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Greek Architecture
Greek Architecture
LECTURE 1
Greek Architecture
Map of Ancient Greece
Athens
Miletus
Crete
Between 1200-800 B.C, there was much warfare affecting Crete and Greece.
• Up to and before 6th Century B.C., there is not much evidence of planned towns in Greece.
• From 6th century B.C till 4th century B.C i.e. Alexander’s period, a number of cities were
founded and developed on systematic lines and advanced the cause of civic structure.
• Earlier, king was the dominating figure but later power gradually shifted to the wealthy land
owning nobles who became the ruling class.
The ruling class was were dependent on the support of the farmers and the
merchants;
• Importance of palace reduced and there was emergence of the middle class;
• During 5th century, democracy took root in city states a new form of political
organization of the community developed.
The hot sun and sudden showers were causes for buildings with colonnaded
porticos.
• Greece has ample supply of good building stones.
• Their religion was based on worship of natural phenomena.
THE TOWN PLANNING
Hygiene
Defense
Circulation The heart of the city: Or the central place was to
occupy 5 % of the city area and comprise of the
temple, the assembly hall , the council chambers,
Three Classes of people
council hall, the Agora and the Agora square.
Craftsmen
All major roads were to meet the Agora Square.
Soldiers
Workers
Streets were paved and there were underground drains beneath the streets.
Maintained reservoirs, but no water distribution system.
Orientation with respect to the climate, Principal rooms faced the south and opened
on private courtyard.
• Regional topography
• Climate
• Construction Material
Acropolis
Greek City States
The disperse nature of fertile area was only available in form of isolated valley, plains and plateau.
These conditions favored an arrangement of :
1. Urban nucleus.
2. Surrounded by country side
3. Surrounded by subordinated agricultural village community.
Regional Topography
“Greece – through out the year it was generally both agreeable and reliable- Greece is
one of those countries which have a climate and not merely weather;
• This attractive situation encouraged an open air, communally oriented attitude to life,
which assisted the development of Greek democracy.
• Meeting took place in open air, new indoor meeting places such as assembly hall
( ecclesiasteron), council hall (bouleuterion) were designed with an advent of advanced
construction Technique;
• Large scale open air theatrical ceremonies were also performed initially at the foot of
conveniently sloping natural auditoria.
Construction Material
The ancient Greek architectural characters has a great impact because of readily availability
of high quality marble.
• Worked on a fine details, marble was the medium by which Greek architecture attained
standards of perfection seldom reached in later history.
• The importance of civic buildings were conceived as three dimensional, free standing
sculptural objects.
• Unlike the civic buildings minimal effort and concern for domestic comfort.
• Direct contrast to civic buildings houses were rudimentary and either grouped by chance or
rigidly organized along basic grid line.
Emergence of Greek Civilization
Aegean period – till 1100 B.C.
Mycenaean period – 1400 to 1100 B.C.
Hellenic Period – 800 to 323 B.C.
Hellenistic Period – 323 to 30 B.C.
Colonizing Movement
This process involved the Greeks in the creation of new city states.
They imposed a limit on population.
Each colony was an independent city state which was well organized socially and
economically.
