Having crossed the threshold, one passed successively through two dimly-lighted entrance chambers, the second of which opened into the central court (fig.

7).

The best rooms in the houses of wealthier citizens were sometimes lighted through a square opening in the centre of a ceiling supported on wooden columns.

In the Twelfth Dynasty town of Kahun the shafts of these columns rested upon round stone bases; they were octagonal, and about ten inches in diameter (fig.

8).