Stylobate

In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate (Greek: στυλοβάτης) is the top step of the crepidoma[1], the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple).

[2] The platform was built on a leveling course that flattened out the ground immediately beneath the temple.

The term stylobate comes from the Ancient Greek στυλοβάτης, consisting of στῦλος (stylos), "column", and βαίνειν (bainein), "to stride, walk".

The stylobate was often designed to relate closely to the dimensions of other elements of the temple.

[5] The Romans, following Etruscan architectural tradition, took a different approach in using a much higher stylobate that typically had steps only in the front, leading to the portico.