Checkpoint Greek and Roman Architecture

Checkpoint: Greek and Roman Architecture

Melissa Kozakiewicz

February 6, 2013

Checkpoint: Greek and Roman Architecture

Greek and Roman Architecture are very standardized yet, very different in many ways. All Greek architecture implements post-and-lintel construction, which is “a horizontal beam supported at each end by a vertical post or a wall” (Sayre, 2010, Chapter 15). The Lion Gate at Mycenae is a good example of this type of construction. Greek temples where built consisting of a platform, column, and an entablature. The three combined determined the order in which they were classified. The temple at Paestum is Doric, which is the oldest order, the most plain and was considered masculine. The second order is the Ionic which is more elaborate and feminine. The third order is the Corinthian; however, this order became more common in Roman

architecture (Sayre, Chapter 15, 2010).

Roman architecture also used colonnades or rows of columns they also used arches. The use of arches allowed the Romans to build greater expanses than was possible with post-and-lintel construction (Sayre, Chapter 15, 2010). They perfected the arch by using wedge-shaped stones, called voussoirs “cut to fit into the semicircular form, an arch is not stable until the keystone, the stone at the very top, has been put into place” (Sayre, 2010, Chapter 15). Each of the arches are able to support their own weight, while the rest is supported by posts. An example of this type of construction is event in many Roman buildings, however, the Pont du Gard, which is an aqueduct used to carry water from the distant hills to the Roman compound in Nîmes, France (Sayre, Chapter 15, 2010). The Roman Coliseum was built using concrete invented by the Romans an outside covered by a stone facing of limestone. The Coliseum design is a combination of all three architectural orders Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. However, the Roman style of the Corinthian column was modified...