A pseudoperipteros (, meaning "falsely peripteral"Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Pseudoperipteros
/ref>) is a building with

engaged column An engaged column is an architectural element in which a column is embedded in a wall and partly projecting from the surface of the wall, which may or may not carry a partial structural load. Sometimes defined as semi- or three-quarter detached ...

s embedded in the outer walls, except the front of the building. The form is found in

classical architecture Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Ancient Greek architecture, Greek and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more specifically, from ''De archit ...

ancient Greek temple Greek temples (, semantically distinct from Latin language, Latin , "temple") were structures built to house deity statues within Greek sanctuaries in ancient Greek religion. The temple interiors did not serve as meeting places, since the Ancien ...

s, especially in the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

period. In

Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in culture of ancient Rome, Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Architecture of ancient Rome, Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete ...

s, the pseudoperipteral form became usual, where there were columns behind the

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

as well. Typically the front has a portico with free-standing columns, but columns on the other three sides of the walls are engaged. If free-standing columns surround the entire building, it is a ''

peripteros In Classical architecture Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Ancient Greek architecture, Greek and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more ...

''. Unlike a ''peripteros'', a ''pseudoperipteros'' has no space ('' peristasis'') between the ''

cella In Classical architecture, a or naos () is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings: of a hermit's or monk's cell, and (since the 17th century) of a biological cell ...

'' (''naos'', inner chamber) and the outer walls on the sides and rear, so the engaged columns can also be considered to be embedded directly into those walls of the ''cella''. The Temple of Olympian Zeus at

Agrigento Agrigento (; or ) is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. Founded around 582 BC by Greek colonists from Gela, Agrigento, then known as Akragas, was one of the leading cities during the golden ...

was a famous

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

example of this style. Its facade also has engaged columns. A pseudoperipteral building with a portico at each end is an '' amphiprostyle''. Examples include the small Temple of Athena Nike and

Temple of Venus and Roma The Temple of Venus and Roma (Latin: ''Aedes Veneris et Romae'') is thought to have been the largest Roman temple, temple in Ancient Rome. Located on the Velian Hill, between the eastern edge of the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum, it was dedicat ...

References

Sources

*
Ten Books on Architecture
by Vitruvius Pollio

External links

* Ancient Roman architectural elements Ancient Greek architecture {{Architecturalelement-stub