Order system of Ancient Greece and Rome

It is well known that the whole world architecture developed under the influence of classical designs created by the architects of the legendary Hellas. Their immortal creations for many centuries served as a standard of harmony, inspiring architects of later eras, for which the starting point of their creative search was the order system of Ancient Greece. The photos illustrating the article give an idea of its characteristic features.

The concept of an architectural warrant

Before you start talking about the features of these or other orders, it does not hurt to clarify the very meaning of this term, so often encountered in architecture. Under it is customary to understand the composition that resulted from the artistic processing of the most important part of the building - its rack and beam structure. A simple combination of a vertical support and a horizontal panel in it has become a work of art.

To the ancient Greeks by nature was inherent in the poetic perception of many seemingly prosaic attributes of life. Here and in the usual combination of the building elements of the column and the upper ceiling, they were able to see the symbol of the struggle between good and support, and evil - pressing on it from above with its weight of a beam of architrave. Well, if it touched so high matters, the flight of inspiration of ancient architects became truly irresistible.

Three whales of ancient Greek architecture

The order architecture system of Ancient Greece is based on three whales, which became its basis for the entire period of existence of this highly developed civilization. Under them it is customary to understand the Doric order, Ionic and Corinthian. These names come from areas where buildings first appeared, marked by their characteristic artistic features. As a rule, these were not ordinary residential buildings, but public buildings or temples.

It is no accident that the religious buildings embodied the fruits of the creative inspiration of architects. Deity worship included not only the ritual system, but also required a very special aesthetic form of creating all the elements of the temple, including its architectural solution, and sculptural decoration.

The early architectural style of ancient Hellas

The addition of the order system in the architecture of Ancient Greece has deep historical roots. Even in the earliest - archaic - period there were buildings whose artistic features were called the Doric order. Temples made in this style are characterized by squat, massive and stingy decorative design. The famous Roman architect and mechanic Vitruvius, who lived in the 1st century AD, aptly described him as "male".

The validity of such a characteristic becomes obvious when you see these massive columns, creating the impression of power, capable of withstanding any load. At the same time, their surface, covered with longitudinal grooves running along the axis, emphasizes the aspiration upwards, and creates a sense of dynamics, to which, to one extent or another, the whole order system of Ancient Greece is subordinated.

Briefly describing this architectural technique, it should be noted that the effect of movement is achieved by the very form of the column - broad at its base, and tapering at the top. It is like a pointer directed to the sky - the abode of those deities worshiped in the temple. This stylistic method also serves another purpose: the cone-shaped silhouette of the column causes a much greater sense of counteracting gravity than its strictly vertical outlines.

Variety of temples of the Doric order

The crowning part of the column - the capital - is characterized by a lack of decor and consists of a smooth convex contour called the Echinus and a rectangular slab - an abacus. Nothing extra. True male beauty does not need jewelry. However, this artistic orientation does not mean that the order system of Ancient Greece gave rise to the external monotony of the temples executed within the framework of this or that style.

With the general similarity of proportions, the Doric temples looked different. Everything depended on the height and location of the columns, as well as the overall proportions of the building. In some cases, a feeling of unreasonable heaviness was created, and in others - lightness and grace. To see this, it is enough to look at the massive forms of the Pesteum Temple of Poseidon and compare them to the soaring in the air contours of the sanctuary of Hephaestus on the Agora.

The appearance of the feminine element in architecture

Somewhat later, already in the heyday of Mediterranean culture, the order system of Ancient Greece was enriched with yet another architectural style, known as the Ionic Order. Unlike his Doric fellow, who embodied his masculine forms with his own forms, he became an expression of femininity and grace, manifested in the slender outlines of the columns, and the general ease of proportions of the temples.

In addition, Greek architects, inspired by their beautiful compatriots, performed the capitals of the columns in the form of circles resembling a female breast decorated with a rich decor in the form of necklaces. Kannelury did so deep that they involuntarily associated with the viewer with the folds of the dress.

The general impression of the feminine principle and some eroticity was supplemented with caryatids - female figures used as additional supports. They were a sharp contrast to the powerful and gloomy figures of the Atlanteans in the Doric temples.

Varieties of ionic style

The buildings relating to the Ionic warrant were not homogeneous. They had distinctive features that allowed them to be divided into Asia Minor and Attic variants. The first was distinguished by a deep drawing of the base and the absence of a frieze - a strip of sculptural ornaments framing the upper parts of the walls. It occurs infrequently. The Attic variant is more common. It is this style that the architectural order system of Ancient Greece was most famous. Athens Acropolis is the best-known of its embodiment.

Distinctive features of temples of Attic style can be called a three-layer entablature - a girder beam, resting on supporting pillars. In addition, they are characterized by a continuous frieze, enveloping the entire perimeter of the building and often decorated with decorative compositions.

In general, ionic temples, for all their undeniable advantages, had one significant drawback - the details that were part of their composition were deprived of a comprehensive review. By their design features, they were beautiful only from one particular side. It is for this reason that the order system of Ancient Greece needed a new, more elaborate and universal style.

The style that absorbed the achievements of the past centuries

It was the Corinthian order, developed taking into account the merits and demerits of its two predecessors. He embodied the best of their features. It was in him that the order system of Ancient Greece was fully completed. There is a legend that its creator, the ancient Greek architect Callimachus, once became a witness to the spectacle he remembered.

Standing on the grave of a young Greek woman, a basket of acanthus flowers was covered with green branches sprouting through its bars. The architect liked it so much that he created several columns, the capitals of which reproduced what he had seen. They were beautiful from all points of view, and their image was the basis for creating a new architectural warrant.

The above mentioned Roman architect Vitruvius compared the slender Corinthian columns with the silhouettes of the girls. Unlike Dorian and ionic samples, they look more flexible and proportionate. In addition, for Corinthian capitals and entablature, in addition to their all-roundness, is characterized by rich decorative design, giving them a bright festive appearance.

Roman followers of the ancient Greeks

The order system of Ancient Greece served as a basis for the creation and development of architectural styles of the Roman Empire. But, unlike the previous centuries, in this, later period of world history, distribution was not three, but five orders. To the inherited from Greek architects and creatively revised styles, the Roman architects added two original ones, developed by them - the Tuscan and composite ones.

The simplest was the Tuscan style. It was characterized by massive columns and a simplified Doric entablature - a span spanning a span, often made of wood. The Roman-Doric and Roman-Ionic orders generally reproduced their Greek prototypes, but with some modifications. As for the composite style, it is considered to be the most complex in its structure, since it represented the totality of the elements of the remaining four orders.

The basis of the foundations of world architecture

It is no exaggeration to say that the architecture of Ancient Greece, the order system of which found its continuation in the works of Roman architects, was the base on which the entire world classical architecture subsequently grew. Looking closely at her most famous masterpieces, you can see in them the elements that came to our world from the depths of ancient centuries.