Greek architecture is famous for tall columns, elaborate detail, balance, symmetry, and harmony. Large temples built to their gods are most of the main examples of Greek architecture that survived today.

The basic structure of the Greek temples was maintained throughout many centuries, using a limited number of spatial components, influencing the plan, and architectural members that determine the elevation. The temples were freestanding and designed to be viewed from all sides.

The basic structure includes:

• The naos or cella, which is the central structure of the temple and contained a cult statue of the deity.
• The pronaos or porch, that was in front of the naos, created by the protruding side walls of the naos and two columns placed between them. A door allows the naos to be accessed from the pronaos.
• The opisthodomos, a similar room at the back of the naos. This has aesthetic value as the front had to be mirrored at the back.
• The complex formed by the naos, pronaos and opisthodomos is enclosed on all four sides by the peristalsis.

 

If the porch of a temple has a row of four or six columns in front, it is described as a prostylos. An amphiprostylos or amphiprostyle repeats the same column setting at the back.

The term peripteros or peripteral refers to a temple surrounded by colonnades on all four sides, usually in a single row.

A dipteros or dipteral has a double colonnade on all four sides, sometimes with further rows of columns at the front and back. A pseudodipteros has connected columns in the inner row of columns at the sides.

For the numbering of the columns certain terminology was used. This was determined by the number of columns at the front of the structure.

 

Modern scholarship uses the following terms:

Technical term	Number of columns at front
Distyle	2 columns
Tetrastyle	4 columns
Hexastyle	6 columns
Octastyle	8 columns
Decastyle	10 columns
Dodekastylos	12 columns

 

The term dodekastylos is only used for the 12-column hall at the Didymaion. No temples with facades of that width are known.

Very few temples had an uneven number of columns at the front. The ones we know of are Temple of Hera I at Paestum and the Temple of Apollo A at Metapontum. Both have a width of nine columns (enneastyle). The Archaic temple at Thermos has a width of five columns (pentastyle).

The elevation of Greek temples is divided in three zones namely, the crepidoma, the columns and the entablature.

Stereobate (underground foundation), euthynteria (uppermost layer) and crepidoma (last foundation) forms the foundation of the temple. The uppermost level of the crepidoma provides the surface on which the columns and walls are placed and is called the stylobate.

The vertical column shafts, tapering towards the top is placed on the stylobate. Depending on the architectural order, a different number of flutings are cut into the column shaft.

The vertical column shafts tapered towards the top is placed on the stylobate. It was made of several separately cut column drums and depending on the architectural order, a different number of flutings are cut into the columns shaft.

The Doric columns have 18 to 20 fluting where the Ionic and Corinthians ones normally have 24. Some early Ionic columns had up to 48 flutings. Doric columns stood directly on the stylobate where the Ionic and Corinthian ones had a base and was sometimes also place atop a plinth.

The top of the column is formed by a concavely curved neck, called the hypotrachelion, and the capital, in the Doric columns. Whereas in the Ionic columns the capital sits directly on the shaft. The capital in the Doric order also consists of a circular torus bulge, that was originally flat and called the echinus, as well as a square slab, called the abacus. During their development, the echinus expands culminating in a linear diagonal, at 45° to the vertical.

The echinus of Ionic columns is decorated with an egg-and-dart band followed by a sculpted pillow forming two volutes, supporting a thin abacus. The eponymous Corinthian capital of the Corinthian order is crowned by rings of stylised acanthus leaves, forming tendrils and volutes that reach to the corners of the abacus.

The capitals support the entablature and in the Doric order it consists of two parts, the architrave, and the triglyph frieze. The Ionic order also used a frieze above an architrave, but the frieze remained unknown in the Ionic architecture until the 4^th century BC. In the Ionic order the architrave was followed by the dentils.

The frieze was originally placed in front of the roof beams. This also varied from period to period. The Doric frieze was structured by triglyphs that were placed above the axis of each column as well as above the centre of each intercolumniation. The in between spaces contained metopes that was painted or decorated with relief sculpture.

