Ancient Greek architecture is a product of the Hellenic and the Hellenistic people. Ancient Greek architecture is best known for its temples, most of which are found in the region as ruins. Ancient Greek architecture is distinguished by its highly formalized characteristics, both of structure and decoration, particularly in the temples. Most often these temples are raised on the high grounds so that the beauty of the well illuminated structure can be enjoyed from a good distance away in all angles. Although limestone was available the building material primarily used was stone, especially high quality marble.
Humanities 101 25 July, 2015 The Parthenon High above the city of Athens sets the Parthenon. Although it is simple in structure, the wonderful artistry of this structure impacted classical architecture and still influences structures to this day. The Parthenon was built to house a grand, gold and ivory statue of the goddess Athena. Temples traditionally were to only be viewed from the outside (The Parthenon); the Doric style columns often interrupted the view of the temples. It was the largest Doric Greek temple but also used the Ionic temple styles (Ancient History).
It contains around 1,300,000 blocks ranging in weight from 2.5 tons to 15 tons and is built on a square base with sides measuring about 230m (775 ft.) covering 13 acreas! Today it is only 137m (455 ft.) high, the 9m (30 ft.) that is missing is due to the theft of the fine quality limestone covering or casing stones, by the Ottoman Turks in the 15 century A.D. to build houses and Mosques in Cairo.
Each end has eight columns and was carved in the Doric style. Half of the old temple remained, and the Greeks used some of the materials from the Old Parthenon to the New Parthenon. The temple had a majestic style and outstanding materials. When the temple was completed, it glistened with white and gold. Planning for the Parthenon began in 447 B.C.
“Stonehenge Decoded” Stonehenge Decoded examines British archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson’s theory about Stonehenge. His theory suggests that the stone circle was at the center of one of the largest prehistoric religious sites in the world. Pearson and his team uncover the first evidence of a 4,500 year-old lost settlement with at least 300 houses. It is the largest Stone Age settlement ever found in Northern Europe. At its center lie the remains of a near replica of Stonehenge built of wood.
Jared Marshall Period: G 12/5/14 The Persian Empire The Persian Empire is still the biggest empire we know of to this day. Even today, there are still remains of this massive empire. After reading Herodotus’s views on the Persian empire, one gets the message that the Persians had no temples to worship kings, and they borrowed ideas for engineering. Herodotus doesn’t exactly depict the truth, in fact a clearer representation portrays a dynamic and robust empire. History argues that the Persians had mighty temples to worship past kings, and advanced engineering.
Ancient Collectors The earliest form of archaeology that we know of originates from the thirteenth century before the common era. In the ancient city of Thebes, a collection of Mesopotamian cylinder seals had been collected. How or why these seals had ended up in Thebes is unknown, but at the time of collection, they were approximately six hundred years old. Later on, Cimon comes across the bones of Theseus on Skyros. The bones were then taken the Athens and placed in a new tomb.
It is located in Giza where it guards the front of Khafra's pyramid. The greatest monumental sculpture in the ancient world, the Sphinx is carved out of a single ridge of stone 240 feet (73 meters) long and 66 feet (20 meters) high. The sphinx is built of soft sandstone and would have disappeared long ago had it not been buried for so long. It was the first time that a pharaoh had been represented in this way with the body of a lion, even though this animal had symbolised royalty ancient Egypt’s beginnings around 3000 BC. The animal body of the Sphinx in fact represented the king’s triumphant strength.
The Classical City of Olympia The classical Greek city has a variety of certain styles that have proven to be typical for the time period which the cities had been erect and populous. The chief building material used in ancient cities was stone, with the exception of the timber and roof ceiling. Buildings were decorated with terra-cotta and everything was marble cut in large blocks which were fastened together with clamps and dowels. How the ancient Greeks used lighting is also a distinguishing characteristic of their ancient cities. They also knew how the light interacted with the architecture to create seemingly massive and overpowering spaces that defined their building shapes and colors.
Concrete was a roman invention and it was less expensive and sturdier than the previously used material, stone. The Colosseum contains the three Classical orders of architecture in three levels. Doric columns are represented in the first, Ionic in the second, and Corinthian in the third. All of these columns were first shown by the Greeks by which the Romans adopted from and incorporated into their architecture. Gladiatorial games were played in the Colosseum for the entertainment of Roman citizens and they were first ordered by Emperor Titus.