Columns were used in ancient times by the Egyptians, Greeks, and eventually by the Romans. All three civilizations used columns to allow decreased thickness of walls within buildings by supporting weight from above. Columns were also built for decorative and memorial reasons. Materials used in building columns included wood, stone, brick, metal, and concrete.
The bottom of a column is called the base. This base supports the other parts of the column. The shaft is the central part of the column, topped off by the capital. At the top of the capital is a horizontal piece known as the entablature. The three main parts, base, shaft and emblature together form an “order”. Each ancient civilization designed their orders differently. The three commen Greek orders are the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
Click below to explore the three Greek Orders!
 The Corinthian Order |
 The Ionic Order |
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