people (Hellenic people) whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland and Peloponnesus, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Asia Minor and Italy For about 900 BC until the 1st century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural works dating from around 600 BC
Greek Architecture
The mainland and islands of Greece are rocky, with deeply indented coastline, and rugged mountain ranges with few substantial forests. The most freely available building material is stone. Limestone was readily available and easily worked. High quality white marble
Finely grained material A major contributing factor to precision of detail,
Used not only for pottery vessels, but also roof tiles
Greek Architecture
Greece is maritime, with both the coldness of winter and the heat of summer tempered by sea breezes. This led to a lifestyle where many activities took place outdoors.
designed as a visual focus of gatherings and processions Theatres were often an enhancement of a naturally occurring sloping site where people could sit, rather than a containing structure Colonnades encircling buildings, or surrounding courtyards provided shelter from the sun and from sudden winter storms
Another important factor in the development of the particular character of Ancient Greek architecture.
often extremely bright, with both the sky and
the sea vividly blue clear light and sharp shadows give a precision to the details of landscape, pale rocky outcrops and seashore.
Ancient Greek architects constructed buildings that were marked by precision of detail. Gleaming marble surfaces were smooth, curved, fluted, or ornately sculpted to reflect the sun, cast graded shadows and change in color with the everchanging light of day.
Greek Architecture
Mycenean
Ancient Greek
Early Greek
Minoan
Hellenic
Hellenistic
MINOAN Name given by modern historians to the people of ancient Crete, known for their elaborate and richly decorated palaces, and for their pottery painted with floral and marine motifs.
Minoan civilization
A Bronze civilization Arose on the island of Crete Approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th
century BC.
The first link in the European chain The early inhabitants of Crete settled as early as 128,000 BC 5000 BC the first signs of advanced agriculture appeared, marking the beginning of the civilization.
MYCENEAN C. 1600 BC c. 1100 BC A cultural period of Bronze Age Occurred on the Peloponnesus(c.1500 1100 BC), was quite different in character
than palaces Decorating their pottery with bands of marching soldiers rather than octopus and seaweed.
Led to a period with few remaining signs of culture, often referred to as a Dark Age.
HELLENIC PERIOD Commenced circa 900 BC, (with substantial works of architecture appearing from about 600 BC) and ended with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.
HELLENISTIC PERIOD 323 BC - AD 30 Hellenic culture was spread widely, throughout lands conquered by Alexander, and then by the Roman Empire which absorbed much of Greek culture.
In the cultural diversity of the Dorian, Spartan, Mycenean, Athenean and people from Asia Minor, the art of logic developed, and with it the notion of democracy.
Laid out with a regular grid of paved streets Equipped with a public fountain where water could be collected for household use.
Greek Architecture
Nature worship that grew out of the beliefs of earlier cultures Natural elements were personified as gods of completely human form, and very human behavior
Olympus
Home of the gods The highest mountain in Greece
Apollo
God of the sun, law, reason, music and poetry
Zeus
Supreme god and ruler of the sky
Artemis
Goddess of the moon, the hunt and the wilderness
Hera
Wife of Zeus and goddess of marriage
Aphrodite
Goddess of love
Athena
Goddess of wisdom
Ares
God of war
Poseidon
God of the sea
Hermes
God of commerce and medicine
Demeter
Goddess of the earth
Hephaestus
God of fire and metalwork
Worship was done in community, in the open. By 600 BC, the gods were often represented by large statues
It was necessary to provide a building in which the gods
could be housed
Led to the development of temples. No public mass worship took place within the temples Naos was designed primarily to house the statue of the deity
Greek Architecture
Trabeated form
Post and lintel
Columns
Unique
Painted red
Mounted on a simple stone base Pillow-like, round piece as a capital
Buildings
Two to three storeys high
With staircases Lower walls were constructed of stone
and rubble Upper walls of mud brick Flat tiled roofs Ceiling timbers held up the roofs Plaster, wood, or flagstone floors U-shaped, with a big central court
Mycenaean Towns
Well fortified and situated on an acropolis
Walls were cyclopean, large, unworked boulders
up to eight meters (26 ft) thick, loosely fitted without the clay mortar of the day Different types of entrances or exits Monumental gates Access ramps Hidden doors Vaulted galleries for escaping in case of a siege. cistern or well
Mycenaean Palaces
Arranged around a group of courtyard
Several
Ancient Greek buildings of timber, clay and plaster construction were roofed with thatch. With the rise of stone architecture came the appearance of fired ceramic roof tiles. Vaults and arches were not generally used, but begin to appear in tombs ("beehive" or cantilevered form)
Highly formal, both of structure and decoration. Centered on open spaces or courtyards surrounded by colonnades.
