Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/300

 2^2 History op Art in Antiquity. occupied one of the palaces of the old dynasty, and in order to place their residence beyond the possibility of a sudden attack, they covered it on that side by a wall planted on the rock ; but; in any case, a rampart of earth like this, with its oblique and broken line^ does not coincide with the account of Diodorus. It would be futile attempting to find the fourth face of the enceinte, sixty cubits high, " built of hard stone." Study of the site, then, and the position of the buildings of the royal castle^ are in direct contradiction with the assertions of the historian. His fault is to have turned into a strongly fortified citadel what was but the colossal plinth Tor a group of palaces. The object Darius had in view, when he set about erecting his stupendous platform, was precisely the same as that of the con- structors of those artificial mounds sprinkled about the plains of Chaldsea and Assyria, the depths of which are sounded to-day by our . iciiriosity ; It was intended to separate the king from the crowd and ' place his dwelling above their heads, within an enclosure that should secure him from contact with the vulgar, with space and view at his command, so as to be able to lead, unfettered, a grand regal existence, while he let his eye wander over a vast expanse. The Propyl/ea on the Platform. On reaching the head of the stairs, at a distance of fifteen metres, and symmetrically in the centre of the landing-place to which converge two flights of steps, the remains of a building which occupies but a narrow space relatively to the other stnictures on the platform present themselves. That the importance of the edifice in the general plan was real is shown in its dimensions, which were OMisiderable, and the lavish care bestowed upon its execution (Fig. lo^ No. i ; Figs. 19, 143).* Its principal remains are : two great piers, some eleven metres high, beyond whi^h project, in round boss, the fore parts of two quadrupeds, whose bodies are left in high relief on the inner face of these same square pillars, right and left of the paved corridor intervening between them, a corridor 3 m. 82 c. broad (Fig. 146 and I'latc II.). The length of the animals is more than six metres, and in height five metres. They were carved in the thickness of large hewn blocks of limestone, fitted together without cement, of which the piers were ' Fi^NDiN and Coste, /Vri^ ancuntu, pp. 78-82. Digitized by Google