THE ORIGINATORS OF THE THREE ORDERS. Who were the originators of the three great and primary orders of Grecian architecture is still a question which the discussion of the legendary and mythical architects, which has been briefly entered into, has not answered. It may be assumed inferentially that as the earliest of the Greek temples which have been referred to as the works of the progeny of the gods were in the Doric style, the pagan deities of Greece may claim some share of credit for having introduced that noble design to the world. The Ionic and Corinthian styles, however, are still to be accounted for, and as there is good ground to assume that they made their advent into architectural art at much later dates no celestial origin can be claimed for them. Vitruvius, in relating his account of the origin of all three orders, alludes more directly to the birth of the Doric, and tells a story so picturesque and entertaining of the other two that although recognizing how well it may be known to the professional architect, it is difficult to resist the temptation to give it here entire: “Dorus, the son of Hellen, and the nymph Orseis, reigned over the whole of Achaia and Peloponnesus, and built at Argos, an ancient city, on a spot sacred to Juno, a temple which happened to be of this order. After this many temples similar to it sprung up in the other parts of Achaia, though the proportions which should be preserved in it were not as yet settled. “But afterward when the Athenians, by the advice of the Delphic Oracle in a general assembly of the different states of Greece, sent over into Asia thirteen colonies at once, and appointed a governor or leader to each, reserving the chief command for Ion, the son of Xuthus and Creusa, whom the Delphic Apollo had acknowledged as son, that person led them over into Asia, and occupied the borders of Caria, and there built the great cities of Ephesus, Miletus, Myus (which was long since destroyed by inundation, and its sacred rites and suffrages transferred by the Ionians to the inhabitants of Miletus), Priene, Samos, Teos, Colophon, Chios, Erythræ, Phocæa, Clazomenæ, Lebedos and Melite. The last, as a punishment for the arrogance of its citizens, was detached from the other states in a war levied pursuant to the directions of a general council; and in its place, as a mark of favor toward King Attalus and Arsinoë, the city of Smyrna was admitted into the number of Ionian states, which received the appellation of Ionian from their leader Ion, after the Carians and Lelegæ had been driven out.