These were occasions of great public celebration highlighted by feasts, athletic competitions and dramatic productions. The god or goddess was presented with gifts of jewellery and fine garments along with tableware and cutlery of silver and gold. Statues of young men (kouroi) and young women (korai) were dedicated to the deity as votive offerings and evidence of personal piety. The kore on the left was found on the Acropolis in Athens and dates to the late sixth century BC. Finally, the citizenry gathered in front of the temple to offer their collective prayers for abundant crops and increased flocks. They prayed for success in any venture that their city might have been undertaking— a war, a trading expedition or the foundation of a new colony.

Greek temples were designed and constructed according to set proportions, mostly determined by the lower diameter of thecolumns or by the dimensions of the foundation levels. The nearly mathematical strictness of the basic designs thus reached was lightened by optical refinements. In spite of the still widespread idealised image, Greek temples were painted, so that bright reds and blues contrasted with the white of the building stones or of stucco. The more elaborate temples were equipped with very rich figural decoration in the form of reliefs and pedimental sculpture. The construction of temples was usually organised and financed by cities or by the administrations of sanctuaries. Private individuals, especially Hellenistic rulers, could also sponsor such buildings. In the late Hellenistic period, their decreasing financial wealth, along with the progressive incorporation of the Greek world within the Roman State, whose officials and rulers took over as sponsors, led to the end of Greek temple construction. New temples now belonged to the tradition of Roman architecture, which, in spite of the Greek influence on it, aimed for different goals and followed different aesthetic principles.

Development[edit]

Model of a typical Doric temple, theTemple of Aphaia on Aegina(Glyptothek, Munich).

Temple of Isthmia, Greece. Constructed between 690-650 BC.

Origins[edit]

The Mycenaean Megaron (15th to the 13th century BCE) was the precursor for later Archa