The Ancient Greeks were the people who lived in Greece about 3,500 years ago.

Greece is a country in south east Europe. It has an area of mainland, which is very mountainous, and hundreds of small islands dotted around in the Aegean and Ionian seas. The first civilisation to develop in this area was on the island of Crete. This was called the Minoan civilisation and from 2000 to 1450 BC this civilisation was very successful. Its people traded far and wide and became very wealthy. However, many of the Minoan towns and palaces were destroyed by the earthquakes which still shake this area of Europe today, and by 1450 BC people from mainland Greece were taking control of the area. These people were called the Myceneans.

The first inhabitants of the Greek peninsula, who are believed to be Neolithic, built very primitive and basic structures. The houses were mainly built with a circular, oval, apsidal, or rectangular shape. The rectangular house was mostly square, but some were oblong, and had the entrance at one of the short ends. They used mud bricks and stones in the mud with reeds or brush to help build the house. Most of the houses had one room, there were very rarely two.

The next group of settlers were the Minoan architects. Their towns were mostly residential with little or no temples and public places. Unlike earlier people, their houses were private and had many rooms. However, to separate rooms, they would use only pillars. Thus, the house was very open. The stairways were a very prominent feature for these massive homes. This began a whole new era for the Greeks dealing with architecture.

The architecture of ancient Greece ranges from the remains of small Dark Age temples built of wood and mud-brick to the colossal marble archiac and classical temples and magnificent public buildings of the Hellenistic period. The principal materials of Greek architecture were wood, used for supports and roof beams; unbaked brick, used for walls, especially of private houses; limestone and marble, used for columns, walls, and upper portions of temples and other public buildings; terracotta (baked clay), used for roof tiles and architectural ornaments; and metals, especially bronze, used for some decorative details. Greek architects of the Archaic and Classical periods used these materials to develop a limited range of building types, each of which served a fixed purposereligious, civic, domestic, funerary, or recreational.

Classical Greek Architecture

ARCHAIC GREEK ARCHITECTURE

The Temple The most characteristic Greek building is the colonnaded stone temple, built to house a cult statue of a god or goddess, that is, a statue to whom people prayed and dedicated gifts. Developed in the Archaic and Classical periods, the typical temple had a rectangular inner structure known as a cella, which was normally divided by two interior rows of columns. The cult statue usually stood at the rear of this room. Most temples faced east, and visitors entered on that side through a colonnaded front porch. The side walls of the cella extended forward onto the porch and two columns stood either between the projecting walls (in antis) or in front of them (prostyle).

Pronaos: The entrance-hall (porch) to the temple proper or cella Naos (Cella in Roman ): usually the larger of the interior rooms, housed the cult statue. Opisthodomos. Porch at the rear of the Naos, sometimes also a back entrance.

The earliest Greek temples looked like large one-room houses. Clay models and remains from a number of 8th-century bc sites indicate that most were rectangular or horseshoe-shaped, with wooden posts or pillars set in a porch at the front ends of the cella walls. But the Temple of Hera was different. It was barnlike, long and narrow, with a single row of columns running down the middle of the cella. Sometime after its initial construction (possibly still during the 8th century bc), a continuous colonnade was added around the cella, making this the earliest truly peripteral temple in Greece. Hereafter, the exterior colonnade became the principal distinguishing feature of most Greek temples.

Parthenon: A Doric Peripteral Octastyle (surrounded by one row of columns, 8 columns in the front and back side) Temple.
1.Peripteros 2.Opisthodomos 3."Hall of the Virgins" 4.Cella (Naos) with internal pillars 5.Athena Parthenos 6.Water pool 7.Apsis of Christian church 8.Pronaos (or Prodromos) 9.Minarett of islamic Church

The cella was the most important part of a temple as the habitation of the deity whose statue it contained. The statues of the Gods always faced the entrance. The Parthenon roof had a wooden roof covered with Pentelic marble tiles whereas the reconstructed images here show clay tiles.

A reconstruction of the Acropolis The Sacred Rock" with the Parthenon... how it was

and how it is more than 2400 years later

The standard format of Greek public buildings is well known from surviving examples such as the Parthenon The main temple of the goddess Athena; built on the acropolis in Athens more than 400 years B.C.; example of Doric architecture. The building was usually either a cube or a rectangle made from limestone A sedimentary rock consisting mainly of calcium that was deposited by the remains of marine animalslimestone, of which Greece has an abundance, and which was cut into large blocks and dressed. Marble was an expensive building material in Greece: high quality marble came only from Mt Pentelus in Attica The territory of Athens in ancient GreeceAttica and from a few islands such as Paros its transportation in large blocks was difficult. It was used mainly for sculptural decoration, not structurally, except in the very grandest buildings of the Classical period such as the Parthenon

During the Classical Greek architecture period, it was made up of three different orders that are most commonly seen in their temples. These three orders were the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The orders are also known for their columns style. The Corinthian order was not used as widely as the Doric of Ionic. The reason being, is that the Corinthian order was fancier than the others, and had a lot more detail.

