Classical Orders
The Doric Order was used by both the Greeks and Romans and though there are differences, all Doric buildings have plain capitals to the columns, and have triglyphs present in the frieze. The Greek order has no base, which differs it to the Roman. The Acropolis in Athens is often thought of as the pinnacle of Greek Doric Design. In modern terms, Greek architecture was not really understood until the late-C18th when it became extremely popular, and there was a strong revival of Greek inspired architecture after this time. The Ionic Order is also common to the Greeks and Romans, it is distinguished by the voluted capital, which feature in no other order. The Corinthian Order appeared in embryonic form in ancient Greece, but was only fully developed by the Romans. The capital is differentiated in having acanthus leaf decoration. Vitruvius, (see above) also cites the Tuscan Order, which derives from an ancient Etruscan temple style. It is very simple in form, with wide spaces between the columns. The Composite Order, combines elements of the Ionic and Corinthian order is not described by Vitruvius and therefore probably emerged after his time. It was first identified by Alberti c1450, during the early Renaissance. The first person to put the columns of the orders side by side was Sebastian Serlio in c1540 and this tendency to see the orders as an ascendant progression has been with us ever since. (Siker, 2018)