Doric Column

• The ParthenonJupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  The Parthenon in Athens, Greece, was built in the fifth century B.C. as a temple to Athena, goddess of wisdom, and is one of the most famous examples of the Greek Doric style. A Doric column is wide with parallel vertical grooves and a plain stone top. Greeks used the Doric style primarily on the mainland and in the Greek colonies in southern Italy and Sicily.
  
  

Ionic Column

• Erechtheum TempleMedioimages/Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  The Greek Ionic column is thinner than the Doric column with a more decorative top called a "volute," which has a scroll-like design. Greeks used this style primarily in eastern Greece and on the Greek islands. The Erechtheum temple, built in the fifth century B.C. on the Acropolis of Athens, incorporates Ionic columns, and the unusual feature of "columns" in the shape of female figures.
  
  

Corinthian Column

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  The most ornate of the Greek columns, the Corinthian column is decorated at its top with carvings of scrolls and acanthus leaves. The Temple of Apollo at Bassae, built in the fifth century B.C., is one of only a few examples of the Corinthian style found in Greece. While the Greeks did not make much use of this style, the Romans used Corinthian columns in many of their temples and buildings, including the famous Colosseum ampitheater in Rome.
  
  

Composite and Tuscan

• The ColosseumJupiterimages/Pixland/Getty Images
  
  Romans expanded on Greek column design to create two new types of columns called the Composite and the Tuscan. The Composite, as its name suggests, took its inspiration from two designs: the volute of the Ionic column and the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian column. The Tuscan column has a simpler design, with rings around its base and its top. The Colosseum incorporates Tuscan columns as well as Corinthian and Ionic columns.
  
  

Arch and Dome

• The PantheonHemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
  
  The Colosseum also showcases the arch, which the Romans borrowed from the ancient Etruscans, who settled the Tuscany region of Italy. The Romans took arch technology a step further by creating the dome, leading to such light and airy buildings as the famous Pantheon in Rome. The Pantheon's gigantic concrete dome has an "oculus" or hole in its center that not only lets in air and light, but also rain.