This document provides an overview of classical Greek architecture. It discusses the origins of architecture in wood and how it transitioned to stone. The three main Greek architectural orders - Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian - are described in detail, including their distinctive column and capital styles. Key structures like the Parthenon are highlighted as exemplars of these orders. The document also examines elements like entasis and the optical refinements of the Parthenon. It concludes by discussing the lasting influence and legacy of Greek architectural forms.

1. Classical Greek
Architecture
Professor Will Adams
Valencia College

2. The Origin of
Architecture

3. The Origin of Architecture
 Our word “architecture”
comes from the Greek
architecton, which means
“master carpenter.”
 Early Greek architecture
therefore employed wood,
not stone.
 These early structures, as
well as those of mud-brick,
have not survived.

4. The Origin of Architecture'
 Greek temples, like the
earlier Egyptian hypostyle
halls that their designs are
based upon, used basic
post-and-lintel construction.
 This type of design – which
is based on right angles and
not curves – is sometimes
referred to as trabeated
architecture.

5. Petrified Architecture

6. Petrified Architecture
 However, by the 6th Century
BCE, stone had replaced
wood in the construction of
important temples.
 This transformation in
material from wood to stone
is referred to as
petrification.
 Designs still reflected their
origins in wood, however.

7. Petrified Architecture
 In fact, the three-barred design of the triglyph, which alternates with the square,
sculpted metope, was designed to mimic the grooves of a wooden truss’s end.

8. Petrified Architecture
 In moving from wood to
stone, builders had to adapt
to the differing properties
of their building materials.
 Stone has greater
compressive strength
(resistance to crushing)
than wood, but lacks wood’s
tensile strength (tolerance
of bending or twisting).

9. Petrified Architecture
 As a result, the Greeks
designed temples that could
have towering, widely-spaced
columns, but their
superstructures (the parts of
the building held up by the
columns) had to be solid,
unified masses capable of
being held together by
multiple columns.
 This part must be solid.
 This part can have open space.

10. Petrified Architecture
 Early temples had massive
pillars, as architects worried
about their ability to support
the weight above.
 As a result, the earliest Greek
temples, like the Temple of
Hera I at Paestum, look low &
wide.
 Later Greek temples, like the
Temple of Hera II at
Paestum, appear taller & more
elegant.

11. The Purpose of a
Temple

12. The Purpose of a Temple
 Unlike modern churches or
mosques, Greek temples’
interiors were not meant to be
meeting places for worship.
 They were seen as earthly
homes for the community’s
god or goddess and a place to
keep offerings.
 A cult image was centrally
located within the naos, or
central interior space.

13. The Purpose of a Temple
 In the mild climate of
Greece, ceremonies honoring
the temple’s god or goddess
generally took place outdoors.
 Even the altar, upon which
animal sacrifices were
made, were outside the
temple structure, usually
proceeding the temple’s
façade or front.

14. The Anatomy of a
Greek Temple

15. The Anatomy of a
Greek Temple
 There are four distinct parts, or
sections, that are used to
construct a Greek temple.
 The lowest, horizontal part of
the temple is its foundation,
which looks like steps.
 Most Greek temples had three
of these “steps”.
 Collectively, this section is called
the stylobate.

16. The Anatomy of a
Greek Temple
 The next section is the vertical,
height-building section that is
referred to as the column.
 Most columns had a base
(though not the Doric), at the
bottom, a shaft in the middle,
and a capital at the top.
 The shaft may also be smooth
or fluted (a series of grooves
that run the length of the
shaft).
CapitalShaftBase

17. The Anatomy of a
Greek Temple
 Above that, supported by the
column, is the entablature.
 The entablature forms the
ceiling of the temple.
 If the column is like a table
leg, think of this as the
tabletop.
 It has three parts:
 Architrave: the beam that
rests on the capital.
 Frieze: A sculpted band.
 Cornice: A crowning trim.

18. The Anatomy of a
Greek Temple
 The angled top section that
forms the roof is called the
pediment.
 The angled beam at the top is
called the sloping cornice.
 The triangular part below is
called the tympanum; this is
often carved and decorated.
 Sometimes there are carved
features attached to the roof;
these are called antefixes (2D
on roof edges) & acroterion
(3D, on corners).

19. The Greek
Architectural orders

20. The Greek Architectural
orders
 Greek temples, like Egyptian
temples, tended to follow set
design patterns, which were
regarded as unchangeable, ideal
forms.
 Resultantly, design variations
are few in any given period.
 Instead, the architects choice
of a particular Greek order
(decorative detail style),
expressed his creativity.

