What is a stereobate?
A stereobate is the lower step or steps of the stepped stone platform of a Greek temple. The whole stepped platform is the crepidoma. Its top step, on which the columns stand and which also forms the temple floor, is the stylobate. The steps beneath it make up the stereobate.
The name comes from the Greek stereos, “solid”, and bainein, “to step or walk”. Below the crepidoma lies the euthynteria, a levelling course roughly at ground level that gives the steps a flat base.
Telling the terms apart
From bottom to top:
- Euthynteria: the levelled foundation course, barely visible.
- Stereobate: the lower step or steps of the crepidoma.
- Stylobate: the top step, on which the columns stand.
- Crepidoma: the collective name for stereobate plus stylobate.
Not every author draws the line in the same place. Some use stereobate or stylobate for the whole stepped platform, and the euthynteria is sometimes counted as part of the stereobate.
Application
- Check your source’s definition. In architectural histories and survey drawings, see whether “stereobate” means only the lower steps or the whole base.
- Count the steps. On the usual three-step crepidoma, the lower two are the stereobate and the top one is the stylobate.
- Spot the motif in Neoclassical buildings. A stepped stone base under a columned portico often quotes the Greek crepidoma.
- Use the right word. The surface the columns stand on is the stylobate, not the stereobate.
Common mistake: mixing up stereobate and stylobate. The stylobate is only the top step carrying the columns; the stereobate lies beneath it.
Related terms
- Crepidoma
- Doric
- Column
- Curvature in architecture
- Anta temple
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