Egyptian Architecture HOA 1

Pyramid at Dashur
Pyramid Building

Pharoah Sneferu made two attemps

at pyramid construction his first
pyramid, the Bent pyramid at
Dashur

2nd attempt pyramid, the north

pyramid, is the place he was buried
It had a low pitch of 43 degrees
instead of 52 degrees making it
look stunted
Bent Pyramid at Dashur, Egypt
A true pyramid has an incline
angle of 52 degrees. Cheops Bent Pyramid
Height of 102 meters
Square Plan

The pyramids of Giza were royal

tombs built for three different
pharaohs.
The northernmost and oldest
pyramid of the group was built for
Khufu (Greek: Cheops),
the second king of the 4th dynasty.
Called the Great Pyramid, it is the
The Great Pyramids of Giza, Pyramid largest of the three.
Complex, Egypt
3 Pharoahs and Size of
Parts of Pyramid Pyramids
Grand Gallery Cheops - Khufu -
Queen’s Chamber Largest
King’s Chamber Chepren - Khafre
Shafts - Medium
Subterranean Mykerinos -
Chamber Menkaure - Small
 Egyptian Architecture HOA 1

Types of Sphinx
The Great Sphinx
The Great Sphinx represents a
recumbent Lion with the head of a
man
The Sphinx is almost always a
composite of two or more animals,
and some versions are part-human
part-animal

Androsphinx, Pyramid Complex, Egypt

3 Types of Sphinx
Androsphinx - Head of Person
Criosphinx - Head of Ram
Hieracosphinx - Head of Falcon or
Hawk

Sun Temple of Nyuserre Ini

Sun temples were ancient egyprian Criosphinx, Egypt
temples to the sun god Ra.
Sun temples would make a
reappearance a thousand years later
under Arhenaten in the New
kingdom with his building of the
Karnak Temple in Thebes

Criosphinx, Egypt

Sun Temple of Nyserre, Abusir, Egypt

Typical Plan of Sun Temple, Egypt
 Egyptian Architecture HOA 1

Karnak Temple

The Karnak Temple Complex,

commonly known as Karnak
comprises a vast mix of temples,
pylons, chapels, and other buildings
near Luxor, Egypt.
Believed to be the spot where
creation began. They also believed
Karnak Temple, Karnak Temple Complex, Egypt
it was a point of interaction
between the god Amun-Ra and
Egyptians

Temples

MORTUARY TEMPLES
worship/ in honor of pharaohs
CULT TEMPLES
worship/ in honor of god
Parts:
Entrance pylon
Large outer court open to sky
(hypaethral court)
Hypostyle hall Temple of Khons, Karnak Temple Complex, Egypt
Sanctuary surrounded by passages Typical temple: pylons, court,
Chapels/chambers used in hypostyle hall, sanctuary, chapels
connection with the temple all enclosed by high girdle wall
service Avenue of Sphinxes and obelisks
fronting pylons
Rock-Cut or Rock-Hewn
Tombs
Built along hillside
For nobility, not royalty

Tombs of the Kings, Thebes

 Egyptian Architecture HOA 1

Temple of Ammon, Luxor

Mammisi Temple, Egypt
Became the prototype of the Greek
Doric temples

Example of rock-cut temple

constructed by Remeses II
Entrance forecourt leads to
imposing pylon with 4 rock-cut
colossal statues of Rameses sitting
over 20m high
Great Temple of Abu-Simbel

Pylons
Dwellings Monumental gateway to the
temple consisting of slanting walls
Made of crude brick flanking the entrance portal
One or two storey high
flat roof deck
3 parts:
Reception suite on north side -
central or living room with high
ceiling and clerestory
Service Quarters
Private Quarters

Temple of Isis, Philae

 Egyptian Architecture HOA 1

Obelisk, Karnak Temple ,

Obelisk Egypt

An obelisk Obelisks, or tekhenu to ancient

Egyptians, first appeared in Old Kingdom
Egypt (2649 2150 BCE) in around 2300
BCE.
Four-sided square base that tapered an
isoceles pyramidion at the top
symbolizes “Rebirth”
Reverential monument, commemorating the
dead, representing their kings and honoring
the gods.
usually came in pairs fronting temple
entrances
height of nine or ten times the diameter at
the base
four sides feature hieroglyphics

Obelisk, Piazza of S.
Giovanni, Italy
The Lateran
Obelisk is the
tallest erected of
Egyptian origin in
Fortresses the world.

