HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture

By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I: THREE (3) STAGES OF THE CULTURAL

Pre-Historic Architecture EVOLUTION OF MAN
By: Ar. Chris Luna, uap
1. Stone Age
A history of architecture is a record of man’s
efforts to build beautifully. Three (3) Stage Chronology:

It is concerned not only in sheltering man and a. Paleolithic or Old Stone Age
ministering to his comfort, but also in providing • used stone and bone as instruments
him with places for worship, amusement, and • livelihood from hunting & food gathering
business; with tombs, memorials, • learned to make fire
embellishments for his cities, and other structures • lived in caves & rock shelters
for the varied needs of a complex civilization.

Introduction
• Architecture had a simple origin in the
primitive endeavors of mankind.
• It is an ancient and necessary art and thus
the beginnings of architecture are part of
prehistory.

Why did man seek shelter?

1. Protection
• from elements of nature
• from wild animals
2. Comfort
• to sleep & rest b. Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age
3. Food storage • fashioned stone tools like the bow
4. Perpetuation of human life • made body coverings from animal hides
• made the canoe for fishing
• built huts from bones, animal hides,
reeds & grass

c. Neolithic
• Once human beings settle down to the
business of agriculture, instead of
hunting & gathering, permanent
settlements become a factor of life &
story of architecture began.
✓ polished stone tools for grinding,
cutting & chopping
✓ development of pottery

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

✓ agriculture (wheat & barley) & 3. Iron Age

domesticated animals • cutting tools and weapons were mainly
✓ sew clothing from animal hides using made of iron or steel
fish bones as needles
✓ built huts of stones & mud with
thatched roofing
✓ practiced burial rituals & built tombs

2. Bronze Age
• most advanced metalworking with PREHISTORIC RELIGIOUS STRUCTURES
copper
A. Megalith
• It is a large stone used to construct a
structure either alone or together with
other stones, utilizing an interlocking
system without the use of mortar or
cement.

a. Dolmen/Cromlech
• 2 or more upright stones supporting
a stone or stone slab.

Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren, County Clare,

Ireland

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

b. Stone Circle c. Stone Row

Stonehenge is one of the most famous sites in

the world & composed of earthworks surrounding
a circular setting of large standing stones.

Merrivale Stone Row, England

B. Monolith or Menhir
• It is a great upright stone.

• Archaeologists believe it was constructed

from 3000 BC to 2000 BC.
• The surrounding circular earth bank and
ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of
the monument, have been dated to about
3100 BC
• Stonehenge was produced by a culture that
left no written records.
• Many aspects of Stonehenge remain subject
to debate.

Avebury Monolith,England

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

C. Barrow/Tumulus 3. Cliff Dwelling

• It is an earthen mound burial.

Guyaju Cliff Dwelling, China

Uppsa Tumulus is the largest grave mound in Sweden.

4. Hut
PREHISTORIC DWELLINGS

1. Rock Shelter is a shallow cave-like opening

at the base of a bluff or cliff.

Clochan Beehive Hut, Ireland

Rock Shelter at Lane Cove, NSW, Australia

2. Cave

The Neolithic settlement of Khirokitia, Cyprus is

an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The huts
consist of round structures huddled close
together and the dead were buried just under the
floors of the houses.
Jenolan Caves, NSW, Australia

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

Mud Huts, Syria

• Access was by ladder from the roof.
• There were no roads but everybody walked
on each other’s roof.

Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement,

located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of
Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney
archipelago of Scotland.

Prehistoric Huts, Verzamelaars, Netherlands

Katal Huyuk, Turkey was a very large Neolithic

and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern
Anatolia, which existed from approximately 7500
BC to 5700 BC, and flourished around 7000 BC

Zulu Huts, South Africa

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

Eskimo Igloo, Alaska

Terra Amata Hut, France

Apache Wickiup (Twigs)

Stilted Hut

Prehistoric Mammoth Bone Hut, Ukraine

Stilted Hut, Sweden

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

Lecture References:
• Fletcher, Sir Banister (1996). History of
Architecture 20th edition, Architectural Press
• Harris, Cyril M. (1975). Dictionary of
Architecture and Construction, McGraw Hill
• Harris, Cyril M. (1977). Illustrated Dictionary
of Historic Architecture, Dover Publication
• Trachtenberg, Marvin (1986). Architecture
from Pre-history to Post-Modernism
• Various internet articles and academic
journals
• Images used in this material were taken from
Underground Hut, Orkney, Scotland Google Images

Bedouin Tent

Native American Tipi (Animal hide)

END OF LECTURE

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I: .
Mesopotamian Architecture
By: Ar. Chris Luna, uap

Introduction
• The fertile plains between the twin rivers,
Tigris & Euphrates were given the name
Mesopotamia from the Greek word meaning
mesos (middle) & potamos (river).
• Known as the “cradle of civilization”, is also
part of what is known as the Fertile Crescent
because of the irrigated farmlands.
• Mesopotamia, now known as Iraq, has no
natural barriers.

• Mesopotamia (included Babylonia, Assyria,

Persia, Sumer and Akkad) was a historical
region situated within the Tigris–Euphrates
River system.
• At present, it is roughly corresponding to
most of Iraq plus Kuwait, the eastern parts of
Syria, Southeastern Turkey, and regions
along the Turkish-Syrian and Iran–Iraq
borders

Mesopotamian Irrigation
• Although the land of Mesopotamia was
fertile, the earth did not yield crops easily.
• There was/is little rainfall, so farmers had to
come up with another way of getting life-
giving water to their crops. Sumeria (5500 and 4000 BC) – a
• The solution was irrigation. Irrigation is the Mesopotamian Blueprint
process of bringing water from rivers or • All the Mesopotamian civilizations to follow:
lakes to fields by constructing canals, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian adopted
pumps and reservoirs. Sumerian culture and made it their own.
• Basically, these ingenious farmers found an • The Sumerians were the originators whom
effective way to bring the water from the everyone copied.
Tigris and Euphrates to their crops. • In addition to creating the first forms of
• With irrigation, large amounts of food could writing, the Sumerians invented the plow, the
be grown and large populations grew. wheel, and used bronze tools.
• The Tigris and Euphrates flooded
occasionally, and unfortunately large areas of
crops and homes were destroyed.
• This was just part of life, but the ancient
people of Mesopotamia tried to prevent these
floods by appeasing the gods that controlled
these natural disasters.
• It became extremely important (second only
to farming) to have experts (priests) who
could help ensure the gods stayed happy.

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
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Sumerian Technology and Legacy • Cuneiform is a system of writing first

• The region demonstrated a number of core developed by the ancient Sumerians of
agricultural techniques, including organized Mesopotamia c. 3500-3000 BCE.
irrigation, large-scale intensive cultivation of ✓ It is considered the most significant
land. among the many cultural contributions of
• The irrigation was accomplished by the use the Sumerians and the greatest among
of shaduf, canals, channels, dykes, weirs, those of the Sumerian city of Uruk which
and reservoirs. advanced the writing of cuneiform c.
• The Sumerians developed a complex system 3200 BCE.
of metrology c. 4000 BC. This advanced ✓ The name comes from the Latin word
metrology resulted in the creation of cuneus for 'wedge' owing to the wedge-
arithmetic, geometry, and algebra. shaped style of writing.
• Sumerian potters decorated pots with cedar
oil paints.
• The Sumerians were one of the first known
beer drinking societies.
• They developed the first known codified legal
and administrative systems, complete with
courts, jails, and government records.
• The Sumerian chariot comprised a four or
two-wheeled device manned by a crew of two
and harnessed to four onagers.
• They may have invented military formations
and introduced the basic divisions between
infantry, cavalry, and archers.
• Evidence of wheeled vehicles appeared in
Mesopotamian Timeline:
the mid-4th millennium BC, near-
• The Akkadians: 2334 – 2154 B. C.
simultaneously in Mesopotamia, the Northern
✓ The empire was bound together by
Caucasus (Maykop culture) and Central
roads, along which there was a regular
Europe.
postal service.
• The wheel initially took the form of the potter's
✓ The first collection of astronomical
wheel. The new concept quickly led to
observations
wheeled vehicles and mill wheels.
• The Babylonians: 2000 – 1595 B.C.
• The earliest known maps in human history
✓ Babylon became the most well-known
denote the stars instead of the earth
city in all of Mesopotamia
landscape.
✓ Hammurabi’s Code of Law
• And while there are numerous pieces of ✓ Babylonians made great strides in
evidence entailing cave paintings and rock mathematics.
carvings that represent local topographical ✓ They worked in arithmetic, geometry and
elements like hills and rivers (dating from as algebra.
early as 25000 BC), cartography as a ✓ Babylonians had a 360-day year.
scientific pursuit with accurate surveying ✓ We got our 60-second minute, our 60-
techniques, was developed in Mesopotamia. minute hour, and our 24-hour day from
them.
✓ We also get the 360-degree
measurement for a circle from the
Babylonians.
• The Assyrians: 1300 B.C. – 626 B.C.
✓ They were geniuses in war. They had a
well-organized and well-equipped army.
They made use of chariots and simple
siege equipment.
✓ Assyrians built permanent roads to move
troops quickly.

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

• The Neo-Babylonians: 612 B.C. – 539 B.C. Babylon was the capital of ancient of Babylonia
✓ The Neo-Babylonians greatest king was in southern Mesopotamia now the modern Iraq.
Nebuchadnezzar. • Babylon is Akkadian "babilani" which means
✓ He was the Babylonian king who had the "the Gate of God(s)"
Hanging Gardens built. • It was during the reign of King
• The Persians: 550B.C. – 330B.C. Nebuchadnezzar II (650 B.C.) that Babylon
was the largest city in the world
Mesopotamian Culture and Way of Life
• The Sumerians, along with other developing
civilizations, seemed to possess different
social relationships than their hunting and
gathering ancestors.
• Hunters and gatherers survived by counting
on men and women equally in the tribe for the
collection of food.
• Both men and women were essential for the
tribe’s survival.
• With agriculture and irrigation things seemed
to have changed. Men and women started to
specialize in their jobs. In other words, some
jobs became “men’s work” and other jobs
became “women’s work.”

The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved

Babylonian code of law of ancient Mesopotamia,
dating back to about 1754 BC (Middle
Chronology).
• It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of
significant length in the world.
• The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi,
enacted the code, and partial copies exist on
a 2.25 meter (7.5 ft) stone stele and consists
of 282 laws, with scaled punishments,
adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a
• Men became associated with working in the tooth" (lex talionis) as graded depending on
fields, or if they were artisans, making a social status, of slave versus free man or
product. woman.
• Women became associated with staying at • The earliest known principles of construction
home, raising the children, making clothes law can also be found in the Code of
and doing other household duties. Hammurabi.
• On occasion, women might take over their • Significantly, Hammurabi’s Code establishes
husband’s business while he was away or the concept of civil damages, whereby one
deceased, but mostly this social structure must pay compensation for defective work; a
was rigid. concept that has survived to this day.
• Sumerians believed that humans were put
upon this earth to serve the gods. When the
gods were displeased, humans suffered.

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

Assyria was a major Mesopotamian kingdom based in Western Asia, founded by Cyrus the
and empire of the ancient Near East and the Great.
Levant. • Ranging at its greatest extent from the
• It existed as a state from perhaps as early as Balkans and Eastern Europe proper in the
the 25th century BC in the form of the Assur west to the Indus Valley in the east, it was
city-state, until its collapse between 612 BC one of the largest empires in history,
and 609 BC, spanning the Early to Middle spanning 5.5 million square kilometers, and
Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age. was larger than any previous empire in
history

Persia: Notable Kings:

• In the 6th century B.C. Cyrus, the Great
(Kurosh, Father of the Iranian Nation)
established the Persian Empire as the most
powerful state in the world.
✓ He had a religious policy of respecting
the various religions practiced across his
• The Assyrians used a number of warfare vast empire.
tactics and military advancements to expand ✓ He is praised for freeing of slaves,
their empire. humanitarian equality and costly
• They used chariots which were drawn by four reparations.
horses and mounted by four men as a shock ✓ The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay
weapon to charge into enemy ranks. cylinder on which there is a declaration in
• The Assyrians are known for terrorizing their his name and it has been called the
enemies as part of psychological warfare. oldest known charter of human rights but
• Their army is known for its utter ruthlessness there is dispute over its interpretation.
and brutal treatment of enemies • Darius I (Dāriūsh, son of Cyrus the Great)
ruled the Persian Empire from 522-486 B.C.
He developed infrastructure projects, the
largest being the building of the new capital
of Persepolis.
• Xerxes I (Ḫšayāršā, son of Darius I) 486
B.C., was known for his massive invasion of
Greece and his defeat marked the decline of
the empire.

The Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC), also

called the First Persian Empire, was an empire

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

Art and Architecture

• In Babylonia, an abundance of clay, and lack
of stone, led to greater use of mud brick; Bricks were made from clay mixed with chopped
Babylonian, Sumerian and Assyrian temples straw to improve cohesion and bonding
were massive structures of crude brick which
were supported by buttresses, the rain being
carried off by drains. One such drain at Ur
was made of lead.
• The use of brick led to the early development
of the pilaster and column, and of frescoes
and enameled tiles.
• The walls were brilliantly colored, and
sometimes plated with zinc or gold, as well as
with tiles.
• Painted terracotta cones for torches were
also embedded in plaster.

Babylonian
• Bricks were sun baked to harden them. Types of bricks:
• These types of bricks are much less durable 1. Sun-Dried – for ordinary finish
than oven-baked ones so buildings 2. Kiln-Dried – for facing important buildings
eventually deteriorated. 3. Colored Glazed – for decorative purposes
• They were periodically destroyed, leveled,
and rebuilt on the same spot. Urban Planning Pattern:
• This planned structural life cycle gradually • The Sumerians were the first society to
raised the level of cities, so that they came to construct the city itself as a built form.
be elevated above the surrounding plain. • They were proud of this achievement as
• Babylonian temples are massive structures attested in the Epic of Gilgamesh which
of crude brick, supported by buttresses, the opens with a description of Uruk its walls,
rain being carried off by drains. streets, markets, temples, and gardens.
• Uruk itself is significant as the center of an
Assyrian urban culture which both colonized and
• Assyria, imitating Babylonian architecture, urbanized western Asia.
also built its palaces and temples of brick,
even when stone was the natural building
material of the country.
• As time went on, however, later Assyrian
architects began to shake themselves free of
Babylonian influence, and to use stone as
well as brick.

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

• The typical city divided space into residential,

mixed use, commercial, and civic spaces.
• The residential areas were grouped by
profession.
• At the core of the city was a high temple
complex always sited slightly off of the
geographical center.
• This high temple usually predated the
founding of the city and was the nucleus
around which the urban form grew.
• The districts adjacent to gates had a special
religious and economic function. Persia
• In Persia, Material included mud-brick from
Babylon, wooden roof beams from Lebanon,
precious stone material from India and Egypt,
Stone columns quarried and carved by Ionic
Greeks

Two technologies appear to have been

commonly used in the Ancient Near East:
• passive cooling and water supply

• The city always included a belt of irrigated

agricultural land including small hamlets. A
network of roads and canals connected the
city to this land.
• The transportation network was organized in
three tiers: wide processional streets, public
through streets, and private blind alleys.
• The public streets that defined a block varied
little over time while the blind-alleys were
much more fluid.
• The current estimate is 10% of the city area
was streets and 90% buildings.
• The canals; however, were more important
than roads for transportation.

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

• Baad-gir or Wind Shaft, the earliest form of ✓ The construction material used for ab
modern air-conditioners, which was built on anbars were very tough and extensively
top of the roof in order to catch the fresh air used a special mortar called sarooj which
and transfer it inside the building. was made of sand, clay, egg whites, lime,
goat hair, and ash in specific proportions,
depending on location and climate of the
city.
✓ This mixture was thought to be
completely water impenetrable.
✓ The walls of the storage were often 2
meters thick, and special bricks

• A āb anbār ("water reservoir") is a traditional

reservoir or cistern of drinking water in
Greater Iran in antiquity.
✓ In order to access the water, one would
go through the entrance (sar-dar) which
would always be open, traverse a
stairway and reach the bottom where
there would be faucets to access the
water in the storage

• A qanāt is a gently sloping underground

channel to transport water from an aquifer or
water well to surface for irrigation and
drinking.
✓ This is an old system of water supply
from a deep well with a series of vertical
access shafts.
✓ The qanats still create a reliable supply of
water for human settlements and
irrigation in hot, arid, and semi-arid
climates.
✓ The qanat technology is used most
extensively in areas:
➢ An absence of larger rivers with year-
round flows sufficient to support
irrigation
➢ Proximity of fertile areas to
precipitation-rich mountains or
mountain ranges
➢ Arid climate with high surface
evaporation rates so that surface
reservoirs and canals would result in
high losses
➢ An aquifer at the fertile area which is
too deep for convenient use of
simple wells

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

yakhchāl remains cooler than the

outside.
✓ The subterranean space coupled with the
thick heat-resistant construction material
insulated the storage space year-round.
✓ These structures were mainly built and
used in Persia.

• Yakhchāl ("ice pit"; yakh meaning "ice" and

chāl meaning "pit") is an ancient type of
evaporative cooler.
✓ Above ground, the structure had a
domed shape, but had a subterranean
storage space.
✓ It was often used to store ice, but
sometimes was used to store food.
✓ By 400 BCE, Persian engineers had ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES
mastered the technique of using
yakhchāls to create ice in the winter and SUMERIAN (WITH BABYLONIAN AND
store it in the summer in the desert. ASSYRIAN)
✓ In most yakhchāls, the ice is created by
itself during the cold seasons of the year; Babylonian House:
the water is channeled from the qanat • The materials used to build a Mesopotamian
(Iranian aqueduct) to the yakhchāl and it house were similar but not exact as those
freezes upon resting inside the structure. used today: mud brick, mud plaster and
wooden doors, which were all naturally
available around the city, although wood was
not common in some cities of Sumer.
• Most houses had a square center room with
other rooms attached to it, but a great
variation in the size and materials used to
build the houses suggest they were built by
the inhabitants themselves

✓ The building allows cold air to pour in

from entries at the base of the structure
and descend to the lowest part of the
yakhchāl, large underground spaces up
to 5,000 m3 (180,000 cu ft) in volume.
✓ At the same time, the tall conical shape
of the building guides any remaining heat
upward and outside through openings at
the very top of the building, and through White Temple Ziggurat, Uruk
this active process the air inside the

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

• Uruk (modern Warka in Iraq) where city life hall had a podium accessible by means of a
began more than five thousand years ago small staircase and an altar with a fire-
and where the first writing emerged was stained surface.
clearly one of the most important places in
southern Mesopotamia.
• Within Uruk, the greatest monument was the
Anu Ziggurat on which the White Temple was
built.
• Dating to the late 4th millennium B.C.E. (the
Late Uruk Period, or Uruk III) and dedicated
to the sky god Anu, this temple would have
towered well above (approximately 40 feet)
the flat plain of Uruk, and been visible from a
great distance even over the defensive walls
of the city. The Great Ziggurat of Ur
• It is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat in what was the
city of Ur near Nasiriyah, in present-day Dhi
Qar Province, Iraq.
• The structure was built during the Early
Bronze Age (21st century BCE), but had
crumbled to ruins by the 6th century BCE of
the Neo-Babylonian period when it was
restored by King Nabonidus

• The temple is perched atop a platform known

as a ziggurat.
• The grand height serves two purposes:
✓ To stand out among the other structures
and therefore appear the more important
✓ To get the temple closer to the sky

• The White temple was rectangular,

measuring 17.5 x 22.3 meters and, at its
corners, oriented to the cardinal points.
• It is a typical Uruk “high temple (Hochtempel)”
type with a tri-partite plan: a long rectangular
• The Great Ziggurat of Ur was dedicated to the
central hall with rooms on either side (plan).
moon god Nanna, who was the patron deity
• The White Temple had three entrances, none
of the city.
of which faced the ziggurat ramp directly.
• As the Mesopotamian gods were commonly
• Visitors would have needed to walk around
linked to the eastern mountains, the ziggurat
the temple, appreciating its bright façade and
may have functioned as a representation of
the powerful view, and likely gained access
their homes.
to the interior in a “bent axis” approach
• Therefore, a single small shrine was placed
(where one would have to turn 90 degrees to
on the summit of the ziggurat for the god.
face the altar), a typical arrangement for
Ancient Near Eastern temples.
• Chambers in the middle of the northeast
room suite appear to have been equipped
with wooden shelves in the walls and
displayed cavities for setting in pivot stones
which might imply a solid door was fitted in
these spaces. The north end of the central

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

Dur-Kurigalzu Palace of Sargon at Khorsabad

• The core of the structure consists of sun- • The outer wall of the Sargon's fortress
dried square bricks. covered an area of three-square kilometers
• The reed mats are actually every 7 layers of and had seven fortified gates.
brick, as stated, used for drainage and to • In times of siege, it became an armed
assist in holding the bricks together by encampment.
providing a continuous layer of support. • The palace sat astride the outer wall.
• The outer layers of the ziggurat are made • It had an area of 9 hectares.
from fired bricks. • All the buildings had thick mud brick walls
• An inscription on one of the fired bricks states without windows but with doors opening onto
that it was laid during the reign of King internal courts of various sizes.
Kurigalzu II. • The largest were the Grand Entrance Court
• Today both types of brick, sun-dried and and the State Court.
fired, are still made in Iraq in the same • The Throne Room was built into the wall
fashion and used in farm houses. between the State Court and a smaller
domestic court used by women and children.
• Smaller courts near the Grand Entrance
Court were associated with the service wing
and with a group of Temples and a seven-
tiered ziggurat.
• It seems likely that the large ceremonial
courts were bare but that the smaller
residential courts had shade plants and pools
like Egyptian gardens.
• Parts of the Palace of Sargon:
1. Seraglio – palace proper with the king’s
residence, state halls, men’s apartments
& reception courts.
2. Harem – private family apartments.
3. Khan – service chamber.

