1. Greek Architecture

3. Extent of Greek civilization
b.c.
mainland Greece but also nearby islands in the Aegean Sea, the western coast of Turkey (known as Ionia), southern Italy and Sicily

4. A. General characteristics B. Historical periods C. Examples
Greek Architecture
A. General characteristics
B. Historical periods
C. Examples

5. General characteristics - Landscape
Is surrounded on three sides by sea
Includes broad peninsula and scores of islands
Is rough, great variety of natural sites, individual character of places

6. General characteristics - Landscape
Fertile valleys, and plains are small
Mass of limestone and marble mountains
Marble –facilitates exactness of lines and refinement of details, produces smooth surfaces
The climate favored outdoor/ open-air life

7. General characteristics - Culture
Heraclitus
Described the cosmos as a balance of such opposites as hot and cold, night and day, health and disease
Desire to perfect human intellectual and physical power
Quest for truth –philosophers

8. General characteristics - Culture
Pythagoras
‘All things are numbers’
Determined the mathematical bases of musical harmony
A2 + B2 =C2
Protagoras
‘Man is the measure of all things’
Truth is relative to human perception and interpretation

9. General characteristics - Culture
Xenophanes
The gods did not reveal everything to men at the start, but as time goes on , by searching, they discover more and more
Socrates
Truth could be found only by constant questioning, refinement and testing

10. General characteristics - Culture
The Greeks ascribed an almost semi divine nature to man and their gods were depicted in perfect human form.
The religion was mainly a worship of natural phenomenon

11. General characteristics - Culture
Examples of Greek gods
Zeus–chief of the gods (Right)
Apollo–the god who punishes, heals and helps
Athena–goddess of wisdom, power and prosperity

12. General characteristics - Culture
Demeter–goddess of earth and agriculture (Right)
Artemis–goddess of the chase
Landscape + Culture = Heterogeneity + Excellence

13. General characteristics - Culture
The Greek sought to ensure their immortality in human memory through their intellectual and artistic excellence
Siting is determined by the experience of the natural environment –ideal position from which the whole sacred landscape could be grasped

14. General characteristics - Building Materials
principal materials – wood (supports and roof beams)
unbaked brick, used for walls (private houses)
limestone and marble (for columns, walls, and upper portions of temples and other public buildings)
terracotta (baked clay), used for roof tiles and architectural ornaments
metals, especially bronze - decorative details.
range of building types—religious, civic, domestic, funerary, or recreational

15. Historical periods
Greek Dark Ages (c.1100-c.750 BC) - geometric designs on pottery
Archaic period (c.750-c.480 BC) - larger free-standing sculptures in stiff poses with the dreamlike 'archaic smile'
Classical period (c BC) – exemplary style eg. Parthenon
Hellenistic period ( BC) - Greek culture and power expanded into the near and middle east - begins with the death of Alexander and the Roman conquest

16. Dark Ages (1100-750 BC) end of the Bronze Age
invaders, civil wars, or wars
impoverishment, depopulation, and cultural isolation
art of writing was lost
land of small farming communities
emergence of independently governed city-states.
did not promote unity
simple houses of the Dark Age

17. Archaic period (750-480 b.c.) Eastern imports to Greece were plentiful
trade with lands to both east and west
prosperity
Powerful dictators
New battle tactics, - heavily armed foot soldiers
New city-states - 6th century bc,
Monumental building
Delphi
However - Persian Wars and 479 b.c. - victory for Athens and the Greeks

18. Classical period (480-323 b.c)
culmination of Greek art
Peloponnesian War ( bc), in which Sparta won
highest achievements being the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the Parthenon in Athens

19. Hellenistic period (323 -31 b.c)
After the death of Alexander
Division of the empire into a number of kingdoms
the ruling classes spoke Greek and the official culture was Greek
146 bc - Rome began to exert its influence
elaborately planned cities and sanctuaries

20. Examples The Classical Orders The Acropolis –Athens The Parthenon
The Erectheum
Optical corrections in Greek architecture
The Agora
The Theatres

