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CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

 

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT
FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY

HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE

 

 

 

 

 

 
‘icniniio

a) 1924 032 7
lin
HISTORY OF ART IN PERSIA.
 
HISTORY OF

Art in Peysia

FROM THE FRENCH

OF

GEORGES PERROT,

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE; PROFESSOR IN THE FACULTY OF LETTERS, PARIS,
AND

CHARLES CHIPIEZ.

ILLUSTRATED WITH TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR ENGRAVINGS
IN THE TEXT, AND TWELVE STEEL AND COLOURED PLATES.

 

 

 

 

 

 

London: CHAPMAN AND HALL, LimireEp,
Slew Pork: A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON.

1892.
©
A 127770

(Jee
CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

THE PERSIANS, THEIR COUNTRY, HISTORY, RELIGION, AND THEIR RELATIONS
WITH GREECE ie ee ee ee
§ 1. Situation of Persia in this ee eB GD we Ow ae OD Ee
§ 2. The Country «5 « 8 8 & © & S % &B we w @ . w@ ¥ B38
§ 3. History and Religion. . . ve we bg aS ay as Bey
§ 4. Relations between Persia and Grécée fo OR As Ss » 23—34
§ 5. Distribution and Nomenclature of Monuments (passed in secu - 34—46

CHAPTER II,
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE . . . . . . 47
§ 1. Materials . 2 1 ee ee ee ee IT
§ 2. The General Principles of Form  . . . . . . «ww. 51-69
§ 3. Construction ~. 6 1 1 eee ee eee ee 69-86
8 4. TheColumn . . . ee ee ee ee ee 86120
§ 5. Secondary Forms. «6 ee ee ee ee ee 120-136
§ 6. Decoration © © 6 6 ee ee ee ee 136161
§ 7. Vaulted Edifices . 6. 6 ee} ee ee ee ee 162—189

CHAPTER III.

FUNEREAL ARCHITECTURE, =: .« a Neh he ay Ue ae oa el a ltga
§ 1. Ideas of the Persians as to a Future Life see ee ee FQO—= 195
§ 2. The Built Tomb . . . 1 ee eee ee ee 196218
§ 3. The Subterranean Tomb S Soe ow ee ge & & BES 239

CHAPTER IV.

ReELiGious ARCHITECTURE . . . + 6 «© «© «© se ee 240—254

CHAPTER V.

Civit AND MILITARY ARCHITECTURE «© «© 6 0+ 6 ee 8 eee 255
§ x. General Characteristics of the Palace . . . . «ewe 255—267
§ 2. Royal Buildings at Pasargade . . . «eee ee 268—277
§ 3. The Platform at Persepolis . 2. . 2. . «+ + + ee) 277-292

@ 3
vi CONTENTS.

 

Propylza, Persepolis

Hypostyle Hall of Xerxes.

Hall of a Hundred Columns .
Inhabited Palaces ay, be
Palaces other than at Persepolis .
Towns and their Defences . . .

tO UO? tOr COD (03 LOD
POW ANS

CHAPTER VI.

SCULPTURE . ae ee ee

§ x. Sculpture in Media and Susiana .
. Materials and Processes employed

. Themes and their Situations

. Style and Execution

. Glyptic Art

. Medal Engraving .

(OD COD LOD COD COD
An BW DN

CHAPTER VII.

InpuUSTRIAL ARTS . . 2. ee ee

CHAPTER VIII.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ART .

INDEX

PAGE
292—297
297—324
324—332
332—352
353-368
368—375

‘ 366
366—381
381-387
388—426
420—449
449—457
457—467

468—486

487—501

503
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

 

PLATES.

I. Royal tomb at Naksh-i-Rustem
II. Propylea of Xerxes. Present state, Porseiiolis

ILI. Propylea of Xerxes. Restored. Perspective view, Persepolis
IV. Hypostyle Hall of Xerxes. Restored. Geometrical elevation,

Persepolis

V. Hypostyle Hall of Xerxes. Restored. Perspective view, Per-

sepolis

VI. Hypostyle Hall of Kerxes, Restored. Detail of entablature,

Persepolis

VIi. Hall of a Hundred Colinas Restored. Geometrical eleva-

tion and longitudinal section, Persepolis .

VIII. Hall of a Hundred Columns. Restored. Paiepeciive view of

interior, Persepolis .

IX. Palace of Darius. Perspective view of fagads. Persepolis ‘
X. General view. Restored. Bird’s-eye perspective, Persepolis .

XI. The Lions’ Frieze, Susa
XII. The Archers’ Frieze, Susa .

 

FIG.
1, 2. Susian types
Persian inscription
. Map of the province of Retmenshah.
. Sculptures and inscription at Behistin
. Plan of tumuli, Susa
Chart of the Polvar Valley
. Detail of pillar, Persepolis
g. Part of elevation and transverse section of royal vont.
1o. General plan of Persepolis. Platform, palaces, and tombs
rz. Column at Pasargadze
12. Base of building, Susa
13. Plan of the Palace of Darius, Persepolis
14. Facade of the Palace of Darius, Persepolis .

Ow AK Ew

PAGE

To face 218

292
294

298
300

314
326

328
336
342
420
420

10
32
37
45
41
44
49
52
54
55
56
61
63
Vili List oF ILLUSTRATIONS.

 

FIG. PAGE
15. Cornice of door-frames, Persepolis . . . Gr Gr A cab cd ae | SOS
16, Staircase leading to the Palace of Darius, Perseyelis ee ae ee ee
17. Material on the Takht-i-Maderei-Suleiman. . . . . . + + . 69
18. Swallow-tails . . dy dats CaP oe Oe 70
19. Propylea and the desipoaislle hall of Rives Pertepolls. bye Ae
20, Supporting wall of the platform, Persepolis. . . »- + + + + + 72
21. Funerary tower at Naksh-i-Rustem .. ee Gat ras wha ones 1 Hea cae CB 74
22. Doorways and windows of the Palace of Tans Qo Rl ck We Bo ee SG
23. View of ruins of palace, Pasargade . . . . + + + es + ee 78
24. Profile of anta, Persepolis. . . ie GL ty oa > CR NSS
25, 26. Restored wooden frame of the ae at Daring mS olds Be eo ASCH
27. Woodwork of the hypostyle hall of Xerxes . . . Oo: , cea 288
28, Hall of a Hundred Columns. Restoration of reaeaee and covering . 86
29. Elevation and plan of base of a column from the Gabre, Pasargade . . 88
30. Base of column of the great palace,Susa . , . 2 es 89

31. Hypostyle hall. Eastern portico. Capital and base, Percapalts so « « Or
32-37. Persepolis. Base and capital of the column from the Propylza facing 93

38. Persepolis. Juxtaposition of the several columns . . - - + + + 97
39. Rustic dwelling, Mazanderan . . «© «. . 1 1 eee ee 98
40. The Mirrors’ Pavilion. Fragmentary section . . . . - +» + + 103
ar. Assyrian standard. «© - . 6 ew ee ee FON
42. Fragment of bull . . 7 ee ee . Ilr
43. Egyptian column exhibited in paintings. © 2. » «© +» «© + + 2
44. Upright ofthrone. . . . oe we Ee we ELS,
45. Ornament on transverse joist of thine oa Ro ae OR Ba  OETO.
46, 47. Elementary forms of Egyptian and Persiancolumns . . . . + I17
48. Base of porch of the Gabre. Profileandsection . . . . + + + 117
49. The Gabre. Perspective view . . So ge. Ge ae. Sa. age St eat
50. Transverse section of cornice of the Gbre a cae Ok we, as Ge Eg
51, 52. Ogee-shaped plinths . . . Yo eh ER Le Ge tg
53. Elevation of fragment of the cornice af the Gabre. 2. 6 ee e684
54. Elevation of the doorway ofthe Gabre . © 6 ee eee 725
55. Minaret of Shah Roustam, Ispahan. . . . 2... ey ee 26
56, Persepolis. Hall of a Hundred Columns. Section of cornice of lateral
GOOKWAYS 5 & Gow Www & we A oe Soe ew we « 726
57. Persepolis. Hall of a Hundred Columns. Elevation and sections of
doorways, windows, and niches . «© «©. 7 ee + ee RT
58. Persepolis. Doorway toroyaltomb. . . 2. . 1 6 + 1 + 128
59. Susa. Fragment of door-frame ofhypostylehal . . . . + + + 129
60. Persepolis. Staircase leading to Palace of Darius. . . - » « + 132
61. Persepolis. Hypostyle hall of Xerxes. Detailoframp . . . + + 133
62. Susa. Enamelled brick of crenelation . ©. ©. . . «© + + + + 134
63. Facade of the Tagh-i-Bostan. © © - 6 ee ee et 185
64. Susa. Enamelledtile. ©. 2... 1 2 6 6 ee ee ee 138
65. Persepolis. Crowning of staircase . - . © + + + + + + + 138
66. Fragment of decoration of staircase... ee ee te BQ

67. Susa. Enamelled ornament. . . - +» + + + + + + + «+ Igo
List or ILLUSTRATIONS. ix

 

FIG. PAGE
68. Susa. Archers’ Frieze . 2... . 1. we ee
69. Persepolis. Palace No. 2, Fragment of crowning of staircase . . . 143
yo. Persepolis. Fragmentoftomb No.10 . . . . . . . se 144
71, 72. Persepolis. Combat of king with grifin . . . . . «. . 145-148
73. Susa. Fragment of revétement of doorway . . . . . . . . 158
74. Susa. Enamelled brick ey A Ose et a TG)
75. Plan of palace, Feriiz-Abad o OW Us we es Se Se Se ee TY,
76. Feriiz-Abad. Main facade, restored . 2. 2 1. 1 we ewe 165
77. Fertiz-Abad. Section through width . . 2. . 1. 1. ww. 165
78. Sarvistan. Planofpalace . . 2. «© 1. ee ew we ee 166
79. Sarvistan. Main facade, restored. . . . fe Ww ws 16
80. Sarvistan. Longitudinal section through easton wing . . . . . 167
81. Ferash-Abad. Plan. 2. 1. . we ee ee ee 168
82. Ferash-Abad. Perspective view . . Uk. We RE oa Oa ae TG
83. Fertiz-Abad. Detail of cylindric vault of palace ae a ee eC
84. Feriiz-Abad. Detail of doorway to palace . . . . . . 1). 61972
85. Column and first course ofarch-stones. . . . . . 1. . . . 192
86. Feriiz-Abad. Detailofdoorways . . . . 2. 1. 2. . we 173
87. Feriiz-Abad. Detailofniches. . . ©. 2. 2. 1... we eG
88. Feriz-Abad. Inner decoration . . eye Sieh colony's
89. Shapir. Monument occupying centre cea ruins. Pin eH . 178
go, 91. Shapiir. Monument ore centre of ruins. Section and restored

profile. . . Se el. Ge eo ca Sy ee ee aS TO
92. View of the Takht-i- Khosri . eo le RY Ge ae OR es, Sa ee
93. Feriiz-Abad. Lateral fagade . . eo wok we. we ow 186
94. Map of the plain of Meshed-i-Marghab Boe Ras Se Ga ee eg
95. The Gabre. Longitudinal section. . . . «© «. © - se. 198
96. The Gabre. Restored plan. ©. 2. «© ew ee eee ee 99
97. The Gabre. Planofentrance. . «© «© . «© + © «© © «© « 200
98. Pasargade. Funerary tower . . «© - 6 ew ew ee ewe 208
99. Pasargade. Crowning of funerary tower. . . + + 209

1oo. Naksh-i-Rustem. ‘Entrance and inclined plane to fareteal tower . . 210

1o1, 102. Naksh-i-Rustem. ‘Transverse section and roof oftower . . . 211

103. Map of northern part of the plain of Mervdasht . . . . . . . 213

104. Naksh-i-Rustem. General view of necropolis. . . . . . . . 219

10s. Naksh-i-Rustem. Doorway toroyaltomb. . . . . . .«. . . 222

106, Tomb of Darius with scaffolding . . . «©. 2... we. ek 223

107. Plan of royal tomb south of platform . . . . . 6 ew ww 225

108. Section of royal tomb south of platform. . . 1. ww ww. 28

109. Naksh-i-Rustem. Tombof Darius. Plan . . . . . . . . 226

110, Naksh-i-Rustem. Plan of tombs on the western side. . . . . 227

111. Persepolis. Tomb on the north-eastern side. Longitudinal section . 227

112. Persepolis. ‘Tomb on the north-eastern side. Elevation. . . . . 229

113. Serpil-iZohab. Rock-cut sculpture . . - Be Ble a 236

114, 115. Serpil-i-Zohab. Elevation and plan of cats a SLA Ay tge gi) dah

116, Naksh-i-Rustem. Fire-altars . . eo teh ao @ag

117-119. Naksh-i-Rustem. Plan, section, aad i crowning of ibe, . ee 244
x List or ILLUSTRATIONS.

 

FIG.

120. Pasargade. View of fire-altars . ‘
121-123. Plan, elevation, and section of two alates 5

124. Feriiz-Abad. Fire-temple. Present state.

125. Fertiz-Abad. Fire-temple. Plan .

126. Feriz-Abad. Fire-temple. Restored elevation
127. Fertiz-Abad. View of ruined tower

128. Shiraz. Palace of Bash N6. Bes C8! ee
129. Ispahan. The Mirrors’ Pavilion, Perspective view .
130. Palace of Cyrus. Plan of present state

131. Palace of Cyrus. Restored plan

132-134. Palace of Cyrus. Plan of pillars and paceniene
135. Palace of Cyrus. Upper extremity of pillar

136. Pasargade. Plan of a small palace

137. Plan of pillar carrying bas-relief.

138. Pasargade. The Takhti-Soleiman.

139. The Takht-i-Soleiman. Plan :

140. The Takht. Elevation of corner of wall

141, 142. The Takht. Detail and section of courses
143. Persepolis. General plan of the buildings.

144. Persepolis. Stone from frieze of wall of platform
145. Persepolis. Great staircase leading to platform
146. Propylea. Plan

147. Columns of the Propylea

148. Hypostyle hall of Xerxes, Plan

149. View of remains of hypostyle hall .

150, Capital and base of columns. Western side

1g1. Restored plan of hypostyle hall. After Fergusson
152, Fragment of bull. a eee ee
153. Plan of capitals of colonnades .

154. Plan and section of ceiling .

155. The throne of the shah .

156. Royal canopy

157. Curtain of hypostyle hall

158. Bas-relief, Louvre ‘ 8

159. The Hall of a Hundred Columns “Plan :

160. Plan of floor and ceiling.

161. Palace of Darius. View taken fea the south Jide
162. Plan of pier of doorway A, 20

163, 164. Elevation and section of eran

163. Palace of Xerxes. Plan :

166. Palace of Xerxes. Longitudinal section .

167. North-east palace. Remains of door-frame

16. Istakhr. Principal palace. Plan and ruins

169. Istakhr. Principal building. Plan of ancient portion
170. Shiraz. View of ruins of a palace

171. Shiraz. Plan of building

172, Shiraz, Elevation and section of dvorway

PAGE
245
246
246
247
248
251
259
263
268
269
270
271
272
272
273
274
274
275

279
281
285
293
293
298
301
393
3°9
313
314
316
317
318
319
322
325
328
333
336
336
344
345
346
354
355
357
357
357
 

List or ILLUSTRATIONS. xi
FIG. PAGE
173. Hamadan. View of remains of ancient building . 358
174, 175. Plan and profile of base 359
176. Assyrian plan of Susa 360
177. Susa, Shaft of column and anion of garital 362,
178. Susa. Parapet of staircase . é 366
179. Susa. The fortress exhibited on sdiete ae 369
180, Istakhr. Fortified gateway. Plan. 374
181. Istakhr. Fortified gateway. Longitudinal section 374
182. Istakhr. Fortified gateway. Transverse section et )
183, 184. Bas-reliefs from Susiana . . «1 ee ee s+ 378, 379
185. Susa, Capital facing 382
186. Susa, Side view of capital 383
187. Pasargade. Bas-relief . 389
188. Head-dress of Cyrus. 388
189. Behistiin. Bas-relief 393
190. Persepolis. Bas-relief of door- fies ce tiie Hall sf a Viundeed Coline 396
tgt. Persepolis. Bas-relief of door-frame of the palace No. 7 397
192. Persepolis. Bas-relief on basement of hypostyle hall . 402
193. Persepolis. Officials ushering tribute-bearers . 403
194. Persepolis. Chariot and charioteers 495
195. The humped ox, Persepolis . 407
196. Persepolis. Double-humped camel (Bactrian) 408
197. Persepolis, Presentation of elephants’ tusks 409
198. Presentation of lions’ skins . 410
199. Persepolis. Royal attendants . 4t2
200, Persepolis. Representation of Ahura-Mazda : ned oe BEY
201, 202. Bronze statuettes 2. 6 ee eee es 418, 419
203, 204. Persepolis. Body-guards. . . . . «© - + + + + 423, 424
205. Tomb of Darius. Head of guardsman Bs » 425
206, Persepolis. Palace of Darius. Combat of king auth unicorn . 428
207. Persepolis. Bas-relief of the hypostyle hall of Xerxes 429
208. Persepolis. Sculpture in the hypostyle hall of Xerxes 430
209. Persepolis. Head of negro 3 ‘ 436
210, Persepolis. Head of Tartar 436
211. Persepolis. Combat of the lion with the bull 437
212, Susa. Head of lion 440
213. Persepolis. Rams . 444
214. Persepolis. Sculpture in Palace ar Reines 445
215. Persepolis. Sculpture in nO hall of Xerxes 446
216, Signet of Darius . Se 451
2147, 218, Cylinder 453
219. Scarabzoid cone . 455
220. Cone . 455
221. Cylinder 456
222, 223. Cone 456
224. Cylinder . 456
225. 457

Cone .
xii List oF ILLUSTRATIONS.

 

FIG.

226. Cylinder .

227, 228. Sigli

229. Double daric. Gold

230-233. Double sigli. Silver

234. Coin, Tarsus .

235. Tetradrachm . ;
236, 237. Silver coins of aikenawe satis
238. Persian siglos. Silver

239. Coin, Mallus Cilicize .

240. Tetradrachm. Silver

241. Device from carpet, ee

242-249. Vases

250, Susa. Enamelled ayy et

251. Susa. Enamelled slab . ‘
252, 253. Susa. Enamelled earthenware .
254. Bull’s head. Electrum .

TAIL-PIECES.

Propylea, Persepolis. Trinket depending from bull’s neck, detail of capital 46

Cone of white chalcedony found at Persepolis
Coin of Persian dynasty
Fire-altar on tomb at N: skal Rysten

Figure of Ahura-Mazda on door-frame of the Hall of a Hundred Calunins

Galley on reverse of double Persian siglos

PAGE
457
463
463

. 464, 465

465

465
466

466

466

466

470
471, 475
477

478
481, 483
- 484

189
239
254
375
467

Tetradrachm. With type akin to that of specimen “Beating he name of

Pythagoras
Engraved stone

486
5c
HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

PERSIA.

CHAPTER I.

THE PERSIANS, THEIR COUNTRY, HISTORY, RELIGION, AND RELATIONS
WITH GREECE.

How WE ACCOUNT FOR THE POSITION ASSIGNED TO PERSIA
IN THIS HIsTory.

As we made our way among the Phrygians, Lydians, and Lycians,
we carefully surveyed their art and industries, along with the first
glimmerings of civil life, the primitive notions of which were learnt
of the Syro-Cappadocians, themselves pupils of ancient Eastern
civilizations. We said how at the outset they had served as
intermediaries between the as yet barbarous Greeks and Oriental
culture; how, by degrees, somewhere about the seventh or sixth
century B.c., they were influenced in their turn by these same
Greeks, when contact with a genius far transcending their own
caused them to lose whatever of originality they had possessed.
If yielding to our propensities and secret longings, we could
follow chronological order, we should forthwith take up the
history of Hellenic art. By allowing ourselves, however, to
succumb to so alluring a temptation, we should be obliged to halt
on our route, and to retrace our steps so as to deal with the intel-
lectual activity of Persia, whose masterpieces were produced in
the sixth or fifth century B.c. For her development is not only
younger than that of Ionian Greece, but certain of her emanations
are actually younger than the Parthenon and the Propylea gracing
+ B
2 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

the Athenian Acropolis. Let it be borne in mind, therefore, that
notwithstanding its late appearance Persian art, in principle and
spirit, is the genuine last offspring of Oriental art, which it epito-
mizes in a noble eclectic synthesis.

If it could not help itself, and borrowed here a little and there
a little from Grecian art, then in its palmiest days, considered as
a whole, and judging from the methods it applies, the traditions it
obeys, it remains but a disciple and continuator of Egypt, Chaldza,
and Assyria. Its place, then, falls naturally here. The list
of inventions and successive creations of Asiatic genius will be
complete when, having gone over it, we shall have meted out
the justice which is its due; then nothing will turn us aside from
the task we have taken upon ourselves of devoting our whole
attention to the various phases and the stupendous level reached
by the plastic art of Hellas.

Tue Country.

The scene upon which Persian art (with which we will close the
series of Oriental arts) was evolved covers the vast tableland
geographers now call Iran. It is a plateau which, whilst it
separates the basin of the Tigris and the Euphrates from that of
the Indus, is bounded on the north by the massive Elburz Moun-
tains and the lower chains cqnnecting them with Armenia and
Afghanistan ; the Bolir and Hindu-Kush in the east, the heights
that run parallel to the Indian Ocean in the south, and the Persian
Gulf, the chains of the Zagros and Ararat, in the west. Roughly
speaking, this enormous space is embraced within an irregular
quadrilateral, which nature has divided into two regions widely
different in aspect. Its plinth is the base of the mountain belt
surrounding it, and the summits are its crown; whilst its area
is hollowed into a gigantic basin, which in places is little more
than three hundred metres above sea-level, but towards the
mountain rampart its level is considerably higher ; Teheran, the
present capital of Persia, being at an altitude of eleven hundred
and sixty metres. Towards the centre of this depression isolated
masses, with steep denuded sides, rise up from the surrounding
level like so many islands. No rain-clouds from the northern and
southern seas can reach here, for they are arrested in their pro-
gress by the mountain crests that fringe the plateau; hence
Tue Country. 3

 

green slopes, the result of abundant rains, are seldom seen save
towards the Persian Gulf, the Caspian and Indian Seas. The
contrast between the two zones is so great as to have elicited the
remarks of every European traveller making his way from Russia
or Turkey, and entering Persia by Tiflis, Erivan, and Taurus, or
Bagdad and Hamadan. To the westward, the valley of the Tigris
and the bay, which is but the prolongation of it, consist of mountain
ranges forming a network over an immense tract of country.
These mountains slope down to the water's edge by a series of
terraces upheld by vertical walls, broken here and there by
impetuous streams tearing with irresistible force to join the river
on the left bank. Beyond these high mountains immense plains,
destitute of running water, stretch away to the east with a scarcely
perceptible incline, as far as the Indian Ocean and the closed
basin of Helmend, which descends from the Hindu-Kush range.

Geologists tell us that the formation of the Iran plateau is to be
explained by an overflowing from the north, which filled the spacious
basin comprised between the Hindu-Kush and the chain of Zagros
during one or two,consecutive upheavals. The alluvium brought by
the flood left everything covered except the very top, whose peaks
shoot up like rocks out of the sea. Hence it is that throughout
this region short plains and mountains succeed each other without
transition. The summits of the latter are splintered up, and their
sides so precipitous that no vegetable soil can adhere to their
surface ; there is not a tree to be seen, not even herbaceous
plants, lichens, or mosses ; for the rain-waters are drained as they
fall, and percolating the soil, which everywhere is extremely
porous, they collect into subterraneous depressions of no great
depth, extending beneath the arid surface of the tablelands.’
Necessity taught man in early days to find out the cool, refreshing
liquid in these exhaustless reservoirs, in order to water and
fertilize a few patches, at least, of a land that at first sight might
seem doomed to everlasting sterility.

The western portion of Iran is that which alone is of any account
in history, at least in the history of the ancient world. This
privilege at first was due to its situation as neighbour of that
Mesopotamia where civilization, favoured by the marvellous pro-
ductiveness of the soil, sprang into being as early as in Egypt,
and where, from those remote days to the present hour, powerful

? Dieutaroy, L’ Art antique, etc., tom. ii. pp. 3-8.
4 History oF Art 1n ANTIQUITY.

oe

 

states, industrial and commercial centres, have never ceased to
exist. . The owners of the lowlands, the sovereigns of Chaldza,
notably of Assyria, were betimes tempted to scale the brim of the
lofty rampart which hemmed in their domains to the east, so as
to ascertain whether, beyond those snowy peaks and interminable
ridges, they should not perchance come upon fat lands to pillage,
slaves and herds they might drive away, populations upon whom
they could levy tribute. By ramps winding round precipices, paths
requiring a steady head, but over which have passed and still pass,
for lack of any other, caravans and armies, they ascended from
stage to stage up to the high tableland, pushing their incursions far
and wide, finally annexing to the Ninevite empire the whole tract
towards the Caspian, which is known as Media. Opened by con-
quest, these routes have been ever since the beaten track for the
peaceful exchange of ideas and commodities; except that there came
a time when the parts were reversed ; namely, when the might of
Assyria began to give signs of decay, sapped by the combined
efforts of the sturdy tribes of Iran she had so wantonly trampled
upon and crushed, but which now descended from their heights
into the Tigris valley, and powerfully contributed to her downfall.
Following up this brilliant military exploit, the Medes crossed the
Euphrates and pushed on to Asia Minor as far as the Halys.
The Persians, their heirs and kinsmen, advanced much further
west, but their successes provoked reprisals on the part of the
Greeks, who, with Alexander, ascended the colossal grade of the
plateau, with as much ease as formerly the hosts of Ramannirari
III. and of Tiglath-Phalasar.". Hence from the ninth century B.c.
Mesopotamia and the border provinces of Iran adjoining it were
in constant communication ; whilst to the last days of antiquity,
the populations of the Tigris and Euphrates obeyed, with scarcely
a break, rulers of Persian birth and language. The Persians, as
we have said, followed the Medes, and after the Achemenidz and
the short interlude of the Macedonian empire, the reins of Meso-
potamia were taken up in turn by the Arsacide and Sassanide,
whom the might of Rome could not displace. In that long period,
during which hostilities were necessarily interrupted by short

1 As far as is known the earliest mention of the Medes occurs in documents
belonging to the reign of Ramannirari IIL., ze. somewhere between 810 and 781 Bc,
From that date forward, Media is repeatedly specified, with more or less vagueness,
as among the provinces dependent upon the Assyrian empire,
Tue Country. 5

 

periods of peace and amicable intercourse, the cult of Mithra, a
religion of Iranian origin, spread to the farthest provinces of the
Roman empire, and for a time balanced the influence of Chris-
tianity. Somewhat later, the Nestorians, seeing themselves perse-
cuted in the west, took refuge in Persia, where, too, the last
representatives of Greek philosophy to escape the like narrow,
intolerant bigotism, found a peaceful shelter at the court of
Chosroes.

From the hour, then, when the Assyrians forcibly drew the
tribes of Iran out of their isolated situation, the latter were mixed
up, one way or another, with the movement of what we may term
Western humanity, and played a part in the political and spiritual
domain; they partook of that culture which began on the banks.
of the Nile and those of the Euphrates, and ended by having
its chief centres on the border of the Mediterranean. On the
other hand, in that long interval, they do not seem to have
borrowed from or given anything of their own to the peoples in
possession of the eastern zone of the Iranic plateau. Under the
dominion of the Sassanids, their intercourse with China was
confined to a few diplomatic transactions exchanged between the
sovereigns of the two countries, a few bales of costly goods con-
veyed by caravans from one country to the other. If, nominally
at least, the empire of Darius extended to the frontiers of India,
it was only at a comparatively recent epoch that conquerors borne
by the force of expansion of Islam, starting from Ispahan, invaded
India, whither they carried their language and religion, and
founded a colony that has flourished ever since. But these
events, chronologically at least, do not fall within the scope of
this history.

There are no data to lead us to suppose that Persia, even in
her palmiest days, exercised any marked influence over India;
certain arrangements in the architecture of the latter might at
most be adduced as having been borrowed from the decoration of
the royal palaces of Iran. As to India, even if we accept the
judgment of scholars prone to give her the lion’s share, all she
seems to have sent to the west, in the course of many centuries,
through the channel of Persia, are tales diffused among all the
nations of Europe, and which, be their form popular or literary,
have still the. power. to amuse the young.

- Contact with the cradles of antique civilizations would not by
6 History oF Art IN ANTIQUITY.

 

itself suffice to explain why Iran chose the site of her capitals
and centre of gravity from time immemorial towards the Persian
Gulf and Zagros; the distribution of social and physical life was
determined by the physical conditions of the country. In the
East, subterraneous waters are buried at considerable depth, and
as a consequence tapped with difficulty; towards the edge of the
high levels are, indeed, a few streams that descend from the
neighbouring mountains, but they are short-lived, and soon dis-
appear in the sandy wastes, alternating with clay and salt.

Bitterly cold in winter, scorchingly hot in summer and despair-
ingly dry, the climate is simply deadly to man. No wonder,
therefore, that Khorasan—such is the name of this unkind region
—is sparsely populated, the only signs of habitations being around
some rare oasis sprinkled about the arid surface. In such condi-
tions as these, it is hard to imagine a royal city, the seat of the
head of a great empire, having been here, surrounded and isolated
as it would have been in wildernesses often dangerous and always
difficult to traverse. As a matter of fact, no towns, except of
secondary importance, were ever built in this district.

