ARCHITECTURE : temples

Question 1

How do we know there were columns?

Answer 1

• marks left, like at Temple of Hera at Samos
• plus, according to the diameter and disposition we could sometimes tell which ones were wooden (not survived) and which were out of stone , like at :
  
  • stone ones - more lily supported stone buildings ->> closer

Question 2

How to identify if the walLs were remade?

Answer 2

(in 600 BC different tools were used that often left marks; the evolved tools leave different marks >> differences in the levels of the walls by which we could understand the replacement).

Question 3

Which temples have collonade inside in the very center?

Answer 3

• 1st Heraion at Samos (8th c.)
• Temple of Apollo, Thermon (ca. 640 BC)

Question 4

Discuss 1^st and 2^nd Heraions at Samos.

Answer 4

This site - archaeologically problematic : many layers.

But these two - OUTLINES

DATES

1 - 8th c.

2 - ca. 650 BC

SIZE

both - hekantonpedos

MATERIALS

stone foundation

perishable - upper levels << gone

mud-brick (probably) - roof-tiles

thatch - roof

PLAN

peristyle

• only SECOND ONE : extended at the east side to form a porch

porch

• only SECOND ONE : two rows - peristyle extended ; columns - aligned.
• this becomes standradized*

inside

• only FIRST one has columns in center

(architects - not confident yet)

door

neither - not even a wall there

if there were - would be scratches

cult statue

at the back : FIRST ONE - behind columns

altar

outside

hearth

no

stova

added outside the 2nd temple

Question 5

Discuss

Answer 5

This site - archaeologically problematic : many layers.

But these two - OUTLINES

DATES

1 - 8th c.

2 - ca. 650 BC

SIZE

both - hekantonpedos

MATERIALS

stone foundation

perishable - upper levels << gone

mud-brick (probably) - roof-tiles

thatch - roof

PLAN

peristyle

• only SECOND ONE : extended at the east side to form a porch

porch

• only SECOND ONE : two rows - peristyle extended ; columns - aligned.
• this becomes standradized*

inside

• only FIRST one has columns in center

(architects - not confident yet)

door

neither - not even a wall there

if there were - would be scratches

cult statue

at the back : FIRST ONE - behind columns

altar

outside

hearth

no

stova

added outside the 2nd temple

Question 6

What is important to archaeologists about Heraions at Samos?

Answer 6

• before striving of the use of perishable materials
• columns inside - block cult statue : architects are not confident yet with such big structures.
  
  • solution - (mb) in the 2^ndone : peristyle
  • later in Archaic period, cult statue - the first thing one sees as enters the temple
• ​alignment of columns - temple as one unity + their arrangement creates the passway inside through the “forest” of columns = becomes standardized
• stova added to the second one

​

>> we could track the changes

Question 7

What temple has stova?

Answer 7

2^nd Heraion at Samos (ca. 650 BC).

Question 8

What temples dont have a door? Not even a wall on entrance side?

Answer 8

• both 1st and 2nd Heraions at Samos
• temple of Apollo at Thermon

Question 9

Which temple these are from?

Answer 9

Temple of Apollo at Thermon, Mainland GReece, ca. 640-630 BC

Question 10

Discuss

Answer 10

1st architectural decorations

MATERIALS. Lots of perishable; enough survived though.

Stonefoundation; lower walls

Mud-brick - transition into mudbrick again :

maybe felt that the heavy material on this height might have been unsafe.

Wood Columns, probably;

then, probably, replaced by stone

STRUCTURE. 5 x15 – peristyle. Normally, there is the same amount.

Peristyle standardized.

Cella single row of columns in the middle –

aligned with the center of the peristyle

Cult statue doesn’t survive here.

Opisthodomos the two parallel walls are extended.

Door Still no door.

Question 11

Discuss Temple of Apollo at Thermon

Answer 11

1st architectural decorations

MATERIALS. Lots of perishable; enough survived though.

Stonefoundation; lower walls

Mud-brick - transition into mudbrick again :

maybe felt that the heavy material on this height might have been unsafe.

Wood Columns, probably;

then, probably, replaced by stone

STRUCTURE. 5 x15 – peristyle. Normally, there is the same amount.

Peristyle standardized.

Cella single row of columns in the middle –

aligned with the center of the peristyle

Cult statue doesn’t survive here.

Opisthodomos the two parallel walls are extended.

Door Still no door.

Question 12

What can we say about the artists who decorated temple of Apollo at Thermon and why?

Answer 12

Scholars think - done by potters** or **wall painters :

1 - Figure names are painted on the panel as a part of decoration ;

potters and wall painters - used to sign their works

2 - these were paintings.

