Architecture of Ancient Greece
One of the greats said: "Architecture is frozen music."
Ancient Greece is the cradle of European culture and arts. When looking at the artistic masterpieces of that distant era through the centuries, we hear the solemn hymn music of the beauty and greatness of a creator who likened himself to the Olympic gods.
Architecture
Architecture in Ancient Greece developed rapidly and diversified. In the growing Greek cities, stone residential buildings, fortifications, port facilities are being created, but the most important and new appeared not in residential and utility buildings, but in stone public buildings. It was here, and above all in the architecture of temples, that classical Greek architectural orders developed.
Rectangular in plan, austere and majestic building, towering on three steps of the basement, surrounded by a strict colonnade and covered with a gable roof - this is what pops up in our memory as soon as we pronounce the words "architecture of Ancient Greece." And indeed, built according to the rules of the order
the Greek temple was the most significant building in the city both in its purpose and in the place that its architecture occupied in the entire ensemble of the city. Order temple reigned over the city; he dominated the landscape in those cases when temples were built in any other important areas, for example, considered sacred by the Greeks. Because the order temple was a kind of pinnacle in Greek architecture, and because it had a tremendous impact on the subsequent history of world architecture, we turned specifically to the features of order buildings, sacrificing many other types and directions of architecture and construction of Ancient Greece. So, let's remember right away - the order in Ancient Greece did not belong to mass architecture, but to architecture of exceptional importance, which has an important ideological meaning and is associated with the spiritual life of society.
Orders and their origin
In the ancient Greek order, there is a clear and harmonious order, according to which the three main parts of the building are combined with each other - the base, columns and ceiling. The Doric order (originated at the beginning of the 7th century BC), with its powerful proportions, is characterized by a column dissected by grooves-flutes converging at an acute angle, standing without a base and completed with a simple capital, an architrave in the form of an even beam and a frieze of alternating triglyphs and metope. The Ionic order (formed in the middle of the 6th century BC) is distinguished by a slender column standing on the base and a completed capital with two volutes, a three-part architrave and a ribbon-like frieze; the flutes here are separated by a flat track.
The Corinthian order is similar to the Ionic, but differs from it in a complex capital decorated with floral patterns (the oldest Corinthian column is known in the temple of Apollo in Bass, now Vassus in the Peloponnese, built around 430 BC by the famous architect Iktin). The Aeolian order (known from several buildings of the 7th century BC - in Neandria in Asia Minor, in Larissa, on the island of Lesvos) has a thin smooth column standing on the base and completed with a capital, large volutes and petals of which reproduce plant motifs.
The origin of the ancient Greek order and its features have been studied in great detail. There is no doubt that its source is wooden pillars fixed on a pedestal, which are supported by wooden beams blocking them. The gable roof of the stone temples repeats the trussed wooden structure. In the form of ceilings, in the details of the Doric order, one can see their origin from buildings from a large forest. In the lighter Ionic order, roof construction techniques from small logs affected. In the capitals of the Aeolian order, a local construction technique is manifested, according to which beams were laid on a fork in the branches of a tree trunk. In ancient Greece, a strictly ordered plan of the temple, which was built according to the rules of orders, quickly developed. It was a temple-peripter, that is, a temple surrounded on all sides by a colonnade, inside of which there was a sanctuary (cella) behind the walls. The origin of the peripter can be traced back to buildings close to the most ancient megarons. The closest to the megaron is the temple "in antah", that is, the temple, where the ends of the walls protrude on the end side, between which columns are placed. This is followed by a prostyle with a portico on the façade, an amphiprostyle with two porticos on opposite sides, and finally a peripter. Of course, this is only a scheme of historical development: temples of different types were often built simultaneously in Greece. But one way or another, the residential building-megaron served as the oldest model, and in the 7th century. BC. periptery temples appeared (the temple of Apollo Thermios, otherwise Fermose, the temple of Hera at Olympia, etc.). In the temples of that time, raw brick and wooden columns were still used, which were eventually replaced by stone ones.
Along with the creation of stone structures, the ancient architects "from the field of shaky and unstable eye-measurement calculations worked out to the establishment of strong laws of "symmetry" or proportionality of the constituent parts of the building." This is how the Roman architect of the 1st century BC wrote about it. BC. Vitruvius, the author of the only fully preserved ancient treatise on architecture, by which we can reliably judge the views of that era on architecture. Of course, taking into account the fact that the orders were formed six hundred years before the appearance of this treatise. All these "strong laws" were fixed in the stone architecture of Ancient Greece for centuries, and if we count those eras when the order was revived in architecture again, then for millennia.
It is in these laws and in the methods of their use, in the combination of rule and creativity, number and poetic fantasy, "order" and its "violation" inherent in Greek architecture, that we have to figure it out.
