Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/193

 l83 History of Art in Antiquitv, sabad ; we surmise that a considerable interval has elapsed, during which the world in general and art in particular have progressed. In the total absence of inscriptions and historical data»it is quite impossible to say in what year, or even century, the mysterious edifices of Fars were erected. What admits of no doubt, however, is that when we attempt to compare them with monuments of which the date is pretty certain, and whose analogy with these is incontestable, it is found that they invariably belong to compara- tively modern times. Let us look into the plan. Its most notable features are (i) the rectangular shape of the enceinte, within which are embraced all the component parts of the pile ; (2) the situation occupied by the inner court that interposes between the public and private apartments ; (3) the importance assigned to the door, which at Feruz-Abad opens in one of the minor faces of the parallelogram, and is the only means of access to an area strictly enclosed on all the other sides (Fig. 74). Now let us turn to the Sassanid palace of Mahista, in Syria, supposed to have been constructed by Chosroes Parvis II. (598-628 a.d.), and whose ornamentation certainly bears the mark of that date.' Here, too, the plan is a rectangle, with a single entrance in exactly the same situation as at Feruz-Abad ; and if the court is larger in pro- portion to the size of the edifice in which it stands, its place between the two groups of buildings is the same. Of the mag- nificent palace of the Takht-i-Khosru, erected by Chosroes Anu- shirvan I. at Ctesiphon (531-579), nothing now remains but an imposing facade that rears its head in the desert waste ; ^ but (Murray, 1S73. 8vo), pp. 199-215. A description of the palace, with plan and sections alter Tristram, will be found in Fergusson's Hist. 0/ Architature in all Coitniries^ and edit., yoL i pp. 337-398. • Flandin and Costs, /Vw Plates CCXVL-CCXVIII, p. 175. History confirms the tradition according to which the building of the palace is attributed to Chosroes I. Mention of it is made by the Byzantine writer 'I'heophylactus of Simocatta, who intimates that Chosroes employed Greek workmen in its construction and deccnatioii (JSfiu/., v. 6). If the Tagli>£iwMi, a niinous and important Sassanid edifice of Susiana, midwaj between .Amarah and Dizful, is omitted in this place, it is because our knowledge is confined to a picturesque view and a couple of lines of Madame Dieulafoy's {La Perse^ pp. 643-645), to the efTcct that " it contains a vaulted nave in the centre of whidi appean a kind of square chamber covered ff a cupola." Dieulafoy will in all likelihood give us more particulan about this monument in the fifth part of his work which is shortly to appear. The book was published last year, and in it will be found the details referred to ahot-e.-^TRS. Digitized by Google
 * All that is known of the monument is due to H. B. Tristram, The Land of Moab