Ancient Greek Architecture Lecture 7

Architectural Characteristics of Greek Temples

• Greek temples feature orders, façade elements, optical corrections, and plan organization.
• The temple is usually rectangular in plan, lifted on a podium, and has colonnades on all its external sides.

Plan Organization of Greek Temples

• The number of columns is always even to allow the location of the entrance in the center.
• Temples with 2 columns in front are diastyle, 4: tetrastyle, 6: hexastyle, 8: octastyle, and 10: decastyle.
• Greek temples usually have twice the number of columns in front plus one by the side.
• The temple building is made up of four walls enclosing a rectangular space called the naos or sanctuary.
• The temple interior was generally dark, with only the entrance as a source of light.
• The temple always faced east so that the rising sun would light the statues of the God inside.
• Temples were designed to be admired from the outside rather than used.

Examples of Temple Architecture

The Parthenon

• The Parthenon was the most prominent building on the Athenian Acropolis.
• It was designed by Ictinus and Callicrates in 447 BC.
• The Parthenon is the most perfect Doric temple ever built.
• It embodies the perfection of the Greek system of proportioning.
• The proportions of the Parthenon are based on the proportions of a man, which is seven to one.
• The Parthenon is an octastyle temple with 8 columns in front and 17 columns by its side.
• It features the best example of the application of entasis.
• The Parthenon had a doubled chamber naos.
• The inside of the temple was often not used.

Temple of Aphaia at Aegina

• The Temple of Aphaia at Aegina was built around 500 BC.
• It is a hexastyle temple with only 12 flanking columns.
• The interior columns are divided into a row of two columns.
• The temple has triangular pediment on the Eastern and Western sides decorated with stories from Greek myths.
• It was built between 420 – 400 BC.

Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae

• The temple was built between 420 – 400 BC.
• It is a hexastyle (6, 15) temple.
• The statue of Apollo is placed in an inner sanctuary.
• The temple is aligned north-south, perhaps because of local tradition or the difficult topography and the limited space available on the site.
• Its blend of Doric and Ionic orders in a single structure was unusual.

Examples of Civic Architecture

• During the Hellenistic period, Greeks became very fascinated by civic buildings.
• Treatments once reserved for temples and the gods were gradually extended to civic and government buildings.
• The Agora or market place also became very important in Greek cities.
• The Theater Epidaurus is an example of civic architecture.