(Lat. columna), in Architecture, a pillar made to support and adorn a building, and composed of a base, a shaft, and a capital. See Architecture.

Columns, denominated from their use:

Astronomical Column is a kind of observatory, in the form of a lofty hollow tower with a spiral staircase.

Chronological Column, that which bears some historical inscription digested according to the order of time; as by lustres, olympiads, fasti, epochs, annals, and the like. At Athens there were columns of this kind, on which was inscribed the whole history of Greece, digested into olympiads.

Funeral Column, that which bears an urn in which the ashes of one deceased are supposed to be inclosed.

Gnomonic Column, a cylinder on which the hour of the day is represented by the shadow of a style.

Historical Column, one whose shaft is adorned with a basso-relievo running in a spiral line its whole length, and containing the history of some great personage. Such are the Trajan and Antonine columns at Rome.

Indicative Column, one that serves to show the tides, &c. Of this kind there is one of marble at Grand Cairo, on which the overflowings of the Nile are expressed, and by which the Egyptians are used to form a judgment of the succeeding seasons. Thus, when the water ascends to 23 feet, it is a prognostic of great fertility in Egypt.

Instructive Column, that raised, according to Josephus (lib. i. cap. 3), by the sons of Adam, on which were engraven the principles of arts and sciences. Bandelot remarks that the son of Peisistratus raised another of this kind, of stone, containing the rules and precepts of agriculture.

Itinerary Column, with several faces, placed at crossways in great roads, with inscriptions to show the different routes.

Lactory Column, at Rome, according to Festus, a column in the herb market, with a cavity in its pedestal, in which young children abandoned by their parents were exposed, to be brought up at the public expense.

Legal Columns, among the Lacedemonians, were columns raised in public places, on which were engraven the fundamental laws of the state.

Limitrophous or Boundary Column, that which shows the limits of a kingdom or country conquered. Such was that which, Pliny says, Alexander the Great erected at the extremity of the Indies.

Manubrial Column (from manubria, spoil), a column adorned with trophies taken from an enemy.

Memorial Column, one raised in memory of any remarkable event. Such is the Monument of London, built to perpetuate the memory of the burning of that city in 1666.

Menian Column, any column which supports a balcony or menias. The origin of this kind of column Suetonius and Ascanius refer to one Menius, who sold his house to be converted into a public edifice, and reserved to himself the right of raising a column on the outside to bear a balcony, whence he might see the public spectacles. This term was also applied to a pillory in the forum.

Military Column, among the Romans, a column on which was engraven a list of the forces in the Roman army, ranged by legions in their proper order. They had another kind of military column called columna bellica, standing before the temple of Janus, at the foot of which the consul declared war by throwing a javelin towards the enemy's country.

Millitary Column, a column of marble raised by order of Augustus in the middle of the Roman forum, from which, as a centre, the distances of the several cities and stations of the empire were reckoned by other millitary columns disposed at equal distances on all the great roads. This column was of white marble, the same with that which is now seen on the balustrade of an edifice in the capitol at Rome. Its proportion is massive, being a short cylinder, the symbol of the globe of the earth. It was called millarium aureum, as having been gilt, at least the ball, by order of Augustus. It was restored by the Emperors Vespasian and Hadrian, as appears by the inscriptions.

Sepulchral Column was anciently a column erected on a tomb or sepulchre, with an inscription on its base. Those over the tombs of persons of distinction were very large; those for the common people small. The latter were called stela and cippi.

Triumphal Column, a column erected among the ancients in honour of a hero, and decorated with various kinds of crowns, corresponding to the number of his achievements in battle. Each crown had its particular name, as vallaris, which was fitted with spikes, in memory of his having forced a palisade; muralis, adorned with little turrets, or battlements, for having mounted an assault; natalis, of prows and beaks of vessels, for having vanquished at sea; obsidionalis, or graminatis, of grass, for having raised a siege; orans, of myrtle, which expressed an ovation, or minor triumph; and triumphalis, of laurel, for a grand triumph.