Why do you think important buildings in the USA have used Greek columns like those in the ancient temples? Why do you think ancient Greeks painted pictures of

Question

Greek Art

Answer 1

This is a great question! Architects use columns and other architectural structures for strength and stability, but also to convey their ideas about society in a quick visual form. So, let’s see what columns are trying to say by thinking about two answers to your question: one short and one a bit more robust.

The SHORT Answer: In the US and Europe, Greece is often understood as the birthplace of democracy. When someone wants to design a building that says "We're Democratic!" and "We're building something important!" they often use Greek columns to convey those ideas in built form.

The more ROBUST Answer: While democracies emerged all over the world, including Indigenous North America, way before the Greeks came along, sometimes architects use symbols, like Greek columns, to convey a lot of ideas all at once in built form. Greek columns have come to symbolize democracy across the United States and Europe. It's why we see them at the White House, for example. They are shorthand for "Democracy is practiced here!"

At the same time, Greek democracy wasn't all it is cracked up to be. It was only available to Greek men: neither women, immigrating families, or people who truly built Greek society could vote. And that means it left out the enslaved who did all the labor, cooked all the food, built all the buildings, as well as the mothers who birthed future Greeks! In other words, Greek democracy actually wasn't very democratic.

But, why do we care about all of that? Here's why: Greek columns are often meant to signal that very exclusive and not-very-democratic form of democracy, too. For centuries in the southern part of the US, for example, Greek columns came to represent wealth, white privilege, and rights for the very very few. We see them on enslaving plantations. We see them on buildings meant to look explicitly southern and privileged. That should immediately raise a few questions: Is this building with Greek columns designed to welcome all into the idea of democracy? Or is it meant to celebrate a very narrow, white-privileged view of democracy? Who is this building trying to speak to? Who was it built for? And, who is or isn’t welcome inside?

As we said at the beginning of this conversation: Architects use columns and other architectural structures for strength and resilience, but also to convey their ideas about society. Greek columns are the perfect way to get at how architecture speaks to some of the most pressing issues of our time!

Do you have more questions about art, architecture, or writing? I'm happy to help!