This list of ancient Greek temples covers
temples built by the Hellenic people from
the 6th century BC until the 2nd century AD
on mainland Greece and in Hellenic towns in
the Aegean Islands, Asia Minor, Sicily and
Italy, wherever there were Greek colonies,
and the establishment of Greek culture.
Ancient Greek architecture was of very regular
form, the construction being "post and lintel".
There are three clearly defined styles: the
Doric Order, found throughout Greece, Sicily
and Italy; the Ionic Order, from Asia Minor,
with examples in Greece; and the more ornate
Corinthian Order, used initially only for
interiors, becoming more widely used during
the Hellenistic period from the 1st century
BC onwards and used extensively by Roman architects.
Each ancient Greek temple was dedicated to
a specific god within the pantheon and was
used in part as a storehouse for votive offerings.
Unlike a church, the interior space was not
used as a meeting place, but held trophies
and a large cult statue of the deity.
== Terminology ==
Most ancient Greek temples were rectangular,
and were approximately twice as long as they
were wide, with some notable exceptions such
as the enormous Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens
with a length of nearly 2 1/2 times its width.
A number of surviving temple-like structures
are circular, and are referred to as tholos.The
smallest temples are less than 25 metres (approx.
75 feet) in length, or in the case of the
circular tholos, in diameter.
The great majority of temples are between
30–60 metres (approx.
100–200 feet) in length.
A small group of Doric temples, including
the Parthenon, are between 60–80 metres
(approx.
200–260 feet) in length.
The largest temples, mainly Ionic and Corinthian,
but including the Doric Temple of the Olympian
Zeus, Agrigento, were between 90–120 metres
(approx.
300–390 feet) in length.
The temple rises from a stepped base or "stylobate",
which elevates the structure above the ground
on which it stands.
Early examples, such as the Temple of Zeus,
Olympia, have two steps, but the majority,
like the Parthenon, have three, with the exceptional
example of the Temple of Apollo, Didyma, having
six.
The core of the building is a masonry-built
"naos" within which is a cella, a windowless
room originally housing the statue of the
god.
The cella generally has a porch or "pronaos"
before it, and perhaps a second chamber or
"antenaos" serving as a treasury or repository
for trophies and gifts.
The chambers were lit by a single large doorway,
fitted with a wrought iron grill.
Some rooms appear to have been illuminated
by skylights.On the stylobate, often completely
surrounding the naos, stand rows of columns.
Each temple is defined as being of a particular
type, with two terms: one describing the number
of columns across the entrance front, and
the other defining their distribution.Examples:
Distyle in antis describes a small temple
with two columns at the front, which are set
between the projecting walls of the pronaos
or porch, like the Temple of Nemesis at Rhamnus.(see
left, figure 1.)
Amphiprostyle tetrastyle describes a small
temple that has columns at both ends which
stand clear of the naos.
Tetrastyle indicates that the columns are
four in number, like those of the Temple on
the Ilissus in Athens.(Figure 4.)
Peripteral hexastyle describes a temple with
a single row of peripheral columns around
the naos, with six columns across the front,
like the Theseion in Athens.
(Figure 7.)
Peripteral octastyle describes a temple with
a single row of columns around the naos, (Figure
7.) with eight columns across the front, like
the Parthenon, Athens.(Figs.
6 and 9.)
Dipteral decastyle describes the huge temple
of Apollo at Didyma, with the naos surrounded
by a double row of columns, (Figure 6.) with
ten columns across the entrance front.
The Temple of the Olympian Zeus, Agrigento,
is termed Pseudo-periteral heptastyle, because
its encircling colonnade has pseudo columns
that are attached to the walls of the naos.
(Figure 8.)
Heptastyle means that it has seven columns
across the entrance front.Note:
Precise measurements are not available for
all buildings.
Some have foundations that are intact and
have been well surveyed so that the dimensions
can be stated with accuracy.
For others the size can only be estimated
from scant remains.
In these cases, in converting, measurements
are stated to the nearest whole number.
Some measurements may have been made originally
in feet, converted to metres for publication,
and converted back to feet for this article,
with slight differences from some older publication.
== The list ==
Sorting behaviour (by column #):
Towns' alphabetical order
Towns by region (A-Greece, B-Turkey, C-Italy,
D-Italy/Sicily)
By coordinates
By the deity’s name
By date
By area size
By temple style (1-Doric, 2-Doric with Ionic
or Corinthian elements, 3-Ionic, 4-Corinthian)
== See also ==
Ancient Greek architecture
Ancient Greek temple
List of Greek mythological figures
Art in Ancient Greece
Greek culture
List of Greco-Roman roofs
List of ancient architectural records
Greek technology
Greek theatre
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
Major source for this list: Banister Fletcher,
A History of Architecture on the Comparative
method, Seventeenth edition, revised by R.A.
Cordingley, Athlone Press, (1963) Chapter
III, Greek Architecture, pp. 89 – 165.
=== Additional references ===
Boardman, John (1964).
Greek Art.
Thames and Hudson.
ISBN 0-500-18036-9.
Boardman, John; Dorig, Jose; Fuchs, Werner;
Hirmer, Max (1967).
The Art and Architecture of Ancient Greece.
London: Thames and Hudson.
Trewin Copplestone (editor), Lloyd, Rice,
Lynton, Boyd, Carden, Rawson, Jacobus, World
Architecture: an Illustrated History, Paul
Hamlyn, (1968); Seton Lloyd, Chapter 1: Ancient
& Classical Architecture
William Bell Dinsmoor, William James Anderson,
The Architecture of Ancient Greece: an account
of its historic development, Biblo and Tannen,
(1973) ISBN 0-8196-0283-3
Banister Fletcher, A History of Architecture
on the Comparative method (2001).
Elsevier Science & Technology.
ISBN 0-7506-2267-9.
Helen Gardner; Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J.
Mamiya, Gardner's Art through the Ages.
Thomson Wadsworth, (2004) ISBN 0-15-505090-7.
Marian Moffett, Michael Fazio, Lawrence Wodehouse,
A World History of Architecture, Lawrence
King Publishing, (2003), ISBN 1-85669-353-8.
Donald E. Strong, The Classical World, Paul
Hamlyn, London (1965) ISBN 978-0-600-02302-9
Henri Stierlin, Greece: From Mycenae to the
Parthenon, Taschen, (2004), ISBN 978-3-8228-1226-6
