Ancient Greek Architecture: Elements and Features

The architecture of Ancient Greek had a huge impact on the architecture of subsequent eras. Its main concepts and philosophy for a long time entrenched in the traditions of Europe. What is interesting about ancient Greek architecture? The order system, the principles of city planning and the creation of theaters are described further in the article.

Periods of development

Ancient Greece is an ancient civilization, which consisted of many scattered city-states. It covered the western coast of Asia Minor, the south of the Balkan Peninsula, the islands of the Aegean Sea, as well as southern Italy, the Black Sea and Sicily.

The architecture of Ancient Greek gave rise to many styles and became the basis in the architecture of the Renaissance. In the history of its development, there are usually several stages.

• The Homeric period (mid XII - middle of the 8th century BC) - new forms and features on the basis of the old Mycenaean traditions. The main buildings were residential buildings and the first temples made of clay, adobe and wood. The first ceramic details appeared in the decor.
• Archaic (VIII - beginning of the 5th century, 480th BC). With the formation of policies new public buildings appear. The temple and the square in front of him become the center of city life. In construction, stone is often used: limestone and marble, terracotta lining. There are different types of temples. The Doric order prevails.
• Classics (480 - 330 BC) - the heyday. All types of orders in the ancient Greek architecture are actively developing and even combine in a composite way with each other. The first theaters and music halls (odeions), apartment houses with porticoes arise. The theory of planning streets and quarters is being formed.
• Hellenism (330 - 180 years BC). Theaters and public buildings are being built. Ancient Greek style in architecture is complemented by eastern elements. The predominance of decorativeness, luxury and splendor. The Corinthian order is often used.

In 1808, Greece was influenced by Rome. The empire lured to its capital the best scientists and masters of art, borrowing from the Greeks some traditions of culture. Therefore, ancient Greek and Roman architecture have many similar features, for example, in the construction of theaters or in the order system.

Philosophy of Architecture

In any aspect of life, the ancient Greeks sought to achieve harmony. Representations about it were not blurred and purely theoretical. In ancient Greece, harmony was defined as a combination of adjusted proportions.

They were applied to the human body. Beauty was measured not only by eye, but also by specific figures. So, the sculptor Poliklet in the treatise "Canon" presented clear parameters of ideal men and women. Beauty was directly associated with physical and even spiritual health and integrity of the individual.

The human body was seen as a construction, the details of which were perfectly matched to each other. Ancient Greek architecture and sculpture, in turn, sought to conform as much as possible to the notion of harmony.

Dimensions and shapes of the statues corresponded to the notion of a "right" body and its parameters. The type of sculpture usually propagated the ideal person: spiritual, healthy and athletic. In architecture, anthropomorphism manifested itself in the names of measures (elbow, palm) and in proportions that were derived from the proportions of the figure.

The display of man was the columns. Their foundation or base was identified with the feet, the trunk with the trunk, the capital with the head. Vertical grooves or flutes on the column were represented by folds of clothing.

The main orders of ancient Greek architecture

The great achievements of engineering thought in ancient Greece can not be said. Complex designs and solutions were not used then. The temple of that time can be compared with a megalith, where a stone beam lies on a stone support. Greatness and features of ancient Greek architecture are, first of all, in its aesthetics and decorativeness.

The art and philosophy of the building helped to embody his warrant or the beams and beam composition of elements in a certain style and order. There were three main types of warrant in the ancient Greek architecture:

• Doric;
• Ionic;
• Corinthian.

All of them had a common set of elements, but differed in their arrangement, shape and ornamentation. So, the Greek order included stereoobat, stylobate, entablature and cornice. Stereobat represented a stepped foundation above the foundation. Next followed the stylobate or columns.

The entablature was carried by a part located on the columns. The lower beam, on which the entire entablature rests, is called architrave. On it was a frieze - the middle decorative part. The upper part of the entablature is the cornice, it hung over the other parts.

At first, elements of ancient Greek architecture were not confused. The Ionic entablature was placed only on the Ionic column, Corinthian - on Corinthian. One style is for one building. After the construction of the Parthenon by Iktin and Kallikrat in the V century BC. E. Orders began to be combined and put on each other. This was done in a certain order: first Doric, then Ionic, then Corinthian.

Doric Order

Doric and Ionic Greek orders in architecture were basic. The Doric system was extended mainly to the mainland and inherited the Mycenaean culture. It is characterized by monumentality and in some form of heaviness. The appearance of the order expresses calm grandeur and laconism.

Doric columns are not high. They have no base, and the trunk is powerful and tapers upward. Abacus, the upper part of the capital, has a square shape and lies on the round supporter (echine). Kannelure, as a rule, was twenty. Architect Vitruvius compared the columns of this order with a man - strong and restrained.