In the Corinthian and Ionic orders, the frieze possesses to triglyphs and is left flat. It was sometimes decorated with paintings or reliefs. When stone architecture was introduced, the protection of the porticos and the support of the roof construction was moved up towards the level of the geison. This deprived the frieze of its structural function and turned it into an entirely decorative feature. A lot of times the naos is also decorated with architrave and friezes.

The cornice sticks out from above the frieze and consists of the geison and the sima. The sima was often decorated and equipped with waterspouts in the shape of lion heads. The corners and ridges of the roof were decorated with acroteria, floral or figural decorations. Battle scenes of all kinds were also a common theme of Ionic friezes, but on others were painted more quiet or peaceful ones, like the Assembly of the gods on the long frieze that is placed on top of the naos walls of the Parthenon.

Only three basic colours were used to paint decorations on the temples: white, blue, and red, and sometimes black. The crepidoma, columns, and architrave were mostly white.

Greek temples were also enriched with figural decorations. The pedimental triangles often contained scenes of free-standing sculpture. The Temple of Apollo, for example has gorgons on the architrave corners, surrounded by lions.

 

ARCHAIC AGE (800 – 500 BC)

The period described as the Archaic Age lasted from the 8^th century BC to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC. During this period, Greeks settled across the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, as far as Marseille in the west and Trapezus (Trebizond) in the east.

During the Archaic period there was a huge increase in the Greek population and developments changed the Greek politics, economics, international relations, culture, and warfare. It was the beginning period of architecture although the earliest Greek sanctuaries lacked temple buildings.

A standard early sanctuary seems to have comprised of a temenos, often surrounding a sacred cave, or spring. It could be defined by stones markers and an altar. Gradually sanctuaries were built, especially in the cities, to house a cult image.

The Mycenaean megaron, around the 15^th to 13^th century BC, was probably the forerunner for the later Archaic and Classical Greek temples. However, the true development of Greek temple architecture was between the 10^th and 7^th century BC.

Temples were a simple rectangular shrine with protruding antae (side walls) that formed a small porch. By adding columns to the small structure, the Greeks added variety to their temple architecture.

At first the temples were mostly built out of mud, brick, and marble on stone foundations. Columns and entablature were made of wood as were the door openings and antae. The mud brick walls were also reinforced by wooden posts. This type of half-timbered techniques determined the development of Greek temples for centuries to come.

Built between 690 and 650 BC, the Temple of Isthmian, was possibly the first Archaic temple. Its monumental size, sturdy colonnade and tile roof set it apart from contemporary buildings of the time.

Two major styles of Greek architecture developed during the 6^th century namely Doric and Ionic.

Doric Order

The modern image of Greek temple architecture is strongly influenced by the numerous reasonably well-preserved temples of the Doric order.

The following were characteristics of the Doric Order:

• Columns had a flute with several channels with sharp divisions between them. There was a slight tapering from the bottom to the top.
• The column had no base and stood directly on the stylobate.
• The capital had two parts, a flat slab (the abacus) and an echinus (a cushion-like slab).
• The entablature rested on the capital made up of the architrave, the frieze, and the cornice.
• The architrave is an undecorated flat surface.
• The frieze has triglyphs (three bars) and metopes, decorated with relief sculpture.
• The pediment was often decorated with sculpture, first in relief and later in the round.

 

The Temple of Apollo at Corinth, and the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina is one of the best-preserved examples of Archaic Doric architecture.

The beginnings of Greek temple construction in the Doric order can be traced to early 7^th century BC. With the shift to stone architecture the order was developed and from then on, only details were changed, developed, and refined, mostly in the context of solving the challenges posed by the design and construction of monumental temples.

Apart from early forms, temples were occasionally still with apsidal backs and hipped roofs. The earliest stone columns did not display the simple squatness of the high and late Archaic examples, but rather mirror the slenderness of their wooden predecessors.

The Heraion of Olympia, 600 BC, illustrates the transition from wood to stone construction. This building, initially constructed entirely of wood and mudbrick, had its wooden columns gradually replaced with stone. The Heraion is a good example of how the relationship between naos and peristalsis is used as a solution that became canonical decades later.

The Artemis Temple in Kerkira (Corfu) is the oldest example of a Doric temple built of stone. Its columns reach a height of barely five times their bottom diameter and were very closely spaced with an intercolumniation of a single column width. The individual members of its Doric orders differ considerably from the later canon, although all essential Doric features are present.

