Greek Architecture
Period and Exponents, Materials,
Subject Matter and Application
Lecture‐4
Chair of History and Theory of Architecture
and Urbanism
History of Architecture‐ I ARCH 1012
Prep. By Habtom H.
April, 2019
Greek Architecture
Contents
A. General
characteristics
B. Historical Periods
C. Examples
Greek Architecture
A. General
characteristics
1. Landscape
Is surrounded on
three sides by sea
Includes broad
peninsula and scores
of islands
Is rough, great variety
of natural sites,
individual character of
places
Greek Architecture
Fertile valleys, and
plains are small
Mass of limestone and
Marble Mountains
Marble – facilitates
exactness of lines and
refinement of details,
produces smooth
surfaces
The climate favored
outdoor/ open-air life
Greek Architecture
2. Culture
Desire to perfect
human intellectual
and physical power
Quest for truth –
philosophers
Greek Architecture
Heraclites
Described the
cosmos as a
balance of such
opposites as hot
and cold, night and
day, health and
disease
Greek Architecture
Protagoras
‘Man is the
measure of all
things’
Truth is relative to
human perception
and interpretation
Greek Architecture
Socrates
Truth could be
found only by
constant
questioning,
refinement and
testing
Greek Architecture
Xenophanes
The gods did not
reveal everything
to men at the start,
but as time goes
on , by searching,
they discover more
and more.
Greek Architecture
The Greeks
ascribed as almost
semi divine nature
to man and their
gods were depicted
in perfect human
form.
Greek Architecture
The religion was in
mainly a worship
of natural
phenomenon
Greek Architecture
Examples of Greek gods
Zeus – chief of the gods
(Right)
Apollo – the god who
punishes, heals and helps
Athena – goddess of
wisdom, power and
prosperity
Greek Architecture
Demeter – goddess of
earth and agriculture
(Right)
Artemis – goddess of
the chase
Landscape + Culture
= Heterogeneity +
Excellence
Greek Architecture
Siting is
determined by the
experience of the
natural
environment –
ideal position from
which the whole
sacred landscape
could be grasped
Greek Architecture
The Greek sought
to ensure their
immortality in
human memory
through their
intellectual and
artistic excellence.
Greek Architecture
B. Historical periods
1. Minoan
The oldest culture
– 3400 BC, King
Minos
Emerged in the
Aegean Islands,
Crete
Greek Architecture
Planning was
intelligent
Scale was intimate,
human and
practical
Timber and stone
were used
Focus on secular
life
Greek Architecture
2. Mycenaean
BC 1600
Thick walls of large
irregular, but
carefully fitted
stones
Greek Architecture
Cyclopean masonry
– from Cyclops –
mythical one eyed
giant
Brilliant mural
paintings
Greek Architecture
3. Dorian and
Ionian
BC 1150
Direct ancestors of
the Greeks
Greek Architecture
4. Hellenistic (700 –
146 BC)
Stone architecture
reemerges
Greek colonization of
the Mediterranean
Greek Architecture
Greek ideas and
language were spread
– Alexander the great
(334 – 323 BC)
479 – 338 BC – classic
period/Architecture, it
was essentially
columnar and
trabeated (trabs =
beam)
Greek Architecture
Examples
1. Palace of King Minos (Konssos) – BC 3000
2. The City of Tiryns (BC 1400)
3. The Acropolis – Athens
4. The Agora
5. Temples
6. The Parthenon
7. The classical Orders
8. The Theatres
9. The Stadium
10. The Dwellings
11. City Planning
Greek Architecture
C. Examples
1. Palace of King
Minos (Konssos)
– BC 3000
Centered about an
open court
(ceremonial)
Greek Architecture
Sophisticated
drainage system
Absence of
defensive wall
Multistory
apartment reached
by stairways
Greek Architecture
2. The City of Tiryns
(BC 1400)
Illustrates the basic
organization
Raised and
surrounded by
massive cyclopean
wall – 6m thick
An open court led to
the heart of the palace
– the Megaron
Greek Architecture
The Megaron ( Homeric
word for palace) – consisted
of an entry porch supported
by pillars, a vestibule
(entrance hall) and the
throne room with its roof
carried by 4 columns
It constitutes the original
prototype for the Greek
temple.
Greek Architecture
3. The Acropolis –
Athens
‘High city’
The citadel of a Greek
city built at its highest
point and containing
the chief temples and
public buildings
The most perfect
example –
experimentation came
to fruition
Greek Architecture
The buildings that stand on the Acropolis today
were largely completed by the end of the 5th
century bc.
Greek Architecture
Simple structure –
simple post and
lintel with one
material (marble) –
Unification
Each building was
placed to be seen
at an angle as a 3
dimensional mass
from the entrance
Greek Architecture
As an emblem of
Persian victory
Rises 91.5m above the
city
Focal point of festivals
– celebrants moved
along the Dromos
(processional street),
through the agora up
to the acropolis
Greek Architecture
Public rituals were
celebrated in the
open air, at the
altar in front of the
temple
Temples –
monumental
sculptures set in
the landscape
Greek Architecture
4. The Agora
Open air meeting
places surrounded
by buildings
Trade was carried
on, students were
taught, and politics
was discussed
Greek Architecture
The Stoa
Long columnar
rectangular buildings
open on one side to
face the agora and to
offer shelter from sun
and rain
E.g. Stoa of Attaloa,
Athens, 150 BC (38m)
Greek Architecture
The bouletarion
Designed to house the
council of the polis
(city state)
E.g. At Prene, 200 BC
18.5 x 20m, benches
on 3 sides, for 700
people, wooden truss
roof 14.5m span
Greek Architecture
The agora in Athens, built
in the 6th century bc,
lies to the north-west
of the Acropolis. It
was an open square
bordered by public
buildings and was the
political and
commercial centre of
the city.
