ABSTRACT
The most original element of Egyptian architecture is certainly the floral column, which imparts to the ancient Egyptian monuments a character which is quite their own. Two different species of lotus are very frequently represented on the Egyptian monuments: Nympha lotus, or the white lotus, and Nymphaea caerulea, or the blue lotus. A number of paintings and bas-reliefs of various periods represent the gathering of papyrus, which the Egyptians put to a multitude of different uses. Amongst the architectural paintings of the New Empire, the artists often painted little columns whose capitals are formed in a very strange manner. The palm column persisted throughout Egyptian history without appreciable modification, from the time of the example in the temple of Sahure past the column of Tehuti-hetep at El-Bersheh and the capital in the palace of Amenophis IV down to the hypostyle hall at Edfu.
