Greek Architecture
(Circa 3000 – 30 BC)
1. Geographical
 Greece is an independent nation occupying the
Southernmost part of the Balkan Peninsula
 Consist of the numerous islands that are spread
in both Ionian and Aegean Sea, included among
them is Crete, which is the largest.
 Bounded on the north by the country of
Bulgaria and Albania, to the south by the
Mediterranean Sea, to the east by the Aegean
Sea and to the west by Ionian Sea.
 Capital is Athens and the Chief seaport is
Pireaus.
 It was upon the island of Crete that arouses the
first great sea-power of the Mediterranean
which flourished a thousand years before the
Greek civilization reached its peak.
 This Aegean culture extended to Greece and
her islands and was founded on trade around
the whole eastern Mediterranean seaboard
with Asian Minor, Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, Egypt
and Libya.
 Geography determined the fortunes of both the
Aegean and the Greek cultures, The rugged
nature of the Greek peninsula and its Islands
with mountains hinterlands, made the sea the
inevitable means of intercourse.
 The mountain of inland Greece separated the
inhabitants into group of clans, and thus arise
the rivalry, which characterized the Greek
states, weather in peace or war.
II. Geological
 Greece and her domains have ample
supplies of good buildings stone, but the
mineral of the greatest importance to her
architecture was her unrivaled marble.
 The most beautiful and the most
monumental of all building materials. 
Facilitates the exactness of lines and
refinement of details
 Found in abundance, notably in the
mountains of Hymettus and Penticulus near
Athens and in the islands of Pharos and
Naxos.
III. Climate
 Climate was intermediate between
rigorous cold and relaxing heat
 Clear atmosphere and intensity of light
was conducive to the development of
that love of precise and exact forms
which are the special attributes of
Greek Architecture.
 Hot summer sun and sudden winter
showers, together with the Greek love
of conversation, probably explains the
properties of porticoes and colonnades
are such important features.
IV. Historical and Social
 The history of the Greek would maybe
conveniently separated into distinctive periods,
but to avoid confusion, the terminology used
requires explanation
A. Aegean/Cretan/Minoan
Aegean – embraces the civilization of Crete and
mainland Greece from the earliest times to
about 1100 BC.
Cretan – commonly known as Minoan, after the
legendary King Minos of Knossos
 Aegean civilization centered on Crete was
initiated during the fourth (4th) millennium BC
by a movement of people in Asia Minor.
 During early period, 3000 –1800 BC, the
civilization grew and expanded, developing a
commercial empire protected by naval power.
 Crafts, pottery communications and trade
produced unity of culture and economic
stability.
 Some form of political unity among the ninety
or more towns of Crete was achieved first under
Phaetos.
 Complex palaces evolved later under Knossos.
 Lesser towns also gathered around smaller but
no less complex palaces or elaborate “Royal
Villas” and the commonality of palace towns
suggest a federation of princes or kings perhaps
semi-divine authority.
 People from the Greek mainland spoke of
languages something like Greek and introduced
houses designed for more wintry climates, that
sort of house “(Megaron)” seems to imitate a
timber from originating from the forest of
Northern and Eastern Europe.
 Between 1800 and 1600 BC, the whole Aegean
culture developed until by the latter date it had
a power co-equal with the civilization of Egypt
and Mesopotamia.
B. Mycenean or Helladic Greece (1400 – 1100 BC)
 Mainland centers required defense and
protection due to violence among the towns
 Mycenae and Tiryns became important centers
of culture, arts etc.
 Continuous absorption of Cretan ideas and the
use of Cretan Craftsman.
  Citadel and palaces became centers of small but
powerful land empires.
 Helladic towns began to decline in 1300 BC
leading to the Trojan War in 1200 BC.
 Women took an important part in social life and
participated in most activities.
 There was a total absence of monumental class
structures as compared with Egypt and
Mesopotamia.
 In about 1450 – 1400 BC Knossos and other
palace towns were destroyed and the
civilization they represented collapsed into
ruins.
C. Hellenic Greece (800 – 323 BC)
 The classical period of Greek civilization
 By eight (8th) century B.C., the city state
(“POLIS”) emerged as the basis of Greek society
 Greek adapted an alphabet from the Phoenician
and had momentous results in the development
of language and literacy.