Geometry, plasticity, color
First of all, one must immediately free oneself from the gymnasium prejudices ingrained in the memory, according to which the order temple is supposedly a geometrically correct structure to the millimeter, built of white marble, outlined by straight lines. Its beauty seems to lie in the ideal colorless purity and impeccability, like ideal distilled water, absolutely pure, but tasteless. As if the beauty of the order is the harmony of ideal, abstract numbers, and you can make a digital table of the proportions and scales of the order building, and then stamp eternally beautiful works on it. Such a representation is convenient for the pedant; this is a real paradise for the dogmatist. But it is disgusting to a living person, and he is ready to accept any barbaric structure, if only it carries feeling and expressiveness, and oppose it to buildings erected according to all these official stillborn rules.
Abandoned, dilapidated and looted long ago, Greek temples washed by the rains for centuries have lost much of their living appearance. Their geometric marble skeleton was exposed. In fact, their appearance was completely different than one can imagine from photographs of the surviving ruins. At the corners of the pediment, carved stone decorations-antefixes were placed, similar to living growth breaking through on stone slabs. In the oldest wooden temples, the antefixes were ceramic. Thus, the outlines of the temple were not at all geometric, made up of straight lines. Sculpture was saturated and other parts of the temple. Statues were placed on the pediment. Reliefs were used to decorate rectangular metopes in Doric temples and frieze in temples of the Ionic order. Images of people and mythological creatures by their very "non-geometric" forms gave the temple a lively, plastic expressiveness. And if we take into account that these figures were depicted in motion, it will be easy to imagine how richer, more diverse the appearance of the temple was compared to what could be created using only architectural means. The sculptural decoration of the temple was naturally and firmly connected with its architecture, which itself created the fields intended for sculpture: the pediment, the frieze strip, the metope rectangles. The actual architectural form directly turned into an ornamental motif or into a sculptural image. In the Doric order (in the oldest buildings made of wood and adobe), the metope was a slab that was part of the construction, and at the same time a relief depicting a scene. The gutter ended with a lion's head; calyptera tiles covering the seams formed by the marble "tiling" of the roof were completed with small carved antifixes. And what are triglyphs or mutula tiles with cylindrical gutt drops under the overhanging cornice? An ornament, an image of wooden structures that once existed, an architectural and construction detail? In its purest form - neither one nor the other, or rather, all of this together.
In the Ionic order we find an even greater connection, a wider and more natural flow of architecture into sculpture and ornament. The base of the column here is decorated with floral ornaments, combined with complex and plastic shafts and fillets. The Ionic capital is a single fusion of pictorial, ornamental and architectural and constructive principles. Patterns and images, etc. are carved on the blocks of entablature. Like a tree trunk carrying a living, moving crown, the geometric base of the order is colored in a Greek temple with a living sculptural image and an ornamental pattern. But that is not all. The Greek temple was indeed colorful! It was not the ideal and purified whiteness of the marble that raised it above the life of the city and nature, but, on the contrary, the festive brightness of the color, full of noisy human temperament, distinguished the temple among the monotonous and monochromatic residential buildings or against the background of soft and light-colored mountains, shrouded in amazing transparent silvery Greek air. The temple was painted blue and red. The paint was not completely applied. The natural color of marble also participated in the coloring of the temple: the columns and stone beams of the architrave remained unpainted. But, on the contrary, in the Doric column, the incisions encircling its upper part and relief strips-straps were marked in red. The lower surfaces of the overhanging cornices were painted with the same color. In general, mainly the horizontal parts of the temple were covered with red paint. Triglyphs and mutulas were painted blue, and metopes, or rather, their background, on which the relief image appears, were painted red. The pediment field (tympanum) was also painted in intense red or blue. Against this background, the statues stood out distinctly, in turn painted too. In addition, other paints were used, as well as gilding, which covered individual details. Here the hand of the master celebrated the holiday, decorating his product, rejoicing at the multicolored world and his feelings. Add to this the ability of architects to choose a stone of the required color: bluish-gray marble for the temple of the god of the sea elements Poseidon (built in the 3rd quarter of the 5th century BC on Cape Sounion near Athens) or marble of warm, as if alive , human tones for the Parthenon, which adorned the Athenian Acropolis. As for the oldest order temples built of wood, details, decorations and sculptures made of ceramics were richly painted there.
Buildings and city
In the era of the archaic, the type of the ancient Greek city was formed. Its main parts are determined. The centers of public life of the city and its architectural ensemble are a fortified hill - the acropolis, where temples are built, and the agora - a trading square. Of course, not all cities had a hill where temples were built. But in many cases, cities grew around such hills. In the architecture of Greek cities, in the ratio of massive residential buildings with the architecture of the centers of public life, the ideas inherent in it about society, about the human person and the collective are most clearly revealed. Naturally, we will be interested here in how all these ideas were embodied in the artistic image of urban architecture and what ideological and artistic properties of the architectural ensemble of the Greek city were generated by them. So, large order buildings were created in the public center of the city - primarily temples. They served the entire free population of the city-state, were created at its expense and by its hands, were part of its public life, imprinted in stone from the general ideas about the universe.
