Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/159

 The Ordonnance of Egyptian Colonnaues. 137 columns. Sometimes Intercolumniations vary at points where we should expect uniformity, as in the outer court of Luxor (Fig. 1 12). On two of the faces the columns are farther apart than on the other two. The difference is not easily seen on the ordinary small plans, but it is conspicuous in the large one of the Descriptio7i} It is easy to understand why the spacing should have been increased in front of a door, an arrangement which exists at Gournah (Fig. 113), and at Luxor (Figs. 109 and iii). 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 Sfround, measuring from the first to the sixth, as nine of the smaller pillars. Between supports so iii iiil Fig. iio. — Portico in the Temple Fig. hi. — Luxor, portico of the of Khons. first court. 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 s hole was taken, but it is clearly seen in the plan given in the Description. These are not the only ' Description de V Egypte. plates, vol. iii. pi. 5. VOL. n. T