Sanctuaries and the sacred I the ancient Greek world

They are most easily recognized in their elevations , where it is the columns capitals that provide the most obvious index difference. There are various orders of construction. The Greek used three orders of construction which are Ionic, Corinthian and Doric. These orders are still in use up to today where it is common to see facades of buildings constructed in a way that can be traced to these orders. They are used on both private and public buildings to imply status and powers. Pg 66-68 Introduction During the fifth century B. C, Greek architects perfected peripheral temples, and this procedure was used for the second half of the century in mainland Greece. (Hellenic architecture) A great increase in the population of certain cities gave rise to new problems, especially as regards municipal buildings, but solutions were found which preserved the types without drastic alteration, a more ornate treatment compensating for larger scale.

Indeed, the architects of later times devoted most of their creativeness to the enrichment of decoration, for which they applied functional elements, such as columns, in an unfunctional manner. Chapter 8 Pg 58 Greek architecture - Fifth edition In the 5th century B. The columns, with capitals and base, are nine modules high. Page 19 Andrea Palladio the four books of architecture. While the orders took their names from the two main variant forms of greek spoken in their respective areas of origin, their geographical distribution never altogether conformed with that of dialect. Broadly, Doric began as and remained the style of the Greek mainland and of the western colonies, Ionic that of some Aegean islands and the coast of Asia Minor, though it was also introduced to Athens barely a generation after it took shape and became an alternative to Doric there; the Athenians might have justified themselves by their claim to be Ionians who had not Migrated.

The Doric order derived its name from Dorians which was a nation of Greek found in Agia. Greater liberties could therefore be taken with the structure, and now the best proportions were ascertained. The oldest proportions together with other members; their proportions measurements were similar to those of the traditional wooden architecture. Later on it was discovered that when building is done in stones, lack of tensile strength and also greater weight needed thicker proportions. After gaining confidence through experience, the tendency was reversed. This was particularly in Doric. Chapter 8 Pg 59 Using this mastery, the late 5th century architects extensively exploited the possibility of the marble for polished surface and sharp definition, to a degree which has never been thought of.

In Doric foreshortening and perspective were simulated or countered by perceptible distortion. Ionic had less scope for the similar refinements. It concentrated on elaborating bases, capitals and ornaments. But still treatment was formal in spite of the richness that it had. ancient illustrations of wooden building also prove that their deigns varied Improvement of the technique for building took place on the mainland simultaneously as decorative forms were being developed. The result was a classical Doric order. When these decorative forms are used, it is an indication of the appreciation towards aesthetic value in improvement in construction of the temples. Illustrations have shown that ancient wooden buildings varied in design. A History of architecture The Doric Order Matters of technique and construction, though obviously important, were not the prime testing ground of greek architects.

Every building existed within the limits of its norm and was judged against other exponents of this norm. And because this was so, every building could convey precise meaning against a background of familiarity. The thinking of the Greek is at once specific and typal. It adopts an idea (it can just be a form in its raw form just as an idea), it then nurtures and perfects this idea through a series of changes. Finally the idea becomes universally valid and irrefutable. It did not constitute, as a mechanistic view view would have it, the gradual translation into masonry of conventional timber forms. It seized upon the possibilities of the new technology to restate the principle theme of religious architecture as typified by the first peripteral templesof the eighth and early seventh centuries.

In so doing, it expressed some of the wood detailing rather than tryingto petrify them exactly. It is therefore not very fruitful to seek precise references in timber construction for individual elements of the doric order, to see triglyphs as bean ends and columns as tree trunks. It is the contrast and not the transference that needs to be stressed. It was the slight bulging of the shaft profile, that gave Doric columns a look of vitality and expressed their load-bearing function. The fluting of the shaft also helped to convey this feeling of compression, while at the same time it distinguished the shaft from the smooth background masonry of the cella walls. Fluting was done on the spot, after all the drums of a column were in place.

Normally there were twenty flutes per column. This pattern of arised grooves pulled the individual drums together and created the illusion of flow along the length of the unified cylinder. It is as though we are there bearing the load of the superstructure and would know in our own bodies, empathetically, what is too much or too little for the constitution of the columns. The Principle of Empathy is central to the understanding of greek architecture. It comes about intangibly, through the proportional interlocking of the members, which evokes the proportional relationships of a standing human. The temple, in this sense, was the meeting ground of the human and the divine. At the same time that humans were lifted up by the proud and measured soaring of the columns, deities came down to the level of human visibility.

All that remained was for the pedimental figures to be carved and hoisted into place. The coming of the Parthenon was at a time when human were trying to reach their perfection in both execution and design. Its significance in history is in the fact that Doric temple and art forms had reached its Zenich. It was inevitable that decline was to follow this. Other buildings were forced to be impoverished aesthetically because of the supremacy that the Doric temple had over them. The concern for proportion is what drove the planning of the building. Both achievement of the harmonious proportions and preoccupation had governed the building of the Greek temple in its earliest years. A case in point was offered by overtime changes in column proportions of Doric order.

The evolution of columns in the 6th century was from slimness and squatness. The description of their heights was in description in termos of lower diameter multiple. There was one Exception : in the back chamber where the treasure was kept, the ionic orderwas introduced. The ratio of 9:4 controlled both elevation and plan in Parthenon. The columns of the column heights of peristyle on both front and back together with the 17 columns found on the flank was an indication that usual formula used to find the number of columns that are on the frank of the Doric temple was actually applied. The Parthenon incorporated some unusual features though it is considered as one of the preeminent Doric temple. There was enough space that allowed for the rectangular for keeping the Athena’s treasure and also for the gigantic statue of Athena to be incorporated in the extra-large Cella.

This was another curvature of the stylobate that was upward. Remember the columns rested on this masonry course. Here the optical refinement was calculated so that human eye could see the lines that sloped as straight or those that curved. Because of this, there is no any right angle that was used in the building. The Ionic sculptured friezes which were continuously placed were another unusual feature. It was to be considered the feminine order by the Vitruvirus. This was in relation to Doric that was imbued with the “manly beauty, unadorned and naked”. An organic smack is used to countervail Doric in ionic forms. The ornamental details of the Ionic freely recall plant forms and leaf the favours the curvilinear.

The Column itself is taller and thinner by comparison and rests on an elegantly molded base. The strips are responsible for reducing visual impacts from the load as a way of preparation of slender grace of these supports. The frieze above was a continuous band of relief. It enhanced the sense of a layered elevation which reads differently from the Doric of the determined verticality. IONIC TEMPLE The Marble Ionic columns of the stoa of the athenians were so slim and widely spaced that the super structure and roof must have been of wood. An inscription written on the stylobate in late archaic lettering records that the Athenians dedicated the building and the cables and ships prows (figureheads) to the gods.

Low marshy sites are as common for ionic temples as is precipitous high ground for doric. This setting helped emphasise the grovellike characterof the peristyle that consisted of a double row of columns, eight of them across each short end in the preferred manner of ionic temples, and had additional columns lining he attenuated front porch. The effect of massing so many columns is almost egyption. The Artemission which is found at Ephesosof is regarded as among the earliest temples of 560-550BC and also greatest Ionic temple. It had immense standards of the Greeks at that time and even later it was rarely surpassed. These orders came out of the creativity work of the Greek architectures. They were mostly interested in appearance of the building and not really constructions and techniques that were used.