GREEK ARCHITECTURE

GREEK (800 - 300 B.C.)

• Delicacy of outline, perfected proportions and refined

• Based the different proportions of their construction systems on mathematical ratios

• The fast manifestation was a wooden structure of upright posts supporting beams and sloping rafters.

• Completed with sophisticated optical corrections for perspective

• 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.

GREEK PHASES

• AEGEAN

• HELLENIC

• 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 prince of Agamemnon: Cyclopean walls of boulders weighing 5-6 tons were carved 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.

MINOAN (1800 - 1300 B.C.)

• A Bronze Age civilization flourished in Crete.

• Named after King Minos of Knossos

• Gate buildings with multi-columnar porches provided access to unfortified compounds.

• Foundation walls, piers and lintels were stone with the upper walls in timber framework.

PALACE AT KNOSSOS

• Crete, Greece.

• The palace contained residences. kitchens, storage rooms, bathrooms. ceremonial rooms, workshops, and sanctuaries.

CAPITALS

• palm capital, paimiform (plume capital)

• papyrus capital, papyriform

• bud capital, closed bud capital, closed capital

• bell capital, blossom capital, campar form, open capital

• lotus capital, Jotiform, lily capital

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.

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.

TEMENOS

The sacred area or enclosure surrounding a classical Greek temple.

ACROPOLIS

"City on the height." In classical Greek architecture, a city stronghold or fortress constructed on higher red than surrounding urban fabric.

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.

DISTYLE IN ANTIS

Having two columns in front between antae

ANTA

A rectangular pier or pilaster formed by thickening the end of a projecting wall.

PROSTYLE

Having a portico on the front only

APTERAL

Without a colonnade along the sides.

AMPHIPROSTYLE

Prostyle on both fronts

PERIPTERAL

Having a single row of columns on all sides.

PTERON

A colonnade parallel to but apart from the cella.

PTEROMA

The passage between the pteron and the cella.

PARTS OF A TEMPLE
ACROTERIUM

• A pedestal for a sculpture or ornament at the apex or at each of the lower corners of a pediment

• Also called acroterion.

PARTS OF A TEMPLE
PEDIMENT

A wide, low-pitched gable surmounting a colonnade or a major division of a facade.

PARTS OF A TEMPLE
TYMPANUM

The triangular space enclosed by the horizontal and raking corners of a pediment, often recessed and decorated with sculpture.

PARTS OF A TEMPLE
STYLOBATE

A course of masonry forming the foundation for a row of columns, esp. the outermost colonnade of a classical temple.

PARTS OF A TEMPLE
STEREOBATE

A solid mass of masonry visible above ground level and serving as the foundation of a building esp. the platform forming the floor and substructure of a classical temple. Also, called crepidoma, podium.

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.

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

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)

PROPYLAEA

A monumental gateway to a sacred enclosure, fortification, town or square.

NUMBER OF COLUMNS

• 1- hemostyle

• 2-distyle

• 3-tristyle

• 4-tetrastyle

• 5-pentastyle

• 6-hexastyle

• 7-heptasty

• 8-octastyle

• 9-enpeastyle

• 10 decastys

• 12-dodecastyle

COLUMN ARRANGEMENT

Determines the type of colonnade a classical temple has.

PSEUDO-PERIPTERAL

Having engaged columns at the sides.

DIPTERAL

Having two rows of columns on all sides.

PSEUDO-DIPTERAL

Having an arrangement of columns suggesting a dipteral structure but without the inner colonnade.

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.

FIGURED COLUMNS
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

plural atlantes: a massive carved statuesque stooping male figure, often serving as a columnar support for a pediment.

FIGURED COLUMNS
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.

INTERCOLUMNATION

The systematic spacing of columns expressed as multiples of column diameters.

• 1.500 Pycnostyle

• 2.00D Systyle

• 2.25D Eustyle

• 3.00D Diastyle

• 4.00D Araeostyle

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.

GREEK ORDERS
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,
  -Entablature: plain architrave, a frieze of triglyphs and metopes, and a cornice, the corona on which has mutules on its soffit.
  -Column: H=4-6.5" column base
  Entablature: H=1 3/4 lower

GREEK ORDERS
IONIC

• Developed in the lonian 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%" column

CIVIC BUILDING

AGORA Tyre, Lebanon

A market or meeting place in a Greek city, the hub of public life where the most important buldings 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.

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 n 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.

Megaron

An early Greek dwelling type.

A long rectangular central tall 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

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.

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.

Peristyle

A Greek dwelling-type whose open courtyard is surrounded by colonnades on all sides, often more luxurious than a prostas or pastas house.

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 lonian Hippodamus of Miletus in the 5th century BC.

THERMAE

Thermae of Caracalla.

Establishments that were built for washing, as well as exercising, entertaining, and conducting business.

BASILICA

Basilica of Maxentius. Rome.

A Roman building-type, rectangular in shape with an apse at either end, used as a meeting place, courthouse, marketplace, and lecture hall.

Forum Romanum

Oldest forum in Rome; Republican Forum; Open space, rectangular in shape, enclosed by different institutional and public buildings, serving as the city's marketplace and centre of public business.