Greek Architecture

Revision
 Introduction
• Classical art is considered the formal and
aesthetic basis of Occidental Art.
• This art was born in Greece and
continued during the Roman
Empire.
• The chronology of Greek Art is:
– Archaic period: 8th to 6th century bc
– Classical period: 5th to 4th century bc
 Introduction
• Archaic period:
– It is the time of formation
– To the local basis are added other influences:
• Crete civilization
• Mycenaean civilization
• Oriental influences, above all, Egyptian
– Art evolved from abstraction to expressive
naturalism.
 Introduction
• Classical period:
– It is the peak of this art
– Every art manifestation reached its zenith
– It is the period of political, economic and
cultural expansion of the polis, mainly Athens.
– It is the period of the Democracy
– This situation lasted until the political decay of
the polis with the Peloponnesus Wars.
 Introduction
• Hellenistic period:
– Greek culture suffered a deep transformation
– Alexander the Great expanded Greek culture
– With culture, Art expanded too:
• The artistic forms
• Technical solutions
– Greece became the artistic reference in the
whole Mediterranean area.
 Geographical space
• Even when the basic nucleus is Greece,
this civilization expanded to other regions
due to:
– Greek colonization (forced by the inner
difficulties for communication –difficult relieve,
politically divided into polis)
• South of Italy and Sicily (Magna Greece)
• Easter Mediterranean coasts (Turkey, Middle
East)
• Rest of Mediterranean coasts.
 Greek civilization
• Ideologically:
– Freedom and individual independence
– Isodomia: equal right among free men
• Human being is the centre of their culture:
everything is done at man’s measure
• Rich mythology and religion: gods were used to
express beauty ideal.
• Reason, observation and experience are the basis
for the reality: Philosophy and Sciences
 Architecture: Basis
• Greek created equilibrate and
proportional works
• It is an architecture to be seen (temple)
– Sculptural values, volumes
– Building is conceived as an sculpture
• Beauty= proportion and measure:
– it is conceived from the human point of view
– it is anti-colossal
 Architecture: Basis
• The organization of the polis did not help the
development of the palace.
• Temple is the essential building, residence of the
god, not a place for people
• Other constructions combined beauty with
practical solutions:
– Theatres
– Sanctuaries
– Gymnasiums
• Importance of urbanism: Hipodamus from Mileto
created the orthogonal planning
 Building systems
• It has lintels, and it is apparently serene and
equilibrate
• Dominant lines are horizontal and vertical
• The column is the essential element
• Building materials limestone and white marble
• Walls are made of regular ashlars, without mortar
(stretcher and header bond= soga y tizón)
• Buildings were polychrome
• There are not fixed measures, this is why there
 Orders
• Doric:
– Columns
• Without basis
• Sharp-edged shaft
• Simple capital, without decoration

– Tablature
• Frieze divided
– Metopes
– Triglyphs

– Cornice
– Triangular pediment
• Of the three columns found in Greece, Doric columns are the simplest. They have
a capital (the top, or crown) made of a circle topped by a square. The shaft (the
tall part of the column) is plain and has 20 sides. There is no base in the Doric
order. The Doric order is very plain, but powerful-looking in its design. Doric,
like most Greek styles, works well horizontally on buildings, that's why it was so
good with the long rectangular buildings made by the Greeks. The area above the
column, called the frieze [pronounced "freeze"], had simple patterns. Above the
columns are the metopes and triglyphs. The metope [pronounced "met-o-pee"]
is a plain, smooth stone section between triglyphs. Sometimes the metopes had
statues of heroes or gods on them. The triglyphs are a pattern of 3 vertical lines
 Orders
• Ionic:
– Columns:
• With basis
• Blunt-edged shaft
• Capital with volutes
– Tablature
• Three bands, without decoration
• Continues frieze (decorated)
– Cornice
• Ionic shafts were taller than Doric ones. This makes the columns look slender.
They also had flutes, which are lines carved into them from top to bottom.
The shafts also had a special characteristic: entasis, which is a little bulge in
the columns make the columns look straight, even at a distance [because
since you would see the building from eye level, the shafts would appear to
get narrower as they rise, so this bulge makes up for that - so it looks straight
to your eye but it really isn't !] . The frieze is plain. The bases were large and
looked like a set of stacked rings. Ionic capitals consist of a scrolls above the
 Orders
• Corinthian:
– Columns:
• With basis
• High blunt-edged shaft
• Capital decorated with acantus leaves and small volutes

