DATE: c. 630 B.C.

N.B. Not on syllabus, but useful in any

discussion of the origins of the Doric
order.

ORDER: DORIC
show they were painted. In the sixth
century the temple seems to have been
renovated; probably there was a pediment only at the
front earlier, and
the rebuilding
replaced a hip roof
at the rear with a
second pediment.
In the Hellenistic
period the column footings
were connected to
form a stylobate,
and the columns
gradually replaced
in stone.

SIGNIFICANCE
Interesting as the earliest example of a
Doric temple, yet it has all the major
features of the developed order: the
triglyph frieze, mutular cornice, guttae
etc. According to Vitruvius these features reflect the origins of the Doric
order in a wooden architecture, and their
presence at Thermon in a basically
wooden temple serves to lend credibility
to this theory. In any case it is most
striking that the decorative details
of the Doric order
come into

1. (a) plan (b) elevation

DESCRIPTION
Column plan 15 5, very long cella
open at front, with thresholds for gates
between the antae and a column in
between; 10 columns down the centre of
the cella and two more in the
opisthodomos (of which this is the earliest example) to assist the mud-brick
walls in supporting the roof. The pentastyle (5 column) faade is therefore
logical, the positions of the five corresponding to the lines of the cella walls,
the central colonnade, and the flank
columns. The intercolumniations are
huge in comparison with the column
diameters (because wooden architrave is
strong but light) and no angle contraction is present. Only the isolated column
footings were made of stone, the
columns and entablature being wooden.
Terracotta was used for much of the decoration, including triglyphs and metopes;
the triglyphs do not survive (though
some smaller ones from a nearby temple
do), but some metopes are intact and

being
overnight andwith
very few exceptionsare reproduced
faithfully on every Doric temple.

DATE: c. 600 B.C.

DESCRIPTION
Column plan 16 6, stereobate
only has two steps, and wide
intercolumniations which suggest
a wooden architrave. The
columns were probably all wooden at first; the present stone
columns display a wide variety of
shape and width (e.g. two adjacent ones have diameters of 3' 3"
and 4' 2"); some are monolithic,
others not, and the echinus displays all profiles from the archaic
bulge to the classical near-straight
line, and even the
Roman/
Hellenistic quarter-circle.
Conclusion: the
columns were
replaced gradually in stone over a
period of about
800 years as and
when funds
became available.
Cuttings in the
stylobate, now
hidden by the
stone columns,
reveal that the
wooden columns
had a base diameter of only 3' 2".
Since the height
was obviously the
same, the new
stone columns
(perversely, as far
as structural
strength is concerned) were
stouter than their
wooden forbears.

ORDER: DORIC
There is no trace of a stone entablature. The wide intercolumniations show that architrave and
entablature were wooden; angle
contraction demonstrates the
presence of a triglyph frieze. Very
thick cella walls (upper part made
of mud-brick) were protected up
to 3" on the outside by
orthostates. The ends of the
pronaos and opisthodomos walls
were encased in timber for added
strength, thus providing a prototype for antae. The interior
columns were arranged in two

SIGNIFICANCE
The most notable of all
the early Doric peripteral
temples; it has plenty of
instances of the wooden
architecture that characterises the origins of the
Doric order. Being so
much earlier than the
great temple of Zeus
whose temple jointly
with Hera this originally
wasit occupies a more
ancient holy spot than the
later temple. The way in
which the columns were
replaced in stone is also
interesting; it shows that
it was regarded as a desirable programme, but not
urgent, and there is no
heritage view of architecture requiring the new
columns to conform to
outmoded designs.

3. (a) plan (b) elevation

2

rows of eight, aligned with the

outer columns (so roof beams
could receive support from outer
and inner columns); they divide
the width of the temple into three,
so the cella walls were not necessary to support the roof. Alternate
columns were originally attached
to the cella walls by spur-walls to
give the latter extra strength; later
these spurs were cut away. The
Olympia Museum still has the
circular terracotta acroteria which
had a diameter of 7' 7".

DATE: 650 B.C.

DESCRIPTION
In the sixth century
Corinth was a flourishing
commercial centre. A
temple of Apollo was
built in the lower city;
seven of its limestone
columns remain standing,
and much of the stylobate
is still visible. It has been
possible to establish the
original layout as being 6
x 15 columns; these long proportions are explained by the fact
that it has a double cella, with
one room facing east and the
other west. Another unusual feature is that the column shafts are
monoliths, not made up not of
separate drums; they also lack
entasisi.e. vertical curvature or
swellingso that their basic

ORDER: DORIC
shape is that of a truncated cone.
The capitals are carved from separate blocks, and the echinus is

metopes must have been some

two inches wider than the rest.
The internal roof was supported
by two rows of columns.
The stylobate was curved
upwards. This is sometimes referred to as an
optical refinement but is
quite likely to have been
intended as a way of shedding rainwater.

4. Corinth, temple of Apollo

less bulbous than on some earlier

temples. In accordance with usual
practice on the mainland, the
intercolumniations and column
diameters are smaller on the
flanks than on the faades (see
diagram 36b). Angle contraction
is also present on both flanks and
faades, but even so the corner

SIGNIFICANCE
One of the oldest surviving temples in Greece. The long propor tions, shape of the echinus and
arrangement of columns are typical of the mid-sixth century BC;
the use of monolithic column
shafts is almost unique on a temple of this size.

DATE: c. 550-500 BC

DESCRIPTION
Column plan: 18 9, with 8
columns down the centre, one
internal intercolumniation being
wider than the rest; the pronaos is
tristyle in-antis, the rear having a
closed adyton instead of an
opisthodomos. Very wide pteron
makes this temple almost pseudodipteral. There is no angle contraction, and the flanks show
wider spacing than the faades

ORDER: DORIC
The decorative treatment of the
capitals in this and the nearby
temple of Athene surpasses any
other known examples. The fluting terminates in Ionic semi-circles below a fillet; the nine capitals on the west front (i.e. the
rear) have at least seven different
designs applied in relief to the
underside of the echinus, including half-rounds, rosette-and-lotus,
guilloche, lotus-and-palmette etc.
The antae are also highly unusual,
with what are effectively capitals,

frieze above this as normal.

Notice also the pronounced entasis and exaggerated diminution of
the upper column diameters giving a strongly cigar-shaped column profile.

SIGNIFICANCE
Paestum was a Greek city in Italy
(Magna Graecia). Its variations
on the normally rigid Doric canon
have been described as 'barbaric'

5.

(the opposite of the normal archaic practice of having wider intercolumniations on the faades).
The internal columns are the
same height as the external ones,
though the inner columns were
surrounded at the base by slabs
for a raised cella floor to a height
of 1' 8 ", which was never fluted.
4

flaring widely and carrying tiny

cylinders reminiscent of protoIonic forms.
Above the architrave, elaborate
Ionic mouldings are found in
place of Doric regulae & guttae:
an ovolo surmounted by a concave range of drooping petals.
There was probably a triglyph

or 'provincial'; however bear in

mind that this is still early years
for the Doric order, and the later
temple of Hera at Paestum conforms fully to the 'proper' order.
The peculiarities here can therefore be seen as deriving at least as
much from free-wheeling experimentation as from ignorance.

DATE: c. 536505 B.C.

DESCRIPTION
This temple replaced its predecessor, which burnt down in 548 BC.
The site is particularly difficult to
build on, being a sheer mountainside. The northern flank rests
directly on the bedrock, but the
southern side required to be
raised on a terrace some 200 feet
long and 1015 feet high. Work
was begun at the west end (i.e.
the rear) and proceeded using
poros limestone even for the pedimental sculptures in high relief.
After the military defeat of the
democrats in Athens in 513 BC,
their leader Cleisthenes came to
Delphi and took over the work,
completing the east end in Parian

ORDER: DORIC
marble. This he did in an attempt
to win the support of the Delphic
priests, who had previously put
him and his family (the
Alcmaeonids) under a curse for
impiety (this being the reason
for his exile from Athens). This
temple was destroyed by a landslide in 373 BC and subsequently
rebuilt on almost exactly the
same plan; it is the remains of the
fourth century building, in hard
grey limestone, that can now be
seen on the site. The column plan,
as at Corinth, is 6 x 15, the length
here being explained by the introduction of an adyton into the
plan; this is an inner chamber,
here underground, where the
Pythian priestess sat on the tripod
and delivered her oracle.

6. Delphi, temple of Apollo, east elevation (reconstruction)

SIGNIFICANCE
Very little survives of the decoration that was so admired in antiquity. The significance of this temple resides not so much in its
architectural design as in the fact
that it was built at all on such a
difficult site. The awe in which it
was held by the ancient Greeks is
well illustrated by the myths that
grew up around it, including the
story told by Pausanias that its
predecessors were temples built
of laurel, beeswax, and bronze.

DATE: c. 500 B.C.

DESCRIPTION
Column plan: 13 6 external
colonnade (very conventional),
but has highly unconventional
prostyle portico in the Ionic
order; there is no opisthodomos at
rear (temple too small, perhaps).
Regular column spacing all

ORDER: DORIC
with a single bordering astragal;
unusually the inner part of the
volute is replaced by a large convex eye; the ovolo below is
carved in archaic egg-and-dart;
above, a pronounced abacus.
Above the architrave, in place of
the Doric regulae and guttae,
there is an ovolo in egg-and-dart;

with egg-and-dart; these go all

round the temple and form the
only cornice below the pediments. But on the flanks, instead
of the normal cornice with
mutules, there are overhanging
eaves of limestone, the soffit coffered in the manner of woodwork; on the faades the eaves
are bent and carried up the slopes,
though the bend appears only in
the soffit and does not affect the
upper outline. The panel of each
soffit was filled with a sandstone
plaque carved with a star in relief.
The crowning sima is the earliest
known example of a cyma recta
(wave) moulding being used in
this position; this is of sandstone
and has anthemion (lotus-and-palmette) in relief.

SIGNIFICANCE

7. The three temples at Paestum: elevations: (a), (b), (c), (d), as in fig. 4, with the first
temple of Hera restored above architrave level on the basis of the temple of Athene.

round, and no angle contraction.

Highly decorative Doric capitals
as on the First Paestum Temple of
Hera: above the semi-circular
flute-tops there is an astragal
carved in bead-and-reel; the necking has a deep scotia filled with
drooping petals, two or three to
each flute; again relief mouldings
appear on the undersides of the
echinus. The Ionic order of the
prostyle portico had 28 flutes but
arrises instead of fillets; the bases
have a circular disc below a a
torus. The sandstone capitals are
elongated in the archaic manner

the triglyph frieze is unusual in

that the triglyphs are all of sandstone with the prismatic faces
slightly concave to give greater
sharpness at the edges, and these
are simply inlaid into the limestone frieze blocks, the gaps
between serving as metopes. The
lack of angle contraction means
extra-wide metopes at the corners.
The most unusual feature of this
temple is the cornice. Directly on
the triglyph frieze rest two courses of sandstone, the lower carved
in a serpentine pattern, the upper

Like the First Temple of Hera,

represents early, provincial experimentation with the Orders, which
seem not to have become so
strictly prescribed in their details
away from mainland Greece.
Note that there is no reason for
the preference of Ionic features in
certain locations on the temples;
for example, the Ionic prostyle
portico is not exploited for its
taller, slenderer proportions;
moreover it is not even separated
from the Doric exterior order and
would have been clearly visible
alongside it. The designers appear
not to have been worried by a
contradiction which might have
given a mainland Greek architect
palpitations!

DATE: completed c. 490 B.C.

DESCRIPTION
This is a particularly well-preserved temple. It was built of
local limestone covered in a thin
layer of stucco, and its pediment
figures were made of Parian mar-

columns of the faade are of the

same diameter as those of the
flanks. As at Corinth, the shafts
are monolithic, with the exception
of three adjacent columns of the
north flank, which were presumably left out to allow easier
access to the interior while build-

ORDER: DORIC
in less than the upper diameter of
the lower, because of the interrup tion of the intervening architrave.
The architrave was decorated
with regulae and guttae even
though there is no corresponding
triglyph frieze; unusually, it also
supported a gallery, accessed by
ladders. Note on the plan the
slight irregularity of the off-centre
doorway between cella and
opisthodomos, which was clearly
an afterthought, as it cuts through
the lower courses of the intervening wall.

