PPT 4 - Exam 1 Flashcards
Greeks
Beauty mattered to them
The beauty of the Greek architecture based on mathematical proportions
The growing appreciation of architecture went hand in hand with the development of science, astronomy, and philosophy
Greeks extrapolated the need of balance from architecture to personal level and further to the workings of their society
The Aegean cultures
2 major cultures emerged in the 2nd millennium BC and constituted to the cultural patrimony of classical Greece
Minoan- based on Crete
Mycenaean- mainland Greece
Linear A
Was the official Cretan script used in ancient Crete by Minoans before the Mycenaean Greek dominion
Linear B
An early form of Greek, used by Mycenaeans, found in Knossos, Crete, and the Peloponnesus peninsula (Mycenae)
Knossos palace chronology
Ca 1900 BC as a serious of detached structures around a large rectangular court
1700 BC earthquake; rebuilt in a unified scheme
1450 BC destroyed again by a volcanic eruption
Rebuilt with Mycenaean influence
1380 BC destroyed by fire
Sir Arthur Evans
British archeologist started excavations around 1900 AD
reconstructed part of the ruins : grand stairs, major ceremonial rooms, light wells
These portions of the palace are being restored to the pre-Evans conditions
The Minoans - the palace at Knossos
Multiple levels around the court yard Lower levels made of Ashlar masonry Upper levels were supported on walls that were supported by square timbers and wooden columns and beams Non-axial configuration Long corridors, staircase around light wells, open cores Ceremonial rooms Underground storage rooms Residential buildings Kings and queens megaron Unfortified
Western wing - the throne room
Inside of the palace at Knossos
One of the 3 lower room (antechamber, throne room, luster basin)
The original alabaster throne
Benches on both sides
Walls are decorated with a production of the griffins fresco
Assumed to have been dedicated to ritual ceremonies rather than royal audiences
Probably dedicated to a female deity (cult statues)
Luster basin sanctuary
At a lower level than the throne room
Shallow pool used for ritual purification - one of the few found on site
Concealed by a low wall and a row of Minoan columns
Sacred vessels and cult statues discovered here suggest the basin was used for purification/initiation purposes
Eastern wing - Grand staircase
Main entrance made through a well lit grand staircase
4 flights of stairs
Stairs are wide and shallow (representative example of the Minoan sophisticated architecture
Built into the side of a hill provides added stability
Unique inverted column - tree column
Downward tapering shaft, with a torus ring and an abacus block capitol
Made of wood, generally painted red
Eastern wing - Kings megaron (hall of the double axes)
Grand staircase leads down to this hall
Portico (covered porch with its roof supported by columns) provided protection form the elements
Eastern wing - queens megaron
A corridor connected the kings megaron to a room called by Evan the queens megaron
Megaron- single cell-house in Aegean region, its a rectangular room having a central hearth and 4 columns supporting the roof with an atrium opening
Decorated with a duplicate of the dolphin fresco which is in the iraklion museum
The light well that illuminated the queens megaton is named the court of the distaff, after the masons Mark
Eastern wing- queens bathroom
Small room behind the megaron equipped with a restored clay bath tub and a water closet is considered the bathroom
The queens toilet is equipped with flushing facility and connected to the drain system
Sanitary sewers collected the wastewater from the lavatories and water closet
water supply and drainage system at the palace
Exceptional for the time
Water system:
Tapered terra-cotta water pipes for clean water
Settling tanks and siphons
Sanitary sewer systems:
Tapered piped to fit the next segment
Provided a greater head to flush objects
Queens bathtub was bailed manually
Storm water collection system at the palace
Gutters -vertical parabolic curves besides the open stairways
Turns- banked to prevent water spilling over the walkways
Settling basins - to catch the sediments
Sunlight- disinfected the water on its way to the collection units
Storage cisterns or washing rooms
Labyrinth
A building with an arrangements of winding or confusing paths
Fresco
A painting executed on wall surfaces by working pigments into wet plaster
Ashlar
Smooth stone masonry laid so the joints are visible
Abacus
On a classical column the stone set directly over the capitol
Base
A lower part of a column or pier often broader than the sections above to spread the load to the foundations
Torus
Convex, roughly semicircular molding often seen at the base of a classical column
The Mycenaeans ca. 1600-1250
Takes its name from the archeological site of Mycenae
Located in the NE part of the Peloponnesus
Athens, pylons, Thebes, and tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites
Minoans were a trading society
Mycenaeans are a warrior society
Historical setting of most of the Greek myths and literature
Laid the foundation of Greek civilization
Mycenae
Citadel strategically located on high ground
View of major transportation routes
Agamemnon - the Mycenaean king that, according to homer, lead and won the war on Troy
Cyclopes- the term used to describe walls made of large stones minimally shaped
Fortification walls:
Buttressed by stone blocks of 10 tons
Engineered with precision to fit perfectly in place to the adjacent block
The lion gate
Principal entrance - built in ca 1300 BC
Positioned so the incoming visitor would have to pass through a narrow passage
Imposing piece of symbolism - power
Imposing piece of engineering
- massive stone posts 10 feet tall
- 14 tin lintel
- corbelled arch -Mycenaean innovation
- triangular stone with relief sculpture- new element
Note: it is a UNESCO world heritage site, a place of high cultural significance
Mycenae - the palace and Megaron
