The Doric order was developed in the Peloponnese and mainland Greece during the 7th century B.C. and spread to some of the islands, Sicily and Magna Graecia. Some of the earliest Doric temples are found in the sphere of influence of Corinth and are dated in the first half of the 7th century. These are the temple of Apollo in Corinth, the temple of Poseidon in Isthmia, the first Heraion in Perachora and the temple of Apollo in Thermum. The last one is dated around 630 B.C. and had clay painted panels, sima and waterspouts. The initially wooden columns were gradually replaced by stone ones. The columns of the temple of Poseidon in Isthmia were also wooden. The roof of both these temples did not end in the characteristic triangular gable, but it was rather curved. The temples of Hera in Argos and in Foce del Sele in Italy, as well as that of Apollo in Delphi, must have had a similar roofing. All the temples of that period were later replaced by other more architecturally developed ones, a fact which restricts our knowledge about the achievements of that specific period.


From the beginning of the 6th century B.C. we meet temples built wholly of stone, besides the roof that remained wooden. From the first quarter of the 6th century B.C. are the temples of Artemis in Corcyra and of Hera (50X19 metres) in Olympia with 8 and 6 columns respectively on the facade. For the observation of the development of the Doric order, the temple of Apollo Hoplites is of special importance. This temple has recently been excavated to the Metropolis of Thessalia and is dated at the second quarter of the 6th century. It is hecatompedos temple, the entablature of which is still made of wood and clay. However its peculiarity consists mainly in the fact that all of the visible surface of echinus of its capitals is decorated with curved floral motifs. The only known, similar temple is dated until today, in the middle of the 6th century B.C. and comes from the "Basilica" of Poseidonia in Italy, the floral motifs of which cover only a part of the echinus.

The best preserved Archaic temple in mainland Greece is that of Apollo in Corinth. Its seven monolithic columns, which have survived in their original site, belong to the building phase around 540 B.C. and comprise a part of the pteron, which initially had 6×15 columns. The Archaic temple of Athena in Acropolis is about 20 years more recent, but it was destroyed by the Persians. At the same period, in Athens, the enormous temple of Olympian Zeus started to be built on the orders of Pisistratus, and completed only in Roman times. A little later ( 513 B.C.) an exiled Athenian family, the Alcmaeonidae, assumed the construction of the new temple of Apollo in Delphi. Although the agreement provided for the use of local limestone, its facade was constructed in Parian marble at their expense. From the end of the 6th century B.C. are most of the temple-like treasuries of the Panhellenic sanctuaries at Delphi, Olympia and Delos.

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