INDEX

THE TEXAS FOUNDATION

FOR

ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL RESEARCH

THE DORIC ORDER

www.tfahr.org© 2010 by The Texas Foundation for Archaeological & Historical Research. All rights reserved.

In the 2008 and 2009 excavation seasons at Bylazora (Republic of Macedonia) fragments of stones from a Doric order building were discovered re-used in buildings on the acropolis. This naturally caused great excitement about the possibility of a Doric temple being somewhere in the vicinity.

Triglyph and metope block re-used in a later building.

Triglyph fragment re-used in a later tower foundation. Uncovering the triglyph and metope block.

In the 2010 excavation season at Bylazora, we discovered a group of 17 carved stones whose style indicates that they came from a building of the Doric order. The stones themselves had been tossed into a great heap; it seems that they were on the way to a lime kiln to be burnt down to make lime for mortar.

The stones are published in the TFAHR 2010 publication. This short presentation is to acquaint the archaeological novice and lay reader with the terminology used in the discussion of Doric order architecture. It is also to prepare future volunteers on TFAHR digs at Bylazora for dealing with the Doric order material.

CREDITS

Text by William J. Neidinger and Eulah M. Matthews

Photographs by Eulah M. Matthews, William J. Neidinger, and Kyle T. Egerer

Drawings by Kyle T. Egerer and Pablo Aparicio Resco

Map by Robert Neidinger and William J. Neidinger

Elevation by Robert Neidinger and William J. Neidinger

This presentation and all the images within © 2010 by The Texas Foundation for Archaeological & Historical Research. All rights reserved.

THE DORIC ORDER

Click to continue presentation

INDEX

The Doric order is named after the Dorian Greeks who settled Greece after the Trojan War (ca. 1175 BC). The architectural style arose in those lands settled by the Dorians.

Buildings belonging to the Doric order are distinguished by three characteristics:

1. the Doric capital;2. the column resting directly upon the stylobate

without a base;3. the arrangement of the entablature parts . One of

the unique elements of the entablature in the Doric order is the triglyph and metope motif of the frieze.

AN INDEX OF ARCHITECTURAL TERMS

ABACUS

ANATHYROSIS

ANNULET

ANTA, ANTA CAPITAL

ARCHITRAVE

ARRIS

CAPITAL

CAVETTO

COLUMN DRUM

COLUMN SHAFT

CORNICE

CREPIDOMA

CYMA REVERSA

DORIC ORDER

ECHINUS

ENTABLATURE

ENTASIS

EPISTYLE

FACET

FASCIA

FLUTE

FRIEZE

GEISON

GUTTAE

INTERCOLUMNIATION

LEWIS HOLE

METOPE

MUTULE

NECK

REGULA

SOFFIT

STEREOBATE

STYLOBATE

TAENIA

TRIGLYPH

Click on a term for a definition and illustration; that will take you to the appropriate page. To return to this page click on the

INDEX symbol in the lower right handINDEX

corner of the definition and illustration page.

INDEXTemple of Concord, Agrigento, Italy; ca. 430 BC.

STYLOBATE

STEREOBATE

CREPIDOMA = (Greek) house foundation. The crepidoma comprises the various foundation courses of a building. Those foundation courses are the:STEREOBATE = (Greek) leveling step. Stereobate courses vary in number depending upon the lay of the terrain and the desire to elevate the building above its surroundings. STYLOBATE = (Greek) column step. The single stylobate course is the course upon which the columns rest.

INDEX

COLUMN SHAFTS in the ancient world were either monolithic (one piece of stone) or built up from individual COLUMN DRUMS.

Monolithic columns in a Roman quarry at Yeditaslar, Turkey.

Fallen column drums of the Temple of Apollo, Didyma, Turkey; Hellenistic Era.

The ARRIS is the sharp edge between the FLUTES (troughs) of the column.

Column drum from Bylazora.

ENTASIS (from the Greek word “to stretch”) is the slight convex curve of a tapered column usually just above eye level.

