KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES

BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE

COURSE CODE: ARC214

COURSE NAME: HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

LECTURER: HON: MULWANIRA MUTEBI

NAME OF STUDENT REG NUMBER

NYARENGA INNOCENT 14/U/3447/ARD/PD
KAWALA SOPHIA 14/U/11080/ARD/PD
SSEBYOTO COLLINS 14/U/3/ARD/PD

QUESTIONS:

THE TRENDS IN ARCHITECTURE: THE GREEK

 Ancient Greek architecture
Contents
Introduction
1 Influences
1.1 Geography
1.2 Art
1.3 Religion and philosophy
2 Architectural character
2.1 Early development
2.2 Types of buildings
2.2.1 Domestic buildings
2.2.2 Public buildings
2.3 Structure
2.3.1 Column and lintel
2.3.2 Entablature and pediment
2.3.3 Masonry
2.3.4 Openings
2.3.5 Roof
2.3.6 Temple plans
2.3.7 Proportion and optical illusion
3 Style
3.1 Orders
3.1.1 Doric Order
3.1.2 Ionic Order
3.1.3 Corinthian Order
3.2 Decoration
3.2.1 Architectural ornament
3.2.2 Architectural sculpture
History

Historians divide Ancient Greek civilization into the Hellenic period (from around 900 BC to the
death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC), and the Hellenistic period (323 BC to 30 AD). During
the earlier (Hellenic) period, substantial works of architecture began to appear (around 600 BC).

Before the Hellenic era, two major cultures had dominated the region: the Minoan (c. 2800–
1100 BC), and the Mycenaean (c.1500–1100 BC).

Minoan is the name given by modern historians to the culture of the people of ancient Crete,
known for its elaborate and richly decorated palaces, and for its pottery painted with floral and
marine motifs whereas ,The Mycenaean culture, which flourished on the Peloponnesus, was
quite different in character. Its people built citadels, fortifications and tombs rather than palaces,
and decorated their pottery with bands of marching soldiers rather than octopus and seaweed.

The Parthenon under restoration in 2008

The architecture of Ancient Greece is the architecture produced by the Greek-speaking people
(Hellenic people) whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland and Peloponnesus, the
Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Asia Minor and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until
the 1st century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural works dating from around 600 BC.

 Ancient Greek architecture is best known from its temples,

 The second important type of building that survives all over the Hellenic world is the
open-air theatre, with the earliest dating from around 350 BC.
 Other architectural forms that are still in evidence are the processional gateway
(propylon), the public square (agora) surrounded by storied colonnade (stoa), the town
council building (bouleuterion), the public monument, the monumental tomb
(mausoleum) and the stadium.
 Ancient Greek architecture is distinguished by its highly formalised characteristics, both
of structure and decoration.
  It is particularly so in the case of temples where each building appears to have been
conceived as a sculptural entity within the landscape, most of these buildings often
raised on high ground so that the elegance of its proportions and the effects of light on its
surfaces might be viewed from all angles.
 Nikolaus Pevsner refers to "the plastic shape of the [Greek] temple placed before us with
a physical presence more intense, more alive than that of any later building".

Influences

Geography

 The mainland and islands of Greece are rocky, with deeply indented coastline, and
rugged mountain ranges with few substantial forests. The most freely available building
material is stone. Limestone was readily available and easily worked.
There is an abundance of high quality white marble both on the mainland and islands,
particularly Paros and Naxos. It was a major contributing factor to precision of detail,
both architectural and sculptural, that adorned Ancient Greek architecture. The gleaming
marble surfaces were smooth, curved, fluted, or ornately sculpted to reflect the sun, cast
graded shadows and change in colour with the ever-changing light of day.
 Deposits of high quality potter's clay were found throughout Greece and the Islands, the
major deposits being near Athens. This clay was used not only for pottery vessels, but
also architectural decoration and roof tiles .
 The light of Greece may be another important factor in the development of the particular
character of Ancient Greek architecture. The light is often extremely bright, with both the
sky and the sea vividly blue. The clear light and sharp shadows give a precision to the
details of landscape, pale rocky outcrops and seashore.
 The climate of Greece is maritime, with both the coldness of winter and the heat of
summer tempered by sea breezes. This led to a lifestyle where many activities took place
outdoors. Hence temples were placed on hilltops, their exteriors designed as a visual
focus of gatherings and processions, while theatres were often an enhancement of a
naturally occurring sloping site where people could sit, rather than a containing structure.
 Colonnades encircling buildings, or surrounding courtyards provided shelter from the sun
and from sudden winter storms.
The rugged indented coastline at Rhamnous, Attica