Mostly found on west bank of

Nile or on islands
Close communications with
other fortresses

Fortresses of Buhen,
Sudan
Headquarters & Largest
fortified town near Nubia
From here they could trade
and invade lands to the south
 HOA 1

Greek Architecture

Influences: History Geology & Climate

Aegean Period (Minoan) Rugged mountains made
The first great commercial and naval power communication difficult
in the Mediterranean mountains separated inhabitants
Trade and communication produced a unity into groups, clans, states
of culture and economic stability public ceremonies were open air
Knossos was the largest City, had a Clear atmosphere and intense light-
magnificent palace conducive to creating precise and
Myenaean or Helladic exact forms
Continuation of Cretan ideas and
craftsmanship on mainland greece
wealth due to their control of metal trading
between Europe and Middle East
Hellenic Period
The “polis” emerged as the basis of Greek
Society
City-states developed on the plains between
mountains- Sparta and Athens were most
important Map of Greece
Philosophers - Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
Hellenistic Period
Hellenistic Empire established, greek Religion
civilization extended
Aegean 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
Greece sought advice
deified mortals
from oracles - Oracle
Polytheistic religion
at Delphi
 Greek Architecture HOA 1

Description
Construction System Aegean
Rough and massive
Hellenic
Columnar and trabeated
Mostly religious architecture
Roof truss appeared, enabling large
"carpentry in marble“ - timber
spaces to be unhindered by
forms imitated in stone with
columns
remarkable exactness
Hellenistic
Materials Not religious in character, but civic
– for the people
Timber and terra cotta
Provided inspiration for Roman
Stone
building types
Marble
Dignified and gracious structures
Symmetrical, orderly
Marble

Houses
On islands:
Flat roofing
Drawn together in blocks
Two to four storeys high
Light admitted through light wells
On mainland:
Single-storeyed house with deep
plan
Columned entrance porch with
Example of Greek House
central doorway
Living apartment proper with
sleeping room behind

Palaces

Palace of King Minos, Knossos

 Greek Architecture HOA 1

Palace of Tyrins

Knossos, Greece

Tombs
Rock-cut or chamber tombs -
“tholos” tomb
Lion Gate, Mycenae

Temples
Chief building type
Earliest ones resembled megaron in
plan and contruction
the number of columns on the
temple’s front.
according to the arrangement of
the exterior columns of the temple
in relation to the naos. Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae

hemostyle - 1 columns
heptastyle - 7 columns
distyle - 2 columns
octastyle - 8 columns
tristyle - 3 columns
enneastyle - 9 columns
tetrastyle - 4 columns
decastyle - 10 columns
pentastyle - 5 columns
dodecastyle - 12 columns
hexastyle - 6 columns
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Greek Temples

Intercolumniation
Through the distance of one
column to another. this is
determined through the column’s
diameter. Temple of Zeus, Hexastyle

pycnostyle - 1 1/2 diameter
systyle - 2 diamater
eustyle - 2 1/4 diameter
diastyle - 3 diameter
araeostyle - 4 diameters
Entasis
the slight convexity of the column
or the crepidoma (temple’s base) that
gives the optical illusion that the
temple is straight.

Entasis

Temple Arrangements

Parts of a Temple Facade

 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Greek Temples

Greek Temple
Greek Architecture HOA 1
Greek Temples
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics

Architectural Characteristics

Doric Order
the simplest and shortest of the three
orders. these typically have no base and
the shaft is directly in contact of the
stylobate.
Aris: 20
Flutes: 20

Ionic Order Doric Columns

developed in the ionian islands, the order

is distinguished by the scroll-like capital
called Volute.

Fillet: 24 Ionic Columns

Flute: 24

Corinthian Order
named after the city of corinth, it is the
tallest and most complex designed of
the three. characterized by the leaf-like
ornaments on the capital called Acanthus
leafs.
Fillet: 24
Corinthian Columns
Flute: 24
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics

Figured Columns

Caryatid Canephora
Load bearing
female-
figured
column

Decorative basket-
carrying female statue

Atlas Telamon
Male counterpart of
the Canephora

Male counterpart of
the Caryatid
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics

Lacunaria
Panneled Coffers
a series of decorative
sunken panels in a ceiling,
soffit or vault.

