Mediterranean Architecture Essay

Monumental architecture was an important facet of classical society. Not only would it exhibit the advances in culture that each society was making, but it was gave them a chance to show off their wealth, power, and creativity to other societies. These monuments often took the innovations and collaborations of the country's top architects and builders to accomplish. They also exemplify the importance of the Mediterranean region in comparison to the world during the BC era and into early CE. First, the palace at Knossos is a Minoan architectural feat that exemplified the Minoan culture, as a whole, on the island of Crete. Dated to around 1700-1300 BCE, this early bronze age palace was a part of the new palace period. The palace was excavated
Again, from an architectural standpoint, this monument began construction around 447 BCE and is one of a kind due to its immense size, columns, pediments, and elaborate design. This building contains both doric and ionic columns, meaning that there would be metopes and triglyphs on the doric columns and bases with scrolled capitals on the ionic columns. The roof is very large and sloped on two sides, allowing for pediments on both the east and west sides. The east pediment depicted the birth of Athena, the west pediment showed Athena and Poseidon competing, and at least one of the metopes showed a centaur and Lapith theme known as centauromachy. This building was strategically placed on one of the highest points in the city and was utilized as a place of worship, made out of limestone and marble. Inside would have been a colossal statue of Aphrodite. This building utilized a classical style of architecture and was built by Itkinos and Kallikrates. From a religious standpoint, this building may have held as much importance as the Apostolic Palace does in Rome. The Parthenon is part of a larger Athenian Acropolis, which has four buildings