Thus, the monolithic pillars of the temple of the sphinx (Note 8), the oldest hitherto found, measure 16 feet in height by 4- 1/2 feet in width.

Monolithic columns of red granite are also found among the ruins of Alexandria, Bubastis,[12] and Memphis, which date from the reigns of Horemheb and Rameses II., and measure some 20 to 26 feet in height.

But columns and pillars are commonly built in courses, which are often unequal and irregular, like those of the walls which surround them.
The great columns of Luxor are not even solid, two-thirds of the diameter being filled up with yellow cement, which has lost its strength, and crumbles between the fingers.

The capital of the column of Taharka at Karnak contains three courses, each about 48 inches high.

The last and most projecting course is made up of twenty-six convergent stones, which are held in place by merely the weight of the abacus.