Temple Oval, Khafaje

• The outer wall is distorted somewhat in
shape to accommodate a roomy structure,
perhaps the house for a priest.
• Before the foundations for these walls had
been laid, the entire area was excavated to a
depth of nearly five meters, and filled in with
clean sand, about 64,000 cubic meters,
presumably a purification ritual

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

• Lamassu is an Assyrian protective deity,

often depicted as having a human's head, a
body of a bull or a lion, and bird's wings

• It has been estimated that Babylon was the

largest city in the world from c. 1770 – c. 1670
BC, and again between c. 612 – c. 320 BC.
• It was perhaps the first city to reach a
population above 200,000.
• Estimates for the maximum extent of its area
range from 890 to 900 hectares (2,200
acres).

The Ancient Assyrian City of Nineveh

• It was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper
Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of
Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq.
• It is located on the eastern bank of the Tigris
River, and was the capital of the Neo-
Assyrian Empire.
• Large amounts of Assyrian sculpture and
other artifacts have been excavated and are
now located in museums around the world.
“Ishtar Gate”
• It was the eighth gate to the inner city of
Babylon.
• It was constructed in about 575 BCE by order
of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side
of the city
• The bricks of the Ishtar gate were made from
finely textured clay pressed into wooden
forms.
• The bricks were sun-dried and then fired
once before glazing. The clay was brownish
red in this bisque-fired state.
The Ancient City of Babylon
• It was a key kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia
from the 18th to 6th centuries BCE.
• The city was built on the Euphrates River and
divided in equal parts along its left and right
banks, with steep embankments to contain
the river's seasonal floods.
• After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the
Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the
short lived Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609
to 539 BC.
“Hanging Gardens of Babylon”

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• It was one of the Seven Wonders of the “Tower of Babel”

Ancient World. • According to the story, a united humanity in
• The Hanging Gardens were described as a the generations following the Great Flood,
remarkable feat of engineering with an speaking a single language and migrating
ascending series of tiered gardens eastward, comes to Shinar
containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, • There they agree to build a city and a tower
and vines. tall enough to reach heaven. God, observing
• The gardens were said to have looked like a their city and tower, confounds their speech
large green mountain constructed of mud so that they can no longer understand each
bricks. other, and scatters them around the world.

The Temple of Marduk “Etemenanki”

(The Supreme God protector of Babylon) • It is the name of a ziggurat dedicated to
• Also called the Esagila, the temple of Marduk Marduk in the city of Babylon of the 6th
was, after the Ziggurat and the royal Palace, century BCE Neo-Babylonian dynasty.
the greatest of the architectural complexes of • Originally 91 meters in height, little remains
Babylon. of it now except ruins.
• An impression of power radiated by this • Etemenanki is considered a possible
massive architecture. inspiration for the biblical story (or even literal
• Heavily bastioned, built in clay, with its huge candidate for the tower itself) of the Tower of
square towers and its crenellated terraces, Babel.
the main body constituted the actual temple
of Marduk, with an outbuilding attached to the
temple.

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PERSIAN ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES: Tomb of Cyrus the Great

• It is the monument of Cyrus the Great
• It includes all architectural achievements of approximately 1 km southwest of the palaces
the Achaemenid Persians manifesting in of Pasargadae
construction of spectacular cities used for • The design of Cyrus' tomb is credited to
governance and inhabitation (Persepolis, Mesopotamian or Elamite ziggurats.
Susa, Ecbatana), temples made for worship • The main decoration on the tomb is a rosette
and social gatherings (such as Zoroastrian design over the door within the gable
temples), and mausoleums erected in honor • The Mausoleum is said to be the oldest base-
of fallen kings (such as the burial tomb of isolated structure in the world, meaning it is
Cyrus the Great). resilient to seismic hazard
• The quintessential feature of Persian
architecture was its eclectic nature with
elements of Assyrian, Egyptian, Median and
Asiatic Greek all incorporated, yet producing
a unique Persian identity seen in the finished
product.

Palace at Susa
• The Palace of Darius in Susa was a palace
complex in Susa, Iran, a capital of the
Achaemenid Empire.
Pasargadae • The construction was conducted parallel to
• It was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire that of Persepolis.
under Cyrus the Great who had issued its • Man-power and raw materials from various
construction (559–530 BC); it was also the parts of the empire contributed to its
location of his tomb. construction.
• It was a city in ancient Persia, located near • It was once destroyed by fire and was
the city of Shiraz (in Pasargad County), and partially restored later.
is today an archaeological site and one of
Iran's UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

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• Persepolis was built as a showcase for the

empire, designed to awe visitors with its scale
and beauty.
• It is Persian in ideology and design but
international in its superb architecture and
artistic execution.

Bull capital from the Apadana of the Susa Palace,

Louvre

Palace of Persepolis
• Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the
Achaemenid Empire (ca. 550–330 BC).
• It is situated 60 km northeast of the city of
Shiraz in Fars Province, Iran.
• The earliest remains of Persepolis date back
to 515 BC.
• It exemplifies the Achaemenid style of
• The site includes a 125,000 square meter
architecture
terrace, partly artificially constructed and
partly cut out of a mountain, with its east side
leaning on Rahmet Mountain.
• The other three sides are formed by retaining
walls, which vary in height with the slope of
the ground.
• Rising from 5–13 meters (16–43 feet) on the
west side was a double stair.
• Archaeological evidence shows that the
earliest remains of Persepolis date back to
515 BC.
• André Godard, the French archaeologist who
excavated Persepolis in the early 1930s,
believed that it was Cyrus the Great who
chose the site of Persepolis, but that it was
• Greek word meaning City of the Persians Darius I who built the terrace and the palaces.
• It is a showcase for the empire, was begun
by Darius I, mostly executed by Xerxes I and
finished by Artaxerxes I about 460 BC.

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• It is a monumental double-reversed staircase

constructed with huge and irregular
limestone blocks (often four or five steps are
hewn from a single piece), dry joined with
roughly rectangular-shaped metal clamps
used during the reign of Xerxes.
• A battlement of four-stepped crenellations,
each decorated on the outer face with a
rectangular niche, lined the outer edge.

Gate of All Nations

• A pair of lamassus, bulls with the heads of
bearded men, stand by the western
threshold.

• Each step is 6.70 m long, 10 cm high, and 38

cm wide.
• The unusually short raises were not meant to
allow people to mount the steps on
horseback (as is popularly supposed) but to
provide sufficient space for large groups of
royal guests (many of them no doubt
advanced in age) to climb the steps
ceremoniously but with ease.

The Terrace stairway and the “Gate of All

Lands”
• As works on the platform proceeded, a new
and grander entrance was constructed
towards the northwestern corner of the
platform. Described it as “perhaps the most
perfect flight of stairs ever built.”

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Apadana • Measuring 1,160 square meters (12,500

• It is a large hypostyle hall, the best-known square feet), it is the smallest of the palace
examples being the great audience hall and buildings on the Terrace at Persepolis.
portico at Persepolis and the palace of Susa. • This palace was one of the few structures that
• The Persepolis Apadana belongs to the escaped destruction in the burning of the
oldest building phase of the city of complex by Alexander the Great's army.
Persepolis, the first half of the 6th century BC,
as part of the original design by Darius the
Great and its construction completed by
Xerxes I.

• As the oldest of the palace structures on the

Terrace, it was constructed of the finest
quality gray stone.
• The Apadana at Persepolis has a surface of • The surface was almost completely black and
1000 square meters; its roof was supported polished to a glossy brilliance.
by 72 columns, each 24 meters tall. • This surface treatment combined with the
• The columns reached 20m high and had high-quality stone is the reason for it being
complex capitals in the shape of bulls or lions. the most intact of all ruins at Persepolis
• The entire hall was destroyed in 331 BC by today.
the army of Alexander the Great. • Although its mud block walls have completely
• Stones from the columns were used as disintegrated, the enormous stone blocks of
building material for nearby settlements. the door and window frames have survived.

• These are decorated by reliefs, showing

delegates of the 23 subject nations of the
Persian Empire paying tribute to Darius I,
who is represented seated centrally.
• The various delegates are shown in great
detail, giving insight into the costume and
equipment of the various peoples of Persia in
the 5th century BC.
• There are inscriptions in Old Persian and
Elamite.
The Tachara stands back-to-back to the
Apadana, and is oriented southward.

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Throne Hall or the Imperial Army's Hall of The Treasury by Darius which served as the
Honor (also called the Hall of Hundred armory and storehouse
Columns Palace)
• This 70x70 square meter hall was started by
Xerxes I and completed by his son
Artaxerxes I by the end of the fifth century
BC.
• Its eight stone doorways are decorated on
the south and north with reliefs of throne
scenes and on the east and west with scenes
depicting the king in combat with monsters.

Tomb of Artaxerxes II, Persepolis

• The two completed graves behind the
compound at Persepolis would then belong
to Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III.
• Hence, the kings buried at Naghsh-e Rostam
are probably Darius I, Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I
and Darius II. Xerxes II, who reigned for a
very short time, could scarcely have obtained
a splendid tomb monument
• At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes I, the
Throne Hall was used mainly for receptions
for military commanders and representatives
of all the subject nations of the empire.
• Later, the Throne Hall served as an imperial
museum.

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Naqsh-e Rustam Arg e Bam

• It is the necropolis of the Achaemenid • It was the largest adobe building in the world,
dynasty (500–330 BC), with four large tombs located in Bam, a city in Kerman Province of
cut high into the cliff face. southeastern Iran.
• These have mainly architectural decoration, • The origin of this enormous citadel on the Silk
but the facades include large panels over the Road can be traced back to the Achaemenid
doorways, each very similar in content, with Empire (sixth to fourth centuries BC) and
figures of the king being invested by a god, even beyond.
above a zone with rows of smaller figures • The citadel consists of four main sections: a
bearing tribute, with soldiers and officials. residential zone, the stables, the army
• Four tombs belonging to Achaemenid kings barracks and the governor’s residence.
are carved out of the rock face at a
considerable height above the ground.
• The tombs are sometimes known as the
Persian crosses, after the shape of the
facades of the tombs.
• The entrance to each tomb is at the center of
each cross, which opens onto to a small
chamber, where the king lay in a
sarcophagus.

END OF LECTURE

Lecture References:
• Fletcher, Sir Banister (1996). History of
Architecture 20th edition, Architectural Press
• Harris, Cyril M. (1975). Dictionary of
Behistun Inscription Architecture and Construction, McGraw Hill
• It is a multilingual inscription and large rock • Harris, Cyril M. (1977). Illustrated Dictionary
relief on a cliff at Mount Behistun in the of Historic Architecture, Dover Publication
Kermanshah Province of Iran, near the city of • Trachtenberg, Marvin (1986). Architecture
Kermanshah in western Iran. from Pre-history to Post-Modernism
• It was crucial to the decipherment of • Various internet articles and academic
cuneiform script. journals
• The inscription begins with a brief • Images used in this material were taken from
autobiography of Darius, including his Google Images
ancestry and lineage.
• Later in the inscription, Darius provides a
lengthy sequence of events following the
deaths of Cyrus the Great and Cambyses II
in which he fought nineteen battles in a period
of one year (ending in December 521 BC) to
put down multiple rebellions throughout the
Persian Empire

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I: HISTORICAL TIMELINE (THE THREE (3)

Egyptian Architecture KINGDOMS)
By: Ar. Chris Luna, uap
1. Old Kingdom
Introduction • United under King Menes
• Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient • 2686 to 2181 B.C.E,
Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the • Included the 3rd to the 6th dynasties
lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now • Capitol was Memphis
the modern country of Egypt. • “Age of Pyramids”
• It is one of six civilizations to arise ✓ Construction
independently. ✓ Teamwork
• Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric ✓ Egyptian Art
Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with ✓ Sculptures
the political unification of Upper and Lower • Pharaohs Buried in Pyramids
Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer • Pharaoh viewed as an inaccessible god-
(commonly referred to as Menes). king who rules absolutely over his
• The history of ancient Egypt occurred in a people.
series of stable kingdoms, separated by
periods of relative instability known as
Intermediate Periods: the Old Kingdom of the
Early Bronze Age, the Middle Kingdom of the
Middle Bronze Age and the New Kingdom of
the Late Bronze Age.

Old Kingdom (Culture)

• Women were highly respected in the Old
Kingdom. They owned land and passed it
down to their daughters. A pharaoh could
only become king after marrying the previous
king’s daughter.
• Despite popular belief, the pyramids were not
built by slaves, but by laborers who willingly
worked on the structures.
• Only priests wrote because it was considered
sacred. It was believed that writing a person’s
name gave them more power. Speaking the
pharaoh’s name was strictly forbidden.
• Pyramids were built on the west side of the
Nile where the sun set so the Pharaoh could
more easily meet with Re in the afterlife.

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2. Middle Kingdom • Ancient Egyptians were ruled by religion

• United under King Mentuhotep every day, always fearful of the Gods and
• 2055 to 1650 B.C.E. death.
• Included the 11th to the 12th dynasty • The Instruction of Meri-Ka-Re. This “wisdom
• Capitol was Thebes text” teaches ethical advice on how to lead a
• "Golden Age" good and proper life, and being rewarded
✓ Stability after death.
✓ Property boundaries • As the Middle Kingdom progressed, Monthu,
✓ Territorial expansion who was the original patron of Thebes, was
✓ Reorganization of Nome structure replaced by Amun.
• Pharaohs Buried in hidden tombs
• Pharaoh viewed as the “shepherd of his
people” with the task to build public works
and produce for the welfare.

Middle Kingdom (Construction)

• The first example of Middle Kingdom
architecture is Mentuhotep’s mortuary
complex. It was built against sheer cliffs in
Thebes and featured a terraced temple with
pillared porticoes.
• The pyramids of the Middle Kingdom weren’t
as well-constructed as those in the Old
Kingdom, unfortunately, there aren’t many
Middle Kingdom pyramids that have
survived.
Middle Kingdom (Culture)
• Irrigation projects took place at Faiyum
• The Middle Kingdom is considered now to be
a classic period of culture, literature, and
language.
• The Coffin Texts were created, to be used by
ordinary Egyptians. The texts were a
collection of magic spells to help guide the
deceased through the underworld.
• During the Middle Kingdom, Egyptians used
writing to tell stories, not just for record
keeping.
• Military attacks were mounted against Nubia.
• Nomarchs ruled ancient Egyptian provinces.
A feudal type of organization was developed
around the Nomarchs.

Middle Kingdom (Religion)

• Priests and nobles gain independence and
power during the Middle Kingdom.
• Egypt was separated into nomes, which were
religious, as well as administrative districts
and were ruled by Nomarchs.

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3. New Kingdom • Priests had power never seen before in

• United under Pharaoh Ahmose I Egyptian history. During the New Kingdom,
• 1550-1070 BC new cult centers emerged.
• Included the 18th to the 20th dynasty • The Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom
• Capitol was Thebes became the Book of the Dead in the New
• "Imperial Age" Kingdom.
✓ New Empire • More and more Egyptians believed in funeral
✓ Expansion period and mortuary rituals, which increased the
✓ Military conquest need for protective talismans and amulets.
✓ Peak of power • During the reign of Akhenaten, Egypt
✓ Prosperous became monotheistic – or ruled just one God,
• Pharaohs Buried in the Valley of the Aten or “sun disk”. The Armana Period, as it
Kings was called, lasted only 16 years
• Pharaoh viewed not only as a leader and
ruler of an empire, but also as an
important figure in religion and religious
practice

New Kingdom (Culture)

New Kingdom (Construction)
• The New Kingdom brought luxury, power and
• During the New Kingdom two types of
wealth for Egypt.
temples were constructed: cult temples and
• The eastern coast of the Mediterranean was
mortuary temples.
brought under Egyptian rule after successful
• Cult temples were also called “mansions of
military campaigns were launched there.
the gods” and mortuary temples (where the
• Egypt flourished, especially with control of
dead pharaoh was worshiped) were called
the gold mines in Nubia.
“mansions of millions of years”.
• During Hatshepsut’s reign, art took on a new
• The construction of pyramids stopped and
look. Portraits of men and women became
pharaohs now preferred to be buried in the
more feminine and even included smiles.
Valley of the Kings in rock tombs.
• While, during the reign of Akhenaten, royals
were depicted with slightly built chests and
shoulders, large hips, buttocks and thighs

New Kingdom (Religion)

• 19th century pharaohs were closely
associated with Moses and the bible; these
pharaohs included Seti I and Ramses the
Great.

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CULTURAL BACKGROUND • These natural resources allowed the ancient

Egyptians to build monuments, sculpt
Everyday Life for a Commoner in Ancient statues, make tools, and fashion jewelry
Egypt
• The people of ancient Egypt had many jobs
such as craftspeople, scribes, priests and
priestesses, farmers and soldiers.
• The average girl married at around the age of
12.
• Daily bathing was common in the Nile River,
where deadly hippopotami lived.

Technology & Inventions

• Hieroglyphics date back to as early as 3,300
B.C. and were used for the next consecutive
3,500 years.
• Ancient Egyptians had a great grasp of math
• Women could obtain high-ranking jobs like and geometry. They used the geometry to
administrators, supervisors and priestesses. accurately build pyramids, temples and other
• They ate lamb, goat, vegetables, fruit and a buildings. They used math in everyday
lot of bread. They also drank a lot of barley business transactions.
beer. • They invented door locks that used keys, the
• Everyone wore jewelry and makeup (usually first keys used were up to two feet in length
eye paint). Looking nice held extreme
importance. They usually dressed in clothes
made of white linen.

• Ancient Egyptians wanted to be hygienic and

because the desert sand caused problems
with their teeth, they invented toothpaste out
of eggshells, ox hooves (ground up), ashes,
etc. and they invented the toothbrush.
• The Egyptians believed that a balanced • Ship building was an important part of their
relationship between people and animals progress. They started with papyrus reeds in
was an essential element of the cosmic building small boats, and then later built
order; thus humans, animals and plants were larger boats and ships out of cedar wood.
believed to be members of a single whole. • They invented the earliest known paper out
• Egypt is rich in building and decorative stone, of sheets of papyrus. The word “paper”
copper and lead ores, gold, and actually comes from the word “papyrus.”
semiprecious stones.

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Social status • The Egyptians also quarried limestone and

• Egyptian society was highly stratified, and sandstone from the hills along the side of the
social status was expressly displayed Nile.

INFLUENCES IN THEIR ARCHITECTURAL

CHARACTER
Construction Methodology and Materials:
Nile River • Principle of construction was post and lintel.
• Egypt is built around the Nile River because • Mud brick was the principal building material
it is the lifeblood for transporting goods for domestic buildings.
(trade) and materials from one area to • Sandstone, limestone, granite & marble were
another. favored for temples and tombs.
• The Nile River provided fertile land to the • Ancient Egyptians didn't use mortar; the
ancient Egyptians so they could grow wheat, stones were carefully cut to fit together.
flax and papyrus, which in addition to paper,
was made into sandals, rope and baskets.
• A Nilometer, found in some temples, was
used to measure the height of annual
flooding of the Nile River.

Effects of Climate on Buildings:

• Simple design
• Few windows
• The Nile River also provided a lot of building • Flat roof
materials for the Ancient Egyptians. • Massive walls
• They used the mud from the riverbanks to
make sundried bricks.
• These bricks were used in building homes,
walls, and other buildings.

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The religious rites of the Egyptians were MENKAURE TRIAD

traditional & mysterious as manifested in tombs & • King Menkaure - the last Great Pyramid
temples. builder
1. Monotheistic in theory • Hathor - the goddess of music and love, is
2. Polytheistic in practice shown to the right of Menkaure, holding his
(natural phenomena, heavenly bodies & hand.
animals). • To the left of Menkaure is the 17th deified
Nome of Upper Egypt.