Greek Architecture
5. Temples
The most
important class of
buildings
The general
organization is
orthogonal and the
plan axial
Greek Architecture
Special regard to
external effect and
were ornamented
and colonnaded
and were
symmetrical
Were raised on a
stylobate of three
steps
Greek Architecture
Influences – myenean
(megaron), Egypt
(colonnade and
masonry), Asia
(ornament)
All architecture has
repeating elements –
the Greek had rules
Greek Architecture
6. The classical Orders
Order – a particular
style of column with
its entablature having
standardized details
The Greeks developed
– the Doric, Ionic and
Corinthian Orders
Greek Architecture
a. The Doric
columns or order
Furnishes the
proportion of a
man’s body, its
strength and
beauty
Greek Architecture
Rests heavily on the
ground with out a
base, and its swelling
fluted shafts seem to
embody masculine
muscular strength
The capital is simple –
echinus + square slab
(abacus)
Greek Architecture
On the capital rests
the horizontal
smooth
architecture
The pediment –
synthesis of the
horizontal and
vertical direction
Greek Architecture
The trabeted
structure was an
expression of the
living forces of
carrying and being
carried
Derived from the
simple timber
architecture of
Mycenaean palaces
Greek Architecture
b. The Ionic Order
Embodies feminine
slenderness, grace
and beauty
Rests on an articulated
base and the slender
shaft ends under a
voluted capital (looks
a curling hair/ elastic
scroll) which carries
the slight weight of
the low entablature.
Greek Architecture
c. The Corinthian
Order
Base and shaft
resembling the
ionic
More graceful
effect in ornament
(capital)
Greek Architecture
7. The Parthenon
Built 437 to 432
BC, 447-438
Architects – Iktinos
and Kallikrates
Large size – 30.9 x
69.5m, built
completely of
marble
Greek Architecture
Built with Doric
Order – befitting
the goddess of war
Four Ionic columns
in the treasury
Greek Architecture
The Parthenon, a
temple dedicated to
Athena, stands on the
Acropolis above
Athens. It was built
447-432 bc and,
conveys a sense of
order, balance, and
monumental
symmetry, for which
Greek architecture is
justly renowned.
Greek Architecture
Double chambered
naos (hall)
a treasury of offerings
(W)
house for gold and
ivory figure of Athena,
helmeted and carrying
a spear and a shield
92 metopes in the
entablature illustrate
battles
Greek Architecture
E – battle between the
Olympian gods and
earth giants
W – Greeks fighting
Persians
N – Greeks against
Trajans (Asia Minor)
S – Greeks against
Lapiths and Centaures
Greek Architecture
Pediment
W – Contest
between Athena
and poseidons to
determine who
should have
dominion over
Attica
E – The birth of
Athena
Greek Architecture
Subtle visual
refinements
(Alexemata)
floors swell up
slightly from 5 – 10
cm and the
entablature follows
Greek Architecture
columns lean in
slightly (6cm),
swell slightly in the
middle and corner
columns stand a
little closer to their
neighbors (60 cm)
and are thicker
(5cm)
Greek Architecture
There are no straight
lines
A way of creating a
tension between what
the mind expects to
see and the
information the eye
actually send to the
brain – ‘vibrant, alive
and continuously
interesting’
Greek Architecture
It is a symbol of
clarity and
precision
Later served as a
Christian church
and mosque,
gunpowder
magazine (1687
explosive damaged
the roof)
Greek Architecture
8. The Theatres
Theatre at
Epidauros, 350BC,
17,000 people
55 semi circular
rows of seats
Diameter is 118
meters
Greek Architecture
Three basic Parts
The theatron – ‘seeing
place’
The seating for the
spectators is built into
the side of a hill
carved out to form a
bowl
The orchestra – ‘dancing
place’
Greek Architecture
The circular floor for
the actors where the
chorus sang and
danced
The skene – ‘dressing
room’
A low structure behind
the orchestra
Greek Architecture
9. The Stadia
For athletic
contests
Stadion – a unit of
distance of 200 m
The stadium is a
structure with
steps of seats
Greek Architecture
10. The Dwellings
Athens – Plans
were adapted to
the irregular street
patterns
Priene – plans had
more regular
patterns
Greek Architecture
11. City Planning
In the Greek
colonial cities
orderly orthogonal
grid was often
employed
E.g. Priene, Asia
Minor, C 450 BC
Greek Architecture
Shows how a grid
plan could be
adapted to a
sloping hilltop site
Six principal streets
run east-west and
15 north-south
Greek Architecture
At the center was
the agora
To the north
temple of Athena
and the theatre
At the south edge
was the stadium
and the palaestra
(wrestling school)
If you have
questions,
comments and
suggestions
you are
welcome,
thank you.
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