A pseudoperipteros is a building with

engaged column In architecture, an engaged column is a column embedded in a wall and partly projecting from the surface of the wall, sometimes defined as semi- or three-quarter detached. Engaged columns are rarely found in classical Greek architecture, and then ...

s embedded in the outer walls, except the front of the building. The form is found in

classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect ...

ancient Greek temple Greek temples ( grc, ναός, naós, dwelling, semantically distinct from Latin , " temple") were structures built to house deity statues within Greek sanctuaries in ancient Greek religion. The temple interiors did not serve as meeting places, ...

s, 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 3 ...

period. In Roman temples, the pseudoperipteral form became usual, where there were columns behind the portico 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 A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of a hermit's or ...

'' (''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 Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...

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 A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose tem ...

and

Temple of Venus and Roma The Temple of Venus and Roma ( Latin: ''Templum Veneris et Romae'') is thought to have been the largest temple in Ancient Rome. Located on the Velian Hill, between the eastern edge of the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum, in Rome, it was dedic ...

Sources

*
Ten Books on Architecture
by Vitruvius Pollio

External links

* Ancient Roman architectural elements Ancient Greek architecture {{Architecturalelement-stub