Meanders
Decorative border
constructed from a
continuous line, shaped
into a repeated motif.
it symbolizes eternity,
unity, and the undulating
flow of human life.

Public Buildings
Agora - open air, public space for
meetings, business transactions, and
also a market place.
Stoa - long colonaded building for
public use.
Prytaneion - senate house
Bouleuterion - council house
Assembly halls - general assembly
areas for citizens.

Odeion - a theater building for musicians.

Stadion - foot race course. aka stadium.
Hippodrome - a larger and longer stadium for chariot racing.
Palaestra - wrestling school
Gymnasium - a place for physical exercise.
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics

Proportiions
according to italian
architect Giacomo
Barozzi da Vignola,
the entablature
and columns are
in fixed
proportional
relationship.

most iconic
example of greek
architecture
Dedicated to
Goddess Athena
Architects: Ictinus
and Callicrates

Parthenon, Greece
Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics

Mouldings
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics

Agora

A market or meeting place in a

Greek city, the hub of public life
where the most important public
buildings were situated.

Tyre, Lebanon
Theatron

Designed for the presentation of plays

in which choral songs and dances were
prominent features.
Open Air, hollowed out of the slope
of a hillside
Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus.

Stoa
An ancient Greek portico, usually
detached and of considerable length,
used as a promenade or meeting place
around public places.

Stoa of Attalos, Athens

 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics

Hippodrome
An open or roofed track or arena for
chariot and horse racing in ancient
Greece.

Hippodrome. Tyre, Lebanon

Palaestra
Wrestling house; A place used for
the instruction and practice of
wrestling and athletics.
Palaestra, Vaison-la-Romaine

Gymnasion
An ancient Greek centre
for sports, with buildings,
playing areas and baths.
Pompeii Gymnasion

Residential Buildings

Megaron
An early Greek dwelling type.
A long rectangular central hall in
a Mycenaean palace complex,
which may have served as a
temple.
Parts consists of an open porch, a
vestibule, and a large hall with a
central hearth and a throne.
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics

Residential Buildings

Pastas
A dwelling-type from the classical period of northern Greece, 423–348
BC, with a courtyard in the centre of the south side and deep columned
veranda or pastas affording access to rooms.
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics

Peristyle
A Greek
dwelling-type
whose open
courtyard is
surrounded by
colonnades on
all side, often
more luxurious
than a prostas or
pastas house

Urban Planning

Hippodamian
Grid System
A rectilinear
town layout in
which blocks of
dwellings are
divided up by
narrow side streets
linked together by
wider main roads,
developed by the
Ionian
Hippodamus of
Miletus in the 5th
Century BC.
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Architectural Characteristics

Prytaneion
Senate house; A public town hall for
the citizens of ancient Greece,
containing state banquet halls and
hospitality suites.

Prytaneion of Panticapaeum. Ukraine

Bouleuterion
Council chamber with rows of
stepped benches surrounding a central
platform.

Odeion
A roofed theatre building in
antiquity, especially one for the
performance of vocal and
instrumental music.

Stadion
An ancient Greek elongated sports
venue with rounded ends,
surrounded on all sides by banked
spectator stands; venue for foot
racing.
 Greek Architecture HOA 1
Notable Structures

Porch of the Maidens

Caryatids
dedicated to either the hero erechthonius or king
erechtheus.
Architect: Mnesicles
Arranegment: apteral and irregular plans, Order:
Ionic
Erechtheion, Greece
Theater of Dionysus,
Greece

a prototype of greek theatres built on the acropolis’ south side.

dedicated to the god Dionysus.
during the 5th century bce the theater held plays of sophocles,
euripides, aeschylus, and aristophanes.
a prototype of greek theatres
built on the acropolis’ south side.
dedicated to the god Dionysus.
during the 5th century bce the
theater held plays of sophocles,
euripides, aeschylus, and
aristophanes.

Acropolis
a universal symbol of the classical
Theater of Dionysus, Greece spirit and civilization and the
greatest architectural and artistic
Propylaea - the gateway to the sacred precinct.
complex beauethed by greek
Parthenon - chief shrine to athena, and a treasury.
antiquity to the world.
Erechtheion - a shrine to the agricultural dieties.
the name originated from greek
Temple of Athena Nike - an architectural symbol
meaning “city at the top”.
of harmony.