Editing Stylobate

{{Short description|Base of a Greek temple's colonnades}}
[[File:Stylobate-stereobate-crepidoma.svg|thumb|upright=2.0]]

[[Image:Segesta-bjs-5.jpg|thumb|right|Triple-stepped [[crepidoma]] with stylobate at top, in the [[Doric order|Doric]] Temple of [[Segesta]], [[Sicily]]]]

[[File:MaisonCarrée.jpeg|right|thumb|The Roman [[Maison Carrée]], [[Nîmes]], illustrating the Roman version of a stylobate.]]

[[File:ARCHITECTURE ORDERS Greeks Etruscan Roman (Doric Ionic Corinthian Tuscan Composite) by Paolo Villa ENG edition.pdf|thumb|Use stylobate compared with [[Doric order|Doric]], [[Tuscan order|Tuscan]], [[Ionic order|Ionic]], [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] and [[Composite order|Composite]] orders]]

In [[Architecture of Ancient Greece|classical Greek architecture]], a '''stylobate''' ({{langx|el|στυλοβάτης}}) is the top step of the [[crepidoma]]{{r|ofda}}, the stepped platform upon which [[colonnade]]s of temple columns 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.

==Etymology==
The term ''stylobate'' comes from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|[[wikt:στυλοβάτης|στυλοβάτης]]}}, consisting of {{lang|grc|[[wikt:στῦλος|στῦλος]]}} (stylos), "column", and {{lang|grc|[[wikt:βαίνω|βαίνειν]]}} (bainein), "to stride, walk".<ref>
{{cite encyclopedia
 | access-date = 2024-11-11
 | encyclopedia = Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary
 | publisher = Merriam-Webster
 | title = Stylobate
 | url = https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stylobate
}}
</ref>

==Terminology==
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.

==Architectural use==
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 [[Ancient Rome|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}}

In modern architecture the stylobate is the upper part of the stepped basement of the building, or the common basement floor, combining several buildings. Today, stylobates are popular in use in the construction of high-rise buildings.

==See also==
* [[Scamilli impares]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="ofda">
{{cite encyclopedia
 | access-date = 2014-11-15
 | encyclopedia = The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | title = stylobate
 | url = https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191918742.001.0001/acref-9780191918742-e-4530.
 | year = 2021
}}
</ref>
}}

==References==
*{{Cite book |last1=Conway |first1=Hazel |last2=Roenisch |first2=Rowan |url=https://www.academia.edu/35385051 |title=Understanding Architecture |publisher=Routledge |year=2006}}
*{{Cite book |last=Curl |first= James Stevens |url={{GBurl|jIWr0IO9dYIC|p=751}} |chapter=Stylobate |title=A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006}}
*{{Cite book|last=Lord|first=John|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6839|title=The Old Roman World|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|year=2004 |orig-date=first published 1867}}


[[Category:Architectural elements]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek architecture]]