  Religion was focused on nature worship,
 Early settlements evolved as small, highly
independent communities acknowledging no
authority higher than their own
 The city-state evolved as an autonomous,
independent unit, about with the Greeks had
they definite ideas as to extent, size and its
relation to the Gods
 The period which is characterized by sudden or
successive change of Greek form of
government: oligarchic – tyrannic –democratic
 The period of the Great flowering of Greek
philosophies in many fields of thinking
 Advancement in other field such as
mathematics, science, physics, astronomy,
literature, music and lawmaking
 Characterized by a high style of architecture
where buildings are built as religious structures.
D. Hellenistic Greece (323 – 30 BC)
 Unification of Greece was accomplished by
Philip of Macedonia (359 – 336 BC) and firmly
established by his son Alexander the Great
(336 – 323 BC) who then embarked on
national crusade against Persia
 Period characterized by Greek continuing
conquest of foreign lands and the formation
of the vast territory known as the Hellenistic
empire.
 Now and splendid cities were founded, one of
which was Alexandria, the empire was divided
among his generals.
a. Antigonus – Greece
b. Seleucis – Asia Minor
c. Ptolemy – Egypt
 Characterized by a style of buildings which are
civic or public buildings.
V. Religious
Aegean
which went through series of primitive stages.
 Divinities were conceived in human form and
represented by small idols, rocks and stone
pillars
 All sorts of trees and animals continued to be
venerated.
 Religious ceremonies of the Aegean include
sacred games and ritual dances
 The supreme deity was the fertility or mother
goddess “Rhea,” (Ρεια Ρεα) later identified
with Hera by the Greeks
 Priestesses rather than priest conduced the
religious rites.
Hellenic and Hellenistic Greece (Greek)
 Religion was focused in the main worship
phenomena, but more highly developed
 Their gods were the personification of
particular elements or defied heroes.
 Each town or district has its own local
preferences, ceremonies and traditions
 Temples were not needed until after the
collapse of Aegean civilization, when the
Greek began to represent their deities by
large statues.
The principal Greek Deities with their attributes and
Roman names as follows:
Greek (12 Olympians) with Roman equivalent
1. Zeus – the supreme gods, ruler of the
sky/Jupiter
2. Hera – wife of Zeus and goddess of
marriage/Juno
 3. Apollo – god of law, reason and art, music and
poetry, founder of cities/Apollo
4. Athena – goddess of wisdom and
learning /Minerva
5. Poseidon – the sea-god/Neptune
6. Dionysus – God wine, feasting and
revelry/Bacchus
7. Demeter – goddess of earth and
agriculture/Ceres
8. Artemis – goddess of the chase/Diana
9. Hermes – messenger of the gods, god of
commerce/ Mercury
10. Aphrodite – goddess of love and beauty/Venus
11. Hephaestus – god of fire, flame and
forge/Vulcan god of Handicrafts
12. Ares – god of war/Mars
 Hestia – goddess of the heart or sacred fire/
Vesta
 Helios – the sun god / Sol
 Selene – the moon goddess / Luna
 Pan- God of the Flocks / Pan
Two Mortals who Became Gods
a. Heracles – god of strength and
labour/Hercules
b. Asclepius – god of healing/ Aesculapius
Architectural Character: Aegean Architecture
 Buildings have flat roof typical to eastern
countries.
 The characteristic mainland domestic unit was
the megaron which consist of the following:
o Column entrance porch
o An ante-room with central doorway
o Living apartment or megaron proper
o Central heart and columns supporting
the roof
o A thalamus or sleeping room
 Roughness and massiveness of structure
 Buildings were constructed of rubble or cut
stone work the upper part having a heavy,
double frame timber.
 Panels being unfilled with sun dried bricks or
stone rubble.
 Walls are coated with stucco outside.
 Gypsum, plentiful in Crete was used to make
hard, polished floors and roof decking carried
on rounded logs
 Fortifications are constructed with great
boulder like stones set in “cyclopean” walling
system
 No water was ever employed, though clay
sometimes served for bedding in rubble or
cyclopean work
 Polygonal walling was not invented until
Hellenic times
 Other characteristics features are:
o False arches of heavy blocks
o Column tapered downward
o Triangular headed openings
o Corbelled vaults or dome shaped roofs.
