GREEK

ARCHITECTURE

HISTORY OF
ARCHITECTURE
SHANT BENEDICT R. TORIBIO
 ACROPOLIS

The Acropolis of Athens is the most striking and complete ancient Greek monumental complex still
existing in our times. It is situated on a hill of average height (156m) that rises in the basin of Athens.
Its overall dimensions are approximately 170 by 350m. The hill is rocky and steep on all sides except
for the western side, and has an extensive, nearly flat top. Strong fortification walls have surrounded
the summit of the Acropolis for more than 3,300 years. The first fortification wall was built during the
13th century BC, and surrounded the residence of the local Mycenaean ruler. In the 8th century BC,
the Acropolis gradually acquired a religious character with the establishment of the cult of Athena, the
city’s patron goddess. The sanctuary reached its peak in the archaic period (mid-6th century to early
5th century BC). In the 5th century BC, the Athenians, empowered from their victory over the
Persians, carried out an ambitious building programme under the leadership of the great statesman
Perikles, comprising a large number of monuments including the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the
Propylaia and the temple of Athena Nike. The monuments were developed by an exceptional group of
architects (such as Iktinos, Kallikrates, Mnesikles) and sculptors (such as Pheidias, Alkamenes,
Agorakritos), who transformed the rocky hill into a unique complex, which heralded the emergence of
classical Greek thought and art. On this hill were born Democracy, Philosophy, Theatre, Freedom of
Expression and Speech, which provide to this day the intellectual and spiritual foundation for the
contemporary world and its values. The Acropolis’ monuments, having survived for almost twenty-five
centuries through wars, explosions, bombardments, fires, earthquakes, sackings, interventions and
alterations, have adapted to different uses and the civilizations, myths and religions that flourished in
Greece through time.

HISTORY OF
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 AGORA

Agora, in ancient Greek cities, an open space that served as a meeting ground for various activities of
the citizens. The name, first found in the works of Homer, connotes both the assembly of the people as
well as the physical setting. It was applied by the classical Greeks of the 5th century BCE to what they
regarded as a typical feature of their life: their daily religious, political, judicial, social, and commercial
activity. The agora was located either in the middle of the city or near the harbour, which was
surrounded by public buildings and by temples. Colonnades, sometimes containing shops, or stoae,
often enclosed the space, and statues, altars, trees, and fountains adorned it. The general trend at this
time was to isolate the agora from the rest of the town. Earlier stages in the evolution of the agora have
been sought in the East and, with better results, in Minoan Crete (for instance, at Ayiá Triádha) and in
Mycenaean Greece (for instance, at Tiryns).

HISTORY OF
ARCHITECTURE
 GYMNASIUM

The name gymnasium (gymnasion) derives from the Greek word for nudity (gymnos) as all exercise
and sports were done by the male only members in the nude. The earliest recorded examples of
gymnasia date to the 6th century BCE and were simple affairs consisting of an area of packed earth
shaded by trees located somewhere close to a river or spring. They were especially common at
sanctuary sites such as Delphi, Olympia, and Nemea.
The Gymnasium was a Greek building originally used for athletic activities but which came, over time,
to be used also as a place of study and philosophical discussion. In the Hellenistic Period, gymnasia
became highly standardized both in architecture and function and continued their important role in a
young male's physical and general education. They became a common feature across the Greek world
and were adopted and adapted by the later Romans, eventually evolving into the huge multi-purpose
complex that was the Roman baths.

HISTORY OF
ARCHITECTURE
 PROPYLAEA

Propylaea is the name given to monumental gates or entranceways to a specific space, usually to a
temple or religious complex and as such they acted as a symbolic partition between the secular and
religious parts of a city. Less complex examples with a single entrance are known as a propylon.
Propylaea were a feature of Minoan architecture in 17th century BCE Crete (e.g. at Ayia Triada) and
Mycenaean architecture in the 14th century BCE (e.g. at Tiryns). In Classical Greece a monumental
Propylon provided the entrance to the sanctuary at Olympia but the most famous and best preserved
example of this type of structure is the magnificent Propylaea of the acropolis of Athens.

The Propylaea of Athens was built as part of Pericles great rebuilding programme for Athens in c. 437
BCE and was designed as a monumental entrance to the plateau of the acropolis and the great temple
to Athena, the Parthenon. The project was begun as the Parthenon neared completion and was
supervised by the architect Mnesicles (or Mnesikles) who managed to overcome the difficulties of
incorporating the structure into the existing architecture of the Athena Nike bastion and the precinct of
Artemis Brauronia and the differences in elevation of the chosen site. Work was suspended in 431 BCE
following the opening stages of the Peloponnesian War but in fact was never resumed. However, the
major parts of Mnesicles vision had fortunately been realised.

HISTORY OF
ARCHITECTURE
 STADIUM

Stadium, enclosure that combines broad space for athletic games and other exhibitions with large
seating capacity for spectators. The name derives from the Greek unit of measurement, the stade, the
distance covered in the original Greek footraces (about 600 feet [180 metres]). The course for the
footrace in the ancient Olympic Games at Olympia was exactly a stade in length, and the word for the
unit of measurement became transferred first to the footrace and then to the place in which the race
was run. As a type of structure, the stadium played a significant role in 20th-century construction
technology.

HISTORY OF
ARCHITECTURE
 STOA

Stoa, in Greek architecture, a freestanding colonnade or covered walkway; also, a long open building,
its roof supported by one or more rows of columns parallel to the rear wall. The Stoa of Attalus at
Athens is a prime example.

Stoae surrounded marketplaces and sanctuaries and formed places of business and public promenade.
Rooms might back onto the colonnade, and a second story was sometimes added.

HISTORY OF
ARCHITECTURE
THEATER

The outdoor setting for performances of Greek

drama traditionally comprised three areas: a large
circular dancing floor (orchēstra in Greek) on
which the action took place and in the centre of
which was an altar to Dionysus; behind this, a
scene-building and dressing room (skēne in Greek,
whence “scene”), a low architectural facade to
which painted scenery could be fitted, sometimes on
revolving panels (periaktoi); and around the
orchēstra, a semicircular auditorium cut into a
hillside and fitted initially with wooden benches and
later with stone or marble seats. The steep rake and
layout of the auditorium enabled audiences of
about 10,000 to 20,000 to sit in reasonable
proximity to the players. They also enhanced the
acoustics. An important stage device used in
tragedy during the 5th century BCE was the crane
(mēchanē), which served to fly in the gods (deus ex
machina) at the end of the play.

HISTORY OF
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TEMPLE

Temple of Artemis, temple at Ephesus, now in western

Turkey, that was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The great temple was built by Croesus, king of Lydia,
about 550 BCE and was rebuilt after being burned by a
madman named Herostratus in 356 BCE. The Artemesium
was famous not only for its great size, over 350 by 180 feet
(about 110 by 55 metres), but also for the magnificent
works of art that adorned it. The temple was destroyed by
invading Goths in 262 CE and was never rebuilt. Little
remains of the temple (though there are many fragments,
especially of sculptured columns, in the British Museum).
Excavation has revealed traces of both Croesus’s and the
4th-century temple and of three earlier smaller ones.

Copies survive of the famous statue of Artemis, an un-

Greek representation of a mummylike goddess, standing
stiffly straight with her hands extended outward. The
original statue was made of gold, ebony, silver, and black
stone. The legs and hips were covered by a garment
decorated with reliefs of animals and bees, and the top of
the body was festooned with many breasts; her head was
adorned with a high-pillared headdress.

HISTORY OF
ARCHITECTURE