The Theatre and Temple of Apollo in mountainous country at Delphi

The Acropolis, Athens, is high above the city on a natural prominence.

The Islands of the Aegean from Cape Sounion

Art
Black figure Amphora, Atalante painter (500-490 BC), shows proportion and style that are
hallmarks of Ancient Greek art

The Kritios Boy, (c.480 BC), typifies the tradition of free-standing figures

The first signs of the particular artistic character were created with a sense of proportion,
symmetry and balance.

The decoration is precisely geometric, and ordered neatly into zones on defined areas of each
vessel. These qualities were to manifest themselves not only in pottery making, but also in the
architecture in the 6th century.

The major development that occurred was in the growing use of the human figure as the major
decorative motif, and the increasing surety with which humanity, its mythology, activities and
passions were depicted.

The development in the depiction of the human form in pottery was accompanied by a similar
development in sculpture.
The Classical period was marked by a rapid development towards idealised but increasingly
lifelike depictions of gods in human form.

This development had a direct effect on the sculptural decoration of temples, as many of the
greatest extant works of Ancient Greek sculpture once adorned temples, and many of the largest
recorded statues of the age, such as the lost chryselephantine statues of Zeus at the Temple of
Zeus at Olympia and Athena at the Parthenon.

Religion and philosophy

above: Modern model of ancient Olympia with the Temple of Zeus at the centre

right: Recreation of the colossal statue of Athena, once housed in the Parthenon, with sculptor
Alan LeQuire

The religion of Ancient Greece was a form of nature worship that grew out of the beliefs of
earlier cultures. The natural elements were personified as gods of completely human form, and
very human behaviour
Worship, like many other activities, was done in community, in the open. However, by 600 BC,
the gods were often represented by large statues and it was necessary to provide a building in
which each of these could be housed. This led to the development of temples.

At the same time, the respect for human intellect demanded reason, and promoted a passion for
enquiry, logic, challenge, and problem solving.

The architecture of the Ancient Greeks, and in particular, temple architecture, responds to these
challenges with a passion for beauty, and for order and symmetry which is the product of a
continual search for perfection, rather than a simple application of a set of working rules.

Architectural character

Early development

Mycenaean art is marked by its circular structures and tapered domes with flat-bedded,
cantilevered courses.

However, This architectural form did not carry over into the architecture of Ancient Greece, but
reappeared about 400 BC in the interior of large monumental tombs such as the Lion Tomb at
Cnidos (c. 350 BC).

The Minoan architecture of Crete employed wooden columns with capitals, but the columns
were of very different form to Doric columns, being narrow at the base and splaying upward.

This form was adapted to the construction of hypostyle halls within the larger temples. The
evolution that occurred in architecture was towards public building, first and foremost the
temple, rather than towards grand domestic architecture such as had evolved in Crete.

Types of buildings

Domestic buildings

the earliest houses were simple structures of two rooms, with an open porch or "pronaos" with a
pitched gable or pediment. This form might have contributed to temple architecture.

They constructed walls of sun dried clay bricks or wooden framework filled with fibrous
material such as straw or seaweed covered with clay or plaster, on a base of stone which
protected the more vulnerable elements from damp.

