Fig. 110.—Portico in the Temple of Khons.
Fig. 111.—Luxor, portico of the first court.
In the hypostyle halls we find columns of different sizes and orders. Six of the great columns which form the central avenue at Karnak cover as much ground, measuring from the first to the sixth, as nine of the smaller pillars. Between supports so arranged and proportioned no constant relation could be established (Fig. [114]). The transverse lines passing through the centres of each pair of great columns correspond to the centres neither of the smaller shafts nor of the spaces which divide them. The central aisle and the two lateral groves of stone might have been the creations of separate architects, working without communication with one another and without any desire to make their proportions seem the result of one coherent idea.
In the inner hypostyle hall at Abydos the intercolumniations which lead respectively to the seven sanctuaries vary in width (Fig. [115]). This variation is not shown by Mariette, from whose work our plan of the temple as a whole was taken, but it is clearly seen in the plan given in the Description. These are not the only instances in which those early explorers of Egypt excelled their successors in minute accuracy.
Fig. 112.—Part of the portico of the first court, Luxor. From the Description, iii. 5.
Fig. 113.—Portico in front of the façade of the temple of Gournah. From the Description, ii. 41.
Here and there we find the spaces in a single row of columns increasing progressively from the two ends to the centre (Fig. [105]).