Roman Art & Architecture

TEMPLES

GREEK TEMPLES

CHARACTERISTICS

• Monumental• Proportionate• East-West alignment• Peripteral• Raised on 3 steps• Architectural order• Architectural style

1. Monumental. Greek temples are huge and magnificent

2. ProportionalityPythagorean Golden Ratio

Euclid translated to geometry

Phidias translated it to architecture

The Parthenon, Athens Reconstruction of the Parthenon

GREEK TEMPLES

Dawn in the Parthenon, Athens.

East-West axis (facing east)

3. East- West alignment

4. peripteralThink of perimeter. Peri means “around”. You can walk right around a peripteral temple in a colonnade (sheltered walkway) called a peristyle.

stylobate is the floor of the temple

Other 2 steps are the stereobate

5. Raised on 3 steps

6. Architectural order

Doric Ionic Corinthian

Plain capital volutes acanthus (ram-horns) leaves

fluted or unfluted shaftdrums

no base base base

architrave

stylobate

7. Architectural Style

Count the columns of the facade in Greek

Tetrastyle (4) Hexastyle (6)

Octostyle (8) Decastyle (10)

ETRUSCAN or TUSCANTEMPLES

Characteristics

1.Frontal2.Raised on a podium3.Accessed by flight of steps4.Different plan

Rome was founded in 753BC

But Italy was already inhabited by a variety of cultures:

Native Italic peoples like the Samians, Oscans and Umbrians

Celts (Gauls) in the northern Alpine region

Greeks in the South and Sicily

and

the most dominant in the vicinity of Rome were the

ETRUSCANS who were a Punic people (Phoenicians originally)

Terracotta model of an Etruscan temple at Veii, near Rome.1. Frontal 2. Raised on a podium 3. Accessed by steps 4. Different plan

Tuscan Temple v Greek Temple

3 Vitruvian Principles of Architecture

Vitruvius was a Roman architect of the Augustan period who wrote a famous book called De Architectura (On Architecture).

According to the Vitruvian scheme of architecture a building must conform to 3 principles.

3 Vitruvian principles of architecture:

• firmitas - it must be made of durable material

• utilitas - it must be functional

• venustas - it must be beautiful

Maison Carree, Nimes, France

The Vitruvian temple is a hybrid of the Tuscan and Greek temples

Roman Rectangular Temple

Tuscan Temple

Greek Temple

FRONTAL PERIPTERAL