Peripteral Greek Temple
Plan of a typical peripteral temple
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• Cella(naos)-room inside temple that housed the cult
statue of deity
• Pronaos-front porch that came before the cella, open
• Opisthodomos-rear porch, decorative, for symmetry
purposes
• Anta-extended walls coming off the Pronaos and
Opisthodomos/have columns attached
• Design of temple could be….
– Prostyle-colonnade across front of temple
– Amphiprostyle-colonnade across front and back of
temple
– Peristyle-colonnade across all 4 sides of temple
• Also could choose from type of colonnade rows:
– Peripteral-Single rows of columns
– Dipteral-Double rows of columns (usually more
elaborate temples)
Colonnade options for peripteral temple
 Orders included (from bottom):
1. Stepped platform-base
2. Colonnade-columns
3. Entablature-Everything above the columns
•
Style of the above 3 units on exterior of temple was
known as an order
 Two main types of orders-Doric and Ionic
What is an order?
Compare Doric and Ionic Orders
Notice…What basic architectural system is being used?
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• Massive, plain
• Edges of column flutes come out to point
• Small capital
• Decorative sculpture in metope and pediment
Doric Order
• Light, airy, ornamental-sculpture friendly
• Entire frieze for decorative sculpture
• Sometimes replaced columns with
caryatids(female figures)
• Note-atlantids were male figures used as
columns
Ionic Order
• Origins of Greek architectural sculpture….
Lion Gates!
Greek Pediments…. The Beginning
West Pediment of the
Temple of Artemis
Archaic
600 BCE
• Temple of Artemis-one of earliest Doric peripteral
temples in Greece
• 2 Pediments filled with huge relief sculptures
– sculptures trying to escape architectural confines
– Heads projecting out, brightly painted
• Gorgon, sister of Medusa
• Heraldic Composition
• Archaic pinwheel pose-bent arms and legs, represents motion
•Battle of the Greeks and Giants,
Siphnian Treasury at Delphi
•Archaic 530 BCE
• Greatest Archaic period Ionic treasury example
• Treasury– Small, separate building to house valuables offered to
deity
– OR
– Smaller room inside temple (sometimes the opisthodomos)
used for same purpose
• How is it Ionic?
– Caryatids
– Continuous frieze of relief sculpture around building
• Gigantomachy-battle of gods and giants
– Apollo and Artemis pursue fleeing giant
Dying Warrior, West Pediment of
the Temple of Aphaia
Archaic
500 BCE
• Pediment statue for local goddess’ temple
• Torso is rigidly frontal, awkward pose
• Looks out at the spectator like a mannequin
on display and not as a thinking and feeling
human being.
• Archaic smile-inappropriate
•Dying warrior, East Pediment of
the Temple of Aphaia
•Archaic
•480 BCE
• Created about 20 years later than the west
pediment Notice the differences.
• Posture is more natural.
• He is reacting to his wound as a human
would. He is concerned with his pain, not the
spectator.
• Still an archaic smile but toned down,
transitioning to Early Classical period
Can you recognize Archaic
sculpture?
• Measured from historical defeat of Persians
by Greeks in 480
• Early Classical AKA Severe Style
• Drapery is simpler and more severe
– Eyelids and chins are heavier
– Serious, thoughtful expressions
– No archaic smile
– InterestEarly
in motion
Classical
• Contrapposto
• Athletic stances
Period
• Kritios Boy
• Early Classical
• 480 BCE
• One of most important works of Greek
sculpture
• First time sculptor is really trying to portray
how humans stand
– Left straight leg bears the weight of his body,
while the right leg is bent and relaxed.
• This weight shift (contrapposto or counterbalance)
defines Classical style
• MORE RELAXED and NATURAL
• A calm, serene expression replaces the
artificial archaic smile.
• Muscles are well defined.
• Smooth flesh seems soft and natural.
• He is a youthful athlete, appears calm and
confident. Greek quest for perfect form.
• Riace Warriors
• Early Classical
• 460 BCE
• Transitional piece
• Lost wax bronze castings-process allowed for
more flexibility and creativity in composition
• Remarkably lifelike.
• Eyes-bone and glass paste. Silver teeth and
copper eyelashes.
• Realistic contrapposto stance-natural
Zeus or Poseidon
Early Classical
460 BCE
• Held a thunderbolt or a trident…unsure of
who it is
• Lost-wax
• Myron's Discobolos
• Early Classical
• 450 BCE
• This is actually a Roman copy after a bronze
original
• Action pose, but Archaic influence with
profile limbs and a nearly frontal chest.
• Expression on face doesn’t show the tension
of the moment.
Charioteer
Early Classical, 470 BC
• Commemorates victory of a chariot race
• Stands in an archaic pose, except for the turned
head and feet
• Pose is rigid and severe, but expression is calm and
shows self-control
• The cloth folds, muscles and facial features are
more natural.
