Why was the Temple of Olympian Zeus at Acragas built with engaged half-columns?

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James Paine and Robert Adam: Kedleston Hall — Western architecture Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, England; designed by James Paine and Robert Adam.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus at Acragas was built with engaged half-columns to support the weight of its massive entablature. Rather than using traditional freestanding columns, the architects attached these half-columns to a continuous, solid wall to bear the load of the structure.1

This design choice demonstrates that the 18th-century Enlightenment view of Greek architecture as a system based solely on post-and-lintel construction—where only columns carry the weight—was inaccurate. The use of these engaged columns at Acragas represents a sophisticated integration of wall mass and architectural orders, a technique also seen in other significant structures of the period, such as the Temple of Apollo at Bassae and the Temple of Athena at Tegea.1