Greek Architecture History

1. Greek
architecture
3000-300 BC

2. GEOGRAPHICAL
• Greece, a country in Southeastern Europe whose peninsula
extends from the Balkans into the Mediterranean Sea, is
mountainous, with many gulfs and bays
• The “Aegean” culture extended to Greece & her islands, and
was founded founded on the trade around the whole Eastern
Mediterranean seaboard, with Asia Minor, Cyprus, Syria

3. GEOGRAPHICAL
– It is convenient to divide ancient Greece into 3
geographical regions (plus islands and colonies):
(1) Northern Greece- Epirus and Thessaly, separated
by the Pindus mountain range.
(2) Central Greece and- It contains the countries of
Aetolia, Locris , Acarnania, Doris,
Phocis, Boeotia, Attica, and Megaris.
(3) The Peloponnese- whose central region is Arcadia, which
is a plateau over mountain ranges. Where Mt. Taygetus is found.

4. GEOLOGICAL
• The Greeks called their land Hellas and
themselves Hellenes. It was the Romans who
called them Greeks- (Graeci ) and that is the name
by which we know them.
• about 80% of Greece is covered with mountains
with the result that most settlements were less
than 10 miles from a mountain.

5. GEOLOGICAL
• No matter where people settled in Greece, they were
rarely more than 50 miles from the sea.
• The philosopher Plato noted that the Greeks lived
around the sea “ like frogs around a pond. ”

6. CLIMATIC
• In Ancient Greece, the weather changed
with the seasons, depending on whether
in the north or southern Greece.
• Northern Greece has mild summers.

7. • Southern Greece has rainy winters and
summers that can have temperatures that
exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Winters
in Southern Greece were chilly and rainy,
but not cold.

8. HISTORICAL
• AEGEAN
- civilizations of Crete and mainland Greece
Early period: developed commercial empire
protected by naval power
2,000 B.C. – invasion of migrant people
(originally from South Russia)

9. • Between 1800 and 1600 BC- achieved
power co-equal with Egyptian and
Mesopotamian civilization
• 1450-1400 BC- Civilization was ruined

10. • MYCENAEAN/ HELLADIC GREECE
• -mainland centers had always required
defense
• 1200 BC- Beginning of Trojan War and
ending of Bronze age civilization

11. • HELLENIC (900 BC-323BC)
• The Hellenic period commenced circa 900 BC (with substantial works of
architecture appearing from about 600 BC), and ended with the death of
Alexander the Great in 323 BC. Prior to the Hellenic era, two civilizations
had existed within the region, the Minoan and the Mycenaean.

12. • Minoan is the name given by modern
historians to the people of
ancient Crete (2800–1100 BC), known for
their elaborate and richly decorated
palaces, and for their pottery painted with
floral and marine motifs.

13. • The Mycenaean culture occurred on
the Peloponnesus (1500–1100 BC) and
was quite different in character, building
citadels, fortifications and tombs rather
than palaces, and decorating their pottery
with bands of marching soldiers rather
than octopus and seaweed.

14. • Both these civilizations came to an end
around 1100 BC, that of Crete possibly
because of volcanic devastation, and that
of Mycenae because of invasion from
Dorian people of the Greek mainland.
• This led to a period with few remaining
signs of culture, and thus often referred to
as a Dark Age.