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.