The debated question of lotus and papyrus disappears at once when we look at the feathery head of minute flowers which the papyrus bears. That some flower, such as a _nelumbium_, was confused with the lotus seems, however, very likely. There is no doubt that in ornament different flowers were sometimes confused, and their details mixed; hence it is of no use for us to be too particular in trying to separate them. We shall therefore use the name lotus in general without necessarily entering on botanical reasons for and against it on each occasion. [Illustration: 112.—L.D. II. 33; I. 27.] [Illustration: 113.—L.D. III. 68. XVIIIth dyn.] The oldest use of the lotus was in groups of two flowers tied together by the stalks; such are found on the prehistoric pottery at Koptos, and on the earliest tombs. But in later times this became corrupted, and the origin apparently forgotten, by the XVIIIth dynasty. [Illustration: Fig. 114.] [Illustration: 115.—L.D. II. 52. P. 74.] [Illustration: Fig. 116.] [Illustration: 117.—P. 79.] [Illustration: 118.—P. 21. L.D. III. 76.] The plain flower was also used very early, as we see on the head-band of Nefert at the beginning of the IVth dynasty. And as architectural ornament it appears as a capital in wood of the Vth dynasty in the tomb of Imery. At Karnak there is a celebrated pair of granite pillars, one with the papyrus, the other with the lotus; and this form, with the sepals turned over at the end, became the more usual in the Empire and later times. The variety of lotus capital is very great. The bud capital and the opened flower are both shown in the XVIIIth dynasty (tomb of Khaemhat); and many composite, complicated, and impossible combinations were piled together in the decadent age of the Ramessides. [Illustration: 119.—P. Mon. L.] [Illustration: 120.—R.C. lviii.] [Illustration: 121.—P. 88.] [Illustration: 122.—R.C. lxx.] The lotus was also much used in repetition as a border pattern, but not apparently before the XVIIIth dynasty; and usually it is in alternation with buds, which fit harmoniously into the curves between the flowers. This line of flowers and buds was varied as flowers and grapes, and appears very often in the XVIIIth dynasty. The flower and bud was further developed in a mechanical fashion, and we can trace a continuous series of forms beginning in a flower and bud pattern and modifying the intermediate member, until on reversing the line we find that something has been evolved which is indistinguishable from the Greek palmetto alternating with the lotus. The isolated anthemion, which is so much like this, has probably a different origin, as we shall soon see. [Illustration: 123.—P. 89. 8.] [Illustration: Fig. 124. 89. 9. 90. 4.] [Illustration: Fig. 125. 90. 5. 90. 6.] [Illustration: 126.—P. 90. 5.]