CLASSICAL

GREECE AND
ROME
PART 1

LECTURE 7
Strong minds discuss ideas

Average minds discuss events

Weak minds discuss people.

Socrates
 Timeline of Architecture

Early 3000-700BC
Classical – 700- 400BC
Hellinistic – 400-146BC

“An Architectural Style is an expression of an attitude and an

idea about the meaning of life.”
Geographical - Greece is a country in southeastern Europe, known in Greek as Hellas or Ellada, and
consisting of a mainland and an archipelago of islands.

Mainland Greece is a large peninsula surrounded on three sides by the

Mediterranean Sea (branching into the Ionian Sea in the west and the Aegean Sea in
the east) which also comprises the islands known as the Cyclades and the
Dodecanese (including Rhodes), the Ionian islands (including Corcyra), the isle of
Crete, and the southern peninsula known as the Peloponnese.

Dorian colonies – Scicily.

Ionian Colonies – Asia Minor.

Geological – Mineral wealth – Marble and Bronze. Properties of marble allow exactness in line and
refinement in detail.

Climate – Intermediate between rigorous cold and relaxing heat. This quality enhanced the
architectural features. Apollo was the God of light.
Archaic

Cycladic

Minioan
The Cycladic Civilization (c. 3200-1100 BCE) flourished in the islands of the Aegean Sea
(including Delos, Naxos, and Paros) and provides the earliest evidence of continual human
habitation in that region. During the Cycladic Period, houses and temples were built of finished
stone and the people made their living through fishing and trade.

The Minoan Civilization (2700-1500 BCE) developed on the island of Crete, and rapidly
became the dominant sea power in the region. The Minoans developed a writing system
known as Linear A (which has not yet been deciphered) and made advances in shipbuilding,
construction, ceramics, the arts and sciences, and warfare.

By 1100 BCE, around the time of the Bronze Age Collapse, the great Mycenaean cities of southwest
Greece were abandoned and, some claim, their civilization destroyed by an invasion of Doric Greeks. It
seems clear, however, that after what is known as the Greek Dark Ages (approximately 1100-800
BCE, so named because of the absence of written documentation) Greek colonization was ongoing in
much of Asia Minor, and the islands surrounding mainland Greece and began to make significant
cultural advances.

The Archaic Period (800-500 BCE) is characterized by the introduction of republics

instead of monarchies (which, in Athens, moved toward democratic rule) organized as a
single city-state or polis, the institution of laws (Draco's reforms in Athens), the great
Panathenaic Festival was established, distinctive Greek pottery and Greek sculpture were
born, and the first coins minted on the island kingdom of Aegina.
Alexander inherited the throne from his father Philip at the age of 20 in 334BC. He was the follower of
Aristotle.

He died in 323BC in Babylon. The period post that is the Hellenistic period.
Classical Period of ancient Greece given as 500-400 BCE or, more precisely, as 480-323 BCE, from
the Greek victory at the Battle of Salamis to the death of Alexander the Great.

This was the Golden Age of Athens, when Pericles initiated the building of the Acropolis. Icnitus
and Callirates were the architects appointed to build the acropolis around 500 BC.

Democracy (literally Demos = people and Kratos = power, so power of the people) was established
in Athens allowing all male citizens over the age of twenty a voice in the Greek government.

Ancient Greece is the birthplace of Western philosophy (Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle), literature
(Homer and Hesiod), mathematics (Pythagoras and Euclid), history (Herodotus), drama
(Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes), the Olympic Games (776BC).

Nemea
Stadium Entrance
Greece
Olympia
Religion – Worshipped natural phenomenon of which gods were a personification. Each town had
its own deities, ceremonies and traditions.
Men and women both were officiated as priests and did not belong to a particular caste.
The priests had limited power and tenure.

Temples formed the epicentre of social life.

The twelve major Olympian god and goddesses were.

