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.
Map of Ancient Greece
 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 wich 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
 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 law-
making
 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

 Religion was focused on nature worship,

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) w/ Roman equivalent

○ Zeus – the supreme gods, ruler of the
sky/Jupiter
○ Hera – wife of Zeus and goddess of
marriage/Juno
○ Apollo – god of law, reason and art,
music/Apollo and poetry, founder of cities
○ Athena – goddess of wisdom and learning
/Minerva
○ Poseidon – the sea-god/Neptune
○ Dionysus – God wine, feasting and
revelry/Bacchus
○ Demeter – goddess of earth and
agriculture/Ceres
○ Artemis – goddess of the chase/Diana
○ Hermes – messenger of the gods, god of
commerce/ Mercury
○ Aphrodite – goddess of love and
beauty/Venus
○ Hephaestus – god of fire, flame and
forge/Vulcan god of Handicrafts
○ Ares – god of war/Mars
 Also:
 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:

 Column entrance porch

 An ante-room with central doorway
 Living apartment or megaron proper
 Central heart and columns supporting the
roof
 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:

False arches of heavy blocks

Column tapered downward
Triangular headed openings
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 of
Greek Architecture

GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL
CHARACTER:
 Simplicity of Lines
 Refinement of Details
 Perfection in Proportion
 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
Acanthus spinosus, Cambridge University
Botanic Garden
Plants of Acanthus mollis
 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
 Columns Entablature

 Tuscan 7D and 1 ¾ D
 Doric 8D and 2D
 Ionic 9D and 2 ¼ D
 Corinthian 10 D and 2 ½
 Composite
 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.TheErectheion
4.Old temple of Athena
5.Stoa of Eumenes
6.Parthenon
7. Temple of Nike, Apteros
8.Temple of Dionysus
9. Odeion of Herod Atticus
10. Statue of Athena, Promochos
 A. TEMPLES

 Chief class of buildings

under Hellenic period
 Built with special
outward effect
 Not intended for internal
worship[ and the alter
stood apposite the east
front
 Adorned with fine sculpture to form fitting
shrines to whom they are dedicated
 Generally stood up a crepidoma of thereof
more steps
 Has naos with contains the statue of Gods
and goddess, the most sacred part of the
structure
 Also has treasury chamber as well as front
(pronaos) and rear (epinaos / opisthodomos)
and porticos
Types of Planning a Temple

A. According to the no. of columns on the entrance front

1.Column - Henostyle
2.Columns – Distyle
3.Columns – Tristyle
4 Columns – Tetrasytle
5.Columns – Pentastyle
6.Columns – Hexastyle
7.Columns – Heptasyle
8.Columns – Octastyle
9.Columns – Enneastyle
10.Columns – Decastyle
11. Columns – Dodecastyle
B. Arrangement of
Columns
A. In Antis – temple
have one to four (1 to
4) columns between
the Antae at the front
two is usual number
B. Amphi – Antis –
temples have one to
four (1 to 4) between
the antae at the front
and rear. Two is the
usual number
 C. Prostyle – temples
have a portico of
columns at the front
 D. Amphi – Prostyle –
temples have a
portico of columns of
front and rear.
 E. Peripteral –
temples have single
line of columns
surrounding the naos
 F. Pseudo – Peripteral
– temples has flanks
of columns attached
to the naos wall
 G. Dipteral – temple
have double line of
columns surrounding
the naos wall
 H. Pseudo – Dipteral
– temple have double
line of 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
b. Ionic order
c. Corinthian order
A. Doric Order
 Stands without a base
directly on a crepidoma
usually 3 or more steps.
 Has a height, including the
capital, from 4 to 6 times the
diameter at the base in the
Hellenic period and up to 7
¼ in the Hellenistic period
 Circular shafts is divided
into 20 shallow flutes
separated by sharp “arises”
ARRIS
 Shafts has normally a slight
convex profile called
“entasis,” to counteract the
hollow appearance which
result from straight sided
column
 The shaft terminates in the
“hypotrachelion” usually
formed of three grooves in
archaic examples and later
on one groove
 Immediately above it, is the
continuation of the fluted
shaft known as the
trachelion or necking
The capital consist of
abacus and echinus
 The abacus is a
square slab
 The sturdiest among
the Greek orders
 A.2. Doric Entablature
 The “architrave” or principal beam is
made up of two (2) to three (3) slabs
 Capping the architrave is a flat band called
the “taenia” and under this, at intervals
corresponding to the “triglyphs,” are each
known as regular with six guttae or small
conical drops below
 The frieze is formed of triglyphs with
three upright channels which alternates
with 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
 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
 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
 6. Temple of Apollo
Epicurius, Bassae
 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
7. Temple of Zeus Olympius, Agrigentum

 Designed by Theron
 Ranks as second in size among Greek
temples
 It is a course stone originally covered with
marble dust cement
 Pseudo peripteral heptasyle in plan with
seven half columns in front and fourteen on
each side
 B. Ionic Order
 Is especially
remarkable for its
volute or scroll capital
 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
 Architrave
 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 BC.
 B .1. Ionic Column
 Usually about nine times their
lower diameter in height
 Has twenty four flutes separated
by fillets and not by arises sharp
edges
 Moulded base is known as Attic
base which originated in Attica
 The base is consist of an upper
and lower torus which are
divided by a scotia and fillets
 The capital has a pair of volutes
or spirals about two thirds (2/3)
the diameter in height.
 B.2. Ionic Entablature
 The original had only two main parts:
architrave large dentils in bed mould
 Later development had a frieze inserted in the
entablature and as a consequence the bed
mould was emitted from the cornice except for
a minor moulding
 The architrave, normally with three (3) fascia,
is capped by a small group of mouldings
 The frieze sometimes plain, is ornamental with
a continuous bond of sculpture.
 1. Temple of Nike
Apteros, Athens
 Dedicated to “Wingless
Victory” standing
picturesquely on the
south-western spur of the
Acropolis
 Design by Callicrates
 An exquisite amphi-
prostyle tetrastyle small
temple of marble, about
5.4m x 8.2m (18 ft x 27 ft)
 Has a close
resemblance to the
temple of Illisus
 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 prostyle
tetrastyle 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
 C.1. 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 as 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.
C.2. The
Corinthian
Entablature
 It has three main
parts; the
architrave, the
frieze and the
cornice
 Not distinguishable
from the Ionic in
Greek Architecture
 C.3. Examples of
Corinthian Temples
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 peristyle
consisted 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, Athen
 Is a type of monument erected to support a tripod,
awarded as a prize for athletic exercises or musical
competition
 Consist of 2 stages:

a. Lower stage – a lofty podium of Piraeus stone

b. Upper stage – is a hollow cylinder of white Penteli
marble, 1.8 (6ft) in diameter inside,
standing upon a base of bluish
Hymettian marble around which
are 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 Andronikos
Cyrrhestes
 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.
 C.1. 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)
3.a. Paracenia – a projecting
wall/wing at the end of the
skene.
3.b. Procenium built in
front of the original skene
 used as a speaking place
or location
3.c. Episcenium – a raised
background to the two (2)
storey skene building
 Parados or passage
loading to the skene
 C.2. Examples
of Greek
Theaters
1. The theater,
Epidauros
 - design 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.
 PRYTANEION

STOA
 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 semi
circular.
8 Hippodrome – the prototype of Roman
circus.
 Similar to stadium though longer type of
building for horse and chariot racing.
HIPPODROME

STADIUM
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.
 TYMPANUM

ACROTERIA

ANTEFIXAE
 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
columsn
 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.
PINACOTHECA
LACUNARIA

GLYPTOTHECA