priene itself using very exact proportions, using stone blocks measuring 6 × 6 Attic feet. Initial funding from Carian royal family, then Alexander the Great inscribed his name on the wall, but was not finished until 2nd c. by the king of Cappadocia.

Pytheos innovated by introducing idea of ceiling coffer lids with sculpted figural decoration for peristyle. This catches on in sacred architecture.

    Title:     Cnidus. The Lion Tomb. Reconstruction.
    Work Type:     Architecture
    Site:     Cnidus (Knidos, Cnidus Nova), Turkey.

Nemea, Greece. Temple of Zeus. Restored plan.

c. 340 BCE

Characteristic of developments in 4th century Doric temples. Shorter in relation to width compared to prev. Had 6 × 12 columns instead of 6 ×13 and did not have an opisthodomos.

Expanded use of internal Corinthian columns from Bassae. Now Corinthian columns mark adyton, not just one of them.

 Nemea: Temple of Zeus Plan Longitudinal section
    Date:     c.340 B.C

Characteristic of developments in 4th century Doric temples. Shorter in relation to width compared to prev. Had 6 × 12 columns instead of 6 ×13 and did not have an opisthodomos.

Expanded use of internal Corinthian columns from Bassae. Now Corinthian columns mark adyton, not just one of them.

Sanctuary of Zeus, Temple of Zeus, platform and three columns
Date:     c. 340-320 BCE

Characteristic of developments in 4th century Doric temples. Shorter in relation to width compared to prev. Had 6 × 12 columns instead of 6 ×13 and did not have an opisthodomos.

See transition to Hellenistic Doric style with slimmer columns, smaller frieze and lower echinus.

Nemea. Temple of Zeus. Restored longitudinal section through cella.

340-320 BCE

Classical

Characteristic of developments in 4th century Doric temples. Shorter in relation to width compared to prev. Had 6 × 12 columns instead of 6 ×13 and did not have an opisthodomos.

Temple of Apollo, Didyma, Turkey

Late 4th c.

Hellenistic

Oracle of Apollo at Didyma was first Greek oracle to proclaim Alexander the Great’s divinity, adapted well to Hellenistic kindgoms. Older Archaic temple destroyed by the Persians in 494. Replaced by diadochos Seleukos starting in 300/299, but work continued into the Roman period.

Late 4th c. marked by major Ionic order temples with a conscious return to Archaic Ionic forms. Double colonnade and 12 more columns in extra deep porch. main doorway did not give access to the temple, but had a threshold 5 feet high where priest would proclaim oracles.

Dipteral temple with 10 ×21 columns on outer peristatis and 4 × 3 columns on interior of pronaos

  Temple of Apollo, Didyma, interior, looking southwest

Creators: Paionios of Ephesus and Daphnis of Miletos, architects:    
    Work Type:     architecture
    Date:     begun c. 300-287 BCE, on the site of temples built c. 700-650 BCE and c. 550-500 BCE; building continued into the 1st century CE and never completed
    Location:     Didyma, Turkey
    Description:     first building campaign funded by Seleukos Nikator

Huge inner building was unroofed (hypaethral) like Archaic temple, resembled a large courtyard and may have contained a sacred grove. Within it was small Ionic shrine with 4 columns in front (tetrastyle in antis), holy of holies which probably housed oracle and ancient statue. Court was accessed by two, slowing vaulted tunnels on either side of the great doorway, visitors would emerge from the dark into the sun. Tunnels uniquely vaulted with true arches, to give cave-like atmosphere. Not really used elsewhere in Greek architecture. Another flight of steps led to another sacred chamber with two huge Corinthian columns, from there steps led to the roof, probably for ritual activity.

  Didyma. Temple of Apollo. Restored plan.

  Creator:     Paionios of Ephesos
    Creator:     Daphnis of Miletos
    Work Type:     Architecture
    Date:     late 4th century BCE
    Site:     Didyma (Branchidai, Didim), Turkey.

