Henri Stierlin

Photographs: Anne and Henri Stierlin

GREECE
From Mycenae to the Parthenon

taschen
KOLN LONDON LOS ANGELES MADRID PARIS TOKYO
Front cover About the author and editor:
Athens, Parthenon, 447-438 B.C. Henri Stierlin was bora in Alexandria in
© Photo: Henri Stierlin 1928 and studied Greek and Latin in
Zurich and Lausanne. He subsequently
Back cover worked as a journalist and produced
Epidaurus, ground plan of the theatre, numerous radio and television
330 B.C. programmes on the history of civiliza¬
© Drawing: Alberto Berengo Gardin tion. Hewas editor-in-chief of the
16-volume Architecture Universe/le,
Page 3 published by Editions de L'Office
A gargoyle in the form of a lion's head du Livre. Stierlin, who has devoted
at the Temple of Hera, Metapontum intensive study to the field of classical
(southern Italy), dating from the sixth architecture, has already published
century B. C. This drawing, taken from Le Monde de la Crece, Paris 1980, and
the book by the Due de Luynes and F. Crece d'Asie, Paris 1986.
Debacq, was published in Paris in 1833,
during the so-called "polychromy
controversy".

Page 5
At the top of the tall votive column
with an Archaic Ionic capital stands the
Sphinx of the Naxians, from the
Sanctuary of the earth at Delphi. It was
created in about 575-550 B. C. (Delphi
Museum)

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 Contents

7 Introduction
Greek Architecture -
a Source of Aesthetics

15 Mycenaean Architecture
Fortifications, Tombs and Palaces
of the "Homeric" World

39 The Origins ofthe GreekTemple

The Emergence ofthe Peripteral
Colonnade

61 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

From Archaism to Classicism

101 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

The Art of Ionia and the Achaemenids

139 Monuments of Classical Greece

The Flowering of Temples and Fortresses

181 The Acropolis of Pericles

Architecture at its Zenith

217 Conclusion
Reason - the Great Organizer

224 Chronological Table

228 Glossary

231 Bibliography

232 Index

235 Acknowledgements and Credits

 Introduction

Greek Architecture - a Source of Aesthetics

Women at the fountain The monuments of ancient Greece have a vital place in the history of architecture.
This 24 cm high Athenian hydria, The Greek orders - as systems which codify forms - have played a paramount role in
or water-jar, in the style of
the stylistic expression of western architecture. For most authors, from the six¬
Nicoxenus, dated 530-520 B.C.,
teenth century on, the distinctive features that best identify buildings - based
is decorated with black figures
on the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders - form the very vocabulary of the art of
with white highlights. The girls
are coming to fetch water in a building.
small building with slender Ionic There can be no doubtthat Greece and hertemples had a far-reaching influence
columns housing an outlet in the on Rome, where the system of orders was borrowed, but endowed with an accent
form of a lion's head from which that was more decorative than structural in effect. Subsequently, as a result of the
the spring gushes forth.
considerable boost given to it by the building activities of the Roman Empire,
(Rome, Villa Giulia Museum)
ancient architecture continued to have a discreet influence on the medieval world,
before really coming back into its own with the achievements of the Renaissance
and the Baroque and Neo-classical periods.
This almost mythical Greece which re-emerged as a source of architectural lan¬
guage was nevertheless profoundly altered by the historical perspective of the
times and by the contagious spread of Roman forms. Naturally enough, it was the
orders which survived, and not the very stuff of which buildings are made. In the
mean time, however, the function of buildings had changed, as had the nature of
man's requirements and needs.
For Greece had asserted a language based on columns and porticoes. Although
the Greeks may have devised an architectural decor based on sculpted friezes,
metopes and tympana, they had done little to develop inner areas, which were of
no use in relation to the role played by temples, where the room forming the naos
was designed solely to house the statue of the deity.
Nor did Greek classicism give full rein to civic buildings, no matter how emblem¬
atic, and the great palaces did not make their appearance until the Hellenistic
period. Where theatres were concerned, with their open cavea, they did little to
foster the development of spatial concepts. Only the formula of the hypostyle
telesterion (a room which was used for initiation ceremonies) would produce huge
covered halls.
In addition to temples in their many and varied forms - ranging from buildings
with a surrounding colonnade (peripteral porticoes) to small treasuries, to under¬
ground or round sanctuaries (tholos)- we should mention such conspicuous features
as theatres, porticoes (stoai) encircling the agora, monumental gateways (propylaea)
and exedrai', not forgetting the creation of places of a political nature (ecclesiaste-
rion, bouleuterion), designed for meetings/technical buildings (tool repositories)
where warships and other vessels were built, and military constructions (walls,
towers, posterns, and bastions).
The principal phenomenon is nevertheless the flourishing of temples, illustrat¬
ing all the creative genius of Greek architects. In these buildings full rein was given
to the aesthetic options of the Greeks, based on philosophical concepts of which
architecture was merely a reflection.

Introduction 7
 The "Basilica" at Paestum:
Themes and Classification
maturity of the Archaic style
Broaching a theme as "Classical" as Greek architecture, whose outward manifesta¬
South of Naples, in the city of
tions are not easy to encapsulate in any summary way, we must arrange our study Posidonia (Paestum) - founded
both geographically and chronologically, so as to situate the contributions of both by the Sybarites in 650 B.C.,
place and time, and gain a clearer grasp of the various structural and formal devel¬ the large Dorictemple, which is

opments. known as the "Basilica", is

It is only in the last fifty years that we have learned that the people who, in the dedicated to the goddess Hera.
It dates from circa 540 B.C. Its
middle of the second millennium B.C., gave birth to the Mycenaean civilization,
powerfully curved columns
spoke Greek. So the impressive buildings of Mycenae and Tiryns, with their walls,
support broad capitals. The
domed tombs and palaces, had to be included, even if they had had virtually no fagade, distinctive forthe uneven
influence on Archaic and Classical works. number of shafts (nine), has lost
When we deal with the features of the Greek temple, it would seem that the its pediment. All that now

essential contribution of the Greeks to architecture lies in the portico surrounding remains on the architraves is a
layer of blocks once decorated
the cel la of the temple. This ring of columns needs interpreting in any semiological
with triglyphs and metopes.
approach to building. Archaeology helps us to trace the genesis of this form, and at
the same time simplifies the role and significance of peripteral structures.
We shall take a look at the continuous series of temples of Magna Graecia in
order to emphasize the transition from Archaic expression to Classical formulations,
bound by the dictates of proportion and number, based on Pythagorean concepts.
These buildings offera most rewarding area of study. Forthey make up nothing less
than a museum of Doric architecture, with remarkably well preserved examples at
Paestum, Agrigentum and Segesta, covering the period stretching from the mid¬
sixth century to the end of the fifth century B.C.
Over and above the upheavals and destruction caused by the Persian Wars,
which pitted the Ionian Greeks and the Athenians, on the one hand, against the
armies of the kings of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, on the other, it is interest¬
ing to follow the often fundamental advances made by Ionian thinkers and archi¬
tects. Whether on Samos or the shores of Asia Minor - at Ephesus, Miletus, Priene
and Halicarnassus - they designed temples and grandiose mausolea, while at the
same time working out an altogether original style.

8 Introduction
Temple E at Selinunte:
a classical fagade
Temple E at Selinus (now
Selinunte), in Sicily, which dates
from the first half of the fifth
century B.C., lay in ruins on the
ground. It has been completely
rebuilt by archaeologists. This
reconstruction from fallen parts,
called anastylosis, shows us the
perfection of a Doric sanctuary in
Magna Graecia.

The Frieze of the Tributaries

at Persepolis
These scenes depicting the
procession of the peoples
bringing theirtribute to Darius
were carved during the last
quarter of the sixth century B.C.
to the glory of the empire of the
Achaemenids by Ionian and
Lydian artists in the service of the
Great King. They combine the
Severe style of Greek art with the
influence of Assyrian sculpture.

An ancient fortress at Aegosthena

The fortifications of Attica are
clear evidence of the endless
wars waged by the Greek cities
to gain supremacy. They form a
powerful defensive chain, dating
from the fourth century B.C.
Here, the "keep" within the
walls of Aegosthena, on the Gulf
of Corinth, stands more or less
unscathed.

Introduction g
 Danube Black S

Adriatic Sea

Cumae Thrace
Posidonia
(Paestum) Tarentui
y jyletapontum

Lampsacus

Troy (Hissarlik)

Dodona
(Croton

Sicily
^Aegean
Thermum
.a , Sea ^ / v>-_3*Smyrna ‘Sardis
lelinus (Izmir)
Athen:
Corinth
Acragas'^
Carthage SAMo?~vEPhesus Ion
(Agrigenturnj~VGela Priene
^Syracuse 0
Gulf of Corinth . VAegina
Aegina
Miletus
0 Oj&> Didym; lx •Labranda

Cycladesb ° Q
Peloponnese Thera Cnidus
Xanthus
Rhodes
Santorini

Crete

Mediterranean Sea

Nile
R'Ver

The Greek world

Map showing the principal sites either

N REFERRED TO OR ILLUSTRATED IN THIS BOOK

10 Introduction
Susa*

Introduction i ~\
 The Parthenon crowning
the Acropolis
The eight columns of the east
facade of the Temple of Athena
Parthenos thrust their elegant
Doric shafts skyward at the top
of the small rocky plateau where
the original city of Athens was
built, in the Mycenaean period.

It is no less thrilling, however, to look into the contributions made by the Ionia ns
and the Lydians in the flowering of this great symbolic and prestigious architecture
represented by the palaces of Pasargadae, Susa and Persepolis. For on closer
inspection, they turn out to have played a crucial part in the design of hypostyle
halls. Furthermore, the bas-reliefs forming the Procession of the Tributaries reflect
a Greek influence. So it is out of the question to overlook and not comment on the
amazing works of the Achaemenids - in which the Greeks had a decisive hand - on
the pretext that the two "nations" were at loggerheads.
It is clear to see that continental Greece offers a whole series of buildings, includ¬
ing some very well preserved ones, which help us to understand the breakthrough
of architecture beyond Athens in the Greek metropolises at Aegina, Sunium, Delphi,
Bassae, Lind us, and Epidaurus. Unity and diversity attest to the outpouring of art in
the most elaborate forms conceivable. What is more, the permanent war footing
that raged throughout the whole Classical era between the various Greek cities
(Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Eretria, Megara, and Corinth) led the warring parties to
erect powerful fortifications. These form a whole raft of spectacular structures -
walls, towers, posterns, and so on - which still stand at sites like Messene, Aegos-
thena and Eleutherae, and, to the north of Syracuse, at Euryalos, and at Velia, near
Paestum.
The incredible town-planning and architectural operation embarked upon by
Pericles to obliterate all trace of Darius' sacking of the Acropolis of Athens will
round off this study of the Greek art of building. Forthis complex - which includes
the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheum
buildings - forms a coherent whole, conceived with an eye to mass gatherings and
dazzling rituals. In the wake of the victories scored against the Persians, these
monuments mark the zenith of Greek design, from both an aesthetic and a numeri¬
cal standpoint. And this is without mentioning the wide iconographic range offered
by the friezes and metopes which encircle sanctuaries with a whole vocabulary of
mythological symbols and legends, all imbued with deep meaning.
Such is our approach, which is devised to lend the architecture of ancient Greece
an overall image, while contributing one ortwo essential keys to its interpretation.

12 Introduction
 A shell-shaped theatre dedicated
to the tragedians
The most perfect of all the Greek
theatres, built into a hillside at
Epidaurus, in about 330 B.C.,
could accommodate an audience
of 15 000 spectators at festivals
held in honor of Asclepius, the god
The Caryatid Porch on of healing,
the Acropolis
Combining sculpture directly
with architecture, and giving
the columns which support the
canopy of the Erechtheum the
appearance of young women,
these caryatids illustrate the
refinement and elegance of
Classical art. Dating back to 421
B.C., this Ionic structure stands
facing the northern portico of
the Parthenon.

Introduction 13
 Fortifications, Tombs and Palaces
of the "Homeric" World

Page 15 Might it not be improper to describe as "Homeric" the monuments built in Greece
Heirs of the Minotaur
between the sixteenth and twelfth centuries B.C., when the Iliad and the Odyssey -
The Mycenaeans - the first
the great epic poems of Homer - date no further back than the eighth century? The
properly so-called Hellenic people
fact is that the fortifications, tombs and palaces of Mycenae and Tiryns match per¬
to settle in Greece - derived
considerable advantage from the fectly the poet's descriptions when he evokes the war scenes, funeral rites and
Cretan civilization which they palace life atthetime of theTrojan War.
inherited. Their art reflects this It was, moreover, a painstaking reading of the writings of Homer which led the
influence - and in particularthis self-taught German scholar, Heinrich Schliemann, to embark on his literally ground¬
silver rhyton in the form of a bull's
breaking excavations in the Peloponnese, in 1876, once he had explored the ancient
head with gold horns, discovered
city of Hissarlik, at the mouth of the Dardanelles. At Mycenae he discovered what
in a tomb at Mycenae. It is not
he believed to be the Palace of Agamemnon, the Tomb of Clytemnestra and the
always easy to tell such objects
from those made by Minoan Treasury of Atreus. What was actually happening wasthe exhumation of the origins
goldsmiths. This work, dating of the Greek world.
from the sixteenth century B.C., The accuracy of his verdicts was not confirmed until 1952. The archaeological
is 15.5 cm high. (Athens, National world had in fact to wait until the script known as Linear B was deciphered by the
Museum)
English architect Michael G. Ventris, with the assistance of John Chadwick, to be
quite certain that the inhabitants of Mycenae - who had hitherto been classified
among the pre-Hellenic societies - were really Greeks. Based on tablets unearthed
at Pylos, researchers have managed to show that the language spoken by the Mycen¬
aeans was a form of early Greek. From that moment on, it became quite acceptable
to set the birth of the history of the Greeks at Mycenae.
It had long seemed that the Mycenaeans were so closely related to the Cretan
civilization and to the art of Cnossus - ruled over by the legendary King Minos - that
they must have been part of the same ethnic stock. But the decipherment of the
Linear B script showed that the Mycenaeans were newcomers - the new arrivals
were confused with the Achaean invaders.
The Achaeans, who form the oldest population of Greek origin, reached Greece
in around 2200 B.C. They found their way to the Peloponnese, where they settled
before 1600. The pantheon which they worship is the same as that of Classi¬
The "Mask of Agamemnon" cal Greece: their principal gods are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hermes, Athena, and
from Mycenae Dionysus. The Mycenaeans are in fact the Achaeans, as Homer depicted them in his
"Agamemnon's mask" was the
work.
name given to this gold funerary
The Mycenaeans were warriors. They occupied fortresses perched on acro¬
mask by the archaeologist and
polises surrounded by mighty walls. They formed a military aristocracy in a Greece
excavator Heinrich Schliemann
when it was unearthed in one that was divided up into small territories. Their petty kings reigned over districts
of the graves forming the circle whose main resources were farming and livestock. They set up a "feudal" system
of royal tombs at Mycenae. This based ontradeand plunder,and surrounded themselves with luxury which stood in
32 cm high effigy of a sixteenth stark contrast to their coarse, manly customs.
century B.C. Achaean king
As contemporaries of the New Empire of Egypt, the Hittites of Anatolia and the
nevertheless predated the Trojan
Mitanni of northern Mesopotamia, the southern neighbourof the Mycenaeans was
War, described by Homer, by
the maritimeempire ofthe Cretans. The Mycenaeans were in notimeat warwiththe
several centuries. (Athens,
National Museum) kingdom of Cnossus, which they assailed with plundering forays.

Mycenaean Architecture 17
 The Myceneaean armies were also responsible for the sudden decline of the Skilled goldsmiths' work from
Vaphio and Mycenae
Minoans. Their troops landed on Crete between 1450 and 1400, and set fire to the
The beauty of the pieces
palaces dotted about the large island.
recovered from Mycenaean tombs
Some decades earlier, on the Aegean island of Thera (Santorini), a fearsome
dating from around 1500 B.C. is
volcanic eruption had levelled the city of Akrotiri - the site where, in 1967, the clear evidence of an outstanding
archaeologist Marinatos would discover the dazzling evidence of a Minoan-type mastery of the goldsmith's craft.
culture, with its sumptuous frescoes buried beneath the ash - just as would happen Left: The technical brilliance of
1500 years later to the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. this goblet found in a tholos tomb
at Vaphio, in Laconia, celebrates
This natural catastrophe which struck Santorini was probably followed by a huge
the Cretan theme of the bull.
tidal wave, the after-effects of which seem to have wiped out the fleet of Cnossus.
Right: A kantharos - or deep cup
From then on, Cretan hegemony dwindled and left the field open to the vessels of
with handles - from Mycenae is
the Mycenaeans. The Achaeans made the most of this chance, and took control of characterized by the sobriety
Crete, adopting, as they went about the task, many of the characteristics peculiar of its lines. (Athens, National
to their predecessors. Museum)

An Artistic Merger
Before looking at Mycenaean architecture, it might be helpful to establish the artis¬
tic context in which this architecture flourished. In this respect, there is much to be
learned from the arts and crafts unearthed by archaeological excavations in both
Crete and continental Greece.
There are close symbiotic links between the art of the Minoans and the art of the
Mycenaeans. Thetreasures discovered in pit and shaft graves and tholoiat Mycenae,
Vaphio, Dendra and so on are often so akin to those unearthed at Cnossus that it is
impossible to tell these structures apart. The similarities are especially striking in
the working of gold, bronze, ivory and rock crystal. Chalices, cups, goblets, rhytons,
and daggers may sometimes pass for artefacts imported from Minoan Crete, and
sometimes for objects created in workshops located in Mycenaean Greece. Experts
often decline to favour one hypothesis overthe other.
It would certainly seem that part of the treasures with which the Mycenaeans
surrounded their dead in the tomb came from raids carried out in Crete. But other
scenarios are also conceivable. The lords of Mycenae might well have got Cretan
craftsmen to manufacture the objects they coveted - as the wealthy chieftains of
Thrace would do later, ordering their finery from Greek goldsmiths at Lampsacus.
So there are several possible answers. Either the workshops of Cnossus did work
on request, and were paid when an actual deal was struck (archaeology shows us

18 Mycenaean Architecture
A script deciphered in 1952
As a result of the decipherment of
the Linear B script, we now
know that the Mycenaeans were
Greeks and that they were thus
different from their neighbors,
the Cretans of Cnossus. This
terracotta tablet bears signs from
a syllabic system which appeared
in about the fifteenth century
B.C. representing an early form of
the Greek language.

He lived thirty-five centuries ago that Minoan objects found their way all over the eastern Mediterranean, from
This 30.5 cm high funerary Cyprus and Palestine to the Egypt of the Pharaohs), or the Mycenaeans, returning
"portrait" made of chased gold home from a campaign, brought with them - along with the objects which they
comes from a tomb at Mycenae
seized - Minoan craftsmen who were entrusted with the manufacture of jewellery
excavated by Schliemann. Beyond
and decorative finery which was thenceforth produced in continental Greece.
death itself, the facial expression
of the beardless person reveals an
We can also imagine how Greek apprentices rubbing shoulders with skilled
enigmatic smile. (Athens, National Cretan gold- and silversmiths would have been quick to learn the Minoan skills.
Museum) Workshops would thus have started to spring up in the Peloponnese, headed by
accomplished "bosses" from the islands.
It is probably this latter hypothesis which was at work in the particular instance
of gold funeral masks, for this type of symbolic attire was not known in Crete.

Mycenaean Architecture ig
 A lion-hunt in the Peloponnese
This scene depicting men armed
with spears, bows and shields
battling with lions decorates the
blade of a 23.7 cm high bronze
dagger set off by gold and niello
inlay. The dagger is a ceremonial
weapon from the sixteenth
century B.C., coming from the
Circle of Royal Tombs at Mycenae.
(Athens, National Museum)

A bucolic scene decorating a ring

This carved 3 cm high bezel, found
in a grave at Mycenae, embellishes
a gold ring. It is possible to make
out three women in a garden.
Two of them, standing, seem to be
paying homage to the third, who is
seated and holding a bouquet of
flowers. This is possibly a Cretan
religious scene. (Athens, National
Museum)

Thanks to this ritual Mycenaean practice, we now have intriguing effigies which
have made the art of Mycenae so famous. For, down the ages, they re-create for us
the expression of those early Greek warriors, the Achaeans, of whom Homer was so
fond.

A Series of Masterpieces
Whether the fruit of looting, or produced in Crete and imported, or, last of all, made
in Greece, the treasures unearthed in Mycenaean tombs and graves represent an
impressive inventory of assets. They reveal the artistic concerns of their owners.
The elegance of stemmed chalices, made from a single sheet of gold, and decorated
with wild creatures; the amazing formal beauty of the Vaphio goblets, with their
reliefs depicting bulls using the repousse or embossed method; the vitality of the
scenes of a lion hunt which appear on the blade of a dagger; the refinement of the
mountings and settings of gold rings delicately chased with hunting and religious
scenes; all this culminates in the effigy of the mythical bull of Minos, a sumptuous
silver rhyton in the shape of a bull's head with gold horns and a rosette on the fore¬
head, while the nose is covered with gold leaf. This magnificent object, whose
origins seem to defy identification, raises once again the difficult enigma of the
genesis of specifically Greek art.
The working of silver and gold, which demands not only the skilled virtuosity of
deft-fingered experts, but also the sure eye of aesthetes and artists perpetuating a

20 Mycenaean Architecture
The Acropolis of Mycenae
A general plan of the fortified
city of Mycenae:
1 The Lion Gate
2 The Circle of Royal Tombs
3 The palace and megaron
4 An underground reservoir

tradition, gives no hint of the nature of the Mycenaeans' architecture. Forthe art of
building as practised by the Achaeans in no way carries on the constructions of
Cnossus, Mallia, Gournia and Hagia Triada.
The Cretan palaces, with their countless rooms forming, in the legend of the
Minotaur, the disconcerting labyrinth created by the mythical Daedalus, are quite
the opposite of the megalithic and cyclopean monuments of the Mycenaeans.

Military Architecture
Unlike the huge ports and sprawling urban areas of Crete, the Mycenaean cities are
fortified places. They are often strategically positioned and easy to defend. For
their own safety, the Greek kings placed powerful entrenched walls on high ground,
with soaring curtain-walls and monumental gateways. This military architecture
reached its high point in the thirteenth century B.C., culminating in remarkable
cyclopean walls, made of large polygonal stones - Mycenae offering the finest
example of this style.
The defensive system of this stronghold city went through two stages: the first
dates back to the fourteenth century and must have involved large boulders and
blocks of stone with an outermost cladding formed by a stockade, according to
Homer's description. Later, in the thirteenth century, the area was extended south¬
wards to enclose a series of tombs. At the same time, the surrounding wall was con¬
siderably improved to cope with the threat of Dorian raids which marked the "return
of the Heraclidae", to borrowthe poet's turn of phrase.
During the second phase of these works, the Mycenaeans inaugurated an
impressive building technique: they deployed huge polygonal blocks of stone,
weighing several tons, and assembled without mortar. To explain the sheer size of
each block, we have come to understand that the use of large stones is the most econ¬
omical and offers the greatest solidity. In the Bronze Age, metal was still rare and
the quarryman's work was done with hard stone sledgehammers. So it was easier to
move heavy loads with rollers, sleds and quite large teams of manual labour than to
erect quantities of parallelepipedal blocks with which to form regularcourses.
The towering walls of Mycenae enclose a triangular area measuring 300 by
200 m. They cover a steep-sided hill, which is particularly sheer on the slope where

Mycenaean Architecture 21
 Arriving at Mycenae
This print, showing Mycenae in
1805, was made by the English
painter Edward Dodwell and
published in 1821. The site has
hardly changed, despite the
excavations.

there is a plunging ravine. This fine construction, attributed by Greek tradition to

the Cyclopes, because of the volume of the stone blocks used to build it, already
contained all the features of military architecture, as it would later be developed by
Classical poliorcetics (the art of laying and resisting sieges).
When the assailant reached Mycenae, he had no choice but to take the least
steep slope along the thoroughfare hewn from the rock which led to the main
entrance to the city. He thus followed the steps leading to the main gate, which
was accessible to horses and carts. In so doing, he followed a rocky outcrop with a
bastion built on top. A continuous curtain wall, set firmly in the rock, surveyed the
thoroughfare on his left.
Before him then rose the Lion Gate, preceded, to the right, by a projecting
postern, enabling those within to keep attackers at bay in the crossfire. The Lion
Cate is justly famous. It is an amazing construction, where polygonal blocks are
replaced by colossal, even stones. The trapezoidal opening is formed by three enor¬
mous stones: the two upright stones are surmounted by a lintel weighing 20 tons.
Above this monolith rises a relieving arch with, on either side, four large blocks in
horizontal courses. These stones are corbelled, with one jutting out beyond the
next to form a triangular bay. By reducing the staggered effect of each course, the
Mycenaeans carefully outlined the contour of the arch, in which they then set a
fantastictympanum, made of a single block of finely carved limestone.
This tympanum, after which the gate is named, is decorated with two large
wild animals which rear up, symmetrically, on either side of a column. These lions,
with their well-delineated bodies and vigorous musculature, are - alas! - headless,
the top of the sculpture having been hammered away by victorious foes keen to
destroy the symbol of Mycenaean might.
As far as the central column is concerned, it rises up on a three-levelled base,
which probably suggests the city itself. This column has similarities with the shafts
of Cretan buildings; its smooth shaft is slightly flared towards the top - like those
restored by Sir Arthur Evans in the palace of Cnossus. The shaft supports a moulded
capital, with a projecting echinus, surmounted by a square abacus. Above, a row of
cylindrical elements, set beneath an abacus, calls to mind the stepped roofing
system using dressed beams. On the other side of the entrance, the uprights
have holes for fitting reinforcement bars behind the wooden leaves - which were
probably covered in bronze.

22 Mycenaean Architecture
Mycenae, dominated by the Lastly, to withstand sieges, the Mycenaeans invested a great deal of effort to
Achaean fortress hew - by hand - in the rock a narrow underground passage leading to a deep spring.
The access road leading to the As a result of the techniques used by Bronze Age miners, the city enjoyed a constant
Lion Gate at Mycenae runs supply of water.
alongside the imposing cyclopean
Apart from Mycenae, other great constructions also attest to the technology
wall, from which those defending
achieved by these builders. A citadel such as Tiryns, with its steps rising between
the city would bombard theirfoes.
This wall dates from 1350 B.C. two walls up to the first courtyard in front of the palace, is a formidable creation,
with walls soaring to a height of 6-7 m. The bastions are punctuated by loopholes.
Its corbel-vaulted casemates and its hidden passages are impressive. To the south,
the wall reaches a height of 16 m. This is an example of defensive architecture which
heralds not only the fortifications of Classical Greece, but also the strongholds of
medieval Europe.

Tholos-Jombs and Graves

Once inside the city of Mycenae, we find, to the right of the steps, the Royal
Circle, formed by large upright slabs which ring the site, beneath which is a series of

Mycenaean Architecture 23
imm
'■!'.?■■■
•1. •••;<#; ,-. ■•
* v.r ■
'
■ ./•
;•<•;*
;,' .*•,' *
.
/■„
■

> ••' >•

-,i^r i(
f
m ' v '-
" .
*x>S"*9^v?: ’"-.v . '■ ■•
•'•*«., ; ' -
■ -'ij
■>

>
’l ■ ;•• ••;•• « - V V
% VR - . . '.' ,

'* tiOkm> I
The impressive bulk of the
Lion Gate
Wedged between the city-wall
(on the left) and the fortified
spurof the outer postern (on the
right), the gate with its pair of
surmounting lions includes a
lintel weighing 20 tons. It used to
control access to the Acropolis of
Mycenae in about 1250 B.C. The
opening, measuring about 3 x 3 m,
was defended by a huge wooden
gate with two leaves covered with
bronze "armor-plating".

Mycenaean Architecture 25
 Page 27
The Circle of Royal Tombs
at Mycenae
This view shows the works
undertaken by the Mycenaeans
when the Lion Gate was built, in
order to protect pit graves (shown
here in the foreground) housing
the treasures and remains of
their sovereigns.

The defensive system of Tiryns

As at Mycenae, the Acropolis of
Tiryns had an access road lined
by imposing walls.
Below: Greek builders chose to
erect the foundations of their
cyclopean walls directly on the
natural rock.

26 Mycenaean Architecture
 Dressed stone slabs
The Circle of Royal Tombs at
Mycenae is formed by "shuttering"
made of large upright stones
(orthostats), between which a fill
surmounted by horizontal slabs
was designed to provide pro¬
tection forthe burial places, while
at the same time forming a circular
area intended for funerary rites.

A concentric arrangement
The complex architecture of the
tomb circle shows the importance
which the Mycenaeans attached
to the burial places of their sover¬
eigns. At a later stage, the tholos-
tombs - vaulted underground
structures - would replace these
pits. But they were built outside
the walls bordering the Acropolis.

28 Mycenaean Architecture
Mycenae: the monumental several burial places. These are pit-and-shaft graves dating back to the sixteenth
entrance to a tholos century B.C., carefully preserved during the rebuilding undertaken in the thirteenth
A road running between tall walls, century. They are located within an enclosure with a diameter of 26.5 m. It is here
called a dromos, leads to the that Schliemann unearthed a series of intact burial places, whose treasures have
domed tombs of Mycenae. Here,
duly revealed the art and gold- and silverwork of the Minoans and Mycenaeans,
the entrance to what is known
found together, somewhat pell-mell, in these royal tombs.
as the "Tomb of Clytemnestra" -
as Schliemann called it - leads to
Another grave circle has been unearthed to the south of the city, below the walls.
the fagade which is surmounted As far as the history of architecture is concerned, however, these are so-called
by a tall relieving triangle. This tholos-tombs, with their corbelled dome, and they are the most phenomenal con¬
underground structure was structions of Mycenaean Greece. Theirshape has sometimes been likened to prim¬
erected in about 1220 B.C. The
itive straw beehives. The Greek word tholos means, in essence, a round, columned
sunken roadway, 6 m wide,
religious edifice, described as monopteral (having just a single ring of columns), but
is 37 m in length.
italsoappliestothe large vaulted burial places ofthe Mycenaean period.
At Mycenae there are several domed tombs. Schliemann called the two best
preserved examples the "Tomb of Clytemnestra" and the "Treasury of Atreus".
These constructions beneath tumuli date backto circa 1250-1220 B.C. All buildings
of this type have essentially the same layout: a straight, uncovered access way
called the dromos, forms a deep trench in the ground. This horizontal cavity is
bordered by tall walls in fine stonework. It leads to a large door giving access to the
actual tholos. Behind this door lies the round area beneath the dome which houses
the burial places.
The "Treasury of Atreus" is the largest of these Mycenaean funerary tholoi.
Its dromos is 36 m long and 6 m wide, and the side walls rise to a height of 14 m. The
monumental door, 5.4 m high, is surmounted by an impressive monolithic lintel.
This great block, measuring 7 m by 6 and 1.4 m thick, has a total volume of almost
60 m3, weighing more than 120 tons. It is topped by a triangular relieving arch,
made of corbelled cyclopean stones, as in the Lion Gate. It is worth noting that

Mycenaean Architecture 29
 A gigantic portal
The facade of the "Treasury of
Atreus", 10.5 m high, has a square,
monolithic lintel measuring 7 m by
6, with a depth of 1.4 m, giving a
total weight of some 120 tons.
Once again, a triangular relieving
arch, made using corbelled stones,
absorbed the thrust above the
door leading to the round
chamber.

Page 31
The "Treasury of Atreus"
at Mycenae
Schliemann thought he had
discovered the Tomb of
Agamemnon. This burial place,
which marks the zenith of
Mycenaean architecture, dates
from 1250 B.C. These plans show
o 5 10 15
I ■ I- I I M the cross-section, the elevation
I ' =] FT of the doorway, the longitudinal
o 25 50
section, and the plan of this
superb tholos at Mycenae.

Mycenaean architects were not aware of, or familiar with, the true vault with radi¬
ating joints.
The same corbelling technique is used for the domed room. This measures
14.5 m in diameterand rises by way of a series of thirty-three concentric courses to
the top of the building, at a height of 13.2 m.
The height of the courses is reduced with each successive level; their diameter
becomes narrower and narrower. The outline of this "pointed" dome thus re¬
sembles a diagonal or cross-arch. The different levels between each block have
been levelled in such a way that the intrados is strictly smooth and even. Traces of
bronze tenons suggest the existence of metal decorative features (stars, perhaps),
once embellishing this vault built to resemble the heavens.
The stability of this building stems from large quantities of material piled up out¬
side the dome and which completely cover it. As the building gradually went up, fill
was placed all around it. Buried beneath a tumulus, the dome thus receives an evenly
distributed pressure over its entire outersurface, and this lends it both its cohesion

30 Mycenaean Architecture
 An accomplished interplay
of buttressing
The lateral uprights - pilasters - at
the entrance showthe depth of
the corbelled dome which crowns
the "Treasury of Atreus". When
the builders created this access to
the vaulted area within, it was
importantthat they did not
weaken the circular structure.

Page 33
Like a huge hive
The conical shape of the chamber
which forms the tholos of the
"Treasury of Atreus" is produced
by means of thirty-three concent¬
ric courses, corbelled one on top
of the next. The dome, which has a
diameter of 14.5 m at the base,
rises to a height of 13.2 m. For
1300 years - until the Roman
period - this building was the
largest vaulted construction in
the whole history of architecture.

and its strength. After being sunk into the ground, the dromos was filled in and the
royal burial place vanished from mortal view.
Up until the Roman era - that is, 1300years later-when the large brick,tufa and
concrete cupolas of the imperial baths were erected, the Mycenaean tholoi would
contain the largest inner areas with no intermediate supporting structure ever
built in Antiquity. The perfection of their form, the technological mastery of their
cyclopean stonework, and the quality of their corbelled vaulting all make these
funerary structures the high point of the architecture of the second millennium B.C.

Palaces and the Question of the megaron

The palace which crowned the promontory of Mycenae has survived to this day in a
state of preservation insufficient to provide any authoritative interpretation of its
various areas. On the other hand, complexes such as Tiryns and Pylos (this latter

32 Mycenaean Architecture
Mycenaean Architecture 33
 excavated by Blegen) reveal a palatial organization whose toothing stones on the
ground are well preserved. They help us to grasp the particular distribution of the
reception rooms forming what Homer called the megaron.
This is a standard plan to which every Mycenaean city brought its variations. It is
well worth examining the plan of Pylos, which is among the most characteristic. The
entire configuration is axial, and extends over some 40 m. A porch marks the main
entrance, whose roof is supported by a lone column, set on the axis of penetration.
Behind the door, an identical area with an axial column replicates the same config¬
uration. The whole forms a kind of propylaeum. Next comes an oblong courtyard.
This precedes a vestibule which opens behind the portico supported by two
columns. It gives access to an antechamber which, in Pylos, has openings on each of
the four sides.
Large axial doors lead to a large almost square room which forms the megaron
proper. This area is 10 m wide by about 12 m long. Four columns surround the round
hall. They hold up the roof which is fitted with a lantern designed both for letting
smoke out and for ventilating the room. In the middle of the wall on the right of the
entrance stands the king's throne. The ground is stuccoed and the walls are covered
with frescoes.
Around this central complex, which forms the princely receptionroom, several
chambers are accessible from corridors. These are private apartments, with bath¬
rooms and bathtubs, as well as storage areas, some of which contain large storage
jars orpithoi, used for wine, olives and other foodstuffs.
To the extent that the remains of the buildings permit any sure interpretation, it
would seem that in the Mycenaean palaces only the basements were of masonry.
The superstructures, on the other hand, like ordinary dwellings, were built with
timber. The upper floor contained the women's quarters, called the hyperoon,
which was entirely constructed with joists. The disappearance of these upperareas
made from perishable materials deprives us of a great deal of information. It would
therefore be interesting to know where the light that illuminated the rooms, and
the throne room in particular, came from. If there were windows, they must have
been above the solid basements, and no trace remains.
These wooden buildings - in particular the ceilings made of thick planks and
o 5 io
logs, as well as the lantern surmounting the vestibule - linked palatial architecture I- I -1 M

to vernacular buildings. There are too few traces to enable us to imagine the details, f I r— I FT
0 10 20 30

because these buildings were all consumed by fire during the Dorian invasions.
The particular layout of the megaron, with its series of areas in a row - the
vestibule preceded by a pair of columns, antechamber and main room - is an essen¬
tial feature of Mycenaean architecture. This typical structure of the princely abode,
Pylos: a typical megaron
as described by the epic tradition, thus applies above all to palaces. The Homeric
The plan of the Mycenaean palace
Hymns also use the term megaron to denote certain underground sanctuaries ded¬
of Pylos shows the features of the
icated to chthonian deities. This is why modern archaeologists have postulated an megaron, characteristic of the
actual structural continuity between the megaron and the plan of the naos in the Achaeans. For many years, it was
Greek temple. It so happens, however, that, between the decline of the Mycenaean thought that the spatial

civilization in the twelfth century B.C. and the flowering of Archaic art in the ninth organization of the Greek temple
derived from the Mycenaean
and eighth centuries, there was a deep break. The invasion of the Dorian tribes was
palace. It is worth noting,
a catastrophe which once again plunged Greece into a period of upheaval and ruin.
however, that the sovereign's
Any tentative link between the palace room and the temple cella is called into throne produces an axis that is
question by a tangible silence lasting several centuries. Furthermore, as we shall broken at 90° C, which has no
see, the very nature of the area peculiar to these two types of construction is counterpart in the Greektemple.

different. The plans of the new buildings appearing in the ninth century have an 1 Entrance
2 Inner courtyard
"apsidal" feature - rounded in shape - which was totally absent from Mycenaean
3 Main hall, or megaron
buildings. Lastly, from the eighth century on, the major novelty resides in the
4 Sovereign's throne
creation of structures which excavators have christened "verandas". They are
5 Bathroom for the apartments
peripheral porticoes on wooden pillars which surrounded certain buildings. To all 6 Storerooms

34 Mycenaean Architecture
A polychrome sculpture
This stuccoed woman's head,
enhanced by polychrome features,
was found at the foot of the
Acropolis of Mycenae, and dates
from the thirteenth century B.C.
It points to the existence of a
body of Achaean statuary, but,
sadly, only rare examples of this
have come down to us.
(Athens, National Museum)

appearances, these porticoes were harbingers of the peripteral colonnade which

would be the major characteristic of Greek architecture. The original feature will be
discussed in the chapter dealing with the "Origins of the Greek Temple".
It would in any event seem difficult to accept that the naos of the Greek sanctu¬
aries is the direct heir of the Mycenaean megaron, mentioned by Homer. Any such
proposition relies, as far as can be seen, on the desire to bring about a historical
continuity, where the disruptions following the upsurge of the Dorian tribes rocked
traditions. By plunging Greece into a long period of anarchy and chaos, these
dramatic goings-on make any such link quite unlikely.

The Spread of Mycenaean Culture

Afterthe Mycenaeans gained control of Crete in about 1450, they enjoyed a period
of expansion between 1400 and 1200 B.C. Their influence - spurred on by busy
maritime traffic in the eastern Mediterranean, reaching as far as Italy - was based
on naval supremacy. Inthis respect, they first took the place ofthe Minoans them¬
selves, then of the Phoenicians who, in about 1230, were overcome by the invasions

Mycenaean Architecture 35
 of the "Sea Peoples". But their hegemony was short-lived, for the Dorian raids Discovered on the Acropolis
(between 1150 and 1000 B.C.) wiped out the Mycenaean culture, and led to an of Mycenae
This fragment of a fresco, brought
impressive intermixing of peoples. After fierce battles and onslaughts mounted
to light in 1970, is proof thatthe
against the Mycenaean strongholds, the newcomers drove the Achaeans back
great pictorial art of the people
towards the south and east. The lonians, for their part, took possession of the
of Cnossus or Akrotiri (Santorini)
shores of Asia Minor. There followed various highly complex movements which, did not vanish underthe rule of
towards the ninth century, would bring about a certain unity in Greece. the Achaeans. Other examples
From then on, the period of the great migrations was over. "The Aegean is a of mural paintings have been

Greek lake", and the names of the different peoples only continued to exist in the discovered at Tiryns, thus con¬
firming the existence, in the
appellation of Greek dialects - Ionian spoken in Attica, Euboea and on Samos; Ae¬
thirteenth century B.C., of an
olian spoken on the northern coast of Anatolia and as far as Lesbos; Dorian used in
artistic link between Minoans and
the regions around Megara, Corinth and Argos, on Crete and in Cnidos; and Arca¬
Mycenaeans. This woman's face,
dian in Arcadia and on Cyprus. in profile, with its rich trimmings,
The fact nevertheless remains that the Mycenaean expansion in the Mediter¬ helps us to imagine the decoration
ranean, followed by the intermingling of different tribes resulting from the last of the palaces of this period.

wave of invasions, are factprs which prepared the Greeks for the great colonizing (Athens, National Museum)

movement which got underway in the beginning of the eighth century B.C.

