Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/231

 Bk. II. Ch. IV. PERSEPOLIS. 199 arrangement and proportions were so siiperior in every respect that no similar building in Nineveh can be compared with this — the great architectural creation of the Persian Empire. There is no octastyle hall at Persepolis, and only one decastyle. In this instance the hall itself measured about 225 ft. each way, and had 100 pillars on its floor ; still it was low in proportion, devoid of lateral porticoes, and consequently by no means so magnificent a building as the great hall of Xerxes. The portico in front was two ranges in depth, and flanked by gigantic bulls ; but as the whole height was barely 25 ft., it could not have been a remarkable or pleasing object. The sculptures on the jambs of the doorways are the most interesting part of this building; these represent the king on his throne, and various mythological subjects, on a more extensive scale than those similarly situated in' the other buildings of the platform. Indeed, it is probable that in the other palaces these subjects were painted on the internal walls, as was done in those Assyrian halls which were not reveted with slabs. With an appropriateness that cannot be too much praised, sculpture seems always to have been used in parts of the building exposed to atmospheric injury, and, because of the exposure, to have been employed there in preference to painting. Besides these buildings on the platform, there are the remains of several others on the plain, and within the precincts of the town of Istakr is a building still called the Hareem of Jemsheed, and which may in reality have been the residence of the Achaemenian kings. It certainly belongs to their age, and from the irregularity of its form, and its general proportions, looks very much more like a residence, properly so called, than any of the monumental erections on the neighboring platform of Persepolis. Looked at from an architectural point of view, the principal defect of the interior arrangement, especially of the smaller Persepolitan halls, is that their floor is unnecessarily crowded with pillars. As these had to support only a wooden roof, some might have been dis- pensed with, or a more artistic arrangement have been adopted. This would no doubt have been done but for the influence of the Assyrian style, in which frequent pillars were indispensable to support the heavy, flat roofs, and as they were of timber, a greater number were required than would have been the case if of stone. Those of wood also looked less cumbersome and less in the way than those made of more durable materials. It is also a defect that the capitals of the pillars retain at Perse- polis so much of the form of their wooden prototypes. In wood, such capitals as' those depicted (Woodcuts No. 92 or No. 94), would not be offensive. In stone they are clumsy ; and the Greeks showed their usual discrimination when they cut away all the volutes but one pair, and adojjted a stone construction for the entablature.