Post and Lintel

            According to Spore, the post and lintel architecture structure is one of the oldest known building techniques. A post and lintel structure is made of beams and supports. The beams or lintels are horizontal and lay on top of the vertical supports or posts.  Traditionally post and lintel structures were made of stone (Sporre 84).  A famous ancient example of a stone post and lintel structure is Stonehenge.  Using stone for building post and lintel structures is more useful as the material for the posts.  Stone is very strong and has compressive strength which means it does not compress or crush easily (Sporre 84). This means the stone posts can support a large amount of weight.  Using stone as material for the lintel is tricky because stone does not bend. The stone lintel can crack easily if not supported well by the posts. 

     

               

                          Post and Lintel pic info                      Stonehenge

The ancient Greeks adapted the post and lintel structure into the columns and capitals structure.  They used columns as the post of support and the top of the column was called the capital (Sporre 84).  The capital was a designed by the architect to please the eye, it allowed for the post and lintel structure to flow together nicely rather than simply look like two stones lying on top of one another.   Capitals could be created in many different styles. Some popular and basic capital styles seen throughout Greek architecture are called Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian (Sporre 85). 

                            

http://collegeprepknowledge.blogspot.com/2012/07/greek-architecture-doric-ionic-and.html 

             http://www.greeklandscapes.com/image-slides/aegina-aphaia/index.html    

                         

Sporre, Dennis J. Reality Through the Arts. 8th ed. N.p: Pearson, n.d www.coursemart. 2013. Web 6 Feb. 2013