The Greek Temple

On the left is a painting of the temple of Nike from the acropolis in Athens. On the right you can see the floor plan for that temple.

A typical Greek temple was designed like the diagram below. This floor plan shows three steps up from the ground (stereobate), round columns placed around the edges to hold up the roof, and inner walls that form the cella (where the statue of the god or goddess was placed), and the pronaos (a three walled room opening into the cella, and the antis (a three walled room behind the cella.)

The Pediment

A pediment is the triangular shaped ends of the building under the roof tiles and above the entablature. Usually sculpture was placed in the pediment to honor the god or goddess to whom the temple was dedicated. The pediment above a drawing (reconstruction) of the west pediment from the Temple of Artemis at Corfu.

The Parthenon, dedicated to the goddess Athena, had some of the most famous pediment sculptures, called the Elgin marbles.

Pediment Sculpture

There has been much controversy over the ownership of the Elgin marbles and pieces of the frieze relief sculptures from the Parthenon. Many of them are on display in the British Museum in London, but the Greek government wants them returned to Greece.