Four types of walling of Aegean Architecture
1. Cyclopean walling – involves the use of large stones
2. Polygonal walling – does not use pit or tar
3. Rectangular walling – use of dowels
4. Inclined blocks
Examples
1. The Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae
 Also known as the “tomb of
Agamemnon”
 The finest Aegean tomb
 It is 14.6m (48 ft) in diameter and
13.4m (44 ft) in high inside.
 Made up of 34 rings of masonry,
capped by a single stone, dressed after
completion to form a pointed dome
 The approach to the tomb was by
“dromos” open to the sky, 6.4m (21 ft)
wide and 35.00m (115 ft) long
 Walls (dromos) were up to 3.00m (10 ft)
thick and behind them were further
very thick walls of sun-dried bricks to
protect from damp.
2. The Palace of Tiryns
 A hill top citadel, surrounded by
defensive walls upward of 7.3m (24 Ft)
thick
 Masonry is of the cyclopean type except
for short ashore done at a later stage.
 Has 9 main parts
1. Main gateway
2. Inner gateway to palace
3. Greater propyleum
4. Lesser propyleum
5. Court to chief megaron
6. Chief megaron
7. Court to lesser megaron
8. Lesser megaron
9. Bath room
3. The Lion Gate Mycenae
 The most famous feature of the Palace
of Tiryns
 Stands in the circuit of its massive walls,
which elsewhere are of cyclopean

Architectural Character: Greek Architecture
General Architectural Character:
 Simplified Linea
 Refinement of Details
 Perfection in proportions
 Temples were the chief building type under
Hellenic Greece
 Temples are one storey high, and columns,
with their entablature comprise the height of
the buildings
 Temple plans with the few exceptions, such as
the Erechtheion were simple, well judged,
nicely balanced and symmetrical
 Plans involving the use of orders were generally
regular and but rarely extensive or complicated
 Greek temples might be described as Egyptian
temples turned inside out
 Egyptian temples have courts and columned
halls that were enclosed by a high girdle wall
but a Greek temple’s single naos wall was
surrounded by those external colonnades which
are its special charm
 Walls are the chief external features of
Egyptian architecture while columns are the
external feature of Greek architecture.
 Walls were solidly constructed of blocks of
stones or marbles which largely determine their
character
 Towers are unusual in Greek architecture
 Greek Architecture is essentially columnar and
trabeated (trabs – a beam), game straight
forward characters of its constructive system.
 Openings are square headed and spanned by
lintel
 Wooden roofs were untrussed; rafters are
supported by longitudinal beams.
 The inclination of the pediment was governed
by the slope of the roof
 Timber rafters of the roof were covered
externally with thin marble slabs
 Marble ceilings of the peristyle were enriched
by lacunaria and panels
 Principles of triangulation was unknown, spans
could not be large, unless internal lines of
columns were supplied.
 Mouldings with the help of light and shade they
produce give definition to the salient lines of a
building
 Greek ornament is especially refined
 The acanthus leaf and scroll play an important
part in Greek ornamentation
 The acanthus spinosus preferred by the Greeks
has pointed, narrow lobes, V-shaped in section
with deeply drilled eyes giving a sharp crisp
shadow
 The acanthus mollis preferred by the Romans,
has broad, blunt tips and flat in section.
 Greek Architecture is often called “Carpentry in
Marble,” the material being sparingly employed
for finer details and sculpture.
 Greek sculpture which has never been excelled
may be classified as follows:
a) Architectural sculpture ( tympana of
pediments, acroteria, sculptured
metopes, caryatids and figure sculptures )
b) Sculptured reliefs
c) Free standing statuary
 Several important refinements were practice in
Greek Architecture in order to correct optical
illusions.
 Proportion of columns and entablature vary in
the “different orders” as do also their moldings
and ornaments
Examples:
1. Propylea, Athens
 Erected under Pericles, by the architect
Mnesicles.
