the construction methods of the buildings

depicted. Both pieces present a building set

upon a sort of base, almost a raised socle, that
includes the rea of the prtico. The model
from the Heraion of Argos, with its rectilinear walls and square-section pilasters, perhaps reflects the use of mud-brick walls and
wooden vertical supports in contemporary
full-scale buildings. In contrast, the apsidal
shape of the model from Perachora suggests
walls made of irregularly cut stone, at least
for the socle, and trimmed trunks for columns. Along the outer walls of both models,
the open Windows evidently reproduce the
means for illumination and ventilation of the
interiors of actual buildings; their triangular
shape, heir to a long tradition (including the
openings in the great Mycenaean tholoi), was
meant to serve static needs and avoid the use
of wooden architraves, often subject to warping, in bearing walls. The form of the roof was
given particular attention in both models. The
two different shapes have suggested that there
were two different methods of roof carpentry, but both were probably associated with a
roof made of plant material, either branches
or rushes. The building reproduced in the
Corinthian example may have had a ridge pole
that rested on a pillar located at the center of
the apsidal space, accompanied by a series of
oblique rafters rising in a fan shape; in the
source for the Argive example, the roof may
have been supported by a framework of perpendicular beams arranged to correspond to
the rectilinear contours of the walls.
Due to the religious context in which
these models were found, and the attention
their makers obviously gave to rendering
detall and decoration, it was long believed
that the objects were in fact miniature depictions of the temples built for the sanctuaries.
Recently, however, several doubts have arisen
about this supposition. Rather than reproductions of cult buildings, the models are now
believed by some scholars to be symbolic
representations of a home; this conclusin is

82

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES IN THE GREEK WORLD

based upon reference to another architectural

model whose function has been established by
archaeological research. Thus these small masterpieces were likely produced as offerings to
Hera in her role as the divine protector of the
domestic setting, although the possibility cannot be excluded that the models symbolized
instead the "home of the divinity."
MAKING WOODEN ARCHITECTURE INTO
STONE, STANDARDIZATION OF BUILDING MATERIALS, AND THE "REBIRTH"
OF TILE IN GREEK ARCHITECTURE: THE
TEMPLE OF APOLLO AT CORINTH AND
THE TEMPLE OF POSEIDON AT ISTHMIA
The passage from the eighth to the seventh
centuries B.C. was marked by two outstanding
innovations in building technology: the use of
stone as the principal building material and
the appearance of terracotta tiles for the roofs
of buildings.
In reality, the use of clay elements for roof
coverings is part of a very ancient tradition,
dating to the fifth millennium B.C. Excavations at the site of Lerna in the eastern Peloponnesus have revealed the remains of a large
rectangular structure (12 by 25 meters), dated
to the third millennium B.C., which archaeologists named the House of the Tiles precisely
because of the discovery of a large number of
stone and terracotta elements (each measuring about 22 by 26 centimeters) associated
with its roof. However, with the destruction of
the Mycenaean palaces and the loss of related
technical knowledge, the system of making
roofs with clay elementsusing fat tiles with
a trapezoidal shape and semiconical covers
was abandoned in favor of roofs made with
both plant and stone materials directly available in nature.
The reappearance of terracotta tiles in
architecture during the first half of the seventh century B.C. was one of the many cultural
transformations that marked the transition from the Geometric period to the early
Archaic. Written in the first century A.D., Pliny

Top. Drawings of two

architectural models:
A. From Perachora and
B. From Argos.
Bottom. Hypothetical
reconstructions ofthe
huilding systems used
in structures depicted
in votive models.

Wooden ridge pole

Wooden jamb
of front window

Waterproof
clay covering

Terracotta
drip molding

A
Mud-brick wall
with wooden '
reinforcements

Wooden architrave
of prtico

\3

So ce in
stone blocks

Wooden column
of prtico

Wooden pillar
inserted in wall
Wooden ridge pole

Roof of plant
material and
clay mixture

Wooden binder
forroof material

Radial wooden rafters

Plaster dressing

Internal wooden pillar

Wooden doorjamb

Prtico column

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES IN THE GREEK WORLD

83

Archaeological excavations
have uncovered large
portions ofandent Corinth.
The map below shows the
topography ofthis Greek and
Romn city, overlaid with
indications ofthe outline
ofthe modern city. At the
centn in the northwestern
sector ofthe agora, stands
the hu on which the Temple
of Apollo was built.

