Read, translate and comment on the text.

ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE

Notes. The text you are going to read deals with the orders of architecture. Before reading study the following.

In classic architecture the term “ORDER” is employed to distinguish the varieties of column and entablature which were employed by the Greeks and Romans in their temples and public buildings.

Pre-reading taSks

Learn the following words and word combinations.

abacus ['æbəkəs] – 1) абак(а), верхняя часть капители колонны acanthus [ə'kæn(t)θəs] – акант (орнамент) arch [ɑːʧ] – арка architrave ['ɑːkɪtreɪv] – архитрав band [bænd] – кайма base [beɪs] – основание; базис bell-shaped – колоколообразный bulge [bʌlʤ] – выпуклость canopy ['kænəpɪ] – навес, тент. Syn: awning capital ['kæpɪtəl] – капитель caryatid [kærɪ'ætɪd] – кариатида cella ['kɛlə] – цела channel ['ʧæn(ə)l] – жёлоб; паз colonnaded [kɔlə'neɪdɪd] – украшенный колоннадой; colonnaded aisles – боковые приделы храма, украшенные колоннадой Composite ['kɔmpəzɪt] – композитный concavity [kɔn'kævətɪ] – вогнутая поверхность conjunction [kən'ʤʌŋkʃ(ə)n] –пересечение convex [kɔn'veks]; convex curve – выпуклая кривая Corinthian [kə'rɪnθɪən] order – коринфский ордер cornice ['kɔːnɪs] – 1) карниз; closed cornice – полый карниз; plaster cornice – лепной карниз (внутренний); stucco cornice – лепной карниз (наружный); principal cornice – венчающий карниз здания; to run a cornice – вытягивать карниз dipteral ['dɪptər(ə)l] – окружённый двойной колоннадой dentil ['dentɪl]; dentils – зубчатый орнамент. Syn. denticulation, denting, indentation Doric ['dɔrɪk] order – дорический ордер dowel ['dauəl] – дюбель; болт, чека. Syn: pin, key dwarf [dwɔːf] – карликовый, миниатюрный elliptical [ɪ'lɪptɪk(ə)l] – эллиптический; Syn: elliptic egg-and-dart – ионики с остриями в промежутках (архитектурный орнамент) echinus [e'kaɪnəs] – эхин entasis ['ɛntəsɪs] – энтазис (выпуклость колонны) entablature [en'tæbləʧə] = entablement – антаблемен; vertical roll entablature – поперечина вертикальных валков

fascia ['fæʃɪə] – фасций. Syn: band fillet ['fɪlɪt] – канелюра flute [flu:t] – канелюра frieze [fri:z] – фриз, бордюр gable ['geɪbl] – щипец goad [gəud] – шпиль groove [gru:v] – желобок, паз hexastyle ['hɛksəstʌɪl] – шестиколонная галерея hind [haɪnd] – лань intercolumniation [ɪntəkəlʌmnɪ'eɪʃ(ə)n] – расстояние в свету между колоннами Ionic [aɪ'ɔnɪk]; Ionic order – ионический ордер kore ['kɔːreɪ] – кора magisterial [mæʤɪ'stɪərɪəl] – властный matcing frieze – парный бордюр metope ['metəup] – метоп modillion [mə'dɪljən] – модильон module ['mɔdju:l] – модуль moulded base – рельефная основа ostentation [ɔsten'teɪʃ(ə)n] – выставление напоказ par excellence – в особенности pedestal ['pedɪst(ə)l] – цоколь. Syn. base pediment ['pedɪmənt] – фронтон pedimental sculptures – акротерй perennial [p(ə)'renɪəl] – вечный petrification – петрификация pilaster [pɪ'læstə] – пилястр pillar and beam construction – стоично-балочная система porch [pɔːʧ] – портик. Syn: portico portico ['pɔːtɪkəu] – портик roof beam – стропильный ригель, кровельная балка round sculpture – круглая скульптура semicircular – полукруглый shaft [ʃɑːft] – колонна; стержень колонны; столб sharpened edge – острая кромка slab [slæb] – плита; пластина spiral ['spaɪər(ə)l] – спираль stereobate ['stɛrɪə(ʊ)beɪt] – цоколь stilted ['stɪltɪd] – высокопарный stylobate ['stʌɪlə(ʊ)beɪt] – стилобат (верхняя ступень стереобата) stride [straɪd] – большой шаг tabernacle ['tæbə,nækl] – скиния triglyph ['traiglif] – триглиф tripod ['traɪpɔd] – треножник; тренога turn on a lathe [leɪð] – обтачивать Tuscan ['tʌskən] – 1) этрусский; 2) тосканский volute [və'lu:t] – волюта; завиток

Make up a story of your own, use expressions from ex.1.

