Timeline of Western Architecture

Timeline of Western history

Summary of Ancient Greek history

Summary of the Classical Age

The Ancient Greek world

http://youtu.be/gtKgfS1QwLk?list=UUrO6kW3nA2NGZdGPkAy_bQw
THE BIG PICTURE
The Bronze Age disintegrated, and with it, the Prehistoric
Aegean. The disappearance of powerful kings and their cultures
caused the loss of the knowledge (of how to cut masonry,
construct citadels and tombs, paint frescoes, and sculpt in
stone). Even the arts of reading and writing were forgotten. There
was depopulation, poverty, and an almost total loss of contact
with the outside world this is sometimes called the Dark Age of
Greece.
But then in the 8th century BC economic conditions began to
improve and the population began to grow again.
This era was in its own way a heroic age, a time when the poleis
of Classical Greece took shape; when the Greeks broke out of
their isolation and once again began to trade with cities both in
the east and the west; when Homers epic poems, formerly
memorized and passed down from bard to bard, were recorded
in written form; and when the Olympic Games were established.
 Ancient Greek Architecture 101
The temple was the most important Greek building type.
Other monumental buildings (e.g. palaces, civic buildings) were often based on the
temple design.
The Greek temple was the home of a deity statue, before which ceremonies were
held by priests; it was not a place of congregational worship (the public could not
enter).
Ancient Greek worship, like that of many religions, was conducted mainly in outdoor
ceremonies.
The Archaic Age ca. 800-500 BC
The Archaic age was the formative period of Greek architecture, during which the
typical layouts, proportions, and decorative elements of the Greek temple were
established.
The earliest Greek temple design was a rectangular building with a portico
(covered porch with columns) fitted to the entrance.
This plan was based on the Mycenaean megaron.
Eventually, in order to achieve a symmetrical design, a second portico was added
to the opposite end of the building; this was decorative (a false portico) as it often
had no entrance.
Eventually, the roof
was extended and
supported with a line of
columns all the way
around the building.

A line of columns that

surrounds a building is
called a peristyle; a
building with a peristyle
is described as
peripteral.
Basic structure of a Greek temple

With the basic layout established, two distinct styles of Greek temple emerged: the
simple Doric order and the more decorative Ionic order.
DORIC: heavy simplicity
The oldest, simplest, and most massive of the Greek orders is the Doric, which was applied to
temples from the 7th century B.C. Columns are placed close together and are without bases.
Their shafts are sculpted with concave curves called flutes. The capitals are plain with a
rounded section at the bottom, known as the echinus, and a square at the top, called the
abacus. The entablature has a distinctive frieze decorated with vertical channels, or triglyphs.
In between the triglyphs are spaces, called metopes, which were usually sculpted with figures
& ornamentation. The frieze is separated from the architrave by a narrow band called the
regula. MASCULINE, STOCKY, HEAVY, SIMPLE

Doric frieze

http://youtu.be/_tNnI_w6TTQ Temples at Paestum

IONIC
The next order to be developed by the Greeks was the Ionic. It is called Ionic because it
developed in the Ionian islands in the 6th century B.C.
Roman historian Vitruvius compared this delicate order to a female form, in contrast to the
stockier "male" Doric order. The Ionic was used for smaller buildings and interiors. It's easy
to recognize because of the two scrolls, called volutes, on its capital. The volutes may have
been based on nautilus shells or animal horns. Between the volutes is a curved section that
is often carved with oval decorations known as egg and dart. Above the capital, the
entablature is narrower than the Doric, with a frieze
containing a continuous band of sculpture.
FEMININE, SLENDER, ELABORATE
One of the earliest and most striking
examples of the Ionic order is the tiny
Temple to Athena Nike at the entrance
to the Athens Acropolis.
It was designed and built by Callicrates
from about 448-421 B.C.
It is a tetrastyle (four column) Ionic
temple, with colonnaded porticoes in
the front and back.
 Pediment
Pediment

Tympanum Tympanum

http://youtu.be/nrRJkzXl4a4 The Classical Orders: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian

SUMMARY:
The Greeks continued to strive for perfection in the appearance of their
buildings.
To make their columns look straight, they bowed them slightly outward to
compensate for the optical illusion that makes vertical lines look curved from a
distance. They named this effect entasis, which means "to strain" in Greek.
Relationships between columns, windows, doorways, and other elements
were constantly analyzed to find pleasing dimensions that were in harmony
with nature and the human body.
Symmetry, and the unity of parts to the whole, were important to Greek
architecture, as these elements reflected the democratic city-state invented by
the Greek civilization.
Worksheet: using your lesson notes, label the diagrams and name the orders
Worksheet: using your lesson notes, label the diagrams and name the orders
Sources and extra information:
http://www.essential-humanities.net
http://visual.merriam-webster.com/arts-architecture/architecture.php
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/greek-architecture-doric-ionic-or-corinthian.html
http://staff.fcps.net/bconaway/Architecture/Greek%20Temple%20parts/gk_temple_parts.htm
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/GreekTemple.htm
http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/ARTH209/Parthenon_gallery.html
http://www.mccullagh.org/photo/1ds-12/the-parthenon
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/athens-temple-of-athena-nike
Gardners Art through the Ages