Architects of ancient Greece. Ancient Greece

Introduction.

The architecture of ancient Greece, covering mainly the 8th-1st centuries BC in its development, is divided into three periods: archaic, classical and Hellenistic. They were preceded by periods of Cretan-Mycenaean culture in southern Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea. (III millennium - XII century BC) and the so-called Homeric period (XII - VIII centuries BC) - this is the time of the decomposition of the clan system and the emergence of early class relations, which led to the VIII - VII centuries . BC e. to the formation of ancient slave states. The Archaic period (8th – early 5th centuries BC) coincides with the time of the final formation of the polis and the formation of the main types of religious and public buildings. From the second period, covering the time from 480 to the end of the 4th century. we should highlight the time of the highest dawn of the policies (480-400),

to which the name "classical period" is applied. The leading place in this era belongs to Athens, where, during the “golden age” of the reign of Pericles, the development of slave-owning democracy reached its highest point, and along with it, art and architecture.

The third period is the era of Hellenism (320s of the 4th century - 1st century AD) - the time of the emergence of the Greek-Eastern monarchies and the intensive expansion of Hellenic culture into the new cities of Asia Minor and Egypt, which became major centers of trade and cultural life.

If we talk about architecture itself, then in Ancient Greece it developed quickly and in many ways. In the growing Greek cities, residential stone buildings, fortifications, and port structures were created, but the most important and new things appeared not in residential and commercial buildings, but in stone public buildings. It was here, and primarily in the architecture of temples, that the classical Greek architectural orders took shape.

A rectangular plan, a strict and majestic structure, rising on three steps of a basement, surrounded by a strict colonnade and covered with a gable roof - this is what comes to mind as soon as we say the words “architecture of Ancient Greece”. And indeed, the Greek temple, built according to the rules of the order, was the most significant building in the city both in terms of its purpose and in the place its architecture occupied in the entire ensemble of the city. The order temple reigned over the city; it dominated the landscape in cases where temples were built in some other important places, for example, in places 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 the order buildings, sacrificing many other types and directions of architecture and construction of Ancient Greece. So, let us remember right away - the order in Ancient Greece did not belong to mass architecture, but to architecture that was of exceptional importance, possessing an important ideological meaning and associated with the spiritual life of society.

As mentioned above, the architecture of Ancient Greece mainly covers the 8th - 1st centuries. BC e. and receives its highest development mainly in the so-called “classical period” and in the archaic, in principle, this period will be discussed in this essay, but first let’s turn to earlier times and see how things stand there.

Architecture (Homeric period XI - VIII centuries)

Some ideas about the architecture of the Homeric era are given by: the epic, the few remains of the most ancient buildings, terracotta models of temples found during excavations of the so-called sacred sites. The paucity of archaeological data does not allow us to recreate the architectural appearance of cities of that time. In certain places of the Iliad and the Odyssey there are descriptions of ancient sanctuaries - sacred groves and caves with primitive altars; a description is given of a residential estate grouped around a courtyard (“aule”), divided into male and female halves and including special premises for slaves; The main room of the residential building was a “megaron” adjacent to the courtyard - a rectangular hall with a fireplace in the center, a hole for smoke to escape in the ceiling and an entrance portico formed by the protruding ends of the longitudinal walls (“antes”) and pillars between them.

Megaron was the original architectural type in the development of the Greek temple. Judging by the excavated fragments of buildings, the construction technology of the Homeric era is noticeably inferior to the Mycenaean and Cretan ones. The buildings were erected from clay or mud brick (rarely from flagstone) on foundations made of rubble, fastened with clay mortar; elongated in plan, they ended in a curved apse. In the 9th – 8th centuries. BC e. They began to use a wooden frame to strengthen the stertsa building (Temple of Artemis Orvali in Sparta), which contributed to the transition to rectangular plans. Clay model of a temple from the 8th century. BC e. from Heraion near Argos indicates the development of a two-layer roof and the appearance of a ceiling and pediments; the pillars form an independent portico. Later, a portico appears around the entire temple, protecting the mud-brick walls from the rain (1st temple of Hera in Heraion near Samos, now Tigani, building in Hermon).

The description in the Odyssey of the palace of Alcinous allows one to guess the aesthetic views of that era, when architecture had not yet been separated from crafts, and ideas about beauty from admiration for craftsmanship, according to Homer, shining, like the reflection of the sun, on all products of human labor. This radiance makes the fairy-tale palace “radiant,” at the sight of which Odysseus’s heart began to beat faster; it enchants not so much with the specific means of architecture, but with skillful metal parts and paneling, wood carvings, paintings, decorative fabrics; The traveler is attracted by a rich house, a skillfully watered garden, the coolness of the premises, and the thoughtful organization of the entire estate, filled with the creations of human hands.

Architecture (archaic VIII - VI centuries)

At that time, the city was usually located around a fortified hill, the “acropolis,” on the top of which there was a sanctuary with a temple dedicated to the patron god of the polis. At the foot of the acropolis there were living quarters; their layout took shape spontaneously; artisans of each profession settled in separate settlements. The center of the lower city was the Agora shopping area - a place for political meetings of citizens.

In connection with the emergence of new forms of public life, various themes of public buildings are emerging; Among them, the leading place belonged to temples.

Along with temples, other types of public buildings developed: “bouleuterium” - a house for the meeting of the community council; “Prytanei” is a house with a sacred community hearth, intended for official receptions and ceremonial meals. Early on, “sta” porticoes appeared, open in front, and often on other sides, which served as a place for rest and walking. Public buildings also included “leskhs” (a kind of clubs), fountains, theaters, and stadiums. Entire complexes of buildings were allocated for “palaestres” and “gymnasiums” - schools for the physical and general education of youth. Most public buildings were freely located around the agora.

The beginning of the search for more durable than previously known, more impressive and meeting the requirements of the new era of architectural forms marks the temple of Apollo Terepios in Hermon and the temple of Hera in Olympia.

These temples testify more to the search than to the successes of archaic architecture. His greatest achievements were associated with the creation and consistent application of order principles. The order represents a special type of architectural composition, the characteristic features of which are three-part structure (stereo, columns and entablature), a clear division of parts into supporting and supporting parts, and an increase in the complexity of construction from the bottom up. The order arose as an important element of the architecture of a public building.

