- Elevated on a high podium
- Emphasis on symmetry and regularity
- Corinthian and Composite-order columns are more prominent
- Use of arches, domes and vaults
- Elaborate interior decoration with sculptures and paintings
- Emphasis on the central deity or emperor
- Rectangular in shape with a portico (columned porch) in the front
- Emphasis on the facade, often decorated with elaborate sculptures
Greek Temples:
- Built on a stepped platform (crepidoma)
- Emphasis on harmony, balance, and proportion
- Doric, Ionic and Corinthian-order columns are common
- Use of triangular gabled roofs
- Sculpture is mostly placed on the pediments and metopes (the spaces between triglyphs)
- Emphasis on the gods and their stories
- Rectangular in shape, with a pronaos (front porch) and an opisthodomos (rear porch)
- Emphasis on the overall structure and symmetry, with less focus on the facade