Hieroglyphs "god's words" were a formal writing

system used by the ancient Egyptians that
combined logographic and alphabetic elements.

• There was no dividing line between gods &

kings.
• They were frequently associated in triads.

THEBAN TRIAD
• Amun - the King of the Gods
• Mut - consort to Amun & queen of the gods
• Khons - the son of Amun and Mut. The god
of the moon and time.

ABYDOS TRIAD
• Osiris - The god of the underworld.
• Isis - The mother of Horus.
• Horus - The child of Isis and Osiris.

MEMPHIS TRIAD
• Ptah - The chief deity of Memphis & patron
deity of craftsmen.
• Sekhmet - The consort of Ptah & the giver of
divine retribution, vengeance, and conquest.
• Nefertem - the Protector of the two
lands. Rosetta Stone is a stele inscribed with a decree
issued at Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC on behalf of
King Ptolemy V.

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ROYAL SYMBOLS:

Double Crown
• The double crown headdress (‘pschent’)
represents the kingship of the 2 lands, Upper
and Lower Egypt.
• The white crown ('hedjet') is for Upper Egypt
and the red crown ('deshret') for Lower Egypt. Ankh symbolizes life, health & strength.

Feather of Ma’at represents justice, truth,

morality and balance.

Nemes Crown is a striped head cloth worn

almost exclusively by the king in representations
like a sphinx or falcon.

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Eye of Horus symbolizes protection & royal

power.
• The 6 parts of the eye correspond to the six
senses - touch, taste, hearing, thought, sight,
smell.

Scepter symbolizes power, dominion & control.

Cartouche is a rope enclosing a royal name

thereby serving as the protector of that name.

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Boat of Ra: Earn a place in Ra’s boat by having

a light heart.

Crook & Flail are symbols of royalty, kingship,

majesty and dominion.
• The crook is a scepter symbolizing
government.

Sun Disk represents light, warmth & growth.

Uraeus/Cobra symbolizes royal protection & the

Falcon is for divine kingship.
• They also represent the unification of Lower
Egypt (cobra) & Upper Egypt (falcon).
Scarab symbolizes resurrection & rebirth.

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Mummification was reserved for the richest and

most powerful in Egyptian society.
• The process was long and expensive.
• There were three main people who took part
in this process; the scribe, the cutter, and the
embalmer.
• It takes 70 days to prepare the body for burial.

Canopic jars were used by the ancient Egyptians

during the mummification process to store and
preserve the viscera of their owner for the
afterlife. They were commonly either carved from
limestone or were made of pottery.

Ibis symbolizes reincarnation.

The outstanding feature of the religion of the

Egyptians was their strong belief in the afterlife.

A. Mummification
• An intact body is an integral part of a
person's afterlife & assuring themselves
a successful rebirth into the afterlife.
• Without a physical body there is no a. Duamutef, the jackal-headed god
shadow, no name, no spirit, no representing the east, whose jar contained
personality & no immortality. the stomach and was protected by the
goddess Neith
B. Everlasting monuments for the preservation b. Hapi, the baboon-headed god representing
of the dead: the north, whose jar contained the lungs and
• Temple of the gods was protected by the goddess Nephthys
• Tomb pyramids of the kings c. Qebehsenuef, the falcon-headed god
representing the west, whose jar contained
the intestines and was protected by the
goddess Serqet
d. Imsety, the human-headed god representing
the south, whose jar contained the liver and
was protected by the goddess Isis.

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The Kings of ancient Egypt are known as ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER:

Pharaohs.
• The pharaoh was the political and religious Ornaments:
leader holding the titles: 'Lord of the Two • Papyrus (Symbol for Lower Egypt & Fertility)
Lands' and 'High Priest of Every Temple'.
• The pharaohs have been divided into 30
dynasties.

• The rulers would have the members of their

own families be married within the family itself
so that the throne would remain with them.
• In spite of such occurrences, where men
were marrying their own sister, daughters
and granddaughters, there were loads of
times when the rule changed hand,
contributing to one of the most complex and
interesting royal history ever

Great Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt:

a. Hatshepsut ruled herself as the first woman
• Lotus (Symbol for Upper Egypt & Fertility)
pharaoh after the death of her husband
Thutmose II. She ruled with her nephew
Thutmose III who was too young to be the
heir.
b. Thutmose III was called the Napoleon of
ancient Egypt because of his military genius
& built many structures.
c. Tutankhamun was a young pharaoh at the
age of 9 so his uncle Ay, who was the highest
minister, ruled for him while he was a boy.
d. Rameses II was one of the longest ruling
pharaohs of ancient Egypt for 67 years. He
lived for over 80 years with over a dozen
wives and more than 100 children.
e. Cleopatra (Queen of the Nile) was the last
pharaoh of ancient Egypt though she was not
of Egyptian lineage, being the daughter of
Ptolemy XII (Greek).

• Palm (Fertility)

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Columns are indicative of plant stems gathered at

the base with capitals derived from the lotus bud,
papyrus flower & the palm.

Egyptian columns were often made from one

large monolithic block.
• However, in all later periods, columns were 3 Types of Ornamentation:
usually built up in sectional blocks that were
then first shaped and then smoothed from the a. Geometric Forms
top down.
• They were then normally painted, and
afterwards, were difficult to tell that they were
not cut from a single piece of stone.

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b. Animals TOMB ARCHITECTURE:

Evolution of Ancient Egyptian Tombs

Mastaba
• It is a broad pit below ground covered with a
c. Plants rectangular flat mound with sides sloping at
75°.
• It has a shaft descending to the tomb
chamber.
• Heavy stones (portcullises) are dropped
through the slots to seal the chamber.
• Main axis lay north and south & has a false
door on the southern side allowing the spirit
of the dead to enter and leave at will.
• It is an Arabic word meaning “bench of mud”.

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Parts of a Mastaba: • It is the central feature of a vast mortuary

1. A Serdab is an enclosed room containing the complex in an enormous courtyard
statue of the deceased. surrounded by ceremonial structures and
✓ It has a hole allowing the spirit of the decoration.
dead to communicate with the living • The pyramid originally stood 62 meters tall,
world. with a base of 109 m × 125 m and was clad
2. The Stele in the offering chapel has the name in polished white limestone.
of the deceased inscribed on it. • It was built during the 27th century BC for the
3. The Sarcophagus Chamber burial of Pharaoh Djoser.

Meidum Pyramid
• The pyramid at Meidum is thought to
originally have been built for Huni, the last
pharaoh of the Third Dynasty, and was
Step Pyramid of Djozer continued by Sneferu.
• Designed by Imhotep is the world’s first large • The architect was a successor to the famous
scale monument in stone with no free- Imhotep, the inventor of the stone-built
standing columns. pyramid.
• This first Egyptian pyramid consisted of six
mastabas (of decreasing size) built atop one
another in what were clearly revisions and
developments of the original plan.

• The collapse of the pyramid is likely due to

the modifications made to Imhotep's pyramid
design as well as the decisions taken twice
during construction to extend the pyramid.
• The other theory stated that it seems never to
have been completed.

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Bent Pyramid of Snefru, Dashur Parts of a Pyramid:

• The bent pyramid is a unique example of
early pyramid development.
• The lower part rises at a 55-degree
inclination & the top section is shallower at 43
degrees.
• It has the best-preserved limestone outer
sheath of any pyramid in Egypt.

Red Pyramid
• It also called the North Pyramid is the largest
of the three major pyramids located at the
Dahshur necropolis.
• Named for the rusty reddish hue of its red
limestone stones, it is also the third largest
Egyptian pyramid, after those of Khufu and
Khafre at Giza.
• Archaeologists speculate its design may be
an outcome of engineering crisis experienced
during the construction of Sneferu's two
earlier pyramids

1. Offering chapel
2. Mortuary temple (for the worship of the dead)
3. Causeway
4. Valley building (for interment & embalmment)

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Giza Pyramid Complex: • The King's Chamber is a hollow space in the

middle of a massive structure of stone. The
chamber is of hard granite surrounded by
softer limestone.

Pyramid of Cheops
• It is the oldest and largest (13 acres) of the
3 pyramids in the Giza Necropolis.
• It is the oldest of the 7 Wonders of the
Ancient World, and the only one to remain
largely intact.
• It is also known as the Pyramid of Khufu

Pyramid of Chephren
• It is slightly smaller than the great Pyramid
of Cheops & guarded by the Sphinx believed
to bear the face of King Chephren.
• The pyramid has a base length of 215.5
meters and rises up to a height of 136.4
meters.
• The pyramid sits on bedrock 10 meters
higher than Khufu’s pyramid, which makes it
appear to be taller.

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• It is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, BUILDING THE PYRAMID:

a mythical creature with the body of a lion and
the head of a human. Recruitment of the Skilled Labor Force
• The face of the Sphinx is generally believed • To all the nomarchs: Send proclamations
to represent the Pharaoh Khafre. throughout your domains saying that
• A sphinx is a mythical monster with the body Pharaoh Khufu (May He Live! May He
of a lion and the head of a man hawk or ram. Prosper! May He be Healthy!) Requires the
immediate services of skilled tradesmen of all
professions!

Pyramid of Mykerinos
• It is the smallest & the last among the 3
pyramids to be built in the Giza Plateau.
• It is also called as the Pyramid of Menkaure

• The worker’s constructed barracks,

administrative buildings, granaries, bakeries,
breweries, work yards, smithies, and
foundries.
• There were permanent dwellings for those
who brought their families to settle, and the
king encouraged this heartily.
• Those craftsmen and artisans who were first
to arrive had the most desirable jobs, the
finest housing

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• Pyramid construction was hugely labor-

intensive.
• Stones were dragged on a prepared slipway
that was lubricated with oil.

Tura or Tora was a site in Ancient Egypt, located

about halfway between modern Cairo and
Helwan.
• It was Egypt's primary quarry for limestone.

• Pyramid construction was paid labor during

slow agricultural seasons, not slave labor as
is commonly supposed.

Pyramid Construction Theories

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ROCK-CUT TOMBS:

Beni Hasan
• It is an Ancient Egyptian cemetery site.
• It is located approximately 20 kilometers to
the south of modern-day Minya in the region
known as Middle Egypt, the area between
Asyut and Memphis.
• While there are some Old Kingdom burials at
the site, it was primarily used during the
Middle Kingdom, spanning the 21st to 17th
centuries BCE (Middle Bronze Age)
• The tomb of Tutankhamun was one of the
smaller tombs in the Valley of the Kings
as Tutankhamun was a fairly minor king who
had a very short reign.
• Over 3,500 items were recovered from the
burial of Tutankhamun, and many are
breathtaking in their beauty and a testament
to the skill of Egyptian craftsmen.

Valley of the Kings

• It is an example of a Corridor Tomb.
• It was the royal necropolis of Ancient Egypt
where the kings & powerful nobles were
buried.
• The valley was listed in the UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 1987.
Valley of the Queens
• It is a place near the Valley of the
Kings where wives of Pharaohs were buried
in ancient times.

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TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE:

Types of Temples:
a. Mortuary temple is used for the ministrations
to deified pharaohs.
b. Cult Temple is for the worship of the ancient
& mysterious gods

• Light & shadow are important features in

temples.
• Light came through:
✓ Wall openings
✓ Gaps between columns
✓ Clerestory windows

Parts of an Egyptian Temple:

1. Pylon is the monumental gateway

2. Great Court is surrounded by columns
3. Hypostyle Hall is a forest of columns,
portraying the illusion of infinity & vastness
of space.
4. Sanctuary is the holiest part & accessible
only to the kings & high priests.
5. Enclosure wall
6. Colossal statues of the Pharaoh
7. Obelisk is a tall 4-sided narrow tapering
column terminating in a pyramidion, its most
sacred part.
8. Avenue of sphinxes

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Temple of Isis, Philae Temple of Luxor

• It was dedicated to goddess Isis, wife of • It was mostly built by Amenophis III,
Osiris & mother of Horus. dedicated to the Theban Triad of Amun, Mut
• The temple walls were designed with inward & Khons.
inclinations called batter walls

Great Temple, Abu Simbel

Great Temple of Amun, Karnak • It is a rock-hewn temple with 4 rock-cut
• Located in ancient Thebes colossal statues of Rameses II, over 20
• It is the grandest of all Egyptian temples & meters high.
built by many kings.
• Building at the complex began during the
reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and
continued into the Ptolemaic period, and
most of the extant buildings date from the
New Kingdom.

• It was the most important sanctuary of the

cult who worshipped the sun god, Amun-Ra.
• It has a Great Court with 134 super-sized
columns in 16 rows, 21-24 meter high and
3.60 meter in diameter.

Entrance Hall

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Small Temple, Abu Simbel Mortuary Temple of Mentuhetep, Der-el-

• It was dedicated to Rameses II’s deified Bahari
queen, Nefertari & the goddess Hathor. • The pyramid is a cenotaph with a dummy
• The second time in ancient Egyptian history burial chamber below it. At the rear is a long
that a temple was dedicated to a queen. corridor leading down to Mentuhetep’s tomb.
• This is the only instance in Egyptian art that
the statues of the king and his consort have
equal size

Temple of Khonsu, Karnak

• The edifice is an example of an almost
completely New Kingdom temple, and was
originally constructed by Ramesses III, on the
site of an earlier temple.
Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
• It is an ancient funerary shrine in Upper
Egypt. Dedicated to the Pharaoh Hatshepsut,
it is located beneath the cliffs at Deir el
Bahari, on the west bank of the Nile near the
Valley of the Kings.

• The main and axis of the temple is set to an

azimuth of about 116½° and is aligned to the
winter solstice sunrise (21st or 22 December
each year)
• It is considered the closest Egypt came to
Classical architecture
• The mortuary temple is dedicated to the sun
god Amun.

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Temple of Seti I, Abydos FORTIFICATIONS

• The close-grained limestone wall relief is the
finest in Egypt. The Ancient Egyptians also built fortresses on the
frontiers of the Nile Valley to protect against
invaders from neighboring territories.

• Many of the fortifications of the ancient world

were built with mud brick, often leaving them
no more than mounds of dirt for today's
archaeologists.
• King Sesostris III is the father of Egyptian
Temple of Horus, Edfu fortress construction (Middle Kingdom)
• It built from sandstone blocks and it is the • He also relentlessly pushed his kingdom's
most completely preserved of all temple expansion into Nubia (from 1866 to 1863 BC)
remains. where he erected massive river forts
including Buhen, Semna and Toshka at
Uronarti.

Buhen Fortress (Northern, Sudan)

• It was located in an ancient Egyptian
settlement situated on the West bank of the
Nile
• Its large fortress, probably constructed during
the rule of Senusret III in around 1860 BC
(12th dynasty).

Mammisi Temple
• It is often referred to as a birth house of the
gods located within the temple precinct.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN HOUSES

• As the Egyptian civilization developed, they

began to build houses with two floors.
• Usually, the top floor was where they lived
and the bottom floor was used for crop
storage.
• The created reed canopies to give them
shade against the hot sun and even had
small windows for the upper rooms.
• All windows and doors had reed mat
coverings to keep flies, dust and heat out.

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Lecture References:
• Fletcher, Sir Banister (1996). History of
Architecture 20th edition, Architectural Press
• Harris, Cyril M. (1975). Dictionary of
Architecture and Construction, McGraw Hill
• Harris, Cyril M. (1977). Illustrated Dictionary
of Historic Architecture, Dover Publication
• Trachtenberg, Marvin (1986). Architecture
from Pre-history to Post-Modernism
• Various internet articles and academic
journals
• Images used in this material were taken from
• Poor people had homes that usually had only Google Images
one row of bricks, but the wealthier people
often had two and even three rows of bricks.
• The mud bricks were cheap to make, but they
found out that in a couple of years, they
started to crumble.
• The very richest people had enough money
to have homes made out of stone and also
had granite stone gateways.

• Beginning in the time of the New Kingdom a

number of rich people had their own private
wells for their drinking water and the poor
people had to use shared public wells that
were found throughout the towns

END OF LECTURE

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I: surrounded by storied colonnade (stoa), the

Greek Architecture town council building (bouleuterion), the
By: Ar. Chris Luna, uap public monument, the monumental tomb
(mausoleum) and the stadium.
Introduction • Ancient Greek architecture is distinguished
• Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging by its highly formalized characteristics, both
to a period of Greek history from the Greek of structure and decoration.
Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to • This is particularly so in the case of temples
the end of antiquity (c. 600 AD). where each building appears to have been
• Immediately following this period was the conceived as a sculptural entity within the
beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the landscape, most often raised on high ground
Byzantine era. so that the elegance of its proportions and the
effects of light on its surfaces might be
• Roughly three centuries after the Late Bronze
viewed from all angles
Age collapse of Mycenaean Greece, Greek
urban poleis began to form in the 8th century
BC, ushering in the period of Archaic Greece
and colonization of the Mediterranean Basin.

HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF ANCIENT AND

CLASSICAL GREECE

• Classical Greek culture, especially • The history of Greece can be traced back to
philosophy, had a powerful influence on Stone Age hunters.
ancient Rome, which carried a version of it to • Later came early farmers and the civilizations
many parts of the Mediterranean Basin and of the Minoan and Mycenaean kings.
Europe. • This was followed by a period of wars and
• For this reason, Classical Greece is generally invasions, known as the Dark Ages.
considered to be the seminal culture which • In about 1100 BC, a people called the
provided the foundation of modern Western Dorians invaded from the north and spread
culture and is considered the cradle of down the west coast.
Western civilization. • In the period from 500-336 BC Greece was
divided into small city states, each of which
Ancient Greek architecture is best known from consisted of a city and its surrounding
its temples, many of which are found throughout countryside.
the region, mostly as ruins but many substantially • There were only a few historians in the time
intact. of Ancient Greece.
• The second important type of building that • Three major ancient historians were able to
survives all over the Hellenic world is the record their time of Ancient Greek history that
open-air theatre, with the earliest dating from includes Herodotus, known as the 'Father of
around 525-480 BC. History' who travelled to many ancient
• Other architectural forms that are still in historic sites at the time, Thucydides and
evidence are the processional gateway Xenophon.
(propylon), the public square (agora)

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• Most other forms of History knowledge and • After the Trojan Wars the Mycenaean went
accountability of the ancient Greeks we know through a period of civil war, the country was
is because of temples, sculpture, pottery, weak and a tribe called the Dorians took over.
artifacts and other archaeological findings. • Some speculate that Dorian invaders from
the north with iron weapons laid waste the
Neolithic Period (6000 - 2900 BC) Mycenaean culture.
• According to historians and archeological • Others look to internal dissent, uprising and
findings, the Neolithic Age in Greece lasted rebellion, or perhaps some combination.
from 6800 to 3200 BC.
• The most domesticated settlements were in Archaic Period (750 - 500 BC)
Near East of Greece. • The Archaic Period in Greece refers to the
• They traveled mainly due to overpopulation. years between 750 and 480 B.C., more
• These people introduced pottery and animal particularly from 620 to 480 B.C.
husbandry in Greece. • The age is defined through the development
• They may as well have traveled via the route of art at this time, specifically through the
of Black Sea into Thrace, which then further style of pottery and sculpture, showing the
leads to Macedonia, Thessaly, Boeotia etc specific characteristics that would later be
developed into the more naturalistic style of
Early Bronze Age (2900 - 2000BC) the Classical period.
• The Greek Bronze Age or the Early Helladic • The Archaic is one of five periods that Ancient
Era started around 2800 BC and lasted till Greek history can be divided into; it was
1050 BC in Crete while in the Aegean islands preceded by the Dark Ages and followed by
it started in 3000 BC. the Classical period.
• The Bronze Age in Greece is divided into • The Archaic period saw advancements in
periods such as Helladic I and II. political theory, especially the beginnings of
• The information that is available today on the democracy, as well as in culture and art.
Bronze Age in Greece is from the • The knowledge and use of written language
architecture, burial styles and lifestyle which was lost in the Dark Ages was re-
established.
Minoan Age (2000 - 1400 BC)
• Bronze Age civilization, centering on the Classical Period (500-336 BC)
island of Crete. • Classical period of ancient Greek history, is
• It was named after the legendary king Minos. fixed between about 500 B. C., when the
• It is divided into three periods: the early Greeks began to come into conflict with the
Minoan period (c.3000-2200 B.C.), the kingdom of Persia to the east, and the death
Middle Minoan period (c.2200-1500 B.C.) of the Macedonian king and conqueror
and the Late Minoan period (c.1500-1000 Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.
B.C.) • In this period Athens reached its greatest
political and cultural heights: the full
Mycenaean Age (1600–1100 BC) development of the democratic system of
• Period of high cultural achievement, forming government under the Athenian statesman
the backdrop and basis for subsequent myths Pericles; the building of the Parthenon on the
of the heroes. Acropolis; the creation of the tragedies of
• It was named for the kingdom of Mycenae Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides; and the
and the archaeological site where fabulous founding of the philosophical schools of
works in gold were unearthed. Socrates and Plato.
• The Mycenaean Age was cut short by
widespread destruction ushering in the Greek Hellenistic Period (336-146 BC)
Dark Age • It is the period between the conquest of the
Persian Empire by Alexander the Great and
the establishment of Roman supremacy, in
The Dark Ages (1100 - 750 BC) which Greek culture and learning were pre-
• The period between the fall of the eminent in the Mediterranean and Asia
Mycenaean civilizations and the re-adoption Minor.
of writing in the eighth or seventh century BC.

