An Introduction to Ancient Architectural Styles

Some of the most relevant architectural designs found their conception in ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, the middle Ages and the Italian Renaissance. Each era is significant for their contributions to our modern styles. Many of today’s ornamental details and trim work evolved from these earlier styles. I’d like to explore the earlier eras briefly to uncover what unique styles have been handed down through the ages.

An architectural style is a way to organize architecture relative to form, techniques, materials, time periods and regions, for example. It provides us with a way to distinguish architecture according to particular features of design.

The earliest known architecture dates back to the Neolithic Period, or the New Stone Age. This was basically around the time of the cave dwellers. These ancient peoples began to combine timber with huge stones, called megaliths, erected much like Stonehenge. Neolithic cultures appeared in Asia soon after 10000 BC, spreading out to the east and west from Levant. By 5500 BC, the Neolithic cultures had spread throughout the Middle East, Asia and Europe. The Neolithic people were exceptional builders, using mud-brick to build homes and villages. In other areas, wattle and daub building materials were utilized to build homes.

The Egyptians, from 300 BC-30 BC, gave us what is called the “stepped stone system” or the pyramids and temples built of layered cut stone. Sandstone, limestone and granite were used along with mud brick. Although most of the ancient Egyptian towns have been lost to flooding, many of the temples and tombs survived as they were built of stone in areas not flooded by the Nile. These monumental structures were characterized by thick, sloping walls with few openings. The exterior walls were often covered with hieroglyphic carvings with pictorial motifs such as the scarab, vulture, palm leaves and the papyrus plant.

It was the ancient Greeks, however, who contributed some of the styles which are still copied today. Greek design extends back to about 3000 BC. Greek architecture was characterized by symmetry. The architecture was flanked by columns, capitals, cornices and pediments. The Greeks gave the orders to the simple post-and-lintel (roof support) system in earliest use by the Egyptians.

The Parthenon is the classic example of ancient Greek architecture. The Parthenon was designed in honor of the goddess Athena and is perhaps one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It was built of solid marble during the 5th century. The Parthenon is the embodiment of the characteristics of Greek architecture.

The orders of architecture originated with the Greeks as early as the 7th century BC. These ancient organizational systems of architectural design were distinct in their characteristic details as well as by their proportion and detail. The Classical Greek orders were most easily distinguished by the type of column and the type of capital that was utilized. Each of the orders has their own distinct entablature, which consists of an architrave, frieze and a cornice. Greek architects were quite particular with regards to geometric symmetry throughout their designs. Elements that were often included in ancient Greek architecture were fluted columns, pilasters, pediments, decorative friezes and carved statuary.

Theorists recognize five orders. The Greeks, however, were solely responsible for the evolution of the three most commonly recognized. These are the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. These three orders have been regularly employed throughout classical western architecture. The Romans adopted the three Greek orders, in addition to adding the Tuscan and the Composite orders.

Although the Doric order is considered by most to have been the earliest style, research suggests that the Doric and Ionic may actually have emerged at approximately the same time. The Doric order surfaced in mainland Greece, spreading to the Greek colonies in Italy, while the Ionic order appeared in eastern Greece, the west coast of what is now Turkey, and the Aegean Islands.

The Doric order is the simplest, most austere, of the orders. The columns were short and heavy with plain, round capitals. There were no bases. The shaft of the column was fluted with 20 channels. Classic examples of the Greek Doric order are the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, which was built about 449 BC and the contemporary Parthenon, the largest temple in Athens.

Some of the great monuments erected during this era can be found mostly in Sicily and Italy, where it appears to have been the predominant order for 800 years thereafter for grand architecture. The Doric and the Ionic orders probably originated in wood.

The Ionic was a more decorative order, with slender, fluted pillars with a large base. It was often decorated with an egg-and-dart motif. The shaft was fluted with 24 channels. The Ionic order was largely influenced by Asia after power passed from Athens and Sparta to Asia Minor. The style appeared in Greece after 500 BC. The more magnificent Ionic temples were found at Miletus. In Greece, only the Erechtheum at Athens is Ionic in style. Otherwise, the style was restricted to more minor buildings. One interesting note regarding the Ionic order: many Greek states actually resisted the use of the evolutionary style. They regarded its showy, decorative style as representing dominance of Athens. The Ionic column was used frequently throughout the 17th century, as well as the 18th century before it was succeeded by the Corinthian entablature.

The Corinthian order is considered to be the most elegant of the five orders. The column was slender, diminished in stature, with 24 fluted channels. The capital was decorated with two rows of acanthus or olive leaves with four scrolls. The entablature of the Corinthian column was often very elaborate. It was built with a well-formed, decorated architrave, with a continuous frieze that was either plain or it was ornamented with foliage and sculpture. There was a projecting cornice of which the lower member was often composed of dentils. It saw its peak use in the mid-4th century BC. Later, the Romans used the Corinthian order almost exclusively. The oldest known building to be erected according to the Corinthian order is the monument of Lysicrates in Athens, built in 335-334 BC. This Order was especially esteemed at the Renaissance, and has been largely adopted in modern work.

Greek architects produced the majority of their awesome work between 700 BC and the time of the Roman occupation which occurred in 146 BC. The major works of art, such as the Parthenon, were produced between 480 and 323 BC. Most of what we know regarding Greek architecture comes from the late archaic, early classical and Periclean ages. Most of the surviving architecture are temples.

Although the Greeks also understood the principles of arches and domes, they did not utilize either elaboration. As a result, they could not engineer buildings that had large spaces interiorly. Thus, buildings would incorporate rows of columns in order to hold up the roof. They were known to fill their buildings with sculptural decoration, although none of these sculptures have been found intact in the surviving buildings of Greek design. However, the Greeks have used this decorative feature on some of their modern imitations of the ancient Greek buildings. One such example is the Greek National Academy building in Athens.

In addition to utilizing the three Greek orders, the Romans developed two of their own. These were called the Tuscan and the Composite orders. The Tuscan columns were actually plainer than the Doric columns and the Composite, which were much more ornamental than the Corinthian, were generally a combination of the Ionic with the Corinthian. Neither order is considered distinct or original.

The Romans are credited with other significant developments to architecture. The Romans combined the columns of Greece with the arches of Asia to erect a vast array of impressive buildings throughout their domain. The Roman’s invention of concrete enabled them to cover huge areas of floor space as well as construct magnificent vaults and domes as can be seen in the rebuilding of the Pantheon in the 2nd century AD.

The Romans used their new invention to enhance design elements borrowed from the Greeks and Etruscans and formal engineering to invent an age of architecture which utilized both negative and positive space. They used rounded arches, arcades (series of supported arches), vaults (elongated arch) and domes to create large unbroken spaces, effectively removing the need for the columnar supported designs of the past.

It was during the period from 100 BC to AD 300 that the Romans built their prominent master works. Besides the Pantheon, the Coliseum (AD 70-82) and the Baths of Caracalla (circa AD 215) belong to this period of time in Roman architecture. The Roman Empire, rapidly expanding, began to build towns that were laid out to specific plans with forums, or open public squares, surrounding temples as the town’s focal point. The use of columns was widely employed as well. Roman architecture thus influenced many other styles throughout the ages, as we will see in succeeding articles discussing the large numbers of architectural styles throughout the ages.

Although most would consider concrete the Roman Empire’s greatest contribution to the modern world, their style of architecture is still evident throughout Europe as well as North America in the arches and the domes found in many governmental and religious buildings.

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References:

Wikipedia.com
Factmonster.com
Seemydesign.com