The ancient Greeks used their advanced knowlege of math and science to build strong architecture that would stand for centuries. Their use of mathematical equations to build these magnificent buildings made them advanced and structured well. The earliest buildings built in Greece (in the New Stone Age) were small houses or huts that had wooden walls around them for protection. Later, bigger houses were built with stone walls around the villages. In the Early Bronze Age, you’d see one bigger house in the middle of the village, and you’d also see fancier, and bigger stone walls. There were palaces and big stone tombs, and also paved roads, bridges, and dams in the Late Bronze Age under the influence of West Asian and the Minoans on Crete. In the Greek Dark Ages, palaces were burned and roads, bridges, and dams fell mostly apart. You’d see a new type of building, a temple for the gods, at the beginning of the Iron Age and Archaic period in Greece. Those earlier temples were built in the Doric style. There were houses, but no more palaces in this period. Roads, bridges, and stone walls started to be built up again. During the Classical period, more temples began to be built, also with new design ideas. The Athenians built the Parthenon in the 440's B.C.E., but it took about 15 years to complete the entire building. In the 300s B.C.E., which is the Hellenistic period, less time was spent on temples, and more time was spent on the theater. Planning a town with streets in straight lines instead of just developing naturally was also new in this time.
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Parthenon- built in the 440's B.C.E.
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Temple of Zeus at Cyrene
Pediments are a triangular place under the roof of a Greek temple. Each temple has two (one on the front, the other on the back). At first, pediments were probably plain, but then the Greeks began decorating pediments with stone sculpture. Most Greek temples have a pattern under the pediment known as triglyphs and metopes. The triglyphs alternate with the metopes across the front of the temple. Triglyphs have three parts, and then in between the triglyphs are the metopes.
The Athenian democracy prevented the Greeks from building palaces or big tombs because politically, all men are supposed to be equal. So, it would look bad to have a big palace even if you could afford it. Instead, the Greeks built public buildings like a gymnasia and stoas, an ancient Greek covered walk or colonnade, usually having columns on one side and a wall on the other, where men could meet and talk.
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Gymnasium in Pompeii
With Alexander the Great and all of his conquests, architecture became an important way to spread Greek culture and show who's in charge in conquered countries. Once the Romans conquered Greece (around 200-100 B.C.E.) they used architecture to show that they were in charge too.
Roman temple in the Corinthian style at Nimes in southern France.