Fig. 99.—Small chamber at Karnak.
Fig. 100.—Apartment in the temple at Luxor.
Fig. 101.—Hall of the temple at Abydos; Description, vol. ii. p. 41.
The simplest arrangement is to be found in the small chambers where the roof is sustained by a single row of columns (Fig. [98]). When the apartment was slightly larger it contained two rows, the space between the rows being wider than that between the columns and the wall (Fig. [100]). Sometimes in still larger halls we find three rows of columns separated from one another by equal spaces in every direction (Fig. [101]). Finally in those great chambers which are known as hypostyle halls, the number of columns seems to be practically unlimited. At Karnak there are a hundred and thirty-four (Fig. [102]), at the Ramesseum forty-eight, at Medinet-Abou twenty-four.
Fig. 102.—Plan of part of the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak.
The full effect of the hypostyle hall is to be seen at Karnak and at the Ramesseum. In those halls the central aisle is higher than the parts adjoining and is distinguished by a different type of column (Plate IV). It is more than probable that this happy arrangement was not confined to Thebes. We should no doubt have encountered it in more than one of the temples of Memphis and the Delta had they been preserved to our time. Its principle was reproduced in the propylæa of the acropolis at Athens, where the Ionic and Doric orders figured side by side.