SIGNIFICANCE
8. The temple of Aphaia, Aegina

ble. The column plan is 6 x 12

and seems to incorporate an early
attempt at systematic proportions,
with the columns diameters being
3 Doric feet and the intercolumniations (on the fronts at any rate) 8
Doric feet. The corner columns
are thickened slightly, possibly as
compensation for the fact that the

ing proceeded, then slotted in

afterwards in the usual manner of
drums.
The interior roof was supported
by two rows of two-tiered Doric
columns. The taper of the
columns is continuous from the
bottom to the top, so that the
lower diameter of the upper row

Dinsmoor calls this the most perfectly developed of the late archaic temples in European Hellas.
This judgment is probably based
on the temples simple but harmonious proportions; the fact that
the pediment sculpture also survives and is widely admired for
its quality is also an important
factor.

DATE: c. 468-460 BC

DESCRIPTION

ORDER: DORIC

established as 32
Doric feet, which
equals two intercoColumn plan: 13 6 columns.
lumniations of 16
One of the largest Doric temples
feet, and the abacus
constructed on the mainland.
width was 8 feet.
Built of local limestone (poor
There were six
quality) covered with stucco;
sculpted metopes
Parian marble was imported for
over the columns of
the sculptured metopes and pedithe porches. Folding
ment figures; acroteria were of
gates between the
bronze. The plan shows an
pronaos columns led
approach ramp. The archaic practowards an imprestice of varying the intercolumniasive central door,
tions on the flank and front
which gave access to
colonnades is scrapped in favour
a cella with a double
of equal spacings all round
two-tier Doric
(except for angle contractions),
colonnade of seven
9. (a) Temple of Zeus at Olympia and (b) Parthenon at
but is echoed by a peculiarity of
Athens; plans at a uniform scale
columns. A stone
the column diameters, which are
screen across the cella at the sec- SIGNIFICANCE
1" wider on the fronts.
ond column in restricted access to
the cult statue. The screen continThe best example of a canonical
The architect, Libon, seems to
ued between the second and fifth
Doric temple. In every way it
have been interested in creating a
columns at the sides, and carried
embodies the severity and gravity
system of ideal proportions,
on as a bronze grille from the
of Doric architecture; this is reinsince the column height has been
fifth to the seventh column.
forced by the sculpturesno
Either side of the great
sculpted metopes on the outside,
door, steps led up to a
and the East pediment with its
gallery which was
vertical composition closely
aligned at the height of
echoes the columns of the faade.
the architrave between
Only the West pediment and the
the two tiers of the intersculpted metopes of the porches
nal colonnade.
slightly soften the predominance
of verticals and horizontals. The
The cult statue of Zeus
location of this temple provides a
was installed by Pheidias
new focus for the Altis, leaving
about 448 B.C. and
the old temple sidelined; later
involved making alterbuildings, such as stoae, clearly
ations to the building in
look to the temple of Zeus as the
order to accommodate its
principal building of the precinct.
bulk. Even then, its
pedestal came up flush
against the internal
colonnade. It came to be
celebrated as one of the
10. (a) Temple of Zeus at Olympia and (b) Parthenon seven wonders of the
at Athens; sections at a uniform scale
world.
8

DATE: c. 460 BC

DESCRIPTION
Column plan 14 6, with angle
contraction on the flanks as well
as the fronts. Pronaos and
opisthodomos are present, each
distyle in-antis; the cella has a
double two-tiered Doric colonnade of seven columns; the upper
columns rest upon an architrave
which has a continuous crowning
moulding in place of the usual
regulae and guttae. The lower
diameter of the upper columns is
considerably less than the upper
diameter of the lower ones, so
that the diminution from bottom
to top is continuous. The columns
of the external order are unusual
in having 24 flutes; furthermore
the lower range of internal

ORDER: DORIC
columns has 20 and the upper 16.
There are two recesses between
the pronaos and cella, one of
which had a staircase, which must
have led to the roof since there is
no trace of a gallery.

ply built alongside.

SIGNIFICANCE
One of the best preserved of
Greek temples, it illustrates by its
relative conformity the end of
West Greek experimentation with
the orders, just before the architects of the mainland begin to
achieve new successes by virtue
of similar, but rational and
restrained, hybridisation of the
orders. Also note how the older
temple of Hera is not demolished, but its replacement is sim-

11. The three temples at

Paestum: sections: (a), (b), (c),
(d) as in fig. 4, with the first
temple of Hera restored as in
fig. 5

DATE: c. 450-425 BC

ORDER: DORIC

DESCRIPTION
Designed and begun apparently
by Iktinos shortly before the
Parthenon took him away to
Athens, so causing work to drag
on far longer than intended.
Situated in a remote spot in the
mountains, the temple was commissioned in the wake of a plague
by the local Phigalians in fulfilment of a vow to Apollo
Epikourios (the Healer). A brittle
grey local limestone was used for
the building with marble for
details.
This temple is very unusual in
several respects. It is aligned
north-south instead of the normal
east-west (possibly because of the

10

12. Temple of Apollo at Bassai: plan

Yet there are refinements too,

such as the little sunken panels at
the bottom of each riser in the
stereobate. There were six sculpted metopes at each end, as at
Olympia, and pedimental figures,
which have disappeared.

awkward local terrain), and has a It is the interior which is most

very long 15 6 column plan,
interesting. A continuous Ionic
which accommodates an addition- frieze (depicting Greeks vs.
al room (adyton) behind the cella, Amazons, Lapiths vs. Centaurs)
entered from the flank colonnade ran around all four walls (so that,
by an east-facing door. The exter- unlike at the Parthenon, the whole
nal order is Doric; the north
frieze could be taken in at once),
faade has heavier-proportioned
supported on an internal Ionic
columns than the other three
order of four columns either side,
sides. The flank intercolumniaaligned not with the axes of the
tions are slightly shorter, in accor- external columns but with the
dance with archaic practice; also
mid-points of the intercolumniaarchaic are the triple incisions
tions, so that the north pair are
below the necking of the capitals. curiously close to the main doorway.
These Ionic columns are really
half-columns, attached to the
cella walls by short spur-walls (as
originally at the Olympia
Heraion). At the southern end the
spur-walls are angled, and a freestanding Corinthian column stood
between them (the earliest recorded example). The intercolumniations provided niches for offerings, and the main part of the
floor was slightly sunk, so that
the Ionic columns appeared to be
raised on their own stylobate.

13. Temple of Apollo at Bassai: restored perspective of cella

The design of the Ionic order

used here is unique. The bases are
widely flared, and quite unlike
any others: perhaps the design
proved impractical. The capitals
have volutes connected by an
upwardly-curved astragal; this,
and the curious fact that the axis
of each capital is some 2" further
back than the axis of the column

which is girdled by acanthus

leaves and topped on each of the
four sides by a palmette. It is
generally accepted that the two
flanking columns also had the
same Corinthian capital, even
though their bases are the same
as all the others, whereas the
base of the central column is different. Probably the architect had
difficulty designing a variant of
his Ionic capital for the diagonal
spur-wall that would present
faces parallel to the line of the
architrave, so improvised a new
design which was then applied to
the central column as well.
14. Temple of Apollo at Bassai: Ionic and Corinthian orders from cella: (a) plan look ing up; (b) elevation; (c), (d) Ionic angle capital (elevation) from the temple by the
Ilissos in Athens (c. 450 B.C.); (e) normal Corinthian capital (Roman)

itself, can perhaps be explained as

an attempt to compensate for the
foreshortening caused by the
steep angle of view. (An unused
capital was recovered nearby,
with a conventional flat lineconnecting the volute tops.) There is
no abacus above, and instead of
the egg-and-dart echinus there is
just a cyma reversa (wave)
moulding.
Also notable is the fact that each
capital consists of one full volute
face adjoined by two half-volutes,
angled outwards in the manner of
the usual angle capital. Clearly
the volute had to face towards the
centre, as otherwise it would not
be parallel with the line of the
architrave; the preference for the
volute at the side over the usual
baluster is possibly due to the
difficulty of grafting a half-baluster onto a spur-wall. In any case
the resulting design is again
unique, and shows that the architect was not afraid to make innovations to deal with particular
problems.
As the viewer approached the
end pair of columns, the angle

would conceal the spurs and present the appearance of two freestanding columns. This would
diminish the otherwise odd singularity of the central column,
though its unique capital design
reinforced it. This was the earliest
known instance of a Corinthian
capital on a building; not of
course in its most developed
form, but it has the essentials, i.e.
a square abacus with concave
sides, the corners supported by
four volutes which scroll upwards
from the base of an inverted bell,

SIGNIFICANCE
Note the implications for the
process of commissioning a temple: a small, relatively unimportant town is able to commission
an Athenian architect to come and
work for them; he in turn seems
prepared to work with some
strange guidelines (whether they
were dictated by local topography, cultic requirements, or other
unknown factors) giving rise to
several unique features, for what
may have been an interesting
challenge; but after a few years
he leaves Bassai in order to take
on a far more important and challenging project. The probable link
with Iktinos is also interesting for
the meaningful comparisons that
can be made between Bassai and,
e.g., the Parthenon.
The origin of the Corinthian order
is also, of course, most significant, and can be seen as the
response to a particular design
problem concerned with angles of
view in an interior space.

15. Bassai: Ionic and Corinthian orders

It was once thought that there

were pedimental sculptures, but it
has more recently been shown
that the gables were left empty.

11

DATE: begun c. 449 BC

DESCRIPTION
This temple was begun shortly
before the Parthenon but may
well have been completed afterwards, as the interior looks as if it
has been redesigned in the light
of the larger temple. Two cult
statues by Alkamenes stood within: it was dedicated jointly to
Athene and Hephaistos (as
patrons of craftsmen; hence the
siting of the temple in the agora
near where the bronze-casters
worked). Column plan 13 6.
There is an attempt at creating a
system of ideal proportions, but it
does not work as successfully as
in the Parthenon. The columns
are too thin compared with the
heavy entablature, though the
temple stands on a low hill overlooking the agora, and the effect
is diminished when seen from
below; indeed it may have been
intended to design the temple
with this one particular viewpoint
in mind. The temple is built
entirely of Pentelic marble,
except for wooden roof beams,
terracotta roof tiles, and the bottom step of the stereobate which
is of a darker-coloured limestone
and blends in with the ground,
effectively 'disappearing'. The
temple has a wealth of optical
refinements, surpassing even the
Parthenon in this respect, though
the result is not as satisfactory.

12

The original intention appears to

have been to create a cella that
was longer and narrower than the
one that was eventually provided;
the walls were covered in plaster

ORDER: DORIC
ready to receive mural paintings.
Possibly under the influence of
Iktinos it was decided instead to
have an internal two-tier colonnade (quite unnecessary for supporting the roof) with a return of
one central column to form a
horseshoe-shaped space for the
display of the statuesa miniature version of the internal
arrangement used in the
Parthenon. In such a reduced
space, however, the result is
rather different: the columns are
only about a foot from the walls,
effectively creating niches (as at
Bassai) rather than an ambulatory.
There are several ideas taken
from the Ionic order. Along the
external base of the cella wall
there is an Ionic moulding, an
idea possibly borrowed from the
Older Parthenon. Most interestingly there is a continuous Ionic
frieze running above the architraves of the porcheslike the
Parthenon, except that here it
does not run down the sides of
the cella as well. It even has an
Ionic moulding crowning the
architrave below, where the
Parthenon retains the Doric regulae and guttae. At the rear the
frieze runs just between the antae;
but (and here note that the
pronaos antae and columns are
aligned exactly with the third column in on the flanks) the frieze in
the pronaos is extended across the
width of the north and south peristyles to join with the inner face
of the outer entablature, thus
defining the area enclosed by the
outer columns in front of the
pronaos as a new space, at least at

the height of
the frieze.
This internal
definition is
reinforced on
the outside
by virtue of
the fact that
the only
carved
metopes, of
which there
are 18, are
those which
enclose this
area; they
also face
towards the
16. Hephaisteion, Athens:
agora and the
plan
intended viewpoint.
The pediments were provided
with sculpture, which has largely
disappeared, as have the cult statues, although copies in relief of
the latter, along with blocks of the
pedestal of Eleusinian stone, have
been found.

SIGNIFICANCE
Although the colonnade was
removed when the building was
converted to a church, this
remains the best preserved of all
Greek temples. It is interesting as
a counterpart to the Parthenon
and shows the influence of
Iktinos in its replanning. It shows
that the refinements and Ionic
details of the Parthenon were far
from unprecedented, indeed were
somewhat restrained in comparison.

DATE: 447-438 BC

BACKGROUND

ORDER: DORIC
finally negotiated between the
league and the Persians in 449
B.C., Perikles annulled the oath
and instigated a new building
programme on the Acropolis
which would reflect by its magnificence the new supremacy of
Athens, and thank the city's
patron goddess for her favour
with unstinting richness.

