What are the four characteristics of Greek temples?
The Parthenon, shows the common structural features of Ancient Greek architecture: crepidoma, columns, entablature, pediment. At the Temple of Aphaia, the hypostyle columns rise in two tiers, to a height greater than the walls, to support a roof without struts.
What were Greek temples decorated with?
Decoration. Greek temples were often richly decorated with paint, ornamentation, and sculpture. For example, the apex of the pediments and their corners would have been topped with ornate gold decoration (acroteria). Even the cult statue would have been painted and decorated with gold, silver, and ivory trimmings.
What Stone were Greek temples made of?
The upper elements of the temple were usually made of mud brick and timber, and the platform of the building was of cut masonry. Columns were carved of local stone, usually limestone or tufa; in much earlier temples, columns would have been made of wood.
Why are Greek temples important?
Temples were frequently used to store votive offerings. They are the most important and most widespread building type in Greek architecture. In the Hellenistic kingdoms of Southwest Asia and of North Africa, buildings erected to fulfil the functions of a temple often continued to follow the local traditions.
What happened in Greek temples?
The purpose of a Greek temple was usually to house a cult statue or emblem. Religion did not require people to gather inside the temple to worship, and their temples were primarily monuments to the gods. The most recognizable feature of the Greek temple are the massive columns.
Why do Greek temples face east?
Sixth, and last, is a principle so well known that it need scarcely be mentioned: orientation, in which practically every Greek temple, Bassae excepted, faces east or slightly north of east so that the rising sun may, at the proper season, shine on the cult image.
What was the purpose for Greek temples?
The ancient Greek temple had one primary function: to provide a shelter for the statues of the gods. It was believed that in the statues dwelled the spirits of the gods. Thus, it was only natural for the Greeks to bring forth constructions that would befit the majesty of their gods.
What was the design of the Greek temples?
Ancient Greek Temples Design Greek temples were painted using blues and reds against white stone backgrounds. The finance for the temple construction was sponsored by cities or by the administrations and Hellenistic rulers. A temple was built in the form of a house, found in Bronze Age, known as megaron.
Are there any religious buildings in ancient Greece?
But Greek temples weren’t the first or only religious buildings in the panoply of Greek architecture: and our ideal of splendid isolation is based on today’s reality, rather than the Greek model.
When was the Erechtheum temple in Athens built?
The Erechtheum is an ancient Greek temple of Ionic style on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens. The temple as seen today was built between 421 and 407 BC. The name, of popular origin, is derived from a shrine dedicated to the Greek hero Erichthonius.
Where was the temple of Concord in ancient Greece?
Temple of Concord in Agrigento, Italy. Greek temples (Ancient Greek: ναός, romanized: naós, lit. ‘dwelling’, semantically distinct from Latin templum, “temple”) were structures built to house deity statues within Greek sanctuaries in ancient Greek religion.