archie
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Identifying feature

Stepped platform

A base built as a series of stacked terraces, each smaller than the one below, with a temple or building on top. Mesoamerican pyramids and Mesopotamian ziggurats use this form.

a sign of these styles

Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, India: an example of Dravidian Dravidian c. 600–1750 Stepped pyramidal towers: gateway gopurams crowded with painted figures, pillared halls, and walled temple enclosures with water tanks. Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, Khajuraho, India: an example of Indian Classical Indian Classical c. 300 BCE–1200s Stone temples rising in tall carved towers, with surfaces packed with sculpture. Aztec Hotel, Monrovia, California: an example of Mayan Revival Mayan Revival c. 1920–1940 Walls sloping inward, stepped rooflines, corbel arches, and bands of geometric relief that imitate Maya glyphs. El Castillo, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico: an example of Mesoamerican Mesoamerican c. 1000 BCE–1500 CE Stepped stone pyramids with steep ceremonial staircases and carved friezes.

also seen on

Ancient EgyptianPersian (Achaemenid)

often seen with

Carved stone relief Figures or patterns carved into stone so they project from a flat background, called low relief when shallow… Battered wall A wall built with a batter, meaning it slopes inward as it rises and is thicker at the base. Colonnade A row of evenly spaced columns carrying a horizontal beam, called an entablature, or a roof. Courtyard An open-air space enclosed by the walls of a building or group of buildings. Flat roof A roof that is level or nearly level, often edged by a low wall called a parapet. Geometric ornament Decoration made of zigzags, chevrons (V shapes), stepped forms and other repeated geometric shapes instead… Monumental stairway A wide outdoor staircase leading up to a building's main entrance, often spanning much of the front. Decorative tilework Glazed ceramic tiles, fired clay with a glassy coating, used to finish walls, floors and fireplace surrounds.