The Doric order developed on the basis of the construction experience of the Dorian tribes that inhabited the Greek metropolis. It is found already in the first structures built of stone, both in the metropolis (the ancient temple of Athena Pronaia and the ancient tholos in Delphi) and in the Dorian colonies (the temple of Artemis in Kerpira, the temple of Apollo in Syracuse). At first, Doric buildings had many local features. Over time, the differences in plan were erased. The sharp fluctuations in the proportions of the columns, which were initially quite significant, also disappeared. Ceramic cladding fell out of use, meaningless in stone structures, but sometimes used according to tradition (the Iloyan treasury at Olympia).

Examples of established archaic Doricism are the temple of Athena on the island of Aegis, the treasury of the Athenians in Delphi, the temple of Apollo in Corinth, the “basilica” and the temple of Demeter in Paestum.

An important element of archaic architecture was decoration: sculpture that filled the fields of metols and pediments, and the painting of facades (with wax paints on the finest marble plaster or directly on stone). In Doric temples, the backgrounds for sculpture were painted blue or red. Mutuli, triglyphs and reguli - in blue, the lower surfaces of the cornice, tenia, under the capitals - in red. The main, “working” parts of the building (architrave, column) were not painted. The coloring emphasized the design and at the same time gave the architecture a festive, majestic character.

Light in proportions, the decorative and graceful Ionic order was formed in the rich trading cities of island and Asia Minor Greece, which were influenced by the culture of the East. The structural prototype of the Ionic entablature was a flat adobe roof combined with the ceiling, laid along a continuous slope of small timber. The high ionic strength and the teeth located on top of the architrave find their prototype in this design. The Ionic order is found for the first time in large Asia Minor dipters of the mid-6th century BC. e., built of limestone and marble. Among them, the most famous is the Temple of Artemis (architects Chersifon and Metagenes) in Ephesus.

In the 6th century BC. e. Greek architects also achieved great success in creating architectural ensembles. The most important type of ensemble, along with the support and the acropolis, was the sanctuary. The ensemble of the sanctuary at Delphi, whose main features were determined in the 6th century BC. e., an important element of the architectural image is the landscape environment. The composition of the sanctuary was designed for the perception of a person who, as part of a solemn procession, ascended along the zigzags of the illuminated road, framed by treasuries and motif statues; at one of the turns, unexpectedly large and therefore especially impressive masses of the main temple, standing on a high terrace, appeared before his eyes.

Greek orders.

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 - stereobat, load-bearing supports - columns and a load-bearing structure - entablature.

Doric order(appeared at the beginning of the 7th century BC) had three main parts (see above). It is characterized by a column dissected by flutes converging at an acute angle, standing without a base and completed with a simple capital, an architrave in the form of a flat beam and a frieze of alternating triglyphs and metopes.

The Ionic order (developed in the middle of the 6th century BC) differs sharply from the Doric by a slender column standing on the base and completed by a capital with two volute scrolls, a three-part architrave and a ribbon-shaped frieze; The flutes here are separated by a flat track.
Both the Doric and Ionic orders were used in ancient Greece in a wide range of buildings - from the small galleries of residential buildings to the grandiose porticoes of temples.
But in addition to the Doric and Ionic orders, there were others in Ancient Greece. Here are some of them.

Corinthian order 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 Bassae, now Vassa in the Peloponnese, built around 430 BC

AD the famous architect Iktin).

Aeolian order(known from several buildings of the 7th century BC - in Neandria in Asia Minor, in Larissa, on the island of Lesbos) 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 mounted on a pedestal, which carry wooden beams covering them. The gable roof of stone churches follows the truss roof

wooden structure. In the form of the ceilings, in the details of the Doric order, one can discern their origin from buildings from large forests. The lighter Ionic order was influenced by the methods of constructing roofs from small logs. IN

The capitals of the Aeolian order reveal a local construction technique, according to which the beams were laid on the fork of the branches of a tree trunk. In Ancient Greece, a strictly ordered plan of the temple, built according to the rules of orders, quickly developed. It was a peripterus temple, that is, a temple surrounded on all sides

a colonnade, inside of which there was a sanctuary (cella) behind the walls. The origin of the peripterus can be traced back to buildings close to the ancient megarons. The closest thing to the megaron is the temple “in the antas,” that is, the temple where the ends of the walls protrude on the front side, between which columns are placed. This is followed by a prostyle with a portico on the facade, an amphiprostyle with two porticoes on opposite sides and, finally, a peripterus. Of course, this is only a diagram of historical development: in Greece, temples of different

types. But one way or another, the oldest example was a residential building, a megaron, and in the 7th century. BC. peripteric temples appeared (the temple of Apollo Thermios, otherwise Fermose, the temple of Hera in Olympia, etc.). In the temples of this time, raw brick and wooden columns were still used, which were eventually replaced by stone ones.

Together with the creation of stone structures, ancient architects “from the field of shaky and unstable eye calculations worked their way up to establishing strong laws of “symmetry” or proportionality of the building’s constituent parts.” This is how the Roman architect of the 1st century wrote about it. BC. Vitruvius, the author of the only fully preserved ancient treatise on architecture, from 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 birth of this treatise. All these “strong laws” were entrenched in the stone architecture of Ancient Greece for centuries, and if we count those eras when the order was again revived in architecture, then for millennia.

Architecture (classical Greece in the 5th century BC)

The development of orders in Ancient Greece was associated mainly with the formation of the main types of public buildings and, above all, temples. In connection with the idea of ​​the temple as the dwelling of a deity, its initial composition was formed under the influence of an ancient residential house - a megaron with a portico in front of it and a statue inside the room. The simplest type of temple is an ant temple. It consisted of a rectangular hall - cella and an entrance portico with two columns located between the projections of the longitudinal walls - anta. The development of the temple in the antas is the prostyle, in which the four-column portico is extended in relation to the antas, as well as the amphiprostyle - with two end porticos on opposite sides. Finally, during the archaic period, a peripterus was formed, with a colonnade on four sides.

