Greek architectural orders

Greek Orders

1. Greek architectural orders
An architectural order describes a style of building. In Classical architecture, each order is readily identifiable by means of
its proportions and profiles as well as by various aesthetic details. The style of column employed serves as a useful index
of the style itself, so identifying the order of the column will then, in turn, situate the order employed in the structure as a
whole. The classical orders—described by the labels Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—do not merely serve as descriptors for
the remains of ancient buildings but as an index to the architectural and aesthetic development of Greek architecture itself.
The Doric order

Doric order
The Doric order is the earliest of the three Classical orders of architecture and represents an important moment in
Mediterranean architecture when monumental construction made the transition from impermanent materials—like wood—
to permanent materials, namely stone. The Doric order is characterized by a plain, unadorned column capital and a column
that rests directly on the stylobate of the temple without a base. The Doric entablature includes a frieze composed of
trigylphs—vertical plaques with three divisions—and metopes—square spaces for either painted or sculpted decoration.
The columns are fluted and are of sturdy, if not stocky, proportions.

2. Iktinos and Kallikrates, The Parthenon, Athens, 447 – 432 B.C.E.
The Doric order emerged on the Greek mainland during the course of the late seventh century
BCE and remained the predominant order for Greek temple construction through the early fifth
century BCE, although notable buildings built later in the Classical period—especially the canonical
Parthenon in Athens—still employed it. By 575 BCE, the order may be properly identified, with
some of the earliest surviving elements being the metope plaques from the Temple of Apollo at
Thermon. Other early, but fragmentary, examples include the sanctuary of Hera at Argos, votive
capitals from the island of Aegina, as well as early Doric capitals that were a part of the Temple of
Athena Pronaia at Delphi in central Greece. The Doric order finds perhaps its fullest expression in
the Parthenon, c. 447-432 BCE., at Athens designed by Iktinos and Kallikrates.
The Ionic order

North Porch of the Erechtheion, 421-407 B.C.E., marble, Acropolis, Athens_Ionic order
As its names suggests, the Ionic order originated in Ionia, a coastal region of central Anatolia—today Turkey—where a
number of ancient Greek settlements were located. Volutes, scroll-like ornaments, characterize the Ionic capital, and a
base supports the column, unlike the Doric order. The Ionic order developed in Ionia during the mid-sixth century
BCE and had been transmitted to mainland Greece by the fifth century BCE. Among the earliest examples of the Ionic
capital is the inscribed votive column from Naxos, dating to the end of the seventh century BCE.

3. The monumental temple dedicated to Hera on the island of Samos, built by the architect Rhoikos
c. 570-560 BCE, was the first of the great Ionic buildings, although it was destroyed by earthquake in short order. The
sixth century BCE Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, a wonder of the ancient world, was also an Ionic design. In Athens, the
Ionic order influenced some elements of the Parthenon, 447-432 BCE, notably the Ionic frieze that encircles the cella of
the temple. Ionic columns are also employed in the interior of the monumental gateway to the Acropolis, known as the
Propylaia, c. 437-432 BCE. The Ionic was promoted to an exterior order in the construction of the Erechtheion, c. 421-405
BCE, on the Athenian Acropolis, image below.

North porch of the Erechtheion, 421-407 B.C.E., marble, Acropolis, Athens
The Ionic order is notable for its graceful proportions, which produce a more slender and elegant profile than the Doric
order. The ancient Roman architect Vitruvius compared the Doric module to a sturdy, male body, while the Ionic was
possessed of more graceful, feminine proportions. The Ionic order incorporates a running frieze of continuous sculptural
relief, as opposed to the Doric frieze composed of triglyphs and metopes.

The Corinthian
order

4. Corinthian capital
The Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is both the latest and the most elaborate of the Classical orders
of architecture. This order was employed in both Greek and Roman architecture with
minor variations and gave rise, in turn, to the Composite order. As the name suggests,
the origins of the order were connected in antiquity with the Greek city-state of
Corinth, where, according to the architectural writer Vitruvius, the sculptor
Callimachus drew a set of acanthus leaves surrounding a votive basket (Vitr. 4.1.9-
10). In archaeological terms, the earliest known Corinthian capital comes from the
Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae and dates to c. 427 BCE.
The defining element of the Corinthian order is its elaborate, carved capital, which
incorporates even more vegetal elements than the Ionic order does. The stylized,
carved leaves of an acanthus plant grow around the capital, generally terminating just
below the abacus. The Romans favored the Corinthian order, perhaps due to its
slender properties. The order is employed in numerous notable Roman architectural monuments, including the Temple of
Mars Ultor, the Pantheon in Rome, and the Maison Carrée in Nîmes.
Legacy of the Greek architectural canon
The canonical Greek architectural orders have exerted influence on architects and their imaginations for thousands of
years. While Greek architecture played a key role in inspiring the Romans, its legacy also stretches far beyond antiquity.
When James “Athenian” Stuart and Nicholas Revett visited Greece during the period from 1748 to 1755 and subsequently
published The Antiquities of Athens and Other Monuments of Greece, 1762, in London, the Neoclassical revolution was
underway.
Captivated by Stuart and Revett’s measured drawings and engravings, Europe suddenly demanded Greek forms.
Architects like Robert Adam drove the Neoclassical movement, creating buildings such as Kedleston Hall, an English
country house in Kedleston, Derbyshire. Neoclassicism even jumped the Atlantic Ocean to North America, spreading the
rich heritage of Classical architecture even further—and making the Greek architectural orders not only extremely
influential, but eternal.

5. Text by Dr. Jeffrey A. Becker

Additional resources
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