Greek Architecture

GREEK ARCHITECTUREMINOANS MYCENAEANS

(Ellinikí Architektonikí)HISTARC 1

Professor Ronald John B. Dalmacio

Ελληνική Αρχιτεκτονική

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Guess who’s the statue

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Themistocles“Glory of the Law”Athenian politician and general.

One of the 10 AthenianStrategoi (general)

In the Battle of Marathon.

Also a Strategoi in the Battle of Salamis where he fought

Xerxes.

Θεμιστοκλῆς

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Leonidas I“Son of a Lion”

Was a Warrior-King in the Greek city-

state of Sparta

He fought King Xerxes of Persia at

the Battle of Thermopylae.

Λεωνίδᾱς

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Did Leonidas I & Themistocles met?

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Pericleswas a prominent and

influential Greek statesman, orator and

general of Athens during the Golden Age—

specifically the time between the Persian and

Peloponnesian wars.

Περικλῆς

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Xerxes I of Persia“ruling over heroes”The fourth “god-king” or king of

kings in the Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia.

Battle of ThermopylaeBattle of Marathon

Battle of Salamis

Ξέρξης

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Before Greece there was…• Aegean sea civilizations

• Mycenea

• Minoa

• Greek-city States (Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Byzantium, Thassos, and many more! About 200 Greek-city states existed!)

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Aegean Civilization

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Aegeuswas an archaic figure in the founding mythof Athens. The "goat-man" who gave his name to the Aegean Sea was, next to Poseidon, the father of Theseus, the founder of Athenian institutions and one of the kings of Athens.

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“Greek”“Hellenes”

Hellenic

Hellenistic

Helen of Troya.k.a. Helen of Sparta

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Greek evolution• Mycenaean/ Minoan kingdoms

• Classical Greek city-states

• Roman Empire

• Byzantine Empire

• Ottoman Empire

• Modern Greece

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Etymology of the word “Greece” in English it is referred to as Greece, which comes from the Latin term Graecia as used by the Romans, which literally means 'the land of the Greeks', and derives from the Greek name Γραικός.

In modern scholarship, the name is traced to Γραῖα (Graîa), a city on the coast of Boeotia, a name given to the Greeks by the Romans, where they first met. The city's name itself means "grey,"

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5 mins “CR” break

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Minoan Civilization

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The Minoan civilization was an Aegean Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and other Aegean islands and flourished

from approximately 3650 to 1400 BCE. It belongs to a period of Greek history preceding both the Mycenaean civilization and

Ancient Greece.

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It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of British archaeologist Arthur Evans.

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Historian Will Durant dubbed the Minoans "the first link in the European chain."

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and their civilization has been referred to as the earliest of its kind in Europe.

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The term "Minoan" refers to the mythic King Minos, and was originally given as a description to the pottery of this period. Minos was

associated in Greek myth with the labyrinth and the Minotaur, which Evans identified with the site at Knossos, the largest Minoan site. The

poet Homer recorded a tradition that Crete once had 90 cities.

Minos was the first King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa

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DietThe Minoans raised cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats, and grew wheat, barley, vetch, and chickpeas; they also cultivated grapes, figs, and

olives, and grew poppies, for poppyseed and, perhaps, opium.

The Minoans also domesticated bees.

They also domesticate snails.

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Minoan Architecture• “Labyrinth”

• Palaces (Anaktora)

• Villas

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Labyrinthwas an elaborate structure

designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus

for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to

hold the Minotaur eventually killed by the hero Theseus. Daedalus had so cunningly

made the Labyrinth that he could barely escape it after he

built it.

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One can think of labyrinths as symbolic of pilgrimage; people can walk the path, ascending toward salvation or enlightenment. Many people

could not afford to travel to holy sites and lands, so labyrinths and prayer substituted for such travel.

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Architectural significanceMany newly made labyrinths exist today, in churches and parks.

Modern mystics use labyrinths to help them achieve a contemplative state.

Walking among the turnings, one loses track of direction and of the outside world, and thus quiets the mind.

The Labyrinth Society provides a locator for modern labyrinths all over the world.

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Daedalus

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The Labyrinth Society

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In English, the term labyrinth is generally synonymous with maze. As a result of the long history of unicursal representation of the

mythological Labyrinth, however, many contemporary scholars and enthusiasts observe a distinction between the two.

In this specialized usage maze refers to a complex branching multicursal puzzle with choices of path and direction, while a

unicursal labyrinth has only a single path to the center. A labyrinth in this sense has an unambiguous route to the center and back and is not

difficult to navigate.

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In addition, the labyrinth can serve as a metaphor for situations that are difficult to be extricated from, as an image that suggests getting lost

in a subterranean dungeon-like world.

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Palaces (Anaktora)Palaces (anaktora) are the best-known Minoan building types excavated

on Crete. They are monumental buildings serving administrative purposes, as evidenced by the large archives unearthed by

archaeologists.

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Palace of Knossos, Crete

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The palaces fulfilled a plethora of functions: they served as centres of government, administrative offices, shrines, workshops, and storage

spaces (e.g., for grain). These distinctions might have seemed artificial to Minoans.