The aspect changes in the north-west, west, and south-west of
the plateau, towards the belt of mountains, which, broadly speak-
ing, rise to a height of 3000 m., whilst the Demavend, the
culminating peak of the Elburz range, attains 5628 m. Towards
the Caspian, the slopes of Ghilan and Mazanderan (ancient
Hyrcania) are clad with magnificent forests, green pastures,
orchards, and gardens of luxuriant vegetation. The district is
certainly outside of the natural frontiers of Iran; politically,
however, it has always been allied thereto. Green patches and
orchards still abound in the vicinity of Lake Urumiyeh, in the
province of Azerbijan (ancient Atropaténe). Further south, in
Media, or Irak-Ajeni, Susiana (now Khuzistan), and Fars (Persia
properly so called), cultivation is scarcely possible except at the
bottom of valleys watered by rivers, such as the Karun, and
streams, as the Polvar-Rud, or by aqueducts buried underground,
locally called anauts. The fauna and flora are exceedingly
varied, and the native breeds of horses, mules, camels, asses, and
sheep are justly esteemed. The products of the soil change
according to altitudes; in Arabistan, formerly Elam, on the
border of the Persian Gulf, towns and villages are embosomed in
plantations of palm trees. Higher up, in Fars proper, around
Tue Country. 7

 

Shiraz, all the fruits of Europe, of excellent quality, are found in
great abundance. No system or science of forestry exists, yet
the humid valleys of Mazanderan and the Caspian belt produce
timbers of great variety and value, many of which are well
adapted for shipbuilding. In more than one place, even where
the summits of extinct volcanoes do not rise, as in the Elburz
range, above the calcareous masses, igneous rocks, gneiss and
granites, porphyry and trachyte, have pierced the thick sedimen-
tary formations, and by decomposition greatly add to the fertility
of the soil. Rich seams of the precious or useful metals are not
rare in the volcanic regions; they formerly were a source of revenue,
but are now suffered to lie undeveloped beneath the surface.

Considered as a whole, Iran can never have had a population
in ratio to its extent, in that too large a proportion of its surface
has never been and never will be brought under cultivation ; yet
its stony wildernesses, though well-nigh inaccessible, were on that
very account a safeguard to the groups settled in the north and
west of the plateau. Secured in their rear against surprise, they
could increase and multiply at their own sweet will, in a territory
rich in natural resources, provided they were willing to face the
hardships consequent on the development of this natural endow-
ment. The only peoples whose hostilities they had to fear were
their powerful western neighbours of Mesopotamia ; but the chain
of Zagros was a formidable rampart not easily got over, and a king
of Nineveh or Babylon would think twice before he ventured on
an undertaking which, under the most favourable circumstances,
would be of doubtful advantage to him, since he could never hope
to rule with a strong hand tribes separated from the base of
operations by mountain ranges, amidst which a day’s march covers
very little ground even when the passes are undefended, but
where a handful of men suffice to keep in check a whole host in
defiles, such as those of the Zagros, found at an altitude of some
2800 m. The mountains that interpose between Persia and
Susiana are inhabited by the warlike Bakthiyari tribes, to whom
the Achzmenide, in the zenith of their power, were content to
pay a passage fee whenever circumstances obliged them to cross
these mountains as they moved from Ecbatana or Persepolis to
Susa. At the present hour the Bakthiyaris are practically as
independent of the Shah as they once were of the Great King."

1 Strabo (after Nearchus), XI. xiii. 6. Cf ARRIAN, Anadasis, vil. 15.
a
8 History oF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

On the other hand, the advantages enjoyed by clans in
possession of this mountain region, whence, as from a fastness,
they ruled the country around, and dashed down in headlong
foray upon the helpless lowlanders, cannot well be overestimated.
Difference of civilization turned to the profit of the ruder but
more masculine and robust of the two nations. Where military
science is not sufficiently advanced, or weapons of a nature to
ensure a crushing superiority, such as were fire-arms in the hands
of the Spaniards in their conquest of America, victory, in conflicts
between the civilized and uncivilized, will in the long run remain
with the side whose men are frugal and inured to fatigues and
privations, who, knowing little of the sweets of life, feel no great
desire to retain it.

History AND RELIGION.

From about the eighth century B.c., we find frequent allusions
in Assyrian documents to tribes occupying the western zone of
the Iran plateau, but at what date they arrived there and spread
in the region still occupied by their descendants, it is impossible
to say." They belonged to the Aryan family, and were closely
related to tribes that have peopled part of India, and have
left the highest expression of their belief in the hymns known as
Veda. The kinship existing between the two branches was
unsuspected by antiquity, but is as clear as daylight to modern
science, which bases its conclusion on the striking resemblance
observable in the languages, the primeval religious ideas and
even the original rites, and physical characteristics of the Indic
and Persian tribes. Whence came, and in what region did
the final separation take place between the various clans of the
Aryan stock which, under different names, carried from the shores
of the Indian Ocean to those of the Atlantic the complicated
grammatical forms of their idioms, and the manifold and superior
aptitudes which have placed them at the head of the human race ?

* The principal works to be consulted in respect to the ancient history of Iran,
chiefly written from Oriental sources, are the following: Fr. SprecEL, Eranische
Alterthumskunde, 2 vols., 8vo, Engelmann, 1871-1878 ; F. Justi, Geschichte der
alten Persiens, 8vo, Berlin, Grote, 1879 ; DeLatrre, Le peuple et Pempire des Medes
jusqua la fin du régne de Cyaxare, to, Bruxelles, Hayez, 1883 ; and -OpPER', Le
peuple et la langue des Medes, 8v0, Paris, Maisonneuve, 1880.
History AND RELIGION. 9

 

The answer to this question must ever rest upon mere conjecture
of more or less probability. To confine ourselves, however, to
the tribes composing the Iranian group to which we belong, it
seems pretty well proved that they approached the plateau from
the north, and, skirting the border mountains, they moved south-
ward from valley to valley in the direction of the Persian Gulf.’
A glance at the map suffices to show that the clans did not come
straight from India, for they would have had to traverse the
inhospitable stretches of Eastern Iran; whereas by following the
base of the northern chain of Caucasus on to the Elburz range,
the present boundary line between Russia on the one side and
Afghanistan and Persia on the other, they found everywhere an
abundance of grass for their herds, and from stage to stage
reached, without too much hardship, the southern belt of the
Caspian, where they could reckon upon an unfailing supply of
water, timber, and fodder. Once here, they were able at one
bound to enter the plateau through the valley of Sefi-Rud or
one of the numerous mountain passes.

Whether the Aryans when they entered Iran found there those
Turanian tribes, or, to use a more popular term, those Turkish
clans which later on were to contend with them for supremacy,
is uncertain, But those best qualified to pass judgment on this
question are unanimous in refusing to accept the hypothesis
which would connect the Medes with the Turanian family.
That the Medes and Persians were related to each other, their
language, religion, manners, and customs attest.2 The only
difference between them resides in this, that the Medes, as nearer
neighbours and in daily contact with the Assyrians, were the first
to emerge from barbarism, and to form themselves into a compact
body, social and political. This affinity is incidentally proved by

1 With the aid of Assyrian texts, Amiaud (“Cyrus roi de Perse,” in AZé/anges
Renier, 1886, pp. 241-260) thinks he is able to follow the migratory movement of
the Persian tribe from the borders of Lake Urumiyeh, which they still inhabited in
the time of Shalmanezer II., on to Fars, where their arrival is posterior to the reign
of Sargon.

2 See NOELDEKE, under the heading of “ Persia,” p. 562, Encycdopedia Britannica,
gth edit., tom. xviii., 1885 ; J. DARMESTETER, article in the Revue critigue, June 21,
1880, bearing on Oppert’s work, Le peuple et la langue des Medes (8vo, Paris,
Maisonneuve, 1880), and Coup d’eil sur l'histoire de la Perse, p. 14 (1885, 32mo,
Leroux). Spiegel expresses himself in the same sense.

’OpdyAwrrot wapa puxpdv, says Strabo, p. 1054.—TRs,
TO History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

the Greeks, who made no distinction between Medes and Persians,
since they spoke of their long struggles against the kings of Persia
as ‘“ Median wars.” ?

The Aryans found the remnants of the Elamites, with Susa as
chief fortress, established in the south-west of Iran, on the slopes
turned towards the lower valley of the Tigris and the Persian
Gulf. The Ninevite reliefs sometimes represent the Susians as
decidedly Negroid in type (Figs. 1, 2), and recent explorers
have confirmed the deductions arrived at by former scholars in
respect to these graven images. They have remarked that the
difference which exists between the inhabitants of Dizful and
Shuster, the representatives of
the ancient Susians, and the
other populations of Persia is
fully as great as that observable
between the various groups in
the reliefs. We subjoin the con-
clusion reached by one who had
ample leisure to study them on
the spot: “Anthropology teaches
Fics. 1, 2.—Susian types after the bas-reliefs us that Susiana, ae a epoch it

of Asur-nat-sirpal. British Museum. G. devolves on historians and ar-

Rawlinson, Zhe Live Great Monarchies, . .

etc., tom. ii. p. 500. chzologists to specify, was oc-

cupied by a negro population
related to the blacks of India, whom the white races compelled
to take refuge in the hilly regions of difficult access. These
blacks were Negritos.”* In Susiana, names of localities, of
men, and gods are exceedingly peculiar, and indicate that the
language of the people to whom they belong, had no affinity to
the Semitic dialects of Mesopotamia or the Aryan speech of the
Persians. Scholars identify the language in question, as found
in the trilingual inscriptions of the Achamenid dynasty,> with
what is called the second system of writing. But the texts still

 

* The Ionian Greeks, who first introduced these two nations to the Hellenic
world, altered their names in their transliterations. Their dislike to the broad
sound of a induced them to replace it whenever they could, by ¢; thus the “ Mada”
and “ Parsa” of the inscriptions became “ Medeioi” and “ Perseioi.”

* Frép. Houssay, Les Races humaines de la Perse (Société d’Anthropologie de
Lyon), 8vo, 1887, p. 45.

* See J. DARMESTETER, (0c. cit, MM. Rawlinson and J. Halévy are also of
opinion that these epigraphs are in the ancient dialect of Susiana.
History AND RELIGION. 1T

 

offer difficulties of reading; for if the value of most of the signs
is made out, the classification of the language itself is a matter of
some uncertainty. That Susian should have become the written
or official language of Persia is easily understood. The town of
Susa, perhaps one of the oldest in the world, was associated with
traditions of power and grandeur leading back to remote antiquity ;
and such memories were carefully preserved by the great kings
of Persia, who spent there part of the year. Then, too, by raising
Susa to the position of third capital of the empire, the sovereigns
were nearer Mesopotamia than at Persepolis and Pasargadz,'
and more within reach of Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt. The
outlying Aryan tribes found little difficulty in annexing Susiana ;
for the Elamites were disorganized and weakened by the long
destructive wars they had carried on against Assyria, during
which they had lost their independence, so that after the fall
of Nineveh they readily submitted by turns to Babylon and
Persia.

The Aryan race, to which the Medes and Persians belonged,
held the post of honour from their first appearance on the scene
of history down to the Arab conquest, which left Iran prostrate,
utterly demoralised, and helpless to repel other invasions. The
long duration of their supremacy may, perhaps, be ascribed to the
purity of their ethics and their religion. If we go far enough, the
germ of the religious ideas which the Iranic tribes brought with
them from their cradle-land are to be traced among all the sons of
Arya. But with the Medes, as we shall show, they lost of their
pristine pureness and were modified sooner than among their
brethren of Persia. ‘The primitive religion of Iran, preserved
by Persia, was a polytheism closely allied to that of other Aryan
tribes, notably their Indian neighbours, such as we find it in the
Rig-Veda. But in Media, the primitive germ was defaced by the
sacerdotal schools of the Magi, and the dualistic element (gods
struggling with demons) developed and pushed to the extreme;
finally ending in a well-ordered dualism, called Mazdaism from the
name of the supreme god, Ahtra-Mazda, or Zoroastrianism, in
remembrance of its legendary founder Zoroaster.” ” |

* M. Houssay brought home - photographs of Susian inscriptions which he
found at Malamir. They are shortly to be published by Dieulafoy, and will be of
great service to the student.

® J. DARMESTETER, Coup a’ail sur U’histotre de la Perse, pp. 14, 15.
12 History OF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

Dualism proper, the religion of the ancient Persians, is embodied
in the Avesta, their sacred book.’ Our translation dates from
the reign of Shapur or Sapor II., fourth king of the Sassanian
dynasty. It was in the nature of things that, in the long space
comprised between the seventh century B.c. and the fourth a.p.,
manifold rehandlings of a radical nature should have crept in the
Avesta. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the book, or rather
collection of books, contains very ancient fragments which
intelligent criticism often succeeds in -distinguishing from later
interpolations.’

A complete exposition of Mazdaism would be out of place
in this history, the more so that we should have to face very
great and real difficulties in disentangling the ancient doctrine
from the mass added thereto by consecutive schools. It will be
sufficient for our purpose to point out the leading features and
fundamental ideas that had a decisive influence in shaping the
art and social condition of the peoples of Iran.

In the system that bears the name of Zarathustra (on what
authority and whence it sprang up we know not), which the Greeks
turned into Zoroaster, this world is the scene where Ahura-
Mazda, the wise spirit, and Angré-Mainytis, the destroyer, are
opposed to each other; but in the end good prevails. It is possible
that the violent contrasts Nature offers to man on the Iran plateau
may have had something to do in suggesting dualism proper, or
the two independent principles. Nowhere in the habitable world

1 J. DarMEsTeTER, Introduction (cii. pages) to his versions of the Vendidad,
vol. iv., Collect. of Sacred Books of the East, published by the Clarendon Press,
Oxford, under the direction of Professor Max Miiller. Interesting also will be
found A. Hovelacque’s Z’ Avesta, Zoroastre et le Madztisme, 8vo, 1880, Maisonneuve,
Paris. Avesta, law, which is but a dialectical form of the Persian word ddas#d,
law, strictly speaking designates the ‘‘sacred book.” The term Zend-Avesta, in use
since the time of Anquetil, Duperron, is faulty and should be discarded. Zend
signifies “commentary,” the glosses that were added from time to time to the sacred
books. The form avesta and zend is often employed in the Pehlevi commentaries,
to express “law, text, with its traditional and revealed explanation.” Hence the
language in which the Avesta is written should not be called Zend, but Medic,
Median. A complete list of the principal works dealing with the history of Mazdaism,
published within the present century, will be found in Tien, Manuel de Chistoire
des religions, 2nd edit., 1885, pp. 227-232.

2 «The most ancient only,” says Dr. Haug, ‘‘the so-called Gathas, songs arranged
in five small collections, can be ascribed to Zarathustra. This portion compared
with the whole book of the Avesta fragments is very small, but easily recognized by.
the difference of dialect.”—Trs, :
Hisrory AND RELIGION. 13

 

is there so sharp a distinction between the heat of noon and the
cold of night, between the brown bare rock and the verdant
meadow, between the gorgeous hues of watered plains and the
absolute bareness of arid wastes. Nowhere does life merge in
death as it does here, without intermediary shade or transition.?

It was not until long after the classic age that the Greeks got
‘some insight into the real significance of the religion of -Zoroaster.
The mental vision of Herodotus and his successors, down to
Alexander, was confined to its external aspect, its rites and their
effect on the worshippers. That which deeply impressed them
was the fact that the Persians, unlike other nations, set up no
statues to the supreme god within their temples, where he was
supposed to dwell.” Nevertheless, here, as in the rest of the
world’s surface, the mind of man needed a tangible form that should
stand for and reflect the image of the deity ; and is not light, which
reveals the world to us, the first of all earthly goods? Light is
inseparable from heat, and without them life could not be carried
on in the world. Fire, the fountain at once of light and heat, thus
became the symbol of Ahurad-Mazda, as the deadly chill of night
was that of Angré-Mainyis ; fire, therefore, was kept ever burning
on the altar, and received the homage and offerings destined for
the deity, the sacrifice of the fiery steed, the noblest animal, and
libations of Haéma, the Vedic Séma.

As time rolled on this simple creed became overloaded with
minute prescriptions, that caused it to degenerate into a formalism
narrow and complicated in the extreme, as far removed from its
primeval simple conception as can well be imagined, when it
undoubtedly was freer from gross or inhuman superstitions, and
more spiritual than that of any other people of Anterior Asia.
The ethics logically deducible from a belief in the co-existence
and everlasting conflict between the two principles were of a lofty
nature, and very practical at the same time. Man was bidden to
look upon himself as the associate and fellow-worker of AhurA-
Mazda; for as the latter struggles without ceasing against the
powers of evil, even so does man, in the sweat of his brow, labour

1 The ancients were not slow in noticing similar contrasts, and Justin (XVI. i.)
thus describes the climate of the Parthians: “ Ex quo fit ut Parthiz pleraque finium
aut estus aut frigoris magnitudo possideat, quippe cum montes nix et campos estus
infestet.” This is also well brought out in the fine description of the Elburz range

(Gosineau, Hist, des Perses, tom. i. ch. viii. book i),
? Herodotus, i. 174.
14 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

to clear the fallow soil and bring to its furrows the rill that will
cause the seed to swell and shoot up. In this way he serves and
co-operates with the deity. “He who guides the plough does a
pious deed,” is one of the precepts of this religion. Hence it will
be easily understood that their application should have led to the
cultivation of every available plot of land all over Iran, and
created a healthy, sturdy, and honest peasant class, out of which
were recruited the armies of the Medic and Persian sovereigns,
with which they so speedily conquered the whole of Anterior Asia.
Such ethics as these, enjoining at one and the same time the
practice of husbandry, respect for truth, and purity of life, were
common to all the fractions of the Aryan family. The virtues of
the ancient Persians, the companions of Cyrus and Darius, the first
brought to the notice of Greek historians, were extolled by them
as against the Persians of later days, corrupted by the self-
indulgence consequent on boundless power, and the deteriorating
effect of long and continuous contact with enslaved populations.’
Make allowance as you will for rhetorical éxaggeration and love
of antithesis, it is none the less true that when the Ionians found
themselves for the first time in presence of the Persians, they felt
themselves dwarfed by the moral superiority of the latter. A
more difficult question is to know to what extent the dualistic
conception, such as it had grown and as we find it in Media,
spread in Southern Iran. The bas-reliefs and inscriptions of
Persia tell us that Ahura-Mazda was also the great god of the
Persians, but they do not mention Angré-Mainyts. This, how-
ever, is no proof that he had no place in popular belief. On the
other hand, we can easily grasp that a religion originally so simple
should have rapidly changed when the Persians were brought in
daily touch with the peoples of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor.
Ahura- Mazda, though supreme, was not the only god ; other deities
helped him to do battle against the principle of darkness, but the
action of any one of these amz, through the combination of
various circumstances, could at a given moment raise him to con-
siderable importance.” By means of this open door also alien
deities crept in and obtained a corner in the Iranic pantheon. In
1 Xenophon, in the opening pages of the Cyropedia (viii. 8), has brought out
with great effect the marked contrast between the two classes of Persians, ancient

and modern. oth anc
2 « Ahurd-Mazda and the other gods” is a formula often seen in inscriptions later

than Darius.

 
History AND RELIGION. 15

 

this way, perhaps, should be explained why Tanata, Anahita, or
Anaitis, as the Greeks called her, should have played the part
of a kind of Aphrodite, akin to the Babylonian Mylitta and the
Pheenician Ashtoreth, from the fifth century B.c. in the state
religion of Persia. From that day, by the king’s command, statues
in her honour were set up in every town of any importance all
over the kingdom.’ Although Anahita was thus early added
to the number of gods reverenced by Medes and Persians, “it
does not appear that the Iranian tribes had her with them when
they separated from the sister clans that were to colonize India,
for her name is not found in the Rig-Veda, and seems to have
originated in Armenia or Cappadocia.” ”

The same causes operated in the north of Iran in multiplying
the number of gods; added to which, under the name of Magi, a
priestly order organized itself, and in time stood as intermediary
between God and man. The next advance of the Magi, early in
the reign of the Achemenide and Arsacide, was to aim at a
political ~é/e, in which ambitious design they succeeded to their
heart’s content with the Sassanide, when they became the
directing power of a true theocracy. To increase in the mean
time and strengthen their power, they resorted to practices with
all the characteristics of witchcraft, learnt, it may be, of the
superstitious tribes of Turan adjoining on Media, who even then
were advancing towards the frontiers of Iran, which they were
to force somewhat later. .

These modifications were not accomplished in a day, but so
gradually as to leave intact the chain of indigenous traditions
and the doctrine which was supposed to travel back to Zoroaster.
During fifteen hundred years, the space covered between the
settlement of these Aryan tribes in Western Iran and the triumph
of Islamism, the social and religious situation of the country knew

1 The testimony of Plutarch (Artaxerxes, 27) has been fully confirmed by an
inscription of Artaxerxes Mnemon, written on the base of columns that have been
uncovered at Susa. It runs thus: ‘“‘ May Ahura-Mazda, Anahita, and Mithra pro-.
tect me and all my doings.” .Berosus would seem to have been mistaken when
he attributed to Ochus the introduction of the rites connected with Anahita
(CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, Protreptikon, 1. 5).

2 Anahita certainly figures in the Avesta as the mother of fresh water, but her
name is conspicuously absent from chapter I. of Yasna. With regard to her cult
in Cappadocia, where it appears to have been indigenous, see Fr. LENORMANT,

Essay de commentaire sur les fragments cosmogoniques de Bérose, pp. 152-154, and
Gazette Arché., 1876, pp. 14, 15.
16 History oF ArT in ANTIQUITY.

 

of but little change, no violent far-reaching revolution, such as
would raise an impassable barrier between past and present, having
taken place. The political centre was displaced; yet, under one
name or another, there always existed here a powerful state, whose
religion and moral code were more or less intimately allied to the
precepts of Mazdaism, a state whose chief action and influence
were more specially exercised in the western provinces, Mesopo-
tamia, Syria, Asia Minor, and Armenia.

To one capable of taking a lofty and comprehensive view of
affairs, the events that occurred during that long period may be
likened to a kind of see-saw movement between northern and
southern tribes. Those enervated and used up by vices that
follow in the train of power, after a number of generations, had to
give way to others whose frugal, simpler mode of life had kept free
from this chronic evil. Thus, in the seventh century 8.c., through
the energy of the Medes, Iran was advanced to the post of honour
and Nineveh and Assyria were incorporated with the new empire.
But towards the middle of the following century they succumbed
in their turn to the Persians. These, under the leadership of the
Achemenida, not content to reduce haughty Babylon to the posi-
tion of a provincial town, overran the whole of Central Asia, and
attacked the Afric and European continents as well. Here they
encountered the free states of Greece, and hostilities between
Asiatics and Hellenes then began, which lasted two hundred years.
Alexander put an end to them with those strokes of good luck and
genius known as Issus and Arbela (334-330). Then, for the first
time, Persia was subject to a master who did not worship Ahura-
Mazda; yet, before another hundred years had passed, she reap-
peared as unhurt as a rock whose face has been momentarily sub-
merged, in the full possession of her independence, language,
customs, and the fund of her ancient beliefs. The restoration was
due to the Parthians, a northern tribe who wielded power down to
B.c. 226. Again, for the fourth time, the fate of Iran trembled in
the balance, and with the Sassanidze southern tribes became once
more dominant (226-652). The very thin veneer of Greek culture
which the Macedonian conquest and the Philhellenism of the Par-
thian kings had seemingly laid over the surface of Iran was
loosened and fell off. The stream of life and favour flowed back
to doctrines that, under the rule of the Seleucidz and the Parthians,
had had a hard struggle for existence, and in remote districts alone
History AND RELIGION. 17

 

had succeeded in maintaining themselves against the seductive
attractions of Greek beliefs, served as they were by poetic and
artistic productions the sovereigns affected to admire. The creed
of Ahurd-Mazda was re-installed in its pristine position as state
religion, and native art, though unconsciously under the spell of
Greek and Roman models, chiefly addressed itself to and drew its
inspirations from types of the Achzmenid period, and strove to
the utmost to revive its symbols.

The Arab conquest caused a much more lasting and deeper
perturbation in the internal state of Iran than that of Alexander
had done. Fire-worship was proscribed ; those few Iranians who
had remained faithful to the old creed were obliged to practise its
rites by stealth in order to escape severe punishment, or seek a
refuge in distant India.

Hence almost the whole population embraced Islamism; in
which religion they have continued to the present day, under the
various dynasties, nearly all Arab or Turkish, that have ruled
over Persia. Nevertheless, despite change of religion and the
mixture of foreign blood which numerous invasions have intro-
duced in the native population, Persian genius has withstood with
rare persistency, and repelled with might and main, the onslaughts
of the powers conspired against its destruction. The Islamism of
Persia is apparent rather than real; her passionate devotion to
Ali and his sons, one of whom was the son-in-law of the last
Sassanid king, served her as pretext to fall away and keep herself
aloof from the rest of the Moslem world. ‘Although subdued
by a Semitic religion, Persia has none the less known how to
maintain her claims to be considered a Hindo-European nation,
and to create a philosophy, mythology, and an epos of her
own.”! The latter, the Shaknameh (“Book of Kings”), with utter
disregard to chronology, travels back to the mythic heroes of
the race, who, with more than human proportions, are the actors
of the drama in which are set forth the struggles, extending over
centuries, which they sustained for the independence of Iran.
The pseudo-history shows us that if the Persians had well-nigh
forgotten the name of their most famous king, if the inventive

1 Renan, Essai sur Averrhoes, p. 68; J. DARMESTETER, Coup dail sur
Vhistoire de la Perse, pp. 35-43. Trois ans en Aste, 8v0, 1859, by Gobineau,
contains a subtle analysis of the Persian character, its originality and unchangeable-
ness.

—_ Cc
18 Hisrory oF Art IN ANTIQUITY.

 

genius of Firdausi replaced it by the fabulous Jamshid, yet,
after a fashion of their own, they were mindful of their past
history and religious union. This traditional continuity, which
nothing has been able to stamp out, may likewise be traced in the
modern art of Persia. The arrangement of the palace of the
Shahin-Shah, king of kings, will enable us to grasp that of
the palaces of Darius and Xerxes. Thus Feth-Ali-Shah, in
the last century, had the victories of his reign recorded on rocky
walls, exactly as Darius and Shapur had done before him. The
prescriptive laws of Islam forbid the representation of the human
figure, and the behests have been obeyed everywhere save in
heretic Persia. Then, too, certain decorative forms have main-
tained themselves against all comers with marvellous fidelity ; such
as the style of the stage, along with the supports, which serves
as throne to the Shah in the state room at Teheran, and which
differs in no way from those brought to our notice in the funereal
bas-reliefs at Persepolis, dating from the reign of the Achemenide.'
Finally, we cannot refuse to recognize a reminiscence of the
ancient religion and the national kings of Persia, in the order of
the Lion and the Sun, the coat-of-arms of a Turkish dynasty
and a Turkish empire. Did not the victory of the king over
the lion form one of the sacramental themes of antique Oriental
sculpture? And if the sun is not Ahura-Mazda himself, he is at
least the greatest and most beneficent of the gods associated with
him. He and no other the Iranic tribes had brought from their
distant and primitive home. And his name and cult, Deus Sol
envictus Mithra, as thousands of Latin inscriptions of the third
and fourth centuries engraved in his honour have it, made as
many converts of serious minds as Christianity itself, whom the
polytheism of Greece had ceased to satisfy.

If we have aimed at giving as exact an idea as possible of the
configuration of the Iran plateau, and tracing with no less precision
the broad outlines of its history from ancient times to our own
days, it is because nowhere else has man been more strictly
dependent on nature, nor is it possible to cite a nation whose
state of existence and development were as rigorously forecast by
the surroundings in which she happened to be placed. We wished
to point out at the same time that these very peculiar condi-
tions were no small factor in endowing the genius of the Persian

1 FLANDIN and CosTE, Voyage en Perse, Perse moderne, Plate XXXII.
History AND RELIGION. | ‘19

 

people with its special characteristics, which once fixed have
withstood the action of time, and kept their ground in face of
political and religious revolutions. This much it was important to
make perfectly clear. As to the princes who ruled over Media,
from the mythical Deiokes to Astyages, or later in Persia, from
Cyrus to Darius Codomanus, it would be superfluous to give the
list of their names, or discuss in detail the fables of which they are
made the heroes, whether set afloat by the patriotic vanity of the
Medes and Persians, or afterwards embellished with many additions
by Greek fancy, and which impart so uncertain a character to the
beginnings of Persian history. It will be enough if we recall such
facts as it is necessary to have present to one’s mind in order to
understand the enormous resources the Persian sovereigns could
appropriate to their buildings, and hazard a guess at the kind of
influences artists were swayed by, the models whence they drew
their inspirations, when the whims of their royal masters had
to be satisfied.