The palace is the focal point of the city of Mycenae
The megaron is the major ceremonial space (great room)
Constructed at the summit of the Mycenae acropolis, it’s consists of:
-a front porch with 2 columns
-an ante-chamber just inside (prodomos)
-large main room with 4 columns around a central fire pit (Domos)
The room at the north, identified as a bathing room
-assumed to be the bathing place agamemnon was killed by Clytemnestra, his wife
Domos
Simple rectangular space, having solid long walls without openings and an entrance in the center of one short side
Promodos
Attached anteroom proceeded by a court
Treasure of Atreus ca 1330 BC
9 impressive circular tombs, similar to er-mane and the passage st newgrange - tholos (domed circular building only used for tombs)
Different from any other structure engineered by the Mycenaeans - symbolism of the circle is related to death
Building a Tholos was a giant engineering accomplishment
More about the tholos
- hollow a side of a hill and construct the dromos (entryway)
- flanked in each side by stone walls
- massive doorway elaborately decorated
- corbelled stone chamber (33 horizontal courses)
- smaller room to the right of the entrance
- as it is built it is covered by an earth mound for stability
The west house ca 1330 BC
Typical dwelling of the Mycenaean society
- opened court paved with stone
- porch, vestibule (promodos), Domos
- corridor
- storage rooms
- large terrace (probably unroofed)
- stairs leading to an upper level
- upper level and roof might have been of wood
- floors of clay
- kitchen with hearth and drainage
- large drains: across the court; a smaller one in the Domos
Mycenaean - engineering
Handled huge blocks of stone without jacks and pulleys
Use of corbelled arch and vault
Comical, beehive structures for underground tombs
-extended this structural approach to the construction of bridges for the roadways
Roads were supported by stone retaining walls
Water was directed through culverts of corbelled stone
Created water supply and drainage systems
Greece: the archaic period ca 700-500 BC
Mycenaean civilization declined
Several century of obscurity that followed are referred to as the dark age or archaic period
Limited resources exceeded and city states began a colonization process in Asia Minor, Sicily, southern Italy, and Northern Africa
Biggest contribution of this time period?
Temple
Early temples (home of gods) -simple one room structures, meant to House a statue of deity, covered portico, walls made of mud brick, sloping roofs made of thatch
Larger temples
-based on the Mycenaean megaron, rear rooms (opisthodomos), naos (fella), front porch (pronas)
Temple of Artemis, Ephesus, Turkey (8th century BC)
Wooden (peripteral) columns surrounding the temple chamber (127 ionic columns)
Decorated with many fine sculptures by renowned Greek sculptors
-many of whom were of Amazons who were believed to have founded the city
-Artemis (the main statue) : sculptor endoeus
Painting and decorated columns
Peripteral columns
Columns placed around all sides of a building
Temple of Hera , Olympia, Greece ca 600-590 BC
Ancient Doric Greek temple
Original wooden peripteral columns
Replaced by stone columns later on (Egyptian influence)
-fluted shafts with concave groves (similar to Hatshepsut mortuary temple)
Fired clay roof tiles
2 sets of in antis columns between antae
Destroyed by an earthquake in the 4th century BC
Located where the Olympic torch is lit nowadays
Anta
Pilaster-like thickening at the wall edge of jamb of a wall opening that responds to an adjacent column
Stylobate
The base, usually having steps, on which a colonnaded temple sits
Column
The upright element consisting of base, shaft, and capital
Base- the lowest part of the column or pier, often broader than the section above to spread the load to the foundation
Shaft- vertical element above the base and below the capital in an architectural column
-fluting: vertical grooves incised in a shaft or classical column
Capital - termination of a column, generally given decorative carving
Entablature
The horizontal elements supported by columns, consisting of the architrave, frieze, and cornice
Architrave- the bottom part of an entablature
Frieze- the horizontal element above the architrave and below the cornice in an entablature
Cornice- the uppermost element of an entablature, which projects beyond the plane of the exterior wall; more generally, the overhanging molding atop any building
16th century
These assemblies are defined as the orders of architecture
Orders
The trabeated systems of architecture developed by the Greeks and extended by the romans
Greek orders: Doric, ionic, and Corinthian
-they differ slightly from the Roman orders
Doric
The Greek order that has a fluted shaft, no base, and an echinus molding supporting the abacus
Roman Doric columns have a base
Ionic
The order that features volutes in the capital; the shaft is usually fluted
Corinthian
The order that features acanthus-leaf capitals stop a fluted shaft
Temple of hera , paestum, Italy ca 550 BC
One of the earliest examples of the Doric order
One of the best preserved archaic temples
Built in the colonial city of poseidonia
Unusual number (9) of columns on the short side
Study Doric columns, marked by an entasis, a curved tapering in the column shaft
Bulbous echinus moldings form the capitals
Echinus
The curved cushion like molding that together with the abacus, forms the capital in the Doric order
Abacus
Flat square block
Entasis
The slight outward five of a column, which then tapers towered the top of the shaft
Arris
The intersection of two curved surfaces, most commonly applied to the line formed when the fluted of a Doric column join
More about the temple of Hera
The rhythm of the Doric order alternates the metopes and triglyphs
Metope
Element of the Doric frieze set alternatively with triglyphs
Panels contain low relief carving
Triglyph
A channeled block set between metopes in a Doric frieze
