GREEK ARCHITECTURE

A. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Much as Greek culture owed to the preceding Oriental civilizations, still the
change effected by the Greeks has so profoundly influence the development of
European progress that Greece must be regarded as the veritable source of literary
and artistic inspiration. The character of the early or Mycenaean Period, also
known as The Pelasgic , Cyclopean or Primitive Period, is very different form the
later Hellenic period.
The origins of Greek architectural design are not to be found in the various
strands of Aegean art that appeared in the eastern Mediterranean, notably Minoan
or Mycenean art, but in the Oriental cultures that poured their influences into the
Greek settlements along the shore of Asia Minor (Turkey) and from there to
Hellas itself. Ever since the Geometric Period (900-725 BCE), the main task of the
Greek architect was to design temples honouring one or more Greek deities. In
fact, until the 5th century BCE it was practically his only concern. The temple was
merely a house (oikos) for the god, who was represented there by his cult statue,
and most Geometric-era foundations indicate that they were constructed according
to a simple rectangle. According to ceramic models (like the 8th century model
found in the Sanctuary of Hera near Argos), they were made out of rubble and
mud brick with timber beams and a thatched or flat clay roof. By 700 BCE, the
latter was superceded by a sloping roof made from fired clay roof tiles. Their
interiors used a standard plan adapted from the Mycenean palace megaron. The
temple's main room, which contained the statue of the god, or gods, to whom the
building was dedicated, was known as the cella or naos. (For more about the history
of Greek architecture, see: Ancient Greek Art: c.650-27 BCE.)
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THE MYCENAEAN PERIOD

Has already been defined as extending shortly after the war with Troy, though
in the islands, it lasted till the eight century B.C ; but remains of a pre-
Mycenaean period called minoan.
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THE HELLENIC PERIOD

Contains all the principal temples and monuments which were erected between
the years B.C 700 and the Roman Occupation B.C 146.
Many of the Greek cities were upon or in the immediate vicinity of a hill which
was known as the Acropolis (Greek: an upper city)

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 B. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
PLAN, WALLS, ROOFS AND OPENINGS

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TEMPLES
Formed the most important class of the buildings erected during this period,
a general description applicable to all is therefore given.
DIFFIRENT KINDS OF TEMPLES
I. DI-STYLE IN ANTIS
II. DI-STYLE IN ANTIS BOTH ENDS
III. PROSTYLE TETRASTYLE
IV. AMPHI-PROSTYLE TETRASTYLE
V. PERIPTERAL CIRCULAR
VI. PERIPTERAL HEXASTYLE
VII. PERIPTERAL OCTASTYLE
VIII. PSEUDO-PERIPTERAL
IX. DIPTERAL OCTASTYLE
X. PSEUDO-DIPTERAL OCTASTYLE
XI. DIPTERAL DECASTYLE
XII. OCTAGONAL
XIII. IRREGULAR PLANNING
COLUMNS

VARIETIES OF TEMPLES

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•THE DORIC ORDER

- The oldest, the plaines, and most sturdy, is traced by many to an
Egyptian prototype as exemplified at Beni-Hasan.
- The Doric Order of Greek architecture was the first style of stone
temple architecture in ancient Greece. It became popular in the
Archaic Period, roughly 750-480 BCE, and replaced the previous style
of basic, wood structures. The Doric Order was the first style of
Classical Architecture, which is the sophisticated architectural styles of
ancient Greece and Rome that set the standards for beauty, harmony,
and strength for European architecture. The other two orders are Ionic
and Corinthian. Doric Order is recognizable by two basic features: the
columns and the entablature.
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THE COLUMN
- Which has no base, but stands directly on a stylobate usually of three
stepsis, including the cap from 4 to 61 times the diameter at the base in
height.
- The purpose of the columns was to support the weight of the ceiling.
Each order of classical architecture used columns for this purpose, but
the columns were differently designed. In the Doric Order, the column
shaft is simple and tapered, meaning it is wider at the base than the top.
Each column has 20 parallel, vertical grooves called flutes.
THE ENTABLATURE
- Usually about one quarter of the height of order, supported by
columns, and has three main divisions:
a. The ARCHITRAVE – derived from its prototype, the wooden
beam
b. The FRIEZE – has triglyphs, ornamented with three channels, and
metopes or square spaces between them, sometimes filled with
sculptureof the highest quality.
c. The CORNICE - consists of an upper crowning part consisting of
cymatium and Birdsbeak mouldings beneath which is a vertical face
known as the corona.
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DORIC EXAMPLES IN GREECE

