Tradition and Innovation in Doric Design II

Archaic and Classical Doric East of the Adriatic

Bibliographic Data

ID4538441
AuthorsF E Winter (0000-0001-8423-7221, corresponding author)
Year1978
Volume82
Issue2
Pages151-161
Publication date1978-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/504490
OpenAlexW2318920757
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited1

A great deal of creative work was done in Doric architecture east of the Adriatic during the period ca. 565-490. The long narrow proportions of early Doric peristyles were progressively modified to produce 6×12, and even 6×11, plans; the exterior colonnade was sometimes rendered more spacious by making it "pseudodipteral"; and in the latter part of our period Ionic ideas and decorative details began to be imported into the Doric tradition. One important innovation was the trend toward more slender column proportions-an idea later taken up by the architects of Periklean Athens. In some cases too one or both of opisthodomos and interior columns were omitted; it was then possible to make the cella relatively larger and more spacious. Designs of this type, though generally not favored by architects of the second and third quarters of the fifth century, were enthusiastically adopted by fourth century builders. Most, if not all, of the middle and late Archaic innovations can probably be traced to Ionic influence. However, this influence does not always seem to have come directly from the eastern Aegean to the Greek mainland; for some of the new ideas evidently appeared first in Sicily and Magna Graecia, Korfu, and even Cyrene. Probably the architects of the Periklean age drew some of their inspiration from later Archaic Doric west as well as east of the Adriatic. Perhaps unfortunately, the use of taller and more slender columns, even when combined with relatively lower and lighter entablatures, substantially altered the height:width proportions of classical Athenian temple facades. The work of the "Theseum" architect gives us an interesting view of a single designer trying to find a satisfactory solution for some of the problems produced by the new style. Nevertheless these problems were sometimes hardly capable of solution within the traditional Doric framework. The next article in this series will deal with the boldly uncanonical solutions found in the work of Iktinos

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Archaic period · Art · Classical period · Hellenistic Period · Interior design · Literature · Mainland · Period (music) · Visual arts · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Architecture · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Historical and Architectural Studies · History

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