GREEK ARCHITECTURE

ORDERS IN ARCHITECTURE
 GREEK ARCHITECTURE
ORDERS IN ARCHITECTURE

Definition
"An Order in architecture is a certain assemblageof parts subject to uniform
established proportions,regulated bythe office that eachpart has to perform".

1. Doric Order
2. Ionic Order
3. Corinthian Order
• An architectural order describes a style of building.
• In Classical architecture, each order is readily identifiable by means of its
proportions and profiles as well as by various aesthetic details.
• The style of column employed serves as a useful index of the style itself, so
identifying the order of the column will then, in turn, situate the order employed in
the structure as a whole.
• The three ancient orders of architecture are the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian,
originated from Greece .
• They do not merely serve as descriptors for the remains of ancient buildings but as
an index to the architectural and aesthetic development of Greek architecture itself.
 THE DORIC ORDER
• The Doric order is the earliest of the three Classical
orders of architecture
• It represents an important moment in Mediterranean
architecture when monumental construction made the
transition from impermanent materials—like wood—to
permanent materials, namely stone.
• The Doric order is characterized by a plain, unadorned
column capital and a column that rests directly on the
stylobate of the temple without a base.
• The Doric entablature includes a frieze composed of
triglyphs, vertical plaques with three divisions, and
metopes, square spaces for either painted or sculpted
decoration.
• The columns are fluted and are of sturdy, if not stocky,
proportions.
 DORIC ORDER ATTRIBUTES

• It is the simplest of the orders, characterized by short,

faceted, heavy columns with plain, round
capitals (tops) and no base.

• Its height is only six to seven times its diameter.

It’s columns are the most squat of all orders.

• The shaft of the Doric order is channeled with

20 flutes.The capital consists of a necking which is of a
simple form.The echinus is convex and the abacus is
square.
FLUTES & FILLETS
 DORIC ORDER
• The Doric order emerged on the Greek mainland during the course of the late
seventh century BCE and remained the predominant order for Greek temple
construction through the early fifth century BCE,
• Although notable buildings built later in the Classical period especially the
canonical Parthenon in Athens still employed it.
• By 575 BCE, the order may be properly identified, with some of the earliest
surviving elements being the metope plaques from the Temple of Apollo at
Thermon. Other early, but fragmentary, examples include the sanctuary of Hera
at Argos, votive capitals from the island of Aegina, as well as early Doric capitals
that were a part of the Temple of Athena Pronaia at Delphi in central Greece.
• The Doric order finds perhaps its fullest expression in the Parthenon, c. 447-
432 BCE., at Athens designed by Iktinos and Kallikrates.
 The most famous Greek Doric
Temple is the Parthenon
⚫ The Parthenon is a former temple on the
Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to
the goddessAthena, whom the people of
Athens considered their patron.
Construction began in 447 BC when the
Athenian Empire was at the peak of its
power. It was constructed in 447 BC by
architects Ictinus, Callicrates The
temple stands on the highest point in the
Acropolis. It is constructed from the
whitest marble- Pentelic Marble.

Source:ThingLink.com
The Parthenon,
447-432 BCE,
Athens.
Designed by
Iktinos and
Kallikrates,
Temple of Hephaestus,Athens, built about 447 BC
OTHER TEMPLES- Temple of the Delians ( Island of Delos)

Parthenon ( City ofAthens)

 The Entablature of Temple of Hephaestus
The frieze consists of the characteristic Metopes and triglyphs
Nashville's replica of the Parthenon by Alan LeQuire's
1990
 IONIC ORDER
• As its names suggests, the Ionic order originated in
Ionia, a coastal region of central Anatolia—today
Turkey—where a number of ancient Greek
settlements were located.
• Volutes, scroll-like ornaments, characterize the
Ionic capital, and a base supports the column,
unlike the Doric order.
• The Ionic order developed in Ionia during the mid-
sixth century BCE and had been transmitted to
mainland Greece by the fifth century BCE.
• The echinus itself is decorated with an egg-and-
dart motif.
• Ionic shaft comes with four more flutes than
the Doric counterpart ( a total of 24 flutes).