Of course, representations of cult, mythological. With all these properties, such a temple differs sharply from the main buildings of the Mycenaean cities - that is, from the royal palaces. No matter how significant the public role of the ruler in the life of the Mycenaean city, it was still the role of the only king, and the palace was the dwelling of the ruler. The temple also personified a certain force, in front of which even a king or a tyrant looked like one of the fellow citizens of the policy. This social and civic meaning acquired the artistic and architectural image of a Greek order temple built on the city square or on the acropolis towering over the city. The whole meaning of public buildings, their significance as an artistic, ideological phenomenon can be imagined by restoring the appearance of an ancient Greek city. It must be said that this task is not easy and, moreover, not entirely feasible. Marble temples have been preserved at least partially. Many of them were restored by collecting stone blocks scattered around the foundations. As for residential and utility buildings in cities, the vast majority of them have been irretrievably lost. New houses were built in place of old houses. Who could have thought of saving an ordinary, ordinary house for centuries? Only chance helps architecture researchers here. And here is the historical paradox! Such a case, which saves the usual, mass construction of the city, most often turns out to be a sudden destructive catastrophe. After the eruption of Vesuvius in Italy, the ancient cities were left under the ashes and lava, as if mothballed at the moment when their life stopped. The city of Olynthos on the peninsula of Halkidiki was in 348 BC. captured and completely destroyed by the Macedonian king Philip II. The ruins of the city were abandoned and remained essentially intact. The living city, on the contrary, erases old buildings from century to century. New life literally burns out the remnants of the past. And in the Greek city there were special reasons for this. The dwelling house, as excavations in Olynthus and finds in other places show, was often built from mud. Such a house could easily be destroyed without a trace. It is clear that the most durable part of the house was the floor: it was it that was decorated most richly and carefully, for example, with mosaics made of multi-colored stones. It was usually a house with a patio into which the living quarters opened. Such a house goes out onto the street with blank walls. One house adjoined another, and the entire street of the residential area was framed by walls. In the old cities, which grew up to the middle of the 5th century. BC, residential areas were a whole scattering of such buildings, dissected by narrow, crooked streets. From the middle of the 5th c. BC. regular planning began to take root: the streets began to be laid in a strict checkerboard pattern. But many cities, and especially Athens, retained their old appearance later. It is not difficult to imagine, at least in the most general terms, how the flimsy adobe house and the marble temple correlated with each other in the ancient Greek city. A low building made of cheap materials - and a mighty temple towering over the city; a walled cell of a house in a narrow street, where the domestic life of a Greek swarms, and an open gallery of a portico overlooking a spacious square; or the colonnade of the temple crowning the acropolis - and the open-air theater, on the benches of which thousands and tens of thousands of people were seated. Different purpose and different measures underlie these buildings. On the one hand, an individual and his private life, on the other, the social life of the entire city-state, in which the entire demos takes part - that is, free citizens (slaves, of course, were not taken into account) ...
We have already talked about stadiums and theaters above. Both of these types of buildings are perhaps the most remarkable thing that was created in Ancient Greece. Their architecture is striking in its exceptional expediency. There is no better building for mass spectacles than a classic amphitheater with a stage platform in the center. Existing to this day, the tradition of preserving rectangular auditoriums is the result of prejudice, a stagnant inability to part with the example that arose several centuries ago, when an ordinary palace hall was adapted for a theater, a barn or stable found by chance was used. The type of stadium created in ancient Greece served as the basis for ancient stadiums and circuses, for the stadiums of our time. The architectural form of theaters and stadiums determined their direct functional purpose, the desire to create comfortable venues for competitions and performances and spacious benches for thousands of people. Therefore, colonnades and other order motifs do not play a significant role in the architecture of theaters and stadiums. The situation was different in those public buildings that created a special ideological and artistic environment in the religious-political (acropolis) and state-economic (agora) city centers. This is where the order architecture, which artistically expresses public ideas, turns out to be necessary. The Agora in Athens is decorated with temples and long porticos with open colonnades (the temple of Ares, the temple of Hephaestion, the standing of Zeus, the standing of Poikile - all in the 5th century BC; in the 2nd century BC, middle and southern stand). From the area of the agora, bordered by stands, the road of sacred processions went to the hill of the Acropolis, along which once a year, on the day of the feast in honor of Athena, a crowded procession rose up. The main events of the festivities took place on the Acropolis. He crowned the ensemble of the city and was the true center of public life throughout the country ...
temples
Greek architecture is given an idea of the temples that served in Greece exclusively for religious purposes.
The prototype of the Greek temple is the megaron. The temple was the home of the god. Wooden temples have not been preserved, but they can be judged from later stone temples. Closely spaced columns support horizontal beams (architraves) and gabled roofs. The architrave, frieze and cornice form an entablature, decorated with carved details depicting the ends of wooden beams with hats made of bronze nails, which were used to connect elements in wooden temples.
The design of the temples was simple, the architects followed a certain typology. The inner space of the temple, the cella, was the abode of the gods (usually one or two rooms). The temple is often surrounded by a colonnade (usually six or eight columns at the front and back of the temple, and additional rows of columns on the sides). This structure, perfect in its simplicity, was erected with the help of ingenious techniques.
