24/9/07 - Architectural History - Greek Antiquity

The architecture of Greek antiquity has had a lasting effect and influence right up to the present day. Buildings that are built in the classical language of architecture include Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, built in 1708 by Vanbrugh in the English Baroque style, and Antigone in Montpellier in France, built by Bofill in 1988 in the Post-modernist style. The notion of emulating the classical language stems from the belief that Greek architecture, especially the Parthenon in Athens (477-423 BC), is the most beautiful and perfect architecture there is.

History and Geography of Greek Antiquity

There were three periods of classical Greece: the Aegean, home to the Minoan (5000-1400 BC) and Mycenean (1400-1100 BC) civilisations, from the island of Crete and the mainland respectively; the Dark Age, in which little developed occurred, 1100-800 BC (this is discounted for the purposes of a discussion of Greek architecture); the Hellenic, between 800-323 BC, in which the Greek city state emerged, there was the expansion of the Greek empire to Italy, Sicily and Ionia, the great philosophers were born and wrote, the climax of Athenian prosperity was reached, Pericles lived 444-429 BC and the ultimate development of Hellenic art occurred; and the Hellenistic, ranging from 323-30 BC, during which the Greek empire included all of Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt.

Outline of Architectural Development

In the Archaic period, the most significant buildings for the history of architecture are the Palace of Knosses, Minoan, from the second millennium BC, and the Palace at Mycenae, built around the same time. The Greek inconic image of architecture originates from this early date. The Palace at Phaistos was built in Crete in the seventh century BC.

In the Hellenic period, the Temple of Athena Nike in Athens was built in 424 BC and the Parthenon between 477-423 BC are the most important buildings of note. The houses in Greece at this time were not of any great architectural distinction.

In the Hellenistic period there was more interest in public buildings rather than religious ones, such as the Agora in Athens, dated to the second century BC.

The Greek Temple

The Greeks essentially invented the classical language of architecture, although it has been refined over time. Temples such as the Parthenon and the Temple of Hephaistus in Athens, built in 449 BC, were used to worship the gods, or a particular god, and to house the statues and dedications to the gods. They were not places of assembly. The Greek religion was polytheistic, meaning that they worshipped a number of gods rather than one. The Greek gods were not associated with morality, but with the supernatural and superhuman.

Greek temples, by definition, had to have grand exteriors to demonstrate peoples' dedication to the gods, but also to represent the power of the society to which they belonged. The interior did not necessarily need to be grand because only a privileged few were allowed inside. The temple has a peripteral octastyle plan - 'peripteral' refers to the long thin shape of the temple and 'octastyle' refers to the number of columns. Occasionally the Greeks built circular temples, but they were most often rectangular. The Parthenon has a trabeated structure, or rather, post-and-beam. This kind of structure is not capable of providing long spans (spaces between columns) because the columns offer essential structural support. Large temples need to have internal walls or rows of columns in order to support the great weight of the roof.

The Orders
The Greek temple represents an architecture that is all about exteriors. The were two systems for developing columns and beams from an early stage in Greek architectural history: the Doric and Ionic. Later, another form, the Corinthian, began to appear. An 'order' means the column and its entablature. The column consists of the base, shaft and capital. The entablature is divided into three parts: the architrave, frieze and cornice.

The Doric order, used at the Parthenon, is identified in several ways: it has no base; its columns have plain flutes; it has an architrave; the entablature has a metafrieze and triglyphs. The Vitruvian explanation of the origins of the Doric order is that it came from primitive timber forms of construction. The columns had to support rafters and beams on houses, which were then covered with thatch.

The Ionic order, used for the Erechtheon, has the following characteristics: a more slender shape than the Doric; 'scrolls' or volutes on its capital; its capital faces two ways, which was problematic when it came to corner columns; and it has a plainer entablature.

The Corinthian order, used at the Temple of Olympian Zeus, is very similar to the Ionic but more decorative: it has an ornate capital with volutes; extra faschias on its architrave; smaller dentils in the cornice; and a more ornate plinth and base.

Greek builders were not too much concerned with proportions. No two Greek buildings have the same proportions.

The orders were given characteristics which made them more or less suitable for a particular building. The Doric was associated with masculinity and therefore reason, logic and the military because of its fatter and squatter shape. The Ionic was associated with femininity, and therefore delicacy and intuition. The Corinthian was complex and decorative and more expensive so it was associated with wealth and power.

The Refinements

Temples were places of philosophy and idealism, and so their form had to represent these qualities; the temples had to be the peak of perfection. The columns were made by cutting up perfect drums of stone. Bricks were also finely and accurately cut. No one since Greek antiquity has used solid stone to construct buildings, except of course, the classical Greeks. Entasis was used for the columns, i.e. they have a slight curvature of profile. This was done to make the temple look more perfect in a visual way than it would have looked had entasis been disused. So there were no strict rules in building for the ancient Greeks; instead, perfection was reached by bending the rules.

The other refinements are: upwards curvature of the entablature and stylobate; inward inclination of the columns and entablature (column slant increases towards corners); variation in column thickness (corner columns thicker); adjustment of intercolumnation (especially at corners); variation in depth to which column fluting and relief sculpture is incised.

The Parthenon is considered the most perfect building in the world because it used all the above refinements. It was an amazing feat of construction because it achieved such a high level of perfection. These factors have contributed to the Parthenon's reputation as the most important classical building in the world.

Three Important Buildings from Greek Antiquity
The Acropolis in Athens was the central fortress and principal sanctuary of the city throughout Antiquity. It is no wonder that three of the most important buildings in Greek Antiquity are situated there: the Parthenon (477-423 BC); the Erechtheon (421-405 BC); and the Propylaea (437-423 BC), which uses both the Doric and the Corinthian order.

The Parthenon's most characteristic features are that it was made of Pentelic marble, it was a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, it is an octastyle peripteral building, it uses the Doric order, its architects were Ictinus and Kallicrates, and its master builder was Pheidias. It is considered the greatest of all the Greek temples because it embodies all of the 'refinements'.

The Erechtheon was built for Poseidon, it uses the Ionic order, it has an irregular plan which makes it unusual for a temple, it has three porches including the Caryatid porch in which the columns are draped female figures, and its architect was Mnesicles.

The Propylaea is the entrance gateway to the Acropolis, it uses both Doric and Ionic orders, it has an irregular plan much dictated by the site on which it was built, and Mnesicles designed this temple too.

Bibliography
Fleming, J., Honour, H. and Pevsner, N., The PenguinDictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1999.

Lawrence, A. W., Greek Architecture, 5th edition, Yale University Press, London, 1996

Musgrove, J. (ed), Sir Banister Fletcher's History of Architecture, 19th edition, Butterworths, Oxford, 1987

Coulton, J. J., Greek Architects at Work, Elek, London, 1997