Roofing in Greece

Greece has a strong claim to be the birthplace of the European roof tile. Flat clay tiles were already in use in the Early Bronze Age, and the first fully interlocking tile roofs in the Western world appeared at Corinth in the 7th century BC. Since then the country has produced Byzantine domes, whitewashed Cycladic terraces and the heavy stone roofs of the northern mountains.

Climate and hazards

Greek roofs face hot, dry summers almost everywhere, strong winds in the Aegean, and heavy winter snow in mountainous Epirus, where stone roofs need continual upkeep. Greece is also highly seismic. The 1956 Amorgos earthquake, moment magnitude 7.7, heavily damaged Santorini and destroyed part of Oia.

Roofing history

Bronze Age. Flat, rectangular ceramic tiles without interlocking parts covered "corridor houses" on the mainland around 2650-2200 BC. On Crete, Minoan buildings, whose first palaces date from about 1925-1875 BC, generally had flat roofs on timber beams, carried in larger buildings on tapering columns of cypress. Flat roofs and courtyards collected rainwater for cisterns. The Mycenaean civilisation (about 1600-1100 BC) built corbelled stone tholos tombs, such as the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae.

Archaic and Classical. Between about 700 and 650 BC fired clay tiles replaced thatch on temples near Corinth. The tiling of the Old Temple at Corinth, called the Protocorinthian system, is the earliest interlocking tiled roof yet identified, and within about fifty years tiles had spread across Greece, western Asia Minor and Italy. From around 620 BC marble tiles appeared on prestigious buildings, including the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and the Parthenon. Rows of decorated antefixes closed the eaves, and lion-head spouts drained the gutters. Greek temples were otherwise post-and-lintel buildings; arches, vaults and domes were rarely used.

Byzantine. The cross-in-square church with a dome on a drum became dominant from the 9th century. Greek examples include Hosios Loukas (about 1000), the Nea Moni of Chios (mid-11th century) and the church of Daphni Monastery (11th-12th centuries). Byzantine domes and vaults were covered externally with lead or regional tiles.

Ottoman and modern. Many of the stone villages of Zagori, in Epirus, grew into larger mansions during the 18th and 19th centuries. Modern Greek houses are mostly reinforced concrete, with flat or tiled pitched roofs.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Mainland and Ionian roofs: hipped or gabled roofs of curved clay tiles.
• Epirus and Zagori: roofs of limestone or sandstone slabs, held without cement by the weight of the slabs above, over strong timber structures. Even courtyard gates have small stone roofs, and churches typically have timber roofs covered with slate. A similar stone roofing style is found in Pelion.
• Cyclades: whitewashed cubic houses with flat roofs, suited to a dry, windy climate with little timber. Lime wash on walls and roofs also helps keep collected rainwater clean, and churches are typically domed.
• Santorini: cave houses (yposkafa) carved into the caldera edge, insulated by the surrounding pumice.

Roofing today

Reinforced concrete frames with either flat roofs or tiled pitched roofs dominate new building.

Codes, standards and regulation

As an EU member, Greece applies the Eurocodes for structural design, including the parts for actions on structures and earthquake resistance.

Notable roofs

• Marble-tiled roofs of the Parthenon and Temple of Zeus at Olympia (Classical)
• Corbelled tholos tombs of Mycenae (UNESCO)
• Byzantine domes of Hosios Loukas, Nea Moni and Daphni
• Stone villages of Zagori, a UNESCO cultural landscape since September 2023 (46 villages, the Zagorochoria)
• Domed churches of Oia, Santorini

Local roofing terms

• yposkafa - cave houses of Santorini
• Zagorochoria - the 46 villages of Zagori
• mesochori - central village square, typically by the main church

Sources and gaps

National statistics on roof materials, details of Greek building regulations for roofs and information on Greek roof-tile and roofing manufacturers: published information is limited.