The roofs were probably of thatch with eaves which overhung the permeable walls. Whereas
many larger houses, such as those at Delos, were built of stone and plastered. The roofing
material for substantial house was tile. Houses of the wealthy had mosaic floors which
demonstrated the Classical style.

Most houses had a wide passage or "pasta" in the centre which ran the length of the house and
opened at one side onto a small courtyard to admit light and air. Larger houses had a fully
developed peristyle courtyard at the centre, with the rooms arranged around it.

Public buildings

The rectangular temple is the most common and best-known form of Greek public architecture.
The Greek temple served as the location of a cult image and as a storage place for the treasury
associated with the cult of the god in question, and as a place for devotees of the god to leave
their votive offerings.

Small circular temples, tholos were also constructed, as well as small temple-like buildings that
served as treasuries for specific groups of donors.

The propylon or porch, formed the entrance to temple sanctuaries and other significant sites. The
best-surviving example is the Propylaea on the Acropolis of Athens.

Every Greek town had an open-air theatre Which was used for both public meetings as well as
dramatic performances. The theatre was usually set in a hillside outside the town, and had rows
of tiered seating set in a semicircle around the central performance area, the orchestra. Behind
the orchestra was a low building called the skênê, which served as a store-room, a dressing-
room, and also as a backdrop to the action taking place in the orchestra.

Structure

Column and lintel

Parts of an Ancient Greek temple of the Doric Order:
1. Tympanum, 2. Acroterium, 3. Sima 4. Cornice 5. Mutules 7. Frieze 8. Triglyph 9. Metope
10. Regula 11. Gutta 12. Taenia 13. Architrave 14. Capital 15. Abacus 16. Echinus 17.
Column 18. Fluting 19. Stylobate

The architecture of Ancient Greece is composed of upright beams (posts) supporting horizontal
beams (lintels) i.e. a trabeated or "post and lintel".

the origin of the style lies in simple wooden structures, with vertical posts supporting beams
which carried a ridged roof although the existent buildings of the era are constructed in stone,

The posts and beams divided the walls into regular compartments which could be left as
openings, or filled with sun dried bricks, lathes or straw and covered with clay daub or plaster.
Alternately, the spaces might be filled with rubble.

The earliest temples, built to enshrine statues of deities, were probably of wooden construction,
later replaced by the more durable stone temples.

The stone columns are made of a series of solid stone cylinders or “drums” that rest on each
other without mortar, but were sometimes centred with a bronze pin.

The columns are wider at the base than at the top, tapering with an outward curve known as
“entasis”. Each column has a capital of two parts, the upper, on which rests the lintels, being
square and called the “abacus”. The part of the capital that rises from the column itself is called
the “echinus”. Which differs according to the order, being plain in the Doric Order, fluted in the
Ionic and foliate in the Corinthian.

Doric and usually Ionic capitals are cut with vertical grooves known as “fluting”. This fluting or
grooving of the columns is a retention of an element of the original wooden architecture.

Entablature and pediment

The columns of a temple support a structure that rises in two main stages, the entablature and the
pediment.

The entablature is the major horizontal structural element supporting the roof and encircling the
entire building. It is composed of three parts.

 The architrave made of a series of stone “lintels” that spanned the space between the
columns, and meet each other at a joint directly above the centre of each column.
 the “frieze” above the architrave, which carries most decorative elements of the building
and sculptured relief.
 The upper band of the entablature is called the “cornice”, which is generally ornately
decorated on its lower edge. The cornice retains the shape of the beams that would once
have supported the wooden roof at each end of the building.

At the front and rear of each temple, the entablature supports a triangular structure called the
“pediment”. The triangular space framed by the cornices is the location of the most significant
sculptural decoration on the exterior of the building.

Masonry

Every temple rested on a masonry base called the crepidoma, generally of three steps, of which
the upper one which carried the columns was the stylobate.

Masonry of all types was used for Ancient Greek buildings, including rubble, but the finest
ashlar masonry was usually employed for temple walls.

