HOA GREEK ARCHITECTURE

• Greece was not a unified nation but a set of several hundred city-states constantly vying with each other and forming alliances called leagues
• Greek Periods


  • Minoan age 2000 BC – 1400 BC
  • Mycenaean age 1100 BC – 600 BC
  • The Dark ages 600 BC – 750 BC
  • Archaic Period 750 BC – 500 BC
  • Classical period 500 BC – 336 BC
  • Hellenistic period 336 BC – 146 BC
• Minoan Civilisation


  • Developed one of the earliest Mediterranean civilizations based on the island of Crete
  • Named after the ruler, King Minos
  • Sea-faring people
• Minoan Religion


  • Polytheists – worshipped many gods, including bulls, snakes, men, and women
  • Bull leaping or bull fighting was both a religious ceremony and a sport
• Minoan Art


  • Frescoes – paintings done in wet plaster or cement
  • Friezes – large horizontal paintings often found on walls

  
• Minoan Architecture


  • Palaces have complete plumbing and drainage system
  • Multi-level structure with complex layout of rooms and passageways
  • No walls protecting the palace of Minos
  • Principal suit is a Megaron
  • Set up in a Citadel
• Palace of Knossos


  • Inscribed with Knosion or Knos on the obverse and an image of a Minotaur in the Labyrinth on the reverse
  • Throne room is the most important area of the palace
• Symbols of Minoan Civilisation

  • Griffin (Bird Headed Lion)
  • Minotaur (Bull)
• Minoan culture influenced Greek thinking, language, social organization, and economic pursuits
• Minoan Decline Theories


  • Volcanic eruption or natural disaster buried the island of Crete, perishing the Minoans
  • Invasions from the Greek mainland were the cause of their decline
• Mycenaean Civilisation


  • Earliest MAINLAND Greek civilization
  • Named after the fortress-city, Mycenae
  • War-like people
• Mycenaean Religion


  • Mixture of Minoan influences and local dieties or Gods
  • 2 types of dieties: Nature Gods and Predecessors of Olympian gods and goddesses
• Methods of Walling Surface

  • Cyclopean- A masonry made-up of huge stone blocks laid mortar
  • Polygonal – Masonry constructed with stones having polygonal faces
  • Rectangular- Block of stone cut into rectangular shapes
  • Inclined Blocks
• Mycenaean Architecture


  • Low Pitch or Roof
  • Stairway was developed for vertical circulation
  • MEGARON is the principal building type and major ceremonial space
• Mycenaean Structures


  • Megaron
  • Tombs
  • Gateway
  • Dams for flood management
• Megaron


  Semi-independent building unit, typical rectangular principal chamber with a center hearth and a porch, believed to be ancestor of Doric temple
• Examples of Mycenaean Architecture

  • Gate of Lions - Most Ancient Stone Sculpture in Europe, the space of the arch is filled by a triangular stone with relief sculpture of two lions
  • Treasury of Atreus/Agamemnon - Tholos/Tholoi (Stone vaulted, shaped like an old fashion beehive), Dromos (Long deep passageway into ancient subterranean tomb), Shaft Grave (Consisting of a deep rectangular cut into sloping rock a roof stone)
• Hellenic Period


  • Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE), son of Philip II of Macedon, assumed the kingship over the newly consolidated mainland Greece after his father's death, continuing his expansionary policies
• Athens


  • Capital and largest city of Greece
  • Sprawls across the central plain of Attica that is often referred to as the Athens or Attica Basin
  • Bounded by four large mountains: Mount Aigaleo to the west, Mount Parnitha to the north, Mount Pentelicus to the northeast and Mount Hymettus to the east
  • Mountains cause a temperature inversion phenomenon which was responsible for the air pollution problems the city has faced
• Athens - Acropolis


  • Birth of formal Politics (democracy) in the leadership of Pericles
  • Under the Patronage of goddess of Wisdom, Athena
• Athena Parthenos in the cella of the Parthenon on the Acropolis, 438 BCE


  • Model of the lost chryselephantine statue of Athena, 38 feet tall, gold and ivory, fully armed and holding Nike (victory) in her hand
• Characteristics of Greek Architecture

  • Trabeated System - Composed from a series of vertical posts and horizontal transfer beams
  • Peristasis - a single or double row of columns forming an external envelope and providing structural support
  • Isolated Temple - Called "temenos" sacred landscape, people other than priests rarely entered temples, temples were almost always oriented east-west
  • Proportion - Defined both plan and elevation, and the choice and size of the order employed determined all succeeding scales and ratios, various optical refinements were used to reconcile the rigid geometry to the distorting effects of human vision
  • Sculpture - Seen in metopes, friezes and pediments and also for freestanding sculptures, either inside a temple or a top its pediment, called acroteria
  • Architectural Planning - In Hellenistic cities, urbanism and architecture begin to overlap for the first time, grid planning
  • Orders - Most significant innovation of ancient Greek architecture and the principal components of a classical building, the orders are formed of a base, shaft, capital and entablature, each has its own proportional system

  
• The absolute value of the golden ratio is approximately 0.618
• Acroteria


  Freestanding sculptures, either inside a temple or a top its pediment
• Hellenistic sculpture


  • Extraordinary 'Gigantomachy' frieze of the Pergamon Altar
• Hellenistic cities


  • Urbanism and architecture begin to overlap for the first time
  • Theaters, temples, villas, palaces, libraries, stadia, and streets are all equally important
• Grid planning


  A type of architectural planning used in Hellenistic cities
• Orders


  The most significant innovation of ancient Greek architecture and the principal components of a classical building, formed of a base, shaft, capital and entablature

  
• Pediment


  Part of a Greek temple

  
• Parts of a Greek temple pediment

  • Acroterium/Antifixae
  • Raking sima
  • Raking geison
  • Tympanum
  • Horizontal geison
• Doric order


  Characterized by masculinity, strength and solidity, with meander or fret ornamentation
• Parts of a Greek temple entablature

  • Triglyph
  • Mutule
  • Metope
  • Taenia
  • Regula

  
• Shanks


  Part of a Greek temple entablature
• Channel


  Part of a Greek temple entablature
• Parts of a Greek temple column and crepidoma

  • Abacus
  • Drum
  • Stylobate
  • Crepidoma
  • Necking
  • Echinus
  • Annulet
  • Flutings
  • Arris
  • Steriobate

  
• Ionic order


  Inspired by the proportions of the female body, with egg & darts and anthemion palmette ornaments, and volutes
• Parts of the Ionic order

  • Cornice
  • Frieze
  • Architrave
  • Capital
  • Base
  • Entablature
  • Column
• Parts of the Ionic order entablature

  • Dentils
  • Egg and darts
  • Fascia 1
  • Fascia 2
  • Fascia 3
  • Apophyge
  • Torus
  • Scotia
• Parts of the Ionic order capital

  • Volute/Scroll
  • Echinus
  • Flutings
  • Fillet
  • Cathetus
  • Eye
• Corinthian order


  Entablature and column