Regarding their temples, they were present in almost every
Greek city, usually dedicated to the most popular deity or deities of the area. In the case of Epidaurus, the sanctuary and health-care centre,dedicated to Asklepios, the god of healing thought to have been born in Epidaurus, has been one of the main attractions of this town until today.
Although in some of the temples the construction was not extremely elaborated, the Greek had such a good handling of sculpture and architectural decorative details, that their buildings in general looked stunning from the outside.
On the other hand, the inner part of these constructions was not so elaborated, as they were just used to make the sacrifices or offerings to the gods, while people in general worshipped together outside. |
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The one found there was built in the 4th century BC.
It is an open-air. This allows a spectacular view that complements the impressive architecture.
However, unlike the temples, the parameters that were taken into account during its construction were not just related to the way it would look.
Many architectural measures were taken in order to guarantee excellent acoustics from all locations -even the highest ones- which are available for 14.000 persons.One of these measures was to take rigorously into account the Golden proportions and to follow the most traditional Greek design.
For example, the theatre has semicircular shape and is placed on the slope of a hill, in order to take advantage of the natural pendent. Here the places for the seats are dug out, and this allowed all the spectators to see the stage from any location.
These semicircular grades started to be made of stone since the 4th century, date to which this theatre belongs and received the name of ‘cavea’.Moreover, the stage is preceded by a semicircular precinct called ‘orchestra’ that served to reflect the sound. |
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The difference among them has to do with the proportion between the height and the diameter of the columns, as well as in the shape of the capital. The style is the result of a numeric relation influenced by some Pythagorean theories.
All these facts affected the decoration of the place to a certain extent.The Doric style is the most rough and is used in exterior areas, especially the ones dedicated to male gods, like the temple of Asklepios in Epidaurus, while the Ionian and Corinthian style were used for interior areas, which also can be seen in this temple.
The large analysis that the Greek architecture deserves, can be partly summed up by the examples found in Epidaurus, a town that counts on the most traditional exponents of this branch of art and keeps them in the best conditions.
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