The restored Stoa of Attalus, Athens.

Architecture,executed to considered design, was extinct in Greece from the end of the Mycenaean period (about 1200 BC) to the 7th century BC, when urban life and prosperity recovered to a point where public building could be undertaken. The term architecture (from Greek αρχιτεκτονικήarchitektoniki) can be used to mean a process a profession or documentation Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Helladic is a modern archaeological term meant to identify a sequence of periods characterizing the culture of mainland Ancient Greece during the Bronze Age. But since many Greek buildings in the colonization period (8th - 6th century BC), were made of wood or mud-brick or clay, nothing remains of them except for a few ground-plans, and almost no written sources on early architecture or descriptions of these embryonic buildings exist. The 8th century BC started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC. Wood is hard fibrous lignified structural tissue produced as secondary Xylem in the stems of Woody plants notably trees but also shrubs A mudbrick is a firefree Brick made of Clay, or mud mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained Minerals which show plasticity through a variable range of Water content, and

Common materials of Greek architecture were wood, used for supports and roof beams; unbaked brick used for walls, especially for private homes; limestone and marble, used for columns, walls, and upper portions of temples and public buildings; terracotta, used for roof tiles and ornaments; and metals, especially bronze, used for decorative details. Wood is hard fibrous lignified structural tissue produced as secondary Xylem in the stems of Woody plants notably trees but also shrubs Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 Marble is a nonfoliated Metamorphic rock resulting from the Metamorphism of Limestone, composed mostly of Calcite (a crystalline form of A column in Structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural Terra cotta ( Italian: "baked earth" is a Ceramic. Its uses include vessels water & waste water pipes and surface embellishment in Building construction Bronze is any of a broad range of Copper alloys, usually with Tin as the main additive but sometimes with other elements such as Phosphorus Architects of the Archaic and Classical periods used these building materials to construct five simple types of buildings: religious, civic, domestic, funerary, or recreational. An architect is a licensed individual who leads a design team in the Planning and Design of buildings and participates in oversight of Building Construction

History

Around 600 B. C. E. , the wooden columns of the old Temple of Hera at Olympia underwent a material transformation, known as "petrification", in which they were replaced by stone columns. A column in Structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural The Temple of Hera, or the Heraion, at Olympia, Greece, is an important monument of the ruins of Doric Architecture. Olympia ( Greek: Olympí'a or Olýmpia, older transliterations Olimpia, Olimbia) a sanctuary of ancient Greece In Geology, petrifaction or petrification is the process by which Organic material is converted into stone or a similar substance without In Geology, rock is a naturally occurring aggregate of Minerals and/or Mineraloids The Earth's outer solid layer the ‘ Lithosphere By degrees, other parts of the temple were petrified.

Most of our knowledge of Greek architecture comes from the late archaic period (550 - 500 BC), the Periclean age (450 - 430 BC), and the early to pure classical period (430 - 400 BC). The Golden Age is the term used to denote the historical period in Ancient Greece lasting roughly from the end of the Persian Wars in 448 BC to either the The term Classical architecture has a specific Archaeological meaning relating to the architecture of Classical Greece Greek examples are considered alongside Hellenistic and Roman periods (since Roman architecture heavily copied Greek), and late written sources such as Vitruvius (1st century). This article focuses on the cultural aspects of the Hellenistic age for the historical aspects see Hellenistic period. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC The Architecture of Ancient Rome adopted the external Greek architecture for their own purposes which were so different from Greek buildings as to create a new Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born c 80–70 BC died after c 15 BC was a Roman Writer, Architect and Engineer (possibly praefectus fabrum This results in a strong bias towards temples, the only buildings which survive in numbers. A temple (from the Latin word Templum) is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities such as prayer and sacrifice or analogous rites

