classics - features of the architecture of greek temples

keywords greek temples

peristyle

Outer row of columns

naos/cella

inner chamber of a temple

opisthodomos

Back room/treasury

Pediment

triangular space between the top of a colonnade and the roof, contains sculpture

Metope

part of a Doric frieze, often decorated with relief sculptures. It alternates with a set of 3 lines (triglyph).

Triglyph

a tablet in a Doric frieze with three vertical grooves. Triglyphs alternate with metopes.

Stylobate

a continuous base supporting a row of columns in classical Greek architecture.

Stereobate

In Greek architecture, the stepped base on which a temple stands.

columns in antis

columns in between the Antae walls of a temple

Doric Capital

simplest, column with shafts, with no base at the bottom

Ionic Capital (Volute)

slender column with a base and capital formed in 'scrolls'

Doric frieze

A frieze containing alternating triglyphs and metopes.

Ionic Frieze

An unbroken strip of marble that goes all the way around a temple and sometimes contains relief sculpture

Entasis

a slight convex curve in the shaft of a column, introduced to correct the visual illusion