stone looks good. wood probably should be stone. Great image though, keep up the good work.

This looks like a great beginning. There was a tutorial I found months ago that explained how to put ancient Egyptian text on columns such as yours, but for the life of me I can't remember where I saw it. If someone out there may know where it is, it may help bring this to life. Other than that, you may want to put a few more objects in the foreground.

Ditto Stuie. The columns being the feature here I would think the opportunity would be to texture them with something that the eye would want to linger over. If you're into painting, some interesting or funny hieroglyphics could be good. Something that might indicate in Ancient Egyption: "This way to the Arc of the Covenant and don't forget to visit our Snack Bar" or possibly something else that you wouldn't consider lame. Columns aside, you could have somebody or something coming out of the temple; a mummy, Indiana Jones being chased by 5 million scarabs! How many ray hits would that create?

you could try using a image from a egyptian style wall with alot of heiroglyphs, and then make a bump map for them and apply to the pillars. Ken