HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

School of Engineering & Architecture

Architecture Program

HISTORY OF
ARCHITECTURE 1
Pre-classical ARCHITECTURE
greek
Architectural manifestation of thoughts
from the beginning of civilization
to the Byzantine Period
Historical Timeline of Architecture

Egyptian Byzantine

Pre-Historic Greek Roman Early Christian Romanesque Gothic Renaissance 18th-19th C: 20th C:
Revival Modern

Near East Islamic

Indian Chinese & Japanese

 Greek Architecture

The Historical
Timeline of Architecture
PRE-HISTORIC
NEAR EAST
EGYPTIAN
GREEK
ROMAN
EARLY CHRISTIAN
BYZANTINE
ROMANESQUE
GOTHIC
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL
20TH C MODERN

ISLAMIC
INDIAN
CHINESE & JAPANESE
FILIPINO

PERIODS

Aegean Period (Minoan)

Mycenaean or Helladic (1550 to 1100 BC) References:
Hellenic Period (800 to 323 BC) 1. Fletcher, Bannister, A History of Architecture 20th Ed.
2. Ching, Francis D.K., A Visual Dictionary of Architecture
Hellenistic Period (323 to 30 BC) 3. Espinosa, Kevin, History of Architecture
 GEOGRAPHY

ASIA MINOR

CRETE
SYRIA
PERSIA

MEMPHIS
INDIA
EGYPT

THEBES

• Greece is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and her many natural harbours made it easy for those early traders, the
Phoenicians, to carry on extensive commerce with the country.
• This sea influence also fostered national activity and enterprise; while the proximity of a multitude of islands, colonised from
the mainland and keeping up communication with it by sea, produced a race of hardy and adventurous colonists.
• Ancient Greece, however, extended geographically far beyond the mainland and adjacent islands, and thus ruins of Greek
buildings are found in the Dorian colonies of Sicily and South Italy, and in the Ionian colonies of Asia Minor.
• The mountainous nature of the country separated the inhabitants into groups or clans, and was thus responsible for that
rivalry which characterised the old Greek states, both in peace and war.
• CITY STATES – independent regions of Greece
 GEOLOGY

• On the mainland, rugged mountains made communication difficult

• Mountains separated inhabitants into groups, clans, states
• archipelago and islands: sea was the inevitable means of trade and
communications
• The chief mineral wealth of Greece was in her unrivalled MARBLE, the
most beautiful and monumental of all building materials, and one which
facilitates exactness of line and refinement of detail.
CLIMATE

• Between rigorous cold and relaxing heat

• The clear atmosphere, largely resulting from the rocky nature of the
country and the absence of forests, was conducive to the
development of that love of PRECISE AND EXACT FORMS which are
special attributes of Greek architecture.
• The climate favoured an outdoor life, and consequently the
administration of justice, dramatic representations, and most public
ceremonies took place in the OPEN AIR, and to this is largely due the
limited variety of public buildings other than temples.
• The hot sun and sudden showers were probably answerable for the
porticoes and colonnades which were such important features.
 RELIGION

Primitive stage of nature worship

• Priestesses conducted religious rites, sacred games,
ritual dances, worship on sacrificial altars

Greek religion:
• A highly developed form of nature worship
• Gods as personifications of natural elements, or
deified mortals
• Gods could influence events in the human world
• Greeks sought advice from oracles – oracle at
Delphi
RELIGION

• The Greek religion was the main a worship of natural phenomena, of

which the gods were personifications, and each town or district had
its own divinities, ceremonies, and traditions.
• There are also traces of other primitive forms of religion, such as the
worship of ancestors and deified heroes.
• The priests who carried out the appointed rites, in which both men
and women officiated, were not an exclusive class, and often served
for a period only, retiring afterwards into private life.
RELIGION

