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Posters of the Ruins of Ancient Athens
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Architecture relates to the design and construction of buildings, temples, houses and other structures used for human habitation. In Ancient Greece public buildings were made of marble. They used post and lintel construction so the roof was supported on tall columns. This was the same method of construction that was used in ancient Egypt. Walls were kept to a minimum because they shut out light from the sun. Heating was done on open fires and chimneys were not used. The structure was built up of smaller blocks of marble joined with metal pins. No mortar was used. The size of a room was limited by the length of the lintel. Wood was used for larger lintels while stone was used in longer lasting lintel. On surviving buildings some are missing their roofs because the wood has rotted away. Water was provided to public fountains that could be in such a room.
The ancient Greeks built public buildings as a direct result of their religious practice. Many public buildings were temples for worship with a secondary purpose. The local temple of Hestia maintained a fire so the local people could get a light if their home fire went out. Some of the temples were used a treasuries. Others were used a meeting places.
Buildings were made of wood or stone. The wooden buildings were post and lintel. The stone buildings were made of stones set without mortar. A metal key was used to keep the stones from sliding. Roof beams were built from wall to wall with extra support provided by columns. The roof beams formed a triangle so tile could be used on the upper surface of the roof.
Even though the Greek wives were secluded in the Greek homes, they were able to enjoy the Architecture because they participated in the religious festivals. They also served as models for the wonderful sculptures that graced the many public buildings.
Question: what is an architects role in Greek society
Answer: The architect draws up the plan. A need or a goal can be specified, but the architect fills in the details so the goal can be met in a realistic way. The archictect has the experience of previous projects with details about where materials can be acquired, how to put things together so they are safe and functional, and how to organize people to get the job done.
Question: what is the correlation betweenn art and religion in ancient greece. Can youu describe?
Answer: There is a high correlation between art and religion in ancient Greece. But there was no religion as we know it. The Greeks had a belief in the nature of the universe which included deities who needed to be appeased. This belief was based on their observation of the realities of the world. They thought that the art that they produced was pleasing to the deities. They used this art to decorate temples, marketplaces, cemeteries, and other places where the deities would need to be influenced. They did produce much more art than was needed for these purposes so the art was exported. And it was a popular and profitable export. But when the old religion was broken by the influx of Christianity in 125 AD, the art stopped too.
Question: Where there any stereotypes about women in ancient greece?
Answer: Oddly no. Many have suggested that there were stereotypes, but this idea is not supported by their art. The art reveals a wonderful variety of roles and types.
Question: why did thet believe in doing arcitecture
Answer: They were very civic minded and they wanted to glorify the deities. Their best architecture was public buildings and temples.
Question: what exactly is Doric architecture?
Answer: The Dorians were the first immigrants to Greece who built buildings that we would recognize as classical Greek architecture. As a result Doric is the oldest form of Greek architecture. It is simpler and more solid than the other forms.
Question: Is architecture a big part of ancient greece
Answer: Yes.
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Question: What building methods and materials did the Ancient Greeks use?
Answer:They used wood and stone in a post and lintel construction. Lead was used to pour pins into the stone and clay was fired into partly cylindrical tiles for the roof. The building methods and materials used by the Greeks came from Egypt where they had been in use at least a thousand years. What was unique about the Greeks was not the materials or the methods, but the design. The Romans incorporated new methods and materials such as arches, vaults, facades, and concrete, but they stuck to the Greek designs.
Various Construction tupes from ancient to contemporary.
Question: How did they use their building tools?
Answer: Mainly they used hand tools. They held the tool in their hands when they used them. A chisel was held in one hand while the hammer was held in the other. The hammer was used to strike the chisel. Some compound tools included cranes and bellows. When they carved a large block a projection called a boss was carved on each side. A rope looped over both projections allowed the block to be lifted by the crane.
Question: What is a adze, auger, chisel, mallet,and dressing tool?
Answer:
adze, auger, chisel, mallet, dressing tool, simple tools of ancient Greece.
The ancient Greek buildings were built with simple tools. Most work was done by hand. Two wheeled wagons were drawn by oxen. The main compound machine was the crane:
The crane used by the ancient Greeks was probably developed from the use of spars and masts on ships.
Question: how was a theatre made?
Answer: The Greeks used a hillside or a natural depression in the earth. The lowest point was formed into a circular dance floor with an alter in the center. The seats were stone blocks set in circles up the hill. Opposite the seats a raised stage would be set.
Question: what do the buildings look like?
Answer: Here is a link to a painting of the Acropolis at Athens as it would have appeared during the Golden Age of Greece: Click here
Question: Where there any palaces or kingdoms in greece? If so are the well known? and what is there names? and how did they look?
