The column used with the plain Greek Ionic capital is shorter in proportion than the example used with the ornamented capital from the Erechtheum.. In the Temple on the Ilissus at Athens, the col umn in this instance being only about 141 feet high, the form of capital and proportioning of col umn more nearly approach the type afterwards adopted as dis tinctively Roman. Other Greek variations of a similar form are those used in the Temple of Apol lo Didymæus, near _Miletus, and the Aqueduct of Hadrian at Ath ens (Fig. 65); and in the Temple cf Minerva I'olias at Priene, and the Ionic capital from Athens, shown together in the same illus tration (Fig. 66). In these two plates the upper half of the plan belongs, in each instance, to the cap shown in one-half front and one-half end elevation above it; while the lower half of the plan belongs to the capital shown in the same manner below.
The Decorated Ionic Capital. The decorated capital has, in addition to the echinus moulding_ below the band forming the volutes and treated with an egg-and-dart, a frieze or necking carved with a honeysuckle ornament, separating the capital from the fluted shaft of the column, and defined at the bottom by an astragal moulding. This necking is elaborately carved with some such ornament as that shown on Plate XLIII, in which this capital is drawn out at a large size with constructional figures. This is the capital from the Portico of the Temple of Minerva Polias, or the North Porch of the Erechtheum at Athens. This porch is shown at a large size in Plate XLIV. It is these columns which we have already mentioned as swelling out ,- of their diameter before tapering to the neck. The doorway of this porch is drawn out more particularly in Figs. 83 and 84.
In the drawing of this capital in Plate XLIII, it will be noticed that the face of the volute is much more elaborately moulded than the simpler example shown in Plate XLII, and has in addition an entirely new set of members in the center of its flattened scotia, while all its parts are more elaborately and finely cut. An ornamental torus, which is not shown in other types of Greek Ionic capitals, also appears above the egg-and-dart and below the band moulding. The square abacus above the band of this capital is invariably carved in the ornamental type, while in the plain capital it is sometimes left unadorned. This capital, with necking, should be used only with a taller and more slender shaft than the other type requires.
The ornamented Ionic capital may be considered as the more dis tinctively Greek, inasmuch as the Romans, in adopting the Ionic col umn and its capital, followed out more closely the idea shown in the simpler type, while the Greeks themselves have proclaimed their partiality for the more decorated form by using it in the most elabo rate single temple which they have left us, that of the Erechtheum.
General Type of Greek Ionic Order. By referring to Plate XLI and Fig. 50, the description of this order can be better comprehended. The architrave produces an entirely different effect from the one used with the Doric Order, and, while left plain in some cases, it is ordinarily divided into two or three bands by small horizontal projections, and is crowned with various mouldings, often ornamented with the egg-and dart or with reel and bead. The ordinary measure of the height of the architrave is about equal to three-fourths of the column diameter. The frieze, a little less high than the architrave, is, as before, crowned with ornate cornice mouldings. These friezes are merely plain sur faces, and in the Greek Orders are more often enriched by carving. If decorated, it is generally with bas-reliefs in the nature of a procession of some sort, continuing without interruption all around the entablature (Fig. 77). The cornice is simpler and even lighter in proportion than that of the Doric Order, on account of the added height of the column; while it is composed entirely of simple bands of mouldings. Indeed, throughout the entablature of this Order, it is the horizontal lines that are emphasized.
The Ionic cornice is less than one diameter in height, the corona projecting over the line of the frieze by a distance equivalent to the height of the cornice. It possesses an inclined soffit supported by a bed-mould composed of different members, sometimes ornamented with the egg-and-dart, and in late work often contains an additional course of dentils or brackets. It is surmounted by other mouldings, and the cornice is ended by a cyma especially decorated with a honey suckle ornament and with heads of lions serving as waterspouts. The mean height of the cornice is about one-quarter that of the whole en tablature which bears a ratio to the height of the column of about 2 to 9, or a little more than two diameters.
The Erechtheum. The Erechtheum or Triple Temple at Athens is an exceptional plan in Greek work, and requires special explanation. This Triple Temple, situated on the north side of the Acropolis, was devoted to the worship of three separate deities. The principal front, a six-column porch, was termed the Temple of Erechtheus, and was connected through the pas sageway at the side (see plan, Fig.