Page 37
Linear B
This Mycenaean syllabic script
predates the appearance in the
ninth century B.C. of the alphabet
originating from the Phoenician
coast. (Athens, National Museum)

36 Mycenaean Architecture
From Linear B to the alphabet
It is thanks to an "amateur", the architect act as counting and measuring units. These philosophy. The Greeks thus managed - with
Michael Ventris, that we have known since 1952 numerals form a decimal system, with special greater ease than their Egyptian, Sumerian and
that the texts transcribed using the so-called signs for fractions. These texts thus shed little Babylonian predecessors - to set down the great
Linear B script belong to the Greek language light on the culture and social preoccupations of epic and mythical narratives of Hellenism.
group. They stand apart from Linear A docu¬ Achaean society. On the other hand, they Once they had their script, the Greeks lent a
ments, engraved on clay tablets found in Crete explain the commercial success of the "Mycen¬ definitive form to the numerous versions that
(Hagia Triada, Phaestus, Cnossus, Mallia) which aean thalassocracy". developed orally around the epics telling of the
probably encompass a Minoan language - which With the collapse caused by the Dorian inva¬ Trojan War and the seaborne adventures of
have not been deciphered. Linear A appeared sions (1200-1000 B.C.), and with the disappear¬ Odysseus in the Mediterranean. This task of
from 1650 B.C. onward. Linear B writings, which ance of all writing, it was not until the ninth or bringing togetherthe two great epic cycles dat¬
have been found at Cnossus, Pylos and Mycenae, eighth century that the Greeks finally adopted a ing back to Mycenaean traditions was master¬
and which also come in the form of clay tablets, new method of writing. This emerged from the fully achieved bythe poet Homer. It would seem
make up a syllabic system which appeared contacts made in the Near East by Greek that he was born in Smyrna, on the border of
towards the end of the fifteenth century B.C. mariners with the Phoenicians. It was by way of Aeolis and Ionia, where the two most important
This script postdates the fire that gutted the the trading post (emporion) set up by the Creeks Greek dialects were spoken. It was the merger of
palaces of Crete. We thus know that Greek has at Al-Mina, in Syria - on a site close to the port of these in Homer's work that created the koine -
been spoken and written for at least 3 500 years. Ras Shamra (Ugarit), where the first alphabet the basic language - that would guarantee its
Linear B consists of ninety signs, represent¬ with thirty signs was invented - that Greece posterity.
ing either vowels or syllables formed by a con¬ acquired an alphabetic script. The great leap for¬
sonant and a vowel. In addition, certain symbols ward here was in the notation of vowels, which
are ideographic. The texts found to date involve no Semitic language recorded.
only administrative documents, repertories and From that moment on, the Greek script,
accounts. They are essentially inventories, stock which would vary scarcely at all for millennia,
lists, fiscal records and statements of quantities was well suited to recording the subtleties of

of craft products and objects. Some signs also thought and language, whether of poetry or of

Mycenaean Architecture 37
% '
The Origins ofthe GreekTemple
 The Emergence of the Peripteral Colonnade

Page 39 When the final curtain went down on the Mycenaean world, during the twelfth cen¬
An early affirmation tury B.C., Greece was the scene of far-reaching upheavals. The country sank into a
of humanism, at Delphi
dark age of decline, and the art produced in it would only come to light 500 years
With the image of the kouros -
later, around the middle of the eighth century B.C.
a naked young man, standing -
which glorifies the role of man in
Everywhere there was destruction, fire and plunder, following the waves of
the presence of the gods, Greece invasions by peoples from the north. The rash of Dorian and Ionian migrations was
expressed the power of its reli¬ followed by ruined palaces, looted tombs and abandoned cities.
giosity and the individualism of its The only glimmer - but it was a bright one! - still burning in the wake of these
attitude to fate. This small bronze
disasters, and illuminating the darkness of these turbulent "Middle Ages", was the
kouros, which despite its height of
work of Homer who, from Ionia in the late ninth century, bequeathed his all-encom¬
14 cm has a monumental hieratic
passing epic poems to the Greek people. With the Iliad and the Odyssey, the poet
quality, dates from the seventh
century B.C. At Delphi, it is the
fashioned the mind and thinking of the Greek world. He shaped and moulded - if
earliest known example of this we may use the term - Greekness. Together with the appearance of his works, there
type. (Delphi, Museum) arose around the Aegean a cultural entity and a religious reality, complete with
myths and gods, as well as a set of ideals shared by all Greeks. This was the sign of a
complete renewal. Thanks to the Homeric Hymns, Greece would re-emerge from
the old civilizations of Egypt and the Near East, regenerated, transformed, youth¬
ful and imaginative. She created an original conception and an approach all of her
own to both man and the gods.
On these foundations, the Greeks would give birth to a new type of sanctuary
which, over three centuries, would attain the fullness and harmony of outward form
which we call beauty.

The Invention of an Architecture

The great structural innovation which is the original feature of Greek architecture is
the outer colonnade which runs around the sanctuary. This ring of stone shafts
forms a curtain - powerfully cadenced, but nevertheless "see-through" - around
the hallowed ce//a, and is the major formal achievement of the Greeks. It is this
colonnade which typifies the approach of builders constructing places of worship in
the Archaic and Classical periods.
Paradoxically, the sources and significance of this feature peculiar to great
The "Sulky Girl" Greek architecture have aroused very little curiosity among specialists. Art histor¬
This kore - a statue of a stand¬
ians have not devoted their research to this architectural element. They have often
ing girl in Archaic Greek art -
contented themselves with recording this structure as an obvious fact, or a postu¬
discovered in 1882 on the
Acropolis of Athens, dates from late. As a general rule, they have been happier to devote themselves to studying
490 B.C. She clearly illustrates the "orders" and "styles", and the countless variations which were made to the
the Severe style. Dedicated by peripteral colonnade down the centuries.
Euthydicus, she is dressed in the It can, indeed, be said that the Ionic style and the Doric style are only the vital
Ionian style. Her heavy hairstyle
element of Greek art because they represent the forms of expression of an archi¬
frames a full face, on which there
tecture based on the peristyle. For the creation and flourishing development of this
is no trace of the smile of earlier
ring of outer columns surrounding the sanctuary marks the assertion of the alto¬
works. (Athens, Acropolis
Museum) gether newformula of the Greek temple.

The Origins ofthe GreekTemple 41

 This dazzling peristyle, set hard against the light, like a screen between the outer Acriss-cross of Archaic buildings
Excavations of the early sanctuaries
world and the dark cella housing the sacred image of the deity, sets out the revolu¬
of Thermum, in Aetolia, north
tionary formula of the Greek sanctuary. This encircling portico, with its theory of
of the Gulf of Corinth, help us
shafts supporting the temple roof, this series of stone cylinders standing side by to followthe succession of
side, and this effect of salience, all give the true stamp of the "Greek order". They sanctuaries between the ninth
imbue it with a specific seal and endow it with its powerful novelty. century and the late seventh

What is there in the neighbouring civilizations, contemporary or earlier, which century B.C. The plans are
superimposed overa limited area:
also shows a use of this particular support embodied by the column? Egypt - the
A The separated plans showing
pre-eminent source of so much artistic creation - made use of stone shafts in its
Temple I, attop left: an
funerary buildings from the Old Kingdom on (circa 2500 B.C.) - for example the "apsidal" building with cob
palm-shaped stone columns of the lower temple at Abu Sir. Subsequently, porti¬ walls
coes stood at the entrance to sanctuaries and certain rock tombs in the Middle King¬ B Temple II with its rectangular

dom. Colonnades were erected as fagades to sweeping terraces set against the cella, preceded by a vestibule

mountain of Deir el-Bahari, and other colonnades encircled the inner courtyard in and followed by the opistho-
domos; a colonnade surrounds
the temples of the New Kingdom and the Late Period.
the "apsidal" chevet (eighth
The most frequent use of the column culminated in the creation of hypostyle
century B.C.)
rooms. But there is no evident presence of peripteral colonnades in the vocabulary C Temple III, known as the
of Egyptian architecture, though there were pavilions and chapels surrounded by Temple of Apollo and Megara,
square pillars. But these porticoes on pillars which mark the boundaries of distinct has a rectangular layout and a

buildings are generally part of the interior of a building surrounded by walls. peripteral colonnade: a long

The civilizations of the Near East - with the exception of the Achaemenids, cella with a row of posts which
axially supported the thatched
whom we shall be discussing in some detail in due course - also use hypostyles. By
roof (late seventh century B.C.)
way of example, let us mention the so-called "Forest of Lebanon" room built by the
Hebrews and mentioned in Solomon's Palace, and the symbolic columns, called
Boaz and Yakin, which stand before the vestibule of the Temple of Jerusalem, con¬
structed by Phoenician craftsmen. At Bogazkoy, on the Acropolis of Buyukkale, the
Hittites built Palace D (fifteenth-fourteenth centuries B.C.) which included - or so
it would seem from rediscovered foundations a square area with five by five wooden
columns measuring 30 by 30 m. But once again this was a hypostyle room.
So the Greek peristyle colonnade has all the features of an outstandingly ori¬
ginal creation in the context of cultures either preceding itorcontemporary with its
blossoming. How, then, was this encircling outer structure actually made?

42 The Origins ofthe Greek Temple

Funerary palace or temple?
At Lefkandi, on the island of
Euboea, a remarkable building
from the ninth-eighth centuries
B.C. was unearthed in 1980. It is a
heroon - a funerary sanctuary -
whose "apsidal" plan, including a
chamberwith an axial colonnade,
has divisions which had to do with
a specific ritual. The interest of
this large building, 45 m in length,
lies in the "veranda" which
surrounds it. This is an outer
portico made with wooden shafts.
Togetherwith its "apsidal"
chevet, this peristyle consisted
of some fifty supports.
1 Apse
Archaeological Evidence
2 Passage between the ritual
rooms
Recent excavations bearing on the oldest examples of sanctuaries, traces of which
3 Ceremonial room have been unearthed using very subtle archaeological techniques, concern various
4 Ceremonial room sites in continental Greece and the islands. The findings converge to a large degree
5 Axial colonnade andthushelpto reconstruct the birth of these peripteral buildings. This is the case
6 Burial-places at Thermum, north of the Gulf of Corinth, at Lefkandi in Euboea, and at Eretria, also
7 Vestibule
in Euboea, where there is evidence pointing back to the ninth and eighth centur¬
8 Porch
ies B.C.
What do we find at these sites? Among still primitive, round huts, there are mud
constructions which are narrow in shape and set lengthwise, often to an east-west
orientation. As if by analogy with the hut, these buildings have a rounded chevet,
described as "apsidal". These structures therefore end in a semi-circular wall (which
is more exactly semi-elliptical), and have interiordivisions created by means of par¬
titions with an axial corridor. These walls are set, on the one hand, between the
entrance (vestibule) and the main room, and, on the other, at the opposite end
between the cella and the apse (opisthodomos). Archaeologists have compared the
arrangement of these areas with the megaron of the Mycenaean palaces.
A variety of developments influenced these early buildings, whose dimensions
range from 10 to 12.5 m in width and 20 to 30 m in length. At Thermum, the
Megaron A must have been covered with a timber frame and thatch, like the huts.
At Eretria, a row of central posts supported the wooden roof. This building has been
christened the "Palace of Apollo".
Before long,thisearlyarchitecture with "apsidal" rooms wasaddedto bya major
additional feature. The building at Lefkandi, which the British School has been ex¬
cavating since 1980, is surrounded by a series of posts forming a light outer portico,
called a "veranda". This envelops the entire structure and turns the layout into an
apsidal one. With a width of 10 m and an already considerable length of 45 m, the
"Funerary Palace" or heroon of Lefkandi had some fifty wooden supports set 2 m
apart from each other, forming a peripteral portico 2 m outside the building.
At Thermum, there is a smaller building, the Temple B, measuring 12.5 by 26 m,
also with an outer portico. This sanctuary, with its "apsidal" plan, has a peristyle
with a total of thirty-six posts. We should stress the fact that the plan used for the
very elongated cella no longer includes the rounded feature of the chevet. It is rect¬
angular (21 .4 by 7.3 m) with a double interior division corresponding to those of the
Lefkandi cella. Conversely, in keeping with the early plan, the portico retains the
"apsidal" layout, whereas the cella takes on a more or less definitive parallelepiped
appearance.
From the moment the two-sided roof appeared, whose gable dominates the
entrance, situated on the narrow side of the "apsidal" building, the formula of the

The Origins ofthe Greek Temple 43

 pediment that would characterize the Greek temple resulted in new carpentry and
woodworking techniques. On the other hand, at the other end of the roof, the apse
is surmounted by the rounded form of the semi-conical thatch roof. It was not until
the disappearance of the "apsidal" plan that a symmetrical solution, with a double
pediment, would come about.
This is the development which, from this embryonic peripteral sanctuary, would
lead to the early prototype represented by the Temple C in the Sanctuary of Apollo.
At the end of the seventh century B.C., this would be superimposed on the early
wooden constructions which we have just described. This early temple atThermum
was built of stone, with a wooden peristyle, and a cella with a row of axial supports
bearing the roof.
This is a building with five fagade columns and fifteen lateral columns, originally
made of timber, but before long replaced by stone shafts, with a decor of terracotta
covering the woodwork in the upper parts. It has an opisthodomos in antis - in other
words, a rear room set between the ends of two side walls, which form an extension
of the side walls of the rectangular cella. This measures 100 feet in length (32 by
7 m), a feature which likens it to the so-called hecatompedon-sanctuary of Samos,
which we shall discuss below.
So excavations, albeit still too infrequent, carried out atthe so-called protogeo¬
metric and geometric levels referring to the corresponding pottery, help to make a
schematic reconstruction of the origins of the peristyle in the earliest places of wor¬
ship built by the Greeks in perishable materials.

The Significance of the Peristyle

The use of columns to support an awning which protects the entrance of a building,
or, thanks to a hypostyle room, to create a very large roofed or covered area, re¬
presents a logical architectural next step. However, a specific concept lurks behind
the idea of using a portico forming a peristyle to surround an enclosed cella, which
is not accessible to the public. But this is less self-evident than might at first appear
to an observer with preconceived cultural notions about the image of the Greek
temple. What might be the significance of such a construction? And what kind of
semiology was it founded upon?
As we have already pointed out, the first early buildings of the eighth and sev¬
enth centuries B.C. were made of timber. This fact will help us to grasp the essence
of the portico. In the light of ancient writings and myths, it makes sense to I ink those
early sanctuaries with agrarian forms of worship, in particular the worship of the
tree, sacred wood and the forest. Roland Martin reminds us that "not far from the
city of Samos, the effigy of Hera, brought by the Argonauts, was honoured beneath
a baldachin, amidst clumps of sacred osier and altars erected in the open". Apollo¬
nius of Rhodes wrote that these same Argonauts stopped off at a small island and
there "created, for Apollo, in a shady grove, a magnificent precinct and an altar
made of piled stones".
The sacred tree of Athena, daughter of Zeus, was the olive (venerated in particu¬
lar at the Erechtheum in the precinct called the Pandrosion). At Delphi, Apollo is
associated with the laurel. At Eretria, the first Temple of Apollo is an "apsidal"
building known as the "Hut of Laurel" or daphnephorion. At Dodona, Zeus took the
place of a goddess of the tree, but he held on to the symbol - the oak, the famous
oracularsite.
What is more, the site of the oracles is often confused with a tree or wood. This
is the case at Didyma, Claros, Gryneion, Alexandria in Troad (Troy), and Soura in
Lycia. Asia, rich in Apollonian cults, boasted many sacred woods which served as
sanctuaries. At Claros, Apollo found shelter among oaks. And up until the middle of
the fourth century B.C., the sanctuary of Asclepius on Kos must have had just the
one temenos formed by a cypress wood and an altar..

44 The Origins ofthe GreekTemple

The old Temple of Hera at Olympia The association between temple and sacred wood is thus a current one. So
Hera, the wife of Zeus, was Strabo reckoned that "poets who embellish everything call any old sanctuary a
the main object of worship at
'sacred wood', even if the wood is treeless".
Olympia, in the north of the
The fact remains that in Archaic buildings, where the col urn ns a re tree trunks, the
Peloponnese. Atemple dedicated
analogy between temple and hallowed forest is obvious. It is in forests that the
to her predated 600 B.C. This
Heraion, which has six fagade xoana are left - wooden statues representing a very rudimentary effigy of the deity.
columns, enables us to follow the Pausanias even specified the plant species which are best suited to these con¬
"petrification" of the outer secrated woodlands: cypress, pine, plane, ash, oak, olive, and laurel.
portico, initially made of wood, As for Varro, who so often echoes Greek authors and traditions, he describes the
with the shafts gradually being
inauguration of a sanctuary by emphasizing that "the temple is an area bordered by
replaced by stone Doric columns.
trees" (On the Latin Language/De lingua latina, VII,9). So the sanctuary was ritually
bounded by the trees of the sacred wood. More specifically, these trees form the
peribolos, the precinct of the divine realm which thus merges with its rustic setting.
From here to the admission that the peripteral colonnade is the reminder or re¬
collection of this primordial forest, abode of the gods and goddesses in the Greek
pantheon, it is just one short step. Architecture represents this pre-eminent place
which contains the divine spirit (numen inest, to borrow the words of Ovid), where
sacredness is concentrated. The outer colonnade or encircling portico is similar to
vegetation, with stems and trunks bursting from the ground, and forms a sunny
place where men and gods come together - a link between heaven and earth. So it
is indeed this sacred wood which is embodied by the temple peristyle, and which
sanctuaries keep the memory of, through the changes represented by the "petrifi¬
cation" phase of built structures, when the entire temple would be erected in stone
- first, blocks of tufa, then in marble with its crystalline surfaces. In this way a kind

The Origins ofthe GreekTemple 45

 A cella lined with niches
The plan of the Temple of Hera at
Olympia reveals the hesitation of
the architect when he opted for
two rows of inner columns instead
of an axial colonnade. Every other
shaft is replaced by a low salient
wall - probably designed to deal
with problems of statics. The
cella is a hecatompedon - that is
a structure, which measures a
hundred feet in length.

of forest accompanied the sanctuary when this latter, leaving green groves and wild Page 47
nature, would take up its place in the centre of cities. Squat columns
The Doric columns of the Temple
The peristyle colonnade thus has a far-reaching significance which exceeds the •
of Hera at Olympia, which can be
mere aesthetic factor proposed by specialists. It is symbolic of the temple and its
seen on the east fagade of the
original context. It lends the building a crucial semiological value by linking it with
temple, are distinctive for their
the primitive sacred wood. Without this symbolic input, architecture might be large diameter (varying from 1 m
reduced to a pointless act, stripped of meaning, whereas it clearly conveys the to 1.28 m) in relation to their
innermost intentions of its creators. Art for art's sake is a modern invention. height.

<

Columns and Materials

At Olympia, the Temple of Hera is a sanctuary erected in about 600 B.C., with six
fagade columns and sixteen lateral columns. It is a "hexastyle". We should note, in > .
this respect, that constant use meant that the number of columns of a temple had
to be established forthe fagade and forthe long sides by taking the corner column
into account each time. The cella has a pronaos, or vestibule, and, in accordance with
the symmetrical number of the fagade columns, does not have an axial colonnade.
This Heraion of Olympia is in fact provided with two rows of inner columns. But
these do not form three naves. Rather, they alternate with small perpendicular walls
which, on either side of the central nave, create four niches with shafts rising up in
the middle of them. This organization illustrates the hesitancy of those early
builders inthe waythey would arrangethe innerarea ofthenaos.
At this stage of our study, the most interesting aspect of the Temple of Hera at
Olympia lies in the way it came about. This helps us to follow up, in an active way,
the material transformations made to the columns, by what is cal led "petrification".
In effect, the outer portico had been built in timber. Little by little, however, the
shafts were replaced by stone columns. It would seem that donors thus found an
opportunity to display their munificence by making this kind of devout gesture. So
the operation was carried out in various stages. The sanctuary with the wooden por¬
ticoes then turned-i-nto a stone temple.
This transformation affected not only the building technique itself, but also
replaced a perishable material - timber - with stone, which is "eternal". In this
sense, the sanctuary is part and parcel of a permanent prospect, unlike the cob
dwelling, which is ephemeral. It can thus be all the better identified with the gods
to whom it is consecrated.
In Syracuse, with the Temple of Apollo dating back to the early sixth century
B.C., it is easy to followthis evolution marked by theerection of the first peripteral

46 The Origins ofthe Greek Temple

 building constructed entirely in stone: its monolithic columns accurately reproduce
the squared trunks of wooden sanctuaries.
It is furthermore by analogy to the axe work on the surface of tree trunks that the
flutes, which lend the column's surface its rhythm, came into being. This formula
was probably "reinvented" by the Greeks, for it appeared in Egypt in circa 2650 B.C.,
in the funerary complex of Djoser, where back-to-back columns - they were not yet
erected freely in space - present this characteristic which would later refine the
shaft by making it "revolve" in the lightthat much better. Egypt reverted tothefor-
mula, once more between 2000 and 1500 B.C., with the polygonal, rather than
fluted, columns of the buildings of the Middle and New Kingdoms. This style, which is
described as "proto-Doric", preceded the Greek Doric style by more than 1 000 years.
Even if it were to pass for a precursory sign of the architectural blossoming of the
Greeks, it would be hard to find any influence - even remote - of Egypt over Greece.
The petrification process thus spread to all sanctuary structures, while at the
same time conserving the forms that had been conceived in timber. The system of
roofconstruction using timber frames was thus quite literally transposed into stone.
The triglyphs of the frieze are the butt-ends of beams and joists, the crossbowmen
are worked in stone, the ceiling coffers painstakingly reproduce joinery structures,
and so on.
Things thus advanced based on a purely formal method, which did not take
the properties of the material into due consideration. Just as a wooden beam is
intended to have flexibility, so a stone lintel or platband, subjected to different
situations and conditions, turned out to be inadequate. In the first place, the
process of transposition was accompanied by a considerable increase in weight,
which had to be taken into account in the construction plans. Further, stone
hampered the use of wide intercolumniation and did not permit the creation of very
large interior areas.
So petrification could, in some instances, culminate in nonsensical solutions, not
to say technological aberrations. These results in no way disheartened the archi¬
tects of the Greek world. An Archaic Doric style
The oldest stone columns of the
The Greek Orders Heraion at Olympia have a broad
capital with a jutting echinus,
In the petrification process that resulted from the emergence of the peristyle,
which seems to be as if com¬
Greek architecture followed a twofold evolution and produced two styles. Authors pressed under the weight of the
of Antiquity themselves described these styles as Doric and Ionic. Before we broach roof supported by the square
our study of the orders, let us bear in mind that in the Archaic Age (beginning of the abacus.
sixth century B.C.), the Aeolic capital had appeared on the north-west coast of Asia
Minor. Its composition clearly reflected the role of the column, originating from the
tree whose image it reproduced around the temple, so that the Aeolic capital,
formed bytwo vertically salient volutes, unfailingly conjured upthe imageof a palm
tree. With its long plant-like crockets, among which there blooms sometimes a pa I -
mette sometimes a crown of falling leaves, this Aeolic column, which is well rep¬
resented at Larisa and Neandria, was probably influenced by the palm-decorated
capitals of Phoenician architecture. Whatever the case may be, it merely bolsters
the interpretation of the portico as an analogon of the sacred wood encircling the
temple.
In dealing with the two great orders of Greece, we must also emphasize the "dic¬
tatorial" aspect which they have taken on in art schools. Fora long time, the history
of architecture has been focused on the features and variations offered by these
stylistic elements, situated half-way between the realm of structure and the realm
of decoration. Analysis of porticoes has galvanized all the energy of specialists, to
the point where the study of the orders - for which, in the Renaissance, Serlio had
provided a rigorous exposition in his treatise L'Architettura (1537-1547) - has
become synonymous with the art of building.

48 The Origins ofthe GreekTemple

Capitals and bases The Doric order is essentially widespread in continental Greece and in Magna
Left: Two Archaic capitals with Graecia (southern Italy and Sicily), whereas the Ionic order, as its name suggests, is
Aeolic volutes. The one at top left
found on the shores of the Aegean and the islands.
comes from Larisa, in Aeolia, and
We shall not go into any detailed description of these styles here, based, as it is,
the other, below it, was found at
on an often specialized and off-putting vocabulary. If we adopt terms such as
Neandria, a city in Troas. These
Aeolic capitals, discovered in Asia volute, echinus, abacus, gorgerin, drum, triglyph, metope, and the like, which are
Minor, date from circa 580 B.C. well-established by sheer use, we shall on the other hand only make passing ref¬
They foreshadow the vertical erence to annulets, festoons, quarter rounds, mutules, dentils, cushions and
volutes of the columns of Perse- springers, balusters, and astragals. We should not confuse the study of decoration
polis.
with that of the building itself.
Centre: An Ionic capital seen from
In his Histoire de I'Architecture, published at the very end of the nineteenth cen¬
the front, from below and in
profile. The volutes now descend
tury, Auguste Choisy summed up as follows the qualities "of the two classic types
laterally and frame a row of ova. of order: the Doric, male, squat, severe, and rough; the Ionic, rich, elegant, and
Above right: Two profiles of Doric light". The first style - the Doric - consists of columns which have no base, with the
capitals, one Archaic, with a wide shaft tapering towards the top, surmounted by a geometric capital, with an echinus
echinus, the other Classical, with a supporting a square abacus "whose conspicuous salience awakens the idea of a cor¬
more elongated echinus.
belled structure devised to reduce the span of the architrave".
Below right: Two types of bases of
Aword is perhaps needed abouttheterm echinus, which denotesthe round part,
Ionic columns with a large number
of tori and scotias.
in the form of a large moulding placed beneath the square abacus, the curvature of
which, observed laterally, offers a more or less tight profile. In the Archaic Age, the
echinus is full, with a generous spread, and can be likened to a flattened roll. In the
Classical Age, it becomes straighter and more upright, before taking on a certain
austerity in the Hellenistic-Roman world. The abacus is a square tablet set on top
of the echinus. This element provides the transition with the upper sections.
The whole structure of the capital thus forms an intermediary body between the

TheOriginsoftheGreekTemple 49
 The Greek orders
The Doric structure and the Ionic
structure at the level of the
entablature.

The Doric, Ionic and

Corinthian orders
Comparison between the Doric
order (left), the Ionic order
(centre) and the Corinthian order
(right). The column becomes
more slender and refined, and the
entablature is accordingly lighter.

Page 51
The power of the Doric style
in Sicily
Detail of a Doric capital in the
so-called Temple of Concord at
Agrigentum, dating from circa
430 B.C. The shift from the twenty
grooves in the shaft to the
Classical echinus, which is still
fluid and noble, is achieved by
means of the annulets of the
gorgerin, which forms a tie-like
feature between the vertical and
horizontal elements.

50 The Origins ofthe Greek Temple

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 vertical thrust of the column and the load represented by the horizontal structure
of the entablature, made up of the architrave, the frieze and the cornice supporting
the roof.
In the Doric order, the entablature of the building is given cadence by the al¬
ternating triglyphs each with three vertical grooves or flutes (more precisely two
glyphs surrounded by two half-glyphs) and metopes, which are filler panels often
bearing carved ornamentation. Lastly, the corners and the ridge of the building
are decorated with acroteria which emphasize the pediment bearing the relief
decoration.
The Ionic order developed later - in about 590 B.C. - and is characterized by the
combination of a series of elements which already existed in the Asian world. The
creations of Samos and Ephesus - today lost, but about which the writings of
ancient authors and modern excavations help to give a fairly precise idea - reveal
the main features: the column, considerably more slender than that of the Doric
style, is narrow and not markedly tapered towards the top; it stands on a moulded
base, sometimes bell-shaped, and has a capital with two lateral volutes, the spiral
scroll-like motifs of which contain egg-and-dart patterns and palmettes. The archi¬
trave is lightened by staggered layers which suggest the superposition of three
beams; the frieze which runs around the building is not interrupted by the regular Ionic subtlety in the Erechtheum
presence of triglyphs, and so lends itself to a continuous decorative motif; the cor¬ The colonnade forming the east

nice, which is not very salient, sometimes has a row of dentils showing the ends of fagade of the Erechtheum, on the
Athenian Acropolis, includes an
joists inherited from wooden architecture. All this petrified woodwork is neverthe¬
Ionic capital made with marble
less treated in a lighter way than in the Doric order. For the prime quality of the Ionic
from Paros, where the corner
order resides in its refinement, its femininity, and in the wealth of its ornamenta¬
volute is off-centre, and out of
tion. line. This is the solution adopted
We should add here that the two orders - Doric and Ionic - are not confined to to accentuate the ends of the
their respective areas of origin. Ionic temples were erected in Sicily and on the portico.

52 The Origins ofthe Creek Temple

The elegance of the Acropolis in Athens. Doric sanctuaries in Greece and Italy have an internal organiza¬
Corinthian style tion that is handled in the Ionic style, as is well illustrated by the Temple of Apollo
The basket formed by the
at Bassae and the Temple of Athena at Paestum. The association of these two
Corinthian capital - the last of
inspired styles which fuel Greek architecture greatly enhanced forms of plastic
the Greek orders to make its
appearance - is based on the
expression. It shows the remarkable creativity of the Greek builders, free of all man¬
decorative element represented ner of "sectarianism".
by the acanthus leaf. This leaf
bursts forth in superimposed rows The Role of Sculpted Decoration
beneath the four corner volutes
In the Greektemple, sculpture is not restricted to a secondary role envolving mere
supporting the abacus. Tradition
ornamentation. It adds a broader significance to the monument and lends a specific
has it that the Athenian sculptor
spiritual dimension to its role of sanctuary. The set of bas-reliefs places the build¬
Callimachus designed this floral
capital after seeing a bunch of ing in a cosmological and religious system: the connotations of the outer portico
flowers embellishing a tomb in closely link the temple with the natural sources of pantheist rites and worship. In
Corinth. Capital from the Tholos addition to the obvious allusion to trees and sacred woods represented by columns
of Polyclitus the Younger, at arranged in peristyle form, its decorative embellishments and motifs endow it with
Epidaurus. (Epidaurus, Museum)
another interpretative key, based on the themes expressed in sculpted pediments
and friezes.
The study of this architectural ornamentation certainly reveals a world in which
man rubs shoulders with gods and monsters alike. A whole hieratic bestiary looms
up on the tympana of the sanctuary, enlivening the friezes and metopes which run
all round the building. Gorgons and Medusas, Centaurs and Cyclopes, Harpies and
Erinyes, Chimaeras and Sirens, male and female Sphinxes and Sphinges, all confront
human beings underthe eye of the gods.
Mighty battles of giants and bloody battles of Amazons, the duels of Achilles
against Penthesilea (queen of the Amazons) and the Centaurs against the Lapiths

The Origins ofthe Greek Temple 53

 A winged sphinx from the
Acropolis
This sculpture, dating from the
mid-sixth century B.C., was
discovered at the end of the
ninteenth century. It illustrates
the apotropaic, or evil-averting,
role of the monsters and figures
gracing the Greektemple.
(Athens, Acropolis Museum)

A fiery steed
Dating from the late sixth or early
fifth century B.C., this handsome
horse made with marble from
Paros was one of the sculptures
that were buried as a result of the
destruction wrought by the
Persians when they sacked Athens
in 480 B.C. (Athens, Acropolis
Museum)

54 The Origins ofthe GreekTemple

The lions of Delos illustrate the eternal struggle between good and evil, and man's fight against
These Archaic lions, sculpted in immoderation and the irrational.
Naxian marble, stand on the island
Everywhere, on the front of temples, the heroic feats of Heracles slaying the
of Delos, on a terrace dedicated to
lion, the stag, and the Cretan bull, bearing off the Cercopes and wrestling Triton,
Apollo. They date from the end of
the seventh century B.C., and line
Theseus thwarting the wiles of the Minotaur, and, in turn, doing battle with the
the processional route leading to Centaurs, are so many vivid and graphic illustrations of the great myths. Here we
the sacred lake. have a mixture of primordial terror, primitive violence, and hubris, that excess and
that driving force of the dramas which put rhythm into the elegant verses of the
Greek tragedians.
ForGreekart, as it is proclaimed bythe embellishments of sanctuaries, is notjust
a hymn to beauty. It also highlights terrifying and salutary images of monsters: the
savage smile of the Gorgons, and the petrifying stare of the Medusas, that turned
everything to stone.
It was in the Archaic Age, for the most part - as if to conjure up chthonian
powers and their evil spells - that formal expression was given to such themes. They
lend the sanctuary its cautionary character, for the lions of the gutters and the
griffins of the acroterias are symbolic, apotropaic depictions which are designed to
enable people to thwart the forces of evil. Victory also puts in an appearance, by
way of paradigm, in this iconography, when Perseus cuts Medusa's throat, on a
metope at Selinus, or when the lions of Cybele, mother-goddess of Anatolia, de¬
vour the giants, in the Treasury of Siphnos.
But the repertory of the sculptors who decorated the temple with its figurative
ornamentation was not limited just to clashes symbolizing war, and terrors trigger¬
ing the vicissitudes and anxieties of life. It not only included the statue of the god
in all his majesty, the "idol", in his comforting power and beauty, but also offered a

The Origins ofthe Greek Temple 55

 The "Calf-bearer" of the Acropolis
Discovered in 1865, this statue of
the "Calf-bearer", which dates
from the mid-sixth century B.C.,
conveys the desire for humanity
which is expressed in Archaic
sculpture. The artist underscores
both the virile strength of the
figure and his gentle attentiveness
to the person portrayed.
(Athens, Acropolis Museum)

radiant image of Man - the statues of the korai and kouroi, those young people who
express a quiet hope in life, play the role of offerings in sanctuaries. In their motion¬
less and serene poses, they attain their greatest perfection in the collection of sixth-
century sculptures which was hastily buried by the fleeing Athenians when the
Persians arrived to occupy and destroy the Acropolis in 480 B.C., on the eve of the
battles of Salamis and Plataea.
These works, which adorned the first Parthenon, and which were recovered dur¬
ing excavations undertaken in 1865, are among the most impressive examples of the
irrepressible faith in Man that Greece has ever offered up. The beautiful and solemn
girls, in their most precious attire, with its drapery frozen in Archaic folds, and
the athletic young men, immobile in their primordial nakedness, glorify the Greek
people.
Between the grandiose and inaccessible effigy of the god, in the splendid sol¬
itude of his naos, and the grimacing sphinxes repelling harmful forces, and the fear¬
some giants which symbolize the barbarian world, these radiant images of a new ci¬
vilization turn the Greek temple into a peerless place of balance and moderation.

56 The Origins ofthe GreekTemple

The enigmatic smile of a kore
This beautiful Archaic statue of a
kore, dating from around 520-510
B.C., combines a concern forthe
details of clothing and an austere
stylization. The vestiges of
polychromy help us to imagine the
original appearance of this statue
which was designed to embellish
the Sanctuary of Athena.
(Athens, Acropolis Museum)

It stands, like a reassuring point of reference, between the macrocosm of the

astronomers and the microcosm of the physicists, those two chasms explored by the
pre-Socratic philosophers.

The Origins ofthe GreekTemple 57

 The "Peplos kore" A rapid development
Made in 530 B.C., this statue, of the primitive xoana. The red Between the monsters on the than a century elapsed - and
which is clad in the strict Doric head of hairtumbles in long curls pediment of the original Temple sculpture had reached its full
peplos, is among the discoveries overthe garment, which shows no of Athena, in Athens, dating from maturity. (Athens, Acropolis
made at the Athenian Acropolis. It folds. (Athens, Acropolis Museum) 560 B.C., and the handsome head Museum)
retains the somewhat stiff quality of the "Blond Boy", of 480, less

58 The Origins ofthe Greek Temple

 The Role and Function
of the Greek Temple

The Greek "idol"

It is thus that the learned world
was introduced, in 1815, to the
"Minerva of the Parthenon" on
herthrone, according to a print
taken from the Olympian Jupiter
by Quatremere de Quincy.

In a polytheistic Greek religion with a whole host tuary, for personal devotions. The temple was orate a happy event, for which the divine powers
of deities, where mythology tells of their powers, devised as the centre of a series of rites and were duly thanked.
attributes and behavior towards human beings, the clergy alone was permitted access to it to Above all else, worship called for acts of
temples play a specifically collective role. The perform the services required by the particular purification, lustrations (cleansing ceremonies)
temple is the abode of a god - Apollo, Zeus, cult. In this sense, the temple, which was not and fumigations. Prayers then rose up from the
Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, and the like. Inside designed to receive the congregation of faithful whole congregation gathered before the sanc¬
the sanctuary the deity.appears in the form of an souls in its naos, was an instrument which tuary. They beseeched the higher forces to be
"idol" - the statue of the god is represented attracted and focused on processions and fest¬ benevolent and associated the deity with the
with anthropomorphic features. Originally an ivals, and received offerings and libations. The decisions of the society for which it acted as
unsophisticated wooden effigy, the god was (outside) altar was used for lavish sacrifices of guardian. It was the god who ensured abund¬
subsequently depicted in the form of a stone thoroughbred animals, both for holocausts ance in agrarian rites, as well as the fertility of
sculpture, then a bronze one, until he - or she - (sacrifices usually involving destruction by fire) the herds and flocks. It was the god who
finally turned into a precious "icon", whose face and for the most symbolic and specific of gifts guaranteed the success of undertakings which
and hands were made of ivory, with gold finery, required by the service of the god. The temple he steered towards an assured future.

thus forming what is known as a chryselephant¬ treasure was thus made up of precious fabrics to In all these activities the temple played the

ine statue - made of ivory and gold. clothe the god, and the utensils (dishes and so role of a catalyst: it embodied that preeminent

This hallowed statue - standing or seated - on) used in services of worship. function of holy setting or temenos, forming the

which gave the deity a hieratic and impressive Statues were also dedicated to the god: transition, by way of its porticoes, between

image, held solitary sway in the naos, occupying korai and kouroi were offered as proof of a per¬ omnipresent Nature and the divine world. It

the centre of the cella of the temple. It was the son's piety and of the devoutness of members of embodied the cosmos, or universal order, as a

sign of the immanent presence of the sacred societies expressing their thanks for wishes place where man and god met, emphasizing even

power within the city. granted. Sculptures played the part of ex votos, more the omnipotence of the Olympian gods. It

This Greek deity addressed the group in par¬ exalting the glory conferred by victories won. was the place of religio, to use the Latin term

ticular. It only dealt with individuals in excep¬ Likewise, in the great pan-Hellenic sanctuaries, which underlines the god's role as intermediary

tional circumstances, in the secrecy of the sanc¬ cities erected symbolic columns to commem¬ of the sacred.

