architecture: Greece 75 FROM ANCIENT GREEK HISTORY TO ROMAN MYTHOLOGY A widely known story from Roman mythology is that of Daedalus and his son, Icarus Icarus flew too close to the sun with wings his father had made The sun melted the wings, and Icarus fell to his death This myth has a strong connection with the palace at Knossos After the spread of the Roman Empire, the legend grew up that the palace, because of its large number of rooms and confusing layout, was the labyrinth King Minos had built to house the Minotaur The story goes as follows Minos, the king of Crete, boasted that the gods would grant him anything he wished He believed that the sea god Poseidon would give him a magnificent bull if he offered an appropriate sacrifice of one of his own bulls When a white bull miraculously emerged from the sea, Minos sacrificed a bull to Poseidon, but the bull was inferior Poseidon was annoyed, so he caused Minos’s wife, Queen Pasiphaë, to fall in love with the white bull To consummate her love for the bull, she enlisted the support of Minos’s chief builder and architect, Daedalus Daedalus’s solution was to build a wooden cow into which Pasiphaë could be lowered Later, to everyone’s horror, Pasiphaë gave birth to a creature that was half-man and half-bull, called the Minotaur Minos was eager to hide this evidence of his wife’s infidelity He consulted with the oracle at Delphi, which counseled him to build a labyrinth where he could hide the Minotaur That labyrinth, according to Roman myth, was the palace at Knossos Later, Minos’s son was killed by the Athenians, leading to war between Crete and Athens With the help of the god Zeus, Minos won the war To put an end to the conflict they were losing, the Athenians agreed to provide Minos with seven stalwart young men and seven maidens every nine years These people would be sent into the labyrinth, where they would be consumed by the flesh-eating Minotaur Eventually, the Athenian hero Theseus killed the Minotaur with help from Minos’s daughter, Ariadne Minos later learned that Daedalus had helped Pasiphaë in her wickedness In anger he imprisoned Daedalus and his son, Icarus, in the labyrinth, but Pasiphaë got them out Daedalus and Icarus wanted to flee Crete, but they knew that doing so would be impossible, for the king had all the harbors watched Accordingly, Daedalus made wings out of feathers that were held together with wax so the two could fly away He and Icarus flew north, but Icarus was so intoxicated with his ability to fly that, despite his father’s warnings, he flew too near the sun The wax in his wings melted, and he fell to his death in the sea near an island that was named Icaria in his honor actors could dress The theater at Epidaurus is one of the bestknown Greek theaters, and it survives almost entirely as it was when it was built beginning in the fourth century b.c.e Greek towns of any size were also likely to have a gymnasium, often with an attached palaestra, or facility for training in wrestling and boxing The palaestra had a fairly standard architectural style Surrounding a rectangular open-air court were colonnades Adjoining rooms served a variety of functions, including bathing, storage, and socializing One of the most famous surviving palaestrae can be found at Olympia as part of the original site of the Olympic Games The famous arena at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia is called the Palestra, named when it was completed in 1927 by one of the university’s professors of Greek Other common architectural forms include the tholos This was a circular building used for religious purposes The tholos at the city of Delphi, built to honor the goddess Athena in about 380 b.c.e., is one of the best examples The propylon was a porchlike structure that typically served as an entrance to the grounds of a temple; one of the best preserved is the propylon at the Acropolis in Athens, built from 437 to 432 b.c.e The bouleuterion was a council chamber found in many towns that also served as a courthouse Finally, the stoa was a narrow hallway often found in the commercial districts of Greek towns The stoa consisted of a narrow hall with an open colonnade, where merchants would set up shops In Athens the Stoa of Attalus has been completely restored Many of the best surviving examples of Greek architecture are temples These temples, though, did not serve the same function as modern-day churches, temples, or mosques Generally, the altar was placed outside in a sacred area called the temenos The temple itself served more of a storage function for offerings made to the local god, artwork, and a treasury Inside the temple was a cella, or an inner room or sanctuary that housed the statue of the local god and was typically surrounded by a row of columns The most famous example of a surviving temple is the Parthenon in Athens, built from 447 to 432 b.c.e ORDERS OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE Archaeologists, architects, and art historians have identified three main orders, or styles, of ancient Greek architecture These styles can be seen on modern buildings, including those in the United States Government buildings, courthouses, and even homes, many of them built in the early years of the United States, incorporated the Greek orders, in large part because Greek architecture for early Americans symbolized the birth of democracy Wanting to incorporate democratic