THE PILLAR AS A FUNCTIONAL AND ARTISTIC-SYMBOLIC IMAGE IN THE CULTURES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

This article is dedicated to the most ancient period of the history of architecture. The author traces the process of its development on different territories. Notwithstanding the differences of typology,of planning and formal solutions, of material and technical equipment, ancient architecture represents an integrated body. It was united not only by the post-and-beam building method, but by the similar understanding of its basic components as well.Religious, cultural and historical traditions determined the correlation of functional and symbolic elements, of functional and decorative parts. Analysis of such an important architectural element as the pillar, the bearing part of the construction, demonstrates the evolutionary process of the years 4000s till 1000s BC.