CLASSIC ORDER

IN COLUMS OF
GREEK
CIVILIZATION
BY SHASHANK KULKARNI ,FIRST
YEAR ,SEM -2 ,MIT
A’BAD ,DEPARTMENT OF
ARCHITECTURE
 Three distinct orders prevailed in ancient Greece
architecture. The Doric, the Ionic and the Corinthian
were unique styles invented by the ancient Greeks.
 These orders were later adopted by the Romans. All
these three orders had three separate parts of the base,
shaft and the capital.
 However, the Doric Ancient Greek Columns had no
base. The shaft is composed of several pieces unlike
that capital and the base which are one whole piece.
Doric Pillars
 The Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens is
the most famous from the Doric order. Doric
order was used in the mainland and western
Greece. Vitruvius, a practicing architect of
the ancient times, reports that the Doric has a
basis of sturdy male body proportions while
Ionic depends on “more graceful” female
body proportions.

 The Temple of Hera in Olympia, built after

600 BC is the oldest well-preserved temple
of Doric architecture. Hephaisteion, in
Athens, is another good example of the Doric
order.
 The Doric style was the simplest and the oldest
among the three. It was developed by one of the
Greek races, the Dorians. The Doric columns
had a crown or capital made of a circle topped
by a square.

 The shaft had twenty sides. Working well

horizontally on buildings, they were powerful
and masculine looking. the echinus is convex
and the abacus is square. The height of the
column is known to be approximately five and
one half the width of the column.
Ionic Pillars
 The ionic style was known for its elegance. The shafts
were taller than the Doric ones. It originated in Ionia in
6th century BC. More artistic and feminine in nature,
they are characterized by the scroll pattern of their
capital and the base that separates the shaft from the
ground.

 These Ancient Greek Columns are slender and the shafts

are fluted. A column of the Ionic order is nine or lower
diameters. The shaft itself is eight diameters high. the
major features of the Ionic order are the volumes of its
capital. The temple of Hera on Samos was a good model
of iconic figures.
Corinthian columns
 Corinthian was more a fancy style. This style was largely
visible among the Romans. Decorated with acanthus leaves,
the Corinthian was the most elegant and elaborate of the
three orders. This style of an architectural column was
adapted in the middle of the fourth century BC.

 The floral leaf design at the top made it easier to identify the
Corinthian types. The name “Corinthian” is derived from the
Greek city of Corinth. It also had an entasis, a curve tapering
in the column shaft.

 The entasis gives the illusion to the human eye that the
column is straight which it actually is not. The Choragic
Monument of Lysicrates in Athens built in 335 to 334 BC is
the oldest known building from the Corinthian order. The
THANK YOU .