Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns – the difference

The three Greek orders of columns are easiest to recognise by the capital, the top of the column. The Doric has a simple, cushion-shaped capital and no base, the Ionic has two scroll-shaped volutes and the Corinthian a crown of acanthus leaves. The Romans added the Tuscan and the Composite orders.

Facts

What is an order?

An order is more than a column. It is a system of parts and proportions: base, shaft and capital, and above them the entablature, with architrave, frieze and cornice. Each order has its own rules for what the parts look like and how high they should be in relation to the column's diameter.

The orders were developed in the Greek temples and described by the Roman architect Vitruvius, whose book on architecture is the only one to survive from antiquity. In the Renaissance Sebastiano Serlio and Giacomo Vignola arranged them into the five orders we speak of today. See also the section Classical orders.

The Doric: sturdy and simple

The Doric order is the oldest and most severe. In its Greek form the column stands directly on the temple floor without a base, the shaft is sturdy with sharp grooves, flutes, and the capital is a simple round cushion beneath a square slab. In the frieze, triglyphs, blocks with three vertical bands, alternate with metopes, panels that often carried reliefs.

The Parthenon on the Acropolis, built 447–432 BC, is the most famous Doric temple, and the Temple of Hera at Paestum and the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens are other well-preserved examples. Vitruvius called the order masculine, with a man's proportions and strength.

The Ionic: volutes and elegance

The Ionic order came from the Greek cities of Asia Minor. It has a moulded base, a slenderer shaft and a capital with two spiral volutes, unrolling to the sides like an open scroll. The frieze is often continuous and can carry an unbroken relief.

The Erechtheion on the Acropolis, with its famous porch where female figures, caryatids, carry the roof, is one of the finest Ionic temples. Vitruvius compared the Ionic order to the figure of a grown woman. During Neoclassicism it became common on museums and libraries, such as the British Museum in London.

The Corinthian: acanthus

The Corinthian order has a tall, bell-shaped capital covered with acanthus leaves and small volutes at the corners. According to a story told by Vitruvius, the sculptor Callimachus thought of the form when he saw an acanthus plant growing around a basket on a young girl's grave. One of the earliest known Corinthian capitals stood inside the Temple of Apollo at Bassae.

The Greeks used the order sparingly, but the Romans made it their favourite. The portico of the Pantheon and the Maison Carrée in Nîmes have Corinthian columns, and it became common on everything from triumphal arches to 19th-century banks.

The Roman additions and orders on storeys

The Romans added two orders. The Tuscan is a simplified Doric order with a base and a smooth shaft. The Composite order combines Ionic volutes with Corinthian acanthus leaves and is the most magnificent. Together with the three Greek orders they make up the five orders that Renaissance architects such as Andrea Palladio built upon.

The orders were often placed on storeys with the heaviest at the bottom. On the Colosseum the lowest storey has half-columns of Doric or Tuscan type, the second Ionic and the third Corinthian. The same rule is used on many later façades: the higher up, the lighter and richer the order.

How to tell them apart

Exercise

Which order has a capital with acanthus leaves?