TheOriginsoftheGreekTemple sg
 From Archaism to Classicism

Page 67 The Greek West, otherwise known as Magna Graecia, has one obvious advantage
Delicately sketched over continental Greece and Asia Minorfortoday's observer: it did not sufferfrom
The small ceramic bottles
the ravages of the Persian Wars. No cities were destroyed, as they were after the
containing perfume were called
revolt of Ionia against the Achaemenids, no monuments were levelled, as they were
alabastra, because they were
originally made from a hollowed- in Athens at Darius' command. In Sicily and southern Italy the hiatus caused by the
out and turned block of alabaster. catastrophic events of the decade from 490-480 B.C. simply did not exist.
On this white-ground vase, dating Nowhere do so many sanctuaries exist in such a relatively good state of conser¬
from circa 470 B.C.,the skilfully vation. In Magna Graecia, there are no less than six great temples whose porticoes
rendered scene depicts a young
are still standing, dating back to the sixth and fifth centuries. So the vagaries of his¬
woman at hertoilet. The burial
tory have not robbed us of such early - Archaic - creations, which have often van¬
places of Magna Graecia - like
ished elsewhere.
those of the Etruscans - housed
valuable imported Attic pieces. It is thus possible to trace the development of architecture from these early
(Geneva, Museum of Art and examples - with buildings such as the "Basilica" of Paestum (circa 540 B.C.)„up to
History) the Classical monuments erected a century later at Agrigentum and Segesta, where
work on the unfinished Temple of the Elymians came to a halt in around 425.

Colonization and Development

At a very early stage, Greek colonization spread throughout the Mediterranean
basin. This expansion, which began in the eighth century B.C., occurred at the same
time as the appearance of the temple, complete with its peripteral colonnade - that
characteristic feature of the sanctuary dedicated to a cluster of city deities. Greek
colonization had two main foci: on the one hand, the creation of trading posts set
up to serve Greek vessels plying the Mediterranean, and, on the other, the estab¬
lishment of colonial settlements which made farming possible - and the surplus
farm production could be profitably traded with the mother country.
Authors of Antiquity looked forthe reasons and causes behind this expatriation
toward far horizons, as opted for by certain denizens of the city. They attributed it
to a chronic shortfall of workable land. Certainly, this same shortage of agricultural
resources still afflicts Greece today. At the outset, the Greeks laid the blame at the
feet of the inheritance system which split estates up among all the male heirs. The
parcelling of land brought about by this custom very soon made it impossible to
farm any property in a profitable way. Peasants and smallholders were driven to sell
On the tympanum of the
their paltry patches of land. The result was the formation of huge estates belonging
temple of Marasa
to wealthy landowners. These properties simply grew and grew in size. Their
One of the Dioscuri - the Sons of
Zeus - with his horse, supported owners forced their farm labourers to set out in search of fortune to other shores,
by a triton. This marble sculpture, where they might find their place in the sun, even if by force of arms. Cities fitted
126 cm high, dates from the end out vessels on which settlers-to-be then embarked, adventurously heading, with
of the fifth century B.C. With its their whole families, forthe great unknown. In the eyes of modern observers, how¬
spare elegance, it once adorned
ever, the essential cause of this colonial phenomenon lies rather in a continual
the pediment of the Ionic
growth in population, resulting from a better use of natural resources.
sanctuary of Marasa, at Locri.
(Reggio di Calabria, National
In its very earliest phase, Greek expansion dates back to the Mycenaean age and
Museum) the taking of Troy, that key to the Hellespont (the strait now known as the

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 63

 Page 65
Dardanelles), which barred access for Greek mariners to the world of the Scythians.
The "Basilica" at Paestum
In no time it had crept eastward to the shores of the Sea of Marmara, then to the
The first Temple of Hera, at
Black Sea as far as the Crimea, and the mysterious Colchis region, south of the Cau¬ Posidonia (Paestum), dating
casus. In Asia Minor, the Greeks occupied the shores of Pamphylia. In Syria, in about from 540 B.C., has nine Archaic
800 B.C., they set up a trading post (emporion) at Al-Mina. To the south, Cyrenaica columns on its fagade. The

was colonized in 631 by settlers from Thera. distinctive features of this

building, miraculously preserved,
It was to the west, however, in the direction of Magna Graecia (southern Italy
are its powerful colonnade
and Sicily), that the movement was busiest. Indeed, there are echoes of it in the
with curved shafts, and the Doric
mythical voyage of Odysseus. Cumae, just north of Naples, was a Greek outpost
capitals with theirflattened
founded in 757 on Italian soil. Naxos, near Taormina, and Catania were founded in echinus.
the same period. Zancle (present-day Messina) dates back to 740, Rhegium (mod¬
ern Reggio), in Calabria, to 735, and Megara Hyblaea in Sicily to 727. The site of
Syracuse, together with the small island of Ortygia, was occupied by Corinth in 733.
Sybaris was established in 720, Tarentum (modern Taranto) in about 710, Meta-
pontum in about 690, and Gela in 688. Selinus and Posidonia (Paestum) date
back to 650, Himera to 648, Acragas (Agrigentum) to 580, and so on.
The creation of these cities was not achieved without struggles against the
Phoenicians, who had gained a firm foothold in the west. Battles also had to be
fought against the indigenous people. There were noteworthy clashes with the
Elymians in Sicily and with the Etruscans who held the northern part of the Italian
peninsula, from south of Rome upward.
The settlers7 spirit of enterprise, coupled with the richness of the land they then
farmed, very quickly turned these western Greek possessions into thriving cities.
The arts and sciences flourished, while innovative political systems were worked
out - in particular, strong powers based on the personal authority of a tyrant.
By way of example, we should mention Dionysius I and his son Dionysius II of
Syracuse, as well as their relative, Dion, who summoned the philosopher Plato. We Greek expansion in Italy
should also mention Gelon, tyrant of Gela, Theron of Acragas (Agrigentum), and The foundation of colonies often
clashed with local peoples who
Gelon's brother Hieron, patron and protector of the poets Aeschylus, Pindar and
put up stiff resistance to the
Simonides. But we should make special mention of the role of one particular and
establishment of Greek trading-
enlightened despot: Archytas of Tarentum (circa 430-350), friend of Plato, strat¬
posts. The result was a series of
egist, engineer and astronomer, who was also an outstanding Pythagorean philo¬ conflicts in which cavalry and
sopher. infantry both took part. This base
The great thinker and mathematician Pythagoras, born in Samos in Ionia in about of an Attic bowl, attributed to the

570, had emigrated to Croton (modern Crotone) in Calabria in 530, where he had vase painter Euphronius (about
500 B.C.), shows a horseman
founded his school. He was eventually driven out of this city under pressure from
armed with a lance. (Rome, Villa
democratic - not to say demagogic - movements, and died in Metapontum in about
Giulia Museum)
480 B.C. He bequeathed not only a corpus of work of paramount importance in the
field of the theory of proportions and whole numbers, but, among his disciples, he
also passed for a thaumaturge - a miracle-worker - and a genius (daimon).
Pythagoras played a rolethatgreatly resembledthatofthefounderof a religion.
With his motto "All things are numbers" as a point of departure, he would develop
a sort of rational mysticism which was to have a considerable influence in the
artistic arena.

Aesthetics and Numbers

For us, today, it seems self-evident that Greek architecture is beautiful, and that the
ancient temples fulfil an aesthetic need. We tacitly admit that Classical monuments
were designed to give concrete expression to an aspect of the Beautiful, so better
to honour the gods. But these concepts of beauty and aesthetics never feature in
the sadly rare writings of Antiquity which discuss architecture.
When philosophers - and Plato and Aristotle in particular - worked outtheories
dealing with aesthetics, these theories were applied to very different subjects. In
addition to the physical beauty of the human being - which leads to attraction (eros)

64 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

zbf-
'■rH
-■?]
r&ffj .•
5
 The warriors of Riace (Calabria)
These two classical Greek
bronzes, discovered in 1972 on
the Calabrian coast, were a
phenomenal find in the field of
submarine archaeology. Ori¬
ginating from Attica, they date
respectively from 460 B.C. for
Warrior A (on the left), and 430
B.C. for Warrior B (detail, on the
right). These pieces were made
using the lost-wax technique,
and are a good illustration of the
Classical zenith of Greek art.
(Reggio di Calabria, National
Museum)

- aesthetics related (and still relates) to the arts, and to sculpture and painting in
particular. In these areas, the criteria for judgement are consequently the true, the
good, and the right. The best sculpture is thus the one that is truest and bears the
closest likeness (mimesis); the most beautiful painting is the one that comes closest
to nature. And the ancient authors would mention the famous Grapes of Apelles
(fourth century B.C.) which - or so the celebrated anecdote has it - were so lifelike
that "birds would come and peck at their seeds".
In relationtoarchitecture,there could be noquestion of attraction, resemblance
or naturalism, any more than of truth orthe philosophical good, forthe very struc¬
tures of architecture are not figurative. It stems from neither eros nor mimesis. This
is why works dealing with the aesthetics of monuments are wanting. It would seem,
in reality, that architecture, in the mind and spirit of the Greeks, was based on other
criteria.
The first author of Antiquity to draw up a treatise on architecture was Vitruvius,
with his De architectura, a work in ten books, written in Latin in the first century B.C.
The interest of this work, for our purposes, is that it makes constant reference to
Greek writings. Vitruvius in fact mentions texts which, on the whole, have not sur-

66 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

 vived to this day, but which do share one basic thing in common: they are comment¬
aries in which architects explain their work.
Thus Theodorus wrote about the Temple of Hera on Samos, Chersiphron of Crete
and his son Metagenes wrote on the Temple of Artemis (the Artemision) at Ephesus,
Pythius of Priene on the Temple of Athena at that site, Philon of Eleusis about
the arsenal on the Piraeus, Ictinus on the Parthenon, and so on. So these writings did
not form a general theory of architecture. Rather, they confined themselves to
imparting the intentions of the builders concerned.
Vitruvius, however, also cites one or two theoretical treatises - by Silenos, a De
symmetriis doricorum ("On Symmetry in the Doric"), and by Arcesias a De symmetriis
corinthiis ("On Symmetry in the Corinthian"). Philon, likewise, is purported to have
published a De aedium sacrarum symmetriis ("On Symmetry in Sacred Temples"). In
all these works, the term "symmetry" should be understood in its accepted mean¬
ing peculiar to the Greeks, which does not tally with ours. It is this meaning which
concerns us here.
Vitruvius himself included the notion of symmetry within a system of propor¬
tions. Through a series of correspondences, these latter tend to subject the com¬
position of a work of art to a set of relations based on reciprocity and balance, which
produce harmony. These relations, or proportions, are conveyed by numerical
values. They are expressed by means of single numbers. This interplay within
An Archaic metope at Paestum governs the monument and forms a kind of network which obeys arithmetic and
Coming from the Heraion at geometric rules. It is these proportions which form the "symmetry" in the meaning
the mouth of the Silarus (about
used by Greek authors. And the "mathematical" construction subsequently rep¬
530 B.C.), this sculpted metope
resented by a building is based on numerical factors.
depicts two young female dancers
clad in the chiton, decorating this
The entire significance of this system lies in the value which the Pythagoreans
small treasury close to Paestum. invested in numbers. For Pythagoras, numbers are the expression of a fundamental
These are the first monumental language and vocabulary which link men and gods. Number isthe principle behind
sculptures which make up the all things. It represents the eternal character of reality. "Number pre-exists in the
Doric decoration. (Paestum,
mind of god." And this "divine number" lies at the root of rhythm and harmony,
National Museum)
which depend on the ratios of proportions. It is they which imbue a work with its
beauty and perfection.
In the minds of the ancients, numbers thus represented the numen (power, force,
majesty) of the divine. For Plato - who was greatly influenced by Pythagoras -
"numbers are the highest degree of knowledge", and the neo-Pythagorean
Nicomachus of Gerasa, declared that "everything is ordered by numbers".
Numbers were thus studied as units which express an eternal Truth.
As the outcome of a set of calculated and quantified proportions and ratios
which are applied as much to the ground plan as to the elevation of a building, the
Greek sanctuary forms a "model" designed to express pure ideas and set down the
essential principles of divine "thought". It rendered tangible the Word [logos), in
the meaning given to it by the architect in his material construction, governed by
mathematical rules.
In order to gain a meaningful grasp of the real nature of this approach, which
turns the temple into a harmonious three-dimensional arrangement, based on
symmetria, we must refer to the combinations which are made possible by whole
numbers in Pythagorean thought. These numbers each have their own value, within
a reference system which is part of a coherent body of thought. They express a semi¬
ology that is loaded with meaning. For these numbers can be squared or cubed;
their root can be deduced; they can be set down in an arithmetical or geometric
series, and the like. They are accordingly part of a mathematical syntax. These rela¬
tions imbue them with their meaning in an interplay of proportions, as well as in a
symbolic system.
With regard to this Law of Number, which governed both musical chords and
the architecture of the universe long before it came to control the architecture of

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 67

 The plans and site of Paestum
The Greek city of Posidonia, south 1 First Temple of Hera, known Below: Plan of the "Basilica" and
of Naples, shows a regular layout as "Basilica" plan of the second Temple of
with its main avenue lined with 2 Second Temple of Hera Hera, with elevation of the fagade
three Doric temples: 3 Temple of Athena and section.

68 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

Paestum: a museum of Doric art sanctuaries, we should mention one or two properties of the proportions applied
The coastal plain of Posidonia is by Greek builders. Thus we have the famous right-angled or so-called Pythagorean
the site of admirably preserved
triangle which is based on the numbers 3,4 and 5 and their respective squares (9 and
Greek monuments in wild natural
16 which equal 25), from which stem a whole set of essential ratios; likewise, the
surroundings. In the foreground,
arithmetical and geometric sequences of whole numbers, like the Fibonacci
the Archaictemple known as the
"Basilica", behind which stands Sequence, come into this calculated transcription of reality. Lastly, a mention of the
the Classical Sanctuary of Hera, Golden Section, also known as the "Divine Proportion", the formula for which goes
dating from 460-440 B.C., con¬ thus: "Division of a line into mean and extreme ratio". This abstract formula can be
temporary with the Parthenon more simply translated as the "division of a given line so that the ratio of the whole
in Athens.
line to the larger interval equals the ratio of the larger interval to the smaller".
For the Pythagoreans, numbers were conceived as surfaces, shapes and points.
These constructions based on points set at regular intervals, forming homogeneous
groups, were formulated with the help of the gnomon, that is, the set square. This
instrument - or, more precisely, this tool - which makes it possible to draw shapes
or figures, reveals the profound connection between architects and Pythagorean
mathematicians. For the set square is the very symbol of the master-builder.
The mathematical approach leads to the use of a constant: a module. It is the
module - appropriate to each and every building - that makes it possible to attain
eurhythmia, that harmonious organization stemming from an ordinatio, ora common
measurement of the different parts of the work. Numbers and proportions are thus
the proper language of the architect. In expressing a higher reality, they turn the
temple into the material realization of divine Truth.

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 6g

 The Role of Magna Graecia One of the capitals
The bulk of Pythagoras' work saw the light of day in Magna Graecia. It was at of the "Basilica"

Croton and Metapontum that the great Ionian philosopher instructed and taught Broadly flattened beneath the
square abacus, the Doric capital of
his followers, assembled in a school of active, if frequently persecuted, "zealots".
the first Temple of Hera shows a
So it is a good idea to embark on the study of Greek sanctuaries by considering the
decorative motif formed by lotus-
buildings of southern Italy and Sicily. flower leaves around the gorgerin,
Our illustration of these overall principles and philosophical-cum-religious and where the shaft meets the base of
numerical concepts which govern architectural expression may well involvejustthe the echinus.

standard example of the Parthenon of Athens, culmination of the quantified

abstraction of Greek art, but Magna Graecia nonetheless offers the possibility of
tracing the development of architectural forms, because of the numerous temples
still standing there.
By studying the buildings that have come down to us, often admirably pre¬
served, the way the building of these sanctuaries was approached helps to grasp the
techne - the art of building - of the Greeks. These temples are among the earliest
endeavours to construct monuments between the last third of the sixth century and
the end of the fifth, the period which marks the pinnacle of classical architecture.
The Greek cities of Sicily and southern Italy - among which we should mention,
in particular, Posidonia (Paestum), Syracuse, Acragas (Agrigentum), Selinus and Page 77
Segesta - form, in effect, a museum of buildings which spans more than a century. A perspective view of the
Unlike many sanctuaries in Greece and Ionia, the buildings created in Magna Grae¬ Archaic portico
The energy of the first Temple of
cia were not built of marble, because that material of choice was not available. They
Hera at Paestum is expressed by
were built of local stone which, in most cases, was nothing more than rather rough
powerfully fluted grooves which
tufa. It is because of this feature, moreover, that these buildings escaped the fate
underscore the accentuated curve
of many other ancient monuments destroyed by lime-burners to make mortar. of the early Doric style.

70 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

 j§
, .-is'* ,
An Archaic Example: the "Basilica" of Paestum
The site of Posidonia (Paestum), south of Naples, miraculously survived the Middle
Ages, forgotten as it was in the marshy plain at the mouth of the river Silarus (mod¬
ern Sele). From the end of the imperial Roman period, and in particular in the imme¬
diate wake of the great invasions, the marshes created by the river's spates and
bursting aqueducts which continued to convey mountain waters, turned the city, in
effect, into an insalubrious area. Flooded land turned into coppices in this mal¬
odorous delta, hiding from view all the temples there, which consequently sank into
oblivion, while the city itself was abandoned.
In the eighteenth century, when the ancient city was rediscovered with its walls
and three sanctuaries virtually intact, Europe started to develop a keen interest in
Antiquity. This was when the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum began.
The oldest of the three temples at Paestum, the so-called "Basilica", a sanctuary
dedicated to Hera, dates back to circa 540 B.C. Its portico has fifty columns (nine
widthwise and eighteen lengthwise). The fluted shafts are conspicuously curved
and have beautiful capitals with an elegant echinus in the form of a rounded loaf
beneath a square abacus. A gorgerin or small frieze of leaves marks the link with the
shaft itself. Above the portico, only the blocks of the architrave have been pre¬
The first Temple of Hera
served. The entire frieze, decorative work and superstructures have all vanished. Taken from the work published
Because the shorter sides have an uneven number of columns (nine), the organi¬ in 1791 by de Lagardette and
zation of the sanctuary is governed by an axial colonnade. In this sense, the "Basil¬ entitled Les Ruines de Paestum ou

ica" is a copy of Archaic models, such as the Temple C in the Sanctuary of Apollo at Posidonia, this inner view of the
Basilica shows the organization
Therm urn, discussed in the previous chapter, and the first Hera ion of Samos, dating
based on the axial colonnade
back to the eighth century B.C., which is a hecatompedon (a temple that is 100 feet
which governs the symmetrical
in length). At Paestum, this inner portico which divides the naos into two equal
structure of the building, domin¬
naves has eight columns, with those at the ends set against the inside walls which ated by a nine-shaft fagade - a
delimit the smaller sides of the hall. The antepenultimate intercolumniation is wider survivor of the Archaic formulae.
A paved avenue for carts
The main thoroughfare which
linked the sanctuaries of Paestum
still exists in the form of a straight
road, evidence of a form of town-
planning that has features which
relate it to the Hippodamian plan.

than the others, so that it can accommodate the statue of the goddess. The "Basil¬
ica" has a vestibule orpronaos with three columns between the antae, and a treasury
chamber which is entered through the naos.
To illustrate the system of proportions characteristic of the design of this
temple, we should point out that the dimensions of the ground plan are 24.5 by
54.3 m, and that the length of the stylobate (the basal area on which the columns
stand) corresponds to 100 Ionic cubits. The layout corresponds to the 4:9 propor¬
tion that we find in the Parthenon. On the four sides of the temple, the surround¬
ing gallery measures one unit and this determines the proportion of the very
elongated cella which recurs in all the early sanctuaries.
This cella is based on the 2:7 proportion (that is, 4-2 = 2 and 9-2 = 7). Without
counting either the pronaos or the treasury chamber forming a sort of adytum, which
each measure one unit of depth, the naos fits the 2:5 proportion.
So the interplay of symmetria, based on whole numbers, is strictly observed in
the "Basilica" of Paestum, which was erected precisely at the time when Pytha-

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 73

 A temple dedicated to Athena
Situated chronologically between
the "Basilica" and the second
Temple of Hera, the sanctuary of
the daughter of Zeus, at Paestum
includes typically Archaic features
- conspicuously curved shafts
and broad Doric capitals. It also
has an entablature on the lofty
pediments, with somewhat
cumbersome triglyphs and
metopes.

Page 75
The majestic fagade of the
Temple of Athena
The hexastyle marks a lightening
of the columns when compared
with the broader shafts of the
"Basilica". But everything here
conveys the Severe style of the
contemporary sculpture on
metopes.

goras was teaching at Croton, less than 200 miles from Posidonia. The fact that the
first Temple of Hera is based on a length of 100 Ionic cubits supports the hypothesis
of the influence of the philosopher-mathematician from Samos. What is more,
the ground plan itself, with its broad galleries surrounding the cella, attests to a
"concept of space that is more Ionic than Doric" (Roland Martin).

The Temple of Athena

The influence of Ionic architecture is clearly visible in the Temple of Athena at Pae¬
stum. Built shortly after the "Basilica", this temple - long known as the Temple of
Ceres - dates from the end of the sixth century. It is a hexastyle (sixfagade columns)
with thirteen columns at the sides. It measures 14.54 by 32.88 m (that is 40 feet in
width and 96 in length), and is set in a 5:12 rectangle, which tallies exactly with the
number of intercolumniations (after Gottfried Gruben).
The interest of this temple lies in the eight inner columns (four in front of the
pronaos and two on either side of the back of the corner, with the second up against
the end of the anta wall); for, unlike the portico of the outer peristyle in the Archaic
Doric style, the inner organization is purely Ionic, with volute capitals. The pro¬
portions of the naos correspond to the simple 1:2 ratio (two adjacent squares). A mixture of styles at Paestum
This inner portico, which precedes the entrance to the naos, shows a determina¬ If the peripteral colonnade is
purely Doric, the Temple of
tion to bring together, in a well-balanced whole, the two major stylistic trends - the
Athena at Paestum - showing the
Ionic order and the Doric - peculiar to Greek architecture. This experiment
influence of the architecture of
was undertaken several times over, in particular for the temple at Bassae in the
Asia Minor - offers one of the
Peloponnese attributed to Ictinus. earliest examples of a blend of
The entrance of the naos, which has neithertreasury no r opisthodomos, is framed Doric and Ionic styles. In fact it
by two stair wells giving access to the upper parts of the building. It would seem adopts an Ionic organization for

that this distinctive feature, which recurs in several temples at Agrigentum the eight shafts of the inner
portico. In this way, four columns
(Temples of Heracles and Hera Lacinia and the so-called Temple of Concord), shows
of the pronaos, plus two corner
oriental origins. We know that Syrian-Lebanese sanctuaries included access ways to
columns and two columns set so as
a hypaethral (or roofless) terrace designed for fire rituals calling for the provision
to abut the antae walls, are more
of pyres and similar to those later unearthed at Baalbek and Palmyra. Do these slender, and surmounted by
symmetrical stairwells - the one for going up, the other down - derive from this capitals with volutes.
oriental custom?

74 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

 Classical power
Although the second Temple of
Hera at Posidonia (Paestum) was
contemporary with the Parthenon
in Athens, it still retains a certain
Archaic austerity at the moment of
full Classicism. The Doric columns
have not completely shed a heavy
quality that has a certain power.
Built in about 460-440 B.C., this
sanctuary, once attributed to
Poseidon, stands, as do its neigh¬
boring buildings, on three steps
which raise it above the level of
the plain.

The pure Doric style

The capitals of the second Temple
of Hera, at Paestum, have lost
the floral decoration which
characterized the join between
the shaft and the echinus in the
Archaic examples. From this point
on, a row of annulets "ties" the
top of the grooves together.

76 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

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Page 78
Two levels of columns
Among the solutions henceforth
adopted, the superposition of the
two storeys, which is a feature of
the inner colonnades in the Doric
style, is a distinctive aspect of the
Temple of Hera at Paestum. These
inner porticos form three naves in
the naos.

A sober rhythm
The line of Doric capitals in the
Temple of Hera at Paestum has a
generous quality which has not yet
been stifled by the austerity of
the late Doric style.

To the east of the main fagade of the Temple of Athena at Paestum stands the
large altar, 14.54 m wide (likethe temple), which was used for solemn sacrificial ce¬
remonies. Its purpose was to concentrate the ceremonial of worship around the
slaughter of animals dedicated to the gods.

The second Temple of Hera

The second Temple of Hera, which replaced the old sanctuary known as the "Basil¬
ica", was formerly given to Poseidon, whereas it was actually consecrated to Hera
Argiva (protectress of those navigators, the Argonauts). It dates from circa 460-440
B.C. and is therefore contemporary with the Parthenon, but it expresses an aes¬
thetic concept that is in quite a different style. This building has survived to this day
in a remarkable state of preservation and enables us to perceive the architect's
intentions. Its majestic, if slightly cumbersome, perfection with its thirty-six
columns with powerful capitals expresses a bold and vigorous Greekness. It marries
power and stability. At once dense and determined, its outline plays with the mys¬
tery of shadows.
When we contemplate it, we realize the authority of this Classicism raised to the
level of the obvious and the sober moderation sought by those Greek builders. The
interiorof the cella reveals a double colonnade with two superposed porticoes, like
those in the Temple of Aphaia on the island of Aegina, built some fifty years earlier.
So was the building dedicated to Hera perhaps affectedly Archaic?
This is a peripteral hexastyle, with fourteen columns lengthwise; the dimensions
of the stylobate are 24.31 by 59.93 m, that is 72 by 180 feet. The result is a propor¬
tion of 2:5. Again, whole numbers, which relate back to the teaching of Pythagoras.
The cella, too, suggests a certain Archaic quality. It is very elongated, and includes
a pronaos, a naos with three naves delimited by two porticoes with seven columns
on each side and an oplsthodomos.
In order to get an idea of the original appearance of this grand architecture in
tufa (conchitic or shell-rich limestone), whose rustic surfaces seem out of place
today, we must imagine the beautiful white stucco rendering that once covered the
entire structure. The polished surfaces then played with polychromatic features,
where blues and reds alternated on the frieze and triglyphs.

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 79

 Greek painted tombs
in southern Italy
One special contribution made by
southern Italy is its examples of
splendid tombs with paintings.
This ritual funereal dance, from
Tomb II at Ruvo in Apulia, dates
from the latter half of the fifth
century B.C. Its style differs
conspicuously from the decoration
of Greek vases. (Naples, National
Museum)

The Painted Tombs at Paestum

It was in 1969 that several Greek tombs were unearthed at Paestum. They were
made of large dressed rectangular blocks surmounted by two slabs arranged like a
saddle-roof. This type of burial place, more Italiot than Greek, held a big surprise in
store: the interior panels were covered in magnificent paintings. For the very first
time, pictorial Greek works could be said to have come down to us, helping to evoke
a whole area of Greek art that was still little known.
The oldest of these tombs, which archaeologists have managed to date at around
480 B.C., thus go back to the beginning of the Classical period. One of the burial
places is particularly eye-catching. This is the tomb known as the "Tomb of the
Diver". On the two side panels there are elaborate and vivid banquet scenes, with
the guests lounging languidly on couches designed for the symposion. The laurel-
wreathed participants, holding wine goblets or lyres, are gently reclining and con¬
versing. On the end panels, figures of fluteplayers and cupbearers enliven the
scene. We know that the symposion always started with libations to the gods, so it
had a religious character.
But it is the scene on one particular roof panel which reveals the paramount
iconographic interest of this painting by bringing us back again to the figure of
Pythagoras. Here we see, in a pared down setting symbolized by two austerely
drawn trees, a diver who plunges from the top of a building into the water below.
The tombs of Paestum
By analogy with the "leap of Leucas" (the poetess Sappho hurled herself into the
Above: A banquet scene from a
sea off this Ionian island to rejoin the world of pure ideas), the Pythagoreans tomb discovered in 1969 at
adopted this image as a symbol of the passage of the soul into the eternal universe. Paestum. These sepulchral
As an image of resurrection, this plunge into the waters of the primordial Ocean paintings, dating from around

illustrates the return to the heavenly homeland that souls smitten by god go 480 B.C., decorate the inner
surface of large erect slabs which
through after their death, as demonstrated by Jerome Carcopino. We are thus in the
form an area covered by a saddle-
presence of an illustration of the symbols of Pythagorean mysticism, the themes of
roof.
which would be borrowed once more in the Roman era (in the Basilica of the Porta
Below: From another tomb at
Maggiore in Rome). Paestum, and dating from around
Other later tombs at Paestum show a Lucanian influence and date back to 340 B.C., a winged figure presides
around 340 B.C. They offer superb funeral scenes, chariot races, boxing and over the fate beyond the grave

wrestling fights [thepancratium), flute-players, and more. Their style, at once loose and shows Lucanian influence.
(Paestum, National Museum)
and flexible, conjures up life with great lightness and a remarkable economy of
means.

8o Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

A biga (two-horse chariot) race
Among the funerary scenes of the
painted tombs of Paestum,
chariot-races often symbolize the
vagaries of human life. This light
vehicle preparing to negotiate the
column on the racetrack dates
from the fourth century B.C.
(Paestum, National Museum)

The "Tomb of the Diver" one of the slabs of the saddle-roof

This scene depicting a diver at the of a tomb at Paestum dating from
very moment when he is plunging 480 B.C. In southern Italy, where
from a tall structure into the the philosopher had taken refuge,
waves illustrates a symbol of Pythagorean ideas had gained a
resurrection of which Pythagoras firm footing. (Paestum, National
was fond. The image decorates Museum)

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 81

 An Archaic colonnade at Selinunte
Only a portico has survived in the
Sanctuary of the Spring, other¬
wise known as Temple C, at
Selinus in southern Sicily. It shows
the features of the Archaic style
dating from the early sixth century
B.C. The line of columns proudly
towers above the sea below.

The Temples of Selinus

Situated on the south coast of Sicily, the city of Selinus (now Selinunte) was built by
settlers from Megara in about 650. The oldest part of the city stands on a plateau
facing the sea and hemmed in by two watercourses, the river Selinus to the west -
after which the city is named - and the Cotone to the east. The Acropolis dominat¬
ing the shore would soon be used to accommodate a series of temples (known by
the letters C and D, as well as A and 0). Selinus has its prosperity to thank for the
blossoming of monuments that occurred between 550 and 460.
The success of the city was so dazzling that the city-plan itself had a dazzling
effect. New neighborhoods had to spread beyond the walls and occupy the hills
situated to the west and even more to the east. To the east stands a new religious
centre, with temples which - since we do not always know for sure to which gods
they were dedicated - we have taken to calling by the names Temple G, Temple F,
Temple E, and so on. In its heyday, Selinus had a total of seven large peripteral
temples, the earliest of which dates back to the middle of the sixth century B.C.

82 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

Openness and light at Selinunte All these great buildings fell victim to a terrible catastrophe - they were all razed
In Temple E at Selinus - a Classical to the ground and totally destroyed. The city itself was sacked in 409 by the
Heraion - the Doric structures Carthaginians, but it managed to come back to life. Then a second destruction
have a quality of lightness which
by the Carthaginian armies in 250 destroyed it once and for all. Today, looking
is conveyed by the proportions of
at the huge piles of toppled drums and capitals which litter the ground, archaeolo¬
the shafts and the scale of the
gists are unable to explain the calamity which struck Selinus. Some attribute its
intercolumniation.
total ruin to a very local earthquake (which affected neither Agrigentum nor
Segesta). Others believe that the Carthaginians had developed a technique of
destruction which enabled them to "flatten" the largest of buildings using a
system of hoists and levers. Whatever the case may be, just one temple (E) has
been re-erected and now stands for all to see. Another (C) has had just one portico
reconstructed.
The Acropolis of Selinus has been restored thanks to powerful supporting walls.
It forms a vast temenos measuring about 200 by 150 m. This is where we find
Temples C and D. The oldest. Temple C, whose peristyle colonnade now stands
upright once more, is a hexastyle with seventeen shafts on the sides. The stylobate
measures 64 by 23 m. A double portico used to rise up to the east, behind which a
large gallery encircled a very long, narrow cel Id. It measured 10.4 by 41.55 m,that is
20 by 80 cubits (G. Gruben). So its proportion is 1:4. The naos is preceded by a
pronaos and followed by an adytum which is only accessible byway of the cultroom.
Like the "Basilica" of Paestum, the columns are very curved and surmounted by
large capitals with a very flattened echinus.
The largest temple at Selinus stood on the eastern hill. Built between 510 and
470, it is known as Temple G and is identified as the Temple of Apollo. It is a truly'
colossal edifice in whose ground plan we can make out a vast pseudo-dipteros. Its

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 83

 Classicism at Selinus
In about 465-450 B.C., after a
series of buildings signalling the
development of the Doric style,
the architecture of Selinus
achieved the Classical formulation
with Temple E, dedicated to the
goddess Hera. The rebuilt
sanctuary, which underwent a
thorough process of anastylosis, is
a hexastyle that measures almost
68 m in length.

84 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

 4

1 tl
:fe
V El]
1 f.
 Lighter structures
The north-east corner of Temple E
at Selinus shows, on its lofty
stylobate with tiered steps, the
aspiration to elegance - which is
further heightened at Acragas
(Agrigentum), with the so-called
Temple of Concord.

f'*'

!
%
!
|
1
i
f■ |

t
tj
■' |
f -
b

Stucco and polychromy

at Selinus
The somewhat rough Sicilian tufa
of Selinus was disguised by the
application of athick layer of
stucco, which was polished to look
like marble. Some of the shafts
lying on the ground - and thus
protected for centuries from bad
weather - still show this white
cladding today. The polychrome
decoration was applied to this
layer of stucco.

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

Giants struck by lightning
at Agrigentum
All that now remains of the huge
Olympieion of Agrigentum, which
measures 113.5 m in length and
was never completed, is a field
of colossal ruins. Among them
we find one of the atlantes (or
telamones) which used to hold up
the entablature of the roof. Dating
from the first half of the fifth
century B.C., these sculptures
measure all of 8 m in height.

vast proportions clearly show the influence of the major Ionian sanctuaries (Samos,
Ephesus). It measures no less than 50.7 by 110.12 m. So its length is almost twice
that of the second Temple of Hera at Paestum. Its octostyle fagade, with seventeen
columns lengthwise (likethefuture Parthenon) rose to a height of 22.5 m at the cor¬
nice and 26 m atthetop of the pediment.
The width of its peripheral gallery (which exceeds 10 m and covers two inter-
columniations) must have called for enormous blocks of stone, whose arrangement
formed a veritable stone "frame". Like the colossal structures in Ionia, this Doric
temple at Selinus represents an amazing mastery of technology. In front of its cella,
the pronaos is preceded by a four-columned portico, with one angle shaft on each
side. The holy of holies is accessible through a triple entrance-way leading to three
naves, separated by two small colonnades with ten shafts each. The central nave led
to a kind of inner naiskos (or chapel) which must have housed the statue of the god.
At the end of the cella there was an opisthodomos with two columns.
Temples Fand E are located to the south of this building. The latter, dedicated
to Hera, has been completely surveyed by archaeologists. It displays the elegance
of a remarkably light Doric portico. Built between 465 and 450, this peripteral hexa-
style, with fifteen columns on the sides, shows similarities with the second Temple
of Hera at Paestum. It measures 25.32 by 67.74 m at the stylobate, but there is
no inner colonnade in its narrow cella. Ontheotherhand,the naos is preceded by a
two-columned pronaos in antis, and followed by a treasury with access from
the hall. Behind this adytum, the opisthodomos is also situated between the antae
walls, preceded by two columns, as at the other end of the cella. Because the
columns were left flat on the ground for a long period, their stucco covering has
survived in many places and helps us to understand the appearance that these
temples of Magna Graecia must have had when the surface of tufa or shelly lime¬
stone was hidden.
Despite the ruin that overtook Selinus, we can easily understand how the opu¬
lence of this city made it possibleto carry outvariousarchitecturalexperimentsand
research projects. We can trace here an ongoing evolution leading from Archaism to
Classicism, with an amazing impetus and enthusiasm instilled by the desire to rival
the huge sanctuaries of Asia. We can also make out surprising elements surviving
from the middle of the fifth century, in particular in the formula of the somewhat
narrow cella that did not require any internal support (Temple E).

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 87

 Agrigentum encircled by temples
On the crag which runs south of
the city of Acragas (Agrigentum),
a series of sanctuaries seems to be
on guard duty. Temple D, known
as the Temple of Juno Lacinia and
built 450 B.C., crowns the lofty
promontory.

The romanticism of ruins

A temple at Agrigentum, as
depicted by the painter Nicolas
Houel, in his Voyage pittoresque
des isles de Sidle, de Malte et de
Lipari (1782-1789).

88 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

The Temple of Concord
The Buildings of Agrigentum
on its rock at Agrigentum
Agrigentum, known as Acragas in Antiquity, is situated half-way along Sicily's
The main facade of the temple
southern shore, in a position that is relatively easy to defend. Like Selinus, it is
known by the name of "Concord"
- in more prosaicterms, Temple F bounded to the east and west by two watercourses (the Hypsas and the Acragas),
at Agrigentum - was built in about and protected by a sheer cliff beside which stand the temples: from west to east,
430 B.C., and is a fine example of the Temple of Hephaestus, Temple L, the Temple of Zeus or Olympieion, and the
Greek Classicism. The building is Temples of Heracles, "Concord" and Hera Lacinia. So the visitor arriving in the city
contemporary with the Parthenon
is greeted by a veritable ring of sanctuaries, and the city itself is perched like a
in Athens.
stronghold, from where the view stretches out to sea.
The ruined Temple of Heracles, which has only one remaining colonnade, was
built in about 500 B.C. It had a cella of about 12 by 30 m, that is 36 by 90 feet, which
is equivalent to a proportion of 2:5. The inner width of the naos reaches more than
11 m, without the portico (as in Temple E at Selinus). It must have been covered by
huge lintels or a wooden frame. The stairs on either side of the entrance, behind the
pronaos, are typical of a style in which access to the upper parts of the building poss¬
ibly attests to oriental influences.
Like the Temple of Apollo at Selinus, the Olympieion of Agrigentum is no more
than a huge heap of rubble. The immoderate, arrogant nature (hubris) of the people
of Agrigentum, who were keen to surpass the achievement of their western neigh¬
bors and be on a par with the lonians, led them to design this strange building which
was intended to be the largest Doric temple ever constructed. This Temple of Zeus
(B) measured 56.30 by 113.45 m. With the sights set squarely on the grandiose, the
monument only attained its goal by completely altering the rules of the game.

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 8g

 A lofty silhouette
The Classical style of the so-called
Temple of Concord is reinforced
by the width of the intercolum-
niation and the uncurved shafts.
The south-east corner dominating
the rock at Agrigentum is a prime
example of elegant architecture
which is not harsh. In comparison
with Selinus (Temple E, see page
86), it has an even lighter effect.

