Sometimes, however, as at Medamot, it is formed of six large and six small colonnettes in alternation.

In Pharaonic times, it is bulbous, being curved inward at the base, and ornamented with triangles one within another, imitating the large leaves which sheathe the sprouting plant.

The curve is so regulated that the diameter at the base and the top shall be about equal.

In the Ptolemaic period, the bulb often disappears, owing probably to Greek influences.

The columns which surround the first court at Edfu rise straight from their plinths.