is surrounded by
three or five bands. A moulding composed of groups of three vertical
stripes hangs like a fringe from the lowest band in the space between
every two stems. So varied a surface does not admit of hieroglyphic
decoration; therefore the projections were by degrees suppressed, and the
whole shaft was made smooth. In the hypostyle hall at Gurneh, the shaft is
divided in three parts, the middle one being smooth and covered with
sculptures, while the upper and lower divisions are formed of clustered
stems. In the temple of Khonsu, in the aisles of the hypostyle hall of
Karnak, and in the portico of Medinet Habu, the shaft is quite smooth, the
fringe alone being retained below the top bands, while a slight ridge
between each of the three bands recalls the original stems (fig. 70). The
capital underwent a like process of degradation. At Beni Hasan, it is
finely clustered throughout its height. In the processional hall of
Thothmes III., at Luxor, and at Medamot, a circle of small pointed leaves
and channellings around the base lessens the effect, and reduces it to a
mere grooved and truncated cone. In the hypostyle hall of Karnak, at
Abydos, at the Ramesseum, and at Medinet Habu, various other ornaments, as
triangular leaves, hieroglyphic inscriptions, or bands of cartouches
flanked by uraei, fill the space thus unfortunately obtained. Neither is
the abacus hidden as in the campaniform capital, but stands out boldly, and
displays the cartouche of the royal founder.

[Illustration: Fig. 71.--Hathor-head capital, Ptolemaic.]

III. _Columns with Hathor-head Capitals_.--We find examples of the Hathor-
headed column dating from ancient times, as at Deir el Bahari; but this
order is best known in buildings of the Ptolemaic period, as at Contra
Latopolis, Philae, and Denderah. The shaft and the base present no special
characteristics. They resemble those of the campaniform columns. The
capital is in two divisions. Below we have a square block, bearing on each
face a woman's head in high relief and crowned with a naos. The woman has
the ears of a heifer. Her hair, confined over the brow by three vertical
bands, falls behind the ears, and hangs long on the shoulders. Each head
supports a fluted cornice, on which stands a naos framed between two
volutes, and crowned by a slender abacus (fig. 71). Thus each column has
for its capital four heads of Hathor. Seen from a distance, it at once
recalls the form of the sistrum, s