Building Materials. The needs for housing in most of ancient Greece were relatively simple because of the mild climate. Building materials varied somewhat from one region to another, but mostly consisted of stone, clay (used to make bricks and roof tiles), and timber. While marble was used for the facing of fancier buildings, especially in wealthier cities such as Athens, most of the stone used was readily available locally and was often a variety of limestone. Clay was abundant and could be baked (particularly for pottery and other nonarchitectural uses), but unbaked, sun-dried bricks were extremely common in domestic architecture. Timber was widely used in both public and domestic architecture and was available locally or from outside sources, in particular the more temperate regions in Northern Greece and Macedonia.

House Plans. In contrast to the range of architectural styles used for modern...