Prostyle is an architectural term designating temples (especially
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Roman) featuring a row of
columns on the front. The term is often used as an
adjective
In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...
when referring to the
portico of a
classical building, which projects from the main structure. First used in Etruscan and Greek temples, this motif was later incorporated by the Romans into their temples.
Examples of prostyle include the
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 temple ...
, Akropolis, Athens, a prostyle tetrastyle (i.e. with four columns). There are also prostyle hexastyle and prostyle octastyle temples.
This architectural element probably originated in the eastern Greek isles in the 8th century BCE, but there are also many examples in archaic temples in southern Italy.
The subsequent evolution of temple design came with the
amphiprostyle, where there are rows of columns both in front and at the back of the temple.
Notes
External links
*
Columns and entablature
Ancient Greek architecture
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