Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/42

 which led into a great domical hall, from whence small doors gave access to the various chambers of the palace. All the apartments, at least those of any size, were covered with a domed roof. To the rather tasteless exterior decoration of these palaces the remains of an unfinished one discovered at Mashita, on the edge of the Syrian desert, offers a striking exception. For several feet from the foundations the walls are covered with an intricate tracing of carving, in which lions, tigers, and doves, appear entangled amid the leaves and contorted branches of some luxuriant vegetation. A considerable number of bas-reliefs have come to light among the ruins of Sassanian palaces, some of them illustrating the achievements of the dynasty during its wars with Rome and various powers, others representing hunting scenes in which are shown the methods of the chase and the magnificence of the monarch on such occasions amid his attendant throng of courtiers and guards. The execution of these works cannot be spoken of as art in the Hellenic sense, but in chiselling the forms of animal life some approach to excellence may sometimes be noted, especially in the case of elephants. As for literature, it appears that the Sassanians produced little or nothing national, with the exception of priestly elaboration of the Mazdean scriptures, but in the last days of the empire, a crude history under the title of Shahnameh, that is, a Book of Kings, was compiled. *