Greek architecture

ART HISTORY AND

MOVEMENTS: WESTERN ART

SANCTUARIES
AND
ARCHITECTURE
TIMELINE OF GREEK
ARCHITECTURE
700 – 600
TEMPLE OF
HERA 1B
AT SOMOS
700
TEMPLE OF
HERA 2 AT
SAMOS
660 - 625
TEMPLE OF
APOLLO AT
THERMON
630
600 – 500
 TEMPLE OF
HERA I AT
POSEIDONIA/
PAESTUM
500
 TEMPLE OF
APOLLO
(ARCHAIC) AT
DELPHI

548 - 510
 TEMPLE C
AT SELINUS/
SELINUNTE,
550 – 530
SIPHNIAN
TREASURY
AT DELPHI
530 – 545
500 – 400
ATHENIAN
TREASURY
AT DELPHI
490–485
TEMPLE OF
ZEUS AT
OLYMPIA
470–457
TEMPLE OF
HERA II AT
POSEIDONI
A/PAESTUM
460
PARTHENON
AT ATHENS
447–432
 TEMPLE OF
CONCORD AT
AKRAGAS/
AGRIGENTO
440–430
ERECHTHEION
AT
ATHENS
431–405
400 – 300
TEMPLE OF
ASKLEPIOS
AT
EPIDAURUS
375-370
THYMELE
AT
EPIDAURU
S
360-330
TEMPLE OF
APOLLO AT
DELPHI
373/2-327/6
300 – 200
TEMPLE OF
APOLLO AT
DIDYMA
BEGUN 300
(UNFINISHED)
200 – 100
 GREAT
ALTAR OF
ZEUS AT
PERGAMON
180-150
ASKLEPIEION
AT KOS
160
SANCTUARIES
Reconstructi
on drawing
of the
sanctuary
at Olympia
SANCTUARIES
• Exist in a variety of locations and
sizes, but all can be said to be places
that are set apart from ordinary life
in which humans can connect
• In Greece, interactions may take
place both by group and individual
level.
SANCTUARIES
• Where communal acts are done
• Communal acts:
• Processions
• Performances
• Sacrifices of animals and harvest
followed by communal feasting
• Dedication of gifts
• Competitions (athletics, arts, music,
poetry, drama, and dance)
SANCTUARIES
• Handles both small and large groups
of people in activities that may take
both short and long periods of time
to complete
• Stores and keep safe the gifts
dedicated to the gods
• Communal activities took place in
open air
SANCTUARIES
• Sanctuary or Temenos usually
defined by walls or boundary
markers to distinguish the sacred
space clearly
• Limited entrance to regulate flow of
traffic
SANCTUARIES
• TREASURY
• A small building housing
dedications, usually rectangular
in plan with naos and pronaos
with columns in antis

• STADION
• A racecourse in a sanctuary, with
banked sides for spectators
A MINI-HISTORY
OF THE GREEK
TEMPLE
 L AT E
BRONZE
AGE
• Palaces in this age
are consists of
Pronaos (entrance
hall) and a
rectangular naos
(temple) with four
columns and a
hearth (fire place).
LEFKANDI
• The earliest house in
Lefkandi is much larger
and more complex for a
house or a
heroon/heroum.
o Heroon - hero’s shrine
• This helps to distinguish
a temple and a house
by its size.
H E K AT O M P E D O
N
• ‘hundred – footer’
• Temples are bigger, a
symbolism that
temples are
important and sacred.
• Seen in the Temple of
Hera in Samos.
 7 TH

