Corinthian order
The development of three classical styles of ancient Greekarchitecture - Doric, Ionic and Corinthian - is lost in the darkness of ages. Of these three particular ways of building, Corinthian style is the most decorative and best known in modern times. It developed on the basis of the 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. It received its name from the ancient Greek polis of Corinth, but most likely it was developed in Athens in the fifth century BC. The most famous example of the style that has survived to this day can be found in the temple dedicated to Apollo Epicureus, located in the northeastern part of the Messiah (in Ancient Greece, part of Arcadia), in Bass.
But it is curious that the Corinthian order is notpart of the temple that had the Doric colonnade around and the Ionic order in cella. Zella is a walled space inside the temple where the image of the deity was located. The place that was the sanctuary (hieron), where the deity lived. And only one Corinthian column is inside cella. Mysterious feature, which is the cause of discussions between archaeologists and historians. Some scholars claim that she is an example of an offering to a deity. The same picture could be observed in the temples of ancient Greece, built over the next century. A well-known example, when the Corinthian order was used as part of a temple, is a type of choregic monument, a colonnade (of six columns) of the Lysikrat monument in Athens, erected in 334 BC.
According to a beautiful legend about the origincolumns, told by Vitruvius, the ancient Greek master of bronze casting Callimachus once walked around Corinth and came across a grave hill in which one girl rested. It was a wicker basket of willow with gifts in the form of toys, covered with a plate on top. Large leaves of acanthus - plants around the grave, sprouted through the twigs and formed something like a bouquet. Callimachus was very impressed with this motive. When he returned home, he sketched it and later embodied it in a bronze capitals - in the form of a round basket surrounded by acanthus leaves. 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, it was perceived only asmore decorative Ionic form. It should be said that the Greeks rarely used it in the construction of temples and after the fifth century BC. It was developed more by the Romans, who also developed several of its variants. It is a little surprising that the Romans, who were called more practical people, especially in relation to the ancient Greeks, chose the most luxurious of the Greek orders. In any case, together with the Doric and Ionic it is considered one of the three classical orders.
Repeating many features of the Ionic column,Corinthian order has pronounced differences. On the trunk of the column (similar to the trunk in the Ionic style) flutes alternate (flat, deep), often ending under a capitol in the form of curved petals. Two types of columns differ in the profile of the base (in the Corinthian it expands and becomes thinner), but especially in the capital. A capital in the form of an open cup of a flower surrounded by flowers arranged in rows. In the lower part, the cup is covered by a narrow belt, and at the top of it, the stems rise, resting against a quadrangular slab decorated with a flower in the middle. There is an entablature on the slab, the frieze of which is covered with stucco decorations (palmettes and other figures), repeating above the cornice, broken into brackets from the bottom.
It should be noted that you can find more distantpredecessors of such decorative complexity, for example, in ancient Persian architecture. Although, of course, the naturalistic leaves of acanthus are a sure sign that the Corinthian order is in front of us, the construction and detailed processing of the columns also played a large role in the spacious halls that the Persians were very fond of. The trunks of the columns were covered with small flutes, they were installed on beautifully decorated bases in the shape of an overturned bowl, and they ended in bundles of vertically set volutes or half-figures of bulls carved from stone (unicorns).