The Greeks developed three architectural systems, called orders, each with their own distinctive proportions and detailing. The Greek orders are: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

Doric

Ionic

Corinthian

The Doric style is rather sturdy and its top (the capital), is plain. This style was used in mainland Greece and the colonies in southern Italy and Sicily.

The Ionic style is thinner and more elegant. Its capital is decorated with a scroll-like design (a volute). This style was found in eastern Greece and the islands.

The Corinthian style is seldom used in the Greek world, but often seen on Roman temples. Its capital is very elaborate and decorated with acanthus leaves

The most basic order for their temples would be the Doric order. Doric architecture was known for being used by the Spartans. It all starts with some wood shafts, which latter was replaced by stone. On the top of the shaft, were circular pads with a square block of wood over it. The vertical columns were used to support the beams called architraves. In order to form the ceiling, other beams were laid across the building with their ends on these architraves. On the end of these beams, they could be channeled to make a triglyph. On the top of a triglyph there would be another beam which would be placed for the overhanging rafters. These type of beams were referred as to a mutules. The finishing touches for the roof had to have a flat gables called pediments. The gutter ran along the top of the pediments and ended at a lion's mouth. This acted like a drain. The materials that were used for the roofs were thatch and the terra-cotta and marble. The of Doric temples were similar to those of the Ionic order in lay out and design.

The second order would be the Ionic order. Their columns were more slender than those of the Doric order. Their dimensions were eight to nine meters high, instead of four to five. The columns had a molded base which was placed under them and then sculpted figures on the lower part of the shaft were added. At the top of these shafts, were rectangular blocks of stone, which were carved in the shape of hair or other wave and line shapes.

The Corinthian columns are the most decorative and usually the most appealing to the modern eye. They too use entasis to correct the optical illusions of the massive Greek structures. The Corinthian capitals have flowering, leaf-like structures below a lesser scroll design than that of Ionian capitals. The shaft has indented sides and the base is a more refined version of the Ionian. Unlike the Doric and Ionian roofs, which are at a slant, the Corinthian roofs are flat. The Corinthian frieze is the same as the Ionic frieze, but on a smaller scale

The Metopes The metopes of the Parthenon all represented various instances of the struggle between the forces of order and justice, on the one hand, and criminal chaos on the other.

The Pedimental Sculptures These relief sculptures, larger than those of the metopes, occupied the triangular space above the triglyphs and metopes

The Frieze The Parthenon frieze runs around the upper edge of the temple wall. Its relatively small size (3 feet 5 inches tall) and placement (inside from the triglyphs and metopes) made it fairly hard to see from the ground. Unlike the metopes, the frieze has a single subject on all four sides. On three sides (north, west, and south) it depicts a procession of horsemen, musicians, sacrificial animals, and other figures with various ritual functions. On the east side there is a scene centered on a child handing a folded cloth to an older man. On one side of them seated gods and goddess are in attendance; on the other, two girls are carrying something.

The Minoan Era (2,000 - 1,000 B. C.) - The Minoans furniture history comes to us from the excavated ruins of the Palace of Minos at Knossos...Unfortunately, Knossos was destroying most of the relics from their (own) civilization. The throne of Knossos, constructed of stone, is one of the few remaining examples of furniture from this period.

"The Mycenaean Era (1,600 - 1,200 B. C.) - This era remains of great intrigue to historians as
few records remain. It is the time of Homer and the Odyssey. Our knowledge of this time is constructed from the tales passed down through the generations and, most recently, from the deciphering of some stone tablets in which chairs, tables, and footstools are mentioned. The descriptions give but few clues to the actual appearance of this furniture, (Baker, 1966); but it is known they used benches, stools, high seats requiring the use of a footstool, and chairs with backrests that could be moved with some ease. "The Mycenaean civilization ended abruptly around 1,200 B. C. with the palaces burned and all records lost. The next five hundred years remain a blank as far as the archeological record of furniture is concerned; and this period is sometimes referred to as the dark ages of Greek history.

