Greek Architecture

268 Pages·1996·62.342 MB·English

by  A. W. Lawrence

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
PELICAN HISTORY OF ART
GREEK ARCHITECTU
FIFTH EDITION
LAWRENCE
W.
A.
Revised by R. A. Tomlinson
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YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
PELICAN HISTORY OF ART
FOUNDING EDITOR: NIKOLAUS PEVSNER
A. W. LAWRENCE
GREEK ARCHITECTURE
REVISED BY R. A. TOMLINSON
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A. W. Lawrence
reek Architecture
FIFTH KDITION
Revisedby R.A. Tomlinson
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©
Copyright A. W. Lawrence 1957, 1962, 1967, 1973, 1983
©
New material copyright R. A. Tomlinson 1983, 1996
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Set in Linotron Ehrhardt by Best-SetTypesetters Ltd. Hong Kong
and printed in China through \Yorld Print Ltd
Designedby Kate Gallimore
All rights reserved. This book maynotbe reproduced inwhole or
inpart, in any form (beyond thatcopyingpermitted by Sections 107
and 108 ofthe U.S. Copyright Law and exceptby reviewers for the
publicpress), withoutwritten permission from the publishers.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lawrence, A. W. (ArnoldWalter), 1900-1991
Greekarchitecture/A. W. Lawrence: revised by
R. A. Tomlins—on.
p. cm. (Yale University Press Pelican history ofart)
Rev. ed. of: 4th ed. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England;
NewYork; Penguin Books, C1983, in series: Pelicanhistory of
art.
Includes bilbiographical refer—ences and index.
ISBN0-300-06491-8 ISBN0-300-06492-6
(c). (p:
alk. paper) —
1. Architecture Greece. I. Tomlinson, R. A. (Richard
Allan) II. Title. III. Series.
NA270.L36 1996
8—
722'. dc2o 95-53785
CIP
Title-page: Aigina, temple ofAphaia, early fifth century
8
1
Contents
Foreword to theFifth Edition vii
Forewordto theFourth Edition vii
Forewordto the ThirdEdition vii
Forewordto theSecondEdition vii
Forewordto theFirstEdition viii
Chronological Table ix
Map ofGreekMainlandandIslands x
Map
ofCrete xii
Map ofthe Greek World xiii
Diagrams ofGreek Orders and TemplePlan xiv
PART ONE: PRE-HELLENIC BUILDING
i. Introductory Summary 3
2. Neolithic and Early Bronze Age 4
Materials and Methods ofBuilding 4
The Regional Cultures 5
Troy
5
The Cyclades and Related Islands 8
The Mainland ofGreece 9
Crete 1
3. The Beginnings ofthe Cretan Palaces: The Proto-Palatial Period (Middle
Minoan I-II) 13
4. The Palace Age in Crete: The Neo-Palatial Period (Middle Minoan III -
Late Minoan)
1
Principles ofMinoan Plan and Design 20
The Palace at Knossos in its Final Form 21
The Final Palace at Phaistos- Hagia Triada 25
Hagia Triada 27
The Palace atMallia 27
The 'Little Palace' at Knossos 28
The 'RoyalVilla' at Knossos 28
'Villas' at Sklavokambos and Tylissos 29
Nirou 30
Towns 30
Tombs 30
7
CONTENTS
vi
The Decline: Late Minoan III 31
5. Cycladic and Mainland Settlements Contemporary with Cretan Palaces
(Middle and Late Bronze Age to 1400 B.C.) 33
6. Tholos Tombs 37
7. Mycenean Citadels and Housing (Late Helladic III, 1400-1100) 43
Tiryns 45
Mycenae 48
Pylos 52
Phylakopi 53
Gla (more properly Goulas) 53
Macedonia 54
Homeric Evidence 54
PART TVVO: HELLENIC ARCHITECTURE
8. Introductory Summary 58
9. Primitive Temples 61
10. The Doric Order 67
n. Early Doric Temples and Similar Buildings 77
Greece 77
Sicily 82
South Italy 85
12. The Formation ofthe Ionic Temple 90
13. Early Fifth-Century Doric Temples and Treasuries 99
14. Early Sanctuaries and the Acropolis ofAthens 106
15. Niceties ofDoric Design 125
16. Late Fifth-Century Temples except on the Acropolis 129
17. Circular Buildings 137
18. Temples and Tombs of400-330 143
19. Hellenistic Temples and Related Monuments 151
20. Masonry, Vaulting, and Public Works 167
21. Residential Buildings 182
22. Town-Planning and Halls before 330 190
23. Hellenistic Town-Planning and Halls 196
24. Open Structures, Especially Theatres 205
25. Epilogue 212
Abbreviations 216
Notes 2
1
Bibliography 228
Index 238
.
