97. GREEK ARCHITECTURE
CHARACTERISTICS OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE
The existing monuments of Greek architecture—chiefly ruined temples— afford some idea of its leading characteristics. The building materials were limestone and white marble. The blocks of stone were not bound together by cement, but by metal clamps which held them in a firm grip. It was usual to color the ornamental parts of a temple and the open spaces that served as a background for sculpture. The Greeks did not employ the principle of the arch, in order to cover large spaces with a vaulted ceiling. Their temples and other public buildings had only flat ceilings, resting on long rows of columns. The column probably developed from the wooden post or tree trunk used in timber construction. The capital at the top of the column originated in the square wooden slab which supported the heavy beam of the roof.
[Illustration: CORNER OF A DORIC FAÇADE]
[Illustration: CORNER OF AN IONIC FAÇADE]
THE DORIC COLUMN
The two Greek orders of architecture, Doric and Ionic, [30] are distinguished mainly by differences in the treatment of the column. The Doric column has no base of its own. The sturdy shaft is grooved lengthwise with some twenty flutings. The capital is a circular band of stone capped by a square block, all without decoration. The mainland of Greece was the especial home of the Doric order. This was also the characteristic style of southern Italy and Sicily.
THE IONIC COLUMN.
The Ionic column rests upon a base. Its shaft is tall and slender. The beautifully carved capital swells outward into two spiral rolls, the ends of which are curled under to form the "volutes." The Ionic order flourished particularly in Asia Minor. It was well known, too, at Athens.
[Illustration: CAPITALS The highly decorative Corinthian capital, modeled on acanthus leaves, came into fashion in Alexandrian and Roman times. The Composite capital, as its name indicates, combined details from the Ionic and Corinthian into one ornate whole. This and the plain Tuscan capital were quite generally employed by the Romans.]
NATURE OF THE GREEK TEMPLE
The temple formed the chief structure in a Greek city. It was very simple in outline—merely a rectangular building provided with doors, but without windows. Around it was a single or a double row of columns. Above them rose the architrave, a plain band of massive stones which reached from one column to another. Then came the frieze, adorned with sculptured reliefs, then the horizontal cornice, and at the ends of the building the triangular pediments formed by the sloping roof. The pediments were sometimes decorated with statues. Since the temple was not intended to hold a congregation of worshipers, but only to contain the image of the god, the interior usually had little ornamentation.
[Illustration: THE PARTHENON RESTORATION PRESENT CONDITION After serving as a temple for about nine centuries the Parthenon was turned into a Christian church and later into a Mohammedan mosque. In 1687 A.D. the Venetians bombarded Athens and sent a shell into the center of the building which the Turks had used as a powder magazine. The result was an explosion that threw down the side walls and many of the columns.]
[Illustration: FIGURES FROM THE PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON]
[Illustration: FROM THE PARTHENON FRIEZE]
[Illustration: CORNER OF THE PARTHENON (RESTORED)]
[Illustration: CARYATID PORCH OF THE ERECHTHEUM]
UNIQUENESS OF THE GREEK TEMPLE
Greek temples were not very large, for hugeness was no object to the builders. They were not even lavishly decorated. Their beauty lies, most of all, in their harmonious proportions and perfect symmetry. In the best examples of the Greek temple there are, for instance, no straight lines. The columns are not set at equal intervals, but closer together near the corners of the building. The shafts of the columns, instead of tapering upward at a uniform rate, swell slightly toward the center. The artistic eyes of the Greeks delighted in such subtle curves. These characteristics make a classical temple unique of its kind. [31]