Egg-and-dart motif
 IONIC ORDER
• The Ionic order is notable for its graceful
proportions,
• which produce a more slender and elegant
profile than the Doric order.
• The ancient Roman architect Vitruvius
compared the Doric module to a sturdy, male
body,
• while the Ionic was possessed of more graceful,
feminine proportions.
• The Ionic order incorporates a running frieze
of continuous sculptural relief, as opposed to
the Doric frieze composed of triglyphs and
metopes.
 IONIC ORDER

• The Ionic order is also marked by an entasis, a

curved tapering in the column shaft; narrow top and
wide base.

• The architrave of the entablature commonly consists of

three stepped bands (fasciae).

• The frieze comes without the Doric triglyph and

metope. The frieze sometimes comes with a
continuous ornament such as carved figures instead
The Ionic Capital
North porch of the Erechtheion, 421-407 BCE, marble, Acropolis, Athens
 Temple of Artemis aka the Temple of Diana, Ephesus-Turkey
The most famous example and one of the seven wonders of the ancient, built around BCby King Croe
of Lydia. It was later burnt down in 262BC.The temple as 137m long, 69m wide and 18m high.
Artemis was the Greek goddess, daughter of Zeus and twin sister to Apollo. She was the deity of hun, the
wilderness, the moon and chastity.
 CORINTHIAN ORDER
• The Corinthian order is both the latest and the
most elaborate of the Classical orders of
architecture.
• This order was employed in both Greek and
Roman architecture with minor variations and
gave rise.
• The origins of the order were connected in
antiquity with the Greek city-state of Corinth,
where, according to the architectural writer
Vitruvius,
• The sculptor Callimachus drew a set of acanthus
leaves surrounding a votive basket of the capital.

ACANTHUS LEAVES
 CORINTHIAN ORDER
• The defining element of the Corinthian order is its
elaborate, carved capital,
• which incorporates even more vegetal elements
than the Ionic order does.
• The stylized, carved leaves of an acanthus plant
grow around the capital, generally terminating
just below the abacus.
• The Romans favored the Corinthian order, perhaps
due to its slender properties.
• The order is employed in numerous notable
Roman architectural monuments, including the
Temple of Mars Ultor, the Pantheon in Rome, and
the Maison Carrée in Nîmes.
 CORINTHIAN ORDER
ATTRIBUTES

It is characterized by a slender fluted column, with 24 flutes having

an ornate capital decorated with two rows of acanthus leaves. The
height to diameter ratio of the shaft is ten diameters high.

• Its Frieze is plain without any metope, triglyphs or

carved sculpture with a base similar to the Ionic
column.

• The Roman writerVitruvius credited the invention of the

Corinthian order to Callimachus, a Greek sculptor of the 5th
centuryBC and made it popular throughhis writings.

• The oldest known building built according to this order is the

Choragic Monument of Lysicrates inAthens, constructed
from 335 to 334 BC.
 THE CHORAGIC MONUMENT OF LYSICRATES, ATHENS

The marble monument with its pyramidal roof and 12 Corinthian columns, is
based on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates inAthens. Built 1893.
THE CORINTHIAN CAPITAL
Temple of Mars
Ultor
COMPARISON OF THREE OF THE MAIN GREEK
COLUMN STYLES- DORIC, IONIC, AND
CORINTHIAN.
Comparison of three of the main Greek column styles—Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
 DECLINE OF TH E HELLENISTIC AGE
• In 336 B.C., Alexander the Great became the leader of the Greek kingdom of Macedonia
after taking over from his father King Philip II. The Greeks had spent two centuries fighting
the Persians and each other.

• Bythe time he died 13 years later,Alexander had built an empire that stretched from
Greece to India. That brief but thorough empire building campaign changed the
world.

• It spread Greek ideas and culture from the Eastern Mediterranean to Asia. Historians
call this era the “Hellenistic period.” (The word “Hellenistic”comes from the word
Hellazein, which means “to speak Greek or identify with the Greeks.”)