Forewords
FOREWORD TO THE FIFTH EDITION FOREWORD TO THE FOURTH EDITION
This new revision was completed originally in 1989, and the In this fourth edition I have taken advantage ofthe complete
proofs of the text had been corrected before the sad and resetting ofthe text to include in it material which Professor
deeply regretted death of Judy Nairn caused a delay to Lawrence had, perforce, to add to the second and third
publication. I am grateful to Yale University Press andJohn editions in the form ofnotes. The text also takes into account
Nicoll not only for taking up the Series, but allowing me to new discoveries and discussion published before February
make further revisions to the text, and additions to the notes 1981 (but also the exceptionally important excavation at
and bibliography. In particular, I have changed the system Lefkandi in Euboia, carried out in April 1981). Otherwise,
of transliteration from Greek in accordance with modern of course, the text remains very much that of Professor
practice. No system is perfect, and I have not imposed this Lawrence, except that I have in places modified his emphasis
rigidly, keeping the older forms where they are the more on the direct link between 'Pre-Hellenic' and 'Hellenic'
familiar or are firmly fixed as an English convention. architecture to take into account the comparative emptiness
The pace at which ancient Greek architecture is being (in architectural matters) ofthe years between the late twelfth
studied and investigated has not diminished in the least and the eighth centuries B.C. (though, thanks to Lefkandi,
since the last revision of this book in 1982. I have incor- these years are less empty than they were). The original
porated into the text much new material which takes this illustrations have been retainedwhereverpossible; onlywhere
into account while trying to preserve the original balance and they were unobtainable have I included alternatives. Addi-
emphasis. At the same time I have substantially incr sed tions have also been made.
references, both in the notes and the bibliography, to work For the fourth edition I would like to add my own thanks
that has appeared since 1981. In the foreword to the first to Professor Peter Warren, Dr Kenneth Wardle (who wrote
edition Professor Lawrence directed those readers who the entry on prehistoric Macedonia, and the redrafted com-
demand comprehensive bibliographies to the books on ments on Temple B at Thermon), and to Peter Callaghan.
classical architecture by W. B. Dinsmoor and D. S. This revision was made in the library ofthe British School at
Robertson. No new editions of these works have since Athens; itowesmore than I can expresstoitscomprehensive-
appeared, and their bibliographies are now essentially out of and immediately accessible - resources, and to the unfailing
date. I have added therefore (without any pretence to being help and efficiency of its officers, particularly the Assistant
exhaustive) what seem to me to be the most important and Director, Tony Spawforth, and the Deputy Librarian, Mrs
significant of recent publications, even if they are not Babette Young.
necessarily concerned with aspects of Greek architecture K.\.
I
which are discussed in the present volume, in the hope that
this will prove useful. They include references to recent FOREWORD TO THE THIRD DITION
work on the procedures of design in classical architecture. 1
Much is being written on this, particularly by German Revision, with the aim ofbringing the book up to date (.is .u
scholars, with complex analyses ofthe mathematics involved, New Year, 1973), nas entailed substanti.il alterations to
both arithmetic and geometric. At the moment, it seems almost a hundred pages of text and man] ol tin- Notes, the
premature to incorporate this in the text as conclusive, and I addition ofnew Notes, the replacement olOne Plate and five
have not done so. (At times, one is forced to recall that Figures, the inclusion ol an .ulclition.il drawing, md .1 targe
Greek architects did not possess computers.) Like the pre- number of minor changes.
vious revision, this one was made in the library ofthe British I am greatly indebted to ProfessorJ. Walter Graham foi
School at Athens, and I must repeat my thanks for its advice, likewise to Dr R. \. Higgins for his advict M\
incomparable facilities, and the continuing help of its thanks are also due, for information, to Mi i reraid ( .ul
officers, the Assistant Director, Guy Sanders, and the Professor |. N. Coldstream, Professor I D I \.ms, \1t I > I
Librarian, Mrs Penny Wilson-Zarganis. My original work in L. Haynes, and Dr G. B. Waywell.