Answer the following questions.

1. How many orders of architecture are there?

2. Could you name them?

3. Where did the orders of architecture develop?

4. Make sure you know how to pronounce the following.

Acropolis [ə'krɔpəlɪs]; Amazons ['æməz(ə)nz]; Apollo [ə'pɔləu]; Argo ['ɑːgəu]; Artemis ['ɑːtɪmɪs]; Asia Minor [eɪʃə'maɪnə]; Athena [ə'θi:nə]; Athens ['æθ(ə)nz]; basilica [bə'zɪlɪkə]; Caryatid [,kærɪ'ætɪd]; Corfu [kɔː'fu:]=Corcyra [kɔː'sʌɪərə]; Delphi ['dɛlfi]; Elgin ['elgɪn]; Erechtheum [ɪ'rɛkθɪəm]; Erechtheus [ɪ'rɛkθɪəs]; Zeus [zju:s]; Hadrian ['heɪdrɪən]; Hera ['hɪərə]; Sybil ['sɪbɪl]; Medusa Gorgon [mɪ'dju:zə'gɔːgən]; Marathon ['mærəθən]; Parthenon ['pɑːθɪnən]; Pegasus ['pegəsəs]; Perseus ['pɜːsɪəs]; Phrygian ['frɪʤɪən]; Poseidon [pə'saɪd(ə)n]; Themis ['θi:mɪs]; Titus ['tʌɪtəs]

5. What do you know about the gods, personalities, a prophetess; a citadel and the cities mentioned in exercise 4?

Translate the following into Russian.

The principal public building of the Greeks was the temple, dedicated to one or several deities. Some temples were in lowland sites, others set upon a command­ing height, like the Acropolis at Athens. The Greek temple was not intended for public worship, which took place before altars in the open air. Its primary purposes were to house the image of the god and to preserve the offerings brought by the faithful. At first of modest dimensions the temple was impressive only in its exterior. Its appearance was dominated by the colonnaded portico, or peristyle, which surrounded all larger temples and existed in the form of porches even in very small ones. In a Greek polis a portico provided shelter from sun or rain and a freely accessible public place in which to discuss political or philosophical principles, conduct business, or just stroll. In fact, in Hellenistic times independent porticoeswere built for just these purposes. They were walled on three sides and open on the fourth, and were sometimes hundreds of feet long. The walls of early colonnaded temples were built of mud brick and the columns of wood. In the course of time stone was substituted for these perishable materials, but the shapes of wooden columns and wooden beams continued to be followed in their stone successors. Differentiated systems known as orders governed all the forms of any Greek temple.

Make up questions covering the main points of the text given in ex. 6, ask your classmate to answer them.

Read and learn the following.

The architrave is the lowermost element carried from column to column; the frieze is an unmolded strip that may or may not be ornamented; the cornice is the projecting member below the pediment; the metope is a plain, smooth stone section between triglyphs; the triglyphs are a pattern of three vertical lines alternate with metopes.

Read the following Text.

TEXT

At first the Greeks developed only two orders the Doric and the Ionic. In the fifth century the Corinthian appeared; this order was seldom used by the Greeks but became a favorite among the Romans, who added two orders of their own, the Tuscan and the Composite. The column and the entablature, the basic components of the Greek orders, are simply more elaborate versions of post-and-lintel construction. The column was divided into shaft, capital, and base (Greek Doric columns had no base). The entablature, the upper element of classical architecture located between the columns and the pediment, rests on the capital. The entablature is divided into architrave, frieze, and cornice. The capital was intended to transfer the weight of the entablature onto the shaft.

The Doric Order has no base, as on the Parthenon, the temple of Athena Parthenos, Greek goddess of wisdom, on the Acropolis in Athens. The Parthenon was built in the 5th century BCE, and despite the enormous damage it has sustained over the centuries, it still communicates the ideals of order and harmony. The stylobate of the Doric order has three high steps. The columns were made of cylindrical blocks, called drums, turned on a lathe. These were held together by metal dowels and were fluted, that is, channeled by shallow vertical grooves, after being erected.