The development of the peripterus and other types of temples in the archaic and classical eras gives the most vivid idea of ​​changes in the order composition and the formation of the characteristic features of Greek architecture. The peak of development was the temples of the Athens Acropolis, which was created in the 5th - 4th centuries. BC. and dominates the city and its environs. Destroyed during the Persian invasions, the Acropolis was rebuilt on an unprecedented scale. During the third quarter of the 5th century. BC e. sparkling, white marble buildings were erected: the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the temple of Nike Apteros (“Wingless Victory”). The Erichtheion building, which completes the ensemble, was built later.

The builders of the Parthenon, Iktikus and Kallikrates, managed to achieve true harmony. The columns of the temple are the same height as the columns of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, but the heavy proportions of the “severe” style have been replaced by harmony and grace. The influence of Ionian traditions was reflected in the appearance of a frieze on the outside of the western part of the structure. The architect Mnesiccletus, the creator of the majestic gate leading to the Acropolis, the Propylaea, also sought to combine both styles: Ionian columns are side by side with Doric ones. On the contrary, Ionian features predominate in the architecture of the beautiful miniature temple of Athena the Victorious. Also in the spirit of Ionian traditions, the Ereikhtheion was built, located very picturesquely.

All these wonderful creations of Athenian architects are located on the Acropolis.

The main sanctuaries of the Athenians were located on the Acropolis hill, and above all the Parthenon - the temple of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and patroness of Athens. The treasury is also kept there. In the Propylaea building, which served as the entrance to the Acropolis, in its two extensions - wings - there is a library and an art gallery.

Greek architects knew how to perfectly choose places for their buildings. The temple was erected where nature itself seemed to have prepared a place for it, and at the same time its calm, strict forms, harmonious proportions, light marble columns, and bright colors contrasted the temple with nature and asserted the superiority of the intelligently created man-made structure over the surrounding world.

The Acropolis embodied the idea of ​​the power and greatness of the Athenian state and at the same time, for the first time in the history of Greece, expressed the idea of ​​pan-Hellenic unity.

The meaning of the planning of the Acropolis can only be understood by imagining the movement of solemn processions on days of public celebrations. The road led up to the ceremonial gate - the Propylaea. The Doric colonnade of the Propylaea is two unequal, but mutually balanced wings of the building; adjacent to the right, smaller wing is the temple of Nike Apteros (“Wingless Victory”), which began construction in 449 as a monument in honor of the victory of Athens over the Persians. This temple is not large in size, harmonious and clear in form, as if separated from the general massif of the hill, it was the first to meet the procession. Slender Ionic columns on each of the two short sides of the temple give the building features of grace.

From the Propylaea, the main temple of the Acropolis, the Parthenon, built on the highest platform of the Acropolis, is visible from the corner. The large building of the Parthenon is balanced by the elegant and relatively small temple of Erechtechon, standing on the other side of the square, which set off the sublime severity of the Parthenon with its free asymmetry.

The Parthenon is the most perfect creation of Greek classical architecture and one of the highest achievements of architecture in general. This monumental, majestic building towers over the Acropolis, just as the Acropolis itself towers over the city and its surroundings. The Parthenon is the largest temple in the ensemble of the Acropolis and the entire Greek metropolis. Inside it has two large halls - rectangular and square, the entrances to which were located on opposite sides. The eastern rectangular hall with a statue of Athena in the back was divided into three parts by two-tiered colonnades of the Doric order. The square hall served as a treasury and was called the Parthenon.

The type of Greek temple, which many generations worked on to create, received its most perfect interpretation in the Parthenon. In its basic forms it is a Doric peripterus with eight columns on the short sides and seventeen on the long sides. But it organically includes elements of the Ionic order: elongated columns, a lightweight entablature, a continuous frieze encircling the building, made of squares of Pentelic marble. The coloring emphasized the structural details and formed a background against which the sculptures of the pediments and metopes stood out.

The majestic clarity and strict harmony of the Parthenon seems to be opposed by the grace and freedom of composition of the Erechtheion - an asymmetrical building built on the Acropolis by an unknown master in 421 - 406. BC e. Dedicated to Athena and Poseidon, the Erechtheion is distinguished by a picturesque interpretation of the architectural whole, a contrasting comparison of architectural and sculptural forms. The layout of the Erechtheion takes into account the unevenness of the ground. The temple consists of two rooms located on different levels. It has porticoes of various shapes on three sides, including the famous portico of the cor (caryatids) on the south wall.

With its dissected and picturesque forms, the Erechtheion paves the way for art later than the classics, sometimes more tragically excited, sometimes lyrically refined, but less valuable and heroic than the high classics.

In addition to the Acropolis of Athens, during the archaic and classical periods, many other ensembles emerged, including temples, sanctuaries and public buildings (the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, the complex of temples in Poseidonia, etc.). But already from the 4th century, churches began to lose their leading importance and buildings and complexes for secular purposes began to develop more and more, forming as elements of the general structure of cities. It is especially worth highlighting the shopping and entertainment complexes, combined with the natural landscape. Stadiums were built in natural depressions, sometimes reaching significant sizes (Athens, Olympia), theaters used mountain slopes to build a natural semicircular theater with a round platform - an orchestra, where the choir usually performed. There was a rectangular stage adjacent to the orchestra.

Architecture (Hellenistic era).

For the plastic arts of the 3rd – 1st centuries. BC e. were by no means periods of decline. An example is the famous sculptural group of Laocoon, a masterpiece of Hellenistic sculpture. The group was created in the first half of the 1st century. BC e., that is, when Greek poetry was already overwhelmed by creative sterility.

The Ionian order reigned in the sacred architecture of the Hellenistic era. The few Doric buildings were distinguished by slender columns and light floor beams - this, like the appearance of some other elements, indicates the decomposition of the old Doric style, which only in the Greek West still preserved ancient traditions. If the Doric order was not widespread in sacred architecture, then in secular construction it was often resorted to, as can be seen from the colonnades of the porticoes.

