Development of

Different Civilization
and Religious
Practices
(Greek
Architecture)
HIS 171 (2 credits)
1/II
 Classroo
m
Assignm
Ifent
there is any breakage, you are
supposed to search one of
following three words
1. Doric
2. Ionic
3. Corinthian

Recall your memories about Greece!!!

Attendance
Greek Colonies

• Greek enterprise was based on sea trade and

manufacturing, particularly of bronze and ceramic
bowls
• Competition among Greek cities and gradual opening of
the European hinterland to commerce
Early Greek
Temples
• Elliptical at first & apsidal and then rectangular
• A Roughly hewn, wooden statuette of the local
deity called Xaonan
• Building material
• Mud Brick wall
• Foundation of stones or rubbles
• Roof covered with Thatch
• Single room detached windowless room- a noas
or Cella
• Apsidal chapels might have interior posts,
irregularly spaced or arranged

Fig: Temple of Apollo,

Thermos, Greece
Greek
• Greek temple design changed in 6 century BC as wood
Temples
th

was increasingly abandoned for stone.

• Oak posts were replaced by monolithic stone columns of
varying heights and diameters
• Cella were opened by means of inner colonnade
• Almost all surfaces of the temple- the steps, columns,
capitals, walls, even the figures in the pediment were
painted in bright reds, blues, yellows and black made
from minerals, vegetables etc.
• The sacred precinct of Greek temples are framed with
temenos (territory of Deity)
• Temple area was to be approached in a prescribed manner by
Propylon (before the gate)
• Greek temples are described according to the number of
columns on the entrance front, the type of colonnade, and the Temple of Apollo,
type of portico Thermos
Greek Temples
The following terms
refer to the number of
columns on the
entrance of a Greek
temple
Henostyle: one column
Distyle: Two columns
Tristyle: Three columns
Tetrastyle: Four
columns
Pentastyle: Five
Columns
Hexastyle: Six
Heptastyle: Seven
Octastyle: Eight
Enneastyle: Nine
Decastyle: Ten
Greek Temples

1. Hexastyle peripteral Temple

3.
Tholos

2. Octastyle peripteral Temple

Athens

• One of the most famous and largest Greek city,

• Patron Deity: Goddess Athena
• Citadel town, secret fresh water spring
• Agriculture main occupation
 Athens

• Acropolis: Ritual and spiritual core of the city

• The Agora: Economic hub
• Other Urban Fabric with small shrines and
temples
City
house
• Greek house are like
Mesopotamia, turned
inward
• Built around a court
• Sun dried brick wall
occasionally be stuccoed
and painted
• All floors were hard
packed earth
except for entertainment
room (Andron)
• Andron (entertainment room)
had enhanced with pebble floor
Athens, Houses of the 5th-4th century B.C.; reconstruction views
 Acropolis

• Acropolis meaning city on the height.

• Fortified with walls
• Key Buildings: Parthenon, Erechtheion, Propylaea,
Altar
Acropolis
Acropolis
Acropolis - Propylaea

Propylaea, Acropolis

• NE-SW axis – ramp – forecourt

• Six-columned portico – Doric order – wide central opening
• Two wings beyond – north as refreshment wing for pilgrim and south as a
small chamber that gave way to Nike temple
• Six Doric columns- with central opening wider than the rest for
passageway
Acropolis - Propylaea

Acropolis from east portico of Propylaea Middle Passageway of Propylaea, looking

down
• Cool-dim interior – the middle passageway
• Tall slender ionic columns on either side carried a ceiling
of marble beams
Acropolis
Acropoli
s-
Parthen
on
Picture of Parthenon

Reconstructed Model
of Parthenon
Acropolis - Parthenon
• Designed by Ictinus
between 447 and 438
BC.
• Designed as a monument
to Athena and housing
her sacred statue.
• Hekatompedos meaning
hundred-footer as it was
the largest temple, its
stylobate measuring Parthenon, from north-west, reconstructed view

30.9m x 69.5m
• Octastyle Peripteral
Doric Temple
 Parthenon
•(Exterior)
Peripteral octastyle Doric Temple
• Peristyle, Colonnaded on all sides
• Doric column – no base, fluted shaft and simple capital
• Sculptures on the pediment – west - Athena and
Poseidon fighting in presence of other gods, east – birth
of Athena
Classroo
m
Assignm
ent
If there is any breakage, you are
supposed to search one of
following three words
1. Doric
2. Ionic
3. Corinthian

Recall your memories about Greece!!!

Acropoli
s-
Parthe
non
Acropolis -
Parthenon
• Struggling adversaries in
the metopes
Parthenon
• Naos/Cella
(Interior)
• Tall gold and ivory statue of this
warrior maiden, helmeted
and with shield and spear in
hand
 Agor
• A public space: religious and social
a
one; probably laid out in 7
century BCE
th

• Had both religious and social

aspect
• Features of Agora: Stoa,
Bouleuterion, Law courts, central
space for markets, ritual
gatherings,
or the making of
speeches
Basic function was
market:
confectioners, slave traders,
Fishmongers, vintners,
dressmakers
 Agor
a
• Stoa: a long colonnaded building
with shops on the back facing of
the Agora
• Council meetings were held in
a building known as
Bouleuterion
• Many processions were followed
for different gods like Athena, Eros,
and Dionysus involving priests,
maidens and community
• From 566 BCE onward an athletic
contest was added to the
program of activities, including
foot races, wrestling, horse racing
etc.
 Sto
a
• A long colonnaded building with covered
walkaway in the front and shops on the
back facing the agora
• The edge of agora is defined by Stoas –
• Made open space formal and
monumental without enclosing it Fig: 20th century reconstruction of
Athenian stoa (Archeological Museum)
Greece –
• Large, Open-air structure
Theatre
for dramatic performance
• Using natural slopes as
• gentle inclination –
levelled
 Addition: Stage

Greece – Epidauros, the

theatre
• 14000 spectators
• Hill slopes for audiences
and circular beaten earth
as orchestra
• Mid 5th century – building
to the south (set or storage
building)
• radial staircase divides
the stone benches of the
auditorium into wedge
shaped segments.
Historical Society and
Building
• Greece
• Democracy to a great deal.
• Mercantile Society
• People mattered.
• Games, music, dancing, boxing.
• Devotion to religion, fine arts, etc.
• Production of bronze and ceramic bowls
• Temples
• Theatre
• Agora
• Stoa
• Palace missing – not an important Greek edifice.