The earliest Doric columns had twenty-four flutes, which increased their apparent verticality and slenderness. Doric flutes met in a sharp edge. The Doric columns are about five and a half diameters high. The intercolumniation or clear space between the columns is about one diameter and a third. The height of the entablature is more than twice the diameter of the column. Greek columns had a slight swell in the shaft of a column, known as the entasis, introduced to correct the visual illusion of concavity produced by the straight shaft.

The Doric capital consisted of a square slab known as the abacus above a smooth, round, cushion-shaped member called the echinus. The Ionic capital, more elaborate, had a richly ornamented abacus and echinus separated by a double-scroll-shaped member, the volute. The Doric architrave was a single unmolded stone beam, and the frieze was divided between triglyphs and metopes. The triglyph was a block with two complete vertical grooves in the center and a half groove at each side. The metopes were the slabs between the beams.

The Doric order was considered masculine and robust, the Ionic feminine and elegant. In every Doric or Ionic temple the basic elements were the same. The Ionic order originated in Asia Minor in the mid 6th century BCE It is characterized by a moulded base, tall, slim column shafts with twenty four semi-circular flutes separated by flat fillets. Whatever may have been their purpose, the flutes have the effect of increasing the clarity of progression from light to shade in easily distinguishable stages around a shaft. The Ionic columns are between eight and nine diameters high and a little more than two diameters apart. Its capital is decorated with a volute, a scroll-like design. Its fascinating entablature has a continuous frieze, usually dentils in the cornice. The shafts also had the entasis. The frieze is plain. The Ionic architrave was divided into three flat strips called fasciae, each projecting slightly beyond the one below. The Ionic frieze had no special architectural character but could be ornamented or sculptured. The temple was usually roofed by a low gable whose open triangular ends, backed by slabs of stone, were called pediments. The corner columns invariably caused difficulties. Since there was always one triglyph above each Doric column and another above each intercolumniatim, either half a metope would be left over at the corner of the building or the corner triglyph would not be over a column. This discrepancy was solved by delicate adjustments of distances, so that a two-faced triglyph always appeared at the corner, with adjacent metopes slightly extended, and the corner column was brought a little closer to its neighbors. In the Ionic order, since the capitals had two scrolled and two flat sides, the problem was again how to turn the corner. This was solved by giving the corner capital two adjacent flat sides, with a volute coming out on an angle for both, and two inner scrolled sides. The bases are large and look like a set of stacked rings. Ionic capitals consist of scrolls above the shaft. The Ionic order is less heavy than the Doric and less elaborate than the Corinthian.

The Corinthian order was an Athenian invention of the 5^th century BCE It is the slenderest and most ornate of the three Greek orders. In its general proportions it resembles the Ionic, but it is characterized by a high base, sometimes a pedestal; a slim, fluted column shaft with fillets; bell-shaped capital with eight volutes and two rows of acanthus leaves. It has an elaborate cornice. Its capital is very elaborate and decorated with acanthus leaves. The Corinthian order was seldom used in the Greek world. The oldest known example of the order Corinthian is found in the temple of Apollo at Bassae (ca.420 BCE). The temple of Zeus at Athens (started in the 2d century BCE and completed by Emperor Hadrian in the 2d century CE) was the most notable of the Corinthian temples. The Romans used the Corinthian order more often than the Greeks for its ostentation. The Roman abacus was enriched with egg-and-dart, as were also parts of the architrave. The Roman cornice was very richly treated and often had modillions carved with acanthus.The Temple of the Sybil in Rome is an example of the Corinthian order.

The Tuscan order is a simplified version of the Roman Doric, having a plain frieze and no modules in the cornice. In the Tuscan order, the column has a simpler base and is unfluted, while both capital and entablature were without adornments. In its simplicity, it is seen as similar to the Doric order, and yet in its overall proportions and intercolumniation, it follows the ratios of the Ionic order. This strong order was considered most appropriate in military architecture and in docks and warehouses when they were dignified by architectural treatment.

The Composite order is a late Roman combination of the Ionic and Corinthian ele­ments. It combines the volutes of the Ionic capital with the Corinthian acanthus. The Composite order has the plan of the Corinthian abacus, a square with convex sides. The Composite order also has echinus molded with egg-and-dart ornamentation borrowed from the Ionic order between the volutes. The column of the Composite order is ten diameters high. The Arch of Titus, in the forum in Rome, built in 82 CE, is considered the first example of a Composite order.