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• It is called Hellenistic (Greek, Hellas, Introduction to the Olympic Games- 776 BC

"Greece") to distinguish it from the Hellenic • The ancient Olympic Games were primarily
culture of classical Greece considered a part of a religious festival which
took place in honor of the father of the Greek
Roman Greece (146 BC-AD 330) gods and goddesses.
• The Greek peninsula came under Roman • The celebration and the games were held in
rule during the 146 BC conquest of Greece Olympia, a rural sanctuary site in the western
after the Battle of Corinth. Peloponnesus.
• Macedonia became a Roman province while • This sanctuary’s name came from Mt.
southern Greece came under the Olympos which was the highest mountain of
surveillance of Macedonia's prefect; Greece’s mainland.
however, some Greek poleis managed to
maintain a partial independence and avoid
taxation.
• Greece was a key eastern province of the
Roman Empire, as the Roman culture had
long been in fact Greco-Roman.

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT OF

ANCIENT GREECE

Beginning of Mycenaean Period - 1600 to 1100

BC
• It forms the declining phase of the Bronze
Age in Ancient Greece. Homer writes the Iliad and the Odyssey - 750
• It showcases the very first advanced culture -700 BC
in Greece, followed by its plush states, works • The name ascribed by the ancient Greeks to
of writing and art, and public organization. the legendary author of the Iliad and the
Odyssey, two epic poems which are the
The Trojan War- 1250 BC central works of ancient Greek literature.
• Trojan War, in Greek mythology, is the battle • The Iliad is set during the Trojan War, the ten-
between the people of Troy and the Greeks. year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of
• The tiff began after Paris; the Trojan prince Greek states. It focuses on a quarrel between
took away Helen, the wife of Menelaus of King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles
Sparta. lasting a few weeks during the last year of the
• When Menelaus asked for her return, the war.
Trojans straightaway denied giving her back. • The Odyssey focuses on the journey home of
Menelaus then cajoled his brother Odysseus, king of Ithaca, after the fall of
Agamemnon who headed the army against Troy.
Troy.
The Rise of the Greek Tyrants- 650 BC
Greek mythology - 900–800 BC • The Tyrants were the oppressive rulers in
• Greek mythology is the body of myths and Greece.
teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, • The most popular tyrannies were those
concerning their gods and heroes, the nature founded by Orthagoras at Sicyon and
of the world, and the origins and significance Cypselus at Corinth in about 650 BC.
of their own cult and ritual practices. • The most famous tyrants of Asiatic Greece
• It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. were Thrasybulus of Miletus.
• Greek mythology has had an extensive • The tyrants often sprung from the fringe of the
influence on the culture, arts, and literature of aristocracy.
Western civilization and remains part of
Western heritage and language. Coin Currency Introduced- 600 BC
• The first known coins were introduced in
either Ionia in Asia Minor or Lydia at some
time before 600 BC.

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• The Greeks wanted to have payments that throughout Egypt, Asia Minor, and
were authenticated. Mesopotamia to India.
• These coins were made of an alloy of gold • This widespread culture of Greeks initiated
and silver known as electrum. the era of the “Hellenistic World.”
• It was present in abundance and was highly
priced. Invasion of Romans- 146 BC
• The Greek peninsula came under the control
Second Peloponnesian War: Athens versus of Romans after the Battle of Corinth in 146
Sparta- 431 BC BC.
• Engulfing whole of the Greek world, the Great • Macedonia then became a Roman province.
Peloponnesian War was a titanic struggle • Where some Greeks managed to maintain
between the two major cities of Greece; partial independence, the others
Athens and Sparta. surrendered.
• The battle is famous mainly because of the • Following this, the Romans now began to
historian Thucydides’ efforts. invest heavily in the rebuilding of the
• The Greek War was fought by the destroyed cities.
Peloponnesian League of Sparta against the • Corinth was made the capital of the newly
Delian League of Athens. convicted province of Achaea.
• This war showcased the brilliant warfare • Athens flourished as the center of philosophy
practices of the Greeks. and learning.

Bubonic Plague in Athens- 430 BC

• The horrible Plague of Athens was an
epidemic which wrecked every corner of the
Athens in ancient Greece.
• It is said to have entered through city’s port
and the only source of food and supplies;
Piraeus.
• Many people died as no one took the risk of
taking care of them.
• They pointed at the plague as an act of Gods
supporting Sparta.

Plato founds the Academy in 386 BC and

Aristotle is born 384 BC CULTURE IN ANCIENT GREECE
• Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece
and the founder of the Academy in Athens, Education
the first institution of higher learning in the • For most of Greek history, education was
Western world. private, except in Sparta.
• Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher • During the Hellenistic period, some city-
and scientist born in the city of Stagira, states established public schools and only
Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of wealthy families could afford a teacher.
Classical Greece. Teaching Alexander the • Boys learned how to read, write and quote
Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and literature.
an abundance of supplies. • They also learned to sing and play one
musical instrument and were trained as
Alexander the Great in power- 336 BC athletes for military service.
• Alexander III of Macedon, widely known as • They studied not for a job but to become an
Alexander the Great, was the son of King effective citizen.
Philip II of Macedon.
• Girls also learned to read, write and do simple
• He became king after his father’s death in arithmetic so they could manage the
336 BCE. household.
• As a king, he had spread Greek culture, • They almost never received education after
thoughts, religion, and language from Greece childhood.

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• Aegean civilization has two cultures known

as Minoan which flourished in Crete under
the legendary King Minos of Knossos, and
the mainland civilization known as
Mycenaean, after one of the great centers,
Mycenae.
• The Minoans were the first great culture of
Aegean civilization

Social Structure
• Only free, land owning, native-born men
could be citizens entitled to the full protection
of the law in a city-state.
• In most city-states, unlike the situation in
Rome, social prominence did not allow
special rights.
• Sometimes families controlled public Geological
religious functions, but this ordinarily did not • The greatest importance to her architecture
give any extra power in the government. was her unrivalled marble which facilitates
• In Athens, the population was divided into exactness of line and refinement of detail.
four social classes based on wealth. • The famous variety of marble is the Pentelic
• People could change classes if they made marble of Greece, found in the quarries of
more money. Mount Pentelikon in Attica.
• In Sparta, all male citizens were called • Pentelic marble was used by the great
homoioi, meaning "peers". sculptors of ancient Greece, including
• However, Spartan kings, who served as the Phidias and Praxiteles.
city-state's dual military and religious leaders,
came from two families.

Technological Advancement
• Ancient Greek mathematics contributed
many important developments to the field of
mathematics, including the basic rules of
geometry, the idea of formal mathematical
proof, and discoveries in number theory,
mathematical analysis, applied mathematics,
and approached to establishing integral
calculus.
• The discoveries of several Greek
mathematicians, including Pythagoras,
Euclid, and Archimedes, are still used in
mathematical teaching today. Climate
INFLUENCES IN THEIR ARCHITECTURAL • The climate of Greece is maritime, with both
CHARACTER the coldness of winter and the heat of
summer tempered by sea breezes.
Geographical • This led to a lifestyle where many activities
• It was upon the island of Crete that arose the took place outdoors.
first great sea-power of the Mediterranean, • Colonnades encircling buildings, or
which flourished a thousand years before the surrounding courtyards provided shelter from
Greek civilization reached its peak. the sun and from sudden winter storms.

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Religion

Aegean
• The Aegeans practiced nature worship.
• The supreme deity was the fertility goddess,
Rhea.
• Their religious ceremonies included sacred
games and ritual dances.
Classical Greek
• The gods were personifications of particular
• Hephaestus - lame god of fire and the forge.
elements.
• Hera - wife of Zeus, protector of marriage,
• Each deity has its own attribute.
familiar with magic.
• Hermes - the speedy messenger of the gods,
The 12 Olympians
god of business. The Romans called him
• Aphrodite - goddess of love, romance, and Mercury.
beauty.
• Poseidon - God of the sea, horses, and of
• Apollo - beautiful god of the sun, light, earthquakes.
medicine, and music.
• Zeus - Supreme lord of gods, god of the sky,
• Ares - dark god of war who loves Aphrodite. symbolized by the thunderbolt.
• Artemis - goddess of the hunt, the forest, • Dionysus – God of wine, feasting and revelry.
wildlife, childbirth, and the moon; sister to
Apollo.
• Athena - daughter of Zeus and goddess of
wisdom, war, and crafts.
• Demeter - Goddess of agriculture and mother
of Persephone.

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The history of Greece is separated into

distinctive periods:

a. Aegean (Minoan and Mycenaean) or

Helladic Greece
• Defense architecture such as fortifications of
Mycenae and Tiryns were necessary for
protection.
• Citadel palaces were built.
• Architectural features, such as columns,
friezes and various moldings; mural
decoration, such as fresco-paintings, colored
reliefs and mosaic inlay. Roof tiles were also
occasionally employed c. Hellenistic Greece
• Tomb Architecture (excavated tombs; of • It started at the death of Alexander at 32
either the pit, chamber or tholos kind) which led to the division of the empire among
his generals.
• At this time, Greek cultural influence and
power was at its peak in Europe, Africa and
Asia, experiencing prosperity and progress in
the arts, exploration, literature, theatre,
architecture, music, mathematics,
philosophy, and science.
• In Architecture, the classical styles were
further refined and augmented with new
ideas like the Corinthian order which was first
used on the exterior of the Temple of
Olympian Zeus in Athens.
• Public buildings and monuments were
b. Hellenic (Archaic and Classical) Greece constructed on larger scale in more ambitious
• The “city state” (‘polis’) emerged as the basis configuration and complexity.
of Greek society. • It ended with Greece became a Roman
• Great figures in philosophy and science such province.
as Pythagoras (philosopher-scientist) and
Socrates (philosopher)
• Much of modern Western politics, artistic
thought (architecture, sculpture), scientific
thought, theatre, literature, and philosophy
derives from this period of Greek history
• Re-introduction of stone architecture in
Temples
• The emergence of Classical Orders: Doric
and Ionic Orders
• Greek theater has a religious attribute and
originated from the festival of the worship of
Dionysus.

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ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER: Minoan Column

• Columns were of cypress wood, tapering
AEGEAN (MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN downward, cylindrical shaft, disc-like base
CIVILIZATION) and a widely-projecting capital with 2 main
parts:
Megaron ✓ square abacus (above)
• It was the great hall in ancient Greek palace ✓ circular echinus (below)
complexes. • This broad-topped column was necessary to
• It was a rectangular hall, fronted by an open, collect the weight of the thick walls
two-columned porch, and a more or less
central, open hearth vented though an oculus
in the roof above it and surrounded by four
columns.
• The entrance was the feature that helps to
distinguish the megaron, due to its position,
which was along the shorter wall so that the
depth was larger than the width.

Corbel method was used for vaults or pointed

domes

• The megaron's functions were many,

including poetry, feasts, meetings, and
worship.
• It was used for royal functions and court
meetings as well.
• Its religious functions included the practice of
animal sacrifices, often to Chthonic deities.

• Houses and palaces were the principal

building types, built of rubble or cut stone
without mortar.
• Walls were coated with stucco & floors with
gypsum.
• It is the characteristic domestic unit.

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Methods of Walling ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES:

• Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework AEGEAN (MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN

found in Mycenaean architecture, built with CIVILIZATION)
massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted
together with minimal clearance between Palace of Minos at Knossos
adjacent stones and no use of mortar. • It is one of the most famous archaeological
sites in the world.
• Located on Kephala Hill on the island of Crete
in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of
Greece, Knossos palace was the political,
social and cultural center of the Minoan
culture during the Early and Middle Bronze
Age.
• The great palace was gradually built between
1700 and 1400 BC, with periodic re-buildings
after destruction.

Polygonal masonry is a technique of stone

construction.
• True polygonal masonry is a technique
wherein the visible surfaces of the stones are
dressed with straight sides or joints, giving
the block the appearance of a polygon.
• This technique is found throughout the world
and sometimes corresponds to the less
technical category of Cyclopean masonry

• The 1,300 rooms are connected with

corridors of varying sizes and direction, which
differ from other contemporaneous palaces
that connected the rooms via several main
hallways.
• The 6 acres (24,000 sq.m.) of the palace
included a theater, a main entrance on each
of its four cardinal faces, and extensive
storerooms (also called magazines). Within
the storerooms were large clay containers
(pithoi) that held oil, grains, dried fish, beans,
and olives.

• Rectangular Blocks & Inclined Blocks

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• Many of the items were processed at the Frescoes

palace, which had grain mills, oil presses, • The palace at Knossos was a place of high
and wine presses. color, as were Greek buildings in the classical
• Beneath the pithoi were stone holes that period, and as are Greek buildings today.
were used to store more valuable objects, • The decorative motifs were generally
such as gold. bordered scenes: people, mythological
• The palace used advanced architectural creatures, real animals, rocks, vegetation,
techniques: for example, part of it was built and marine life.
up to five stories high.

Palace Citadel of Tiryns

• It is a Mycenaean archaeological site in
Argolis in the Peloponnese, some kilometers
north of Nafplio.
• Tiryns was a hill fort with occupation ranging
back seven thousand years, from before the
beginning of the Bronze Age.
• It reached its height between 1400 and 1200
BCE, when it was one of the most important
centers of the Mycenaean world, and in
particular in Argolis.

• The palace had at least three separate water-

management systems: one for water supply,
one for drainage of runoff, and one for
drainage of waste water.
• Aqueducts brought fresh water to Kephala hill
from springs at Archanes, about 10 km away.

• The famous megaron of the palace of Tiryns

has a large reception hall, the main room of
which had a throne placed against the right
wall and a central hearth bordered by four
Minoan style wooden columns that acted as
supports for the roof.

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• The walls are quite thick, usually 6 meters,

while at the points that are opened the
famous tunnels up to 17 m
• The entrance of the citadel has always been
on the east side, but had a different position
and form in each of the three construction
phases.
• In the second phase the gate had the form of
the Lion Gate of Mycenae.

• The two of the three walls of the famous

megaron were incorporated into an archaic
temple of Hera.

• In 1300 BCE the citadel and lower town had

a population of 10,000 people covering 20-25
hectares.
• Despite the destruction of the palace in 1200
BCE the city population continued the
increase and by 1150 BCE it had a population
of 15,000 people.
• Tiryns was recognized as one of the World
Heritage Sites in 1999.

• The Lion Gate was the main entrance of the

• The walls extend to the entire area of the top Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae, southern
of the hill. Greece.
• Their bases survive throughout all of their
length, and their height in some places
reaching 7 meters, slightly below the original
height, which is estimated at 9, 10 m.

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1. Rock-cut or chamber tomb is cut within the

slope of a hillside and approached by a
passageway which is open to the sky called
the dromos
2. Tholos type is more elaborate; a
subterranean stone-vaulted construction
shaped like a beehive.
• Similar to Chamber Tombs, both have
chamber, doorway stomion and entrance
passage dromos but tholos are largely
built while chamber tombs are rock-cut.

Treasury of Atreus
or Tomb of Agamemnon
• It is a large "tholos" tomb on the Panagitsa
Hill at Mycenae, Greece, constructed during
the Bronze Age around 1250 BC.
• The lintel stone above the doorway weighs
120 tons, with approximate dimensions 8.3 x
5.2 x 1.2m, the largest in the world.

• It was erected during the 13th century BC in

the northwest side of the acropolis and is
named after the relief sculpture of two
lionesses or lions in a heraldic pose that
stands above the entrance.
• The Lion Gate is the sole surviving
monumental piece of Mycenaean sculpture,
as well as the largest sculpture in the
prehistoric Aegean. • The tomb is excavated into the side of a hill.
• The Lion Gate is a massive and imposing • It is formed of a semi-subterranean room of
construction, standing 3.10 m (10 ft) wide and circular plan, with a corbel arch.
2.95 m (10 ft) high at the threshold.
• It narrows as it rises, measuring 2.78 m (9 ft)
below the lintel.

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• The entrance portal to the tumulus was richly Other Aegean Buildings
decorated: half-columns in green limestone • Minoan buildings often had flat, tiled roofs;
with zig-zag motifs on the shaft, a frieze with plaster, wood or flagstone floors, and stood
rosettes above the architrave of the door, and two to three stories high.
spiral decoration in bands of red marble that • Lower walls were typically constructed of
closed the triangular aperture above an stone and rubble, and the upper walls of mud
architrave. brick and ceiling timbers held up the roofs.
• With an interior height of 13.5m and a • Construction materials for villas and palaces
diameter of 14.5m, it was the tallest and varied, and included sandstone, gypsum and
widest dome in the world limestone.
• Building techniques also varied, with some
palaces using ashlar masonry and others
roughly-hewn, megalithic blocks.

• A short passage led from the tholos chamber

to the actual burial chamber, which was dug
out in a nearly cubical shape

THE EMERGENCE OF GREEK CITY STATES

Acropolis of Athens
• It is an ancient citadel located on a rocky
outcrop above the city of Athens and contains
the remains of several ancient buildings of
great architectural and historic significance,
the most famous being the Parthenon.

• The Tholos was entered from an inclined

uncovered hall or dromos, 36 meters long
and with dry-stone walls.

• Although the term acropolis is generic and

there are many other acropolises in Greece,

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the significance of the Acropolis of Athens is

such that it is commonly known as "The
Acropolis" without qualification.

Ancient Delphi
Ancient Olympia, Greece • It is famous as the ancient sanctuary that
• It is a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis on grew rich as the seat of Pythia, the oracle
the Peloponnese peninsula, is known for consulted about important decisions
having been the site of the Olympic Games in throughout the ancient classical world.
classical times. • It was since ancient times a place of worship
• The Olympic Games were held every four for Gaia, the mother goddess connected with
years throughout Classical antiquity, from the fertility
8th century BC to the 4th century AD.

• The classical period, between the 5th and 4th

centuries BC, was the golden age of the site
at Olympia.
• A wide range of new religious and secular Delos had a position as a holy sanctuary for a
buildings and structures were constructed. millennium before Olympian Greek mythology
made it the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.

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ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER: • In the late Hellenistic period, their decreasing

TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE financial wealth, along with the progressive
incorporation of the Greek world within the
HELLENIC (ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL Roman State, whose officials and rulers took
GREECE) over as sponsors, led to the end of Greek
temple construction.
• Between the 9th century BC and the 6th • New temples now belonged to the tradition of
century BC, the ancient Greek temples Roman architecture, which, in spite of the
developed from the small mud brick Greek influence on it, aimed for different
structures into double porch monumental goals and followed different aesthetic
buildings with colonnade on all sides, often principles.
reaching more than 20 meters in height (not
including the roof). Hellenic: Early Archaic
• Stylistically, they were governed by the • The first temples were mostly mud, brick, and
regionally specific architectural orders. marble structures on stone foundations.
• Whereas the distinction was originally • The columns and superstructure
between the Doric and Ionic orders, a third (entablature) were wooden, door openings
alternative arose in late 3rd century BC with and antae were protected with wooden
the Corinthian order. planks.
• Greek temples were designed and • The mud brick walls were often reinforced by
constructed according to set proportions, wooden posts, in a type of half-timbered
mostly determined by the lower diameter of technique.
the columns or by the dimensions of the • The elements of this simple and clearly
foundation levels. structured wooden architecture produced all
• The nearly mathematical strictness of the the important design principles that were to
basic designs thus reached was lightened by determine the development of Greek temples
optical refinements. for centuries.

• In spite of the still widespread idealized

image, Greek temples were painted, so that
bright reds and blues contrasted with the
white of the building stones. Hellenic: Early Archaic and Classical
• The more elaborate temples were equipped • Temples were the principal buildings.
with very rich figural decoration in the form of • Colonnades surround the temple.
reliefs and pediment sculpture. • Greek architecture was essentially columnar
• The construction of temples was usually and trabeated.
organized and financed by cities or by the • Timber forms were imitated in stone with
administrations of sanctuaries and private remarkable exactness.
individuals, especially Hellenistic rulers, • For this reason, Greek architecture has been
could also sponsor such buildings called “carpentry in marble’’.

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• The method of constructing the column was

the mortise & tennon or tongue & groove.
• Sectioned columns were carved with a center
hole or depression so that they could be
pegged together, using stone or metal pins.

