Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/144

 Secondary Forms. 133 ornament is reminiscent of Assyria and of brick construction ; bufc in the mouldings which appear around the merlons, as well as the godroons of the main compartments recalling the elongated egg-shaped moulding* we have evidences of independent taste which knows how to blend imitation with native ingenuity. The balcony that terminated the front wall facing the stairs has left no vestiges behind it For obvious reasons the cren^ated Fig. 61. — i'crsepoiis. Detail of |iarai>ct wall of staircase of the iMilace No. 2. Flandin and CoKTK, Ane«i»tiet$m, PlMc XCIv. vd^c of s )ine of these flights could not be continued alonjj the parapet, since it would have precluded the spectators who stood under the porch in front of the palace, from leaning over it. The only arrangement we can suppose to have existed here is that exhibited in the parapet of the staircase of the great Palace of Xerxes (l ig. 6i). If, on the one hand, the architect who attempts to restore the buildings at Persepolis and Susa 6nds that embattlements are mis- placed in that situation, this does not apply to attics where their Digitized by Google