The principal Greek deities with their attributes and Roman names are as follows :
• Zeus Chief of the gods and supreme ruler
• Hera Wife of Zeus and goddess of marriage
• Apollo Son of Zeus ,the god of the sun, of song and music, and founder of cities
Apollo
• Hestia Goddess of the hearth (sacred fire)
• Heracles God of strength and power .
• Athena Goddess of wisdom, power, peace, and prosperity.
• Poseidon The sea god
• Dionysos God of wine, feasting, and revelry
• Demeter Goddess of earth and agriculture
• Artemis Goddess of the chase
• Hermes Messenger of the gods, with winged feet
• Aphrodite Goddess of love and beauty
• Nike Goddess of victory
HISTORY, SOCIAL & POLITICAL

GOVERNMENT: DEMOCRATIC

CLASSICAL GREEK ARCHITECTURE 479 BC – 323 BC

• Minoan Civilization 2800 – 1400 BC

• Mycenean Civilization 1600 – 1100 BC
• Trojan War 1250 BC
• Illiad Odyssey 8th Century BC

Assume Final Form

• Archaic Greek Period 700 – 500 BC

• Classical Greek Period 497 – 323 BC
• Construction of Partheno 333 – 323 BC
HISTORY, SOCIAL & POLITICAL
THE EARLY PERIOD

• Also known as Pelagai, Primitive, or Aegean

• Rough and Massive in Character
• Evident from recent excavations in Crete that the builders of this time
had skill in domestic architecture

Two principal early Greek civilizations:

1. CRETE AND THE MINOAN CIVILIZATION (C.2800-1400 BC) based on
the island of Crete
2. MAINLAND GREECE AND THE MYCENEAN CIVILIZATION (C. 1600-1100
BC) based in the Greek mainland
HISTORY, SOCIAL & POLITICAL
1. CRETE AND THE MINOAN CIVILIZATION (C. 2800-1400 BC)
• Established dominance not only over Crete but over most of the eastern
Mediterranean, including Cyprus
• Reached its height about 15000 BC
• Lived on island of Crete
• Existed during Egypt’s Old Kingdom
• Lived in a very sophisticated Society
• Nearly urbanized, & loved painting
• Enjoy dancing & music
• Ruled the seas around Crete
• Practiced unusual sports
HISTORY, SOCIAL & POLITICAL
1. CRETE AND THE MINOAN CIVILIZATION (C. 2800-1400 BC)
• Several palaces dot the island of Crete
• Each Palace ruled a district
• Each collected raw materials and finished goods as tribute
• Palaces traded goods with each other with foreign nations like Egypt
• Government: Priests – Kings
• Cities not surrounded by walls
• Ship builders & Traders, Farming & Fishing
• Minoan Religion:
• Polytheists
• Main God: Great Goddess (Mother Earth)
• Built shrines on housetops, hilltops and in caves
• Offerings included: Human hair, fruit, flowers, jewels, gold
HISTORY, SOCIAL & POLITICAL
1. CRETE AND THE MINOAN CIVILIZATION (C. 2800-1400 BC)
• Overpowered by Myceneans by 1400 BC
• Site of a palace and labyrinth maze on the island of Crete, south of mainland
Greece.
• Named after King Minos whose minotaur(half man, half bull) was kept in
the labyrinth and fed on Athenian youths
• The minotaur is killed by the Athenian hero Thesus, freeing Athens from his
rule
• The Minoan palace at Knossos – thoroughly modern the palace at Knossos
• Had sunning water
• Multiple stories
• Bathrooms
• Elegant gardens
• And no walls
HISTORY, SOCIAL & POLITICAL
2. MAINLAND GREECE AD THE MYCENEAN CIVILIZATION (c. 1600-1100 BC)
• Based in the Greek mainland and lower Greece (lowlands)
• Built fortress-palaces on hilltops
• Engaged in farming, herding, olive growing; Traded gold & bronze
• Learned from Minoans: Shipbuilding, navigation, gold & bronze work, fashions art,
writing
• Better warriors that traders (pirates)
• Became most powerful people in Aegean world by 1400 BC Trojan War (1200 BC)
Conquered by Dorians (lat1 1200’s)
• The Myceneans conquered the Greek mainland and Crete
• Dominated the Aegean from about 1400 BC – 1200 BC. They traded with Sicily, Italy
Egypt and Mesopotamia
• Absorbed Egyptian and Mesopotamian influences and passed them on to later
Greeks.
HISTORY, SOCIAL & POLITICAL
Aegean Period (Minoan)
• Civilizations on Crete and Greek
mainland from 1900 to 1100 BC
• The first great commercial and
naval power in the Mediterranean,
founded on trade with the whole
eastern seaboard: Asia Minor,
Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, Egypt
and Libya, even South Italy and
Sicily on the west
• Trade and communications
produced a unity of culture and
economic stability
• Knossos was the largest city, had
a magnificent palace
Mycenaean or Helladic (1550 to 1100 BC)
• Continuation of Cretan ideas and craftsmanship on mainland Greece
• Wealth due to their control of metal trading between Europe and
Middle East
Hellenic Period (800 to 323 BC)
• City-states developed on the plains between mountains – Sparta and
Athens were most important
• The "polis" emerged as the basis of Greek society
• Each had its own ruler, government and laws
• A federal unity existed between city-states due to common language,
customs, religion
• Several different forms of government: Oligarchic, Tyrannic,
Democratic
• Under Pericles (444 BC to 429 BC), peak of Athenian prosperity
• Outburst of building activity and construction, developments in art,
law-making, philosophy and science
• Philosophers – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
• Among best soldiers in the ancient world – Hoplite Army defeated
repeated invasions by Darius and Xerxes of Persia
• Alexander the Great of Macedonia conquered Persia, Asia Minor,
Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan
• Greek language and culture reached an enormous area
Hellenistic Period (323 to 30 BC)
• Hellenistic Empire established, Greek civilization extended.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

