Note 52 — Chapter III · FIRST THEBAN KINGDOM.
Reading edition
In a tomb of the 4th dynasty found at Sakkara is a wall decoration in which the lotus column is used in a frieze, examples of it being carved in low relief to separate the figures in a procession (see plate 10, ‘Voyage dans la Haute Égypte,’ by F. A. F. Mariette. Cairo, 1878). The polygonal or Proto-Doric column has also been found as a hieroglyph in an inscription of the 4th dynasty. This carries back the date of the two columns to a period some twelve centuries prior to the example at Beni-Hasan.