Like Greek painting and sculpture, Greek Architecture in the first half of classical antiquity was not "art for art's sake" in the modern sense. Painting (pān'tīng in Art, is the practice of applying Color to a Surface (support base such as e The term architecture (from Greek αρχιτεκτονικήarchitektoniki) can be used to mean a process a profession or documentation Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural History centered on the Mediterranean " Art for art's sake " is the usual English rendition of a French Slogan, from the early 19th century l'art pour l'art and expresses a philosophy The architect was a craftsman employed by the state or a wealthy private client. An artisan, also called a Craftsman, is a skilled manual worker who crafts items that may be functional or strictly decorative including furniture clothing No distinction was made between the architect and the building contractor. The architect designed the building, hired the laborers and craftsmen who built it, and was responsible for both its budget and its timely completion. He did not enjoy any of the lofty status accorded to modern architects of public buildings. Even the names of architects are not known before the 5th century. An architect like Iktinos, who designed the Parthenon, who would today be seen as a genius, was treated in his lifetime as no more than a very valuable master tradesman. Iktinos (or Ictinus) was an Architect active in the mid 5th century BC The Parthenon ( Ancient Greek:) is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis

Structure and style of Greek temples

Temple of Hephaestus, Athens: western facade

The standard format of Greek public buildings is known from surviving examples such as the Parthenon and the Hephaesteum at Athens, Temple, the temple complex at Selinunte (Selinus) and the sanctuaries at Agrigentum. The Temple of Hephaestus and Athena Ergane (Ναός του Ηφαίστου και της Αθηνάς Εργάνης also known as the Hephaisteion (Ηφαιστείον Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's The Parthenon ( Ancient Greek:) is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis The Temple of Hephaestus and Athena Ergane (Ναός του Ηφαίστου και της Αθηνάς Εργάνης also known as the Hephaisteion (Ηφαιστείον A temple (from the Latin word Templum) is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities such as prayer and sacrifice or analogous rites Selinunte ( Greek:; Latin: Selinus) is an ancient Greek archaeological site situated on the south coast of Sicily between Agrigento ( Girgenti in Sicilian) is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy, and capital of the Province of Agrigento Most buildings were rectangular and made from limestone or tuff, of which Greece has an abundance, and which was cut into large blocks and dressed. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 Tuff (from the Italian "tufo" is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption Marble was an expensive building material in Greece: high quality marble came only from Mt. Pentelicus in Attica and from a few islands such as Paros, and its transportation in large blocks was difficult. Marble is a nonfoliated Metamorphic rock resulting from the Metamorphism of Limestone, composed mostly of Calcite (a crystalline form of Attica (Αττική Attikí;) is a periphery (subdivision in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece For the town in Armenia see Nagapetavan. Paros ( Πάρος) is an Island of Greece in the central Aegean It was used mainly for sculptural decoration, not structurally, except in the very grandest buildings of the Classical period such as the Parthenon. The Parthenon ( Ancient Greek:) is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis

The basic rectangular plan was surrounded by a colonnaded portico of columns on all four sides (peripteral or peristyle) such as the Parthenon, and occasionally at the front and rear only (amphiprostyle) as seen in the small Temple of Athena Nike. In Classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of Columns joined by their Entablature, often free-standing as in the famous elliptically A portico is a Porch that is leading to the entrance of a building or extended as a Colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway supported by Columns A column in Structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural This page is a glossary of architecture. A Aisle - subsidiary space alongside the body of a building separated from it by columns piers or In Greek and Roman architecture a peristyle is a Columned Porch or open Colonnade in a Building that surrounds a court The Parthenon ( Ancient Greek:) is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis In Classical architecture, Amphiprostyle denotes a Temple with a Portico both at the front and the rear Nike means "Victory" in Greek, and Athena was worshiped in this form as goddess of victory on the Acropolis in Athens, Some buildings had a projecting head of columns forming the entrance (prostyle), while others featured a pronaos facade of columns leading on to the cella. Prostyle is an architectural term defining free standing Columns that are widely spaced apart in a row A portico is a Porch that is leading to the entrance of a building or extended as a Colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway supported by Columns For the Spanish town see Cella Spain Naos redirects here For other meanings see Naos (disambiguation. The Greeks roofed their buildings with timber beams covered with overlapping terra cotta or occasionally marble tiles. Terra cotta ( Italian: "baked earth" is a Ceramic. Its uses include vessels water & waste water pipes and surface embellishment in Building construction Marble is a nonfoliated Metamorphic rock resulting from the Metamorphism of Limestone, composed mostly of Calcite (a crystalline form of They understood the principles of the masonry arch but made little use of it, and did not put domes on their buildings;these elaborations were left to the Romans. Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar, and the term "masonry" can also refer to the units themselves An arch is a structure that spans a space while supporting weight (e A dome is a common structural element of Architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a Sphere.

