Carlos Bethencourt

Some people say that Greek architecture is remarkable and unique. I believe that we find Greece as one of the cities with more architectural significance than anything else in the world today. They lived upon a belief of religion, democracy, nobility, etc. And with these beliefs, everything single building was architecturally related with the Greek believes. When the Greeks build the Parthenon, they took in account the scale of the building, the unity and patriotism that it was going to bring, how many sections was the building going to have and what type of decorations and Vignette was going to have. 

Greeks learned much from Egypt. They adopted the post-lintel construction and their sculpture. But the Greeks moved quick and “they shaped an art and architecture distinctly their own, creating a system of values celebrating dynamic human capacities that has formed the basis of western civilization ever since. (Roth 215) The reason I quote here Roth is because although the Greeks adopted an Egyptian style and later created their own style of architecture, the Greeks and Egyptian, in a way, are still similar. 

        

Greek and Egyptian architecture are much about scale. In the case of the Egyptian, they have their pyramids. The pyramids were normally tombs made for the pharos. The biggest the pyramid were, the more remembered the pharaoh was going to be. In the other hand, the Greeks had their temples which sometimes were tombs but most of the times where temples dedicated to their goddesses. The bigger the temple was the more important was the god. In this case, scale was a very important factor for these cities. Also, in the case of Greece, scale was also very important because it provided a sense of unity to the fellow citizens. In the book Understanding architecture, Roth questions the reader followed by an immediate answer, “ Why was such extraordinary care exercised and such energy expended? One compelling reason was arête, for the home of the goddess required the most excellent materials and the most exacting workmanship. It was done because the Greeks could do it.” (Roth 240) Therefore, the fact that it was a challenge for the Greeks to build such a temple and that they can actually do it, made them more unified. The building becomes more than temple made for the goddess but also it becomes a symbol of representation for the Greek people. In the case of the Egyptians, the pyramids were made only for the pharos, therefore nobody else was permitted to have or see the pyramids. Besides the Egyptian culture was based in slavery. 

Dividing the buildings by sections was a very common thing for the Greeks to do. In every temple they divided their spaces in three sections: the porch, the court and the heart. This idea of organizing space is even applied in today’s designs. The Greeks achieved the ability of organizing a specific space within a specific measure and making it practical and comfortable for the people living in the place or visiting the place. 

The Geeks were considered to be a “city-state” style of government, that is, an independent country whose territory consists solely of a single major city and the area immediately surrounding it. That form of government was basically created because of the boundaries made between the mountains and the Greek cities. It was to hard for the cities to communicate themselves, so they decided to become a city-state. The Greeks also had their “polis” surrounded by big walls creating boundaries for the people. That meant that not everybody could come in the polis or other temples.

The sculpture and the art carved out of stones made the Greek temple unique. Every column had their style and decorative art. The famous columns called Doric, Ionic and Corinthian made the art of building. Each column meant something different and was made for different purposes. The vignettes of each column, made the column unique. The vignettes were made to tell stories or idealized images, such as people or gods. This style of art made the temples very vibrant, alive, and continually interesting, as Roth says, “the visual arts… became more elaborate, ornamental, and passionate…”(roth 241) 

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