The ashlar blocks were rough hewn and hauled from quarries to be cut and bedded very
precisely, with mortar. Blocks, particularly those of columns and parts of the building bearing
loads were sometimes fixed in place or reinforced with iron clamps, dowels and rods of wood,
bronze or iron fixed in lead to minimise corrosion.

Openings
The distance between columns was similarly affected by the nature of the lintel, columns on the
exterior of buildings carried stone lintels being closer together than those on the interior, which
carried wooden lintels hence more spaced.

Door and window openings narrowed towards the top. Temples were constructed without
windows, the light to the naos entering through the door. Some temples were lit from openings
in the roof.

Structure, masonry, openings and roof of Greek temples

The Parthenon, shows the common structural features of Ancient Greek architecture:
crepidoma, columns, entablature, pediment.

Temple of Hephaestos, fluted Doric columns with abacuses supporting double beams of the
architrave
Erechtheion: masonry, door, stone lintels, coffered ceiling panels

At the Temple of Aphaia the hypostyle columns rise in two tiers, to a height greater than the
walls, to support a roof without struts.

Roof

The widest span of a temple roof was across the cella, or internal space. In a large building, this
space contains columns to support the roof.

the architecture of Ancient Greece was initially of wooden construction, the early builders did
not have the concept of the diagonal truss as a stabilising member. This is evidenced by the
nature of temple construction in the 6th century BC, where the rows of columns supporting the
roof the cella rise higher than the outer walls..

initially all the rafters were supported directly by the entablature, walls and hypostyle, rather than
on a trussed wooden frame

Ancient Greek buildings of timber, clay and plaster construction were probably roofed with
thatch. the rise of stone architecture came in the appearance of fired ceramic roof tiles.

Only stone walls, which were replacing the earlier mud brick and wood walls, were strong
enough to support the weight of a tiled roof

Vaults and arches were not generally used, but begin to appear in tombs construction from the
5th century BC.

Temple plans
 Plans of Ancient Greek Temples
Top: 1. distyle in antis, 2. amphidistyle in antis, 3. tholos, 4. prostyle tetrastyle, 5. amphiprostyle
tetrastyle,
Bottom: 6. dipteral octastyle, 7. peripteral hexastyle, 8. pseudoperipteral hexastyle, 9.
pseudodipteral octastyle

Most Ancient Greek temples were rectangular, and were approximately twice as long as they
were wide, like Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens with a length of nearly 2½ times its width.

The smallest temples are less that 25 metres in length, or in the case of the circular tholos, in
diameter. The great majority of temples are between 30–60 metres in length.

The temple rises from a stepped base or "stylobate", which elevates the structure above the
ground on which it stands. Early examples, such as the Temple of Zeus at Olympus, had two
steps the majority, like the Parthenon had three, with the exceptional example of the Temple of
Apollo at Didyma having six.
The core of the building is a masonry-built "naos" within which is a cella, a windowless room
which housed the statue of the god and a porch or "pronaos" before with a second chamber
serving as a treasury for trophies and gifts. The chambers were lit by a single large doorway and
some rooms appear to have been illuminated by skylights.

On the stylobate stands rows of columns. temples were defined as being of a particular type, by
the number of columns across the entrance front, and their distribution.

Examples:

Distyle in antis describes a small temple with two columns at the front, which are set
between the projecting walls of the pronaos or porch, like the Temple of Nemesis at
Rhamnus. (see left, figure 1.)

Amphiprostyle tetrastyle describes a small temple that has columns at both ends which stand
clear of the naos. Tetrastyle indicates that the columns are four in number, like those of the
Temple on the Ilissus in Athens. (figure 4.)

Peripteral hexastyle describes a temple with a single row of peripheral columns around the
naos, with six columns across the front, like the Theseion in Athens. (figure 7.)

Peripteral octastyle describes a temple with a single row of columns around the naos, (figure
7.) with eight columns across the front, like the Parthenon, Athens. (figs. 6 and 9.)

