Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/310

 168 DAMGHAN AND ITS ENVIRONS

narrow girdling bands that add to the effect. The variety of patterns is well conceived; a diamond-shaped ornamentation preponderates in the lower sections, a rectangular pattern pre- vailing in the higher drums. An especially tasteful decoration, halfway up, is formed by a circlet of raised arabesques in Kufic style, though too defaced to be deciphered; and the remains of a collar of greenish blue tiles, near the top, with a Koranic quo- tation, also in Kufic script, give a finish to the whole.

The other minaret, the one which rises at a considerable dis- tance from the citadel, is known as the Minaret of the Mosque of Forty Columns (^Mindr-i Masjid-i Chihal Situn)^ though I heard it twice called that of the ' Lord's House ' (^Tdrl KhdnaK). It differs from the other in having lost the whole of its top, as already noted, but agrees with that monument in the main features of size, structure, and design, as it belongs to the same period. The shaft consists of seven drums with bordering zones and a decoration of unburnt brick similar to that in the other minaret ; the diamond pattern prevails in the four lower tiers, and the rectangular or square in the three upper divisions, although the brickwork has largely peeled off from the latter. At about one-third of the distance from the ground, a raised Kufic inscription encircles the column, but it is in a dilapidated condition. The mosque to which the minaret belonged has disappeared, but remains of it are probably to be recognized in the crumbling ruins around the base of the shaft, dating back possibly six centuries or more, and seemingly occupying the place of a much more ancient structure. This was the opinion of Eastwick more than a half century ago, when he saw among the half-buried debris some short but massive pillars of a temple or palace, which he believed might perhaps go back to the classic age of Hecatompylos.^ It is undoubtedly to these sturdy pillars that the minaret owes its name of Chihal Sitiin, ' Forty Columns.' Near by is a madrasah, with rather pretty gardens for its students to enjoy.

1 Eastwick, Journal of a Diplomate's liesidence, 2.154.

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