In classical architecture, the uniform assembly of constituent parts according to established proportions is called an ‘order’. There are five main architectural orders, three of which were created in ancient Greece; Doric, Ionic, and the later Corinthian. Ionic order originated in the Greek cities of Asia Minor during the Archaic Period, reaching mainland Greece by the 5th century BC. Consisting of slender, more ‘feminine’ pillars than those of the Doric style, often with more fluting and ornate detail at the top. Crucially, the shaft of the columns must be eight times the diameter of its narrowest point. The first great temple built following the Ionic order was the Temple of Hera on the Aegean island of Samos; although little survives due to its destruction by earthquake.