• This avoidance of mathematically straight

lines also included the columns, which did not
taper in a linear fashion, but were refined by
a pronounced "swelling" (entasis) of the
shaft.
• Additionally, columns were placed with a
slight inclination towards the center of the
building.
• Curvature and entasis occur from the mid-6th
century BC onwards.
• The most consistent use of these principles
is seen in the Classical Parthenon on the
Athenian Acropolis.
• Its curvature affects all horizontal elements
up to the sima, even the cella walls reflect it
throughout their height.
• The inclination of its columns (which also
have a clear entasis), is continued by
architrave and triglyph frieze, the external
Optical Refinements of Greek Temples walls of the cella also reflect it
• To loosen up the mathematical strictness and
to counteract distortions of human visual Colors in Greek Temples
perception, a slight curvature of the whole • Only three basic colors were used: white,
building, hardly visible with the naked eye, blue and red, occasionally also black.
was introduced.
• The crepidoma, columns, and architrave was
• The ancient architects had realized that long mostly white.
horizontal lines tend to make the optical
• Only details, like the horizontally cut grooves
impression of sagging towards their center.
at the bottom of Doric capitals (annuli), or
• To prevent this effect, the horizontal lines of decorative elements of Doric architraves
stylobate and/or entablature were raised by a might be painted in different colors and the
few centimeters towards the middle of a frieze was clearly structured by use of colors.
building.

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Temple Types:
1. According to the number of columns on the
entrance front.

Sculptures in Greek Temples

• Greek temples were often enhanced with
figural decorations.
• Especially the frieze areas offered space for
reliefs and relief slabs; the pediment triangles
often contained scenes of free-standing
sculpture.
• In Archaic times, even the architrave could be
relief-decorated on Ionic temples, as
demonstrated by the earlier temple of Apollo
at Didyma.

2. According to the arrangement of exterior

columns in relation to the naos

Greek Temple Plan

1. Pronaos – front portico.

2. Epinaos/Opisthodomos – rear portico.
3. Naos – contains the statue of a god or a. In-antis – 2-4 columns at the front.
goddess. b. Prostyle – has a portico of columns at the
4. The adyton is the most sacred part of front.
the temple c. Amphi-antis – 2-4 columns at the front and
rear.
d. Amphi-prostyle – has a portico of columns at
the front and rear.

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3. Intercolumniation (Column spacing)

e. Peripteral – single line of columns at the front In the Doric Order, the intercolumniation is
and rear. sometimes referred to in terms of the number of
f. Psuedo-peripteral – flank of columns triglyphs between columns.
attached to the naos wall. • Monotriglyph: an interval of 1 triglyph
• Ditriglyph: an interval of 2 triglyphs
• Polytriglyph: an interval of more than 2
triglyphs

g. Dipteral – double line of columns surrounding

the naos.
h. Pseudo-dipteral – like dipteral but the inner
range of columns is omitted. • Roof eaves were terminated with antefixae &
i. Tholos type – circular temples the center ridge with an acroterion.

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The Doric order originated on the mainland and

western Greece.
• It is the simplest of the orders, characterized
by short, faceted, heavy columns with plain,
round capitals (tops) and no base.
• It has a height of 4-6 1/2x Ø the of base
• It has 20 flutes for the columns
• On the ends of the temple roof is the tympana
(triangular–shaped pediment) filled with
sculptures

GREEK TEMPLE ORDERS

There are three distinct orders in Ancient Greek

architecture: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
• These three were adopted by the Romans,
who modified their capitals.
• The Roman adoption of the Greek orders
took place in the 1st century BC.
• The three Ancient Greek orders have since
been consistently used in neo-classical
European architecture.
• The Architectural Orders are the styles of
classical architecture, each distinguished by
its proportions and characteristic profiles
and details, and most readily recognizable
by the type of column employed.

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Doric Temple Elevation (half):

END OF LECTURE

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The Ionic order originated in the mid-6th century

BC in Ionia, the southwestern coastland and
islands of Asia Minor settled by Ionian Greeks,
where an Ionian dialect was spoken.
• The Ionic order column was being practiced
in mainland Greece in the 5th century BC.
• It was most popular in the Archaic Period
(750–480 BC) in Ionia
• It is a four-fronted capital
• Originated from nautilus shell and ram’s horn
• The order has no frieze
• The column order has 24 flutes separated by
fillets not by arrises
• It has an attic base

• The most ornate of the classical orders with

acanthus leaves & scrolls
• It has slender fluted columns
• It has a base similar to the ionic
• The order has a height variation of 9x–10x Ø
of base

The Corinthian order is named for the Greek

city-state of Corinth, to which it was connected in
the period.
• The acanthus leaf and scroll play an
important role in Greek Ornamentation.
• The invention of the Corinthian capital was
due to Callimachus who got the idea from
observing a basket covered with a tile over
the grave of a Corinthian maiden.
• Its earliest use can be traced back to the Late
Classical Period (430–323 BC).
• Acanthus is one of the oldest flowers of the
Mediterranean which is believed to be the
symbol of long life.
• These ornamental luscious leaves have
influenced designs for hundreds of years and
played an important role in architecture,
fabrics, furniture, and paper designs.
• In Architecture it is defined as a carved
ornament based on the leaves of the
acanthus plant, found on the capital of a
Corinthian column.

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GREEK MOLDINGS • Cyma reversa (ogee): water-leaf & tongue

• Due to the fine-grained marble in which they

were carved
• Due to the clear atmosphere & continuous
sunshine which produced strong shadows
from slight projections

✓ Though these moldings were formed by

hand, they approach very closely to
various conic sections: parabola,
hyperbola & ellipse. • Ovolo: egg & dart (or egg & tongue

• Astragal (or bead): bead & reel

• Torus: the guilloche or plait ornament, or

with bundles of leaves tied by bands

• Corona: usually painted with the fret

ornament (also called key pattern)

Greek moldings & their usual ornaments:

• Cyma recta: anthemion (or honeysuckle)

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• The fillet is a small plain face to separate

other moldings.
• The scotia is a deep hollow molding
• The cavetto is a simple hollow molding

EXAMPLES OF DORIC ORDER TEMPLES The Statue of Athena

• It is one of the most marvelous works of
Parthenon Phidias
• It is dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom • It is made of gold and ivory 12.8 m. high and
the people of Athens considered their patron. eyes were of precious stones
• Construction began in 447 BC when the
Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power. Temple of Zeus, Olympia
• It was completed in 438 BC although • The temple, built in the second quarter of the
decoration of the building continued until 432 fifth century BCE, was the very model of the
BC. fully developed classical Greek temple of the
• It is the most important surviving building of Doric order.
Classical Greece, using Doric order. • Construction of the temple began around 470
BC and was probably completed by 457 BC.
• The architect was Libon of Elis.
• It is the most important building in the Altis
located at the very center
• A peripteral hexastyle with 13 columns at the
sides
• The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was a giant
seated figure, about 13 meters tall, made by
the Greek sculptor Phidias

• It is designed by Ictinus and Callicrates

• The master sculptor was Phidias
• Peripteral octastyle in plan
• Measured at the stylobate, the dimensions of
the base of the Parthenon are 69.5 by 30.9
meters.
• The cella was 29.8 meters long by 19.2
meters wide.
• The Doric columns measure 1.9 meters in
diameter and are 10.4 meters high and the
corner columns are slightly larger in
diameter.

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Temple of Hephaestus Temple of Apollo, Didyma

• It is a well-preserved Greek temple; it • Or Didymaion was the fourth largest temple
remains standing largely as built. in the ancient Greek world.
• It is a Doric peripteral temple, and is located • The temple’s oracle, second in importance
at the north-west side of the Agora of Athens, only to that at Delphi, played a significant role
on top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill. in the religious and political life of both Miletus
and the greater Mediterranean world.
• It is designed by Paeonius and Daphnis

EXAMPLES OF IONIC ORDER TEMPLES

Temple of Athena Nike

• It is a temple on the Acropolis of Athens.
• It was named after the Greek goddess,
Athena Nike.
• Built around 420BC, the temple is the earliest
fully Ionic temple on the Acropolis. Erechtheion, Athens
• Nike means victory in Greek, and Athena was • It is an ancient Greek temple on the north
worshipped in this form, as goddess of victory side of the Acropolis of Athens in Greece
in war and wisdom. which was dedicated to both Athena and
• It was designed by Callicrates Poseidon.
• The smallest structure in the Acropolis. • Designed by Mnesicles
• It is made of Pentelic and blue Eleusinian
marble

• The female figures of the Erechtheion

represented the punishment of the women of
Karyæ, a town near Sparta in Laconia, who
were condemned to slavery after betraying
Athens by siding with Persia in the Greco-
Persian Wars.

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Temple of Artemis, Ephesus

• It is also known less precisely as the Temple
of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to
the goddess Artemis.
• One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World, it was completely rebuilt three times
before its final destruction in 401 AD.

• A Caryatid is a sculpted female figure

serving as a column or a pillar supporting an
entablature on her head.
✓ A Canephora is a caryatid with a basket
on her head; used either as a support or
as a freestanding garden ornament.

Tholos Philippeion, Olympia

• Located in the Altis of Olympia was an Ionic
circular memorial in limestone and marble,
which contained chryselephantine (ivory and
gold) statues of Philip's family; himself,
Alexander the Great, Olympias, Amyntas III
and Eurydice I.
• It was made by the Athenian sculptor
Leochares in celebration of Philip's victory at
the battle of Chaeronea (338 BC).
• It was the only structure inside the Altis
dedicated to a human.

Canephora

• Atlantes is a decorative column in the figure

or half figure of a man

• The temple consisted of an outer colonnade

of Ionic order with 18 columns.

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EXAMPLES OF CORINTHIAN ORDER

TEMPLES

Choragic Monument of Lysicrates

• Located near the Acropolis of Athens was
erected by the choregos Lysicrates, a
wealthy patron of musical performances in
the Theater of Dionysus, to commemorate
the award of first prize in 335/334 BCE to one
of the performances he had sponsored.
• The monument is known as the first use of
the Corinthian order on the exterior of a
building.
• It has been reproduced widely in modern
monuments and building elements.

Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens

• It is a monument of Greece and a former
colossal temple at the center of the Greek
capital Athens.
• It was dedicated to Olympian Zeus, a name
originating from his position as head of the
Olympian gods.

• Construction began in the 6th century BC

during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who
envisaged building the greatest temple in the
ancient world, but it was not completed until
the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in
Tholos, Epidauros the 2nd century AD, some 638 years after the
project had begun.
• Circular building with outer colonnade of 26
Doric columns and inner colonnade of 14 • During the Roman period the temple that
Corinthian columns. included 104 colossal columns was
renowned as the largest temple in Greece
• Leading to the east entrance, which had
and housed one of the largest cult statues in
windows at either side, was a ramp over the
the ancient world.
three-stepped platform
• The temple is located approximately 500 m
south-east of the Acropolis, and about 700 m
south of the center of Athens, Syntagma
Square.

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GREEK THEATERS Evolution of Greek Theaters

• The first seats in Greek theatres (other than
• The ancient Greek drama was a theatrical just sitting on the ground) were wooden, but
culture that flourished in ancient Greece from around 499 BCE the practice of inlaying
c. 700 BC. stone blocks into the side of the hill to create
• The city-state of Athens, which became a permanent, stable seating became more
significant cultural, political, and military common.
power during this period, was its center, • They were called the "prohedria" and
where it was institutionalized as part of a reserved for priests and a few most
festival called the Dionysia, which honored respected citizens.
the god Dionysus. • Greek theaters are open-air structures,
generally hollowed out of the slope of a
hillside.

Theatre of Dionysus, Athens

• It is a major theatre in Athens, built at the foot
• The theaters were originally built on a very
of the Athenian Acropolis.
large scale to accommodate the large
number of people on stage, as well as the • Dedicated to Dionysus, the god of plays and
large number of people in the audience, up to wine, the theatre could seat as many as
fourteen thousand. 17,000 people with excellent acoustics,
making it an ideal location for ancient Athens'
• Mathematics played a large role in the
biggest theatrical celebration, the Dionysia.
construction of these theaters, as their
designers had to be able to create acoustics • It was the first theatre ever built, cut into the
in them such that the actors' voices could be southern cliff face of the Acropolis, and
supposedly birthplace of Greek tragedy.
heard throughout the theatre, including the
very top row of seats.
• The Greek's understanding of acoustics
compares very favorably with the current
state of the art.

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Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus GREEK PUBLIC BUILDINGS

• It is a theatre in the Greek city of Epidaurus,
located on the southeast end of the sanctuary
dedicated to the ancient Greek God of
medicine, Asclepius.
• It is considered to be the most perfect ancient
Greek theatre with regard to acoustics and
aesthetics

Agora
• It is a central public space in ancient Greek
city-states.
• The literal meaning of the word is "gathering
Odeon place" or "assembly".
• It is the name for several ancient Greek and • The agora was the center of the athletic,
Roman buildings built for music: singing artistic, spiritual and political life of the city
exercises, musical shows, and poetry
competitions.
• The word comes from the Ancient Greek
word literally "singing place", or "building for
musical competitions"

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

• It was built in 161 AD by the Athenian
magnate Herodes Atticus in memory of his
wife, Aspasia Annia Regilla.
• It was originally a steep-sloped theater with a
three-story stone front wall and a wooden
roof made of expensive cedar of Lebanon
timber.
• It was used as a venue for music concerts Stoa of Attalos
with a capacity of 5,000. • It is a long, colonnaded covered walkways
• It lasted intact until it was destroyed and left used around public places
in ruins by the Heruli in 267 AD. • Typical of the Hellenistic age, the stoa was
more elaborate and larger than the earlier
buildings of ancient Athens.
• The stoa's dimensions are 115 by 20 meters
and it is made of Pentelic marble and
limestone.
• The building skillfully makes use of different
architectural orders.
• The Doric order was used for the exterior
colonnade on the ground floor with Ionic for
the interior colonnade.
• This combination had been used in stoas
since the Classical period and was by
Hellenistic times quite common.

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GREEK SPORTS RELATED BUILDINGS

• Stadium: a foot racecourse where games

were celebrated

Stadium at Olympia
• It was the oldest stadium in Greece.
• The ancient Olympic Games were held on
this site

Prytaneion (Town Hall)

• The term is used to describe any of a range
of ancient structures where officials met
(normally relating to the government of a city)
but the term is also used to refer to the
building where the officials and winners of the
Olympic games met at Olympia.

The stadium of ancient Epidaurus

• Earth banks were built up to supplement the
slopes of a natural ravine, and to create the
original seating.
• It has a track length of 180 m. and a width of
21.5 m

Bouleuterion (Council House)

• It was a building in ancient Greece which
housed the council of citizens of a democratic
city state.
• These representatives assembled at the
bouleteurion to confer and decide about
public affairs.

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Panathenaic Stadium, Athens • It was also a place for socializing and

• Originally, since the 6th century BC, a engaging in intellectual pursuits.
racecourse existed at the site of the stadium. • The name comes from the Ancient Greek
• It hosted the Panathenaic Games, a religious term gymnós meaning "naked”
and athletic festival celebrated every 4 years
in honor of the goddess Athena.

Palaestra
• It was the ancient Greek wrestling school.
• The events that did not require a lot of space,
• It was excavated in 1870 & rebuilt to host the such as boxing and wrestling, were practiced
first modern Olympics in 1896. there.
• Reconstructed from the remains of the • The palaestra functioned both independently
ancient Greek stadium, Kalimarmaro is the and as a part of public gymnasia; a palaestra
only major stadium in the world built entirely could exist without a gymnasium, but no
of white Pentelic marble. gymnasium could exist without a palaestra.
• It can up to 80,000 spectators

Hippodrome
• It is a kind of stadium for horse racing and
chariot racing
• The name is derived from the Greek words
hippos "horse" and dromos "course".
• The Greek hippodrome was usually set out
on the slope of a hill, and the ground taken
from one side served to form the
embankment on the other side.
• One end of the hippodrome was semicircular,
and the other end square with an extensive
portico, in front of which, at a lower level,
were the stalls for the horses and chariots.
• The palaestra essentially consisted of a
rectangular court surrounded by colonnades
with adjoining rooms.
• These rooms might house a variety of
functions: bathing, ball playing, undressing
and storage of clothes, seating for
socializing, observation, or instruction, and
storage of oil, dust or athletic equipment.

Gymnasium
• It functioned as a training facility for
competitors in public games.

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OTHER GREEK BUILDINGS (SEVEN Lighthouse of Alexandria

WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD) • It was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic
Kingdom between 280 and 247 BC which has
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, (present day been estimated to be 100 meters in overall
Turkey) height.
• It was erected for King Mausolus by his wife. • One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
• Covered with white marble, its beauty & World, for many centuries it was one of the
uniqueness made it one of the 7 wonders of tallest man-made structures in the world.
the ancient world.
• It was designed by Pythius & Satyrus with
Scopas as the master sculptor.

GREEK HOUSES

• The Greek word for the family or household,

Colossus of Rhodes oikos, is also the name for the house.
• It was a statue of the Greek titan-God of the • Many of the earliest houses were simple
sun Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes, on structures of two rooms, with an open porch
the Greek island of the same name, by or "pronaos" above which rose a low-pitched
Chares of Lindos in 280 BC. gable or pediment.
• As one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient • This form is thought to have contributed to
World, it was constructed to celebrate temple architecture.
Rhodes' victory over the ruler of Cyprus,
Antigonus I Monophthalmus.

• Men and women lived in different parts of the

house.
• According to most contemporary
descriptions, the Colossus stood • Women had the back and upstairs part.
approximately 70 cubits, or 33 meters high • The andron was a room for males to entertain
making it the tallest statue of the ancient male guests
world. •

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Lecture References:
• Fletcher, Sir Banister (1996). History of
Architecture 20th edition, Architectural Press
• Harris, Cyril M. (1975). Dictionary of
Architecture and Construction, McGraw Hill
• Harris, Cyril M. (1977). Illustrated Dictionary
of Historic Architecture, Dover Publication
• Trachtenberg, Marvin (1986). Architecture
from Pre-history to Post-Modernism
• Various internet articles and academic
journals
• Images used in this material were taken from
Google Images

• Most houses in Ancient Greek towns were

built from stone or clay.
• The roofs were covered with tiles, or reeds,
and the houses had one or two storeys.
• The floors of the rooms were tiled to keep
them cool, although in winter fires in metal
baskets were sometimes needed.

• Larger homes had a kitchen, a room for

bathing, a men's dining room, and sometimes
a woman's sitting area.
• Houses were planned around a courtyard,
and had high walls and a strong gate.
• Much of ancient Greek family life centered on
the courtyard.

END OF LECTURE

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I:
Roman Architecture
By: Ar. Chris Luna, uap

Introduction
• The term Ancient Rome refers to the city of
Rome, which was located in central Italy; and
also, to the empire it came to rule, which
covered the entire Mediterranean basin and
much of Western Europe.
• At its greatest extent in stretched from
present-day northern England to southern
Egypt and from the Atlantic coast to the
shores of the Persian Gulf.
• Rome’s location in central Italy placed it
Ancient Roman Architecture adopted the
squarely within the Mediterranean cluster of
external language of classical Greek architecture
civilizations.
for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but
• Ancient Roman society originated as a
differed from Greek buildings, becoming a new
society of small farmers.
architectural style.
• As it grew more powerful and more
• The two styles are often considered one body
extensive, it became one of the most
of classical architecture.
urbanized societies in the pre-industrial
• Roman architecture flourished in the Roman
world.
Republic and even more so under the
• At the height of its empire, Rome was
Empire, when the great majority of surviving
probably the largest city on the planet, with
buildings were constructed.
more than a million inhabitants.
• The Roman Empire in AD 117, at its greatest
extent at the time of Trajan's death (with its
vassals in pink)

• It used new materials, particularly concrete,

• The rise and fall of Ancient Rome formed a and newer technologies such as the arch
crucial episode in the rise and development and the dome to make buildings that were
of Western civilization. typically strong and well-engineered.
• Through Rome the achievements of ancient • Large numbers remain in some form across
Greek civilization passed to Medieval Europe the empire, sometimes complete and still in
with unique Roman contributions added. use.
• It has contributed to modern government, • Roman Architecture covers the period from
law, politics, engineering, art, literature, the establishment of the Roman Republic in
architecture, technology, warfare, religion, 509 BC to about the 4th century AD, after
language, and society. which it becomes reclassified as Late Antique
or Byzantine architecture.

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Palatine Hill
• According to Roman mythology, the Palatine
• The Romans produced massive public Hill was the location of the cave, known as
buildings and works of civil engineering, and the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus
were responsible for significant were found by the she-wolf Lupa that kept
developments in housing and public hygiene, them alive.
for example their public and private baths and
latrines, under-floor heating in the form of the
hypocaust, mica glazing and piped hot and
cold water.

HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF THE ROMAN

EMPIRE

In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus are

twin brothers, whose story tells the events that led
to the founding of the city of Rome and the
Roman Kingdom by Romulus.
• The killing of Remus by his brother, and
other tales from their story, has inspired
artists throughout the ages.
• Since ancient times, the image of the twins
being suckled by a she-wolf has been a
symbol of the city of Rome and the Roman
people.
• Although the tale takes place before the
founding of Rome around 750 BC, the Roman History
earliest known written account of the myth is • The ancient civilization began as an Italic
from the late 3rd century BC. settlement in the Italian peninsula, dating
• Historical basis for the story, as well as from the 8th century BC, that grew into the
whether the twins' myth was an original part city of Rome and which subsequently gave its
of Roman myth or a later development, is a name to the empire over which it ruled and to
subject of on-going debate the widespread civilization of the empire
developed.
• In its many centuries of existence, the Roman
state evolved from a monarchy to a Classical
Republic and then to an increasingly
autocratic empire.
• Through conquest and assimilation, it
eventually dominated the Mediterranean
region, Western Europe, Asia Minor, North
Africa, and parts of Northern and Eastern
Europe.

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• Culture that is identifiably Etruscan

developed in Italy after about 800 BC,
approximately over the range of the
preceding Iron Age Villanovan culture.
• Politics was based on the small city and
probably the family unit.
• It developed a system of writing, the Etruscan
language remains only partly understood,
and only a handful of texts of any length
survive, making modern understanding of
their society and culture heavily dependent
on much later and generally disapproving
Roman sources.

• By the end of the Republic (27 BC), Rome

had conquered the lands around the
Mediterranean and beyond: its domain
extended from the Atlantic to Arabia and from
the mouth of the Rhine to North Africa.
• Plagued by internal instability and attacked
by various migrating peoples, the western
part of the empire broke up into independent
"barbarian" kingdoms in the 5th century.
• The eastern part of the empire endured
through the 5th century and remained a
power throughout the "Dark Ages" and
medieval times until its fall in 1453 AD.

Etruscan Civilization (700BC - 250 AD)

• It is a powerful and wealthy civilization of
ancient Italy in the area corresponding
roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria and
northern Lazio.
• Distinguished by its unique language, this
civilization endured from before the time of
the earliest Etruscan inscriptions (c. 700 BC)
until its assimilation into the Roman Republic,
in the late 4th century BC with the Roman–
Etruscan Wars • The historical Etruscans had achieved a state
system of society, with remnants of the
chiefdom and tribal forms.
• In this, they were different from the
surrounding Italics, who had chiefs and
tribes.

Kingdom of Rome (753 - 509 BC)

• It was the period of the ancient Roman
civilization characterized by a monarchical
form of government of the city of Rome and
its territories.
• Little is certain about the history of the
kingdom, as nearly no written records from
that time survive, and the histories about it
that were written during the Republic and
Empire are largely based on legends.

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• The kings, excluding Romulus, who • By the following century, it included North
according to legend held office by virtue of Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and
being the city's founder, were all elected by what is now southern France.
the people of Rome to serve for life, with none • Two centuries after that, towards the end of
of the kings relying on military force to gain or the 1st century BC, it included the rest of
keep the throne modern France, Greece, and much of the
eastern Mediterranean.
• Internal tensions led to a series of civil wars,
culminating with the assassination of Julius
Caesar, which led to the transition from
republic to empire.

• However, the history of the Roman Kingdom

began with the city's founding, traditionally Imperial Rome (27BC - 476 AD)
dated to 753 BC with settlements around the • The Roman Empire was the post-Roman
Palatine Hill along the river Tiber in Central Republic period of the ancient Roman
Italy, and ended with the overthrow of the civilization, characterized by government
kings and the establishment of the Republic headed by emperors and large territorial
in about 509 BC. holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in
Europe, Africa and Asia.
Republican Rome (509 - 27 BC) • The city of Rome was the largest city in the
• It was the era of classical Roman civilization world 100 BC – c. AD 400, with
beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Constantinople (New Rome) becoming the
Kingdom, traditionally dated to 509 BC, and largest around AD 500, and the Empire's
ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the populace grew to an estimated 50 to 90
Roman Empire. million inhabitants (roughly 20% of the
• It was during this period that Rome's control world's population at the time).
expanded from the city's immediate • The imperial period of Rome lasted
surroundings to hegemony over the entire approximately 1,500 years compared to the
Mediterranean world. 500 years of the Republican era.
• The leaders of the Republic developed a • The first two centuries of the empire's
strong tradition and morality requiring public existence were a period of unprecedented
service and patronage in peace and war, political stability and prosperity known as the
making military and political success Pax Romana, or "Roman Peace".
inextricably linked. • The Roman Empire was among the most
• The Constitution of the Roman Republic was powerful economic, cultural, political and
a constantly-evolving, unwritten set of military forces in the world of its time.
guidelines and principles passed down • It was one of the largest empires in world
mainly through precedent, by which the history.
government and its politics operated. • The longevity and vast extent of the empire
• During the first two centuries of its existence, ensured the lasting influence of Latin and
the Roman Republic expanded through a Greek language, culture, religion, inventions,
combination of conquest and alliance, from architecture, philosophy, law and forms of
central Italy to the entire Italian peninsula. government on the empire's descendants.

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Later Roman History HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT OF

• Diocletian's reign also brought the Empire's ANCIENT AND CLASSICAL ROME
most concerted effort against the perceived
threat of Christianity, the "Great Class structure
Persecution". • Roman society is largely viewed as
• Diocletian divided the empire into four hierarchical, with slaves (servi) at the bottom,
regions, each ruled by a separate Emperor freedmen (liberti) above them, and free-born
(the Tetrarchy). citizens (cives) at the top.
• Confident that he fixed the disorders plaguing
Rome, he abdicated along with his co-
emperor, and the Tetrarchy soon collapsed.
• Order was eventually restored by
Constantine, who became the first emperor
to convert to Christianity, and who
established Constantinople as the new
capital of the eastern empire.

Family
• The basic units of Roman society were
households and families.
• In the upper classes, slaves and servants
• The Western Roman Empire began to were also part of the household.
disintegrate in the early 5th century as • The power of the head of the household was
Germanic migrations and invasions supreme over those living with him: He could
overwhelmed the capacity of the Empire to force marriage (usually for money) and
assimilate the migrants and fight off the divorce, sell his children into slavery, claim
invaders. his dependents' property as his own, and
• The Eastern Roman Empire exercised even had the right to punish or kill family
diminishing control over the west over the members.
course of the next century. • Unwanted children were often sold as slaves.
• The empire in the East known today as the • Marriage was often regarded more as a
Byzantine Empire, but referred to in its time financial and political alliance than as a
as the "Roman Empire" ended in 1453 with romantic association
the death of Constantine XI and the fall of
Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks.

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Education Economy
• There were no public schools, so boys were • Ancient Rome commanded a vast area of
taught to read and write by their parents, or land, with tremendous natural and human
by educated slaves, usually of Greek origin. resources. As such, Rome's economy
• The primary aim of education during this remained focused on farming and trade.
period was to train young men in agriculture, • Agricultural free trade changed the Italian
warfare, Roman traditions, and public affairs. landscape, and by the 1st century BC, vast
• Young boys learned much about civic life by grape and olive estates had supplanted the
accompanying their fathers to religious and yeoman farmers, who were unable to match
political functions, including the Senate for the imported grain price.
the sons of nobles • The economy of the early Republic was
largely based on smallholding and paid labor.

Government
• Rome was ruled by kings, who were elected Food and Daily Diet
from each of Rome's major tribes in turn. • Simple food was generally consumed at
• The class struggles of the Roman Republic around 11 o’clock, and consisted of bread,
resulted in an unusual mixture of democracy salad, olives, cheese, fruits, nuts, and cold
and oligarchy. meat left over from the dinner the night
• The Republic had no fixed bureaucracy, and before.
collected taxes through the practice of tax • Appetizers were called gustatio, and dessert
farming. was called secunda mensa (or second table).
• The Empire did not inherit a set bureaucracy • Staple food of the lower-class Romans
from the Republic, since the Republic did not (plebeians) was vegetable porridge and
have any permanent governmental bread, and occasionally fish, meat, olives and
structures apart from the Senate. fruits.
• Fingers were used to take foods which were
prepared beforehand and brought to the
diners. Spoons were used for soups.

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Games and recreation Religion

• The youth of Rome had several forms of • Archaic Roman religion, at least concerning
athletic play and exercise, such as jumping, the gods, was made up not of written
wrestling, boxing, and racing. narratives, but rather of complex
• Pastimes for the wealthy also included fishing interrelations between gods and humans.
and hunting. • Unlike in Greek mythology, the gods were not
• Chariot racing was extremely popular among personified, but were vaguely defined sacred
all classes. spirits called numina.
• Children played with toys and such games as • Romans also believed that every person,
leapfrog. place or thing had its own genius, or divine
• The Romans also had several forms of ball soul.
playing, including one resembling handball
(Dice games, board games, and gamble
games were popular pastimes).

Roman Philosophy
• Public games were sponsored by leading • Romans were more prolific at law than at
Romans who wished to advertise their philosophy.
generosity; in the Imperial era, this usually • They were the creators of the majority of law
meant the emperor. institutions.
• Several venues were developed specifically • Their philosophy was greatly influenced by
for public games. the Greek philosophy.
• The Colosseum was built in the Imperial era • Romans regarded philosophical education as
to host, among other events, gladiatorial distinctly Greek, and instead focused their
combats. efforts on building schools of law and
• Gladiators were an armed combatant who rhetoric.
entertained audiences in the Roman • The single most important philosophy in
Republic and Roman Empire in violent Rome was Stoicism, which originated in
confrontations with other gladiators, wild Hellenistic Greece
animals, and condemned criminals.
• They sometimes fought to the death.

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Roman Technology INFLUENCES IN THEIR ARCHITECTURAL

• Ancient Rome boasted impressive CHARACTER
technological feats, using much
advancement that were lost in the Middle Geographical
Ages and not rivalled again until the 19th and • The comparative simplicity of the long coast-
20th centuries. line of the Italian Peninsula forms a strong
• Roman civil engineering and military contrast to the complexity of the indented
engineering constituted a large part of coast-lines of Greece.
Rome's technological superiority and legacy. • Italy has few natural harbors and few islands
• With solid foundations and good drainage, along its shores.
Roman roads were known for their durability • They depended for the extension of their
and many segments of the Roman road power, not on colonization, but on conquest.
system were still in use a thousand years
after the fall of Rome

Geological
• In the neighborhood of Rome there was
travertine, a hard limestone from Tivoli; tufa,
• Many Roman inventions were improved a volcanic substance of which the hills of
versions of other people's inventions and Rome are mainly composed; peperino, a
ranged from military organization, weapon stone of volcanic origin from Mount Albano;
improvements, armor, siege technology, lava from volcanic eruptions, besides
naval innovation, architecture, medical excellent sand and gravel.
instruments, irrigation, civil planning,
construction, agriculture and many more
areas of civic, governmental, military and
engineering development.

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Climatic Religious
• North Italy has the climate of the temperate • The principal buildings are not only temples,
region of Europe; Central Italy is genial and as in Greece, but also public buildings which
sunny, while the South Italy is almost tropical. were the material expression of Roman rule
• This variety of climatic conditions is sufficient and Imperial power.
to account for diversity of architectural • Every house, whether palace, villa, or
features and treatment in the peninsula itself, "domus," had an altar to the Lares or family
while the differing climates of the various gods, and ancestor worship was a
Roman provinces from England to North recognized part of religious rites
Africa, and from Syria to Spain, produced
local modifications in details, though Roman
architectural character was so pronounced
and assertive as to leave little choice in
general design

Historical
• About B.C. 343 began the Roman conquest
of Italy, which in about sixty years resulted in
the dominion of one city over many cities.
• The conquest of Macedonia (168 BC) and of
Greece (146 BC) added two more provinces
to the Roman Empire, and also stimulated
Social the importation of Greek artists and art into
• The social life of the Romans is clearly Italy.
revealed in their architecture; there were • With the conquests of Syria (190 BC) and
thermae for games and bathing, circuses for Spain (150 BC) the Roman Empire extended
races, amphitheaters for gladiatorial from the Euphrates to the Atlantic, while
contests, theatres for dramas, basilicas for Caesar's campaigns in Gaul (5 BC9) made
law-suits, State temples for religion, and the " the Rhine and the English Channel its
domus " for the family life, while the Forum northern boundaries, until in 55 BC Caesar
was everywhere the centre of public life and conquered Britain, and in 30BC Egypt too
national commerce. was added to the Empire.
• All of these invasions added to the diversity
of the architectural development and
character of Roman architecture

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ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER: The Tuscan Order is in effect a simplified Doric

ANCIENT ROMAN order, with un-fluted columns and a simpler
(ESTRUSCAN CIVILIZATION) entablature with no triglyphs or guttae.
• Relatively simple columns with round capitals
Etruscan architecture was created between had been part of the vernacular architecture
about 700 BC and 200 BC, when the expanding of Italy and much of Europe since at least
civilization of ancient Rome finally absorbed Etruscan architecture.
Etruscan civilization.
• The Etruscans were considerable builders in
stone, wood and other materials of temples,
houses, tombs and city walls, as well as
bridges and roads.
• The only structures remaining in quantity in
anything like their original condition are
tombs and walls, but through archaeology
and other sources we have a good deal of
information on what once existed.
• Etruscan architecture was heavily influenced
by Greek architecture then in turn, it
influenced Roman architecture

The Five (5) Classical Orders in Architecture

• The Etruscan Arch or Arch of Augustus is

one of seven gates in the Etruscan wall of
Perugia.

Etruscan Houses
• It seems clear from the richer tombs that the
Etruscan elite lived in fairly spacious
comfort, but there is little evidence as to
what their homes looked like, although some
furniture is shown in tomb frescos.
• Such houses were made of earth and
organic materials, using mud brick and daub
and wattle

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Tombs and tumuli

• Rich Etruscans left elaborate tombs, mostly
gathered in large necropolis some way
outside their cities.
• These were generously filled with grave
goods, especially ceramics, which give us
most of our understanding of Etruscan
culture.
• Some tombs are stone buildings, often in
rows, rather like small houses. Others are
round tumuli with stone retaining walls, with
steps down to rock-cut chambers below.

Etruscan Temples
• The early Etruscans seem to have
worshipped in open air enclosures, marked
off but not built over; sacrifices continued to
be performed outside rather than inside Wall Construction
temples in traditional Roman religion until its • The stonework is often of fine quality,
end. sometimes using regular rectangular blocks
• It was only around 600 BC, at the height of in a rough ashlar, and sometimes
their civilization, that they began to create "cyclopean", using large polygonal blocks,
monumental temples, undoubtedly partly shaped to fit each other
influenced by the Greeks • Gaps are left, which are filled in with much
• At least in later temples, versions of Greek smaller stones
Aeolic, Ionic and Corinthian capitals are
found, as well as the main Tuscan order

Polygonal masonry wall

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Regular blocks in courses Necropolis, Cerveteri is an ancient Etruscan

burial city.
ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES • The ancient city was situated about 7 km from
ANCIENT ROMAN the sea, a location which made it a wealthy
(ESTRUSCAN CIVILIZATION) trading town
Cloaca Maxima
• It is one of the world's earliest sewage
systems.
• Constructed in Ancient Rome in order to
drain local marshes and remove the waste of
one of the world's most populous cities, it
carried effluent to the river Tiber, which ran
beside the city

Monterozzi necropolis
• It is located on a hill east of Tarquinia in
Lazio, Italy.
• The necropolis has about 6,000 graves, the
oldest of which dates to the 7th century BC.
• About 200 of the gravestones are decorated
with frescos.
Walled City of Falerii Novi • It was designated as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 2004, notable as the
• It was a walled town in the Tiber River valley,
depiction of daily life in the frescoed tombs,
about 50 km north of Rome and 6 km west of
many of which are replicas of Etruscan
Civita Castellana.
houses, is a unique testimony to this
• It was created by the Romans, who resettled
vanished culture.
the inhabitants of Falerii Veteres in this much
less defensible position after a revolt in 241
BC.
• The town is situated on a slight volcanic
plateau.

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Temple of Jupiter Methods of Construction:

Optimus Maximus
• It was the most important temple in Ancient 1. Columnar & trabeated
Rome, located on the Capitoline Hill.
• The first building was the oldest large temple
in Rome, and can be considered as
essentially Etruscan architecture.

2. Arcuated
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER:
CLASSICAL ROME

Roman
• The arch was supported on piers not on
columns.
• The Romans employed the columns as
decorative features.
• Roman buildings were of several storeys.
• The architectural aims of the Romans were
essentially utilitarian.

3. Vaulted

Greek
• The arch was not used constructively.
• The Greeks employed the columns as
constructive elements.
• Greek buildings were of one-storey.
• The Greeks took special regard to the
outward effects of buildings.

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• The Composite Order is a mixed order, • Opus Reticulatum – square stones set
combining the volutes of the Ionic order diagonally, forming a net-like pattern
capital with the acanthus leaves of the
Corinthian order

• Opus Testaceum – brickfacing with

pyramidal ends

Roman Wall Masonry

• Opus Mixtum – alternation of courses of
• Opus Quadratum – rectangular & square bricks & small squared stones.
blocks of stones in regular ashlar courses.

• Opus Incertum – small rough stones with

pyramidal ends set irregularly in mortar.

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Building Materials:

Marble (stone) is not found especially close to

Rome, and was only rarely used there before
Augustus, who famously boasted that he had
found Rome made of brick and left it made of
marble, though this was mainly as a facing for
brick or concrete.
• The Romans were extremely fond of luxury
imported colored marbles with fancy veining,
and the interiors of the most important
buildings were very often faced with slabs of
these, which have usually now been removed
even where the building survives.
• Imports from Greece for this purpose began
in the 2nd century BC. Roman concrete, also called opus
caementicium, was a material used in
construction during the late Roman Republic until
the fading of the Roman Empire.
• It was based on a hydraulic-setting cement.
• It was normally faced with stone or brick, and
interiors might be further decorated by
stucco, fresco paintings, or thin slabs of fancy
colored marbles.
• It is durable due to its incorporation of
volcanic ash, which prevents cracks from
spreading.

The Romans made fired clay bricks from about

the beginning of the Empire, replacing earlier
sun-dried mud-brick.
• Roman brick was almost invariably of a lesser
height than modern brick, but was made in a
variety of different shapes and sizes.
• Shapes included square, rectangular,
triangular and round, and the largest bricks
found have measured over three feet in
length.
• Ancient Roman bricks had a general size of
1½ Roman feet by 1 Roman foot, but
common variations up to 15 inches existed.
• The Romans perfected brick-making during
the first century of their empire and used it Concrete had the advantage over stone:
ubiquitously, in public and private • It can be accommodated to complicated plan
construction alike. forms
• The Romans took their brickmaking skills • It has greater cohesion
everywhere they went, introducing the craft to • It is economical
the local populations • It is easier to use than stone-cutting

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Roman Arch 2. Cross Vault – formed of 2 semi-circular

• It was the foundation of Rome's architectural vaults of equal span.
mastery and massive expanse of building
projects across the ancient world.
• It allowed the Romans to make bigger
buildings, longer roads, and better
aqueducts.
• The Roman arch is the ancestor of modern
architecture.
• An arch is an architectural form that controls
the pressure from the weight of a building in
a specific way.

3. Semi-Dome – used over semi- circular

structures.

• The Romans learned the arch from the

Etruscans of Tuscany and were the first
people in the world to really figure out how to
use it.
• Romans in the first centuries BC discovered
how to use arches in the construction of
bridges, aqueducts and buildings.
• The Roman arch is largely responsible for the
expansion of infrastructure across the
Roman Empire.

Types of Roman Vaults:

4. Hemispherical Dome – used over circular
1. Semi-Circular or Barrel or Wagon-Headed structures
or Tunnel Vault – borne throughout its
length on the two parallel walls of a
rectangular plan.

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Marble Mosaic Patterns Roman Buttress

• A buttress is an architectural structure built
• Opus Vermiculatum - small pieces of tiles against or projecting from a wall which serves
that produced pictorial patterns to support or reinforce the wall.

Types of Roman Buttresses:

1. Niche / Hemicycle – for retaining earth

• Opus Spicatum produced the herringbone

or chevron pattern

2. Spur Buttress – used where large openings

for doors and windows were needed
3. Pinnacle Buttress – placed on top of a spur
buttress to help by their weight drive the
• Opus Sectile (cut work) produced oblique thrust more steeply down to earth
geometrical patterns

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ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES: Forum of Trajan

CLASSICAL ROME • It was the largest of the forums, built by
Apollodorus of Damascus
FORUM

Roman Forum
• Also known by its Latin name Forum
Romanum, is a rectangular forum (plaza)
surrounded by the ruins of several important
ancient government buildings at the center of
the city of Rome.
• Citizens of the ancient city referred to this
space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum
Magnum, or simply the Forum.

