A Brief History of Columns

This history of columns that we see today on thousands of buildings worldwide originates in ancient Greece. Although many different styles of columns have been used in Greek architecture, the first used was called the Doric order.

Greek Columns - The Doric Order

The Doric order, preferred style of Greek mainland and southern Italy, including Sicily, was developed by the Dorians, one of the two divisions of Greek race. Out of the three main orders, the Doric, or now referred to as the Greek Doric order, is the oldest and plainest order. It is characterized by having twenty flutes that come to a point, a shaft with no base, and a plain, disk-like, capital. The height of the column is known to be approximately five and one half the width of the column.

The Doric order was being developed in the seventh century BC and perfected in the fifth century during the construction of the Parthenon of Athens.

Roman Columns - The Roman Ionic Order

The Romans later adapted this style of column, and added their own details to them. The Roman Doric order is known for having a base and the flutes being altered or even omitted. Like the Greek Doric order, the height is based on the diameter. It stands eight times its diameter. These columns can be found on the beautiful Theater of Marcellus.

Arriving about the fourth century BC in eastern Greece and on the Greek islands was the Ionic order. This is a more slender and decorative version of column. It is characterized by having twenty-four flutes starting directly above a molded base. The flutes are not as pointed as the original Doric column and the height of the Ionic tends to be nine times the width of the diameter.

Corinthian Columns - The Corinthian Order

The most ornate of the three classic Greek orders, (Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian) is the Corinthian order.

Ten times the height of its width, the Corinthian order is the slenderest of all decorative columns. Found on the Temple of Mars Ultar, this style of architectual column was adapted in the middle of the fourth century BC. Unspecific to any other column, the Corinthian order is accented by a more ornate footing called an Attic base.

During the sixteenth century, the Romans designed a column of their own based on the original Greek Doric order. Keeping the simplistic basis, the Romans developed a smooth column with a non-decorative base and capital that reflect the simplicity of the Doric capital.

This column is architecturally correct at a height of seven times its width. Columns have been used for thousands of years, but until the Italian Renaissance, no one had ever classified columns in the orders described previously. During this time, a man by the name of Giacomo Barozzio da Vignola copied down the first known true architectural proportions, now known as “orders,” of columns.

Architectural Column Architects

Also contributing to the architectural veracity of columns was B.C. Vitruvius. B.C. was a Roman architect described the correct Greek entasis of columns. A true architectural entasis allows a column to appear the same diameter from the base to the capital.

Without this entasis, a column tends to look distorted, appearing thicker at the bottom and top. When a column follows these true architectural guidelines, it reflects the aesthetically pleasing genius of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Each time you look at one of our columns, you are gazing at a piece of architectural history.