The untried formula did away with the portico, and replaced it by half-columns,
almost 20 m high and 4.5 m in diameter, set against an impressive peripteral wall,
which was totally blind. The ground plan included seven fagade supports and four¬
teen supports running lengthwise. Between the Doric half-columns, atlantes - or
telamones - seem to hold up the entablature.
Most of the details of the spatial arrangement of this never-completed building
escape us. In fact, we do not know either what the cella looked like, with its spans
exceeding 12.5 m and which can only have been covered by a wooden ceiling, or
what the dark naos of this sanctuary contained. Was it actually roofed, or, as in Ionia,
was the courtyard open to the sky?
This colossal undertaking, executed by thousands of Carthaginians taken
prisoner after the battle of Himera in 480, was intended to glorify the victory not
only of Theron, but also of Zeus over the barbarians. Diodorus records that the 2.5 m
frieze, that crowned the building, depicted the Olympians vanquishing the giants.

go Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

Agrigentum: a Classical The Temples of Hera Lacinia and "Concord"
hexastyle fagade Rather than looking at razed buildings, let us take a look at temples that have sur¬
The so-called Temple of Concord, vived: the Temple of Hera Lacinia (said to have been erected by the hero Lacinius)
at Agrigentum, lends the Greek
has retained a large part of its peristyle. Built in about 450, it adopted clearly more
temple a perfect balance and a
"Classical" dimensions: with its stylobate measuring 16.91 by 38.10 m, it is, as
real harmony. But the local Sicilian
G. Gruben notes, almost nine times smallerthan the Olympieion.
tufa never achieves the quality of
marble with its luminous effect. This hexastyle, which has thirteen side columns, rises up on a lofty base in front
of which, to the east, are the traces of a large sacrificial altar. At the eastern end of
the series of Agrigentan temples, it dominates the tall cliff which forms the city's
natural defensive bulwark.
But when we think of Agrigentum we think, above all, of the so-called Temple of
Concord. For this building, built twenty years after the Temple of Hera, is one of the
best preserved examples of Greek architecture. It has similar measurements (16.92
by 39.42 m) and the same number of columns (six by thirteen).
The Temple of Concord was turned into a church in 597, but has undergone only
a few alterations (the addition of vaulted doors in the side walls of the cella and
removal of the wall separating the naos from the opisthodomos, for example). Like
the other temples at Agrigentum, between the pronaos and the naos, the building
has stairways providing access from both sides to the upper parts of the structure.
The elegance of its portico, the lightness of the pediments, the subtle rhythm of
the triglyphs, the perfection of the liaison between the fluting of the columns and
the capitals by incorporating annulets, and the tension of the echinus, all create a
harmony and a balance which fully respond to the goal of Greek art at the height'of
its mastery.

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 91

 Measured rigor
Above: Beneath the cornice of
the so-called Temple of Concord,
at Agrigentum, the dripstone and
its "petrified" drops, and the
triglyphs of the entablature.
Below: Surmounting the archi¬
trave, the arrangement of the
Doric capital with its carefully
shaped echinus. The triglyphs are
accentuated by the so-called
regula motif which echoes the
drops of the dripstone.

Page 93
View along the portico
The south peripteral gallery of
the Temple of Concord, at
Agrigentum. This sanctuary, which
was turned into a church in the
latter stages of Antiquity, is one
of the rare ones still to have
its cella.

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

tm
A dynamic arrangement Segesta, an Unfinished Masterpiece
Although the temple at Segesta - In the mountains of north-west Sicily, in the heart of the land of the Elymians, the
where the columns have no fluting unfinished temple at Segesta (Egesta) is one of the most moving testimonies to the
- is purely Classical in style, it penetration of the Greek spirit into an indigenous western society. The threat rep¬
retains an almost rustic look with
resented by the dynamism of Selinus caused the inhabitants of Segesta to appeal to
its spare elegance.
their ally, Athens, whose own unsuccessful expedition against Syracuse in 415, to
gain a foothold in Sicily, marked a downward turn. After that, the construction of
the temple embarked upon in about 425 came to a standstill. I he successful cam¬
paigns of Hannibal, who landed on the island in 409, were not to help Segesta regain
its independence while its foes - Selinus and Acragas (Agrigentum) - were from
then on ravaged by Carthaginian troops.
In wild land off the beaten track, the temple of Segesta is a peripteral hexastyle
with fourteen columns on the sides, measuring at the stylobate 23.13 by 58.03 m
Page 94 (giving a proportion of 2:5). Its handsome Doric columns were never fluted, and the
A marooned temple in the land
planned cella never got beyond the foundation stage, which has recently been
of the Elymians
The unfinished temple at Segesta,
unearthed by archaeologists.
in north-western Sicily, stands in
At the highest point of the site of Segesta, on Mount Barbara (altitude 415 m),
a harsh landscape, where its the shell-like form of a small Hellenistic theatre opens onto the plain, offering
colonnade incorporates the Greek a splendid view over the land of the Elymians. Its twenty stone tiers attain a dia¬
order in an almost incongruous meter of 63 m. In this late period (third century), the function of the semicircular
way. Built at the end of the fifth
auditoria was no longer limited to stage representations. Theatres were also
century B.C., between 425 and
often used as public meeting places, where citizens could discuss issues concern¬
416, it was never roofed, and it
never had a cella. ing the city area.

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 95

 Refinement and power
at Segesta
Above: The huge area that is
encircled by the peripteral
colonnade of the temple at
Segesta must at one time have
contained a cella, as has been
shown by recent excavations.
Below: A perspective view of the
stylobate of the temple at Segesta
shows its curvature, where the
stone blocks still have the salient
tenons which were used to help
set them in place.

Page 97
Austere harmony
The raw material of the columns
of Segesta, and the power of the
way they thrust upwards, make
this unfinished temple a good
example of the slightly coarse
Classicism which characterizes
Magna Graecia.

96 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

y. IPH *«&•' yWlU8aS®' II

-.3• i •* .'*-*•/ v'V4; •

 A theatre like a crow's nest
at Segesta
The late cavea of the theatre at
Segesta, placed not unlike a
balcony or dress circle surveying
the surrounding Sicilian
countryside, clearly shows the
importance attached to cultural
facilities by the Hellenized people
known as the Elymians.

98 Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia

Recently Unearthed Meeting Places

Magna Graecia: places where the and in the market-place [agora)

people were consulted at Metapontum (right) - is clear
Politics was a crucial factor of evidence that the people were
Greek culture. Even if Magna consulted. These round, open-
Graecia was not a hub of air edifices were designed for
democracy, the presence of discussion and exchanging opin¬
an ecclesiasterion - recently ions, a function that would be
unearthed both at Paestum (left) later assumed by the bouleuterion.

In Magna Graecia there is very early evidence of There is a particularly good example in the two opposed halves. The existence of these civic

the existence of buildings designed for gather¬ agora of Metapontum, where a structure with buildings shows that the presence of tyrannical

ings of citizens and their representatives. Here, concentric rows has been discovered, whose systems in the Greek west did not exclude the

a special type of building came into being: seats encircle a kind of central podium. In fact, participation of citizens in the administration of

the ecclesiasterion. These are round buildings, this ecclesiasterion was formed by two semicircu¬ the city (polis). So these discoveries prompt us to

designed for meetings of the ecclesia, which lar auditoria set face to face, each having the reconsider the political machinery governing

assembled all the citizens. They were secular shape of an odeum (or roofed theatre), even if the development of several cities in Magna

public buildings - as opposed to sacred temples the gradient of the tiers was not nearly so steep. Graecia in the Classical period. And whereas the

- which seem to have appeared from the middle This ecclesiasterion at Metapontum, built in the rule of the tyrants was marked by the hubris

of the sixth century B.C. onward. Looking like a first quarter of the fifth century B.C. (when of grand designs, such as the Olympieion of

shell, a form which symbolically conveys the Pythagoras was in the city), could accommodate Agrigentum and the Temple of Apollo at Selinus,

function of the building, they have tiered rows some 8 000 citizens for their deliberations. the authority of one single man could still not

and call to mind a small amphitheatre - a build¬ The building at Paestum, built in the same stifle the aspirations of the people keen to

ing which would not make its appearance until period, has recently been located on the site. It express their democratic ideas.

several centuries later in the Roman period. is also a round structure, but is not divided into

Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia 99

’
 The Art of Ionia and the Achaemenids

Page 101 Ionia is the cradle of the language of Homer, which would become the tongue of all
A ritual vase used in the cult Greeks. It was in Ionia that the Greek script, so vital to the transmission of know¬
of Dionysos
ledge, took form. The rich cities on the shores of Asia Minor were also the home of
This sumptuous silver rhyton in
philosophy and of the Presocratics. The proximity to and contacts with the Near
the form of a horn, with a protome
or forepart of a horse, is a Greek
East and Egypt encouraged cosmological and scientific research. The Milesian
piece that was discovered in a school established there shone with the dazzling and remarkable minds of those
princely tomb in northern whom we call the "natural Philosophers": Thales (circa 625-547), the astronomer,
Bulgaria, nearthe Danube. An mathematician and traveller, for whom water was the first principle from which the
inscription indicates that it was universe was fashioned; Anaximander (circa 610-547), the geographer who
the work of a silversmith called
observed the oblique nature of the ecliptic and built a system based on opposites;
Etebus, probably from Asia Minor,
and Anaximenes (circa 585-525) who based his cosmology on air. Ephesus, an
working for King Cotys (383-360
B.C.). This wealthy sovereign, who
Athenian colony, prided itself for its part in having given shelterto Heraclitus (circa
reigned in Thrace in the fourth 550-480), who considered that everything was movement, and that "everything is
century B.C., did business with in a state of flux" (panta rhei) - the universe is in a state of constant transformation
the Greek cities, trading wheat and change. This aristocratic philosopher for whom "war has engendered the world
and horses for works of art and and reigns over the universe" was a realist: he was in touch with the Persian King
pieces of jewellery made to order.
Darius I, a stance which clearly conveys the opportunism which would steer the
This rhyton was designed for use in
the ritual of the Dionysian
whole political attitude of the Ephesians.
mysteries, which were very
It was in this region that the Ionic style, so typical of Greek architecture in all its
widespread at the court of the various forms and manifestations in Asia, took shape. But Ionia was not limited to
Thracian kings. (Rousse Museum, its coastal cities: it also included the offshore islands, and Samos in particular,
Treasury of Borovo) where the sanctuary to the goddess Hera was of great importance in the creation of
the peripteral temple.

The Gradual Birth of the Heraion of Samos

It is worth remembering that, in the sixth century, Samos was renowned both for its
Heraion and for its man-made pier, two stadia in length (about 350 m), which pro¬
tected the harbor, but even more so for the famous tunnel built by the engineer and
architect Eupalinus in around 530 B.C. to accommodate a 1035 m long water pipe
forthe city's supply.
The Heraion of Samos isthe sanctuary which best enables usto trace the devel¬
opment from the worship of the tree to the worship of Hera. The process got under
A kore or an Archaic Hera?
way in the tenth century B.C. with the stone altarthat was erected beside the sacred
This sculpture, coming from
tree. Via several phases, this led to the colossal Temple of Polycrates, built in
Claros, north-west of Ephesus,
and dating from around 580-570
540-530. Here we see the appearance, step by step, of the baldachin forming the
B.C., is a good example of the awning forthe venerated statue which had first been placed outdoors. In about 800
purity of early Ionian art. It is of a B.C., the Samians erected a long hall forthe "idol", measuring just 6.5 m in width,
type known as a xoanon, in other but with a length of 32.86 m, that is 100 feet by 20 (5:1). This was thus the first
words an "idol", still close to the temple described as a hecatompedon. Cob walls and a central line of thirteen
barely carved wooden sculptures
wooden posts on stone bases supported the roof. At the entrance, three pillars
which were placed in the holy of
divided the corridor into four. The statue of the deity stood at the back of the build¬
holies of the sanctuary. (Izmir,
Archaeological Museum) ing, half hidden by the pillars.
The Role of Greek Asia Minor 103
 Towards the end of the eighth century, this cella was provided with a "veranda"
surrounding it: wooden columns (seven forthe fagade and seventeen on the sides)
held up the roof. The peripteral concept was born. The development that followed
is similar to that earlier described forthe "apsidal" temple of Therm urn, and forthe
Heroon of Lefkandi (Euboea).
In around 650, this first temple of Samos, made of perishable materials, was
replaced by a new building. The cella (30.66 by 6.80 m) was transformed by doing
away with the axial colonnade and replacing it with fourteen pillars set on either
side along the walls. The view of the sacred effigy was thus no longer blocked. At
the entrance, two columns divided access to this naos into three. The 37.7 m long
peripteral portico consisted of sixfapade columns and eighteen lateral columns. In
addition it was doubled at the entrance, foreshadowing the development towards
the dipteral formula typical of Ionic architecture.
It was in circa 570-560 that the Samians summoned the very first architects
whose names have come down to us; Rhoecus and Theodorus. Their task was to con¬
struct, according to the new politics of prestige, a fantastic temple in stone with a
double peripteral colonnade. It would measure 52.5 by 105 m (the proportion of
two equal squares, that is 1:2, representing 100 by 200 Samian feet). These dimen¬
sions had nothing in common with the measurements of previous temples. It was at
this point thatthe lonicstyle and the dipteral building came intotheirown.
This temple built by Rhoecus, with its double row of columns that has earned it
the name of the "labyrinth of Samos", has eight fagade columns and twenty-one on
either side. Its cella measured 52.5 by 25 m. The inner area was divided into three
naves by two colonnades each with nineteen columns. The Heraion of Samos thus
boasts a total of 104 stone columns of almost 18 m in height.
Is it possible to claim that in the mid-sixth century B.C. the "petrification" of
buildings on Samos had already spread as far as the roof, and in particular to the
trusses forming the frame? We can answerthis question by citing the example of the
Oikos of the Naxians at Delos (580), with three columns in antis, eight of which were
inside, placed along the central axis supporting marble beams - "a fundamental edi¬
fice" in the words of G. Gruben. But we should bear in mind that the dimensions
of these two constructions were in no way comparable. The span of the lintels
straddling the intercolumniations in the temple built by Rhoecus was huge. This

The Hecatompedon of Samos

The Sanctuary of Hera at Samos
started out modestly enough.
Originally, its cella was only 100
Samian feet in length, equivalent
to 32.86 m.
Above-. In about 800 B.C., it was a
narrow building (6.5 m wide)
constructed with stonework and
rough bricks, in which a wooden
colonnade supporting the roof
filled the longitudinal axis, partly
concealing the cult statue.
Below: In about 650, a gallery, or
outer surrounding portico, was
built around the cella. The axial
pillars were pushed up againstthe
sides of the cella, which is itself

° 5 10 preceded by a double portico on

I— I —I M
the smaller side, with a hexastyle
I - I I [ FT
0 10 20 30
fagade.

104 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

A colossal Heraion at Samos
In the sixth century B.C., the
Temple of Hera at Samos was of
immense proportions. Underthe
orders of the tyrant Polycrates
(538-522), and following the
collapse of an earlier temple
built in about 560 by Rhoecus,
the Samians embarked on the
construction of an impressive
sanctuary measuring 52.5 x 105 m,
realized in marble by the architect
Theodorus. The elevation of the
fapade, with its eight columns,
18.5 m high, clearly shows what
the formula of the lonictemple
had accomplished. The plan shows
a dipteros, consisting of three
rows of shafts along the fapade
o 5 io 15
and at the chevet, and a double I l i . m

colonnade in the vestibule and I I =1 FT

o 25 50
the cel la.

• • • • •••••••••••<•••••• • • •
• • • • ••••••••••••••••a • • •
••• • • •
••• • • •
m • •
••• * • m

••• • • •
• • • • •••••••••••#••••• • • •
• • • • ••••••••••••••••• • • •
N

is why it is not improbable that the roof of this Heraion would still have been con¬
structed out of timber.
The building was not, however, destroyed by fire, as has been claimed. The most
recent excavations have shown that it simply collapsed because its foundations
were set on marshy ground and were not stable enough. This collapse led to the
temple being abandoned in about 540. It was subsequently demolished and rebuilt
from top to bottom.
It was the tyrant Polycrates of Samos who undertook the construction of a
sanctuary even larger and more perfect than the Heraion. This second dipteral
structure, which aptly expressed the thriving economy of the island, was to be
made entirely of marble, probably by Eupalinus, the architect of the tunnel, the con¬
struction of which had represented a wager at the impossible, in so much as the
labourers had started to dig it out simultaneously from each end.
After moving the site of the new Heraion 40 m westward to find more solid

The Role of Creek Asia Minor 105

 ground, the architect re-used some of the materials of the old building as founda¬
tions for the future one. The temple of Polycrates, measuring 108.63 by 52.45 m,
had 137 columns, and in particular nine shafts at the chevet, while the fagade -
to accommodate the axial access - only had eight, 18.5 m in height, which meant
that there were variable intercolumniations with a wider axial passage. At the two
ends, the fagades presented three rows of columns which apparently justified its
description as a "forest of columns". Sadly, all that now remains of this great build¬
ing are unremarkable ruins.
By this stage, Ionic architecture had attained its greatest dimensions. The
dipteral temple can be likened to the most colossal of the hypostyle halls of Egypt.
This Heraion covered a total area of 5700 m2, while the huge inner area of the
hypostyle room of the Temple of Amon at Karnak covered 6800. There was just
the slight difference that, in the Pharaonic building, the supports were situated
within an enclosed area. The columns of the temple of Samos, for their part, were
visible from all sides and, in full daylight, formed a much lighter peristyle. At
Karnak, there were 134 columns some 20minheightand more than 3 m thick, while
in the masterpiece of Polycrates, the diameter of the 137 columns did not exceed
2 m. The intercolumniations at Karnak were set on average at 3.4 m, and at most at
6 m (in the central row), while at Samos they reached 8.5 m.
The creation of such an outstanding and revolutionary building on the island of
Samos was bound to attract the attention of sovereigns close at hand and far afield
alike. In fact, prestige prompted tyrants and kings to order symbolic buildings to
be constructed, each more extraordinary than the last, the splendor of which
reflected on their entire reign. It has been observed that, in Sicily, tyrants embarked
on buildings of similar dimensions, in particular the Olympieion of Acragas (Agri-
gentum) and the Temple of Apollo at Selin us.

The Artemision of Croesus at Ephesus O

1
10
I
20
_ - j
30
M

At almost the same time as the construction of the Heraion of Rhoecus on Samos, FT
100
Croesus (561-547), the last sovereign of Lydia, compelled to compete, chose
Ephesus as the site for the construction of a gigantic temple dedicated to the
goddess Artemis. It was in the form of Cybele, venerated in Asia Minor, that this
Phrygian deity, known from the time of the Iliad, appeared to Greek settlers when
they arrived in Ionia. During the Trojan War, she came to Priam's aid. Artemis ruled
wild animals and the growth of plants. In the Artemision of Ephesus stood the
statue or xoanon, originally made of wood, which would replace the disquieting
sacred image of the goddess known as "polymastic", that is, with many breasts.
In the seventh century there was an original "apsidal" temple (as at Thermum and
Lefkandi) on the site of Ephesus, which was followed by a hecatompedon, which
burnt down in the sixth century. In about 560, Croesus entrusted the architect The first Artemision of Ephesus
Chersiphron together with his son Metagenes, later joined by Theodorus, once he Similar in size to the Temple of
had finished his building on Samos, with the task of constructing a sumptuous Hera at Samos, the sanctuary
dedicated to the goddess Artemis
dipteral temple in marble. Like its Samian model, this first Artemision was colossal:
at Ephesus was built in the reign
115.14 by 55.1 m, with 114 columns (eight on the fagade, twenty-one on each side,
of Croesus, the last king of Lydia
and nine at the chevet), all 18.9 m in height. These extremely elegant shafts, which
[circa 560). Its dimensions (55.1 by
were unusually bold in their design, had a diameter of 1.57 m, so they were twelve 115.14 m) show that the architects
times as high as they were wide. This is the perfect example of the graceful elegance Chersiphron, Metagenes and
of the lonicstyle. Theodorus of Samos worked in a

It should be noted that the building does not have an enclosed naos, but rather a spirit of competitive rivalry. But in
the place of a cel/a, the sanctuary
hypaethral courtyard (open to the sky), set slightly sunken, in which there must have
at Ephesus had a huge open-air
been a naiskos, or "tabernacle" containing the statue of the goddess.
courtyard. It was preceded by an
In addition to the magnificent volutes of the Ionic capitals, unearthed traces of
enormous sacrificial altar.
this temple show quite clearly that, on the lower drums surmounting the bases
of the superimposed tori, the foot of the columns bore sculpted reliefs depicting

106 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

 figures on a heroic scale (greater than life-size, in other words). This decor of
unprecedented magnificence was further enhanced at the top of the architrave with
the continuous frieze, peculiarto the Ionic style, illustrating the myth of Artemis.
The building was set within a sacred area forming a vast park planted with trees
and including wild animals in honor of Artemis. Are these gardens, which call to
mind the "paradises" of Achaemenid Persia, contemporary with Croesus, or were
they created after the victory of Cyrus?
At Ephesus, as in Samos, all that remain are ground-level traces of these fant¬
astic creations peculiarto the art of Ionia inthesixth century.

Enamelled brick at Susa

The decoration of the palace of
An Oracular Temple at Didyma
Darius I (521 -486) at Susa, which Throughout the region great Ionic sanctuaries increased in number - though they
points to Assyrian influence, was never attained such vast proportions. Thus, at Didyma, near Miletus, a temple ded¬
made with enamelled brick. This icated to Apollo was built in the middle of the sixth century. In its initial state, the
frieze of archers, typical of the Didymaion already measured 87 m in length by 42 in width. This oracularsanctuary
Achaemenid style, would be
also had a courtyard containing a sacred spring in a laurel grove (laurel being the
transposed, at Persepolis, into a
symbol of the god) as well as a na'iskos measuring 24 m by 10. The small inner temple
delicately carved bas-relief largely
executed by Ionian and Lydian in the form of a tabernacle housed a famous statue in bronze by the sculptor
sculptors. (Tehran, Archaeological Canachus of Sicyon (circa 500), which was borne off by the Persians to Ecbatana, and
Museum) not returned until 295 B.C., by Seleucus I.
This first Didymaion had received major donations from Croesus. Like most of
the Greek creations in Ionia, it was destroyed by the Persians in 493 after the Ionian
revolt. It was not until Alexander arrived that this prestigious centre of pilgrimage
was revived (a topic which will be dealt with in greaterdetail in the book on eastern
Graeco-Roman architecture).
It will suffice to know that, once more, this was a giant undertaking. Its dimen¬
sions are close to those of the Artemision of Ephesus: 109.34 by 51.13 m (the sty¬
lobate of 340 by 170 feet), with a cella of 300 by 100 feet encircling an open-air
courtyard. The Hellenistic building, which offers us some beautiful ruins, is a
decastyle consisting of a total of 122 columns, 20 m in height with a diameter of
2 m. It culminated in a cornice 27 m from the ground.

From Cyrus to the Persian Wars

During the reign of Croesus, the Hellenized sovereign of Lydia, whose capital was
the city of Sardis in the Hermos basin, the kingdom enjoyed a proverbial prosperity
- do we not, after all, talk about being "as rich as Croesus"? However, the king who
came to the throne in 561 would be the last sovereign of independent Lydia. He
reigned over the Greek cities of Ionia who paid him tribute in exchange for their
security. But Persia,the power on the rise inthe Near East, would putan endtothis
lavish reign.
In 546, in their clash with Cyrus II, the Lydians were beaten, Sardis taken, and
the Achaemenid sovereign extended his authority over the whole of Anatolia.
The Ionian cities put up stout resistance, apart from Ephesus which had sided with
the conqueror. After the surrender of Miletus, Priene and Magnesia were sacked.
In 542, the Achaemenid programme of unification was accomplished. From then
on, the lonians had to provide contingents for Harpagus, commander of the
coastal regions in the name of Cyrus, and pay tributes to the Persians. Sardis, on
the 2500 km thoroughfare linking Susa and Ephesus, became the seat of the
satrap, or Persian governor. As for Croesus, he spent two decades at the court of the
Persian sovereigns, undoubtedly proffering them wise artistic counsel.
For decades there have been discussions about the connections between Greek
and Achaemenid architecture - with extraordinary examples of the latter at
Pasargadae, Susa, Persepolis and Nakh-e Rustam. It may be interesting to recon¬
sider this issue in the light of new observations. For analysis nowadays leaves us no

The Role of Greek Asia Minor 107

 The tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae
In the plain of Pasargadae, the
burial-place of Cyrus II (sixth
century B.C.) stands on a pedestal
in the form of a stepped pyramid.
Its shape is akin to that of Lycian
tombs in southern Asia Minor.

option but to admit the preponderant role of the loniansandthe Lydians in the blos¬
soming of the Persian palaces. This is why it was vital to include Achaemenid build¬
ings - though the Achaemenids were the implacable foes of the Greeks - in the his¬
tory of Greek architecture. It is a paradoxical position, given the destruction
brought on by the Persian Wars, and the designation "barbarians", with which the
Greeks (and Aeschylus in particular) saddled the Persians.
Cyrus II, who was the true founder of the Persian Empire, came to the throne
in 559 and reigned until 529. He chalked up a long list of great conquests: in 549,
he took Ecbatana from the Median King Astyages; in 546 he annexed Lydia under
Croesus; in 539, he gained possession of Babylon and Mesopotamia. His son,
Cambyses II (530-522) occupied Egypt in 525. The Achaemenid Empire stretched
from the Persian Gulf to the Nile Valley.
Upheavals led to the usurpation of Darius I (521-486), who married Atossa,
daughter of Cyrus II, to legitimize his authority. Darius reinstated the power of the
Achaemenids, who flourished under his rule. In Asia Minor, he seized Samos, the
city which Cambyses had attempted to lay his hands on by dispatching to it the
Persian Oroetes, governor of Sardis, whose task was to negotiate with Polycrates
the re-alliance of the island. He fought campaigns in Thrace, then conquered the
East as far as the river Indus.
From then on all peoples from the banks of the Indus to the Sudan and the
Dardanelles were forced to pay the tribute imposed on subjects of the Great King.
But Persian domination over the Ionian cities does not seem to have been too heavy-
handed. The Greeks, however, were reluctant subjects. In 499, the major cities of
Ionia - apart from Ephesus - rose up against the Persian yoke. Aristagoras of
Miletus - who had abolished the tyranny - refused to pay the tribute. He was
backed by Athens and Eretria. The rebels marched against Sardis, and set fire to the
city and its temple.in 498. The Persians retaliated with ruthless repression, which
lasted from 497 to 493, the year when Darius had Miletus razed to the ground. The
Persian sovereign sent his son-in-law Mardonius to Ionia, his mission being to take
possession of Macedonia. In 490, the Great King decided to attack Athens and Ere¬
tria, to punish them forthe support that they had lent to the rebels. Thus was trig¬
gered the first Persian War. The Persians were beaten on land at Marathon and grew
thirsty for revenge. It was Xerxes (486-465), successorof Darius, who embarked on
the second Persian War in 481, by launching an onslaught against Greece. The

108 The RoleofGreek Asia Minor

 Achaemenid ruler, who had emerged the victor at Thermopylae, let loose his armies
on Attica, seized Athens, which he duly sacked, and tore down the buildings of the
Acropolis. But at sea he suffered a disastrous defeat at Salamis in 480. The defeat
of his troops at Plataea, followed by the total destruction of his fleet at Mycale,
completed the Persian rout when confronted by the Greek cities. So this chapter
came to a close with a new wave of uprisings in the Ionian cities in 478.
Despite the Greek victory, the toll of this clash was catastrophic: in addition
to the devastated Ionian cities, the great temples razed - with the exception of
Ephesus - and the grand monuments of Athens sacked, life was seriously disrupted
and slowed down throughout the Greek settlements in Asia until the conquests of
Alexander from 334.
The Persian tombs In terms of architecture, there is a huge hiatus, not unlike a gaping wound, in
at Nakh-e Rustam the cities of Ionia. The progress of the great Ionic style came to a shuddering stand
Hewn in the cliff-face, the burial- still there for almost 150 years. The few exceptions include the Mausoleum of
places of the Achaemenid Halicarnassus, for which we have a Hellenized satrap of the Great King to thank.
sovereigns look like tall cross¬
shaped compositions which
imitate the fagade of a palace
The Monuments of the Achaemenids
where the columns frame the
In contrast to the stagnation that afflicted Ionia, there was considerable activity
entrance. in Persia, with grand buildings being erected everywhere. Here we shall simply
Below: The decoration which list these buildings and discuss them in more detail at a later stage. They include,
surmounts them shows a bas-relief essentially, the palaces of Pasargadae, dating from the reign of Cyrus, as well as his
symbolizing the might wielded by pyramidal tomb, erected in the immediate vicinity. Then, under Darius, there was
the King of Kings overthe nations
the palace of Susa, in Elam, whose full scale and scope have been revealed by
of the empire.
excavations, with its hypostyle hall or apadana, and lastly the vast complex of
Persepolis, not farfrom Pasargadae, with its covered esplanade of hypostyle rooms
and apartments, monumental gates and doors, stairways and thoroughfares, its

The Role of Greek Asia Minor log

 A gold founding inscription
at Persepolis
On a solid gold plaque, the
founding text of the Apadana of
Persepolis (late sixth century B.C.)
is written in cuneiform characters
in Old Persian, in Babylonian and
in Elamite. (Tehran, Archaeo¬
logical Museum)

arsenal, its warehouses and its treasury. Not far from Persepolis are the great rock
tombs of Nakh-e Rustam, as well as the tower dedicated to the worship of fire.
This architecture, at once utilitarian, ritual and symbolic, is based on a charac¬
teristic style, which conveys an original inspiration, even if many of the details hark
backto obvious precursors: Egyptian cornices, Babylonian bas-reliefs in enamelled
brick, Assyrian orthostats and doors with winged bulls, columns whose base and
shaft call to mind the Ionic style, capitals in the form of griffons with hooked beaks
resembling Greek monsters, and so on.
These monuments were all erected within the period between about 540 and
350. They are thus strictly contemporary with the Greek temples and the Archaic
and Classical architecture of the Greek world.

The Greeks and Persian Architecture

We have mentioned the fact that, from 542, the lonians provided the Persians with
contingents. These were soldiers enlisted in the army of the Great King and spe¬
cialists and craftsmen whose work formed part of the tribute. Even before the
Persian Wars, Greek subjects were thus in the service of the Achaemenids. We
know, for example, that Darius' physician was a certain Democedes, and that other
Greek physicians were employed at the court. The same must have been the case
with architects. But there is less evidence about these latter.
After admiring the great Ionic diptera of Samos, Ephesus and Didyma, which sur¬
passed all contemporary architectural production in Asia and the Near East, the
Persian sovereigns quite naturally - just as the tyrants had done before them -
Page 111 below
appointed Greek designers to accomplish their symbolic and dynastic works. So
Like ancient griffins
Greek architects, artists, technicians, sculptors and craftsmen were all enlisted to
Inspired by the Archaic Creek
work on the construction of the Achaemenid palaces. We also know that there were griffin, like this bronze in the
teams of itinerant builders. Because of the Persian presence in Asia Minor, it was museum at Delphi dating from the
logical enough that these teams should be called upon to undertake the grand seventh century B.C. (left), the

designs with which the Great Kings wanted to stamp their reigns. capital at Persepolis in the form of
the forepart or protome of a
These facts are confirmed by the foundation charter discovered in the palace
griffin leaves very little doubt
of Susa. The text, which probably dates from 520-510, mentioned the country of
about the Greek influence seen in
origin of different elements earmarked for the building of the palace. The entire
the palace architecture of the
Empire was called upon to contribute. In this charter we read in particular that Achaemenids (right).
"cedar beams were brought from a mountain known as Lebanon. Syrians trans¬
ported them as far as Babylon, and from Babylon the Carians and the lonians took
them to Susa. ... The decoration of the walls of the terrace came from Ionia. ... The
stone for the columns which were worked on the spot were imported from the
region of Apitarus, in Elam. The craftsmen who cut and dressed them were lonians
and Sardians."
It is clearthat the Greeks were much called upon to construct the buildings of the

no The Role of Greek Asia Minor

 Achaemenid court. In his recent Histoire de /'Empire perse (1996), Pierre Briant
writes: "There can be no doubt that, to complete his building programme at
Pasargadae, Cyrus called upon craftsmen from Lydia and Ionia." They built the
columns which - it should be noted - form the key element of this architecture.
According to Diodorus, Cambyses was also in the habit of taking with him craftsmen
who were entrusted with the construction of his royal palaces. In the text in ques¬
tion Egyptians were involved, but the fact is that whole teams were appointed for
the building sites of the Great Kings. Greekgraffiti found in a quarry close to Perse-
polis also name the quarrymen Pytharcus and Nicias.
In the Susa charter, the reference to the decoration suggests that Greeks also
worked on the sculpted reliefs. We know, thanks to Pliny, that a sculptor by the
name of Telephanes of Phocis came to Persepolis.

The Genesis of the Persian Palaces

Originally, the Persians were a pastoral and semi-nomadic people. At the dawn of
the sixth century B.C., they thus had no technical and artistic "baggage". The suc-

An Egyptian-inspired lintel
at Persepolis
The gates of the palaces of
Persepolis are surmounted by
Egyptian grooving, as seen in the
Pharaonic temples. The art of the
Achaemenids was the product of
a broad syncretic phenomenon
which conveyed the diversity of
the empire.

mm
il

The Role of Greek Asia Minor 111

 From Samos to Persepolis
The comparison between two
Ionic columns in the temple of
Polycrates at Samos (left), and -
on the same scale - a column from
the Apadana of Persepolis,
clearly shows the single origin of
these structures, which are
characterized both by their similar
proportions between diameter
and height and by the execution
of the fluting.

Page 113
The irresistible thrust of the shafts
of the Apadana at Persepolis
The public audience-chamber of
the palace of Persepolis, built in
the reign of Darius I in about
520-510 B.C., had thirty-six
columns, 23.15 m in height
including their capitals, and
thirty-six other columns forming
the three entrance porticoes.
The technique of the drum shafts,
complete with fluted grooves
and surmounting an ornate base,
is typically Ionian.

H2 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

 Power and elegance at Persepolis
Behind the frieze of Median and
Persian warriors who guard the
stairways of the Apadana, the col¬
umns of Persepolis rise up today
just as they did 2 500 years ago.

Persepolis at dawn
Here stood the most monumental
hall designed for ceremonial
rituals in Persia: the Apadana of
Darius I. It was during the fire lit
afterthe victory of Alexanderthe
Great over Darius III to avenge the
destruction of the Acropolis by
the troops of Xerxes I, in 480, that
this sumptuous building, roofed
with timberframes made of cedar
of Lebanon, was destroyed in
330 B.C.

114 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

 At the top of the columns
of theApadana
The capitals of the audience-
chamberat Persepolis included
large protomai of bulls symbolizing
the imperial might of Persia. Like
Greektemples, the Achaemenid
buildings were decorated with
apotropaic figures, designed to
ward off evil.

cess of their weaponry helped them to draw from the heritage of the countries
they subjugated: Medes, Elamites, Urartians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians,
Phoenicians, and Greeks from Ionia, Caria, and Lydia. For the Persian monuments
were an original creation resulting from the combination of elements issuing from
different civilizations. In no way did they constitute a hybrid style, but rather a fruit¬
ful merger of varied sources reflecting the different parts of the Empire.
What are the indigenous "models" which had an influence on the spatial and
functional design of Persian buildings? In particular, what are the origins of the
great hypostyle rooms, the best examples of which are offered by Persepolis, after
Pasargadae and Susa? If we go back to the thirteenth century B.C., we find Palace D
of the Hittites of Bogazkoy, on the Acropolis of Buyukkale, with its twenty-five
columns supporting the ceiling of a square room. This is not so much a paradigm as
an archetype. We should also mention the palace of Hasanlou, south of Lake Urmia,
dating from the ninth century, with its eight columns in a room measuring 25 m by
19 m, as well as the palace of Erebouni, in Urartu (Turkey), dating from the eighth
century B.C. (if the existence of its thirty columns is not a revision of the Persian era).
In the seventh century another Urartian palace, built at Altintepe, included a fine
hypostyle room measuring 44 by 25.30 m, with eighteen columns (in three rows
of six). Last of all, we should mention, in the same period, the Median palace of
Godin Tepe in present-day Iranian Kurdistan, which also boasts a hypostyle room.
It is evident that the principle of innerspace created by wooden supports is widely
attested to in the Near East before the arrival of the Persians.
When the Achaemenid sovereigns decided to build rooms designed for their
official ceremonies and rituals, it was their wish to create buildings as impressive as
those they had seen in Ionia. So it is not surprising that they should turn to Greek
architects to work out a programme that would be in keeping with the requirements
of public audiences and royal banquets alike.
Because of the considerable advances which the Greeks of Asia had made with
their large dipteral temples during the three decades leading up to the surrender of
Ionia to the Persians, they would occupy a vital place in the design and construction
as well as in the embellishment of Achaemenid seats of power. A study of the build¬
ings provides ample proof of this. As we have emphasized, the distinctive feature of
the Persian palace resides in the great hypostyle rooms or apadana. It is here that
stone columns would play their leading role, based on their function in a traditional
Fars house with itsveranda made with wooden posts. So itwasthis "petrified" sup-

116 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

The heart of the Palace of the
Achaemenids at Persepolis
In front of the Apadana, the Hall
of the Hundred Columns, or
Throne Room, there is a huge
hypostyle area, access to which is
gained through several gates.

=F= =1 FT
100 300

Plan of the palaces of Persepolis apartments forthe sovereign and 5 East stairs of the Apadana 10 Palace of Darius

Constructed on a vast esplanade, his retinue: 6 Unfinished gate 11 Palace of Xerxes

partly man-made and lined with 1 Stairways to the esplanade 7 The Hall of the Thirty-two 12 Palace

terraces supported by tall walls, 2 Xerxes Gate Columns 13 Wall of the Treasury

the Persepolis complex consists of 3 North stairs of the Apadana 8 The Hall of the Hundred 14 Treasury

ceremonial buildings, buildings 4 Hypostyle chamber of the Columns

earmarked for courtly rituals, and Apadana with thirty-six columns 9 Stairs to the Tripylon

The Role of Greek Asia Minor 117

 The monumental entrance
at Persepolis
Access to the upper part of the
terrace at Persepolis is gained
by way of a double stairway with
two flights of opposing steps
which lead to the Gate of All
the Nations built by Xerxes
(486-465).

The Xerxes Gate

One of the great winged and lion¬
tailed bulls of the Propylaea or
monumental gateways of Xerxes I.
This is an adaptation of those
Assyrio-Babylonian monsters
which combine the beings of the
tetramorph: bull's body, eagle's
wings, human face, and lion's
mane and tail. These supernatural
creatures stood guard in front of
emblematic buildings (temples or
palaces).

118 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

The "fortress" of power
At the top of these skilfully
built walls, which rise to a height
of some 20 m, the palaces of
Persepolis survey the surrounding
plain.

port which emerged as the major new feature of Achaemenid architecture, both in
its dimensions and in the perfection of its construction.
The columns which bore the lofty ceilings of Persian assembly halls suggest a
purely Ionic style. The bases, with their ton', like the shafts with their refined flut¬
ing, fit into the research carried out in the sanctuaries of Samos and Ephesus. The
columns of the Apadana of Persepolis were 23.15 m in height, with capitals with
double protomes of bulls, lions or griffons, but measured only 1.9 m in diameter.
In the late sixth century B.C., the lonians were the only people capable of erect¬
ing stone shafts higher than 20 m and made of drums whose diameter was less than
one tenth the height. They were also experts in the technique of fluting. These
columns were the extraordinarily elegant and daring instrument which created
those vast inner areas in the palaces then covered with roofs of cedar.

Inner Areas
The palaces of Pasargadae built by Cyrus II in 540 B.C. consist essentially of huge
hypostyle rooms. The apadana of the most recent building on the site measures 36
by 28 m. Its roof was supported by five rows of six columns (thirty stone shafts). The
most intriguing aspect of this palace lies in the two porticoes which - like Greek
stoai - flanked the room on its long sides. These double colonnades, which pro¬
Pages 120-121
jected from both sides of the room, gave the building an H-shaped layout. The
Under the watchful eye
of the "Immortals" south-east portico had two rows of twenty columns; the one situated to the north¬
The east stairways leading to the east had two rows of twelve columns, with a chamber at each end, to brace the
terrace of the Apadana and the structure. These showy porticoes, which had sixty-four columns in all and respect¬
audience-chamber are lined with
ively measured 90 m and 78 m call to mind not only the stoai which had appeared
three levels of bas-relief friezes.
at Samos, but also the lateral colonnades of the dipteral buildings of Ionia.
Here, the imperial guard watched
This type of plan, with its jutting wings, was nevertheless unsatisfactory. That is
overthe King of Kings. The
guard-rails are lined with typical
why, at Susa as at Persepolis, the apadana would take on a more coherent and rigor¬
staggered merlons. It was in ous appearance. The actual room was now part of a square and, in both instances,
this palatine area that the royal had thirty-six tall columns in six rows. The inner area of Persepolis measured 60 m
procession took place, which per side. The distances between the axes reached 8.9 m across, and the space
preceded the agapes or meals of
between two columns was 7 m. The end result was an appearance of great lightness,
fellowship in a kind of symposion,
contrasting with the hypostyle rooms of Egyptian temples. Compared with Karnak,
which was an official banquet
where the proportion between the diameter of the columns and the "void"
designed to sign and seal the unity
of the nation.
between two shaft bases was about 1:1.2, this ratio attained 1:3.6 in Persepolis.