• The Forum consisted of a vast portico-lined

piazza measuring 300 meters long and 185
meters wide, with exedrae on two sides.
• The main entrance is at the north end of the
piazza, which was cobbled with rectangular
blocks of white marble and decorated by a
large equestrian statue of Trajan and on
either side of the piazza are markets, also
• The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum) was housed by the exedrae
the main and central forum of the city of
Rome.
• It became the economic, political, and
religious center of the city in early Republican
times, around the seventh century BCE.
• One highly important function of the Forum
Romanum was as a center of administration
and politics

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Trajan's Market Temple of Vespasian and Titus

• It is a large complex of ruins in the city of • It is located in Rome at the western end of the
Rome, Italy, located on the Via dei Fori Roman Forum between the Temple of
Imperiali, at the opposite end to the Concordia and the Temple of Saturn.
Colosseum. • It is dedicated to the deified Vespasian and
• Thought to be the world's oldest shopping his son, the deified Titus.
mall, the arcades in Trajan's Market are now • It was begun by Titus in 79 after Vespasian's
believed by many to be administrative death and Titus's succession.
offices for Emperor Trajan. • Titus’ brother, Domitian, completed and
• The shops and apartments were built in a dedicated the temple to Titus and Vespasian
multi-level structure and it is still possible to in approximately 87.
visit several of the levels. Highlights include
delicate marble floors and the remains of a
library.

TEMPLES

• Roman temples are a mixture of Greek &

Etruscan types.
• The typical prostyle portico & podium was
Etruscan in type while they resembled the
Greek in many respects.
• No particular orientation of temples
compared to the Greek’s facing east &
Etruscan’s facing south

Temple of Saturn
• An ancient Roman temple to the god Saturn.
• Its ruins stand at the foot of the Capitoline Hill
at the western end of the Roman Forum.

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Temple of Venus and Roma Maison Carrée, Nimes, France

• It is thought to have been the largest temple • One of the best-preserved Roman temples
in Ancient Rome.
• The architect was Emperor Hadrian and
construction began in 121 BC.

Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek, Lebanon

Temple of Mars Ultor, Rome • This temple was dedicated to the Roman
Zeus and the construction was started by
• It stands in the Forum of Augustus in Rome
Julius Caesar and continued later by
and was built to commemorate Augustus'
Augustus: it was the biggest pagan temple
victory in 42 BCE.
dedicated to Jupiter in all the Roman Empire.
• The building became the place where
important military decisions were taken and a
site of several state ceremonies

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Temple of Jupiter (Roman Heliopolis), CIRCULAR TEMPLES

Baalbek, Lebanon
• It was the main building in a huge "Great Pantheon, Rome
Court" (or "Sanctuary") of a Roman pagan • It is a former Roman temple, now a church, in
temple complex that still partially stands. Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier temple
• This temple was dedicated to the Roman commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the
Zeus and the construction was started by reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD).
Julius Caesar and continued later by • The present building was completed by the
Augustus: it was the biggest pagan temple emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated
dedicated to Jupiter in all the Roman empire. about 126 AD.
• The columns were 30 meters high with a • It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient
diameter of nearly 2.5 meters: the biggest in Roman buildings, in large part because it has
the classical world. been in continuous use throughout its history

• A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the

rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete
dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the
sky.

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Temple of Vesta, Rome

• It is located in the Roman Forum near the
Regia and the House of the Vestal Virgins.
• The temple's most recognizable feature is its
circular footprint.
• Since the worship of Vesta began in private
homes, the architecture seems to be a
reminder of its history.

• Almost two thousand years after it was built,

the Pantheon's dome is still the world's
largest unreinforced concrete dome.

Temple of Venus, Baalbek

• It has a curved inward entablature as its
decorative feature

• The height to the oculus and the diameter of

the interior circle are the same 43 meters.
• Oculus (Eye)
✓ It is 30’ ø & it’s the largest dome built
without reinforcement.

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BASILICA Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine

• It is sometimes known as the Basilica Nova
Roman Basilica meaning "new basilica" or Basilica of
• It is hall of justice & commercial exchange. Maxentius, is an ancient building in the
• Their central position indicates the Roman Forum, Rome, Italy.
importance of law & business in Old Rome. • The aisles were spanned by three semi-
circular barrel vaults perpendicular to the
nave, and narrow arcades ran parallel to the
nave beneath the barrel vaults.
• The nave itself measured 25 by 80 meters

Basilica of Trajan
(Basilica Ulpia)
• It is the largest in Rome, was designed by
Apollodorus.
• It had no known religious function & was
dedicated to the administration of justice, THERMAE
commerce and the presence of the emperor.
Bathing played a major part in ancient Roman
• With its construction, much of the political life
culture and society.
moved from the Roman Forum to the Forum
of Trajan. • Bathing was one of the most common daily
activities in Roman culture, and was
• It was named after Roman emperor Trajan
practiced across a wide variety of social
whose full name was Marcus Ulpius Traianus
classes.
• Though many contemporary cultures see
bathing as a very private activity conducted in
the home, bathing in Rome was a communal
activity.
• Romans raised bathing to a high art as they
socialized in these communal baths.

• It had a great central nave, 4 side aisles with

clerestory windows & a space divided by
rows of columns and two semicircular apses.
• The columns and the walls were of precious
marbles; the 50-meter-high roof was covered
by gilded bronze tiles.
• It was the largest in Rome measuring 117 by
55 meters

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Thermae usually refers to the large imperial bath Caldarium

complexes, while balneae were smaller-scale • It was a room with a hot plunge bath, used in
facilities, public and private, that existed in great a Roman bath complex.
numbers all throughout Rome. • This was the hottest room in the regular
• The facility has a staff of attendants like sequence of bathing rooms
manicurists, barbers & shampooers
• It has rooms for lecture and areas for athletic
sports
• Most Roman cities had at least one, if not
many, such buildings, which were centers not
only for bathing, but socializing.

Tepidarium
• The specialty of a room is the pleasant feeling
of constant radiant heat which directly affects
the human body from the walls and floor.
• It was probably the hall where the bathers
first assembled prior to passing through the
Parts of a Thermae various hot baths (Caldaria) or taking the cold
bath (Frigidarium).
1. Main Building • It was decorated with the richest marbles and
• Tepidarium (warm bath) mosaic
• Caldarium (hot bath)
• Frigidarium (unheated bath)
Other amenities
• Sudatorium (dry sweating room)
• Apodyteria (undressing room)
• Unctuaria (oil room)
• Palaestra (for physical exercise)
2. Xystus - open space for foot- racing
3. Outer ring of apartments – lecture rooms &
exedrae for poets & philosophers.

Frigidarium
• It is a large cold
• It would be entered after the caldarium and
the tepidarium, which were used to open the
pores of the skin. (The cold water would
close the pores.)
• It was usually located on the northern side
of the baths

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Baths of Caracalla, Rome

• It is the city's second largest Roman public
bath
• It can accommodate 1,600 bathers with its
size & magnificence.
• The bath complex covered approximately 25
ha (62 acres) and it is of rectangular shape,
measuring 337 by 328 meters

Thermae Heating System

• A hypocaust (Latin hypocaustum) is a

system of central heating in a building that
produces and circulates hot air below the
floor of a room, and may also warm the walls
with a series of pipes through which the hot
air passes. Baths of Diocletian, Rome
• It can accommodate 3,000 bathers, was the
grandest and the most sumptuous of the
public baths.
• It was begun by Diocletian and Maximian
about AD 302, and finished by Constantius
and Maximinus.

• Spaces were left inside the walls so that hot

air and smoke from the furnace would pass
through these enclosed areas and out of
flues in the roof, thereby heating but not • Balneum is a small private bath in palaces
polluting the interior of the room. and houses
• The floor was raised above the ground by
pillars, called pilae stacks (‘slippers’).

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LATRINE • Beginning around the 5th century BC,

aediles, among their other functions,
• Poorer residents used pots that they were supervised the sanitary systems.
supposed to empty into the sewer, or visited • They were also responsible for the efficiency
public latrines. of the drainage and sewage systems, the
• Roman Public latrines date back to the 2nd cleansing of the streets, prevention of foul
century BC. smells, and general oversight of baths.
• Whether intentionally or not, they became • The Western world owes its allegiance to the
places to socialize. plumbing engineers of the Old Roman
• Long bench-like seats with keyhole-shaped Empire.
openings cut in rows offered little privacy.
• Some latrines were free, for others small
charges were made

• The Romans recycled public bath waste

water by using it as part of the flow that
flushed the latrines.
• Terra cotta piping was used in the plumbing
that carried waste water from homes.
• The Romans were the first to seal pipes in
concrete to resist the high-water pressures
developed in siphons and elsewhere.

• It was the ancient Romans who introduced

latrines in public places.
• Marble benches were pierced with holes for
wastes to pass through

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THEATERS

Special Architectural features:

• Massive piers which support the 3 tiers of
countless arcades
• Decorative use of the classic orders
superimposed on the walls
Roman theaters derive from or part of the overall
evolution of earlier Greek theaters. • Grand sweeping lines of the unbroken
entablature round the building.
• Indeed, much of the architectural influence
on the Romans came from the Greeks, and
theater structural design was no different
from other buildings.
• Roman theaters have specific differences,
such as generally being built upon their own
foundations instead of earthen works or a
hillside and being completely enclosed on all
sides

The component parts of concrete used were:

• Lava for foundation
• Tufa and brick for walls
• Pumice stone for vaults to reduce their weight

Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheatre

• Built of travertine, tuff, and brick-faced
concrete, it is the largest amphitheater ever
built.
• The Colosseum is situated just east of the
Roman Forum.
• Construction began under the emperor
Vespasian in AD 72, and was completed in
AD 80 under his successor and heir Titus.

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• It can seat to a capacity of over 80,000 • A velarium is a canvas awning drawn over to
people protect the audience from rain or sun.

• It was also used for mock naval battles

(naumachia).
• It comprised a wooden floor covered by sand • Water pipes were used for flooding the arena.
(the Latin word for sand is harena or arena),
covering an elaborate underground structure
called the hypogeum (literally meaning
"underground").

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CIRCUS TOMBS

• It is a public building for horse and chariot- Five (5) Classes of Tombs
racing
1. Coemeteria or Subterranean Vault –
contains both the columbaria & loculi

Parts of the Roman Circus

• Carceres – stalls that held the contestants’
chariots & horses. 2. Monumental Tombs - resemble Etruscan
• Spina – dividing wall at the center. tumuli with a conical crown of earth.
Circus Maximus
• It is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium
and mass entertainment venue located in
Rome, Italy.
• Situated in the valley between the Aventine
and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest
stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire
• It measured 621 meters in length and 118
meters in width and could accommodate over
150,000 spectators

3. Pyramidal Tombs – taken from Egyptian

ideas

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4. Temple-shaped Tombs – have mortuary Arch of Titus

chapels with colonnaded portico & sepulchral • It was constructed in c. AD 82 by the Emperor
vault. Domitian shortly after the death of his older
brother Titus to commemorate the victories of
Titus.

5. Sculptured Memorials – cenotaphs or

monumental blocks in honor of persons
buried elsewhere.

Arch of Trajan (Benevento)

• It was erected in honor of the Emperor Trajan
across the Via Appia, at the point where it
enters the city.

TRIUMPHAL ARCHES

Arch of Constantine
• Dedicated in 315, it is the largest Roman
triumphal arch

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ROSTRAL COLUMNS TOWN GATEWAYS AND ARCHWAYS

• Originating in ancient Greece and Rome Three (3) Types of Town Gateways
where they were erected to commemorate a 1. Forming part of the protective wall circuit
naval military victory.

2. Ornamental portals to forums and markets

PILLAR OF VICTORY
3. At main street intersections
Trajan's Column
• It commemorates Roman Emperor Trajan's
victory in the Dacian Wars.

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PALACES

• The word palace comes from Palatine Hill,

where a group of magnificent palaces were
built by emperors Augustus, Tiberius,
Caligula, Domitian and Severus.

• This is a formal dining room called

"triclinium".
Diocletian's Palace, present day Croatia
• “Triclinium" was derived from Greek words,
• The ground plan of the palace is an irregular
"tri-" (three) and "kilned" (couch).
rectangle (approximately 160 meters x 190
• There are 3 couches on 3 sides of a low
meters) with towers projecting from the
square table.
western, northern, and eastern facades.
• The master of the house and the guests hold
a feast lying on these couches.
• This was a formal style in ancient Rome.

HOUSES

Roman Domus
• The Roman Domus was the home of the
Villa (Country House)
wealthy and the middle class.
. • It is the summer house of the wealthy
Romans.

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The villa-complex consisted of three parts:

1. Urbana where the owner and his family lived
2. Rustica where the chef and slaves of the villa
worked and lived
3. Fructuaria would be the storage rooms

Hadrian's Villa
• It is a vast area of land with many pools,
baths, fountains and classical Greek
architecture set in what would have been a
mixture of landscaped gardens, wilderness
areas and cultivated farmlands.

• The insula was 6-8 storeys, cheaply-made

with brick-faced concrete.
• They fire traps with no running water.
• Most of Rome's dwellings were ill-supplied
with heat, light, and water.
• The sanitary arrangements, if judged by
modern standards, were inadequate.
Insula (Apartment Blocks) • The typical Roman must have lived almost
• The Romans were the first civilization to entirely outside of his tenement house, in the
utilize flats and apartments. streets, shops, latrines, baths, and arenas of
• Insulas are houses for the lower classes. the city.
• The floor at the ground level was used for
shops, with the living space on the higher
floors.

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• A chamber pot is being dumped on the Pons (bridge) are simple, solid & practical in
street below or emptied into vats that were construction and designed to offer a well-
kept under the stairs. calculated resistance to the rush of water

• Pons Fabricius, Rome is the oldest bridge in

Rome; made from bricks & travertine stones.

OTHER INFRASTRUCTURES The Appian Way was one of the earliest and
strategically most important Roman roads of the
The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout ancient republic.
the Empire to bring water into cities and towns
• It was used as a main route for military
often from distant sources.
supplies since its construction for that
• The water supplied public baths, latrines, purpose in 312 B.C.
fountains, and private households.
• It was the first long road built specifically to
• Aqueducts also provided water for mining transport troops outside the smaller region of
operations, milling, farms, and gardens greater Rome

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Fountains existed mainly in courts and gardens END OF LECTURE

of private houses
Lecture References:
Two (2) Types of Fountains • Fletcher, Sir Banister (1996). History of
1. Lacus is a fountain with a large basin of Architecture 20th edition, Architectural Press
water. • Harris, Cyril M. (1975). Dictionary of
Architecture and Construction, McGraw Hill
• Harris, Cyril M. (1977). Illustrated Dictionary
of Historic Architecture, Dover Publication
• Trachtenberg, Marvin (1986). Architecture
from Pre-history to Post-Modernism
• Various internet articles and academic
journals
• Images used in this material were taken from
Google Images

2. Salientes is a spouting jet fountain

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I: • Established as the state religion of the

Early Christian Architecture Empire after Constantine era.
By: Ar. Chris Luna, uap • Ecclesiastical administration set up within the
framework of the Roman Empire.
Constantine the Great and Christianity • Little change in social and economic order.
• Constantine was the first Roman emperor to • Gradual split between Eastern and Western
convert to Christianity. Empire in state and church.
• Although he lived most of his life as a pagan, • Political and economic breakdown of the
he joined the Christian faith on his deathbed, West, ending in barbarian invasions
being baptized by Eusebius.
• He played an influential role in the
proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313,
which declared religious tolerance for
Christianity in the Roman Empire.

• Early Christian Architecture: basilica church

developed from Roman secular basilica;
centralized type from Roman tombs.
Introduction • Basilica plan modified for liturgical
• The invention of the Christian church was requirements; congregation and clergy
one of the brilliant perhaps the most brilliant segregated in nave and aisles vs. transept
solutions in architectural history. and apse.
• This was achieved by a process of • Different variants in East and West.
assimilating and rejecting various • In Rome, classical marble wall and
precedents, such as the Greek temple, the vocabulary, and emphasis on massive wall,
Roman public building, the private Roman gradually replaced by broad, flat surfaces,
house, and the synagogue. evenly lighted; plain brick exteriors; mosaic
• The Early Christian period saw the growth of bands of interiors.
Christianity, effectively an underground
Eastern mystery cult during the first three
centuries AD.

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Early Christian areas of development of church EARLY CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURAL

construction CHARACTER

• Christianity had its birth in Judaea (eastern

province of the Roman Empire).
• It was carried to Rome by St. Peter, St. Paul
and other missionaries.
• Christianity was the religion of the lower class
until it became the recognized universal
religion of the Roman Empire.
• Early Christian Architecture was influenced
by the existing Roman Art.
• It is the capital city of the Province of
Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of
Northern Italy.
• It was the capital city of the Western Roman
Empire from 402 until that empire collapsed
in 476.
• It then served as the capital of the
Ostrogothic Kingdom until it was re-
conquered in 540 by the Eastern Roman
(Byzantine) Empire.
• Afterwards, the city formed the center of the
Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the
invasion of the Lombards in 751, after which
it became the seat of the Kingdom of the
Lombards. • Early Christian architecture may be taken to
have lasted from about 300 to 600 AD.
• The Early Christians, as Roman craftsmen,
continued old Roman traditions
• Utilized as far as possible the materials from
Roman temples which had become useless
for their original purpose for their new
buildings.
• Their churches, modeled on Roman
basilicas, used old columns which by various
devices were brought to a uniform height.
• Early Christian buildings hardly have the
architectural value of a style produced by the
solution of constructive problems

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Walls
• These were still constructed according to the
Roman methods, rubble or concrete walling
being used, faced with plaster, brick, or
stone.
• Mosaic was used internally, and sometimes
externally on the west facades for decorative
purposes.

• Basilica Church was erected over the burial

place of the saint to whom the church was
dedicated.
• The basilica is an ancient Roman building
type on which Early Christian church designs
were based
Openings and Fenestrations
• Doors, windows, and niches were generally
spanned by a semicircular arch, the use of
the lintel being dispensed with.
• The window openings were small; those to
the nave being in the clerestory high in the
nave wall above the aisle roof, a feature
which was developed in Gothic architecture

Space Planning
• They adopted the Basilica model for their, but
in addition the halls, baths, dwelling-houses,
and even the pagan temples were used for
places of worship.

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Roof Design and Form Moldings

• Wooden roofs covered the central nave, • These are coarse variations of Roman types,
simple forms of construction such as King and the carving is of the rudest kind, though
and Queen post trusses being employed. rich in general effect.
• These roofs were sealed in some ornamental • The technique of the craftsman gradually
manner, the decoration of a visible declined
framework being of a later date, as at S. • Enrichments incised upon moldings were in
Miniato, Florence. low relief, and the acanthus ornamentation,
• The side aisles in the churches were although still copied from the antique,
occasionally vaulted, and the apse was became more conventional
usually domed and lined with mosaic

Ornament
• The introduction of much color is a feature of
the period, giving much richness to the
Column Design interiors.
• They are often of different design and size, • They were used purely for decoration rather
being mostly from earlier Roman buildings than as a pictorial explanation of the bible.
which had fallen into ruins & it were purposely • The architectural character of the basilica
destroyed. churches is rendered impressive & dignified
• It was natural that the early Christian by the long perspective of columns
builders, not being good craftsmen
themselves, should use in their buildings the
materials and ornaments which had been left
by the pagan Roman.

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Parts of a Basilica Church: 1. Atrium – open forecourt surrounded by

arcades.

2. Narthex – located between the atrium and

the church, was used by penitents

3. Nave – seating area for the worshippers

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4. Aisles – located on both sides of the nave 7. Transcept – side projections of the church.

8. Bema – raised platform on the altar.

5. Cancelli – low screen wall enclosing the 9. Altar – place where the priest officiates the
choir mass.
10. Baldachino – erected on columns over the
altar.

6. Ambo / Pulpit – place where the priest reads

the gospel and delivers the homily
11. Apse – circular termination of the church.

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EXAMPLES: BAPTISTERY

HOUSE CHURCH Baptistery of Constantine the Great

• This baptistery was founded by Pope Sixtus
Dura-Europos Church III in 440, perhaps on an earlier structure, for
• It is the earliest identified Christian house a legend grew up that Constantine the Great
church. had been baptized there and enriched the
• It is located in Dura-Europos in Syria. structure.
• It is one of the earliest known Christian
churches.

• It was excavated in the 1930s and was found

to be used as a Christian meeting place in AD
232, with one small room serving as a
baptistry.