 Forms the imposing entrance to the
Acropolis, approached by a step ascent
from the plain below
 Used both Doric and ionic columns
2. The Acropolis, Athens
 One of the famous building site of
Ancient Greece
 Situated on a high hill, it contains a
principal temple, and maybe on or two
subsidiary temples or shrines, together
with treasuries in which were stored
the offering and regalia of other cities
 Also has stoas or colonnaded shelters,
altars and statues or votive columns set
up in honor of heroes, “exedrae,” a
semi-circular seats or walled recess for
rest and contemplation and sacred
groove of trees
10 main Buildings in upper Acropolis
1. Propylea
2. Pinacotheca
3. The Erectheion
4. Old temple of Athena
5. Stoa of Eumenes
6. Parthenon d. Amphi – Prostyle –temples have a portico of
7. Temple of Nike, Apteros columns of front and rear.
8. Temple of Dionysus e. Peripteral –temples have single line of columns
9. Odeion of Herod Atticus surrounding the naos
10. Statue of Athena, Promochos f. Pseudo – Peripteral – temples has flanks of
A. TEMPLES columns attached to the naos wall
 Chief class of buildings under Hellenic period g. Dipteral – temple have double line of columns
 Built with special outward effect surrounding the naos wall
 Not intended for internal worship and the alter h. Pseudo – Dipteral – temple have double line of
stood apposite the east front. columns, but the inner range of columns is
 omitted on the flanks of the naos walls

Three (3) Methods of Admitting Light in Greek

Architecture
1. Clerestory – Situated between the roof and
upper portion of the wall
2. Skylight – made of thin translucent marble
3. Temple doors – oriented towards the east
The Three Greek Orders
A. Doric Order
 Stands without a base directly on a
 Adorned with fine sculpture to form fitting crepidoma usually 3 or more steps.
shrines to whom they are dedicated  Has a height, including the capital, from 4 to
 Generally stood up a crepidoma of thereof 6 times the diameter at the base in the
more steps Hellenic period and up to 7 ¼ in the
 Has naos with contains the statue of Gods and Hellenistic period
goddess, the most sacred part of the structure  Circular shafts is divided into 20 shallow
 Also has treasury chamber as well as front flutes separated by sharp “arises”
(pronaos) and rear (epinaos / opisthodomos)  Shafts has normally a slight convex profile
and porticos called “entasis,” to counteract the hollow
appearance which result from straight sided
Types of Planning a Temple column
A. According to the no. of columns on the entrance front  The shaft terminates in the
1 Column - Henostyle “hypotrachelion” usually formed of three
2 Columns – Distyle grooves in archaic examples and later on
3 Columns – Tristyle one groove
4 Columns – Tetrasytle  Immediately above it, is the continuation of
5 Columns – Pentastyle the fluted shaft known as the trachelion or
6 Columns – Hexastyle necking
7 Columns – Heptasyle  The sturdiest among the Greek orders
8 Columns – Octastyle  The capital consist of abacus and echinus
9 Columns – Enneastyle  The abacus is a square slab
10 Columns – Decastyle A2.Doric Entablature
11 Columns – Dodecastyle  The “architrave” or principal beam is made
B. Arrangement of Columns up of two (2) to three (3) slabs
a. In Antis – temple have one to four (1 to 4)  Capping the architrave is a flat band called
columns between the Antae at the front two is the “taenia” and under this, at intervals
usual number corresponding to the “triglyphs,” are each
b. Amphi – Antis –temples have one to four (1 to known as regular with six guttae or small
4) between the antae at the front and rear. Two conical drops below
is the usual number  The frieze is formed of triglyphs with three
c. Prostyle – temples have a portico of columns at upright channels which alternates with
the front metopes or square spaces
  A triglyph is aligned over each column and
there is usually one over each
intercolumniation
 At the angels of the temples, two triglyphs
meet at a beveled edge and the
intercolumniation is loss by about half a
triglyphs in width than that of the others
 The “cornice.” The upper or crowning part
has at a top a cymatium or gutter moulding
resting on a bird’s beak moulding and below
this is the corona or vertical surface
Spacing of columns for Doric order
1. Monoglyph – has an interval of one triglyph
2. Diglyph – has an interval of two triglyphs
3. Polyglyph – has an interval of 3 or more
triglyphs
Other forms of Intercolumniation
