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Greek Masonry and Construction Techniques

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Title: Greek Masonry and Construction Techniques


1
Greek Masonryand Construction Techniques
2
Masonry
Wall in Mycenae, built c. 1500 B.C.
  • Cyclopean
  • The earliest example of substantial building in
    Greece was the Cyclopean masonry found in Mycenae
    and nearby in other Bronze Age citadel cities.
  • It is unknown how the ancient Mycenaeans moved
    such large stones, some of them, such as the
    megalithic lintel stones over the Lions Gate,
    weighing up to several tons. In fact, very little
    is known about any of their construction
    techniques. The skills were lost in the years
    after the Bronze Age ended, around 1100 B.C.
  • What we know though, is that the stones were only
    very slightly worked with tools, and were
    probably found lying around the area rather then
    quarried. Smaller chunks of stones would be
    jammed between any cracks between the larger
    ones. Because of the great mass and weight of the
    larger stones, the walls proved to be very
    durable and sturdy.

3
Polygonal
  • When Greece came out of its Dark Age around 800
    B.C., it had to reinvent the masonry skills it
    saw in the ruins of Mycenae.
  • Unless rectangular blocks were necessary for
    aesthetic reasons, masons tended to try and
    imitate the Cyclopean style as best they could,
    because it took less time and effort to work the
    stones into proper shape.
  • They used smaller stones than seen in Cyclopean
    masonry because they didnt have the technology
    to move stones as large as those used in Mycenae.
  • In Polygonal masonry, masons cut blocks with
    curved outlines and fit them together like a
    puzzle, using the natural form of the rock
  • This masonry was very stable, and because they
    interlocked so tightly, the wall didnt need any
    extra support from metal clamps.

Delphi terrace wall, early sixth century
4
Horizontal
  • About 500 B.C., it became high style to lay
    blocks in more or less horizontal rows. This
    sense of order was seen as more formal than the
    irregularity of the polygonal masonry, and was
    often used with temples and important civic
    structures.
  • It was less stable than the interlocking
    polygonal style though, and so the masons would
    secure the blocks with horizontal clasps and
    vertical metal dowels to prevent any lateral
    shifting.
  • All of the metal was further fixed by a seal of
    molten lead, all of this security important in
    Greece, which was often hit by earthquakes.
  • With all of the metal used and the time it took
    to finely shape the stone, this sort of masonry
    was expensive, and saved for only the most
    prestigious structures.

Priene street with supporting wall for the temple
of Athena Polias, fourth century
5
Ashlar / Isodomic
  • This masonry was a fifth century development, and
    basically a refinement of the horizontal masonry.
  • At the corners, the joints were often placed
    perpendicular to one another in alternating
    layers.
  • Generally this was used for smaller or highly
    important surfaces as the regularity could seem
    monotonous if carried on for too long.
  • Generally, for added interest, larger blocks were
    used for the lower courses of the walls, and is
    often seen in temples where the foundation is
    above ground and where an intermediate size stone
    softens the difference between the large
    foundation slabs and the smaller ashlar stones.

The Erechtheion, Athens, c. 421-407 B.C.
6
Others
  • Decorative Polygonal
  • In the Hellenistic period, polygonal masonry came
    back into style, but instead of selecting rocks
    from the surface of the ground and just barely
    working them, later masons deliberately carved
    the stones into complex geometrical shapes.
  • This style was mainly reserved for decorative
    masonry, real polygonal masonry was still used
    for more utilitarian purposes.

Knidos terrace-wall 3rd- 2nd c.
7
Others
Others
  • Decorative Polygonal
  • In the Hellenistic period, polygonal masonry came
    back into style, but instead of selecting rocks
    from the surface of the ground and just barely
    working them, later masons deliberately carved
    the stones into complex geometrical shapes.
  • Decorative Polygonal
  • In the Hellenistic period, polygonal masonry came
    back into style, but instead of selecting rocks
    from the surface of the ground and just barely
    working them, later masons deliberately carved
    the stones into complex geometrical shapes.

Knidos terrace-wall 3rd- 2nd c.
The earlier polygonal from Delphi shows more
natural shapes, while the irregularities of the
later wall seem manufactured in comparison
8
Others
  • Slanted Ashlar
  • This style seems to be a sort of compromise
    between polygonal and horizontal masonry.
  • The blocks are flat on the top and bottom and set
    in relatively straight courses, the only
    difference was that every so often, the sides
    were cut on angles.
  • These angled edges retained some of the extra
    stability polygonal masonry gave and so masons
    felt safe to use this style for purposes such as
    fortification despite the small block size, which
    would usually lead to weaker walls.
  • Although most of the walls were still constructed
    using Polygonal masonry, this provided a
    cleaner-looking alternative for embellished
    pieces of the walls.

