Entablature

Entablature (Lat. in, and tabula, a tablet), the architectural term for the superstructure carried by the columns in the classic orders (q.v.). It usually consists of three members, the architrave (the supporting member carried from column to column, pier or wall); the frieze (the decorative member); and the cornice (the projecting and protective member). Sometimes the frieze is omitted, as in the entablature of the portico of the caryatides of the Erechtheum. There is every reason to believe that the frieze did not exist in the archaic temple of Diana at Ephesus; and it is not found in the Lycian tombs, which are reproductions in the rock of timber structures based on early Ionian work.