(Hundred-footer), a name
applied not only to the Older
Parthenon, but to its old
Peisistratid ancestor too. The
name Parthenon originally
referred only to the back room,
but was applied to the whole
building after about a century.

After the First Persian War and

the single-handed Athenian victory at Marathon in 490, a largescale rebuilding of the Acropolis
was initiated, using marble from
the newly-opened quarry at nearby Mount Pentelikon. In using the
DESCRIPTION
finest quality building material
throughout, the projThe plan is more sumpect aimed at a richness
tuous than any other
unrivalled in the Greek
mainland temple. The
world. A new temple
existing base of the
was begun on the site
Older Parthenon was
of the later Parthenon.
extended to the north
It was to be hexastyle
resulting in a stylobate
Doric but with Ionic
features and tetrastyle
228' 1" 101' 4" (i.e.
wider but shorter than its
prostyle porches; the
unfinished predecessor)
platform on which it
to accommodate a colwould be built itself
umn plan of 17 8. The
was a massive project,
wide dimension was
252' 103' of solid
planned to give a wider
limestone, at one cornaos and improve the
ner reaching a height
setting of the great statue
of 35' above bedrock.
within. The exact dimenIn the Second Persian
sions of the stylobate
War the Persians
were determined by the
invaded Greece and
peristyle elements (numdestroyed temples
ber, spacing and diameter
wherever they went.
of columns), and the
The Older Parthenon
greatest consideration
was ruined even
here was given to
though it had only
17. (a) Temple of Zeus at Olympia and (b) Parthenon at Athens;
economising by judicious
attained a height of
elevations at a uniform scale
re-use of those parts of
two to four column
the old temple which were still
drums (5'10'). The site was left
NAME
serviceable. Hence the basic colderelict for thirty years in accorumn diameter of 6' 3", inherited
dance which the oath which the
from the Older Parthenon. The
Greeks all swore after the victory The temple was known officially
as the temple of Athene Polias,
intercolumniation related to this
of Plataia in 479 B.C. not to
but
since
this
was
also
the
name
in the ratio of 9:4 (except at the
rebuild the sanctuaries sacked by
of the temple on the north side of excessively-contracted corners).
the Persians 'as memorials to the
impiety of the barbarians'. During the acropolis which contained the The 9:4 ratio is also seen in the
length width of the stylobate,
those thirty years Athens' fortunes sacred xoanon (later the
Erechtheion), it was usually
and also the stylobate width
prospered as head of the Delian
called
the
Hecatompedon
height of the order.
League, and when peace was

13

The columns are nearly 5 lower

diameters high, and the curve of
the echinus is barely perceptible.
The triglyph frieze on the faades
shows continuous gradation in the
widths of the metopes with the
widest at the centre, so that no
triglyph on either faade is exactly centred over a column. The
fasciae above the triglyphs and
metopes have a beaded astragal
as extra decoration, The tympanum was recessed 8" behind the
plane of the frieze to give more
room for the pediment sculptures.
The raking sima has a special
'Periclean' profile; the roof tiles
were made of marble and narrower than the usual terracotta ones,
so that on the flanks, the antefixes
are unusual in that only every
other is a true antefix, the other
actually concealing two rows of
cover-tiles. The acroteria were
huge openwork marble creations
9' high, consisting of stems, tendrils, acanthus and great crowning palmettes.
Within the peristyle, the two
hexastyle porticoes were raised
on two steps. The West porch reused the corresponding columns
from the Older Parthenon, though
it needed six of that temples
eight, and when it came to the
East porch it was decided not to
make another six of the same 5'
7" diameter but to create a new
set only 5' 4" wide, making these
columns over 6 lower diameters
high.

14

The architrave above the columns

of the porches was surmounted
by the continuous Ionic frieze,
which ran around the sides of the
building as well. Above the
columns of the porches, the
architrave is crowned with the
usual Doric regulae and guttae
even though there were no

triglyphs above; however on the

flanks there were no columns
either, so that triglyphs became
problematical in that position.
Here the frieze runs upon a simple band of the height of a combined taenia and regula. Above
this highly innovative frieze an
extremely decorative cornice,
mirrored on the inner face of the
main entablature, formed a transition to the marble ceiling.
The interior of the main cella had
a two-tier Doric colonnade of ten
columns, forming a return five
columns wide across the back,
thus defining a U-shaped space
for the statue; bronze barriers
fixed between the columns
restricted access to the rear. The
portion of the floor enclosed by
the colonnade is sunk 1!/2" (as at
Bassae), and there was a shallow
pool to contain water immediately in front of the statue. The rear
room (or "Parthenon" proper) had
four Ionic columns, since single
Doric columns would have been
wasteful of space and overpowering, and a two-tier colonnade
would have been absurd in such a
small space. This is another idea
which had been tried out at
Bassae and would be repeated in
the Propylaia.

REFINEMENTS
According to Vitruvius these were
intended to counteract optical
illusions; it is doubtful whether
any of these illusions would actually have occurred, but it is plain
that the Greeks went to considerable trouble to eliminate most of
the straight lines of the temple in
favour of subtle curves. Perhaps it
is an impression of elasticity or
vitality springing from these barely-perceived curves and inclinations that seems to endow the
building, even in its ruined form,

with such liveliness.

Angle contraction was originally
a solution to the triglyph frieze
problem, but seems to have
become appreciated as a refinement in its own right, giving the
end of the colonnade a feeling of
stability and rest. The Parthenon
has twice as much contraction as
normal, but this was to help offset
the widening effect of the
octastyle faade.
Corner columns are thicker on the
outer peristyle (as in the Older
Parthenon): according to
Vitruvius, because these columns
would be seen against the light
(and indeed the inner porches are
uniform). Inward inclination of
verticals, chiefly the column axes
(a line produced through them
would meet about 1!/2 miles
above the temple), giving the
temple an air of repose, solidity
and strength. This had been done
on the Older Parthenon; on certain Peloponnesian temples
including Zeus at Olympia only
the flank colonnades inclined; the
cella walls similarly sometimes
incline inwards, as at Bassae
where the inner surfaces are vertical. Here all the walls lean in
sympathy with the columns,
except cross-walls containing
doors, which are always strictly
vertical.
Convex stylobate, seen on much
earlier temples (e.g. Apollo at
Corinth, and again the Older
Parthenon), probably originally
intended as a device for shedding
rainwater. The maximum rise on
the faades is 2" and just over 4"
on the flanks, the latter curve
corresponding to a circle of
radius 3!/2 miles, though the arc is
in fact parabolic. The columns are
of course all of uniform height, so
that the curve of the stylobate is

transmitted directly to the entablature; the triangle of the pediments is likewise constructed of
three upward curves.
Entasis represents the only curvature applied to vertical lines in
the Parthenon, but here it is of
course the slightness of the curvature which is notable; earlier temples such as those at Paestum had
emphatically cigar-shaped
columns. Note that some temples
avoided entasis altogether, e.g.
the East porch of the Erechtheion,
the temple of Nike. Entasis conveys an impression of elasticity
and strength; according to
Vitruvius it is to offset the illusion which would make straightsided columns appear concave.

PAINTING
In general the most important
parts of a temple were left free of
colour; the Doric peristyle contained no colour below the capitals. The necking incision was
painted blue, annulets red or blue;
triglyphs were always blue, thus
giving the key, since the regulae
below and the mutules above
were also blue, with the intervening members (i.e. taenia, viae
between mutules) were red.
On the Parthenon, the red taenia
had a gold meander pattern
applied to it, and the regulae a
gold anthemion on the blue
ground. Guttae were white, but
had little circles painted on the
bottom. The metopes were left
white apart from the sculpted and
painted figures. The continuous
frieze had a blue background, as
on the Nike parapet; cf. the use of
blue-black Eleusinian stone on
the Erechtheion. A cornice always
had an appropriate design painted
on it, e.g. the Doric hawksbeak
always bore a leaf pattern; ceiling

coffers had successive tiers of

painted egg-and-dart, with an
eight-pointed star at the centre,
though the Parthenon had floral
designs on a blue ground. The
Parthenon's sima had a delicate
anthemion painted on, the antefixes were red and blue, and the
square area of the cornice soffit at
each corner was also decorated.

SIGNIFICANCE
The most celebrated Greek temple of all, until the eighteenth
century also the best preserved,
and revered by the Romans, along
with the other buildings of the
Acropolis, as a text-book of
architecture. Hence many features
of Periklean architecture are
reproduced in massive quantities
all over the Roman empire, and
form the basis of Classical architecture which was then rediscovered in the Renaissance.

buildings of extravagant richness

and visual appeal;
F in at least one place, the
Parthenon proper, the slender
Ionic columns were a practical
solution to a difficult problem.
At the same time the whole Doric
order of the Parthenon is attenuated towards the proportions of the
Ionic, with slenderer columns
than usual, because of the
octastyle faade. This reduces the
contradiction between the squat,
severe Doric and the graceful and
decorative Ionic.

The Parthenon marks the beginning of the process by which the

old orders cross-fertilise each
other in a meaningful and functional way. Ionic elements are
introduced for various reasons:
F Athens had been using Ionic
forms in its buildings since the
sixth century, when the tyrant
Peisistratos had exploited his connections with other Ionian tyrants
to gain Ionian building materials
and workmen;
F Athens was now proclaiming
herself the "metropolis" (mothercity) of the Ionians by virtue of
her leadership of the Delian
League;
F the flexibility and decorativeness of the Ionic order made it
especially suitable to produce

15

DATE: c. 427-424 BC

DESCRIPTION
Once incorrectly known as the
Temple of Wingless Victory, the
Temple of Athene Victory (Nike)
was built on a site that had
already been encroached upon by
the massive and ambitious
Propylaia, so its original plans,
drawn up by Kallikrates at the
start of the Periklean programme,
were altered to fit. Kallikrates had
designed the temple to consist of
a cella with a pronaos distyle inantis, and two four-column
prostyle porches front and rear
(tetrastyle amphiprostyle), similar
to (and apparently with its dimensions copied from) his earlier
temple on the Ilissos.

ORDER: IONIC
of the Ionic order are exceptionally stocky, the columns less than 8
lower diameters high. This may
have been because it was thought
the usual proportions would be
out of keeping with the squatness
of the bastion on which the temple stood, or an accommodation
towards the Doric order of the
Propylaia which bordered it. The
column bases have the Attic profile (though the lower torus is
compressed); the end columns
have specially designed versions
of the corner capital with intersecting volutes, despite the fact
that there is no flank colonnade
for them to fit in with, showing
perhaps that this Ionic feature had
come to be appreciated in its own
right. The architrave was the first
in Athens to be subdivided into
three fasciae (though the practice
was common in Asia).
Sculptural ornamentation was
lavish: the frieze depicted the
Battle of Plataia; there were also
pedimental groups, and as acroteria, golden winged figures of
Nike. Later the famous parapet
with its relief Nikai was added
around the edge of the precinct.

SIGNIFICANCE
18. Athens: Athene Nike

16

The reduced space available for

building meant that this plan was
telescoped, with the pronaos
being absorbed into the cella, and
its two columns replaced by narrow rectangular piers which also
served as the entrance to the
cella, bronze grilles being placed
between the piers and the antae
instead of walls. The proportions

Noteworthy at the least for being

one of the four main new buildings of the Periklean Acropolis
project; though the smallest, and
itself copied from the temple on
the Ilissos, its designs were in
turn later copied on the great
Erechtheion. Elsewhere on the
Acropolis we see the Doric order
being modified in the direction of
the Ionic, with slenderer columns

and decorative mouldings; the

Nike temple shows the same
thing in reverse, with the Ionic
order being made to look stockier
and closer to the Doric. This is
not necessarily a deliberate policy, as we can understand the reasons why it happened in each
case (in this case as a consequence of having to build on a
reduced site and fit in with an
architectural environment dominated by the massive proportions
of Doric), but it certainly foreshadows the convergence of the
orders that followed later, and
may well have been influential in
bringing this about. The way in
which the plan was altered is a
tribute to the ingenuity and flexibility of the unknown architect
who actually built the temple.
Finally, it is worth pointing out
that the subject-matter of the
frieze is, exceptionally, historical
rather than mythological, and
points towards the theme of the
victory over the Persians that
reappears in allegorical form on
the Parthenon. (The Battle of
Plataia was the final, decisive
land-battle of the Second Persian
War, the year after Salamis, in
which the Spartans, not the
Athenians, played the most effective part.)

