Late Classical and Hellenistic Temples in Greece

1. Late Classical and Hellenistic Temples in Greece

2. Hellenistic period: 338 – 31 B.C. Classical architecture outside Athens Late Classical architecture

3. I. Late Classical Temples: Increased inward-turning, subject-oriented buildings that heroize individuals Tholos at Epidauros, Greece, 360-320 bc (designed by Polykleitos the Younger)

4. I. tholos (pl. tholoi) - temple-like structures w/ circular ground plans The tholos in the context of the Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidauros Asklepios (deified human physician) the tholos

5. I. A. Precedents: What Bronze-Age tholoi did Greeks start to re-use for hero cults? Mycenaean tholos tomb at Mycenae ca. 1330 bc Tholostemple at Epidauros 360-320 bc

6. I. B. What are the architectural qualities of the tholos at Epidauros that focus one on the afterworld (death, immortality for heroes and kings)? Tholos at Epidauros Asklepios (deified human physician)

7. I. B. 1. Specific architectural qualities and materials of the circular plan. interiority Tholos at Epidauros

8. I. B. 1. Tholos at Epidauros – ceiling coffers

9. Exterior peristyle: 26 Doric columns Tholos at Epidauros Interior colonnade: 14 black marble Corinthian columns with white marble entablature

10. I. B. 2. The Corinthian order: why was it used first on monuments that highlight immortality or fame in some way? Doric order The Parthenon, Athens Ionic order Bassae Samos Corinthian order

11. I. B. 2. a. What were the features of the Corinthian order and what advantaged did it have over the Ionic order? Corinthian order Corinthian capital from the tholos at Epidauros

12. I. B. 2. b. What were the contexts for the earliest use of the Corinthian order? Earliest interiorCorinthian order Earliest exterior Corinthian order Cella of the Temple of Apollo Epicurius Bassae, Greece, ca. 450-425 B.C.; Iktinos, arch. Choragic monument to Lysicrates Athens, Greece, 335 B.C.

13. II. B. 2. c. What were the origins of the Corinthian order as commemorative/funerary order? Corinthian capital from the tholos at Epidauros

14. I. B. 3. How does this tholos focus the viewer on moments of life in extremis? Tholos at Epidauros chthonic area below chthonic – dwelling in or beneath the surface of the earth

15. II. C. Finally, how were late Classical tholoifor human heros adapted by the emerging cult of the ruler and its architecture? Tombs in Classical Athens Hellenistic tomb The Mausoleum (for King Mausolus) Halicarnassus, Turkey, 353 B.C.

16. Summary Classical architecture in Athens(Parthenon) Late Classicalarchitecture Balance between the generic & specific/personal Viewer acutely conscious of this balance Fascination w/ changing states of specifics in a relative world Draws viewer into what is not seen: interiority, the chthonic

17. II. Introduction: The Hellenistic Period in Architecture Hellenistic period: 338 – 31 B.C. Hellas meant Greece in Greek (modern Greek Ellas) Classical period: 481-338 B.C. Pericles, democratic leader Alexander the Great, king and emperor From Alexander ‘s father Phillip II ends independence of Greek city-states in Battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C. to Romans conquer Cleopatra’s Egypt in 31 B.C. From From the defeat of the Persians at Salamis in 481 B.C. to Battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C.

18. II. A. What major political event ushered in the Hellenistic period? Reign of Alexander the Great 336-323 B.C. as king of the Hellenistic Empire

19. II. B. What political system was imposed upon the Greek lands? The Hellenistic Empire of Alexander the Great, 334-323 B.C. Hellenistic assimilation of Greek culture far beyond the Aegean Sea

20. II. B. Division of Alexander’s empire into 5 smaller Hellenistic kingdoms

21. II. C. What were some general trends in Hellenistic architecture? Hellenistic Greek architecture Monarchy: Ruler cult and its architecture Subjectivity: stress on introspection/interior experience Theatricality: drama and/or pictorial illusion in design Choreography: directed paths

22. III. Hellenistic temple design: stress on subjective experience, theatricality Temple of Apollo, Didyma, Turkey, c. 301-150 B.C. Architects: Pythios of Priene and Hermogenes of Alabanda hypothetical rendering of the temple midway through construction

23. III. The Greek World before Alexander the Great’s campaign Hellenistic Ionian temples Archaic Ionian Temples Ephesos Didyma Didyma Samos

24. III. Temple of Apollo at Didyma Full-scale “blueprints” etched into podium

25. III. A. The Hellenistic determination of the subjective experience of the individual 1. What are the basic elements of the plan in the Temple of Apollo? Parthenon Temple of Apollo at Didyma hypaethral (open to the sky)

26. III. A. 2. How does the plan of the Apollo at Didyma pre-determine the experience of the individual? frontal approach = directed experience Hellenistic Temple of Apollo at Didyma

27. III. A. 2. partial revelation - mysterious obstacle Hellenistic Temple of Apollo at Didyma

28. III. A. 2. a disorienting passage Hellenistic Temple of Apollo at Didyma

29. III. A. 2. Hellenistic Temple of Apollo at Didyma 3. Exits from dark passage-ways to sun-filled “cella”

30. III. A. 2. an interior world within a world Temple of Apollo at Didyma Famous Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi actual house of the god laurel tree a spring

31. III. B. Classical orders in the Hellenistic period: Compare the Ionic order of the Classical period with the Hellenistic version at Didyma III. B. 1. in terms of scale Temple of Apollo at Didyma

32. III. B. 1. Erechtheion, Athens (Classical) Temple of Apollo at Didyma (Hellenistic)

33. III. B. 2. in terms of decorativeness Temple of Apollo at Didyma (Hellenistic) Erechtheion, Athens (Classical)

34. III. B. 2. Temple of Apollo at Didyma, historiated corner capital Bust of Apollo Winged lion or horse

35. III. C. Hellenistic creation of dramatic and theatrical experience 1. experience of the determined path and ramp (“labyrinths”) Hellenistic Temple of Apollo at Didyma

36. III. C. 2. theater of revelation in the cella elevated stage setting for oracles Hellenistic Temple of Apollo at Didyma

37. III. C. 3. pilasters in the “cella” pilaster -- a shallow, flattened, rectangular column or pier attached to a wall and often modeled on an order Temple of Apollo at Didyma Pilasters in a later building Beginnings of pilasters resting on a tall podium

38. III. C. 3. pilaster, a Hellenistic development: blurs distinction between wall and column excites surface through plastic articulation Temple of Apollo at Didyma

39. III. D. What was the political context underpinning the new dramatic interiority of Hellenistic temples?

40. II. D. Classical Temple – mid-space object dialectic between nature and culture Hellenistic Temple – artificial environment cut off from nature

41. Review Archaic Classical Hellenistic Hera 1 at Paestum The Parthenon Temple of Apollo at Didyma Pythagorean (unchanging substratum of number and ratio) Ignores the relative/the specific/the personal Pythagorean & Sophist (validating human perception) Balance between what is known and what is seen, between the generic & the specific Embraces the changing states of the world Personal (subjective) experience exalted over the generic founding of cities (poleis) Democracy Classical poleis (Athens) Monarchy 5 Hellenistic kingdoms