Greek Architecture Flashcards
(Geographical influence) What made their communications difficult?
Rugged nature of Greek Peninsula and its island, with mountains
(Geographical Influence) Bounded on two sides by?
Black sea and mediterranean sea
Athens as its center kingdom contains the upper city known as
Citadel
Mountainous hinterland separated inhabitans ito groups, clans and state
Geographical Influence
was the inevitable means of trade and communication
Sea
Chief building material in greece
Greece
Also had ample supplies of
Buidling stones
Climatic Influence
Mild and rainy winters, relatively warm and dry summers, and generally extended periods of sunshine throughout most of the year
Religious Influence
Nature worship, represent their deites by large statues
Chief Diversion
Music, dancing, wrestling, boxing, gymnastics and bull fighting often with religious connection
Participate in hunting and more strenous games as wwell as in craftwork
Eomrn
Form of government
Tyrannical, aristocratic, and democratic
One of the democratic leader of athens
Pericles
Preclassical or Early Period
3000-700 BCE
Hellenic Period or Greek Architecture
650-323BCE
Preclassical/Early Period Architectural Character
-Low pitch or flat roof on multi storey structures
-Stairways was developed for verticla ciruclation
Principle Building types
Megaron or Aegean houses
Formed the central complex of a palace and the main domestic unit
Megaron
Long, narrow suit composed of columned porch, megaron proper, and thalamus
Megaron
Columned enclosed porch
Columned entrnce porch with central doorway
central Heart, columns supporting th roof
Megaron Proper
Sleeping area
Thalamus
Contained a raised throne and centered around a fixed circular hearth framed by four wooden columns
Circular Hearth
Huge stone blocks with clay beddings but without mortar
Cyclopean
Constructed with stones having polygonal faces, advance technique but without pith nor tar
Polygonal
Block of stone cut into rectangular shapes that serve as dowels
Rectangular
Stones with inclined blocks
Inclined blocks
Architectural Character of Greek Architecture/Hellenistic Period
- Simplicity and Harmony
- Purity of lines
- Perfection of proportions
- Refinement of details
Use rectangular plan
Hellenisgtic
Temple’s gateway
Propylea
What period of greek did the Collonade surround the temple
Hellenistic
Ceilings were ommited and treated with timber panelled coffers
Lancunaria
Walls were made out of? (Greek Architecture)
Made out of stone
Completed the building (GE)
Marble Scupltures
… on the walls of temples was highly developed
Mural Paining
Earliest civilizaiton in greek
The Minoans
Homeland was the island of crete
Minoan
Buildings were typically made of (The minoan)
Timber frames filled with clay bricks
City was a multistory palace with large central courtyard
The minoans
Known as Palace Age, known for their grand palaces
The minoans
Exmple of palace of the minoans
Palace of King Minos, Knossos
Were not warriors, they were traders, as a result their places were not fortified
The minoans
What is this capital? “Columns were uniquely constructed and easily identified as minoan. Constructed from wood and tapered at the bottom, Bright red colums and capitals color black”
Bulbous Capital
Stood on stone bases and hard large, bulbous tops known as
Cushion Capitals
Based their culture firmly on the minoans
The Myceneans
Surrounded their cities with mssive defensive walls
The Mycenaeans
A typical mycenaean palace consisted of a
central rectangular hall flanked by smaller chambers
They developed their templs from Megaron
The mycenaeans
Built in different levels on the uneven groumd, the main elements of the complex were the megaron
The Palace, Mycenae
Built on strategic, often impregnable hills, were enclosed by strong curtain walling
Citadel of Mycenae
Ruler and his family lived at
The upper end of the site
The dweilling of important figures such as military leaders
Within the enceinte
Most of the population lived
Outside the citadel’s wlals
Citadels were entered via monumental gatewats
Gate of Lion, Mycenae
Two vertical stones carrying a vast lintel
Gate of Lion
Massive fortification to the upper part of the citadel in irregular stle of cyclopean masonry
The palace, Tiryns
Two types of Aegean Tombs
Tholos
Rock Cut or Chamber thombs
Behive tomb, compose of a long passage known as dromos leading to a domed chamber
Tholos
Most decorated of all, Tholoi had decorated and colored facades
Treasury of Atreus
Dark, deriving its light only from the open doorway and triangular transome
Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae
Interiors of tholos domes were
Richly decorated
The tholos imitated
The dome of heaven
Creation of structures, buildings, and sculptures by excavating solid rock where it naturally occurs
Rock cut or chamber tomb
Period of decline or Dark age. followed the destruction of the mycenaean civilization in the 12 century
The greece (Archaic Period)
When did the arts of mycenaean civilization began to survive
8th to 7th century BC
From those early times, one specific building type predominated
The temple
Abode of god
The temple
the temple took the form of a
single room or hut, walled with sun dried bricks
In the late .. century bc, the main body of the sanctuary was surrounded by a single row of columns, known as the
7th century, Peristyle
Unique to Greek architecture and was to remain one of the most characteristic feature
Peristyle
Built to provide cover for a crude wooden statues of a deity
Xoanon
Greek temples originated as?
