Page 461 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

GREECE  459

The Development of Temple Architecture
The gable ends of the
roof were surmounted by Greek temple architecture is divided into three styles, which evolved
statues, known as akroteria, chronologically, and are most easily distinguished by the column capitals.
in this case of a Nike or
“Winged Victory”. Almost
no upper portions of Doric temples were surrounded by sturdy
Greek temples survive. columns with plain capitals and no bases.
As the earliest style of stone buildings, they
The roof was recall wooden prototypes.
supported on Guttae imitated the
wooden beams Triangular pediment filled pegs for fastening the
and covered in with sculpture wooden roof beams.
rows of terra-cotta
tiles, each ending Triglyphs
in an upright resembled
antefix. the ends
of cross
beams.
Metopes
could Doric
contain capital
sculpture.
Ionic temples differed from Doric in their Akroteria, at the roof
tendency to have more columns, of a corners, could look
different form. The capital has a pair of Persian in style.
volutes, like rams’ horns, front and back.
The Ionic architrave
The frieze was a was subdivided into
continuous band projecting bands.
of decoration.
The
Ionic
frieze
Stone blocks were took the
smoothly fitted together place of
and held by metal Doric
clamps and dowels: no triglyphs
mortar was used in the and
temple’s construction. metopes.
Ionic
The ground plan was
derived from the megaron capital
of the Mycenaean house:
a rectangular hall with a
front porch that was Corinthian temples in Greece were built under The pediment
supported by columns. the Romans in Athens, Corinth, and Kos. They was decorated
feature columns with slender shafts and elaborate with a variety
capitals decorated with acanthus leaves. of moldings.
Caryatids,
or figures Akroterion in the shape of a griffin
of women,
were used The cella The entablature was
everything above
instead of entrance was at the capitals.
columns the east end.
in the
Erechtheion
at Athens’
Acropolis.
In Athens’
Agora (see
p453), tritons
(fish-tailed
sons of Acanthus
Poseidon) leaf capital
were used.

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