Zeus - Sky, thunder, lightning, kingship

Hera - Women, marriage, family, queenship
Poseidon- Sea, earthquakes, horses
Demeter - Agriculture, harvest, fertility
Athena- Wisdom, handicraft, warfare
Apollo- Light, music, poetry, healing, prophecy
Artemis- Hunt, wilderness, childbirth, the moon
Ares - War, violence, bloodshed
Aphrodite - Love, beauty, pleasure, procreation
Hermes - Trade, thieves, travelers, messages,
animals
Dionysus - Viticulture and festivity, symbolizing
wine’s dual nature
Hephaeutus – Forging, sculpture and technology.
SOCIETY Male citizens - Three groups: landed aristocrats (aristoi), poorer farmers (perioikoi) and the
middle class (artisans and traders).

Semi-free labourers (e.g the helots of Sparta).

Women - belonging to all of the above male

groups but without citizen rights.

Children - categorised as below 18 years

generally.

Slaves - the douloi who had civil or military

duties.

Foreigners - non-residents (xenoi) or foreign

residents (metoikoi) who were below male
citizens in status.
Government-

Philosophy – Great thinkers, contemplated and theorised human nature, ethics, moral dilemmas, and
nature of phenomenon.

Socrates – Theory of virtue.

Plato – Studied ethics, virtue, justice and other ideas relating to human behaviour.

Aristotle – Along with ethics studied physics, biology and astronomy. Study of logic.

Philosophy dominated religion.

 Tectonike
Building
Construction of common houses, sheds and other utility structures.

Archi - Tectonike
Principled or Refined Buildings

Temples, government buildings, market collonades, theatres

 Architecture of Classical Greece 500-323 BC

Epitome of artistic inspiration.

All preceding architecture is compared to Greek architecture.

Trabeated Form of architecture. The columns transferred the load of the roof through the lintels
To the foundation.

Columns were closely placed by virtue of the roofing material and load. Hence collonaded structures.

Marble being a granulated material could not handle long unsupported spans.

Orders or styles of architecture.

Correction of optical illusions.

Theaters as a building first appeared in Greek culture and architecture.

Plans of temples were categorised based on the order of architecture.

Walls – Stone or Marble walls. Held together by metal clamps.
Marble allowed high level of accuracy.
Hollow walls were faced with polished marble.
Dominant external feature were the columns.
Opening in the form of windows were not an
architectural element.
Decoration of the wall was the light and shadow
of the columns.
 Roofs – Inclined timber roof covered with thin slabs
of marble.

Inclination of the pediment was governed by

the inclination of the roof.

Columns – Principal element of architectural styling.

Orders based on column design and proportion.
Doric
Ionic
Corinthian
Decorative elements- Frieze, flutes, mouldings,
Bas relief.
 City Planning and Building Types

The ancient Greek city states developed a standard plan of the city.

Principles were developed for organizing each element of the city based on activities and its symbolism.

The city consisted of four defined elements:

1. The town : It was composed of simple courtyard houses separated by streets.

It could either be organic or grid-iron layout.

2. Acropolis : Was the city of the Gods. it had isolated objects arranged in open space.

3. Agora : Was a meeting place for social, commercial and political activities.
The principle of its design centers on creating boundaries to contain space for activities.

4. Stoas and other civic buildings are used to define the space. These are usually treated with continuous
colonnades or porticoes along the side of the court with occasional penetrations.

5. Temples: The most significant building type that housed the statue of the Gods or Goddesses. They
were the fulcrum of the acropolis.
 City Planning and Houses

Hippodamus – Father or western urban design

And zoning.

Miletus – Modern day Turkey

 Plan of Periclean Athens

City wall

Acropolis
Parthenon
temple

Agora (market place) Aeropagus (assembly of elders)

Plan of Acropolis
Agora

The agora or market place of many ancient Greek towns would be composed of a large open
square surrounded by a stoa.

