Editing Ancient Greek architecture (section)

==== Doric order ====
The Doric order is recognised by its capital, of which the ''echinus'' is like a circular cushion rising from the top of the column to the square ''abacus'' on which rest the lintels. The echinus appears flat and splayed in early examples, deeper and with greater curve in later, more refined examples, and smaller and straight-sided in Hellenistic examples.<ref name="BF7" /> A refinement of the Doric column is the [[entasis]], a gentle convex swelling to the profile of the column, which prevents an optical illusion of concavity.<ref name="BF7" /> This is more pronounced in earlier examples.

Doric columns are almost always cut with grooves, known as "fluting", which run the length of the column and are usually 20 in number, although sometimes fewer. The flutes meet at sharp edges called ''[[arris]]es''. At the top of the columns, slightly below the narrowest point, and crossing the terminating arrises, are three horizontal grooves known as the ''[[hypotrachelion]]''. Doric columns have no bases, until a few examples in the Hellenistic period.<ref name="BF7" />

The columns of an early Doric temple such as the [[Temple of Apollo (Syracuse)|Temple of Apollo]] at Syracuse, Sicily, may have a height to base diameter ratio of only 4:1 and a column height to entablature ratio of 2:1, with relatively crude details. A column height to diameter of 6:1 became more usual, while the column height to entablature ratio at the Parthenon is about 3:1. During the Hellenistic period, Doric conventions of solidity and masculinity dropped away, with the slender and unfluted columns reaching a height to diameter ratio of 7.5:1.<ref name=BF7>{{harvnb|Fletcher|1996|pp=108–112}}.</ref>

{{multiple image
|align     = left
|direction = horizontal
|header_align = center
|header    = The Doric Order <br /> The Temple of Hephaestos, Athens, is a well-preserved temple of ''peripteral hexastyle'' plan.
|image1  = View of Hephaisteion of Athens in 2008 2.jpg
|width1 = 250
|alt1 =
|caption1 =
|image2    =20100410 athina108.JPG
|width2    = 200
|alt2      =
|caption2  = The [[entablature]] showing the [[architrave]], [[frieze (architecture)|frieze]] with [[triglyph]]s and [[metope (architecture)|metopes]] and the overhanging cornice
|image3    =20100410 athina110.JPG
|width3    = 200
|alt3      =
|caption3  = The tapered fluted columns, constructed in drums, rest directly on the [[stylobate]].
}}

The Doric [[entablature]] is in three parts, the [[architrave]], the [[frieze]] and the [[cornice]]. The architrave is composed of the stone lintels which span the space between the columns, with a joint occurring above the centre of each abacus. On this rests the frieze, one of the major areas of sculptural decoration. The frieze is divided into ''triglyphs'' and ''metopes'', the triglyphs, as stated elsewhere in this article, are a reminder of the timber history of the architectural style. Each triglyph has three vertical grooves, similar to the columnar fluting, and below them, seemingly connected, are [[guttae]], small strips that appear to connect the triglyphs to the architrave below.<ref name="BF7" /> A triglyph is located above the centre of each capital, and above the centre of each lintel. However, at the corners of the building, the triglyphs do not fall over the centre the column. The ancient architects took a pragmatic approach to the apparent "rules", simply extending the width of the last two metopes at each end of the building.

The cornice is a narrow jutting band of complex [[Molding (decorative)|molding]], which overhangs and protects the ornamented frieze, like the edge of an overhanging wooden-framed roof. It is decorated on the underside with projecting blocks, ''mutules'', further suggesting the wooden nature of the prototype. At either end of the building the pediment rises from the cornice, framed by moulding of similar form.<ref name="BF7" />

The pediment is decorated with figures that are in [[relief]] in the earlier examples, though almost free-standing by the time of the [[Elgin Marbles|sculpture on the Parthenon]]. Early architectural sculptors found difficulty in creating satisfactory sculptural compositions in the tapering triangular space.<ref name="Strong4" /> By the Early Classical period, with the decoration of the [[Temple of Zeus, Olympia|Temple of Zeus]] at Olympia (486–460 BC), the sculptors had solved the problem by having a standing central figure framed by rearing [[centaur]]s and fighting men who are falling, kneeling and lying in attitudes that fit the size and angle of each part of the space.<ref name=HG4>{{harvnb|Gardner|Kleiner|Mamiya|2004|pp=138–148}}.</ref> The famous sculptor [[Phidias]] fills the space at the Parthenon (448–432 BC) with a complex array of draped and undraped figures of deities, who appear in attitudes of sublime relaxation and elegance.