style of architecture than could have been derived from stone buildings.
There is another form of pillar used at Beni Hassan at that early age which is still further removed from stone than even the proto-Doric. It imitates a bundle of four reeds or lotus-stalks bound together near the top and bulging above the ligature so as to form a
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| 16. Proto-Doric Pillar at Beni Hassan. | 17. Reed Pillar from Beni Hassan. |
capital. Such a pier must evidently have been originally employed in wooden architecture only, and the roof which it supports is in this instance of light wooden construction, having the slight slope requisite in the dry climate of Egypt. In after ages this form of pillar became a great favorite with the Egyptian architects, and was employed in all their great monuments, but with a far more substantial lithic form than we find here, and in conjunction with the hollow—or, as we should call it, Corinthian—formed capital, of which no example is found earlier than the 18th dynasty.
18. Lotus Pier, Beni Hassan, (From Lepsius).
Where the square pier, so characteristic of the pyramid-building age, is used at Beni Hassan, it is adorned on its face with a lotus-flower and stems (Woodcut No. 18), so as to assimilate it with the more
