What is "peripteros"

n. A type of Ancient Greek or Ancient Roman temple surrounded by a portico with columns.

Peripteros is the special name given to a type of ancient Greek or Roman temple surrounded by a portico with columns. It refers to the useful element for the architectural definition of buildings surrounded around their outside by a colonnade ( pteron) on all four sides of the cella ( naos), creating a four-sided arcade ( peristasis). By extension, it also means simply the perimeter of a building (typically a classical temple), when that perimeter is made up of columns. The term is frequently used of buildings in the Doric order.