The Early Greek Era - This is a period of sophistication in design represented in the paintings and sculpture of the time. Banquet couches for sleeping or dining are common. The Greeks had become accustomed to eating in a reclining pose...The designers and craftsmen of this period produced a well-finished and what is often referred to as classic Greek design in the chair...Sometime in the early part of the Fifth Century B.C. the chair acquires a broad horizontal back slat at the top that encircled the shoulders of the seated person, and a fixed form of the classic chair is established. The backs of some chairs sweep back in an exaggerated curve, while others are straighter, (Baker, 1966). "The Classical Greek Era (475 - 370 B. C.) - The furniture of this period remained virtually unchanged from the Early Greek Era. The Classical Era, as it pertains to furniture and architecture, continued without a break in Greece and the Roman world until the time of Constantine; and, although interrupted for long intervals, its influence has continued until today, (Baker, 1966). The chairs, stools, couches, and tables of this time have remained an inspiration to furniture designers, determining form and functional use patterns by Western cultures. "The stool developed in two forms. One, termed diphros, often had four perpendicular legs and a rectangular seat, often with a cushion or rug for padding. The other stool became known as diphros okladias in which the legs cross, as in the modern stool...The use of benches on which to sit became a common part of Greek culture, used in schools and theaters and by philosophers and their audiences. The bench sometimes had perpendicular backrests, but this was not common. The Greeks were also accustomed to sitting on the ground. Significantly perhaps, the speaker would sit in an almost throne-like chair, setting him/her apart from the audience.

Stools:
Two main styles of stools of ancient Greece have survived through reliefs. The first type looks more like what would today be considered to be a small table. The typical stool consisted of a flat top and four straight legs. This stool was known as a Bathron. There was no back support and the bottom was hard and uncompromising. The second type of stool was made lightweight and easy to carry. Like most furniture of the time, the X-stool, also known as the diphros okladias, was easily movable and did not have a specific place in the home. This folding X-stool was designed by the Egyptians. It consisted of three animal legs pointed inwards and ending with lion's paws. Along with beds, chairs, and couches, stools ere covered in piles of fleece to increase sitting comfort. The third type of stool, the Thronos or throne, was a type of stool known only to the wealthy. The Thronos was ornately decorated and was often times lined with precious stones. The footstool, which was used for access to couches and other high furniture, was known as the Theyns

greek folding stool

aegean / greek, simle folding stool, ca. 2000 B.C.

Couches:
Couches of ancient Greece were combinations of beds and sofas. This type of furniture, called the Kline, was made for sleeping as well as dining. During meals Greek diners would lie down rather than sit to eat. The Greek trend to recline rather than sit originated in the 6th century. Greek couches were similar to those of the Egyptians except for two differences. According to Lucie-Smith (1979), "first, they stood higher off the ground, so much that a footstool was sometimes used as a means of access; and second, there was now a headboard but no footboard". The height allowed for easier access to tables and also allowed room beneath to fit tables. The headboard was used as a means of back support while eating.

Sometimes a kline could be used even on a horse

Tables: The Greeks had one set item to be placed upon their tables: food. Unlike people today, the ancient Greeks did not use tables a s places to set up trinkets or valuables, but merely used them in their most basic purpose. According to Schmitz (1957), "Tables were low and mostly movable, credences and drinking tables being often three-legged and made of bronze" (pg. 8). Most ancient tables, contrary to other furniture, were made with 3 rather than 4 legs to create a better sense of balance. These tables could be made of bronze or marble, but typically of wood. This type of table was the most common up until the 4th Century BCE when square topped tables were replaced with round tops.

Chests: Continuing with the tradition of ancient Greek furniture, chests were originally made similar to those of the Egyptian style and then took on their own style. Chests were the only means for storing clothing because shelves were generally not used for that purpose. Jewelry, coverings, and fruits (predominantly quince) were hidden alongside the clothing for protection. Chests were also often valued enough to be part of a wife's dowry into use in the Hellenistic period.

Chairs:

Prior to the invention of a type of chair known as the Klismos by the Greeks in the 5th Century BCE, chairs were the same as those of Egypt and Persian. These chairs had hard stiff backs and arms. Even the people depicted in paintings and friezes sitting in these types of chairs look to be uncomfortable. Rather than being designed to be comfortable, these chairs of the 6th and 7th Centuries BCE were purely practical or ceremonial in nature.

The 5th Century BCE brought along a new era in Greek chairs and furniture. The Klismos was an entirely new type of chair designed by the Greeks. It's smooth and flowing shape inspired cultures of the Middle Ages and the early 19th Century to revive the concept. The Klismos, used principally by women, was made with delicately curved back and legs. These features allowed the sitter to be in a freer and more natural position. According to Bishop (1979), the backs of these chairs, referred to as Stiles, were designed to the curvature of the back for comfort and extended to the shoulders. The Klismos, like most other furniture, was made of wood and not ornately decorated. In order to increase the comfort, cushions and animal skins were usually placed on the Klismos. By Hellenistic times, the general shape and structure of the Klismos had already started to change. Chairs once again became heavier and more rigid. The general concept of comfort over ceremony has luckily survived through these changes so that a piece of furniture from 2500 years ago does not seem at all strange today

Trapeza, usually tables had 3 legs. (Trapeza means also bank since the first banks were nothing else than a simple table set somewhere outside by a banker, not like the banks today, the huge and luxurious buildings!) (Probably adapted from similar furniture from Egypt)