The low pitch of the gable roofs produced a squat triangular shape at each end of the building, the pediment, which was typically filled with sculptural decoration. A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure ( Entablature) typically supported by Between the roof and the tops of the columns a row of lintels formed the entablature, whose outward-facing surfaces also provided a space for sculptures, known as friezes. For lintel as a decorative element see Lintel (architecture For beam as load-bearing member see beam An entablature (ɛnˈtæblətʃɚ Latin, and tabula, a tablet) refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above In Architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an Entablature and may be plain or &ndash in the Ionic or Corinthian order &ndash The frieze consisted of alternating metopes (holding the sculpture) and triglyphs. In Classical architecture, a metope (μετώπη is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two Triglyphs in a Doric frieze Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric Frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them two perfect and one divided the No surviving Greek building preserves these sculptures intact, but they can be seen on some modern imitations of Greek structures.

Greek public architecture

The temple was the most common and best-known form of Greek public architecture, and the temple did not serve the same function as a modern church. Greek temples ( Ancient Greek:, grc-Latn ho naós "dwelling" semantically distinct from Latin la templum " Temple For one thing, the altar stood under the open sky in the temenos or sacred fane, often directly before the temple. Temenos ( from the Greek verb "to cut" plural temene is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain especially to kings Temples served as storage places for the treasury associated with the cult of the god in question, as the location of a cult image sometimes of great antiquity, but from the time of Pheidias often a great work of art as well. In the practice of Religion, a cult image is a man-made object that is venerated for the Deity, spirit or Daemon that it embodies or represents Phidias (or Pheidias; in Ancient Greek,; c[[ 80 BC]] c 430 BC) son of Charmides was an ancient Greek The temple was a place for devotees of the god to leave their votive offerings, such as statues, helmets and weapons. A votive deposit or votive offering is an object left in a Sacred place for Ritual purposes The inner room of the temple, the cella, thus served mainly as a strongroom and storeroom. For the Spanish town see Cella Spain Naos redirects here For other meanings see Naos (disambiguation. It was usually lined by another row of columns.

Other architectural forms used by the Greeks were the tholos or circular temple, of which the best example is the Tholos of Theodorus at Delphi dedicated to the worship of Athena Pronaia; the propylon or porch, forming the entrance to temple sanctuaries (the best-surviving example is the Propylaea on the Acropolis of Athens); the fountain house, a building where women filled their vases with water from a public fountain; and the stoa, a long narrow hall with an open colonnade on one side, which was used to house rows of shops in the agoras (commercial centres) of Greek towns. As a generic term tholos tomb is an alternative name for a Beehive tomb from the late Bronze Age. Delphi ( Greek,) ( pronounce and dialectal forms) is an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western ATHENA was an Antimatter research project that took place at the AD Ring at CERN. A Propylaea, Propylea or Propylaia (in Greek &mdash Προπυλαια is any monumental Gateway based on the original Propylaea that serves The Acropolis of Athens is the best known Acropolis (high city The "Sacred Rock" in the world Stoa (plural stoae or stoæ) in Ancient Greek architecture; covered walkways or Porticos commonly for public usage In Classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of Columns joined by their Entablature, often free-standing as in the famous elliptically The Agora was an open "place of assembly" in ancient Greek city-states A completely restored stoa, the Stoa of Attalus, can be seen in Athens. The Stoa of Attalos (also spelled Attalus) is recognised as one of the most impressive Stoa in the Athenian Agora. Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's Greek towns of substantial size also had a palaestra or a gymnasium, the social centre for male citizens. For the sports arena in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania see Palestra. The gymnasium in Ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public Games It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual These peripterally enclosed space open to the sky were used for athletic contests and exercise. Greek towns also needed at least one bouleuterion or council chamber, a large public building which served as a court house and as a meeting place for the town council (boule). A bouleuterion was a building which housed the council of citizens ( Boule) in Ancient Greece. Because the Greeks did not use arches or domes, they could not construct buildings with large interior spaces. The bouleuterion thus had rows of internal columns to hold the roof up (hypostyle). In Architecture, a hypostyle Hall has a flat ceiling which is supported by columns as in the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. No examples of these buildings survive.