Interestingly, the nearby shops all present the same façade despite being different types of
buildings. This is evidence that there was some sort of centrally controlled planning authority
which ensured harmony of architecture in important public places.

The agora was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the city.

The Agora was an open air meeting place, the Greek equivalent of the town square.
 Building Types
Stoa
This was a long, narrow row of columns backed by a plain wall and roofed. Often placed at
right-angles to create an enclosed open space. Centre to public life.

Stoas were used for all manner of purposes such as meeting places and storage.

Covered walkways
Inside view of a
Stoa
Stoa of Atthalos
150 BC

South Stoa II
150 BC

South Stoa I
425 -400 BC
Asiatic Library – Neo-Classical

Horniman Circle - Mumbai

Bouleuterion, Priene (Turkey) ca. 200 BC

It is the town council building, was an important civic building in a democratic Greek city.

It was a covered meeting place for the democratically-elected councils (citizen council) of the city.

These selected representatives assembled to handle public affairs and represent the citizens of the
polis (in ancient Athens the boule was comprised of 500 members)

The boule generally was a covered, rectilinear building with stepped seating surrounding a central
speaker’s well in which an altar was placed.

Altar
Bouleuterion, Priene (Turkey) ca. 200 BC
 Theatres
Theater Epidaurus was the largest theater
in ancient Greece It is still in use today.

Its at the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus.

Ca. 340-300BC

The theatre is admired for its exceptional

acoustics, which permit almost perfect intelligibility
of unamplified spoken words from the skēnē to all
14,000 spectators, regardless of their seating.

The theater was designed by Polykleitos the

Younger in the 4th century BC.

The original 34 rows were extended in Roman

times by another 21 rows
 The Greeks invented the theater design that is still
Stage building used in movies and auditoriums today.

Every important Greek city had a theater •

The theater had a bank of seats steps created from

orchestra the landscape.

It would usually command a view to the landscape •

The main elements of the Greek theater are :
1. cavea (Auditorium).
2. Orchestra.
3. Skene (stage building)
The reason the sound at
the Theater at Epidaurus
was so far superior to every
successive attempt to
recreate it comes down to
the 55 semi-circular
limestone seating rows that
define the shape of the
theater itself.

The seats act as acoustic

traps.
Theatre at Dionysus Athens. 580 BC
 drains
1.5 -3m wide
Side streets Theatre at Dionysus Athens. 580 BC
South-eastern corner of Acropolis
Houses

Houses built around a Courtyard.

Two Storeyed Houses.

Mud Brick Wood Mosaics Art work depicting the social life where men are
Being entertained by women musicians.
 Fountain House

Southwest Fountain House 350-300BC

Athens.

Female preserves. Women got water

from here.

It was a space for women to socialise

with each other.

Court house

Black-figured water jar

Hydria. 520-500BC
 Temples
Evolution of Temple Architectural Form

Conjectural wooden temple up to Archaic period.

Post and lintel construction. Trabeated

Derived from wooden architecture.

Porch
Greek orders are based on this.

Temple of Isthmia, Isthmus of Corinth (Peloponnese)

690 – 650 BC.
Dedicated to Poseidon
Classification of Temples based on quantity and Location of Columns

Temples were the chief building type in Greek

Architecture.

Structures built to house Gods statues within Greek

sanctuaries in ancient Greek religion.

The temple interiors did not serve as meeting places,

since the sacrifices and rituals dedicated to the
respective deity took place outside them.

The outer colonnaded space was like a stoa.

 Stylobate (plinth)

The temple plan is made of :

1. The most basic element of the temple is the

colonnade. It was actually a unique innovation of
the Greeks. It defines a portico around the temple.

2. Four walls enclosing a rectangular space called the

naos or cella, this was the house of the god to whom
the temple is dedicated.

3. At the head of the processional space is the

statue of the god to whom the temple is door
dedicated,

4. Entrance door to the East. Light penetrated from

the door, clear storey skylights or through the
alabaster in the roof.