In Classical architecture, an order whose columns or pilasters span two or more storeys of a building is called the Colossal order. Sometimes it is also named the Giant or Grand order. Its opposite is the Miniature or Dwarf order. The Romans applied it to arcades, window and door framings within the storeys that are embraced by the giant order or tabernacles (decorative niches often topped by canopies and housing stat­ues).

AFTER-reading taSks

1. Can you answer the following question?

1. What orders of architecture did the Greeks develop? What are the Roman orders? What are the elements of a column?

2. What order does the Parthenon exemplify? How high are the Doric columns? What are elliptical flutes separated by? What is the intercolumniation? What did the Doric capital consist of?

3. Where and when did the Ionic order appear? What is it characterized by? What was the Ionic architrave divided into? In what way does it differ from the Doric and Corinthian orders?

4 Where was the Corinthian order invented? What are its proportions? What is it characterized by? What was the Roman abacus enriched with? What did the Roman cornice have?

5. The element of what orders can be found in the Tuscan order? In what architecture was it most appropriate?

6. What did the Composite order borrow from other orders? What exemplifies the Corinthian order? What order is called the Colossal one? What is its opposite order? Where did the Roman use this order?

Give Russian equivalents of the following.

Pediment; concavity; a low gable; dentils; pillar and beam construction; shaft; acanthus; modillion; capital; convex curve; a low gable; three flat strips; architrave; canopy; pilaster; a cushion-shaped member called the echinus; cornice; the Dwarf order; egg-and-dart ornamentation; pedestal; volute; stylobate; elliptical; the history of art; intercolumniation; entasis; convex; semicircular; tabernacle; bell-shaped; in the foreground; the Composite order.

Give English equivalents of the following.

Aбак(а); антаблемент; архитрав; верхняя поперечина; вогнутая поверхность; волюта; фриз; выпуклая кривая; дорический ордер; ионический ордер; кайма; канелюра; навес; капитель; кариатида; карниз; колоколообразный; акант; ионики с остриями в промежутках; коринфский ордер; окружённый двойной колоннадой; основание; перистиль; скиния; зубчатый орнамент; спираль; стержень колонны; стилобат; стоично-балочная система; модильон; фронтон; цела; цоколь; эллиптический; энтазис.

Match the words and their definitions.

1. volute	a) a building or part of a building, especially a portico, that has four pillars
2. entasis	b) the upper part of a classical building supported by columns or a colonnade, comprising the architrave, frieze, and cornice
3. stylobate	c) a rectangular column, especially one projecting from a wall
4. entablature	d) a strip of plaster, wood, or stone which goes along the top of a wall or building.
5. pediment	e) Its object is to correct the optical illusion that the column is thinner in the middle if its sides were straight or parallel.
6. architrave	f) a spiral scroll characteristic of Ionic capitals and also used in Corinthian and composite capitals
7. egg-and-dart	g) a continuous base supporting a row of columns in classical Greek architecture
8. cornice	h)a large triangular structure built over a door or window as a decoration.
9 pilaster	i)a main beam resting across the tops of columns, specifically the lower third entablature
10. tetrastyle	j) a motif of alternating eggs and darts, used to enrich an ovolo molding

5. Expand on the following.

the Arch of Titus

the forum in Rome

the Parthenon

Give the definition of the following terms.

A frieze; entasis; echinus; abacus; a shaft; an intercolumniation; a base; a column; a metope; dentils; a capital; gable; pediment; stereobate; volute; architrave; fascia; a pedestal; acanthus; egg-and-dart; tabernacles; entablature; the triglyph; canopy.

Characterize the following orders in details. Mark out their common and dissimilar features. Name the construction built according to the canons of a certain order.

The Doric order; the Ionic order; the Corinthian order; the Tuscan order; the Composite order; the Dwarf order; the Colossal order.