Ionic Order

For the early period, before the 6^th century BC, the term Ionic temple referred to a temple in the Ionian areas of settlement. The early temples show no concern for the typical Doric feature of visibility from all sides and they usually lack an opisthodomos. The peripteros only became evident in the area in the 4^th century BC. The Ionic temples stress the front by using double porticos and elongated peristaseis became a determining element.

Ionic temples were also characterised by their tendency to use varied and richly decorated surfaces, as well as the widespread use of light-shade contrasts.

Characteristics of the Ionic Order:

• Temples were higher and slenderer than the Doric architecture.
• Bases support the columns, which have more vertical flutes than those of the Doric order.
• The abacus is narrow, and the entablature, usually consists of three simple horizontal bands.
• The architrave carved with three flat undecorated projecting bands.
• The frieze is usually carved with relief sculpture arranged in a continuous pattern around the building.
• More decorated.

 

In the Cyclades, there were early temples entirely built of marble. Volute capitals have not been found associated with these, but their marble entablatures belonged to the Ionic order.

 

Some of the monumental Ionic temples are:

• The Heraion of Samos

The temple in the Heraion of Samos, constructed by Rhoikos around 560 BC, is the first known dipteros, with outside dimensions of 52 × 105 m. A double portico of 8 × 21 columns enclosed the naos, and the back had ten columns. In proportion to the bottom diameter, the columns reached three times the height of a Doric counterpart. The Samian column bases were decorated with a sequence of horizontal flutings and weighed 1,500 kg a piece. The capitals of this structure were probably still entirely of wood, as was the entablature. The columns of the inner peristasis had leaf decoration and no volutes.

 

• The Artemisia of Ephesus

With the beginning of the construction of the older Artemisia of Ephesus around 550 BC the amount of archaeological remains of Ionic temples increased. The architect Theodorus had been one of the builders of the Heraion and planned to build the Artemisia as a dipteros. With a substructure of 55 × 115 m, the Artemisia out scaled all previous structures. The building was entirely of marble and was considered as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

The columns stood on ephesian bases, 36 of them were decorated with life-sized friezes of human figures at the bottom of the shaft. The columns had between 40 and 48 flutings, some of them cut to alternate between a wider and a narrower fluting. The oldest marble architraves spanned the widest distances ever achieved in pure stone and was found at the Artemisia.

The middle architrave block was 8.74 m long and weighed 24 metric tons. It had to be lifted to its final position, 20 m above ground, with a system of pulleys. The temple had differentiated column widths in the front, and a higher number of columns at the back. Kroisos was allegedly one of the sponsors according to ancient sources.

The temple was burnt down by Herostratos in 356 BC but re-erected soon thereafter. This time a crepidoma of ten or more steps was constructed. Its basis had to be balanced out to fit the heightened entablature, producing not only a visual contrast to, but also a major weight upon the slender columns.

 

• Temple of Apollo at Didyma

The temple of Apollo at Didyma near Miletus was built around 540 BC and was another dipteros with open internal courtyard. The interior had pilasters, reflecting that of the external peristasis. The columns, with 36 flutings, had figural decoration like those at Ephesus. Construction was halted around 500 BC but restarted in 331 BC and the temple was finally completed in the 2^nd century BC. The building was the first Ionic temple to follow the Attic tradition of uniform column distances, and the frontal differentiation was not practised any more.

 

• Temple of Athena Polias, Priene

Ionic peripteroi were usually somewhat smaller and shorter in their dimensions than Doric. The temple of Athena Polias at Priene has partially survived and is considered in antiquity as the classical example of an Ionic temple. It was the first monumental peripteros of Ionia, constructed between 350 – 330 BC by Pytheos whom was of major influence in the architectural world far beyond his lifetime.

The temple of Polias is based on a 1.8 m × 1.8 m grid and had 6 × 11 columns. The walls and columns were aligned axially, according to Ionic tradition. The peristasis was of equal depth on all sides, eliminating the usual emphasis on the front. An opisthodomos, integrated into the back of the naos, is the first proper example in Ionic architecture.