Single Row of Columns on all sides

embedded
 Pseudoperipteral Temple of Zues ca 480BC

Prostyle Heptastyle
Peripteral Hexastyle

Parthenon Octastyle Peripteral Distyle Athenian Treasury Delphi 507 BC Thalos Athena Pronaia Delphi 400BC

Ante
 Acropolis

The Acropolis of Athens : An acropolis is a hill, usually picked to host the central or main building of a city. The ATHENIAN
ACROPOLIS held the famous Parthenon, which was a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, who
protected and took care of the city of Athens. All of the city-states were very independent of each
other, and were very attached to and proud of their own city-state.

Ramps are used to get up the acropolis.

The acropolis usually had the primary municipal and religious

buildings on it.

The Greeks centered their life around the acropolis, both

geographically and spiritually.

The Greeks used an acropolis for their building site, because

it was usually quite high, and they could easily see anything
approaching. Also, it gave them an advantage over their
enemies, because they would have a more strategic and high
position while fighting.

Significant amount of resources were used for temple building.

 Statue of Athena
Promachos

Erectheion
Propylaea (entry)

Nike Temple
Two temples existed on the
Athenian Acropolis before the
Parthenon. One was situated a
little bit away from where the
Parthenon was located, but the
Parthenon other was directly underneath it,
when they starting building the
Parthenon.
 Parthenon

Erectheion

caratydis
Timeline of Construction
 Erectheon Parthenon

Propelaea
Temple of Nike
 Orders in Classical Greek Architecture

Doric Ionic Corinthian

What is an order ?

Its the composition of a column.

Type of column and entablature .

The form of the capital is the

most distinguishing characteristic
of a particular order.

The basic unit of dimension was

the diameter of the column .
All other dimensions were in
relation to the diameter.
Aesthetics of Orders

Doric – 7D

Ionic – 9D

Corinthian – 10 D

D- Diameter of the base

 Greek Aesthetics

The Greek orders were Introduced by a Roman architect, Marcus Vitruvius , in his (De Architectura, or
Ten Books on Architecture).

Believed Builders used mathematical principles when constructing temples .

The use of the orders also provided a means for the Greeks to design buildings
to meet their ideals of harmony, balance and symmetry .

Without symmetry and proportion, no temple can have a regular plan.

Columns were understood by the Greeks to be representative of the body of a

human.

An Greek column order consist of :

1. Column( Base , Shaft “Body” ,Capital , Abacus) .

2. Entablature (cornices, the frieze and the architrave).

 Doric
Doric order was the earliest to be developed by the 6th century, a
set of universal proportions for the Doric temple had been
frieze
developed.
entablature
The Doric order is made up of three elements; stylobate, Column architrave
and entablature.
abacus
Doric order generally directly sits on a (stylobate). it is a raised
platform with three steps on which the temple sits. abacus
It had a height of between 7 times its diameter. echinus

Doric capitals had two parts – the square abacus above and circular
echinus below . Flutes

The Doric column (The shaft) is tapered and made to bulge slightly
to provide correction for optical illusion , is usually divided into 20
shallow flutes.

Doric entablature is divided into an architrave, a frieze (Has

triglyph and metope) and the cornice.

The Doric column represents the proportions of a man’s body, its

strength and beauty.

stereobate
Pediment and
roof

Relief work in the Tympanum

The Parthenon was built from about 447 BCE to 432 BCE. Has porched columns to hold up the ceiling made
of marble

Patterns on the ceiling, which indicates that there were skilled artists who dedicated their time to creating
paintings in this remarkable temple.
Digital reconstruction of Parthenon
Optical Correction of Parthenon (Entasis Method)

The drawing explains Entasis method :

Diagram E : Shows how the ancient Greeks
wanted the temple to appear.

