The above picture is courtesy of Haminikan
Courtesy of World History Ancient Civilizations The Parthenon
Greek Architecture
The Greeks usually used marble, carved stone, or limestone with a layer of marble or stucco as materials for their buildings. The extra layer protected the buildings from water and helped make them shine. "A great deal of effort was made to build temples in prominent positions and, using sophisticated geometry, architects included optical ‘tricks’ such as thickening the lower parts of columns, thickening corner columns, and having columns ever so slightly lean inwards so that from a distance the building seemed perfectly straight and in harmony." (Ancient History Encyclopedia) Greeks took great care in their measurements when building their temples or other buildings. They needed to be or else something bad could happen. The buildings were built on different terrains so every temple's construction was different. Greek buildings had to be stable and resist the elements to survive so long. The architects took many conditions into consideration to build their temples or theaters. The columns were made to look straight with an optical illusion. Only careful geometric calculations can see that the columns aren't straight.
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“Architects used sophisticated geometry and optical tricks to present buildings as perfectly straight and harmonious.” (Ancient History Encyclopedia) |
Courtesy of World History Ancient Civilizations
Roman Architecture
Courtesy of Ancient History Encyclopedia
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A Mix of Both
“Roman architects continued to follow the guidelines established by the classical orders the Greeks had first shaped: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The Corinthian was particularly favoured and many Roman buildings, even into Late Antiquity, would have a particularly Greek look to them. “ (Ancient History Encyclopedia)
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The Romans were great innovators. They adapted the style of the columns into something they thought was better. The adopted version of the Greek Corinthian column was made with more decoration. The Romans liked to add their own flare to their art. Buildings were made bigger with the use of vaults. Vaults are a combination of arches. The Colosseum is an example of the use of vaults to make a stadium that could fit many people. The Romans also used domes in their buildings even though they were harder to build than just a regular building. Roman architects used lime mortar to make a kind of concrete that supported much more weight than other materials used for building. Bricks were also used to build the giant domes on lots of Roman buildings. The Romans were great architects though most weren't given credit for their work. The person who paid for everything usually was the only one given credit to the building.
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"ALL BUILDINGS MUST BE EXECUTED IN SUCH A WAY AS TO TAKE ACCOUNT OF DURABILITY, UTILITY AND BEAUTY.” VITRUVIUS (Ancient History Encyclopedia) Vitruvius was a famous Roman architect. Part of the reason he is so well known was because his book about architecture called On Architecture survived.
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