Messene, city wall and tower, min 4th c.
9
Others
  • Slanted Ashlar
  • This style seems to be a sort of compromise
    between polygonal and horizontal masonry.
  • The blocks are flat on the top and bottom and set
    in relatively straight courses, the only
    difference was that every so often, the sides
    were cut on angles.
  • These angled edges retained some of the extra
    stability polygonal masonry gave and so masons
    felt safe to use this style for purposes such as
    fortification despite the small block size, which
    would usually lead to weaker walls.
  • Although most of the walls were still constructed
    using Polygonal masonry, this provided a
    cleaner-looking alternative for embellished
    pieces of the walls.

Messene, city wall and tower, min 4th c.
10
Building Techniques
  • Mystery of Mycenae
  • When Greece regained an interest for monumental
    building around 800 B.C., Mycenae was already in
    ruins.
  • The Greeks knew that they still had the same
    materials as their ancestors timber, mud bricks,
    and stone, but they had forgotten the techniques
    that the Mycenaeans had developed for their
    massive structures.
  • The Greeks could only guess that the walls and
    other structures must have been built by the
    giant Cyclopes, hence the name Cyclopean masonry.

11
Dark Age of Greek History
  • During the Dark Age of Greece, buildings had been
    mainly made of sun-baked mud brick with timber
    support frames and thatched roofs.
  • Buildings were not meant to be monumental, and
    most sacred places were not temples but rather
    natural formations such as caves.
  • Stone was used only for the base of the buildings
    to keep water moister away from the mud walls,
    but these unworked stones were generally just
    those that were found on the surface of the
    ground.
  • The buildings themselves were competently built,
    but there was certainly little if any attempt of
    elaboration, and everything was kept on a
    relatively small scale as the proportions were
    dependent of the size of the tree trunks they
    could find.

12
Historical and Egyptian Inspiration
  • Around 800 B.C., there was an increased interest
    in the historical past, perpetuated by people
    like Homer who told stories about the heroic past
    of Greece.
  • Greeks wanted to emulate the style of their
    ancient heroes, and were given the chance through
    increased interactions with Egypt.
  • Around 660 B.C., the Greeks had given support to
    Pharaoh Psamtik, who regained control of Egypt
    from Assyrian control. His victory opened the
    door for increased trade and communication, and
    the Greeks founded a trading town named Naukratis
    on the western Egyptian coastline around 620 B.C..

Homer
13
Megalithic Building
  • Egypt built monumental works completely in stone,
    and the Greeks eagerly studied their techniques
    in order to develop their own style.
  • From the early seventh century onward, they would
    have had new knowledge of how to dress stone as
    well as how to physically put up such megalithic
    buildings.
  • One of the easiest comparisons between Greek and
    Egyptian architecture is the Doric order.
  • The Greeks at first closely followed the Egyptian
    models, although in their earlier temples it can
    be seen that they still needed to develop their
    refinement.
  • But although the Greeks did copy some of Egyptian
    building techniques, their buildings in whole
    were very different from their Egyptian
    counterparts, keeping to traditional Greek forms.

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Deir-el-Bahari,
Egypt, c. 1500 BC
14
Megalithic Building
  • Note that the Temple of Apollo, which is one of
    the earliest examples of Greek megalithic
    buildings, has monolithic columns. This would
    later be refined by building the columns up in
    drums rather than trying to carve the entire
    pillar, which took larger pieces of stone and so
    was both more expensive and more cumbersome.

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Deir-el-Bahari,
Egypt, c. 1500 BC
The Temple of Apollo at Corinth, mid-6th century
B.C.
15
Steps to Construction The Architects Job
  • In ancient Greece, there was no difference
    between architect and engineer until the late
    fourth century, and he was the most important
    person on the project, sometimes even more so
    than the patrons themselves.
  • The architect of the building project was
    expected to control all details of workmanship,
    inspect each course of stone before the next
    could be laid down, approve the tightness of each
    joint and the quality of the clamps, and
    authorize payments to all the workmen and
    contractors.
  • In fact, the only part of the building process
    which he had no direct control over was the
    quarrying process.

16
Steps to Construction Quarrying and Initial
Carving
  • After the 6th century BC, the Greeks followed the
    Egyptian method of quarrying.
  • Blocks were cut from the quarry on order from the
    builder, and even column drums were sometimes
    precut in their cylinder shape.
  • A channel would be cut around the block to the
    depth of the height required and then it would be
    detached from its base with wedges.

