COLUMN. 



COLUMN. 



two orders very similar in appearance and character to each other. 1 The proportions of the orders vary slightly in almost every example of 



[ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.] antiquity; but the distinguishing features are the capitals. The bases 



The Greek Corinthian, Doric, and Ionic differ from the Roman. I also vary in proportion, and sometimes in the profiles of their inould- 



;il:ilf the Corinthian capital of the 

 Temple of Vesta, at Tivoli.] 



ings ; but this is not so apparent to an ordinary observer as the difference 

 in the capitals of the onli-r.-. 



The Corinthian capital consists of the leaves of the acanthus [AcAN- 

 THUS] with two spiral horns at each of the four angles of the abacus. 

 In the centre between these horns are two smaller spirals attached to 

 the bell of the capital ; under these are two rows of acanthus leaves 

 regularly disposed, eight being placed in each row, and eight large double 

 leaves supporting the angular horns, called also volutes. These are the 

 leading features of the Corinthian capital, although some are more 

 ornamental than others, and have enriched details about the abacus and 

 the bell, which others have not. The most striking difference between 

 the character of the Greek and Roman foliage of the Corinthian 

 column is this : the leaves of the Greek have angular points, and are 

 almost straight on the sides ; the Roman are rounded on the sides ; the 

 section of the hollow of the Greek is angular, while the Roman is 

 either a segment of a circle, or formed of two segments of a circle 

 meeting in the centre of the hollow of the points of the acanthus 

 leaf. The Greek leaves may be said to have more of the natural 

 character of the acanthus, or the thistle, while the Roman is more arti- 

 ficial, and consequently less like the model from which the Greeks 

 drew their capital. There are examples pf the Greek Corinthian 

 capitals, although much mutilated, in the Elgin collection in the 

 British Museum ; and casts of the Roman examples from the temple of 

 Jupiter Stator, Mars Ultor, and the Pantheon, also in the British 

 Museum. The bell of the Corinthian capital may be clearly under- 

 stood from the annexed drawing of the mutilated single Corinthian 



[Bell of a Corinthian Capital, a fragment from the Temple of Apollo, at Basso;. 

 From the ith vol. of Stuart'n ' Athens.'] 



c.apitai,f< nind in the Temple of Apollo at Bassa?, near Phigaleia ; and 

 the accompanying drawings of Egyptian capitals, from the French work 

 nn Egypt, will show better than any elaborate description the strong 

 resemblance of the Egyptian capital to the bell rif the Corinthian 



[Half the Corinthian capital from the 

 monument of Lyticrates, at Athens.] 



capital, as we meet with the latter in the Temple of Jackly near 



[Egyptian Capitals.] 

 Mylasa, and the Chnragic monument of Lysicrates at Athens. The 



