Introduction

Summary

The Greek temple in dressed stone, with elaborate columnar orders and sculptural decoration, appears rather suddenly in the archaeological record, at the end of the seventh century.³ If one defines Greek architecture by the standards of the Archaic and Classical periods, one may argue, retrospectively, that architecture “did not exist” earlier in the Greek world. For the ages between the fall of the Bronze Age (BA) civilizations and the beginning of the seventh century, Greek temples in most regions were made mainly of earth, wood, and fieldstones, primitive in comparison to Archaic and Classical monuments. Yet if we look instead contextually at these temples and put aside the standards of future architecture, we can appropriately assess the architectural development of the temple.⁴ Adopting this approach, this book explores the early stages of the most emblematic architectural icon of the ancient Greek world. Ultimately, it will become clear that pre-Archaic temple architecture warrants a dedicated architectural history.