The Role of Greek Asia Minor 119

 The stairways of the Tripylon
The double flight of steps that
leads to the three portals of the
palace is lined with friezes,
depicting the Median and Persian
delegations - identifiable
respectively by their round and
vertically pleated headgear -
attending the reception given by
the sovereign. Here, too, the
guard-rails are surmounted by
staggered merlons.

122 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

The Persian guards of the Apadana
The "Immortals", armed with
spear, bow and quiver, and in
some cases with a round shield,
formed the imperial guard of the
Achaemenid sovereign. The strict
order of the warriors contrasts
with the liveliness generally
visible in Greek bas-reliefs,
where an essential feature is the
attempt to convey movement.

The Role of Greek Asia Minor 123

 This lightening was due not only to the fact that the Egyptian supports bore stone
slabs instead of a wooden ceiling, but also to the "Ionic" style applied by the
Persians, where the apadana resembled the great diptera of Samos and Ephesus.
With its 23.15 m stone columns bearing the cedar roof trusses, the volume of
Darius' audience chamber was 90000 m3. "Never in Antiquity had art shown such
daring", wrote the Iranian history specialist Roman Ghirshman.
This Apadana was itself flanked on three sides by double porticoes with two
rows of six columns (thirty-six columns in all), while at the corners of the structure
stood four square "towers", whose sides measured 15 m each. These corner
features provided the bracing of the building, which was part of a square with sides
110 m in length and covering a total area of 12000 m2.
Lastly, to the north and east, wide staircases with double symmetrical flights,
edged with staggered merlons, formed entrances to this stunning room which
Darius built in 513 B.C. Forthe entire building stood on a socle 3.7 m high, flanked
by steps with converging flights. On the sides of the socle, bas-reliefs were carved
inthe manner of Assyrian orthostats. Here we find, in long horizontal registers, the
army of the Immortals, forming the guard of the Great King, and the Procession of
the Tributaries, where all the peoples of the Empire paraded past during the Maz-
daic feast of Now Ruz, symbolizing the Iranian New Year. With their processional
narrative these sculptures call to mind the continuous friezes of Ionic architecture.
At Persepolis the vast palace complex covered a colossal man-made esplanade
measuring 450 by 300 m (13.5 hectares), bordered, on the lowland side, by high
walls resembling bastions with two large double spiral staircases whose flights, first
diverging then converging, led to the only entrance to the palatial site: the Gate of
Nations, or Gate of Xerxes.
The complex contained various other hypostyle rooms, in particular Xerxes'
Throne room (circa 480), which was situated within a square layout, 70 m each side,
and numbered 100 columns (10 by 10). A double portico flanked it to the north form¬
ing the entrance. Various areas were columned. Here there were 100 (20 by 5), there
99 (9 by 11), there again 32 (8 by 4) and 16 (4 by 4), and so on.
It is clear to see that the basic supporting feature of Ionic architecture found a
remarkable application in the hypostyle areas of the Achaemenid apadana and
throne rooms. But we must not overlook what it is that separates these Persian
spaces, on the one hand, and those of Greek buildings on the other. If the tech¬
niques of Greek architects form the basis of the accomplishments of Persepolis, the
two cultures merge in differing customs. Unlike Greek temples, where the cella is
not designed to accommodate masses of people, the reception rooms of the
Achaemenids are assembly halls, areas designed for grand courtly rituals, where the
pomp and circumstance of the Empire could be displayed. In this sense, Persian
architecture represented a revolution in the spatial concepts of Antiquity.
Lastly, we should stress the fact that the synergy between Greeks and Persians
was not limited to the use of columns; it was also applied to the sources of
ornamental forms. From the seventh and sixth centuries on, in fact, there existed in
the Median region certain strange "Ionic" capitals with volutes, embellishing the
rocktomb of Kizkapan, in present-day Iraqi Kurdistan. Inthe same period, the rock
tomb (of Cambyses I) at Da-u Duktar, in Khuzistan, also contains examples of early
"Ionic" capitals, proof that scroll-type motifs, present at Persepolis as well, were
already widespread in the early period.
So there is a great deal of convergence in Asian regions, and those bitter foes,
Greeks and Persians, often drew from a shared aesthetic source. This is especially
noteworthy in the goldsmith's craft, where rhytons, bracelets and rings all pre¬
sented similar decorative motifs. It is also the case with the fierce lions which, on the
bas-reliefs of Persepolis, attack bulls, and which we also find in the Ionian decora¬
tion of the Treasury of Siphnos (525) at Delphi, carved several decades earlier.

124 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

Pasargadae and
its paradise gardens
Above: When Cyrus II (559-529)
embarked on the construction of
the first major palatine complex
of the Achaemenid dynasty at
Polycratese, on the upland plateau
of Persia, he designed a reception¬
building flanked by two porticoes
(stoai) with a double colonnade,
between which stood a hypostyle
hall with thirty tall stone shafts
(5 by 6).
Below: The palace buildings
were arranged in a huge park -
a "paradise" - traversed by
irrigation channels, the geometric
layout of which formed a garden
onahuman scale. It was this type
of garden that the Persians would
0 10 20 30
introduce at Sardis, in Lydia, the I - I I I M

western capital of the empire, T

50
from where their influence would
extend to the Hellenistic parks
(paradeisoi) under the Attalids.

r • a
• •
» •
• 9

L .

The Role of Greek Asia Minor 125

 The similarity of the symbols
of power
The palace of Persepolis and the
Treasury of Siphnos, at Delphi -
which are contemporary (circa
525 B.C.) - both include the theme
of the lion, guardian par excel¬
lence by virtue of its fierceness.
Note the similarity between the
two representations, with the
animal portrayed head on, in the
same position, in both cases.
Above: An Achaemenid lion (in
situ) striking down a wild bull.
Below: A lion in Dionysus'team,
attacking a giant. (Delphi,
Archaeological Museum)

126 The Role of Creek Asia Minor

The Telesterion of Eleusis -
a Room for Initiation into the Mysteries

Greek hypostyle halls

If Persia developed columned halls
and chambers in its palaces,
Greece also had square meeting-
places, where the roof or ceiling
was supported by rows of shafts.
Good examples include the Odeon
of Pericles, the Thersilion of
Megalopolis and especially the
Telesterion of Eleusis, designed
for religious assemblies attending
initiatory mysteries. The
reconstructed view of the area of
the na'iskos, or holy of holies,
In Greece, near Athens, at the initiatory site of
suggests that there was a complex
Eleusis, dedicated to the mysteries of Demeter
timberframe, supported by Doric
and Persephone, there was a fine example of a columns.
Greek hypostyle room. In its last state - towards Right: Plan of the Telesterion of
440 B.C. - this space resembled the apadana Eleusis, built in the fourth century
0 10 20
built by the Achaemenids. The Telesterion of I I I M y
B.C., with its surrounding tiers of
steps and its forty-two shafts and
Eleusis, which accommodated meetings of initi¬ I 1 1 =1 F* 1 SW
o 20 40 6o yy entrance portico.
ates and mystae, was in fact in the form of a

square building measuring 51.20 by 51.55 m,

bordered on all four sides by tiers, where those planning for the construction of a square room public with an area permitting a participatory

attending the rituals sat. with twenty columns, arranged in two concent¬ ceremony - sometimes for Greek mysteries, at

The building had forty-two columns in six ric rows (fourteen in front of the peripheral others, holy Persian banquets.

rows of seven shafts. Compared with the "Ionic" tiers and six in the middle), which flanked the The Tent of Xerxes, abandoned by the

columns of Persepolis, those of Eleusis are quite holy of holies or anaktoron, in the form of a Achaemenids after his defeat at Plataea, had

modest, measuring just 11.65 m in height, with a na'iskos. fallen into the hands of the Greektroops. It also

diameter of 1.97 m, and culminating in a Doric This project was abandoned in favour of the had an influence on Greek architecture. Various

capital. We have no precise knowledge about layout already mentioned, with its six rows of assembly sites, such as the Odeon of Pericles in

the actual roof, which was made of timber. It seven shafts, as designed by the architect Athens, and the Thersilion of Megalopolis in

may well have consisted of a structure with Coroebus, who built it up to the height of the Arcadia, which were square hypostyle buildings

trusses, forming a sort of lantern tower at the architraves. The work was subsequently finished like the Telesterion of Eleusis, reveal similarities

centre which provided lighting for the inside by Metagenes and Xenocles. Sometime later, in with the rooms of the apadana. For this Tent of

space whose total area covered some 2600 m2. about 330, the building would be given an Xerxes, which was a veritable moveable palace,

The Telesterion of Eleusis went through entrance portico consisting of twelve Doric probably reproduced the appearance of per¬

many stages of building, starting from a small columns on the south-east fapade, with two manent banqueting rooms, as was the case

structure dating back to the Mycenaean age. In angle columns. As a result of this gallery, with the tent of the Symposion of Ptolemy II

the reign of the tyrant Pisistratus (525), it was designed by the architect Philon,theTelesterion Philadelphus (third century B.C.). The shape of

already square in form, with twenty-two assumed its full majesty. this temporary structure, with its fifty columns,

columns. Later, under Cimon (circa 470), it was At Eleusis, with all the proportions re¬ would in any event explain the presence of a

enlarged, but remained unfinished. Then Ictinus spected, the function was just the same as that pyramidal roof, with a lantern at the top, m

-the architect of the Parthenon - undertookthe of an apadana. This meant providing a large Greek assembly buildings.

The Role of Greek Asia Minor 127

 The Hippodamian plan at Miletus
Designed by the father of classical
town-planning, Hippodamus of
Miletus, the plan of the great
Ionian city, rebuilt after479 B.C.,
shows the application of the grid
or chessboard layout, with its
right-angled streets, designed by
the architect and theoretician of
Greek society. Whateverthe
configuration of the coast, the
rectilinear system is applied to the
spatial arrangement as developed
on flat ground.
1 Lion Gate
2 Roman baths
3 North agora
4 Theatre
5 Palaestra
6 South agora
7 West agora
8 Temple of Athena
9 Stadium
10 Sacred gate

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Asian Greece after the Persian Wars

The city of Miletus had suffered more than others from the Ionian Revolt. It was
razed to the ground, and all its inhabitants had been hauled off in captivity to
Mesopotamia. Everything had to be rebuilt from scratch. Before its harbours were
invaded by the flood-waters of the Maeander, which have now left Miletus land¬
locked, the city was situated on a long and very rugged bar which jutted 1800 m into
the Latmic gulf, in the lee of the island of Lade.
Following its liberation in 479, the decision was taken to put the Greek city back
on its feet. It was Hippodamus, a citizen of Miletus, who was given the task of draw¬
ing up the plans for the city. Though reckoned to be the inventor of the orthogonal
plan loosely referred to as Hippodamian, and regarded as an architect, Hippodamus
was in reality a geometrician and a land-surveyor - a theoretician rather than a

128 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

A rigorous arrangement at Priene
It was also in Ionia, at Priene,
that the application of the
Hippodamian plan would reach its
limits. To calculate the layout of
the streets, the architect overlaid
his right-angled plan on an area of
land that was at once very hilly
and steep, and cambered. This
done, certain north-south streets
were transformed into stairways
and steps, in a site where the city-
wall rose more than 350 m,
between the low-lying stadium
and the top of the Acropolis. The
slope is interrupted by long
porticoes (stoai).
1 Acropolis dominating the
Hippodamian city
2 Temple of Demeter
3 Theatre
4 Temple of Athena
5 Bouleuterion
6 Stoa
7 Agora and Temple of Zeus
8 Gymnasium
9 Stadium

builder. For the plan of the grid-like chessboard cities, with their straight and right-
angled streets existed before the advent of Hippodamus. Without going back to
the necropolises of the Pharaohs, with theiraligned mastaba, orto the city founded
in 1350 by Akhenaton and called Akhet Aton, we can mention a whole series of
Etruscan foundations (Marzabotto, Spina) and, more particularly, numerous Greek
colonies from the eighth to the sixth centuries (Megara Hyblaea, Syracuse, Naxos,
Senus, Acragas, Camarina, and so on), all based on strict outline, with the parallel
thoroughfares forming a regular checkerboard.
So what part did Hippodamus play in the creation of a new concept of town-plan¬
ning with which his name is associated - the Hippodamian plan? We must set the
work within the concept of its period and imagine the concerns of the citizens of
those times: following their subjugation by the Persians, after a phase in which the

The Role of Greek Asia Minor 129

 The monumental terrace of the
Temple of Athena at Priene
The slope is so steep at Priene that
it was necessary to construct
enormous supporting walls with
regular blocks of stone, forming
a rusticated masonry-work
punctuated by horizontal courses.
On these infrastructures, the
architect Pythius would erect
the sanctuary of Athena Polias
during the latter half of the fourth
century B.C., on the eve of the
Macedonian conquest.

Page 737
A famous masterpiece
of Antiquity
The Temple of Athena is a building
in the Ionic style which had a
Classical hexastyle fagade. It was
the work of Pythius, the archi¬
tect of the Mausoleum of
Halicarnassus. Today, five of the
temple's columns have been re¬
erected on the terrace at Priene.
But this anastylosis, where there is
a missing drum in each column,
does not really do justice to the
elegance of the original building.

early constitutions heralding a movement towards democratic trends were fol¬

lowed by tyrannical regimes, it was the political principle of isonomia that was
imposed. Isonomia, which means the equality of all before the law, is a theoretical
concept which is tempered by the creation - in a spirit which foreshadows the
Aristotelian categories - of social classes corresponding to urban zones of activity.
The interest of the work of Hippodamus is that it gave a socio-political content
to a simple layout. The various "neighborhoods" were earmarked for precise pur¬
poses, jobs and tasks were shared out on a topological basis, and the mass of the
inhabitants was divided up into orders and classes. The city was planned and
designed in a coherent way, at once functional and rational. So it was this isonomic
scheme-to which a "moral" value was attached - which would govern the plan. This
formed the law, the nomos, combining politics and geometry.
Greek authors tell us that Hippodamus was a "meteorologist" as well, in other
words, based on the accepted meaning of the term at the time, an astronomer, con¬
cerned with the organization of the cosmos. The way in which he mapped out and
planned the city - the poll's - had to be part of the order of the world. Within the

130 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

 '

>^.vN
 A theatre which is married to form a shell-like basin (below).
Page 133
its surroundings From here, the view stretches over
Honorary seats for councillors
At Priene, the theatre - which was the plain traversed by the river
Luxurious stone chairs - whose
built during the fifth and fourth Maeander. The circle of the
design heralds the Empire style! -
centuries B.C. - is integral to the orchestra comes closes to the edge
were provided at the edge of the
landscape. Its cavea backs up of the proscenium, where the
orchestra of the theatre at Priene
against the mountainside (above) structures in front of the stage-
forthe eminent members of the
and the rows of concentric seats buildings can be made out.
boule, or city council.

132 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

 city, space and time - to borrow the words of J.-P. Vernant - "quite naturally A ritual banqueting hall
become the reflection of sidereal realities, in such a way that they involve the micro¬ at Labranda
cosm of the city in the macrocosm of the universe". The building which bears the
name of Andron A at Labranda, an
On a practical level, Hippodamus planned the northern districts or "neighbor¬
eyrie-like site in the mountains of
hoods" of Miletus on the basis of a network made up of blocks measuring 70 by 60
Caria, was the setting forthe
feet (20.75 by 17.70 m). When the city was enlarged in a southerly direction, in the
symposion, or sacred meal with
Hellenistic-Roman period, the huge newdistrict, which doubled the urban area, was libations to the gods. Designed
planned on a larger chessboard layout measuring 175 by 100 feet. for use by members of the royal
This topographic principle ordering the city on the basis of isonomia and the family and the college of priests,

reforms imposed by Cleisthenes of Sicyon, in the sixth century B.C., took on a sym¬ this building, dating from the
mid-fourth century B.C., accom¬
bolic value in relation to the protection of people's rights. It was used, like a "talis¬
modated these gatherings in a
man", to assert a political idea: town-planning became the expression of political
vast megaron-like hall, lit by
choice.
windows on eitherside of the
This semiological content thenceforth espoused by the Hippodamian plan large doorsituated behind the
ended up being misappropriated, sometimes to an absurd degree. The city of Priene colonnade.

(in modern Turkey) is a striking example of this. Forwhilethe Hippodamian formula

was easy to adapt to flat terrain, it was difficult to adapt it to a jagged terrain. At
Priene, built in the middle of the fourth century on the edge of the plain of the river
Maeander, the city occupied a spherical rocky escarpment with sheer sides. The
gradient was very steep: the foot of the encircling wall was at an altitude of 30 m,
while the top of the acropolis stood at 381 m. The agora, the Temple of Athena
Polias, the bouleuterion and the theatre all stood on a ledge half-way up, which was
partly man-made and supported by sturdy retaining walls with large rustic work.
Over the entire zone covered by the Hippodamian plan, streets turned into stair¬
ways at their ends. Movement within the city was chaotic. Nevertheless, for reasons

134 The Role of Greek Asia Minor

 which defy all rational analysis, the plan was applied with all the meticulousness
compatible with the ups and downs of the land. Each lot formed a block of 160 by
120 feet (47.20 by 35.40 m), strictly oriented north-south.
Work started on theTemple of Athena in about 340 B.C., supervised by Pythius,
who had just completed the tomb of the satrap Mausolus at Halicarnassus. This was
an Ionian hexastyle with eleven columns at the sides, and two columns in antis at
each end of the cella. The measurement of the stylobate represented 60 by 120 Attic
feet (1 to 2), and the cella covered 40 by 100 feet (2 to 5).
The cavea of the theatre, set hard against the slope, merged with the landscape
and formed not only a place designed for spectacles, but also a place where the city
population (ecc/es/a) could gather for meetings, until Priene, in about 150 B.C.,
acquired a handsome bouleuterion, in the Hellenistic style, which is in a very good
state of conservation. But this does not fall within our brief in this study.
To the south-east of Ionia, the city of Labranda, in Caria, was built to a great
extent by the Hecatomnids, satraps under the Persian rule, during the fourth cen¬
tury B.C. The founder of this dynasty, Hecatomnos, who died in 377, was the father
of Mausolus. Before Mausolus left his Carian mountains for Halicarnassus, the cap¬
ital of this little Hellenized kingdom was situated in this wild site of Labranda. There
is an interesting banqueting hall here, built by the satrap Idreus, brotherof Mauso¬
lus. Behind a pair of Ionic columns in antis, a large door with two windows on either
side gave access to the inner area which had a wooden roof. It was here that sacred
banquets were held by the members of the royal family and the college of priests.
The building thus had a function similar to that of the Persian apadana.
From the early Homeric period on, the Greeks practiced cremation on pyres, then
laid the deceased's ashes in the grave, alongside votive urns. But at time the scarcity
of wood caused them to prefer burial (see the Ceramicus Cemetery in Athens).
Like the Persians, the Carians had themselves buried. Sovereigns built impress¬
ive tombs, and thus we have inherited funerary monuments, the most impressive of
which must have been the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, which we shall come back
to. At Labranda, in any event, a fine (royal?) tomb marks the recourse to the use of
the roofing system which would become widespread during the Hellenistic period:
the vaulted chamber. The chamber, whose roof consisted of just six enormous arch¬
stones - without any keystone! - contained three stone sarcophagi arranged like
the beds of a triclinium, or rather of a symposion.

A vaulted funerary chamber

This tomb at Labranda, which
dates from the fourth century
B.C., is one of the oldest Greek
vaulted buildings. The funerary
chamber, lined with three
sarcophagi arranged in a
U-shape, is characterized by
most impressive stone-cutting -
stereotomy - involving large
blocks jointed with great
precision.

The Role of Greek Asia Minor 135

 Situated in the centre of the city of Halicarnassus, the Mausoleum which the
satrap Mausolus, along with his sister (and wife) Artemisia, had constructed in 353
B.C., was a great monument described by numerous authors, including Vitruvius
and Pliny the Elder. The building was visible from a long way out at sea. It attested
totheautonomyenjoyedbythesatrapin relationtotheGreat King. Foreven if Mau-
solus himself had conceived of the project, he had it built by Greeks: the architects
Pythius and Satyrus, and the sculptors Scopas, Leochares, Timotheus, and Bryaxis.
Based on this tradition and the findings of archaeological excavations under¬
taken on several different occasions since 1791, when the British examined the ruins
and sent fragments of friezes back to the British Museum in 1846 and 1851, various
hypotheses began to shed some light on the descriptions. The excavators
attempted several reconstructions to try to visualize the original appearance of the
building. The most recent works of the Danes (and of Jeppesen in particular) were
published in 1958,1971 and 1976. They help us to establish certain missing links and
unanswered questions relating to this building, which was still intact in the twelfth
century A.D., when it was destroyed by an earthquake and then served as a quarry
forthe Knights of St. John Hospitaller, when they builttheircastle in 1506.
The dimensions referred to by Pliny are impressive: the height exceeded 140 feet
(41 m) and the length of the podium was 440 feet (130 m), along which were the
friezes depicting the battles of the Amazons and Centaurs. At the base of the
podium was the opening to the underground funerary crypt. The building which
surmounted the tomb itself was surrounded by a peripteral Ionic colonnade of nine
columns by eleven (measuring 33 by 38 m). Inside the ce//a, bounded by the porti¬
coes, there was a third frieze illustrating a chariot race. This massive structure in the
form of a tower was crowned by a pyramidal roof. At the top stood an immense
quadriga sculpted by Pythius. In it, the sovereign and his wife were depicted, it
would appear, on a colossal scale on a ceremonial chariot.
In many respects the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus would seem to be part of a
Lycian tradition, of which the Nereid Monument at Xanthus possibly formed one of
the milestones. Built in about 420 B.C., at the height of the Classical period when
the city was freed from its Persian dependence, this small Ionic temple - today
reconstructed in the British Museum - was a funerary building probably dedicated

136 The RoleofGreek Asia Minor

Page 136 above
The Battle of the Amazons
at Halicarnassus
From 353 B.C. onwards, the most
famous classical artists set to work
on the celebrated Mausoleum -
thetombof the (Persian) satrap
Mausolus - of which only a few
traces remain in evidence to this
day. But various writings, in
particularthose of Pliny the Elder
and Vitruvius, have unanimously
showered praise on this monu¬
mental work. The bas-relief
friezes, and especially the fight
against the Amazons, glorify
movement with tumultuous
dynamism. (London, British
Museum)

An Ionic marvel at Xanthus

The Nereid monument, erected
in about 420 B.C., has been recon¬
structed from evidence discovered
at the site of Xanthus, in southern
Lycia. It is a funerary building (a
heroon) which has a distinctive
elegance in its fagade, with large
openings punctuated by slender
Ionic columns. Between these
supports stand graceful statues of
dancing women - the Nereids -
responsible for accompanying the
soul of the deceased in the here¬
after. The stylobate is covered
with superimposed friezes in the
Ionian style.

to a Lycian king. This heroon with four fagade columns, surmounted by a pediment
with dentils, had a frieze with hunting scenes on its architrave. The lower part pre¬
sented very lively reliefs illustrating battles and kidnapping scenes. Lastly,
between the columns there stood elegant life-size statues representing young
women skipping and dancing with a lightness and exquisiteness of movement, and
making gestures of a rare elegance. These are the Nereids, who accompanied the
soul of the deceased to the hereafter, with the wind billowing their garments.
Compared to the severe style of the Doric buildings of Magna Graecia, we can
see that, despite the sombre periods ushered in by the Persian Wars, Ionia brought
an outstanding sense of freedom, imagination and grace, as well as a powerful and
Page 136 below
original inspiration. Just as philosophical thinking and cosmology had done, so
A hypothetical building
The reconstructed section and architecture enjoyed considerable advances here. The effects of this profoundly
plan of the Mausoleum of innovative character and this technological daring can be seen in the far-flung dis¬
Halicarnassus attempt to bring semination of Greek concepts. Persia benefited from them in the structuring and
togetherthe findings of recent building of its immense assembly halls designed forthe receptions and sacred ban¬
excavations with information
quets of the Great Kings who ruled over the Greeks of Ionia for a long time. Thus
supplied by the authors of
Pasargadae, Sardis and Persepolis are the remote echo of the activities of Greek
Antiquity. But many features are
still shrouded in mystery in this
builders, and they reflect the influence of the great dipteral buildings which today
building with its unusual shape. have vanished from Samos and Ephesus.

The Role of Greek Asia Minor 137

Monuments of Classical Greece
 The Flowering of Temples and Fortresses

Page 139 Now that we have discussed Magna Graecia, Ionia and their repercussions in Persia,
Oedipus and the Sphinx it is time to look at the buildings which sawthe light of day in Greece proper, away
This vase, which was made in
from, or following the Persian wars, the ravages of which created a resounding
about 440 B.C., is called a pelike. It
break in the history of the Greek world.
is 26 cm in height, and decorated
with red figures on a black ground,
One monument which escaped the destruction - resulting from the never-end¬
in the style of the "Pasithea ing antagonism between Athens and the island of Aegina, in the Saronic Gulf - was
painter". It shows the meeting the temple dedicated to Athena Aphaia, the Invisible. The temple at Aegina, in a
between Oedipus and the Sphinx, magnificent setting, surveying the sea in all directions and surrounded by pine
according to ancient legend. forests, is the finest example of Greek architecture from the islands.
(Geneva, Museum of Art and
This hexastyle Doric building, which only has twelve columns on the sides, was
History)
erected in about 495, on the eve of the Classical age. It is contemporary with the
first Parthenon of the Pisistratids. Despite its smallish size, this Temple of Athena
Aphaia is remarkably well balanced and harmonious. It measures 13.77 by 28.81 m.
Its columns, 16 Doric feet (1 Doric foot = 0.328 m) high, rise to 5.25 m. There are 5
feet between the columns. The cella has both a pronaos and an opisthodomos, both
preceded by two columns in antis. The naos is divided into three naves, by means of
two porticoes of five Doric columns each on two storeys (as in the Temple of Hera at
Paestum). But the inner area is limited, because the nave is no more than 3 m wide.

The Invention of Architectural Polychromy

The temple of Aegina, which has been outstandingly restored, was formerly stuc¬
coed to conceal the unevenness of the shelly limestone of which it had been built.
This is one of those ancient monuments which stirred up much lively controversy in
the celebrated "polychromy debate" which raged on throughout the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries and, for many a decade, exercised the world of archae¬
ologists and art historians in France, Germany and Great Britain.
In their monumental publication dedicated to the Expedition scientifique de
Moree, which appeared 1831-1838, the draughtsmen A. Blouet and F. Trezel
stressed the chromatic features seen on the ruins of the Temple of Aphaia. They
were not the only people to have made such findings. In fact, the sanctuaries of
Magna Graecia and the Acropolis of Athens have also revealed the presence of
Painted architectural decoration
colored touch-ups and highlights in the architecture and sculpture of ancient
from the Acropolis in Athens
Greece. These discoveries have in turn released much impassioned argument.
Examples of painted scenes
Since the work byJ. Stuart and N. Revett, The Antiquities of Athens, appeared in
discovered in ancient monuments
are rare. This plaque from the 1762, it has provoked "frenzied enthusiasm and bitter controversy in Europe"
Acropolis, which depicts a running (to borrow the words of Marie-Frangoise Billot, in the catalogue of the exhibition
hoplite, dates from about 510 Paris - Rome - Athenes, held in 1982). Specialists such as Dodwell, Stackelberg,
B.C., inthe period of thetyranny Brondsted, Labrouste and Quatremere de Quincy hurled themselves into the fray,
of the Pisistratids. The Athenian
in France, the extreme position of J.l. Hittorff, originally from Cologne, but who
warrior, wearing a crested helmet,
studied in Paris, attracted the most inflammatory writings. In 1823, the author
is carrying a round shield and
spear. (Athens, Acropolis
visited Sicily, noting that the upper parts of Doric architecture are polychrome. His
Museum) views were finally backed up. In 1835, the excavations of the Acropolis showed -

Monuments of Classical Greece 141

 The temple of Aegina and its
peribolos
Plan of the Doric Temple of
Athena Aphaia (the Invisible),
on the island of Aegina, dating
from 495 B.C.
1 Peribolos
2 Temple of Athena Aphaia
3 Sacrificial altar
1 4 Propylaea
5 Lodgings for the priests

i
like the parts taken from the small Temple of Nike-that the use of color also applied
to the lonicorder.
I hen Hittorff asserted that polychromy was a standard phenomenon: it was no
longer confined just to blue triglyphs, metope backgrounds, blue and red capitals
and entablatures; soon he observed brightly colored architraves, ceilings and cof¬
fers, where the azure blue was set off by gold. Now he started to extrapolate. In
supposing that the temples of Segesta and Selinus were entirely polychromatic, he
imagined huge panels covered with scenes produced using encaustic paint. This
exaggeratedly hard and fast theory stemmed from poorly understood ancient writ¬
ings, as well as from the interest in painting made manifest by the neo-classicists -
Schinkel, Semper, and von Klenze - who dreamed of producing works where they
could call upon the services of the masters of academicism.
In this way, Greek architecture - which was fortoo long regarded as a somewhat
pallid art form, as white as the Parian marble or stucco - suddenly became poly¬
chromatic. It offered brightly-coloured highlights. The whole image of the Greek
temple changed and came alive.
In the same way, the superb sculpture of the pediments of the Temple of Aphaia
(in the Glyptothek in Munich) stood out against the colored tympana. These com¬
positions, with their themes of Heracles and Ajax in the Trojan War, marked one of
the high points of Greek statuary. The purity of the drawing and design, the fullness
of the volumes, the sacred hieratic nature of the arrested action, freezing the myth¬
ical gesture in eternity, all were part of the blaze of polychromy, as Furtwangler's
reconstruction conceived it.

142 Monuments of Classical Greece

An engraving of the
sanctuary of Aegina
As seen by the English painter
Edward Dodwell, in 1805, the
Temple of Aphaia before the
modern restoration work.

The Doric structure

At the end of the Archaic period,
the temple of Aegina showed a
distinctive style, close to
Classicism. The Doric column
became more refined beneath the
entablature, as did the spacing of
the triglyphs and metopes.

Monuments of Classical Greece 143

 The lightness of the hexastyle
facade
The Doric temple of Aegina,
dating from the early fifth century
B.C., marks a clear advance in the
way structures were becoming
less cumbersome, columns more
slender and refined, and the
intercolumniation more widely
spaced. The building, made of
shelly tufa, was stuccoed and
covered with lively polychromatic
work.

if - mm mm ?
mSmSmBSm
1 jlffe

Sketch of the facade of the

Temple of Aphaia
The spare structure of the temple
of Aegina, with its doors which
take up not only the entrance to
the cella but also the spacing of
the intercolumniation of the
fagade, announces the Age of
Pericles.

144 Monuments of Classical Greece

•' ■. ' ,V.V
 A "committed" publication
The large, three-volume folio
edition titled Expedition
scientifique de Moree, Paris,
1831-1838, by Blouet, Trezel,
Ravoisie et alii, made a major
contribution to the dispute about
polychromy in Greek architecture.
The color re-creations of the
temple of Aegina, in 1833,
provided arguments forthose in
Hittorff s camp.

146 Monuments of Classical Greece

Expression of geometry
The perspective view of the corner
of the Temple of Aphaia highlights
the rigor of the Doric style, while
at the same time setting off its
elegant dynamism beneath the
sun of the Saronic Gulf. The
architecture here pulses and
vibrates in the light.

Monuments of Classical Greece 147

 The double Doric order
The two levels of the inner
colonnade,seen through the
doorway of the cella of the Temple
of Aphaia. This was one of the
earliest uses of the two-storey
system, applied to the inner area
of the temple - although the small
dimensions of the sanctuary of
Aegina did not really call forthis
formula.

148 Monuments of Classical Greece

A necessary correction
In orderto deal with "the
contradictory demands at the
corners of the colonnade, where
the triglyph had to be at once jure. :TJ .-ce-rurn;: j
the axis of the column and form
the corner of the entablature"
(Roland Martin), the Greeks opted
for a shortening of the distance
between axes at the ends of the
peristyle.

The Uncertain Transition of the Corner

The research undertaken by Greek architects continually tended to make the Doric
style the expression of clarity, logic and coherence of forms and structures. The
builders of the Archaic and then the Classical period also consistently came up
against difficulties resulting precisely from the rigor and restrictions of the inter¬
play of alternative elements in the Doric entablature. Above the architrave of the
tern pie, the frieze was formed by triglyphs separated by metopes. In some cases the
triglyphs surmounted a column, in others an intercolumniation. The metopes, which
were usually decorated with mythical scenes in relief, provided panels of a constant
width. But at the corners of the peripteral temple this fine layout became confused
as a result of contradictory demands and constraints: the structural logic no longer
tallied with the rhythmic regularity.
A view stretching to the sea An example will help us to grasp the dilemma with which the Greek builders had
Taking full advantage of its island to wrestle. Mindful that the motif of the triglyphs represented the "petrified" sur¬
site, the temple of Aegina towers
vival of the ends of the beams of the wooden structure, statics dictated that this ele¬
overthe surrounding countryside
ment should rest precisely on the axis of the column. Furthermore, coherence
and, from its colonnade offers
demanded that the metopes form a homogeneous series of panels of the same size.
a view which sweeps overthe
vastness of it, as far as the Lastly, this well-wrought theoretical organization issued from intercolumniations
horizon. set at regular intervals. In practice, however, these different conditions were mutu¬
ally exclusive, and created what the experts call the "angle conflict".
One thing strikes any onlooker straightaway. By admitting that, on each side of
the entablature surrounding the edifice, the frieze ends in a triglyph, the corner has
to be made up of two perpendicular triglyphs, with one of them visible on the
fagade and the other on the long side. In this configuration, the corner triglyphs
cannot surmount the axis of the column without the latter appearing to be thrust
outwards. So they have to be put out of alignment. Not only does this solution clash
with the structural coherence, but it also means enlarging the last metope. So we
have a lack of order which satisfies neither logic nor aesthetics.
The solution usually espoused by the Greek architects involved two options: on
the one hand, an acceptance - for want of any better course - that the corner
triglyphs should be put out of alignment, towards the outside, and on the other, in
order to retain evenly sized metopes, the adoption of a shorter intercolumniation
at the corners of the building. This arrangement, which Greek architectural theor¬
eticians have called the "angle contraction", satisfies the eye by lending a greater
density to the corners of the temples. It would be rounded off by optical rectifica-

Monuments of Classical Greece 149

 The Poseidon of Livadhostro
This fine Archaic bronze,
contemporary with the temple
of Aegina (circa 490 B.C.) was
discovered near Plataea. Like the
lips which are "polychromed" with
the help of a copper leaf, the eyes
must have been inlaid. Detail of a
statue measuring 1.18 m in height,
which clearly illustrates the severe
style dating from the end of the
Archaic period. (Athens, National
Museum)

tions, such as the strengthening of the diameter of the angle column, its slight in¬
clination towards the diagonal axis and the curvature of the stylobate. These
arrangements gave the building aesthetic cohesion. They conveyed the primacy of
the perceptible aspect over the purely architectonic aspect. We are witnessing
operations which sacrifice the logic of construction to a concept that favours visual
perception. The lesson implicit in this option is comforting: it marks a humanization
of the coldly mathematical characterthat Greek architecture could display. It tem¬
pers the numerical rigidity of the plan. Paradoxically, aesthetics holds sway overthe
purity of the concept.
At Aegina, the solution to the problem of the corner involved a reduction of
22 cm in the intercolumniation. The angle columns were 2 cm thicker and included,
at the top, an inclination of 3 cm towards the interior of the building (G. Gruben).
But the stylobate was not curved.

150 Monuments of Classical Greece

 Bassae and the Corinthian Capital
The Temple of Apollo Epicurius - the Helper - at Bassae, in Arcadia, was built in a
very isolated place in the mountains of the Peloponnese, at an altitude of 1100 m.
The nearesttown, Phigaleia, is 6 km away. The building was probably started in429
and completed between 400 and 390 B.C. According to Pausanias, it was the work
of the architect Ictinus, who designed the Parthenon. Roland Martin emphasizes
the contrast between its surprisingly Archaic features and its innovative aspects,
which seem to back this attribution.
The temple is a hexastyle peripteral building with fifteen columns on the sides,
measuring not more than 14.48 by 38.25 m. The proportions are thus more elong¬
ated than those of the temple at Aegina. It is aligned on a north/south axis. The cella
which precedes the quite deep pronaos is followed by an opisthodomos. Both have a
pair of columns in antis. Butthe most original aspect isto be found inthe interior of
In the heart of the Peloponnese the naos. It has lateral niches formed by ten engaged columns at the end of low walls
This print by Edward Dodwell (five on each side). To left and right, the first four walls are perpendicular to the side
shows the Classical Temple of
walls, with the fifth, set at 45°, facing the entrance. At the back of the naos, these
Apollo Epicurius at Bassae in 1805.
two oblique reinforcements frame an axial column, which we shall describe in due
Work on this building, which
course. This structure seems to separate the naos from an adytum, or sekos, which
would appearto be the work of
the brilliant architect Ictinus, was lit by a side door situated to the east. This odd arrangement may have had to do
started in around 429 B.C., at a with an oracular system.
height of 1100 m, in Arcadia. The ten engaged lateral columns of the cella have broad, flared bases of a type

Monuments of Classical Greece 151

 not found elsewhere, resting on a socle slightly raised around the central
flagstones. They have strange Ionic capitals with volutes descending very low on
the sides. Once again, this formula points to a tendency to combine the Doric style,
used for the outside parts, with the Ionic style, used solely for the interior of the
sanctuary.
But the onlooker has further surprises in store. Forthe very first time in Greece,
the axial column, mentioned above, in front of which must have stood the statue of
Apollo Epicurius, had a capital in the Corinthian style. This consisted of a basket of
foliage with small corner volutes supporting the abacus. This association of the
Corinthian style forthe naos and the Doric style forthe peripteral colonnade recurs
in the tholos at Delphi, with its twenty columns, and in the large monopteral build¬
ing of Epidaurus, known as the Thymele, with twenty-six outer columns in all.
The presence of the three orders - Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian - brought
together in a single building is striking, to say the least. If we add to this the fact that

An erudite eclecticism
Plan of the temple of Bassae, with
its curious naos; section and eleva¬
tion of the inner Ionic columns,
and view and section of the
Corinthian capital.

152 Monuments of Classical Greece

Pending restoration the temple of Bassae also had handsome pediment sculptures and, more particu¬
Shifting ground hastaken its toll larly, an interior frieze, it would seem, judging from the evidence, that this was a
on the porticoes of the temple of
kind of laboratory for new research. In it, Ictinus - whose place was possibly taken
Bassae, the columns are no longer
by the sculptor Scopas (fourth century B.C.) - worked on his innovative solutions to
quite vertical. At the present time,
the various formal and aesthetic problems.
the building is covered with a
plastic "bubble", while it is At the end of the fourth century B.C., with the appearance of the Corinthian
dismantled and completely re¬ order, we cannot help but think about the basic significance of the peripteral colon¬
erected by archaeologists. nade, as described early on in this study, associating it with the concept of the
sacred wood. For nothing shows more clearly the profound semiological value of
the column in relation to the primitive worship of the tree which the pantheistic
system regarded as the first abode of the deity.
This association - attested to by such examples as the daphnephorion, the laurel
tree of Apollo, the oak of Zeus at Dodona, and the olive tree of Athena at the
Erechtheum - was henceforth expressed with a vigour and precision conveyed by
the stylized foliage of the capital crowning the shaft. It was at the top of the tree
trunk that young shoots sprouted forth. These illustrate the vitality of the "petri¬
fied" vegetation that would encircle the temple.
This idea, symbolized by the encircling portico, is best illustrated in the
Corinthian-style boughs. For the foliage is much more present in the scrolled bas¬
kets of acanthus than it ever was in the Doric style, where only the shaft, with its
fluting evoking the spreading of a trunk and the falling leaves of the primitive gor-
gerins, calls to mind the original tree.