The triumph of the Ionian order is evidenced by the monumental temple of Didymaion in Miletus: the temple was surrounded by a double colonnade consisting of 210 Ionian columns. The Ionian style won not only in life, but also in the theory of architecture. The architect and theorist of this art, Hermogenes, who worked in the middle of the 2nd century, worked especially ardently for him. BC e. and created a new architectural formula - pseudo-dipter: a building surrounded by a double colonnade, and the inner row of columns was half hidden in the wall of the building. This form, the last creation of the Ionian style, was embodied in the great temple of Artemis Leucophryene at Magnesia; later the pseudodipterus was widely adopted by the Romans both in practice and in theory.

In addition to rectangular buildings in the Hellenistic era, round monuments increasingly appeared, continuing the traditions of the 4th century. BC e. Of the surviving monuments of this type, most noteworthy are the Arsinoeion on the island of Samothrace, the trochaic monument of Thrasyllus, and buildings in Olympia and Eretria. The most outstanding was the creation of Sostratus of Cnidus - a sea lighthouse raised more than 100 meters high on the island of Pharos near Alexandria. The lighthouse of Alexandria was considered one of the seven wonders of the world, but has not survived to this day.

Conclusion.

And so all that remains is to summarize everything that has been said above. As follows from the work itself, the development of Greek architecture occurred during the reign of Pericles or, in other words, during the “classical period.”

Here we trace repeated changes in the styles of construction of buildings and temples. The transition from a heavy style to a lighter, more elegant, relaxed one.

Here we can also learn about how the restoration of the Acropolis took place in the classical period, what temples it included, “walk” through it in a solemn procession, “seeing” the location of all the majestic temples built in honor of the Greek Gods. Learn about the most majestic and honorable temple of that time, the Parthenon.

In this work, I tried to more or less reveal all the stages of the formation and transformation of architecture in Ancient Greece, examining this in detail on some buildings and temples of that time.

Bibliography:

1. Kazimierz Kumanecki “The History of Culture of Ancient Greece and Rome” - M.: “HIGH SCHOOL”, 1990.
2. N. F. Gulyanitsky “Architecture of civil and industrial buildings” in 5 volumes: volume 1 “History of architecture” - M.: Stroyizdat 1984
3. History of foreign art - M.: Izobraz. art, 1984
4. A. N. Badak and others. “HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD Ancient Greece” - Minsk: AST, 2000.
5. L. Lyubimov “The Art of the Ancient World” - M.: Education, 1980.

Ancient Greece is the birthplace of real treasures of art and architecture. Until now, even the ruins of temples built in time immemorial amaze with their grandeur and precise proportions. It was the Greeks who unraveled the secret of noble beauty by inventing the order. This may seem unimportant, but all European architecture rests on it!

Knossos Palace, or a visit to the Minotaur

Cities and writing in Europe originated on the Mediterranean island of Crete. The most powerful city on the island was the legendary Knossos. It was here that the foundation of the famous Labyrinth was laid, to which all the roads of the island led. In ancient Greek mythology, Knossos is associated with the name of the infamous Cretan king Minos.

The Palace of Knossos was perhaps the most complex multi-storey building of those times. There was no clear, regular plan for its construction. It is quite possible that the premises located at different levels were completed as needed.

It was easy to get lost in the palace: many corridors, halls, secret staircases and passages confused anyone caught inside the giant architectural web. Rooms with different purposes were located around a rectangular courtyard in the center of the palace.

It is difficult to imagine the architect who created this engineering miracle. That is why the story was born that the builder was the famous Greek architect Daedalus - an artist and engineer who became famous for the invention of tools.

For all its chaos, the Palace of Knossos was literally filled with advanced inventions of the time. The labyrinth was equipped with running water and sewerage. The role of windows was played by light wells - large openings in the ceiling. They also provided natural ventilation of the rooms, that is, they were a kind of air conditioners.

According to legend, the king of Crete, Minos, kept a monster, the Minotaur, in his labyrinth palace, and boys and girls were to be sent from Athens to be devoured by him.

A special feature of the Knossos Palace are the blood-red columns. They are called irrational. In contrast to the usual column that widens downward, these columns, on the contrary, narrow downward. There is an assumption that this unusual shape of the columns was created in order not to interfere with the passage of light from the light shafts surrounding these columns. In any case, such columns have not yet been found anywhere else.

Despite the grandeur of the Knossos Palace, the Greeks subsequently abandoned such complex architectural solutions in favor of grace, nobility and beauty.

What is an ancient Greek temple

For the ancient Greeks, religion was an indispensable component of life. Living in rather unattractive houses, they built stunningly beautiful temples for the gods. Each temple was built to worship a specific god.

Ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. VI–IV centuries BC e.

The ancient Greek temple was a rectangular white stone structure without windows, surrounded on all sides by columns in one or several rows, with a majestic statue of a deity inside. The columns supported the gable roof. A marble staircase led to the main entrance. Even in the archaic era, the Greeks preferred white marble and yellowish limestone to wood. This material not only looked noble, but was also durable.

Ordinary people were not allowed to enter the temple. Only priests could be here. Therefore, mere mortals admired the beauty of the structure from the outside. All the holidays that the ancient Greeks organized in honor of the gods took place in the vicinity of the marble giants.

It’s hard for us to imagine now, but in ancient times Greek temples were brightly painted! Their current “colorless” state is the result of many past years.

Greek temples are very different from each other - in terms of construction, in the number of columns and many other details. The most popular type of this building was the peripterus - a rectangular temple surrounded by columns on all sides. The number of marble pillars could not be arbitrary, but was calculated in a certain way - the ancient Greeks greatly valued the exact sciences!

Peripterus - this word can be translated as “round-winged”: this was the name of the temple, framed on all sides by a colonnade. A diptera surrounded by columns in two or more rows means “two-winged.”

Any average ancient Greek could calculate the number of columns. To do this, he solved a simple problem. There were six columns on both facades (front and rear), and the number of columns on the sides of the building was determined by the formula 2p + 1, where p is the number of columns on the front facade. Not difficult at all!

Another popular type of construction was the diptera - a rectangular temple with two or more rows of columns on the side facades. Such, for example, is the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus.

Architectural order - the pillar of European architecture

The word “order” is usually used to designate the greatest invention of the ancient Greeks, on which, in the literal sense of the word, all European architecture is based. The term itself was first introduced into use by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius. This word comes from the Latin ordo and actually means “order, order.” In architecture, this term began to denote a special type of composition where necessary elements are used, strictly subordinate to the architectural style.