 

• The Artemisia of Magnesia

One of the projects led by Hermogenes was the Artemisia of Magnesia on the Maeander, one of the first pseudodipteroi. Other early pseudodipteroi include the temple of Aphrodite at Messa on Lesbos, the temple of Apollo Sminthaios on Chryse and the temple of Apollo at Alabanda.

With the different arrangement of the pseudodipteros, omitting the interior row of columns while maintaining a peristasis with the width of two column distances, it produces a massively broadened portico, compared to contemporary hall architecture. The grid of the temple of Magnesia was based on a 3.7 m × 3.7 m square. The peristasis was surrounded by 8 × 15 columns and the naos consisted of a pronaos of four column depths. Above the architrave of the peristasis, there was a figural frieze of 137 m length, portraying the Amazonomachy. Above it lay the dentil, the Ionic geison and the sima.

 

• Epidaurus

Asclepios in Epidaurus, one of the first temples of the pseudoperipteros type. This small ionic prostyle temple had engaged columns along the sides and back. The peristasis was therefore reduced to a mere hint of a full portico facade.

 

 

CLASSICAL AGE (500 – 330 BC)

After stone architecture was introduced the essential elements and forms of each temple, such as the number of columns and of column rows, underwent continuous change throughout Greek antiquity.

Ionian Samos developed the double-colonnaded dipteros as an alternative to the single peripteros. His idea was copied in Didyma, Ephesus and Athens and between the 6^th and the late 4^th century BC, several temples were built.

There are five orders of classical architecture, which include the Doric and Ionic, but also add Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite. Greek architects created the first three and hugely influenced the last two which were composites rather than genuine innovations. The Corinthian column, for example, invented in Athens in the 5^th century BC, is like the Ionic but topped by a more decorative capital of stylized acanthus and fern leaves. These orders became the basic grammar of western architecture and today examples of them can be seen in any modern city in one form or another.

Examples of temples built in the Classical period is the Temple of Zeus, Olympia (460 BC), the Temple of Apollo on Delos (470 BC), the Temple of Hephaistos at Athens and the temple of Poseidon on Cape Sounion.

The Parthenon

The Parthenon maintains the same proportion at a larger scale of 8 × 17 columns but follows the same principles as the previously mentioned temples. Despite the eight columns on its front, the temple is a pure peripteros, its external naos walls align with the axes of the 2^nd and 7^th columns. The Parthenon is distinguished as an exceptional example among the mass of Greek peripteroi by the many distinctive aesthetic solutions in detail. All measurements in the Parthenon are determined by the proportion 4:9. It determines column width to column distance, width to length of the stylobate, and of the naos without antae.

The external walls of the naos are crowned with a figural frieze surrounding the entire naos with large format figures decorating the pediments on the narrow sides. This conjunction of strict principles and elaborate refinements makes the Parthenon the paradigmatic Classical temple. The Temple of Hephaistos at Athens, constructed shortly after the Parthenon, uses the same aesthetic and proportional principles, without adhering as closely to the 4:9 proportion.

Corinthian Order

The Corinthian order is considered the third order of Classical architecture. It came to be used for the external design of Greek temples quite late. Only after it had proved its acceptability when used on a mausoleum of a modern-day Belevi it found increasing popularity in the last half of the 3^rd century BC.

The order’s columns are slender and fluted and sit atop a base. The capital consists of a double layer of acanthus leaves and stylized plant tendrils that curl up towards the abacus in the shape of a scroll or volute. The decorative Corinthian order was not widely adopted in Greece but was substantially used throughout the Roman period.

The first well-preserved Corinthian temple is the rebuilding of the ruined Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens that contains the best-known examples of the Corinthian column. Originally designed in the Doric order in the 6^th century BC, the temple was redesigned in the 2^nd century BC in the Corinthian order on a colossal platform of 110 x 44 m and 8 x 20 columns, which made it one of the largest Corinthian temples ever built.

The design was eventually changed to have three rows of eight columns across the front and back of the temple and a double row of twenty on the flanks, for a total of 104 columns. The columns stand 55.5 feet high and 6.5 feet in diameter. In 164 BC, the death of Antiochus IV brought the project to a halt, and the temple would remain incomplete for another two centuries.