One of the features of Greek architecture is the use of the order, a certain tectonic system used in classical architecture. In the most ancient Doric order, columns with a simple capital, consisting of a round echinus and a square slab of abacus, do not have a base and are placed on a three-stage base (stylobate).
Usually, from below, at 1/3 of the height, the column trunk has a thickening (entasis). The entablature encircling the upper part of the temple consists of three elements: a flat architrave, a frieze, which is divided into triglyphs, shaped like the ends of wooden beams, and smooth or relief metopes; and, finally, a cornice hanging over the lower parts of the building.
All parts have certain dimensions, which are calculated based on the module - the diameter of the column. In early Doric temples (c. 550 BC), such as that at Paestum, the height of the column did not exceed four and a half diameters. Over time, proportions have changed. The height of the columns of the Parthenon is already eight diameters.
Traces of paint were found on the ruins of temples. Polychromy (the use of several colors) gave these buildings a look very different from what we imagine in our imagination.
Following the Doric, two more orders appeared. The Ionic order is characterized by thinner and more elegant columns with a base. A distinctive feature of the Ionic capitals are spiral curls - volutes. The small temple of the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis of Athens are typical examples of this architectural style, elements of which can be seen in the Doric temple of Apollo at Bassae. Compared to the strict Doric order, the Ionic order seems more "feminine". The third order, Corinthian, appeared much later. This is the most magnificent of the three orders, it is characterized by small volutes at the corners of the capital, the lower part of which is decorated with carved acanthus leaves. The Corinthian order was widely used in Rome, it is also very popular in the architecture of classicism and neoclassicism.
Secular buildings
As for secular buildings, the monuments of Minoan architecture on about. Crete. The palace of Minos appeared before the eyes of researchers as a huge labyrinth. Around the front courtyard were randomly (or obeying a system that we are not able to catch) two- and three-story buildings of various shapes and sizes were located. There were no window openings in the rooms, the light penetrated through special wells that passed through all the floors and created a different degree of illumination of the halls. The columns of the Knossos Palace were the embodiment of tectonics, expanding not to the bottom, but to the top. The walls were covered with innumerable frescoes and stripes of ornament, most often in the form of a wave or spiral curls, reminiscent of the proximity of the sea and the eternal movement of the waves. The figures of people are depicted conditionally: for example, the head and legs are in a lateral projection, and the body is frontally.
It is impossible not to mention also the Greek theater. The Greek theater, with rows of seats for spectators descending in a semicircle to a round orchestra (stage), had no roof.
In the center of any Greek city was an open square, the agora, where they traded and held meetings. The covered gallery-portico on the edge of the agora housed shops, warehouses and offices. On the example of the practically newly rebuilt stoa of Attalus on the Athenian agora (c. 150 BC), we can imagine how such structures looked like.
Both on the island of Crete and in mainland Greece, starting from the 3rd millennium BC. e., the houses of ordinary people were built of raw (sun-dried) brick, often on a stone foundation. In the largest dwellings, rooms were grouped around a megaron - a large rectangular courtyard.
In cities, houses were built along the streets, the outer wall was blank, there was only an inconspicuous entrance. The walls of the houses were covered with plaster. The floor was covered with gypsum or paved with gypsum boards. . The floor, divided into regular squares, was decorated with ornamental motifs depicting octopuses and fish. In many rooms along the walls there were benches made of the same material as the main building and also plastered. Quite deep niches were arranged in the walls to store supplies. Bathrooms were present only in palaces. Terracotta baths, reminiscent of modern ones, were decorated with paintings and built into a kind of clay pedestal.
Greek architecture reached its peak in the Athenian - classical - period. Simplicity and clarity of forms and plans, giving rise to a sense of harmony and reaching perfection in the famous Parthenon. The concept of "classic" implied the deep integrity of the architectural structure, which does not allow anything to be added or removed without destroying the integrity of the work. This is the reason for the Greeks' rejection of luxury. Greek houses looked rather ascetic. The natural simplicity of their decoration, a minimum of furniture: all this is very consonant with modern minimalist interiors.
The plan of a later Greek house was formed around the inner peristyle courtyard, through which all other rooms were illuminated. He also served as the main place of meetings and meals. From all sides the courtyard was surrounded by a gallery with columns. The walls were first whitewashed with lime, and later they began to paint. They were painted with tempera, their favorite color being red. Often the wall had a basement belt of white or yellow color, about a meter high. In the inner courtyard, they were usually decorated with carpets and embroidered fabrics.
The floors of the first floor remained adobe. Just like the walls, the floors were sometimes painted, and in the richest houses they were laid out in mosaics. The most common pattern is a circle inscribed in a square. On the second floor, rooms for women were more often located. The floors here were adobe or wood.
The Greeks were well aware of ivory. This valuable material was used to decorate furniture and other household utensils: chests, caskets, etc.