Any ancient Greek order consists of three main parts. The first part is the base, which is located on the foundation just above ground level. The second part is a column, a supporting element of the architectural structure. It is absolutely necessary because it supports the roof and all its components. The third part of the order is the carried element, which was named very beautifully: the entablature.

Since the ancient Greeks loved scientific precision and constantly multiplied and divided something, they also divided the entablature. Here are its elements: architrave - a crossbar located directly on the columns; frieze - a decorative strip with images of Greek heroes and various mythological creatures; the cornice is the upper part of the entablature; it protrudes sharply forward and protects the architrave and frieze from rain. By the way, the role of the cornice has still remained unchanged. The ancient Greeks invented and built to last!

Capitals of classical orders - Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, as well as composite order. 18th century illustration

There are three types of classical order: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. The Romans, having conquered Greece and adopted absolutely all the achievements of the Greeks in architecture, nevertheless themselves came up with two more - Tuscan and composite.

The orders received their names from the geographical areas where one or another order was distributed. Once it appeared, the order was used in all types of structures. True, least of all in amphitheaters. Why? Let's figure it out.

Amphitheaters of ancient Greece

Being civilized people, the Greeks loved entertainment and spectacle. Like religion, the art of theater was inseparable from the life of each of them. Therefore, the history of the theater, theater building and stage technology originates precisely in Ancient Greece.

Popular festivals, processions in honor of the god Dionysus, sports competitions and oratorical competitions attracted huge crowds. That is why the venues for these performances were located at the vast foothills of the hills and mountains.

Later, the Greeks began to install wooden benches for sitting. And starting from the 4th century BC. e. temporary structures were rebuilt into stone amphitheaters.

The ancient Greeks were real aesthetes. In construction, they paid exceptional attention to natural conditions. Spectators not only watched the theatrical performance, but also admired both the theater itself and the surrounding landscape.

Anyone who has ever been to a modern theater knows that in order to enjoy the performance, you need to buy a ticket for a good seat. There was no such problem in the Greek amphitheater. The spectator platforms were built across the slope, and the stage area was located below. From every seat the audience could see and hear everything perfectly. In natural terrain, the acoustics were simply magnificent! You could throw a coin into the center of the arena - and the ringing sound from its fall could be heard to the very last row of spectators.

One of the first theaters built in Ancient Greece was the Theater of Dionysus in Athens, named after the temple located opposite.

Invented by the Greeks, the amphitheater is the most common form of auditorium today. Only... you still have to choose a good place.

Ictinus and Callicrates. The birth of classicism

Not all times in Ancient Greece were equally successful for the development of architecture. For example, from time to time there were wars in which the Greeks often lost. This stopped the development of the entire ancient Greek culture, and first of all, architecture.

The most fertile period for the flourishing of the state of Ancient Greece was the reign of the legendary king Pericles. This ruler did a lot for the prosperity of Athens and the subsequent glory of the city. In his era, the main construction was carried out on a fortified hill - the Acropolis. And the supervision of the work was entrusted to the famous sculptor and architect Phidias.

Even from the surviving ruins one can imagine how beautiful the Acropolis was in its time. A wide marble staircase led up the hill. To her right, on a hill, a small elegant temple was built, dedicated to the goddess of victory Nike. Through a gate with columns - the Propylaea - the visitor entered the square. In its center stood a statue of the goddess of wisdom Athena, the patroness of the city. A little further away one could see the Erechtheion temple with a portico protruding from the side. The top of the portico was supported not by columns, but by marble female figures. These stone ladies were called caryatids.

According to legend, the word “caryatid” comes from the name of the city of Caria, whose inhabitants entered into a conspiracy with the enemy during the Greco-Persian wars. In memory of this, the caryatids - images of Carian women - played the role of architectural supports.

The main building of the Acropolis is the Parthenon Temple, dedicated to Athena. It was completed almost two and a half thousand years ago, but history has brought to us the names of its creators: Iktin and Kallikrates. The creations of these masters were so perfect that architects of subsequent eras began to use them as a model. We can say that it is to these architects that we owe the birth of a style for all times - classicism. Classic means exemplary.

The Erechtheion Temple was named after the legendary Athenian king Erechtheus: parts of his tomb were allegedly kept there.

Thus, the order invented by the Greeks was first adopted by the Romans, who admired Greek culture, and through them spread throughout Europe.

Athens Acropolis. V century BC e. Architects and builders: Phidias, Callicrates, Ictinus, Mnesicles

L. Alma-Tadema “Phidias showing the Parthenon frieze to friends” (1868)

Ancient Greek architecture had a huge influence on the architecture of subsequent eras. Its basic concepts and philosophy have long been entrenched in the traditions of Europe. What is interesting about ancient Greek architecture? The order system, principles of city planning and the creation of theaters are described later in the article.

Periods of development

An ancient civilization that consisted of many disparate city-states. It covered the western coast of Asia Minor, the south of the Balkan Peninsula, the islands of the Aegean Sea, as well as Southern Italy, the Black Sea region and Sicily.

Ancient Greek architecture gave rise to many styles and became the basis in the architecture of the Renaissance. In the history of its development, several stages are usually distinguished.

• (mid-XII - mid-VIII centuries BC) - new forms and features based on previous Mycenaean traditions. The main buildings were residential buildings and the first temples, made of clay, adobe and wood. The first ceramic decorative details appeared.
• Archaic (VIII - early V century, 480s BC). With the formation of policies, new public buildings appear. The temple and the square in front of it become the center of city life. Stone is more often used in construction: limestone and marble, terracotta cladding. Various types of temples appear. The Doric order predominates.
• Classic (480 - 330 BC) - the heyday. All types of orders in ancient Greek architecture are actively developing and even compositionally combined with each other. The first theaters and music halls (odeions), residential buildings with porticoes appeared. A theory of the layout of streets and neighborhoods is being formed.
• Hellenism (330 - 180 BC). Theaters and public buildings are being built. The ancient Greek style in architecture is complemented by oriental elements. Decorativeness, luxury and pomp prevail. The Corinthian order is most often used.