Another example of the Corinthian order was built in Olba-Diokaisarea in Cilicia around the middle of the 2^nd century BC. It was 6 × 12 columns Corinthian peripteros. Its columns stand on Attic bases without plinths, which is exceptional for the period. The 24 flutings of the columns are only indicated by facets in the lower third. Each of the Corinthian capitals is made of three separate parts. The entablature of the temple was probably in the Doric order. All these details suggest an Alexandrian workshop since Alexandria was the only to show the tendency to combine Doric entablatures with Corinthian capitals and to do without the plinth under Attic bases.

Another Corinthian order plan option is shown by the temple of Hekate at Lagena, which is a small pseudoperipteros of 8 × 11 columns. A rich figural frieze is Its distinctive feature, and makes this building, constructed around 100 BC, an architectural gem.

The few Greek temples in the Corinthian order are exceptional in ground plan and are initially usually an expression of royal patronage. The Corinthian order permitted a considerable increase of the material and technical effort invested in a building, which made its use attractive for the purposes of royals. As an element of Roman architecture, the Corinthian temple came to be widely distributed in all of the Graeco-Roman world, especially in Asia Minor, until the late Imperial period.

 

 

HELLENISTIC AGE (323 BC – 0)

Architecture during the Hellenistic period focused on theatricality and drama and it also saw an increase in popularity of the Corinthian order.

The conquests of Alexander the Great had caused power to shift from the city-states of Greece to the ruling dynasties. Dynastic families patronized large complexes and dramatic urban plans within their cities. These urban plans often focused on the natural setting and were intended to enhance views and create dramatic civic, judicial, and market spaces that differed from the orthogonal plans of the houses that surrounded them.

Monumental tombs were still required for ruling families, but nobles and the nouveaux riches could also seek to have them now. Some were designed as minor sanctuaries for the heroized dead. The finest Macedonian tombs of the period displayed a painted architectural facade below ground, leading to a painted and elaborately furnished vaulted underground chamber. The variety of administrative and court requirements for buildings led to original designs that broke still more decisively with the colonnade orders of Classical temples.

A variety of floral and animal forms that enriched the surface decoration of building were added to the established decorative repertory of mouldings and carved ornaments. This was especially happening in the East where these forms were combined in original ways that, together with structures that defied the logic of the Classical orders, tended to a style that anticipates the Baroque. Architecture was basically still that of mass on mass, but it was left to Rome to make significant progress in construction methods.

Architecture in the Hellenistic period is most associated with the growing popularity of the Corinthian order. However, the Doric and Ionic orders underwent notable changes. Examples include slender and unfluted Doric columns and four-fronted capitals on Ionic columns, the latter of which helped to solve design problems concerning symmetry on temple porticos.

A stoa, or a covered walkway or portico, was used to bind agorae and other public spaces. Highlighting the edge of open areas with such decorative architecture created a theatrical effect for the public space and provided citizens with a form of protection against the elements. The stoa and the agora were used by merchants, artists, religious festivals, judicial courts, and civic administrations.

The Stoa of Attalus in Athens was built in the Agora in 150 BC under the aid of King Attalus II of Pergamon. This portico consists of a double colonnade. It had two storeys and a row of rooms on the ground floor. The exterior colonnade on the ground floor was built in the Doric order, and the interior was Ionic. On second level Ionic columns lined the exterior, and columns with a simple, stylized capital lined the interior.

In the early Hellenistic period, the Greek peripteral temple lost much of its importance. Classical temple construction stopped in Hellenistic Greece and in the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia. Only in the west of Asia Minor a low level of temple construction during the 3^rd century BC was maintained. The construction of large projects like the temple of Apollo at Didyma and the Artemission that was still ongoing, did not make much progress.

During the 2^nd century BC there was a revival of temple architecture, including peripteral temples. This was due to the influence of the architect Hermogenes of Priene, who redefined the principles of Ionic temple construction both practically and through theoretical work.

The rulers of the many Hellenistic kingdoms provided ample financial resources. Their rivalry and desires to stabilise their own spheres of influence, as well as the increasing conflict with Rome, specifically in the field of culture, released a force of strength into the revival of Greek temple architecture. In this period Greek temples became more in southern Asia Minor, Egypt, and Northern Africa.

