Crepidoma
The solid mass of stepped masonry serving as the visible base of a building, especially a Greek temple. Description: The crepidoma usually consists of three steps, but this is not the obligatory number. In a temple only the two lower steps are called the stereobate; the top step, from which the column springs, is called the stylobate. In large temples these steps were too high for practical use, and a flight of smaller steps or a gradual sloping ramp was provided at the principal end of the temple.
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