tico by the help of columns and two pilasters (Fig.
50). More important temples had a larger number of columns, and
often a portico at each end (Figs. 50a and 55). The most important
had columns on the flanks as well as at the front and rear, the
sacred cell being, in fact, surrounded by them. It will be apparent
from this that the column, together with the superstructure which
rested upon it, must have played a very important part in Greek
temple-architecture, and an inspection of any representations of
Greek buildings will at once confirm the impression.

[Illustration: FIG. 50a.--PLAN OF A SMALL GREEK TEMPLE.]

We find in Greece three distinct manners, distinguished largely by the
mode in which the column is dealt with. These it would be quite
consistent to call "styles," were it not that another name has been so
thoroughly appropriated to them, that they would hardly now be
recognised were they to be spoken of as anything else than "orders."
The Greek orders are named the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Each of
them presents a different series of proportions, mouldings, features,
and ornaments, though the main forms of the buildings are the same in
all. The column and its entablature (the technical name for the
frieze, architrave, and cornice, forming the usual superstructure)
being the most prominent features in every such building, have come
to be regarded as the index or characteristic from an inspection of
which the order and the degree of its development can be recognised,
just as a botanist recognises plants by their flowers. By reproducing
the column and entablature, almost all the characteristics of either
of the orders can be copied; and hence a technical and somewhat
unfortunate use of the word "order" to signify these features only has
crept in, and has overshadowed and to a large extent displaced its
wider meaning. It is difficult in a book on architecture to avoid
employing the word "order" when we have to speak of a column and its
entablature, because it has so often been made use of in this sense.
The student must, however, always bear in mind that this is a
restricted and artificial sense of the word, and that the column
belonging to any order is always accompanied by the use throughout the
building of the appropriate proportions, ornaments, and mouldings
belonging to that order.

The origin of Greek architecture is a very interesting subject for
inquiry, but, owing to the disappearance of almost