THE ORDERS
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In the Classical styles, several varieties of Column and Entablature are in use. These are called the Orders. Each Order, Fig. 34, comprises a Column with Base, Shaft, and Capital, with or without a Pedestal, with its Base, Die, and Cap, and is crowned by an Entablature, consisting of Architrave, Frieze, and Cornice. The Entablature is generally about one-fourth as high as the Column, and the Pedestal one-third, more or less.
The principal member of the Cornice is the Corona, Fig. 35. Above the Corona, the Cornice is regularly terminated by a member originally designed to serve as a gutter to receive the water running down the roof. It generally consists of a large Cyma Recta, though the Ovolo and the Cavetto are often used. It is called the Cymatium, in spite of its large size, and whatever its shape.
Note.—The word Cymatium thus has three meanings: (1) A small Cyma. (2) A small crowning member, of whatever shape, though it is most frequently a Cyma Reversa. (3) The upper member of a Cornice, occupying the place of a gutter, whatever its shape, though it is generally a large Cyma Recta. In Classical Architecture, the Cyma Recta seldom occurs, except at the top of the Cornice and at the bottom of the Pedestal.
It would seem as if a cornice that occurs at the top of a wall and carries the edge of a roof would properly have a Cymatium, this being the place for a gutter, and that Cornices used as String Courses, half way up a wall, would naturally be without this member. But the significance of the Cymatium has frequently been overlooked, in ancient times and in modern. Many Greek temples have a Cymatium on the sloping lines of the gable, where a gutter would be useless, Fig. 120, and none along the Eaves, and in many modern buildings the cornices are crowned by large Cymatia in places where there are no roofs behind them.
The Corona is supported by a Molding or group of Moldings, called the Bed Mold. A row of brackets, termed Blocks, Fig. 36, Modillions, or Mutules, Fig. 37, according to their shape, resting on the Bed Mold and supporting the soffit of the Corona, is often added. At the top of the Architrave is a projecting molding that, when square, is called a Tania, and the face of the Architrave is often broken up into two or three Bands or Fascias, Fig. 38, each of which often carries a small molding as a Cymatium or covering member.
The Abacus of the Capital also has a sort of bed mold beneath it, which, when convex, is called an Echinus, Fig. 39, from the sea shell, Fig. 40, which it resembles in shape. The little Frieze below it is called the Necking. But if the
