Quezi

Ionic capital, Delos, Greece - courtesy rahuldlucca - CC-BY

The Ionic Order came from, and took its name from Ionia, a part of modern Turkey once settled by the Greeks.

Although the concept seems a little more advanced than the Doric Order, it seems to have originated about the same time.

The Ionic Order is one of the three orders of classical architecture.  The other two are Doric and Corinthian.

It was more popular in the Eastern Greek world where it seems more ornamentaion was wanted.  It originated from earlier wooden construction with much of the detail surviving in stone as decorative elements.

The more ornamental Ionic style appealed to the Romans who adopted it without the major modifications that are the difference between Greek and Roman Doric.

The Ionic column is always more slender than Doric and allows a lighter look to the finished building.

In Classical Ionic buildings, the columns have a small base to stand on, instead of sitting right on the floor. They are fluted, but they have more flutes than Doric columns, and the flutes are deeper and separated with a band. At the top there’s a double curve in stone, under the architrave. On the architrave, there is a continuous frieze where the triglyphs and metopes would be on a Doric building.

That stone double curve, or spreading scroll-shaped capital is the distinctive feature of the Ionic order.  There were variations of it widely used during the Renaissance and in later periods, particularly the baroque.

For more information about Classical Architecture