Transcript Hellenistic Architecture

Hellenistic Architecture
Stoas, Theaters, Temple complexes
Historical Background
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323 BCE: Death of Alexander the Great
Seleucid dynasty at Antioch in Syria.
Attalid dynasty at Pergamon in Asia Minor.
Macedonians control Greece.
Hieron II (275 - 216 BCE) in Syracuse.
201 BCE: Roman praetor in Syracuse.
Bickering among Greek city-states.
Philip V: defeated by Romans in 197 BCE; totally broken at
Pydna in 168 BCE.
• 146 BCE: Mummius sacks Corinth. Rome razes Carthage.
• 133 BCE: Pergamon bequeaths its kingdom to Rome.
• 33 BCE: Battle of Actium.
Architecture
• City planning in Asia Minor effects the
rebuilding of city centers like the agora in
Athens.
• Stoas frame and monumentalize public
spaces.
• Dictatorial displays favor gigantic building
projects - large temples constructed.
• Rise in public entertainment for an
expanding, diverse population seen in
theater complex constructions.
Examples
• Temples:
– Apollo at Didyma,
– Olympieion at Athens.
• Stoas:
– Attalos at Athens
– Market in Miletus.
• Theaters:
– Dionysos in Athens
– Pergamon.
Temple of
Apollo at
Didyma
• Pre-Greek cult center with sacred grove and spring.
• First temple completed in 6th century BCE: unroofed Ionic
building enclosing the spring and naiskos.
• 311 BCE: Cult revived by the Seleucids and temple
commissioned.
Plan of Didyma
temple
• Monumental Ionic,
dipteral temple
surrounding a naiskos.
• 118 meters by 60 meters.
• Monumental stairway
descends to the cella.
• Climb up to staircase
through tunnels from the
pronaos.
• Temple primarily of
marble.
• Temple plans inscribed
on the marble walls.
Olympieion,
Athens.
• Begun by the Peisistratids
in 6th century BCE as a
Doric temple. Unfinished.
• ~175 BCE: Antiochus IV
commissioned the architect
Cossutius to finsih in
Corinthian order.
• 108 by 41 meters.
• Triple rows of eight
columns back and front.
• Sack of Athens by Sulla in
86 BCE. Corinthian
capitals brought to Rome.
Plan of the Olympieion
Stoa of Attalos
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Gift of Attalos (159 - 138 BCE) and his wife.
115 by 20 meters.
Two floors of 21 shops. 42 shops total.
Primarily made of marble.
Column orders
in the stoa
• Exterior: Doric
on the ground
floor (unfluted
bottom half).
Ionic on the
top floor.
• Interior: Ionic
on the ground
floor.
Pergamene
(new) on the
top.
Reconstruction
• Completed by the ASCSA in 1950s.
• Serves as the museum for the Athenian Agora.
Stoa framing
Miletus
• Rebuilt in Hellenistic period. Mid 2nd c.
BCE.
• Complex market arrangement. South and
North markets. All public buildings and
offices enlsoed in thus planned market area.
• Bouleterion - ironic during these times of
the loss of local autonomy.
Theater of
Dionysos at
Athens
• 5th century
theater was
simple, without
marble seats
and structure.
• Mid. 4th c
BCE:
Lykourgos
responsible
form marble
crystallization
of its form.
Theater at Pergamon
• Site planned and built
in 3rd c. BCE.
Bequeathed to Rome in
133 BCE.
• Theater dominates,
underlying “theatrical
setting”.
• Great Altar platform
looms over theater.