Ancient Greek temple three steps, the "crepidoma". The uppermost level of the "crepidoma" provides the surface on which the columns and walls are placed; it is called stylobate. Placed on the stylobate are the vertical column shafts, tapering towards the top. They are normally made of several separately cut column drums. Depending on the architectural order, a different number of flutings are cut into the column shaft: Doric columns have 18 to 20 flutings, Ionic and Corinthian ones normally have 24. Early Ionic columns had up to 48 flutings. While Doric columns stand directly on the stylobate, Ionic and Corinthian ones possess a
Ancient Greek architecture Ionic and foliate in the Corinthian. Doric and usually Ionic capitals are cut with vertical grooves known as "fluting". This fluting or grooving of the columns is a retention of an element of the original wooden architecture. The columns of a temple support a structure that rises in two main stages, the entablature and the pediment. The entablature is the major horizontal structural element supporting the roof and encircling the entire building. It is composed of three parts. Resting on the columns is the architrave made of a series of stone "lintels" that spanned the space between the columns, and