Fill in the text with the words from the box. Give the gist of the text.

sculpture(s); metopes; frieze; pediments; figures; architectural; temple(s)

The Greeks made a clear-cut distinction between those sections of a.... that could be ornamented with.... and those that could not. Walls and columns were inviolable, save in the rare instances when a sculptured.... could become a bearing member. But into the empty spaces of a Greek temple.... could logically be inserted. Triglyphs were blocks of some size; the intervening.... made splendid fields for relief..... Naturally, the reliefs had to be of a certain depth in order to compete with the surrounding.... elements, and there had to be some continuity in content among the.... running round a large building. An Ionic.... was also an obvious place for a continuous strip of relief ornament. The corners of the.... afforded the possibility of silhouetting.... against the sky. And above all, the empty...., which needed nothing but flat, vertical slabs to exclude wind and rain, provided spaces that could be filled with sculptured.... of a certain depth, preferably statues in the round. In those regions of Greece that enjoyed good stone for carving, and in those.... that could afford sculptural work, an unprecedented new art of architectural.... arose. For the first time in history, the.... creations of humanity were in perfect balance with the human figure itself.

Make up as many word combinations as possible with the following words and their derivatives.

architecture ____________________________________

column _______________________________________

art __________________________________________

Put the verbs in the proper form. Translate the text into Russian. Give the gist of the text.

The earliest well-preserved Greek temple (to be) not in Greece itself but in the Greek colony of Poseidonia, now called Paestum, on the western coast of Italy about fifty miles southeast of Naples. This limestone building, erroneously called the "Basilica" in the eighteenth century but more probably dedicated to Hera, queen of the gods, (to loose) its cella walls but still (to retain) its complete peristyle. The temple (to be) unusual in having nine columns across the ends. The bulky, closely spaced columns with their strong entasis and widespread capitals (support) the massive entablature. Although the temple (to have) no sculpture, it (to give) us an idea of how the slightly earlier Temple of Artemis on the Greek island of Corfu must originally (to look). Considerable fragments of one of its limestone pediments (to remain). This pediment (to carve) in relief, approaching sculpture in the round. The central figure (to be) the Gorgon, Medusa, grinning hideously and sticking out her tongue. She (to place) there to ward off evil spirits, and (to aid) in her task by the symmetrical leopards. On her left (to appear) the head and torso of the boy, who (to spring) from her neck when Perseus (to strike) off her head; to her right (to be) Pegasus, the winged horse. In the empty corners of the pediment (to place) smaller, battling figures of gods and giants.

Insert the missing articles. Give the gist of the text.

.... more refined and elegant, as well as more active and complex, use of sculpture appears in.... little marble treasury built at.... sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi around 530 BCE by.... inhabitants of.... Greek island of Siphnos to hold their gifts..... Treasury of.... Siphnians has been partially reconstructed from fragments. Here columns placed by two graceful kore figures, known as caryatids, on whose heads capitals are balanced carry effortlessly.... weight of entablature and pediment. The frieze continuous relief, largely depicting battle scenes..... Battle of Giants shows that.... sculptor had.... completely new cone of space. No longer does he have to place one figure above another to indicate distance. All stand or move on.... same ground level and overlap in depth. Although none of.... figures are in the round – they are all more or less flattened, in keeping with.... character of.... relief – those in.... foreground are sharply undercut..... projection diminishes so that.... figures farthest from.... eye are only slightly raised from.... background. This relief, for.... first time in.... history of art as far as we bow, strives to achieve.... optical illusion of space receding horizontally inward from.... foreground. This recession is limited to.... maximum of three figures (or four horses), but it is revolutionary nonetheless..... pediment contains, again for.... first time, actual groups of almost freestanding statues, carved in more or less the same scale, in poses progressively adjusted to.... downward slope of.... pediment..... intense activity of.... reliefs is kept in check only by.... severity of.... unrelieved wall surfaces below.

Insert the missing prepositions. Give the gist of the text.

The climax.... Archaic architecture and sculpture,.... the threshold.... the Classical period, is the temple.... the local goddess Aphaia.... the island.... Aegina.... the Gulf.... Athens. The building was constructed.... 500 BCE.... limestone stuccoed to resemble marble. Portions.... the temple still stand. A plan of its original appearance shows the outer Doric peristyle,.... six columns.... each end and twelve.... each side. These columns are slenderer, taller, and more widely spaced than those.... Corfu or.... the Temple.... Hera.... Paestum..... the first time the architect achieved what later became the standard solution.... two superimposed interior colonnades. The marble pedimental statues were excessively restored.... the nineteenth century. These statues are superb and full.... vitality. It is interesting to compare the Oriental Archer, so called because.... his Phrygian cap,.... the western pediment, carved.... 500 BCE.... the Archer carved some five or ten years later. Nobly poised though the earlier statue is, it is somewhat schematic; one does not really feel the play.... muscles. The masses of the later figure are held.... position entirely.... its beautifully understood muscular movement and tension, which must have been even more effective when the missing bronze bow was intact. The Dying Warrior embodies the heroic grandeur.... the Homeric epics.... the simple, clear-cut masses.... the figure and.... its celebration.... self-possession and calm even.... the moment.... death.

