Greek Temple Architecture

Knowing a little about Greek temple architecture will help you identify buildings and ruins even without a guide. You will then be able to apply this information to other buildings regardless of the location.

Greek temple architecture is divided into three styles which evolved chronologically and can readily be identified by the column capitals, or the decoration at the top of each column.

Doric temples, such as the Parthenon, were surrounded by sturdy capitals with plain capitals and no bases.

Ionic temples differed from Doric by having more columns and with a distinctive style capital called a volute. The volute looks like ram’s horns on the front and back of each column. (I think of the first two letters of Ionic--I for the tall column which looks like an I and O as the two volutes look like O’s at the top of the column).

Corinthian temples in Greece were built under the Romans and only in Athens, but you will see this column style on other buildings elsewhere. These columns are more slender and have very elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves. (I think of Corinthian as a “fancy” word and the top of this column is “fancy!”)

Columns were not one large piece of carved stone. They were constructed of round stone drums stacked on top of each other. Fluting on the columns was carved in situ, guided by that on the top and bottom drums.

The pediment of a temple is the triangular gabled end of the building which sometimes has designs or sculptures according to the temple style. The frieze is the long slender band just below the pediment that extends all around the building and is usually decorated.

At the corners of temples and the peak of the pediment were akroteria, or statues, but almost no upper portions of Greek temples survive.

A ramp led up to the entrance, and the stepped platform was built on a stone foundation.

Inside a temple, the cella or naos, or inner sanctum, housed the cult statue of the god or goddess to whom the temple was dedicated. The cella opened to the east. The roof was usually supported by wooden beams with terracotta tiles, which would explain why many of the temples in ruins have no roofs as they decayed over time.

And did you know that Greek temples were originally painted in bright vibrant colors? The paint has simply worn off with time. Who knew!

The Parthenon

One of the most famous buildings in the world is the Parthenon, the crown jewel that tops the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Pericles commissioned its construction as a grand rebuilding project in 447 BC.

The sculptor Pheidias was entrusted to supervise the construction of a magnificent new Doric temple to the goddess Athena, the patron goddess of the city. Built on the site of earlier Archaic temples, it was built primarily to house the Parthenos, Pheidias’s impressive 39-foot high cult statue of Athena covered in ivory and gold.

Taking nine years to complete, the temple was dedicated to the goddess during the Great Panathenaia festival of 438 BC. Constructed of Pentelic marble by the artchitects Kallikrates and Iktinos, the complex architecture of the Parthenon replaces straight lines with slight curves. All the columns swell in the middle, similar to a cigar shape, and all lean slightly inwards.

The reason for this is not quite clear. Some suggest it was done to prevent visual distortion, while others argue it was simply for aesthetic reasons. I have also heard that its design withstands earthquakes better, of which the surrounding area is susceptible.

The building remained a temple to Athena for over a thousand years until the Roman Empire came into power. It was then the statue was looted and destroyed. The Parthenon has also served as a Christian church, a mosque, and even a Turkish arsenal. Its present state of ruin owes to an ammunition explosion during a Venetian invasion in 1687.

The pediments, metopes, and friezes which run around the temple depict the people and horses in the Panathenaic procession, while other sculptures represent Greek mythology and Athenian historical events. During the explosion, many of the sculptures were blown off the building and scattered.

In 1806, Thomas Bruce, 7th earl of Elgin, removed many of the sculptures with the Turks permission and the "Elgin Marbles" are currently on display in the British Museum in London. At present, the Greeks are trying to get the sculptures returned to Athens, but with little luck. But there are two sides to every story...the British and the Greeks.

The Parthenon is currently in a state of restoration, but officials do not plan to return it to its pre-1687 state. An exact to scale replica of the Parthenon stands in Nashville, Tennessee. It was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial.

Enjoy a 360-degree panorama view of multiple locations atop the Acropolis. Just click on any location and number at this site and move your cursor around. You're almost there!

The Acropolis in Athens

The Acropolis is literally a giant rock upon which is built one of the most famous buildings of all time...the Parthenon. But it is not the only building atop the outcrop which sits at the southernmost part of Athens, Greece. All that remains are three contrasting temples and a unique gateway that leads to the Acropolis.

In the center is the Parthenon, although few sculptures remain on this temple to Athena, the patron goddess of Athens. Only the outside columns remain. The new Acropolis Museum located to the southeast of the Parthenon near the Theatre of Dionysius contains many of the original sculptures from the buildings on the Acropolis.

Also atop the Acropolis is the Erechtheion famous for its Caryatids, or the statues of women used as columns on the south porch. The original statues are now in the Acropolis Museum while casts are now on the Erechtheion. An olive tree now grows beside the Porch of Caryatids where Athena first planted her tree in a competition against Poseidon.

The massive Propylaia gateway was built in 437-432 B.C. as a "new" entrance to the Acropolis and beside it is the tiny Temple of Athena Nike, built to honor Athena of Victory. At the base of the Propylaia is the Beule Gate, the original gateway to the Acropolis.

Two theatres lie at the base of the Acropolis. The larger of the two, the Theatre of Herodes Atticus, also known as the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, was built in A.D. 161 and lies near the Propylaia. It is still used today for outdoor concerts.

The smaller theatre is also the older . The Theatre of Dionysos was built in 333-330 B.C.

Located just west of the Acropolis is Areopagos Hill, or Mars Hill, where St. Paul delivered his sermon in A.D. 51. Greeks called their god of war "Ares," while he was called "Mars" by the Romans. While on the Areopagus, in the shadow of the Acropolis, Paul preached one of the most memorable sermons recorded in the Bible (Acts 17:22-31).