The Doric Groundplan

Abstract

The following analysis of Doric temple design is confined to the groundplan. The monuments treated in full (26 temples in mainland Greece, Sicily, and Southern Italy) do not include all the buildings of late Archaic and Classical times, yet their position in the evolution of Greek architecture may support a broader application of the theory set forth in this article. The analysis attempts to demonstrate that the design of all the buildings under consideration involved the practical application of basic geometric concepts drawn from the current mathematical theory. These concepts, fundamental in Greek geometry, provided simple and practical solutions to problems in Doric temple design.The article proposes that the great majority of temples prior to Selinus ER (and some later) conceal an original or "canonical" axial spacing. The presence of this original axial interval—identical at the design stage on both front and flank—explains the problem of axial disparity, itself the result of the manner in which Greek number theory was embodied in the layout of the platform. Specifically, axial disparity is produced by the expansion or contraction of the axial peristyle.This procedure will demonstrate that angle contraction—single or double—before Selinus ER is largely a misnomer; what has been described as angle contraction often represents (along with the formula [A − T]/2) an entirely different operation, namely, a compression of the corner bays due to the simple redistribution of spacing on an expanded or contracted axial peristyle.Finally, the "canonical" axial spacing will show that this procedure of redistribution on the peristyle is in response to a similar step at the frieze level, one which, if valid, requires a new interpretation of the triglyph problem and its solutions by the builders.These practical adjustments of an original axial spacing vary from site to site in different periods and under diverse local conditions. The procedures employed did not require calculation, but the original spacing and its manipulation by the planners can be reconstructed for each temple by means of one basic formula expressible in one of three equations which correspond to the gradual refinement of its application.