21. 3. The Greek Orders
Classical orders - The principals orders of Classical Architecture - Doric, Ionic
Hellenistic order - Corinthian

22. The Greek Orders - Doric
Classical order - The principals orders of Classical Architecture
Doric, Ionic and later Corinthian

23. The Greek Orders - Doric
Classical order - The principals orders of Classical Architecture
Doric, Ionic and later Corinthian

24. The Greek Orders - Doric

25. The Greek Orders - The Ionic Order
Embodies feminine slenderness, grace and beauty
Height of the capital is 2/3 of the diameter
The capital consists of two pairs of volutes or spirals, one pair on the front and the other on the back resting on the echinus joined by a concave cushion (plain or ornamented)
Above the volute scrolls is a shallow abacus

26. The Greek Orders - The Ionic Order

27. The Greek Orders - Ionic Capital

28. The Greek Orders - The Corinthian Order
The capital is much more deeper than the Ionic capital (height=1.33 times the diameter)
The capital has a deep inverted bell, the lower part is surrounded by two tiers of 8 acanthus leaves, and between the leaves rose 8 stalks with volutes supporting the abacus. Each face of the abacus is curved outwards to the corners

29. 4. The Acropolis, Athens
Fortified natural strong hold in Ancient Greece
became the site of temples and public buildings
served as the town’s religious center
the focal point of its public life
a place of refuge for towns/people during wars

30. The Acropolis, Athens As an emblem of Persian victory
Rises 91.5m above the city
Focal point of festivals –celebrants moved along the Dromos (processional street), through the agora up to the acropolis

31. The Acropolis, Athens
Public rituals were celebrated in the open air, at the altar in front of the temple
Temples –monumental sculptures set in the landscape

32. The Acropolis, Athens

33. 5. The Parthenon – 436 b.c.

34. The Parthenon

35. The Parthenon is a peripteral octastyle Doric temple
stands on a platform or stylobate of three steps
post and lintel construction
surrounded by columns ("peripteral") carrying an entablature
eight columns at either end and seventeen on the sides
double row of columns at either end
colonnade surrounds an inner masonry structure, the cella, which is divided into two compartments
At either end of the building the gable is finished with a triangular pediment originally filled with sculpture
The columns are of the Doric order, with simple capitals, fluted shafts and no bases
(228 by 101 ft)
The cella was 97.8 × 63.0 ft with internal colonnades in two tiers, structurally necessary to support the roof.

36. The Parthenon

37. The Parthenon

38. 6. The Erectheum (Erectheion) – 406 b.c
The site is not flat
The cella is built on two levels – the higher eastern part and the lower western part

39. The Erectheum (Erectheion)
Caryatid porch

40. The Erectheion

41. The Erectheion

42. The Erectheion

43. 7. Optical Corrections in Architecture
Entasis – bulge in architectural column eg A perfectly straight column would give a visual impression of concavity. Therefore, to counter this visual impression, the columns were designed to have a slight bulge in the shaft of the column.
The long, horizontal lines of features like stylobates, architraves and cornices, which if straight in reality, would appear to sag or drop in the middle of their length. Therefore, to counter this visual impression, the long, horizontal features were designed with slightly convex outlines.
Straight vertical features like columns appear to fall outwards. To compensate this visual impression, the columns were designed to be inclined inward.

44. Optical Corrections in Architecture

45. 8. The Agora of Athens Situated on a low lying damp ground
North of Acropolis
an open square bordered by public buildings, including law courts and shrines
served as the political and commercial center of the city
Open air meeting places surrounded by buildings
Trade was carried on, students were taught, and politics was discussed

46. The Agora of Athens

47. 10. Theatre at Epidaurus

48. Theatre at Epidaurus Placed in a natural elongated hollow
Middle of the 4th century b.c.
17000 people
Diameter of 118m
Seating divided into segments by stairs
55 semicircular rows of seats

49. Assignment The three orders of architecture – Doric, Ionic, Corinthian
The Parthenon, Athens – Plan, Elevation and section
Optical corrections in Greek architecture