Render the following text into English.

Erechtheum, the temple from the middle classical period of Greek art and architecture, built on the Acropolis of Athens between 421 and 405 BCE is the example of the Ionic Order. The Erechtheum, named after Erechtheus, a legendary king of Athens, contained sanctuaries to Athena Parthenos, Poseidon, and Erechtheus. The requirements of the several shrines and the location upon a sloping site produced an unusual plan. From the body of the building porticoes project on east, north, and south sides. The eastern portico, hexastyle Ionic, gave access to the shrine of Athena, which was separated by a partition from the western cella. The northern portico, tetrastyle Ionic, stands at a lower level and gives access to the western cella through a fine doorway. The southern portico, known as the Porch of the Caryatids from the six sculptured draped female figures that support its entablature, is the temple's most striking feature; it forms a gallery or tribune. The west end of the building, with windows and engaged Ionic columns, is a modification of the original, built by the Romans when they restored the building. One of the east columns and one of the caryatids were removed to London by Lord Elgin, replicas being installed in their places.

Translate the following text into Russian.

Like the parts of the orders, the shapes of the temples were controlled by rules as stringent as those of grammar and music. Small temples often consisted only of a cella (the central rectangular structure housing the image of the deity), whose side walls were prolonged forward to carry the entablature and pediment directly and to frame two columns; such a temple was called in amis. If the portico ran across its entire front, the temple was prostyle; if it had front and rear porticoes, it was amphiprostyk if the colonnade, known as a peristyle, ran around all four sides, the temple was peripteral; if the portico was two columns deep all around, the temple was dipteral. Yet just as sonnets written in the same language or fugues composed according to the same rules will vary infinitely according to the ideas and talents of the poet or the musician, there are a surprising number of individual variations within what appear to be the stern limitations of Greek architectural orders and types. The Classical formula of the fifth century provided that the number of columns on the long side of a temple should be twice the number of those at either end plus one. The relatively simple interiors were lighted only by the large door. Numerous methods of supporting the roof beams were experimented with in early temples, and even a row of columns down the center, which had the disadvantage of obscuing the statue of the deity. The sixth- and fifth-century solution was generally two rows of superimposed orders of small columns, each repeating in miniature the proportions of the external peristyle. Roof beams in early temples were still of wood and tiles of terra-cotta; in the sixth and fifth centuries marble was often used for roof tiles.

Translate the following the text into English.

Архитектурный ордер – это вид архитектурной композиции, состоящей из вертикальных (колонны, пилястры) и горизонтальных (антаблемент) частей в соответствующей архитектурно-стилевой обработке, в классической форме сформировавшийся в Древней Греции. Различают пять классических ордеров: дорический, ионический и коринфский, которые возникли в Древней Греции и тосканский и композитный, развившиеся в Древнем Риме. В греческом ордере выделяют такие элементы, как: основание, стереобат, которое находится на верхнем ряду кладки фундамента, несколько приподнятом над уровнем земли. На верхней части стереобата, который называется стилобат, стоят колонны. Вертикальные опоры – колонны, являются основным несущим элементом строения. Антаблемент, верхняя завершающая часть конструкции, подразделяется на архитрав, фриз, карниз. Структура антаблемента различна в трёх архитектурных ордерах: дорическом, ионическом и коринфском. В каждом из них пропорции компонентов (архитрава, фриза, карниза) определяются пропорциями колонны ордера.

Discuss them in class.

Underline key sentences in the Text use them as a plant for retelling it.

Write a composition on one of the topics.

