CHAPTER VII¶
Wherein the Three Species of Columns—Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian—Differ from One Another, and Vitruvius’s Account of Their Origin and of Callimachus’s Invention of the Corinthian Capital.
You must further note that while the three species of columns—Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian—may share similar bases and stylobates, they differ fundamentally in the slenderness of their shafts and the form of their capitals:
Character and Proportions of the Three Classical Orders (Vitruvius IV.1)
The Ionic (or Pulvinated) Column — Matronly and Melancholy:
The capital of the Ionic column (called pulvinata, “cushioned”) has a melancholy, tearful, widow-like aspect (malenconica e flebile vedovile): it rises only half a head (half the lower diameter of the column) without a high bell, and its volutes curl downward along the sides of the column like the locks of hair of grieving, disheveled women (a similitudine dele donne afflicte scapegliate), while the fluting (strie) of its shaft falls like the folds of matronly robes (stolarum rugas).
The Corinthian Column — Maidenly, Joyous, and Slender (:math:`1 : 8`):
The Corinthian capital rises a full head in height, adorned with acanthus leaves, cauliculi, volutes, abacus, and cymatium, in the likeness of graceful, joyful young maidens adorned with garlands and headdresses (a similitudine dele giovine polite, alegre, e adorne con loro balzi), in whose memory it was invented.
For greater elegance, the Ancients divided the height of Corinthian columns into 8 equal parts (making the lower diameter \(\frac{1}{8}\) of the height). Because of their slenderness, they are placed not under crushing fortress loads, but in graceful places such as loggias, gardens, galleries (*baladori*), and ambulatory porticoes.
The Doric Column — Virile, Unadorned, and Strong (:math:`1 : 6` or :math:`1 : 7`):
The Doric column has a plain, simple capital without foliage or volutes, modeled on the naked, muscular strength of a man (ala similitudine virile), such as Mars and Hercules, to whom Doric temples were dedicated.
Because the Ancients found that a man’s foot is one-sixth (\(\frac{1}{6}\)) of his height (Chapter III), they first made the Doric column, including its capital, 6 times its lower thickness in height (and later 7 times, while making the Ionic 8 or 9 times). Being plain and sturdy, Doric columns are far stronger than Corinthian columns for bearing heavy loads—though if your patron who pays for the work commands otherwise, “obey the payer and say no more” (obedite al pagatore e più non sia)!
Verbatim Authority of Vitruvius (Book IV, Chapter 1) on the Origin of the Three Orders and Callimachus’s Basket of Acanthus
To confirm our discourse and give you the pleasure of the ancient source, I set down here the exact Latin words of our Vitruvius (Book IV, Chapter 1 [cited as Book V by Pacioli]), which may be translated thus:
Origin of the Doric Order (:math:`1 : 6`, the Man’s Foot): “When the Athenians and Ionians, led by Ion son of Xuthus, drove out the Carians and Leleges and named that region Ionia, they began to build temples to the immortal gods. First they erected a temple to Panionian Apollo like those they had seen in Achaia, calling it **Doric* because they had first seen that style in the Dorian cities. Wishing to set up columns in that temple and lacking a rule for their proportions, they sought a ratio that would make them both strong enough to bear the load and pleasing to the sight. They measured the footprint of a man’s foot (*virilis pedis vestigium*) and compared it to his height; finding that in a man the foot is one-sixth (:math:`frac{1}{6}`) of his height, they transferred this same proportion to the column, making its height (including the capital) six times the thickness of the shaft at its base. Thus the Doric column began to exhibit in buildings the proportion, strength, and beauty of the male body.”*
Origin of the Ionic Order (:math:`1 : 8`, the Matron’s Slenderness): “Later, wishing to build a temple to **Diana* and seeking a new, more slender style, they translated those same footprints to female slenderness (ad muliebrem transtulerunt gracilitatem), making the thickness of the column first one-eighth (\(\frac{1}{8}\)) of its height so that it might have a loftier appearance. Under its foot they placed a base with a coil (*spira*) in place of a shoe (pro calceo); on the capital they placed volutes hanging down on the right and left like curled locks of hair (uti capillamento concrispatos circinos); they adorned its brow with cymatia and festoons (encarpis) like hair-ornaments; and down the whole shaft they cut flutes (*strias*) like the folds of matronly robes. Thus they invented two distinct orders of columns: one of manly, unadorned bareness, the other of womanly slenderness, ornament, and symmetry. Posterity, advancing in elegance of judgment and delighting in more slender modules, fixed the height of the Doric column at 7 diameters and that of the Ionic at 9 diameters.”*
Origin of the Corinthian Order (Callimachus and the Maiden’s Basket): “The third order, called **Corinthian*, imitates maidenly slenderness (virginalis habet gracilitatis imitationem), because young maidens, framed with tenderer limbs on account of their youthful age, admit of more graceful effects in ornament. The first invention of its capital is recorded to have happened thus: A freeborn maiden of Corinth, just of marriageable age, fell ill and died. After her burial, her nurse gathered the little goblets (pocula) in which the maiden had delighted during her life, arranged them in a wicker basket (*calathus*), carried it to her tomb, and placed it on top, covering the basket with a flat square roof-tile (*tegula*) so that the offerings might last longer in the open air. By chance, that basket had been set down directly over an acanthus root (supra acanthi radicem). Pressed down by the weight in the meantime, when spring came the acanthus root put forth its central leaves and tender stalks (cauliculos), which grew up along the sides of the basket and, forced outward by the corners of the heavy square tile overhead, were compelled to curl over at their tips into the curves of volutes! At that time :person:`*Callimachus <callimachus>`*—who for the elegance and subtlety of his marble carving was called Katatexitechnos (catatechnos) by the Athenians—happened to pass by this tomb, noticed the basket and the tender freshness of the leaves springing up around it, and, delighted by the novelty of the form, built columns after this model among the Corinthians and established their symmetries!”*