Peripteros
Peripteros
an ancient Greek temple having a rectangular plan and framed on all four sides by a colonnade. The distance between the colonnade and the walls of the cella is equal to one intercolumniation. The inner part of the peripteros usually consisted of a pronaos and a cella; an opisthodomos often was situated behind the cella. The peripteros, whose form was established by the early seventh century B.C., was the most popular type of temple in the archaic and classical periods. Examples of peripteroi are the temple of Demeter at Paestum (mid-sixth century B.C.) and the Parthenon in Athens (447–438 B.C.). The external forms of the peripteros were often used by neoclassical architects.