A pseudoperipteros is a building with
engaged columns embedded in the outer walls, except the front of the building. The form is found in
classical architecture in
ancient Greek temples, especially in the
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
period. In
Roman temples, the pseudoperipteral form became usual, where there were columns behind the
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
as well. Typically the front has a portico with free-standing columns, but columns on the other three sides of the walls are engaged.
If free-standing columns surround the entire building, it is a ''
peripteros''.
Unlike a ''peripteros'', a ''pseudoperipteros'' has no space (''
peristasis'') between the ''
cella'' (''naos'', inner chamber) and the outer walls on the sides and rear, so the engaged columns can also be considered to be embedded directly into those walls of the ''cella''.
The
Temple of Olympian Zeus at
Agrigento was a famous
Greek example of this style. Its
facade also has engaged columns.
A pseudoperipteral building with a portico at each end is an ''
amphiprostyle
In classical architecture, amphiprostyle (from the Greek (''amphi''), on both sides, and (''prostylos''), a portico) denotes an ancient temple with a portico both at the front and the rear, where the columns on the narrow sides are not between a ...
''. Examples include the small
Temple of Athena Nike and
Temple of Venus and Roma.
Sources
*
Ten Books on Architectureby Vitruvius Pollio
External links
*
Ancient Roman architectural elements
Ancient Greek architecture
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