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| Anatomy of a Column |
There are five orders of classic architecture, three Greek and two Roman.
The column includes the capital and the shaft.
The first columns were probably tall trees in Crete that were trimmed and placed upside down to hold up a roof. Then
the Greeks really got busy and decided to make columns that were more ornate.
Mathematics and proportion determine size and shape of the columns, with the Doric column's diameter-to-height
ratio based on the relationship between foot length and height in a man and the more slender Ionic column
diameter-to-height ratio based on the foot length-to-height ratio in a woman.
Doric Column
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| Doric Column |
Named for Dorian invaders, the Doric column is martial, simple, and severe. Generally massive, it is short and thick,
fluted with 20 channels, but has no base. The capital on top is as high as the radius of the bottom of the column, but is
small or almost absent . The capital is composed of an abacus on top, an echinus (a convex molding with gently
swelling curve), and annulets (or rings) next to the column.
The heavy shaft either diminishes sharply from top to bottom or has an entasis
(swelling) in the middle. The top is cut by 1 to 3 grooved rings.
The frieze is divided by alternate triglyphs (projecting tablets with three perpendicular
projecting narrow bands-glyphs) and metopes (flat panels). The metopes are often decorated with carving
or sculpture. (See illustration.)
The Roman Doric is 8 diameters high, and sometimes placed on a plinth. In the capital anovolo
is used instead of the echinus, the annulets are replaced by astragals (miniature tori)
and an ogee molding (molding having the profile of an S-shaped curve) is added to the abacus.
The Doric column was widely used in America during the 19th century in the period known as Classicism.
Ionic Column
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| Ionic Column |
The Ionic column is more ornate, with swirls on the capital that are called volutes.
and project past the shaft.
The base, usually decorated, is composed of a torus (a large convex molding, semicircular in cross
section, located at the base of a classical column.) and two scotiae (hollow concave moldings at or near
the base) separated by many smaller moldings. The frieze is continuous and decorated with foliage or sculpture.
Intercolumniation (the space between columns supporting an arch) is wide.
Roman Ionic is heavy, the capital being especially ornamental.
The Ionic column was much used in the 17th century and also in the 18th, when it was often topped by a Corinthian
entablature.
More parts
Whatever sits on top of a column, such as a roof or pediment (a triangular structure), is called the
entablature, which consists of the cornice right under the roof, the frieze, which is decorated
here with metopes and triglyphs, and the architrave or epistyle,
just above the column.
Corinthian Column
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| Corinthian Column |
The intricate Corinthian column's capitals are in the shape of acanthus weed leaves. Most had 20 flutes,
but some only 12 to protect the marble from erosion, and still others had none. The column is slender, usually diminished
and fluted.
The Attic base is made with three tori and three scotiae
divided by fillets (thin flat molding used as separation between ornamentation for larger moldings; a ridge
between the indentations of a fluted column) and stands on a square plinth.
The entablature is elaborate, with a decorated architrave, a continuous frieze
(plain or ornamented with foliage and sculpture), and a complicated projecting cornice, the lower part often
composed of dentils, which look like teeth.
The Corinthian Order was greatly esteemed in Renaissance times. It reached its fullest development in the mid-4th
century B.C., but was comparatively little used.
Tuscan or Rustic
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| Tuscan or Rustic Column |
The Tuscan column is reminiscent of the Doric, and its shaft is plain, cylindrical, or diminished.
The base rests on a square plinth and has a torus molding.
The capital is composed of an astragal, a smooth neck, and an ovolo, and the abacus
is cut with an upward slant and often has a projecting fillet beneath the architrave. It has a lower and
upper smooth fascia divided by a fillet, a projecting tessera molding forming the base of
the wide, continuous frieze; the cornice is generally composed of a cavetto, ovolo, corona, cyma recta, and
fillet.
Composite Order
The Composite Order is generally a combination of the Ionic and Corinthian.
It has the same proportions as the Corinthian and the same capital, except that the caulicoli (8 stalks
with two leaves from which rise the helices or spiral scrolls of the Corinthian capital to support the abacus)
are replaced by the Ionic volute, one at each angle, and the echinus (convex molding just
below the abacus of a Doric capital).
This very ornate Order was much favored during the Renaissance, particularly because it was so often associated with
the arch. The arch is one of the distinguishing marks of Roman from Greek architecture. See Arch Styles.
In Renaissance and Neo-Classic architecture the use of different Orders for succeeding storeys was frequent. Interior
columns in the Parthenon are both Ionic and Doric.
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| Egyptian Column |
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| East Indian Column |
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| Japanese Column |
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| Mayan Column |
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