1. Pycnostyle – 1 ½ Ø
2. Systyle – 2 Ø
3. Eustyle – 2 ¼ Ø
4. Diastyle – 3 Ø
5. Arreostyle – 3 ½ Ø
Examples of Doric Structures
1. Parthenon, Athens
 Erected on the Acropolis, south of the temple of
Athena during the time of Pericles
 Dedicated to Athena , Partheros the virgin
Athena
 Ictinus and Callicrates were the architects
 Pheidias was the master sculpture
 Peripteral octasyle in plan with seventeen
columns on the flanks
 The principal doorway in the east led into the
naos which measure 100 Attic feet in length
thereby known as “ Hecatompedon”
 The naos had two rows of 10 Doric columns
 To the west of the of the naos was the
Parthenon or virgin’s chamber from which the
temple took its name
 Near the western end of the naos stood the
famous statue of Athena Parthenos,
representing Athena fully armed with spear,
helmet, ægis, and shield, supporting a winged
victory in her right hand
 It was a “chryselephantine” or gold and ivory
statue about 40 ft high including the pedestal
 Gold plates form the drapery, armor, and
accessories over the wooden core which were
detachable
 The face, hands, and feet were of ivory and the
eyes are made of precious stones
 The most prominent external features are the
flutted marble columns of the peristyle
 The architrave was ornamented with bronze
shields probably presented by Alexander the
Great in 334 BC
 The eastern pediment is decorated with
sculptures depicting the birth of Athena
 The western pediment is decorated with
sculptures depicting the contest between
Athena and Poseidon for the soil of Attica
 Traces of bright colors have been found on the
sculptures in pediment, metope and frieze
 In the sixth century it was converted into a
Christian church dedicated to the Divine
Wisdom and an apse was formed on its Eastern
end
 In 1204 AD it became a Latin church
 In 1456 it was converted into a mosque
 In 1687 AD with the capture of Athens by the
Venetians, it was much damaged by a shell
which fell into a portion of the building
 It remains the greatest historic monument and
the most precious heritage of Greece
2. Heraion, Olympia
 Dedicated to Hera
 Is believed to be the most ancient of all Greek
temples
 It illustrates the process of transition from
timber construction to stone
3. Temple of Zeus, Olympia
 Designed by Libon of Elis
 Belongs to the phase of the developed temple
of the fifth century
 Dedicated to the father of the Gods at the
sacred pan Hellenic center of Olympia
 Has a colossal gold and ivory statue of Zeus
12.2m above its base and the sculpture was
Pheidias
4. Thesion, Athens
 Now thought to be the temple of Hephaestus
 Is the best preserve Doric temple in Greece
 Preserved externally, been converted into a
church by the Byzantine Greeks
 Stands on artificial foundation of limestone
blocks and is built of Pentelic marble
  The capital has a pair of volutes or spirals
about two thirds (2/3) the diameter in
6. Temple of Apollo Epicurius, Bassae height.
 Mainland temple contemporary to Parthenon
 Designed by lctinus
 Took a long time in building, owning to lctinus
preoccupation with Parthenon
 It is peripteral hexastyle temple with fifteen
columns on its flank
 The building is constructed of hard gray
limestone, now covered with a beautiful pink
lichen which gives its mellow and picturesque
appearance
 Remarkable features of this temple is the use in
it of all three of the three Greek orders, Arch’re
– Doric outside and Ionic and Corinthian within
 The practice of using different order in once
building was introduced by lctinus
 If faces north instead of east B2. Ionic Entablature
7. Temple of Zeus Olympius, Agrigentum  The original had only two main parts:
 Designed by Theron architrave large dentils in bed mould
 Ranks as second in size among Greek temples  Later development had a frieze inserted
 It is a course stone originally covered with in the entablature and as a consequence
marble dust cement the bed mould was emitted from the
 Pseudo peripteral heptasyle in plan with seven cornice except for a minor moulding
half columns in front and fourteen on each side  The architrave, normally with three (3)
fascia, is capped by a small group of
B. Ionic order mouldings
 Is especially remarkable for its volute or  The frieze sometimes plain, is ornamental
scroll capital with a continuous bond of sculpture.
 May have been derived from the Egyptian 
lotus
 Always comparative slender and needed a
base at their lower and to spread the
weight transmitted.