In the west, the dash of the Medio-Aryan conquest had been
arrested at the old boundary line of Assyria, z.e. the frontiers of
Lydia and the Halys to the southward. But all these barriers
fell before the Achzemenidz. Such was the name of one of the
oldest families of Persia, whose members called themselves the
descendants of Akhamanish, the Achzmenes of the Greeks, said
to have been the chief of the tribe at the time of their migration to
Fars.’ Cyrus, the first king of this line known to history, began
by wresting from the Medes the supremacy they had hitherto
enjoyed ; he then struck into Lydia, took Sardes, and reduced the
Greek cities of Asia Minor to a state of vassalage, and obliged
them to pay tribute. Long successful wars brought under his
sway all the populations of the outlying tracts to the north and
east of the plateau, as far as the valleys of the Indus and Oxus;
when, holding in his grasp all the forces of Iran, he invaded
Lower Mesopotamia and seized upon Babylon (538 B.c.). Syria,
Palestine, Phoenicia herself, who now and again had bravely
resisted Assyrian and Chaldean conquerors, were frightened into

1 The Chaldzan documents that have lately come. to light. call Cyrus “king of
Ashan,” a title that has. given rise to much discussion, some having sought to
identify Ashan with Susiana (Digutaroy,L’ Art antique, etc., tom. i. pp. 22, 23, notes ;
AMIAUD, Cyrus, roi de Perse). Noeldeke (under the heading “ Persia” in Zycyc/op.,
p- 505) is of the opinion that the theory rests on no sound basis.
20 History or Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

submission without striking a single blow. The Persian empire
‘had now attained a far greater extent than any previously known
in the East, and in the following reign the annexation of Egypt
by Cambyses gathered under one sceptre all the regions that had
witnessed the birth and development of truly antique civilizations,
The new empire had yet another advantage over its predecessors ;
for whilst with these the sea had always opposed an impenetrable
barrier and checked their westward progress, not only was the
Mediterranean open to the former, but it. could rely on the
co-operation of the most powerful fleet ploughing its waters. '

Phcenician towns had staked their very existence sooner than
open their gates to Shalmanezer and Nebuchadnezzar ; with true
Punic instinct, however, they now perceived that material and
substantial advantages would accrue to them by adoption of a
different policy. Consequently the Great king could henceforward
reckon on the eager concurrence of the trading and war ships of
Phoenicia, whose services, she knew full well, would be amply
repaid.* e 7

Assured of an ally in the western sea, the ambitious designs of
Persia rose to levels undreamt of by the older monarchies, and led
her to challenge a young civilization, brought to her notice by Ionia,
whose independent spirit grated on her susceptibilities and irritated
her as a personal affront. The Persians crossed the straits which
separate Asia from Europe, and occupied Thracia and Mace-
donia, whence they poured myriads of Asiatics into tiny Greece;
not suspecting the while—because unable correctly to gauge—
the mental fibre, the spring and power of resistance the Greeks
possessed, and which they owed to the free institutions the city
franchise had given them. The unequal conflict known under
the name of “ Median wars” resulted in the discomfiture of Persia
and the loss of whatever ground she had gained in Europe;
whilst her hold on the Greek cities of Asia Minor was relaxed,
and her authority so impaired as to require the force of arms
to be maintained. From that time Persia was obliged to keep
on the defensive, and to rely on the adroitness of her diplo-
matic agents rather than the strength of her battalions. These
were needed to keep in subjection provinces—such as Egypt, for
instance—which were not of a temper to resign themselves quietly

+ In regard to the alacrity with which the Phoenicians submitted to Persia, and
the attentions they showed the Great king, see Herodotus, iii, 10,
HIsTorY AND RELIGION. 21

 

to alien dominion, or refractory satraps; or Athens and Sparta,
ever ready to fan and help on the spirit of revolt. The brilliant
achievements of Artaxerxes Ochus (cir. 350 B.c.) restored a
semblance of unity to the empire. It could not last any time,
however, for its.machinery was utterly worn out. A state of
general decay was evident everywhere, both in the religion,
to which quite an array of foreign elements had been
superadded ; in the manners of the people, whom luxury had so
changed for the worse as to make them forget the noble and
simple moral code of Zoroaster; in the army, now chiefly made up
of Greek mercenaries; in the language, which was fast losing its
purity ; whilst native art repeated itself, but was powerless to
create or blossom forth. It needed not the intervention of
Alexander to bring about the downfall of the Achzmenid dynasty ;
left to itself, it would none the less have fallen to pieces, or suc-
cumbed, perhaps, to northern tribes, when a Parthian empire
would have started on its course from the fourth century B.c.
The zenith of Persian prosperity was reached, towards the end
of the sixth century B.c.,’ with Darius, son of Hystaspes. The
Persians of that time had lost none of their energy, and their
reputation for manly virtues stood as high as ever. Men who
had fought with Cyrus were still alive, and the remembrance of
those days made them understand the necessity of organizing
their conquests. Darius was a prince of commanding intellect,
and there is but little doubt that, had his successors been. capable
of carrying on with any consistency the reforms he had instituted,
which, like a network, were intended to embrace the whole of his
vast dominions, a degree of solidity would have accrued to them
such as had been unknown to the incoherent and fragile empires
Persia had inherited. His statesmanlike genius made him reject
the idea of fusing the conquered nations into one body ; so that
they were permitted to retain their particular laws, and live their
own life unfettered. Nevertheless, he devised a ‘“ satrapial
administration” in the provinces, which he divided between civil
and military officers ;? each acting as check on the other, and each

* The Greeks thoroughly grasped the situation. Thus Herodotus (iv. i): dvOevoys
THs Aoigs évipdor kal xpnudrov peyddwv cvvidvtov.

* The officers in question consisted of the satrap, who was charged with the civil
‘ administration, notably the department of finance, and wielded the power of life
and death ; the commandant, who was supreme over the troops ; and the secretary,
22 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

being required to watch and report on his colleague; whilst all
were dependent on a permanent control, whose special duty was
to prevent any attempt at revolt or the recovery of their inde-
pendence. Thanks to these wise measures, the twenty-five or
thirty satrapies into which Darius divided the empire furnished
the central government with vast sums of money and numerous
contingents.’ It is impossible, even approximately, to form an
estimate of the whole forces the Great king, in time of war, was
able to move in the field. The figures found in Greek historians
are evidently much beyond the mark ; but, given the extent of
the territory, we can hardly conceive any limits to the armaments,
save those arising from difficulties of transport, commissariat, and
the distances to be traversed. The revenue of the sovereign was
derived from two main sources: payments in kind levied for the
maintenance of the army and his household, and a tribute payable
in precious metals. The latter alone amounted to no less than.
146 cuboic talents, or, in silver weight, to 82,799 francs. By
computing the relative value money has had at different times, it
is found that this budget of receipts corresponds to nearly.
427,000,000 of English money, of which no fraction was diverted
to the payment of State servants; for satraps and their retinue
lived on the province they governed.? Thus a notion is gained of
the enormous quantities of metal that went to swell the royal
treasury, as well as the part played by the gold of Persia in her
foreign policy, when her kings found it more convenient and less
risky to buy up Greece in detail than to fight her in pitched.
battles. The demands made upon the privy purse of the sovereign,
as we now should say, left almost untouched the capital (consisting
of specie, notably ingots) which was accumulating in the strong-.
holds of Ecbatana and Susa, since the court expenditure, no matter
how large, as already stated, was well-nigh covered by land dues
delivered in kind, sheep and oxen, grain, and other comestibles.
When all necessary outlay had been made, the sovereign had
still at his disposal prodigious sums, the exact amount of which it
would have puzzled him to name. Could uses be found for.
these more in harmony with the traditions of Oriental monarchies

whose business probably consisted in keeping the court informed of all that went on
in the province.—TRs.

1 Herodotus, iii. 95.

* Maspero, Hist. ancienne des peuples de 1’ Orient, 2nd edit., p. 617.
Hisrory AND RELIGION. a3

 

than the building of palaces which, by their size and gorgeous
decoration, should enhance their prestige and make a frame for the
heir of Cyrus befitting the dread monarch of nations occupying
the countries between the Indus and the AZgean Sea, between the
Oxus, the Danube, and the Persian Gulf, on to the Nile cataracts ?

In order to satisfy desires and obtain such results as these,
where did they go for their models, what artists and craftsmen were
invited to carry out the royal fancies? This they have neglected
to tell us, and Greek historians are equally reticent on the subject.
The only way in which we may hope to solve the problem is the
study of the ruins these imposing constructions have left. But
the data bearing on this question are about as complicated as any
to be found in the history of antique art, making it a. difficult and
delicate matter to advance an opinion. The Persian empire,
owing to the date when it constituted itself and the vastness of
dominions that for more than two hundred years obeyed a unique
master, was placed in conditions which in many respects differed
from those wherein was passed the existence of its predecessors in
the East. On the one hand, it was coeval with the best age of
Greece—that in which her most original works were produced ;
and its relations with the latter country extended over the space
comprised between Cyrus and Darius Codomanus, terminating in
the brilliant, if transitory, triumph of Hellenism. On the other
hand, it had its centre in regions where the traditions of Oriental
art were still in vogue, and if it no longer created new types, it
was represented by grand monuments, still almost intact, the
legacy of powerful and glorious nations many thousand years old.
Could Susa, Persepolis, and Ecbatana, inasmuch as they were
further removed from the west than Memphis and Thebes,
Babylon and Nineveh, altogether escape from the fascinating
influence of Grecian arts? In what measure did the spaces to be
traversed, long-seated habits, and examples of the past oppose a
resistance to their attractiveness? Here again, it will chiefly
devolve on the monuments to give an answer that shall settle the
contention. In the mean while we shall be in a better position to
understand their testimony if, after having interrogated classic
literature as to the assistance Persian monarchy derived from
Greek handicraft, we define with precision the main characteristics
which the Achzemenid dynasty, without notable change, offered
from first to last.

_
24 History OF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

RELATIONS OF PERSIA WITH GREECE.

The downfall of Lydia brought about by Cyrus in one single
battle, the campaign of Harpagus in Asia Minor, and soon after that
the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, created, in the sixth century
before our era, an entirely novel situation for the antique
world. Then, for the first time, the eastern coasts of the
Mediterranean, from the mouth of the Nile. to the Bosphorus,
were in the grasp of an Asiatic empire. Previous to that date,
such of the mighty commonwealths as had aspired to get an outlet
on the western sea, as said. the Assyrians, had only gained their
purpose so far as the coast of Syria was concerned, and had laid
hold for a while of the Phcenician seaboard. From this point,
when they turned their eyes towards the main, they saw before
them an immense sheet of water, a boundless horizon, not yet
suspecting that behind it lay Europe.

Europe is far, very far from Palestine; between the latter and
the southern point of the Hellenic peninsula are no islands to
serve as beacons and resting-places so as to shorten the voyage.
Cyprus lies out of the beaten track, and Crete is very little nearer
the continent to which it is allied. Hence, in those early days,
merchantmen and war-ships alike would not have ventured to
steer straight from Tyre or Sidon on their way to the coasts of
Peloponnesus, the bays of Sparta and Argos. Rather than expose
themselves to such a venture, they preferred turning their prows
to the northward, and creep along the coasts of Syria and Asia
Minor, passing close to Cyprus, Rhodes, and Cos. In this way
they made the Sporades, the Cyclades, and, when there,
Greece was at hand. It was certainly a long way round, but
there was this to be said for it: they were sure to reach their goal
in safety. They had no need to fear tempestuous weather, for
the way was sprinkled with straits and havens in which they
could run their ships and wait till the wind had fallen; but it was
a circuitous route. Should we be required to give an estimate of
the time it took to perform the journey, we should have to count,
not by days, but weeks, and we might almost say months.

What a difference, how complete the change, on the day when
Asia Minor found herself under the sway of the king who
resided at Susa, the day when the whole peninsula was divided
RELATIONS OF PERSIA WITH GREECE. 25

 

between two Persian satraps—one stationed at Sardes, close to
the Smyrnian and Mylesian gulfs ; the other at Daskylon, on the
Propontis, whence the European sides of the Hellespont and
Bosphorus could almost be descried. Then the two continents,
one represented by a monarchy whose frontiers were further apart
than those of any the East had yet seen, the other by the small
communities of Greece, in the midst of which civic life was at
once intense and full of passionate ardour, were brought face to
face and close to each other, as two wrestlers about to close in;
the eyes of each fixed upon his antagonist, watching his lightest
movement, so as to parry or forestall it. Such a strained situa-
tion as this could not but give rise to frequent affrays, interrupted,
no doubt, by intervals of peace of longer or shorter duration, but
yet constantly renewed. Sometimes they would meet in deadly
conflict, at other times their intercourse was that of good neighbours,
almost friends; but, one way or another, contact was perpetual.
Except in the brief space of forty years or thereabouts, during
which the maritime supremacy of Athens was fully recognized,
Ionia, the cradle of Grecian arts, submitted to the iron rule
of the Persians. The war-ships of Darius and Xerxes swept
the A®gean, whilst their armies invaded Thessaly, Beeotia,
and Attica. Even when obliged, somewhat later, to keep on
the defensive, they were so actively mixed up with the internal
feuds of the Ionian Greeks as to have frequent opportunities to
sojourn in their towns, and contemplate at leisure the finest
monuments.' Similar visits were returned by the Greeks. Before
Alexander, however, the attacks they had led against the Persian
empire had produced no more effect than to graze its epidermis,
if the expression be allowed. The advance of their boldest
general, Agesilaus, did not extend beyond the western border of
Phrygia; but the mercenaries in the pay of the Great King or his
rebellious satraps went much farther. Did not the small corps
known to history as the Ten Thousand cross Taurus and the
Euphrates, and, after marches in all directions in Mesopotamia,
find their way to the coast, after fifteen months spent on Persian
soil? True, the heroic adventure was not repeated; but none
the less, thousands of soldiers of fortune lived and died in the

1 Herodotus tells of a Persian envoy who “took ship with Democedes, and with

him visited Italy, Tarentus, and Crotona ;” adding that “‘from the day of Darius
Hystaspes, Sidonian galleys were often so employed” (iii. 136, 137).
26 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

service of the Achemenide, or of pretenders, or great vassals whc
aimed at recovering their independence. They were garrisoned
in all the western provinces of the kingdom, from Egypt to the
entrance of the Euxine, and their leaders sometimes assumed
all but sovereign rule. At the same time, the delegates of Sparta,
Corinth, Athens, and Thebes were constantly seen on the roads
leading to one of those distant capitals, of which each in turn was
honoured by the presence of the sovereign. The Greek envoys
were sometimes kept long waiting ere they were received in
audience and learnt the royal will. Their stay was not protracted
beyond a few weeks or months, perhaps ; but others of their country-
men, political refugees, as Histizeus of Miletus, Demaratus and
Themistocles ; doctors, as Democedes and Ctesias (the same who
on retiring from public life took up the part of historian), were
all attached, in some capacity or other, to the court, and ac-
companied it in its peregrinations from Ecbatana to Persepolis,
from Susa to Babylon. The talkative Greeks beguiled, we
may be sure, the tedium of the journey to the Persian princes,
the viziers, and the women of their harems, some of whose
slaves were their countrywomen.’ What more natural than that
the conversation should have turned upon that Greece so near
their hearts, and that, prompted in part by vanity, in part by the
desire to astonish, they should have used with no niggard hand
the brightest colours their palette could afford in depicting her
brilliant culture. Narratives woven with so deft a hand did not
fall unheeded on the prince’s ear, but excited a desire to judge
for himself of the merit of artists extolled to the sky in his
presence.

To some extent a notion of their talent could be gained from
such works as he or his ancestors had obtained, either in Ionia or
Greece proper, without stirring from the spot. Was there not in
some corner of his palace a golden crater, executed by the famous

* With regard to Democedes and his relations with the wives of Darius,
see Herodotus, iii. 129-134. The story of the Phocian Milto is well known.
She was a great favourite of the younger Cyrus, by whom she was called Aspasia.
At Cunaxa she became the property of Artaxerxes Mnemon and entered his harem,
where she rose to a high situation (XENoPHON, Avab., I. x. 2 ; PLurarcu,
Pericles, xxiv. 12 3 Artaxerxes, Xxvi. 3, 4). Milto was not the only Greek woman who
lived in the intimacy of Cyrus. A Milesian, says Xenophon, accompanied him also
to Cunaxa, and was allowed to take refuge in the Greek camp after the battle
(Anabasts, III. x. 3).
RELATIONS OF PERSIA WITH GREECE. 27

 

goldsmith, Theodorus of Samos ?' Did not a vine of the same
metal overshadow his couch?? And if not the work of the same
artist, we may yet suppose that it came out of an Ionian work-
shop, inasmuch as it had been given to Darius by the Lydian
Pythius.* Exquisite pieces of artistic furniture and costly orna-
ments did not make up the sum of objects which the art of
Greece had revealed to the Persians. Out of Greece also had
come bronze and marble statues, distributed about the capital
of the empire, where the Macedonians found them, as lasting
trophies of western campaigns that had been without a morrow.
Some of these were from the best sculptors of the sixth
century ; but the Philesian Apollo, by Canachus, for instance, and
the images of the tyrannicide Harmodius and Aristogeiton, by
Antenor, were given back to Miletus and Athens respectively,
by Susa or Ecbatana, where they had made a stay of two
hundred years.‘ Numerous other specimens had doubtless been
included in the spoil the Persians had taken away with them,
respecting which history is silent because their authors were
unknown.°

The battles of Plateaa and Mycale put an end for ever to the
aggressive policy of the Persians and their entering Grecian
temples and extracting therefrom the statues that served to orna-
ment them. But there was no veto against inviting to Persia
the pupils of sculptors whose skill had been appreciated during
the ravages of the Median wars. This would seem to have
actually occurred more than once. We learn from a passage of
Pliny that the eminent sculptor, Telephanes of Phoczea, the con-
temporary of Polycletes and Myron, executed many important
works for Darius and Xerxes. Was Telephanes the only artist
whom the promise of high emolument induced to leave his country
for the royal stone-yard?*® Nothing is more unlikely. Dark

1 Atheneus, xil, p. 515 A.

2 Himarius, Ecloge, xxxi. 8.

5 Herodotus, vil. 27.

4 Pausanias, i. 16; ARRIAN, Anab,, iii. 16; Pausanias, i. 8; Piiny, Hist. Vat,
XXIV. 70.

5 This was the case with the Artemis belonging to the temple at Brauronia, which
Xerxes took away with him (Pausanias, viii. 46). Moses of Choréne specifies
statues of Apollo, Hercules, and Artemis which Cyrus found in Lydia, and which:
he despatched to Armenia (Hist. Armenia, II. li, p. 103, in the edition of

W. and George Whiston, London, 1736).
6 Puiny, Hist. Nat., XXXIV. xix. 19.
28. History or ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

tales were circulated all over Greece to the effect that men of
acknowledged talent were kidnapped, at the king’s order, and
transplanted to his residence, where a state of bondage awaited
them."

We do not exactly know to what personages or incidents Xeno-
phon alludes in the above citation, but we may safely conclude
that reasonable hopes of large salaries were incentives likely to
cause a perpetual flow of artisans and educated people in the
direction of Persia. From that time, both hoplites and officers out
of service were ready to wander to almost any quarter of the
globe in quest of remunerative employment. Nor should the
roving disposition of the Greeks be left out of the reckoning ; their
horror of sameness, the love of change for change’s sake which is
inherent to the race, and causes men to abandon home ties with as
little concern as if bent on a simple walk, yet through it all never
forgetting the country of their birth, and living in the expectation
that some day they may return.? Then, too, craftsmen were
surely found among the Greek groups, which represented some-
times the whole population of a township, transferred to Chaldea
and Susiana by the kings of Persia.* Cast by a wanton act of
cruelty amidst surroundings where everything was unfamiliar, the
wretched colonists at first felt strange and sadly out of place, and
had to solve the difficult problem of how to live. The grants of
land some had received gave but small returns; the nature of the
soil, the climate, and modes of culture were totally unlike what
they had been accustomed to. On their native hills they had grown
with ease the vine and olive, but the humid and burning plains of
Lower Chaldza required a skilful system of irrigation. It was a
dreary look-out; better leave it for the town, where a man who
knows how to fashion metal, marble, and wood into pleasing
elegant shapes is sure to find plenty to do; above all, when it is
inhabited by princes of magnificent taste with a decided turn for

1 XENnoPHON, Memorab., IV. ii. 33.

2 For ancient Greeks, see E. Curtius, Dre Griechen in der Diaspora (Sitsungs-
berichte of the Berlin Academy, 1882, pp. 943-957) ; for modern Greeks, A. Dumont,
Le Balkan et l Adriatigue, 8vo, 1873, Pp. 30.

® Thus in the reign of Darius the Miletans were transplanted on the Persian Gulf,
at the mouth of the Tigris (Herod. vi. 23), and those of Eretria into Cissia, thirty
kilometres north of Susa (/éid., vi. 119). When Alexander entered Persepolis, he
found Greek captives, some of whom had been shamefully mutilated (Diodorus,
xvii. 69; Curtius, v. 5; Justin, xi. 14).
RELATIONS OF PERSIA WITH GREECE. 29

 

building palaces. In this manner the captives stationed in the
central provinces of the empire combined with self-elected emi-
grants in furnishing the kings of Persia with clever artisans, trained
in the best workshops of Greece, who lent themselves with
inventive and supple dexterity to the demands of a despot whose
slightest whim was law. Hence it came to pass that, though the
Persians did not go to the mountain, the mountain came very near
them; in other words, a sufficient number of Hellenes, either by
force or willingly, were established in the very heart of the king-
dom, so that contact between the two races must have produced
some fruits, the remains of which are to be sought in the sculpture
and buildings of Persia, the sole instances of her activity which are
still extant. It would indeed be surprising if attentive study of
these should bring us to confess that no sign or mark of Greek
taste and Greek fingers is to be traced anywhere in Persia. On
the other hand, a few hundred or thousand individuals, if pre-
ferred, who either saw the court of Persia as visitors or permanent
settlers, were not sufficiently strong to modify to any great extent
the surroundings in which circumstances had placed them. We
find here nothing to be compared, even remotely, with the influence
the Ionians exercised upon their neighbours of Lydia, or, to take
another example, the ascendency the Greeks began to have over
the minds of their Roman conquerors, from the end of the third
century B.C.

In principle the Achemenid dynasty was in every particular
like that of its predecessors in the East. It rested, as these, on
hereditary despotism subject to no control, the absolute power of
a semi-god upon earth. With the Greek, on the contrary, law was
looked upon as the sovereign mistress of the commonwealth, the
offspring of the wise, the Lycurguses and Zaleucoses, the Dracons
and Solons, or at least the impersonal expression of the common
will, the carrying out of which was entrusted to freely chosen
magistrates. It will be readily admitted that no two conceptions
could be more unlike ; the Greeks themselves were fully conscious
of the antithesis they offered, and the impression they left upon
their minds is reflected in their philosophic romances—the Cyro-
pedia, for example, which sets forth the ideal picture of an
enlightened prince endowed with every conceivable virtue, together
with an indirect criticism against the vices of democracy. Then,
too, the account of Herodotus as to the part played at the
30 History oF Art In’ ANTIQUITY.

 

court of Darius and Xerxes by Demaratus, where the primary rule
was never to contradict or thwart in any way the royal caprice,
clearly shows that Greek politicians, accustomed to a government
carried on by debate, in which it was necessary to persuade equals,
must often have felt embarrassed lest they should offend the sus-
ceptibilities of their royal master. Contact with Greece and the
splendid examples of her political and intellectual life had no
counteracting influence on Persia; quite the contrary. As time
went on the evil effects of her government became more and
more manifest ; at the head was a prince enervated by harem life,
intent upon repressing intrigues and rival claims of near kinsmen
by wholesale massacres, whose growing incapacity to govern peoples
whom he never saw, or control the movements of armies he had
ceased to command, were known to all.

The religious beliefs of Greece, which, thanks to the prestige of
poetry and art, had spread with astonishing rapidity along the
coasts of the Mediterranean, and above all the Italian peninsula,
among the Etruscans, Sabellians and Latins, would seem to have
waited until Alexander, to cross Taurus and penetrate into the
interior. Conquest had brought under the dominion of the Persians
the whole of Anterior Asia and forced them out of their secluded
plateau, but whilst they retained Ahurd-Mazda as their god, and
ascribed to him their victories, they yielded, as we have seen, to
the attractions of alien creeds; but the deities they admitted into
their pantheon belonged to nations amongst whom their kings
were wont to spend part of the year.» Thus Anahita, by royal
decree, received the public vows of princes and Persian satraps,
and it is just possible that, in places, the Mylitta of Chaldaa and
the Syrian Ashtoreth shared the same fortune. In Egypt, such
among the Achzemenide as were gifted with political insight did
homage to Baal-Ammon, Ptah, Osiris, and Apis, the earthly
representative of the latter at Isis and Neith. In Greece, on the
contrary, the Persians destroyed all the temples they lighted upon;
and there is no indication from which we might infer that. they
tried to propitiate gods whose altars they had violated and who
visited on them their acts of violence, or that they learnt the
names or invoked the might of Zeus, Apollo, Athéne, and Hera.

1 Herodotus, vii. 3, ror 105, 209, 234-237 ; viii. 65. ;

® This is clearly the meaning of Herodotus when he speaks of borrowings made

from Assyrians and Arabs (i. 131).
® To this there was one exception. In 490 B.c. Datis not only spared the Delian
RELATIONS OF PERSIA WITH GREECE. 31

 

The diffusion of the Greek language in the interior of Asia
Minor is coeval with the brilliant epoch of Ionian genius, when its
progress was so steady as to daily infringe on the Phrygian, Lydian,
Lycian, and other local dialects, and in the beginning of our era
finally supplanting them. Nor was its success less marked in the
direction of the Italian peninsula, where, if it did not replace exist-
ing idioms—one of which, that of Latium, was destined to so grand
a future—its superior literary form caused the Italians to borrow
therefrom, not only the names of the gods and heroes of Greece,
but those of numerous objects unknown to their rudimentary
civilization before their intercourse with Hellas. To judge even
from the latest inscriptions of the Achemenid dynasty, nothing of
the kind took place in Persia, since neither the words nor the syntax
of her language betray sign or token of having been influenced by
the Greek tongue. That the latter never became an official idiom,
although the Greek subjects of the Great King could be counted
by thousands, is proved by the monumental inscriptions of the
Persepolitan palaces and those at Behistiin, written in Persian,
Susian, and Assyrian. To make known the edicts and mandates
of the sovereign to nations speaking a Semitic dialect, the Ara-
maic tongue and Aramaic letters were employed. Attached to the
king’s person were doubtless dragomans, through whose medium
he treated with the envoys of Sparta, Athens, and Thebes; but no
state department was created for Asiatic Greece, such as existed
for the despatch of business relating to the western provinces,
including Egypt, where the correspondence was carried on in
Aramaic.’ As to rescripts from the seat of government and

sanctuary, but actually offered incense to Artemis and Apollo (Herodotus, vi. 97) —
a measure which prudence and political reasons rendered advisable and necessary, said
the Ionians who accompanied the general, for in their eyes Delos was a very sacred
place indeed. But in this same campaign Datis destroyed the temples at Naxos
and Erethre, to avenge, he declared, the gods whose temples the Greeks had burnt
down at Sardes (/é7d., vi. 96, 100). Ten years later, Xerxes acted in precisely. the
same way (Jdid., vill. 32, 33, 533 ix. 13).

1 Thucydides (iv. 50) tells the story that in 424 the Athenians stopped a Persian
envoy, the bearer of a despatch to the Lacedemonians, written, says the historian, in
“ Assyrian letters,” that is to say, in Persian cuneiforms. That no translation was
appended thereto is proved from the fact that one had to be made from the text :
ex tav Accupioy ypappdtov tas émurtohds petaypaydpevor avéyvvcav. Even when
dealing with literary documents evidently written in Persian, such as the stelas that
Darius set up on the Bosphorus (Herodotus, iv. 87), or the letter that the Great King
sent to his allies, the writers of the fifth century invariably use the expression of
Acovpia ypdéppara, The term is so far correct inasmuch as it denotes the origin
32 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

intended for the Eolian, Ionian, and Dorian cities on the littoral,
they were perhaps translated at Sardes and Daskylon.

It was the same with writing. Here also the Persians derived
the materials of the first system of signs they employed in noting
down the sounds of their languages, from the inheritance left by
the civilizations of the Euphrates valley (Fig. 3). Late comers
into a world where alphabetical principles were beginning to prevail,
they adopted, from the time of Cyrus, a syllabary that may be com-
pared with the Phcenician.’ Composed of thirty-six forms between
vowels and consonants, it carries the process of decomposing its

TRICK CNTR ey ae

h-s-ya-4-r-s-4 . Kh-s-a-ya-th-1-ya . Va-za.r-

EOI TT THICTTY eA aNGTTEN F Ie

ka . Kh-s-4-ya -th-1-ya . hh-s-a-ya-th 1- ya

HP TTA TY TET ey EMEC KS AKOTA KS 7a

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-n & m. D-4-ra-ya va -h- u Kh-s-a- ya- tn-
FFTCCCCTIN Cr A CPE Aiki ann
-i-ya-h-ya-4a . p u-tra. Ha-kh-a-ma-n-i- s-i-ya .

 

Fic. 3.—Inscription of palace No. 5 of general plan, Persepolis. Transcribed by J. Ménant.?

elements almost as far as the articulated voice; but they are in no
way related to the Phrygian, Lycian, and Carian forms, derived, as
we know, from the Greek alphabet ; nor have they any affinity

of the forms under notice. Later on, however, to judge from the historians of
Alexander, cited by Arrian (Azaé, vi. 29) and Strabo (XLV. iii. 7), they would seem
to have suspected that distinct systems of writing lurked behind a common aspect,
when the term zepouxa ypdppara is employed to define Persian.

1 Upon the origin of this alphabet, see J. DARMESTETER, Rapport annuel fait &
la Société antique, le 21 Juin, 1888, pp. 39, 40. Authorities are not agreed as to the
method made use of in the borrowing. It is supposed that the cuneiform alphabet
always preserved an official and monumental character, but that for ordinary pur-
poses Aramaic letters were in use (dz@.). This, to a certain extent, was the case
for the Assyrian language from the days of the Sargonidze, proved by the inscriptions
on the weights of Sennacherib exhumed at Nimroud, as also the legends of certain
cylinders and cones, and lastly a few words in Aramaic, incised by the scribes as
memento on the edge of many a clay tablet of the class known as contract-tablets
between private individuals, written in cuneiforms (Hist. of Art, tom. ii. p. 630, and
n. 2, pp. 687-6869).

® Khsyaarsa. khsayathiya. vazar- Xerxes, king great,
ka. khsdyathiya. khsdyathiyaa- king of kings,
nam. Darayavahus. khsayath- son of Darius,

iyahyaa. putra. Hakhamanisiya. king, Achzemenid.
RELATIONS OF PERSIA WITH GREECE. 33

 

with Aramaic writing, which at that epoch began to be in com-
mon use as far as Mesopotamia. They were borrowed from the
Babylonian system, Persian being the only Aryan language written
with cuneiform characters.’

The drift of our remarks will long ere this have been antici-
pated. The fascination Greece exercised over Persia before the
time of Alexander was not of the kind which had caused Egypt,
Phrygia, and Lydia to surrender at discretion, as far back as the
seventh century B.c.

In the eyes of the Greeks, despite the poetic colours with which
they clothed the figure of the elder Cyrus, and the interest the tragic
fate of Cyrus the Younger excited in their breasts, the Persians
were from first to last no more than barbarians. The latter had
no feelings but of contempt for the Greeks, by whom they had
certainly been worsted more than once; yet they were a people
who, on the morrow of their victories, craved the interference of
their late enemy to compose their home dissensions, and who did
not hesitate to accept or ask for his gold. Eminent Greek refugees
may have lived some years at the court of Persian kings, where

1 The Persian or old Persian language differs in some respects from Zend, or, to
speak accurately, from Median. They were dialects spoken at the same time, one
in the south and the other in the north of Iran. The Persian writing which has
come down to us consists of inscriptions, most of them very short and several times
repeated. The most important of these, in point of length, finish, and matter, is the
rock inscription at Behistiin, which comprises ten times as many words as all the rest put
together. The number collected from the short texts barely reaches four hundred words
(J. DaRmeEsTErER, Etudes sur la Grammaire historique de la langue persane, dans les
Etudes iraniennes, tom. i., Paris, Vieweg, pp. 4, 7). The whole collection of these
inscriptions will be found in Alépersische Keilinschrifien, etc., Leipzig, 1862, second
edit. 1882, published by Spiegel, and in Jnscriptiones paleopersice Achemenidarum,
editit et expliciet, Petersburg, 1872, brought out by Kossovicz. Ménant has given a
translation in the volume entitled Les Achéménides et les inscriptions de la Perse, 8vo,
A. Lévy, 1872. This work, to which we shall refer more than once, besides the
translation of epigraphic texts that have been discovered and deciphered all over
Iran, contains a summary of the buildings and the rock-cut sculptures associated
with these inscriptions, together with numerous woodcuts, and an historical essay
upon the princes who had them incised. Meénant has more recently published an
account of the labours and the discoveries that have led to the reading and the
translation of the Avesta on the one hand, and of the inscriptions of Persia upon
stone,

The great rock-inscription at Behistiin was first published by Sir H. Rawlinson,
in the year 1846, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. x. part i. He likewise
published in the same /ournal (vol. xi. pp. 334-339) the short rock-cut inscription
of Xerxes at Van, along with numerous legends of Darius, Xerxes, and one of

Artaxerxes Ochus at Persepolis.—TRrs.
D
34 History oF Art in Antiquity.