19. Corner capital, temple of Athene

Nike

DATE: 437-432 BC

ORDER: DORIC

BACKGROUND
The Propylaia (a plural noun,
gateway complex) replaced the
earlier Propylon or gateway
which had dated from the time of
the Older Parthenon. This building had also been ravaged by the
Persians but, being secular, had
not been covered by the oath of
Plataia and had apparently been
rebuilt. It had been a large square
building, possibly faced front and
rear by four columns in-antis, and
divided in two by a gate-wall. It
had faced strongly towards the
northern edge of the acropolis.
The new design by Mnesikles
starts with the orientation of the
building, which is rotated to face
east instead of north-east. It thus
faces directly towards the spot
where the great bronze statue of
Athene Promachos by Pheidias
stood. It was built entirely of
Pentelic marble, with the additional use of blue-black
Eleusinian limestone for polychrome effects (as dado belt
courses for walls etc.). The building was left unfinished at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War
and never completed.

DESCRIPTION
Central Gate
The central part of the building
served the same function as its
predecessor and was designed
accordingly, with porches at each
side and a dividing wall pierced
by five gates. This time the
porches were hexastyle; the slope

20. Athens, Propylaia, as proposed (light lines) and as built. The original Propylon is
shown in outline at a slant

in the ground meant that there

would be a difference of 5' 9" in
their heights, and it was clearly
thought that though a split-level
building was feasible, the jump in
the roof-line would be ugly; so
they tried to minimise the difference by two means: firstly the
west porch stood on a stereobate
of four steps, the eastern on a
simple stylobate; secondly,
though the columns are all of a
uniform diameter, those of the
eastern faade are nearly a foot
shorter. (The effect is designed to
be less noticeable by virtue of the
fact that the west columns are
always seen from below, and so
foreshortened.)
The central intercolumniation was
made wider, to accommodate the
richly equipped festival processions with their carriages and sacrificial animals; normal access
would have been through the
side-entrances. (The effect of this
is seen on the metope frieze,
which has three metopes between

the central columns instead of the

usual two.) A great ramp 12 feet
wide rises through the centre, cutting through the floors of the
building. Accordingly there is no
upward curvature of the stylobate,
but the entablatures are upcurved
as if there were.
The gate-wall with its five graduated openings divided the interior
into two unequal halves, being
closer to the east (inner) porch.
This meant that the roof could be
spanned by a marble ceiling without intermediate supports, and
additionally gave greater space to
the west porch, with the advantage that pilgrims could gather
there and wait on the benches
provided for the gate to be
opened. This deep western porch
needed supports for its marble
ceiling; single Doric columns
would have been too bulky, and a
two-tired colonnade would have
had no logical way of terminating
its intermediate architrave against
the open west portico.

17

Accordingly Ionic columns were

used, exploiting their extra height
(nearly 10 lower diameters, cf.
the <5 diameters of the east
front) and narrower base (3
Doric feet, two thirds the Doric
diameter). The three-stepped fascia of the architrave is used here
prior to its first external appearance on the temple of Nike. The
beauty of the white marble ceiling of this outer vestibule was
much remarked in ancient times.
It was supported by lateral roofbeams weighing over 11 tons
which rested on the Ionic architrave above each column and at
the half-way points; Mnesikles
was clearly concerned by the
enormous loads that these beams
were placing on the unsupported
segments of the architrave
between the columns (over 6
tons), and took the ingenious but
unnecessary step of hollowing out
channels in the upper surfaces of
the architrave to receive concealed iron beams; the channel
was even made deeper towards
the centre to allow for deflection.

The Wings

18

The west wings projected at right

angles from the main building
and were intended to enframe the
approach space to form a sort of
court. That on the left (i.e. the
north-west) was a replacement for
a separate building which had
stood there previously. It was
probably a state dining-room,
although by Pausanias day it is
described as a pinakotheke or
picture gallery. It was entered
from the central building via a
porch of three Doric columns inantis, leading to a door with two
windows either side, but not
arranged symmetrically. The
wings both had hip roofs instead
of pediments. The south wing
was intended to be a mirror

reflection of the north, but the

plan had to be severely compromised: it could not run its full
course southwards because it
would have intruded upon the
sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia,
and even had to be limited to the
west for fear of making the new
Nike temple even more cramped.
The consequence of this is that
the three-column faade, which
corresponds to the front of the
north wing, is quite deceptive in
that the building behind it is narrower than the front suggests. The
resulting south-west wing is far
too small and awkward to have
served any real purpose other
than an aesthetic one.
The Doric order of the two wings
is smaller than that of the central
gateway building. This naturally
caused discontinuities at the roof
level, which were not felt to be a
problem; however, all three components shared a horseshoeshaped stereobate which had to
respond to their different proportions. The solution was to have
four steps instead of the usual
three, scaled to the wings, where
the lowest step was replaced by a
course of blue-black Eleusinian
limestone, which the eye can
ignore as part of the structure.
The central building therefore
stands on a base of four steps
which are equivalent in height
to the three steps that it would
have had anyway.
It is clear from the remains that it
was also intended originally to
have two large extensions on the
eastern, inner side of the central
building. These would have
formed two halls, not communicating directly with the central
space, but opening to the east. In
each the ridge of the roof would
have been supported with three
Ionic columns. The southern hall,

intended perhaps as a chalkotheke

or armoury, seems to have been
scrapped at an early stage, as it
too would have intruded upon the
precinct of Artemis Brauronia;
the northern hall, possibly meant
to accommodate a rainwater cistern, would have been viable but
was never commenced owing to
the outbreak of war. There is
plentiful evidence all over the
building that it was never brought
to completion: most obviously the
lifting bosses on the outer walls
which were never removed.

SIGNIFICANCE
It is very important to note here
the wholesale application to a
large non-religious building of the
materials, designs and decorations
which had previously been
restricted to temples and treasuries. It was even intended to provide pedimental sculpture for the
west gable, but this was never
undertaken. The three-metope
span over the central doorway is a
departure which sets a precedent
for the use of Doric in stoas. The
deliberate orientation of the
building to present the pilgrim
with a dramatic view of the
Promachos represents one of the
earliest known attempts to organise the space between buildings
effectively (this would become
commoner in the Hellenistic period); the careful enframement of
the space in front of the Propylaia
by the north wing and the false
south wing is likewise indicative
of an awareness that buildings
interact with the space that they
create around them, and an
attempt to manipulate that relationship.

DATE: c. 421-405 BC

BACKGROUND
The Erechtheion was intended to
replace the older Peisistratid temple of Athene Polias which had
been mostly destroyed by the
Persians; the surviving part, the
opisthodomos, was re-roofed and
converted into the State Treasury,
while the sacred olive-wood
xoanon was housed in a temporary shrine slightly to the north.
Hence the need to move the site
of the temple from the ideal spot
occupied by its predecessor to a
far more inconvenient position
nearer the north edge of the
Acropolis, where the rock
slopes away awkwardly.
This had not been a problem for the Parthenon,
where the land was terraced up to make a great
level platform; however
here the architects chose
to live with the problem
and designed a split-level,
asymmetric building.
Work on the temple was
interrupted several times
by the Peloponnesian
War. A complete set of
accounts covering all
details of expenditure on
materials, transport,
wages, and contractors
was found built into the precinct
wall. Progress was clearly
dependent on there being sufficient funds to pay for it, and the
military emergency made it necessary to count the cost very carefully.
The architects were Mnesikles
(who also designed the

ORDER: IONIC
Propylaia), and possibly
Kallimachos, who designed the
golden palm-tree lamp inside
(and is also credited with the
invention of the Corinthian capital).

DESCRIPTION
Layout

tree precinct) and the tomb of

Kekrops, so that the west portico
is represented only by four
engaged columns between the
antae of the west wall, with
(Roman?) windows in the three
intervening positions. Below
these columns is a high basement
wall, pierced by a doorway,
which overlooks the Pandroseion.

The west portico is effectively

The old temple had been peripter- replaced by a north porch of six
columns, four wide, which overal Doric with strong Ionic fealaps the north-west corner of the
tures, with a complex internal
cella. There was a central north
organisation reflecting the many
different cults that it housed. The door which gave access to the
western half of the interior; at the
intention was clearly to re-house
point where the
porch exceeded the
cella another door
led to a staircase
down to the
Pandroseion and the
west, basement,
door. Underneath the
north porch a subterranean east door
connected the crypt
below the porch to a
snake pit under the
floor of the interior.
The crypt floor
21. Erechtheion, as
showed the marks
begun and as finished
of Poseidons trident, a holy spot
which had to be
exposed to the sky,
requiring the floor and the ceiling
all these cults within a single
replacement building, but the new of the north porch immediately
site meant a peripteral temple was above to be pierced with shafts.
out of the question. Possibly the
The south porch was designed as
original intention was to have a
a balance to the north; it has the
sanctuary fronted east and west
same arrangement of columns,
by prostyle porticoes; that at the
four wide with two returns,
east end was retained, but the
though it is much smaller and the
west end encroached too far
columns are replaced by carytowards the Pandroseion (olive-

19

atids. The caryatids are slightly

irregularly placed and the dimensions of the porch appear to have
been squeezed, suggesting that a
moment came during building
when it was realised that the
revised building plan would still
push the west wall over the tomb
of Kekrops and would have to be
pulled back a further 26". There
is a floor-level entrance on the
east side of the caryatid porch and
an L-shaped staircase leading
down to the interior. Notice the
arrangement of the figures, especially the way the three western
figures have their weight leg to
the west (and the eastern ones to
the east), presenting the viewer
with the unbroken column-like
folds from whichever side he sees
it. Above this porch was a flat
marble roof which, it has been
suggested, may have been appropriated for a ritual or ceremonial
purpose connected with the
arrephoroi, whom the caryatids
may be intended to represent.
Perhaps the chief priest displayed
the new robe to the people from
there.

20

The inner arrangement of the

rooms is controversial. The interior was clearly divided laterally in
two by a great cross-wall, with
the floor of the two halves at different levels. Entrance to the
higher east room, dedicated to
Athene and Erechtheus, was then
through the east porch. The other
rooms were presumably reached
via the north porch, which gave
first onto the west room, probably
an ante-chamber of sorts, with the
cisterns of Poseidons spring
below the floor and additional
doors to the west and south; this
is turn led to the two central
rooms. Here the cults of Botes
and Hephaistos were located. The
west and central rooms were separated by walls which were only

12' 10!/2" high and so did not

reach all the way to the ceiling,
which was common to all three
rooms.

Materials and
decoration

and-dart ovolo separated by layers of beaded astragal, and this

design is carried around the
whole building as a decorative
band.
The caryatid maidens support
capitals reminiscent of the later
Roman Doric, an echinus carved
with egg-and-dart.

Pentelic marble was used

throughout except for the blueFollowing the precedent of the
black Eleusinian limestone used
Nike
temple, the architrave has
in the frieze. Different sets of
three fasciae, and a cyma mouldproportions are used for each of
ing above replaces dentils. Above
the main parts of the temple: the
the
caryatid porch there is no
east front (hexastyle because the
columns are shorter but the width frieze, but the upper fascia of the
of the porch is the same as the tall architrave was prepared to
receive rosettes; curiously, these
north porch) has intercolumniawere never finished, and only
tions of barely more than two
discs are seen. Dentils were also
diameters, whereas in the
tetrastyle north porch the columns furnished for the cornice.
Doorways (and, a rare feature,
are nearly three diameters apart.
windows) had a mass of decorative
detail applied to their frames;
Throughout the temple, the level
consoles are seen supporting the
of decorative detail is exceptionlintel of the east door. The porch
al; everywhere one finds mouldings not just painted but carved as ceilings were coffered in marble,
the inner ones in wood; the deep
well. The Ionic bases of the two
north porch coffers had bronze
main porches are different: the
east ones have a horizontally flut- rosettes suspended from their
ed upper torus, those of the north vaults, while those of the west
interior had wooden rosettes of
two guilloche designs instead.
two designs.
Extremely rich column capitals
boast compound spiral ribs with
intermediate fillets in the volutes, SIGNIFICANCE
and a countersunk gilt bronze
stem between the convolutions
Small, lavishly decorated in
ending in a group of petals
accordance with its deep sanctity,
spreading out to fill the triangular
and irregular in plan. Very intergaps. The eyes of the volutes
esting for the light it sheds on the
were also gilded; above the eggprocess of temple designbasiand-dart echinus was a torus in
cally worked out as the building
guilloche, the interstices of which
progressed, normally according to
in the north porch were filled
some carefully worked out rules
with glass beads of four different
of thumb, but here clearly runcolours. There are necking bands
ning into difficulties which neceslike collars, carved with
sitated alterations to the design
anthemion, with a beaded astragal
even while the work was probelow at the east end. The anta
ceeding. The temple hence cannot
capitals are also exceptionally
claim to be an ideal of any type
rich, with a heart-and-dart cyma
since it is so eccentric, but its
(wave) moulding above an eggdetails were widely copied.