Periods of Greek Architecture

1. THE EARLY PERIOD (BC 2800- BC 1100)
• Minoan, Mycenae or the Aegean Architecture
• Characteristics of Aegean Architecture: Roughness and Massiveness of
structures
• Characteristic features
• Column tapered downward
• Triangular headed opening
• Corbelled Vaults
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Periods of Greek Architecture
THE EARLY PERIOD (BC 2800- BC 1100)

The character of the architecture is now chiefly known from the walls, which are chiefly known from the walls,
which are of three kinds of masonry.

• CYCLOPEAN – large rough stones piles one on another, with small pieces in the interstices; and the
whole bond together with clay mortar.
Examples – Agros, Tyrins, Mycenae, Knossos in Crete and Athens

• RECTANGULAR – rectangular blocks in regular courses, but the joints between stones in the same
course are not always vertical.
Examples: entrances and towers at Mycenae, entrance passages or dromos in the “tholoi” or beehive
tombs.

• POLYGONAL – many sided blocks, accurately worked so as to fit together, examples of which are found
at Mycanae, in Acropolis wall at Athens, and at Cnidos.
Thus all these occur in structures of the “Mycenean” age, and in out-of-the-way places such as Caria,
their use survived for centuries.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

• CYCLOPEAN

• RECTANGULAR

• POLYGONAL
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

Periods of Greek Architecture

2. THE HELLENIC PERIOD (BC 700 – AD 146)
• Hellenic Period – characterized by buildings were built as religious structures
and temples (Mostly religious architecture)
• Early Hellenic period generally characterized as ARCHAIC and SEVERE.
• "carpentry in marble“ - timber forms imitated in stone with remarkable
exactness

3. HELLENISTIC PERIOD
• Not religious in character, but civic – for the people (characterized by Public
buildings and civic structures)
• Provided inspiration for Roman building types
• Dignified and gracious structures
• Symmetrical, orderly
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

• SIMPLICITY AND HARMONY

• PURITY OF LINE
• PERFECTION OF PROPORTIONS
• REFINEMENT OF DETAILS
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