 

their advice was asked, and sometimes followed, if it happened to
suit the taste of the masters. Satraps, as Tissaphernes and
Pharnabazus, may have surrounded themselves with Greeks, who
expected to make a profit out of them, but who frequently met
with more than their match. Not one of those Persian grandees,
save perhaps Cyrus the Younger, was ever known to learn the
language of his guests, or adopt their manners and habits, or yield
to the attractive style of their poetry and plastic art. The two
people were too diametrically opposed to understand, like, or feel
that kind of regard one for the other which leads to close
intimacy and is productive of rich results. No Achaemenid would
have dreamt of sending gifts to the great oracles of Greece, as
Amasis, Midas, and Crcesus had done; far less would he have
cared to follow the example of the Arsacide, and style himself
Phithellentst king.

Despite the relations and the almost daily contact which existed
between the empire of Cyrus and of his successors with Greece,
it was and remained in all essentials Asiatic to the last day of its
existence; vaster and better organized than its predecessors it
may have been, yet administered on precisely the same lines, its life
made up of the same old customs and habits, and with a standard
no higher than theirs. How unlike the ideal Greece had set up for
herself, and to which she was even then giving effect in politics,
letters, and arts.

Granting the existence of a continuity whence numerous re-
semblances arose, which it is unnecessary to enumerate in detail,
we are entitled to assume, until disproved, that the dominant
elements in the plastic creations of Persia were borrowed from
older civilizations.

DIVISION OF THE SoIL SURFACE, AND NOMENCLATURE OF
MOoNUMENTS TO BE STUDIED.

The history of Iran, as we have endeavoured to point out, has
a sequence and continuity stretching from remote antiquity to
our own day ; nevertheless, the monuments we propose to review
in this place will be confined to such as were elaborated during
the Median empire and the Achaemenid dynasty; that is to say,
before the Macedonian conquest. They are the sole monuments
whose birth preceded the hour when Hellenic genius not only
NOMENCLATURE OF MONUMENTS TO BE STUDIED. 35

 

marched triumphantly from one end of Anterior Asia to another,

but, borne on the wings of prodigious success, founded Greek

states in distant India as well. The ascendency it won for itself

was at once so commanding and widespread that traces of its

activity will be found everywhere, even with princes the avowed

enemies of the Seleucidz and the Romans, their successors in ~
Syria. The monuments under notice are derived straight from

Oriental art; hence the appropriateness of making them precede

Grecian art, whose history will follow immediately on this.

Before we turn our attention to defining the characteristics that
make up the individuality of the plastic art of Iran, and try to
restore some of the types it has created, we will briefly go over
the monuments composing this series, which we know from the
descriptions of the ancients, along with those of which important
remains still exist, noting their distribution from north to south,
from the provinces of Media and Susiana on to Persia.’

1 Before we proceed with this study, we wish to briefly indicate the main works
we shall borrow from or refer the reader to. In regard to books of travel that have
brought the ruins of Persia, her monuments and inscriptions, to the notice of
European savants down to the beginning of this century, the reader will do well to
consult Chardin’s very complete note, vol. viii. p. 244, in the collection published
by Langlés in 1811, consisting of ro vols., 4to, with folio atlas. Cartens Niebuhr
visited Persepolis in 1765, and the copies he made of Persian inscriptions were
the first that could be used to study the texts they represent (Reisebeschreibung
nach Arabien und umliegenden Laender, 2 vols., 4to, Copenhagen, 1774-1778); a
supplementary volume was published at Hamburg, 1837. His drawings were no
better than those of his predecessors. To find images not only drawn to scale,
but conveying a faithful notion of the architectonic and sculptural style of the Per-
sians, we must descend to KER Porter, Zvavels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia,
Ancient Babylonia, ete., during the years 1817, 1818, 1819, avd 1820, with nume-
rous engravings of portraits, costumes, antiquities, 2 vols., 4to, London, 1821,
1822. Next in chronological order are two French architects, Téxier and Coste,
whose works are still the main quarries for modern students in their Oriental
researches: Téxier, Description de l’Arménie, de la Perse et de la Mésopotamie,
2 vols. fol., Didot, 1842-1852, 151 engravings and coloured plates; Voyage en
Perse de MM. Eugene Flandin, peintre, et Pascal Coste, architecte, pendant les années
1840 ef 1841, fol., 6 vols., Gide et Baudry ; Perse ancienne, text, t vol., 188 pages,
by Flandin ; Perse ancienne, 4 vols., with 229 plates; Perse moderne, 1 vol., 100
plates. Coste’s collection of original drawings has been deposited in the Biblio-
théque de l’Institut de France by their author. They testify, along with the tracings,
to the great care bestowed upon them ; then, too, the explanatory notes will be
found, as in our own case, of special value. Besides these are a number, notably
restored perspective sketches, that have never been engraved. Materials for com-
parison will be found in another work by the same artist, entitled J/onuments
modernes de la Perse, mesuréts, dessinés et décrits, by P. Coste, Paris, Mosel, 1867,
fol., 57 pages and 71 plates, mostly coloured. Relation du Vo) age, Flandin (2 vols.,
36 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

The capital of the Median empire was Hagmatana, or Hag-
matan, as the Behistiin inscription has it, a form the Greeks
scarcely changed when they turned it into Agbata, more commonly
Ecbatana. It is generally admitted that its situation was nearly
on the site occupied by the modern town of Hamadan, whose
name is but slightly modified from the old designation.’ Hag-
matan rose at the foot of the Elwend, the Orontes of the Greek
geographers. The spot was well chosen, in a temperate zone,
with a plentiful supply of water from the near mountains. The
palace built by the Median princes, who first introduced the popu-
lations of Iran to the stir and life of the Asiatic world, was famous
in antiquity, and tradition ascribed it to Dejoces, the legendary
founder of the monarchy. After the collapse of the Median
empire, it served as residence to the kings of Persia ; and though
greatly damaged in the wars between the Seleucide and the
Parthians, it continued to be inhabited by the kings of the latter.
No excavations have been made on the site of Ecbatana, and
the ruinous mass supposed to represent the ancient capital has
been very inadequately described and traced; yet we are not left
entirely to our own devices, since in the descriptions of Herodotus
and Polybius will be found data of inestimable value and accuracy.”

8vo, published by the same firm), is a great work, which nothing since it saw the
light has displaced from its high position, and well deserves to be consulted.
More aid might have been expected out of the collection of 150 photographs,
published by Ascher, of Berlin, under the title: Persepolis, die Achemenidischen
und Sassanidischen Denkmaeler und Inschriften von Persepolis, Istakhr, Pasargade,
Shahpir, sum ersten Male photographisch aufgenommen von F. Soltzse, im Anschlusse
an die epigraphisch archeologische Expedition in Persten von F. C. Andreas, heraus-
gegeben auf Veranlassung der ftinften tnternationalen Orientalistencongresses su Berlin,
mit einer Besprechung der Inschriften von Th. Noeldeke, 1882, fol. These photo-
graphs are often indistinct, and not a few cchés are much injured, and several
plates utterly obliterated. The latest work dealing with the period which alone
concerns us is L’Art antique de la Perse—Achéménides, Perses, Sassanides, 5 parts,
4to, Paris, 1884-1889, 103 plates, out of which a certain number do not relate
to Persia, but to monuments the author compares with those of Persia. The fact
that our drawings are chiefly taken from Coste will cause no surprise when it is
added that, in company with Flandin, he spent forty days making tracings and
drawings of the ruins at Persepolis, whilst Téxier remained ten days in the place,
and Dieulafoy only four (JANE Dreutaroy, Za Perse, la Chaldée et la Susiane,
pp. 382 and 414).

* The half-dozen or so of cuneiform inscriptions and antiquities are figured in
Fianpin and Coste’s Perse ancienne, Plates XXIV.-XXVI. dis. See also KER
Porter, Zyravels, tom. ii. p. 105; and Morier, A Second Journey through Persia,
p. 268. Téxier’s illustrations of Hamadan are purely picturesque views.

* Herodotus, i. 98; Polybius, x. 27.
NOMENCLATURE OF MONUMENTS TO BE STUDIED. 37

 

The province now called Persian Kurdistan corresponds with a
portion of old Media; it stretches east and west of Elwend among
the valleys of the Zagros range, where traces of the Achemenide,
Arsacide, and Sassanide are met with everywhere (Fig. 4).
There is the temple of Aangovar, a vast temenos, wholly sur-
rounded by colonnades, with a sanctuary in the centre. Did
altars exist here upon which the sacred fire was kept burning ?
To what deity, if not to Anahita, was the temple dedicated? On

 

East of
eH

 

Paris 45°10
yi fe i

!

 

 

 

 

East of Greenwich 48°»
: C Perron

Fic. 4.—Map of the district of Kermansiah. RecLus, Mouvelle Géographie, tom. ix. p. 288.

 

these questions no literary document has yet shed any light, and,
as a modern town has risen on the site of the old edifice,
soundings would not be easy. It is possible that the public rites
celebrated here led back to hoary antiquity. As to the monument
itself, to judge from the apparent parts, we should say that the
entire fabric was reconstructed in the time of the Macedonians
or the Parthians, so that there will be no necessity to deal with the
remains of a building due to one or other of the numerous Greek
architects in the employ of Asiatic sovereigns after Alexander."

A little beyond Ecbatana, on the main road which, through
the elevated valley of the Kharkar, or Choaspes, led to the plains
of Chaldza, the traveller sees shooting up before him the colossal

1 With regard to the Kangovar temple, see FLANDIN and Coste’s Perse ancienne,
Plates XX.-XXIII. dzs.; and Téxier, Plates LXII.—-LXVIII.
38 History oF ArT in ANTIQUITY.

 

cliff of Bisutun (Behistiin), whose south side is turned towards
the road, with green meadows in front, upon the surface of
which remains of the ancient town of Baghistana, the “ place of
gardens,” lie scattered about.! The interest which attaches to
the site is centred in the figured sculptures and historical texts the
Achemenide and Sassanide caused to be executed on the face
of the lofty rocks (Fig. 5). Such of these inscriptions and
images as were near the ground (they are the most recent) have
greatly suffered; fortunately this does not apply to the famous
monument known as the “ Behistiin inscription.” It is a huge
block about fifty metres above the bottom of the valley, in length.
forty-five metres, and thirty in height. Over its polished face
Darius, son of Hystaspes, in the thirteenth year of his reign,
caused to be incised the long recital of the troublous times that
followed his advent to the throne, the successful wars that put
an end to them, the chastisement inflicted on the rebels, and the
measures taken to secure the benefits of a wise administration
for the empire ; whilst above appears the figure of the king, the
victor of so many brilliant achievements. The inscription was in
the three languages commonly used by the royal scribes ; the Persian
text alone consists of no less than four hundred and sixteen lines.
At the base of this venerable page of lapidary history are remains
of a terrace by which visitors reached the monument. In order
to protect the characters against the weather, a thin coat of
silicate, by way of varnish, would seem to have been laid over
the prepared surface.’

By following, in a southern direction, the eastern sides of Zagros
and the Turkish frontier, ancient Susiana (now Shuster) is reached.
A few miles to the westward of that town, the present capital of
the province, are found artificial mounds or tells, around which
appear the confused remains of what must once have been a
populous centre. The place goes by the name of Shush, the
Susa of the Greeks (Fig. 6). The mound is many centuries
older than Cyrus, and travels back to the Elamite kings, who first
raised it so as to plant on its summit a citadel repeatedly attacked
and blockaded by Chaldzan and Assyrian conquerors, as well as

1 Diodorus has recorded the antiquities of Baghistana (II. xiii. 1, 2), and an account
of them is given in the Live Great Monarchies, tom. ii. pp. 274, 275, by G. Rawlinson.
2 A translation, accompanied by an exhaustive account of this important document,
will be read in MéNant, Les Achéménides et les Inscriptions Perse, tom. ii. pp. 274, 276;
 

ae ta

i Tiers
a he cA AS ASS
i” cll

|
i

     

i ‘
a eA Ma
. ~ 4 ns ti

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fic, 5.—Sculptures and inscription at Behisttin, FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne,
, Plate XVI.
 

 

 
NOMENCLATURE OF MoNUMENTS TO BE STUDIED. 4I

 

Achemenid princes down to Darius Codomanus; yet each succes-
sive revolution added to its height and breadth, the ruins of

   

  
   
  

phi,

  
  

  
 
   
 
    

  
 
 
 

Wye Sn
i -

SS

i“
Uy

‘
Wy

  

f
4
y
Wy.

CRIs:
2
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x)

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ce

      

   
 

   

| Note The double bunes wnclucate the walls
1 uncovered by our trenches

 

4 “ae ‘eee Soo dee soe soe Mitres

Dials“?
Fic. 6.—Plan of tumuli, Susa. J. DizuLaroy, 4 Suse, Journal des Fouilles, ato, p. 87.

destroyed palaces built by fallen dynasties serving as base and
support to the new constructions. For obvious reasons, the upper
42 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

stratum of the hillock is almost entirely composed of Persian
palaces buried under their own ruins. That of Artaxerxes
Mnemon was identified and disengaged in 1851 by the English
traveller Loftus; and between 1884 and 1886 Dieulafoy completely
cleared the site, when he came upon the remains of a palace raised
by Darius, son of Hystaspes, which the inscription copied by
Loftus specified as having preceded, on the same spot, the one
erected by Artaxerxes.*| Trenches cut at various points of the
mound enabled the French mission to gain an idea of the trace
and construction of the formidable defensive works that surrounded
the royal residence and turned it into an impregnable fortress.
Thanks to Dieulafoy, Persian art is now represented in the Louvre
as in no other European museum. Before him the few and very
secondary pieces of sculpture from Persepolis in the British
Museum, were all the collections of the West had to show in
connection with the art of Persia. Of far greater merit are
the treasures displayed in the two rooms set apart for them
at the Louvre and opened to the public in 1888. Never-
theless, the tumulus at Susa, as its bold and fortunate explorer
is the first to own, has not by a long way yielded its secret.
Owing to lack of time and insufficient means, the excavations that
have hitherto been made have disturbed but a feeble portion of
the mound’s surface, and in no instance have they gone very deep.
Yet we cannot doubt for a moment that, buried in its flanks,
are remains of monuments much older than the Persian dominion,
monuments that would cast floods of light on the origins
of Chaldean culture and cuneiform writing, and enable us,
perhaps, to restore a whole chapter of the lost history of the

* W. Kenner Lortus, Travels and Researches in Chaldea and Susiana, with an
Account of Excavations at Warka and Shush, in 1849-1852, London, 1857, 8vo.
The figures are on a small scale and undotted. The original design of Churchill,
the artist who accompanied Loftus, will be found in the Department of Oriental
Antiquities at the British Museum, where I went to consult them (Second Supple-
mentary Volume of Drawings from Objects found at Susa, executed by A. Churchill,
W. K. Loftus, and Lieutenant Jackson). Despite the merit of some of these
drawings, they have lost much of their interest since Dieulafoy’s journey to Susa.
Consult Aevue Arché., 3rd series, tom. vi. and tom. viii. ; Rapports sur les Fouilles de
Suse; and Jane Dieutaroy, A Suse, Journal des Fouilles, 1884-1886, ato, Hachette,
1888, 121 wood engravings and map. The same firm published last year (1890)
L’Acropole de Suse, by Dieulafoy, which is but an amplification of the former ; the
book is profusely illustrated with thirty-two plates, of which twenty-two are in
lithochromy.
NOMENCLATURE OF MONUMENTS TO BE STUDIED. 43

 

primitive people of Anterior Asia, who on the neighbouring rocks
of Malamir have left curious sculptures—of which specimens will
be given a little farther on—long inscriptions seemingly in the
Susian language, the deciphering and translating of which are
not yet by any means an easy task.

If from Susiana the traveller goes through the Bakthiyari
mountains, he will reach Persia properly so called, Farsistan, Fars,
and thence the Shiraz province, the cradle-land of the royal
house of the Achzmenidz, whose sons were the youthful com-
panions in arms of Cyrus. Here are found monuments of Persian
art, both numerous and well preserved, which from the seventeenth
century, when they were visited by Chardin, have been carefully
drawn and studied by subsequent travellers. They may be
divided into three principal groups. The first, to name them
from north to south, is found in the upland valley of the Polvar,
near Meshed-i-Mirghab; the second at Persepolis; and the third
hard by, at Naksh-i-Rustem, ruling the plain of Mervdasht (see
map, Fig. 7).

The ruins near the small village of Meshed-i-Murghab were
long held as those of Pasargadz, a holy town of Persia, frequently
mentioned by Greek writers. Within the last twenty years,
however, some have tried to prove that the site of Pasargade
should be sought, not in the Polvar valley, but to the southward
of Shiraz, on the caravan road which from this town ran to
Kirman, somewhere between Fesa and Darabgerd.' This is
not the place for discussing a somewhat obscure question of
historical geography, but for the sake of brevity we will continue
here to designate as Pasargade the group of ruins near Meshed-
i-Marghab ;* where a great block of masonry occurs, built out of
the hill, known as Zahkte-Madere-¢-Soleiman (“the Throne of
Solomon’s Mother”), intended, no doubt, to uphold a structure
that never was built and the remains of a palace that rose in the
plain ; together with two monuments—the Gabre-Madere-i-Solei-

1 With regard to the position of Pasargade, see Oppert, Journal asiatigue, 1871,
tom. xix. p. 548, and Dieutaroy, L’Art antique de la Perse, i. pp. 1-3. NOELDEKE
(Persia, p. 565) and Srorze (Bemerkungen) do not accept the reasons put forth by
the French savant, and continue to regard the ruins at Meshed-i-Mirghab as those
of Pasargade. No remains of the Achzmenidian epoch are visible in the neigh-
bourhood of Darabgerd.

2 The word ¢akhte properly signifies any artificial platform akin to those stages
that serve as thrones.
44 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

man, a tiny fane surrounded by porticoes, and a ruinous tower,
on a square plan—both of which seem to have been tombs.
Inspection of these relics, their style, and the proud inscription
which appears about the stones, everything indicates that they
belong to the time of the great Cyrus, the founder of the
Achemenid dynasty.

 

BO!

Wasiraba
.

    

52°30": 53" East of Greenwich
Fic. 7.—Map of the Polvar valley. RecLus, Vouvelle Géographie, tom. ix. p. 265.

see

 

 

 

The Polvar-Rid, after crossing the plain of Meshed-i-Mirghab,
runs in a meandering course through narrow valleys, skirted by a
path which disappears under the swollen waters of the stream
during the rainy season,’ when it debouches upon the fertile, well-
watered plain of Mervdasht, where it joins the Bend-Amir, and
with it disappears into Lake Miris. Here are found the im-

* Dreuaroy, L’ Art antigue, etc., i. Plate IT.
NoMENCLATURE OF MONUMENTS TO BE STUDIED. 45

 

posing ruins, which all travellers who have seen them have agreed
to identify with the Persepolis of the Greeks, to which modern
Persians apply the name respectively of Chehl-Minar (the Forty
Columns), Takht-i-Jamshid (the Throne of Jamshid), and Kane-i-
Dara (the House of Darius).’ It is just possible that the Parsé
of the cuneiform inscriptions denotes this same place. The remains
of the palaces of the Achemenide, from Darius, the head of the
second dynasty of Persia, stand at different levels on a spacious
and artificial platform at the foot of the mountain. The royal
tombs are excavated, speos-like, behind the esplanade, in the
flanks of the lofty cliff.

To the same epoch belong the remains of the town of Istakhr,
distant some five kilometres from this to the ward at the entrance
of the Polvar valley. Its well-chosen situation near the passes, on
the bank of the river as it escapes from the narrow gorge, and the
rich arable and pasture land around, made it an important thriving
centre down to the Arab conquest. Conspicuous among its relics
are fragments of Jamshid’s harem.

The third group of monuments are at Naksh-i-Rustem, on the
right bank of the Polvar, where the masons who built Istahkr
attacked the spur of a mountain which faces the platform of
Persepolis on the other side of the valley. Here, in the gloomy
depths of the lofty cliff, are the rock-tombs of Darius Hystaspes
and three other kings; whilst incised in the sheer front of the
rock appear the famous “ drawings of Rustem,” the legendary hero
of Persia, whom the natives think they recognize in the figures
representing Sassanid sovereigns, the Sapors or Shaptrs and
Chosroes, depicted below the tombs in the side of the cliff at its

1 Before the Macedonian epoch, the Greeks do not appear to have had any clear
notions in regard to the royal residence; they deemed that the Great king always
held his court at Susa, because their envoys were usually received there. The
particular name the Persians gave to the chief town of their own country of Fars
is not known with certainty ; the term “ Persepolis” does not appear in Greek
historians before Alexander, and is generally ascribed to Clearchus. To be
grammatically correct it should have been Tlepodzrods, since the literal signification
of Tlepeérolus is properly “town-destroyer.” It was a play upon the word,
intended to recall the name of Persians and the destruction (wépous) of the town by
Alexander, in imitation of ’IMéov wépous of the Greek epos. Later historians and
geographers tried to correct the ill-formed name, and proposed IepoaéroNs,
Tlepotrodus, and even Iepodmohs ; but to no purpose, The habit was of too long
standing to be easily cast aside (NOELDEKE, “Persepolis,” in Excyclop. Brit., gth
edit.).
46 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

base. Towards the plain facing these escarps, rises a tower
whose funereal purpose scarcely admits of any doubt; its close
resemblance to the fragments that still exist near Meshed-i-
Marghab has already been referred to.

Lastly, in this same province, and south of Shiraz, between it
and the sea, on one of the lower grades of the plateau, both at
Sarvistan, Ferash-Abad, and Fertz-Abad, the still imposing re-
mains which until quite recently were considered as works of the
Sassanid are encountered, along with scanty fragments of the
Achemenide. It has been sought to prove that they all belong
to the latter. We shall have to discuss the reasons advanced in
support of the hypothesis, and examine whether facts and indica-
tions invoked in its favour do not admit of another explanation.

 
( 47 )

 

CHAPTER II.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE.

MarTERIALS.

As soon as the Persians, thanks to Cyrus, found themselves
undisputed masters of Anterior Asia, they must have aspired to
raise buildings that should be the visible expression of their
wealth and power throughout the Iranic plateau, notably in that
province of Fars, the cradle of their kings. The nature of the
ground favoured their ambition. In a mountainous country like
Persia, the architect, no matter the site he fixed upon, found every-
where to his hand the natural stone which failed him in Chaldza.
It was a limestone of good quality ; indeed, some varieties are so
fine, hard, and close grained as almost to deserve the name of
marble. These rocks vary in colour from light to deep grey,
with here and there yellowish and dark-brown tones. Such
differences were taken advantage of to provide certain important
parts in the better class of buildings—the decorative figures, for
example—with more power of resistance and a finer cut, or to
obtain contrasts and happy effects of colouring. The native
limestone is found in thick strata, so that it can be cut in blocks of
great size."

1 The close-grained limestone in question forms the upper geological stratum of
the Iranic plateau, on the southward of Teheran ; with it were built Pasargade,
Persepolis, and Susa. It might almost be denominated “ monumental limestone.”
The bas-reliefs at Behistiin, Shaptr, and Malamir are sculptured towards the crests
of these same limestone formations which command the plain ; whilst in their flanks
are excavated the Naksh-i-Rustem sepulchres, as well as those at Persepolis. Persia
has no other good building material. The houses of Shuster are made of sandstone
found in the plains of Susiana; but it is very friable, and could not have furnished
materials for constructing vast and solid edifices. The action of time has so

disfigured a Sassanid statuette of this soft sandstone belonging to the Collection
Dieulafoy, in the Louvre, as to render it a shapeless mass. Of volcanic rocks
48 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

 

On the other hand, the conditions of royal life, as it has always
existed in the East, tended to give such dimensions to edifices,
that had stone been exclusively used in their construction, the
risk of making them too lasting would have been very great. As
in Assyria, here also, each prince, on his ascending the throne, set
about building him a palace that should be entirely his own, about
which, too, his name and image should figure plentifully.? But the
edifice was barely commenced than he wished to see it finished,
that he might have the enjoyment of it. To satisfy the royal
impatience, a quicker way of going to work was devised in artificial
stone, burnt brick, and crude brick. The latter, whether shaped
in moulds or dried in the sun, goes through almost imperceptible
stages, to form fzsé or beaten clay, which we see employed at the
back of the ramparts of Susa, where it is used as support to the
wall.’ Finally, a kind of frit, almost as white as plaster, and hard
as stone, was made into a paste, out of which were fashioned those
squares enamelled on one side which, at Susa, and doubtless else-
where, decorated the sides of staircases, the walls of porticoes or
of hypostyle chambers.’

If the body of the buildings was of stone and brick, of what
material were lofts made? A glance at the proportions of the
Persian column, its thin and airy aspect, would, almost by itself,
answer the question, in that it would have been a poor support
for a stone entablature. Asa matter of fact, no sign or mark of
a lithic cornice or architrave has been seen on the site of Persian
structures, but towards the top of pillars and ante in good
preservation, appear notches that could only have been cut for
receiving the ends of timber pieces; whilst when we consider
the arrangement of these same cranks and the size of the actual
buildings, we fully realize that, far from being insignificant, these
cropping up to the surface in the accessible parts of Western Persia, there only
occurs the granite of Kortd, between Ispahan and Teheran, whilst the trachytic and
porphyritic rocks of Demawend are still further removed from Fars. Granting the
configuration of the Iranic territory, and the absence of carriage roads, it is self-
evident that building materials could not be fetched from such distances, The
quarries whence were obtained the stones out of which the palaces at Persepolis
were made are well within a mile of the platform upon which they stand, whilst
the blocks introduced in the edifices of Susa were found at a distance of a few
miles (Notes handed in by M. Houssay).

1 Hist. of Art, tom. il. p. 421.

* DiguLaroy, Fouilies de Suse, campagne de 1885, 1886, Rapport, pp. 32, 33.

® Tbid., p. 17.
MATERIALS. 49

 

were edifices admitting of multitudinous pieces skilfully and care-
fully adjusted (Fig. 8). The royal constructions of Persia
required, therefore, timber in considerable quantity, and of a
calibre to furnish large beams of sufficient reach and resisting
power. Now, the Iranic plateau, at the present day, is the
region most destitute of trees in the habitable world; none are
seen except in orchards where the hand of man has succeeded
in bringing subterraneous waters to the land. It must have been
the same in antiquity. Persia is not, like Asia Minor and Greece,
a country made bare by ill-judged tillage,
or conflagrations, or the gnawing tooth
of animals, by which the forest trees
nature had taken centuries to grow have
been destroyed, but a country condemned
by the configuration and composition of
its soil to perpetual denudation from the
first day of its existence. Whither,
then, did they go for the wood that is
so largely introduced in the complicated
work M. Chipiez has undertaken to
restore? True, palms grow plentifully
in the plain of Susiana and the lower
grades of the plateau, but the wood they eso eta Geol ie
yield is mediocre in the extreme. On standing in palace No. 4, Per-
7 sepolis. FLANDIN and CostTE,
the other hand, remains of oak forests, Perse ancienne, Plate CXVIIL.
few and far between, enough are found
in the Bakhtiyari mountains, intervening between Persia, Susiana,
and Elam; in ancient times, however, they may have been more
thickly studded, and the trees of greater size.’ Cypress groves
and walnut trees are seen within the garden walls of Shiraz and
about the villages of Fars, and certain data seem to indicate that
formerly they were much more common in this region.” The

   

 

 

a os |

 

No traveller has more thoroughly explored the Bakhtiyari district than Sir Henry
Layard, who remained there nearly a whole year. His account of the places he
visited is interpersed with the following phrases: “ thickly wooded with oaks,”
“wooded by magnificent trees” (Zarly Adventures in Persia, 2 vols., 8vo, 1887,
vol. i. pp. 247, 349, 414).

® In the sequel of this work we shall have more than one occasion to refer to the
diminutive plain to which the name of Sarvistan, “cypress plantation, grove,” has
been applied ; at the present day, however, no such tree grows there. ‘The fact of
its being the only tree figured in the bas-reliefs at Persepolis leads to the inference

E
50 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

Oriental plane grows well, and, if the wood is very light, it has
the merit of growing very fast. Sycamores, and more rarely
maritime pines and acacia, likewise occur." Hence Persia, even
at the present day, is not as deficient of trees as some would
affirm.? If among the oases that have been formed around
kanats, and in the depths of mountains abounding in springs
which collect their waters into rivers to join the Tigris, enough
timber is found to supply carpenters and cabinet-makers, it must
have been more so a hundred-fold in olden times; nevertheless
a certain degree of ingenuity was always required to procure joists
of great size, able to bear the superimposing weight of coverings
made up of beaten clay, and provide that desideratum in a
burning climate, a deep salience to the roof. As a means to an
end, cypress plantations were multiplied in well-watered districts,
whilst oaks of great bulk were drawn from the valleys of Zagros.
In all probability, however, most of the timbers employed by the
architect had to travel over greater distances before they reached
their ultimate destination.