If the temple is built without correction, then

diagram F shows how it would actually appear

To ensure that it appears correctly as desired in

one, the Greeks introduced the distortions
shown in diagram G.

The vertical axis of the columns were inclined

inwards, by 2.65 inches to prevent the
appearance of falling outward that occurs in
perspective.
Similarly, the stylobate, entablature & pediment were
made convex with the center raised by 2.6 inches with
respect to the ends to correct the sagging appearance.
 Ionic
The Ionic order evolved and took its name from Ionia in
modern day Turkey .

Ionic capital: (a pair of Volute or scroll capital (derived

from Egyptian lotus and Aegean art). It represented the
feminine anatomy.

Ornaments are used to decorate the area between the

capital and the volute.

One of the limitations of the Ionic Capital is that it is

designed to be seen from the front only.

Ionic column (the shaft) It had 24 flutes separated by

fillets, even though it is smaller in diameter ,it is more
slenderer from the Doric. Had a base to spread load.

Ionic entablature is divided into 2 parts ( an architrave

with mouldings) and a raking cornice.

The Ionic is has a height of 9 times the base diameter.

At the corner of rectangular buildings, an angular volute

had to be used.
 Volute
Egg-and-dart abacus
Braided band

Bead-and-reel

Necking
Volute

Egg-and-dart
echinus

Temple of Erectheon
The Erechtheion (or Erechtheum) is an
ancient Greek temple constructed on
the acropolis of Athens between 421 and 406 BC

Ionic order. Hexastyle

Ionic

Caryatids
Caryatid is the name given to an
architectural column which takes the form of a
standing female figure
 Corinthian
The Corinthian order takes its name from the city of
Corinth in Greece.

It however appeared to have been developed in Athens in

the 5th century BC.

This order is similar in its proportions to the Ionic order

but has a different capital. It has 24 flutes.

Corinthian capital is shaped like an inverted bell, is

decorated with rows of carved acanthus leaves.

Corinthian column , the most beautifully ornate of the

three orders.

Height of 10 times the diameters.

Corinthian entablature is divided into 2 parts ( an

architrave , frieze and cornice developed type with dentils.

Because of its symmetry, the Corinthian capital unlike

the ionic capital is designed to be viewed from all sides.
 Anthemion(honeysuckle)

Palmette Greek Acanthus

The Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, also known as the Olympieion, was built over
several centuries starting in 174 BCE and only finally completed by Roman
emperor Hadrian in 131 CE. Its unusually tall columns and ambitious layout made the
temple one of the largest ever built in the ancient world.
 Contribution of Greek Aesthetics

The canonical Greek architectural orders have exerted influence on architects and their imaginations
for thousands of years.

While Greek architecture played a key role in inspiring the Romans, its legacy also stretches far beyond
antiquity. When James “Athenian” Stuart and Nicholas Revett visited Greece during the period from
1748 to 1755 and subsequently published The Antiquities of Athens and Other Monuments of
Greece (1762) in London, the revolution was underway.

Captivated by Stuart and Revett’s measured drawings and engravings, Europe suddenly demanded
Greek forms.

Architects the likes of Robert Adam drove the Neoclassical movement, creating buildings like
Kedleston Hall, an English country house in Kedleston, Derbyshire. Neoclassicism even jumped the
Atlantic Ocean to North America, spreading the rich heritage of Classical architecture even further—
and making the Greek architectural orders not only extremely influential, but eternal.
https://caddetailsblog.com/post/what-is-the-architecture-of-mesopotamia

https://www.slideshare.net/Gari125/mesopotamian-architecture-221953338

https://www.worldhistory.org/Mesopotamian_Art_and_Architecture/
http://sasgreekart.pbworks.com/w/page/10149989/Acropolis%
20layout%20and%20structure
https://www.athenskey.com/3-orders-of-architecture.html

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/beginners-guide-greece/a/greek-
architectural-orders

Sir Bannister Fletcher