ENTASIS (from Gr. vTelvety, to stretch a

See also:

• LINE

line or

See also:

• BEND

bend a

See also:

• BOW (pronounced " bo ")

bow)  , in architecture, the increment given to the column (q.v.), to correct the optical illusion which produces an apparent hollowness in an extended straight line . It was referred to by Vitruvius (iii . 3), and was first noticed in the columns of the Doric orders in Greek temples by Allason in 1814, and afterwards measured and verified by Penrose . It varies in different temples, and is not found in some: it is most pronounced in the temple of Jupiter Olympius, most delicate in the Erechtheum . The entasis is almost invariably introduced in the spires of English churches .