In 180 Greece came under the influence of Rome. The empire lured the best scientists and artists to its capital, borrowing some cultural traditions from the Greeks. Therefore, ancient Greek and ancient Roman architecture have many similar features, for example, in the construction of theaters or in the order system.

Philosophy of architecture

In every aspect of life, the ancient Greeks strived to achieve harmony. Ideas about it were not vague and purely theoretical. In Ancient Greece, harmony was defined as a combination of adjusted proportions.

They were also used for the human body. Beauty was measured not only “by eye”, but also in specific numbers. Thus, the sculptor Polykleitos in his treatise “Canon” presented clear parameters of the ideal man and woman. Beauty was directly associated with physical and even spiritual health and personal integrity.

The human body was considered as a structure, the parts of which fit together flawlessly. Ancient Greek architecture and sculpture, in turn, sought to maximally correspond to ideas about harmony.

The sizes and shapes of the statues corresponded to the idea of ​​the “correct” body and its parameters. usually promoted the ideal person: spiritual, healthy and athletic. In architecture, anthropomorphism was manifested in the names of measures (elbow, palm) and in proportions, which were derived from the proportions of the figure.

The columns represented the person. Their foundation or base was identified with the feet, the trunk with the body, the capital with the head. The vertical grooves or flutes on the column trunk were represented by folds of clothing.

Basic orders of ancient Greek architecture

There is no need to talk about the great achievements of engineering in Ancient Greece. Complex structures and solutions were not used then. The temple of that time can be compared to a megalith, where a stone beam rests on a stone support. The greatness and features of ancient Greek architecture lie, first of all, in its aesthetics and decorativeness.

The artistry and philosophy of the building were embodied by its order, or a post-and-beam composition of elements in a certain style and order. There were three main types of orders in ancient Greek architecture:

• Doric;
• ionic;
• Corinthian.

They all had a common set of elements, but differed in their location, shape and ornament. Thus, the Greek order included a stereobat, stylobate, entablature and cornice. The stereobat represented a stepped base above the foundation. Next came the stylobate or columns.

The entablature was a supporting part located on columns. The lower beam on which the entire entablature rested is called the architrave. There was a frieze on it - the middle decorative part. The upper part of the entablature is a cornice, it hung over the other parts.

At first, elements of ancient Greek architecture were not mixed. The Ionic entablature lay only on the Ionic column, the Corinthian - on the Corinthian one. One style - per building. After the construction of the Parthenon by Ictinus and Callicrates in the 5th century BC. e. orders began to be combined and stacked on top of each other. This was done in a certain order: first Doric, then Ionic, then Corinthian.

Doric order

The Doric and Ionic ancient Greek orders were the main ones in architecture. The Doric system was distributed mainly on the mainland and inherited the Mycenaean culture. It is characterized by monumentality and somewhat heaviness. The appearance of the order expresses calm grandeur and brevity.

Doric columns are low. They have no base, but the trunk is powerful and tapers upward. The abacus, the upper part of the capital, is square in shape and rests on a rounded support (echin). There were usually twenty flutes. The architect Vitruvius compared the columns of this order to a man - strong and reserved.

The entablature of the order always included an architrave, frieze and cornice. The frieze was separated from the architrave by a shelf and consisted of triglyphs - elongated rectangles with flutes, which alternated with metopes - slightly recessed square plates with or without sculptural images. Friezes of other orders did not have triglyphs with metopes.

The triglyph was assigned primarily practical functions. Researchers suggest that it represented the ends of the beams that lay on the walls of the sanctuary. It had strictly calculated parameters and served as a support for the cornice and rafters. In some of the most ancient buildings, the space between the ends of the triglyph was not filled with metopes, but remained empty.

Ionic order

The Ionian order system was widespread on the coast of Asia Minor, in Attica and on the islands. It was influenced by Phenicia and Akhmedinian Persia. Notable examples of this style were the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Temple of Hera at Samos.

Ionica was associated with the image of a woman. The order was characterized by decorativeness, lightness and sophistication. Its main feature was the capital, designed in the form of volutes - symmetrically arranged curls. Abacus and echinus were decorated with carvings.

The Ionic column is thinner and slimmer than the Doric. Its base rested on a square slab and was decorated with convex and concave elements with ornamental cutting. Sometimes the base was located on a drum decorated with a sculptural composition. In ionics, the distance between the columns is greater, which increases the airiness and sophistication of the building.

The entablature could consist of an architrave and a cornice (Asia Minor style) or of three parts, as in the Doric style (Attic style). The architrave was divided into fascias - horizontal ledges. Between it and the cornice there were small teeth. The gutter on the cornice was richly decorated with ornaments.

Corinthian order

The Corinthian order is rarely considered independent; it is often defined as a variation of the Ionic. There are two versions reporting the origins of this order. A more mundane one speaks of borrowing the style from Egyptian columns, which were decorated with lotus leaves. According to another theory, the order was created by a sculptor from Corinth. He was inspired to do this by a basket he saw containing acanthus leaves.

It differs from the Ionic mainly in the height and decoration of the capital, which is decorated with stylized acanthus leaves. Two rows of sculpted leaves frame the top of the column in a circle. The sides of the abacus are concave and decorated with large and small spiral scrolls.

The Corinthian order is richer in decoration than other ancient Greek orders in architecture. Of all three styles, it was considered the most luxurious, elegant and rich. Its tenderness and sophistication were associated with the image of a young girl, and acanthus leaves resembled curls. Due to this, the order is often called “maiden”.

Ancient temples

The temple was the main and most important building of Ancient Greece. Its shape was simple, the prototype for it was residential rectangular houses. The architecture of the ancient Greek temple gradually became more complex and was supplemented with new elements until it acquired a round shape. Typically the following styles are distinguished:

• distillate;
• prostyle;
• amphiprostyle;
• peripter;
• dipter;
• pseudodipter;
• tholos.

The temple in Ancient Greece had no windows. Outside, it was surrounded by columns on which a gable roof and beams were placed. Inside there was a sanctuary with a statue of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated.

Some buildings could house a small dressing room - pronaos. At the back of the large temples there was another room. It contained donations from residents, sacred implements and the city treasury.

