The Erechtheion or Temple of Athena Polias is an ancient Greek Ionic temple on the north side of the Acropolis, Athens, which was primarily dedicated to the goddess Athena.
Erechtheion
Topographical plan of the 1885 excavation of the Acropolis by Georg Kawerau, 1906. Conjectural reconstructions are in red.
Accounts of the construction of the Erechtheion (IG I³ 476). Epigraphic Museum, Athens.
East façade
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan, and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite order. Of the three classical canonic orders, the Corinthian order has the narrowest columns, followed by the Ionic order, with the Doric order having the widest columns.
Architects' first real look at the Greek Ionic order: Julien David LeRoy, Les ruines plus beaux des monuments de la Grèce Paris, 1758 (Plate XX)
Ionic capital at the Erechtheum (Athens), 5th century BC
Original polychromy in Ionic temples
19th century illustration of multiple polychrome elements of Ancient Greek architecture, including an Ionic capital in the top left, by Jacques Ignace Hittorff
