Just as with the Egyptians, the Greeks had many pagan gods and goddesses (female gods). The Greeks also built temples and looked at the Egyptians' architecture to influence their temples.

Although the Greeks used fluting in the shafts of the colonnade columns, their plain capitals were listed as belonging to the Doric Order.

Doric Capital

  The Doric Order was the first of three orders or styles from different years of development. Later, the next Order was labeled Ionic. You can tell which temple is older than another if the capital contains no decorations. The Doric capital is plain. If the capital contains scrolls or "volutes" (va/loots'), the temple is not as old as a Doric temple.

Ionic Capital

You can also identify a newer temple with the volutes looking like the curved horns of a ram or male sheep.

Using the post-and-lintel construction, add a triangle above the two posts. This is the post-beam-triangle construction. Thus, the Greeks added to the basic pre-historic construction of architecture to satisfy their desire of adding roofs to their temples. The Greeks established architectural forms that architects use today.

The triangles form the two side pieces of the roof and are called "pediments."

Beneath the pediment lies a horizonal beam called the "entablature" (en/tab'/le/char). This band contains the "architrave," the "frieze," and the "cornice." The architrave (ar'/ki/trave) lies directly on the capitals and is usually plain or not decorated. The architrave can be found today as a molding around doors and windows.

Architrave

Question: Can you locate the pediments on your house? The architrave on the windows and doors of your house?

The frieze (frez) lies in the entablature above the architrave, but under the cornice. The frieze contains both decorated and plain panels. The decorated are called "triglyphs" (tri/glifs). The plain panels are "metopes" (met/uh/pees). The triglyphs alternate with the metopes. In other words, in the Doric Order, the frieze contains a triglyph panel and then a metopes, then a triglyph and then a metope, and so on. Usually, the triglyph panel is decorated with sculptures (to be discussed later under the section of "sculpture").

Around the pediment is a border as in a picture frame. This is called the "cornice" (kor'/nis). Today houses also have cornices, commonly called eaves.

Many of the Greek temples were constructed of a stone called "marble." Marble comes in different shades of whiteand pink and can be mined today in our own state of Connecticut.

Question: Ask your parents to point out the cornice on your house. Ask, also, if any bathrooms in your house contain marble or imitation marble countertops. See, today we use a stone that the Greeks used first!

During the Fifth Century BC, Athens, a large city in Greece, was considered the best example of the "Golden Age of Greece." It was envied by the other town and cities because the Athenians seemed to have the best facilities and most intelligent citizens. On a hilltop, overlooking Athens, the citizens built a fortress for protection from invaders. This group of temples was called the "Acropolis."

Today, visitors to the Acropolis will find remnants of once-beautiful temples, built by the Greeks in BC..

In the Golden Age of Greece, the people carried out political and domestic affairs in the "agora" (a'/gor/a). This collection of buildings was located at the bottom of the Acropolis hilltop.

Question: Since only remnants exits of the once-fabulous Acropolis, what do you think has attacked the buildings?

Answer: Pollution from the vehicles in the agora and acid rain. Time, also, helped to a certain extent. And, of course, tourists, who chipped off souvenir marble or wrote graffiti on the aged stones.

See if you can find distruction by pollution, acid rain, or humans around your house. school, neighborhood. What can you do to protect your house, and other buildings, so that other people can enjoy the building in the future? Can you find influences of Greek architecture on your house, your school, or your neighborhood?