Oracle of Apollo at Didyma was first Greek oracle to proclaim Alexander the Great’s divinity, adapted well to Hellenistic kindgoms. Older Archaic temple destroyed by the Persians in 494. Replaced by diadochos Seleukos starting in 300/299, but work continued into the Roman period.

Double colonnade and 12 more columns in extra deep porch. main doorway did not give access to the temple, but had a threshold 5 feet high where priest would proclaim oracles. Huge inner building was unroofed (hypaethral) like Archaic temple, resembled a large courtyard and may have contained a sacred grove. Within it was small Ionic shrine with 4 columns in front (tetrastyle in antis), holy of holies which probably housed oracle and ancient statue. Court was accessed by two, slowing vaulted tunnels on either side of the great doorway, visitors would emerge from the dark into the sun. Another flight of steps led to another sacred chamber with two huge Corinthian columns, from there steps led to the roof, probably for ritual activity.

Temple of Zeus Olympios, Temple of Olympian Zeus

    Creator:     2nd century BC reconstruction by Roman architect Marcus Cossutius
    Date:     Construction begun in the 6th century BC or earlier; reconstructed in 175-164 BC; completed in the 2nd century AD
    Location:     Athens, Greece
    Style Period:     Archaic Greece, Classical Greece; Hellenistic; Roman Empire; Corinthian
    Description:     The colossal temple of Zeus Olympios is one of the city's most ancient religious buildings. A part of it still stands in the wide temenos of the Olympieion area, southeast of the Acropolis at the heart of the neapolis, the 'new city'. The temenos is accessible through a hexastyle propylon in the northeastern sector. The temple was probably built at the 6th century BC or earlier, it was renovated a few decades later by the Pisistratids who gave the renovated structure an oriental-leaning appearance. The temple was re-designed in the Corinthian style with a dipteral plan and dimensions even more imposing under Antiochos IV of Syria, who entrusted the work to the Roman architect Marcus Cossutius (175 - 164 BC). Hadrian's architect elaborated even more on this design to build the largest Corinthian temple in the ancient world (110 x 44 meters). The temple's construction was only completed in the 2nd century AD; it was one of the last examples of architectural gigantism in the Classical Age and was clearly inspired by eastern Hellenistic models. Only about 15 columns on the south and east side remained. Hadrian associated the Imperial cult with that of Zeus, who was venerated with a statue of gold and ivory in the temple.

    Culture:     Hellenistic
    Title:     Altar of Zeus from Pergamon
    Title:     overall view
    Date:     erected circa 180 BCE

   Creator:     Hermogenes of Alabanda
    Title:     Magnesia on Maeander. Temple of Artemis. Plan.

Classical

    Title:     Stoa of the Athenians
    Date:     Built ca. 478 BC
    Location:     Delphi, Greece
    Style Period:     Classical Greece, Ionic
    Description:     At the eastern extremity of the big polygonal wall that retained the terrace of the Temple of Apollo a 30-meter stoa having seven monolithic Ionic columns was erected by the Athenians after the Persian wars circa 478 BC. An inscription found on the stylobate mentioned that the purpose of the stoa was to exhibit the spoils of war of their victory over the Persians.

   Title:     Old Smyrna. Fortifications. Section drawing of successive phases.
    Work Type:     Architecture
    Site:     Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey.

 Title:     Athens: Map of Dipylon area w/ Plans
    Location:     Athens (Greece)

Olynthos. Plan of blocks A v to A vii.

Classical

Olynthos. Villa of Good Fortune. Restored plan.

Classical

   Title:     Vergina. Hellenistic Palace. Plan.
    Work Type:     Architecture
    Site:     Vergina, Greece
    Style Period:     Hellenistic, 4th c.

