When you hear the expression “Greek Temples” the first thing that crosses your mind is surely the Parthenon. This is actually the most known Greek temple around the World.

Age

The first Greek temples were built in the 9^th century BC but the most known are the ones built between the 6^th and the 1^st century BC.

Place

Many People think that it is possible to find them just in Greece while it is actually possible to find them in Italy (Agrigento, Segesta, Selinunte, Syracuse, Paestum) and all around the Magna Graecia.

Architectural orders and Structures

Not all the temples are built in the same way. They can be divided into three architectural orders: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian. The differences between the three orders are mainly related to the style in which the temple is built but even the structures is different for many temples. The most used structures were: Hexastyle Peripteral, Tholos, Oktastyle Pseudodipteral.

How they looked like….

The temples were really different from how they look like today. They were colourfully painted, usually with just three colours: blue, red and white.

….how they look like

Nowadays the temples are no longer colourfully painted, they don’t have roofs and many of them are partially collapses but in spite of this they are still beautiful and everyone can admire them especially during the night, when they are usually enlightened.