1. The Doric order in Greek architecture.

2. The peculiarities of the Ionic order and its examples.

3. The Corinthian order in Greek and Roman architecture.

Supplementary reading

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Altar and temple were the focus of sanctuary life. But, in the more famous sanctuaries, architects also constructed smaller buildings, called treasuries, to safeguard the offerings of individual cities, and to stand themselves as offerings and marks of gratitude and devotion. At Delphi, for example, numerous states, including Athens, Sikyon, and Siphnos, built treasuries in the Archaic period. Normally simple in plan, a rectangular box to hold the offerings preceded by a two-columned porch, these treasuries were embellished with the architectural orders on their exteriors. Between 575 and 550 BCE the tyrant of Sikyon, built a Doric treasury in the sanctuary. For this he commissioned sculpted stone metopes to decorate the frieze. There were fourteen metopes in all, of which four are almost entirely preserved. One of these shows the Greek heroes Castor and Pollux and two friends on a cattle raid. Another shows the departure of the ship Argo in search of the golden fleece, while a third shows the Kalydonian boar. Occasionally the action spills over across the triglyph from one metope to the next, as is the case with the Argo episode, but otherwise the subjects portrayed seem unconnected. Since Herakles was by this time established as the Greek hero par excellence and was a particular favorite in the Peloponnese, his absence in such a series of metopes at this period is notable. There is much paint on the figures, paint also being used for the identifying inscriptions. Relief is high; long hair and garments are shown in detail. Heads of oxen appear engagingly in frontal and profile view. There is a real sense of recessive planes: spears held in the right hands precede the receding heads of the captured cattle, with other spears or goads held in the left hands in the background. Here is the literal petrification of the painted terracotta metopes of the preceding century.

Sometime after the Battle of Marathon, in the decade 490-480 BCE the Athenians dedicated a treasury at Delphi, now wholly rebuilt on its original site in the sanctuary. The Doric order was used in conjunction with sculpted metopes. These depicted the exploits of Herakles at the back and on the northern side, and those of Theseus, hero of the new democracy, on the more visible southern flank. The front of the building, facing the Sacred Way, showed an Amazonomachy, but the metopes here are so badly damaged that neither Theseus nor Herakles is discernible as leader of the Greeks. In contrast to the earlier Sikyonian treasury, the metopes now show cycles of events rather than isolated incidents. Here Herakles leaps on the back of the hind, his cloak and quiver frozen static behind him. Sharply cut details of patterned beard, ribcage, and abdomen contrast with the natural energy of the pose. The most dazzling treasury in the sanctuary is the Treasury of the Siphnians. Traditional understanding of literary evidence holds that this Ionic building was constructed using the wealth that came to Siphnos from its gold and silver mines, before the island was overcome by Samians in 525 BCE and before its mines were flooded by the sea. This treasury is highly important, not only for its rich and varied ornament, but also because it is securely dated and can therefore act as a valuable chronological marker for the development of Greek sculpture. The two columns of the porch were replaced by female figures carved in the round, known later caryatids, but probably called korai at the time. The Greeks came to think of religious buildings in terms of the human body, but such literal humanization is unusual. Another city-state, Knidos, had already built a treasury at Delphi with caryatids in the porch, but the most famous example of this phenomenon, the Erechtheion on the Acropolis of Athens, was yet to come. Each gable end of the Siphnian treasury was decorated with pedimental sculptures, apexes of the building were enhanced with carved figures standing against the sky, and a continuous frieze ran all the way around the structure. The building faced west, so that, paradoxically, the sides of the building most visible to the pilgrim climbing the zigzag Sacred Way were the back and the north flank.

The pedimental sculpture from the back is preserved. The central figure of Zeus arbitrates between Herakles and Apollo, who struggle for the Delphic tripod. Chariots and horses flank the central scene, with smaller-scale, standing, striding, and recumbent figures adapting their poses to the triangular space. The composition is unevenly balanced, asymmetrical, and the figures seem motionless and stilted. The frieze beneath this pediment showed two conflicts, to which equal space was given. There was the verbal argument between divinities, seated on Olympus, over the fate of the heroes at Troy, and an actual encounter at Troy between heroes, dismounted from their chariots, over the body of a fallen warrior. The relief is high, the composition symmetrical and unified. New are the three-quarter views of the horses and chariots, the pathos of the dead warrior in his awkward foreshortened pose, and the dramatic gesture of the end figure closing the composition at the north. The matching short frieze at the west front of the building was divided into three scenes. A winged Athena mounting a chariot and Aphrodite descending from a chariot are the two scenes that have been preserved. The third was probably Paris and Hera with her chariot, the whole representing the famous Judgment of Paris.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-26