Despite a history of rivalry, wars, and invasions, the Greek people managed to make many important contributions to art. Their accomplishments in architecture, particularly temple architecture, were among their most enduring legacies to Western civilization. As Greek temples became larger and more complex, temple builders began to develop a number of standardized plans. These ranged from simple one to two room structures with columned porches, to multiroomed structures with double porches surrounded by columns. The Doric order and the Ionic order were well developed by about 600 B.C. The Corinthian order, a variation of the Ionic, began to appear around 450 B.C. (Stokstad, pp. 162 - 165)
the three orders of decorative style
This was the earliest of the three orders developed by the Greeks. Its principal features include a simple, heavy column without a base, and a broad, plain capital. The column is fluted, but not as deeply as in the other orders. (Stokstad, p. 165)
This order, with its slender, higher columns, is more elegant than the Doric. In the Ionic order the height is about nine times the diameter of the column at its base (Doric columns have a ratio of five and one-half to one). The flutes on the columns are deeper and closer together and are separated by flat surfaces called "fillets". The column rests on an elaborate base and its most distinguishing feature is the capital which is carved into double spiral, scroll shape that has been likened to the horns of a ram or the leaves of a palm tree. These are called volutes. (Stokstad, p. 165)
This order was initially used by the Greeks in interiors but came to be used on temple exteriors as well. This is the most elaborate and lightest of the three orders. It has a base and a capital decorated with acanthus leaves and, sometimes rosettes, and they often have volutes at the corners. (Stokstad, p. 165) In Roman times it was the standard capital for almost any purpose. (Janson, p. 178)
Corner of the "Basilica," c. 550 B.C., Paestum, Italy
The "Temple of Poseidon," c. 460 B.C., Paestum, Italy
The Parthenon, 448 - 432 B.C., Acropolis, Athens
Propylaea,
437 - 432 B.C., Acropolis, Athens
This
early ancestor, or relative (c. 600 B.C.), of the Ionic capital is from
Larissa (in modern-day Turkey). "It may well be that the Ionic
column... had its ultimate source in Egypt, but instead of reaching Greece
by sea, as we suppose the proto-Doric column did, it traveled a slow and
tortuous path by land through Syria and Asia Minor." (Janson, p. 177)
Archaeological Museum, Istanbul
The Erechtheum (view from the south), 421 - 405 B.C., Acropolis, Athens
The
Athenian architects who took up the Ionic order about 450 B.C. thought of
it, at first, as suitable only for small temples of a simple plan. Such a
building is the little temple of Athena Nike on the southern flank of the
Propylaea, probably built 427 - 424 B.C., from a design prepared twenty
years earlier..." (Janson, p. 177)
The
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Corinthian capital from the Tholos at Epidaurus, c. 350 B.C.
Museum, Epidaurus
The Monument of Lysicrates, c. 334 B.C., Athens
This is the earliest known instance of a Corinthian capital replacing the Ionic order on an exterior column.
Information provided by: http://www.bullis.org