Answer: The palaces built in ancient Greece were mostly Minoan, but some were Mycenaean. The best known were the ones at Cnossos, Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos.
The Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens is the most famous building from ancient Greek times
The Parthenon was completed in 438 BCE for use as a temple for Athena. It served as a temple for the worship of Athena until the sixth century AD. It served as a Christian church until 1204, at which time it became a Latin church. Turkish conquers converted it to a Mosque in 1458. During a war it was used as a powder magazine and it blew up in 1687. It has been a ruin ever since.
The Elgin Marbles are a group of marble statues that originally were on the Parthenon. Lord Elgin brought them from Greece to the British Museum during the 19th century. Greece contends they were stolen and wants them back.
The Parthenon was, after all, a temple to the goddess Athena. As a result women are powerfully and sensitively portrayed, as would be beffitting a goddess. The sculptures include:
Resources:
Question: Origin of the carvings on greek architecture for longevity. The greek key design
Answer: "the earliest known vestiges of Greek architecture, Greek sculpture, and Greek decorative art are copied from Egyptian sources." "Chapter 5: Egypt the Birthplace of Greek Decorative Art." by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (1831-1892) Publication: Pharaohs Fellahs and Explorers. by Amelia Edwards. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1891. (First edition.) pp. 158-192.
The Greek key design is also reminiscent of the Labryinth. There is a similar looping but square pattern though the Labyrinth is more complex. One interpretation of the Labyrinth pattern is that it is a dance pattern. The Greek Key may have a similar interpretation
Question: was the fresco of the dolphins orginally on the floor as a mosaic
Answer: Although mosaics are not always on the floor, frescos are always on the wall. Minoans did not make much use of mosaics. Mosaics are made of pieces of stone while frescos are made of plaster or cement. The design of a mosaic is often quite thick, 2-3 inches, and may withstand centuries of wear, while the design of a fresco is quite thin, 1/8 of an inch.
Question: What is the Greek symbol for sports or peace of mind or travel?
Answer: The laurel wreath of the victor is perhaps the best symbol of the Olympics, but winners were often awarded victory vases which could serve as a symbol as well. In the Odyssey Athena brings peace of mind to Odysseus. The symbol for Athena is the Owl. Winged boots seem to be the symbol of travel for Hermes. These are illustrated as follows: Click here.
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Question: I really need info on what home life was like in ancient Athens 5 century; I need to know what the houses were like for the average citizen and where the slaves lived, where the women's rooms were did they have bathrooms, what kind of decoration did they have on the walls what was the flooring, were there two floors, were there the equivalent of suburbs, where did they get water from etc, please help.
Answer:
A house with a courtyard was the general plan. The entrance from the street led directly to the courtyard while the other roooms opened into the courtyard. A porch with columns was built on the north side of the courtyard which faced south for maximum sunlight. At ground level was a living room with a central hearth surrounded by a kitchen and bathroom. A men's room was fitted with about seven couches around the perimeter for dining. The remaining rooms on the ground floor were for storage. The women's quarters and bedrooms were built above the northern half of the house. Slaves and family lived together like one big family.
Walls might have been decorated, but no paintings survived. Draperies and carpets could have been hung for warmth. These were decorated in the same manner as the cloths illustrated on the vase paintings. Sometimes a doorway was fitted with a wooden door, but curtains were more common. Flooring was often dirt, but sometimes pebbles or stone. Upper stories had wooden floors. The buildings themselves were made of stone, rubble and mud, and wood. The roofs had the curved tiles that are still common in Mediteranean countries.
Some houses had running water delivered from high springs through aqueducts and clay pipes. These homes had a room with a fountain for water and a privy-like hole for wastes which were washed away by the running water. But most houses had water carried in from fountain houses and wastes carried out to the fields for disposal. Women traditionally carried the water in large water jars on their heads. Houses were often crowded together for protection and separated by narrow streets and alleys.
Interior of a Greek house looking through a doorway into a bed.
The drawing of a house from Pompeii during the Roman period fits the description of a Greek house fairly well: Click here. This house seems to have three courtyards.
Question: what materialsused to construct their homes.
Answer: Archeological remains indicate that mud brick, stone, and timber were used. People that lived in tents would have left no remains.
Question: I am looking for pictures of women's bathhouses - possibly on the Isles of lesbos - Sappho's time period.