Primitive huts
Open space between two columns
Intercolumniation
A roman writer of the 1st century BC
Vitruvious
Columns placed closely together (1 and 1/2 diameter
Pycnostyle
Columns a little wider (2 diameter)
Systyle
A little wider still (2 and 1/2 diameter)
Eustyle
Wider again (3 diameters)
Diastyle
Columns are placed further apart (4 diameter)
Araestyle
When did the basic plan of a temple evolve?
By the late 7th century BC
The greeks felt that when ratiod and proportions were properly applied to ground plans and evelations, the result would be?
Beauty, perfection, and symmetria
a perfect balance of parts
Symmetria
Standard units of measurement to achieve symmetria
Module (equal to the diameter of half the diameter of a column at the base of its shaft)
Chief class buildings. usually, the plan is rectangular in shape
Temple
Were not places of worship but monuments dedicated to the beloved gods and goddesses
Temple
Two way of describing temples
- Number of columns on the entrance
- Arrangement of exterior columns of the temple inn relation to naos
One layer of colonade surruonding the naos
Basic Temple Plan/Peripteral (Peristyle or Peripteral colonnade)
Temple surrounded on all sides by two rows of columns - a double peripteral
Dipteral
Later development of the dipteral plan, in which the inner row of columns was ommited (one sa naos ug episthodomos)
Pseudodipteral
dwelling of a god, inner part of a temple, shrine.
Naos
refer to either the rear room of an ancient Greek temple or to the inner shrine, also called the adyton (‘not to be entered’)
Opisthodomos
Parts of temple
Naos/Cella
Pronaos
Epinaos (Opisthodomos
Pteron
Anta
Distyle in Antis
Principal chamber containing the statue of the god or goddess with porticos and colonnade
Naos/Cella
The inner portico in front of the naos
Pronaos
Posticum which serves as the treasury chamber
Epinaos/Opishthodomos
A colonnade parallel but apart from the naos
Pteron
A rectangular pier or pillaster formed by thickening the end of a projecting wall
Anta
Having two columns in front between antae
Distyle in antis
Course of masonry forming the foundation for a row of columns, esp the outermost collonade of a classical temple
Stylobate
A solid mass of masonry visible aboive ground level serving as the foundation of a building
Stereobate
Stereobate is also known as
crepidoma or podium
Any of the five styles of classical architecture - Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan and composite, charcterized by the type and arrangement of coumns and entablatures employed
Order
The oldest and simplest of the classical orders
Doric Order
Characterized by fluted column having no base, a plain cushion shaped capital supporting a square abacus and an entablature consisting of a plain architrave, a frieze of triglyphs and metopes, and a cornice, the corona of which has mutules on its soffit
Doric order
Characteristics of doric order
Masculinity, Strength, Solidity
Always without base, usually fluted and topped by a simple squat capital.
Doric Order
Parts of Doric Order
Pediment, Entablature, Columns, Crepidoma
A wide, low pitched gable surmounting a colonnade or a major division of a facade
Pediment
Horizontal Section of classical order that resrs on the columns. Usually comoposed of a cornice, frieze, and architrave
Entablature
Cylindrical support in classical architecture, consisting of a capital shaft and usually a base, either monolithic or buuilt up of drums the full diameter of the shaft
Columns
Stone platforms
Crepidoma
A pedestal for a sculpture or ornament at the apex. also called acroterion
aCROTERIUM
Trianglular space enclosed by the horizontal and raking cornices of a pediment, often recessed and decorated with sculpture
Tympanum
Upright ornament at the eaves of a tile roof concealing the foot of a row of convex tiles that cover the joints of the flat tiles
Antefix
Entrablature Parts
Cornice, Frieze, Architrave
Uppermost member of a classical entablature, consisting typically of a cymathium, corona, and bed molding
Cornice
Horizontal part of a classical entablature between the ornice and architrave, often decorated with sculpture in low relief
Frieze
Lowermost division of a classical entablature, resting directly on the column capitals and supporting the frieze
Architrave
Under cornice, there is
Gutta and Mutule
Small drop like ornaments, atached to the underside of mutules
Gutta
A projecting glat block under the corona of a doric cornice
Mutule
Frieze parts
Metope and Triglyph
Any of the panels, either plain or decorated, between triglyphs in the doric frieze
triglyphsMetope
One of the vertical blocks separating the metops in a doric frieze
Triglyph
Architrave parts
Taenia, Regula
Raised band or fillet separating the frieze from the architrave, also called tenia
Taenia
Fillet beneath the taenia in a doric entableture corresponding to a triglyph above and from which guattae are suspended. also called guttae hand.
