CYBERDAY #5

This is now cyberday #5, cool.  Today we have to find 3 examples of Greek architecture, post a picture of it, and write "when and where they were built, what style they were built in, what materials were used to build them, what architectural details were included, and why the Greeks built these particular structures," according to Mr. Schick.

1. Parthenon

The Parthenon was built in 447 B.C. in Athens, Greece after the Persians destroyed by the Persians. It became the model of Classical architecture and its style has affected architecture for many centuries after it was built.  This temple was built of ivory and gold.  The Parthenon is a Doric peripteral temple, meaning that it is made up of a rectangular floor plan with a sequence of low steps on every side and a row of Doric columns extending around the edge of the entire structure.

2. Erechtheum

The Erechtheum was built in 421 B.C. on the north side of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.  It was built to house the ancient wooden cult statue of Athena and generally glorify the great city at the height of its power and influence.  This temple, considered the holiest of all temples in Greece, is also Classical architectural, but instead it is Ionic order.  The ionic shafts were taller than Doric ones, which made them look thinner.  Ionic order shafts also had flutes (lines carved into the shafts from top to bottom), entasis (a little bulge in the columns to make them look straight), a frieze, bases, and capitals that looked like scrolls above the staff.  It is the representative of the special features of the Ionic Order at its finest.  The temple was made of pentalic marble, terracotta, wood, and Eleusinian.

3. The Temple of Zeus

Built around 456 B.C, it is Classical agricultural and Doric order, like the Parthenon.  It is located in Olympia, Greece, on the western coast of Greece.  The main structure of the building was made out of a somewhat bad standard limestone that was coated with a thin layer of stucco, which gave the temple an appearance of being made of marble.  All of the sculptural decoration on the temple was made of Parian marble.  It was built to honor the chief of the gods, Zeus.  Unfortunately, only remains of the Temple of survived.