• It lasted from the death ofAlexander in 323 B.C. until 31 B.C., when Roman troops
conquered the last of the territories that the Macedonian king had once ruled.
 HELLENISTIC A RT
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE
DEVELOPMENT
• The conquests of Alexander the Great spread Hellenism
• The Hellenistic period dating from the death ofAlexander the Great in 323 BC to
the emergence of ancient Rome as signified by the Battle ofActium in 31 BC and
the subsequent conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt in 30 BC.
• Anumber of the best-known works of Greek sculpture belong to this period.
• Greek culture and its arts, was exposed to a host of new exotic influences;
• A fusion of theAncient Greek world with that of the Near East, Middle East, and
SouthwestAsia, and a departure from earlier Greek attitudes towards "barbarian"
culture
HELLENISTIC S CU L P TU RE
 THE IMPORTANCE OF ANCIENT GREEK ARCHITECTURE
Greek architecture is important for several reasons:
1. Logic and order: These two qualities were the focus of Greek architecture.The Hellenes
planned their temples according to a coded scheme of parts, based first on function, then on a
reasoned system of sculptural decoration. Mathematics determined the symmetry, the
harmony, the eye's pleasure.

⚫ Egyptian pyramid architecture attempted logic and order but Greek building art offered the first
clear, strong expression of a rational, national architectural creed. It is the supreme reflection of
the intellect working logically to create a unified aesthetic effect.

⚫ Greek designers used precise mathematical calculations to determine the

height, width and other characteristics of architectural elements.

⚫ These proportions might be changed slightly, and certain individual elements (columns, capitals,
base platform), might be tapered or curved, in order to create the optimum visual effect, as if the
building was a piece of sculpture.
• Its invention of the classical "orders": namely, namely, the doric order, the ionic order
and the corinthian order - accordingto the type of column, capital and entablature used
• Its exquisite architectural sculpture. architects commissioned sculptors to sculpt
friezes, statues and other architectural sculptures, whose beauty has rarely, if ever, been
equalled in the history of art.

• Its influence on other schools: although greek architects rarely progressed further
than simple post-and-lintel building techniques, and failed to match the engineering
techniques (arch, vault) developed in roman architecture, they succeeded in creating the
most beautiful, monumental structures of theancientworld.

• Their formulas - devised asfar back as 550 bce - paved the way for renaissance and
neoclassical architecture, and had the greatest possible influence on the proportions, style
and aesthetics of the 18th and 19th centuries. modern architects, too, have been
influenced by greek architectural forms.
 THE LEGACY OF GREEK
ARCHITECTURE
⚫ Ancient Greece is considered by most historians to be the cultural foundation of Western
Civilization.

⚫ Greek culture was a powerful influence in the Roman Empire, which carried
a version of it to many parts of Europe.

⚫ Ancient Greek civilization has been immensely influential on the language, politics, educational
systems, philosophy, art, law and architecture of the modern world.

⚫ Greek architecture inspired and influenced its neighbours the Romans, who later succeeded the
position of influence as the political ofAncient Greece declined.

⚫ Classical Greek architecture has been revived several times through the history of Western
Architecture; Venetian Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Greek Revival. It continues to influence
and inspire architects.
Supreme Court Building — a masterpiece inspired by the classical Greek style. Completed in 1935, it is
situated at 1 First Street, NE. On May 4, 1987, the Supreme Court Building was designated a National Historic
Landmark.
NeoclassicalArchitecture -Greek-inspired architecture.
The Lincoln Memorial could be called a variation on the Parthenon inAthens.Ashrine to the 16th President of
the United States, it is marked bythe touching words:“In this temple,as in the hearts of the people for whom he
saved the Union, the memory ofAbrahamLincoln is enshrined forever.”
The Grange, Hampshire (1804)
Greek-inspired architecture.
 REFERENCES

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_architecture
2. http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/architecture/greek.htm
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon
4. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Parthenon
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_architecture#Influences
6. https://www.britannica.com/technology/order-architecture
7. https://usa.greekreporter.com/2018/07/04/five-beautiful-american-buildings-based-
on-classical-greek-architecture/