Furniture
Furniture in Greece was made of wood, bronze and marble. The most varied was the seating furniture. From Egypt "comes" a folding stool on an X-shaped support. The Greek carpenters finally have a planer and a lathe in everyday life, which immediately affected the quality of woodworking. The Greeks, apparently, mastered the bending of wood with the help of steam - a method that was “rediscovered” by Europeans again only in the 19th century. The most common form of antique furniture of this time was a stool with four round, chiseled legs, thinning downwards. It was called "difros". Its legs were made either vertical or slightly diverging downwards and were smooth. There are two main directions in the manufacture of stools. The first type practically coincides with the stool on which we still sit. He was easily carried from place to place, he was not given any particular place in the house, and he weighed a little. With the development of culture, stool legs began to be carved in the form of "lion" - this trend is also alive to this day.
To increase comfort, it was customary to put pillows on such stools. The second type is most suitable for today's definition of a small table. It was used for the same purposes, but was less mobile, that is, it usually stood in one place and could be used not only as a seat, but also as a table. Gradually, various ornaments and even skits began to be carved on such stools. In special cases, stools were made of stone and thus have been preserved to this day. There was also a third type, although it is hardly appropriate to attribute it directly to stools. They also survived to our time, and under their ancient name - these are thrones. Thrones were intended exclusively for persons endowed with power, they were always very richly decorated, not only with carvings, but even with precious stones.
The apogee of Greek furniture art is "klismos" - a light elegant chair with sickle-shaped legs, the back of which held the back. Metal staples or wooden lining fastened the individual parts of such a chair. A sofa with two backs on the sides in its design is, as it were, a transition to a bed - a “kline”, which consisted of a shallow box on vertical uprights-legs. They preferred to eat, read and write in a semi-lying state on special beds (kline), which were covered with bright fluffy fabrics with exquisite patterns. The soft back and armrests were invented in Greece. They were made from both cloth and leather.
Accordingly, the tables were low, as they were intended only for arranging various food. For the most part, they were made portable. After the meal, the table moved under the bed, which had rather high legs, about one meter high. The Greeks did not know chests of drawers or wardrobes, so the most common and important type of home furniture was a chest, a special kind of box for storing various things. The walls of such chests are covered with paintings of different colors. On a bright blue background, meanders, palmettes and other motifs of the Greek ornament are depicted. In addition to the chests, in the everyday life of the ancient Greeks there were also "pists" - large, cylindrical cans made of bronze. Bronze was also used to make incense burners - “triligateries”, candelabra and tripods. Most of the furniture was colored.
Textiles in interior design
It was customary to lay fabric on chairs and a bed. In general, fabrics played no less important role in the antique interior than now. The Greeks used bedspreads for furniture and wall hangings. With the help of plain curtains, zoning of the premises was carried out (doors, as such, were very rare). Patterned fabrics could hang loosely or folded along the walls. Sometimes they were hung up in several flying, each of which had its own color. For drapery in ancient Greece, wool and cloth were used, usually in bright colors, preference was given to green, saffron, gold and shades of purple.
Patterns on fabrics were usually woven, but embroidery was also present. The motifs of the ornament were of natural origin and echoed those that decorated the capitals, cornices and vases: acantha leaves, meander, palmettes. This created the integrity of the entire subject content (or, in modern terms, design) of the ancient house.
Ornament
For the ornament, in addition to plant motifs, the most characteristic is the widely known meander: a series of lines broken at right angles, non-intersecting or intersecting lines.
Ornamentation has always been purely decorative for the Greeks and did not have such a symbolic cult significance as that of the same Egyptians. Ionics and belts with denticles were frequent decorative elements in interior design.
Ceramics
Ceramics flourished in Greece. The vases were varied in shape and covered with artistic painting, used to store wine and oil, incense, and water. The painting of vases was carried out in a complex technique in the form of ornaments, mythological plots, everyday scenes. Vases were made of silver and decorated with relief images.
The temple in Greek antiquity was the house of God, a building that housed a statue of one or more gods, and not a meeting place for believers, as in Christendom. This shows the noun difference in the meaning of the word - "temple", "naos", which comes from the verb "NAIO" (= to live).
The statue was placed in the back of the temple, on the longitudinal axis. Believers gathered outside the temple building, where there was an altar for sacrifices and there was a rite of worship. This basic functional feature of a Greek temple is essential to understanding architecture, and there is evidence that temples were designed for the statues that were placed in them.
Parthenon
Athenian Parthenon
The Parthenon is the most beautiful monument of the Athenian state.
Construction began in 448/7 BC. and the discovery took place in 438 BC. Its sculptural decoration was completed in 433/2 BC.
According to sources, the architect was Iktinos, Kallikrates and, possibly, Phidias, who was also responsible for the sculptural decoration of the temple.
The Parthenon is one of the few marble Greek temples and one Doric with all its sculpted metopes.
Many parts of the sculptural decor were painted in red, blue and gold.
Valley of the Greek Temples
The famous "Valley of the Greek Temples" is located in southern Italy, in the region of Agrigento.
The complex has 10 temples, which have no analogues even in Greece itself.
The valley has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Temple of Hephaestus
Temple of Hephaestus
The Temple of Hephaestus is one of the best preserved ancient Greek temples. It was dedicated to the god Hephaestus and is located in the Tisei area.
The Temple of Hephaestus became available to the public as part of the archaeological excavations of the Ancient Agora.