In order to find at present within the territory of Persia real
forests with beech, ash, and oak of considerable girth, we must
travel to the Elburz range; but even there timber trees are
only seen on the northern slopes, which alone are abundantly
supplied with rain-water produced by evaporation from the Caspian.
But the distance in a straight line from Mazanderan to Fars is
eight hundred kilometres, across mountain chains and a country
that never had a road. Yet the forests of Hyrcania must have
been laid under contribution for building the royal palaces. This
the main beams at Persepolis testify, in that they prove that length
and the difficulties of the journey were no obstacles to the master-
builders, who certainly went as far, perhaps farther still, for their
materials. In the carbonized aééris found on many a point of the
platform at Persepolis, where the ground had not been cleared
down to the rock, M. Dieulafoy picked up more than one cedar

that the authors of the sculptures under consideration were familiar with its sombre
pyramid-like shape.

* With regard to the vegetable products of the provinces of Fars and Kerman,
see G. RawLinson, The Live Great Monarchies, tom. iii. p- 140, notably n. 18,
where he duly acknowledges his indebtedness to the writers who have visited the
region.

* Dizutaroy, L’Art antique, etc., ii. 7.
THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF Form. 51

 

fragment,’ which he recognized both from its yellow colour, the
fine polish it still retained, and its characteristic perfume when it
is burnt. Now, from one end of southern Iran to the other, no
cedars are encountered; if travellers have noticed cedars in
Elburz,’ their number will in no way challenge comparison with
the fine specimens that still fringe the slopes of Lebanon and
Taurus. From one or other of these mountain chains, through
the passes of Amanus, the Syrian waste, and the plains of Meso-
potamia, up the giddy ramps, now called £ofads, that serve to
scale the Iran plateau, were brought the cedars out of which the
main timber-pieces of the carpentry at Persepolis were made.
Thousands of beasts of burthen, whole troops of men, had to be
told off for these transports; but distances and human lives counted
but little when a desire of the King of kings had to be satisfied.

Tue GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF Form.

No ancient building of Persia has preserved its crowning member;
to restore it, therefore, and succeed in setting up a unit of which
the lower and middle sections alone remain, it is most important
carefully to note, mark, and digest such details as appear in the
preserved parts, together with the nature of the materials employed.
But still more reliable information is offered to our curiosity in
the representations left of their own edifices by the people whose
architecture we are now about to study. Among the Assyrians,
for example, similar sculptured transcriptions, exhibited in many
war and hunting scenes, are more or less primitive in style,®
whereas the rock-cut frontispieces of Lycia and Persia were
copied from built houses. The Lycian tomb reproduces with
scrupulous fidelity the aspect of the timber edifice, with the peculiar
modes of its fabrication and joining of its pieces.* In the same
way, the lower part of the tombs of the Persian sovereigns at the
Takht-i-Jamshid and Naksh-i-Rustem is no more than an imita-
tion of the palace facade (Fig. 9 and Plate I.). This facade, no

1 Dreutaroy, L’Art antique, iti. 5.

2 With regard to this subject consult G. Rawlinson, Zhe Five Great Monarchies,
t. ii, p. 279. A footnote tells the reader the works from which he derived his
information.

* Hist. of Art, tom. ii. pp. 379, 380, 395, 409, 475:

4 Toid., tom. v. bk. i. ch. ii. s, i.
52 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

matter where we find it, scarcely exhibits any change, whilst
its plan is known from the marks left on the floor, the walls,

  
   
 

 
 
     

°
Yy
i

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    
   

 

 

   
   
  
 

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

-
x
ve ae
Mee oS ny os
, x ae Ne
ao? BBY bh Phy L.eal
cs é WW. A aN S a aS 2S a
; [sea 1 ee WS Ewe
es XS
x TASS WS ANS

 

Fic. 9.—Part of elevation and transverse section of a royal tomb at
Naksh-i-Rustem. FLANDIN and CosTE, ferse anctenne, Plate
CLXXVII.

the columns, and
pillars of the
Persepolitan
platforms. Some
of these  sup-
ports, though
sadly mutilated,
are still stand-
ing, and thus fur-
nish certain data
forthe elevation.
The elements
left for compari-
son between
tombs and pa-
laces are identi-
cal, and we have
no reason to sup-
pose that there
was less corre-
spondence be-
tween the parts
that no longer
challenge com-
parison, in one
of the twin types
we propose to
restore in the
built house, that
they have been
wrenched away,
as a page out
of a book. The
archeologist,
then, has the
right to demand

of the pseudo-architecture of the necropoles, that it shall tell
him what was the arrangement of the entablatures of palaces
Tue GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF Form. 53

 

whose magnificence dazzled the Greeks, and which in their ruinous
state may still in part be divined.

The facade of the rock-hewn tombs, acknowledged on all hands
as the entombments of the Achzmenid kings, may be taken as
the most complete type of Persian adjustment. Its originality,
that which strikes one at first sight, is the function the column
fulfils—a column we know to have been of stone from base to
crown, by the specimens and fragments that still exist upon the
platforms where once rose the palaces with which they were
associated. The important part ascribed here to the column,
neither recalls Chaldza nor Assyria, where it held a very subordi-
nate place, but at once brings Egypt to our mind. A superficial
observation would tempt one to think that, in the main, the
Persian architect copied it upon the models of Egyptian
architecture ; a more critical eye, however, soon discovers that
the supports are characterized by touches utterly opposed to those
of the Nile, whilst their make reveals the stamp of a very
different taste. Take at haphazard any Egyptian column and
place it side by side of a Persian support, and the contrast they
offer will strike the most uneducated eye. Analysis and com-
parison alike, instead of detracting from the impression thus
received, will accentuate it and help to widen more and more the
gap between them.

The shaft of the Persian column is always tall and slender. In
the “ Palace of the Thirty-six Columns” at Persepolis (Fig. 10,
No. 2 in plan, Plates VII. and VIII), the total height of the
order, with base and crown, is in the proportion of twelve to
one diameter of the shaft; whilst in the Pasargadze specimen
(Fig. 11), whose capital has disappeared, the proportions are
even more airy and light. On the other hand, in what may
be termed the classic type of Egypt, in the Ramesseum and
the hypostyle hall at Karnac, the entire height of the column
is but five or six diameters; and in the vast majority of cases
—at Medinet Abi, for instance—it measures but four diameters.
The Egyptian support, even when it strives most after elegance,
always maintains a massive and somewhat stubby aspect, in
striking contrast with the Persian order, which is far the airiest
stone support the architects of antiquity ever raised.

Divergence is no less marked in the membering of bases. In
the valley of the Nile it is never more than a platband or a stout
54 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

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to Pasargade (Fig. 11). Everywhere else the Persian base is
much more developed, elaborate, and varied, and will be fully
Tue GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF Form. 55

 

described in its proper place. The true Persian base, that which
was employed in the better class of buildings, is the campaniform
or bell-shaped reversed, with its salient torus and rich ring of
leaves (Fig. 12). Nothing of the kind appears in Egypt, at least
in that situation. Calathi-
form or bell-shaped capitals
are indeed met with; but in
order to identify the Persian
base with the capital of the
Delta, we must suppose that
the Persian architect who
borrowed it turned it upside
down. This hypothesis is so
very unlikely that we shall
not stop to discuss it.

Then, too, the capital,
whether in plan or compo-
sition, has naught to remind
us of the models proper to
Egypt. It is constructed on
a rectangular plan; whereas
its Egyptian counterpart, no
matter its shape, may be
described as always con-
ceived on a square plan.
The form which character-
izes the Persian capital,some-
times put direct on the shaft,
sometimes allied thereto by
a profusion of ornaments,
consists of a pair of semi-
bulls, back to back, who Fic. 11.—Column at Pasargade. DIEULAFoyY,
appear under the entabla- L’Art antique, tom. i. Fig. 28.
ture without an intermediary
member (Figs. 31, 32). In Egypt, on the contrary, an abacus
always interposes between the body of the capital and the
architrave. 3

Another way of testing the independence of Persian archjtec-
ture, as against Egyptian models, is to look at the very peculiar
arrangement of its corona, whose projection beyond the shaft is far

 

 

 
56 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

greater than in Egypt or.Greece. Moreover, the design is quite
different. It is not divided, as in the Egyptian entablature, into
well-defined members of varying importance, such as architrave,
torus, cavetto, and terminal fillet; its parts having no marked
difference, whether of size or salience (Fig. 9). The quaintness
observable in these profiles admits of the simplest explanation,
namely, a remembrance or imitation of original attics, which are
nothing more than an assemblage of timbers.

Deluded in our expectations of finding here an art borne of and
developed on Egyptian
models, the critic is led to
seek elsewhere a conjectural
derivation, with the only
people who made as large
a use of stone supports as
Egypt, and the thought of
Greece at once rises upper-
most. As stated, the Persian
column is more airy than
the Grecian. To compare
its shaft, therefore, with the

  
 
 
 

Wy YI, Doric i f th i
Hy Yyp oric 1s out of the question
and we shall have advanced
Fic. 12.—Base of pillar in one of the buildings of :
Susa. DigvLaFoy, L’Art antique, tom. ii. but a little way when we
Fig. 73.

juxtapose it with that of the
Ionic order. The column of the Erechtheium at Athens, one of
the lightest classic art has fashioned, falls short of the sturdiest
Persepolitan example by two diameters and a half, a difference
more than sufficient to dwarf the Athenian support and imbue
it with a thick-set stubby aspect.

Consideration of base and capital will lead to the same con-
clusion. The Greeks were unacquainted with the bell-shaped
base ; but we find another form of the Persian base, with torus
and cubic plinth, in Etrurian and Roman architecture. The only
capital Greece had on a rectangular plan was the Ionic, and it always
ends in a square tablet, a detail conspicuously absent here. To
find analogies thereto in Greece, we must descend to monuments
elaborated after the conquest of Asia by Alexander. Such would
be a portico at Delos, where, in his eagerness to produce some-
thing quite new, the artist freely borrowed from those Oriental
THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF Form. 57

 

buildings he had heard eulogized by the companions of the Mace-
donian, of which drawings, mayhap, existed and were handed
about in the days of the Ptolemies and Seleucidz.'

This is not all; the Persian entablature, too, has nothing in
common with the Grecian, save the architrave, which of necessity
must exist everywhere, and the dentels furnished here by the
actual disposition of the carpentry, which in the Hellenic work
are reminiscent of this same arrangement. Again, there is
nothing in the uniform resaults of Persian lofts that in any way
recalls the canonical marks of distinction, architrave, frieze, and
cornice, with the high relief of the drip, which suffice to endow the
Grecian members with a special cut, and an altogether different
accent.

The shaft of the Persian column is everywhere fluted, except at
Pasargad and in the rock-cut tombs. The section of these flutes
is unlike that which appears in Greece. The fillets or intervals
separating them are by no means as distinct as in the Ionic order
(with which alone the Persian can be compared) ; indeed they are
barely perceptible (Fig. 12). That which, however, distinguishes
the Persian column from among her sisters is the number of her
channellings. Supports in Egypt have never more than sixteen
faces or flutes, and the embellishment, moreover, is found about
archaic buildings, such as the Beni Hassan. Under the second
Theban empire the fluting is sometimes replaced by a stout cable
ornament; sometimes it disappears altogether without leaving a
sign. These are facts that tend to strengthen the notion that no
filiation or correspondence of origins exist between the Egyptian
and the Persian column. On the contrary, though the Greek
column sprang into being ready fluted, if the expression be allowed,
and will never be other than fluted, yet the number of its grooves
which varies according to the order and date, averages from sixteen
to twenty-two, and never exceeds twenty-four. These figures
should be doubled in regard to Persia. Thus the number of

1 With regard to the monument referred to above, see more particularly De
Homolle’s paper in Bulietin de Correspondance hellénique, 1884, pp. 417-438 ;
L’Autel des Cornes & Délos,and accompanying drawings by M. Nénot, Plates XVII.-
XIX. The pillars forming the avenue to the temple are surmounted by a semi-bull
kneeling. The bulls at Delos are not postured, as at Persepolis, in pairs, back to
back and in profile. Judging from the style of the Delian edifice and the place it
occupies in a block of structures of more or less certain date, M. Homolle looks
upon it as belonging to the third century of our era.
58 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

flutings allotted to the shafts at Istakhr is thirty-two, whilst about
the Persepolitan palaces forty, forty-eight, and even fifty-two are
found.’

The rules observed in Persia for the spacing of the supports
testify to no less disregard of foreign examples, no less spirit of
independence. The Egyptian arrangement is emphatically what
the Greeks called “ pycnostyle.”

In the central nave of the hypostyle hall at Karnac, the in-
tercolumnation above the pedestal is a trifle less than two
diameters, and in the lateral naves scarcely more than one
diameter.

In Greece the intercolumnation of the oldest Doric examples,’
with Corinth at one end and the Athenian Propylzea at the
other, varies from 1% diameter to 12 diameter ;* later on, when the
spacing called ar@ostyle obtained, it never exceeds 22 diameters.‘
In Persia, on the other hand, intervals of 34 diameters are
only encountered in one of the palaces of the Takht-i-Jamshid ;°
in all the other parts of this same block, and the pile on the
platform generally, the intercolumnation is from four to six
diameters. Six was the number of diameters allotted at Istakhr
and Pasargade, whilst in the building locally known as_ the
Palace of Cyrus it is a trifle over seven diameters.°®

To the above remarks, made for the sake of bringing to light
the originality both of column and entablature, the following,
which is not without importance, may be added. Persian archi-
tecture offers characteristics that we have met nowhere as yet in
the architecture of the Eastern nations we have studied in this
history of ancient art; it has a module, that is to say a unity of
proportion which determines the mutual relations of forms, and so

1 Porch No. 1, forty channellings ; palace No. 2, forty-eight ; porch No. 2, with
unicorns, fifty-two. 7

® Temple at Corinth (A. BLover, Expéd. Scientifique de Morée, tom. iii. Plate
LXXVII.

® Stuart, Athenian Antiquities, tom. ii. Plate XLIIT,

* Portico at Delos (BLOUET, oc. cét., Plate V.).

5 In palace No. 3.

® The following are the several intercolumnations which have been observed :—At
Pasargadee the distance from pillar to pillar is either a trifle over 7 diameters, or a
little more than 5 diameters; at Istakhr, 6 and 63; at Persepolis, palace No. 8,
64; porch No. 1, 42; palace No. 13, 44; tombs on platform, 4} ; tombs at Naksh-
i-Rustem, Nos. 1 and 4 of Coste, 44; Nos. 2 and 3, 4; palace No. 3, 33 and 5
diameters,
Tue GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF Form. 59

 

arranges them as to make them dependent one upon the other.’
This principle is certainly not applied here with the rigorous
consistency exhibited in Greek architecture; yet it cannot be
denied that, in a general way, it determined the heights assigned
to the various parts of the elevation. Granting two orders of
columns of different size at Persepolis, it is found that the pro-
portions of the parts in each order are practically identical; whilst
in the pseudo-buildings figured on the sepulchral facades, a relation
of the same nature exists between the dimensions of the supports
and that of the entablature over them. We have shown that in
Egypt no attempts were ever made to subordinate the various
elements of the building one to the other, and that the column
never approached a cylindrical shape.”

The total height of the great columns in the principal palace at
Persepolis is 12 diameters, of which 93 belong to the shaft,’ 13 to
the base,‘ and 1} to 54 to the capital, according as it is simple or
complicated. Elsewhere the entire height of the order is some-
what less than 12 diameters ;° whilst in one of the porches it falls
to 104 diameters,’ bringing it very near to that of the tombs at
Naksh-i-Rustem, computed at rol.

The mutual relations of height between column and entablature
are no less constant. These, owing to the ruinous state of the
buildings, are only to be traced now in the facade of the royal

‘hypogees, where the entablature is one-third or one-quarter of
the height of the order on which it is placed.’ The same pro-
portions hold good in regard to the attics of the palaces, so far at
least as may be guessed from the notches cut at the top of pillars
on which rested the ends of the timber pieces (Fig. 9).°

The laws regulating proportion are seen at their best at

1 The consequences involved in the adoption of the ‘‘ module” are duly set forth
in Hist. of Art, tom. i. p. 103.

® T[bid., pp. 101-103.

® No. 2 in plan, Fig. ro.

4 In porch No. 1 and palace No. 3, 1 diameter; palace No. 8, as well as at
Istakhr, 14 diameter.

5 Palace No. 3. § Porch No. 1.

7 In the tomb south-west of the plateau, the order is three times the height of
the entablature, whilst in those at Naksh-i-Rustem the height of the order is three
two-fourths and four times as great as that of the entablature. No. 4 is the only
exception to the rule.

® In palace No. 3 the order is three times as great as the entablature and three
times two-fifths in palace No. 6.
60 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

Persepolis. In the plain of the Polvar the supports seem to have
been more attenuated. The only example of a column whose shaft
is not only entire but in place occurs in the so-called Palace of
Cyrus. It measures eleven diameters without the capital, which
has disappeared (Fig. 11),1 and we may fairly assume that when
complete it was not far from thirteen diameters. Some of the
columns at Istakhr have very similar proportions.

If, as everything seems to indicate, the monuments at Pasar-
gade are older than the Persepolitan group, the differences we
have pointed out as to mutual relations would lead to the follow-
ing conclusions :—that the buildings at Istakhr are probably older
than those at Persepolis, and that the tallest and most tapering
columns in Persia carry with them the oldest date; contrary to
what took place in Greece, where, if we may so speak, the
support became lighter and more elongated as it grew older.

If the column, considered from the point of view of its com-
position, proportions, and organic development, so widely differs
from the Egyptian and Greek pillar, there are, nevertheless,
certain resemblances arising from the fact that in both instances
it served to constitute porticoes, whether on the principal face or
the sides of the edifice, whilst internally it supported the ceiling.
On the main face we find a row of columns between two ante,
that is to say, between the saliences or quadrangular pillars
strengthening the ends of the walls; a disposition seen in every
style of architecture wherein supports of this nature are introduced
(Fis. 13),

The quincunx arrangement,’ which we find here in the state
apartments of the palaces, has been rendered familiar to us by the
temples of the Nile Valley; but there is this notable difference
between the Egyptian hypostyle hall and the Persian, that the
latter has no central nave composed of taller and more widely
spaced columns, constituting a noble avenue ;‘ all the naves being
equally wide, and the columns precisely alike (Fig. 293, and
Plates V. and VIII.). Dissimilarity in plan finds an easy ex-
planation in the different uses to which the two sets of colossal

' The column is very tall. Total height, above rr m. ; diameter at base, 1 m. 5c.
(Digutaroy, L’ Art antique de la Perse, Part i. p. 209.

? With regard to the anta in the Egyptian arrangement, see Ast. of Art, tom. i.
PPp- 593-597-

® A square of four, with one to follow.—Trs.

4 Hist. of Ar?, tom. i. Fig. 214, Plate V.
THE GENERAL PrincipLes oF Form. 61

 

apartments were put. The hypostyle hall at Karnac was, so to

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2
_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ou
Ow i

 

 

 

5 t Q 5MS
Fic. 13.—Plan of Palace of Darius (No. 3 in plan). FLANDIN and Coste, Perse anctenne,
: Plate CXIII.

speak, but a preface, an introduction to the naos; a stupendous
vestibule certainly, but no more than a vestibule, the middle nave
62 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

of which was used by the Pharaoh alone when he repaired to the
temple. But the hypostyle hall at Persepolis, instead of being
an appendix or annex for the prince to walk through, was his
throne-room in which he sat on state occasions. The architect,
then, had not the same reasons to devise a kind of state avenue
on the main axis of his building; he was content with the simpler,
albeit marvellous effect which a grove of columns would produce
on the beholder wherever he stationed himself.

If the characteristic device, the pair of bulls that appears at the
summit of these columns, is quite peculiar to Persian architecture,
we recognize an Egyptian form in the cornice surmounting all
these doorways real or simulated, the sole relics of the external
shell of the palace (Fig. 14). As in the Delta, the cornice is
composed of three very distinct parts, and the result is, on the
whole, a profile very similar to the Egyptian ; on closer examination,
however, there appear slight differences of make, certain mouldings
which the craftsman who made these gateways and windows was
not likely to meet in the valley of the Nile.’ Thus, for the torus
bound with a fillet, in which some would see a bundle of reeds,
he substituted a baguette made up of alternating eggs and discs
(Fig. 15). He left untouched the curve of the necking properly
so called, but he divided it into consecutive grooves that scar its
surface. The only detail which is an exact reproduction of the
Egyptian form is the finishing band.

Whilst all these openings owe to the cornice they support
their decidedly Egyptian physiognomy, the gigantic bulls and
other man-headed animals adorning the jambs of the principal
entrances, the pylon that gave access to the platform (Plates II.,
III.), and the great doorways to the palace, point to another style
of architecture, and vividly recall Nineveh. Reminiscent, too, of
Assyro-Chaldzan art is the habit of decorating in places the base
of walls by means of figured sculptures, where the king is repre-
sented surrounded by his attendants and subjects, or as over-
throwing his enemies.

The prevalence of similar bas-reliefs about ramps that ran
up the sides of great staircases (Fig. 16) was due to the
fact that Persepolitan palaces, like those on the banks of the
Euphrates and Tigris, stood on platforms upheld by artificial

1 With regard to the Egyptian cornice, see Hist. of Art, tom, i. pp. 104, 511,
603-605.
TIX aie[g “W 'm0} andyuv j4P 7 SKOAVINAIC ‘sutteC] Jo aovey jo apeseg “stjodasiag-—"VI ‘914

FECA pe,

 

 

 

 
Tue GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF Form. 65

 

mounds, a habit which neither Egypt nor Greece had known. In
Mesopotamia, where stone is scarce, the mound consisted of
beaten earth or rubbish and a brick casing; but in mountainous
Persia it was of hewn stones of large size. Except for this, the
principle was identical; in both instances the edifices rose on
artificial supports.

Such a disposition as this involved the necessity of artificial
ascents so as to connect the plain with the buildings on the
terraced platform, which the architect managed by means of
inclined planes and spacious staircases, about which the pomp
and circum-
stance of an
Oriental court
had ample
Opportunity
for display.
The arrange-
ment imposed
upon the ar-
chitect was J ay
used by him —+— fs ‘p "eM

fo r in tro- Fic. 15.—Persepolis. Hall of a Hundred Columns. Cornice of lateral
‘ . doorways. Elevation, FLANDIN and Costs, Perse ancienne, Plate
ducing variety CLVIIa.

of aspect in
the sides of his colossal substructures, and preparing large plain
surfaces for the sculptor (Fig. 16).

The plans of the palaces built by the Achemenide appear to
have been as simple as those of the modern Persians.'. When we
take up in their consecutive order the different groups of ruins
that are scattered on the surface of the plateau, we shall try to guess
at the destination of the buildings they represent. In the mean
while the reader will have to be content with a few general remarks.
Nowhere have traces of staircases been found here, from which we
might suppose that the buildings were many stories high, all the
apartments having seemingly been on the ground-floor. Ina dry
climate like that of Fars, no evil effects were to be feared from
a similar arrangement; on well-paved platforms, too, where the
feeblest incline sufficed to carry off rain waters. The rooms, those

 

 

 

1 In regard to the simplicity in plan of modern Persian palaces, consult TEx1ER,

Description de l Arménie et de la Perse, tom. ii. pp. 45, 46.
F
66 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

at least still able to speak for themselves, were squares or rectangles
with flat ceilings. Of these, such as are of great dimensions can
never have been other than sumptuous reception halls, flanked by
porticoes on one or three of their sides, and which by themselves
may favourably compare with the most gigantic edifices the great
nations of antiquity have handed down to us. Elsewhere con-
structions are found seemingly of a private character ; chambers
affected to the various uses of the household, distributed around a
central hall with columns or pillars as supports to their roof, pre-
cisely as the modern harems or “anderouns” of Persia (Fig. 13).
The hypostyle hall is, therefore, the chief creation of the Persian
architect ; whether he enlarges its area and sufficiently raises the
ceiling to render it independent of the adjoining structures, so
that, giant-like, it may rely on no resources but its own for its
marvellous effect, or whether he marks its place in the middle of
the pile, making it emphatically the “common room” to all that
will subsequently rise around it, it is from first to last his pet type,
whilst his happy and brilliant handling have had this result, that in
the history of his art he can stand by the side of his rivals of
Egypt and Assyria, of Greece and Rome.

To sum up: if the plans drawn by the anonymous builders of
the palaces of Darius and Xerxes betray everywhere a keen and
delicate feeling for architectural rhythm, we do not find the rigorous,
mathematically true symmetry pursued with so much devotion by
modern builders. Asa whole, the terraced platform at Persepolis
undoubtedly recalls a space embraced within a rectangular parallelo-
gram (Fig. 10), but its faces do not exactly correspond, inasmuch
as they consist of projecting and re-entering angles—whimsical
redans, in fact. The arrangement. of the stairs, too, is peculiar,
none of them being at right angles to the building they approach.
Thus the Propylea standing on the lower level of the esplanade
are on the axis of the upper level, but the central line of the great
hypostyle hall of Xerxes, the nearest and most conspicuous
structure, is 1m. 15 c. to the rear of the pilaster in this same
Propylea.

Buildings on the esplanades are scattered haphazard, as it were,
at different levels, with utter neglect of the massing and balancing
of the parts. But whilst structures are crowded in at the southern
angle, the northern section of the lower terrace is quite empty, and
looks as if it always had been so. The Persians of to-day have
ee —gI “DI
d ‘Ul wo} ‘abun J4P 7 ‘KOAVINGIG «‘“sntreq Jo ade] eg ay} Jo asvomejs jo [Jem yodereg “st[odasiag—-g a
“AX 7d “TU : ‘ ‘i

 

Re
Sets:
st

As Aw

 
CONSTRUCTION. 69

 

inherited from their ancestors their taste for picturesque irregularity ;
hence it is that around their capitals, palaces and kiosks are sprinkled
about in charming disorder, amidst shady gardens and courts more
or less spacious.

CONSTRUCTION.

The hardness of the stone which the rocky soil of Persia yielded
in great abundance not only permitted, but counselled, the employ-
ment of materials of great size. The highest columns at Per-
sepolis, those the total height of which is almost twenty metres, are

 

, ot eat < ™_
Se PM Ta ht e
— og o_o
TIM =o Bl Si yh Ne oH eet hh
¢ * 3y ak FF J ” ae a ips yt i pet “yf a
oe ee ;
Temasseuboies Vi a

   

apse

   

Fic. 17.—Masonry from the Takht-i-Madere-i-Soleiman, DigzuLaroy, L’A7t antique, tom. i.
Plate IV.
not made, like Grecian supports, of cylindrical drums of mediocre
height, but are composed of two or three segments at most. Thus,
_in the substructures of the Takht-i-Jamshid platform are blocks
4m. 50c. long,’ whilst the window and niche frames of the Palace
of Darius were cut from one single block (Fig. 14). The sub-
structures of the platforms and the palaces themselves are the bes
examples from which to study stone-construction in Persia. A very
fine specimen will be seen in Fig. 17, from the Takht-i-Madere-
i-Soleiman. What characterizes the masonry of this structure is

1 Franpin (Relation, tom. ii. p. 150) speaks of blocks 15 and 17 metres long.
I find nothing to justify his assertion in the plates of Coste and other travellers.
70 History or Art 1n ANTIQUITY.

 

the horizontality of its courses. The units, fixed without mortar,
reach sometimes 4m. 20 c. in length and nearly 1 m. in height.
They were united by iron clamps “dipped in lead,” or dove-
tails’ (Fig. 18). The metal has disappeared almost everywhere,
torn off by the pilfering hands that have been so actively busy
among these ruins; but the sealing marks left in the stone are
still visible. The works undertaken on this site were no doubt
interrupted by the death of the prince for whom they were made,
so that the face of the wall was left in a semi-rude state. But
wherever it was completed each block is surrounded by a narrow
groove cut to a sharp edge. On the con-
trary, where it was unfinished—in the upper
part of the illustration (Fig. 18), for example
—we find a double chiselling, the inner face
serving but as a mark to guide the mason
how to complete the work begun in the
stone-yard when the units should be set up
TA) in place. There was a good reason for allow-
j/ ing the ‘“bossed” state of the stones to

Fic. 18.—Grooves for re. subsist until the wall was finished, since its

ceiving dove-tails etc relief would serve to protect the faces that

: pa antique, tom. were to be apparent, and would screen them

against accidents and rude contact whilst the
work was in progress. There is no sign of cement about the
core laid out in horizontal beds, which were carried up to the
level of the slabs at the sides. The internal facing is vertical,
but a certain amount of footing was given to the base by setting
the lower courses slightly back from each other as they rose
upwards, a practice of which examples abound in the constructions
of the East and those of Greece.”

The same constructive method was followed in setting up
the platform at Persepolis. It consists of a double retaining wall.
The first, next to the platform, is built of limestone blocks of
enormous size, which were united together with metal clamps *
without any sign or token of cement; the second is likewise un-

 

 

1 Ricu, Narrative of a Journey to Persepolis, 1829, 8vo, p. 243.

“The clamps were iron or lead,” says Rich, to whom Perrot refers.—TRs.

® Dizutaroy, L’Art antigue, etc., tom. i. pp. 6-10. Many of the blocks in
question bear masons’ marks, of which a number are figured, pp. 11 and 12 of the
above work.

® Ricu, Marrative, p. 253.
71

CONSTRUCTION,

cemented, but the units are smaller; against it lean embankments

 

 

TIHAXXT VIL ;
juus2IUD astaq ‘ALSOD PUL NIGNVIQ *SeXI9X Jo [TeET apAjsodAyy puv ‘vapAdorg ‘wo0sze]d ay} Jo apis wroysam-yoN “stjodestaq—"61 “oI

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traces of metal clamps have ‘also been

of small stones and earth.
"2 History or Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

found on the esplanade, where they served to keep together the
slabs of the pavement (Fig. 19). The masonry, then, in both
instances was executed by bricklayers whose traditions and methods
were identical; nevertheless there are differences which should be
noticed. Thus, at Persepolis, the face of the wall is smooth and
dressed with care, but its enormous dimensions made a chiselled
border impossible." To have attempted channelling every block
contained in a wall tooo metres long and Io or 12 metres high would
have enormously added to the complication of a work which even
now, in its dilapidated state, fills us with wonder when we reflect
on the stupendous efforts and the expenditure of manual labour
it represents (Fig. 20). To this circumstance also should doubt-
less be ascribed, save here and there, the general irregularity of its

ome

 

 

Fic. 20.—Persepolis. Supporting wall of the platform on the face of the great staircase.
FLANDIN and Coste, /¢7se ancienne, Plate LX VIII.

courses. The only exception is found on the south side, where a
section of the wall exhibits stones dressed.to a smooth surface with
channelled edge, very similar to those in the monument of the
Polvar valley. Everywhere else there is a decided determination to
utilize as quickly as possible the materials brought to their hand.
The stones were not cut to a uniform size, or even always at right
angles; some few are square, others rectangular or trapezoidal,
others again are more or less irregular; yet all were fitted together
to an even front. All the beds and the joints are good, and of
such precision as to make it difficult at times to detect their point
of junction. This explains why the structures have lasted so long
and are almost intact after so many centuries. The masonry is
polygonal—a style deliberately chosen by masons skilled in all
the resources and refinements of their art, because thereby greater
cohesion and power of resistance was ensured to the whole wall.

