The World's First Stone Columns The buildings imitate in stone masonry various types of of temporary structures made of plant stems and mats that were erected in Upper and Lower Egypt for the celebration of the Jubilee Festival, the rituals of which perpetually renewed the affirmation of the royal existence in the hereafter. The translation into stone of structural forms previously made out of plants may be seen in the long entrance corridor to Zoser's [Zoser: the First Dynasty pharaoh] funerary precinct where columns that resemble bundles of reeds project from short spur walls on either side of the once-roofed and dark passageway. A person walking through would have emerged suddenly into a large courtyard and the brilliant light of the Egyptian sun. There, to the right upon exiting the portico, one would have seen the gleaming focus of the entire complex, Zoser's Pyramid. Greek columns The columns flanking the pathway into Zoser's precinct resemble later Greek columns, and there is little doubt today that the architecture of ancient Egypt had a profound impact or, the designers on the first stone columnar temples of the Greeks. The upper parts of the columns of the Saqqara entrance portico are not preserved, but those of Zoser's North Palace still stand. They end in capitals that take the form of the papyrus blossoms of Lower Egypt; the column shafts resemble papyrus stalks. Greek columns will also terminate in capitals, although the Greek capitals will take a very different form. The shafts of Greek columns are also generally freestanding, but all the columns in the Saqqara complex are engaged (attached) to walls; the builders seem not to have realized the fullstructural potential of stone columns. Still, this is the first appearance of the stone column in the history of architecture and thus epochal for its subsequent development in later periods. The architect of Zoser's mortuary complex is the first known artist of recorded history: Inhotep, the king's grand-vizier and a man of legendary powers. Priest, scribe, physcian, and architect, Iiiihotep later was revered as a god. As an architect, his greatest achievement was to translate the impermanent building types of both Upper and Lower Egypt into stone and combine them with two funerary traditions in a single compound, thereby consolidating and giving visual permanence to the idea of a unified Egyptian kingdom. - "Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Tenth Edition," by Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner. Harcourt Brace College Pub. 1996, pp. 70-71

Colonnade [The] passage into the interior of the complex, which consists of a long hall with twenty pairs (40 total) of limestone columns.... Today, the roof of the colonnade has been added by the restorers, and is somewhat higher than the original, allowing more light to enter this part of the building... Reaching a height of almost six meters, the columns in the colonnade were composed of drum shaped segments. However, they were not freestanding, but were rather connected with the side walls by masonry projections. At this early date, the architects obviously did not yet trust columns as sole supports, for the most part. The form of the columns is modeled on a bundle of plant stems." - Alan Winston, The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara in the South Courtyard, And South Tomb Jan. 2010

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