• Greek Construction style

• Columnar and Trabeated
• Roof truss appeared, enabling large spaces to be unhindered by columns
• Greek Principal Material
• Marble
• Materials
• Wood – supports roof of beams
• Unbaked brick – walls
• Limestone and marble – columns, walls and upper portions of temples and
public buildings
• Terracotta – tiles and ornaments
• Metals, especially bronze – decorative details
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
MOULDINGS
• Architectural devices, which with
light and shade, produce definition
to a building
• Could be refined and delicate in
contour, due to fineness of marble
and the clarity of atmosphere and
light
BUILDING AND STRUCTURES
HOUSES
On islands: PALACES
• Flat roofing Palace of King Minos, Knossos
• Drawn together in blocks Palace at Tyrins
• Two to four storeys high Lion Gate, Mycenae
• Light admitted through light
wells

On mainland:
• Single-storeyed house with
deep plan
• Columned entrance porch
with central doorway
• Living apartment proper with
sleeping room behind

TOMBS
• rock-cut or chamber tombs -
“tholos” tomb
Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae
BUILDING AND STRUCTURES

• MYCENAEAN PALACES founded on hills and in fortified citadels, and consisted of

a number of religious and domestic buildings

• THOLOI (Tholos) or MYCENEAN CIRCULAR TOMBS with corbelled domes

(TREASURY OF ATREUS) – were royal tombs built outside the citadel. Walled
passage connects to beehive corbelled vault tholos burial chamber
approximately 15m diameter.

• MEGARON – ceremonial hall in Mycenaean palaces was the chieftain’s palace

within the citadel. It was a unicellular structure, with columned porticoe,
vestibule and hearth (a configuration similar to that of temple-house of the
gods).

• TEMPLE – was a timber house that eventually became marble shrine. It was
always a house, never a place of assembly (never like a church but always set on
the highest place in the town, in sacred enclosure or better in its own citadel or
acropolis)
BUILDING AND STRUCTURES
TEMPLES
• Chief building type
• Earliest ones resembled megaron
in plan and construction

• Number of columns at entrance:

1 column – hemostyle
2 columns – distyle
3 columns – tristyle
4 columns – tetrastyle
5 columns – pentastyle
6 columns – hexastyle
7 columns – heptastyle
8 columns – octastyle
9 columns – enneastyle
10 columns – decastyle
12 columns – dodecastyle
BUILDING AND STRUCTURES
INTERCOLUMNATION
The space between two adjacent
column, usually th clear space
between the lower parts of the
shafts, measured in diameters.
Also, a system for spacing columns
in a colonnade based on this
measurement.
BUILDING AND STRUCTURES

Principal Structure
• TEMPLES
• Greek Architecture mostly revolves around temples. They were used to
celebrate civic power and pride.
• They are also to offer thanksgiving to a patron deity after the success of war.

• TEMPLE STRUCTURE
• Didn’t serve the function of modern churches
• The altar stood open under the sky in the TEMENOS or sacred enclosure.
• The inner room of the temple called CELLA, served mainly as strong room
and storeroom, It was usually lined with columns
• Temples served as storage places for the treasury associated with the cult of
the god.
BUILDING AND
STRUCTURES: GREEK
TEMPLES
BUILDING AND STRUCTURES

• Tholos – a circular temple

• Propylon (porch) – is the entrance to temple sanctuaries
• Fountain house – where women filled their vases with water from a
public fountain.
• Stoa – long narrow hall with an open colonnade on one side.
• Palaestra (gymnasium) – the social center for male citizens
• Bouleuterion (council chamber) – large public building w/c served as
court house and meeting place for the town council.
• Acropolis – Elevated stronghold or high city
• Completely symmetricak constructed of stone and white marble
• The Acropolis Hill/Sacred Rock is the most important part of the city
• Supreme example of a Greek sanctuary
 BUILDING AND STRUCTURES