Knossos is the best-known example.
Ancient Greek buildings of timber, clay and plaster construction were roofed with thatch. With the rise of stone architecture came the appearance of fired ceramic roof tiles. Vaults and arches were not generally used, but begin to appear in tombs ("beehive" or cantilevered form)
Best known for its TEMPLES Most impressive buildings in Greek cities
Elegance of proportions
Meant to look best from the outside Location of a cult image, a storage place Not very much space inside a temple Place for devotees of the god Gathered outside, rather than inside their temples Altar stood under the open sky in the TEMENOS or sacred precinct
Oriented astronomically Most commonly rectangular Built of stone, marble Rested on a masonry base called the CREPIDOMA
Pronaos
Porch
Naos (Cella)
A windowless room housing the statue of the
Antenaos
A treasury or repository for trophies and gifts
Masonry walls in regular courses Doors were spanned with a lintel narrowing towards the top Without windows, light to the naos enter through the door
THOLOS
Small circular temples
Distyle In Antis
Amphidistyle In Antis
Tetrastyle
Tetrastyle
Hexastyle Octastyle
Hexastyle Octastyle
Distyle in antis
Two columns at the front, set between the projecting walls of the pronaos or porch Temple of Nemesis, Rhamnus
Amphiprostyle tetrastyle
Columns at both ends which stand clear of the naos. Tetrastyle columns are four in number Temple on the Ilissus, Athens
Peripteral hexastyle
A single row of peripheral columns around the naos Six columns across the front Theseion, Athens
Peripteral octastyle
A single row of columns around the naos Eight columns across the front Parthenon, Athens
Dipteral
Decastyle the naos surrounded by a double row of columns Ten columns across the entrance front Temple of Apollo, Didyma
Pseudo-periteral heptastyle
Encircling colonnade has pseudo columns attached to the walls of the naos. Heptastyle seven columns across the entrance front Temple of Zeus Olympius, Agrigentum
Ideal of proportion that was used by Ancient Greek architects in designing temples Determining factor in the mathematics of any notable work of architecture
Columns become thinner towards the top Gaps between the columns on the corners of a temple and the next columns is slightly less than the gaps between other columns Corner columns are slightly thicker than the other columns Surfaces lean inwards Horizontal lines of the temple also sometimes rise slightly in the middle and gently slope downwards towards the corners
Columns become thinner towards the top Gaps between the columns on the corners of a temple and the next columns is slightly less than the gaps between other columns Corner columns are slightly thicker than the other columns Surfaces lean inwards Horizontal lines of the temple also sometimes rise slightly in the middle and gently slope downwards towards the corners
The most obvious adjustment is to the profile of columns, which narrow from base to top. The narrowing is not regular, but gently curved so that each columns appears to have a slight swelling, called ENTASIS below the middle
After
Before
Diagram showing the optical corrections made by the architects of the Parthenon.
city in Greek
The Acropolis in Athens The most perfect example was built on top of ever achieved of the Sacred Rock architecture Was supposed to Phidias radiate power and
protection for its citizens.
Athenian sculptor
Geometric scrolls
Overlapping patterns and foliate motifs.
Sculptured decoration
Acroteria Antefixes
Palmate row of lion's masks, with open mouths that ejected rainwater
The Greek antefix is found in the lower roof line, in front of the imbrices (overlapping roof tiles). Parthenon, Athens.
The Greek akroter serves as an ornamental finish to the apex of a gable. It is painted in the temple of Wingless Victory in Athens, Greece.
Three types of Greek fret patterns a) Simple fret b) Compound fret c) Rosetted fret
Theater
Second important type of building
Gymnasium
Training facility for competitors in public games
Propylon
A processional gateway
Stadium
For foot racing
Agora
A public square, surrounded by stoa
Palaestra
A smaller, privately owned gymnasia
Stoa
A colonnaded shelter
Bouleuterion
A town council building
Always built into the side of a hill Usually semi-circular and could seat up to 21000 people Used for both public meetings as well as dramatic performances Orchestra
Rows of tiered seating set in a semicircle around the
Skene
Low building located behind the orchestra which served
The best known being at Epidaurus, by the architect Polykleitos the Younger.
