The design of the colonnades
is the same as that of the Great Temple, and the whole plan of this
part, with its platform approached by a ramp flanked by colonnades,
is so like that of the Great Temple that we cannot but assume that the
peculiar design of the latter, with its tiers of platforms approached by
ramps flanked by colonnades, is not an original idea, but was directly
copied by the XVIIIth Dynasty architects from the older XIth Dynasty
temple which they found at Der el-Bahari when they began their work.
[Illustration: 325.jpg XVIIIth DYNASTY WALL, DBR EL-BAHARI.]
Excavated by M. Naville, 1896; repaired by Mr. Howard
Carter, 1904.
The supposed originality of Hatshepsu's temple is then non-existent;
it was a copy of the older design, in fact, a magnificent piece of
archaism. But Hatshepsu's architects copied this feature only; the
actual arrangements _on_ the platforms in the two temples are as
different as they can possibly be. In the older we have a central
pyramid with a colonnade round it, in the newer may be found an open
court in front of rock-cave shrines.
[Illustration: 326.jpg EXCAVATION OF THE NORTH LOWER COLONNADE OF THE
XIth DYNASTY TEMPLE, DER EL-BAHARI, 1904.]
Before the XIth Dynasty temple was set up a series of statues of King
Mentuhetep and of a later king, Amenhetep I, in the form of Osiris, like
those of Usertsen (Senusret) I at Lisht already mentioned.
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