A ruler’s house is essentially a courtyard house on a much larger scale. Possibly built for king Cassander of Macedon. Mixing Doric and Ionic orders, feature of Hellenistic architecture. Front of the palace had long porches that resembled stoa. Rooms surrounding courtyard seem to have been dining rooms. Fine pebble mosaics. Royal apartments likely on 2nd floor. Need new architectural form for new position of Hellenistic kingship.

Alexandria: Necropolis of Mustafa Pasha Tomb I: Int.: view of peristyle
    Title:     Necropolis of Mustafa Pasha
    Date:     late 3rd early 2nd C. B.C
    Location:     Alexandria (Egypt)

Large rock cut kline tombs from Alexandria in Hellenistic period. Hypogaea (underground rock cut tombs) with open court in front like plan of a Greek house. Similar to Macedonian rock cut tombs with facades resembling 2-d elevation of temple facade with engaged half-columns with no structural function. Here also triglyph and metope frieze and Doric order columns. Use of temple architecture in tomb architecture. Row of recumbant sphinxes reminiscent of Egyptian temple architecture.

  Priene. House no. 33. Plans: Original and later forms.
    Site:     Priene (Turunçlar), Turkey.

Left: pastas house: porch on north end of courtyard with rooms opening onto the courtyard or the porch.

Right:

prostas house type prominant in Prierene, which moved to new location in 352 BCE. New settlement had a grid layout and houses were built on rectangular lots.

Prostas house: 3 zones: a single story of utility rooms at S end, a courtyard in the middle and a two story residential block at N end. This layout has been thought to reflect more rigid social disctinctions

Center

Peristyle house

-developed later in 4th c., development of pastas house without household industry. Courtyard now place of leisure, becomes larger and is surrounded by porticoes on all sides. Smaller rooms open off of court on all sides. Could be the size of mansions, here larger than the other two houses.

    Culture:     Hellenistic
    Title:     Courtyard of a house, with columns and mosaic pavement
    Date:     2nd century BCE
    Location:     Delos, Greece

    Creator:     Iktinos
    Title:     Eleusis. Telesterion. Plan showing relative position of Anaktoron.
 Site:     Eleusis, Greece.

 Athens. Agora. Plan.

First laid out in the 6th century. Increased building in Periclean Athens, including Hephaisteion/Thesion.

 Title:     Megalopolis. Thersilion. Plan.
    Site:     Megalopolis, Greece.

   Title:     Piraeus. Naval Arsenal of Philo. Restoration.

 Creator:     Philo of Eleusis
    Date:     340-330 BCE

    Title:     Priene, Asia Minor: Agora Int.: restoration of stoa
    Date:     2nd. C. B.C

Stone stoa in Anatolia as part of increased wealth in Hellenistic period. Agora in Priene bordered by stoa on 3 sides as was typical of agora in Hellenistic period. The mixing of Ionic and Doric columns is also typical of Hellenistic stoas.

Priene, Asia Minor: Agora restoration entrance elevation
    Date:     2nd. C. B.C, 156 BCE

Part of trend of monumental stone agoras in Anatolia in Hellenistic period. A true, voussoir arch, rare in Greek architecture. Possibly first monumental stone gateway to an agora in the Greek world.

Assos,Turkey. Steeply terraced Agora. Plan.

2nd c. BCE

Increased wealth in Hellenistic period results in stone stoas, especially in Anatolia. Agora in Hellenistic cities typically bordered on three sides by stoa. Had a two story stoa on one side with stacked Doric and Ionic columns, typical of Hellenistic stoa.

 Assos,Turkey: Agora Reconstruction; aerial view

2nd c. BCE

Increased wealth in Hellenistic period results in stone stoas, especially in Anatolia. Agora in Hellenistic cities typically bordered on three sides by stoa. Had a two story stoa on one side with stacked Doric and Ionic columns, typical of Hellenistic stoa.

Athens. Agora. Stoa of Attalos. Plan, cross-section, and partial elevation.

Hellenistic, mid 2nd c.

