Corinthian order
The development of three classical styles of Ancient Greekarchitecture - Doric, Ionic and Corinthian - is lost in the darkness of centuries. Of these three special ways of building, the Corinthian style is the most decorative and best known in modern times. It developed on the basis of Doric and Ionic types of architectural composition (orders), which is determined by a combination of proportions in the construction of the column and certain details of its decoration. Its name was derived from the ancient Greek policy of Corinth, but was most likely developed in Athens in the fifth century BC. The most famous example of the use of the style, preserved to this day, can be found in the temple dedicated to Apollo Epicurean, located in the north-eastern part of the Messiah (in Ancient Greece, part of Arcadia), in Bassa.
But it is curious that the Corinthian order is notpart of the temple, which had a Doric colonnade around and an Ionic order in the town. Zella is a walled space inside the temple, where the image of the deity was placed. A place that was a sanctuary (hieron), where the deity dwelt. And only one Corinthian column is inside the cell. A mysterious feature that is the cause of discussions between archaeologists and historians. Some scholars claim that she is an example of offering to a deity. The same picture could be observed in the temples of Ancient Greece, built during the next century. A well-known example, when the Corinthian order was used as part of the temple, it is a type of Khoregic monument, a colonnade (of six columns) of the Lysikrat monument in Athens, erected in 334 BC.
According to the beautiful legend of the origincolumn, told by Vitruvius, the ancient Greek bronze casting master Callimachus once strolled in the vicinity of Corinth and came upon the grave hill in which one girl rested. On it was a wicker basket made of willow with gifts in the form of toys, on top covered with a stove. The large leaves of the acanthus - the plants around the grave, sprouted through the bars and formed something resembling a bouquet. Kallimaha was very impressed by this motif. He, when he returned home, sketched it and then embodied in a bronze capitol - in the form of a round basket, surrounded by leaves of acanthus. It is not known how plausible this story is, but the fact is that the first samples were actually made of bronze, only later the Corinthian order was embodied in stone.
In ancient Greece, he was perceived only asmore decorative form of ionic. It should be said that the Greeks rarely used it in the construction of temples and after the fifth century BC. He developed much more from the Romans, who also developed several of his variants. It is a bit surprising that the Romans, who were called more practical people, especially in relation to the ancient Greeks, chose the most luxurious of the Greek warrants. In any case, along with Doric and Ionic, it is considered one of three classic warrants.
Repeating many features of the ionic column,Corinthian order has pronounced differences. On the trunk of the column (similar to the barrel in the Ionic style), alternating flute (flat, deep), often ending under the capitulum in the form of curved petals. Two types of columns differ in the profile of the base (in Corinth it widens and becomes thinner), but especially with the capital. The capital in the form of a opened flower cup, which is surrounded by flowers arranged in rows. In the lower part of the cup covers a narrow belt, and in the upper from it rise stems resting on a plate of a quadrangular shape, decorated in the middle with a flower. On the plate there is an entablature, the frieze of which is covered with stucco decorations (palmettes and other figures), repeating and over the cornice, broken into brackets from the lower side.
It should be noted that you can find more distantpredecessors of such decorative complexity, for example, in the ancient Persian architecture. Although, of course, the naturalistic leaves of the acanthus are a sure sign that before us the Corinthian warrant, the construction and detailed processing of the columns also played a big role in the spacious halls that the Persians loved very much. The trunks of the columns were covered with small flutes, they were installed on beautifully decorated bases in the form of an overturned bowl, and they ended with bunches of vertically placed volutes or carved out from the stone half-figures of bulls (unicorns).
