What is a peristyle? Greek architecture
Peristyle in the House of the Vettii (Pompeii, 79 AD) A peristyle is a courtyard with a covered walkway all the way around it, with columns holding up the ceiling [...]
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07, 2017
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07, 2017
What is a pediment? Greek architecture
The pediment is the triangular place under the roof of a Greek temple. Each temple has two pediments, one on the front and one on the back. They're always isosceles triangles. At [...]
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07, 2017
The Parthenon blows up – Greek architecture
A model of the gold and ivory statue of Athena inside the Parthenon Inside the Parthenon, the great sculptor Pheidias carved a huge statue of Athena made out of gold [...]
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07, 2017
Parthenon frieze – Greek architecture
Parthenon frieze - seated goddesses What is on the Parthenon frieze? On the Parthenon's frieze, Pheidias carved a long procession of Athenians, with girls in the front, bringing a new [...]
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07, 2017
Parthenon pediment – Ancient Greece
Parthenon pediment On the front of the Parthenon, in the triangular pediment, Pheidias carved the contest between Athena and Poseidon to be the main god of the city of Athens, [...]
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07, 2017
Parthenon columns – optical illusions
Parthenon columns, Athens The best temple ever So the architects of the Parthenon set out to make it the best temple ever. Most Greek temples had six columns across the [...]
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07, 2017
Parthenon – Ancient Greek temples
Parthenon, Athens The Parthenon was a temple to Athena built on top of the highest hill in Athens, the Acropolis (Acropolis means High City). In the Late Bronze Age, about [...]
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07, 2017
Stone Age Greek architecture
Before the New Stone Age, people had lived in caves, but around 6000 BC people living in Greece began to build houses for themselves instead. At first they built small houses out [...]
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07, 2017
What are triglyphs and metopes?
Greek temple at Agrigento, Sicily What are triglyphs and metopes? Most Greek temples have a pattern under the pediment known as triglyphs and metopes. The triglyphs alternate with the metopes [...]
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07, 2017
Minoan and Mycenaean architecture
Bronze Age palace in Knossos, Crete Around 1700 BC, a great earthquake shook the island of Crete and knocked down the palaces (or big houses) that many people had been [...]