There is no wall painting preserved from Archaic Period.

We know they did – later literary descriptions tell us.

3 - the technique – very close to pottery.

Figures against pale background with black outline:

first, outline, then, black, white and various shades of red (from purple to orange) - all the colors they had.

Question 13

Discuss the superstructure of the temple of Apollo at Thermon (without the story)

Answer 13

SUPERSTRUCTURE :

the first architectural decoration

on a Greek temple:

metopes and triglyphs

would become Doric order.

Architrave - must have been out of big heavy wooden beams, double row.

Metopes - teraccota panels that fit into the spaces of metopes remained (nothing of triglyphs).

• The very first metopes and the only one preserved not in sculpture.
• Various scenes, each in its own panel >> artists confronting the issues that would not be solved throughout Archaic period:

a. visibility : limited amount of space and extreme height.
b. small space. Options:

1 - Lots of figures, e.g. battle of troy. But, again, wont be visible.

2 - Reduced amount of figures.

c. shadows: roofline hangs above them .

>> artists restrict themselves to one, max two, figures. Here Medusa, Perseus, Khelidon & Aedon

Question 14

Discuss the stories presented on the decoration of the temple of Apollo at Thermon.

Answer 14

Due to the issues of visibility, artists restrict themselves to one, max two, figures.

Here Medusa, Perseus, Khelidon & Aedon.

Khelidon & Aedon. Two sisters. Khelidon was raped by her brother-in-law and he cut her tongue so that she wont tell. But she waved a tapestry of the even. Her sisters killed his son, cooked him and tricked this brother-in-law to it him. Then they escaped by turning into birds.

Consumer of Greek culture would know enough of the myth >> from one picture one would be able imagine the rest of the story.

Figure names are painted on the panel as a part of decoration >> we know the story. However, who would be able to read the writing that high? (writing on pottery would appear a little bit later).

Question 15

Why temple of Apollo at Thermon is important?

Answer 15

Shows what architects were striving for:

• plan
• peristyle
• cella
• opithodomos
• central colonnade
• 1^st architectural decorations

- 1^st metopes

- the ONLY preserved metopes NOT in SCULPTURE

Question 16

Which temple these are from?

Answer 16

Temple A at Prinias, Crete, ca. 625 - 600 BC,

Question 17

Discuss

Answer 17

We don’t know to who it was dedicated.

STRUCTURE:

Pronaos :

• formed by big pillars at the end of each wall.
• Another pillar is in the center, aligned with the door – blocks the view of the door.
• walls of the porch angled a bit inwards, not parallel.

Door :

• in the center - column.
• Inside, by its sides, round engaged columns looking towards the hearth:

mb, they were simply decorative;

not preserved (just the bases remained) >> might have been out of wood

Cella :

• no cult statue;
• no interior support,
• only two round columns by the rectangular fixed hearth built in the floor

Hearth – not typical: normally, the altar with burning stuff is outside.

– In Bronze Age, Myceneans often had hearths (in Megarons), columns were, most likely, not to support the ceiling but to separate the hearth.

Question 18

Discuss the decorations from temple A at Prinias

Answer 18

- first instances of architectural sculpture

• here, it is possible because it is a small stone building.

They already were predisposed to create big sculpture in stone (Daedalic figures)

• Two main pieces
• uncertain where they were – seem to belong to different parts of the building.

1 - THE MAIN DOORWAY,

• beam

carved on the front, bottom and back

+

division in the center (as if the ribbon wrapped around it – probably, where the columns would be);

• top – two chairs with two seated female figures.

Front and back

• animal friezes. In Orientalizing period, very much popular in pottery paintings, e.g. Rhodes Wild Goat Style (e.g. pot from Rhodes, late 7th c.).

FRONT : deer

• None of the animals is distinguished >> none is the leader
• Not interacting.
• 3 on each side,
• facing center;
• Bodies in profile. Heads – to the viewer.

BACK SIDE : lions

• positions - same as the deer;
• from the repertoire of Orientalizing period, coming from the east.

BOTTOM : standing females

• in the same style as the seated ones – Daedalic Style (hair, polos hat, dress).

TOP : seated women.

• identities are unknown: could have been a Potnia Theron – mistress of the animals:

we know about her from the Bronze Age >> some sort of continuity, as they used to worship this deity connected to nature and animals; and this here might be her representation.

• they are very similar.
• they were meant to be seen in profile >> all the details would remain unnoticed. The great care taken about the decorations which would not be completely seen.

>> the beam had to be up above for all parts to be seen. But the doorway is a bizarre place to put the sculpture.

