The first use of columns was as a single central support for the roof of relatively small buildings but from the Bronze Age (3000-1000 BCE) more sophisticated columns with other functions beyond direct structural support appeared in the Egyptian, Assyrian and Minoan civilizations.

Who invented columns?

The ancient Greeks were wonderful architects. They invented three types of columns to support their buildings. There was the stylish Doric, the Ionic with its scrolls, and the fancy Corinthian.

When were the Greek columns created?

The formulas they invented as early as the sixth century B.C. have influenced the architecture of the past two millennia. The two principal orders in Archaic and Classical Greek architecture are the Doric and the Ionic. In the first, the Doric order, the columns are fluted and have no base.