capital of the column, ornamented always by volutes, _i.e._ scrolls,
which bear a close resemblance to features similarly employed in the
columns found at Persepolis. The same resemblance can be also detected
in the moulded bases, and even the shafts of the columns, and in many
of the ornaments employed throughout the buildings.

[Illustration: FIG. 67.--SHAFT OF IONIC COLUMN SHOWING THE FLUTES.]

[Illustration: FIG. 68.--IONIC CAPITAL. FRONT ELEVATION.]

[Illustration: FIG. 69.--IONIC CAPITAL. SIDE ELEVATION.]

In form and disposition an ordinary Ionic temple was similar to one of
the Doric order, but the general proportions are more slender, and the
mouldings of the order are more numerous and more profusely enriched.
The column in the Ionic order had a base, often elaborately and
sometimes singularly moulded (Figs. 74, 75). The shaft (Figs. 67, 70)
is of more slender proportions than the Doric shaft. It was fluted,
but its channels are more numerous, and are separated from one another
by broader fillets than in the Doric. The distinctive feature, as in
all the orders, is the capital (Figs. 68, 69), which is recognised at
a glance by the two remarkable ornaments already alluded to as like
scrolls, and known as volutes. These generally formed the faces of a
pair of cushion-shaped features, which could be seen in a side view of
the capital; but sometimes volutes stand in a diagonal position, and
in almost every building they differ slightly. The abacus is less deep
than in the Greek Doric, and it is always moulded at the edge, which
was never the case with the Doric abacus. The entablature (Fig. 70)
is, generally speaking, richer than that of the Doric order. The
architrave, for example, has three facias instead of being plain. On
the other hand, the frieze has no triglyphs, and but rarely sculpture.
There are more members in the cornice, several mouldings being
combined to fortify the supporting portion. These have sometimes been
termed "the bed mouldings," and among them occurs one which is almost
typical of the order, and is termed a dentil band. This moulding
presents the appearance of a plain square band of stone, in which a
series of cuts had been made dividing it into blocks somewhat
resembling teeth, whence the name. Such an ornament is more naturally
constructed in wood than in stone or marble, but if the real
derivation of the Ionic order, as of the Doric, be in fact from timber
structures, the dent