Dipteral decastyle describes the huge temple of Apollo at Didyma, with the naos surrounded
by a double row of columns, (figure 6.) with ten columns across the entrance front.

The Temple of Zeus Olympius at Agrigentum, is termed Pseudo-periteral heptastyle,

because its encircling colonnade has pseudo columns that are attached to the walls of the
naos. (figure 8.) Heptastyle means that it has seven columns across the entrance front.

Proportion and optical illusion

The ideal of proportion that was used by Ancient Greek architects involved a more complex
geometrical progression, the so-called Golden mean. The ratio is similar to that of the growth
patterns of many spiral forms that occur in nature.

The most obvious adjustment is to the profile of columns, which narrow from base to top.
The entasis is never sufficiently pronounced as to make the swelling wider than the base; it is
controlled by a slight reduction in the rate of decrease of diameter.

The main lines of the Parthenon are all curved.

Diagram showing the optical corrections made by the architects of the Parthenon

A sectioned nautilus shell. These shells may have provided inspiration for voluted Ionic capitals.

The growth of the nautilus corresponds to the Golden Mean

The Parthenon, the Temple to the Goddess Athena on the Acropolis in Athens, is the epitome of
what Nikolaus Pevsner called "the most perfect example ever achieved of architecture finding its
fulfillment in bodily beauty". Helen Gardner refers to its "unsurpassable excellence", to be
surveyed, studied and emulated by architects of later ages. Yet, as Gardner points out, there is
hardly a straight line in the building. Banister Fletcher calculated that the stylobate curves
upward so that its centres at either end rise about 2.6 inches above the outer corners, and
4.3 inches on the longer sides.

A slightly greater adjustment has been made to the entablature. The columns at the ends of the
building are not vertical but are inclined towards the centre, with those at the corners being out of
plumb by about 2.6 inches. These outer columns are both slightly wider than their neighbours
and are slightly closer than any of the others.

Style
Orders of Ancient Greek architecture

Architectural elements of the Doric Order showing simple curved echinus of capital

above: Capital of the Ionic Order showing volutes and ornamented echinus
above: Capital of the Corinthian Order showing foliate decoration and vertical volutes.

Orders

Ancient Greek architecture is divided into three “orders”: the Doric Order, the Ionic Order and
the Corinthian Order, the three orders are most easily recognizable by their capitals, the orders
also governed the form, proportions, details and relationships of the columns, entablature,
pediment and the stylobate.

Doric Order

The Doric order is recognised by its capital, of which the echinus is like a circular cushion rising
from the top of the column to the square abacus on which rest the lintels.

The echinus appears flat and splayed in early examples, deeper and with greater curve in later,
more refined examples, and smaller and straight-sided in Hellenistic examples. A refinement of
the Doric Column is the entasis, a gentle convex swelling to the profile of the column, which
prevents an optical illusion of concavity.

Doric columns are almost always cut with grooves, known as "fluting", which run the length of
the column and are usually 20 in number, although sometimes fewer.

The flutes meet at sharp edges called arrises. At the top of the columns, slightly below the
narrowest point, and crossing the terminating arrises, are three horizontal grooves known as the
hypotrachelion. Doric columns have no bases, until a few examples in the Hellenistic period.

The columns of an early Doric temple such as the Temple of Apollo at Syracuse, Sicily, may
have a height to base diameter ratio of only 4:1 and a column height to entablature ratio of 2:1,
with relatively crude details. A column height to diameter of 6:1 became more usual, while the
column height to entablature ratio at the Parthenon is about 3:1. During the Hellenistic period,
Doric conventions of solidity and masculinity dropped away, with the slender and unfluted
columns reaching a height to diameter ratio of 7.5:1.

The Doric Order

The Temple of Hephaestos, Athens, is a well-preserved temple of peripteral hexastyle plan.