Regardless of the good conditions generated by the economic growth and the high degree of technical innovation and the examples in the 3^rd and 2^nd century BC, the Hellenistic religious architecture is generally represented by a multitude of tiny shrines or naiskoi, small temples in antis and prostyle temples.

Tiny shrines had been constructed in important place such as market squares, by roads and near springs during the Archaic period and now flourished. These smaller structures led to the start and development of a special form, the pseudoperipteros. The pseudoperipteros uses engaged columns along the naos walls to produce the illusion of a peripteral temple. One of the first temples built on this form was Temple L at Epidaurus. This was quickly followed by many Roman buildings of which the Maison Carrée at Nîmes is one example.

Another aspect that led to a change in architectural practice during the early 1^st century BC is the Mithridatic Wars. Sponsors did not demonstrate their generosity by building temples but rather supported Roman magistrates of the Eastern provinces. Despite this, the construction of temples, although much smaller, did take place. The Temple of Aphrodite at Aphrodisias is one such an example.

Temples during the Hellenistic period were mostly built for the imperial cult or to Roman deities, like the temple of Jupiter at Baalbek. Some temples were still built to Greek deities as seen with the Tychaion at Selge, but they tend to follow the canonical forms of the developing Roman imperial style of architecture. They had to maintain local non-Greek idiosyncrasies, like the temples in Palmyra or Petra.

The famous Lighthouse of Pharos in Alexandria with its tiers of masonry 135 metres high, the library of Alexandria, and the clock house Tower of the Winds at Athens are a few examples of original designs of the Hellenistic period. Monumental fountains and assembly halls and a new expansion of stage architecture for theatres where acting took place on a raised stage for the first time, is also typical of this period.

The Lighthouse of Pharos

The Lighthouse of Pharos, that was possibly located on the site occupied by the Fortress of Qait Bay, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was named after the maritime god and built on a small island off the coast of Alexandria in 280 BC. Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II built the lighthouse about 40 years after Alexander’s death. It was the forerunner to modern lighthouses.

It guided Mediterranean ships into Alexandria’s harbour, and lit the entrance to the harbour with a massive flame at its crest. The lighthouse was said to be 390 feet tall which is almost as high as the pyramids. It was made up of three storeys and probably had about 300 rooms. No one is sure what it looks like as there are only etchings, a few representations in mosaics, paintings and glass portraying the light house. Most of them were also made long after it collapsed.

According to some descriptions the Lighthouse of Pharos was made of white marble and constructed of alternating circular and square tiers. Each tier had a balcony and at the top was a small octagonal section and a cylindrical section and a statue of Poseidon or Zeus. The light was provided by a great brazier surrounded by mirrors that could amplify the light from the fire so that it could be seen so far as 300 miles away at sea. It warned ships of reefs and sand near Alexandria and showed the best way to approach the harbour.

During the Arab invasion of the 7^th and 8^th century half the tower was torn down. The remaining half collapsed into the sea in the great earthquake in 1375 due to weakening over the centuries. A Mamluk fortress was later constructed on the site of the lighthouse and nothing remains of it today. The island is now joined to the Alexandria mainland. There is a model of the Light house of Pharos in the Alexandria Naval Museum and the Ptolemaic lighthouses west of Alexandria are believed to be models of the Pharos original.

The rising of the Roman empire in the east unfortunately brought an end to Greek temple architecture. Work did, however, continue to complete large unfinished structures like the temple of Apollo at Didyma and the Olympian at Athens that took place into the later 2^nd century AD.

The banning of pagan cults through the edicts of Theodosius I and his successors on the throne of the Roman Empire, led to the gradual closure of Greek temples, or their conversion into Christian churches.

This period brought an end to the history of the architecture of the Greek temples, although many of the temples remained in use for a long time afterwards. One example is the Athenian Parthenon, who was first used as a church and later turned into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest. It remained structurally strong up to the 17^th century AC when it was used to store gunpowder. The unfortunate hit by a Venetian cannonball led to the destruction of this landmark and important temple more than 2000 years after it was built.