117



THE DORIC ORDER,

Whose true origin and birth-place has not been satis-
factorily ascertained, inasmuch as the uncorroborated
assertions of Vitruvius on this subject cannot be relied
on, may have been the earliest that was invented. In
the Greek examples the proportions vary consider-
ably : in them however, the column is without a base,
which is usually found in the Roman Doric. The
Greek Doric column stands on the floor or pavement
of the building without socle, tori, or fillets ; it pre-
sents a more pyramidal appearance than tlie other
orders from its considerable diminution. Its flutes are
wide, and not deeply sunk. The capital has no astragal,
but generally only some small annulets which divide it
from the shaft. The ovolo is very flat, of large projec-
tion, and returns into the abacus suddenly. The entabla-
ture is divided so that the architrave and frieze are
each more than a third of its height, the remainder being
given to the cornice. The triglyphs are of much less
projection, and their channels less sunk than in the
Roman examples, one always being placed on the ex-
ternal angle of the frieze. The metopae between the tri-
glyphs are nearly square, and mutuli are placed over
them, as well as over the triglyphs themselves. The cor-
nice consists of a band under the mutulus, then the mu-
tulus projected forward under the corona, over which is



118 THE DORIC ORDER. SECT. IIL

usually an ovolo and fillet, with another larger ovolo
and fillet thereover. The column is five or six diameters
high. The principal examples of Grecian Doric extant
are, in the Parthen6n, Temple of Theseus, Propylaea,
and Portico of the Agora of Athens, Temple of Mi-
nerva at Sunium, a temple at Corinth, Temple of
Jupiter NeraoBus between Argos and Corinth, the
Temple of Apollo, and the Portico of Philip in the Isle
of Delos, Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius at ^gina.