The temple was built on the hill of the Ancient Agora. This is a Doric structure, surrounded by columns, built, possibly, according to the design of the architect Iktin. The building has 13 columns on each side and 6 on the ends. Well preserved not only the columns, but also the roof.
Temple of Poseidon at Paestum
Posidonia was an ancient Greek colony in southern Italy in the Campania region, which is located 85 kilometers southeast of Naples, in the modern province of Salerno, near the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The Latin name of the city was Pestoum (Paestum). The main attractions of this area are three large Doric temples: a temple dedicated to Hera and Athena.
The Temple of Hera is the oldest temple in Posidonia and belongs to the 6th century BC. Next to this temple is the second temple dedicated to Hera, built in the 5th century BC. In the 18th century it was believed that the temple was dedicated to Poseidon. At the highest point of the city is the temple of Athena, built around 500 BC. Previously, it was mistakenly believed that it was dedicated to Demeter.
Temple in ancient Segesta (Egesta)
In ancient Egesta (Sicily), the Doric temple of the 5th century BC is admired, the construction of which, after the installation of the colonnades, was stopped for no reason. Today it stands alone, on the outskirts of a charming settlement, and is an example of the building ideas of that time.
Temple of Epicurian Apollo at Bassae
Temple of Epicurian Apollo at Bassae. Photo from the site - www.radiostra.tv
The Temple of Epicurian Apollo at Bassae is one of the greatest and most imposing structures of antiquity.
The temple rises at an altitude of 1130 meters above sea level, in the center of the Peloponnese, in the mountains between Ilia, Arcadia and Messini.
The temple was erected in the second half of the 5th century BC. (420-410 BC), possibly by Ictinos, the architect of the Parthenon.
Temple of Epicurian Apollo at Bassae. Photo from the site - www.otherside.gr
The Temple of Epicurian Apollo is a well-preserved monument from the classical period. It was the first ancient monument in Greece to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. Part of the frieze of the temple was broken in 1814 and exhibited in the British Museum in London.
Erechtheion
The Erechtheion was the sacred site of the entire Acropolis. The marble building is a prime example of the mature Ionic order.
The temple is dedicated to Athena, Poseidon and the Athenian king Erechtheus. It is located on the site of the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica and was the repository of holy antiquities.
It had two entrances, from the north and east, which were decorated with Ionic porticos. The south porch of the building is the best known.
Caryatids
Instead of columns, it has six female statues, caryatids, that support the roof.
In 1801, the British ambassador Lord Elgin took one of the Erechtheion's caryatids to Britain.
It is currently in the British Museum, along with the Parthenon frieze. The rest of the statues have taken their places in the new Acropolis Museum, and there are copies of them in the open air.
Temple of Zeus in Kirini
Temple of Zeus in Kirini
Kirini was an ancient Greek colony in North Africa.
Founded in 630 BC, it took its name from the Kirish spring, which was dedicated to the god Apollo. In the 3rd century BC, the philosophical school of Kirini was founded in the city by Aristippus, a student of Socrates. The city, located in the Jebel Akhdar valley, gave the eastern region of Libya the name of Cyrenaica, which exists to this day.
Kirini has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1982. Ancient monuments have been preserved in the city: the temple of Apollo (7th century BC), the temple of Demeter and the temple of Zeus, which was partially destroyed by order of Muammar Gaddafi in 1978
Erechtheion
The history of architecture and culture of ancient Greece is divided into three periods.
1. Ancient period - archaic. Having repelled the invasion of the Persians, having liberated their lands, the Persians got the opportunity to freely create. 600-480 AD BC.
2. The heyday is a classic. Alexander the Great conquered vast territories with different cultures, the eclecticism of these cultures was the reason for the decline of Greek classical art. The heyday came after his death. 480-323 BC.
3. Late period - Hellenism. This period ended in the thirtieth year BC with the conquest of Ancient Egypt by the Romans, which was under Greek influence.
The art of ancient Greece undoubtedly had a huge impact on subsequent generations. For the later eras of cultural development, majestic beauty, tranquility, harmony became the source and model.
Greece is a country with a great architectural past, in which much attention was paid to the construction of temples. The Greeks in the construction of ancient temples in the archaic era replaced wood with white marble and yellowish limestone. Such material not only looked noble, but was also distinguished by its centuries-old durability.
Parthenon
The image of the temple resembled the ancient dwelling of the Greeks, which in its shape resembled a rectangular structure. Further, the construction continued the well-known logical scheme - from simple to complex. Very soon the layout of each temple became individual. But some features still remained unchanged. For example, the stepped foundation of temples remained unchanged. The temple was a room without windows, which were surrounded by columns in several rows, and inside the building there was a statue of a deity. The columns supported the gable roof and floor beams. The people were not allowed to enter the temple, only the priests had the right to be present here, so everyone else admired its beauty from the outside. This feature served to give the temple external harmony and beauty.
Temple plans. 1 Temple in Anty. 2 Forgiveness. 3 Amphiprostyle. 4 Peripter. 5 Dipter. 6 Pseudodipter 7 Tholos.
