The number of annulets in the capital vary from three to five ; and the number of horizontal grooves, which separate the shaft from the capital, vary from one to three.
In the application of the Doric order to temples, the shafts of the columns are generally placed upon three steps, which are not proportioned like these in a com mon stair, but to the magnitude of the edifice.
The preceding specimens have all been taken from Greek edifices, these being considered the only pure style or this fine order. The best example of Roman practice is that taken from the theatre of Marcellus, by Sir W. Chambers, to whose excellent work on civil architecture we refer our readers.
Of the Ionic Order.
Although, in the Ionic, the primary division, into co lumns and entablature, and the secondary, of shaft, ca pital, architrave, frieze, and cornice, remained the same, yet the omission of some of the principal subdivisions of those parts, and the introduction of others entirely new, as well as the greater degree of delicacy in all, distin guishes this sufficiently from the Doric order, and esta blishes its claim as a distinct order or canon of Greek architecture. Sec Plate CLIX.
The Ionian Greeks having become wealthy, and be ing, no doubt, influenced by the manners of their Asia tic neighbours, refined upon the simplicity of attic ar chitecture, and invented a capital totally different from that employed in the mother country. Its origin is, however, problematical. Vitruvius reports it to have been made in representation of the curls in the head-dress of females ; but other hints are quite as probable, as the spiral shape of the horns of rams, used in their sacri fices ; or that assumed by the barks of some trees, when dried in the sun ; or that of certain delicate vegetables, such as the slender fern, before it is quite unfolded ; or the beautiful spiral forms of various sea-shells, any of which are sufficient to guide the fancy of an ingenious artist in composing the volutes of the capital of Ionia. In the architrave and frieze, all appearances of triglyphs and gut are omitted ; and in the cornice, instead of the bold mutules of the Doric, the ends of smaller pie ces of wood, to which the covering tiles were fixed, are represented by what are termed (lentils or teeth. This
order also differed from the Doric, by having a base at the lower extremity of the shaft ; the propriety of this might have arisen from the diameter of the shaft being much less than that of the Doric, in proportion to the height of the order, or the weight it had to sustain.
The rest of the Ionic order is not so precisely defi ned, or so uniformly adhered to, as similar parts in the Doric. The Temple of the Muses, on the Ilyssus, is composed of few, but very distinct and bold parts. The height of the volutes is three-fifths, and that of the whole capital two-thirds of the diameter of the shaft. If the entablature is divided into five parts, two arc oc cupied by the architrave, which consists of a single fa cia, crowned with a cymatium ; the remaining three arc divided into five other parts, three of which are occupied by the plain part of the frieze, and the remaining two by the cornice. The eymatium of the frieze, which con sists of a cima-reversa standing upon a bead, is worked out of the cornice. The cornice, as viewed in front, is composed of a corona, eymatium, and eima.
In the temple of Erectheus and Minerva Polias at Athens, the architrave has three facia; and a cymatium, and the eymatium of the frieze is worked chiefly out of the cornice. The height of the entablature, from the bottom of the lower facia of the architrave to the top of the cymatium upon the corona, if divided into nine teen parts, the architrave and frieze will each have eight, and the corona, larima, and cymatium, will occupy the remaining three parts. In these specimens, the volutes have a singular degree of symmetry and beauty.
In all the Greek Ionics, the height of the cornice, measured from the lower edge of the corona upwards, appears to have a constant ratio to the total height of the entablature, viz. nearly as 2 to 9, which seems the true one to accord with the character of the order. The great recess of the mouldings, under the corolla, gives it a striking prominence, and prevents the cornice from appearing too heavy, though both the (lentil band and eymatium of the frieze are introduced under it.