Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/377

 Some more Palaces other than at Persepolis. 355 one side of which would be represented by the relics shown in our illustration (Fig. 1 69), and which at some time or other it was deemed necessary to surround with a wall. In height the pillars supporting the roof were but 7 m. 87 c and 60 c. in diameter (Fig. 38). 'The most striking peculiarity about these supports is dieir wide intercolumnation. Thus the distance between the head of the wall and the first column is 4 m. 72 c., and from one axis to another 4 m. 45 c. in one direction and 4 m. 85 c. in another. As far as may be • o Flo. 16&— btakhr. Prindpal MIdte. nan of antique pertiaB. Flamdm and Com, F^mtknme, Plate LXI. judged from the features which characterize the arrangement, the building, in time, should precede those at Persepolis,' inasmuch as it is exceedingly probable that the commercial and rural town was in existence before the royal borough. The latter was the oflfspri ng of royal caprice. Istakhr, on the other hand, owed its prosperity to its admirable situation on one of the most frequented routes, which led from the high tablelands of Media on to the Persian gulf. Vestiges of an old road, rock-cut, have been traced in the gorge which separates the lower from the middle valley of the Polvar, interposing between Istakhr and Pasaigadx, and which must perforce be carried back to remote antiquity.' ' Stolzk, BmtpoliSt Plate CXXVII., and BttmrkHmgen, Digitized by Gopgle
 * Mbi. of Arf, torn v. pp. 459, 460.