Design of Classical Antiquity

 Doric order

The original Greek Doric columns stood directly on the flat pavement of a temple without a base with their vertical shafts furrowed by 20 parallel concave grooves, topped by a smooth capital that flashed from the column to meet a square abacus at the intersection with the horizontal beam (architrave) that they carried. It was most popular in the  Archaic Period  (750-480 BC) in Greece and the parthenon consists of such columns.

Ionic order

The Ionic order is another order from the organisational system of classical architecture, the other two being the  Doric and the Corinthian.

The Ionic capital is characterised by the use of volutes. The Ionic columns normally stand on a base which separates the shaft of the column from the stylobate or platform. Also, the cap is usually enriched with egg-and-dart.

Corinthian order 

The Corinthian order is the last chronologically of the three major orders in the organisational system of classical architecture. The Corinthian, with its offshoot the Composite, is stated to be the most ornate of the orders, identified by slender grooves and elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls.

The name "Corinthian" is derived from the ancient Greek city of Corinth, although the style had its own model in Roman practice. It was employed in southern Gaul at the Maison Carrée, Nîmes and at the comparable podium temple at Vienne.

Parthenon

The Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the maiden goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron deity. In 447 BC, the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power and this was the beginning of the construction of the Parthenon. It was completed in 9 years later although its decoration continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, and is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy, western civilisation and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments. Currently, the Parthenon is being restored and reconstructed by the Geek Ministry of culture, in order to ensure its stability.

 Pantheon

The Pantheon is a building found in Rome, Italy. It was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus as a  temple for all the gods of ancient Rome, and rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian about 126 AD.

It is a circular building consisting of a portico of large granite Corinthian columns located under a pediment. A rectangular hall links the porch to the rotunda, found under a coffered concrete dome, which has a central opening to the sky known as the oculus. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.

Johann Gutenberg

The printing press was invented by the German goldsmith Johann Gutenberg in 1448. By the use of this device it was possible for the first time for the common man, woman and child to have access to books.This meant they would for the first time have unrivalled ability to accumulate knowledge.

Before the printing press was invented, the majority of books were written and copied by hand. Block printing involved carving each page of a text into a block of wood and pressing each block onto paper. Due to the fact that these processes were so labor-intensive, books were very expensive, and only rich people could afford them.

Reference :

Univertity Press Inc , 2003 Ancient Greece .  [online] Available at: <http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Art/>.[Accessed 8 November 2013].

Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 2004. Johann Gutemberg.  [online] Available at: <http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/gutenberg.html>[Accessed 8 November 2013].