the library at Athens coincided with the last weeks of I lector \ w 1
Catling's Directorship ofthe School. My gratitude to him, of
course, extends far beyond the making ofthis revision. l OKI w OKI) 111 1 itI SECOND 1 ni 1 id\
k. \. 1
For the present edition, the book has been reviled to take
account ol discoveries and changes ol opinion during the
past twelve w.tis (.is known from public itions available in
FOREWORDS
viii
London up to the end of 1966). The fact that this alone has On the other hand I have considered myself free in Part
entailed hundreds ofalterations or additions in the text and Two to supply only as much factual detail as was requisite to
notes (together with corresponding changes in the biblio- the argument. The greater erudition of Dinsmoor and
graphy, chronological table, etc.) shows the rate at which Robertson will serve any who require more information
field-work and study are advancing. I have also introduced upon individual temples, decorative conventions, and tech-
other (as I thought) improvements, and have included some nical matters, as well as those who demand comprehensive
new views of my own. I should have liked to make more glossaries and bibliographies.
drastic changes in the few pages devoted to fortification, but Moreover I have almost ignored architectural sculpture,
any attempt to justify them by argument would involve though I have taken care to illustrate some of the finest
detailed comparison ofa sort appropriate only to a book on examples. Other volumes in the series are planned to cover
the subject, and I am engaged in writing one. Greek Sculpture, and in any case I could have done little
Several drawings and plans that appeared in the first better than repeat passages I wrote nearly thirty years ago in
edition are now known to be inaccurate or incomplete. The a book on that subject.
fact has merely been stated in one case, because a corrected Because I am concerned exclusively with architecture
version is not yet available; for the rest, new blocks have before the time of Christ, dates throughout are printed
been substituted. without the customary addition of lB.C.'. On the contrary,
A.W.L. the few dates mentioned which fall within the Christian era
are distinguished by an 'a.d.'.
All dimensions stated in terms of feet and inches are
FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION approximations: dimensions cited in the metric system are
intended to be accurate measurements.
My treatment ofthe subject calls, I feel, for some explana- For the convenience ofstudents, the modern Greek names
tion, especially as regards the proportions in which I have ofsites are normally transliterated either in the form adopted
allotted space to the various topics. by an excavator or by the old-fashioned method ofgiving for
A volume of the Pelican History of Art should be both each letter the nearest equivalent in our alphabet, regardless
somewhat more and somewhat less than a textbook, and in ofpronunciation.
the present instance the editor and the author gave due The production ofa much-illustrated book is inevitably a
weight to the fact that there are two masterly textbooks in longprocess, and about threeyearswill have elapsedbetween
print, neither ofwhich is seriously out ofdate. The scope of the completion ofthe manuscript and the day ofpublication.
each is considerably wider than mine; W. B. Dinsmoor's The publishers, however, have approved the addition ofnew
Architecture of Ancient Greece continues its encyclopaedic information in the proofs, so that results ofexcavations and
description of buildings in Greek lands through the three investigations should have been included up to September
additional centuries in the Roman Empire, while all the 1955. I fear, though, that lack ofaccess to specialist libraries
classical styles are correlated in D. S. Robertson's more at the time is bound to have curtailed the benefits of this
selective Handbook ofGreek andRomanArchitecture. But pre- generous privilege.
classic remains were scarcely relevant to the purpose of I owe to a Leverhulme Research Fellowship, awarded for
these books, which also deal summarily with the less distin- the study of ancient and medieval fortification, most of my
guished periods of later architecture and with its humbler first-hand knowledge of the defences mentioned. Unfor-
types of buildings; the inadequate consideration given to tunately preoccupation with other work has so far restricted
such topics obscures historical connexions, to some ofwhich deductive use ofthat knowledge, and my account of Greek
My
I ascribe great importance. fortification represents only provisional \iews. travels
I should, ideally, have preferred to devote less space to with this objective enabled me also to examine buildings of
pre-classic building, but no other writer has collated the other types and to take many ofthe photographs reproduced
whole body of information now available. If the degree of (the negatives ofwhich nowbelongto the Courtauld Institute
relationship to Hellenic architecture is to be shown, the facts ofArt, London University).
must be presented as a whole; selection would falsify the For help in the field and in the study, and in obtaining
picture. Admittedly I could have compressed the material illustrations, I am indebted to many friends and chance
further, and thereby have brought my Part One into closer associates, too many to thank individually by name, in
conformity with Part Two, but at the cost ofleaving a gap in England, Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, the United States,
the literature still unfilled; the average reader would then and YAest Africa. To those among them who may read these
have had no means of checking my conclusions by com- words I gratefully acknowledge their kindness.
parison with the evidence. A.W.L.