The focus for the political, economic and social activity of the city
Often near the geographic center of the city
A large open area filled with stalls Where citizens held meetings Location for religious processions Law courts, political buildings and fountains for drinking water were found on the edge of agora Shrines and important monuments often found within
A building whose main purpose was to provide shelter from the sun or the rain
A wall on one side Paintings by famous artists on the walls Shops or rooms at the back A colonnade on the other
Dignified and gracious structures Sited so that they related to each other architecturally PROPYLON or porch
significant sites
Open, unroofed area surrounded by rooms where male citizens could exercise in the open space Activities included wrestling, boxing and athletics
STADIA
Running tracks
PALAESTRA
Smaller, privately owned versions of gymnasia,
Palaestra or a gymnasium, the social centre for male citizens which included spectator areas, baths, toilets and club rooms.
Stadium for foot racing, 600 feet in length. Olympia, Delphi, Epidarus and Ephesus
Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, seats 45,000 people, restored in the 19th century
Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing Hippos (horse) and "dromos (course) Set out on the slope of a hill
One end of the hippodrome was semicircular Other end, square with an extensive portico In front, at a lower level
Termai
Posts where chariots turned around, located at
both ends of the hippodrome The most dangerous part of the track Altar to Taraxippus (disturber of horses)
Or Tomb of Mausolus Built between 353 and 350 BC at Halicarnasus Designed by Satyros and Pythius. Approximately 45 m (148 ft) in height Four sides was adorned with sculptural reliefs An above ground tomb
Plain Built of mud bricks on top of a small row of stones, covered in plaster Four to six rooms, sometimes with a second storey Courtyard open to the sky Rooms faced the courtyard No big windows facing the street No water piped to their houses Andron
Men's room, the most richly decorated room Where men would invite guests and where they held
their symposia(meeting)
Greek Architecture
Order of Architecture
A set or rules or principles for designing
buildings.
in Greece or Rome during the Classical period, roughly 850 BC through 476 AD.
How Classical Architecture Began Great buildings were constructed according to precise rules Marcus Vitruvius (De Architectura, or Ten Books on Architecture) believed
Builders used mathematical principles when
constructing temples Without symmetry and proportion, no temple can have a regular plan
Base
Columns rest on a round or square base
Shaft
Main part of the column Smooth Fluted (grooved) Carved with designs
the entablature.
Upper portion of a building Above the columns and below the roof
Architrave
The lowest part of an
Frieze
Fanciest part of the entablature,
Cornice
Highest part of the entablature,
ornamental molding, frequently having two to three different geometric or floral designs
Doric Ionic
Corinthian
Corinthian column
Used them for the lowest level of multistory buildings, reserving the more slender Ionic and Corinthian columns for the upper levels.
Originally placed directly on the ground without a pedestal or base Shaft is wider at the bottom Shaft is fluted (grooved) Smooth, round capitals (tops) No carvings or other ornaments
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
6)
7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) 14)
15)
16) 17) 18)
Tympanum Acroterion Cyma Cornice Mutules Frieze Triglyph Metope Regulae Guttae Taenia Architrave Capital Abacus Echinus Column Fluting Stylobate
Doric columns stood directly on the flat pavement (the stylobate) without a base Vertical shafts were fluted with 20 parallel concave grooves Smooth capital that flared from the column to meet a square abacus Carried the horizontal beam(architrave) The Parthenon has the Doric design columns.
More slender and more ornate than the Doric style Scroll-shaped ornaments on the capital
A pair of volutes
Stands on a base of stacked disks Shafts are usually fluted, but can be plain
Buildings With Ionic Columns: The Erechtheum, Athens The Colosseum, Rome
Doric columns on the first
level, Ionic columns on the second level, and Corinthian columns on the third level
Most complex and elaborate Fluted (grooved) shaft Capital decorated with scrolls, acanthus leaves, and flowers Ornaments on the capital flare outwards, suggesting a sense of height Invented by Callimachus, a Greek sculptor and architect
Buildings with Corinthian columns: The Pantheon, Rome The Colosseum, Rome
On the third level