Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Entasis
open-in-new
<p>In <a href="/facts/Architecture/FccThs8G">architecture</a>, entasis is the application of a <a href="/facts/Convex_curve/26Vvp69H">convex curve</a> to a surface for aesthetic purposes, or increasing strength. Its best-known use is in certain <a href="/facts/Classical_order/ymRMawpq">orders</a> of <a href="/facts/Classical_architecture/wKTDW6sm">Classical</a> <a href="/facts/Column/NDtghP75">columns</a> that diminish in a very gentle curve, rather than in a straight line as they narrow going upward. The human eye would believe that the middle of the column was diminishing in a concave curve halfway up the column, and entasis corrects this. </p>