Finally, every Greek town had a theatre. Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one These were used for both public meetings as well as dramatic performances. These performances originated as religious ceremonies; they went on to assume their Classical status as the highest form of Greek culture by the 6th century BC (see Greek theatre). The theatre of ancient Greece, or ancient Greek drama, is a theatrical Culture that flourished in ancient Greece between c The theatre was usually set in a hillside outside the town, and had rows of tiered seating set in a semi-circle around the central performance area, the orchestra. Behind the orchestra was a low building called the skene, which served as a store-room, a dressing-room, and also as a backdrop to the action taking place in the orchestra. In classical drama the skene was the background building which connected the platform stage in which costumes were stored and to which the Periaktoi (painted panels serving A number of Greek theatres survive almost intact, the best known being at Epidaurus. Epidaurus (Ἐπίδαυρος Epidavros) was a small city ( Polis) in ancient Greece, at the Saronic Gulf.

City planning and houses

The Greeks had begun to lay out cities in a grid-like pattern before the start of the Classical period in the early 5th century BC, with streets regularly intersecting at right angles. In Geometry and Trigonometry, a right angle is an angle of 90 degrees corresponding to a quarter turn (that is a quarter of a full circle Yet the Greeks credited the invention of the right-angled plan to Ionian architect Hippodamus. Hippodamus of Miletus ( or Hippodamos Greek Ἱππόδαμος (498 BC &mdash 408 BC was an ancient Greek Architect Urban Planner Physician Mathematician Meteorologist He planned new cities for Piraeus and the Athenian colony of Thuril. Piraeus (pɪˈræʊs Πειραιάς, piɾeˈas Πειραιεύς, piɾeˈefs is a city in the periphery of Attica, Greece, and a The late 5th century Olynthus also showed his influence in the city's uniform streets and blocks. For the Butterfly Genus, see Olynthus (butterfly. Olynthus ( Greek: Όλυνθος olunthos, a fig By the 4th century BC, planned cities and civic spaces had become common in the Greek city states.

Greek house designs varied and in the 5th and 4th centuries BC two standard plans became commonplace. Typical houses in Olynthus during this time period and the 2nd century houses on Delos had the small rooms of the home arranged in a rectangle plan around a colonnaded interior courtyard. The island of Delos ( Greek: Δήλος Dhilos) isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos A second house plan was found in Priene which also focused on an interior courtyard but it had much different floorplan. Priene ( Ancient Greek: Πριήνη, Priēnē was an ancient Greek city of Ionia (and member of the Ionian League) at the base Instead of a collection of small rooms, the primary living area consisted of a large rectangular hall that led to a columned porch. Opening off the sides of the courtyard were small rooms for servants, storage, and cooking. Houses in the Hellenistic period became much more diverse. This article focuses on the historical aspects of the Hellenistic age for the cultural aspects see Hellenistic civilisation. For example, houses of wealthy people might have featured marble thresholds, columns and doorways; mosaic floors depicting scenes of humans or animals; and plastered walls modeled to look much like fine stonework. Marble is a nonfoliated Metamorphic rock resulting from the Metamorphism of Limestone, composed mostly of Calcite (a crystalline form of

Orders of Greek architecture

There were two main styles (or "orders") of Greek architecture, the Doric and the Ionic. The Doric order was one of the three '''orders''' or organizational systems of Ancient Greek or Classical architecture; the other two Canonical The Ionic order column forms one of the three '''orders''' or '''organizational systems''' of Classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the These names were used by the Greeks themselves, and reflected their belief that the styles descended from the Dorian and Ionian Greeks of the Dark Ages, but this is unlikely to be true. The Doric style was used in mainland Greece and spread from there to the Greek colonies in Italy. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The Ionic style was used in the cities of Ionia (now the west coast of Turkey) and some of the Aegean islands. Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches Etymology In ancient times there were various explanations for the name Aegean. The Doric style was more formal and austere, the Ionic was more relaxed and decorative. The more ornate Corinthian style was a later development of the Ionic. The Corinthian order is one of the Classical orders of Greek and Roman Architecture, characterized These styles are best known through the three orders of column capitals, but there are differences in most points of design and decoration between the orders.

