About 500 BC the Persian empire was at its height, dominating the lands of the once powerful Babylonian empire (now Iraq and Syria) and Egypt. It then began acquiring the Ionian Greek kingdoms on what is now the Turkish coast of the Aegean Sea. The states of the Greek peninsula, Dorian and Ionian alike, became drawn into the conflict. When the Greeks emerged triumphant in 479 Bc, they celebrated their success with widespread building activity, and the creation of many now-famous temples. The designing of these temples was a carefully considered act and it was usual for Greek architects to publish a written account of the rationale behind their work. This practice led to the rules governing the design being systemized; they were eventually perpetuated in a later age by Roman authors, especially Vitruvius. In his treatise De Architectura Vitruvius outlines the principles of these rules, telling us that the Greek architects determined the approximate size of the temple by reference to the site and resources and then selected a suitable column size to determine all other dimensions, such as the size and depth of mouldings, in terms of a “module” derived from the thickness of the column at the base. Thus a column shaft might be seven or eight modules high, the capital above that another module, the beam (architrave) that rests on the capital yet another module, the frieze above the architrave perhaps one or one and a quarter more, and the cornice above that yet another one. In even the smallest parts of the building, for example, the individual mouldings which together made up the cornice were presented as fractions of the module.

The module thus became a means of controlling the proportional relationships of the various parts of the building which constituted what was termed the “Order”. In Greek Classical architecture there were two main orders ? Doric and Ionic, illustrated opposite. The temples usually consisted of a windowless room (the naos), lit from the doorway, containing the image of a god. Opening from the back of this structure there was sometimes a second smaller room (the cela). The structure was usually surrounded by a line of columns which were the principal architectural feature of the building. The plan was usually a simple rectangle about twice as long as it was wide. Circular temples also occurred.

What gave the classical buildings of Greece an overwhelming beauty was their simple uniformity, the emphasis on precision and refinement of form and above all the relationship of the Greek temples with the sunshine of the Mediterranean landscape. The remains of the Greek work and the influence of its Roman imitations has led to 5th- century Greece being called an architectural golden age in history of architecture, and has inspired recurrent revivals of “classical” architecture down to the present day.