Classical Greek Architecture .

The term classical architecture refers to the building styles developed by the ancient Greek and Romans. However, the roots of classical architecture can be traced to buildings created by two early Greek peoples - the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. Classical Greek architecture, in turn, greatly influenced Roman architecture.

Classical Greek architecture has been imitated and adapted to the present day. The best- known Greek contribution to architecture was a set of styles, called orders, for columns and their accompanying entablature. The Greek used three basic orders - Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Each of the three orders had its own distinctive decorations.

The principal type of classical Greek building was the temple. Its design followed the plan of the Mycenaean megaron. Megaron was a rectangular royal audience hall, the heart of the palace. A Greek temple consisted of arrangements of columns that surrounded a long chamber. The Greeks built many temples on a hill that overlooked a city. Such a hill was known as an acropolis.

The Greeks developed formulas for the various styles of temples. The formulas set forth the order; the number, height, width, and spacing of the columns; and even the details of the smallest carvings. A typical formula was Doric peripteral hexastyle. Doric meant that the building would be erected in the Doric order with standart Doric ornamentation. Peripteral indicated that the building would be surrounded by a single row of columns. Hexastyle meant that the front entrance, or portico, would be six columns wide. Greek architects used the diameter of the column at its base as the unit of measurement for determining the proportions of the entire building. This unit is called the module.

In spite of the use of formulas, Greek temple designs had great flexibility and variety. A temple could be low and long or high and short. It might be simple or highly decorative. The number of columns could vary from 2 to more than 100.

Greek architecture can be traced back to palaces built on the island of Crete by a people known as the Minoans. Short wooden columns supported the Palace of Minos, below, built about 1500 B.C. in Knossos, Crete. By the mid-400’s B.C., classical Greek architecture featured rows of beautifully proportioned stone columns in such structures as the Temple of Hephaestus, above, in Athens.

№3. Answer the questions given below:

1) What was the best-known Greek contribution to architecture?

2) What basic orders did the Greek use?

3) What was the principal type of classical Greek building?

4) What was a megaron?

5) What did a Greek temple consist of?

6) What was a hill that overlooked a city called?

7) What did Greek architects use the diameter of the column at its base as?

8) What might a Greek temple be?

№4. Match the following English words with their Ukrainian equivalents:

1) various styles a) довга палата;

2) principal type b) високодекоративний;

3) to erect c) основний тип(рiзновид);

4) great flexibility d) парадний вхiд;

5) front entrance e) рiзнi стилi;

6) a long chamber f) велика гнучкiсть;

7) highly decorative g) споруджувати;