2 - SEPARATE PIECE: men on horsebacks

• positioned in profile;
• heads are turned to the viewer;
• triangular faces (Daedalic).
• hair comes down to the wedge-shapes;
• upper body covered with the shield & holding spears
• none is the leader.

​

• horses completely in profile – completely in disproportion to the rides: very long-legged, fairly typical for Orientalizing period.
• Probably, the frieze was on the exterior, over the pillars – but this is just a suggestion.

Question 19

Describe Temple A at Prinias (without decorations)

Answer 19

We don’t know to who it was dedicated.

STRUCTURE:

Pronaos :

• formed by big pillars at the end of each wall.
• Another pillar is in the center, aligned with the door – blocks the view of the door.
• walls of the porch angled a bit inwards, not parallel.

Door :

• in the center - column.
• Inside, by its sides, round engaged columns looking towards the hearth:

mb, they were simply decorative;

not preserved (just the bases remained) >> might have been out of wood

Cella :

• no cult statue;
• no interior support,
• only two round columns by the rectangular fixed hearth built in the floor

Hearth – not typical: normally, the altar with burning stuff is outside.

– In Bronze Age, Myceneans often had hearths (in Megarons), columns were, most likely, not to support the ceiling but to separate the hearth.

Question 20

What is so speacial about temple A at Prinias?

Answer 20

• End of Orientalizing period - regional preferences

Entirely of stone and not a standard type of architecture – no other building like this in Archaic architecture

• **1^st sculptural decorations **: very unusual , very detailed

Question 21

How do scholar know where the decorated beam in the temple A at Prinias would go?

Answer 21

Scholars know that it goes in the doorway a_s there are traces of the door_, the size of which goes kind of nicely with the size of this beam.

Question 22

How could we date temple A at Prinias?

Answer 22

Because of the Daedalic style of the seated women, we could be more or less be certain about the dating.

Question 23

Describe :

Question 24

Two model buildings of Orientalizing period were from..

Answer 24

Argos and Perachora (the one with an oval end)

Question 25

Discuss The Temple of Hera, Olympia : columns - superstructure - numbers - sculpture

Answer 25

**Columns**. - originally out of _wood_ (Pausanias described as the oak ones). The original indications on the stylobate : _original columns were quite widely set_ (*wooden columns are thinner and they are set in a different way a bit);* later ones – way _closer_ as they had to carry much heavier construction \>\> they had to give up the floor space (probably, also why they pushed interior columns to the walls – to have more space in interior). - stone ones – placed during Hellenistic\Roman period (the very site was damaged by earthquake but wasn’t robbed because rivers around it kind of preserved it). - columns – _mixture of styles and techniques_; but overall – usually Doric order. **_SUPERSTRUCTURE_**. We don’t know about it, probably, wooden (since columns were wooden). **Ceiling**. Pausanias – _flat ceiling_ \>\> _roof-space is like an attic_. Some temples had indications that there were stairs to go up, probably, to use for storage. **NUMBERS**. Throughout Archaic period, architects are working from a system of **proportions** (which, unfortunately, always change). 1- LENGTH-WIDTH. Series of proportions (it means they could use any numbers they wanted just as long as the proportion was kept): starts out - 2x6 – very narrow and long; later – 3x7. Here, peristyle - 6x16. End of Archaic period: (short side) x 2 +1, meaning at the end of Archaic period, this temple would have been 6x13. 2 - WIDTH-HEIGHT. In Greek world, columns normally are narrower at the top \>\> diameter at the bottom should be proportionate to the height of the columns \>\> very high column should be very wide and vise versa. They never got to the ideal with this. Here – _4.08 x base diam_. 3 - *_INTERCOLUMNIATION_* – space _between the columns_. Here, wider than with others \>\> originally, out of wood. **_SCULPTURE_**. Limestone female head, in late Daedalic style. Identity is unknown. This might have been the head of the cult sculpture – scholarly guess. Might have been that the _rest was out of wood_ : original cult statues (before stone cult statues) were called *Xoana* (we know from ancient literature) – _an object without human form_ which is a representation of a deity, simple a piece of wood, sometimes wrapped in drapery.

