Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/254

 244 History of Art in Antiquitv. (Fig^. 1 1 8). The middle of this upper floor has been scooped out, it is supposed, to provide the hearth whence the fire was to burst Fig. ii6. — Naksh-i-Kustem. Fire-altars. Fi.anpin and COSTE, Perte aucinine, Pl*leCLX.X. forth (Fig. 119). Whilst the crown of the doorway about the altar of the royal sculptures recalls the roof of the palace, here, on the contrary, the massivc- ness of the structure, the arches at the four sides, the engaged pillars at the corners, and above all the embattled edge, everything tends to remind us of cer- tain types created by the art of Mesopotamia. With the exception of the crenelated top the dispositions are similar to those of a Chalda^an struc- ture figured on the Black Stone of Lord Aberdeen.' It is just possible that they are older than the great works at Persepolis, and that they were erected for the old hamlet which Darius was tp exalt to the rank of metropolis. ' J/isf, of Art, torn. ii. Fig, 79. — ' — "i; 'iMo Fig. 117.— Naksh-i-Rnslcm. Plan of alurs. Jbid. Fig. 118.— Naksh-i-Rus- Ictn. Plan of crowning of altar. Ibid. Fig. 119. — Naksh-i-Rusteni. Section of altar, ibid. d by Google