Ionic order cap is usually enriched with egg-and-dart. Since Vitruvius, a female character has been ascribed to the Ionic (in contrast to the masculine Doric). The major features of the Ionic order are the volutes of its capital, which have been the subject of much theoretical and practical discourse, based on a brief and obscure passage in Vitruvius. The only tools required to design these features were a straight-edge, a right angle, string (to establish half-lengths) and a compass. Below the volutes, the Ionic column may have a wide collar or banding separating the capital from the fluted shaft (as in, for
Ancient Greek art the west coast of Turkey) and some of the Aegean islands, probably beginning in the 6th century. The Doric style was more formal and austere, the Ionic more relaxed and decorative. The more ornate Corinthian order was a later development of the Ionic, initially apparently only used inside buildings, and using Ionic forms for everything except the capitals. The famous and well-preserved Choragic Monument of Lysicrates near the Athens Acropolis (335/334) is the first known use of the Corinthian order on the exterior of a building. Most of the best known surviving Greek buildings, such as the Parthenon and the