Hellenistic building types
Most had existed before, but many now assumed more monumental form. Great altars with colonnaded enclosures approached by broad stairways were built at Magnesia, Pergamum, and Priene; in each of them sculpture played an integral part in the overall effect, statues being set between the columns at Magnesia and Priene, and high reliefs taking over the podium at Pergamum (below, pp. 509 f). The huge tholos of Arsinoe at Samothrace dispensed with internal and external colonnades but incorporated an open gallery at the top of the wall. Stone theatres became a characteristic feature of Hellenistic cities and were now endowed as a matter of course with architectural stage-houses, including a high proscenium which encroached upon the circular space formerly allotted to the orchestra. In utilitarian building an important step was the introduction of heated baths: simple hypocaust systems are attested at Piraeus, at Gela in Sicily, at Gortys in Arcadia, and about 100 B.C. in the small Greek bath-suite at Olympia. Residential buildings too began to acquire some architectural pretensions, as the rise of officials in the new kingdoms and the emergence of wealthy merchant classes in the commercial cities created a demand for better-quality housing. Focused upon a small court, the typical middle-class house in cities such as Priene and Delos boasted at least one large reception room, frequently opening from the north side of a peristyle or a two-columned antechamber to catch the sun in winter; its interior surfaces were protected and enhanced by mosaic pavements and painted stucco wall-decorations; and quite often there were statues or marble furnishings set in the colonnades. A fine example is the House of the Hermes on Delos, terraced into a hillside on four levels, with a peristyle court rising through three of them. (Boardman, 1986)