Other than the unembellished capital and undefined 20-sided shaft design, Doric columns also have distinctive triglyphs and metopes along the area above the column called a frieze. The frieze sits upon the architrave which is the main long beam support for the entire roof or cornice of a classical building. The design of the Doric frieze dates back to a time when temples and other structures were primarily built with wood. Thus, the Doric frieze has a plain, flat look reflected in the square, triple- grooved triglyph (block directly above the column’s capital) that alternates with flat, usually bare metopes. In some buidlings, such as the Parthenon in Athens, the metopes were carved with mythological scenes to add an extra dimension to the design.
In ancient Greece a conflict in architectural design arose when temple construction changed from primarily wood to stone. The triglpyhs and metopes of a wooden temple were simple wood blocks either left bare or carved with simple minimal designs. Thus, their weight did not cause problems with the entablature (the entire upper structure of a building including architrave, frieze and cornice). When stone became the principal element of building construction, the standard entablature design needed altering because of the weight. Consequently, the need to decrease the size of the triglyphs and metopes closest to the corner ruined the entire aesthetic balance of the building. The best fix for this problem was never really agreed upon; different architects used methods such as decreasing the size of the corner triglyphs and leaving an open space after the final triglpyh and the corner. This accounts for many of the different designs seen in ancient Doric architecture.
The Parthenon in Athens is one of the most famous of all Doric designs. The Greek architects Iktinos and Kallikrates constructed the building from 447 to 432 B.C. Dedicated to Athena, the temple has 46 separate Doric columns extending around its outer area. Each entrance, at the front and back of the temple, has an additional six Doric columns. The inner part of the temple or naos, contains another 23 Doric columns that surround a large statue of Athena.
The tallest Doric column in the world, Lord Hill’s Column in Shrewsbury, England is 133 feet, 6 inches tall. Built between 1814 and 1816 in honor of General Rowland Hill, the famous general who helped Wellington defeat Napoleon at Waterloo, the column is actually wider and taller than Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square in London.