 The entablature has only two main parts
o Architrave
o Cornice
 There was no frieze in the entablature of
the true Ionic order of Asia Minor and none
was acquired there until late fourth century
1. Temple of Nike Apteros, Athens
BC.
 Dedicated to “Wingless Victory” standing
 Usually about nine times their lower
picturesquely on the south-western spur
diameter in height
of the Acropolis
 Has twenty four flutes separated by fillets
 Design by Callicrates
and not by arises sharp edges
 An exquisite amphiprostyle tetrastyle
 Moulded base is known as Attic base which
small temple of marble, about 5.4m x
originated in Attica
8.2m (18 ft x 27 ft)
 The base is consist of an upper and lower
 Has a close resemblance to the temple of
torus which are divided by a scotia and
Illisus
fillets
 The temple was taken down by the Turks,
but in 1886 the materials were recovered
 and the temple was reconstructed on the
original site.
2. Erectheion, Athens
 Designed by Mnesicles
 Stands on the Acropolis north of
Parthenon on the site of an older temple
burnt in 480 BC by the Persians
 Constructed on two levels and consist of
three (3) porches and an attached
colonnade on the western end
 Was regarded with special veneration as
it contained memorials connected with
the religion of the state
 The sacred olive tree that Athena called
forth in her contest with Poseidon
 The salt well produced by the trident of
Poseidon
 The tomb of Cecrops
 The Xoanoan or primitive statue in olive
wood of Athena Polias
 The golden lamp of Callimachus
 Spoils taken from the Persians
 It is unusual and irregular in plan owing to
the sloping site and the inclusion of three
distinct shrines within its walls
 The eastern portion contained the shrine
of Athena Polias
 The western portion house the shrine of
Erechtheus and Poseidon
 Pandroseion was probably included on
the sacred precincts to the west of the
temple proper
 The southern or Caryatid porch was
probably a raised tribune, as it has only a
small entrance on its eastern side
 The six draped figures or Caryatids are 7 ft
9 in high and are spaced like columns in
the northern porch
 The exterior is made from marble from
Mount Penticulus
 It has passed through various vicissitudes
 Four Ionic half columns, angle antæ, and
three windows were added to the west
wall in Roman times
 Was transform into a church in the time
of Justinian
 Used as ‘harem” after the Turkish
annexation
 During the Greek revolution in 1827, the
north portico, coffered ceiling and other
parts were destroyed
 In 1852 a storm damaged the building
3. Temple of Apollo, Didyma near Miletus
 Designed by Paeonous of Ephesus and
Daphnis of Miletus
 Is of vast sixe 5.1m x 109.3m (168ft x
359ft) at the top of the seven step
crepidoma
 The 120 columns were 2.03 (6 ft inches) in
diameter and 19.7m (64 ft inches) high
 The arrangement was dipteral decastyle
and has deep pronaos and no
ophisthodomos
4. Temple of Ilissus, Athens
 An amphi prostyletetrastyle small
temples, of Pentelic marble, measured
about 6.1m x 12.8m (20 ft x 42 ft) over a
three step crepidoma.
 The architect was Callicrates
C. The Corinthian Order
 Made its first appearance in Greek
architecture in the fifth century BC as a
decorative variant of the Ionic, the
difference lying almost entirely in the
column capital.
 The invention of the capital was due to
“Callimachus” bronze worker who obtained
the idea from observing a basket over the
grave of a Corinthian Maiden
I. The Corinthian Column
 Distinctive feature is the capital, which is
much deeper than the Ionic
 It’s base and shaft resembles the Ionic, but
more slender and eventually a proportion
of ten (10) diameters was regarded fitting.
 Earlier examples appeared to have been in
bronze
 It has an inverted bell, the lower part of
without is surrounded by two (2) tiers of
eight (8) acanthus leaves and from between
the leaves of the upper row rise eight (8)
caulicoli (stalk) each surmounted by a calyx
from which emerge volutes or helices
supporting the angels of the abacus and the
contract foliated ornament.
II. The Corinthian Entablature
 It has three main parts;
o architrave, frieze and cornice
 Not distinguishable from the Ionic in Greek
Architecture
III. Examples of Corinthian Temples
1. 1.Tholos, Epidauros
 Was a circular building, probably a temple
  A peristyle of 26 Doric columns encircled
the wall
 The diameter of the stylobate measures
21.8m
 Internally, a freestanding circle of fourteen
(14) Corinthian Columns elaborated the
space and accentuated the circular plan.