In the entablature of the warrant, architrave, frieze and cornice were always present. The freeze was separated from the architrave by a shelf and consisted of triglyphs-rectangles extended outwards with flutes that alternated with metopes-slightly recessed square plates with or without sculptural images. Friezes of other orders did not have trigrams with metopes.

The triglyph was primarily a practical function. The researchers suggest that he represented the ends of the beams that lay on the walls of the sanctuary. He had strictly calculated parameters and served as a support for the cornice and rafters. In some of the oldest buildings, the space between the ends of the triglyph was not filled with metopes, but remained empty.

Ionic Order

The Ionic order system was extended to the coasts of Asia Minor, in Attica and on the islands. Influence on it was rendered by Phenicia and Persia, the Achaemenians. A vivid example of this style was the temple of Artemis in Ephesus and the temple of Hera in Samosai.

Ionika was associated with the image of a woman. For the warrant was typical decorativeness, lightness and refinement. Its main feature was a capital, designed in the form of volutes - symmetrically arranged curls. Abacus and Echines were decorated with carvings.

Ionic column is thinner and slender than Doric. Its base rested on a square plate and was decorated with convex and concave elements with ornamental cutting. Sometimes the base was located on a drum decorated with a sculptural composition. In ionics, the distance between the columns is greater, which increases the airiness and sophistication of the building.

The entablature could consist of architrave and cornice (Asia Minor style) or from three parts, as in Doric (Attic style). Architrave was divided into fascia - horizontal ledges. Between it and the cornice were located small denticles. The gutter on the cornice was decorated with ornamentation.

Corinthian order

Corinthian order is rarely considered independent, it is often defined as a variation of the ionic order. There are two versions reporting the origins of this order. The more mundane speaks of borrowing a style from the Egyptian columns, which were adorned with lotus leaves. According to another theory, the warrant was created by a sculptor from Corinth. To this he was inspired by the basket he saw, in which were the leaves of the acanthus.

From the ionic it differs mainly in the height and decor of the capital, which is decorated with stylized acanthus leaves. Two rows of molded leaves frame the top of the column in a circle. The sides of the abacus are concave and decorated with large and small spiral curls.

The Corinthian order is saturated with a decor more than other ancient Greek orders in architecture. Of all three styles, he was considered the most luxurious, elegant and rich. His tenderness and refinement was associated with the image of a young girl, and the leaves of the acanthus resembled curls. Due to this, the warrant is often called "girlish".

Ancient temples

The temple was the main and most important construction of ancient Greece. Its form was simple, the prototype for it were residential rectangular houses. The architecture of the Greek temple was gradually complicated and supplemented with new elements until it acquired a round shape. Usually these styles are distinguished:

• Distil;
• prostyle;
• Amphiprostil;
• Peripter;
• A dipter;
• Pseudodipter;
• Tholos.

The temple in ancient Greece did not have windows. Outside, he was surrounded by columns, which housed a gable roof and beams. Inside was a sanctuary with a statue of a deity to whom the temple was dedicated.

In some buildings there could be a small dressing room - pronaos. In the back of the large temples there was one more room. It kept donations of residents, sacred inventory and the city treasury.

The first type of temple - the distil - consisted of a sanctuary, the front loggia, which was surrounded by walls or antes. There were two columns in the loggia. With the complication of styles, the number of columns increased. In their forgiveness there are four, in amphiprostil - four on the back and front facade.

In the temples-peripets they surround the building from all sides. If the columns are built around the perimeter in two rows, then this style is a dipter. The last style, the tholos, also assumed the surrounding of the columns, but the perimeter had a cylindrical shape. During the Roman Empire, the tolos evolved into a type of "rotunda" construction.

Policy arrangement

Ancient Greek policies were built mostly offshore. They developed as trade democratic states. In the public and political life of cities participated all their full-fledged inhabitants. This leads to the fact that the ancient Greek architecture develops not only towards religious buildings, but also in terms of public buildings.

The upper part of the city was the acropolis. As a rule, he was on a hill and was well fortified to hold back the enemy during a sudden attack. Within its boundaries were temples of the gods, who patronized the city.

The center of the Lower city was the agora - an open market square where trade was conducted, important social and political issues were being addressed. It housed a school, a council of elders, a basilica, a building for feasts and gatherings, as well as temples. On the perimeter of the agora, statues were sometimes placed.

From the very beginning, the ancient Greek architecture assumed that the buildings inside the policies are placed freely. Their location depended on the local terrain. In the 5th century BC, the Hippodams carried out a real revolution in city planning. He proposed a clear mesh structure of the streets, which divides the quarters into rectangles or squares.

