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COLUMNA.

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COLUMNA.

cornice between the architrave and the frieze, and all three members of the entablature are more or less ornamented with mouldings. The finest spe­cimens of the order in 'its most simple form are those in the temple of the Ilissus, and the temple of Athena Polias at Priene ; the latter is usually considered the best example of all. The portico of the temple of Athena Polias, adjoining to the Erechtheium, at Athens, displays a greater profusion of ornament, but is equally pure in its outlines. It is shown in the preceding engraving.

The use of the Ionic Order presented one im­portant difficulty. In the side view of the capital, the volutes did not show their beautiful spiral curl, but only a roll, bound together by astragals ; so that, where the order had to be car­ried round a corner, it was necessary that the capital of the corner column should present two faces. This was accomplished by giving the outer volute an inclination of 45° to the surfaces, and sculpturing the spiral on each of its sides, as shown in the following engraving ; in which the upper figure shows an elevation, viewed from the inner side, and the lower figure a plan, of a corner capital of the Ionic Order.

and sometimes, as in the Erechtheium, adorned with leaf-work (ay0e/ju.ioj>). The capital itself con­sists of, first, an astragal moulding, above which is an echinus, sculptured into eggs and serpents' tongues, and above this (sometimes with a torus intervening) the canalis, from which spring the spiral volutes, which are the chief characteristics of the order. There is generally an ornamented abacus between the capital and the entablature. The architrave is in three faces, the one slightly projecting beyond the other ; there is a small

The Romans, with the usual infelicity of imita­tors, frequently made all the capitals with corner volutes. Their volutes also are usually stiff and meagre, and the order, as a whole, remarkably in­ferior to the Grecian examples. For a collection of specimens of the order, see the plates of Mauch.

III. The Corinthian Order is still more slender than the Ionic, and is especially characterised by its beautiful capital, which is said to have been suggested to the mind of the celebrated sculptor Callimachus by the sight of a basket, covered by a tile, and overgrown by the leaves of an acanthus, on which it had accidentally been placed. The lowest member of the capital, answering to the hypotrachettum, is a sort of calyx \calathus\ from