2. Tholos (Philippeion), Olympia
 The external peristyleconsisted of 18 Ionic
columns, and the inner face of the wall
was decorated with nine (9) Corinthian
half columns
 Stylobate diamater was 14m (46 ft)
3. Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, Athens
 Is a type of monument erected to support
a tripod, awarded as a prize for athletic
exercises or musical competition
 Consist of 2 stages:
o Lower stage – a lofty podium of
Piraeus stone
o Upper stage – is a hollow cylinder
of white Pentelic marble, 1.8 (6ft)
in diameter inside, standing upon
a base of bluish Hymettian marble
around whichare six (6)
Corinthians columns appearing to
be attached.
4. Temple of Zeus Olympus (Olympieion)
 It was built as the gift to Athens of
Antiochus Ephiphanes of Syria, from
designs by Cossotius
 It remained incomplete
 In 86 BC, Sulla transported some of the
columns to Rome for the Temple of Jupiter
Capitolinus
 Out of original one hundred and four (104)
columns only fifteen remains
5. Tower of the Winds, Athens
 Also known as the Horrologium of
AndronikosCyrrhestes
 Erected for measuring time by means of
“clepsydra” or water clock internally and
by sundial externally
 also provided with weather vane
 is octagonal and its eight sides face the
more important points of the compass
 Clypsedra - a water clock or instrument for
measuring time by the discharge of water
through a small opening
B. MOULDINGS
1. Cyma recta (Hogarth’s Line of Beauty”)
 is often carved with honey suckle ornament
2. Cyma Reversa (Ogee)
 when enriched is carved with the water leaf
and tongue
3. Ovolo (Egg-like)
 when enriched is carved with the egg and
dart, or egg and tongue ornament.
4. Fillet
 Small plain face to separate other
mouldings, usually without enrichment.
5. Astragal or Bead
 Sometimes carved with bead and reel or
with beads
 Serves the same purpose as the fillet
6. Cavetto
 A simple hollow
7. Scotia
 A deep hollow which occurs in bases and is
generally not enriched
8. Torus
 Is really a magnified bead moulding which
when enriched is carved with guilloche or
plait ornament, or with bundles of leaves
tied with bands.
9. Bird’s Beak
 Occurs frequently in the Doric Order and
gives a deep shadow.
10. Corona
 A deep vertical face of the upper portion of
the cornice was frequently painted with a
Greek “fret” ornament.
C. THEATERS
 an open air structures were generally
hollowed out of the slope of a hillside, in or
near a city and received definitive form only
in the fourth (4th) century B.C.
 built in honor of Dionysos
I. Parts of Greek Theater
1. Cavea (Auditorium)
 the seats that rose in tiers and founded on
natural rocks in a Greek theater
2. Orchestra
 a circular paved space used by the chorus
3. Scene Building or Skene (Stage)
 Use by the actors
a. Paracenia – a projecting wall/wing at
the end of the skene.
b. Procenium built in front of the original
skene
o used as a speaking place or
location
c. Episcenium – a raised backgro und to
the two (2) storey skenebuilding
o Parados or passage loading to the
skene
 II. Examples of Greek Theaters
1. The theater, Epidauros
 designed by Polycleitos
 The most perfect development of the
theatral form.
2. The theater of Dionysos, Athens
 Which could accommodate eighteen
thousand (18,000) spectators was founded
about 500 BC
 Suffered successive modifications through
the Greek and Roman times.
D. PUBLIC BUILDINGS
1. Agora – or town square, was the center of
social and business life.
2. Stoa – a large, colonnaded building, served
many purposed.
 used around public places and as shelters at
religious shrines.
3. Prytaneion – served as senate house for the
chief dignitaries of the city and a place where
distinguished visitors and citizens might be
entertained.
4. Bouleuterion – council house was a covered
meeting place for the democratically elected
councils.
 usually rectangular buildings with banked
seats facing inwards on three sides or
arranged in semi-circle.
5. Assembly halls - similar to bouleuterion but
needed to be larger since it is used by the
citizens in general.