Dedicated by King Attalos II of Pergamon who was a student in Athens. Poleis become dependent on generosity of Hellenistic kings in Hellenistic period. Two story stoa with a mix of Doric and Ionic order columns as was typical of Hellenistic period stoa, shows architectural fluidity like palace at Vergina. Interior lower floor columns were Ionic, exterior Doric. Columns on second floor a special Pergamene order resembling palm leaves. Could accommodate 42 shops. Marble used in columns and other elements of the building shows the expense involved in construction.

Ekklesiasterion (assembly hall) or Bouleuterion (council house), interior, central altar, tiered seating and corner stairway

Culture:     Hellenistic
    Date:     c. 200-150 BCE
    Location:     Priene, Turkey

Tiered seating set into a slope similar to theater seating.

More elaborate version of square type of bouleuterion. (Could be square or oblong in this period)

Middle seat block rose higher than the sides with 6 additional rows of seats. The bouleterion at Priene could seat 600-700 people, a lot for a bouleterion for a city of 4,000 people. So more likely an Ekklesiasterion where the larger citizen assembly met. Sloping area deliberately chosen for seating like a theater. Increased wealth in Hellenistic Anatolia led to more constructin in stone in 3rd c.

Miletus, Turkey: Council House restored view
    Date:     c.160 B.C

Tall propylon gate with 3-level foundation and 4 Corinthian columns, and now-lost friezes, then a courtyard surrounded by stoa on 3 sides and finally the assembly hall. Paid for by benefaction of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, shows that generosity from Hellenistic monarchs was necessary for poleis at this time. The rectangular bulding housed an oblong, round bouleutarion type with a seating area that closely resembled that of a theater. Only 4 columns supported the assembly hall to reduce visual obstructions. Assembly hall had 18 rows of seats and could have seated 1,200 people.

  Title:     Pergamon, Turkey. Plan of Acropolis
    Date:     100-200 CE

    Culture:     Hellenistic
    Title:     Theater, seating, view from the Citadel with the surrounding landscape
    Work Type:     architecture
    Date:     2nd century BCE
    Location:     Pergamon, Turkey

Roman Agora, Gate of Athena Archegetis<br/>View Description: general view
    Work Type:     Gate
    Date:     creation date: 19-11 BCE
    Location:     Athens, Attica

Thorikos, Greece. Theater. Restored plan.

Epidauros, Greece. Theater. Plan of first phase.

Creator:     Polykleitos The Younger

Epidauros, Greece. Theater.

 Style Period:     Hellenistic
 Description:     On the slopes of Mt. Kynortion on the southeast edge of the site is a theater, which is famous for being preserved almost intact. It was built in the beginning of the 3rd century BC. It had 34 rows of seats built of limestone and was divided into 12 sections. It had a seating capacity of 6000 spectators. In the 2nd century BC the upper part of the auditorium was extended, adding 21 more rows of seats. The theater could then accommodate about 12000 spectators. The front row seats were built of reddish stone and head a back support. They were reserved for dignitaries. The orchestra was encircled by a narrow strip of marble and its floor was made of packed earth. It had a thymele (an altar) in the middle, of which only the circular base survived. There were two parodoi and skena building of which only the foundations remain. Originally, the skena building was in the shape of a hypostyle stoa with a row of pillars and a parapet at the rear. The proscenium had two low wings which projected forward and 14 Ionic half columns on the facade. During the theater extension, the skena was also enlarged by adding a quadrilateral area on the west side and blocking the openings between the pillars of the rear wall. In 267 AD the Visigoths destroyed the theater. Later on, it was repaired. 

Epidauros, Greece. Theater

    Title:     Greek Theater
    Date:     Built in the early 3rd century BC; upper part of the auditorium extended and skena enlarged in the 2nd century BC; destroyed in 267 AD by the Visigoths and repaired later

Priene, Turkey. Theater. Restored plan.

c. 300 BCE

Priene, Turkey: Theater: reconstruction
    Date:     c.300 B.C