The Origins of Greek Temple Architecture is a welcome contribution to the growing literature on pre-Classical architecture and society in ancient Greece. Alessandro Pierattini’s book not only sets forth a nuanced argument for the origins of pre-Archaic Greek temples but also models how the rigorous application of Bauforschung can illuminate the processes behind construction, thereby shedding light on issues of communal action, engineering, and cross-cultural and cross-media exchange.
The book consists of an introduction, where the author sets out what is at stake in an evaluation of early Greek temple architecture; three chapters spanning the eleventh through seventh centuries BCE that detail what developed when, where, and why; and a concluding fourth chapter that both wraps up Pierattini’s observations and points toward future studies. Ample black-and-white photographs and illustrations (most by the author), three meticulous appendixes, and a substantial list of references round out the book. The text is remarkably...
University of California Press