A column is a freestanding vertical architectural element that can be used in rows, letting the thickness of the walls be reduced by supporting weight from above. Columns can be made of various types of materials, like wood, stone, etc. The parts of a column usually consist of the base (lowest part), shaft (upright and cylindrical), and the capital (on top of the shaft) The horizontal area above the column is called the entablature. The base, column, and entablature together make an order. The ancient Greeks had three basic classical orders, the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, that they refined to a high degree. The shaft diameter of each type of column decreases gradually as the shaft rises. Each type of column also has a subtle outward curve called the entasis.
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Parts of columns
The Doric column is the oldest and simplest of the three types of columns. It had developed mostly on Greece's mainland and its western colonies. One characteristic of this column was that it had no base. Usually, the shaft tapers upwards to a height of 5 to 7 times the lower diameter of the column. Along the shaft, there were 16 to 20 shallow vertical grooves called flutes that met in sharp ridges. One or several
horizontal grooves, called necking, marked the meeting of the shaft and the capital of the column. The capital had two parts with almost equal thickness- an upper part that was a flat square block called
the abacus, which rested on a round pillowlike tablet called the echinus. One famous building that used the Doric column was the Parthenon, on the Acropolis of Athens.
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Doric Columns
The Ionic column was a little more slender and decorative than the Doric order. It was invented by the Greeks of the Aegean Islands and Asia Minor. The Ionic order stands on a circular base, which sometimes includes and square block at the bottom that it called a plinth. This column's height is usually 9 to 10 times it's diameter. Most of the time, there are 24 flutes, divided by narrow fillets, or flat surfaces that run along the shaft. The capital has volutes, or scrolls that seperate the enchinus, a round pillowlike tablet, from the abacus (the flat slab on top of a capital, supporting the architrave). The architrave is the main beam resting across the tops of columns, specifically the lower third entablature (a horizontal, continuous lintel on a classical building supported by columns, comprising the architrave, frieze, and cornice). One example of Ionic columns being used in ancinet Greek architecture are the columns that stand on the Erechtheum at Athens.
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Ionic columns
The third Greek column was the Corinthian column, which is the most ornamental of the Greek orders. The Corinthian order is a varition of the Ionic, it has a similar fluted shaft, but has a more elaborate capital. The capital consists of a central core resembling an inverted bell. The core is surrounded by carvings of acanthus leaves arranged in rows. From these leaves, four volutes , or scrolls that separate the enchinus from the abacus, project to meet the corners of the abacus. The monument of Lysicrates at Athens uses Corinthian columns.
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Monument of Lysicrates