The entablature showing the architrave, frieze with triglyphs and metopes and the overhanging
cornice

The tapered fluted columns, constructed in drums, rest directly on the stylobate.

The Doric entablature is in three parts, the architrave, the frieze and the cornice.

The architrave is composed of the stone lintels which span the space between the columns, with
a joint occurring above the centre of each abacus.

On this rests the frieze, one of the major areas of sculptural decoration. The frieze is divided into
triglyphs and metopes, the triglyphs, are a reminder of the timber history of the architectural
style. Each triglyph has three vertical grooves, similar to the columnar fluting, and below them,
seemingly connected, are small strips that appear to connect the triglyphs to the architrave
below.

A triglyph is located above the centre of each capital, and above the centre of each lintel.
However, at the corners of the building, the triglyphs do not fall over the centre the column.

The cornice is a narrow jutting band of complex moulding which overhangs and protects the
ornamented frieze, like the edge of an overhanging wooden-framed roof.

It is decorated on the underside with projecting blocks, mutules, further suggesting the wooden
nature of the prototype.

At either end of the building the pediment rises from the cornice, framed by moulding of similar
form. The pediment is decorated with figures that are in relief in the earlier examples, but almost
freestanding by the time of the Parthenon.

Early architectural sculptors found difficulty in creating satisfactory sculptural compositions in

the tapering triangular space. By the Early Classical period, with the decoration of the temple of
Zeus at Olympia, (486-460 BC) the sculptors had solved the problem by having a standing
central figure framed by rearing centaurs and fighting men who are falling, kneeling and lying in
attitudes that fit the size and angle of each part of the space..

Ionic Order

The Ionic Order is recognised by its voluted capital, in which a curved echinus of similar shape
to that of the Doric Order, but decorated with stylised ornament, is surmounted by a horizontal
band that scrolls under to either side, forming spirals or volutes similar to those of the nautilus
shell or ram's horn.

In plan, the capital is rectangular. It's designed to be viewed frontally but the capitals at the
corners of buildings are modified with an additional scroll so as to appear regular on two
adjoining faces.

The Ionic Order

The Erechtheum, Acropolis, Athens: a building of asymmetrical plan, for the display of
offerings to Athena
Corner capital with a diagonal volute, showing also details of the fluting separated by fillets.

Frieze of stylised alternating palms and reeds, and a cornice decorated with "egg and dart"
moulding.

Like the Doric Order, the Ionic Order retains signs of having its origins in wooden architecture.
The horizontal spread of a flat timber plate across the top of a column is a common device in
wooden construction, giving a thin upright a wider area on which to bear the lintel, while at the
same time reinforcing the load-bearing strength of the lintel itself.

Likewise, the columns always have bases, a necessity in wooden architecture to spread the load
and protect the base of a comparatively thin upright.

The columns are fluted with narrow, shallow flutes that do not meet at a sharp edge but have a
flat band or fillet between them. The usual number of flutes is twenty-four but there may be as
many as forty-four.
The base has two convex mouldings called torus, and from the late Hellenic period stood on a
square plinth similar to the abacus.

The architrave of the Ionic Order is sometimes undecorated, but more often rises in three
outwardly-stepped bands like overlapping timber planks.

The frieze, which runs in a continuous band, is separated from the other members by rows of
small projecting blocks. They are referred to as dentils, meaning "teeth", but their origin is
clearly in narrow wooden slats which supported the roof of a timber structure.

The Ionic Order is altogether lighter in appearance than the Doric, with the columns, including
base and capital, having a 9:1 ratio with the diameter, while the whole entablature was also much
narrower and less heavy than the Doric entablature.

There was some variation in the distribution of decoration. Formalised bands of motifs such as
alternating forms known as "egg and dart" were a feature of the Ionic entablatures, along with
the bands of dentils. The external frieze often contained a continuous band of figurative
sculpture or ornament, but this was not always the case.

