Stylobate: Difference between revisions

In [[Architecture of Ancient Greece|classical Greek architecture]], a '''stylobate''' ({{lang-el|στυλοβάτης}}) is the top step of the [[crepidoma]], the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple [[column]]s are placed (it is the floor of the temple).{{Sfn|Curl|2006|p=751}}. The platform was built on a leveling course that flattened out the ground immediately beneath the temple.

Some methodologies use the word ''stylobate'' to describe only the topmost step of the temple's base, while '''stereobate''' is used to describe the remaining steps of the platform beneath the stylobate and just above the leveling course. Others, like John Lord,{{Sfn|Lord|2004}}, use the term to refer to the entire platform.

The stylobate was often designed to relate closely to the dimensions of other elements of the temple. In Greek [[Doric order|Doric temples]], the length and width of the stylobate were related, and in some early Doric temples the column height was one third the width of the stylobate.{{Sfn|Conway|Roenisch|2006|p=65}}. The [[Roman Empire|Romans]], following [[Etruscan architecture|Etruscan architectural]] tradition, took a different approach in using a much higher stylobate that typically had steps only in the front, leading to the [[portico]].{{Sfn|Lord|2004}}.