Greek urban form component
• The Acropolis
• The enclosing city wall
• The Agora
• Residential districts
• One or more leisure and cultural area
• A religious precinct
• The harbors and ports
• Industrial district
Urban form component
Mycenaean Period
• Also called Pelasgic, Cyclopean or Primitive period
• Rough walling of large stone blocks
• Corbel system, true arch evolved
Hellenic Period
• Trabeated style developed
• Refinement from Mycenaean influence
• Slender columns with refined mouldings
• Principles of design
• Correction of optical illusion
B a r r o w To m b 4100 BC
s E
Architecture
• Chamber (circular mound) built of stone slabs
• Narrow passageway
• In some cases fortified by retaining walls
• An artificial mound created on top
• Sometimes side chambers surround the main
chamber
Pre-Mycenaean (Aege 3000 - 1 3 0 0 B C
an) Period E
• Traded with Sicily, Southern Italy, Egypt, Sardinia and countries bordering Black sea
• Small kingdom – lacked natural defence barriers
• Decentralized society- Small but fiercely loyal fighters
• Excellent works in ivory, carpentry and metallurgy
• Palaces used to be the administrative as well as industrial centres
• Eg- Around 550 textile and 400 metallurgical workers along with artisans, goldsmiths, ivory and
stone carvers and potters were employed in Palace of Pylos
Mycenaean Peri 2000 - 4 0 0 B C
od E
Characteristic features
• Corbels- horizontal courses of stones were laid, projecting one beyond the other till the
apex was reached
• This produced either a triangular opening (found above the doorways of the
tholos tombs) or an apparent arch (found at the gallery at Tiryns, or a dome-
shaped roof (found at the Treasury of Atreus) in Mycenae
1300 - 4 0 0 B C
E
• Treasury of 6-chambered
Atreus-
tombs containing gold, silver
and bronze burial treasures
(Burial Tholos)
• Palace compound on an
elevated level
The Lion Gate,Mycena
e
• Relief carving of two lions facing a central column
• Triangular sculpture supports the load above entrance.
• Ashlar masonry walls on the sides.
Tr e a s u r y o f At r e u
s
• Kings were buried outside the cities in beehive tombs or
tholos – monumental symbols of wealth and power
• Circular chamber - 15m high and 15m diameter; into the
hillside.
• 36 m long and 6 m wide corridor (dromos)
• Corbelled dome was covered with earth to form conical
hill
• 2 half columns and stone lintel above the entrance.
Tr e a s u r y o f At r e u
s
ARCHITECTURE
DORIC
IONIC
CORINTHIAN
GREEK COLUMN ORDERS
Introduced by a Roman architect, Marcus Vitruvius
Defined column styles and entablature
Order of Architecture
A set or rules or principles for designing buildings.
Acropolis
Athens Agora
Represented the sacred precinct of the city of Athens.
• The building of the Acropolis did not have a geometrical/axial
relationship with one another but had a definite visual relation with one
another as well as the natural setting of the surrounding to be experienced
by the human eye and people on foot.
• The natural Panorama was dramatically accented by the foreground of
man made temple- adding man’s world to nature’s.
• The building of the Acropolis consisted of one concept of grouping
buildings- as masses articulating space.
The City Wall
In Athens, Priene and Miletus, the
walls are loosely spread around both
unplanned and planned urban areas,
in order to take maximum advantage
of the terrain.
Athens
Agora
Agora is a public space in Greek cities contained sustained or intense concentration of varied
activities.
• The Agora was in fact not only a public place, but the central zone of the city- its living heart.
• A ground for social life, business and politics.
• Being ideally positioned between the main gate and entrance to the acropolis serves as a
focal point of a planned city.
The Agora
Typical floor plan incorporated a colonnade of columns (peristyle) on all four sides; a front
porch (pronaos), a back porch (opisthodomos).
Categorized based on their ground plan and the way in which the columns are arranged.
3.One of the more unusual plans is the tholos, a temple with a circular ground plan
4. Temples with a peripteral arrangement have a single line of columns arranged all
around the exterior of the temple building.
5. Dipteral temples simply have a double row of columns surrounding the building.
Characteristics
• ORIENTED TOWARDS THE EAST
• NAOS ( it refers to the Cella, i.e. the inner chamber of a temple which houses a cult figure)
• PRONAOS ( is the inner area of the portico of a Greek or Roman temple, situated between
the portico's colonnade or walls and the entrance to the cella, or shrine)
• AND EPINAOS (OPISTHODODMOS) - a room in the rear of the cella of an ancient Greek
temple
• SURROUNDED BY OPEN COLONNADE
• ENTRANCE DOORS on the east and west walls
• WINDOWS WERE RARE
• PEDIMENT
• TYMPANUM
• TIMBER ROOFS covered with MARBLE OR TERRACOTTA TILES
• ANTIFIXAE ORNAMENT at the end of the roof tiles
Parts of a Greek Temple
There are four distinct parts to a greek temple.
The bottom, horizontal part is the steps. Most Greek temples
had three of them.