1 Dirucaroy, L’ Art antique, etc., tom i. p. 16.
CONSTRUCTION. 73

 

It isa style frequently introduced in fortification walls by modern
engineers.

No inference, therefore, is to be drawn from the fact that the
courses are more or less regular, or of discrepancies which in
this instance are of no moment. The Persian builder, like his
modern confrére, employed blocks of varying shape and size, as
best suited his purpose. Compare, for example, the brace of
funereal towers at Parsagadz and Naksh-i-Rustem (Fig. 21).
They are built on the same plan, and, despite slight irregularities,
both evince a marked tendency to horizontal courses. There is a
curious constructive detail about these towers which has not yet
been satisfactorily explained. On the four sides of the wall
appear rectangular incisions, whose sunken faces, it has been urged,
were to act as landmarks for cutting away the stones surrounding
them to an even surface. What tells against the conjecture, is the
fact that the wall surface has all the appearance of having been
smoothed over and dressed with the same amount of care as the
supporting pilasters at the sides, about which no such depressions
occur. Besides, is it conceivable that if they were not destined to
last, but would naturally disappear as soon as the dressing of the
stones was finished,’ the builder would have taken so much super-
fluous trouble in cutting them to a uniform size and shape. The
saliences occasionally encountered in unfinished Greek work are
far removed from such a regularity as this. Again, it would be
strange, to say the least of it, that in both towers the masons
should have stopped at precisely the same point. We incline to
ascribe a decorative function to the incisions under notice, made
for the sake of breaking the monotony of a large plain surface.
The-question, too, may be asked, whether these hollows were not
fitted with some material other than stone; such as coloured or
enamelled slabs, or perhaps black marble.

Our hypothesis would account both for the great number of
these hollows, the uniformity of their size and symmetrical dis-
tribution. A thorough search among these ruins and their
surroundings might, perhaps, bring to light fragments of a
decoration which we think existed here.

Another problem, of far greater import, is one which every

1 Dizutaroy, L’Art antigue, etc., tom. i. p. 16. ® Lbid,

Dieulafoy does indeed assign to them a decorative character, but in his opinion
it was subordinate to the purpose for which they were made.
74 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

explorer who has given serious attention to the ruins. at Persepolis

 

 

 

Fic. 21.—Funereal tower at Nakht-i-Rustem. DiguLaroy, Z’Art antique, tom. i. Plate VI.

has had to face: how were constructed the walls of edifices of
 

 

 

\\

i

‘A

AN

 

c
: i ! ‘
co

FG. 22.—Doorways and windows of Palace of Darius. Inner view. DizuLAFoy, Z’Art antique,
tom. ii. Plate XVI.
CONSTRUCTION. 77

 

which columns, doorways, and windows are the sole relics? Of
these, the doors and windows are sometimes monoliths, oftener
made up of four or five blocks of enormous size fitted without
mortar. They now lie scattered on the ground like so many
isolated monuments unconnected with each other, or with the
wall to which they once belonged (Figs. 14, 22). If the latter
was built of large blocks, how is it that fragments equal in size to
those of the doorways and niches have not been discovered
in some corner or other? All we find between the openings
is a kind of foundation of well-squared units of never more
than two or three courses. It is the plinth of a wall that has
vanished. Had its composition been akin to that of the sub-
structures, some of its remains, like the splintered shafts and
capitals, would be seen around the palaces. But neither in the
depth nor at the sides of the doorways have well-prepared stones
been found.

Will it be urged that all the units that went to the making of
the wall have been taken away to the last one since antiquity, to
be re-used in building the villages of the neighbourhood? The
conjecture by itself is most improbable, but we have another
reason for discarding it. On looking at the lateral edges of the
door-frames (Fig. 22), we perceive that the stone was roughly
squared with the chisel, whereas blocks of great dimensions have
their joints everywhere dressed with as much care as the faces.
Nor was the core made of small unsquared stones; for had they
been heaped here in such enormous quantities as this implies,
recent excavations could not have failed to light upon them, buried
under banked-up earth and rubbish, like the bases of the supports
about these very buildings. At the present day, from one end
of Iran to the other, brick, baked or crude, forms the body of
every structure, whether palace, hut, or mosque; and it also
furnishes our architects the staple of their building materials, with
the exception of the thresholds, window and door frames.

Our business, however, is to find out whether crude or burnt
bricks were employed here. The latter have left but very feeble
traces on the platform, albeit diligent search was made for them ;
and yet we know how indestructible is clay that has been fired.’

1 STOLZE (Bermerkungen) states having picked up fragments of baked bricks out of

the rubbish which chokes up the eastern portico of the palace No. 2 at Persepolis.
M. Dieula‘oy collected a few chips about the Hall of a Hundred Columns (iii. p. 11).
78 : History oF ArT InN ANTIQUITY.

 

We are reduced to one hypothesis, but which has the merit of
being highly probable: as at Nineveh and Babylon, the walls
were constructed with crude bricks, laid out whilst still moist.
Burnt bricks were reserved for the casing.’

The information to be gathered from the state and arrangement
of the preserved parts of the building confirm the above conjecture.
All seems to have been calculated in view of establishing a perfect
correspondence between the independent pieces that still encumber

 

——

 

 

 

Fic. 23.—Ruins of palace, Pasargad. FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse ancienne, Plate CLVII.

the ground, and the softer material that was to fill up the intervals
between the openings. Thus the rugosity at the sides of the
stone frames facilitated adhesion, the sheer weight of the clay mass
causing it to penetrate the slight unevennesses of the field ; whereas
had this been as finely polished as the other apparent faces, the
two elements must have parted during the desiccating process and
consequent shrinking of the bricks. Nor is this all. Both at

‘ Téxier adduces valid reasons to show the unsoundness of any other hypothesis,
yet does not care to commit himself to the conclusion which he foresaw
(Description, tom. ii. pp. 169-187). Flandin confines himself to the statement that
small units were used (Re/ation, tom. ii, p. 169). Dieulafoy has the merit of being
the first who insists that the problem admits of no other solution (Z’Art antique,
tom. li. p. 2; tom. i. p. 313 tom. iii, p. 11).
CONSTRUCTION. 79

 

Pasargade and Persepolis, at the sides of the pilasters that formed
the angles of the buildings (Fig. 23) and the crowning of the bays
(Fig. 22), deep grooves extend along the whole length of the
block ; elsewhere, in the Propylea of Xerxes (No. 1 in plan), the
pillars offer saliences that play the part of what our masons call
‘“waiting-stones” (Jzerres dattente). The function of these grooves
and protuberances is easily grasped: under the pressure exercised
by the enormous mass, the fzs¢ penetrated the cavities between the
resaults and found itself united in a close embrace to this kind of
stone skeleton of which it was the flesh. The fact that we do
not find similar gzsé walls in place should cause no surprise ;
for they were very thin compared with those of the Babylonian
and Ninevite palace. It is hard to admit, with one of the
explorers, that on either side of the pillars in the Propylea of
Xerxes a wall 4m. 5oc. in thickness ran out to meet all the
extremities on the main level,’ since the greatest depth of the
wall—to measure it from the stone frames of its hollows—occurs
about the Hall of a Hundred Columns, where it was barely three
metres, whilst elsewhere it did not quite reach two metres. Once
the buildings were left to themselves, the revétement being no
longer watched over would soon peel off, and the winter rains,
penetrating the core, would turn it into mud and wash it away in
the plain. The rubbish we find heaped up to man’s height at
certain points of the esplanade everywhere corresponds with the
interior of the demolished halls; that is to say, where the attics
fell in and carried along with them capitals and broken shafts.
Here the beaten earth of the levels, mixed up with fragments ot
columns and calcined woodwork, has formed masses of great
resisting power, upon which the spade makes but little impression.

The recent excavations at Susa have confirmed the above
conjectures, for the mighty ramparts that surrounded the palaces
of the Achemenide were entirely built of crude brick. Now,
the royal architecture at Susa and Persepolis was characterized by
features common to both, be it in plan, elevation, disposition,
taste, and even style; whilst the like methods are to be traced
everywhere. Blocks of enamelled frit have been found at Susa ;
their function, like the enamelled tiles of Assyria, could only be to
act as facings to a solid mass of clay.” To have attempted anything

' Digutaroy, Premier Rapport, p. 59-61.
* Ibid, pp. 62, 64.
80 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

like a junction between the stone wall and the artificial blocks
would have been out of the question ; but there was no difficulty in
making the soft viscous mass adhere to the surface to which it
was applied. The burnt bricks collected at Persepolis had the
same use and were found in the same situation as the glazed
wedges at Susa.

It will long ere this have been surmised that the covering of
the edifices could be no other than timber.’ This is asserted by
Quintus Curtius, in a passage where he refers to the large use of
cedar in Persepolitan palaces ; and we know that when descriptions
and harangues give him no scope to
display his rhetorical powers and in-
dulge in winding and finely rounded
off periods, he often limits himself to
translating ancient documents now
lost, but which, as Arrian for instance,
were open to him.? His testimony
is confirmed, moreover, by inspection
of the ruins. Thus, the columns
which upheld ceilings and hypostyle
halls are so wide apart as to pre-
clude the notion that they could be
spanned by stone beams, in that
their weight would have crushed the
Fic. 24.—Persepolis. Palace No. 6. under supports. ‘These, as we have

Se ee er) already pointed out, are very slender
and unable to bear a stone covering

akin to that of Egyptian edifices. Nor is this all. Superficial
examination of the attics represented on the tombs at Persepolis
suffices to show that they are an exact copy of wooden lofts.
But to have covered vast spaces, such as those of the hypostyle
halls, presupposes the employment of wood in such enormous
quantities that we cannot imagine its having entirely disappeared
without leaving a trace, above all where it was destroyed by
fire. As a matter of fact, the floor of the Hall of a Hundred
Columns is covered all over with ashes and charcoal. The exist-

  
 

= emai

* Quintus Curtius, V. vii. 5: “‘ Multa cedro edificata erat regia; que celeriter,
igne concepto, late fudit incendium.”

2 Dosson, Etude sur Quinte-Curce, sa vie et son euvre; 1886, 8vo. The second
part is of special interest, in that reference is made to the authorities he con-
sulted to write his criticism.
CONSTRUCTION. 81

 

ence of wooden frames may be safely affirmed from the thickness
of the charcoal layer in question ; but it tells us nothing as to the
piecing of the timbers, nor the way they were arranged. We are
able, however, to restore them from the notches they have left at
the summit of ante
or pilasters, both
at Pasargade and
Persepolis, for they
give us in section
the actual size and
profile of the rafters
whose extremities
formerly rested on
this kind of regu-
lating beam (Figs.

 

  

 

 

 

8 and 24).
The timber- | rorras2 so e
plating was very Fic. 25,—Wood-frame of Palace of Darius, with pillar still in

. / place. Restored by Ch. Chipiez.
simple, ‘and lends

itself to be easily
restored in struc-
tures of small or
average dimen-
sions. Such would
be Fig. 10, No. 6,
from which a notion
may be gained of
what the Palace
of Darius was like.

In the illustrations
Fi 6). M Fic. 26.—Wood-frame of Palace of Darius, showing pillar still
( Igs. 25, 2 ) . standing. Isometric projection. Restored by Ch. Chipiez.

 

 

 

 

 

Chipiez gives us a

view of the entablature seen from below and above, which he has
restored on the authority of the pseudo-architecture of the tombs,
as well as the notches seen on the lateral face of the ante. Two
superimposed beams form the architrave, above which appear the
ends of the rafters shaped into a series of dentels. Internally,
the joists support a heavy bed of earth, kept in place, as in Lycia,
by a tall cornice made up of three or four beams, resulting in

a deep salience, penthouse-like over the porch.
G
82 History oF ArT IN ANT:QUITY.

 

The flat roof obtains to this day all over Persia. It is about
one metre thick, and consists of pzs¢é mixed with chopped straw
beaten solid with the rammer. The roof of every house is
provided with a stone roller, whose function is to repair the
damages caused by the rains. This mode of covering has one
drawback: continuous bad weather is apt to turn it into mud, and
allow the water to percolate.

On the other hand, as the material of which it consists is a bad
heat conductor, it serves better than any other mode of covering to
keep the interior of the house comparatively cool. In the better
class of houses the inconvenience attending on flat roofs is remedied
to a certain extent. In the first place, they are tiled over, and
have a slight incline at each side, whilst shallow grooves are
provided to drain and carry off the water. We are convinced
that some such precaution was resorted to in antiquity to save the
gorgeous interiors of the royal palaces from utter devastation. The
result could be obtained either by having the roof paved with
bricks deftly put together and plastered over, or with huge tiles
rimmed round, akin to those that were discovered at Susa among
the débris of the hypostyle hall of Artaxerxes, of which fine
specimens are now in the Louvre.

The general character of both roof and attic never varied, no
matter the size of the building over which they were placed ; when,
however, the latter assumed colossal proportions, and the attic
was carried round the four faces of the quincunx colonnade, the
problem the artist had to solve became more difficult. Never-
theless it was not above the capacity of the architect, whose fine
feeling for proportion is very apparent here. This it was that
enabled him to understand that the dimensions of the columns must
correspond with the amplitude of the entablature. In order to
obtain his object, therefore, he went to the wood-yard - for the
finest beams he could find ; then he doubled or trebled the archi-
trave, and put a frieze over it of the required height (we know the
frieze from the fagades of the tombs), and, still further to heighten
the loft, he capped it with a crenelation—a form which we shall
prove from abundant data to have been traditional in Persian
architecture, so that we are enabled to restore it with every
appearance of probability. Then, too, the beams and planks
had to be of sufficient calibre to carry the bed or beds of earth
which would cover and protect the vast apartments beneath. Our
 

 

 

 

+
4
3
s
y
#
2
é
iS

  

 

 

Restored by Ch. Chipiez.

Isometric projection (No. 2 in plan)

Fic. 27.—Woodwork of hypostyle hall of Xerxes.
CONSTRUCTION. 85

 

drawing (Fig. 27) shows the possible construction of the loft
which stood over the Palace of Xerxes at Persepolis, where we
find a column of close upon twenty metres in height.

The architrave is composed of three beams put one upon the
other, and two deep. Above are the joists, the projecting ends
of which look like a row of dentels ; whilst in the interior of the
edifice they form the floor and the ceilings, as well as compartments
of the latter. Then comes a second row of beams, parallel to the
architrave, supporting struts upon which rests a second floor.
The latter, covered perhaps with metal, prevented the rain from
percolating the clay bed, and thence the ceilings. We have taken
advantage of this arrangement to contrive, on the left side of the
facade, a kind of patrol walk, in line with the bottom of the
crenelation that runs round the roof. Struts and horizontal beams
make up the framework of the flat covering. This is supported
by the lower floor, which is much stronger than the upper, and
extends over the entire building. Above it was a brick floor, and
Over it again a bed of earth or sand. Our sketch exhibits the two
processes which could be employed to make the roof water-tight ;
namely, a brick or tile flooring. The waters would have no effect
upon this cuirass, and, as the sides were slightly inclined, they
would rush down the polished surface and discharge themselves
either directly, or run into gutters which would pour them out at
some distance from the foot of the wall.

Imposing though these lofts may be, both from their salience,
their massiveness, and the enormous fields they yield for decora-
tion, their elements are precisely the same as those of smaller
buildings. Oblique and curvilinear pieces are conspicuously absent
from both; the lines are all horizontal or vertical, and the joining
of the timbers is done by halving; that is to say, by cutting away
an equal portion in depth of each, so as to let them into each
other, as will be seen by reference to our illustration (Fig. 27).

Our restitution of the attic in the Hall of a Hundred Columns
(Fig. 28) is carried out on this same principle of lavish display of
woods. In it we show how, without complicating the timber frame,
vertical lights could be devised when the windows and doors pierced
in the wall surrounding the vast edifice were inadequate to let in
sufficient light. To do this it only required slightly to raise the
central part of the roof, and contrive slits in the squared beams
intervening between the two floors, when through these open
86 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

panels, corresponding with the metopes of the Grecian frieze,
enough of light was admitted.

Having now gone over the methods practised by the Persian
architect in constructing and roofing in his edifices, we must turn
all our attention to the column—an element than which no other
plays so important a part in the fabric. What imparts to these

 

 

 

 

 

TOMASZ SC C

 

Fic. 28.—Hall of a Hundred Columns. Detail of roof and timber-frame. Isometric projection.
Restored by Ch. Chipiez.

structures a physiognomy that distinguishes them, on the one
hand, from all and any the East had raised up to that time, and
Greece on the other, is the disposition and dimension, but,
above all, the form of the stone supports which constitute the

porticoes and hypostyle halls of the palaces of Darius and
Xerxes.

Tue CoLtumn.

That which at once strikes the beholder as his eye rests upon
the Susian column, whose head is now in the Louvre, is
the originality of its capital. If with the help of works in
which are figured the monuments of Persia we pass in review
all the types of columns that have been descried on the sites of
Tue CoLumn. 87

 

ancient metropoles, if we disengage the capital from the adjuncts
that sometimes serve to complicate it, if we discard varieties—of
which there are but few—introduced for the sake of breaking
monotony of aspect, what remains after elimination in all these
exemplars, no matter their origin, is a group composed of the fore
parts of two quadrupeds, their heads looking in different directions.
The false architecture of the tombs shows that the transverse
beams of the ceiling rested, now on the neck and head of the
animals, now on the hollow between them.

It is a conventional type that we have met in no antique edifice
of the East, and if Greece offers one example, the ‘“ Bull Portico”
at Delos, it belongs to a monument certainly not older than the
fourth century. In Persia, on the contrary, the type we are
considering appears as early as the end of the sixth century, ¢g.
in the reign of Darius Hystaspes, and from that day until the
fall of the monarchy it is met with, from the mound at Susa to
the Persepolitan platform, and everywhere on exactly the same
pattern. Did the artists who made it the fashion, and by their
clever handling secured for it so long an existence, invent it in a
day, or was the primary idea suggested to them by some previous
creation, which they took up and enlarged? To this question we
delay giving an answer until after we shall have thoroughly
described it; but without going farther in this study, we are
able to say even now that the capital which appears at the top of
the Persian column is, perhaps, of all the forms that are proper
to Iran, that which best characterizes the architecture of the
Achzmenid sovereigns.

The shaft in all the orders of the edifices we are about to study
is slender and slightly tapering towards the top. It is fluted in all
instances, save in the facades of the necropoles at Persepolis
(Plate I.), and the single column that still remains of the Palace of
Cyrus in the upland valley of the Polvar (Fig. 11). In the latter
case the anomaly is to be explained by the fact that the building
to which the support belonged, dates from a time when Persian
art had not constituted itself, and was as yet groping to strike out
a path of its own. On the contrary, the rock-cut tombs are
coeval with the palaces of Darius and Xerxes, and if in them the
shaft is plain it was because the vaults stood at a considerable
height above ground. To.have made them fluted, therefore,
would have reduced still further the column, and. divested it of
88 History or Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

a frank clear aspect when viewed at that distance. To obviate
so untoward a contingency, the Persian sculptor modified the
form, as the Greeks often did in similar cases. The flutes that
everywhere else adorn the shaft are tangential, and have no
peculiarity of their own, save that they are found here in greater
number than in any other
column known to us,
whether Egyptian or even
Grecian.

All the columns have a
base, which differs from
one building to another.
That of the Palace of
So ccslii il. Cyrus is a disc, or re-

(nt eee
Y///// yy Vy yy versed quarter round,

    
   

a
i

very simple and not un-
a Te eee 6like the Egyptian base;

eS Se I EEE ce
Ay = LZ; its diameter, as well as
the black colour of the

marble, bring it out from

the shaft, which is of
white limestone (Fig.
11). A more compli-
cated shape, composed
of a rectangular plinth
and a torus seamed by
horizontal channellings, is
B= . seen side by side with it
Fic. 29.—Pasargade. Elevation and plan of bace of in one of the porticoes
ee DisuLaroy, L'dré antiqusy of the Gabre, which forms
part of this same group

of monuments (Fig. 29); and again in the lower portion of the
base in the porch (Plate I.), save that the rectangular form is
doubled and the torus above it quite plain. This last variety
occurs in the central colonnade of the great Palace of Xerxes,
but in the lateral porticoes or wings of the building (Plates IV.
and V., and Fig. 31), as also in the Hall of a Hundred
Columns (Plates VI., VII.), and the Propylea (Plate III. and
Fig. 32), we find a base somewhat richer in detail and of very
different profile. It again reappears at Susa (Figs. 12, 30), but

   
   

   

   
THe Comumn. 89

worked out in a more elaborate fashion. Thus, in one of her
exemplars which belongs to the main edifice, the bell is not only
ornamented by a double row of pendant leaves, but is further
enriched with balls or knobs, and palms carried round the upper

A firmly outlined torus is the connecting link between

border.
Another base associated with

the base and the shaft. (Fig. 30).
a smaller building was discovered at a different point of the

SN

Ss
SSS
SESS
Ss

S

SS
Se
SS
WEES

SE
SS

AH
Fi Hit
Ha
ae
ii

S

NS

 

Fic. 30.—Base of column in the great palace, Sitsa, after the fragments brought home by
Dieulafoy. Height, cz. 1 m. 50 c. Louvre.

tumulus, and more nearly approaches the Persepolitan specimens
(Pies “I2).

The type that prevailed all over the country in the golden
age of Persian art, during which it produced its choicest fruits, is
represented in Fig. 30; its superiority over the other forms that
strove with it for mastery will be readily admitted; it constitutes
the true Persian base, the best thing indigenous art ever elaborated.
At first sight the member under discussion seems to deserve in
full its name of base applied thereto, but closer observation brings
92 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

out the fact that we have been tricked, and are the victims of
optical delusion. Art in Greece was careful to make the separa-
tion of the constituent members of the unit very distinct and visible
to the naked eye, so that the spectator should never be puzzled
as to the function each was required to fulfil. Here, on the
contrary, the base is not infrequently carved into the lower drum of
the shaft, and is single with it; hence with it it must stand or
inevitably fall. Elsewhere—in the hypostyle hall of Xerxes, for
instance—the base is cut in two; in it the torus belongs to the
first drum of the shaft, whilst the principal member is a separate
block resting directly on the ground.' Characteristic, too, of this
base is a decorative detail that should not go unnoticed. The
ornament, unlike that of the Ionian or Corinthian base, where it
is arranged horizontally, is grouped here in a vertical direction,
being in fact but the prolongation and unfolding of the flutes.
Despite the elegance of its contour and the care displayed in its
make, the base lacks independence, and does not sufficiently con-
trast with the column so as to allow of those charming effects which
greet us in the Grecian support. The resemblance between the
capitals one with the other is greater than that which characterizes
the bases; yet here again the builder did not servilely keep to
a unique type, but modified it here and there. He tried to
improve and perfect the primary device he had adopted at first,
and strove to introduce some little variety in every proof he
drew upon a model whose first impression he always kept well in
view. The capitals are all zovphoros.

The animal that usually appears about the Persian column is
a bull,’ his legs folded back so as to produce a bold salience at the
knee in harmony with the massive head above (Fig. 32); but in
the eastern portico of the great Palace of Xerxes, it is replaced by
one of those conventional types created by Oriental fancy, eg.
a unicorn with lion face, his paws stretched out (Fig. 31). In

' Flandin and Coste, Plates LXXXVIII., XCL. ; Dirutarovy, LZ’ Art antique, ii. Plate
XX.; Stolze, Plates LIV., LXXV.

2 SToLzE (Persepolis, Bemerkungen) seems to think that in the capitals of the
columns of porch No. 1 the animals figured resemble the horse rather than the
bull. Impressions of these fragments are required to verify an observation which
no other traveller has made. But we should not be surprised to find that the
ornamentist hit upon a kind of compromise between the two quadrupeds, so as to
add another conventional type to his repertory, which is not a whit more
strange than that of the unicorn, found as support to many of the architraves.
Tue Conumn. QI

 

every case the lower portion of the capital detaches itself very

 

 

   

     
 

At i tS
oe

a HN

      

 

r Ane

| 1
y i {

al

i

—A_A_F 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ht:

EE, ee

Fic. 31.—Persepolis. zetia hall of Xerxes.!. Eastern portico. Capital and base.
FLANDIN and Coster, Perse ancienne, Plate XCIII.

 

abruptly from the column, and forms a horizontal line on each

1 The legend of Figs. 13, 19, 25, 27, 31, is rectified from the corrigenda,—Trs.
92 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

side, parallel to the architrave and at right angles with the axis
of the shaft. There is no junction or intermediary moulding
between the tapering column and the rectangular member at
the beginning of the capital, akin to the echinus of the Doric
capital. ‘Hence it is that the support presents harsh con-
trasts, which imperfectly satisfy the eye, and are very near
offending it.” *

The architect doubtless perceived, at one time, that this was
faulty; that if his capital harmonized with the architrave and
could be extended indefinitely along with it, its mode of attach-
ment with the shaft was bad; hence he looked about him how
best “to prepare contact of and approach to the forms.”? Figs.
32-37 show the way he went to work in order to reach
the end he had in view. “He first reduced the height of the
shaft, and crowned it with a capital which he divided, in a
vertical direction, into two equal parts, but dissimilar in form.
The lower member is cylindrical in shape and rests on the
shaft, its generating lines being connected with a reversed quarter
round, upon which rests the upper member of the capital, which
likewise starts as a circular form and terminates in a cavetto.
The capital, destitute of amplitude, has but a feeble salience
beyond the shaft.”* The quarter round and the upper part
of the cavetto are adorned by a row of oves and beads respec-
tively. If, neglecting minor details, we only regard the shape
as a whole, it does not seem unlikely that the first notion of
it was suggested by the crowning tuft of a palm. The lower
members of the capital would represent the dead twigs as they
droop and fall about the stem of the tree; the upper members,
whose forms look upwards, would stand for the young shoots,
which, full of fresh life and vigour, dart forward past the sere
foliage with a slight outward curve ;* the vertical strize that scar
the surface throughout would be reminiscent of the intervals or
fillets which, in nature, separate the leaves of the terminal bunch.
It is a poetical conceit, and likely enough, but if there was imitation
it did not originate direct from nature, since the Oriental palm is
not found in the uplands of Fars, though it grows in the lower
valleys towards the seaboard, notably the Persian Gulf and all over

* Cu. Cuipiez, Hist. critique des origines et de la formation des ordres grets,

Pp. 99.
2 Tbid., p. 1ot. > fbid. * Franpin, Relation, tom. ii. p. 156.
Tue CoLumn. 93
Susiana. The Persian ornamentist did not reproduce the features

 

 

 

 

 

=
oe ie &

 

K ai

Ah }
{ UL ll
d iN ll Rel sl ar

 

 

Fic. 33-—Capital seen in profile.

 

FIG. 34.—Plan of volutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

FiG. 32.— Base and capital facing.
Fics, 312-317.—Persepolis.

, alt
Fic. 37.—Plan of base,
Propylea.

FLANDIN and CosrE, Perse ancienne, Plate LXXV,
94 History or Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

peculiar to the palm with the same fidelity as his confréres of
Egypt and Assyria... His was a free copy made upon models
more realistic and nearer to nature, in which his fancy prompted
him to introduce ornament—the reel and bead, for example—
which further detracts from the resemblance it ought to have to
a vegetable form and makes its reading difficult.

The manner the cylindrical capital was united with the shaft
was exceedingly happy, but its mode of attachment to the upper
crowning members of the column, was as clumsy as that of the
latter, in the type just described. This the architect may have dis-
covered and striven to remedy, but his attempts, whatever they
were, are lost to us, so that we have no means of testing them,
although we have the final result in the transition form interposed
between the two capitals, a prism, which is allied to both, and
surrounded by adjuncts wherein flowing lines predominate. The
form in question consists of narrow pilasters, which, springing
from the summit of the quarter round, from behind the ovolo
ornament so to speak, are disposed somewhat in the shape of a
cross in horizontal section. Superimposed volutes play the part
of base and capital on each face. Flutes separated by fillets scar
the face of these pillars as well as the Audvznus of the scrolls.?

Considered as a whole, the arrangement of the double set of
volutes is not without analogy with that of the Greek prothyride
(order reversed), with this difference that the Persian spires, like
those of the Ionic capital, are symmetrically arranged ; ¢,¢. all the
scrolls are turned one way, and not opposed to each other as in the
Greek example. Then, too, the connecting line is horizontal in
the latter instance and vertical in the former, an arrangement
exhibited in the architecture of no other nation. If the per-
pendicular and lateral situation assigned to the volute is apt to
startle one, it is not only because our eye is more accustomed to
the Greek mode in the buildings around us, as that the strangeness
of the device is so great, notably the lower, as to make it hard
to understand its movements, or conceive from what animal or
vegetable form it could have originated. When scrolls appear in
the Ionic column, they fold round the echinus and necking after
the fashion of the rich curly hair about a young girl’s face; at
least, such was the image they awoke in the playful fancy of

1 Hist. of Art, tom. i. pp. 556, 557, 583, Figs. 337, 348.
* Cu, Curpiez, Wist. crivigue, p. 102.
Tue CoLumn. 95

 

the ancients, who thus connected them with one of the most
charming points of human.beauty which must ever be the noblest
of all.

Thanks to this wealth of devices, the architect was certainly able
to pass from the tapering form of the shaft to the rectangular shape
of the bull capital without offending our eye; yet he was not happy
in the choice of the prism adorned by volutes, whose great draw-
back is the length allotted to it. This is no less than one-third of
the total height of the column, exclusive of the base and capital, and
it betrays, moreover, embarrassment and hesitancy. The problem
of how to effect the union of the forms is one that every nation
who has made a large use of the column has had to solve, but none
have gone to work in so laborious and roundabout a manner.