Regula
Upper end of aa column, pillar, or pier, crowning the shaft and taking the weight of the entablature or architrave
Capita;
The flat slab forming the top of a column capital
Abacus
Predominant circular molding supporting the abacus of a doric capital
Echinus
Central part of a column or pier between the capital and the base
Shaft
Decorative motif consisting of a series of long, rounded, parallel grooves
Flute
Narrow part of the sutface of a column shaft left between adjoining flutes
Fillet
Slight convexity to give a column to correct an optical illusion of concavity if the sides were straight
Entasis
Crepidoma parts
Stylobate, Stereobate
Course of masonry forming the foundation for a row of columns, esp the outermost colonnade of a classical temple
Stylobate
Solid mass of masonry visible above ground level and serving aas the foundation of the building, especially the platform forming the floor and substructure of a classical temple
Stereobate
- More sophisticated order
- Spriral volutes of its capital
- Typicaally had molded bases
- Supported an entablature consisting of three fascias, a richly ornamented frieze, and a cornice corbelled out on egg and dart and dentil mouldings
Ionic Order
Architectural characteristics of Ionic Order
Beauty, Femininity, Slenderness
always set on a base (between the shaft and the crepidoma) - bears two spirals
Ionic Order
The entablature of the ionic order consisted of an architrave divided into three broad bands known as
Fasciaa, a continous frieze, and an often elaborate cornice bearing dentils or tooth like blocks
Ornamental motif for enriching an ovolo or echinu. Also called egg ang tongue
Egg and dart
Series of closely space, small rectangular blocks forming a molding beneath the coronas of Ionic, corinthian, and composite cornices
Dentil
One of the three horizontal bands making up the architrave in the ionic order
Fascia
Spiral, scroll like ornament, as on the capitals of the ionic, corinthian, and composite order
Volutes
Circular modlding under the cushion of an ionic capital, between the volutes
Echinus
Vertical guideline through the eye of a volute in an ionic capital from which the spiral form is deretmined
Cathetus
Small concave curve joining the shaft of a classical columnt to its base, also called aphophysis
Apophyge
Large convex, semicurcular molding, commonly found above the plinth of a base of a classical column
Torus
Deep concave molding between two fillet, also called Trochilus
Scotia
Piece of ground specially reserve and enclosed as sacred place. Also known as citadel or acropolis (Upper city)
Temenos
Temple on the acropolis of athens, earliest fully ionic temple. It was open, entered from propylaea’s southwest wwing and from a narrow stair on the north
Temple of Nike Apteros
Architect of Temple of nike apteros
Callicatres
Vestibule or gateway of the architectural impoerance before a temple area or the entrance structure to acropolis in athens
Propylaea
Architect of Propylaea
Mesicles
Colossal bronze statue of athena
Statue of athena
Who sculpted the statue of athena?
Pheidias
Ancient greek temple of the north side of the acropolis of athens in greece. Dedicated to both athena and Poseidon
Erectheion
Former temple on the athenian acropolis, greece, dedicated to the goddess athena, whom the ppl of athens considered their patron
The Parthenon
Architect of theParthenon
Ictrinus & Callicrates
Covered walkways or porticos, commonly for public usage
Stoa
Built against the slope of the hill, needed a retaining wall supported by piers and rounded arches
Stoa of Eumenes
Stone theatre located on the southwest slope of the arcopolis of athens
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Who built the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and why?
Built by Herodes Atticus in memory of his wife
Major open air theathre, one of the earliest preserved in athens, used for festivals in honor of the god dionysus
Theater of Dionysos Eleuthereus