10 Structures in the Acropolis

1. Propylea – a greek monumental gateway, entrance; Architect: Mnesicles
2. The Parthenon
Best example of Greek Temple architecture and epitome of Greek Architecture;
Built for the Goddess Athena between 477 and 438 BC
Made from 22,000 tons of the finest marble; The largest building on the Acropolis
Beautiful sculptures and carbings inside of it were some of the very best classical greek art.
Master sculptor: Phidias
3. Pinacotheca – Building or gallery for paintings, located on both sided; Glyptotheca – for sculptures
4. Erechtheion
an ionic named after the legendary king Erechtheus;
Architect – Mnesicles;
With a unique CARYATID porch – supported by female statues acting as columns
5. The Temple of Athena Nike (Apteros) – an ionic temple; One of the smallest, only 23 feet high
6. The Old Temple of Athena – evacuated to salamis at the time of the Persian invasion
7. Stoa of Eumenes – Stoa – a long narrow hall with an open colonnade on one side
8. Statue of Athena Promachos
9. Theater of Dionysus – Prototype of all Greek theatre
10. The Odeion of Herodes Atticus – used for musical performances
BUILDING AND STRUCTURES:
THE ACROPOLIS, ATHENS
TEMENOS AGORA
• Enclosure designated as a sacred land
• Entire groups of buildings laid out symmetrically and
orderly

Acropolis at Pergamon

STOA

The Acropolis, Athens

10 structures form a world-famous building group:
• Propylaea
• Pinacotheca
• Statue of Athena Promachos
• Erectheion
• Parthenon
• Temple of Nike Apteros
• Old Temple of Athena
• Stoa of Eumeses PRYTANEION, BOULEUTERION, or
• Theater of Dionysus ASSEMBLY HALL
• Odeon of Herodes Atticus
OPTICAL CORRECTIONS IN GREEK
ARCHITECTURE
• Many refinements were practiced in the great period of greek art, in order to
correct OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
• The long horizontal lines of such features as stylobates, architraves and
cornices, which of straight in reality would appear to sag or drop in the
middle of their length, were forms with slightly convex outlines.
• Vertical features were also inclined inwards towards the top to correct the
appearance of falling outwards.
• Columns have an ENTASIS. Angle columns were not only set closer to the
adjacent columns, but were also stouter, as it was found that they appeared
thinner against the open sky than those seen against the solid background of
the “NAOS” wall.
• Further correction in use in an inscription from temples (Temple of Prienne),
where the letters at the top of the inscription were increased in size, and the
letters at the lower part decreased, so that they might all appear of one size
from the point of sight below.
 OPTICAL CORRECTIONS IN GREEK
ARCHITECTURE
• Certain refinements used to correct
optical illusions:
• Horizontal lines built convex to correct
sagging
• Vertical features inclined inwards to
correct appearance of falling outwards
• On columns, entasis was used, swelling
outwards to correct appearance of curving
inwards

METHODS OF NATURAL LIGHTING

• no windows
• clerestory - situated between roof and
upper portion of wall
• skylight - made of thin, translucent
marble
• temple door, oriented towards the east
CLASSICAL GREEK ORDERS

• Order, is the assembled unit comprising, column, base (below), and

entablature (above)
• The capital is the unifying element between post and beam
• The pediment is gable-end of roof, and the cornice, the eaves
• The triglyphs are decorated beam-ends.
• Guttae are nails or dowels
CLASSICAL GREEK ORDERS

GREEK ORDERS
• Shaft, Capital, and Horizontal
entablature (architrave, frieze,
cornice)

• Originally, Doric and Ionic, named

after the two main branches of
Greek race
• Then there evolved Corinthian, a
purely decorative order
CLASSICAL GREEK ORDERS

DORIC
• 7th BC, simplest, earliest, formal
• Doric Structure
• No Base
• Flat Grooves that run up and down the sides (triglyphs)
• Doric Usage
• Mainland Greece/Italy, Athens; Paestrum Temple of Hephaestus; The
Parthenon
CLASSICAL GREEK ORDERS: DORIC
DORIC ORDER
• Without base, directly on crepidoma
• Height (including capital) of 4 to 6 times
the diameter at the base
• Shaft diminishes at top from 3/4 to 2/3
of base diameter
• Divided into 20 shallow flutes separated
by arrises

• Doric capitals had two parts - the square

abacus above and circular bulbous
echinus below

Doric entablature:
• Height is 1 and 3/4 times the lower
diameter in height

3 main divisions:
• Architrave, principal beam of 2 or 3
slabs in depth
• Frieze
• Cornice, mouldings
CLASSICAL GREEK ORDERS