Monuments of Classical Greece 153

 Needless to say, being a product of Aeolian volutes, the Ionic order retained The base of a column of the naos
the image of rolled-up vine branches. But never before had its identification with At Bassae, the internal

natural foliage been so straightforward. For plant forms stamp their character arrangement, with its Ionic

on the Corinthian style, attributed, according to Vitruvius - to the sculptor columns abutting a low wall, and
perpendicular to the outer wall
Callimachus, a disciple of Phidias, and author of the bronze palm tree of the
of the naos, lends an unexpected
Erechtheum.
appearance to the room where
Sothe laststyletoappearin Greek architecture marksa real resourcefulness and worship was conducted, so that it
clarifies what is left unsaid in the Doric and Ionic styles. resembles the early formula of
the Temple of Hera at Olympia.
The base of the shafts, with its
flared outline, has no equivalent
anywhere. To all appearances, it
is the daring contribution of a
builder looking for novel
solutions.

154 Monuments of Classical Greece

 Attempted reconstruction
Inthe publication entitled
Expedition scientifique de Moree,
which appeared 1831-1838,
the temple of Bassae is the object
of a reconstruction project
showing (above) the fapade of
the sanctuary, and (below) a
hypothetical cross-section view of
the naos, showing the axial
Corinthian column at the end of
the cel la.

A frieze of the Ionic type

Bassae also made innovations in
terms of decoration. A continuous
frieze, in the Ionic spirit, runs
around the east entablature. It
shows the battle between the
Greeks and the Amazons depicted
in a lively style. (London, British
Museum)

Monuments of Classical Greece 155

E
The seat of prophecy Delphi, the Sanctuary of Apollo
The Temple of Apollo, built during The wild and mysterious splendour of the rugged, majestic landscape at Delphi,
the fourth century B.C. (in its sixth
where temples, treasuries, theatre and stadium grace the slopes of Mount Par¬
version), was the seat of the
nassus, is the ideal setting forthe oracle of Apollo, who long guided the destiny of
Pythia, centre of Greek divination,
the Greek world.
where citizens and sovereigns
alike would come in search of Once the "holy war" had freed the sanctuary, this site, where the gods them¬
signs that might enable them to selves appearto talk, became thick with monuments between the sixth and fourth
deciphertheirfate. centuries B.C. In the middle of this sacred land stands the great Temple of Apollo,
itself built on a broad excavated area consolidated with 6000 m3 of fill, which is
retained by a mighty polygonal wall. Next to this latter, which dates from the
Archaic period (early sixth century), the Portico of the Athenians was built in the
Page 156
Ionic style in 478. Beneath it the victors in the Persian wars housed the trophies they
The sanctuary of Apollo
had captured from the Persians.
The polygonal wall, built in 548
B.C., rises up in the majestic
The temple, whose ruins are still very much in evidence, was the sixth in a series
landscape of Delphi. An Ionic of buildings whose foundations have been unearthed by archaeologists. It was here
portico was added close to it in that the oracle, known as the Pythia, made her prophecies, in the manteion or place
478 to house the trophies brought of divination. Built between 370 and 320, after an earthquake followed by a fire
back by the Athenians aftertheir
which destroyed Temple V, this sanctuary - one of the most venerable in all ancient
naval victories overthe Persians.
Greece - borrowed the exact plan of its predecessor. Although Delphi may have
This impressive terrace acted as
been the seat of the oracle, which led to the presence of a whole host of outstand¬
a foundation forthe various
temples which the Greeks erected ing monuments, the Ancients were not offended by the Archaic aspects resulting
to Apollo of Delphi. from this traditionalism.

Monuments of Classical Greece 157

 The building, measuring 58.18 by 21.68 m, is a hexastyle with fifteen columns on
the sides, with pronaos and opisthodomos preceded by pairs of columns in antis. The
Doric shafts had a diameter of 1.6mandstand10.5mhigh, whereas the columns of
Temple V did not exceed 8 m. They clearly show the development towards a remark¬
able refinement, peculiartothe end of the Classical period.
The inner dimensions of the cella (11 by 25 m) justified the presence of two por¬
ticoes which divided the area into three naves. At the back, the adytum, intended to
be used by the Pythia, was designed to accommodate the instruments of divination,
and, in particular, the famous bronze tripod which bore away, "in spirit", the
pythoness, messenger of the gods. This venerable temple also contained the
omphalos or cosmic egg symbolizing the centre of the world.

Treasuries and Offerings

To show their gratitude, the Ancients would take precious ex voto offerings to
Delphi and leave them there - offerings made to the gods for successes achieved
following the "revelations" of the oracle. In addition they erected monuments to
house these offerings. These are known as treasuries - small temples usually
with two columns in antis or four fagade columns (prostyle), which might be either A commemorative chapel
Doric or Ionic, and, in the latter instance, have caryatids instead of shafts (as in the The Treasury of the Athenians

Treasury of Siphnos, dating from 525 B.C.). at Delphi was built in 487 B.C.
in gratitude to the gods forthe
One such treasury - the Treasury of the Athenians - was successfully restored at
victory at Marathon overthe
the beginning of the twentieth century. It shows a very "straightforward" concept
Persians. Like most treasuries,
of anastylosis, by clearly stressing the difference between the original and the
this small Doric temple contained
reconstructed parts. Standing on the Sacred Way leading to the Temple of Apollo, ex votos dedicated to the gods.

158 Monuments of Classical Greece

The Charioteer of Delphi
This bronze statue, offered in
478 or 474 by a tyrant of Gela
(Sicily) to the Delphic sanctuary, in
commemoration of his victory in
the chariot-races at the Pythian
Games, was discovered quite by
chance at the site of Delphi.
Measuring 1.80 m in height, this
work, at once motionless and
mobile, with its severe drapery,
marks the high point of an age in
which the hieratic spirit would be
transformed into action. (Delphi,
Museum)

this small Doric edifice, built in Parian marble, measures just 6.6 by 9.7 m. Built by
Athens afterthe victory at Marathon, it dates from 487 and is an assertive example
of the Classical style. Beneath its pediment, the entablature bears triglyphs and
metopes, these latter sculpted with the glorious scenes marking the heroic deeds
of Theseus, the Attic hero par excellence. The balance and harmony of this building
clearly show the maturity of Greek architecture at the time of the Persian wars.
The gifts offered by sovereigns and important persons who dedicated ex votes
to the oracle and to the gods of Delphi came in various shapes and sizes: statues of
kouroi and goddesses, the huge effigy of a silver bull embellished with gold, com¬
memorative columns supporting an Archaic sphinx on its Ionic capital, or dancing
figures springing from a bunch of Corinthian acanthus plants, ivory sculptures, gold

Monuments of Classical Greece 159

 The tholos: a round temple
On the site of Marmaria, below
the centre of the Delphic site, the
tholos built in about 370, of which
three of the twenty columns have
been re-erected, is the first of a
type which would subsequently
be developed, especially at
Epidaurus. In the sanctuary of
Athena, at Delphi, this tholos
marries the Doric style of the
surrounding outer colonnade with
the Corinthian style of the capitals
which surmountthe inner half¬
columns.

Page 161
A concentric composition
Designed by the architect
Theodorus of Phocaea the plan of
the tholos of Athena Pronaia at
Delphi is easy to make out on the
base of the building. The circular
system, with its extreme re¬
finement as far as these formal
developments were concerned,
certainly contained a significance
about which we learn little from
writings or excavations. The round
form may relate to chthonic, or
underworld, rituals.

160 Monuments of Classical Greece

 A stadium dominating the city
Dominating the city of Delphi, set
into the steep mountainside, a
stadium designed forthe com¬
petitive events of the Pythian
Games was constructed in the
Classical period. But it was not
until the Roman period that the
stadium was fitted out with the
tiered steps which line one side of
the track.

jewellery, and so on. One of the most striking finds made at Delphi is none other
than the famous bronze auriga, offered in Sicily in 476 by Polyzelus, tyrant of Gela,
after his victory in the chariot race at the Pythian games. All that has come down to
us is the charioteer, but he is miraculously intact and well illustrates the concern for
"truth" shown by Classical art: the folds of the tunic, the head with its head-band,
the enamel eyes surrounded by bronze lashes, and so on. These features combine
with a refusal to accept the strict frontal pose and symmetry as conveyed by the
position of the head which is turned to the left in relation to the feet.

The Tholos of Theodorus

On the site of Delphi, one of the staggered terraces in the mountainside - the
so-called Marmaria terrace - accommodated, alongside the Sanctuary of Athena
Pronaia, the magnificent tholos, or round temple, dedicated to the goddess. The
monopteral building, surrounded by twenty Doric columns, measures 13.5 m in
diameter at the stylobate, while the cella attains a diameter of 8.6 m. The height at
the cornice is 8.32 m. This round temple, erected circa 370 B.C., is built entirely of
Pentelic marble. Inside, the Doric order is replaced by ten engaged Corinthian
columns. In this masterpiece, it has only been possible to re-erect three columns on
the beautiful base with three concentric steps. We know that the architect of this
tholos at Delphi was Theodorus of Phocaea, author of a treatise about its building.
Sadly, this work has not survived, but it is referred to by Vitruvius.
Furtherupthe mountainside at Delphi, the great theatre, as if coiled within a nat¬
ural recess in the crag, looks out on to an outstandingly beautiful landscape. It was
also built in the fourth century, but was restored and embellished in the Hellenistic
period by Eumenes II of Pergamum, and enlarged during the Roman period. As in all
the great Greek sanctuaries, this theatre was used for both worship and culture.
Designed to accommodate the Pythian games, during which playwrights and poets
competed with another, it could also be used for large gatherings of up to 5000
people. The seven cuneus or wedge-like divisions of the cavea, demarcated by stair¬
ways fanning out from the orchestra, punctuate the tiers of seats.
Going still higher, we come to the stadium, also lined with tiered seats and dat¬
ing from the third century B.C. In its original state it contained no more than a track
178 m long (6plethra of 100 feet), where runners vied with one another. It was devel¬
oped and improved during the Roman period.

162 Monuments of Classical Greece

A stunning site
The dazzling view from the great Pergamum, and then refitted in
theatre of Delphi stretches away the Roman period. Dominating the
as far as the valley of the river great Temple of Apollo, the site
Pleistus. Built in the fourth has retained its wild look, at the
century B.C., the cavea was foot of Mount Parnassus, on a
embellished and enlarged under fault, where the rock houses the
the reign of Eumenes II, king of spring of Castalia.

Monuments of Classical Greece 163

 The Temples of Sunium and Lindus
At the south-eastern tip of Attica, surveying the Aegean Sea, stands the Temple of
Poseidon, erected on Cape Sunium, in one of the most picturesque sites of ancient
Greece. Demonstrating an outstanding sense of howto make use of the landscape,
the sanctuary dedicated to the god of the sea and the wind is the outcome - like the
Parthenon - of a magnificent effort to rebuild the ruins resulting from the Persian
Wars. A first temple had in fact been built here at the beginning of the fifth century
B.C., but it was still in the stages of being finished when it was destroyed. Built of
limestone (poros), it was rebuilt - entirely in marble - in 449, as the result of a de¬
cision taken by Pericles. Once again, it was a Doric hexastyle. It had thirteen
columns on the sides and measured about 100 feet in length (13.47 by 31.12 m at the
stylobate), giving a proportion of 5:9. Its columns - fifteen still survive, and have
been reconstructed - are 6.02 m in height, and have a diameter of 1.04 m. They
stand on a socle formed by two superimposed terraces, which lend the building its
lofty aspect on the top of the cliff overlooking the waves below.
At Sunium, several innovative features point to the creativity of the "Age of
Pericles" - the architrave of the pronaos spans the side galleries; inside, an
"inverted" frieze - turned, in other words, towards the naos - indicates the use of a
formula stemming from the Ionic order, as at Bassae; there were no columns at all in
the cella. It must have contained a statue of Poseidon, possibly similar to the large
bronze retrieved from the sea off Cape Artemisium, in Euboea, which came from

To the glory of the god of the sea

The great bronze of Poseidon,
discovered by fishermen in 1928
in their nets, off Cape Artemisium,
at the northern end of the
island of Euboea, is one of the
masterpieces of Classical
sculpture. Dating from about 460
B.C., this work, which measures
more than 2 m in height, is
attributed to the sculptor Calamis.
It lends the god, holding his
trident, an image that is at once
potent and serene. (Athens,
National Museum)

164 Monuments of Classical Greece

Dominating Cape Sunium
At the eastern end of Attica, the
Temple of Poseidon, eroded by
sea winds, raises its colonnade
above the Aegean. Completed in
449 B.C., it was part of the
building programme embarked
upon by Pericles immediately
after the Persian Wars.

Monuments of Classical Greece 165

 Histiaia. The sculpted decoration that has been positively identified was based on On top of the cliffs of Lindus,
the traditional themes of duels between giants and centaurs, as well as the heroic on the island of Rhodes
deeds of Theseus. TheTempleof Athena Lindia,

Set in an even more majestic geographical location, the Temple of Athena at which soars overthe sea on the
island of Rhodes, was constructed
Lindus, in the south of the island of Rhodes, is also in the Doric style. Although close
at the end of the fourth century
to Ionia, the site is in fact a Dorian settlement. The Sanctuary of Athena Lindia,
B.C. It was built in the Doric style,
erected in the fourth century B.C. on the edge of a sheer cliff that dominates the despite the proximity of the
sea, was a prostyle, whose four extremely elegant columns had an altogether Ionic Ionian shores. The top of the
proportion of 6.5 diameters to height, as in the great Temple of Apollo (VI) at acropolis, which stands on a

Delphi. In the Hellenistic period, the temple at Lindus was preceded by a monu¬ southern headland of the island,

mental propylaeum, interspersed with terraces and porticoes. offers an outstanding view from
the temple.

166 Monuments of Classical Greece

 Epidaurus, the Perfect Theatre
During the fourth century B.C., nearthe city of Epidaurus in the north-eastern part
of the Peloponnese, an important sanctuary of Asclepius, the god of healing, sprang
up in just a few years. Various buildings for worship and medical care were erected
in this famous place of pilgrimage. The Doric Temple of Asclepius was a hexastyle
with eleven lateral columns, built by the architect Theodotus, with porticoes for
incubation, intended for fumigation treatment, the Temple of Apollo, and so on.
We have already mentioned the tholos attributed to an architect by the name of
Polyclitus (known as "the Younger", to avoid confusion with the sculptor). This was
a noteworthy building, now in a very ruined state, which had twenty-six Doric
columns outside (diameter 21.82 m) and a ring-shaped portico made up of fourteen
Corinthian shafts in the naos. Known as the Thymele, this monopteral building was
one of the most accomplished circular buildings of Greek architecture.
But the present-day fame of Epidaurus is due above all to its splendid theatre.
Built at the end of the fourth century B.C., the sumptuous hemicycle, whose
cavea fits perfectly into the surrounding landscape, could accommodate 15000
spectators. The subtle interplay of geometry and numbers, revealed by an analysis
of the structure, led Pausanias to attribute it to the same architect who built the
thymele. Its graceful and balanced hollowed form, which rises up from the perfectly

Lending an ear to the Tragedians

round central orchestra, is slightly greater than a half-circle. The flared, shell-like
On the tiered seats of the theatre auditorium of the construction with a diameter of 120 m and a 24 m drop from the
of Epidaurus, the 15000-strong topmost tier to ground level is divided into two areas, upper and lower, by a walk¬
audience which used to gather in way forming the diazoma. In the lower part, the hemicycle is divided into twelve
the city of Asclepius, god of cunei, or wedge-like sections, each one consisting of some thirty tiers, while in the
health and healing, would follow
upper section there are twenty cunei each with some twenty tiers.
dramatic competitions, where the
This tight organization and strict system, which seem to be governed by purely
great masters of Greek comedy
and tragedy would vie with one
geometric laws, show the subtle treatment used by the architect. On closer inspec¬
another at the agones (public tion, there are symmetrical variations in the width of the cunei and in the curvature
contests). of the arcs opening imperceptibly outwards toward the edges of the cavea.

Monuments of Classical Greece 167

 Miraculous harmony at Epidaurus
Around the orchestra, the shell¬
like theatre set into the hill of
Epidaurus fans out like a radial
structure, whose concentric rows
of seating are all focused on the
stage, where the dramatic action
would unfold. With its diameter
of 120 m,the theatre of Epidaurus
is one of the finest semi-circular
buildings of Antiquity. Its design,
the work of Polyclitus the
Younger, according to Pausanias,
dates from the end of the fourth
century B.C. It is based on a series
of mathematical principles and
proportions, such as the Golden
Section and the so-called Fibo¬
nacci Sequence. Its harmony is
thus the result of a symmetria in
the real sense of the term.

168 Monuments of Classical Greece

170 Monuments of Classical Greece
Page 170
The design of the theatre
of Epidaurus
Plan and section of the building,
with a detail of the tiered steps
and seats, and the layout of the
proscenium. The cavea covers a
semi-circular area which extends
well beyond 180° C. Despite the
perfection of this shell set into
the hillside, the link between the
cavea and the stage is still not
successfully achieved. It was
not until the Roman period
that theatres finally achieved
architectural unity.

The seating at Epidaurus These irregularities are possibly due to a rhythmic pursuit, akin to the variations
Two types of seats were available described as "optical corrections". What comes through, however, is the harmo¬
for spectators at Epidaurus: those nious perfection of this immense and tranquil auditorium. By referring to Vitruvius'
for ordinary people and those for
formulae for the composition of ancient theatres, it is possible to get some idea of
city councillors and officials.
the refinement of the principal lines and layout which govern these buildings.
Left: The rows of tiers forming the
Conversely, between the tiers designated for the general public (cavea) and the
bulk of the seating in the cavea of
the theatre, with edges at the stage structure ('proscenium), there is, at Epidaurus, as in all Classical Greektheatres,
ends of the cuneus. a none too pleasing solution to the problem of continuity: the link between circular
Right: Seats with backs and arms, and concentric elements, or orchestra, on the one hand, and the rectangular scene,
reserved for political figures and on the other, can only be reached by crossing the passages which led to either side
city officials.
of the orchestra, forming the parodos. This is not a very integrated concept, for it
relies essentially on crossing to the orchestra and thus has no truly logical architec¬
tural order. This problem would not be solved until the Roman period.

Monuments of Classical Greece 171

 Classical Military Architecture
In the wake of the Persian Wars, Athens emerged victorious but ravaged. It was
clear that she must have the means to defend herself against any kind of threat.
Accordingly, in 478 work started on the construction of a wall around the city itself.
Next, Athens was linked to the Piraeus by the defensive system called the Long
Walls. These works consisted of four basic parts: a 6 km fortification around the
capital, the reinforcement of the wallsof the Acropolis, the wall around the Piraeus,
which was 13 km long, and the construction of the Long Walls measuring 7.5 and
6.5 km. These works would take thirty-five years, and the resulting fortifica¬
tions enabled Athens to "rise to the rank of a great power" (E. Levy).
But almost nothing remains today of this impressive undertaking embarked
upon to promote Athenian imperialism. Later, however, a series of forts and The fortress of Aegosthena
fortresses was built in the fourth century to protect Attica from raids. These The fourth century B.C. Boeotian
included, Aegosthena at the end of the Gulf of Corinth, followed by Glyphtocastro fortress of Aegosthena is one of
or Eleutherae on the Thebes-Eleusis road, Panactum and Phylae on the road linking the major defences of Attica

Thebes to Athens, and then a succession of small mountain forts extending to against seaborne troops.

the fortress of Rhamnus overlooking the sea opposite Euboea, as well as Corone,
Unscathed towers in the
Thoricus, and Sunium, atthe southernmost tip of Attica.
landscape
These constructions had similarfeatures: they were fortresses with curtain walls Military architecture has only
topped by a parapet walk-way punctuated by square towers and fitted with em¬ rarely interested historians. At
brasures for archers and an upper floor supporting machines of war. The salient Aegosthena, however, the tallest
towers made it possible to fire ballistae in quick succession or produce flanking fire. "keep" is still intact. Its fine
rusticated stonework is evidence
They had loopholes and were surmounted by merlons. The gates, usually backed up
of the care called for by its
by a postern set just behind the opening, were made by experts in the art of siege-
construction. All that is missing is
craft and siege warfare. The whole gate unit, often with three parts - the outer
the upper floors and the roof.
172 Monuments of Classical Greece
Barring the road from Thebes
to Athens
Eleutherae: the fourth-century
fortress which guards the
thoroughfare that links Boeotia
with Attica has a powerful wall
punctuated by salient towers. The
curtain-walls are 2.60 m thick and
built, like the towers, in fine
regular rusticated stonework.

Fortifications stand guard

Plan of the fortress of Eleutherae,
west of Athens, with its towers
jutting out from the curtain-walls:
1 Thebes Gate
2 North postern
3 Water-tank
4 East postern
5 Athens Gate
6 South postern

Monuments of Classical Greece 173

 >. N

1 L

0 10 20
15
L ± =1= M

=F= =F= FT
20 40 6o

The wall of Messene, built by

Epaminondas
The wall of Messene, in the 1 Arcadian Gate
Peloponnese, was built in the 2 Acropolis and Altar of Zeus
fourth century B.C., as part of the 3 Agora and Messenian Gate
expansion policy of Sparta. 4 Laconian Gate
Above left: Overall plan of the Below and right: Plan, elevation
perimeter wall which measures and section of the Arcadian Gate
some 9 km in length and climbs at Messene, with its round bastion
more than 400 m between the system, access to which is guarded
Arcadian Gate (396 m) and the by two towers.
Acropolis of Mount Ithome (802 m)

174 Monuments of Classical Greece

 faces being connected by bond-stones - oralternativelyjust two - with two facings
enclosing filler-was formed by large rusticated blocks, set in regularcourses using
the dry-stone technique and with carefully dressed angle rabbets.
But a stronghold such as Aegosthena, with its square wall with one side facing
the sea, had an upper curtain wall fitted with a sort of keep, which was tall and
imposing. This advance post was to provide warning of any landing on one of the
few stretches of shore where there was a beach offering access to enemy troops.
Inland, the fortress of Eleutherae barred the road to Thebes, here dominated by
towering crags. It occupied an area measuring 300 by 120 m, and its northern wall
was defended by eight towers.
Phylae, north of Athens, was an impressive eyrie surveying a steep ravine - a key
position in a defensive system which enabled small detachments to control the
mountain. Rhamnus, with its positions staked out by defensive marble structures,
guarded the Strait of Euboea, and its walls plunged straight into the sea.
All these structures are in a remarkable state of preservation. In some cases, the
military installations seem to be completely intact - all that would be needed would
be to rebuild floors in the towers, replace a few toppled merlons and repair the para¬
pet walks a little to make these military buildings look exactly as they originally did
The Arcadian Gate at Messene twenty-three centuries ago.
In front of the round courtyard of The most spectacular complex, however, in the heart of the southwestern moun¬
the Arcadian Gate, a huge toppled tains of the Peloponnese, is the city of Messene, built in 369 by the Theban general
lintel marks the main access. Note Epaminondas to withstand the Spartan threat. The wall around the city, situated at
the stonework using very large
the foot of Mount Ithome (802 m) which forms the acropolis, measures all of 9 km.
blocks forming the first course in
Much of it is still standing and shows curtain-walls 2 m thick and up to 6 m high punc-
the form of orthostats or vertical
slabs, on which the regular layers tuated by towers, which are sometimes square and sometimes round and projec¬
of rusticated blocks were then ting, rising to a height of 9 m.
laid. The Arcadian Gate, flanked by two square towers, provided a defensive system

Monuments of Classical Greece 175

 The organization of the
defences at Messene
In the stronghold of Messene,
splayed arrow-slits, loopholes and
doors giving access to the parapet
walk are made of drystone blocks
of limestone.

organized around a circular courtyard. Any attackers who managed to break down Page 777
the first gate found themselves in an enclosed area ringed by a round wall and form¬ A wall punctuated by towers
ing a sort of barbican. From the top of this round wall, the defenders could focus The long wall of Messene, in the
Peloponnese, is punctuated by
their fire on the assailants and prevent them from gaining the second gate.
round and square towers. The
Military architecture forms an often-forgotten chapter of Greek art. It contains
ancient fortifications encircled
useful lessons about the permanent state of war that reigned between the Greek
not only a city but also large open
cities, and it attests to the considerable efforts undertaken by the powers of the day spaces, where peasants from
to stabilize a situation that was in a constant state of flux. the surrounding area puttheir
livestock to protect them from
enemy attacks.

176 Monuments of Classical Greece

 The Fortress of Euryalos at Syracuse

It was the tyrant Dionysius I who in 400 B.C. bridge. A series of deep underground tunnels
equipped Syracuse with its mighty 27-km long enabled those defending the place to make
wall. In addition to the sea walls of the island of unexpected sorties at the bottom of the ditch,
Ortygia and the lower city (Tyche), the land- or else to fall back unnoticed on to the "castle".
based walls of Epipolae (the upper city) thrust This massive structure consisted of three stone
westwards in the form of a quoin or wedge. towers (tripylon) set side by side to bar the way
Euryalos was situated at their extremity, form¬ to any foe who might have managed to cross the
ing a daunting pivot in this defensive system. It ditches. According to the reconstruction made
was a huge "castle" foreshadowing by a millen¬ by Luigi Mauceri, it is possible that these three
nium and a half the colossal building endeavours towers were joined together by means of
of the Crusades to the Holy Land. wooden structures designed to accommodate
The defence of Syracuse was dominated by archers.
this huge system made up of three ditches hewn The fortress of Syracuse withstood all the
in the bare rock and forming a spur of limestone. attacks and onslaughts made against it, until the
The third man-made ditch, some 15 m deep, day when the Romans took possession of the city
measured at least 70 m in length and 16 in width. in 212 B.C.
A stone pinnacle supported the apron of a draw¬

178 Monuments of Classical Greece

Page 178
An impressive trench
The "castle" of Euryalos - an
outpost defending the city of
Syracuse, in Sicily - was built in
about 400 B.C. by the tyrant
Dionysius, to complete a huge
construction programme including
a 27 km wall. Three ditches were
dug right through a jutting spur, in
the form of trenches hewn in the
living rock. The third one, 70 m
long, 16 m wide and 15 m deep,
is the outcome of the hard labor
of thousands of slaves who were
taken prisoner during the dis¬
astrous expedition mounted
by Athens in Sicily in 415 B.C.,
and laterduring battles against
the Carthaginians.

A stone pinnacle at Euryalos

In the middle of the trench hewn
by human hands, the Syracusans
left a stone pinnacle to support a
drawbridge. With this device, the
entrance to the fortress of
Euryalos was stoutly defended.

A network of underground
passages
Beneath the vertical walls of the
trenches of Euryalos, the
defenders carved out passages
hewn out of the rock, which
enabled theirtroops to carry out
sorties to repel attackers.

Monuments of Classical Greece 179

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The Acropolis of Pericles
 Architecture at its Zenith

Page 181 When the Persians withdrew from Greece in 48, not a stone was left standing on the
Bearing the effigy of the owl
Acropolis of Athens. Before Xerxes' troops were defeated at Salamis and Plataea,
of Athena
they had razed the temples to the ground, including some which were still unfin¬
Thanks to its silver mines at
ished on top of this impressive stone "table" with its sheer sides. This hilltop had
Laurion, Athens developed an
"economic imperialism" based on been fortified since earliest times and dominated the plain belowfrom a height of
a sound currency - the famous 80 m.
tetradrachms which the city On the site of the original city of Athens, where civic, military and religious build¬
coined in the fifth and fourth ings jockeyed for position in Mycenaean and Homeric times, from the Archaic
centuries B.C., bearing the effigy
period onward the Acropolis contained only the sanctuaries of the Athenians. For
of an owl, emblematic of the
the upper city, now deserted by its inhabitants who preferred the surrounding
goddess Athena. (Geneva,
Museum of Art and History)
plain, had become a sacred site. It was here, on a plateau levelled by human hand
and measuring 300 by 175 m, that there nowsprang upthetemplestothe goddess
Athena who presided over the destiny of the city.

Pericles and the City-planning Programme

After the havoc wrought by the Persians, it took the Athenians a full thirty-three
years before they started to act. Despite their victory, they did not know where to
begin with the ruins confronting them. The efforts of the Pisistratids to endowthe
city with a series of grand monuments came to nothing. It was not until the arrival
of Pericles at the head of the Athenian government that construction of the
new Parthenon was embarked upon in 447. This project was undertaken with the
co-operation of the architects Ictinus and Callicrates, and the sculptor Phidias.
As a result of the contributions of the different members of the Delian League,
set up immediately afterthe Persian wars with Athens at its head, a series of sump¬
tuous monuments was erected on the Acropolis. The transfer of the federal coffers
from Delos to Athens (in 454) helped the Athenians to put their programme of grand
designs into action - a programme partly funded by tributes paid by League mem¬
bers. These contributions were complemented by the mining activities at Laurion in
Attica.
Pericles was a stirring orator and a shrewd strategist, who championed demo¬
cratic ideas but nevertheless contributed to the establishment of the hegemony of
Athens and the creation of an imperial policy that made the effective stranglehold
A pensive Athena in front
of Athens look like a form of centralizing power. This policy helped to turn the
of a stele
League into nothing less than an empire. At the same time, the autonomy of the
Athena, goddess of war (helmeted
and armed with a spear) symboliz¬ Greek cities of Ionia from the Great King was guaranteed by the signing of the Peace
ing the supremacy of Reason, is of Cal lias (449).
the city deity of the Athenians. It With his team of artists and builders, Pericles came up with a grandiose project:
was she who presided overthe the dedication of the "great Temple" of Athens to the glory of the goddess of
fate and destiny of the city, and it
Athena Polias, patron and protectress of the city, by glorifying the Parthenos, the
is hertemples which stand on top
venerable virgin who had saved the Greeks; and a new design for the whole "city
of the Acropolis. This marble
stele, 48 cm high, dates from 460
plan" of the Acropolis, with its sanctuaries and sacred areas.
B.C. (Athens, Acropolis Museum) The first, or old Parthenon - started by Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens from

The Acropolis of Pericles 183

 561/560 to 528 - the remains of which are still there under the temple which can be The Acropolis inhabited
seen today, went through two phases. The first involved a temple built of poros, In about 1805, when the English
whose base measured 31.39 by 76.82 m. Only the infrastructure was completed. painter Edward Dodwell visited

The second, in marble and slightly smaller (23.53 by 66.94 m), was a hexastyle the Acropolis, there were still
dwellings amid the ruins, as is
edifice with sixteen lateral columns. Its construction had been started in about
shown by this print published
520 under the reign of the Pisistratids Hippias and Hipparchus. This unfinished
in 1821.
building, which was ravaged by Xerxes, included a series of solutions which would
be retained in the Parthenon of Phidias and Ictinus. Behind the six-columned
fagades, a second row of four more slender columns replaced the shafts in antis. To
the east, the narrow and very elongated naos consisted of three naves separated by
two porticoes of ten inner columns on two levels. To the west there was an Page 185 above
opisthodomos, followed by a square room, the roof of which was supported by a Fortress and sanctuary?
group of fourcolumns. This angle-shot taken from the

The Classical Parthenon, in the Doric style, retains those different parts. But to Plaka district of Athens gives the
Acropolis a powerfully military
them Ictinus added a modification of paramount importance: he enlarged the
image, with its soaring walls
whole structure which, instead of six fagade columns, now had eight. He opted for
encircling the large flat structure
an octostyle temple with six columns forming the second row of shafts set behind
on which stood only the temples
the fagades. Each side had seventeen columns. The much wider naos now measured of the Greek deities.
19 m instead of 12. The back of the room represented a return to the square format
of the lateral porticoes on two levels with five columns rising up behind the statue
of Athena. The four-columned room - the actual Parthenon - had tall and elegant
Ionic shafts. The measurements of this building at the stylobate were 30.88
by 69.50 m, which is relatively small compared to many Archaic temples, and those
in Ionia in particular. But the distinctive feature of this building was its quality,
which was carried down to the very smallest details. The height of the forty-six

184 The Acropolis of Pericles

 r— 1 —r =1 ft
o 50 loo 150

Plan of the Acropolis of Athens

Since the Age of Pericles, the 1 Temple of Athena Nike in front 4 Propylon of the Cha I kotheke
whole of the upper city - site, in of the Propylaea 5 Parthenon, orTemple of Athena
the Mycenaean period, of the city 2 Innerfagade of the Propylaea Parthenos
proper - was given over exclus¬ 3 Colossal statue of Athena 6 Erechtheum

ively to the gods: Promachos 7 Altar of Athena

The Acropolis of Pericles 185

 The first Parthenon
Plan of the first Temple of Athena
Parthenos (known as the Pre-
Parthenon). Built of marble, work
on it started in the early fifth
century on the Acropolis, to
replace an early hecatompedon
made of tufa. This building was
still being worked on - or so it
would seem - when the Persians
destroyed it in 480. This Pre-
Parthenon was the same length
as the building erected by Phidias
and Ictinus (67 m). But it is a
hexastyle, whereas its successor
would have eight columns on its
fagade. The essential structure
remained the same, however, with
a cella with three naves to the
east, and a Hall of Virgins to the
west, which was originally square,
and then became oblong at the
columns of the peripteral portico was 10.43 m, and the cornice reached a height of hand of Ictinus. This latter hall had
13.72 m. The building, constructed in dazzlingly white Pentelic marble, was set off a roof supported byfourtall Ionic

by bright polychromy in the upper parts such as capitals, triglyphs, metopes and columns.

pedimental tympana.

Proportions and Numbers

The numbers and proportions of Pythagorean symmetria, harmony and symbolism
were probably realized more coherently inthe Parthenonthananywhereelse. Many
works have been devoted to analyzing the systems governing the making of this
masterpiece. The mathematical formulation, whose strength resides in its simpli¬
city, is based on the numbers two (the first even number) and three (the first odd
number), and on their squares, four and nine. Based on this 4:9 ratio, which applies
both to the dimensions of the stylobate and to those of the naos without the antae,
everything follows an absolute logic. This proportion is divided into three
Pythagorean rectangles with sides of three, four, and five (their squares being
nine, sixteen and twenty-five).
Ernst Berger of Basle provides us with a remarkably illuminating key. The author
shows that the composition is based on a module: the largest common denomin¬
ator of the length, width and height of the Parthenon (length 69.50 m; width 30.88;
height 13.72). This common denominator is established, respectively, with 81 mod¬
ules (that is 92), 36 modules (62) and 16 modules (42). This same module (of 0.858 m)
is applied to the width of the triglyphs and the height of the capitals. There are 5
inter-axial modules (5.148 m) between the columns; 12 modules for the height of
the columns, and 21 modules forthe overall height of the temple; the proportions
of the naos are 25 by 60 modules.
The diameter of the shaft of the columns is 1.905 m and the inter-axial distance
4.293 m, so the ratio is again 4:9. Similarly, the naos, without the antae, measures
48.3 m in length by 21.44 m in width, that is a proportion of 4:9.
Research has helpedtodevelopthisanalysistosuch a pointthatwecan nowfully
grasp the extreme refinement of the interplay of these proportions. It would be
tedious to offer further examples here. Suffice it to say that these measurements
express a determination to set the entire building within a sort of numerical grid.
The commodulatio, or application of a module which recurs in all essential measure¬
ments, and the ordinatio contribute to the success, or eurhythmia, the aesthetically
perfect balance.

186 The Acropolis of Pericles

A proud composition
The north-west corner of the
Parthenon, with its cluster of
Doric columns made of pentelic
marble. This is the glorification
of a rhythmic spacing which
underpins a perfect harmony.
Built between 447 and 432 B.C.,
the Sanctuary of Athena rises to
a height of 13.72 m atthe cornice.

In reality, the applications show that all these dimensions - length, width,
height, proportions of the naos, diameterand height of the columns, height of the
capitals, and so on - stem from a unitary system. This system was more than a "for¬
mula" for masterpieces. It was - for Greek architects - a way of endowing their work
with a meaning, a far-reaching significance connecting the microcosm of the
temple not only with the macrocosm of the universe but also with the eternal ideas
that govern the mighty celestial mechanics and the rhythms of the world.
Never, perhaps, has concern for detail been taken so far in the quest for visual
harmony and in the manipulation of perspective and optical effects. What is more.

The Acropolis of Pericles 187

Manifest strength
The fagade of the Parthenon, with
its eight columns which support
the entablature and the pediment,
thrusts itself forward as a Classical
paradigm. Set at the very heart
of Pericles' grand design, the
purpose of this project was to
sweep away the humiliation
suffered by the Persian invasion
and the sack of Athens. The shafts
in fact have a smaller distance
between their axes than might be
expected of the Parthenon when
it was constructed (latter half of
the fifth century), and the reason
forthis (according to Roland
Martin) is that the architects -
Callicrates and Ictinus - had to
use marble drums already made
forthe Pre-Parthenon, whose
diameterwas not wide enough.

The Acropolis of Pericles 189

 Dominating the Acropolis
Seen from the Hill of the Muses
in Athens, the Parthenon rises up
above the supporting walls and
the Theatre of Herodes Atticus,
and forms a magnificent marble
crown surmounting the whole
city. It asserts the pre-eminent
role of the goddess Athena and
underscores the perfection of
Classical proportions with the
elegance of its porticoes, en¬
hanced by an interplay of light
and shadow.

Page 191
Geometry and proportions
Above: Side elevation and plan of
the Parthenon. The Temple of
Athena Parthenos, designed by
Phidias and built by Ictinus and
Callicrates, is at once traditional
and innovative. Its peripteral Doric
portico (8 by 17 columns), behind
which stand six more refined and
slender Doric shafts, is matched
by the four Ionic columns of the
Hall of Virgins to the west, while,
to the east, the principle of the
three naves is adopted, based on
two superimposed Doric colon¬
nades. These - which form a right-
angled sequence at the back of
the hall - are the frame forthe
cult-statue: the colossal
chryselephantine statue of
Phidias.
1 East vestibule
2 Celia
3 Site of the chryselephantine
statue of Athena
4 Hall of the Virgins
5 West vestibule
Below: The set of numbers which
is involved in the composition
of the Parthenon. The plan is
based on the 4:9 ratio, which is
divided into three Pythagorean
rectangles, whose sides 3
and 4 have a diagonal 5 (the
hypotenuse). In addition, the
longitudinal juxtaposition of two
Pythagorean rectangles provides
the proportion 3:8. Lastly, the
module the whole composition
is the outcome of the largest
common denominator of the
length, width and height.
This module is contained 81 times
(92) in each square resulting from
the basic proportions: 4 by 9. In
the Parthenon it measures 0.858 m.

