​PERIPTERAL (Gr. περί, round, and πτερόν, a wing), in architecture, the term applied to a temple or other structure where the columns of the front portico are returned along its sides as wings at the distance of one or two intercolumniations from the walls of the naos or cella. Almost all the Greek temples were peripteral, whether Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian (see Temple).