GREEK

ARCHITECTURE
CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE OF
A N C I E N T G R E E C E ( A E G E A N C U LT U R E )
TIMELINE OF ANCIENT GREECE
Dark Ages of Greece Archaic Greece (1200- 480 BC): Lays foundations for the

classical period of architecture, society & culture

Hellenic Period (480-323 BC): Often referred to as the Classical Architecture

Building & Classical Philosophy period of the Greeks (Socrates & Plato)

Hellenistic Period (323- 146 BC): The decline of the Greek empire to the conquest

of the Roman Empire unknown 1100 - 800 BC

F A C TO R S
INFLUENCING
GREEK
ARCHITECTURE

GEOGRAPHY:

Most of Greece is made up of

mountainous terrain.

Mount Olympus is also

regarded to be the heavenly
abode of the Greek gods and
the site of Zeus' throne. Many
temples, such as the Acropolis,
can be found sitting atop a hill.
F A C TO R S
INFLUENCING
GREEK
ARCHITECTURE

GEOLOGY:

The chief mineral found in

Greece was marble. Marble
was used to construct many of
the ancient Greek structures.

A good example of an ancient

Greek structure that is made
of marble is the Temples at
Paestum.
F A C TO R S
INFLUENCING
GREEK
ARCHITECTURE
CLIMATE:

The climate of ancient Greece

was moderate and warm.
There were sudden rain
showers.

Greeks favored outdoor life

which had a great impact on
the design of buildings.

Many buildings featured an

open concept and featured
porticoes and colonnades.
FAC TO R S
INFLUENCING
GREEK
ARCHITECTURE

SOCIAL:

Greeks were devoted to

religion and held many
religious festivals.

In addition to religion, Greeks

had a passion for music, drama,
and art.
THE ACROPOLIS

The Acropolis is located in Athens, Greece.

The site includes many ancient structures including a theater, temples, statues, and sanctuaries.
The Acropolis was built as a sanctuary in the city of Athens and was used for a center for
religious activity and festivals.

The most famous structure that is part of the Acropolis is the Parthenon.

Other temples that can be seen there include the Old Temple of Athena, the Temple of Athena
Nike, and the Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus.

The site only remains as ruins.

THE ACROPOLIS
 GREEK
THEATRE

PARTHENON

STOA
 TEMPLES
Greek temples are often
categorized in terms of their
ground plan and the way in
which the columns are
arranged.
A prostyle temple is a temple
that has columns only at the
front, while an amphiprostyle
temple has columns at the
front and the rear.
One of the more unusual plans
is the tholos, a temple with a
circular ground plan.
AGORA
• In ancient Greece, an Agora was a central location in a city used as a gathering place or an
assembly. The most well-known Agora of ancient times is the Agora of Athens which was
located just below the Acropolis.
• The Agora was the focal point of Greek cities and served as meeting place for political
assemblies and as a market.
• The agora became a mainstay for the city. The agora is where citizens would gather to
exchange ideas. Early philosophers would gather to discuss and debate ideas of all nature, from
science, medicine, laws and politics. Because of this, agoras would often feature libraries and
lecture halls.2
• Over time the Athens agora was seldom used for political debates, an ecclesia known as the
Pnyx was used for formal assemblies. This did not take away from the agora. Agoras were still
popular among lower class citizens and still served as a viable market place. This distinction
between spaces was important to the Greeks and served as a class system. The Pnyx was a hill
which overlooked the agora. Only men who served a least two years in the military were
allowed to enter the Pnyx.
STOA
• Agoras were also lined with
stoas, covered walkways meant
for the public.
• Stoas provided a safe,
enveloping atmospheres for
people.
• A covered walkway or portico
For public use
• Usually of Doric order
• Safe, protective atmosphere
PROPYLAEA

• Monumental gateway
• Entrance to Acropolis in Athens
• “That which is before the gates”
• “Gate building”
EKKLESIASTRION

• Meeting place of the popular

assembly
• Later used for performances
• Circular structure on of steps built
in the slope of a hill
GYMNASIUM

• Training Facility for competitors

in public games
• Socializing and engaging in
intellectual pursuits
AMPITHEATRE
The theater was constructed of
three major parts: skene,
orchestra, theatron.
The skene was originally a hut,
tent, or booth; skene means
“tent” and refers to a wooden
wall having doors and painted to
represent a palace, temple or
whatever setting was required.
HELIAIA

Heliaia was the supreme court of

ancient Athens.
The view generally held among
scholars.
MINT A large rectangular building, situated next to the
Southeast Fountain house and behind the Church of
the Ayioi Apostoloi, has been identified as the ancient
Mint.

Only the foundations of the Mint have been

preserved, but these show a large building, measuring
27 x 29 m, with its northern half open to the sky.