DATE: c. 340-334 BC

ORDER: IONIC

DESCRIPTION
This temple in Asia Minor was
dedicated by Alexander the Great
in 334 B.C. The plan of the architect, Pythios (who also designed
the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos)
consisted of a peristyle 11 6
columns enclosing a pronaos and
opisthodomos, and the proportions seem to embody an attempt
at a canon: the axes of the colonnade form a rectangle 120 60
Ionic feet and the axial spacing is
12 Ionic feet; the length of the
cella building is 100 Ionic feet,
while the interior length of the
cella is 50, and so on. The Ionic
columns of the peristyle are just
under nine lower diameters high
and rest on square plinths (this
feature only known otherwise at
Ephesus) which are six feet wide
and six feet apart.
The design overall is very traditional Ionic: there is no frieze
because dentils are present (only
one or the other is usual on an
Ionic temple); the column bases
are of the Asiatic type (i.e. a horizontally fluted torus above a
complex spira); there is the usual
number of flutes (24) separated
by fillets; the capitals retain the
sagging line between the volutes,
characteristic of the best period,
and show the egg-and-dart echinus above a beaded astragal. The
angle capitals have one continuous, though rather contracted,
volute on the internal corner, as
opposed to the usual intersecting
ones, and the outer corners have a
palmette carved below the canted
volute.
Moving upwards from the capital,
each layer projects outwards further than the one below: after the
abacus, its sides in a wave moulding ornamented with a leaf pat-

excellent example to give of the

ideal of Ionic architecture; nevertheless, odd details do stick out
as unusual, and this together with
the late date illustrate the fact that
Ionic never really reached the
same degree of rigidity as a decorative scheme that Doric
achieved.

22. Temple of Athene Polias, Priene

tern, come the three successive

fasciae of the architrave; next an
astragal below an egg-and-dart
ovolo, with the dentils above; and
a further astragal and ovolo
topped by the plain face of the
cornice, crowned with a small
moulding, and finished by the
gutter, which itself was ornately
decorated with a series of rainwater spouts in the form of lion
heads, between extravagant displays based on palmettes and
acanthus leaves. The placing of
the water-spouts is interesting as
they are grouped in threes, one
over the centre of each intercolumniation and one over each of
the eyes of the volute; and the
theme of triplets is seen again in
the fasciae of the architrave, and
the groups of decoration above.
Even the cornice itself has three
layers.

SIGNIFICANCE
Priene was a rather small temple
but considered exquisitely beautiful, presumably for its delicate
but well-balanced proportions and
finely detailed decoration. It is an

To see it, you might have had the

impression of a very slight entablature carried on tall columns
(certainly a striking contrast with
e.g. the Athenian Hephaisteion);
however one must give the architect credit for knowing his own
business, especially as the proportions elsewhere are so carefully
worked out. Clearly he wished to
avoid any impression that the
columns were over-loaded, and
the result was surely a light,
graceful and elegant building.
Note the way the stereobate is
made up of a regular grid of stone
squares, with the columns occupying the centre of those along
the outside. There is no suggestion of widening or narrowing
columns or intercolumniations for
any reason at all. This supremely
rational approach is in sharp contrast to the Doric method, which
had to work out the number of
columns, their widths and spacings, according to whatever
method was being used to deal
with the triglyph problem, and
then calculate the dimensions of
the stylobate from that. This gives
Doric temples the virtue of organic wholeness as works of art, but
Ionic the practicality of being a
serviceable decorative scheme
which can be simply reproduced
ad infinitum.

21

DATE: c. 370 BC

ORDER: DORIC

DESCRIPTION
This temple, designed by
Theodotos, lacks an
opisthodomos; the cella finishes
in a blank wall in line with the
penultimate columns, and the rear
pteroma is reduced to the same
width as on the flanks. The column plan is accordingly reduced
to 11 6; the entrance to the cella
is in line with the third column.
The interior of the cella contained
a colonnade which can scarcely
have served any structural purpose (as the temple is quite small)
so must have been decorative. It
has not survived, but the pattern
in other, later, buildings at
Epidauros of using Corinthian
columns internally suggests that
treatment began here.
The expense accounts for this
temple survive. The east pediment contained sculptures depicting Greeks fighting Amazons, the
west the capture of Troy. In the
cella stood a chryselephantine
figure of Asklepios.

SIGNIFICANCE

22

Fourth century architects working

with the Doric order still apparently feel impelled to develop it
further, despite a sort of perfection having been reached the century before. Here the amputation
of the opisthodomos has been
carried out without any attempt to
counteract the effect on the over all proportions of the building,
which may well have looked
rather stumpy as a result. At any
rate, the design was not repeated
in subsequent buildings, so may

23. Temple of Asclepios, Epidauros

have been regarded as a failure.

The internal colonnade may be
compared with others such as
Bassai or the Athenian
Hephaisteion which were added
purely for effect. The form of
temples was originally governed
by their structure : for instance,
internal colonnades being introduced to support the roofs in larger, wider buildings; or one might
mention the origins of the Doric
order itself in the functional
forms of a wooden type of architecture. Later there is a tendency
to divorce form and structure: the
triglyph frieze appears too low on
the exterior to approximate its
supposed function of capping the
ceiling beams, and internal colonnades appear which have a purely
decorative function.

OTHER TEMPLES AT
EPIDAUROS
Three other temples at Epidauros
should be mentioned. Firstly, dedicated to Artemis, a small temple,
only 27' wide, consisting of just
cella and pronaos, but decorated
as lavishly as any large temple. It
has a hexastyle prostyle front in
the Doric order (a lot of columns

in a narrow space!), with a paved

walk and ramp connecting it to
the altar; acroteria in the form of
Nikai; internally there is a
Corinthian colonnade close to the
walls, so functionally redundant.
A nice touch is the provision of
water-spouts in the form of hunting-dogs (Artemis was goddess of
hunting) instead of the usual lionheads.
Two other small temples have
been identified, possibly of
Aphrodite and Themis. These had
Ionic columns lining the cella on
three sides.

DATE: c. 375 BC

DESCRIPTION
The earliest of the three notable
fourth-century tholoi; it stood in
the precinct of Athene Pronaia
(otherwise known as the
Marmaria) somewhat distant from
the main sanctuary of Apollo, and
three of its peristyle columns
together with a corresponding
segment of the entablature have
been re-erected on the site. It was
probably designed by Theodoros
of Phokaia, whose book about the
building was quoted by Vitruvius.
The building has a circular cella
surrounded by an external peristyle of 20 Doric columns standing upon a stylobate less than 49'
across and three feet high. The
smallness of the buildingand
therefore also its pronounced curvaturemeans that the external
columns are rather closer together
than they would be on a contemporary rectangular building. The
number of internal columns is
related to the number on the outside; but ten standing in such a
restricted space (less one for the
doorway) would have been a
severe inconvenience, so they are
raised up onto a black limestone
bench which encircles the interior. The floor is made of the same
stone, except for a white marble
circle in the centre; the exterior
wall of the cella also had a black
base.
The internal columns were of the
Corinthian order. They stood
against the interior wall without
actually being engaged to it. They
had 20 flutes, and capitals that
recall those at Bassai, with two

ORDER: DORIC
rows of very small
leaves girdling the
base (in fact, these
leaves vary from
one column to the
next); here, however, the bases of the
springing volutes
are not masked by
the leaves, but form
a lower spiral, creating S-shapes
which meet in a
kind of lyre pattern.
This tholos is to be
reconstructed with
two roofs: one
raised up on the
drum of the cella
wall (which may
have been pierced
with windows above), and another roof over the pteron sloping
down from a lower point on the
wall. The gutter of the Doric
entablature was richly ornamented and carried lion-head water
spouts. The metopes were all
carved with figures.

24. Tholos at Delphi: section

SIGNIFICANCE
An early experiment in applying
the architectural scheme worked
out for rectangular buildings to a
circular plan. The tholos in
Athens shows that there were
round buildings before, but it
does not have the external Doric
colonnade. Later tholoi at
Epidauros and Olympia take the
idea further.
The purpose of the building is not
known.
23

DATE: begun c. 360 BC

DESCRIPTION
Designed by Polykleitos the
Younger, who also designed the
theatre here. The accounts survive
and show that building took over
thirty years, proceeding as funds
became available. The main
building material, presumably for
cheapness' sake, was limestone,
except where precision of carving
necessitated marble. The building
consists of a circular cella, surrounded by a peristyle of 26
Doric columns, resting upon a
stylobate just over 66' across. The
three-stepped base is interrupted
by an approach ramp. The entablature, in accordance with the
fourth-century style, is
slight, with a shallow
architrave and cornice,
though the frieze has its
full emphasis, and the
metopes are for the first
time carved with
rosettes in relief. The
gutter is elaborately
carved with lion-head
rain-water spouts in
between a pattern
derived, like that of the
Corinthian capital, from
the acanthus plant; palmette antefixes appear
above, their leaves curly
rather than straight,
again owing to the influence of
the acanthus pattern.

24

The interior was lit by two windows either side of the doorway,
showing off the elaborate floor
with its pattern of alternating
black and white rhomboidal slabs,
and the internal order of fourteen
Corinthian columns, detached

ORDER: DORIC
from the wall, and with fine capitals which are virtually indistinguishable from the version of
Corinthian which eventually
came to predominate as the standard: note the flower overlapping
the mid-point of each side of the
abacus, and the delicacy of the
acanthus ornament, the thinness
and naturalism of which are in
sharp contrast to the plainness of
the stone bell; the stems of the
volutes too are carved free of the
background. This fine ornamentation was too fragile to survive the
collapse of the building, but luckily an unfinished and unused capital of identical appearance was
found buried nearby; it might

ders, carved flowers set into the

vaults, and acanthus ornaments in
the triangular interstices between
the coffers. A single conical roof
rose from the outer entablature
and culminated in a great floral
acroterion.
At the centre of the floor a recess
led down to a crypt which consisted of a series of concentric
walls forming corridors connected by doorways: a sort of underground labyrinth or maze, perhaps connected with the snakecult of Asklepios, in which case it
would be comparable to the
snake-pit under the Erechtheion.

SIGNIFICANCE
The most splendid and
beautiful of tholoi
according to the verdict
of antiquity. It shows us
the version of the
Corinthian capital that
comes to be the norm in
later years, and contributes further to the
development of a
Corinthian order with the
cyma (wave) moulding
on the frieze.
25 Tholos at Epidauros

have been a template for the original masons to copy. Above, there
is an elaborately carved entablature, with the Corinthian frieze
showing a wave moulding (an
early example of a feature that
would be regularly seen later).
The ceiling coffers again are very
rich, with ovolo and astragal bor-

Unfortunately this building does not help us with

the purpose of the tholos as an
architectural type, since we do
not know what it was for. It may
have been a temple connected
with the cult of Asklepios, or
even a repository for his bones.

DATE: begun 339 BC

ORDER: IONIC

26 Olympia: Philippeion. Hypothetical reconstruction

DESCRIPTION
This is a tholos or round building,
begun by Philip of Macedon as a
monument to his victory at
Chaironea, and completed by his
son Alexander; it housed chryselephantine statues by Leochares
of Philip, Alexander, Amyntas,
Olympias and Eurydice. It consists of a circular cella surrounded by an Ionic colonnade of 18
columns resting on a threestepped stereobate. The single
conical roof (not as shown in the
reconstruction) was topped by a
bronze finial in the form of a
poppy-head, which hid the ends
of the roof beams.
The details of the Ionic order are
unusual: the base has a torus
above a scotia, resting directly
upon a plinth (i.e. like the Attic
base but lacking the larger lower
torus); there are 22 flutes instead
of the normal 24; the capitals lack

the egg-and-dart ovolo. Probably

for the first time the Asiatic dentils appear together with the
mainland frieze (cf. e.g. Priene), a
practice which was to become
normal in later times.

The interior was lit by two windows either side of the door. Nine
Corinthian half-columns were
engaged to the inner wall of the
cellahalf the number of the
exterior columns. As at
Epidauros, the internal colonnade
must be seen as purely decorative; here, however, enough survives for the design of the
Corinthian capitals to be
described. Each of the four
volutes emerges from a fluted
sheath called the cauliculus (a
form taken from the natural form
of the acanthus plant); there are
no subsidiary spirals meeting on
the intervening faces, but acanthus leaves instead, and a girdle
of small leaves around the bare

upper part of the bell, as at

Bassai.