Most surviving Greek buildings, such as the Parthenon and the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, are Doric. The Parthenon ( Ancient Greek:) is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis The Temple of Hephaestus and Athena Ergane (Ναός του Ηφαίστου και της Αθηνάς Εργάνης also known as the Hephaisteion (Ηφαιστείον The Erechtheum and the small temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis are Ionic however. The Erechtheum (Έρέχθειον Erechtheion) is an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens in Greece ATHENA was an Antimatter research project that took place at the AD Ring at CERN. The Ionic order became dominant in the Hellenistic period, since its more decorative style suited the aesthetic of the period better than the more restrained Doric. This article focuses on the historical aspects of the Hellenistic age for the cultural aspects see Hellenistic civilisation. Records show that the evolution of the Ionic order was resisted by many Greek States, as they claimed it represented the dominance of Athens. Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's Some of the best surviving Hellenistic buildings, such as the Library of Celsus, can be seen in Turkey, at cities such as Ephesus and Pergamum. Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches Ephesus ( Hittite Apasa; Ancient Greek; Turkish Efes) was a city of ancient Anatolia. But in the greatest of Hellenistic cities, Alexandria in Egypt, almost nothing survives. Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics.

Architectural elements

Roof tiles

The earliest finds of roof tiles in archaic Greece are documented from a very restricted area around Corinth (Greece), where fired tiles began to replace thatchet roofs at two temples of Apollo and Poseidon between 700-650 BC. The archaic period in Greece ( 750 BC 480 BC) is a period of Ancient Greek history Corinth, or Korinth ( Greek Κόρινθος ( is a city in Greece. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία In Greek mythology, Poseidon ( Greek:; Latin: Neptūnus) was the god of the Sea and as "Earth-Shaker" ^[1] Spreading rapidly, roof tiles were within fifty years in evidence for a large number of sites around the Eastern Mediterranean, including Mainland Greece, Western Asia Minor, Southern and Central Italy. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest ^[2] Early roof tiles showed an S-shape, with the pan and cover tile forming one piece. They were rather bulky, weighting around 30 kg apiece. ^[3] Being more expensive and labour-intensive to produce than thatchet, their introduction has been explained with their greatly enhanced fire resistance which gave desired protection to the costly temples. ^[4]

The spread of the roof tile technique has to be viewed in connection with the simultaneous rise of monumental architecture in Archaic Greece. Only the appearing stone walls, which were replacing the earlier mudbrick and wood walls, were strong enough to support the weight of a tiled roof. A mudbrick is a firefree Brick made of Clay, or mud mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw ^[5] As a side-effect, it has been assumed that the new stone and tile construction also ushered in the end of 'Chinese roof' (Knickdach) construction in Greek architecture, as they made the need for an extended roof as rain protection for the mudbrick walls obsolete. ^[6]

Greek Revival architecture

See article Greek Revival architecture for the revival of Greek architecture in the eighteenth century and later. The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries predominantly in northern Europe and the United States

• National Archives building
• United States Supreme Court building
• Lincoln Memorial
• Jefferson Memorial
• British Museum
• Harris Museum
• The Maitland Robinson Library

See also

• Greek temple
• Byzantine Architecture
• Greek technology

Footnotes

References

• Greek architecture Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1965
• Greece: From Mycenae to the Parthenon, Henri Stierlin, TASCHEN, 2004

Re-invention of roof tiles

• Marilyn Y. The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc Taschen is an Art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. Goldberg, “Greek Temples and Chinese Roofs,” American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 87, No. 3. (Jul. , 1983), pp. 305-310
• Orjan Wikander, “Archaic Roof Tiles the First Generations,” Hesperia, Vol. 59, No. 1. (Jan. - Mar. , 1990), pp. 285-290
• William Rostoker; Elizabeth Gebhard, “The Reproduction of Rooftiles for the Archaic Temple of Poseidon at Isthmia, Greece,” Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 8, No. 2. (Summer, 1981), pp. 211-2

see also