In the Beginning

• Early Greeks made columns out of tree trunks. Vertical indentations remained in the wood after the removal of bark.
  
  

The Classical Period

• When the Greeks began to build stone temples during the Classical Period, they designed stone columns to resemble the fluted wooden columns. Using this design, the columns appeared taller, leaner and more beautiful.
  
  

Types of Columns

• Ionic columns, with their scroll-like designs on top, were more decorative than Doric columns but less ornate than Corinthian.arch image by Natalia Pavlova from Fotolia.com
  
  Three types of columns built by ancient Greeks are the Doric column, the Ionic column and the Corinthian column. Examples of these column types are visible in famous Greek buildings, such as the Parthenon, the Temple of Apollo at Didyma and the temple of Apollo at Bassae.