SIGNIFICANCE
A further illustration of the fluidity of the Ionic order; the
Corinthian too is unusual, showing that it has not yet reached the
final form seen in the tholos at
Epidauros. Form and structure are
again separate. There is careful
harmony of proportions (e.g. with
the numbers of columns); the use
of frieze in conjunction with dentils proved influential.

25

DATE: 575-500 BC (rebuilding)

THE STOA
In general the primary function of
a stoa was to provide shelter from
wind and rain. Gathered in small
groups up and down the length of
the colonnade, people could meet
and hold discussions in private,
despite the lack of partitions; thus
it became customary to use stoas
for business purposes, and eventually they were designed accordingly, with their interiors divided
into units suitable for stalls, shops
and offices. Partition walls projected from the rear wall towards
the open front of the colonnade.
This in turn required greater
depth, so a ridged roof was provided, needing intermediate support, which was provided either
by the wall across the front of the
partitions, or an internal colonnade. Since Doric was usual for
the exterior columns and the
internal range would have to
reach higher, the Ionic order was
used inside to save space. Both
orders were architectural schemes
that had been worked out for use
on temples, and were now applied
systematically to a secular type of
building of a very different shape.
It soon became clear that this
would result in further modifications to the orders, especially the
Doric.

PURPOSE

26

The Stoa Basileios (or Royal

Stoa) probably dates originally
from the Archaic period, towards
the end of the sixth century B.C.,
but after suffering damage in the
Persian sack of 480 B.C. was

extensively rebuilt in the fifth

century. The building takes its
name from its purpose as the
headquarters of the Archon
Basileus (or King Archon), a senior Athenian magistrate with particular responsibility for religious
affairs and certain types of lawsuit; Sokrates says in Platos
Apology that he had to report
here in the first instance to
answer the charges that had been
brought against him, which eventually led to his execution.
These functions of the King
Archon are reflected in the furnishings of the building itself: for
example, the base of a herm was
found which was apparently set
up in about 400 B.C. to commemorate the archonship of one
Onesippos, and it records the
names of the winners of that
year's Lenaia. As the dramatic
festivals were sacred to Dionysos,
they fell within the jurisdiction of
the King Archon. Immediately in
front of the building there was a
long slab of unworked limestone
approximately 3' 9' which
appears to have been the Oath
Stone used ceremonially by new
magistrates to swear to uphold
the laws; being ancient it predates
the stoa and may have dictated its
position. Towards the end of the
fifth century, the Athenian lawcode was inscribed on slabs of
stone and set up in this stoa so
that it could be consulted by any
citizen. Also connected with the
King Archon and his two assistants are the sets of thrones which
originally stood either inside or
just in front of the stoa.

ORDER: DORIC
According to a line in
Aristophanes, official dining took
place here as well as in the tholos. This has been proven correct
by the find of a large deposit of
cooking ware, animal bones and
red-figured wine-cups and kraters
from the mid-fifth century.

DESCRIPTION
This early stoa was very small in
comparison with later examples,
just 58' 23', with only eight
Doric columns between the end
walls, and an interior supported
by four (originally two?)
columns, likewise in the Doric
order. The frontage therefore is
comparable with the scale of a
temple, and the proportions and
details of the order are similar,
with two-metope spans between
the columns. Small wings were
apparently added at either end
towards the end of the fourth century to display the law-code;
these each had a three column
width, with a column behind each
of the two corners.

SIGNIFICANCE
Important as an early example of
a stoa, showing that such buildings had been in use since at least
the sixth century. The interior is
not partitioned, but supported
with Doric columns. The Doric
temple scheme is applied to this
building without modification.

27. Stoa Basileios, restored elevation, first period

28. Stoa Basileios, restored elevation, in about 300 B.C., showing the addition of wings at either end, built partly to display the
inscribed law code. In front is the monumental statue of Themis, goddess of justice, erected in about 330 B.C.

29. Stoa Basileios, sixth century B. C.: (a) hypothetical section, (b) part elevation
27

DATE: 430-420 BC

ORDER: DORIC

30. Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios: reconstructed elevation

DESCRIPTION
This stoa was designed from the
start to have two projections at
either end, enframing a recess,
with a statue of Zeus at the central focal point. The external
Doric colonnade consisted of nine
columns along the recess, spaced
more widely than those of the
wings, which were six columns
wide and four deep (counting
those at the corners twice). The
wider spacings of the central
recess were catered for by placing
three metopes to each span in
place of the usual two (a lesson
learnt from the central doorway
of the Propylaia). The interior
was supported by a row of seven
Ionic
columns,
with one
more at each
end in line
with the projecting wing.
The roof was
gabled over
either wing;
there were
acroteria but
no pediment
sculptures.

28

Unlike most
of the buildings in the

Agora, the faade was built

entirely of Pentelic marble. This
may be explained by the nature of
the building itself: being dedicated to Zeus, it was a religious
building though in the guise of a
secular one. Eleutherios means
the Liberator; the cult of Zeus
Eleutherios had been founded in
the wake of the Persian Wars, to
celebrate the winning of freedom
from the threat of Persian domination, and maintained by the
Athenians, who adorned the
building with the shields of those
who died fighting for the city.
Like other buildings, the Stoa of
Zeus was adorned inside with
painted panels.

SIGNIFICANCE
Though a stoa, the fine marble
building stone, hexastyle wings
and acroteria underline the religious nature of the building and
its corresponding prestige. Note,
however, the modifications to the
Doric order: the widening of the
central intercolumniations can be
explained in terms of improving
accessibility and the need to
lighten the effect of a long colonnade. The Ionic appears inside as
a logical solution to the problem
of the internal colonnade; both
this and the use of three-metope
spans are ideas derived from the
Propylaia.

31. Stoa Poikile, reconstructed perspective view

DATE: 475-450 BC

DESCRIPTION
This was one of the most wellknown buildings of ancient
Athens; its fame derived from the
large, movable wooden panels
hung along the rear wall which
were painted by the celebrated
artists Polygnotos, Mikon and
Panainos. (The name Stoa Poikile
means Painted Stoa.) These
paintings excited a great deal of
admiration in the ancient world,
but have disappeared without
trace. Apparently they were still
in place some 600 years after they
were created, as Pausanias
described them in his guidebook;
all depicted scenes of Athenian
and Greek military exploits, such
as the Trojan War, Athenians and
Amazons, etc. The most celebrated painting showed the Athenian
victory at Marathon.
The site of the stoa remained
entirely unknown until some
excavations in 1981 revealed
some likely ruins, which still
unfortunately are not fully
exposed since much of the building lies beneath modern houses.
The width has been established as
12.5 metres; if the proportions
normal for a stoa were observed,
the length would have been at
least 36 metres, possibly more.
The external order was a severe
Doric; internally the Ionic order
was used to support the high
ridge beam while taking up the
minimum of floor space. Much of
the stoa was built of various types
of limestone, though the Ionic
capitals were carved from marble.
For a secular building, the stan-

ORDER: DORIC
dard of workmanship and materials is high. For example, the stepblocks were all cut to the same
length and fastened with doubleT clamps, set in lead, and with
alternate joints coinciding exactly
with the centre of each column;
this is a degree of precision one
expects to see in high-prestige
projects such as temples, but
which is rare in secular buildings.
The location of the stoa is ideal,
bordering the north side of the
Agora and looking directly along
the Panathenaic Way towards the
acropolis; in winter it will have
made a perfect place to gather,
sheltered from the cold north
wind, its open south side making
the most of the weak winter sunshine.
As well as the paintings, the stoa
also contained other reminders of
past Athenian victories. Bronze
shields from defeated enemies
were exhibited here, including
those from the 292 Spartans who
were captured alive at Sphakteria,
near Pylos, in 425-4 B.C., one of
Athens most noteworthy victories in the Peloponnesian War.
One such shield, roughly punched
with the words The Athenians
from the Lakedaimonians at
Pylos, has survived, and is to be
seen in the Agora museum in the
rebuilt Stoa of Attalos.
Besides displaying paintings and
trophies, the stoa had a variety of
other functions. It is unusual in
not, apparently, having been provided for any specific use or for
the benefit of a particular group
of officials; rather it was a public

amenity, serving the needs of the

people at large, as a shelter and
meeting-place just off the Agora.
It could be used as a law-court;
official proclamations were also
made here; but in the main it was
an informal place of assembly for
all and sundry. This is made clear
by many written sources which
mention the frequent use of the
stoa by those who depended on
crowds to make their living:
sword-swallowers, jugglers, beggars, scroungers and fish-mongers. Most famously it was the
philosophers who gathered here,
using the stoa as a classroom; one
school, founded by Zeno, is particularly associated with the Stoa
Poikile, and even took its name
from it: the Stoics. One has the
impression of a lively meetingplace where the Athenians came
together to converse, argue, and
learn.

SIGNIFICANCE
Note the early use of an Ionic
order internally; the careful location to take advantage of the shelter; the lavish construction; its
role as a popular amenity. The
reconstruction by Dinsmoor Jnr.
shows the external Doric order
with the two-metope spans typical of early stoas, having not yet
developed the distinctive Doric
with three or more metope spans
which characterised later stoas.

29

DATE: 430-420 BC

NAME
The original name of this building is not known. The name given
to it by archaeologists denotes its
position along the south side of
the Agora, and distinguishes it
from the later South Stoa II
which replaced it in the
Hellenistic period.

DESCRIPTION
This was a long stoa, Doric externally, consisting of a double
colonnade with sixteen rooms
behind. Its walls consisted of
squared blocks below, with the
upper parts made of sun-dried
brick. This is a considerably
cheaper method of construction,
though when plastered over it
could last for decades; in fact it
seems to have stood for some 270
years before being dismantled to
make way for its replacement.

PURPOSE

ORDER: DORIC
sort, and the proximity of the
Athenian mint suggests that
bankers' tables may have stood
here. Perhaps the newly-minted
coins were put into circulation
here.
The rooms at the back of the stoa
are interesting, since all the preserved doorways are off-centre.
This is normal in the case of dining-rooms, and furthermore one
of the rooms has the characteristic cement border that was used
to keep the wooden legs of the
couches clear of the water that
was used to swab the floor after a
meal. Members of the Boule
(Council) and the Archons were
fed at public expense, so it is not
surprising to see such a large concentration of dining-rooms in a
public building (though other
buildings too, such as the Tholos,
served the same purpose). An
inscription of 222-1 B.C. which
may well have stood inside the
stoa names the five metronomoi
(inspectors of weights and measures) and their two secretaries,

and the dining-rooms are just the

right size to accommodate seven
dining-couches. Thus South Stoa
I seems to have been one of the
public market buildings of
Athens, where business was
transacted and where those officials directly concerned with the
administration of the commercial
life of the city held office.

SIGNIFICANCE
The South Stoa represents the use
of the stoa for commercial activity, and reflects the function of the
Agora as the focal point of business life in the city. Note the
cheaper, utilitarian building methods and materials, due perhaps
both to the lower prestige of such
a building compared to, e.g., the
Stoa of Zeus, and its much
greater size, which would have
made the use of stone throughout
exorbitant.

32. South Stoa I

30

In the absence
of any ancient
written references, the use of
this stoa has to
be established
from the archaeology. The
unusually large
quantities of
coins found in
the building
(240, mostly of
bronze) indicate
that it was a
commercial
building of some

DATE: 470-460 BC

DESCRIPTION
A round building, some 60 feet in
outside diameter (three times that
of the tholos at Delphi), with six
unfluted internal columns to support the roof. These were
arranged in an ellipse, the arc of
which is greater than the curve of
the wall, leaving a wider intercolumniation at the north and
south for access. The conical roof
will have risen directly from the
circular wall, covered with elaborate rhomboidal tiles in terracotta,
producing a pattern like the scales
of a fish. The exact reconstruction
of this roof, like that of other
tholoi, remains problematical.
One possibility leaves an oculus
or circular opening in the centre
to admit light and air.

PURPOSE
The tholos served as the
Headquarters of the executive
committee of the Boule
(Council), called the Prytaneis.
The Boule consisted of 500 citizens drawn by lot from the ten
tribes of Attica; each contingent
of 50 served as the executive
committee in rotation, being
responsible for day-to-day administration, preparing business for
the Boule, etc. During the 35 or
36 days that each tribal contingent held the presidency, its
members were fed in the Tholos
at public expense, so that its primary function must be as a large
public dining-room. Since there
is insufficient room inside for 50
dining-couches, we may assume
that the diners sat up, and a bench
around the inner wall would have

ORDER:NONE
suited this purpose. Some of the
crockery used at these public dinners has been found in the vicinity, marked with the letters DH,
standing for demosion or 'public
property', to discourage diners
from walking off with official
place-settings.

treatment in accordance with the

orders simply because it is not
needed.

