Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/232

 200 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE. Part I. V Notwithstanding these defects, there is a grandeur of conception about the Persepolitan lialls which entitles them to our admiration. Their greatest point of interest to the architectural student consists probal)ly in their being exami)les of a transition from a Avooden to a stone style of art, and in their enabling us to complete and under- stand that art which had been elaborated in the valley of the Euphrates during previous centuries, but which, owing to the perish- able nature of the materials employed, has almost wholly passed away, without leaving sufficient traces to enable all its characteristics to be understood or restored. SUSA. The explorations of Mr. Loftus at Susa, in 1850, have laid bare the foundations of a palace almost identical both in plan and dimensions ■with the Chehil Minar at Persepolis. It is, how- ever, much more completely ruined, the place having long been used as a quarry by the inhabi- tants of the neighboring plains, so that now only the bases of the pillrirc icmali: hi situ, with frag- ments of the shafts and capitals strewed every- where about, but no walls or doorways, or other architectural members to enable us to supply what is wanting at Persepolis. The bases seem to be of the same form and style as those at Persepolis, but rather more richly carved. The capitals are also more elaborate, but more essentially wooden in their form, and betray their origin not only in the exuberance of their carving, but also in the disproportion of the capital to the shaft. In wood so large a capital does not look disproportioned to so slender a shaft ; in stone the effect is most disagreeable, and Avas to a certain extent remedied at Perse- polis so soon as the result was perceived. Whether the Persians would ever have been able to shake off entirely the wooden original is not quite clear, but the Greeks, being bound by no such associa- tion, cut the knot at once, and saved them the trouble. Inscriptions round the bases of the ])illars inform us that the hall was erected by Darius and Xerxes, but repaired or restored by Arta^ xerxes Mnenion, Avho added the inscri])tions. In all probability it is the identical hall in which the scenes described in the Book of Es- thei- took ))]ace. The foundations of othei- parts of this palace might be no doubt laid bare by further excavations ; but the ruin of the place has been so complete, that little of interest in an architectural 94. Kistorcil Elevation of Capital at Susa. (From Loftus.)