Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/320

 304 History op Art in Antiquity. of these are extant, and thus serve to mark the site once occupied by pillars. Here and there the original floor is still found in good preservation, and when entire it covered the foundation stones (Fig. 149). The first colonnade, 8 m. 74 c. broad by 43 m. 70 c long, measured from axis to axb on the remaining columns at the extremities, is 13 m. 40 c. distant rrom the edge of the platform. A line drawn between the two rhutilated bases gives the opposite angles of this porch. Behind it, about 7 m. 50 c, are remains of four structures or walls, disposed in such a manner as to form two passages that correspond with the second and fourth inter- columnation of the porch just described. The foundations in question are flush with the bases of columns. Are these vestiges of a wall raised between the first and the central colonnade, blocks of masonry that supported the side-posts and lintels of the doorways pierced in this same wall, or should we seek here the remains of bases intended to receive colossal animals akin to those that adorned the Propylisa ? We dismiss the question for the present, and will first indicate how we picture to ourselves the economy of the monument and its general character. Beyond these substructures is found the most important group of columns, of which three shafts alone remain ; the stone bases that supported them, however, tell us plainly what was the arrangement of the apartment. It was a hall 43 m. 50 c. square, and on its floor arc found the marks of thirty-six columns, spaced equidistant from one another, as in the west and cast porches. Four columns are still extant in the latter and five in the former. The next monument will not rec^uire long or ehiborate descrip- tion ; its remains are about sixteen metres from the south-west angle of the eastern colonnade, e.g. on the very edge of the platform. It seems to be isolated ; all that is visible are twelve foundation stones distributed in two ranges, which doubtless suj^porled pillars. Their intercolumnation is 2 m. 50 c. Between these and the fragments of a pair of shafts occurs a space of some seven or eight yards, seemingly open, with a block of stone in the middle larger than the others. Was this the pedestal of a statue or altar.' In the absence of any fragment, sculptural or architectural, to throw any light on the subject, it is impossible to hazard a guess as to the probable use of this minor building, part of which alone figures in our plan (Fig. 14^^). uiyiu^LU by Google