Sometimes a decorative frieze occurred around the upper part of the naos rather than on the
exterior of the building. These Ionic-style friezes around the naos are sometimes found on Doric
buildings, notably the Parthenon. Some temples, like the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, had
friezes of figures around the lower drum of each column, separated from the fluted section by a
bold moulding.

Caryatids, draped female figures used as supporting members to carry the entablature, were a
feature of the Ionic order,

The Corinthian Order

The Temple of Zeus Olympia, Athens, ("the Olympieion")
The tall capital combines both semi-naturalistic leaves and highly stylised tendrils forming
volutes.

Corinthian Order

The Corinthian Order does not have its origin in wooden architecture. It grew directly out of the
Ionic in the mid 5th century BC, and was initially of much the same style and proportion, but
distinguished by its more ornate capitals.

The capital was very much deeper than either the Doric or the Ionic capital, being shaped like a
large krater, a bell-shaped mixing bowl, and being ornamented with a double row of acanthus
leaves above which rose voluted tendrils, supporting the corners of the abacus, which, no longer
perfectly square, splayed above them.

According to Vitruvius, the capital was invented by a bronze founder, Callimarchus of Corinth,
who took his inspiration from a basket of offerings that had been placed on a grave, with a flat
tile on top to protect the goods.

The ratio of the column height to diameter is generally 10:1, with the capital taking up more

Decoration

Architectural ornament

Architectural ornament of fired and painted clay

This Archaic gorgon's head antefix has been cast in a mould, fired and painted.
The lion's head gargoyle is fixed to a revetment on which elements of a formal frieze have been
painted.

Early wooden structures, particularly temples, were ornamented and in part protected by fired
and painted clay revetments in the form of rectangular panels, and ornamental discs.

Many fragments of these have outlived the buildings that they decorated and demonstrate a
wealth of formal border designs of geometric scrolls, overlapping patterns and foliate motifs.
With the introduction of stone-built temples, the revetments no longer served a protective
purpose and sculptured decoration became more common.

The clay ornaments were limited to the roof of buildings, decorating the cornice, the corners and
surmounting the pediment. At the corners of pediments they were called acroteria and along the
sides of the building, antefixes. Early decorative elements were generally semi-circular, but later
of roughly triangular shape with moulded ornament, often palmate.

Ionic cornices were often set with a row of lion's masks, with open mouths that ejected
rainwater. From the Late Classical period, acroteria were sometimes sculptured figures.

In the three orders of Ancient Greek architecture, the sculptural decoration, be it a simple half
round astragal, a frieze of stylised foliage or the ornate sculpture of the pediment, is all essential
to the architecture of which it is a part.

In the Doric order, there is no variation in its placement. Reliefs never decorate walls in an
arbitrary way. The sculpture is always located in several predetermined areas, the metopes and
the pediment. In later Ionic architecture, there is greater diversity in the types and numbers of
mouldings and decorations, particularly around doorways, where voluted brackets sometimes
occur supporting an ornamental cornice over a door, such as that at the Erechtheum. A much
applied narrow moulding is called "bead and reel" and is symmetrical, stemming from turned
wooden prototypes. Wider mouldings include one with tongue-like or pointed leaf shapes, which
are grooved and sometimes turned upward at the tip, and "egg and dart" moulding which
alternates ovoid shapes with narrow pointy ones.

Architectural sculpture
The Archaic Gorgon of the western pediment from the Artemis Temple of Corfu,
Archaeological Museum of Corfu

Classical figurative sculpture from the eastern pediment of the Parthenon, British Museum

Architectural sculpture showed a development from early Archaic examples through Severe
Classical, High Classical, Late Classical and Hellenistic. Remnants of Archaic architectural
sculpture (700 - 500 BC) exist from the early 6th century BC with the earliest surviving
pedimental sculpture being fragments of a Gorgon flanked by heraldic panthers from the centre
of the pediment of the Artemis Temple of Corfu.

At this date images of terrifying monsters have predominance over the emphasis on the human
figure that developed with Humanist philosophy.