The complex column, with double capital and volutes, rose
between the four enormous pillars of the monumental Propylea
on the Persepolitan platform; it upheld the ceiling of the central
hall of the great Palace of Xerxes, and formed the supports,
both internally and externally, in the main porch of the Hall of a
Hundred Columns, as well as those of the hypostyle hall of
Artaxerxes at Susa.' But in the porticoes flanking the hall of the
Palace of Xerxes on three of its faces, and in the smaller dwellings
of a domestic character, they were content with the simpler bull
capital; the former, as richer in detail and more effective, was
reserved for those gorgeous edifices in which the monarch was
wont to receive the homage of his great vassals, or give audience
to foreign ambassadors. Though the colossal column occurred
in one of these buildings, the complex type was confined to the
main apartment, where on stated days the King of kings sat en-
throned in great pomp, and where the pillar, owing to its size and
ornamentation, stood out from the clusters of the lateral porticoes
within which the multitude pressed to see the gorgeous display.

Having described and analyzed the elements that make up the

’ Until recently, only slight fragments of the capitals under notice had been
recovered ; nevertheless the number seen by Coste was sufficiently large to enable
him to write as follows :-—“The flutes of the shaft are cut to a fine edge, and the
cap.tals, like those in the porch No. 1, consist of four distinct sections.” Scores
of shafts and chips of capitals were disengaged some ten years ago. In Plates
LXVII.-LXIX. of the atlas published by the German Mission, entitled Details
of Columns, will be found fragments of the bull-group, along with pillars adorned by
volutes and the cylindrical form which intervenes between these and the pillar.
Altogether they furnish all the elements requisite for a restoration of the column.
96 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

Persian column, we are unable to resist the temptation of asking
whence it came, if the expression be allowed, e.g. where it
started into being ; how far it is original, and to what extent the
artists who invented it derived their inspiration from older types
and foreign models; in a word, we desire to have light thrown
upon the singular gracility of its shaft and the very special forms
of its base and capital.

It has been proposed to recognize the Egyptian support, not
excepting its most finished types, as derived from the rock-cut
pillar upon which rested the roof of the hypogeum. The theory
is not at all improbable. By its light we can see it grow, and
note how, by a series of cunning touches, the massive pier lost
its rudeness, was disengaged, and finally transformed into the
noble dignified column seen at Luxor and Karnac. Yet even
in those edifices that rank as the master-pieces of Egyptian art,
it always retained proportions that remind us of its origin and
primitive physiognomy. Its sturdy and somewhat thickset aspect
was rendered necessary to enable it to carry the burden of
enormous architraves and stone lofts which the builders of
the Delta put upon it... The most superficial glance at the
Persian column reveals the fact of a different point of departure
(Fig. 38). If, even in the grandiose edifices erected by the
Achemenidz, it never upholds aught but timber, we cannot admit
its having fulfilled a different 7é/e and borne heavier material at
any time previous to that date in the architecture of which it forms
an integral part ; consequently we can look back to the day when
lofts and supports of the simpler buildings were of the same
material, and when the latter were no more than trunks of trees.
Some notion may be gained of the primitive support under notice,
the rude ancestor of the elegant column at Persepolis and Susa,
from that upon which rests the flat roof of the annexed illustration
(Fig. 39). It is from a village of Mazanderan, a province adjoin-
ing on the Caspian, occupied for awhile by Aryan tribes ere they
spread on the Iranic plateau. There is a striking resemblance
between the entablature of this habitation and that of the
Persepolitan palaces, such as we understand it, and as shown in
our restoration. The column lends itself to a like comparison.
Thus its wood crowning member has a very marked salience
beyond the shaft, and extends right and left ona line with the

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. pp. 545-552.
Tue CoLumn. 97

 

architrave, as if to keep it in sight and furnish it with a better
support ; its mass is about the same as that of the bull capital of
the Persepolitan orders, before blocking out. The shaft is very
slender and slightly tapering towards the top, in remembrance of
the tree, with a diameter less above than below.

Every detail in this rustic order, down to the base, foreshadows
that which the builders of Darius and
Xerxes were subsequently to chisel with
such loving care. It is a
huge block of stone, almost
unhewn, diminishing from
the base to the top, with
a circular hole
in the centre
to receive

the post.
Its shape,
despite

       

[pn nul il Te a 0 i iti A

a

“eo Ms

 

 

1. Palace No. 2. 2. Propylea. 3. Palace No. 8. 4. Istakhr. 5. Palace No. 3.

Fic. 38.—The several columns at Persepolis and Istakhr compared. FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse
ancienne, Plate CLXVIILI. a.

its rudeness, is more or less pyramidal; so that when we feel
the need to choose a well-defined type, there will be no diffi-
culty to draw from this roughly outlined sketch, the happy contour
of the bell whose elegant profile and wealth of ornament we
have admired in the palace of the king of kings.
We have abundantly proved in another place the persistency of
H
98 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

local habits,! and there is no reason to believe that two thousand
five hundred years ago the inhabitants of the tract known to the
Greeks as Hyrcania, lived in houses that very much differed from
those modern travellers find in Ghilan and Mazanderan. It
follows, therefore, that from the remotest antiquity, the support of
the roof was a wooden pillar, at any rate in this part of Iran. Now,

 

 

 

Fic. 39.— A peasant’s house, Mazanderan. DiguLaroy, L’Art antique, tom. ii. Fig. 35.

in the oldest stone column ever raised by the Persian architects,
standing even now among the ruins of the Palace of Cyrus at
Pasargade (Fig. 11), we have a faithful representation of the
primitive post, save that its material is stone and not wood.
There is no fluting; the shaft being quite smooth, so that at a
distance we might almost imagine we had before us a very straight

* Hist. of Art, tom. i. p. 146; tom. ii. pp. 140, 145, 164, 171, 172, 178; tom. v.
PP- 73, 359-373.
Tue CoLumy. 99

 

slender tree. But what was its capital like? Nobody knows.
As to the base, it is a simple round form interposed between the
shaft and the ground, even more rudimentary than the cube which
does duty as a plinth in the rustic house (Fig. 39). Less rain
falls in the plain where rose Pasargade than on the northern
slopes of the Elburz; hence there was no danger of the water
rising to a certain height and damaging the support. A block
such as we find here was enough to prevent the wood coming
in contact with the damp earth.

Was it the huts of the peasantry which gave the hint to the
first architects in the employ of Persian sovereigns to try their
hand at transcribing upon stone shapes derived from timber? We
very much doubt it. Persia is very far removed from Hyrcania,
so that the inhabitants of the Polvar valley were unacquainted
with dwellings of the type of our illustration (Fig. 39). Models
nearer home, were far better calculated to provoke imitation
among the builders entrusted with the building of the palace of
the conqueror, through whom the supremacy of the Medes was
transferred to the Persians. In a country such as Media,
adjoining on one side to a forest-clad region, and Persia on the
other, wood architecture was developed in very early days.
Edifices, the size and beauty of which were famous all over Iran,
were built at Ecbatana, a town that for the space of a hundred
years had been among the queens of the Oriental world.
Polybius, one of the most exact and well-informed writers of
antiquity, not only defines the site and gives a rapid summary of
the history of the town at the time of the expedition of Antiochus
the Great, but also describes the palace which formed the chief
glory of the place. “The palace measures seven stadia in circum-
ference. The magnificence of the various buildings of which it is
composed give one a high notion of the wealth of the princes who
first raised the noble pile. Although none but cedar and cypress
were employed in the construction, they were plated throughout.
Rafters about ceilings, wainscoting, columns supporting porticoes,
and peristylz, all were sheathed in metal ; here shone forth silver,
there it was gold, and every tile was silver.”* Then the historian
speaks of a temple at Aéna, in honour of the goddess of the same
name, which should be read Anahita, and he declares that when
Antiochus entered the town, the columns of the porticoes surround

1 Polybius, X. xxvii. g, To.
100 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

ing the sanctuary were as yet entirely gilt." He does not indicate
how they were made; but the impression left by perusal of his
narrative is to the effect that the temple, in which the glitter of
precious metals met the eye everywhere, was in the same style as
the palace. Gold-leaf is not only more easily applied to wood
than stone, but its adhesion will likewise be a great deal firmer.

It has been argued’ that the above curious passage does not
relate to the palace of Cyaxares and Astyages, but that the
“timber pavilions of Polybius were probably erected by the last
Achemenidz, or more likely still their successors, the Arsacide,
in imitation of the edicula raised by the sovereigns of Babylon ;
that if the wood palaces at Ecbatana were the creations of
Median kings, their age at the time of the expedition of Antio-
chus would have been from six to eight hundred years, and would
thus have outlived the Persian and Macedonian conquests. To have
made this possible, we must suppose that for the space of nearly
eight hundred years, Oriental princes of different stock and origin
were content to reside in, or at least keep in repair, the old palaces,
and that the soldiery of Cyrus and Alexander refrained from tearing
off the gold and silver plating that covered apparent woods and
even tiles, neither of which hypotheses I can admit.” The alter-
native proposed, namely, to rejuvenate the buildings and ascribe
them to the Arsacidz, makes us suspect that the passage in ques-
tion has been superficially read, since it is formally stated that most
of the metal facing was removed when Ecbatana fell to Alexander,
and that the pillage went on with Antigone and Seleucus. Conse-
quently the account of Polybius refers to the state in which the
Macedonian conquest found the palace three hundred and thirty
years before our era. The interval between this date and the end
of the reign and kingdom of Astyages in 560 B.c, is not by any
means as great as has been adduced. If we suppose that the
palace was erected, not by Astyages, but his father Cyaxares, the
first rich and great king of Media, the edifice when the Greeks
invaded the country would have been about three hundred years
old. What, then, becomes of the six or eight hundred years that
have been flourished about our faces ?

In default of the Arsacidz, M. Dieulafoy falls back on the last
Achemenide, but we submit that there is not the slightest foun-
dation for the conjecture he advances. Wherever edifices were

* Polybius, X. xxvii. 12. * Dizutaroy, L’ Art antique, etc., tom. ii. p. $8,
Tue CoLumn. IOI

 

erected by the architects in the pay of the heirs of Cyrus, they
seem to have adopted the plan, data, and style of the sumptuous
buildings grouped about the famous platform. At Persepolis,
during the sway of the-Achzmenidz, there was no other style of
architecture except that which they had made the fashion. Of this
we have proofs at Susa and Hamadan. Stone in the former place
was quarried from mountains three and four days’ journey, yet it
played precisely the same part as at Persepolis, where it is found
on the spot. The Susian palaces signed by Darius and Artaxerxes
Mnemon, are almost. faithful reduplications of the palaces at
Persepolis. At Hamadan have been exhumed fragments of fluted
shafts and bases, the sole relics of ancient monuments to which
they belonged. Now, these bases are identical with the bell-
shaped examples of Persepolis and Susa,’ and, no doubt, belonged
to one of those hypostyle halls whose type we know from the ruins
around Istakhr. The inscription of Artaxerxes Mnemon seen on
one of them is almost an exact copy of that which was discovered
at Susa. Besides the king’s pedigree, it also contains the state-
ment that “he has built the Apadana,” a fragment. of which
building is now in the Tiflis Museum.? Here we have the remains
of the palace which the successors of Cyrus had built in their
northern capital, on the models of the edifices of Persepolis, and
they are certainly not those of the wooden palace, the chief
characteristics of which are so graphically described by Polybius,
than whom no one was more particular as to the authorities he
consulted. The air at Hamadan, summer and winter, is sharp and

1 Ker Porter, Zvravels, tom. ii. p. 115; Morier, A Second Journey through
Persia, p. 268. Sir H. Rawlinson paid several visits to Hamadan between 1835
and 1839. He descried five or six bases of the Persian classic type, one of which
is figured after Morier in vol. ii. p. 266, of Hive Monarchies, etc., by Professor
Rawlinson. These interesting fragments escaped in some unaccountable way the
notice of MM. Coste and Flandin; the remains of shafts and bases published by
them are much simpler and more primitive in character.

2 I am indebted to M. James Darmesteter for a photograph and translation of
part of the above inscription (OpPERT, Le peuple des Medes, No. 18), which, unlike
that of Susa, makes no mention of a restoration. Artaxerxes declares himself
the builder of the palace. A translation of the epigraph in question was read at
the meeting of the Society of Biblical Archeology, May 5, 1885; but its author
does not seem to have detected the difference to which Darmesteter has called
attention, To know the rights of the case,a more complete copy of the text is
required, portions of which are somewhat blurred on the block, owing to the letters
being incised on a curved shape or torus.

The translation referred to will be found a little further on.—Trs.
102 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

dry ; the rainfall is not great, and, as a consequence, the wood does
not get rotten by damp heat. It is the same all over the province
of Irak Ajemi. Hence the palaces of the Sofis at Ispahan, in
which supports, ceilings, and lofts were timber, are standing to
this day, although they have been abandoned for the matter of a
hundred and fifty years ; the present Kajar dynasty, which resides
at Teheran, doing nothing to save them from destruction. The
palace at Ecbatana was guarded by the glorious memories con-
nected with the old native rulers, who first brought the Aryans
into prominence and established their supremacy in the Eastern
world. The narratives of Herodotus, and particularly Ctesias,
show us to what extent popular fancy had magnified their deeds ;
in fact, the tales circulated about them very much resemble those
that were subsequently collected in the Shahnameh. Thanks to
these traditions and legends, the edifice they had built was
suffered to remain exactly as they left it; for it was endeared to
the Medic people, whose chiefs and priests succeeded in maintain-
ing an exalted position under the new rule, their sons being
accounted the bravest soldiers of the Persian army. The Ache-
menidz did not reside in it when they spent the summer months
at Ecbatana, but they kept it in repair, and may on particular
occasions have held their court there, so as to keep up their rights
as heirs of the Dejoces, Phraortes, and Cyaxares; just as the
sultan at present quits his palace of Dolma-Bagtshe, in the new
Turkish quarter, to celebrate the Courban-Bairan in the deserted
courts and buildings of the Seraglio raised by his ancestors.
Timber architecture, which had assumed so brilliant a veil at
Ecbatana, had not come to Iran from Babylon. It owed its origin
to those zdicula, made of wood, metal, and woven fabrics, which we
see figured in the sculptures of Assyria, and which we have tried
to restore after them.’ The buildings in question, however, no
matter the use they might be put to, were always small, and partook
more of the character of a tent than of a house; they might be
trellised kiosks set up in the garden, or tabernacles placed over
the altar, but there was a wide gap between structures of this
description and a palace which was to be in keeping with the
new fortunes and reflect the glory of a dynasty that had over-
thrown Nineveh and carried its victorious arms to the Halys and
the Euxine. If the heirs of the Assyrian and Chaldean empires
* Hist. of Art, tom. ii. pp. 201-208, Figs. 67, 63, 70.
THE Cotumn. 103

 

had aimed at copying the royal palaces of their predecessors, they

would have raised at

the foot of the citadel a building with thick

walls, in which sculptures on stone or enamelled brick would have
been the chief ornament. Now, could aught be conceived more
unlike those mounds of sun-dried clay than the palace at Ecbatana,
with its elegant proportions and light constructions largely made
up of woods; about which, too, were lavished the precious metals,
in the shape of ornamental leaves and plaques? Some notion of

the aspect the royal
residence presented
may be gained from
certain modern build-
ings of Persia; such
would be the Chehl-
Sutun, or Palace of
Forty Columns, built
by Shah Hussein, the
last of the Sofis. Its
principal apartment is
a great hall, or ¢alar,
which opens on the
porch; eighteen ele-
gant wooden pillars

support the roof

(Fig. 40). Th
entire building, ex-
cept the cornice,
where a_ tinted
wood inlay forms a

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Fic. 40.—The Mirrors’ Pavilion, Ispahan. Partial section.
FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate XXXIV.

kind of mosaic, is covered with pieces of glass, lozenge shaped.

The ceilings, divided

into compartments, are also enriched with

embossed glass and prisms of crystal. The woods here are not
revéted in the same way as at Ecbatana, but their arrangement is
identical. The resemblance is further increased by the tarnished
appearance of the tin-foil, which makes the tiny glass plaques look
like burnished and oxidized silver. It certainly is curious that we
should be able to name, at an interval of so many centuries, two
edifices on Median soil whose construction and decoration were on
precisely the same lines. The analogy extends to details not
void of interest; thus lions, their heads turned in different
104. History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

directions, serve as bases to the central rows of columns in
the porch, a device which vividly recalls the oldest traditions of
Persia.

The reader will have guessed that, if we have laid so much stress
on the palace at Ecbatana, it was because we consider it as the
most Eastern representative of a constructive system in vogue
over a portion of Anterior Asia from high antiquity; a system
characterized by the almost exclusive employment of timber, as we
learn from the study of the tombs, whose facades were imitated
from wooden shapes, as well as the modern houses of the
peasantry, in which are reflected and faithfully preserved primitive
habits." The area over which lignite architecture has obtained
and still obtains corresponds with the vast wooded region which
from the Propontis and the Euxine stretches right across the
peninsula in a southern direction, traverses the timbered heights of
Taurus, and adjoins on Lycia; whilst in the east the Caucasus
connects it with Hyrcania, and thence with the Caspian, where it
terminates. Ecbatana lies, at present at least, outside this zone;
but if wooden houses are still built at Ispahan, where forest trees
are only seen within orchards, there is all the more reason why
lignite dwellings should have obtained in the capital of Media,
whose situation is much nearer the mountains of Kurdistan and
Luristan, where clumps of oaks—remains, no doubt, of ancient
forests—are still encountered; but here, as on many points of the
old world, man’s neglect and the gnawing tooth of animals have
finally destroyed them. It is not hard to understand why the
royal architecture of Media should have exercised on that of
Persia an indelible influence, even when art, carried on amidst
new surroundings and with the command of far greater resources,
had entered on new paths. Historians agree as to the loans the
Persians contracted of the Medes after the accession of Cyrus.
Persian royalty had no past; hence, to make as good a figure as its
predecessor, the pompous display and court etiquette of the latter
were adopted wholesale. The poor rude mountaineers, whose
costume, up to the time when they found themselves the masters
of Asia, was as simple as that of the present Lurs and Bakhtiyaris,
now adopted the long robe and tiara of the Medes. By appro-
priating the arms and tactics of the Medes, the ill-equipped and
irregular contingents of Fars were turned into well-constituted

’ Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 183-186, 370-372.
Tue CoLumn. 105

 

corps, whilst the grassy fields of Azerbijan furnished excellent horses
for the cavalry.’ We cannot wonder, therefore, that the architects
of Cyrus and Darius, whilst changing their working materials,
should have derived their inspirations from the palace at Ecbatana
and the buildings of the like nature they might have chanced to
see in other cities of Media. Though they preserved the wooden
loft, they carved the column in stone and were thus able to add to
its altitude and secure for it a longer existence. In each and all
the architectures, whether Egyptian, Persian, Greek, or Gothic,
which have made use of the column, this, as a human being,
appears with an individuality and physiognomy of its own, the
character of which is determined less by details and subordinate
forms, such as the presence or absence of flutes, the profile of
base and capital, than a thorough coincidence of the parts and
harmony of proportion. But the Persian column, no matter the
dimensions it may assume, even when composed of enormous
blocks of limestone tapering towards the apex, preserves through-
out the mark of its origin; we feel that this was timber, its
legitimate ancestor some cypress more than a hundred years
old, which, on the order of Dejoces or Phraortes, fell by the axe
of the wood-cutter on the timbered heights of Elburz or Zagros.
That which is more difficult to find out is how the idea ever
entered the mind of the -artist of composing a capital with
elements and a mode of grouping them together such as we find
here. In the first place, it may be observed that the .capping
of both the Mazanderan (Fig. 39) and the Ispahan column
(Fig. 40) exhibits a form which roughly recalls that of the
Persepolitan capital. In the former, they are tablets broadening
as they rise towards the loft ; in the latter, it is a transverse timber-
piece placed at the summit of the shaft, something in the shape
of across. The beam, which in both instances plays the part
of architrave, is more apt to give way under the burden of the
roof than would a stone of the same dimension; this was as
well understood by the rustic builder as by the scientific archi-
tect of the brilliant capital, and each tried in his own way,
to reduce as much as possible the width between the columns
across which the beams would be carried. The marked tendency
of the terminal members to spread out in the direction of the
architrave is only to be explained on a utilitarian principle. The
? Herodotus, i. 135; Strabo, XI. xiii. 9.
106 History oF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

Persian capital likewise upheld a wooden loft, a fact which involved
a rectangular shape very distinct from the Egyptian and Grecian
capital.

A similar disposition, suggested or rather rendered inevitable
by the nature of the materials, could not but tax the ingenuity
of the architect as to the best means of turning it to advantage
and transforming it into a decorative element. But why was his
choice fixed upon a motive to which he remained faithful from
first to last ? Why have placed couchant quadrupeds, unicorns and
bulls, at the summit of the shaft? If other and more primitive
shapes existed, they have not been found, and as all the columns
at Meshed-i-Mirghab have lost their capitals, we are left in igno-
rance as to the mode of junction between shaft and entablature
in the early palaces of Persia.

Some day, perhaps, excavations will enable us to recover,
in the rubbish, some fragment of the order that would tell us if
the Persian artists invented this singular type at once, or by
degrees and after many essayals. In the latter case we should,
no doubt, learn much it were useful to know, and this or that
characteristic might give us the clue and serve as guide in our
researches backwards, when, perhaps, we should have to seek in
some older art the antecedents and the connecting link of the
younger form. Unfortunately such a resource as this is denied
the historian ; he has to deal with facts as they are, and in the
present instance the capital we are considering is only found at
Persepolis, in those buildings that date from the reign of Darius,
where long usage had already fixed its composition and leading
lines, which it preserved to the last day of its existence. Our
inability to lay hold of the type in its nascent state, so to speak,
adds not a little to the onus of our inquiry and renders conjecture
more uncertain.

Our first thought naturally turns to Assyria, where the capital
already exhibits a complexity and crowding of forms which tend
to widen the tablet whereon will rest the architrave;! but it lacks
the semi-bulls as crowning members of the support—a feature,
as far as we know, proper to Persia, but which we cannot help
thinking was mainly derived from, or helped at least by the
models of Assyria. Our advance, albeit unconfirmed by data from
the ruinous palaces of Mesopotamia or the architectural repre-

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Figs. 41, 42.
Tue CoLumn. 107

 

sentations of the sculptures, does not land us high and dry as at
first might appear. Did not Persian architecture borrow thence
the great winged bulls as guardians of the palace portals (Plates I.
and III.)? Did it not make constant use of these same animal
figures to decorate its edifices, fashioning them with a masterly
hand, whether it copied them direct from nature, or combined them
with forms derived from various types ?

Examination of the scanty remains of the Propyleea shows us
that it certainly did insert bulls about the column, but in a different
way, interposing them between the shaft and the extadblature.'
Columns were discovered at Koyunjik and Nimrid, whose bases
reposed on the back of winged sphinxes; elsewhere, on a bas-
relief from the palace of Asur-nat-sirpal, lions and griffins play
a very similar part.? The device seemingly in common use on
the banks of the Tigris, may have opened the way for that the
origin of which perplexes us; the primary idea was taken and
applied the other way about; the conceit was adopted, but the
animal, who at Nineveh upheld the whole column, was relieved of
part of its burden, having but the entablature to carry.

If in Assyrian architecture, where the column holds so small a
place, the body of the animal does not appear beneath the archi-
trave, at any rate it sometimes furnishes the elements of devices
the arrangement of which vividly recalls that of the Persian
capital, in such productions as we have termed industrial arts.
Reference to those lions represented in couples as ornament to
the sword-scabbards of the Assyrian bas-reliefs will show the
justness of our remarks.* The lions are back to back; the
lower part of the bodies is parallel to the sheath; but in some
of these same exemplars, the heads come away at right angles
from it. The whole difference is that in the Assyrian sculptures
the horizontal plans yielded by the neck and hollow between the
two animals support nothing, the figures being mere surcharges,
but their silhouette is identical with that of.the double-bull capitals
which characterize the Persian order.

A still better subject for comparison is afforded in a kind of
standard, which may be recognized in a bas-relief from Khorsabad
(Fig. 41), and is evidently copied upon a bronze model. It con-
sists of a pole fixed upright at the front of a chariot, carrying at the

1 Ground occurs in the text, but it would seem to be a misprint.—Trs,
2 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Figs. 83-86. ° Lbid., Figs. 272, 442, 443.
108 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

top a circular frame or disc, within which are emblems intended
to frighten the enemy and make manifest the power of the tutelary
god of the monarch. Below the disc, subordinate ornaments make
up a kind of capital about the pole; the principal member—that
which attracts the attention most—is very salient, and composed
of two lions’ heads, back to back, with a horn sticking out in the
middle of the forehead. The type is highly conventional, and
very similar to the Persepolitan specimen (Fig. 31) already
noticed. All that is required to make the likeness complete, and
obtain the oblong form of the Persian capital, which was demanded
by the peculiar nature of the loft it had to support, would be
to add neck and rump to the heads.

If, as we are inclined to believe, it is not unlikely that the
builders who erected the palaces of the Achaemenid kings found
in the Assyrian forms of Fig. 41, the first rudiments of their
favourite theme, what is proper to them is this: in the
crowning member of the column they never introduced the lion,
whose image they beheld everywhere about the models from
which they drew their inspiration. They replaced it by a bull.
If the latter obtained the preference, it was because his elongated
head, notably the horns, furnished a mass the profiles of which
coincided better with the general character of the capital.
The frank salience of the horns continued and lightened it,
whilst their light colour was in pleasing contrast with the
surrounding masses, and served to heighten the effect. The
fragments that have come from Susa, and are now in the Louvre
(Fig. 42), seem to prove that accessories, such as ears and
horns, were bronze, and applied after the work was finished.
At any rate, none have been found in the rubbish. That which
tends to confirm the conjecture of the substitution of a bull
for a lion, is the fact that the head of the ferine was preserved
in one of the Persepolitan arrangements, albeit with the addition
of a horn. If the architect borrowed a conventional type from
the repertory of Chaldzo-Assyrian art, it was because he found
in the salience and curve of the horn exactly what he wanted
for a satisfactory ending to his capital. It helped to bring it out
and lighten it as well.

In Egypt, too, forms are encountered which bear a certain
analogy with those we have just reviewed. Thus, among the
favourite themes the artist loved to introduce in tomb-paintings,
   
      

                             
            

              

     

          

         
    

  

        

 

  

         

    

  

      

   

 

           

 

 

Y My Ua! LY pyle, ME PLY LOZ IMO L ih LE, LE PIE, PP iP Op Epo ROPE Ay
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ic. 41.-—Assyrian standard. Borra and FLANDIN, Monument from Nineveh, tom. ii. Plate
CLVILI.
Tue Coiumn. IIt

 

are edifices, about whose capitals lions’ heads interpose between the
abacus and the blown lotus flower crowning the shaft (Fig. 43).
Elsewhere, wild goats’ heads appear in the same situation, but
they are almost lost in the overcrowding of forms, such as volutes,
rosettes, flowers, and the like. The ornament about simulated
columns is so exuberant, it consists of so many members thrown

          

 
 
 

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Fic. 42.—Fragment of bull. Louvre. Height, 45 c. Drawn by St. Elme Gautier.

in haphazard in a confused medley without any relation to each
other, as to make it hard to believe that such types as these could
have any existence in fact." The ornamentist seems to have
brought together forms that came easily to his brush, without
troubling himself whether, despite their lightness and _pliancy,
wood, and metal itself, would lend themselves to be fashioned into
objects at once fantastic and exceedingly complex.

On the other hand, designs of Assyrian origin, to which atten-

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. pp. 542, 543, Figs. 317-320.
112 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

tion has been drawn, present all the characteristics of being exact

copies of bronze objects.

That which above all seems to preclude

the comparison instituted by Dieulafoy’ is that the six lions’
heads of Fig. 43 form a kind of collar around the column; their

 

 

 

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Fic. 43.—Egyptian column in the tomb-

paintings. PRISSE D’AVENNES, Hist, de
2 Art égyptien, i.

characteristics are more those
of a circular capital, and have
in reality nothing about them
which in the least approaches
the Persepolitan capital; where-
as the oblong shape of the latter
will come out without effort of
the lower group of the stan-
dard (Fig. 41), and above all
of the pair of lions decorating
the sword-sheath.

So far as can be judged from
the little we know of their
history, the Persians, up to
their advent to the empire of
the East, can hardly have been
more cultured and careful of
soft living or valued beautiful
forms about them than the Lurs
and Bakhtiyaris of the present
day; so that at the outset they
must have taken on all hands
the elements of a culture which
their altered circumstances and
exalted position rendered im-
perative. In this respect they
still continued under the vas-
salage of the Medes. It was
the architecture of the latter

which furnished the arrangement of the halls of Persian sovereigns,
as well as the composition of lofts, and the slender proportion of
the column which must ever remain the distinctive feature of

the Persian order.

But from the day when they began to raise

stone buildings in the south of Iran, change of material in-
volved the necessity of forms other than those that had origi-
1 Dieutaroy, L’ Art antigue, tom. ii. pp. 82-84.
Tue CoLumn. 113

 

nated in timber. To satisfy the need, it was natural they should,
at first, apply to the inhabitants of the Tigris valley, who,
next after the Medes, were their nearest neighbours. It would
appear that before Cyrus, Susiana was already incorporated with
Media; in fact, the demarcation line between it and the equally
flat levels of Chaldza must always have been as difficult to
define as it is now, for no distinct feature, mountain or river,
warns the traveller that he has left the possessions of the sultan
and entered those of the shah. Moreover, it is probable that long
before the spread of Iranian tribes into the lowlands, they had
contracted the habit of going to Mesopotamian centres for
manufactured goods, which now come to them from Europe wd
Bend-Bushir. Nor is this all. Cyrus about the middle of his
reign seized upon Babylon.

An indigenous art then seemingly existed, that borrowed
from Media and Chaldza whatever it was unable to evolve from
its peculiar surroundings or inventive genius. This art was
coeval with Cyrus and Cambyses ; it knew of but one of the twin
types of the Persian capital, namely, that which we have called
the simple type—an hypothesis which is consonant with the
comparison we have established between Assyrian and Egyptian
forms, from which the builders of the Achemenidze may have
taken their hints, perplexed as they were how to effect a junction
between wooden lofts and stone pillars.

