Most important material for the Greek temple was stone. Other than the cities like Athens, who has famous Penthelikon Mt., most cities used not marble, but limestone for their buildings. The limestone was painted white with the powder of marble, and for some splendid temples, marble was imported from Paros or Athens.

To quarry the stone was hard labour. The stone was drilled along with the line drawed for intended size. Dried wooden wedges were inserted in each holes and watered. Then the stone was cracked by the power of expansion of the wedges. The quarried stone was drawn by dozens of cattle. The way from Panthelikon to Athens was paved.

The first step of the structure was to lay the base. At narrow space such as Athenian Acropolis needed fondation work. Since the Parthenon was constructed on the south slope of Acropolis, stones were piled over 10m high on the south side.