Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/276

 Gener/vl Characteristics of thl I^alace. 267 present hour has only made known the result of his researches by two reports that could necessarily contain but very summary information. At Persepolis, on the contrary, on the desolate and majestic esplanade, fifteen columns are still standing.* Stone was employed here to a greater extent than at Susa ; hence the plan and elevation of the principal edifices are not only apparent in the lines of the foundations seen above ground, but also in the beds for receiving the beams cut in the antae, which have kept their whole height in the colossi superbly planted about the portals, and the side-posts which tell us the situation of all the openings. We have here, then, at least the bones, the skeleton of the building. Last but not least, these ruins have the enormous advantage of having been traced, drawn, and described by ex- plorers of every nation since the beginning of the present century. Their testimonies complete one another, confirm and check each other ; what has escaped one has been noted down and proclaimed by a more attentive observer. The difficulty of the archaeologist is how best to choose from among so many sketches and photo- graphic views and materials of unequal importance, but nearly all valuable, which have been placed at his disposal. Persepolis will be more especially the scene where we shall study those sumptuous residences of the Great Kings, of which it was neces- sary to give first a general idea. Before, however, we establish ourselves upon the famous platform whose history opens with Darius and closes with Alexander, before we set about restoring those types of Persian art coeval with the epoch of the greatest prosperity of the empire, it will be well to look back and make a short stay at the ancient capital of Pasai^dae, and try to com- prehend the nature of the essayals of the royal architects on this early scene of their activity, when they constructed and decorated the gigantic buildings grouped about the lower valley of the Polvar for the Ach.x'menid dynasty, at the foot of those rocks where they excavated their tombs as well. {L*Ati oHiifue, iL iv.-«.), but I make out fifteen in a photograph sent to me hjr Houssay. The difference is owing doubtless to the fart that from the point Dieulafoy stationed himself to take his views, some few columns were found in the same line, those in front hiding those behind. When Niebuhr visited the site, nineteen columns were still erect on the platform of Feraq[K)Iis. uiyiu^LU by Google
 * I find but twelve and thirteen in the two panoramas published by M. Dieulafoy