The latter were used for the production of small

bronze coins from at least the 3rd century BC.
Before that time, the Mint probably served as the
place of manufacture of the official lead and bronze
weights that were used to check the weight of goods
sold by merchants in the Agora.
ORDERS
 DORIC ORDER
 The oldest, simplest, and most massive of the three
Greek orders is the Doric, which was applied to
temples beginning in the seventh century BC.
The columns are placed close together and are often
without bases.
 Their shafts are sculpted with concave curves
called flutes.
 The capitals are plain with a rounded section at the
bottom, known as the echinus, and a square at the top,
called the abacus.
 The entablature has a distinctive frieze decorated with
vertical channels, or triglyphs.
 In between the triglyphs are spaces, called metopes, that were commonly
sculpted with figures and ornamentation.
 The frieze is separated from the architrave by a narrow band called the regula.
 Together, these elements formed a rectangular structure surrounded by a double
row of columns that conveyed a bold unity.
 IONIC ORDER
 The Ionic order is distinguished by slender, fluted pillars
with a large base and two opposed volutes in the echinus
of the capital.
 The echinus itself is decorated with an egg-and-dart motif.
 The Ionic shaft comes with four more flutes than the Doric
counterpart (totaling 24).
 The Ionic base has two convex moldings called tori which
are separated by a scotia.
 The Ionic order is also marked by an entasis, a curved
tapering in the column shaft.
 A column of the Ionic order is nine times its lower diameter.
The shaft itself is eight diameters high.
 The architrave of the entablature commonly consists of three
stepped bands (fasciae).
 The frieze comes without the Doric triglyph and metope. The
frieze sometimes comes with a continuous ornament such as
carved figures instead.
COMPARISM
 CORINTHIAN ORDER
 Unlike the Doric and Ionic orders, the Corinthian Order
does not have its origin in wooden architecture, having grown
directly out of the Ionic Order in the mid-5th century BCE.
 The most complex order is the Corinthian order, which is
tall and thin and features a decorative foot, volutes and
acanthus leaves on the capital.
 Taking its name from the city of Corinth, the Corinthian
Order can be distinguished from the Ionic Order by its more
ornate capitals carved with stylized acanthus leaves.
 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.
CORINTHIAN ORDER
SETTLEMENTS
AC ROP OL I S OF DEL P HI
DELPHI
 DELPHI, ANCIENT TOWN AND SEAT OF THE MOST IMPORTANT GREEK TEMPLE AND ORACLE OF
APOLLO.

Priests from Knossos

brought the cult of Apollo
to Delphi in the 8th
century B.C., during which
time they began
developing the sanctuary
to the god.
They built the first stone
temples to Apollo and
Athena towards the end of
the 7th century B.C.
 APOLLO TEMPLE
The central and most
important part of Delphi was
the temple of Apollo.

The temple of Apollo sat atop a

large terrace supported by a
polygonal wall.

The Sacred Way also led to the

theatre of Delphi above the
temple and the stadium (for
athletic contests) further up.
The temple of Apollo was first
built around the 7th c. B.C. by
the two legendary architects
Trophonios and Agamedes.

This temple was also of the

Doric order and had 6 columns
at the front, and 15 columns at
the flanks.

15

6 COLUMNS
 ATHENA PRONEA SANCTUARY
The sanctuary was the first mark
of Delphi visible to people
coming from the east, before
arriving at the Temple of Apollo.

The sanctuary consisted of

several altars, temples, two
treasuries and the Tholos, a
round-shaped construction.
 ATHENA PRONEA SANCTUARY
One of the two treasuries was dedicated by the inhabitants of Marseilles as a thank you for a victory over the Etruscans.
In front of the treasuries, there was a trophy to commemorate the victory of the Greeks over the Persians.

The tholos was constructed in the 4th century B.C. by architect Theodorus from Phokea, Asia Minor. It was 13.5 m in
diameter encircled by twenty Doric columns on the outer side and ten Corinthian columns on the inner side.
The structure was made of Pentelic and Parian marble and the walls were set with a layer of dark Eleusinian stone. The
metopes were showing scenes from the War of Titans.

Delphi. Plan of the Sanctuary of

Athena Pronaea. 1-altar; 2-II Athena's
temple, circa 500 B.C.; 3-III Athena's
temple, 4th century B.C.; 4 –
treasuries: of the Massaliots (on the
left) and Doric (Athenian?); 5 – Large
Tholos, early 4th century B.C.
 THEATRE
The theatre has been built on the same
hill as the Temple of Apollo, but it is
located further above it.

Dating back to the 4th century B.C, the

theatre was constructed using the
limestone of Mount Parnassus.

The 35 rows of the theatre could seat

nearly 5000 people, though the lower The theatre went through many reformations. However, it has
seats were constructed in the kept its basic structures: the stone seats, a round-shaped
Hellenistic and Roman periods. stage, and an orchestra.
 STADIUM
High up on the hill above the Temple of

Apollo and the Theatre of Delphi, lies the

Ancient Stadium.

This stadium was built in the 5th century

B.C. but it was reconstructed many times

in the centuries that followed. The stadium could seat around 6,500 spectators in the

It got its present form in the 2nd century ancient times. The track of the stadium is 177.55 m long and

A.D. when Herodes Atticus financed the 25.5 m wide. The path that leads from the theatre to the

stone seatings and the arched entrance. stadium was named via sacra.
 ATHENIANS TREASURY
The Treasury of the Athenians is one of the
most impressive buildings in the Sanctuary
of Apollo in Delphi.
The Treasury was constructed at the
beginning of the 5th century BC.
The architectural style of the temple is
Doric and the main construction material is
the Parian marble.
The external side had impressive reliefs
depicting the adventures of Hercules and
Theseus, while the internal space had hymns
to Apollo carved on the walls and some of
the most important political resolutions of
the Athenians.
 GYMNASIUM
This was a large block of buildings
that included the gymnasium, the
palaestra, and the baths.
These buildings were constructed in
the 4th century B.C.
The gymnasium was constructed in
two levels. The upper level was used
as a training place in case of bad
weather.
The lower level included the
palaestra, which had a square yard
surrounded by colonnades with
separate rooms. On the west side of the palaestra, there was a circular pool with ten
meters in diameter and 2 meters deep. Water was coming from
These rooms served as changing Kastalia Spring with special faucets and was being poured into this
rooms, ball courts and possibly a pool, which was used by the athletes. In the Roman times, this pool
sanctuary dedicated to Hercules or has hot water.
Hermes.
 ATHENIANS STOA
Among the most important
offerings of the Athenians in the site
of Delphi is the known Stoa located
at the center of Apollo sanctuary.

This remarkable work dates back to

478 B.C and it was built according
to the Ionic style to host the
trophies of the Athenians from their
sea battles against the Persians.