Hellenistic

Hellenistic. Greek architecture and culture from the consolidation of Macedonian supremacy under Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) to the foundation of the Roman Empire under Augustus in 27 BC and after in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Hellenistic period therefore coincided with the relative decline of Greece and the evolution of centres of art and patronage in the Greek Kingdoms of Asia Minor and Egypt. Hellenistic architecture is characterized by a greater variation of influence than was apparent in Hellenic architecture, and was often more opulent, elegant, and graceful. Furthermore, Hellenistic buildings often gained in lightness of effect through a wider intercolumniation than that found in Hellenic work. The Doric Order, for example, became more attenuated and less severe (often with two or more triglyphs over each intercolumniation), becoming less ‘pure’ in the process and acquiring certain features from the Ionic Order: an example was the Temple of Hera Basileia, Pergamon (mid-C2 BC), with very slender columns (7½ diameters high) and a relatively low entablature. Among the finest Hellenistic buildings incorporating the Ionic Order, much embellished with vigorous sculpture, were the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (both mid-C4 BC, and both ‘Wonders’ of the Ancient World). Features of the Hellenistic Ionic Order included the Asiatic base and the omission of the frieze, as in the Temple of Athena Polias, Priene (from c.335 BC). The Corinthian Order was represented by the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, Athens (a very beautiful and delicate version of this Order—334 BC), and by the Temple of Zeus Olympios (later the Olympeion), Athens (started 174 BC), the latter the first external use of that Order for a major building.

Whilst cities like Ephesus, Priene, and Pergamon were graced by spectacular and elegant Hellenistic religious buildings (including the huge and opulent public altar of Zeus at Pergamon (c.180 BC—now in Berlin), many structures were of a civic nature, and regular grid-iron town-planning became usual, as at Miletus and Priene, while the huge city of Alexandria in Egypt not only had a grid plan but vast processional avenues and monumental buildings of which virtually nothing survives. Pergamon had a library, theatre, palace, the altar, and other buildings composed as a sequence (C2 BC), and the monumental effects of vistas of scenography anticipated Imperial Roman planning. Among the most elaborate civic buildings was the Bouleuterion at Miletus (175–164 BC), with its seating arranged like that of a theatre.

Hellenistic fortifications, gates, public buildings, and monuments drew on eclectic motifs and themes, and often displayed dazzling technique and bravura. Dwelling-houses were often of considerable magnificence, anticipating the luxurious Roman villa. Arches and vaults were also employed, notably for tombs and subterranean structures, again pointing the way for Roman architecture. Roman architecture absorbed many aspects of Hellenistic design, as is demonstrated by the temple-complex of Baalbek, Lebanon (AD C1 and 2).

Bibliography

Dinsmoor (1950);
Fyfe (1936);
Onians (1979);
D. S. Robertson (1945);
Wyoming (1962)