Archaic Greek Architecture
Temple of Hera - Agrigento, Sicily
To make the temples look more impressive, Greek architects began to build temples on top of small stone platforms with steps going up to them. This picture is from the Doric temple of Hera, also at Agrigento in Sicily, which was built about 450 BC. Can you see how the columns have lines running up and down them? That is to imitate the lines left by the axes which took the bark off the tree trunks, when columns were still being made from tree trunks. The lines are called flutes.
Temple at Segesta
The facades (fa-SAHDS - fronts) of Archaic Greek temples were built just like the old wood ones, translated into stone. On this Doric temple from Segesta (also in Sicily, built around 430 BC) you can see the old tree-trunks that are now stone columns, and the triangular roof (the pediment) which was once the wooden roof beams. In between you can see sets of vertical lines with spaces between them. These are the triglyphs, and the spaces between them are called metopes. The triglyphs are copies in stone of the ends of the wooden roof beams from the old wooden temples.
Archaic Greek Architecture, Page 4
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