Answer: The Ancient Greeks were more likely to take baths in private so I am not sure you will find what you want. What follows are links to images of baths:
Question: I need information on the layout etc of an ancient athenian home of a well off family
Answer: Houses consisted of a series of rooms around a central courtyard. The construction was usually brick or stone as wood was scarce in Greece. Wood was used in the rafters, beds and doors, though some doors were actually made of stone. There were no hinges on the doors which turned on pins instead. Many doors were probably covered with cloth. Floors were dirt or stone and often rough. For this reason furniture was often three-legged. There was no plumbing so water had to be carried in and wastes carried out. In the Odyssey Homer describes a dung pile by the front door. Cooking was done over a open fire, probably in the courtyard. Stone beehive ovens were used to bake bread. Liquids were stored in amphora.
In the Odyssey the palace of Alcinous is described (Booki VII): "Meanwhile Odysseus went to the famous palace of Alcinous, and his heart was full of many thoughts as he stood there or ever he had reached the threshold of bronze. For there was a gleam as it were of sun or moon through the high-roofed hall of great-hearted Alcinous. Brazen were the walls which ran this way and that from the threshold to the inmost chamber, and round them was a frieze of blue, and golden were the doors that closed in the good house. Silver were the door-posts that were set on the brazen threshold, and silver the lintel thereupon, and the hook of the door was of gold. And on either side stood golden hounds and silver, which Hephaestus wrought by his cunning, to guard the palace of great-hearted Alcinous, being free from death and age all their days. And within were seats arrayed against the wall this way and that, from the threshold even to the inmost chamber, and thereon were spread light coverings finely woven, the handiwork of women. There the Phaeacian chieftains were wont to sit eating and drinking, for they had continual store. Yea, and there were youths fashioned in gold, standing on firm-set bases, with flaming torches in their hands, giving light through the night to the feasters in the palace. And he had fifty handmaids in the house, and some grind the yellow grain on the millstone, and others weave webs and turn the yarn as they sit, restless as the leaves of the tall poplar tree: and the soft olive oil drops off that linen, so closely is it woven. For as the Phaeacian men are skilled beyond all others in driving a swift ship upon the deep, even so are the women the most cunning at the loom, for Athene hath given them notable wisdom in all fair handiwork and cunning wit. And without the courtyard hard by the door is a great garden, off our ploughgates, and a hedge runs round on either side. And there grow tall trees blossoming, pear-trees and pomegranates, and apple-trees with bright fruit, and sweet figs, and olives in their bloom. The fruit of these trees never perisheth neither faileth, winter nor summer, enduring through all the year. Evermore the West Wind blowing brings some fruits to birth and ripens others. Pear upon pear waxes old, and apple on apple, yea and cluster ripens upon cluster of the grape, and fig upon fig. There too hath he a fruitful vineyard planted, whereof the one part is being dried by the heat, a sunny plot on level ground, while other grapes men are gathering, and yet others they are treading in the wine-press. In the foremost row are unripe grapes that cast the blossom, and others there be that are growing black to vintaging. There too, skirting the furthest line, are all manner of garden beds, planted trimly, that are perpetually fresh, and therein are two fountains of water, whereof one scatters his streams all about the garden, and the other runs over against it beneath the threshold of the courtyard, and issues by the lofty house, and thence did the townsfolk draw water. These were the splendid gifts of the gods in the palace of Alcinous." The Queen, Arete, had Odysseus sleep on a "... bedstead in the portico and to furnish it with the finest purple rugs, spread sheets over these and add warm blankets on top for covering." (Book VII)
The house of Odysseus is described as (Book XVII): "There are buildings beyond buildings; the coutyard wall with its battlements is a fine piece of work and those folding doors are true defenses." This house also had a portico, for that was where Odysseus slept.
Question: how did ancient athenians entertain in their homes
Answer: Homer describes a feast given by Alcinous as follows: (Book VII) "And he found the captains and the counsellors of the Phaeacians pouring forth wine to the keen-sighted god, the slayer of Argos; for to him they poured the last cup when they were minded to take rest....
'Alcinous, this truly is not the more seemly way, nor is it fitting that the stranger should sit upon the ground in the ashes by the hearth, while these men refrain them, waiting thy word. Nay come, bid the stranger arise, and set him on a chair inlaid with silver, and command the henchmen to mix the wine, that we may pour forth likewise before Zeus, whose joy is in the thunder, who attendeth upon reverend suppliants. And let the housewife give supper to the stranger out of such stores as be within.'
Now when the mighty king Alcinous heard this saying, he took Odysseus, the wise and crafty, by the hand, and raised him from the hearth, and set him on a shining chair, whence he bade his son give place, valiant Laodamas, who sat next him and was his dearest. And a handmaid bare water for the hands in a goodly golden ewer, and poured it forth over a silver basin to wash withal, and drew to his side a polished table. And a grave dame bare wheaten bread and set it by him and laid upon the board many dainties, giving freely of such things as she had by her. So the steadfast goodly Odysseus did eat and drink: and then the mighty Alcinous spake unto the henchman:
'Pontonous, mix the bowl and serve out the wine to all in the hall, that we may pour forth likewise before Zeus, whose joy is in the thunder, who attendeth upon reverend suppliants.'