The Golden Age of Greece
Classical Period aka High Classical
• Doryphoros
(Spear Bearer)by
Polykleitos
• Classical
• 450 BCE
• this work was embodiment of Classical period.
• Polykleitos– Believed in proportion (accurate measurements) as
the key to beauty.
– Wrote THE CANON.
– His name for this sculpture was “The Canon”
because it represented his beliefs so perfectly
• The Doryphorous is carefully and precisely
proportioned.
• The statue’s head is 1/7 of the figure’s
height, and the distance across the shoulders
is ¼ of the figure’s height.
• This figure once held a spear in his left hand
and stands like the Kritios boy, although this
stance is even more pronounced.
• He has an “S” motion to his contrapposto
stance.
• There is a greater sense of the body’s
underlying structure in this piece.
– veins in the arms.
– Knee caps.
– Rib cage.
– The hair is long and more 3D
The Acropolis
• Famous site in Athens built after Persian war
• Led by Pericles, Greek general and statesman
• Wanted to honor goddess Athena and the
citizens of Athens (Athenians). Very bold and
self-important idea
• Made up of 4 buildings:
– Parthenon
– Erechthion
– Propylaia
The Acropolis
– Temple of Athena
Nike
• Iktinos and Kallikrates, Parthenon
• Classical
• 450 BCE
Phidias, Athena sculpture (inside Parthenon)
438 BC
High Classical
• Temple to honor Athena and house her 38’
high ivory and gold cult statue made by
Phidias
– Known as “Athena Parthenos,” The Virgin
– Faced east for sun to reflect off gold
– Holding statue of Nike (winged female “victory”)
– Chryselephantine- Fashioned of gold and ivory
• Unofficially, was also used to honor the
Athenians
– Athenians made themselves the subject of cella
frieze: The Panathenaic Procession
• Realized Greek’s long quest to build a
perfectly proportioned temple
– Used formula to determine # of columns
• Made of marble, fitted together without
mortar
– Roof made of wood
• Perfect but Irregular!
– Doric temple with Ionic influences
• Outside of temple was Doric
• Inside had Ionic frieze that ran around outside of cella
walls and 4 Ionic columns inside treasury
– Stylobate curves upward, Columns curve slightly
inward
• To assist in optical illusion of perfection
• OR to make it more dynamic looking- “architectural
contrapposto”
Plan of the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, with diagram of
sculptural program (after Andrew Stewart), 447–432 BCE.
West Pediment-Contest between Poseidon and Athena
East Pediment-Birth of Athena
Pediments of the Parthenon
Parthenon
• Three Goddesses, East Pediment of the Parthenon
• Classical
• 430 BCE
• Sculptors fully understood the mechanics of
how muscles/bones beneath the flesh and
garments move.
• The drapery seems like its wet, so the artist
could strongly convey the body underneath.
• FYI: Goddesses- Hestia, Dione, and Aphrodite
• Horsemen on the Panathenaic Frieze
• Classical
• 440 BCE
• Ionic Frieze around cella
• Narrative frieze that showed over 400 men
and women/200 animals. Included horsemen,
seated gods and goddesses, elders and maidens
• Subject: Panathenaic Procession that took
place every 4 years in Athens
– Procession that ended at Acropolis where a new
peplos was placed on wooden statue of Athena
– represents that the Athenians judged themselves
fit for inclusion in the Temple’s sculptural
Figure 5-50 Details of the Panathenaic Festival procession frieze, from the Parthenon,
Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 447–438 BCE. Marble, 3’ 6” high. Horsemen of north
frieze (top), British Museum, London; seated gods and goddesses (Poseidon, Apollo,
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and Artemis) of east frieze (center), Acropolis Museum, Athens; and elders and
• Temple of Athena
Nike (within the
Acropolis) by
Kallikrates
• Classical,
• 420 BCE
• Small amphiprostyle temple at front of
Acropolis complex
• First completely Ionic temple at Acropolis
– Note columns and frieze
• Best preserved sculpture is the relief of Nike
Adjusting Her Sandal
• Nike Adjusting
Her Sandal
• Classical
• 410 BCE
• Garments cling tightly to her body
• Transparent drapery folds form an elegant
pattern
• High relief carving produces pockets of shade
• Awkward pose made graceful by artist
• Erechtheion, with Porch of Maidens
• Classical
• 420 BCE
Caryatid from
Erechtheion
• Opposite Parthenon
• Erechtheion built on destroyed temple of
Athena
• Incorporated the “sacred ground”, caused the
temple layout to be very unusual
• Asymmetrical Ionic temple with 6 Caryatids on
side porch to support smaller architrave
• Caryatids-showed embodiment of High
Classical Period
• Propylaia
• Classical
• 437-432 BC
• Entryway to Acropolis
• Difficult to make-steep slope
• Mixed orders again, but still kept one type for
exterior(Doric) and one for interior(Ionic)
• Pinakotheke (picture gallery)was the
forerunner to modern day museum