pilaster, in Greco-Roman Classical architecture, shallow rectangular column that projects slightly beyond the wall into which it is built and conforms precisely to the order or style of the adjacent columns. The anta of ancient Greece was the direct ancestor of the Roman pilaster. The anta, however, which served a structural purpose as the terminus of the sidewall of a temple, was not required to conform in style to the temple columns.
In ancient Roman architecture the pilaster gradually became more and more decorative rather than structural, as it served to break up an otherwise empty expanse of wall. The fourth-story wall of the Colosseum, the great amphitheatre built in Rome during the 1st century ad, contains examples of the Roman use of pilasters. In Renaissance architecture, beginning in Italy and spreading to France and England, pilasters were extremely popular on both interior and exterior walls. The decorative pilaster was also common in the designs of the later European Neoclassical periods.