Ancient Greek architecture came from the Greek-speaking people (Hellenic people) whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Anatolia and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD. It took a long walk-through and in different historical periods it embraced different characteristics. An important role played economic and social factors, which altogether brought cities in V-II centuries BC to blooming.

The Greek word for the family or household, oikos, is also the name for the house. Houses followed several different types. It is probable that many of the earliest houses were simple structures of two rooms, with an open porch or pronaos, above which rose a low-pitched gable or pediment.

Greek towns of substantial size also had other types of public buildings, among the most important being: altars (for blood sacrifice rituals), theaters (for dramatic performances), bouleuterion (the council building), gymnasium (training centers for athletes), palaestra (exercise facility for the training of wrestlers), stadium (foot races at sacred games), stoa (covered walkway for citizens), fountain houses (supply of clean drinking water), agora (marketplace to trade and acquire goods), thermae (public bathrooms), hippodrome (for horse racing) and more.

The most famous temple of Ancient Greece is the Parthenon located on the Acropolis in the city of Athens, built between 447-432 BC on the project designed by Iktinos (Ictino) and Callicrate. The origin of the Parthenon's name is from the Greek word παρθενών (parthenon), which referred to the "unmarried women's apartments" in a house. To the Athenians who built it, the Parthenon, and other Periclean monuments of the Acropolis, were seen fundamentally as a celebration of Hellenic victory over the Persian invaders and as a thanksgiving to the gods for that victory. It was dedicated to the goddess Athena. The practical purpose of the Parthenon was to serve as the city treasury.

The Greek world extended on a waste territory: from the Balkan peninsula to Asia Minor and the Black Sea coasts, the islands of Aegean Sea, and to “Magnum Greece” (South of Italy and Sicily). The favorable geographic positioning took Ancient Greeks to cultural evolution and ultimately creating a unique style of architecture that is still copied today in government buildings and major monuments throughout the world.

Here was born the concept of orders (meaning following certain order and proportions between different parts of the construction), which proved to give stability to the structure and facilitate the construction by following a certain order. These rules were furthermore taken and implemented, some remodeled, and used to construct in Ancient Rome, Middle Ages and New era. Greek architecture is known for tall columns, intricate detail, symmetry, harmony, and balance.