190 The Acropolis of Pericles

The Acropolis of Pericles igi
 there is every reason to suppose that they may have a functional factor. One thinks, The east pediment of the
in particular, of the curvature of the stylobate, called for by rainwater run-off, and Parthenon
The sculpture of the west
the reinforcement of the corner columns, designed to withstand the diagonal
pediment of the Parthenon
thrusts more effectively. Everything here is purity and serene perfection.
depicted the confrontation
between Athena and Poseidon.
The Decoration of the Parthenon That of the east pediment
As the Sanctuary of Athena Parthenos, the Parthenon presents an outstanding array represents the birth of Athena. In
of sculptures. Firstly, the pediments and the statuary of the tympana depicting, to the south corner (above), we see

east and west alike, a series of gods and heroes: the birth of Athena, and her rivalry the horses drawing the chariot of
Helios emerging from the stone,
with Poseidon to rule over Attica. By offering the olive, the symbol of peace, Athena
marking the dawn of a new era.
won the day. Here the tree regains its redemptive significance.
The horse is also a theme which
Then we have the series of ninety-two metopes, with their sculpture in the recurs again and again like a
round, produced between 447 and 442. These represent the fight of the Centaurs leitmotif in the Parthenon - the
and the Lapiths, heroes and Amazons, symbols of the struggle between gods and horse of Selene (the Moon) (at the

giants, which assumes its full import in the clash between Greeks and Persians, East otherend of the same pediment)

and West. For the Parthenon is also a trophy, and a temple with an apotropaic and especially the horses in the
cavalcade forming the procession
(or evil-averting) significance, whose role was to exorcize the Achaemenid threat.
of the Panathenaea, which takes
Lastly, underthe portico of the outer peristyle, there runs the huge relief of the
up most of the north and south
Panathenaic Procession. This is a colossal continuous composition - based on the friezes.
principle of Ionic friezes - which runs around the whole cells of the temple. It rep¬
resents a ritual event to which the entire city was summoned to take part in - the
Festival of the Great Panathenaea. On this occasion, a sumptuous embroidered
peplos was offered each year to the goddess Athena during a procession which
brought together all the representatives of the city. The cortege started out from
the Agora, made its way up the slopes of the Acropolis to pay homage to the
patroness of the city and included great sacrifices involving the immolation of four
oxen and four ewes. The festival took place afterthe harvest and represented an act
of thanks forthe blessings granted.

192 The Acropolis of Pericles

 On a surround of 160 m, the sculptor depicted gods, heroes, horsemen, people
making sacrifices, maidens weaving thepep/os, animals, gift-bearers, musicians and
chariots. The festival, not unlike New Year ceremonies in the East, marked the
moment of a close communion between everyone in attendance and Athena Polias.
Because of its "civic" nature, this ceremony deserves more detailed discussion at a
later stage. For its significance turns out to be profoundly political.
Last of all, in the cella, Phidias produced his masterpiece: the idol, the divine
statue representing Athena Parthenos standing - a colossal work about 11 m in
height. Here, once again, Greek art played on proportions, this time involving the
harmony of the human body. The laws governing symmetria comply with the Canon
of Polyclitus, a treatise which codified statuary and set down its numerical ratios.
The impressive chryselephantine effigy depicting the virgin goddess, made
entirely of gold and ivory on a wood and metal frame, was highlighted by bright
polychromy. It stood on a pedestal decorated with bas-reliefs depicting the epic
story of Athena.

The Challenge of the Frieze of the Panathenaea

Any student of comparative art history is duty-bound to examine the famous Frieze
of the Panathenaea - which runs round the cella of the temple - in its socio-political
context. It would seem relevant to resituate it in the Graeco-Persian conflict,
because the Parthenon itself was, in some ways, the outcome of the victory of the
Greeks overthe Achaemenids.
Is it not, after all, plain to see that this procession is a "response" to the frieze
forming a border to the great stairways of the Apadana at Persepolis? In order to get
a clear grasp of the extent to which the two works form the two parts of a great dip¬
tych produced half a century apart, it is necessary to make an altogether new com¬
parison. The prototype is the Apadana of Persepolis, with its great stairways flank¬
ing the Reception Room of the Nations, created by Darius, in about 513 B.C. Over a
width of 80 m, forming the socle of the building on three superimposed levels, we
find the bas-reliefs of the famous Procession of the Tributaries. The twenty-three
nations parade before the Great King to deliver offerings which symbolize the
tribute paid to the empire.
The centre of this vast unfurling of sculpted motifs is filled by a royal inscrip¬
tion, the text of which is carved in three languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and
Babylonian. In the corners, lions slaying bulls express the victory of Good over Evil.
The whole scene is set against a pine-clad landscape.
To the right, Persian dignitaries advance behind a battalion of the armed
"Immortals" who form the guard of the King of Kings. In their wake come horses,
grooms, ceremonial chariots, the bearers of the sovereign's throne, as well as lead¬
ing figures at the court. For the Persian people were the master of the empire.
To the left, we follow the procession of the delegations with their attendants,
each nation being separated from the next by a pine tree. The delegates, who carry
"samples" of the tribute, show the whole range of products coming from the vast
empire of the Achaemenids. Those from Susa offer weapons and lions, the
The arrangement of the
Armenians offer metal vases and horses, the Babylonians embroidered fabrics and
sculpted decoration
Sculpture is present in the buffaloes, the lonians fine cloth and jewels, the Phrygians apparel and horses, the
Parthenon on the two tympana, Sakas gold artefacts clothes and horses, the Abyssinians perfume vases, an ivory
the ninety-two metopes which tusk and a giraffe, the Somalis of Punt a goat and a two-horse chariot, the Arabs a
ring the building and alternate dromedary and bolts of fa brie, the Thracians lances, shields, and a horse, the Medes
with the triglyphs, and the 160 m
bracelets, clothes and a horse, the Bactrians a camel, the Egyptians a buffalo, the
of frieze which surround the cella.
Sogdians a camel and hides, the Parthians, also a camel and hides the Elamites a
lioness and two cubs, as well as daggers, the Scythians a dagger, hatchets and a
horse, the Assyrians a humped ox and a lance, the Cilicians two rams and tanned
hides, the Indiansa donkey, the Arachosians vases and a camel, the Lydians of Sardis

The Acropolis of Pericles 193

 At Persepolis as on the Acropolis
The presence of horses and
horsemen is striking in the
Procession of the Tributaries in
the Apadana. These two horse's
heads, complete with harness,
and drawing the chariot of the
Lydians, are Greek in style.

Page 195 above

The Procession of the Tributaries
At Persepolis, the representatives
of each country brought gifts
typical of their region: horses,
gold and silver plate, fabrics,
perfumes, spices, and so on.
Each delegation was introduced
by a Mede or a Persian.

fine cloth, the Cappadocians a horse and raiment, and the Phoenicians gold,
bracelets and a chariot.
This fantastic "fresco" of peoples forms a huge procession, which was supposed
to have taken place at the feet of the Achaemenid sovereign. As we mentioned
earlier, this Procession of the Tributaries occurred during the festival of the Now
Ruz, or Persian New Year, glorifying imperial unity.
The refinement of the sculptural work, the perfection of the detail, the delicacy
of the gestures and the accurate rendering of the costumes of each country mean
that this document is an inexhaustible fount of information. We should also add that
this frieze was originally entirely polychromatic.
While the plan for the work commissioned by the Achaemenid sovereign was
based on dictates that differed from those of the Greek friezes, this is essentially
because it was not looking for movement, but, on the contrary, order and rigor.

194 The Acropolis of Pericles

Below
The Panathenaic Procession
A principle akin to that of head towards the site of the
Persepolis, based on the march- ceremony; on the right, young
past of participants, enlivens the people carry water-pitchers con¬

frieze of the Parthenon: on the taining offerings to the goddess.

left, horsemen on prancing mounts (Athens, Acropolis Museum)

The Acropolis of Pericles 195

 So we are dealing with a certain degree of state control, which conveys the organ¬
ization of the empire. But the way the faces, hands and head-dresses are treated
and the quality of the horses and wild animals are such that this work is an out¬
standing achievement. We said earlier that large numbers of Ionian artists and
craftsmen were undoubtedly involved in this project. So it is not possible that, even
if the Athenians never refer to it in any writings that have come down to us, they did
not get wind of this magnificent undertaking tothe glory of the unity of the Persian
realm.
To match the artistic "manifesto" of the Achaemenids, and aware of the need to
exalt a strong Greek entity around the savior-deity represented by Athena Polias,
the victorious Parthenos, Pericles thus elected to embellish the Parthenon with a
frieze which, from every point of view, would outdo and eclipse the work at
Persepolis. Page 197
The Panathenaic Procession, produced between 442 and 438, commemorates a Light and shadow on the fluting
The north portico of the
religious and civic festival. What exactly does it show? On the west side of the
Parthenon, caressed by the fierce
Parthenon, we see the procession starting out: horsemen prepare to mount their
clarity of the Attic sky. The image
steeds which are often rearing up. They calm the animals, then setoff. On the north
of the "forest of columns" is
side, the mounted troop moves forward in a lively procession, with no rigidity. They haunting and unforgettable. Here
are followed by the animals bound forthe sacrificial altar - ewes and oxen - as well it forms a veritable curtain that
as vase-bearers, musicians and war chariots. On the east side, young maidens carry vibrates in the sun's rays.

incense-burners, and, coming from the north, gift-bearers head forthe mythical
heroes who walk ahead of the twelve gods. In the middle, Athena receives the
sacred peplos. Coming from the south, the Ergastines, who had woven the ritual
vestment, advance, followed by maidens carrying libations in phials. Lastly, the
south side - with several gaps, but reconstructed thanks to the drawings made by
Jacques Carrey in the seventeenth century - shows mounted horsemen, chariots
and citizens carrying olive branches - the olive being Athena's tree - as well as
sacrificial animals being led to the altar. The whole work expresses the unity of the
four tribes making up the city of Athens, just as the Apadana glorifies the unity of
the peoples of the Achaemenid Empire.
Judging from the numbers of the figures in these two works - the Procession of
the Tributaries at Persepolis, on the one hand, and the Panathenaic Procession at
Athens on the other - one gets the impression of a real "trophy" that the Greeks
were keen to take away from the Persians once more. Whereas at Persepolis the pro¬
cession of the nations includes a total of 250 figures, about fourty animals, and a
few chariots, on the Acropolis, the ritual frieze of the Parthenon assembles 360 fig¬
ures, including 143 horsemen and a total of 220 animals and about ten chariots.
At Persepolis, the bas-reliefs, which are on three levels each 0.9 m high, would
cover a length of 125 m if they were laid end to end. In Athens, the frieze around
the cella measures 1.06 m in height and has a total length of 160 m. By any measure,
the work produced by Phidias and his team surpasses the creation of the
Achaemenids.
On the other hand, it is surprising to see the Greek frieze arranged beneath the
ceiling coffers covering the peristyle of the Parthenon, in a rather dark area which
never receives direct light, whereas the reliefs of Persepolis are fully lit by direct
sunlight. From a political standpoint, the antithetical stance of these two works is
quite clear. The onp takes the form of a military march-past, a kind of triumphal pro¬
cession, while the other is a civic and religious festival. Just as the strict arrangement
of the Immortals contrasts with the joyous disorder of the Greek horsemen, so the
meticulous perfection of the Achaemenid drapery breaks with the graceful quality
of the loose and flowing clothes of the Athenian citizens. As expressed by the
sculptors, this conveys the antagonism between the strong centralized power of
the Persian kingdom and the almost anarchic freedom of the Greeks in their inde¬
pendent city. With just one slight qualification: the reliefs of Persepolis are con-

196 The Acropolis of Pericles

 Survival, Destruction and Restoration
of the Parthenon
The Temple of Athena Polias was turned into (1879), who drew attention to the import¬
a church in the sixth century A.D. This ance of the monument. Archaeologically
involved doing away with the great statue of speaking, it was not possible to start ex¬
Phidias, which was taken to Constantinople. cavating until the Acropolis had been
The Crusaders subsequently dedicated the relieved of the various constructions that
building to Catholic worship in 1208, and the had been encumbering it since the Christian
Ottomans turned it into a mosque in 1460. and Turkish periods. The palaeo-Christian
Before that, the Parthenon had bravely apse and the small mosque erected in the
survived the 2000 years of its lively history. temple itself were torn down, and the
Sadly, the Turks had turned the Acropolis Ottoman bastion was destroyed. Work
into a fortress and used the Parthenon as a proper started in 1835, shortly after Greek
warehouse for munitions. During the attack independence had been declared. In 1885, a
mounted in 1687 by the Venetians, led by the major campaign culminated in the discovery
Swede Koenigsmark, a shell landed on the of the Archaic statuary of the old Parthenon.
powder magazine and the building was Between 1923 and 1933, Greece embarked
extensively damaged by the explosion. on the task setting up the columns again.
Lastly, in 1802, with the agreement of the Today, another major programme is under
sultan. Lord Elgintook possession of fifty-six way, called for in the wake of the 1981 earth¬
panels of the frieze and fifteen metopes, quake. This programme has made it possible
which he had shipped to the British Museum. to use drums and blocks found in the mean¬
The restoration work got under way in time, to re-erect certain columns, and to
the nineteenth century, byway of "pictures" prepare forthe re-erecting of the columns of
made by resident Villa Medici students such the pronaos, largely with the help of original
as Alexis Paccard (1845) and BenoTt Loviot materials.

temporary with the Severe style in Greece, whereas the frieze designed by Phidias
glorifies Classical dynamism in all its fullness.
This frieze, like the tympana and metopes, with their chromatic highlighting, is
an integral part of the architecture. The whole decoration serves the building and
lends it its religious significance as well as a social and political character in the clash
between East and West, and in the gradual winning back of freedoms embarked
upon by the Greek city.
In this way, the Parthenon, as if suspended between heaven and earth on the top
of the Acropolis, offers its triumphant majesty. Its lofty and powerful octostyle
fagades, with their forest of shafts, its long lateral perspectives, which are at once
repetitive but endlessly variable (the width of the interaxial distances proceeds
from small at the ends and centre to considerable at the fourth and seventh inter¬
vals from each corner on the south side), and its elegance springing from an evident
balance obtained from the laws of symmetria, are the reflection of a rarely achieved
perfection.
This masterpiece needed a prelude, a preparation allowing the onlooker to grow
slowly accustomed to the sublime. Such an outstanding "introduction" was formed
by the Propylaea.

198 The Acropolis of Pericles

A monumental portal The Creation of the Propylaea and the Temple of Nike
The inner portico of the Propylaea The operation conducted by Pericles was not limited to the construction of the
of Mnesicles provides a hexastyle
Parthenon alone. It included a programme that encompassed the whole of the
response to the facade of the
Acropolis, starting with the Propylaea - or monumental gate - which formed the
Parthenon: same order, same
spacing, same mouldings. The access way to the uppermost area, via the Sacred Way used by the Panathenaic Pro¬
"prelude" announces the cession.
"symphony" by design. The design of the Propylaea was entrusted to the architect Mnesicles, and work
got underway in 437, as soon as the Temple of Athena Parthenos was completed. It
was then interrupted in 431 by the Peloponnesian Wars, and the building remained
unfinished.
The Propylaea responded to a series of contradictory constraints which posed
testing problems for the architect. It formed a grand entrance, while at the same
time serving - symbolically- as a defensive structure, because it formed part of the
wall around the Acropolis. Moreover, by being on the edge of the uppermost area
of the hill, this symbolic building was situated on a threshold, on a borderline mark¬
ing the limit between the gradient of the ascending path and the horizontal plane.
So it played the part of a complex intersection. Its western (outer) fagade was set
lower down than its eastern (inner) fagade. Last of all, the processional thorough¬
fare that crosses it from one end to the other was reserved forthe carts used for rit¬
ual processions, while also providing steps for pedestrians to left and right.
The Propylaea thus had the awkward task of visually "fudging" the difference-in
level between the outerface and the inner. Seen from below, the formula adopted

The Acropolis of Pericles igg

 The entrance to the realm
of the gods
Above: A reconstructed plan of the
Propylaea of Mnesicles, built from
437-432 B.C. on the sill marking
the edge of the plateau of the
Acropolis. Access was gained
along a thoroughfare climbing up
the last projection, between six
tall Ionic columns. On both sides,
the rooms of the painting and
sculpture galleries (based on a
reconstruction that is generally
agreed upon).
1 Hall of the picture-gallery or
pinakotheke (matched,
conjecturally, by the
symmetrical hall of the
sculpture-gallery or
glyptotheke)
2 Colonnade running along the
axial passage of the Propylaea
3 Temple of Athena Nike
Below: Plan and longitudinal
section of the small Temple of
Athena Nike (the Victorious) in the
Ionic style, dating from circa 421
B.C. This is an amphiprostyle
building (with porticoes at each
end, but without columns along
the sides).

presents a Doric hexastyle fagade, with angle shafts formed by three more slender
columns. Axially, the access way called for an intercolumniation that was wider at
the centre. Inside the Propylaea the ramp was flanked by two Ionic porticoes with
three large columns on either side. Because of their height, these Ionic shafts
helped to overcome the difference in level, while still retaining a shaft diameter sim¬
ilar to that of the Doric columns which form the fagade. As at Bassae, and in the
square room of the Parthenon, the Ionic style was called for in the interior areas.
At the top of the ramp rose the actual gate formed by five apertures: a wide cent¬
ral passage between two pillars flanked, on either side, by two smaller passages
which were narrower and terraced. Access was thus gained to the upper floor,
behind the east fagade. Its hexastyle colonnade corresponded to the octostyle of
the Parthenon. Before emerging from the Propylaea, the visitor glimpsed, as if
framed by the fluted shafts, the Temple of Athena Parthenos offset to the right.
Rising up in all its beauty, it offers its three-quarter perspective and surveys the
rocky plateau; to the left appears the busy silhouette of the Erechtheum, punctu¬
ated by its caryatids.

200 The Acropolis of Pericles

A marble framework
Borrowed from the techniques of
carpentry, the ceilings of the
Propylaea imitate wooden forms,
with their caissons and beams.

A technological tourde force

The Propylaea clings to the slope
that climbs up the last projection
of the Acropolis. Bold terracing
made it possible to anchorthe two
wings of the monumental
entrance to the rock.

Mnesicles skilfully solved the tricky equation posed by the placement of the
Propylaea. In particular, he successfully achieved an apparent symmetry between
the asymmetrical wings framing the entrance portico. At the outset, he was keen to
include, on either side of the axial passage, two majestic rooms measuring about 22
by 13 m, with three inner columns supporting the ceiling. These rooms, which were
never built, were to have formed the pinakotheke or picture gallery (which was
finally installed in the north-west room) and, in all probability, the glyptotheke or
sculpture gallery, containing the ex votos.
The decoration of the Propylaea was limited, where the fagades were concerned,
to just the proportional features peculiar to the Doric style: no bas-reliefs on friezes
and no sculptures on metopes. The purely architectural austerity was intended
both to be in harmony with the Parthenon and to contrast with the Parthenon's
ornamental opulence, as if to underscore the difference between a civic edifice and
a religious building. Apart from the traditional polychromy, the marble ceiling
coffers were covered with a lapis lazuli blue, set off by gold stars which emphasized
the wealth of this work.

The Acropolis of Pericles 201

 Page 202 and 203
Dominating the city of Athens
Commanding the steep sides of
the Acropolis, transformed by
supporting walls into a sacred
fortress, the Propylaea and the
Temple of Nike proudly glorify
Athenian Classicism.

202 The Acropolis of Pericles

 > -4 S

V "* l
[i
I
»i . "|
r
1 ’ |& 1 I
 Like a sacred bastion towering over the visitor on his right, the small Ionic
Temple of Athena Nike (the Victorious) stood proudly on a natural promontory in
front of the Propylaea. Its remarkably elegant, four-columned amphiprostyle
fagades framed a tiny square naos, 5 m by 5, the entrance to which, without any
pronaos, was preceded by two slender marble pillars.
Erected in about 421, shortly after the death of Pericles, this small temple was
decorated with a continuous sculpted frieze all around it. It depicted, around
Athena and the assembly of the gods, battle scenes alluding to the Persian wars. It
was, in reality, a triumphal hymn offered to the patron goddess Athena Polias.

The Complexity of the Erechtheum

Opposite the north portico of the Parthenon, which stands above it, the
Erechtheum is at once one of the most complicated and one of the most refined
temples of Classical religious architecture. It was built between 421 and 406 B.C.
The building forms a marked contrast with the Parthenon, both because of the dif¬
ference in scale and because of its busy structure, as compared with the powerful
unifying volume of thetemple built by Ictinus.
Made entirely of Pentelic marble - like the other buildings of the Acropolis - this
sanctuary, with its puzzling plan, developed not only on two right-angled axes, but
on two levels as well. It was dedicated to sundry gods and heroes, starting with
Athena Polias, Erechtheus-Poseidon and Hephaestus, not forgetting either the
tomb of King Cecrops or the enclosure of Pandrosos, his daughter, who is alleged to
have invented weaving, and who was paid homage by the ergastinai, the young
maidens of the Athenian nobility called upon to weave the peplos. This same holy
enclosure was also associated with the cult of the olive - venerated as the emblem
of the goddess - and an olive tree actually grew in the temenos of the temple.
These multiple functions involved a host of specific areas and rooms which were
spread throughout the building, whence the complexity of its organization. Just as
the Parthenon stood close to the southern crag, the Erechtheum was built on the
edge of the chasm to the north of the Acropolis. The building is oriented east/west.
To the east it has a handsome Ionic hexastyle fagade in the purest Classical style.
Behind the six prostyle columns, the side walls of the cella are bare. Inside is the
oblong naos dedicated to Athena, in which stood the cult statue.
At the back of the naos, which takes up the front part of the huge cella which is

An unusual organization
Considered disconcerting by
travellers in the early nineteenth
century, the complex forms of the
Erechtheum, on the Acropolis, still
leave modern historian perplexed.
But the charm of the caryatids
neverfailed to seduce onlookers,
as is clear from this engraving by
the English painter Edward
Dodwell.

204 The Acropolis of Pericles

The very opposite of
Doric "sobriety"
The visitor looking at the
Erechtheum from the Propylaea
discovers an asymmetrical
composition, the structures of
which defy logic, but stem from
an almost "picturesque"
organization. It was erected
between 421 and 406 B.C., after
Pericles' building programme, in
an altogether innovative spirit.

The Acropolis of Pericles 205

 now completely empty, there were, it would seem, two twin areas, one dedicated A "Baroque" composition
to Hephaestus, the other to Boutes, brother of Erechtheus. These two rooms The west facade of the

adjoined the naos of Athena, rather than the chevet of the temple. Because of the Erechtheum: between a large
north wing in the shape of a
steep slope to the west of the plateau of the Acropolis, they were in fact situated
canopy forming the north portico,
4 m above the rocky floor of the western room of the temple. This part of the build¬
and a small shrine-like building
ing has an unusual fagade. Beneath the pediment, four engaged columns separate
whose roof is supported by six
the openings set half-way up, like windows. statues of women - the caryatids
The organization of the Erechtheum on its east/west axis is part of a strictly -tothesouth,theendofthemain
rectangular plan, and its dimensions do not exceed 22.76 m in length and 11.63 m body of the building has engaged

in width, which is very small when compared with the Parthenon. columns between which there are
tall windows. A decidedly
Let us now take a look at the structure governed by the north south axis, which
uncommon and surprising
is no less unusual. It starts from a lower level and crosses the axis which determines
architectural formula!
the upper level. To the north, noticeably lower than the sanctuary of Athena Polias
and offset towards the west, there is a salient portico which projects some way
towards the cliff. It is an Ionic tetrastyle with an angle shaft on either side. In the
Page 207
direction of the empty space which it overlooks, it forms a sort of open canopy. Its
The Ionic elegance of the
six tall and slender columns, set well apart, help to make up for the difference in
Erechtheum
level. They measure 7.63 m in height, with a diameter of 0.82 m, in other words a
Conversely, the east fapade of the
proportion of more than 1:9. The intercolumniation measures 3 m. Erechtheum shows a dazzling
Following on from this portico, a long covered area, dedicated to Erechtheus- purity: the hexastyle portico in

Poseidon, occupies the lower level of the temple at its chevet. We should point out the Ionic style, with its slender

that Erechtheus, the Athenian hero who presided overthe city's origins, was asso¬ columns standing on moulded
bases and its capitals with their
ciated with Poseidon who, like Athena, laid claim to the city of Athens. This narrow
lofty volutes, contrasts strongly
room, delimited by the west fagade with its windows, ended in a stairway offering with the west side.

206 The Acropolis of Pericles

The Acropolis of Pericles 207
 Open to the four winds
Plan of the Erechtheum, on the
Acropolis of Athens. The building
combines various places of
worship, connected with rituals to
Athena, which have shaped the
construction of many elements
which all have a specific
orientation.
1 Prostyle columns
2 Sanctuary of Athena
3 Sanctuary of Boutes
4 Sanctuary of Hephaestus
5 Sanctuary of Erechtheus-
Poseidon
6 Sanctuary of Poseidon
7 Caryatid Porch

Page 209 above

Dawn on the south fagade
Recently restored with meticulous
care, the Erechtheum, where
damage to its marble stonework
has been dressed, like so many
wounds, offers the sight of its
powerfully worked-out
asymmetrical layout to the
admiration of the visitor.

access to the famous Caryatid Porch situated opposite the Parthenon. This porch Page 209 below
constitutes a counterpart to the northern canopy in the sense that it, too, has four Ionic moulding

fapade supports and a shaft on each side at the corner. This arrangement emphas¬ The subtle moulding atthe base
of the Ionic columns of the
izes the north-south axis, of which it forms the southern extremity.
Erechtheum: the tori, with their
This Caryatid Porch, which is inaccessible from the outside, is accentuated by
scotias, introduce a dialogue
six statues of young maidens or korai. It is in the purest Ionic tradition - like the with the fluted grooves.
Treasury of Siphnos at Delphi, where the caryatids predate those of the Erechtheum
by a century.
The Erechtheum is a far cry from the Classical programme of the peristyle sanc¬
tuary and its sober incorporation in a rectangular layout, governed by a colonnade
with a succession of repeated shafts resting on the stylobate. Here, the fagades
sometimes present an Ionic hexastyle and sometimes engaged columns forming, in
relief, part of the masonry of a wall pierced by windows, and sometimes, too, an
Ionic tetrastyle awning that is salient, or on the other side the Caryatid Porch.
In a word, the architectural organization is completely reversed. The space
explodes, as it were, in different directions, and the levels grow in number, like
internal linking structures. A certain "Baroque" spirit suffused this late fifth-cen¬
tury art, heralding new solutions which would be entertained by the Hellenistic age
and then the Roman world. There was a movement towards a light style and a
refined elegance, which was underpinned by this overall return to the Ionic model.
From this point on, this latter was no longer confined to the inner structures of Doric
buildings. Ittookthe place of a certain "monopoly" of the Doricstyle in Greece.
So the Ionian spirit that underscored the ethnic kinship between Athens and the
cities of Asia was asserted, not unlike a kind of manifesto, to exalt Greekness in its

208 The Acropolis of Pericles

The Acropolis of Pericles 209
 Lightness rediscovered Page 277
The Caryatid Porch, which is Maidens honoring Athena
completely off-centre and stands Attributed to the workshop of
out against a bare wall, is the the sculptor Alcamenes, the
Ionic version of the humanized caryatids, wearing the peplos,
tetrastyle. Young women with effortlessly support the canopy¬
elegant drapery take the place of shaped roof of the south shrine
columns. From this time on, casts of the Erechtheum.
tookthe place of the originals, but
the disappearance of ungainly
supporting "posts" restores the
building to its original quality of
lightness.

210 The Acropolis of Pericles

The Acropolis of Pericles 211
 Contemporary with the Parthenon
The Hephaesteum - long known as
the Theseum because of its
sculpted decoration devoted to
the hero Theseus - stands on the
edge of the Agora of Athens.
Built between 449 and 444, it is a
Classical Doric hexastyle which
has come down to us virtually
intact. It is dedicated to
Hephaestus, god of fire and forge
- in other words of craftsmanship.

A Classical peripteral temple

The south portico of the
Hephaesteum: the marble
structure has survived above the
colonnade which runs around the
building, and consists of thirty-
four shafts. The cella, still in place,
is only missing the inner columns
which used to divide it into three
naves.

212 The Acropolis of Pericles

A lofty facade
opposition to the Achaemenids. Once again, this leitmotif[ which embraced conno¬
The wide intercolumniation that
tations contrasting democracy with autocratic systems, would illuminate the archi¬
is a feature of the portico sur¬
tecture of the period with a far-reaching significance.
rounding the Hephaesteum in
Athens is typical of the develop¬
ment of the Doric style in the The Agora and the Temple of Hephaestus
middle of the fifth century B.C. As the starting point of the Panathenaic Procession, the Agora was both the polit¬
ical hub of the City and the seat of democracy, where the Citizens'Assembly would
meet. It was not a development in terms of city-planning, but rather a series of
works occurring at intervals over several centuries. After the departure of the
Persians, it was importantto reconstruct civic and religious buildings alike.
Pericles commissioned, in particular, a Doric temple dedicated to Hephaestus,
god of craftsmen and potters, which discreetly dominates the square. The
Hephaesteum (often called the Theseum), which was built between 449 and 444
B.C., was a Classical peripteral hexastyle of marble throughout, measuring 100 feet
in length [hecatompedon) and governed bythe4:9 proportion likethe Parthenon. Its
dimensions (14.45 by 32.51 m) and its plan (six columns widthwise and thirteen
lengthwise) accentuated the presence of a "vestibule" preceding the pronaos,
whose oblong area was in turn emphasized by an architrave running the whole
length of the building, as in the Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sunium. Although only
slightly larger than this latter, the Hephaesteum shows an inner organization of the
naos that borrows the principle adopted by Ictinus for the inner colonnade of the
Parthenon - the area was divided into three naves and a portico running crosswise
behind the cult statue (seven columns lengthwise, and four widthwise). This
arrangement vanished when the temple was converted into a church.

The Acropolis of Pericles 213

 The decoration includes an "Ionic" frieze decorating the cella with high reliefs, Rigor and repetition
depicting the heroic Deeds of Theseus and the war against the Centaurs. The On its south facade, looking

metopes represented the Labors of Heracles and the Feats of Theseus. out over the Agora of Athens,
the Hephaesteum plays on the
horizontal layout of the lines
Sacred City-planning
which punctuate the Doric
So the work planned by Pericles, with the help of architects and sculptors who
columns. The fact that the ceiling
carried out the programme for the renovation of Athens after the Persian wars, and caissons are no longerthere
of the Acropolis in particular, culminated with the dedication to the goddess creates a play of shadows, as
Athena of all the buildings now covering the sacred outskirts of the upper city. The the marble structure above is

actual organization of this holy city, which took full advantage of the complicated projected on to the wall of the
cella.
lie of the land, had taken into account the location of the cliffs and the steep slope
of the upper plateau, to give birth to an energetic and unexpected complex.
Unlike the grid system governing the Hippodamian city designed for human
beings, here, for the sacred city, the planning was refined and subtle. Thus, for any¬
one emerging on to the Acropolis, after negotiating the Propylaea, the two temples
- Parthenon and Erechtheum, whose converging perspective had the effect of
intensifying the space - formed the framework for a main upper square, which is
where the annual Panathenaic Procession ended. This very loose organization also Page 215
contrasted with the rigour of the overall plan of Persepolis, which was different in A broad projecting vestibule
every way. Once again - as in the contrast between the strict arrangement of the The lightening of the structures is
clearto see in the Hephaesteum of
bas-reliefs of the Procession of the Tributaries and the free quality of the procession
Athens. Note the absence of any
dedicated to Athena on the Parthenon frieze - the antithesis between autocracy
support in the second row of
and democracy burst forth in an exemplary symbolic - not to say semiological -
columns, forming a wide covered
demonstration.
area which precedes the pronaos.

214 The Acropolis of Pericles

mi
 Conclusion

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 Reason - the Great Organizer

Page 217 Throughout their history, the Greeks have built a great deal - sanctuaries, theatres,
Hermes leading the dance and fortifications, often constructed from magnificent materials, strewn over the
A votive relief included beneath
various regions of the eastern Mediterranean, from the shores of the Aegean and
the silhouette of an architectural
Anatolia to Sicily and southern Italy. A pervasive stylistic unity and a fundamental
pediment surmounted by
consistency and coherence provide this heritage with its own specific character.
acroteria. Behind Hermes, the
Cecropides and the child This survey of Greek architecture, which consists forthe most part of temples -
Erechthonius hold hands as they as opposed to much rarer civic and military buildings - may give the reader the
perform a dance. Late sixth-early impression of an abundance of solutions to a simple form. These variations which
fifth century B.C. (Athens, affect the religious building, and the peripteral temple in particular, raise two ques¬
Acropolis Museum)
tions: why are no two temples the same? And why were the architects forever intent
upon revitalizing the plans of their sanctuaries?
The answer to these questions is probably that, in the thinking of the Ancients,
each place of worship had to be unique. This would also be the case in the Middle
Ages, when each church differed from the next. In each instance, people would
attempt to offer the deity an even more perfect work. A passage from Plato's
Republic clearly expressed this desire for constant renewal. The task of the archi¬
tects, wrote the philosopher, is to "produce bodies which did not previously exist".
There is no better way of defining the role of the builder.
Furthermore, architectural concerns are omnipresent in Plato's work. When it is
a matter of defining beauty, he specifically states, in the Philebus: "What I under¬
stand here by beauty ... is not whatthe common man generally understands by this
term, as, for example, the beauty of living things and their representation. On the
contrary, it is something rectilinear... and circular, with the surfaces of solid bodies
composed by means of the compasses, the cord, and the set square. For these forms
are not, like the others, beautiful under certain conditions; they are always beauti¬
ful in themselves." What better definition of architecture could Plato have come up
with? Forthe terms which he uses - "compasses, cord and set square" - are the very
tools which symbolize the work of the architect, the instruments of geometric and
mathematical design, which give rise to the symmetria and harmony of creation.
And as if in confirmation of all this, does not Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (BOO-
428) - who had numbered Pericles, Euripides and perhaps Socrates among his dis¬
ciples in Athens - assert this supremacy of the intelligence by making everything
subordinate to "organizing reason"? For the clear organization of the building is
nothing other than the key to eurhythmia and commodulatio. In architecture, as in
philosophy, the mind tends to construct a system where everything flows
from a single principle, where "everything is in everything", to use the words of
A victorious young athlete Anaxagoras.
This stele, discovered at Cape Proof of this rationalization of building isto be found inthefamous Skeuotheke,
Sunium, south of Athens, which
or stone Arsenal designated for Athenian galleys, which the architect Philon had
dates from about 450 B.C., shows
built at Piraeus, and whose precise description, dating from the latter half of the
a naked young man putting on the
fourth century B.C., has come down to us in the form of a stele with a ninety-seven-
victor's crown. (Athens, National
Museum) line inscription. The quantified description of the work, conceived as rigorous

Conclusion 219
jBMbirfii -—-—~r-
r'3l
w «
Page 220
The Theatre of Dionysus
The cavea set on the southern
slope of the Acropolis has under¬
gone lengthy developments since
it was moved, in 498 B.C., from
the site where theatrical works in
honour of Dionysus were per¬
formed, which was originally
located in the Agora. The main
features of this building - as it
can be seen today - are from the
Graeco-Roman period.

"Reserved" seats debate, where the concepts of

In the Theatre of Dionysus, the freedom and democracy were
rows of seats earmarked for aired, would undergo a gradual
distinguished spectators are political transformation, when
distinctively furnished with it was used for meetings of the
nothing less than "armchairs" on ecclesia, that is the community
the edge of the orchestra. The of citizens wielding executive
theatre, a place for ideological power.

Conclusion 221
 The Arsenal of Athens
Known as the Skeuotheke, or
"galley store", built by the
architect Philon at Piraeus, the
building dating from the latter
half of the fourth century B.C.
was so well described by an
inscription discovered on a stele
that it has been possible to
reconstruct how it looked.
But was the description just a
draft?

"quantity surveying", shows that architectural creation operates by way of a

concept, well before it takes on the tangible form of a building. Based on a three-
dimensional system verbally set forth by the architect, a contractor must be in a
position to carry out the project, basing his work on the current rules governing the
technique of building. We are dealing here with a formulation which is akin to the
architecture dictated in great historical or revealed writings - the Arch of David, the
Temple of Ezekiel, the Temple and the Palace of Solomon, and so on.
This architecture, which is verbal rather than conceived on the drawing-board,
explains, in a straightforward manner, the use of key proportions, and measure¬
ments and modules expressed in round figures, as we have come across them
throughout this study: the hecatompedon, or 100-foot temple, the Heraion of
Samos, measuring 100 by 200 Samian feet, and so on.
This primacy of the concept or design includes and involves the role of the
philosopher in architectural creation: "Let no man venture here if he is not a geo¬
meter", wrote Plato, as if to underline the importance of the grasp of eternal ideas
in the process of creation.
With the advent of an ideal architecture, it was the ideal city of The Republic
which was brought together with the "conceptual" monument. The organization of
space governed the organization of society. And there was good cause to contrast
the democratic approach of Athens, illustrated by Aeschylus' tragedy The Persians,
which was staged in the Theatre of Dionysus, at the foot of the Acropolis, to extol
the Greek victory at Salamis over the Achaemenids with the despotic power of
Darius and Xerxes even if it was Ionic columns which presided over the construction
oftheApadana at Persepolisand Greek scu Iptors who worked on the Procession of
the Tributaries.
For in the great clash between Greeks and Persians, the least we can do is
acknowledge a shared desire to transcend the human condition through art and
architecture.

222 Conclusion
An Athenian funerary stele The Monument of Lysicrates in
Quite removed from the Athens
movement of action, the art of This marble tholes, which stands
funerary steles in the fourth at the foot of the Acropolis in
century B.C. embraced a calm Athens, was erected in 335-334.
hieratic quality, conjuring up the A purely emblematic work, it was
sadness of mourning - a built as a shrine designed to house
melancholy which the prospect a bronze Dionysiac tripod. Its
of haunting the Elysian fields fails cylindrical mass is flanked by
to overcome. (Athens, National Corinthian columns, surmounted
Museum) by a frieze illustrating a hymn to
Dionysus.

Conclusion 223
 Chronological
Table

Detail of the plan of the Heroon of

Lefkandi with its "apsidal" colonnade

11 th-8th First "apsidal" rooms with

16th century Mycenae: First architectural century roundedchevet
works, pit graves. Royal Circle, 8th century Surrounding (peripteral) porti¬
and treasuries coes of the so-called "veranda"
1250-1220 Thoios-tombs: "Treasury of type on wooden pillars:
Atreus", "Tomb of Clytemnestra Megaron A and Megaron B
The Lion Cate at the Acropolis of
Mycenae 13th century Hight of architectural achieve¬ atThermum, Fleroon at Lefkandi,
ment at Mycenae: cyclopean Palace of Apollo at Eretria
masonry: palace and megaron Late7th Temple of Apollo at Thermum,
12th century Destruction of the century Hecatompedon of Ephesus
Monuments Mycenaean monuments Birth of the peristyle

2200-1000 B.C. 1000-600 B.C.

The Age of the Mycenaeans Colonization

Historical Events c. 2200 Arrival of the Achaeans in Greece 8th century Work of Homer
c. 1650 Linear A script , Alphabetic script
c. 1600 The Achaeans in the Peloponnese Foundation of Carthage
c. 1500 Destruction of Thera (Santorini) (Phoenicians)
The entrance to the "Treasury of c. 1450-1400 The Mycenaeans plunder Crete 776 First Olympic Carnes
Atreus" at Mycenae
Late 15th Decline of Cnossus 8th century Start of the colonization of the
century Linear B script
Mediterranean basin
c. 1400-1200 Mycenaean expansion in the
756 Foundation of Cumae
Mediterranean (southern Italy)
c. 1230-1180 Invasion of the "Sea Peoples" in
c. 750 End of the royalty in Athens
the Near East
740 Foundation of Zancle (Sicily)
12th century Dorian and Ionian invasions
733 Foundation of Syracuse (Sicily)
in Greece: decline of the
710 Foundation of Tarentum
Mycenaeans
700 Chalcidice (Macedonia) colonized

A fresco discovered on the

Acropolis of Mycenae

224 Chronological Table

 The facade of the Archaic Temple
of Athena at Paestum

540 Second Heraion of Samos,

built by Polycrates

From 540 Palace of Pasargadae for Cyrus

c. 540 The "Basilica" at Paestum

c. 600 Heraion of Olympia: "petrifica¬ 535 Tunnel of Eupalinus at Samos
tion": columns transposed into 530 First Temple of Apollo at Didyma
stone c. 530 Peplos-clad korai: Acropolis of
c. 595 Aeolic capital in Asia Minor Athens
c. 590 Temple of Apollo at Syracuse 525 Eleusis: first Telesterion
Appearance of the Ionic and Doric 525 Delphi: frieze of the Treasury of
orders Siphnos
580 Pediments of the temple of Corfu c. 500 Paestum: Temple of Athena c. 500 Persepolis: reliefs of the
570-560 Rhoecus and Theodorus build ("Ceres") Procession of the Tributaries,
the dipteron of Samos 520-510 Susa: Achaemenid palace Hall of the Nations
(abandoned in 540) 520-480 Athens: Pre-Parthenon, in marble c. 500 Delphi: polygonal wall
560 Artemision D at Ephesus by (2nd phase) 495 Aegina: Temple of Athena Aphaia
Chersiphron, Metagenes and 513 Persepolis: Apadana of Darius Sunium: first Temple of Poseidon
Theodorus 510 Smiling kore: Acropolis of Athens 487 Delphi: Treasury of the Athenians
c. 560 Pre-Parthenon of Pisistratus 510-470 Selinus: Temple G, Apollonion 480 Paestum: "Tomb of the Diver"
(1st phase) before 500 Agrigentum: Temple of Heracles Agrigentum: Olympieion

600-550 B.C 550-500 B.C. 500-480 B.C.