Greek temples are different in their compositions, stylistic elements in each are used in a special way.
1. Distil - “temple in ants”. The earliest type of temple. It consists of a sanctuary, the front facade is a loggia, bounded along the edges by side walls (antami). Two columns were installed along the front pediment between the ants.
2. Forgiveness. It is similar to Antov, only not two, but four columns are installed on the facade.
3. Amphiprostyle or double prostyle. On both facades of the building there are porticos with 4 columns.
4. Peripter. Occurs most often. Columns surround the temple around the perimeter. There are six columns on both facades, the side ones are determined by the formula "2p + 1". P is the number of columns on the front facade.
5. Dipter. A type of temple, on the side facades of which there were two rows of columns.
6. Pseudo-dipter. The same as Dipter, only without the inner row of columns.
6. Round peripter or Tholos. The sanctuary of such a temple has a cylindrical shape. The temple is surrounded by columns around the perimeter.
In Greek architecture, the types of columns and friezes were distinguished, which received the names of orders.
The earliest, Doric, is associated with the culture of the Dorians who lived in mainland Greece. In the Doric order, powerful and short, tapering upwards, columns with flutes end in a capital with a square abacus and do not have a base.
The Ionic order developed in insular and Asia Minor Greece. Ionic columns, thinner and more elongated, rest on a base and end with a capital carved from a rectangular block. The capital is formed by two curls (volutes). In most of the temples that have come down to us, Doric and Ionic orders are used.
The Corinthian order appeared in Athens in the 5th century BC. e. The column is crowned with a magnificent capital, which is a curly shoots of acanthus. This order was received wide application during the Hellenistic era.
Doric order with painting.
In construction, exceptional attention was paid to natural conditions, the greatest artistic fit of the building into the surrounding landscape. The noble forms of architecture of Ancient Greece are striking in our time. Although from a constructive point of view, everything was very simple. Only two elements were used: the bearing part (beams, lintels, slabs) and the bearing part (walls and columns).
Many different structures of a public nature were erected: palestras, stadiums, theaters, residential buildings. The theaters were built on the slopes of the hills, the stage was made across the slope, the stage was at the bottom. Residential buildings were built in such a way that a small rectangular courtyard was obtained in the center.
Acropolis.
Acropolis. Athens.
Acropolis at night
The Acropolis is a sacred city where every ruin speaks of a timeless beauty. A wide marble staircase leads up the hill. Near it, on the right, an elegant small temple was erected to the goddess of victory, Nike. Its outlines resemble a precious box. To get to the main square, you should pass the gate with columns - Propylaea.
Plan of the Acropolis.
Here stands the statue of the goddess of wisdom Aphrodite, the patroness of the city. Further, it is not difficult to notice the Erechtheion temple, complex and peculiar in plan. With its famous portico, where female statues - caryatids - are used instead of columns. One cannot ignore the main temple of the Acropolis, the Parthenon, which was dedicated to Athena. It was built in the Doric style and is rightfully considered the most perfect structure built 2 thousand years ago. Kallikrat and Iktin are the creators of the temple. The statue of Athena, on which the sculptor Phidias worked, the marble friezes that surrounded the temple with their 160-meter ribbon, an amazing relief of two hundred horses and three hundred human figures were the main images in the festive procession of the Athenians.
The Parthenon fell into ruins over 300 years ago during the Venetian siege of Athens in the 17th century. The Turks established a powder warehouse in the temple. The surviving reliefs of the temple were taken in the 19th century to London by the Englishman Elgin. Now they are kept in the British Museum and remind only part of the story of the glorious history of the architectural past of the Acropolis.
Without a doubt, the art and architecture of the ancient Greeks had a serious influence on the following generations. Their majestic beauty and harmony have become a model for later historical eras. The ancient ones are monuments of Hellenic culture and art.
The periods of formation of Greek architecture
The types of temples of ancient Greece are closely related to the time of their construction. There are three eras in the history of Greek architecture and art.
- Archaic (600-480 BC). Times of the Persian Invasions.
- Classics (480-323 BC). The heyday of Hellas. Campaigns of Alexander the Great. The period ends with his death. Experts believe that it was the diversity of many cultures that began to penetrate into Hellas as a result of Alexander's conquests that led to the decline of classical Hellenic architecture and art. The ancient temples of Greece also did not escape this fate.
- Hellenism (before 30 BC). Late period ending with the Roman conquest of Egypt.
The spread of culture and the prototype of the temple
Hellenic culture penetrated into Sicily, Italy, Egypt, North Africa and many other places. The most ancient temples of Greece belong to the archaic era. At this time, the Hellenes began to use building materials such as limestone and marble instead of wood. It is believed that the ancient dwellings of the Greeks were the prototypes for the temples. They were rectangular structures with two columns at the entrance. Buildings of this type evolved over time into more complex forms.
Typical design
Ancient Greek temples, as a rule, were built on a stepped base. They were windowless buildings surrounded by columns. Inside was a statue of a deity. The columns served as a support for the floor beams. The ancient temples of Greece had a gable roof. In the interior, as a rule, twilight reigned. Only the priests had access there. Many ancient Greek temples could only be seen by ordinary people from the outside. It is believed that this is why the Hellenes paid so much attention to the appearance of religious buildings.