6. Odeion – the kindred type to the theater, was a
building in which musicians performed their
works for the approval of the public and
competed for prizes.
7. Stadium – was the foot race course where
games are celebrated. Had length of about
183m (600ft) between banks of seats founded
on convenient natural ground or on the spoil
from excavation of Hal sites.
 The starting and was straight, the other
semicircular.
8. Hippodrome – the prototype of Roman circus.
 Similar to stadium though longer type of
building for horse and chariot racing.
9. Palaestra – the wresting school.
10. Gymnasium – a place for physical exercises of
all kinds.
11. Naval Building.
E. TOMBS
1. The Mausoleum, Halicarnassos.
 The most famous of all Greek tombs.
 One of the seven wonders of the world
 Was erected to king Mausolos by his widow
Artemesia
 Architects were Pythius and Satyrus. 
Scopas was the Sculptor.
2. The Nereid Monument, Xantos
 Typifies the Ionian sculptural luxuriance and the
use in Greek Asia Minor of a temple form of a
tomb.
 Between the column stood nereids or marine
nymphs.
3. The Lion tomb, Cnidos
 Unsual for an Asia Minor Tomb to have Doric
columns and pseudo peripteral arrangement
 An early instance of the introduction of
Egyptian stepped pyramidal crown from which
the terminal of a crouching lion.
 The circular interior was roofed with a corbelled
dome.
F. DOMESTIC BUILDINGS
 modest in scope and materials
 rooms looks towards a small court
 chief apartments being on the North side,
facing the winter sun, while others on the east
and west sides
 two story arrangement t were quite common
G. TERMINOLOGIES
 Acroteria – a block resting on the vertex and
lower extremities of the pediment to support
statuary or ornaments.
 Antefixae – an ornament block, fixed vertically
at regular intervals along the lower edge of a
roof, to cover the end of tile.
 Tympanum – a triangular surface bounded by
the sloping and horizontal cornices of pediment
 Pediment – a triangular piece of wood above
the entablature which fills in and support the
sloping roof
 Metope – the space between the Doric
triglyphs.
 Stereobate – a substructure distinguished from
the stylobate by the absence of column.
 Stylobate – a continuous base or substructure
on which a colonnade is placed
 Architrave – the beam lying across the columns
 Crepidoma – the stepped base of a Greek
Temple.
 Abacus – the flat slab on the top of capital, in
Greek Doric, a thick square slab
 Echinus – an ovolo moulding below the abacus
of a Doric capital
 Trachelion – the nock of the Greek Doric
column between the shaft ring and the
hypotrachelion.
 Hypotrachelion – the groove round a Doric
column between the shaft and the necking
 Annulet (Shaft ring) a motif consisting of a ring
round a shaft
 Triglyph – blocks separating the Metopes in a
Doric frieze
 Tenia – a small moulding or fillet along the top
of the architrave in the Doric order.
 Regula/Regulae – the short band between the
tenia and gutter on a Doric entablature
 Gutae – small drop like projections carved
below the tenia under each triglyph
 Mutule – a projecting square block above the
triglyph under the corona of the Doric order
 Entablature – the upper part of an order,
consisting of architrave, frieze and cornice
 Cornice – in classical arch’re, the top, projecting
section of an entablature
 Frieze – the middle division of an entablature
between architrave and cornice
 Architrave – the lowest of the these main parts
of the entablature.
 Shaft – the trunks of column between the base
and the capital
 Entasis – the curve in the vertical profile of a
column
 Propylon – a gate building
 Naos – the sanctuary or principal chamber of a
Greek temple, containing the statue of the God.
 Pronaos – the vestibule of a Greek or Roman
temple, enclosed by side walls and a range of
column in front
 Opisthodomos – the enclosed section at the
rear of a Greek temple, sometimes used as
treasury
 Arris – a sharp edge produced by the meeting
of two surface
 Flutting/Fluttes – shallow, concave grooves
running vertically on a shaft of a column
 Pinacotheca – a building to contain pictures or
picture gallery
 Glyphtotheca – a building to contain sculpture
 Lacunaria – sunk panels or coffers formed in
ceiling vaults and domes
 Apteral – a term applied to temple without
column at sides.