Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In architecture, having columns which stand somewhat close together; having the intercolumniations rather narrow in proportion to the diameter of the shafts.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Arch.) Having a space equal to two diameters or four modules between two columns; -- said of a portico or building. See intercolumniation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective architecture Having a space equal to two diameters or four modules between two columns; said of a portico or building.
  • noun A systyle temple or other edifice.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin systylos, Ancient Greek σύστυλος (sustulos, "with columns standing close") from σύν (sun, "with") + στῦλος (stulos, "column"): compare French systyle.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word systyle.

Examples

  • The systyle is a temple in which the thickness of two columns can be placed in an intercolumniation, and in which the plinths of the bases are equivalent to the distance between two plinths: for example, the temple of Equestrian Fortune near the stone theatre, and the others which are constructed on the same principles.

    The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio

  • In the eustyle temple, let the height of a column be divided, as in the systyle, into nine and a half parts, and let one part be taken for the thickness at the bottom of the shaft.

    The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio

  • The columns are then to be distributed over the stylobates in the manner above described: close together in the pycnostyle; in the systyle, diastyle, or eustyle, as they are described and arranged above.

    The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio

  • In the systyle, let the height be divided into nine and a half parts, and one of these given to the thickness of the column.

    The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio

  • But if the building is to be systyle and monotriglyphic, let the front of the temple, if tetrastyle, be divided into nineteen and a half parts; if hexastyle, into twenty-nine and a half parts.

    The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio

  • There are five classes of temples, designated as follows: pycnostyle, with the columns close together; systyle, with the intercolumniations a little wider; diastyle, more open still; araeostyle, farther apart than they ought to be; eustyle, with the intervals apportioned just right.

    The Ten Books on Architecture Vitruvius Pollio

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.