  "an order in architecture is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform established proportions, regulated by the office that each part has to perform".joseph gwilt, the encyclopedia of architecture the architectural orders are the ancient styles of classical architecture, each distinguished by its proportions and characteristic profiles and details, and most readily recognizable by the type of column employed. three ancient orders of architectureâthe doric, ionic, and corinthianâoriginated in greece. to these the romans added the tuscan, which they made simpler than doric, and the composite, which was more ornamental than the corinthian. the architectural order of a classical building is akin to the mode or key of classical music, the grammar or rhetoric of a written composition. it is established by certain modules like the intervals of music, and it raises certain expectations in an audience attuned to its language. == elements ==  each style has distinctive capitals and entablatures. the column shaft is sometimes articulated with vertical hollow grooves known as fluting. the shaft is wider at the bottom than at the top, because its entasis, beginning a third of the way up, imperceptibly makes the column slightly more slender at the top, although some doric columns are visibly "flared", with straight profiles that narrow going up the shaft. the capital rests on the shaft. it has a load-bearing function, which concentrates the weight of the entablature on the supportive column, but it primarily serves an aesthetic purpose. the necking is the continuation of the shaft, but is visually separated by one or many grooves. the echinus lies atop the necking. it is a circular block that bulges outwards towards the top to support the abacus, which is a square or shaped block that in turn supports the entablature. the entablature consists of three horizontal layers, all of which are visually separated from each other using moldings or bands. in roman and post-renaissance work, the entablature may be carried from column to col
Ancient_Greek_architecture Ancient_Roman_architectural_elements Classical_architecture Design_history Neoclassical_architecture Orders_of_columns