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COLUMN (Lat. columna)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 748 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COLUMN (See also:Lat. columna) , in See also:architecture, a See also:vertical support consisting of See also:capital, See also:shaft and See also:base, used to carry a See also:horizontal See also:beam or an See also:arch. The earliest example in See also:wood (2684 B.C.) was that found at Kahun in See also:Egypt by See also:Professor See also:Flinders See also:Petrie, which was fluted and stood on a raised base, and in See also:stone the octagonal shafts of the See also:early See also:temple at See also:Deir-el-Bahri (c. 285o). In the tombs at Beni See also:Hasan (2723 B.C.) are columns of two kinds, the octagonal or polygonal shaft, and the See also:reed or See also:lotus column, the horizontal See also:section of which is a See also:quatrefoil. This became later the favourite type, but it was made circular on See also:plan. In all these examples the column rests on a stone base. (See also CAPITAL and See also:ORDER.) The column was employed in See also:Assyria in small structures only, such as pavilions or porticoes. In See also:Persia the column, employed to carry See also:timber superstructures only, was very lofty, being sometimes 12 diameters high; the shaft was fluted, the number of flutes varying from 30 to 52. The earliest example of the See also:Greek column is that represented in the temple See also:fresco at See also:Cnossus (c. 1600 B.C.), of which portions have been found. The columns were in See also:cypress wood raised on a stone base and tapered downwards.' The same, though to a less degree, is found in the stone semi-detached columns which flank the See also:doorway of the See also:Tomb of See also:Agamemnon at See also:Mycenae; the shafts of these columns were carved with the See also:chevron See also:design. The earliest Greek columns in stone as isolated features are those of the Temple of See also:Apollo at See also:Syracuse (early 7th See also:century B.C.), the shafts of which were monoliths, but as a See also:rule the Greek columns were all built of drums, sometimes as many as ten or twelve.

There was no base to the Doric column, but the shafts were fluted, 20 flutes being the usual number. In the Archaic Temple of See also:

Diana at See also:Ephesus there were 52 flutes. In the later examples of the Ionic order the shaft had 24 flutes. In the See also:Roman temples the shafts were very often monoliths. Columns were occasionally used as supports for figures or other features. The Naxian column at See also:Delphi of the Ionic order carried a See also:sphinx. The See also:Romans employed columns in various ways: the See also:Trajan and the Antonine columns carried figures of the two emperors; the columna rostrata (26o B.C.) in the See also:Forum was decorated with the beaks of See also:ships and was a votive column, the miliaria column marked the centre of See also:Rome from which all distances were measured. In the same way the column in the See also:Place See also:Vendome in See also:Paris carries a statue of See also:Napoleon I.; the See also:monument of the See also:Fire of See also:London, a See also:finial with flames sculptured on it; the See also:duke of See also:York's column (London), a statue of the duke of York. With the exception of the Cretan and Mycenaean, all the shafts of the classic orders tapered from the bottom upwards, and about one-third up the column had an increment,, known as the See also:entasis, to correct an See also:optical illusion which makes tapering shafts look See also:concave; the proportions of See also:diameter to height varied with the order employed. Thus, broadly speaking, a Roman Doric column will be eight, a Roman Ionic nine, a Corinthian ' The See also:tree-See also:trunk used as a column was inverted to retain the See also:sap; hence the shape. • ten diameters in height. Except in rare cases, the columns of the Romanesque and See also:Gothic styles were of equal diameter at See also:top and bottom, and had no definite dimensions as regards diameter and height.

They were also grouped together See also:

round piers which are known as clustered piers. When of exceptional See also:size, as in See also:Gloucester and See also:Durham cathedrals, See also:Waltham See also:Abbey and See also:Tewkesbury, they are generally called " pillars," which was apparently the See also:medieval See also:term for column. The word columna, employed by See also:Vitruvius, was introduced into See also:England by the See also:Italian writers of the Revival. In the See also:Renaissance See also:period columns were frequently banded, the bands being concentric with the column as in See also:France, and occasionally richly carved as in Philibert De L'See also:Orme's See also:work at the Tuileries. In England Inigo See also:Jones introduced similar features, but with square blocks sometimes rusticated, a custcm lately revived in England, but of which there are few examples either in See also:Italy or See also:Spain. The word " column " is used, by See also:analogy with architecture, for any upright See also:body or See also:mass, in See also:chemistry, See also:anatomy, See also:typography, &c. (R. P.

End of Article: COLUMN (Lat. columna)

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