I've been reading 'ON Architecture' by Vitruvius and he goes into great detail on Architecture of his time. (20 some BC). He was an architect and siege engineer. Get the book its great.
Graco-Roman architecture is divided into 3 sections.
Doric
Ionian
and Corinthian
As you can see Doric is strong and simple, no base, simple capital. Ionian has the rams horn design and Corinthian have floral quality. Take special attention to the stepped Archirove in Ionian and Corinthian.
Also, the columns have grooves to represent bundled reeds. For a more ambitious builder make the columns of men (Persians) and Robed Women (Called Catylids). These were to remind Greece of its victories over Persia and her allies.
Doric orders should be dedicated to Minerva, Mars, and Hercules
(Just to note here, I won't stop you from creating a Corinthian temple to Mars, however if you want to be historically accurate do so)
Corinthian order to Venus, Flora, Proserpina and other such nymths.
Also, if you are building a city/town consider which temples will be inside, and which will be outside. As a rule of thumb, those gods of a Gruesome and Erotic nature should be built outside (Venus / Mars)
The gables and friezes of these temples were richly carved with history, do your research and get something interesting to carve on those areas. Even strong Doric style had gables with history carved on them. It is difficult to do such a fine task as a panarama of statues in a 1-2 depth area. Do something simple and it will get the message across.
Don't let the names confuse you, the floor plan is easy to understand.
Along with floor plans get orthographic side views.
Inside the Naos (Cella), and Opisthodomos the ceilings were not flat, take advantage of the empty space created by the outer roof to expand the inside. Rounded ceilings work well.
To end off with, eventhough surviving temples are majestic white doesn't mean they were always, I read that blue and vivid hues painted the temples when the ribbon was cut in front of them. If you declare me a heretic and use white, good on you. Though an excellent project may just favour the brave.
On building materials, concrete was not available to the Greeks, (It was invented by the Romans) therefore always consider that your walls are being made out of bricks. I don't think this will change your building style entirely however it is true.
That is a little dab into the grime of this awesome subject. On a practical note don't always conform to a 8x8 building pattern, try new stuff. I personnally will build just fine in any dimension divisible by 2.
P.S Vitruvius was a Roman, so the Roman gods don't mean just those, but also the conjugate Greek gods. Also, note that these pictures are easily found on Google Images, as such it should be apparent to you that your own research will sharpen your knowledge on such architecture and just make you better. Do so.
Thanks for your time.
My Greek architecture.
http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=183063.0To be honest, looking back, its slightly pathetic to the rules I just stated. Learn from my mistakes, if your trying to build a accurate Graco-Roman architecture do not use modern Gothic. Oh well.
