The history of columns goes far back to the ancient cities that existed hundreds of years Before Christ. The columns were made by slaves who mixed various soil and adhesive mixtures to form pillars that were used to hoist and support castles, religious buildings, fortified walls and other buildings within the city. Some of the pillars used in such complex design made them firm and lasting. Many ancient ruins have pillar remains and columns that look solid and still robust. Though they were not as complex as fiberglass column or porch columns, the pillars were still firm enough to hold a lot of weight for these ancient buildings. The account below traces back the column from their ancient existence to the modern day columns;
Classic Columns
The classic columns go way back to over 500BC. Though some believe that columns went back even longer, remains of some of the ancient columns are dated to this period. There were different eras of column building in the history of these structures;
1. Corinthian Order- The Corinthian order of columns existed about 430BC these people made columns that were very lender in the width to height ratio of 1:10. They were not known to hold much load on them. They were wider at the center but narrow both at the top and at the bottom.
2. Doric Order - These are the oldest forms of columns recorded in history. They were used about 100BC and they had a tapered look. They were simple hollow pillars that were used to support ancient mansions. They were common in the Greek lands and in ancient Roman empire. The ratio of the width to the column height was 8:1. Though not as firm has modern options such as the fiberglass options and the porch columns, they were still very strong and some still present today in some ancient ruin cities.
3. Ionic Order - This was a much more complex order compared to both the Corinthian and the Doric order. The pillars were flute shaped around the at the four corners of the column, they had scroll shaped supports. These columns are usually associated today with the construction of academic buildings. Though these modern academic buildings have porch columns or the fiberglass column pillars, they will add tiles design a look that resembles that of the ionic order. The width to height ratio of these pillars was 9:1.
4. Composite Order - This age of column building draw ideas from both the Ionic and Corinthian orders. These elements had a scroll looking shape that was similar to those in the Corinthian order and the Ionic order and also had a thin look of a height to width ratio of 11:1 or even 12:1.
Modern Columns
The modern pillars have borrowed a lot from these ancient designs and forms though they have moved on to use modern materials and technology. For example, a fiberglass column or some porch columns may be built to resemble the Ionic order though using modern materials. Some of the modern pillars include the fiberglass column, non tapered columns, architectural wood, synthetic marble, synthetic stone, GRG column, cast stone and porch columns.