The Severe Classical style (500 - 450 BC) is represented by the pedimental sculptures of the
Temple of Zeus at Olympia, (470 - 456 BC).

The eastern pediment shows a moment of stillness and "impending drama" before the beginning
of a chariot race, the figures of Zeus and the competitors being severe and idealised
representations of the human form.

The western pediment has Apollo as the central figure, "majestic" and "remote", presiding over a
battle of Lapiths and Centaurs, in strong contrast to that of the eastern pediment for its depiction
of violent action, and described by D. E. Strong as the "most powerful piece of illustration" for a
hundred years.
The shallow reliefs and three-dimensional sculpture which adorned the frieze and pediments,
respectively, of the Parthenon, are the lifelike products of the High Classical style (450 -400 BC)
and were created under the direction of the sculptor Phidias.

The pedimental sculpture represents the Gods of Olympus, while the frieze shows the
Panathenaic procession and ceremonial events that took place every four years to honour the
titular Goddess of Athens.

But the figures are more violent in action, the central space taken up, not with a commanding
God, but with the dynamic figure of Neoptolemos as he seizes the aged king Priam and stabs
him.

The names of many famous sculptors are known from the Late Classical period (400 - 323 BC),
including Timotheos, Praxiteles, Leochares and Skopas, but their works are known mainly from
Roman copies.

The Temple of Asclepius at Epidauros had sculpture by Timotheos working with the architect
Theodotos The remaining fragments give the impression of a whole range of human emotions,
fear, horror, cruelty and lust for conquest.

The acroteria were sculptured by Timotheus, except for that at the centre of the east pediment
which is the work of the architect. The palmate acroteria have been replaced here with small
figures, the eastern pediment being surmounted by a winged Nike, poised against the wind.

Hellenistic architectural sculpture (323 - 31 BC) was to become more flamboyant, both in the
rendering of expression and motion, which is often emphasised by flowing draperies, the Nike
Samothrace which decorated a monument in the shape of a ship being a well known example.

The Pergamon Altar (c. 180-160 BC) has a frieze of figures in very high relief. The frieze
represents the battle for supremacy of Gods and Titans, and employs many dramatic devices:
frenzy, pathos and triumph, to convey the sense of conflict.

Metopes, friezes and caryatid

Archaic metope: Perseus and Medusa, Temple C at Selinunte.
Severe Classical metope: Labours of Hercules, Temple of Zeus, Olympus

High Classical frieze: Panathenaic Ritual, Parthenon, Athens

Hellenistic frieze: Battle of Gods and Titans, the Pergamon Altar.

Ionic caryatid from the Erechtheum

The influence of Greek architecture

The formal vocabulary of Ancient Greek architecture, in particular the division of architectural
style into three defined orders: the Doric Order, the Ionic Order and the Corinthian Order, was
to have profound effect on Western architecture of later periods.

The architecture of Ancient Rome grew out of that of Greece and maintained its influence in
Italy unbroken until the present day.

From the Renaissance, revivals of Classicism have kept alive not only the precise forms and
ordered details of Greek architecture, but also its concept of architectural beauty based on
balance and proportion.

The successive styles of Neoclassical architecture and Greek Revival architecture followed and
adapted Ancient Greek styles closely.

The first signs of the particular artistic character that defines Ancient Greek architecture are to be
seen in the pottery of the Dorian Greeks from the 10th century BC. Already at this period it is
created with a sense of proportion, symmetry and balance not apparent in similar pottery from
Crete and Mycenae .

Many fragments of the Greek style have outlived the buildings that they decorated and
demonstrate a wealth of formal border designs of geometric scrolls, overlapping patterns and
foliate motifs. With the introduction of stone-built temples, the revetments no longer served a
protective purpose and sculptured decoration became more common.
 Reference

The architecture of Ancient Greece, encyclopedia

Art through ages by Gardner

World architecture and illustrated history by Trewin Copplestone