All buildings and objects, including agora, are located inside the quarter cells, without getting out of the general rhythm. Such a layout made it easy to complete new sections of the policy without violating wholeness and harmony. According to the project Hippodamus were built Miletus, Knid, Assos, etc. But Athens, for example, remained with the old "chaotic" form.

Living spaces

Houses in ancient Greece differed depending on the era, as well as the prosperity of the owners. There are several main types of houses:

• Megaron;
• apsidal;
• Pastad;
• Peristyleous.

One of the earliest types of housing is the megaron. His plan was a prototype for the first temples of the Homeric era. The house had a rectangular shape, in the end part of which was an open room with a portico. The passage was edged by two columns and protruding walls. Inside there was only one room with a hearth in the middle and a hole in the roof for the exit of smoke.

The apsidal house was also built in the early period. It was a rectangle with a rounded end part, which was called an apse. Later there appeared pastoral and peristyle types of buildings. The outer walls in them were deaf, and the layout of the buildings was closed.

The pasta was a passage in the inner part of the courtyard. From above it was covered and supported by wooden supports. In the IV century BC, the peristyle becomes popular. It retains the old layout, but the pastoral passage is replaced by covered columns along the perimeter of the courtyard.

From the side of the street there were only smooth walls of houses. Inside was a courtyard around which all the rooms of the house were located. The windows, as a rule, were not, the light source was the courtyard. If the windows were, then placed on the second floor. Interior decoration was mostly simple, excesses began to appear only in the era of Hellenism.

The house was clearly divided into female (ginekeja) and male (andron) half. In the male part, they received guests and arranged a meal. It was possible to get to the female half only through it. From the side of the gynaea was the entrance to the garden. In the housing of the rich there was also a kitchen, a sauna and a bakery. The second floor was usually taken.

Architecture of Ancient Greek Theater

The theater in Ancient Greece combined not only an entertaining aspect, but also a religious one. His birth is connected with the cult of Dionysus. The first theatrical productions were arranged to honor this deity. On the religious origin of representations, the architecture of the ancient Greek theater was reminiscent of at least the presence of an altar that was in the orchestra.

Festivities, games and plays took place on the stage. In the IV century BC, they ceased to have anything to do with religion. The distribution of roles and control of productions was handled by the archon. The main roles played by a maximum of three people, women played by men. The drama was performed in the form of competition, where the poets took turns representing their work.

The layout of the first theaters was simple. In the center was the orchestra - a round platform, where the choir was located. Behind her was the room in which the actors (skena) were changing their clothes. The audience hall (theatron) was of considerable size and was located on a hill, skirting the stage in a semicircle.

All theaters were located directly under the open sky. Originally they were temporary. For each holiday, the wooden platforms were built anew. In the V century BC places for spectators began to be carved out of stone right in the hillside. This created a correct and natural funnel, contributing to good acoustics. To enhance the resonance of sound near the spectators placed special vessels.

With the improvement of the theater, the design of the scene becomes more complicated. Its front part consisted of columns and imitated the front facade of the temples. On the sides there were rooms - paraschenia. They kept the scenery and theatrical equipment. In Athens, the largest theater was the theater of Dionysus.

Athens Acropolis

Some monuments of ancient Greek architecture can be seen now. One of the most integral structures that have survived to this day is the Acropolis of Athens. It is located on Mount Pyrgos at an altitude of 156 meters. Here are the theater of Dionysus, the temple of the goddess Athena Parthenon, the sanctuary of Zeus, Artemis, Niki and other famous buildings.

The temples of the Athenian acropolis are characterized by the combination of all three order systems. The combination of styles marks the Parthenon. It is built in the form of a Doric peripetra, the inner frieze of which is made in ionic style.

In the center, surrounded by columns, was a statue of Athena. The acropolis was given an important political role. His appearance was to emphasize the hegemony of the city, and the composition of the Parthenon was to glorify the victory of democracy over the aristocratic system.

Near the majestic and pathos construction of the Parthenon is the Erechtheion. It is entirely executed in the ionic order. In contrast to his "neighbor", he sings grace and beauty. The temple is dedicated to two gods - Poseidon and Athena, and is located on the place where, according to legend, they had a dispute.

Due to the nature of the relief, the layout of the Erechtheion is asymmetric. He has two sanctuaries - the cella and two entrances. In the southern part of the temple there is a portico, which is supported not by columns, but by marble caryatids (statues of women).

In addition, in the acropolis preserved Propylaea - the main entrance, surrounded by columns and porticoes, to the sides of which was a palace and park complex. On the hill was also located Arrreforion - a house for girls, weaving clothes for Athenian games.