SPIRA
SPIRA (
σπεῖρα),
dim. SPI´RULA (Servius in
Verg. A. 2.217), the base of a column. The
word
σπεῖρα is used in this signification
in Greek inscriptions, being applied to the bases of the columns of the
Erechtheum and of the temple of Zeus at Labranda (
C. I. G.
160, 50.64; 2713, 2714).
Spira is the term
regularly used by Vitruvius and other Latin writers in the same
signification (see esp. 3.5, when the forms and proportions are prescribed).
The base, which is absent in Doric columns but always present in those of the
Ionic or Corinthian order, may be either
Attic or
Ionic; it may be used either with or without a
plinth beneath it. The
Attic form
[
ATTICURGES] consists of
an upper and a lower
torus (
torus superior, inferior), with a
scotia (
τροχίλος)
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between them, bordered above and below by a
quadra: it is found in all the Ionic buildings at
[p. 2.691]Athens, whether they have the Ionic or Attic form
of the capital. The example given is from the Erechtheum (see right-hand
part of cut). The Ionic consists of an upper torus, and of a lower member
and two
trochili, with double astragali above,
between, and below. It is seen in the temple of Athena at Priene (see left
half of cut) and elsewhere. That this is the original
Ionic
base is shown by the base of the primitive Ionic column from Naucratis
(Petrie,
Naukratis, i. pl. 3), where the lower part of the
base, though not showing the two
trochili, is
of the same general character, and quite different from an
Attic base.
The upper
torus is sometimes fluted (
ῥαβδωτός), as in the left-hand part of the cut,
sometimes ornamented with a plaited ornament, as in the right-hand part;
both treatments of the torus of the
Attic base may be found
even in the same building, in the Erechtheum.
In Etruscan columns the base consists simply of a
torus resting on a
plinth; in Roman
buildings the plinth is almost always present, and all the Greek forms, but
especially the
Attic, are imitated.
[
E.A.G]
