Post and lintel

The use of wider elements at the top of the post, called capitals, to help spread the load, is common to many architectural traditions.

In architecture, a post-and-lintel or trabeated system refers to the use of horizontal stone beams or lintels which are borne by columns or posts.

In all or most of these traditions, certainly in Greece and India, the earliest versions developed using wood, which were later translated into stone for larger and grander buildings.

The biggest disadvantage to lintel construction is the limited weight that can be held up, and the resulting small distances required between the posts.

As with the Roman temple portico front and its descendants in later classical architecture, trabeated features were often retained in parts of buildings as an aesthetic choice.