Corinthian (architectural style)

Refers to the third of both the three Greek architectural orders and the later five traditional classical orders of architecture that, with Doric, Ionic, Tuscan, and Composite, was used by the Romans and through the Renaissance and beyond. It seems to have been influenced by Egyptian architecture, though it probably developed in Greece in interior architecture, and was used in exterior architecture by the third century BCE. In Greek architecture it is characterized by a form that is lighter and more ornate than Doric or Ionic, a bell-shaped capital with acanthus stalks emerging to support graceful volutes, and a column that is seated on a base and usually fluted. It was the most common of Greek styles in Roman architecture, and in Roman and later architecture the style was often modified. It is distinct from "Corinthian order," since an architectural order refers strictly to the specific system or assemblage of parts that is subject to uniform established rules and proportions, regulated by the role that each part has to perform.