The most beautiful application of Greek architecture was in the temples, which were very numerous and of extraordinary grandeur, long before the Persian War.  Their entrance was always from the west or the east.  They were built either in an oblong or round form, and were mostly adorned with columns.  Those of an oblong form had columns either in the front alone, or in the eastern and western fronts, or on all the four sides.  They generally had porticos attached to them, and were without windows, receiving their light from the door or from above.  The friezes were adorned with various sculptures, as were sometimes the pediments, and no expense was spared upon them.  The most important part of the temple was the cell (cella, or temple proper, a square chamber), in which the statue of the deity was kept, generally surrounded with a balustrade.  In front of the cella was the vestibule, and in the rear or back a chamber in which the treasures of the temple were kept.  Names were applied to the temples as well as to the porticos, according to the number of columns in the portico at either end of the temple,—­such as the tetrastyle (four columns in front), or hexastyle (when there were six).  There were never more than ten columns across the front.  The Parthenon had eight, but six was the usual number.  It was the rule to have twice as many columns along the sides as in front.  Some of the temples had double rows of columns on all sides, like that of Diana at Ephesus and of Quirinus at Rome.  The distance between the columns varied from one diameter and a half to four diameters.  About five eighths of a Doric temple were occupied by the cella, and three eighths by the portico.

That which gives to the Greek temples so much simplicity and harmony,—­the great elements of beauty in architecture,—­is the simple outline in parallelogrammic and pyramidal forms, in which the lines are uninterrupted through their entire length.  This simplicity and harmony are more apparent in the Doric than in any of the other orders, but pertain to all the Grecian temples of which we have knowledge.  The Ionic and Corinthian, or the voluted and foliated orders, do not possess that severe harmony which pervades the Doric; but the more beautiful compositions are so consummate that they will ever be taken as models of study.

There is now no doubt that the exteriors of the Grecian temples were ornamented in color,—­perhaps with historical pictures, etc.,—­although as the traces have mostly disappeared it is impossible to know the extent or mode of decoration.  It has been thought that the mouldings also may have been gilded or colored, and that the background of the sculptures had some flat color laid on as a relief to the raised figures.  We may be sure, however it was done, that the effect was not gaudy or crude, but restrained within the limits of refinement and good taste by the infallible artistic instinct of those masters of the beautiful.