The first type of temple - distil - consisted of a sanctuary, a front loggia, which was surrounded by walls or antas. The loggia housed two columns. As the styles became more complex, the number of columns increased. In the prostyle there are four of them, in the amphiprostyle there are four each on the rear and front facades.

In peripetra temples they surround the building on all sides. If the columns are lined up along the perimeter in two rows, then this is a diptera style. The last style, tholos, also involved being surrounded by columns, but the perimeter had a cylindrical shape. During the Roman Empire, the tholos developed into the "rotunda" type of building.

Policy structure

Ancient Greek city policies were built mainly along the sea coast. They developed as trading democracies. All full-fledged residents participated in the social and political life of cities. This leads to the fact that ancient Greek architecture is developing not only in terms of but also in terms of public buildings.

The upper part of the city was the acropolis. As a rule, it was located on a hill and was well fortified to hold back the enemy during a surprise attack. Within its boundaries there were temples of the gods who patronized the city.

The center of the Lower City was the agora - an open market square where trade was carried out and important social and political issues were resolved. It housed schools, the building of the council of elders, a basilica, a building for feasts and meetings, as well as temples. Statues were sometimes placed along the perimeter of the agora.

From the very beginning, ancient Greek architecture assumed that buildings inside policies were placed freely. Their placement depended on the local topography. In the 5th century BC, Hippodamus carried out a real revolution in city planning. He proposed a clear grid street structure that divides neighborhoods into rectangles or squares.

All buildings and objects, including agoras, are located within quarterly cells, without breaking out of the general rhythm. This layout made it possible to easily complete new sections of the policy without disturbing the integrity and harmony. According to the project of Hippodamus, Miletus, Knidos, Assos, etc. were built. But Athens, for example, remained in the old “chaotic” form.

Living spaces

Houses in Ancient Greece differed depending on the era, as well as the wealth of the owners. There are several main types of houses:

• megaronic;
• apsidal;
• pasted;
• peristyle.

One of the earliest types of housing is the megaron. His plan became the prototype for the first temples of the Homeric era. The house had a rectangular shape, at the end of which there was an open room with a portico. The passage was edged by two columns and protruding walls. Inside there was only one room with a fireplace in the middle and a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape.

The apsidal house was also built in the early period. It was a rectangle with a rounded end part, which was called an apse. Later, pastadic and peristyle types of buildings appeared. The outer walls were blank, and the layout of the buildings was closed.

The pastada was a passage in the inner part of the courtyard. It was covered on top and supported by wooden supports. In the 4th century BC, the peristyle became popular. It retains the same layout, but the pastad passage is replaced by covered columns around the perimeter of the courtyard.

On the street side there were only smooth walls of houses. Inside there was a courtyard around which all the rooms of the house were located. As a rule, there were no windows; the source of light was the courtyard. If there were windows, they were located on the second floor. The interior decoration was mostly simple; excesses began to appear only in the Hellenistic era.

The house was clearly divided into female (gynekeia) and male (andron) halves. In the men's section they received guests and had a meal. It was possible to get to the women's half only through her. From the side of the gyneceum there was an entrance to the garden. The housing of the rich also housed a kitchen, a bathhouse and a bakery. The second floor was usually rented out.

Architecture of Ancient Greek Theater

Theater in Ancient Greece combined not only an entertainment aspect, but also a religious one. Its origin is associated with the cult of Dionysus. The first theatrical performances were staged to honor this deity. The architecture of the ancient Greek theater was reminiscent of the religious origin of the performances, at least by the presence of the altar, which was located in the orchestra.

Celebrations, games and plays took place on the stage. In the 4th century BC they ceased to be related to religion. The archon was responsible for the distribution of roles and control of productions. The main roles were played by a maximum of three people, women were played by men. The drama was performed in the form of a competition, where poets took turns presenting their works.

The layout of the first theaters was simple. In the center there was an orchestra - a round platform where the choir was located. Behind her there was a chamber in which the actors (skena) changed clothes. The auditorium (theater) was of considerable size and was located on a hill, circling the stage in a semicircle.

All theaters were located directly in the open air. Initially they were temporary. For each holiday, wooden platforms were built anew. In the 5th century BC, places for spectators began to be carved out of stone right into the hillside. This created a correct and natural funnel, promoting good acoustics. To enhance the resonance of sound, special vessels were placed near the audience.

As the theater improves, the design of the stage also becomes more complex. Its front part consisted of columns and imitated the front facade of temples. On the sides there were rooms - paraskenia. They stored scenery and theatrical equipment. In Athens, the largest theater was the Theater of Dionysus.

Acropolis of Athens

Some monuments of ancient Greek architecture can still be seen today. One of the most complete structures that has survived to this day is the Acropolis of Athens. It is located on Mount Pyrgos at an altitude of 156 meters. Here are located the temple of the goddess Athena Parthenon, the sanctuary of Zeus, Artemis, Nike and other famous buildings.

The acropolis is characterized by the combination of all three order systems. The combination of styles marks the Parthenon. It is built in the form of a Doric peripeter, the internal frieze of which is made in the Ionic style.

In the center, surrounded by columns, was a statue of Athena. The acropolis was assigned an important political role. Its appearance was supposed to emphasize the hegemony of the city, and the composition of the Parthenon was supposed to glorify the victory of democracy over the aristocratic system.

Next to the majestic and pathetic building of the Parthenon is the Erechtheion. It is entirely made in the Ionic order. Unlike his “neighbor”, he praises grace and beauty. The temple is dedicated to two gods at once - Poseidon and Athena, and is located on the place where, according to legend, they had an argument.

Due to the peculiarities of the relief, the layout of the Erechtheion is asymmetrical. It has two sanctuaries - cella and two entrances. In the southern part of the temple there is a portico, which is supported not by columns, but by marble caryatids (statues of women).

In addition, the Propylaea - the main entrance, surrounded by columns and porticoes, on the sides of which was located a palace and park complex - has been preserved in the acropolis. The hill also housed Arrephorion, a house for girls who weaved clothes for the Athenian games.

Erechtheion

The history of architecture and culture of ancient Greece is divided into three periods.