Ancient Greek temples were built according to certain rules. All sizes, proportions, proportions of parts, the number of columns and other nuances were clearly regulated. The ancient temples of Greece were built in the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian styles. The first one is the oldest one.
Doric style
This architectural style has developed in the archaic period. It is characterized by simplicity, power and a certain masculinity. It owes its name to the Doric tribes, which are its founders. Only parts of these temples have survived today. Their color is white, but earlier the structural elements were covered with paint, which crumbled under the influence of time. But the cornices and friezes were once blue and red. One of the most famous buildings in this style is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Only the ruins of this majestic building have survived to this day.
Ionic style
This style was founded in the regions of Asia Minor with the same name. From there it spread throughout Hellas. Ancient Greek temples in this style are more slender and elegant when compared with Doric ones. Each column had its own base. The capital in its middle part resembles a pillow, the corners of which are twisted into a spiral. In this style, there are no such strict proportions between the bottom and top of structures, as in the Doric. And the connection between the parts of the buildings has become less pronounced and more shaky.
By a strange irony of fate, time practically did not spare the architectural monuments of the Ionic style on the territory of Greece itself. But they are well preserved outside. Several of them are located in Italy and Sicily. One of the most famous is the Temple of Poseidon near Naples. He looks squat and heavy.
Corinthian style
During the Hellenistic period, architects began to pay more attention to the splendor of buildings. At this time, the temples of Ancient Greece began to supply Corinthian capitals, richly decorated with ornaments and plant motifs with a predominance of acanthus leaves.
divine right
The artistic form that the temples of ancient Greece had was an exclusive privilege - a divine right. Before the Hellenistic period, mere mortals could not build their homes in this style. If a man surrounded his house with rows of steps, decorated it with pediments, this would be considered the greatest audacity.
In the Dorian state formations, the decrees of the priests prohibited the copying of cult styles. The ceilings and walls of ordinary dwellings were built, as a rule, of wood. In other words, stone structures were the privilege of the gods. Only their abodes had to be strong enough to withstand time.
sacred meaning
Stone ancient Greek temples were built exclusively of stone because they were based on the idea of separating the beginnings - the sacred and the mundane. The abodes of the deities had to be protected from everything mortal. Thick stone or served their figures as a reliable protection against theft, defilement, accidental touches and even curious glances.
Acropolis
The heyday of the architecture of ancient Greece began in the 5th century BC. e. This era and its innovations are strongly associated with the reign of the famous Pericles. It was at this time that the Acropolis was built - a place on a hill where the greatest temples of Ancient Greece were concentrated. Photos of them can be seen in this material.
The Acropolis is in Athens. Even from the ruins of this place, one can judge how grandiose and beautiful it once was. A very wide path leads to the hill. To the right of it, on a hill, there is a small but very beautiful temple. People entered the Acropolis itself through a gate with columns. Passing through them, visitors found themselves on the square, crowned with a statue of Athena, who was the patroness of the city. Further on, the Erechtheion temple, very complex in design, could be seen. Its distinguishing feature is a portico that protrudes from the side, and the ceilings were supported not by a standard colonnade, but by marble female statues (caritaids).
Parthenon
The main building of the Acropolis is the Parthenon - a temple dedicated to Pallas Athena. It is considered the most perfect structure created in the Doric style. The Parthenon was built about 2.5 thousand years ago, but the names of its creators have survived to this day. The creators of this temple are Kallikrat and Iktin. Inside it was a sculpture of Athena, which was sculpted by the great Phidias. The temple was surrounded by a 160-meter frieze, which depicted a festive procession of the inhabitants of Athens. Its creator was also Phidias. The frieze depicts almost three hundred human and about two hundred horse figures.
Destruction of the Parthenon
The temple is currently in ruins. Such a majestic structure as the Parthenon, perhaps, would have survived to this day. However, in the 17th century, when Athens was besieged by the Venetians, the Turks who ran the city set up a gunpowder warehouse in the building, the explosion of which destroyed this architectural monument. In the early 19th century, the Briton Elgin brought most of the surviving reliefs to London.
The spread of Greek culture as a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great
Alexander's conquests caused Hellenic art and architectural styles to spread over a large area. Outside of Greece, major centers were created, such as Asia Minor Pergamum or Egyptian Alexandria. In these cities, construction activity has reached unprecedented proportions. Naturally, the architecture of Ancient Greece had a huge impact on the buildings.
Temples and mausoleums in these areas were usually built in the Ionic style. An interesting example of Hellenic architecture is the huge mausoleum (tombstone) of King Mausolus. It has been ranked among the seven greatest wonders of the world. An interesting fact is that the construction was led by the king himself. The mausoleum is a burial chamber on a rectangular high base, surrounded by columns. Above it rises from the stone. It is crowned with the image of a quadriga. By the name of this structure (mausoleum), other grandiose funerary structures are now called in the world.
