The Three Main Orders of Ancient Greek Columns:
Doric, Ionian and Corinthian

Columns were originally of wood and some say that initially, in Crete, where the Minoan civilization flourished, uprooted trees were merely trimmed and then placed upside down.

Columns below, from left to right: The Doric style is simple and severe reflecting the more martial nature of the Dorian invaders. The Ionic column is more artistic and elegant with a rolled volutes. The Corinthian column is the most intricate of all with capitals in the shape of acanthus leaves. Acanthus plants are basically big weeds you would never hear about normally unless they were in your garden. That's one pictured left that I caught in the wild atop ancient acro-corinth. Since I have never seen one anywhere else, that probably explains why they are credited to the Corinthians. Most columns had 20 flutes but some had none at all. If you go to the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion you'll notice that the columns there only have 12 flutes which was done not to save money, but to protect the marble from erosion from the nearby sea.

This picture (left) from the Museum in Ancient Corinth show many more types of Ancient Columns they are afraid to tell you about in school.

Museum officials don't bother to explain exactly where these particular columns come from or where they were used. Probably because they don't know for sure.

At a lot of sites in Greece there may be more than one type of column laying around depending on who built the site. The Greeks or the Romans or both.

In later days, the Venetians and Franks built stuff in Greece, castles and fortification walls mostly, and they didn't use columns. Then there were the Turks for 400 years. The Turks built some pretty cool arched bridges which are among the few Turkish things the Greeks didn't tear down as soon as they possibly could probably because these served a useful propose and still do in many cases. These columns (above) are from Hadrian's Library in the Roman Agora in Athens. Hadrian loved Greece and was smart enough to appreciate that, if not superior, its culture at least pre-dated Rome's and influenced it heavily.

The biggest columns around are to be seen at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens pictured below left. The occupying Turks used to take these particular columns and grind them up for white wash. They also sold off the Elgin marbles and had a quick eye for cash. This is the biggest temple in Greece but has very few columns remaining.

Here near left are some reconstructed Ionic columns in the Greek Agora close by the Roman Agora in Athens. Notice they are not fluted.

These detailed schematics below explain the exact composition of columns and their use in construction better than I ever could. Now you can amaze your friends with your detailed knowledge of ancient Greek architecture and believe it or not, there are many helpful and interesting scholars who eat this stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the fresher out of the ground the better!