Examples of Corinthian Capitals. The Corinthian order offers in Greece but a very small number of different types. We find that Ictinus used this order in the 'Temple of Apollo at Bass æ or Phigalia about 431 B. C., for one isolated column placed between two shafts of the Ionic order; and therefore this instance, except for the interest given by the details of the capital, is of little value. The abacus of this capital, with its wide, plain face ornamented with a geometrical design picked out in color, is very crude in treatment; and the fluting ends at the neck—as will be seen by referring to Fig. 70—in a manner similar to that on the column of the Monument of Lysicrates. The capital from the Temple of Apollo Didymæus at Miletus, an Ionic temple, is shown in Fig. 71, and is a much more refined example of a very similar Corinthian treatment, but showing that a more definite form is here assumed. In this example, the rather peculiar treatment of the abacus on the four corner angles should be noted. We also find that the Corinthian Order was employed upon the half-columns attach ed to the interior wall of the Phil ippeion at Olympia, of the date of 338 B. C.
Besides these Greek uses of the Corinthian capital, two of which are shown in both plan and elevation in Figs. 70 and 71, there are but three others, and these all well known and more perfect, if widely different, examples—the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates at Athens, B. C. 335; the column from the porch of the Tower of the Winds, B. C. 100-35; and, the most perfect of all, that of the Tholos at Epidauros, belonging to the 4th century B. C., and at tributed to Polycleitus the young er. This capital, while the most perfect, is also the earliest known example of the Corinthian column employed under an entablature.
• The Order used in the magnificent Temple of Zeus at Athens, while Greek in design, was finished under the influence of the Roman occupancy of Greece, being completed by Hadrian in 117 A. D., and is in many ways more closely allied with the later form of the Corin thian capital as developed by the Romans than it is with any of the pure Greek examples, with the possible exception of the one at Epidauros.
The Corinthian Order was left in a very undeveloped state by the Greeks, and the three instances just named are the only ones that may be considered as presenting it in anywhere near a complete and definite form. The columns of these three examples are shown at their full height in Plate XLVIII, where they are arranged so as to be easily compared for the differences in the proportions of the shafts and their entasis, as well as for the purpose of contrasting the different Greek types of the capital itself. In all three, the shaft of the column is fluted; and in only one—that of the Temple of the Winds—is it left without a base, the other two showing a variation of the "Attic" base.
These Orders must be separately described, inasmuch as there are certain peculiarities in each that may be attributed in part to the in dividual requirements of the separate problems involved.
Tower of the Winds. The rious•.specimen of the Corinthian Order offered by the variation used on the Tower of the Winds at Athens (Fig. 72), is well worthy of study. The column, while of the three examples just mentioned the latest in date, is still the crudest in form, the other two being much more refined and graceful in type. In entasis, and in treatment of shaft and base, it follows very closely the Greek Doric method, beginning to taper from the start, as is elsewhere more fully shown in describing the entasis of that Order, and with the flutes running directly down into the platform on which it is set; but the shaft is itself more slender, being eight and one-quarter diameters in height, including the capital. Besides the column shown in Plate XLVIII, a perspective of the ital is shown in Fig. 73, while the interesting acanthus leaf ing it is drawn out at a larger scale in Fig. 69. Fig. 74 displays the entire tower, along with the unusual porch usage of the columns, the first Classic instance of their employment after this modern fashion. Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. The details given in Plate XLIX are taken from the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates at Athens, an example of the purest Greek art, and the most interesting which we can find of a Corinthian order employed on an exterior.
which the Romans afterward adopted in their Orders—the circular plan, and the small scale—the tower itself being only about seven feet in diameter—render it very imperfect for our purpose, considering it from any standpoint. The details of this monument are better shown in Plate XL1X, where the detail of the capital may be studied with more particularity. The entablature follows closely the type shown in Fig. 50, and includes a course of dentils, but lacks the crowning cymatium of the Order Plate, its place being taken by a course of acroteria, forming a "cheneau" or cresting around the top of the crown ing member. The three fascias or faces of the architrave, as shown on the corner, are treated in a rather suggestive and unusual fashion. The beautiful and richly foliated crowning ornament of the monument is shown on this plate at a larger size, while the graceful acanthus ornament flowing down the roof and leading up to this central feature is shown in direct elevation as well as in plan and section. The "running dog" or wave ornament placed on the roof above and inside of the course of acroteria, is also shown in detail.