IONIC
• 6th BC
• Relaxed
• More decorative
• Slender
• Ionic structure
• Base Separated shaft and platform; Grooved, Angles scrolling volutes
• Ionic Usage
• Erechtheum (Athens); Temple of Hera (Samos); Temple of Artemis
(Ephesus)
CLASSICAL GREEK ORDERS: IONIC
IONIC ORDER
• Volute or scroll capital (derived
from Egyptian lotus and Aegean
art)

Ionic column:
• More slender than Doric
• Needed a base to spread load
• Height was 9 times the base
diameter
• Has 24 flutes separated by
fillets
• Upper and lower torus

Ionic entablature:
• Height was 2 and 1/4 times the
diameter of column

Two parts:
• Architrave,with fasciae
• Cornice
• No frieze
CLASSICAL GREEK ORDERS

CORINTHIAN
• 4th BC complex
• More decorative than ionic
• Fluted Columns
• Corinthian Structure:
• Continuous design
• Cornice moldings
• Brackets/modillions
• Fluted Columns
• Corinthian usage:
• Choragic monument of Lysicrates (Athens)
CLASSICAL GREEK ORDERS: CORINTHIAN
CORINTHIAN ORDER
• Decorative variant of Ionic
Order

Corinthian column:
• Base and shaft resembled
Ionic
• More slender
• Height of 10 diameters
• Capital: much deeper than
Ionic, 1 and 1/6 diameters high
• Capital invented by
Callimachus, inspired by basket
over root of acanthus plant

3 parts:
• Architrave,
• Frieze,
• Cornice, developed type with
dentils
GREEK ORNAMENTS CANEPHORA

CARYATID PORTICO
ERECTHEION, ACROPOLIS,
ATHENS ATLAS
 Temple of Nike Apteros, Athens

Temple of Hera, Paestum

Temple of Artemis Ephesus

The Erectheion, Acropolis

The Parthenon, Acropolis
THE URBAN & NON-URBAN SETTING
• The Greeks had no formally laid-out cities (as in the Ancient Roman
grand manner) but geometrical, non-haphazard, small-scale,
balanced magnificence (as opposed to imperial town planning) in the
arrangement of temples and agora.
• Typical examples are Miletus, Priene and the Acropolis

• The Acropolis, Athens (starting mid-5th century BC) only part of

larger sacred precincts. It also contained shrines treasuries and
theaters, linked by processional walkways.
THE URBAN & NON-URBAN SETTING
Parthenon (Ictinus, Callicrates and Phidias, begun 447 BC)
• Also replaced an earlier temple but built slightly shifted.
• Whatever the viewpoint, The Parthenon is always seen against the
sky.
• Here is an unorthodox example in unique frieze design outside the
cella and a two-storey tier of colonnades inside.
• The stylobate stepped platform is 228 x 101 ft.
• The peristyle is of 56 columns, and is octastyle.
• A two-column deeps portico (pteripteral) gives depth and shade.
• The parthenos (virgin) has bronze-grille doors, and is of an Ionic
order.
• This was the treasure-room for the Acropolis.
THE URBAN & NON-URBAN SETTING
Theaters. The Theater of Dionysus
• These were religious buildings nevertheless, but usually built outside the city
walls. An auditorium set in the hillside.
• The orchestra was originally circular (as at Epidauros), but eventually
became semi-cicular when the stage became moe important. The backstage
was permanent architectural backdrop, and actors entered through three
doors

Agora – Greek Marketplace

• The Greek town was probably a collection of white-washed inward-looking
houses. Politics and business were done in the marketplace Agora, and
drama in the theatre, so that the temple is the only ecercise in grace and
proportion.

Stoa of Attalos, Athens 159 – 132 BC

• A linear building with one or more rows of columns. Stoas could be used for
shops, meetings or exhibitions.
THEATER or ODEION
• Carved or hollowed out of the
hillside
• Acoustically-efficient

STADIUM or HIPPODROME
PROPYLAEA
PALAESTRA and GYMNASIUM
Theater of Epidauros NAVAL BUILDING
TOMBS/ MAUSOLEUM