Lecture 1 - Art & Architecture: Structure, Shape & Symbolism

Learn how temples’ ancient architecture was loaded with heritage, meaning and connectivity through the centuries. Why are temples as they are? We follow the origins of temples, through into the archaic sanctuaries and stunning classical Greek designs and the Etruscan temples, both of which impressed the Romans and influenced the distinctive Roman style of temples, and their rituals and gods too. Discover what the details we see today really meant to the ancients, and why and how the ancients continued to use the classical ‘orders’ (especially Doric, Ionic and Corinthian) of the columns to impart deeper meaning to their sacred structures. How did plants play such an important role in the sanctuary spaces? We learn what Vitruvius, the famous Augustan architect, wrote about the reasons for and importance of careful design of the temples. Decades later, Pliny the Elder wrote about the huge sculptures of the deities that graced the interiors of the temples. Then there were the cults and their very different own sacred spaces …