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ColumnsOne of the most notable contributions of Minoans to architecture is their unique column, which was wider at the top than the bottom. It is called an 'inverted' column because most Greek columns are wider at the bottom, creating an illusion of greater height. The columns were also made of wood as opposed to stone, and were generally painted red. They were mounted on a simple stone base and were topped with a pillow-like, round piece as a capital.

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OrientationA common architectural standard among the Middle Minoan 'palaces' was that they are aligned with their surrounding topography. The MM palatial structure of Phaistos appears to align with Mount Ida, whilst

Knossos is aligned with Juktas.

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These are oriented along a north-south axis. Scholars suggest the alignment was related to the sacred or ritual significance of the

mountain, where a number of Peak Sanctuaries (spaces for public ritual) have been excavated (e.g., Petsophas).

The material record for these sites show clusters of clay figurines and evidence of animal sacrifice.

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Philosopher of history Oswald Spengler felt all culture was a people's attempt to overcome the fear of death, and held the provocative thesis

that the palaces were temples for a cult of the dead, with corpses sitting in its chairs.

Why Palace “exist” in the first place

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Linear A

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VillasA number of compounds interpreted as 'Villas' have been excavated in Crete. These structures share many features with the central Palaces (i.e., a conspicuous western facade, storage facilities, and a 'Minoan Hall') of the Neopalatial era.

These features may indicate either that they performed a similar role, or that the structures were artistic imitations, suggesting that their occupants were familiar with palatial culture. These villas are often richly decorated (see the frescos of Haghia Triadha Villa A).

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Ground floor plan of the Minoan villa of Nirou Chani, Kokkini

Hani, Crete

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5 min. break

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Mycenaean Civilization

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The Mycenaean civilization flourished in the late Bronze Age, from the 15th to the 13th century BCE and extended its influence not only

throughout the Peloponnese in Greece but also across the Aegean, in particular, on Crete and the Cycladic islands.

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Major Mycenaean centres included Mycenae (traditional home of Agamemnon), Tiryns (perhaps the oldest centre), Pylos (traditional home of Nestor), Thebes, Midea, Gla, Orchomenos, Argos, Sparta,

Nichoria and probably Athens.

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Beyond trading relations, the exact political relationship between these centres is not clear. However, there were many shared cultural features

such as architecture, frescoes, pottery, jewellery, weaponry, and of course, the Greek language and writing in the form of Linear B (an

adaptation of the Minoan Linear A).

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Linear B

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Mycenaean Architecture

• Fortifications (citadel)

• Tombs (Tholos)

• Palaces (megaron)

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Tyrin Castle“Burcht Tiryns”

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Lion GateThe Lion Gate was the main entrance of the Bronze Age

citadel of Mycenae, southern Greece.

It was erected during the 13th century BC in the northwest side of the

acropolis and is named after the relief sculpture of

two lionesses or lions in a heraldic pose that stands

above the entrance.

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Cyclopean MasonryCyclopean masonry is a type

of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built

with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal

clearance between adjacent stones and no use of mortar.

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HomerAuthor of Iliad & Odyssey.

“Epic poet”

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Ashlar MasonryAshlar is finely dressed (cut, worked) masonry, either an

individual stone that has been worked until squared or the

masonry built of such stone. It is the finest stone masonry

unit, generally cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as

opus isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal.

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Tholos (Tomb)is a burial structure characterized by its

false dome created by the superposition of successively smaller

rings of mudbricks or, more often, stones.

The resulting structure resembles a beehive, hence the traditional

English name.

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DromosEntrance passage or avenue leading to a building, tomb

or passageway. Those leading to beehive tombs

are enclosed between stone walls and sometimes

in-filled between successive uses of the tomb.

In ancient Egypt the dromos was a straight, paved

avenue flanked by sphinxes.

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Megaron (Palace)The megaron's functions were many, including poetry, feasts, meetings, and worship. It was

used for royal functions and court meetings as well. Its

religious functions included the practice of animal

sacrifices, often to Chthonic deities.

Schematic plan of a megaron complex. 1: anteroom, 2: hall (main room), 3: columns in Porch and hall

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THE MYCENAEAN MEGARON WAS THE PRECURSOR FOR THE LATER ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL TEMPLES OF THE GREEK WORLD.

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The Mycenaean Megaron was the precursor for the later Archaic and Classical temples of the Greek world and consisted of an entrance

porch, a vestibule and the hall itself.

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Other Mycenaean architectural structures include dams for flood management, particularly at Tiryns, and bridges built from large

roughly-hewn stone blocks.

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With the mysterious end of the Mycenaean civilization during the Bronze Age Collapse around 1200 BCE (possibly through earthquake, invasion or in-fighting) came the so-called Dark Ages and it would be

many centuries before Greek culture would finally regain the heights of the late Bronze Age.

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ASSIGNMENT # 2• COMIC STRIP

• Create a one-page comic strip about Greek Civilization but in Filipino context

• Group of 3 students

• - Script writer• - Penciller• - Photoshoper/ Colorist

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Comic Strip Format• Paper Size: 8.5 x 11”

• Put margins

• Due date: Midterm Exam day (Oct. , 2016)

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THE CODES (SR’s Greek Architecture module)

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