1. Ancient period – archaic. Having repelled the Persian invasion and liberated their lands, the Persians were able to create freely. 600-480 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 influence on subsequent generations. For later eras of cultural development, majestic beauty, tranquility, and 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. In the construction of ancient temples, back in the archaic era, the Greeks replaced wood with white marble and yellowish limestone. Such material not only looked noble, but was also distinguished by its centuries-old strength.

Parthenon

The image of the temple was reminiscent of an ancient Greek dwelling, which in its shape was similar to 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 base of the temples remained unchanged. The temple was a windowless room surrounded by several rows of columns, 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 Antakh. 2 Forgiveness. 3 Amphiprostyle. 4 Peripter. 5 Dipter. 6 Pseudodipterus 7 Tholos.

Greek temples vary in their compositions, each using stylistic elements in a specific way.

1. Distill - “temple in the antas.” The earliest type of temple. It consists of a sanctuary, the front facade is a loggia, bounded at the edges by side walls (antes). Two columns were installed along the front pediment between the antas.

2. Forgiveness. It is similar to the ante type, only on the façade there are not two, but four columns.

3. Amphiprostyle or double prostyle. On both facades of the building there are porticoes with 4 columns.

4. Peripter. Most common. Columns surround the entire perimeter of the temple. There are six columns on both facades, the side ones are determined by the formula “2p + 1”. P – number of columns on the front facade.

5. Dipter. A type of temple with two rows of columns on the side facades.

6. Pseudodipterus. Same as Dipter, only without the inner row of columns.

6. Round peripterus or Tholos. The sanctuary of such a temple has a cylindrical shape. The temple is surrounded by columns along the entire perimeter.

In Greek architecture, there were different types of columns and friezes, called orders.

The earliest is Doric, associated with the culture of the Dorians who lived in mainland Greece. In the Doric order, powerful and short, tapering upward columns with flutes end in a capital with a square abacus and have no base.

The Ionic order developed in island 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 scrolls (volutes). Most of the temples that have come down to us use the Doric and Ionic orders.

The Corinthian order appeared in Athens in the 5th century BC. e. The column is crowned with a lush capital, representing climbing acanthus shoots. This warrant was received wide application in 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 amaze in our time. Although from a constructive point of view everything was very simple. Only two elements were used: the load-bearing part (beams, lintels, slabs) and the load-bearing part (walls and columns).

Many different structures of a public nature were erected: palestras, stadiums, theaters, residential buildings. Theaters were built on hillsides, the audience stage was made across the slope, and the stage area was located below. Residential buildings were built in such a way that a small rectangular courtyard was created in the center.

Acropolis.

Acropolis. Athens.

Acropolis at night

The Acropolis is a sacred city where every ruin speaks of a beauty that transcends even time. A wide marble staircase leads up to the hill. Near it, on the right, an elegant small temple was erected to the goddess of victory Nike. Its outline resembles a precious box. To get to the main square, you must pass the gate with columns - the Propylaea.

Plan of the Acropolis.

Here stands the statue of the goddess of wisdom Aphrodite, the patroness of the city. Further on, it is not difficult to notice the complex and unique plan of the Erechtheion temple. With its famous portico, where instead of columns female statues - caryatids - are used. 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. Callicrates 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, the 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 more than 300 years ago during the Venetian siege of Athens in the 17th century. The Turks established a gunpowder warehouse in the temple. The surviving reliefs of the temple were taken to London in the 19th century by the Englishman Elgin. Now housed in the British Museum, they represent only part of the story of the glorious history of the Acropolis's architectural past.

Greek temples

Starting from the early period of ancient Greek history, from the 8th century. BC e., the primary task of the art of construction became the construction of temples. All the achievements of Greek architecture of that time; constructive and decorative, associated with the construction of various religious buildings. The planning structure of the temples was based on a residential building of the Mycenaean megaron type. The layout of the temple that was formed in the early period formed the basis for the subsequent architecture of Greek temples, which is characterized by surrounding the main volume of the temple with a colonnade. Temples in the early period of ancient Greek history were usually built from adobe.

The simplest type of temple is an ant temple. It consisted of a rectangular hall - cella or naos, where stood a cult statue, illuminated by the rays of the rising sun through the entrance opening on the eastern facade and an entrance portico in two columns located between the projections of the longitudinal walls - anta. An altar for sacrifices was placed in front of the entrance. The entrance to the heroons - temples dedicated to deified heroes - was facing west - towards the “kingdom of shadows”.

Later temple buildings were simple buildings that had a longitudinal rectangular plan, with an internal space - the sanctuary (naos) and the front part (pronaos), bounded by walls and columns located:

In front of one of the facades (prostyle) there is a four-column portico extended in relation to the antas,

On two opposite facades (amphiprostyle) there are two end porticoes on opposite sides,

Or surrounding the building on all sides (peripter).

The types of temples were varied: with 4-, 6-, 8-column porticoes pushed forward on one or two opposite end facades; during the Archaic period, a peripterus was formed, with a row of columns on four sides, or two (diptera) rows of columns.

An ancient Greek temple was always built on a powerful stepped foundation and covered with a wooden flat gable roof.

Temples become centers of political, cultural, and economic relations. Thus, at the Temple of Zeus in Olympia from 766 BC. e. Olympic Games were held every four years.

The interior of the temple of later periods of ancient Greek history, considered the seat of the god, was not used for the meeting of believers; the latter gathered only in front of the temple. The interior of large temples had three aisles, with a large statue of a deity placed in the middle of them. The scale of the interior was smaller than the scale of the facade, which emphasized the size of the statue. In the depths of the large temples there was a smaller hall, a treasury. In addition to the large number of rectangular ones, round temples were sometimes built, for example round periptera.

Temples were usually grouped within a fenced area, with monumental entrance gates leading into them. The complex of these buildings was gradually supplemented with more and more sculptures and sacrificial altars. Athens, Olympia - the sanctuary of Zeus, Delphi - the sanctuary of Apollo, Priene, Selinunte, Poseidonia and all other cities had their own temple complexes, built in the archaic and classical periods.

Types of Greek temples. 1 - peripter, 2 - pseudoperipter, 3 - pseudodipter, 4 - amphiprostyle, 5 - prostyle, 6 - temple in anta, 7 - tholos, 8 - monopter, 9 - dipter.