17
Steps to Construction Quarrying and Initial
Carving
  • As Greek masons and architect refined their work,
    temples (it was mostly temples that were built
    with the best stonework) grew in size to a more
    monumental scale.
  • As the temples grew, so did the size of the
    required blocks if the style was to remain in the
    same proportions.
  • To ease the growing pressures on lifting and
    transportation, stoneworkers would often hollow
    out parts of the stone that werent essential to
    the support of the building.

18
Steps to Construction Transporting the Stone
  • Most blocks could be transported to the build
    site in ox-drawn wagons, and this was the
    standard practice.
  • The Greeks did at times use the Egyptian method
    of having blocks moved on sledges and rollers,
    but it wasnt practical for long distances, and
    took too many men to execute properly.
  • At times though, loads would become too heavy
    for wagons, and new plans would have to be worked
    out. Some worked while others not so much.
  • Lower left design was actually used by the
    architect Cherisphron to move the architrave
    blocks for the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos (c.
    560 BC).

19
Steps to Construction Lifting and Leveling
  • Once the blocks had arrived at the construction
    site, the real work began.
  • The Greeks did employ the earthen ramp method of
    the Egyptians, and even improved on the idea by
    using sandbags instead of earth so that once the
    stone block was in place, it could be lowered by
    a controlled flow of sand as they loosened the
    bags one by one.
  • A preferred method though, was the use of cranes,
    much like the cranes we have today except made
    mainly of wood and rope.
  • These cranes made it possible to have only a
    small workforce of professional workmen on the
    site, rather than the large mob it would take to
    use other methods like the earth ramp, and so was
    much more efficient and reasonable in a society
    which didnt have the instant workforce which a
    pharaoh would have.

20
Steps to Construction Lifting and Leveling II
  • The cranes, however more efficient than ramps,
    could only handle smaller sized blocks.
  • Multiple cranes could be used on one blocks, but
    architects adapted to the machinery instead by
    having the same structure made of smaller
    individual units.
  • U-shaped notches or protruding bumps would be
    carved into the stone pieces so that ropes would
    have somewhere to attach to when the block was
    lifted into place.
  • Once the blocks were set in place, as well as
    during initial carving, masons would check that
    the blocks were level using an A-shaped level.
    This level had a plumb-line hanging from the
    apex, which on a level plane would hang directly
    between the two legs.

21
Steps to Construction Connecting and Finishing
  • The column drums were connected by metal dowels
    which were fixed with lead, and the regular
    blocks of the walls were fixed by metal clamps
    and lead as in general horizontal masonry
    practices, with no mortar used.
  • To make sure everything looked regular and
    aligned properly, the final carving was saved
    until all the blocks were in place.
  • The stone was worked down with chisels until it
    was finally smoothed by small stones and sand. If
    it was marble, it could be further polished with
    leather.
  • Completely finishing stone seemed to be reserved
    for only the most important buildings, as it took
    a lot of detailed work.
  • The U-Shape holes on top, here for levers rather
    than cranes because of the small stone size
  • The dove-tail clamp connecting the top of the two
    stones
  • f) Preliminary finishing

22
Temples versus Secular
  • Temples were unique to Greek architecture in that
    their form never changed much. It was always a
    post and lintel structure, mimicking the homes of
    the early Greeks.
  • This is somewhat misleading, because the Greeks
    did know about other construction methods such as
    the arch, they just chose tradition instead of
    new forms.
  • In fact, the arch and other more experimental
    forms can be seen in secular structures. The arch
    in particular, was saved for structures with
    thicker walls, which would provide the proper
    amount of buttressing for the outward thrust.

Parthenon, Athens, 447- 431 BC
23
Techniques Seen in Fortifications
  • Because of their thick walls, fortifications (as
    well as tombs) often had domes, because they
    didnt need buttressing.
  • Seen here is also an example of cantilevering,
    where the steps are supported only on one end of
    the stone block which is embedded into the wall.
  • The Greeks though never built a dome larger than
    the span of a small room. It would be the Romans
    who would fully explore the use of domes as well
    as other more experimental forms of stone
    construction, aided dramatically by their
    invention of concrete.

24
Bibliography
  • Coulton, J. J. Greek Architects at Work. London
    Elek Books Ltd., 1977.
  • Lawrence, A. W. Greek Architecture. 5th ed. New
    York Yale UP, Pelican history of art, 1996.
  • Sadler, Simon. "Lecture 3." AHI025. ART 217. 14
    Apr. 2008.
  • Tomlinson, Richard A. From Mycenae to
    Constantinople The Evolution of the Ancient
    City. New York Routledge, 1992.
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