THE HERAION, OLYMPIA
The Temple of Hera, is believed to be the
most ancient of all Greek temples hitherto
discovered.
THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS, OLYMPIA
Is a peripteral hexastyle on plan. The
columns, of which there are thirteen of sides, equal
those of the Parthenon in height, but are much
greater in diameter.
THE THESEION
Is now generally believed to be the temple of
Hephaesthos and, although the best preserved
Doric example in Greece, both name and date are a matter of doubt.
THE TEMPLE OF APHAIA
On the island of Aegina is an interesting and well preserved example of an early
peripteral hexastyle temple.
THE PARTHENON
Was erected in the time of Pericles, being dedicated to Athena Parthenos (the
virgin Athena).

•THE IONIC ORDER

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.
It is one of the three orders of classical architecture, alongside the Doric and
Corinthian orders. Classical architecture refers to the architecture styles of ancient
Greece and Rome, which set the standards for architecture in the Western world.
These ancient civilizations defined what we consider to be architectural beauty.

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TH COLUMNS
The Ionic order is defined by the Ionic column. In ancient Greece, buildings
were made with a number of columns that held up their roofs. The column was the
architectural staple of Greece, both from a practical and artistic standpoint. Columns
supported the weight of the roof and let the Greeks build larger temples.
A column was made up of several parts. The base is the stone platform at the
bottom of the column. There are usually multiple layers to the base. On top of the
base is the shaft, the long part of the column with groves running down the sides. At
the very top is the capital, the decorative stone that bears the weight of the roof. Ionic
columns tend to be more slender, but the defining feature of the Ionic order is the
volute. The volute is the spiral, scroll-like capital of the Ionic column.

Besides a column, the Ionic order also has specific

entablature.

THE ENTABLATURE
is the part of the roof that rests on top of the column
and consists of the architrave, the frieze, and the cornice:
THE ARCHITRAVE
is the long beam that supports the weight directly
above the column.
THE FRIEZE
is a strip above the architrave.
THE CORNICE
is the top weight-bearing part which juts outwards.

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•THE CORINTHIAN ORDER

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.

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To ensure buildings echoed a cohesive sense of style, the Greeks created three
orders of architecture, groups of design elements meant to go together on a building's
exterior decoration. All orders included specific kinds of columns and capitals, and
decorations on the entablature, a series of horizontal decorative bands above the
columns and below the roofline.
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THE ENTABLATURE
had three parts: the architrave, which runs above the capitals; the frieze, a band
of decoration above the architrave; and the cornice, which is closest to the top of the
building.
The three Greek architectural orders were Doric, which was the most simple;
Ionic, which was a bit more decorative; and the Greek Corinthian order, which was
the most elaborate and decorative.

MOULDINGS

THE CYMA-RECTA is generally found to be more upright and less deeply flected
than the cyma-reversa; it is almost always the profile of enrichments on flat surfaces,
of foliage, of the covering moulding of pediments, of the undercut or hooked
mouldings in antae caps, the overhanging not affecting the general principle; and it
pervades, as we have said. Flected architectural lines generally, whether horizontal or
vertical.
THE CYMA-REVERSA has all the variety of inflection that its opposite possesses,
but the line connecting its two ends is, for the most part, more horizontal, and its
curves are deeper.
AN OVOLO is but the upper half of a cyma-reversa, even when it is mused as a
distinct moulding, and unconnected with the waving form.
THE UPPER TORUS of a base forms, with the escape or apophyge of the shaft, a
perfect cyma, and the scotia and lower torus do the same; so that the torus and scotia
are referable to the same principle when in composition, and they are not found
together except in the combination referred to.
THE BEAD is an independent moulding varying in contour, but it is generally the
larger segment of a circle.
THE CAVETTO, or single hollow, is part of a cyma also, as has been shown; but it
is also applied independently to obviate a sharp angle, or to take from the formality of
a vertical line, as in the abaci of Ionic antae caps.

LINK: https://www.proremodeler.com/sites/default/files/molding%20chart%201.png

ORNAMENTS

ACANTHUS LEAF
motif was based on a durable plant with spiked leaves found throughout the
Mediterranean. On the Corinthian entablature, the frieze was usually decorated with
continual sculptural reliefs, where the figures were raised from the surface but not
completely freestanding.

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s_in_different_styles%2C_each_one_beaing_notated_with_a_letter.

THE ANTHEMION, PALMETTE OR HONEYSUCKLE

Was a favorite decoration of the Greeks and was largely uses as an
ornamentation on Anta Caps, cyma-recta mouldings, and round the necks of columns.
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