Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/345

 History of Art in Antiquity. Then, too, the arrangement we have adopted has another advantage ; it facilitates the outflow of rain waters on either side of the roof and thus discharges them outside — shown in the section of the entablature of one of the geometrical elevations (Plate VII.). A glance at the perspective sketch (Fig. 28) will enable the reader to gain a fair idea of the composition of the timber frame which supported the flat roof. Distributed around the wall are hollows which, without detracting from its solidity, served to lighten the weight the loft was made to carry. The Fig. 160. — Plan of floor and ceiling. Drawn by Ch. Chipin. floor, made up of stones of different colours, has been conceived on the lines of that mentioned in the Book of Esther (ch. i. ver. 60), whilst the ceiling is painted and divided into compartments. In the annexed diagram the floor appears on the right and the ceiling on the left (Fig. 160). We assume that the ornamentation of the central part of the saloon, around and above the royal throne, whether on the wall, ceiling, or floor, was not the same as in the rest of the shell, but that the space reserved for the king and the exalted personages of the empire had had more care bestowed upon it. Hence, from about the middle of the wall, a wood panelling of