| Domain | Definition | ||
| Antiquities | Antae (parastades). Square pillars (quadrae columnae). They were commonly joined to the side walls of a building, being placed on each side of the door, so as to assist in forming the portico. These terms are seldom found except in the plural, because the purpose served by antae required that, in general, two should be erected corresponding to each other, and supporting the extremities of the same roof. Their position, form, and use will be best understood from the following woodcut, representing a restoration of the front of the temple of Artemis Propylaea at Eleusis, with a plan of the pronaos, in which A A are the antae. (references) | ||
| Wikipedic | Antae is the plural of anta (Latin, possibly from ante, 'before' or 'in front of', as in modern Spanish) and is an architectural term describing the posts or pillars on either side of a doorway or entrance of a Greek temple - the slightly projecting pilaster strips which terminate the winged walls of the naos. Rather than being simply pillars, they are generally more square and are directly connected with the walls of a temple. They owe their origin to the vertical posts of timber employed in the early, more primitive palaces or temples of Greece, as at Tiryns and in the Heraeum at Olympia, as load-bearing structures to carry the roof timbers, as no reliance could be placed on the walls built with unburnt brick or in rubble masonry with clay mortar. Later, they became more decorative as the materials used for wall construction became sufficient to support the structure. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
