Columns

With a plain capital and a fluted shaft, Doric is the earliest and most simple of the Classical column styles developed in ancient Greece. 

More slender and more ornate than the earlier Doric style, an Ionic column has scroll-shaped ornaments on the capital, or top. 

The Corinthian style is more complex and elaborate than the earlier Doric and Ionic styles. The capital, or top, of a Corinthian column has lavish ornaments carved to resemble leaves and flowers.

Developed in ancient Italy, a Tuscan column resembles a Greek Doric column, but it has a smooth shaft.

In about the first century BC, the Romans combined the Ionic and the Corinthian orders of architecture to create a composite style.

Solomonic columns with twisted, spiraling shafts have ornamented buildings since ancient times. Over the centuries, many cultures have adopted the Solomonic column style.

Brightly painted and elaborately carved, columns in ancient Egypt often mimicked palms, papyrus plants, and other plant forms. Nearly 2,000 years later, architects in Europe and the United States borrowed Egyptian motifs and Egyptian column styles.

During the fifth century BC, builders in the land that is now Iran carved elaborate columns with images of bulls and horses. The unique Persian column style was imitated and adapted in many parts of the world.