Temples of Hera I & II, Paestum, Italy

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"The shafts are topped by large, bulky, pancakelike Doric capitals, which seem compressed by the overbearing weight of the entablature. If the temple's immense roof were preserved, these columns would seem even more compressed, squatting beneath what must have been a high and massive entablature. The columns and capitals thus express in a vivid manner their weight-bearing function. One structural reason, perhaps, for the heaviness of the design and the narrowness of the spans between the columns might be that the Archaic builders were afraid thinner and more widely spaced columns would result in the superstructure's collapse. In later Doric temples, the columns were placed farther apart, and the entasis subtler, the capitals smaller and the entablature lighter, Greek architects sought the ideal proportional relationship among the parts of their buildings,"--Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Twelfth Edition, by Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya, 2005.

Temples of Hera I & II, Paestum, Italy