Question 26

Discuss : order, material, plan

Answer 26

## Footnote **_ORDER_**. _Doric_: *echinus – very rounded* - common for mainland Greece, for _early temples_. ****_MATERIA_**L**. _Limestone_ (_mudbrick_ and _wood_ were initially incorporated : Pausanias writes that he saw wooden columns there \<\< t_hey built them in stone as high as they felt confident_, then the rest – in wood) **_PLAN_**. _Complex_ . _Long and narrow_. (at the time given by Pausanias nothing could be this complex) **Pronaos**. Di-style in antis. **Opithodomos**. Di-style in antis. T*he _earliest_ example of such*. **Antae**. Faced with wood. **Cella**. Very long and narrow. _Base_ for the cult statue at the back. **Interior**. _Very innovative_ - _alternating colonnades_: * _double colonnade_ – not to block the statue they pushed them towards the walls; * _spur-walls_ – *attached* to the walls columns( the *attachment could be only seen from a certain angle*) **Doors**. The _view is open_ all the way from the outside to the cult statue. The door – *the _only source of light_ in this space*. **Lower** **walls**. Up to about 3 feet, cut-stone originally, then – _replaced_ .

Question 27

Discuss The Temple of Hera at Olympia : order, material, plan

Answer 27

## Footnote **_ORDER_**. _Doric_: *echinus – very rounded* - common for mainland Greece, for _early temples_. ****_MATERIA_**L**. _Limestone_ (_mudbrick_ and _wood_ were initially incorporated : Pausanias writes that he saw wooden columns there \<\< t_hey built them in stone as high as they felt confident_, then the rest – in wood) **_PLAN_**. _Complex_ . _Long and narrow_. (at the time given by Pausanias nothing could be this complex) **Pronaos**. Di-style in antis. **Opithodomos**. Di-style in antis. T*he _earliest_ example of such*. **Antae**. Faced with wood. **Cella**. Very long and narrow. _Base_ for the cult statue at the back. **Interior**. _Very innovative_ - _alternating colonnades_: * _double colonnade_ – not to block the statue they pushed them towards the walls; * _spur-walls_ – *attached* to the walls columns( the *attachment could be only seen from a certain angle*) **Doors**. The _view is open_ all the way from the outside to the cult statue. The door – *the _only source of light_ in this space*. **Lower** **walls**. Up to about 3 feet, cut-stone originally, then – _replaced_ .

Question 28

What is so special about temple of Hera at Olympia? And how could we date them (kind of)?

Answer 28

- pretty innovative _interior_: * the _earliest_ opithodomos (and pronaos i think) in antis * spur walls * double collonade It has a l_ong history_: * in 173 BC Pausanias, ancient traveler and geographer, wrote about this temple and gave the date 1100 BC (which is problematic – buildings at that time are not out of stone; he probably meant that it originated in 1100BC). * In Archaic period, there were **2 temples** at this site: probably, originally this was a temple for both **Zeus** and **Hera**, as a couple. Later on, Zeus got his own temple. _1^st TEMPLE_. The most early one on this site that we could date is at the _end of 8^th c_. – primarily out of **wood**; no evidences of columns on outside (non-peripheral). 776 BC – **first Olympic Games** \>\> they needed the temple for the event. _2^nd TEMPLE_. In 7^th c. foundations of **stone**; destroyed by fire. It had a peristyle – _same_ construction as we see with the **Temple of Hera at Samos**. _FINAL version_. ca. 600 BC. Each of this temples advances.

Question 29

Temple of Artemis, Corfu, ca. 580 BC : ## Footnote **importance**

Answer 29

**first** instance of _stone architectural sculpture_ decorating pediment: * the most ambitious temple of the time * were on both pediments : reconstructable - only West one; * _large **relief**_ sculpture - as a **part of backwall** (head of Medusa - even overlaps the ranking geison) * first _pseudo-dipteral_ temple

Question 29

What is so special about the site of Corfu? What supports it?

Answer 29

Corfu - in the _midway_ from Mainland to Sicily. Temple of Artemis - huge : 49 x 23 m

Question 31

2 - Archaic Period - Temple of Artemis, Corfu : ORDER, MATERIAL, PLAN

Answer 31

**Order** Doric **Material** limestone **Plan** : peristyle, pronaos, cella, opithodomos : _size_ : 49 x 23,5 m - very large _peristyle_ : - 3 columns in - in line with pronaos and antae - _pseudo-dipteral_ - **first** like this _pronaos_ : - distyle in antis - deeper than opithodomos. _cella_ - **divided in 3 spaces**: - lots of space: * double colonnade : 2x10 \>\> _large central aisle_ * no spur-walls \>\> _space btw columns and walls_ ​- columns - aligned with exterior _columns_ : - Nothing is known : neither height nor width; _only base diameter_ : Fairly narrowly spaced \>\> greater support of the roof – _maybe that’s why they left so much room inside_. TEMPLE - one UNITY : - _pronaos and antae_ - aligned with _3rd column of peristyle_ - _columns in cella_ - aligned with peristyle

Question 32

Discuss the sculptural programme of temple _of Artemis_ at Corfu

Answer 32

- first instance of stone architectural sculpture