the Elder's encyclopedic work Natural History

attributes the beginning of the production
of tiles to the Cypriot context (7.195): "Tiles
were invented by Cinyra, son of Agriopa, as
well as mining for copper, both in the island
of Cyprus." This passage acquired particular significance to archaeologists following
the discovery at the site of Amathous, on the
southern coast of the island, of several tiles
that may have been made in the seventh century B.C. Although this date has not been solidly confirmed, scholars nevertheless agree in
assigning to Corinth, and to Corinthia in general, a central role both in the transformation
of monumental architecture into stone forms,
and in the rebirth, after an interruption of

Northern fortifications

Sanctuary
of Asclepius

Temple E, later
the Romn Capitoliu

84

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES IN THE GREEK WORLD

about uve centuries, ofthe production of clay

elements for making roofs, an artisan activity
favored in the rea by the presence of abundant quarries of excellent clay.
Between 675 and 650 B.C. the first large
temple to Apollo was built at Corinth, the
homeland of many Greek colonies in the
West. Unfortunately, little is known of the
building's shape because of its total reconstruction following a fire around 550 B.C. It
was probably a temple of the distyle in antis
plan, with a pronaos but not a peristyle, and
dimensions of roughly 11 by 33 meters. The
numerous architectural elements attributed
to this construction reveal the adoption of a
building technique already dependent on the
use of squared stone. The builders employed
oolitic limestone, soft and fine grained, that
was quarried from the same bedrock on which
the city was then being built, ensuring that
material was readily available to the work site
without the need for extended transportation.
Archaeological evidence has revealed that this
limestone was used in the construction ofthe
temple for the foundations as well as for the
socle of the walls. The socle was constructed
using well-squared blocks, and its framework
was skillfully reinforced by the insertion of
connecting clamps between the cornerstones.
Above the socle stood a wall, perhaps built primarily of mud bricks but at the top of which
was a row of stone blocksrepresenting their
first known usage in this contextdecorated
with plant motifs in red and black. The primary purpose of these blocks was to secure,
by means of grooves on their upper surface, a
series of wooden elements that supported the
rafters ofthe roof.
This experiment in the use of stone as a
principal building material is of particular
interest because Corinth was a city known
for its skills in the construction of wooden
ships. Perhaps it was master ship carpenters
who discovered (or rather rediscovered) that
limestone could be worked with the same
tools as those used for wood: tools of direct

percussion, such as the axe, mallet, and

hatchet, as well as tools of indirect percussion,
including chisels.
The Corinthian builders of the Temple
of Apollo used wood for more than just the
framework of the roof. Grooves in both faces
of the socle blocks of the walls represent traces
of a wooden frame. The vertical boards of this
frame were anchored to the walls with wooden
nails placed at regular distances, and connected to one another by means of additional
boards that ran horizontally along the bottom
and top of the wall. This system appears to
continu the ancient tradition of associating
wooden supports with the masonry structure of walls, in order to increase the latter's
capacity to support the roof; although mud
construction cannot be confirmed, this support would have been a particular requirement in those cases where temple walls were
still being made in part from mud bricks. We
do know for certain, however, that the walls
were covered on both sides from the socle up
with a thick layer of plaster, which may have
been painted.
Archaeologists have proposed that the
temple had a pitched roof with three or four
slightly inclined slopes each approximately 9.5
degrees. The covering was composed of terracotta tiles of the heavy-combination type,
in which a slightly concave tile was joined to
a convex junction cover, creating a unit that
measured roughly 67 centimeters on each
side. This system, conventionally referred to
as Proto-Corinthian, required the creation
of individualized pieces, each of which was
designed and produced on the basis of its
location on the roof; these elements included
tiles situated along the ridge line and in the
projecting reas between the slopes, as well as
cover tiles that were characterized by a trapezoidal termination and placed along the eaves.
It is possible that the cream-yellow color of
these tiles, when placed in conjunction with
the architectural elements that were painted
black, served to crate a polychrome design

Common ProtoCorinthian tiles

Wooden rafters

Tiles with covers,

for eaves

Wooden elements
for anchoring the
roof structure

Clay elements for

inserting the roof

Mud-brick walls

Socle in
limestone blocks

with a decorative purpose, the pal vertical

bands alternating with dark bands accented
in red.
During the same decades as construction of the Temple to Apollo at Corinth, the
first peripteral temple dedicated to the cult
of Poseidon Isthmios ("of the Isthmus") was
erected at the nearby sanctuary of Isthmia
on the isthmus of Corinth, site of the spring
celebrations that became Pan-Hellenic in the
sixth century B.C. This large building, 14.40 by
39.25 meters, had as its central body a hekatompedon ("hundred feet"), with an almost
square pronaos and an elongated celia. The
full length of both spaces was divided by an
axial row of wooden columns that supported
the roof rafters. As with the Temple of Apollo,
at least part of the building was made in blocks
of oolithic limestone, the local availability
of which greatly accelerated preparation of
architectural pieces. The recourse to material
relatively easy to acquire was just one carefully considered element at a well-organized