Moreover, at least one third of the

contingent were required to be on
duty in the building 24 hours a
day, which means that 17 or more
people also slept there at night.
This was to ensure that in the
event of an emergency, such as
the arrival of urgent news from
abroad, there were always men
available to deal with it. Hence
the Tholos, together with the
nearby Bouleuterion, represents
the heart of the Athenian democracy. When the Athenians lost the
Peloponnesian War in 404 B.C.,
the Thirty Tyrants installed by
the Spartans made the Tholos
their Headquarters, presumably
precisely because it was considered by most people to be the seat
of power.

SIGNIFICANCE
The Tholos shows a version of
the rotunda before it was dressed
up with orders of columns.
Perhaps it was later felt to be too
simple or primitive a building for
its august purpose, since it was
later given a porch with four
prostyle columns. Nevertheless it
shows that at least in the early to
mid-fifth century, it was possible
to conceive an important public
building whose form was entirely
determined by its function, and
which lacks a formal architectural

31

DATE:

Old Bouleuterion c. 500 BC

ORDER: NONE

New Bouleuterion 415-406 BC

BACKGROUND
At the beginning of the fifth
century, the democratic
reforms of Kleisthenes
replaced the old Council of
400 with a new Council
(Boule) of 500 persons. The
members of this body were
appointed to serve for one
year, during which time they
met every day in the
Bouleuterion (Council
Chamber), except on festival
days, to propose and consider legislation. (Proposals
only passed into law when
they had been approved by
the popular Assembly, the
Ekklesia.) Together with the
Tholos, it stood at the heart of the
Athenian government.

DESCRIPTION
The Old Bouleuterion has an
almost square plan, the sides 78
76 feet, and facing south. It is
divided into two parts, with the
council chamber itself occupying
the larger, northern section,
which is separated from the
entrance lobby on the south
by a wall pierced with a
doorway supported by three
simple columns. The lobby
opens to the south via a
colonnade of five columns,
the central three aligned
with the columns of the
doorway opposite. Wooden
seats would have been
arranged around the three
sides of the main room. The
wide span of the building
32

archive and Metron (shrine to

Rhea, mother of the Gods). Not
enough of the building survives
to enable us to understand what
advantages it offered over its
predecessor. It is rectangular,
similar in size to the old
Bouleuterion, and probably had
a similar seating arrangement.
About 300 B.C. a semi-circular
seating pattern in stone, reminiscent of a theatre, was introduced, along with a columnar
porch in the Ionic order.

SIGNIFICANCE
33. Old Bouleuterion

presumably needed internal supports; five have been proposed,

arranged to provide minimal
obstruction of the central area,
where speakers will have
addressed the members of the
Boule.
The building was replaced
towards the end of the fifth century by a new Bouleuterion immediately to the west of the old one,
which continued in use as an

34. New Bouleuterion

Built like the Tholos to serve a

very specific and vital purpose
connected with the day-to-day
running of the government, and
not until the power of the
Athenian state has been permanently weakened does it acquire
the trappings of architectural
grandeur. Note that the form of
the building is tailored exactly to
its function, the most important
requirement of which is to allow
a large body of men to meet in
private and hold discussions
where everyone can speak
and hear with the minimum of obstructions.

DATE: c. 510 or 490 BC

DATE

ORDER: DORIC
Overall it seems that the balance
of probability lies with Pausanias
and the later date.

This is a gem of a building, erected by the Athenians at the

DESCRIPTION
Panhellenic sanctuary of Delphi
around the beginning of the 5th
century. The precise date is prob- Built entirely of island marble,
lematical: Pausanias records that
this little building has a stylobate
the building was erected as a
almost three feet off the floor and
memorial to the
battle of Marathon
in 490 B.C., but
Dinsmoor prefers
the earlier date of
510 B.C., just after
the establishment of
the democracy in
Athens. The building stood alongside
a pedestal on which
were exhibited the
spoils of the battlearmour and
weapons taken
from the Persians
dedicated by the
Athenians in 490
B.C. Dinsmoor
considers that the
statement by
Pausanias that the
Treasury formed
35. Delphi, Treasury of the Athenians
part of the same
dedication is a mistake, caused by a misreading of
no steps; this is presumably
the inscription on the pedestal.
because the public was not
The inscription is ambiguous,
intended to have access to the
however, and has been interpreted interior. Like the Olympian treasby a French archaeologist to
uries it has a basic distyle in-antis
agree with Pausanias. The style of plan, so resembling a small temthe sculpture certainly seems to
ple, but with a very shallow cella.
be later than that of the Delphic
It faced onto the Sacred Way, the
temple itself, which was carved
three other sides being relatively
between 513 and 505 B.C.; how- inconspicuous; nevertheless the
ever the painted patterns on the
frieze runs all round the building,
walls are more reminiscent of
and sculptured ornament was
sixth century vase painting.
applied to the metopes on all four

sides, thirty in all. The courses of

masonry alternate in height,
which adds interest to the three
blank walls. The walls grow thinner as they rise, a primitive feature possibly in imitation of early
sun-dried mud brick constructions. This has the effect of
increasing the apparent height.
Other primitive features are
the metopes being half as
long again as the triglyphs,
and an irregularity in the
regulae, which have only
five guttae, while the
mutules above have rows
of the normal six. The roof
is pitched very low, so may
have looked rather squat,
though this effect may have
been offset by the sculpted
pedimental figures, and an
acroterion of an Amazon
on horseback. Inside the
cella, strips of incised and
painted ornament ran along
the top of the walls.

SIGNIFICANCE
The first Greek building to
be constructed entirely of
marble. In this respect, and
also its lavish sculptural
decoration, it looks forward to the
fifth century buildings of the
Athenian acropolis, culminating
in the Parthenon and Erechtheion.
Note however that the earlier
Treasury of the Syracusans,
which stood opposite, also had
five-gutta regulae and sculpted
metopes all round, so providing a
precedent (and probably inspiration) for the Athenian design.
33

DATE:

6th Century BC

ORDER: DORIC

(* 5th Century)

BACKGROUND
Treasuries are small buildings
paid for and constructed by individual Greek cities at Panhellenic
sites for the purpose of exhibiting
their prizes and offerings. They
are grouped together along a thoroughfare, so that passing visitors
will have the opportunity of
admiring them. They are a kind
of advertisement for the prestige
of the city, and there was a certain amount of competition
between cities in trying to eclipse
their neighbours' treasuries. The
varied building styles, reflecting
the fashions prevailing in the different cities, contribute to the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the
sanctuary.
The basic type of building copies
the form of a small temple, consisting of a cella fronted by a
porch with two columns in-antis.
All the treasuries at Olympia are
of the Doric order. It is usual on
such a temple that the triglyph
frieze over the faade is continued around the sides of the building in the same way as a peripteral temple, even though the sides
have blank walls.

DESCRIPTION

last quarter of the sixth century,

except that the capitals lack
carved annulets and the mutules
lack guttae.

(II) SYRACUSE* (Sicily)

Contemporary with (IX); here the

frieze does not travel around the
sides of the building, finishing at
the sides with half-triglyphs and
half-regulae.

Dated to c. 475 B.C., this treasury

exhibits features of Sicilian
Doric: for example, a countersunk
astragal along the taenia, also
down alternate arrises; a range of
overhanging leaves at the necking
of the columns, with another
countersunk astragal just above.
The cornice is peculiar in having
a concave moulding (cavetto) in
place of the usual vertical face.
The regulae and mutules have
only four guttae in each row in
place of the usual six.
(III) EPIDAMNOS (Illyrian
coast)
(IV) BYZANTION* (now
Istanbul)
(V) SYBARIS (Southern
Italy)
(VI) KYRENE (Northern
Africa) (?)
(VII) (Unknown)

The treasuries are described in

order from west to east.

(VIII) (altar?)

(I) SIKYON* (Northern

No outstanding features.

Peloponnese)

34

normal structure, well-proportioned, with a little astragal introduced to crown the triglyphs and
metopes. The simas and tiles are
all in marble, with the cover-tiles
and pan-tiles (and antefixes at the
eaves) all in one piece, as occurs
later at Bassai.

The latest of the Archaic treasuries, dating to about 470 B.C. A

(IX) SELINOUS (Sicily)

Regular type of building for the

(X) METAPONTUM
(Southern Italy)

(XI) MEGARA (Central

Greece)
Dated to c. 500 B.C., this has a
notable pediment sculpture in
high relief showing a
Gigantomachy. The side walls are
blank except for a short regula
near the corner, below what
would have been a metope if the
frieze had continued around the
sides.
(XII) GELA (Sicily)
Dated to c. 540 B.C. and of a
larger size than the others; a
hexastyle Doric portico was
added later. The cornice lacks
mutules, and there are traces of
nails which show that the cornices, although made of stone,
were covered with terracotta
plaques as if they had been wooden. This had been a universal
practice in the case of wooden
cornices, but this building provides an example of the transitional period during which the
same treatment began to be

applied to stone cornices as well.

Significant quantities of these
pieces of terracotta survive, and
are brightly painted with intricate decorative patterns. In accordance with a peculiar Sicilian
habit, the sima (gutter), which
normally appears only above the
cornice at the flanks and the raking cornice at the ends, appears
above the horizontal cornice
below the pediment as well,
though it is awkwardly cut off at
the ends by the raking cornice; its
rectangular upper border is bent
down from the point at which it
meets the upper cornice, though
not at the same sharp angle, so
that it slowly disappears under it,
while its painted ornament tapers
to squeeze into the corner. It is
clearly established that this terracotta work is of Sicilian origin,
imported from Gela.

36. Angle contraction in the Doric order: elevation with oblique projection

SIGNIFICANCE
The main period for the building
of treasuries was the sixth century, although the practice carried
on into the fifth. Though not temples, they reproduce the plan of
small temples, thereby illustrating
on a reduced scale some of the
features of the orders during their
formative stage. In the case of
temples, the object of using monumental buildings, expensive
materials and lavish sculptural
decoration was principally to glorify the god or goddess to whom
the temple was dedicated; civic
prestige might well play a part,
but only in cities like Athens,
with its regular influx of foreign
visitors, would significant numbers of people other than residents be impressed; but in the
case of treasuries, glorification of
the city has to be the principal
motivation, and the location will
have contributed to that end.

37. (a) Angle contraction in the Hephaisteion, Athens (c. 450445 B.C.); (b) the same
formula producing increased angle intercoumniations in the Stoa at Brauron (c.
430410 B.C.)

35

DATE: 3rd Century BC

DESCRIPTION
The palaistra is the wrestlingschool, and corresponds closely
to Vitruvius description of such a
building. It consists of an open
court, some 135 feet square, surrounded by a Doric colonnade of
19 columns on each side. Behind
the colonnade, on three sides,
rooms of various sizes opened
through plain doorways or Ionic
porches; some of the rooms still
have the ancient stone benches
set against their walls. These
rooms provided facilities for
changing, practice, baths, lectures, etc.; classes in philosophy
were as likely to take place here
as gymnastics.

ORDER: DORIC
On the south side, the colonnade
was divided into two long corridors by a second inner row of 15
Ionic columns. The main
entrances were at the east and
west ends of the south side,
through porches which have two
Corinthian columns in-antis. The
Corinthian capitals are of an
unusual design, having parallels
in Pompeii and Asia Minor rather
than in Greece. The north side of
the court had a long central room,
screened off by another row of
columns, which do not extend the
full width of the square; this was
an exedra or sitting-out room for
youths as described by Vitruvius.