Sta. Maria Maggiore Baptistery

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Baptistery of Neon, Ravenna Arian Baptistery, Ravenna, Italy

• The most ancient monument remaining in the • It is a Christian baptismal building that was
city, it was partly erected on the site of a erected by the Ostrogothic King Theodoric
Roman bath. the Great between the end of the 5th century
• The octagonal brick structure was erected by and the beginning of the 6th century A.D.
Bishop Ursus at the end of the 4th or
beginning of the 5th century, as part of his
great Basilica (destroyed in 1734).

TOMBS

• Christian’s objection to cremation led to the

building of monumental tombs which were an
expression of the faith in immortality and
memorial to the dead

Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna

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Mausoleum of Santa Costanza, Rome BASILICAN CHURCHES

• It was built under Constantine I as a
mausoleum for his daughter Constantina, Old St. Peter's Basilica
later also known as Constantia or Costanza, • It was the building that stood, from the 4th to
who died in AD 354 16th centuries, where the new St. Peter's
• The structure of Santa Costanza reflects its Basilica stands today in Vatican City.
original function as the mausoleum of one or • Construction of the basilica, built over the
both Constantine's two daughters, historical site of the Circus of Nero
Constantia and Helena, rather than as the • Construction began by orders of the Roman
church it became much later. Emperor Constantine I between 318 and 322,
and took about 30 years to complete.
• Over the next twelve centuries, the church
gradually gained importance, eventually
becoming a major place of pilgrimage in
Rome.

Mausoleum of Theoderic
• It was built in 520 AD by Theoderic the Great
as his future tomb.
Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
• The church was originally commissioned in
327 by Constantine the Great and his mother
Helena on the site that was traditionally
considered to be located over the cave
marking the birthplace of Jesus.
• The main Basilica of the Nativity is
maintained by the Greek Orthodox
Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
• It is like a typical Roman basilica, with five
aisles (formed by Corinthian columns) and an
apse in the eastern end, where the sanctuary
is

Catacombs are network of subterranean

chambers and galleries used for burial purposes
by peoples of the Mediterranean world, especially
the early Christians.

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• The Altar of the Nativity, beneath which is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
star marking the spot where tradition says the • The church contains, according to traditions
Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. dating back to at least the fourth century, the
two holiest sites in Christianity: the site where
Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, at a place
known as "Calvary" or "Golgotha", and
Jesus's empty tomb, where he is said to have
been buried and resurrected

• The Door of Humility, main entrance into the

Church
✓ The purpose in the last case was to keep
marauders from entering the basilica on
horseback.
✓ It's now referred to as the “Door of
Humility,” because visitors must bend Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna
down to enter. • It was erected by Ostrogoth King Theodoric
the Great as his palace chapel during the first
quarter of the 6th century.
• It was reconsecrated in 561 AD, under the
rule of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I

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Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, • This method was the first recorded structural
Ravenna use of terra-cotta forms, which later evolved
• An outstanding example of the early Christian into modern structural clay tile.
Basilica in its purity and simplicity of its • The ambulatory and gallery were vaulted only
design and use of space and in the later in the Middle Ages.
sumptuous nature of its decoration

Saint George, Thessaloniki, Greece

Santa Sabina, Rome • It is a massive round building that was first a
• It is a titular minor basilica and mother church Roman mausoleum, then a Christian church,
of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers, then a mosque.
better known as the Dominicans. • Its interior is decorated with Early Christian
• The oldest extant Roman basilica in Rome mosaics; outside is the city's only surviving
that preserves its original colonnaded minaret.
rectangular plan and architectural style

Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna

• The Roman Catholic Church has designated
the building a "basilica", the honorific title
bestowed on church buildings of exceptional
historic and ecclesial importance, although it
is not of architectural basilica form
• The central vault used a western technique of
hollow tubes inserted into each other, rather
than bricks.

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Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Torcello Cathedral

Rome • The Church of Santa Maria Assunta (basilica
• It was built over the grave of St. Paul & was di Santa Maria Assunta) is a basilica church
the largest basilica in Rome until St. Peter’s on the island of Torcello, Venice, northern
was completed in 1626. Italy.
• It is a notable example of Venetian-Byzantine
architecture, one of the most ancient religious
edifices in the Veneto, and containing the
earliest mosaics in the area of Venice.

Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls,

Rome
• The Basilica is the shrine of the tomb of its
namesake, Saint Lawrence (sometimes Basilica of San Francesco, Ravenna
spelled "Laurence"), one of the first seven • It was first built in 450 by Neo, bishop of
deacons of Rome who was martyred in 258. Ravenna, and dedicated to Saint Peter and
Saint Paul.
• It is under the Franciscan friars

Some of the Early Christian Churches were

renovated after the Middle Ages and at the end of
the Middle Ages and spanning the Renaissance,
a new style emerged that was inspired by
concepts of perfection perceived in earlier Roman
and Greek architecture, which was symmetrical
and well portioned.

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Basilica of San Clemente al Laterano, Rome Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

• Beneath the present basilica is a 4th-century • Rome is a double-aisled basilica but had lost
basilica that had been converted out of the its original Early Christian character due to
home of a Roman nobleman. alterations.
• This ancient church was transformed over
the centuries from a private home that was
the site of clandestine Christian worship in
the 1st century to a grand public basilica by
the 6th century, reflecting the emerging
Catholic Church's growing legitimacy and
power.

END OF LECTURE

Lecture References:
• Fletcher, Sir Banister (1996). History of
Architecture 20th edition, Architectural Press
• Harris, Cyril M. (1975). Dictionary of
Architecture and Construction, McGraw Hill
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome • Harris, Cyril M. (1977). Illustrated Dictionary
• Or church of Santa Maria Maggiore is a Papal of Historic Architecture, Dover Publication
major basilica and the largest Catholic • Trachtenberg, Marvin (1986). Architecture
Marian church in Rome, Italy, from which size from Pre-history to Post-Modernism
it receives the appellation "major". • Various internet articles and academic
journals
• Images used in this material were taken from
Google Images

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I:
Byzantine Architecture
By: Ar. Chris Luna, uap

Introduction
• When the Roman Empire split into two
separate empires, the Eastern Roman
Empire became known as the Byzantine
Empire.

• In 330 A.D., Roman Emperor Constantine I

chose Byzantium as the site of a “New Rome”
with an eponymous capital city,
Constantinople.
• Five years earlier, at the Council of Nicaea,
Constantine had established Christianity
• The Byzantine Empire continued on for 1000 once an obscure Jewish sect as Rome’s
years after the Western Roman Empire, official religion.
including Rome, collapsed in 476 CE. • The citizens of Constantinople and the rest of
• The Byzantine Empire ruled most of Eastern the Eastern Roman Empire identified strongly
and Southern Europe throughout the Middle as Romans and Christians, though many of
Ages. them spoke Greek and not Latin.
• Its capital city, Constantinople, was the
largest and wealthiest city in Europe during
the time.

Constantine, the founder

• Emperor Constantine, I came to power as
emperor in 306 CE.
• He made the Greek city of Byzantium the
capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
• The city was renamed to Constantinople.
• Constantine ruled as emperor for 30 years.
Byzantium Under Constantine, the Empire would thrive
• The term “Byzantine” derives from and become powerful.
Byzantium, an ancient Greek colony founded • Constantine also embraced Christianity
by a man named Byzas. Located on the which would become a large part of the
European side of the Bosporus (the strait Roman Empire for the next 1000 years
linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean),
the site of Byzantium was ideally located to
serve as a transit and trade point between
Europe and Asia.

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INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY

Christian Church developed two centers:

1. The Roman Catholic, the Western Church in

Rome (Latin Church)
2. The Eastern Orthodox, the Eastern Church
in Constantinople (Greek Church)

Justinian Dynasty
• The peak of the Byzantine Empire occurred
during the Justinian Dynasty.
• In 527 Justinian I became Emperor.
• Under Justinian I, the empire gained territory
and would reach the peak of its power and
wealth.
• His reform had to do with the law.
• He had all the existing Roman laws reviewed.
• Then he had the laws rewritten into a single
book called the Corpus of Civil Law, or the The Split of the Churches:
Justinian Code. • The Roman Catholic (Gk. word katholikos,
meaning “general” or “universal”) owed its
Legacy of the Byzantine Empire allegiance to Rome.
• In the centuries leading up to the final • The Orthodox, meaning “true” or “correct”
Ottoman conquest in 1453, the culture of the belief acknowledges the honorary primacy of
Byzantine Empire including literature, art and the patriarch of Constantinople
theology–flourished even as the empire itself
faltered.
• Byzantine culture would exert a great
influence on the Western intellectual
tradition, as scholars of the Italian
Renaissance sought help from Byzantine
scholars in translating Greek pagan and
Christian writings.
• This process would continue after 1453,
when many of these scholars fled from
Constantinople to Italy.
• Long after its end, Byzantine culture and
civilization continued to exercise an influence
on countries that practiced its Orthodox
religion, including Russia, Romania,
Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece, among others.

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Eastern Orthodox Church The “Edict of Milan” (313 AD) by Constantine &
• It is a federation of self-governing national Licinius granted the toleration of Christians which
churches. followed the building of churches
• It has patriarchs in important Eastern cities
like Istanbul, Alexandria and Jerusalem, and
metropolitans (archbishops) and bishops, but
no pope or papacy.
• Three well known Orthodox Church are: the
Greek Orthodox, the Russian Orthodox
Church and the Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox
Church.

Roman Church
• The Church in Rome was by far the most
important church in Christendom.
• Situated in the ancient imperial capital, it had
the largest congregation of Christians.
• When Rome fell as a political power, the
Roman church became the most dominant
institution in Rome.

The “Iconoclastic Movement” by Emperor Leo

III forbade all representations of human or animal
forms in sculptures which affected Byzantine
church architecture

The Similarities of the Eastern Orthodox and

the Roman Catholicism:
• Acceptance of “tradition”
• Episcopal hierarchy
• Observance of seven sacraments
• Veneration of Mary as the mother of God
• Sacraments are called Holy Mysteries, of
which baptism and Holy Eucharist are the
most important.
• An important characteristic of the Byzantine
style of ornamentation is the absence of
sculptured figures, while colored pictures are
generally flat and stylized.

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ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER: • Buildings increased in geometric complexity,

SECULAR BUILDINGS brick and plaster were used in addition to
stone in the decoration of important public
Byzantine architecture was mostly influenced structures, classical orders were used more
by Roman and Greek architecture. freely, mosaics replaced carved decoration,
• It began with Constantine the Great when he complex domes rested upon massive piers,
rebuilt the city of Byzantium and named it and windows filtered light through thin sheets
Constantinople and continued with his of alabaster to softly illuminate interiors.
building of churches and the forum of • Most of the surviving structures are sacred in
Constantine. nature, with secular buildings mostly known
only through contemporaneous descriptions.

EXAMPLES OF SECULAR ARCHITECTURE

Great Palace of Constantinople

• It served as the main royal residence of the
Eastern Roman or Byzantine emperors from
330 to 1081 and was the center of imperial
administration for over 690 years.
• A few remnants and fragments of its
foundations have survived into the present
day.

• Its architecture dramatically influenced the

later medieval architecture throughout
Europe and the Near East, and became the
primary progenitor of the Renaissance and
Ottoman architectural traditions that followed
its collapse.

• When Constantine I moved the Roman

capital to Constantinople in 330, he planned
out a palace for himself and his heirs.
• The palace was located between the
Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia.
• It was rebuilt and expanded several times
during its history.

• Early Byzantine architecture drew upon

earlier elements of Roman architecture.
✓ Stylistic drift, technological
advancement, and political and territorial
changes meant that a distinct style
gradually resulted in the Greek cross
plan in church architecture.

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Hippodrome of Constantinople • The horses, along with the quadriga with

• It was a circus that was the sporting and which they were depicted, were long
social center of Constantinople, capital of the displayed at the Hippodrome of
Byzantine Empire. Constantinople
• Today it is a square named Sultanahmet • The horses were placed on the facade, on the
Meydanı (Sultan Ahmet Square) in the loggia above the porch, of St Mark's Basilica
Turkish city of Istanbul, with a few fragments in Venice, northern Italy after the sack of
of the original structure surviving. Constantinople in 1204.
• They remained there until looted by
Napoleon in 1797 but were returned in 1815.

• The race-track at the Hippodrome was U-

shaped, and the Kathisma (emperor's lodge)
was located at the eastern end of the track.
• The Kathisma could be accessed directly
from the Great Palace through a passage Forum of Constantine
which only the emperor or other members of
• It marked the center of the new city, and was
the imperial family could use. a central point along the Mese, the main
ceremonial road through the city.
• It was circular and had two monumental
gates to the east and west.

• The Hippodrome was the center of the city's

social life.
• In fact, the Hippodrome was used for various
occasions such as the lavish and days-long
circumcision ceremony of the sons of Sultan
Ahmed III.
• The Hippodrome was excavated by the
Director of the Istanbul Archeological
Museums, archeologist Rüstem Duyuran in
1950 and 1951

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Column of Constantine
• It still stands upright and is known today in
Turkish as Çemberlitaş, was erected in the
center of the square.
• The column is 35 meters high

• The inner wall is a solid structure, 4.5–6

meters thick and 12 meters high.
• The outer wall was 2 meters thick at its base,
and featured arched chambers on the level of
the peribolos, crowned with a battlemented
walkway, reaching a height of 8.5–9 meters.

Walls of Constantinople
• They are a series of defensive stone walls
that have surrounded and protected the city
of Constantinople (today Istanbul in Turkey)
since its founding as the new capital of the
• Between seven and eleven bands of brick,
Roman Empire by Constantine the Great.
approximately 40 cm thick, traverse the
structure, not only as a form of decoration,
but also strengthening the cohesion of the
structure by bonding the stone façade with
the mortar core, and increasing endurance to
earthquakes.

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Basilica Cistern ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER:

• The cistern, located 150 meters southwest of CHURCH BUILDINGS
the Hagia Sophia on the historical peninsula
of Sarayburnu, was built in the 6th century • Byzantine churches are distinguished by the
during the reign of Byzantine Emperor centralized type of plan, having a dome over
Justinian I. the nave.
• This cathedral-size cistern is an underground • The dome became the prevailing motif of
chamber approximately 138 meters by 65 Byzantine architecture
meters, about 9,800 square meters in area
which is capable of holding 80,000 cubic
meters of water.
• The ceiling is supported by a forest of 336
marble columns, each 9 meters high,
arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns each
spaced 5 meters apart.

• Clay made into bricks and rubble for concrete

was the building materials.
• Flat roofs were combined with domes
• Small windows and arcades with open courts
were chief features

• Located in the northwest corner of the

cistern, the bases of two columns reuse
blocks carved with the visage of Medusa.
• The origin of the two heads is unknown,
though it is thought that the heads were
brought to the cistern after being removed
from a building of the late Roman period.
• There is no written evidence that suggests
they were used as column pedestals
previously.
• A cross-in-square or crossed-dome plan
was the dominant architectural form of
middle- and late-period Byzantine churches.
It featured a square center with an internal
structure shaped like a cross, topped by a
dome.

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

Byzantine Church Plan Types of Domes:

1. Simple Dome – dome and pendentive are
• Byzantine Greek-cross-plan church, with a parts of the same sphere.
square central mass and four arms of equal
length.

2. Compound Dome - dome constructed

separately from the pendentive.

a. dome on top of a pendentive

b. dome raised on a drum on top of a

pendentive

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

• A pendentive is a triangular curved Ornaments:

overhanging surface to support a circular
dome over a square or polygonal 1. Mosaic from glass, tiles and marble
compartment.

3. Melon-shaped Dome (with convolutions or

ribs)
• Tessarae is a piece of a material used in
making mosaic

4. Onion-shaped Dome

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

Ornament Mosaic Motifs: • Lamb (Good Shepherd) - refers to Jesus'

role as a sacrifice atoning for the sins of man
• Fish (Ikhthus) – is mentioned and given in Christian theology
symbolic meaning several times in the
Gospels. It is also a symbol for Jesus

• Grapevine – the idea of the vital union of the

believers with Christ and among each other
is symbolized by the vine and its branches.
• Dove – symbol of peace and unity.

• Peacock - emblem of immortality and

resurrection.

• Endless Knot – emblem of eternity

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

• The Chi Rho is formed by superimposing the Floor Pavements:

first two letters of the word "Christ" in Greek,
chi = ch and rho = r. It invokes the crucifixion 1. Opus Alexandrinum - utilized tiny,
of Jesus as well as symbolizing his status as geometrically shaped pieces of colored stone
the Christ. and glass paste that were arranged in
intricate geometric patterns dotted with large
disks of semiprecious stones

• Symbolic groups of saints 2. Opus Sectile are made from larger, specially
cut pieces, usually of tile or stone

Columns are massive with cubiform capitals often

with dosseret block to support the voussoir of an
2. Fresco painting - The art of painting on arch.
fresh, moist plaster with pigments dissolved
in water.

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

EXAMPLES OF CHURCH ARCHITECTURE

Hagia Sophia
• It was a Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal
basilica (church), later an imperial mosque,
and is now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey.
• Also known as the “Church of the Holy
Wisdom”

• The nave is covered by a central dome which

at its maximum is 55.6 m from floor level and
• Justinian chose physicist Isidore of Miletus rests on an arcade of 40 arched windows.
and mathematician Anthemius of Tralles as • Repairs to its structure have left the dome
architects. somewhat elliptical, with the diameter varying
between 31.24 and 30.86 m.
• Interior surfaces are sheathed with
polychrome marbles, green and white with
purple porphyry, and gold mosaics.

• Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest surviving

examples of Byzantine architecture.
• Its interior is decorated with mosaics and
marble pillars and coverings of great artistic
value.
• The temple itself was so richly and artistically
decorated

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

Hagia Irene Little Hagia Sophia

• Or "Holy Peace", sometimes known also as • It is a former Greek Eastern Orthodox church
Saint Irene, is an Eastern Orthodox Church dedicated to Saints Sergius and Bacchus in
located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Constantinople, converted into a mosque
Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. during the Ottoman Empire.

• Today, the Hagia Irene serves mainly as a • This Byzantine building with a central dome
concert hall for classical music plan was erected in the sixth century by
performances, due to its extraordinary Justinian, likely was a model for Hagia
acoustic characteristics and impressive Sophia ("Holy Wisdom"), and is one of the
atmosphere. most important early Byzantine buildings in
• Many of the concerts of the Istanbul Istanbul.
International Music Festival have been held
here every summer since 1980.

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

Monastery Church at Hosios Loukas, Phocia, Gracanica Monastery, Kosovo, Serbia

Greece • Gračanica represents the culmination of the
Medieval Serbian art of building in the Serbo-
Byzantine tradition.

• The facing was executed using the cloisonné

technique: the stones are framed all round
with bricks.
Church of the Holy Apostles, Athens
• It was the first significant church of the middle
Byzantine period in Athens

Church of St. Mary Pammakaristos,

Istanbul
• The edifice serves as one of the most
important examples of Constantinople's
Palaiologan architecture, and the last pre-
Ottoman building to house the Ecumenical
Patriarchate. Monastery of the Pantocrator
• It also has the largest amount of Byzantine (Zeyrek Mosque)
mosaics in Istanbul after the Hagia Sophia
and Chora Church

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 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1: Overview of Pre-historic, Ancient, Classical and Pre-mediaeval Architecture
By: Ar. Allan Christopher P. Luna, uap

St Mark's Basilica (Chiesa d'Oro) Saint Basil's Cathedral, Moscow

• It is the most famous of the city's churches • It is a Russian Orthodox cathedral built by
and one of the best-known examples of Italo- Ivan IV in 1555.
Byzantine architecture. • It is the most recognizable symbol of Russia.
• Finally, the structure was constructed entirely • It was built from 1555–61 on orders from Ivan
of brick. the Terrible and commemorates the capture
• Some of this brick is still visible today of Kazan and Astrakhan.
because it was not covered by spolia added • It has 9 unique onion domes, each with 9
after the Fourth Crusade. individual chapels.
• Each dome is different and painted in the
most brilliant colors.
• The architect was Postnik Yakovlev
• The building is shaped as a flame of a bonfire
rising into the sky, a design that has no
parallel in Russian architecture.

• The interior is based on a Greek cross, with

each arm divided into three naves with a
dome of its own as well as the main dome
above the crossing.
• The dome above and the western dome are
bigger than the other three.
• This is based on Constantine's Church of the END OF LECTURE
Holy Apostles in Constantinople.
• Through cross-sectional studies, Lecture References:
architectural historians know that this Greek- • Fletcher, Sir Banister (1996). History of
cross design was completed by five low- Architecture 20th edition, Architectural Press
profile domes. • Harris, Cyril M. (1975). Dictionary of
Architecture and Construction, McGraw Hill
• Harris, Cyril M. (1977). Illustrated Dictionary
of Historic Architecture, Dover Publication
• Trachtenberg, Marvin (1986). Architecture
from Pre-history to Post-Modernism
• Various internet articles and academic
journals
• Images used in this material were taken from
Google Images

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