Wooden framework
to reinforce the wall

Top. The Temple of Apollo

at Corinth was made using
a sophisticated method of
construction. On a socle
built with limestone blocks
stood walls that were
probably made ofmud
bricks, reinforced by the
insertion of horizontal and
vertical wooden elements,
and covered with plaster.
Following page. The face of
an ancient limestone quarry
near Isthmia and Corinth.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES IN THE GREEK WORLD

85

Opposite, top. Schematic

re-creations ofthe Temple
ofPoseidon at Isthmia.
Opposite, bottom. System
ofroofing used in the
Temple ofPoseidon.

86

site whose workers possessed advanced technical skills and where the sizes of building
materials had been standardizad. Limestone,
for example, was removed from the quarry in
blocks that had been cut to nearly their final
si/e, thus avoiding transportation of stone
destined to be eliminated later. When the
limestone blocks arrived on site, each piece

CONSTRUCCIN TECHNIQUES IN THE GREEK WORLD

was finished by stonecutters to obtain square

ashlars (known as bonding blocks, or diatons),
measuring roughly 27 centimeters high and as
wide as the thickness of the walls, and readily intalled by a stonemason. The difference in
size between the temple's two primary reas
required the creation of two types of blocks:
those destined for the walls ofthe celia, about
55 centimeters wide, and those assigned to
the walls ofthe pronaos, about 65 centimeters
wide. The average length of the ashlars was
82.5 centimeters. These measurements point
to another factor that lay behind the building
process for the temple at Isthmiathe desire
for a precise relationship among the length,
width, and height of the blocks of the celia
walls, corresponding to a ratio of 3:2:1.
As with the Temple of Apollo at Corinth,
the walls of the structure at Isthmia were
associated with a series of wooden elements
designed to assist in support of the roof. At
Isthmia there were pillars, 32 to 37 centimeters
wide, set against the external face of the walls
ofthe central body, probably on the axis ofthe
columns of the peristyle. In this building the
roof was again of the type with three or four
slopes, but it rested not just on the walls ofthe
celia and the pronaos but also on the wooden
architraves of the peristyle and on the axial
colonnade. This arrangement resulted in a different structure for the interior carpentry, with
the insertion of a horizontal frame of beams
upon which rested a longitudinal system of
additional beams and transverse rafters.
Undoubtedly, the principal element that
the building at Isthmia had in common with
the Temple of Apollo at Corinth was the ProtoCorinthian typology ofthe roof. The tiles used
measured about 65 by 69 centimeters, with a
thickness of between 4 and 5 centimeters;
each element weighed approximately 30 kilograms, for a total weight of 53,000 kilograms.
The shape of the tiles was similar to that seen
at Corinth, with the addition of a characteristic triangular piece at the center of the tiles
located on the eaves.

Horizontal framing
of small beams

Crosswise rafters

<mL-

mr
z?

3q

u
~
O
t

gP
0
1 1

Wooden pillar
of celia wall

Proto-Corinthian
roof covering

Ridge pole

L 1. --

ji
T

._._i-r j

i :i :

1
t

~T""

1 t
i I

Colonnade axial to the celia

Peristyle column

Ridge tile with

junction cover

Tiles of the Proto-Corinthian type were

also found at another site within the territory
of Corinth, in the sacred rea of Perachora
discussed above. These tiles were from the
roof of a building erected during the seventh
century B.C. Archaeologists have not ruled
out the possibility that this structure was
the Temple of Hera Akraia, rebuilt after the
collapse of an ancient apsidal structure dating to the Geometric period. At Perachora,
unfortunately, the archaeological evidence is
extremely spotty due to subsequent renovation of the temple in the sixth century B.C.
Tiles of the same type have also been identified in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi,
where Corinthians of the second half of the
seventh century B.C. had offered a thesaurus
("treasury"). The Romn historian Plutarch
(Oracles at Delphi 13), attributed construction
to the tyrant Cypselus: "Sarapion asked the
guides why it is that they cali the treasurehouse, not the house of Cypselus the donor,
but the house of the Corinthians
We heard
them say earlier that when the despotism
was overthrown, the Corinthians wished to
inscribe . . . the treasure-house here with the
ame of their city." The building, measuring

Ordinary tile
with right cover
Ordinary tile
with left cover

Eave tile

Ridge-line tile

5.8 by 13.2 meters and perhaps Doric distyle

in antis, was probably made by importing
from Corinth not only the roof tiles but all
the elements required for the work site, from
stone materials to artisans.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES IN THE GREEK WORLD

87