So spake he, and Pontonous mixed the honey-hearted wine, and served it out to all, when he had poured for libation into each cup in turn.
Question: what was the male responsibilities in the home in ancient athens
Answer: The male was responsible for everything.
Furniture was fairly simple but with a distinctive Greek style. Tripods and other things were often three-legged so the furniture would rest flat on a rough floor. Greek furniture was made of wood and bronze.
Beds were like those of Egypt except they had higher legs. When a symposium was held beds were lined against the wall of the room. This allowed the guests to lounge on the beds while they drank, ate, watched, and discussed. Greek vases clearly show that when a guest was done with food the scraps were tossed on the floor to waiting dogs. Perhaps the legs were high because the dogs were big. The bed (or couch) was called a kline and appears as follows:
At a meal with tables only one person had a chair to sit upon. This was the throne of the most important person at the meal. Everyone else sat upon a three legged stool. The following picture shows the mistress of the house in the throne. During the classical period only the Cretans sat at tables to eat. Other Greeks lounged on beds while they ate. Even so if there was a chair only the most important person sat in it. Normally the table was beside the chair and not over it. Important women are pictured in chairs of the klismos type.
A chair, a table, a stool and a small tripod.
The tripod is an important piece of ancient Greek furniture with great status attached. Specifically it is a three-legged support for a cauldron or an altar stone. But it also seems to refer to the cauldron with the three legs attached. It was often offered as a prize in a competition or as a gift to show great honor. They were probably made of bronze. A fire could be placed in the cauldron so it serves as a firebox, or a fire could be placed under the cauldron to boil water. The following picture illustrates a goddess about to present two tripods to two heroes.
Two large tripods with a goddess
The klimos chair with its curved legs was developed by the ancient Greeks. It is usually shown occupied by an important woman. The material was probably brass. In the following picture a bride prepares for her wedding. But she is not seated in a Klismos chair. A slave-girl prepares food on a feast table.
A bride in a chair and a slave-girl with a klismos_chair
Links:
Resources on Furniture:
Euclid describes the golden section in Proposition VI, 30. Eudoxus (c. 370) had worked on this. The sectioning of a segment in mean and extreme ratio (golden section) is found in the star pentagram, the symbol of health and the distinguishing mark among the pythagoreans. The Greek historian Herodotus relates that the Egyptian Priests had told him that the proportions of the great pyramid of Gizeh were chosen so that the area of a square whose side is the height of the great pyramid equals the area of a face triangle. This means that the ratio of the altitude of a face triangle to half the base length is the Golden ratio. A golden rectangle has this ratio among its sides. This was believed to be an aesthetically pleasing shape.
Rectangles in art and architecture were often made to conform to the golden rectangle. But this was not based on scientific fact. More than likely it was a matter of numerology. One of the theorems that was discovered relating to the construction of the golden mean was discovered by Pythagoras. It was he that proposed that number was the unchanging matrix of the universe. So it seems likely that the
The Golden Mean
Goldend
The Greeks did post and lintle construction and the column was the post. Their true purpose was to please their divinities. Their style was peculiar to the Greek culture and can only be illustrated.
The three orders of Greek architecture are the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Image links follow:
The Doric order is the ordest and it evolved during the 7th century BCE. The Ionic was more slender with deeper fluting and it stood on a base. It was developed in the sixth century BCE. The Corithian developed in the 5th century BCE with changes to the capitals. Acanthus leaves decorated the upper portions.
An Ionic column was used in Sparta: Image 2371
The type of leaves are on the Greek columns are acanthus leaves which grow on a plant native to Greece.
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A number of ancient Greek buildings can be reviewed at:
Ancient Greeks did not make pictures of their architecture. Notice in the following picture of naked women in a building that all you get of the building is a column: Click here. In the following panel about the death of Argos a single Doric column represents a building: Click Here
A reconstruction of the Acropolis is available at Acropolis SW view
Pictures of ancient Greek Temples:
One of the best sources on-line is the Perseus Project. This is an evolving digital library of resources for the study of the ancient world and beyond. Collaborators initially formed the project to construct a large, heterogeneous collection of materials, textual and visual, on the Archaic and Classical Greek world. Its address is: Click here
A directory of images of ancient Greek architecture is located at: Click here
Another index is located at: Click here
An article on ancient Greek architecture is located at: Click Here
An article on ancient Greek chairs is at: Click here
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