38. Olympia

36

SIXTH CENTURY

472 B.C. and Sophokles a third in

458. The archaic orchestra continued to be used as the performance
The art of theatre design should
area, and the bare hillside, augbe traced back to the origins of
mented with temporary seating on
drama itself, which began with
bleachers and scaffolding at the
choral dances in honour of
sides, served for the audience. At
Dionysos in the country districts
first the scenery was simply the
around Athens. In 534 B.C.
unobstructed view of the countryThespis introduced them to the
side; later a scene-building was
city and combined the chorus
added at the back, to reflect the
with a speaking actor. Tragedies
sound back towards the audience,
and satyr plays, and later comeand later providing a ground on
dies, now formed part of the regwhich painted scenery could be
ular Dionysia; these performances
exhibited. (It is recorded that such
were put on in an orchestra or
scenery was first created by
dancing-circle in the Agora, with
Agatharchos in 458 B.C. and was
the audience accommodated on
studied closely for its use of perbleachers (ikria), i.e. wooden
spective.) The scene-building
seats erected on a scaffolding. It
(skene) probably consisted of no
was the collapse of such a strucmore than a flat wall of wood at
ture at a performance in about
this stage. This period was the
498 B.C. which prompted the
heyday of the great playwrights
move to a new site at the southern
Sophokles, Euripides and
foot of the acropolis, where the
Aristophanes.
sloping ground would reduce the
need for precarious temporary
Towards the end of the century,
seating arrangements. There was
during the Peloponnesian War, a
also a preexisting temple of
significant change occurred: the
Dionysos at the new site, which
whole theatre was transformed
made the choice of site doubly
from wood to stone. The reconlogical. An orchestra of about
struction of how this change took
83!/2' was constructed to the north place has been almost as probof the temple, with an altar of
lematical as the original transforDionysos in the centre; no stagemation itself; for this was not
building or formal seating was
straightforward. A new building,
provided at the beginning, though
Perikles Odeion or concert hall,
later a temporary booth or tent
had been built and encroached
(skene) seems to have been set up
considerably on the eastern side
behind or to one side of the
of the theatre site; in order to
orchestra, to enable the actor to
compensate for this and simultamake costume changes.
neously provide more seating
capacity, the orchestra itself was
FIFTH CENTURY
now moved some 9 feet westwards and over 20 feet north
towards the acropolis. this
During the fifth century, the
requirements of the theatre gradu- entailed excavating a quantity of
earth at the foot of the hill, which
ally became more complicated.
was
then redistributed higher up
Aischylos added a second actor in

the slope to improve the gradient

for visibility. It now became necessary to provide retaining walls
at the bottom to stop the earth
moving down the slope, and these
were arranged as radii of the circle of the orchestra, enclosing an
arc of 199 degrees. Probably only
one storey of seats was envisaged
at this time, as a higher storey
would have meant moving the
site even further westwards to
avoid the Odeion. Many of the
seats were still of wood
(Aristophanes mentions wooden
bleachers in 411 B.C.), though
less important spectators sat on
the bare hillside above. The theatre also acquired a permanent
stone scene-wall, which was also
the back wall of a new stoa facing
the precinct of Dionysos to the
south. This stoa came up so close
to the temple of Dionysos that it
abutted its steps, and the temple
itself masked the western segment of the colonnade, causing
the architect to modify this part
of the stoa, substituting a closed
room at the end behind the temple. The orientation of the stoa is
determined by the precinct, not
the theatre, which accordingly
acquired an off-centre scene-wall,
though its generous 204' length
meant that any segment of it
could be used as the basis for
stage scenery. Stairs led up from
the interior of the stoa to an
impressive doorway in the scenewall (in line with the centre of
the orchestra) at the level of the
orchestra 7' higher; in front of
this, a rectangular stone platform
was built projecting nearly 11 feet
forwards, which could be used as
the basis for temporary scenic
constructions, such as a temple
porch, stairway, or altar. It is pos-

37

sible that even more ambitious

scenery was attempted, since five
vertical slots appeared in the
masonry of the wall either side of
the platform, suggesting that timbers were thereby secured in
position as the skeleton of further
temporary constructions.

FOURTH CENTURY

38

In 342 B.C. a decree was passed

by the Boule for a complete
rebuilding of the theatre, and
work was completed before 326.
The process of steepening the
gradient for improved visibility
and greater seating capacity was
continued, this time more radically, since the orchestra was now
not only moved a further 20'
northwards, it was also lowered
by at least 8". This circular area
was slightly smaller than its predecessors at just over 72' diameter.
The sunken arc on the north side
was reinforced and became the
face of a step below the lowest
row of seats where the bench of
honour stood. Around the edge of
the circle ran a gutter 3 feet wide
and of similar but irregular depth,
clearly made necessary by the
increasing artificiality of the hillside: rainstorms in Greece can be
extremely violent and could easily wash much of the carefullybuilt terracing away unless properly channelled. The gutter was
enclosed between rows of copingstones, the inner of which thus
formed the edge of the orchestra
itself, although to the south,
where the gutter finished, the
coping-stones also stopped, leaving the rest of the circle to be
imagined. Opposite each of the
twelve radiating aisles, stone
bridges crossed the gutter, and the
gaps in between were filled in
with wooden panels during performances, though the gangway
used by members of the audience

finding their seats was located on

the step for the bench of honour.
Stone seating was now planned
rising in regular tiers, curving
precisely about a centre which is
not in fact the same as the centre
of the orchestra; the whole auditorium is moved 3 ' away from
the acropolis, causing the gangway step at the bottom to be
wider at the sides than the centre:
in fact ideal to funnel the crowds
gathering from below. The bench
of honour was located at the back
of this step in the centre; later it
was replaced by a row of marble
thrones, which are still there
today. Note the way that even
though the auditorium describes
more than a semi-circle, the parts
that exceed 180 do not continue
to curve around in a horseshoe
shape, but continue straight, giving a U-shaped plan, thus improving both visibility and accessibility.

39. Theatre of Dionysos, Athens

Only the lowest storey actually

follows the complete plan
because of the restricted width of
the site. It contains 33 rows of
seats divided into 13 wedges by
14 aisles. Above the first diazoma
(horizontal gangway) rose the
second storey of 31 rows, divided
by twice the number of aisles, the
same as the highest storey, which
had just 14 rows of seats, the
highest being 100 feet above the
orchestra. The second and third
storeys were separated by an
especially wide diazoma, which
was in fact the street that ran
around this part of the acropolis.
The seats are 11" high and 30"
deep, tipped forward slightly to
increase the gradient, and the vertical faces slightly recessed to
allow people to withdraw their
feet and allow others to pass.
Spectators will have brought
cushions for their comfort during

the day-long performances. The

theatre accommodated around
17,000 at this time.
The skene also required to be
modified now that the orchestra
had been moved to the north. The
old fifth-century scene-wall was
now used as a party wall against
which new foundations of breccia
were laid to support a new scenebuilding 158' long and projecting
24' from the older wall.
Additionally, at the sides two
pavilions (paraskenia) were built
21' wide and 68' apart, projecting
a further 16' forwards. The geometrical relationship between the
new skene and orchestra is complex, since the scene-wall is not
tangential to either the larger
enclosing circle or the inner
orchestra circle, which at this
point is imaginary anyway, but is
tangent to the imaginary line connecting the fronts of the paraskenia. The scene-wall between the
paraskenia was pierced with three
doorways in accordance with the
theatrical tradition; the paraskenia
had hexastyle Doric fronts with a
short colonnaded return. They
appear from the plan to have
intruded excessively upon the
parodoi (gaps between the skene
and seating through which the
actors and chorus made their
entrances), though being open
one could pass through them easily enough.
Note the absence of any stage.
Such a platform was eventually
needed by the performers of New
Comedy, which came in following Menanders first victory in
315 B.C. Since the Theatre of
Dionysos continued to be used
for revivals of classical tragedies,
no permanent stage could be provided, but a removable wooden
one, called the proskenion, is
attested before the end of the

fourth century. It did not become

a permanent stone feature until
the next major rebuilding in 150
B.C.

40. Hypothetical temple plan with 6 x 16 columns based on a grid of 6 x 16 squares;

(a) with columns centred in grid squares, giving equal front and flank intercolumnia tions; (b) with columns set at edge of stylobate, giving front intercolumniations
greater than flank ones

41. Hypothetical temple plan with 6 x 16 columns: (a) without angle contraction and
with front and flank intercolumniations equal; (b) the same stylobate with angle con traction introduced, making front intercolumniations greater than flank ones

39

By the middle of the fourth century, the basic plan of the theatre
had become established and had
assumed a monumental form. The
theatre at Epidauros is important
not least because it so well-preserved that it can be studied in
detail. It was supposedly designed
by Polykleitos the Younger (who
designed the tholos) and built in
the second half of the century. It
comprises three parts: the koilon
(cavea) for the audience, the
orchestra for the performers, and
the skene or stage-building to
provide facilities for changing,
storage of properties, and a scenic
background with doorways. The
theatre took advantage of a naturally bowl-shaped hillside, devoid
of other encumbering structures,
which enabled the architect to
design a beautifully symmetrical
theatre with the minimum of terracing.
The orchestra forms a complete
circle of diameter 66' 11", centred
upon an altar to Dionysos; it is
contained within the outer circle
which delineates the step on
which stand the seats of honour,
80' 4" in diameter. The gutter is
located between the two circles;
the inner edge facing the audience is decorated with a torus
moulding. It is only 7!/2" deep but
very wide at 6' 10"; so far from
not needing bridges across as at
Athens, it could easily serve as a
gangway. Actually the width of
the gutter/gangway is increased
towards the outer edges of the
auditorium to help to minimise
the crush and improve the view
from the sides.

40

Hence the auditorium constitutes

slightly more than a semi-circle

42. Theatre, Epidauros

387' in diameter, divided by a

diazoma into two storeys, the
lower containing 34 rows of seats
and the upper 21. The lowest and
highest rows of the lower storey
and the lowest of the upper contain privileged seats, being made
of finer limestone, and provided
with backs, and even arms at each
aisle. The other rows have the
faces hollowed out to enable feet
to be retracted for the benefit of
people passing in front, and the
backs of the seats slightly sunken,
to improve visibility for the people behind. Each step of the seating rises some 13" in the lower
storey and 17" in the upper, with
a constant depth of 2' 5", so that
the gradient in the upper storey is
steeper; moreover the whole of
the upper storey is raised on a
podium in order to see clearly
over the diazoma. Twelve radiating stairways form the aisles separating the wedges in the lower
storey, and twice as many above.
Gaining access to the upper seating from the diazoma was not for
the infirm, since the initial part of
each aisle as it cuts through the
podium is so steep as to be virtually a ladder.

The auditorium is separated from

the skene by two parodoi or
approach ramps, with elegant
doorways which caused minimal
obstruction. Only the foundations
of the fourth-century skene
remain and its reconstruction is
not a matter of general agreement. It appears to have consisted
of a hall 64' long and 20' deep,
with a narrow room at each end,
which possibly projected forwards to form paraskenia. As at
Athens, the formal geometrical
relation between skene and
orchestra may have relied on the
imaginary line connecting the
fronts of the paraskenia being
tangential to the orchestra circle;
this would require paraskenia
projecting forwards 12 feet.
In the Hellenistic period a proskenion or stage was added, supported by a colonnade of Ionic
columns with frieze and dentils
above.

Athenian
Acropolis

41

Ionic base profiles scaled to suit a uniform lower column diameter (*

indicates diameter estimated, Pl. indicates square plinth): 1 Naxian
Column, Delphi, c. 570 B.C.; 2 third temple of Hera at Samos, c. 560
B.C.; 3 fourth temple of Hera at Samos, c. 530 B.C.; 4 the same,
Hellenistic phase; 5 Delos, early fifth century; 6, 7 Managros, Chios, second half of sixth century; 8 Athens, Akropolis, sixth century; 9 archaic
temple of Artemis at Ephesos, c. 560 B.C.; 10 archaic temple of Artemis,
Magnesia, sixth century; 11 Klazomenian Treasury at Delphi, c. 540
B.C.; l2 temple of Athena at Paestum, c. 510 B.C.; 13 Stoa I at Kalauria,
c. 420 B.C.; 14 Stoa of the Athenians at Delphi, c. 475 B.C.; 15 temple
by the Ilissos at Athens, c. 450 B.C.; 16 Propylaia at Athens, 437-432
B.C.; 17 Agora columns, Athens, c. 450-430 B.C.; 18 temple of Nike at
Athens, c. 425 B.C.; 19, 20 north and east porches of the Erechtheion at
Athens, c. 420-415 B.C.; 21 West Stoa of the Asklepieion at Athens,
fourth century; 22 Tholos at Epidauros, c. 350-330 B.C.; 23, 24 temple
of Apollo at Bassai, c. 430-400 B.C.; 25 Abaton at Epidauros, c. 350
B.C.; 26 temple of Athena at Tegea, c. 360 B.C.; 27 temple of Zeus at
Nemea, 340-320 B.C.; 28 Stoa IV at Kalauria, late fourth century;
29 temple of Athena at Priene, c. 350-330 B.C.; 30 Leonidaion at
Olympia, late fourth century; 31 Philippeion at Olympia, c. 330-320
B.C.; 32 temple of Apollo at Chryse, late Hellenistic; 33 temple of
Artemis at Magnesia, second century

42