The Archaic Period From Paestum to Persepolis The Dawn of Classicism

c. 600 Legislation of Draco in Athens 547 Croesus clashes with Cyrus II: 499 Revolt of the Greek cities of Ionia
Foundation of Marseilles Ionia taken by the Persians c. 498 The temple of Sardis burnt
c. 585-525 Anaximenes Death of Thales of Miletus 497-493 Persian repression: Miletus razed
582 Pythian Games at Delphi and Anaximander to the ground
c. 580 Foundation of Agrigentum 539 Cyrus takes Babylon 491-490 Darius attacks Athens and
566 Great Panathenaea in Athens 529-522 Reign of Cambyses II, Eretria: first Persian War
561-547 Reign of Croesus in Lydia king of the Persians 490 Greek victory at Marathon
c. 561-528 Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens c. 530 Pythagoras at Croton and c. 480 Death of Pythagoras
559-529 Reign of Cyrus II of Persia Metapontum 486-465 Reign of Xerxes, king of the Persians
521-486 Darius I, king of the Persians c. 483 Athens: Themistocles builds a fleet
511 The Creeks of Thrace conquered 481 -478 Xerxes: second Persian War

510 Athens: fall of the tyranny 480 The Acropolis of Athens destroyed
508/507 Athens: reforms of Cleisthenes 480 Greek victory at Salamis

The "petrified" columns of the

Temple of Hera at Olympia

Detail of the Frieze of the Tributaries

in the Apadana of Persepolis

Chronological Table 225

 The facade of the "reassembled"
Temple of Hera at Selinus c. 450 Agrigentum: Temple of Hera Lacinia

449 Sunium: Temple of Poseidon 429-390 Bassae: Temple of Apollo

449-444 Athens: the Hephaesteum Epicurius
c. 480 Ecclesiasterion at Metapontum 447-438 Athens: construction of the c. 430 Agrigentum: "Temple of Concord"
and Paestum Parthenon by Phidias, Callicrates Segesta: unfinished temple
479 Hippodamus rebuilds Miletus and Ictinus 421-406 Athens: the Erechtheum
478 Delphi: portico of the Athenians 447-442 Phidias: the metopes of the 420 Xanthus: Nereid Monument
City wall built around Athens Parthenon 421 Athens: Temple of Athena Nike
470 Coroebus enlarges the Telesterion 438 Phidias sculpts the Athena Caryatids of the Erechtheum
465-450 Selinus: Temple E dedicated to Parthenos 415 Segesta: work on the temple is
Hera 438-432 The pediments of the Parthenon halted
460-440 Paestum: second Temple of Hera 437-432 Athens: the Propylaea of Mnesicles From 400 Syracuse: fortress of Euryalos

480-450 B.C 450-430 B.C. 430-400 B.C.

Classicism The Age of Pericles The Decline of Athens

480 Theron defeats the Carthaginians 449 Peace of Callias with the Persians 429 Death of Pericles
c. 480-406 Euripides 446/445 Thirty Years' peace with Sparta 423-404 Reign of Darius II in Persia
479 Greek victory at Plataea 443-429 Pericles becomes Head of State in 419 Alcibiades appointed general
478 Hieron tyrant of Syracuse Athens 415 Catastrophic Athenian expedition
478/477 Foundation of the Delian League c. 432 Death of Phidias in Sicily
472 The Persians by Aeschylus 431-421 Peloponnesian War (I) 413-404 Peloponnesian War (II): defeat of
c. 469-399 Socrates 430 Plague strikes Athens Athens
467/466 Victory of Cimon over the
411 Oligarchy of the Four Hundred in
Persians Athens
465 Xerxes assassinated:
409 Selinus razed to the ground by
reign of Artaxerxes
the Carthaginians
461/460 Reform of Ephialtes in Athens
408 Cyrus II governs Asia Minor
454 Athenian disaster in Egypt
406 Agrigentum taken
454 Transfer of thefederal Treasury
405-367 Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse
of Delos to Athens
405 Lysander defeats the Athenians

401 Revolt of Cyrus II and retreat of

the Ten Thousand

North-west corner of the Parthenon

on the Acropolis of Athens
226 ChronologicalTable
The Temple of Athena Nike on the The east facade of the Erechtheum
west of the Acropolis of Athens on the Acropolis of Athens

356 Ephesus: destruction of the

Artemision

From 350 Halicarnassus: Tomb of Mausolus

c. 350 Epidaurus: Tholos of Polyclitus the

Younger

342-330 Lindus: Temple of Athena (Rhodes)

c. 400 Friezes at Bassae c. 340 Priene:Temple of Athena Poiias
380 Epidaurus: Temple of Asclepius 335/334 Athens: Monument of Lysicrates
4th century Fortresses in Attica: Phylae, 330 Ephesus: work starts on the new
Aegosthena, Eleutherae, Artemision
Rhamnus 330 Eleusis: portico of the Telesterion
c. 370 Delphi: Tholos of Marmaria by Philon
378 Delos: Temple of Apollo (VI) 330 Paestum: painted tombs
370 Wall of Messene built by (Lucanian influence)
Epaminondas 330 Epidaurus: theatre Monuments

400-360 B.C. 360-330 B.C.

A World of Fortresses The End of Classicism

399 Socrates condemned to death 359 Philip II, king of Macedonia Historical Events
387 Plato founds the Academy 353 Death of King Mausolus
386 The King's Peace 348 Philip II takes Qlynthus
377 Mausolus, satrap of Caria 347 Death of Plato

371 Battle of Leuctra Alexander becomes a student of

(Thebans defeat the Spartans) Aristotle

367-365 Plato visits Sicily 336 Alexander general of the Greeks The tholos-\\ke Monument of
362 Battle of Mantinea 333 Battle of Issus Lysicrates in Athens
(defeat of Thebes) 331 Foundation of Alexandria

330 Fire at Persepolis

The tholos of Athena Pronaia at

the site of Marmaria at Delphi

ChronologicalTable 227
 Glossary

Abacus: Upper part of the capital Antae, in antis: The antae are front bell. May also be applied to a Corbelled vault: Describes a vault
in the form of a square flat slab walls, which end in a pilaster. capital whose basket is flared. made with horizontal courses,
which bears the load of the The Latin term in antis, Canon: Law of proportions gov¬ one jutting out beyond the last.
entablature. "between the antae", is used erning the human body in the The corbelled vault is a false
Acanthus: Mediterranean plant for columns set between two Greek sculpture of Antiquity. vault.
with very indented leaves, the antae. Ratios of dimensions making up Corinthian: Architectural order
shape of which inspired the dec¬ Apadana: Throne room of a conventional code of harmony characterized in particular by
oration of Corinthian capitals. Achaemenid palaces, usually applied to the depiction of men the capital with a basket decor¬
Achaeans: A Greek people who, in with a large number of columns and women. ated with acanthus leaves and
about 1600 B.C., invaded the (a hypostyle area). Capital: Decorative feature sur¬ horns of plenty at the corners,
region of the Peloponnese and Apsidal: Describes the chevet of a mounting the shaft of a column the crockets of which are akin to
gave birth to the Mycenaean rounded apse-shaped building, or pillar on which the architrave the volutes of the Ionic order.
civilization. by analogy with the form of the rests. The capital consists of an Course: In the stonework of a wall,
Achaemenids: Dynasty of three sanctuary. echinus or basket which sup¬ a horizontal row of blocks of
Persian kings descended from Architrave: Beam or lintel resting ports an abacus. Its decoration the same height. A wall is made
the legendary Achaemenes. on supports (columns or pillars) is governed by the Classical up of several superimposed
Cyrus II (559-529) founded the and forming the lower part of orders. courses.
Persian Empire which would an entablature. Caryatid: In architecture, a sup¬ Cuneus: In an ancient theatre, the
hold sway from the frontiers of Auriga or charioteer: The driver port in the form of a female corner-shaped division of the
India to Egypt and Asia Minor of a chariot in ancient races. statue. According to Vitruvius, cavea, delimited by radial stairs.
until 330 B.C. Baldachin: Light structure or the name derives from the Curtain wall: Straight section of
Acropolis: In Greek cities, this shrine-like aedicula designed women of Caryae, who were wall in a city wall, situated
term describes the "upper to house an altar or statue. reduced to slavery as a punish¬ between two projecting towers.
town" which was the hub of Barbarians: Describes, forthe ment for having collaborated Cyclopean: Describes the
political, religious and military Greeks of Antiquity, any with the Persians. stonework of a colossal wall,
life. Subsequently, it was where foreign people. It did not Casing (door): Architectural term built with huge, irregular
there were often only the com¬ originally have derogatory describing the uprights or blocks, reckoned to be the work
munity's sanctuaries. connotations. frame of a door. of the Cyclopes.
Acroterium: Architectural orna¬ Basket: Main feature of a Cavea: The concave semicircular Cyclops: Legendary giant with
mentation in relief, which sur¬ Corinthian capital formed by a auditorium of the theatre, just one eye in the middle of
mounts the corners and top of a flared body shaped like an where the audience was seated the forehead.
pediment. upturned,truncated cone. on tiers. Daphnephorion: From daphne-
Adytum: Secret room in a temple, Acanthus leaves sprout from Celia: The main body of an ancient phore, meaning one bearing
reserved exclusively for priests. the basket. temple which, in addition to the laurels, whence: a sanctuary
Aeolic (capital): An Archaic Greek Bastion: Part of a fortification naos, housing the statue of the dedicated to Apollo wearing a
capital formed by two volutes which forms a salient projection deity, also contains a pronaos crown of laurels.
projecting vertically and sep¬ in a wall. forming the vestibule, an Decastyle: Architectural term
arated by a palmette. Bouleuterion: A meeting hall opisthodomos at the chevet, and describing a building whose
Agora: In the Greek city, the pub¬ where the council (or boule) of in some cases an adytum, or facade has ten columns.
lic place where citizens' assem¬ a Greek city would sit. An area secret area, and a treasury. Dentils: Decorative features
blies were held. Describes the designed for political assem¬ Centaur: Mythological creature formed by a series of cubic,
political hub of the city. blies. formed by the torso of a man salient teeth, set apart,
Amazonomachy: A fight involving Bracket (corbel): Decorative fea¬ and the body of an animal embellishing a cornice.
Amazons, in which barbarian ture in the form of a support (a horse). Diazoma: Promenade in the form
warriors of Antiquity mount placed beneath the cornice of a Centauromachy: Legendary fight of a semicircle, horizontally
horses and are armed with bow frieze or beneath the slope of a against the centaurs who sym¬ dividing the cavea of an ancient
and sword. pediment. bolized brutality and savagery. theatre.
Amphiprostyle: Describes a temple Bronze Age: The period character¬ Chimaera: Mythical monsterwith Dipteral: Describes a building
whose front and rear facades ized by the use of bronze-work¬ fantastic shapes, combining surrounded by a double row
include two rows of columns. ing; in the Mediterranean, various fearsome animals: lion, of peripteral columns.
Anaktoron: Sacred shrine housing between the third and second snake, and so on. Dorians: Greek-speaking people
statues of worship. millennia B.C. Chryselephantine (statue): who, in several waves, invaded
Anastylosis: An operation consist¬ Caisson: An element embellishing Describes a sculpture enriched Greece between the thirteenth
ing in reconstructing an ancient the lower part of a ceiling, with gold and ivory. and eleventh centuries B.C.,
building mainly with materials consisting of a panel edged Commodulatio: Use of propor¬ laying waste to the Mycenaean
found on the spot. with projecting beams and tions based on the multiples of kingdoms.
Annulets: Small mouldings or mouldings. a single module, designed to Doric: In architecture, one of the
grooves which surround the Campaniform: Describes the base obtain formal and rhythmic Greek orders, characterized by
base of a Doric capital. of a column with the shape of a harmony. columns with no base, with a

228 Glossary
 capital consisting of a gorgerin Flutes: Vertical and parallel century B.C.), architect, geo¬ Linear B (script): System of
(necking grooves), an echinus grooves which decorate the metrician, and surveyor, held to Mycenaean syllabic writing
and an abacus. surface of the cylindrical shaft be the inventor of the orthogo¬ transcribing the early Greek
Dromos: Describes the access of a column, lending it a rising nal layout. language.
corridor - in a stair cavity lined motion and an energetic formal Holocaust: Sacrifice offered to Lintel: Horizontal load-bearing
with tall walls - of a domed quality. the gods, to be consumed by feature in stone or wood
Mycenaean tomb. Foot: Unit of measurement gener¬ fire on the altar. surmounting an aperture.
Drum: Cylindrical element forming ally used in ancient construction Hybris: Excess, violence, exag¬ Logos: Source of ideas, and
the shaft of a column. Its dia¬ and architecture. The Doric foot geration, which the Greeks universal reason, among Greek
meter is always greaterthan its equals 32.7 cm, the Samian foot contrasted with justice [dike), philosophers.
height. 34.95 cm, and the Ionian foot and regarded as the source of Manteion: Place where the future
Echinus: Main part of the Doric 29.4 cm. The Greeks also used upheaval and evil. is consulted, seat of the oracle.
capital in the form of a small the cubit (pechus) of 52.45 cm. Hypaethral: Describes an Mausoleum: Huge funerary monu¬
cushion or bell, bounded by a Gable: Uppertriangular part of a enclosed, but open-roofed, ment deriving its name from
round moulding between the wall parallel with the trusses area. king Mausoius, Graeco-Persian
gorgerin and the abacus. Its bearing the sloping surfaces of Hyperoon: Dwelling occupying the satrap of Caria (377-353 B.C.).
outline would develop from a a roof. In the Greek temple, it upperfloor of a palace, often Medusa: Mythical female figure,
flattened torus into a more merges with the pediment. reserved for women. whose head was covered with
elongated half-heart. Geometric (pottery): Describes Hypostyie (area): Describes an snakes, and whose gaze turned
Egg and dart: Decorative relief the decoration of Greek pottery area whose roof is supported by herfoes to stone. One of the
moulding in the form of juxta¬ (twelfth to eighth centuries rows of columns or pillars. three Gorgons of Greek
posed eggs and darts. B.C.) combining patterns Interaxis: The space between the mythology.
Ecclesia: Assembly of the people obtained with compasses, axes of two columns. Megaron: Main room of the
in the Greek city. triangles and meanders. Intercalumniation: The open Mycenaean palace, comprising
Emporion: A place fortrading, Gigantomachy: Legendary fight space between two columns. the hearth and the throne,
market-place. between mythical giants doing Intrados: Concave inner surface of preceded by a vestibule and an
Engaged (or embedded) column: battle with the gods. an arch or vault. inner courtyard.
Describes a column or other Gorgerin (necking grooves): In Ionic (order): In architecture, the Metope: Panel, often sculpted,
feature partly embedded in a architecture, the lower part of a Ionic order is characterized alternating with the triglyphs in
wall, from which it projects. capital, extending the main part principally by slender columns the Doric frieze.
Entablature: In classical architec¬ of the column. with a base, a capital embel¬ Mimesis: Greek term describing
ture, the various horizontal Gorgon: Fearsome female monster lished by volutes, and an entab¬ the imitation of reality in artis¬
parts which surmount the whose hair consists of snakes. lature with a continuous frieze. tic representation.
supports (columns or pillars). On Athena's shield, she symbol¬ Isonomia: Political system based Mi noans: Term deriving from
From bottom to top it consists ized the apotropaic power of on the equality of one and all Minos, legendary King of
of the architrave, the frieze, the goddess, to ward off before the law. Cnossus, used to designate
and the cornice. danger. Joist: Diagonal timbers supporting the ancient Cretan civilization
Epipole: The upper city, in par¬ Gnomon: Vertical shaft whose the roof. (2600-1200 B.C.).
ticular at Syracuse. shadow makes it possible to Kore: Archaic Greek statue Module: In ancient architecture,
Erinyes: The Greek goddesses of observe the height of the sun, representing a young girl clad a common measurement,
vengeance. the dates of the solstices, and in rich apparel, constituting an traditionally accepted, applied
Eros: Deity of love. God of even the time of day, thanks to offering to the gods. to the various proportions of a
amorous passion. Also describes the sundial. Kouros: Archaic Greek statue building. A unit of measurement
physical attraction between Harpy: Winged monster with a representing a young man, governing the ratios between
people. woman's or bird's head. With standing, sometimes of colossal the parts of an building.
Eurhythmia: Harmonious com¬ hertalons she could kidnap dimensions. These sculptures Monopterai: Describes a round
bination of proportions. souls. were arranged as offerings to temple (tholos) with a single row
Exedra: In ancient architecture, Hecatompedon: Literally: 100 feet the gods in temples. of outer columns which support
generally describes a semicircu¬ long. A Greek temple with an Lantern: Structure surmounting a the roof.
lar or rectangular space in a actual length of 100 feet. roof and pierced by apertures, Museum of painting
building, forming a recess in an Heroon: Temple or monument in designed to illuminate the (pinakotheke): Building or room
external elevation. Often with honor of a hero, which desig¬ interior of a building. where a collection of paintings
a semicircular seat lining it. nates a deified figure, protector Lapiths: Legendary people of was displayed, for example,
Ex voto: Art object - picture, of a city. Thessaly, believed to have put inside the Propylaea on the
sculpture, crown - dedicated to Hexastyle: A building whose up a valiant fight against the Acropolis at Athens.
a god following a wish by the fagade has six columns. Centaurs. Museum of sculpture
donor. Hippodamian (plan): Describes a Libations: Offering made to the (glyptotheke): Collection of ,
False (vault): Corbelled vault. town or city plan inspired by gods of a liquid poured overthe sculptures. Room where they
Does not use radial archstones. Hippodamus of Miletus (fifth altar or ground. are shown.

Glossary 229
 Mutule: Support in the form of a Orthogonal: Term describing a Polygonal (wall): Describes a type Sekos: Sacred enclosure, some¬
flat corbel, arranged beneath right-angled configuration, ora of ancient structure formed by times at the foot of an olive tree
a cornice. In the Doric style, system based on a chessboard large irregular blocks, carefully surrounded by a palisade. In the
the lower surface - or soffit - layout. put together. Often confused classical period, inner room of
was decorated with guttae in Orthostat: Upright slab, usually with the cyclopean structure, the temple [naos) where the cult
relief. decorated with reliefs, covering which is less rigorous. statue was placed.
Mycenean: Stemming from the bottom of a wail. Portico: Alignment of vertical Siren: in Greek mythology, female
the civilization or art of the Palmette: Decoration in the form supports connected by lintels or sea demon and temptress
Achaeans and Mycenae of stylized palm leaves. arches. The portico forms an personifying seduction and the
(1500-1100 B.C.). Panta rhei: "Everything flows", open gallery on the long side of dangers of the sea.
Na'iskos: In Greek architecture, "Everything changes": expres¬ a building. Scene: Corresponds first of all
a sacred aedicula orshrine sion of the pre-Socratic philo¬ Postern: In military architecture, to the temporary tent housing
forming an independent chapel sopher Heraclitus of Ephesus. a structure with a hidden theatrical shows, then became
inside the temple. It usually Pantheism: Philosophical system doorway. identified with the scene set
contained the effigy of the god. whereby the deity merges with Presocratics (philosophers): In before the frons scenae.
Naos: In Greek architecture, the world and is one with the ancient Greece, a group of Skeuotheke: Arsenal, building
abode of the god, which takes universe. thinkers priorto Socrates, constructed to house triremes
the form of an inner area Pantheon: Temple dedicated to all whose main concern was to try of the Athenian war fleet.
containing the divine statue. the Greek or Roman gods. to explain the nature of the Slanting cornice: Describes the
The holiest part of the cella of Parodos: Side entrance of a Greek universe. sloping upper parts which
the temple. theatre, adjoining the orchestra. Pronaos: Greekterm describing crown a pediment.
Nomos: Greekterm meaning law Peplos: Piece of female Greek the room or vestibule which Stoa (plural, stoai): Greekterm
and justice. attire. Tunic made in a rectangle precedes the naos of a temple. describing a portico supported
Numen: Pure thought, in its higher of woollen fabric, puffed out Propylaeum: Monumental porch, by columns.
form; object of understanding. at the waist by a belt. This is the often with a colonnaded Stylobate: Greek architectural
Octostyle: A building whose traditional garment of Athena, fagade, giving access to a Greek term describing the foundation
fagade has eight columns. woven by the Ergastines forthe sanctuary. on which the columns of a build¬
Omphalos: The cosmic egg, navel festival of the Panatheneae. Proscenium: Describes the stage, ing are set.
of the world; at Delphi, the Peribolos: Enclosure planted with in an ancient theatre: ibis the Symmetria: Arrangement and
umbilicus in the form of a sacred trees surrounding a temple. area set between the stage wall proportions of a building which
stone. Peripteral: Describes a temple [frons scenae) and the orchestra. lend it its harmony.
Opisthodomos: Greekterm surrounded on all sides by a Prostyle: Describes a temple Symposion: Banquet during which
describing the area in the rear row of columns, forming a which only has columns on its the guests drink, make up and
part of the cella of a temple. peristyle. front fapade. recite passages. It has given rise
It is often set between the Peristyle: Colonnade surrounding Protome: Representation of the to a large symposion literature
antae [in antis), at the chevet of a building. The outer peristyle forequarters of a symbolic that has come down to us.
the sanctuary, and could receive corresponds to the peripteral animal. Techne: Art and technique, in a
offerings. colonnade. Pyre: In Antiquity, an altar of fire word, the science of con¬
Orchestra: In Greektheatres, the Phial: Cup used for making which was part of a temple. struction.
round area situated at the libations Relieving (arch): In architecture, Telesterion: Hypostyle building
bottom of the tiers, in front of Pilaster: Pillar engaged or embed¬ a relieving arch is used to relieve reserved for initiation in the
the stage. ded in the stonework of a wall, a load-bearing element over sanctuary of Eleusis.
Ordinatio: Latin term describing, from which it projects. It usually an empty area by laterally Temenos: Enclosure dedicated to
in both architecture and art, a has a base and a capital. shifting the thrust on to solid the gods, area surrounding a
common basis forthe measure¬ Pillar: Vertical stonework support, piles. temple.
ment of the different parts of square, rectangular or cross¬ Rhyton: Ancient horn-shaped Tetrastyle: Building whose fapade
the work. Often equivalent to shaped, which usually has a drinking vessel, often decor¬ has four columns.
the module. base and a capital. ated with an animal protome Tholos: In Greek architecture,
Orders (the): In ancient architec¬ Pithoi: Greekterm describing (lion, horse, bull, ibex). It monopteral sanctuary: a temple
ture, describes various struc¬ large ceramic vases or crocks, usually had a ritual function. whose plan is round and
tural systems for organizing the used for storing grain, olives, Rough hewing: Cutting of a block elevation cylindrical.
proportions of buildings in wine and oil. of stone by roughly hewing the Torus (plural, tori): Semi-circular
Doric, Ionic or Corinthian style. Poliorcetics: Military technique to faces which will then be dressed moulding.
Also, a modular system applied do with the art of besieging and sculpted. Treasury: Small temple-shaped
to the elevation of a building cities, with special reference to Saddle-roof: Describes a pitched building which housed offerings
and its supports, in particular weaponry and fortifications. roof with two slopes running in large sanctuaries.
the columns and pilasters with Polis: In Greek, means, literally, from a single shared ridge. Triclinium: Room in a Roman house
their bases, capitals and entab¬ the city. Whence: the city in its Satrap: Governor of a Persian serving as dining-room; by
latures. political sense. province or satrapy. extension, a meeting held in it.

230 Glossary
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grands Ateliers d'architecture 1966.

Glossary/ Bibliography 231

 Index - Monuments

Abu Sir Ceramicus Cemetery 135 Epidaurus Sacred Gate 128,128

Lower temple 42 Hephaestheum (Theseum) 212, Temple of Apollo 167 South agora 128
Aegina 212,213,213,214,214,215, Temple of Asclepius 167,227 Stadium 128, 128
Peribolos 142,142 226 Theatre 13,13,167,167,167,168, Temple of Athena 128,128
Lodgings forthe priests 142, "Long Walls" 172 168-169,170,171,171,227 Theatre 128,128
142 Monument of Lysicrates 223,223, Tholos of Polyclitus the Younger West agora 128,128
Propylaea 142,142 227,227 53,53, 152, 167, 168,227 Mycenae
Sacrificial Altar 142,142 "Sacred Way" 199 Thymele -> Tholos of Polyclitus the Achean fortress 23,23
Temple of Athena Aphaia 79, Theatre of Dionysus 220,221,221, Younger Acropolis 21,21,25,36,224,224
141,143, 143, 144, 144-145, 222 Erebouni Lion Gate 21,21, 22, 23, 24-25,
146,147, 147, 148, 148, 149, Theatre of Herodes Atticus 190, Palace 116 25.26.29.224.224
149, 150,225 190 Eretria Palace 21,21,224
Aegosthena Bassae First Temple of Apollo 44 Circle of Royal Tombs 17,18,20,
Fortress 9,9,172,172,175, Temple of Apollo Epicurius 53,74, Palace of Apollo 43 20, 21,21, 23, 26, 27,28, 28, 224
227 151,151, 152,152, 153, 153, Glyphtocastro Reservoir 21,21
Agrigentum (Acragas) 154,154,155,155, 226 Fortress 172 "Palace of Agamemnon" "Trea¬
Olympieion 87,87,89,91,99,106, Bogazkoy Godin Tepe sury of Atreus"
225 Acropolis of Buyukkale, Palace D Palace 116 "Tomb of Clytemnestra" 17,29,
Temple L 89 42,116 Halicarnassus 29.224
"Temple of Concord" (Temple F) Cnossus Mausoleum 109,130,136,136, "Treasury of Atreus" 17,29,30,
50,51,86,89,89,91,91,92,92, Palace 22 137,227,229 30.31.32.32.33.224.224
93, 226 Corone Hasanlou Nakh-e Rustam
Temple of Hephaestus 89 Fortress 172 Palace 116 PersianTombs 109,109,110
Temple of Heracles 74, 89, 225 Da-u Duktar Karnak Olympia
Temple of Hera Lacinia 74, 88, 88, Rock tomb of Cambyses I 124 TempleofAmon 106 Heraion 45,45,46,46,47,48,48,
89.91.226 Delos Kizkapan 154.224.225.225
Altintepe Oikos of the Naxians 104 Rock tomb 124 Paestum (Posidonia)
Palace 116 Temple of Apollo VI 227 Kos Ecclesiasterion 99,99,226
Athens Terrace dedicated to Apollo 55, Sanctuary of Asclepius 44 First Temple of Hera 8,8,53,63,
Acropolis 12, 53, 56, 58,141,142, 55 Labranda * ■ 64, 65, 68, 68, 69, 69, 70, 70, 71,
172, 183, 184, 184, 185, 185, Delphi 39 Andron A 134,134 72,72, 73,74,83,225,225
186, 196,199,200,201,202, Manteion 157 Tomb 135,135 Heraion at the mouth of the river
202, 203, 204, 205, 208, 214, Portico of the Athenians 154,157, Lefkandi Silarus 67
221,222,223,224 158, 158,225,226 Heroon 43,43,104, 224, 224 Painted Tombs 80,80,81,227
Altar of Athena 185,185 Sacred Way 158 Lindus "Tomb of the Diver" 80,81,
Enclosure of Pandrosos 44, 204 Sanctuary of the Earth 4 Temple of Athena Lindia 166,166, 225
Erechtheum 12,13,13,44,52, Stadium 162,162 227 Second Temple of Hera 68,68, 69,
52, 153,185, 185, 200, 204, 204, Temple of Apollo 156,157,157, Locri 69,76,76-77,79,79, 87,226
205,205,206,206,207,207, 163 Temple of Marasa 63 Temple of Athena 68,68,74,74,
208.208.209.210.210.214, Temple V 157,158 Megalopolis 75.225.225
226,227,227 Temple VI 166 Thersilion 127 Panactum
Pre-Parthenon 58,183,141, Theatre 163,162-163 Messene Fortress 172
186,186, 189,225 Tholos of Athena Pronaia 152,160, Fortress 12,174,174, 175,175, Pasargadae
Parthenon 12,12,56,59,67,70, 160, 161, 162,227,227 176,176,177 Tomb of Cyrus II 108,108,109
87,89,164,183,184,185,185, Treasury of Siphnos 55,124,126, Acropolis 174,174,175 Palaces 109,119,125,125
186,187,187, 188-189, 189, 158.208.225 Agora 174,174 Persepolis
190,190, 191, 192,192, 193, Treasury of the Athenians 158, Arcadian Gate 174,174,175, Complex of palaces 109,117,117,
195,195, 196, 197, 198,199, 158.225 175 119,119,124,231
201.204.206.213.214.214, Didyma Laconian Gate 174,174 Apadana of Darius I 112,112,
225.225.226.226 Temple of Apollo 107,225 Messenian Gate 174,174 113, 114,114-115, 116,116,
Propylaea 12,185,185,198, Eleusis Wall 174,174,176,177,227 117,117,119,120-121,193,
199,199,200,200,201,201, Sanctuary 230 Metapontum 194, 196,222,224,225,225
202, 202, 203, 204, 205, 214, Telesterion 127,127,225,227 Agora 99, 99 Gateof Nations 117,117,118,
226,229 Eleutherae Ecclesiasterion 99,226 118,124
Propylon of the Chalkotheke Fortress 12,172,173,175,227 Temple of Hera 3,4 Hall of the Hundred Columns
185,185 Thebes Gate 173,173 Miletus 117,117
Temple of Athena Nike 12,142, Athens Gate 173,173 Lion Gate 128,128 Hall of the Thirty-two Columns
185, 185, 199, 100,200,202, Posterns 173,173 North agora 128,128 117,117
202.203.204.226.227.226 Ephesus Palaestra 128,128 Palace of Darius 117,117
Agora 212,212,213,214,221 Artemision 106,106,107,225,227 Roman Baths 128,128 Palace of Xerxes 117,117

232 Index
 Index - Persons

Throne Room -> Hall of the Sunium Achilles 53 Dion 64

Hundred Columns Fortress 172 Aeschylus 64,108,222,226 Dionysius I 64,178,179,226
Tripylon 117,117,122,122 Temple of Poseidon 164,165,165, Ajax 142 Dionysius II 64
Treasury 117,117 213.225.226 Akhenaton 129 Dionysus 17,103, 221,223
Xerxes Gate -> Gate of Nations Susa Alexanderthe Great 109,114,227 Dodwell, Edward 22,141,143,
Phylae Palace of Darius I 12,107,109, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae 219 151,184,204
Fortress 175,227 110,119,124, 225 Anaximander 103,225 Elgin, Lord Thomas 198
Piraeus Apadana 109,119 Anaximenes 103,225 Epaminondas 174,175,227
Arsenal 67,219,222,222 Syracuse Apelles 66 Erechtheus 205
Skeuotheke -> Arsenal Temple of Apollo 46,225 Aphrodite 59 Erechtheus-Poseidon 204,205,
Wall 172 Fortress of Euryalos 178,178,179, Apollo 44,59,153,157 208
Priene 179.226 Apollonius of Rhodes 44 Erechthonius 217,219
Acropolis 129,129,134 Thermum Arcesias 67 Etebus 103
TempleofZeus 129,129 Megaron A 42,42,43, 224 Archytas of Tarentum 64 Eumenes II 162,163
Agora 129,129,134 Megaron B 42,42,43, 224 Aristagoras of Miletus 108 Eupalinus 103,105,225
Bouleuterion 129,129,134 Temple C 42,42,44 Aristotle 64, 227 Euphronius 64
Gymnasium 129,129 Thoricus Artemis 106,107 Euripides 219, 226
Stadium 129,129 Fortress 172 Artemisia 136 Euthydicus 41
Stoa 129,129 Tyrins Asclepius 13,167 Evans, Sir Arthur 22
Temple of Athena Polias 67,129, Fortress 12,23,26,26,32 Astyages 108 Fibonacci 69,168
129,130,130,131, 134,227 Urartu Athena 17,44,59,130,153,164, Furtwangler, Adolf 142
Temple of Demeter 129,129 Palace of Erebouni 116 182,183,184,185,187,190, Gelon 64
Theatre 129,129, 132,132,134 Vaphio 192,193,196,204,205,208, Ghirshman, Roman 124
Pylos Tholos Tomb 18 210,214,229 Hannibal 95
Mycaenean Palace 34,34 Velia Atossa 108 Harpagus 107,108
Megaron 32, 34, 34 Fortress 12 Billot, Marie-Frangoise141 Hecatomnos 135
Rhamnus Xanthus Blegen, Carl W. 34 Helios 192
Fortress 175,227 Nereid Monument 136,137,137, Blouet, A. 141,146 Hephaestus 204,205,208,212
Rome 226 Boutes 205,208 Hera 17,44, 59, 72,79, 84, 87,103
Basilica of Porta Maggiore 80 Briant, Pierre 111 Heracles 55,142, 214
Ruvo Brondsted 141 Heraclitus of Ephesus 103,230
Tomb II 80 Bryaxis 136 Hermes 17,217,219,
Saqqara Callicrates 183,189,190,226, Hieron 64, 226
Djoser complex 48 Callimachus 53,154 Hipparchus 184
Samos Cambyses I 124,225 Hippias 184
Dipteron 124,225 Cambyses II 108,111 Hippodamus of Miletus 128,129,
Sanctuary 87 Calamis 164 130, 134,226,229
Temple of Hera ! 44, 67, 72,103, Canachus of Sicyon 107 Hittorff, J. I. 141,142,146
104, 104,105 Carcopino, Jerome 80 Homer 17,20, 34, 37,41,103,164,
New Heraion -> Temple of Hera IV Carrey, Jacques 196 224
Temple of Hera III 106,222 Cecrops 204 Houel, Nicolas 88
Temple of Hera IV 104,105,105, Chadwick, John 17 Ictinus 67,74,127,151,153,183,
106,112,112 Chersiphron 67,106,225 184,186,189,190,204,213,
Tunnel of Eupalinus 225 Choisy, Auguste 49 226
Segesta (Egesta) Cimon 127, 226 Idreus 135
Temple 94, 95, 95, 96, 96, 97,142, Cleisthenes of Sicyon 134,225 Jeppesen, Kristian 136
226 Coroebus 127,226 Klenze, L. v. 142
Theatre 95, 98, 98 Cotys 103 Koenigsmark 198
Selinunte (Selinus) Croesus 106,107,108,225 Lacinius 91
Acropolis 82,83 Cybele 55,106 Labrouste 141
TempleA 142 Cyrus II 107,108,119,125,225, Loviot, BenoTt 198
Temple C 82, 82, 83 226,228 Lagardette, de 72
Temple D 82, 83 Daedalus 21 Leochares 136
Temple O 82 Darius i 9,12,63,103,108,109, Levy, E. 172
Temple E 9,9,82,83,83,84, 110,112, 114,124,193,222 Luynes, Due de 4
84-85, 86, 86, 87, 90, 225, 226, Darius III 114 Lysander 226
226 Debacq, F. 4 Mardonius 108

Temple F 82,87 Demeter 127 Marinates, S. 18

Temple G 82, 83, 87, 89, 99,106, Democedes 110 Mauceri, Luigi 178

225 Diodorus 82, 90,111 Mausolus 135,137,227,229

Index 233
 Medusa 55 Stuart, J. 141
Metagenes 67,106,127,225 Telephanesof Phocis 111
Minerva 59, 59 Thales of Miletus 103,225
Minos 17,20,229 TheodorusofPhocaea 67,104,
Mnesikles 199,200,201,226 105,106, 160, 162,225
Nicias 111 Theodotus 55,167
Nicomachus of Gerasa 67 Theron of Acragas 64,90,226
Nicoxenus 7 Theseus 55,159,166,212,214
Odysseus 64 Timotheus 136
Oedipus 141,139 Trezel. F. 141,142,146
Oroetes 108 Varro 45
Ovid 45 Ventris, Michael 17, 37
Paccard, Alexis 198 Vernant, J. P. 134
Pandrosos 204 Vitruvius 66, 67,136,137,154,
Pasithea Painter 141 162,171,228
Pausanias 45,151,167,168 Xenocles 127
Pisistratus 127,183, 225 Xerxes 108,114,118,127,183,
Penthesilea 53 184,222,225,226
Pericles 12,144,164,165,183, Zeus 17,44,59,63,74,90,153
185,189,196,204,205,214,
219.226
Persephone 127
Perseus 55
Phidias 154,183,184,186,190,
193.196.198.226
Philon 67,127,219,222,227
Pindar 64
Plato 64,67,219,222,227
Plinythe Elder 111, 136,137
Polyclitus 193
Polyclitus the Younger 53,167,
168
Polycrates 103,105,106,108, 225
Polyzelus 162
Poseidon 17,76,79,164,192,205
Priam 106
Ptolemy II Philadelphus 127
Pythagoras 64, 67, 73,74, 79, 80,
81,99,225
Pytharcus 111
Pythius 66,130,136
Pythia 152,157
Quincy, Quatremere de 59,141
Ravoisie 146
Revett, N. 141
Rhoecus 104,225
Sappho 80
Satyrus 136
Schinkel, Karl Friedrich 142
Schliemann, Heinrich 17,19,29
Scopas 136,153
Seleucus I 107
Selene 192
Semper, Gottfried 142
Serlio, S. 48
Silenos 67
Simonides 64
Socrates 219,226,227,231
Stackelberg 141
Strabo 45

234 Index
Acknowledgements and credits

The author and photographer, and the publisher, are most

grateful to the various institutions and museums which have
granted permission to take photographs, and in particular:
The National Archaeological Museum, Athens
The Acropolis Museum, Athens
The Archaeological Museum, Delphi
The National Museum, Naples
The Villa Giulia Museum, Rome
The Archaeological Museum, Tarquinia
The Archaeological Museum, Paestum
The Archaeological Museum, Plovdiv
The Archaeological Museum, Izmir
The Archaeological Museum, Tehran
The Museum of Art and History, Geneva.
Certain documents come from the following archives,
forwhich the authorand the publishers are also grateful:
Pages 5, 24-25, 45, 47, 53, 131, 132 below, 133, 169, 217:
© Giovanni Ricci, Milan.
Page 154: © Claude Berard, Saint-Sulpice.
Pages 135,137,155: © British Museum, London.
Pages 62, 66: © Arthephot/Nimatallah, Paris.
Page 153: © Ken Takase/Arthephot, Paris.
Lastly, the plans published on pages 10-11, 21, 30, 34, 42,
43, 46, 49, 50, 68, 74, 99, 104, 105, 106, 112, 117, 125, 127,
128, 129, 136, 142, 144, 149, 152, 170, 173, 174, 185, 186,
191, 192, 200, 208 and 222 have been specially prepared by
Alberto Berengo Gardin, Milan.

Acknowledgements and credits 235

■
/
Setting out on the trail of Greek Architecture, this volume presents a
comprehensive survey which extends beyond the borders of Greece
itself to include southern Italy, Asia Minor and Persia. Fortifications,
domed tombs, theatres, oracular sites, temples and palaces dating
from the sixteenth to the fourth century B.C. are ail set within their
cultural and historical context, conveying a vivid impression of the
architecture of Ancient Greece and its profound importance.

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