Pseudoperipteral

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The Maison Carrée at Nimes, a hexastyle pseudoperipteral Roman temple.
The Maison Carrée at Nimes, a hexastyle pseudoperipteral Roman temple.

In architecture, a pseudoperipteral building is one with free standing columns in the front (colonnaded portico), but the columns along the sides are engaged in the peripheral walls of the building. The ancient Romans favoured pseudoperipteral buildings, typically with a portico in front of engaged columns along the side and rear walls of the cella.

A pseudoperipteral building with a portico at each end is called amphiprostyle. Examples of this style include the small Temple of Athena Nike and Temple of Venus and Roma.

Pseudoperipteral buildings appear similar to peripteral buildings with free-standing columns surrounding the cella as a peristyle. The temple of Olympian Zeus at Agrigento is a famous Greek example of this style, which became more common in Roman times.