INDEX

The distinctive Doric capital is composed of the following parts:

1. ABACUS = (Greek) board. A plain square slab of stone.

2. ECHINUS = (Greek) bowl. A convex or rectilinear circular stone supporting the abacus.

Corinth Archaeological Museum, Corinth, Greece.

Capital from Bylazora.

ABACUS

ECHINUS

NECK

LEWIS HOLE

Often there are rings or ANNULETS between the echinus and the neck of the capital.

INDEX

The EPISTYLE (from the Greek = on the column) or the ARCHITRAVE (from the Latin = foremost beam) is the lowest part of the ENTABLATURE, the superstructure of the building. In the Doric order it is usually undecorated.The epistyle is crowned by the TAENIA (from the Greek = headband), a narrow band or fillet. Be- neath the taenia is a narrow strip called the REGULA, on which the GUTTAE (literally, drops) are carved. The guttae are peg-like cylinders. The regula and guttae are placed beneath the triglyphs of the frieze.

A damaged architrave block from Bylazora.

Temple of Concord, Agrigento, Italy; ca. 430 BC.

TAENIA

REGULA

GUTTAE

INDEX

The FRIEZE of the Doric order is distinguished by the TRIGLYPH and METOPE decoration. The triglyph (meaning thrice grooved) consists of three vertical bands separated by two beveled grooves; it is said to be a survival of the primitive carved beam end. The metope is the space between the triglyphs; originally it was bricks or a tile that filled the spaces between the beam ends. The triglyph and metope came to be carved from a single stone.

Temple of Neptune, Paestum, Italy; ca. 450 BC.

This single block found at Bylazora in 2010 has two triglyphs and one metope. Notice the plaster peeling off of the metope.

Sometimes the metopes have painted or sculptural decoration, like this frieze from Temple C, Selinunte, Italy, ca. 550 BC.

INDEX

The GEISON (also known as the corona) is the overhanging member of the CORNICE. The parts of the geison are: 1) the SOFFIT (the exposed undersurface) which contains 2) the MUTULE (a sloping block) on which are carved 3) the guttae (drops), and separating the mutules are the 4) viae (roads).

Geison block, in situ, from Bylazora.

SOFFIT

VIAE MUTULE WITH GUTTAE

Temple of Neptune, Paestum, Italy; ca. 450 BC.

Profile of the Bylazora geison block (left top); view from underneath (left bottom). Only the soffit would have been visible, the remainder of the block resting upon the triglyph and metope blocks of the frieze.

INDEX

The ANTA is the pier or pilaster that terminates a wall. An ANTA CAPITAL crowns the anta.

ANTA CAPITAL

Temple of Concord, Agrigento, Italy; ca. 430 BC.

Bylazora anta capital.

CYMA REVERSA = molding that is convex at the outer edge.

FASCIA band = a flat course of slightly projecting molding.

CAVETTO = concave piece of molding.

INTERCOLUMNIATION = space between two columns.

INDEX

ANATHYROSIS = (Greek) on the door. Anathyrosis is a method of fitting blocks together without mortar by dressing the contact edges of two adjacent blocks; the centers of the blocks are left roughed out and slightly recessed from the dressed edges and thus the centers avoid contact. When just the two vertical edges and the upper horizontal edges are dressed, it takes on the appearance of a door – hence the name (lower left photo).

Stones on the Acropolis, Athens.Is it possible that this badly damaged stone from Bylazora still retains traces of anathyrosis on the bottom border?

Stone found at Bylazora in 2008.

INDEX

A FACET is a flat surface of a polyhedron. In the Bylazora column (below) the arrises are only slightly carried into the bottom band and the 20 flutes disappear entirely as they become facets. This type of column drum is found typically in stoas and other secular buildings, where the lowest column drums are often not fluted but faceted. This is the portion of the column that people passing by would most likely bump against or lean against.

Column drum with faceted band, from Bylazora.

Stoa of Attalos (reconstructed), Athens.

Drawing of the Bylazora column piece with a faceted lower band (left).