– Tablature:
• Three bands without decoration
• Continuous frieze

– Cornice
– Triangular pediment
• The Corinthian order is the most decorative and is
usually the one most modern people like best. Corinthian
also uses entasis to make the shafts look straight. The
Corinthian capitals have flowers and leaves below a small
scroll. The shaft has flutes and the base is like the
Ionian. Unlike the Doric and Ionian cornices, which are at
a slant, the Corinthian roofs are flat.
 Finding for idealism
• Greek aimed at creating visually perfect buildings
• To correct optical distortions they
used several resources:
– Curved tablature and stilobatus
– Columns inclined towards the inside
– Entasis: columns are wider in the
middle
– Corner columns are wider than the
rest
– Different distances between columns
 Greek temple
• It is based on the pre-Hellenic megaron
• Structure:
– Rectangular plan
– Longitudinal axes
• Circular temples existed too: Tholos
• Internal distribution:
– One to three naves
– Pronaos : Open entrance
– Naos or cella: chapel for God’s image
 Greek temple
• Location: in isolated or holy places
• Ceremonies were celebrated in the
outside, in front of the porticos.
• It was built on a basis with stairs, called
crepis in order to avoid humidity. The last
stair is called stillobatus.
• The façade is the main area for developing
architectonical orders (they may appear
inside too).
 Temple typology
• Depending on the disposition of the
columns in the portico:
– In antis: the pillars of the side exceed the wall
– Prostyle: columns only in one façade
– Anphiprostyle: columns in both façades
– Peripteral: columns around the building
– Dipteral: double columns around the
building
– Monopteral: circular
 Temple typology
• Depending on the number of columns in
the portico it can be:
– Tetrastile: four columns
– Hexastile: six columns
– Octastile: eight columns
– Tholos: circular temple
The majority of the religious buildings were concentrated in the Acropolis, or fortified city
built on a mountain near the city. (This is Athens’ Acropolis)
 Public architecture
• Propylaea or porch was a monumental
entrance to a temenos or holy area
• Fountain houses
• Stoa: long narrow hall with an open
colonnade that was used as exhibition
room
• Agora: commercial centre of the city
• Palestra or gymnasium, the social centre
 egend:

•1: NE Propylon •17: Ex-voto of Achaeans

•2: Prytaneion •18: Ex-voto of Mikythos
•3: Philippeion •19: Nike of Paionios
•4: Heraion •20: Gymnasion
•5: Pelopion •21: Palaestra
•6: Nympheum of Herodes Atticus •22: Theokoleon
•7: Metroon •23: Heroon
•8: Zanes •24: Phidias' workshop and paleochristian basilica
•9: Crypt (arched way to the stadium) •25: Baths of Kladeos
•10: Stadium •26: Greek baths
•11: Echo stoa •27 and 28: Hostels
•12: Building of Ptolemy II and Arsinoe •29: Leonidaion
•13: Hestia stoa •30: South baths
•14: Hellenistic building •31: Bouleuterion
•15: Temple of Zeus •32: South stoa
•16: Altar of Zeus •33: Villa of Nero
 Public buildings
• Theatre:
– It was used for meeting and dramatic performances
– It consisted of several parts:
• Skene: place for the performance, it was circular
• Orchestra: first line of seats, for the chorus
• Seats: divided in areas to made it possible the movement
• Storage rooms (behind the skene)
– There were built on a hill
– They have perfect acoustic due to their location
– There were small theatres for reading poetry, they
were called odeon.