Greek Architecture, Essay Example

In broad terms, a polis is a city and an acropolis is an elevated settlement or fortress. The acropolis is the upper part of the polis, typically where government and other important aspects of city life were run. Ultimately, the polis and acropolis had important distinctions in terms of typology, politics, social order, and cultural aesthetics. While the polis was typically representative of the overall culture of a city-state, the acropolis was often the center of defense, religion, and law for each region.

A major consideration of the relationship between the polis and acropolis is due to the typology of the individuals living within this territory. Although the ancient Greek government was democratic, there were many slaves and lower class citizens living in these city-states that were not afforded the same rights as higher class citizens. As a consequence, individuals living in the polis were typically slaves, tradesmen from other cities, citizens with full legal and political rights, and citizens with only full legal but not political rights. Typically, religious leaders, important government officials, and military leaders would live in the acropolis. An example of a building in the polis that emphasizes the typology of the individuals living within the city-state is the agora. All inhabitants of the city-state had access to this marketplace, although each social class would have different purposes for visiting it. Typically, the agora was a large open space.

The politics of the city-state would typically occur in the acropolis. Archaeologists have demonstrated that throughout several periods in history, a palace existed in the Athenian acropolis. Therefore, it can be concluded that this is where a majority of the governance for the city-state took place. Since the ancient Greeks had many elected senators to represent the people, this space was likely large and comfortable to support conversations that could potentially last many days. It is also likely that this building was well protected due to the physical elevation of the acropolis and the built defenses it contained.

Social order is an important component of both the polis and the acropolis. The governed individuals living within the polis were expected to follow the law and a certain set of standards, which was controlled based on decisions made in the acropolis. One of the buildings in the acropolis that helped maintain this social order is the temples and altars, which were dedicated to a patron god or goddess for each city-state. In the case of Athens, this goddess was Athena. Each temple kept its own traditions, which had a direct impact on whether citizens would behave morally or immorally.

The polis was important as far as cultural aesthetics in the Athenian democracy was concerned. Of utmost importance was the theater and gymnasia. The gymnasia was an outdoor training facility for athletes, while the theater was a layered structure that would allow all audience members to adequately view and hear the performance. Sports and theater were important for uniting Athenians, because these activities played a large role in developing and maintaining their culture.

In conclusion, it is important to understand the relationship between the polis and acropolis in order to gain a true appreciation of ancient Greek life. Thetypology, politics, social order, and cultural aesthetics of the buildings in these two sections of the city contributed greatly to the functionality of Athenian society. It is likely that the Greek culture would not have been as significant to us today if it weren’t for their architectural feats.

There are several Architectural Orders that describe the ancient styles of classical architecture. Among these include the Greek Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, in addition to the Roman Tuscan and Composite orders. Many different theories have been formulated to gain a greater understanding of how these different orders have come about. One of these theories is known as the progressive theory, which states how each of these concepts built upon their predecessors. Body tectonics describes the actual compositions of these columns.

The progressive theory states that the column designs evolved from preexisting models. A known example of this is the evolution of the Ionic order from the Aeolic order. Since the Aeolic order originated in Asia Minor but spread to eastern Greece, it is clear that the spread of ideas influenced the architecture that is considered to be iconic of the ancient Greeks.

The Ionic order is characterized by slender, fluted pillars with a large base and two opposing volutes, which look like scrolls. The echinus is decorated with an egg-and-dart motif. The shaft of this column has four more flutes than the Doric column, which brings it to a total of twenty-four flutes. The base has two convex moldings called tori that are separated by a scotia.

The progressive theory helps us understand the appearance of columns based on predecessors and the tectonics theory helps us understand it in terms of art forms. For example, the Ionic order is compared to the Doric order because they have a similar number of flutes. It is possible that this is because the Doric order and Ionic order were developed more closely together in terms of historical context or that the creators shared similar ideas. In comparison, the Doric order stood directly on the ground in front of a temple or a building of importance and were fluted with parallel concave grooves. They were topped by a smooth capital, which is the topmost section of the column. In Greece, the Doric order was most popular from 750 to 480 B.C., while the Ionic order was most popular on the Aegean Islands after the popularity of the Doric order had faded away. The Corinthian order was the last to be developed and was popular during the Late Classical Period from 430 – 323 BC. Because this was the style that was favored by the Romans in their architecture, this is one of the columns styles that are considered popular today due to this culture’s widespread influence. However, it is important to emphasize that the Roman architectural concepts were based on that of the Greeks.

Not much is currently known about how the order of columns were developed, as much of this documentation was lost during ancient times. However, we can use both of these theories to piece together how these columns were developed initially and how they could be used today. We do know that many of these artistic concepts spread from ideas that were developed by architects in Greece, and many of these ideas may have originated in Asia and the Middle East. It would be possible to uncover more about this topic by studying the similarity between the Greek and Roman columns and those previously developed in Jerusalem and nearby cities.