A search for correspondences in tectonic syntax of Hellenic monumentalised art and architecture before the Classical period

Abstract

In offering new understanding of the tectonic syntax included in Hellenic art and architecture, the article demonstrates the transference of abstract ideas from one art form to another, the effects of the acceptance of tradition in design, as well as the evolution of an "esprit de systeme" over time. Rhys Carpenter's earlier tectonic understanding of the Hellenic Orders is expanded through an analysis of the tectonic syntax in examples of late Mycenaean to Archaic art and the Archaic Ionic Order. A synthetic understanding of the interplay between style and tectonic syntax in Mycenaean and Hellenic pre-Classical monumental art and Archaic Hellenic architecture is constructed through integration of the results of the analysis with Thomas Noble Howe's analysis of the tectonic syntax of the Doric Order.