C E N T U RY
• Earliest temples
of Polis have
similar
conception/for
m with the
houses.
 6th
C E N T U RY
• FIRST HALF
o Stone is a prominent
building material.
o Two orders are
mainly used
throughout their
architecture
- DORIC ORDER -
- IONIC ORDER
DORIC ORDER IONIC ORDER
- simplest of the orders - distinguished by slender,
- characterized by short, fluted pillars with a large
faceted
base and two
- heavy columns with plain,
opposed scrolls.
round capitals (tops) and
no base.
• Colonnades are
added in the
exterior of each
temple during
this time.
o Colonnade –
series of
columns
 5TH
C E N T U RY
• Number of optical
refinements were introduced.
o Curvature of the stylobate
o Adjustments of
Intercolumniation
Dimension
- Intercolumniation – spacing
of columns.
o Columns leaning in slightly.
• Examples:
o The Parthenon
• Later temples showed some
changes from this century’s
standard proportions.
 TEMPLE OF
APOLLO in
BASSAE

• Located in
Peloponnesos
• Earliest building to
use the Corinthian
Order.
4 T H C E N T U RY
• Corinthian order is
the most prominent
feature.
• Corinthian Order
- featured columns that
were carved
- decorated by vertical
lines cut into the surface
- capitals that were
decorated with a
design of unfurled
acanthus leaves
HELLENISTIC
• Siting continues to
be a major
consideration in this
era.
• Siting - the position
or location of a town,
building, etc.
• Temple of Asklepios
at Kos
TEMPLE OF
ASKLEPIOS
AT K O S
• Modest in scale.
• Gained visual
prominence as it
shows a view of the
nearby city.
 2ND
C E N T U RY
• Corinthian order
was first used for an
exterior of the temple
in the Temple of
Olympian Zeus in
Athens
 TEMPLES
• Most distinctive
building type
developed by the
Greeks.
• Visual mark of their
identity.
• Earliest structures
built.
 THE 3 ORDERS OF
ARCHITECTURE
• Doric, Ionic and Corinthian Order.
• Provided a system for their design and
construction.
• Only one can be adapted or varied in every
temple to make it distinctive.
THE
ARCHITECTURAL
ORDERS
CLASSICAL
ORDERS
DORIC ORDER
• simplest of the orders
• characterized by short, faceted
• heavy columns with plain,
round capitals (tops) and no base.

• Vitruvius tells us that the proportions

of this order were based on the ideal
male figure
IONIC ORDER
• distinguished by slender,
fluted pillars with a large base
and two opposed scrolls.

• Vitruvius tells us that the

proportions of this order were
based on the female figure
CORINTHIAN ORDER
- is the most prominent feature.
- featured columns that were carved
- decorated by vertical lines cut into the surface
- capitals that were decorated with a design of
unfurled acanthus leaves

- Developed by the sculptor Kallimachos,

distinguished by its much taller proportions and
the carving of acanthus leaves covering an
underlying bell shape
More than one order can be used as long as
they are not in one column or section of the
structure.
Rituals and
Offerings
Rituals in ancient Greeks
are performed regarding
their religion and beliefs.

A “Thusia” to the gods was

the most important activity
in Greek religion

Some of the earliest

accounts of rituals and
sacrifices are found in
epics, historical writtings,
plays and even vase
painting.
On the right side of the
Lekanis, a woman with
a shield and a spear is
shown. In front of the
altar is a woman who
carries a “Kanous” or
basket in her head.
Behind her a man walks
with a bull. Six men
formed a line behind
them, led by an “Aulos”
player. The end of the
procession is marked
by a cart drawn by
donkeys with three (sixth-century Boeotian lekanis)
figures and a driver,
followed by a man with
a man staff.
Libation is an offering involving the
ritual pouring out of a liquid such
as wine, honey, olive oil, water or
milk.

Libation was also a common

practice as a part of an animal
sacrifices where wine was poured
onto the animal during the leadup
to its sacrifice.

Once the animal was killed and

burned, wine was poured onto the
fire.
Pharmakos refers to the ritualistic
sacrifice of a human scapegoat or
victim. This practice was used
especially during times of disaster
in order to appease the gods and to
purify the community.

 
Usually a criminal, slave or an
excessively ugly or deformed
man was chosen as pharmakos, a
cast-off from society. After being
chosen by the society as the
scapegoats, they were beaten with
green twigs, torture them and
eventually kill them with stones.