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History of Architecture (Archist 1)

The Ancient World

Components of Ancient Greek Architecture

Early architectural practices from
the islands in Aegean sea.
• Minoan Architecture –
1600 to 1500 BC
• Mycenaean Architecture –
1500 BC spanning for 700
yrs.

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Map of Ancient Greece

Source: History of Western Architecture

Aegean Civilization
(3000-1200 BC)

Aegean
Civilization, term used to

denote the Bronze Age

civilization that
developed (circa 3000-
1200 B.C.) in the basin of
the Aegean Sea, mainly
on Crete, the Cyclades 2
Islands, and the
mainland of Greece.

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Background on the Period

Geography & Geology

• Dispersed island influenced
seafaring activities and influenced
“thalassocracy” or naval empire.
• Mountainous hinterlands provided
difficulty in internal communication
influencing the separation of
inhabitants into groups from which
arose rivalry between Greek
states.

Background on the Aegean Period

Historical Condition
• Developed in the same period as
Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• Produced the beginning of
Western civilization
• Started the use of efficient
drainage system.
Social and Political Conditions
• Seafaring people with centralized
authority. 3

• Vigorous and vivacious lifestyle;

pleasure-loving people.
Religion
• Religion centered on sacred
places such as caves and groves;
Chief diety was female

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Background on the Aegean Period

Principal Building Types
• Houses (megaron, villas)
• Underground Tombs
• Palaces
Architectural Characteristics
• Flat roofs; buildings grouped in
large blocks
• Light wells.
• Spacious stairways in return
flights.
• Low pitched roofs and mostly
single storey buildings in the
mainland.
• False arches of heavy blocks or
triangular corbels

The Megaron
Megaron is the main and distinctive domestic
unit of an Aegean house. It is usually a large
rectangular hall fronted by an open two-
colonnaded porch

Architectural Characteristics
• Deep in plan
• Has an entrance porch
• Living apartment (megaron proper)
• thalamus (sleeping room) 4

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The Megaron

The Megaron

Megaron in the Palace at Pylos

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The Pastas House is a common type

of dwelling where access could be
gained to a perpendicularly running
corridor (pastas) leading to a
typically two-storied living quarters

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Architectural Materials
• Rubble and cut stonework at dado level or ground level
• Heavy or double frame timber on upper floors
• Stone wall panels were in-filled with sun-dried brick or stone rubble
• Gypsum is used to make hard polished floor
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Architectural Materials
• Rounded logs or flat slabs were used on roof deckings
• Masonry techniques (e.g. cyclopean walls which were great boulder like
stones used for fortifications and coarse or fine ashlar of heavy blocks)

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Methods of Walling

Rectangular walls Polygonal walls

Cyclopean wall

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Palace of King Minos, Knossos (1600-1400 BC)

Crete, Greece

It was the largest Minoan palace built consisting of hundreds of rooms

serving various purposes. Destroyed about 1400 BC, it had developed by
stages from a series of separate buildings into a continuous complex
arranged around a central open court

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SPACE LOCATIONS
West – entrance, storage at first
level; halls and rooms at second
level

North – massive guardroom

protecting central court

East of entrance – industrial quarters

for handicraft making and oil refining

Centrally East, Upper Level – Hall of

States 8

Southeast of Courtyard – Royal

domestic apartments (3 storeys) ; the
top level was at level with courtyard;
the 2 lower levels face towards
terraced gardens; Apartment rooms
had double doors

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• Palace had stairways with return

flights, light wells and colonnades with
the “Minoan columns”, were typical of
Minoan palaces
• The “Stepped Portico” was 5- meter-
wide ramp leading from north bank of
a stream to the southwest corner of
the palace

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• Double folding doors or polythyrons are arranged in

close series to completely open a whole length of walls;
Walls were plastered and decorated with frescoes

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Vaulted ceiling

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Remains of the West part of the palace Hallway of the Palace

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The Citadel of
Tiryns (1,400-
1,200 B.C)
covers an area of
approximately 20,000 sq. m.,
built on a low rocky hill,
which rises barely 18
meters above the Argive
plain, near the sea

• Surrounded by 24 ft.-thick defensive “cyclopean” wall

• Walls for storage chambers were as much as 57 ft. Thick
• Walls were constructed at the upper part of the citadel in the second half of 14th century
B.C. Additional walls were done in the northern part of the citadel until the end of 13th
century B.C.

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• Chief Megaron was the

dominant space in plan
(32 ft wide) and serves a
ceremonial purpose

• Lesser megaron (20 ft

wide) served as women’s
quarters, and together
with a smaller 3rd
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megaron was located
farther from the inner
large court and accessed
only from the outer
propylon

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Citadel of Tiryns (1400-

1200 B.C.)

-Bathroom with a floor made of a single

black stone slab (13 ft. X 11 ft.) lies on
the western side of the chief megaron
Main entrance: Decorative propylaeum,
with an H-shaped plan.

Circuitous approach to the palace: one

had to pass through 2 gateways and 2
propylaea before reaching only the 2nd of
two large colonnaded courts

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Corbelled gallery, example

of arched corridors of
corbel vaulting

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Lion Gate, Mycenae (1300 B.C.)

This is the principal and
most famous feature of
the Citadel of Mycenae; it
is the sole surviving
monumental piece of
Mycenaean sculpture and
largest sculpture in pre-
historic Aegean
civilization

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Consists of 3.1-meter high stone jambs supporting a lintel (4.9 m.

Long X 1.06 m. High X 2.4 m. Deep) over a 3-meter-wide opening

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Inside the Palace of

Mycenae

-Shaft graves of past

kings enclosed by Lion Gate
circular arrangement of
continuous upright
stones

- Shrine with fresco

paintings and terra
cotta cult figures

- Palace megaron with a

13 X 12-meter main
room

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Citadel of Mycenae

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The Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, c. 1300 B.C.

- Also known as the “Tomb of Agammemnon”, it is a splendid example of a
tholos, a circular chamber cut into the hillside

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- Mask of Agammemnon, National Archaelogical Museum, Athens, Greece (photo: AIYap)

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tholos

side chamber

dromos

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Treasury of Atreus
Tholos : 14.5m. diameter, 13.2m. high, has 34 masonry rings capped by a
single stone forming a pointed dome
Dromos: 6m. wide, 36m. long, 13.7m. high masonry walls,10 ft.-thick; sun-
dried bricks protect these walls from damp

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Treasury of Atreus
Façade: 10.3m. high in front of chamber; its door is 2.7m. wide and 5.4m. high
tapering by 1 ft. towards the top; entrance passage is 5.4m. long
Burial Chamber: rock-cut, 8.2 square meters & 5.8m. high lined with heavy
marble slab

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Treasury of Atreus

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Decorations: 1) metal friezes on the lower courses of the vault’s wall; metal rosettes on the rest
of the vault; 2) façade was embellished with architectural dressings of green, red and white
stones; 3) green 20 ft. (6m.) alabaster columns located at the sides, tapering from 22 inches to
20.50 inches decorated with chevron ornaments in relief

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