21. The Greek Architectural
orders
 In order of chronological
development, the three
classical Greek orders
are:
 The Doric
 The Ionic
 The Corinthian

22. The Doric Order
 The Doric order’s columns are –
by comparison – the shortest and
widest, making these temples the
heaviest in appearance.
 The tripartite capital is plainly
carved.
 Doric columns have thick shafts
(though it loses some of its mass
over time) that are constructed
with cylindrical blocks called
drums.
 The columns are baseless.

23. The Doric Capital
 As stated, the capitals of
the Doric order’s columns
consist of three separate
elements.
 From top to bottom, they
are:
 The Abacus
 The Echinus
 The Necking

24. The Temple of Zeus
c. 470 – 456 BCE; Olympia, Greece

25. The Ionic Order
 Temples of the second Greek
order, the Ionic, appear more
elegant than the Doric.
 Besides basic proportion, the
Ionic is distinguishable from the
Doric order by its capital’s
distinctive scroll-like volutes.
 The columns that they surmount
also have shafts that are thinner
and taller than the Doric.
 Finally, the Ionic order adds a
base to the column.

26. The Ionic Capital
 As with the Doric order,
Ionic order capitals also
have three component
elements.
 From top to bottom they
are:
 The Abacus
 The Volute
 The Necking

27. The Temple of Artemis
c. 323 BCE; Ephesus, Turkey

28. The Corinthian Order
 Of the three ancient Greek
temple orders, the Corinthian
order temples are by far the
tallest, most elegant, and most
majestic in their appearance.
 Their towering columns are
topped by foliated capitals that
are delineated by acanthus leaf
carvings.
 As with the Ionic order, column
bases are also employed.

29. The Corinthian Order
 Like the earlier Doric &
Ionic orders’ capitals, the
Corinthian also have three
component elements.
 From top to bottom they
are:
 The Abacus
 The Acanthus Leaves
 The Necking

30. The Temple of Caesar
c. 42 BCE; Rome, Italy

31. Column Refinement
Entasis
 Columns of all Greek orders
feature a swelling of the shaft
called entasis.
 Entasis counteracts the eye’s
tendency to reach upward &
forces it to look both ways.
 Also, columns that are straight
appear thinner in the middle when
seen against harsh light, making
them appear flimsy.
 The shaft’s middle bulge visually
counteracts this.

32. Petrified Architecture
 Some experts feel that the
entasis, the outward bulging in
the middle of Greek columns,
may originally have been an
imitation of the effect of
great compression on the
wooden posts of early Greek
temples.
 It also serves as a kind of
correction to an optical
illusion, however, as will be
discussed later.

33. The Parthenon
c. 427 BCE; Athens, Greece

34. The Acropolis
c. 450 BCE; Athens, Greece
 Perhaps the greatest concentrated
collection of Greek architecture
sits atop the Acropolis, the
sacred sanctuary of Athena in
Athens.
 This sanctuary’s collection of
buildings includes:
 The Propylaia: The gatehouse
 The Temple of Athena Nike: The
temple dedicated to victory.
 The Parthenon: The temple of Athena
as patron goddess of Athens
 The Erechtheum: The temple dedicated
to the early kings of Athens & the god
Poseidon

35. The Parthenon
c. 427 BCE; Athens, Greece
 This building is the culmination
of Classical Greek architecture,
and is the template that many
other structures would go on to
emulate.
 To create this temple, the
architects (Kallikrates &
Iktinos) included many subtle
optical refinements.
 The result is a building that
reflects the Greek concept of
arete, visual perfection.

36. Optical Tricks of the
Parthenon

37. The Greek Legacy
 The forms and designs of
ancient Greek architecture
had a lasting impact on the
world.
 The Romans went on to adopt
its plans and orders as ideals,
but would modify them to
meet their more pragmatic
building requirements,
creating structures like the
Pantheon in Rome.

38. The Greek Legacy
 As a result, the Greek forms
of Greek architecture have
become an integral part of
the vocabulary of world
architecture.
 In fact, the architecture of
Rome would strongly influence
the development of the United
States’ federal architectural
language, centuries after the
Classical era.

39. Homework for Next
Class
 Identify a building in the local area that uses the Greek architectural
language that we learned in class today.
 Hint: Prime suspects for your building include banks, churches, and government
buildings.
 Using a piece of graph paper & a pencil, sketch the façade, or front, of the
building.
 Then, trace over your pencil sketch in black ink pen.
 Next, identify and label all of the Greek architectural elements from today’s
lecture that you can in your sketch of that building’s façade.
 On the back of your sketch, please write your name, the name of the building,
and its physical address.
 Your sketch will be due at the beginning of next class.

40. Telos