Materials Used in Ancient Greek Architecture

Wood and ClayGreek buildings in the colonization period (8th to 6th century BC) were constructed of wood and bricks made from clay. Like the structures themselves, very few written sources about these early buildings have survived. Princeton University sheds light by explaining that wood was primarily used for structural supports and roof beams and clay bricks were used for the walls. Although thatch was used as roofing for many homes, the ancient Greeks also used roof tiles made from clay.

Clay BrickWood

LimestoneLimestone was cultivated from quarries and favored by architects as it is easy to cut. Perikles, an architect who oversaw several projects including the construction of the Parthenon (447 to 432 B.C.) and other monuments atop the Akropolis, chose to use limestone. He oversaw its extraction while supervising the artists who shaped each piece on location before it was moved to the building site for placement. Limestone was primarily used in sparing amounts in temple relief slabs. However, limestone is fragile and can crack more so than other substances which is why marble was commonly preferred.

Limestone

Pentelikon MarblePentelikon marble was common in ancient quarries and was widely used in architecture and decorative sculpting, especially for finishing surfaces. This marble type was used in well-known structures such as the Erechtheum, the Theseum, the Propylaea of the Acropolis, the temple of Olympus Zeus, in parts of the Parthenon, and numerous other monuments and temples throughout ancient Greece. Pentelikon marble was white at the time of its use in ancient construction. Today this marble has some gray coloration to it.

Pentelikon Marble

Pink of Epirus LimestoneThis type of limestone was quarried in ancient times in Epirus and is identified by a yellowish color with light shades of pink that contain shafts of red and gray veins running through it. This type of limestone was used in small amounts to provide decorative touches of color. Today this marble has retained its color and is used in the interior rooms of royal residences and in the veneers of the lobby of the Archaeological Museum of Athens.

Pink of Epirus Limestone

Ancient Roman Materials

The use ofStone in Ancient Rome

Stone was clearly an important material for construction and the Romans were skilled in quarrying it and in using the different types of stone in different types of application. Marble would clearly be used to decorate surfaces, lime and sandstone would be used for pedestrian areas subjected to light wear whilst basaltic lava or granites would be employed for uses subjected to great stress.

Terracotta and Ceramics

The use of terracotta and ceramics allowed an immense degree of freedom in a wide range of areas of construction such as the tiling of roofs, waterproofing of pools, making vessels in which to carry and store materials and most importantly for making bricks and pipes. Ceramics were even used to substitute wood in the construction of trusses to build arches.

Metal

In a construction context metal could hardly compete with cheaper materials which required less handling and could usually be "produced" locally such as stone or wood. However in certain contexts its use was inevitable. Clearly it was of great use in joinery and trusses. Hard metal was also used in a number of cases in order to join stone blocks with one another and indeed to make the clasps to lift stone blocks with cranes.