A new artistic period, represented by the great buildings at
Persepolis, was ushered in with Darius, whose empire was not
only enlarged, but organized on a footing calculated to increase
its resources.

The Persians occupied Egypt. Like all the conquerors who
have followed each other on her soil down to our own times,
they were dazzled by the splendour of her edifices, and a desire
was excited in their breast to imitate those marvels. This
is attested by Diodorus on the testimony of an older writer whom he
does not mention, though internal evidence would point to Ctesias :
“The Persians with Cambyses not only pillaged Egypt, tore off
gold, silver, ivory, and precious stones from her temples, but
burnt them down. Report says that the famous palaces at
Persepolis, Susa, and Media were built after all this wealth had
been conveyed to Asia, together with Egyptian artificers.”"’ Study

1 Diodorus, I. xlvi. 4.
114 History or Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

of Persepolitan architecture confirms the above assertion. We
have already pointed out and shall again advert to more than one
trace of the imitation of forms proper to Egypt.t | Thus, the
composite or second type of the Persian capital, one at least of
the elements of which it is composed, seems ‘to have been
borrowed from certain Egyptian columns (Fig. 32, a). If the
cross-like brackets upon which rest the bulls are so peculiar as to
find no parallel anywhere else, there is a curious analogy between
the member below the brackets and capitals such as those at
Soleb and Sesebi.? Here and there, in Persia as in Egypt, some
think to recognize in the form introduced by the builder in that
situation a presentment of the elegant bunch of leaves that
crown the date-palm tree, which the ornamentist grouped after
Nature’s own system, the mass at the top falling about in two
divisions or lobes. Slight differences of detail may be noticed.
Thus, the rim of the lobes, which in nature is next to the stem,
is adorned by a row of beads in Persia, whilst in Egypt it is left
quite plain. With this exception the data are identical, and the
profiles coincide in every respect. .

On the other hand, Egypt does not exhibit, at any rate in such
columns as have come down to us, the model of the lower member
of the capital, which in our estimation seems to recall sere leaves
curling at the tips and falling around the trunk of the tree
(Fig. 32, B). The same savant has tried to prove that the
origin of this device was to be sought in a capital that occurs
once only in the Nile valley, in “the Avenue of Totmes;”* but
we fail to perceive any relation between the two types. The
Egyptian capital is bell-shaped and widens below,‘ whereas
the Persian is a mere cylindrical shape, whose diameter is little
more than that of the shaft. The latter does not look as if it
ended here, but as though it continued through this kind of
sheath, much after the fashion of a tree which merges and is
lost to view amidst a wealth of decaying (?) leaves. To find a
form recalling this, it is not to Egypt we should apply, but rather
to Phoenicia and Assyria, where, among the ivories and fragments
of certain pieces of furniture and stone colonnettes from Nimrud,

\ Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 460, 462, §24.

* Lbid., tom. i. Figs. 337, 348.

* Dieutaroy, L’ Art antique, tom. ii. p. 82.

‘ Hist. of Art, tom. i. pp. 571, 572, Fig. 350.
Tue CoLumn.

115

 

we have had occasion to point out that pendant leaves form a
kind of collar or ring at the summit of shafts or uprights of
some kind or another, and terminate in a festooned border.’

True, the form seen here, and manifested in numerous monu-

ments of Anterior Asia, is not
precisely similar in design to
that of the Persian order, in that
it is shorter and has more of
a bulging outline; none the
less, the principle is identical
in both.? The same vegetable
form was the model whence all
artists, whether of Mesopotamia,
Syria, or Persia, borrowed their
idea; but each has worked it
out in his own way, and this
has resulted in marked dif-
ferences between this and that
rendering. The ring of leaves
appears on the internal face of
the door-jambs at Persepolis,
as well as the uprights of the
throne at Naksh-i-Rustem. The
aspect it offers in every instance
may be observed in Fig. 44.
The same throne, too, exhibits
another form of the complex
capital, namely, volutes placed
in a perpendicular direction
along the transverse rail of the
seat; they are disposed in sets
of two, turned opposite ways,
but all decorate the bars inter-

posing between them (Fig. 45).

wee
2
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f. ROY j
\\ we?
y, I, Y \\ Ws 2
2 hs ANY s
* NI KS
‘ Asif
\ WS — \ 4 \

. ee < oe
7 Sipe es

Fic. 44.—Upright of royal throne, Naksh-

i-Rustem. FLANDIN and CosTE, Jerse
ancienne, Plate CLXXVII.

Taken singly, the- features

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Figs. 129, 383, 386; tom. iii. Figs. 80, 81, 84. Examples of
forms similar to these, likewise derived from Assyrian ivories, will be found in
Dieuaroy, LZ’ Art antique, tom. ii. Figs. 53, 54, 56.

2 Reference to Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Fig. 383, shows the foot of a throne in
‘bronze, after De Vogué’s, which bears a striking resemblance to the Persian

specimen.
116 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

seen in this device are most peculiar and well calculated to excite
the curiosity of the archzologist.

The outcome of our analysis is that even the more complex of
the twin types of the Persian capital is an original creation
wherein have been fused elements of different origin. If Egypt
has furnished her contingent, the shapes for the most part were
borrowed from the art of Anterior Asia, and perhaps that of
Media, which is imperfectly known. Be that as it may, there is
no doubt as to its having been derived from Chaldwa and
Assyria, with the addition of one member, the pillars adorned by

volutes, the genesis of which

Ath ! i AAU Hn WAIN: is) Shrouded in mystery,

i We e il sel ll ula il Inspection of the general

i HO | characteristics of the inven-

tion of the Persian archi-
tect, more than aught else,
brings to mind a certain
class of Assyrian objects—
the legs of chairs for ex-
ample—figured in the bas-
reliefs of Nineveh. In

 

Ni Ns

   
  

   
         

Fic. 45.—Ornament on transverse rail of royal them are already displayed
Fis. Dreuaroy, L’ Art antique, tom. iii. a superabundance of orna-

ments resulting in the some-

what heavy aspect which characterizes the Persian capital.
Despite the relations which conquest had established between
Persia and Egypt, the intluence of the latter over the former was
but feeble, as we shall immediately prove. Thus a marked con-
trast exists between the columns of the two countries, between
the lines of the shaft and the forms manifested about the capital,
because, to obtain the necdful contrast, each started from a widely
divergent point. Take as an instance the Egyptian column, which
seems to have been imitated at Persepolis, divest it of the adjuncts
it will have when complete, and reduce it to the blocking-out
stage, what remains is a brace of truncated cones of unequal
height, the lesser being topmost (Fig. 46). By applying the
same process of simplification to the Persian column, a truncated
cone is obtained on which rests a solid parallelopiped (Fig. 47).
The Persian architect may complicate the transitional member as

* Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Figs. 383, 385, 387-390.
THE CoLumn. 117

 

much as he pleases, and crowd with minor ornaments the part
that interposes between the shaft and the capital properly so called,
yet dissimilarity and. diversity of origin will show through it all.
Even in such instances where Egyptian workmen have been
required to lend their ser-
vices to the erection of the
building, and have actually
introduced this or that
shape, because most familiar
to them, the Iranian column,
elegant daughter of a forest
tree and support of a timber
loft, will always preserve a
very different aspect from
that of the Egyptian pillar.

The same impression is
carried away by the study -

: Fic. 46. — Elemen- Fic. 47.— Elemen-
and comparison of the tary form of Egyptian tary form of Persian
bases, Of these a solitary  (ivg SMP» Salina Chiplez,
specimen belongs to a
column believed on all hands to be indigenous and older than
the relations between Persia and the Delta (Fig. 11), but whose
resemblance to the Egyptian is very remarkable. To find an
explanation for it, however, we need not have recourse to the
imitation theory. The base in question,
found at Pasargadz, is no more than a
cushion interposed between the base of
the wood support and the humid soil.
From the earliest dawn of plastic in-
stinct, a circular shape was given to the

cushion so as to bring it in harmony with Fic. 48.—Base from the porch

: of the Gabre, Pasargadee.
the pillar. : Profile and section. Foon

Nothing in Egypt reminds us, even at 4, COBTE, Larse ancienne,
a distance, of the second type of base
found here side by side with the first; it consists of a fluted
torus and hexagonal plinth, which crops up again in a certain
class of edifices of a later period (Fig. 48). The shape has
been compared with that of an archaic base exhumed at Samos ;?
but without going so far, we shall find countless examples of

 

     

 

1 Dreutaroy, L’Art antique, tom. i. pp. 44, 45.
118 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

this same base, the main characteristic of which is a large torus,
both in Assyriat and the rock-cut architecture of Asia Minor,
Phrygia, and Paphlagonia.?

Long before the conquering hosts of Iran appeared on these
tablelands, the peoples of the peninsula were in constant touch
with the inhabitants of the Euphrates and Tigris basins, and the
traces of these relations are very apparent in their art. We are
justified, then, in considering the Samian and the Pasargadian
bases as varieties of a unique type which may be called the “Asianic
base,” a type which, like the volute capital, passed to the Greeks
through the channel of the nations of Anterior Asia. If the
horizontal flutes of the torus are common to both, their profiles
are very distinct. It is not only the torus which is channelled in
the Samos base, but the scotia below it is seamed with very similar
strie. Nor is this all. At Pasargade the torus rests upon a
square plinth ; the Ionic base, on the other hand, is invariably made
up of mouldings on a circular plan, except in a few monuments of
the decadence. The difference is all-important. The Greek base,
even in its most elementary form, exhibits a more complex and
skilful arrangement than the Gabre specimen. Now, a complex
disposition is not the forerunner of a simple one. The two types
are distantly related, and can look back to a common progenitor,
but the kinship is too far removed to admit of copy or direct
imitation.

As we have before remarked, the true Persian base is the
campaniform (Figs. 12, 24). Some have sought to identify it
in Egypt;* but none of the Theban edifices, so much admired

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. p. 227, Figs. 87, 88.

* Lbid, tom. v. Figs. 98, 138, 140, 142, 149.

* Dinu.aroy (L’ Art antigue, ii. 86) may say what he pleases, and trot out Lepsius
at every turn in support of his argument, but he cannot make me see campaniform
bases in the thin discs which everywhere appear in the four plates of Prisse
d’Avennes, representing types of this very architecture, and which are not a whit
more important than those of the stone columns. Dieulafoy refers us also to
the temple of Mesaurat-es-Sofia, in Nubia, published by Lepsius (tom. ii. Plate
CXXXIX.); but, in the opinion of Maspero, the building in question dates at
most in the reign of Axoum, e.g, the fifth century of our era. It is, in fact, a
Christian church, built upon the ruins of an Egyptian temple. In it there is but
one column, whose base has a distant analogy to the campaniform ; but the whole
column is evidently comparatively modern, and bears unmistakable signs of Roman
influence, whilst a little beyond, at the side, as far as may be judged from a

picturésque point of view, are columns thoroughly Byzantine in style. Let us for
an instant suppose, though impossible, that a Nubian temple did really harbour
Tue Cotumn. 11g

 

by the Persians, had anything of the kind. All there was to
see between the shaft and the ground was a poor, thin plateau,
which plays a very indifferent part in the order. More than this,
Persian ornament has not one feature to remind us of Egypt.
True, in the Delta we often find the base of the column orna-
mented by a ring of leaves ;' but not only do they spring from
the shaft, but they are turned upwards, and the column emerges
from the greenery, as the stem of a plant out of its collar of radical
leaflets. Here, on the contrary, the foliage around the bell is
pendant, or turned downwards. There is, then, nothing that
can be taken as a reminiscence of Egyptian art. We have said
how the hypothesis which on the whole looks to us most likely
is that the bell-shaped base was suggested to the architect by the
rude stone block the rustic constructor was driven to employ, so
as to save the wooden post of his humble house from coming in
contact with the damp earth.”

With regard to the ornament, it is sufficiently elegant to tempt
one to think that the first models were furnished by some Ionian
craftsman, whose touch seems to lurk in many an architectural
detail. However this may be, the form maintains a physiognomy
which is neither Assyrian nor Egyptian, nor yet Greek. Nowhere
else are the component parts exactly adjusted as these, and, above
all, turned in the direction we find them here. The decorative
theme, the solid shape to which it is applied, every feature is
original. The Persepolitan, like the Susian base, is a happy con-
ception, well carried out in the execution, and both do credit to the
native artist. We are not blind to the fact that when he set about
enlarging and completing his capital, he did not use the pruning-
knife as thoroughly as he should have done, and allowed super-
fluities and incoherences that would be infinitely better out of the
way. But we cannot help admiring his noble taste and the
sagacity which prompted him to make the living form of the semi-
bulls subservient to the exigences of the architectonic decoration.
He knew how to simplify the animal he had chosen to complete
his picture without robbing him of his animated aspect, and

a bell-shaped base, which has been sought in vain all over Egypt, will M. Dieulafoy
explain in the name of wonder how the Persians got at it? Is it necessary to
remind him of Cambyses’ utter fiasco in his attempt to subdue Ethiopia?

1 Hist. of Art, tom. i. Figs. 333, 336, 345, 346.

> Tbid., tom. v. p. 497.
120 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

although minute details have been eliminated, so as not to distract
and bewilder the eye, all his distinctive features are well brought
out. The tufts of hair on the neck and back, the: shoulder, dew-
lap, and haunches of the animal are firmly massed into ringlets,
whose outline yields a more vigorous relief than if suffered to fall
about in picturesque disorder, whilst the collar depending from
his neck, the rosettes and gem falling on his breast, warn us not
to attach any idea of reality to the ferine, inasmuch as these are
sacred and almost divine beings, modelled and created afresh, as it
were, by the artist so as to fit them for the function allotted to
them. In the movement of the head, slightly bent forward and
turned on one side, there is a look of untamable power which
seems to run through the huge body. The muscular development
of the lower limbs of the bull, folded under the belly, are drawn
with a bold hand; we feel that he might at any moment weary
of his eternal repose, and, rising on- his haunches, at one swoop
bound from-his elevated position. So have I felt, at least as often
as I have stood in front of the colossal capital Dieulafoy has
deposited at the Louvre; among the visitors that thronged the
hall, even those from whom you would least expect it, all were
brought under the spell, and, in one way or another, acknowledged
the noble and strange beauty of the peculiar type before them. If
a mere fragment is capable of exciting such sensations as these;
would not our enjoyment be enhanced a hundred-fold could we
see it in its integrity, at the summit of the fluted column, accom-
panied by a long series of capitals supporting, like this, an
entablature warm with colour and gilding? The pencil and the
brush are less powerless than mere words in bringing home some
notion of the forms in question, and the effect they must have
produced on the beholder. We cannot, therefore, do better than

refer the reader to the restorations of M. Chipiez (Plates III.,
V., and VII.).

SEconDARY Forms,

The survey of Persian membering serves to confirm the hypo-
thesis suggested by the study. Art, after Cyrus and Cambyses,
was developed during the prosperous and brilliant reign of Darius,
when it admitted new shapes, which, though lacking variety, are
ampler and richer than those it had been satisfied with at the
outset,
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SECONDARY Forms.

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The only monument at Pasargadz whose state of preservation
permits of investigations of some interest being made, is the small
structure known as Gabre-Madere-i-Soleiman . 49). “The

character of its archaic Greek architecture”
has been urged of late, and it has been said
that “the Persians had obtained from the
Ionian Greeks the secrets of the art they
transplanted in the valley of the Polvar-Rid.’
To us the assertion does not seem justified.
The only characteristic moulding about the
cornice and plinth of the Gabre is the ogee,
which is straight in the former and inverted
in the latter (Figs. 50-52). But the ogee
is so simple a shape as to preclude the
necessity of making the Greeks the sole pro-
prietors and inventors of it. Thus, we pointed
it out in a pair of tombs at Amrith, in Phee-
nicia; namely, the Burdj-Bezzak and the
Meghazil, whose substructure is flanked by
four lions, considered on all hands as very
ancient, and about which it would .

be difficult to detect sign or token Y
of Hellenic influence.? Then, too, j/
the French savant insists upon
dentels that only appear here and
there in the cornice (Fig. 53),? as
if the architect, ill pleased with his
handiwork, had not cared to goon
with it. But is it not a universally

    
 

mah

acknowledged fact that dentels in Fic. 51. ae
shaped plinth of

a

LL

   

S

perenne hare

Z

Fic. 50.—Transverse section
of cornice of the Gabra.
Dieulafoy, tom. i. Fig. 32.

e

N ;

a stone architecture are reminders jase fiom. the PIS: 52 “Ss form:

ing lower gradine.

of the ends of the joists of the primi- 2298: 79745 aia, Fig. 35.

i : Fig. 34.
tive timber loft, and can any one

dispute the other fact that Persian buildings preserved through-
out their history wooden attics? Granting similarity in the condi-
tion of the peoples amongst whom they were in use, the transcription
which gave rise to dentels is quite as likely to have been worked

1 Dieutaroy, L’ Art antique, tom. i. pp. 38, 53.
° Hist. of Art, tom. iii. p. 124, Figs. 63, 94. * DizuLaroy, doc. cit, tom.i. p. 55.
124 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

out in Persia as in Greece and Lycia, without any of those peoples
having required to borrow so natural an idea. Nor is this all.
The character of these dentels is very distinct from the Grecian
form. At the Gabre, they appear in the lower band of the cornice,
something after the fashion of a meander; but the intervening
space is not hollowed up to the upper moulding ; ; each does not con-
stitute an independent piece. A great call is made on our good-
will when we are required to see a perfect resemblance between
such timid and clumsy cuttings as these, and the shapely form

pale
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Said NRE

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Fic. 53.—Elevation of fragment of cornice from the Gabre. DIEULAFOY, tom. i. Fig. 33.

about the doorway of the theatre at Selinunte, where—to use
a familiar expression—they appear like neatly arranged dominoes
before the platband to which their base adheres. Nor do we
find here aught to remind us of the characteristic and high relief
of the drip seen in every Greek cornice, the absence of which
imparts to the Persian member so peculiar an aspect. In our
opinion there is just as little truth in the assertion put forth, that
the doorway of the Gabre (Fig. 54) is “an exact copy of the portals
of edifices in the Ionic style, erected in Greece towards the end of
the seventh century B.c.”* The only detail which is common
to the twin portals thus juxtaposed, is that both have preserved
the disposition of the timber frame which obtained in lignite con-

1. Dieuvaroy, LZ’ Art antigue, tom. i. pp. 42, 43.
SECONDARY Forms. 125

 

structions. Excepting this, we can perceive naught but dis-
similarities. Thus, the crowning members of the Greek doorway
are always very distinct, well defined, and their profiles frankly
salient. The most conspicuous shape is a band of dentels, a form
conspicuously absent from the Persian crowning ; a number of ill-
defined mouldings being crowded in in their stead, whose re-enter-
ing contour finds no parallel in the Greek membering. This
imparts to the whole-a confused and heavy aspect. As in the
entablature, here also, the
architect betrays hesitancy,
as if trying to find his way.

Matters are differently ar-
ranged at Persepolis, where
we stand before an art that
not only has constituted
itself, but whose forms and
proportions are its own and
fallin their proper place after
a well-pondered scheme. Of
the column and its double
type of capital and base we
have already spoken. The
membering seen about the =
openings, real or blank, gate- . [e.g Se ae
ways, windows, and niches aa : Se :
is even less varied; they "IG, $t--Elcaton of doorway from the Gabre
are everywhere crowned by
the Egyptian gorge, and the disappearance of the mud walls in
which they were pierced makes them look like so many isolated
stone structures (Figs. 14, 22). We may reasonably suppose
that in the accessory parts of the edifice, in the lateral wings of the
domestic residence, a brick wall may have successfully terminated in
acavetto. The builder of that period could find no more difficulty
in carving the shape in the brick than his modern successor
all over Persia. A good instance will be found in the annexed
illustration (Fig. 55) from the minaret of a mosque at Ispahan,
exhibiting a curve towards the summit, whose profile at once
recalls that of the Egyptian and the Persepolitan cornice.

If the actual fact of the borrowing cannot be denied, it should
in all fairness be observed that the Persian architect carried

 
126 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

into it a certain degree of freedom. If, speaking here and there
generally, the lines that make up the crowning are very similar
and their contour identical (Figs. 15 and 56), there are differences
in matter of detail between Thebes and Persepolis... Thus, instead
of the tying fillets seen around the torus of the Delta, we find here
what is commonly called the reel and bead, in which we scent
Grecian rather than Egyptian taste. The grooves carved in the

hollow of the gorge are not carried up to the upper band, but
divided into three sec-

tions; hence the aspect
they present is that of
a triple tier of slender
arcades.

 

Fic. 56.— Persepolis.
Palace No. 8. Sec-
tion of cornice of
lateral doorways.
FLANDIN and Coste,

Fic. 55.—Minaret of Shah Roustan, Ispahan. Perse ancienne, Plate

FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse moderne, Plate LIV. CLVII.

 

The doorways, thanks to the excellent quality of the stone out
of which they were made, are, as a rule, in good preservation
(Fig. 57). Their opening, in the shape of a rectangular parallelo-
gram, is wreathed round by two listels, slightly salient one upon
the other. In the tombs at Naksh-i-Rustem their number is
increased to three;? but the door-frame of a sepulchral vault
found north-east of the Persepolitan platform consists of three
platbands, each adorned by a row of thickly set anthemions

1 For the Egyptian gorge, see Hist. of Art, tom. i. Figs. 67, 389-393.
2 FLANDIN and Costes, ferse ancienne, Plates CLXXIII.-CLXXV.
SECONDARY Forms.

127

 

(Fig. 58).

The monumental gateways at Persepolis, whether

built or rock-cut, offer a certain analogy both to the Lycian and
the Greek portals; but here again, as at Pasaradge, the coincidence

may be explained on a basis
other than the imitation hy-
pothesis. It is, we think,
sufficiently accounted for
from the fact that the stone
door-frame was modelled on
the dispositions proper to
the carpentry work of a
former age, in general use
all over these regions. M.
Dieulafoy next compares the
door of the Erechtheum with
that of the Persian tomb.’
The juxtaposition is unfor-
tunate, and tells against its
author, since differences are
by a long way more striking
than resemblances. In the
Athenian portal the five deli-
cate listels are happily op-
posed to a platband, over the
surface of which rosettes are
sown with a discreet hand.
On the contrary, at Perse-
polis the three bands are
nearly of equal size, and the
surface disappears under
somewhat heavy forms, just
as would be expected in an
Assyrian doorway.* We can
detect here nothing of that
subtle knowledge of contrasts
and balance of forms which
make of the doorway to the

Grecian temple a masterpiece of art.

Yj

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Profile of

 

a

  
  

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1 FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate CLXVI.

2 Dieuaroy, loc, cit., pp. 33, 34, Figs. 17 a, 18.

 

Profile of
niche.

Face of
window. cornice
Elevations and sections of doorways, windows, and niches of the palace, No. 8. F.ANDIN and CostTF,

Face and profile of lateral
doorways.

Face and profile of principal doorways
on the north and south sides

Will it be urged that

3 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Fig.

Plate CLVII.a

Fic. 57.—Persepolis.

136.
128 History oF ART In ANTIQUITY.

 

rosette which forms the main ornament about these doorways came

from Ionia ?
well known to need comment.

But the part it plays in Assyrian decoration is too
It meets the eye everywhere; either

warm with vivid tints on enamelled bricks, or chiselled in alabaster
and ivory, or engraved or impressed upon metal by the goldsmith.

   

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Fic. 58.—Persepolis. Doorway to royal tomb. DIEULAFoy,
L’ Art antique, tom. ii. Fig. 18.

principal entrance to the Palace of Artaxerxes.

It was from
thence that
the Greeks
as well as
the Persians
borrowed it;
and if their
arts betray co-
incidences
with each
other, it is
because they
have drawn
from the same
fount.

No gate-
way is left
standing at
Susa. Frag-
ments of a
frame were
picked up
among the
rubbish by
M. Dieulafoy,

which he
thinks be-
long to the

“They are

round listels, separated by egg-shaped chaplets and channelled

baguettes ”' (Fig. 59).

These remains enabled him to restore

the portal to the hypostyle hall which he exhibited in the Champ

de Mars two years ago.

Thus, the membering of an edifice

in Susiana, younger than the great palaces of Persepolis, though

? Dieutaroy, Deuxidme Rapport, p. 22.
SECONDARY Forms. 129

 

retaining the general character of that of the latter, would seem
to have been endowed with a more varied and Greek aspect.

As to the observations that have fallen from the French savant
respecting the dimensions of these doorways, they are of a nature
that will not challenge criticism.’ Yet we may remark that
certain doorways at Persepolis are relatively narrower than the
narrowest ever fashioned by Greek hands. The relation of the
width to the height, measured above the plinth, is 1 to 2°50
in the pillars of the Hall of a Hundred Columns. The mutual
relation follows a very simple rule; it oscillates here, as in all

 

 

 

 

4 SDs Sy Da ha SE a Sa BB
, eS GS SF SO SS w a a we f

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fic. 59.—Susa. Fragment of door-frame from a hypostyle hall. From Dieulafoy’s restoration.
Plate XCVI,

buildings, between limits which the exigencies of the material
and the necessities of the construction will not allow to infringe.

What far more deserves our attention is the mode of closing,
which may be guessed at from the present condition of the bays.
This differed according as it was intended for the palace or the
tomb. In the former the valves were certainly hung to the door-
frame, proved by the existence of sockets and grooves to which
they fitted.”

On the contrary, the absence of rebates from the great throne-
rooms at Persepolis does not permit us to suppose that either
the entrance to the Takht-i-Jamshid, or those to the sepulchral
chambers, were closed by means of stone or timber doors.’ Nothing

1 Dreutaroy, L’Art antique, tom. ii. pp. 34-36.

2 For details of the rebates and door-suspension, both in the Gabre and the
funereal tower at Naksh-i-Rustem, see /é/d., tom. i. p. 48, Figs. 19, 34, 54, Plates VI.
and XI.; and tom. ili. p. 2, n. 2.

8 [bid tom. ii. p. 29. In the Palace of Darius (No. 3 in plan) are evident

traces of a door having been fitted to the bay (/did., p. 30, Plate XVI.), but the
K
130 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

more solid than movable drapery existed here, which could be let
down or partly drawn so as to exclude the sun or admit a little
air and light. It is easy to imagine several ways by which this
could be accomplished.

The lateral gateways have nothing to distinguish them from
those of the facades, except that they are smaller; but they are
likewise adorned with sculpture (Fig. 57). On the contrary, the
frames of both the windows and niches that were distributed, at
regular intervals, between the entrances to the apartments are quite
plain. All these openings are uniform in size and identical in profile ;
their height is double their width, and a unique fillet surrounds
them. Some are pierced right through the massive zdiculum, and
are real windows ; but by far the greater number are only cut to a
slight depth, and are niches, or fakshes, as the Persians call them,
closed with a slab opening into the apartment. Even now the
most luxuriously fitted-up house in the East has no other cup-
boards than these recesses, into which the bedding disappears during
the day to be taken out at night. There are no pieces of furniture
answering to our chests of drawers, wardrobes, writing-tables, and,
in fact, the appliances of a European house ; hence it is that recesses
are pierced in the depth of the walls of every house, so as to
enable the inmates to put away a few things which otherwise must
drag about the seats and the floor. At most one may descry in
some corner an oblong coffer heavily padlocked, which contains
the precious objects of the family. How well I remember, during
my peregrinations in Asia Minor, the satisfaction I felt to find at
my elbow the friendly niche, where I could deposit arms, watch,
mariner’s compass, notes and papers.

sealing holes are very roughly made, and not in keeping with the surrounding archi-
tecture of the fagade. It seems pretty certain that work was done here after the fall
of the Achzemenidz. Some local grandee may have wished to inhabit a building
which, perhaps, had suffered less in the conflagration than the great gala rooms,
when he set up a stiff frame to the external doorway so as to shut himself in, a
not superfluous precaution in troublous times. This, we are bound to say, was not
Coste’s impression. ‘In the upper part,” he writes, “of the inner faces of the
recesses of both windows and bays are rebates destined to receive the hinges of
a door which must have had two valves. A circular groove, twenty-two centimetres
wide and six deep, runs right across the top of the main doorways and indicates the
place where the pivots of the valves fitted ” (text, fol., pp. 105, 106). It isnot unlikely
that both observers are right, their fault residing in generalities of too sweeping a
nature. The reception-rooms were certainly not closed; as to the apartments
occupied by the king and his wives, it is difficult to admit that they were left open..
SECONDARY Forms. 131

 

Windows seem to have been less sparingly distributed in the
inhabited palaces than in the reception-rooms. Thus, there are
four windows on the main face of the Palace of Darius (Fig. 10,
No. 3), and only three on that of the Hall of a Hundred Columns,
which is so much larger (Fig. 13).

That external blinds, even now of universal usage all over
the East, whether of wood finely carved or metal-plated, existed
here, is rendered probable from the groove seen in the plan of
the building (Fig. 13) and the picturesque view representing its
present condition (Fig. 14).

Staircases play an important part in the architecture of Persia,
which, on the example of Assyria, grouped its edifices on elevated
platforms, whence they ruled the plain afar. Had the Takht
at Pasargade received the royal buildings intended for it
(Fig. 17), the architect would have had to find means of access.
As it happened the works were interrupted, doubtless on account
of a change of dynasty, so that we are left in ignorance as
to the way he would have got over the difficulty. Hard by, in
front of the square tower (Fig. 21), we find a perpendicular ramp
which leans against the facade like a ladder against a wall.? So
elementary a mode as this would not have been found adequate at
Persepolis, where it was necessary to connect the surrounding
country with the platform on which the king and his court were
eventually to reside. The whole of the platform was not of a
uniform height; on the contrary, the buildings rose upon quite
distinct levels. This arrangement involved the necessity of artificial
ascents to the several esplanades ; at the same time, it obliged the
architect to guard against the steps being cumbersome and taking
too large a space at their rise. This he did by turning the old stair-
cases and leaning them against the walls of the substructures.
He adopted a very simple arrangement of diverging and converging
ramps, separated by broad landing-places, of which the grandest and
best-preserved specimen is that which leads from the Merdasht plain
to the Takht-i-Jamshid area (Fig. 19). Here, fronting the palaces,
are several other staircases conceived on the lines described above,
well seen in Figs. 60, 61. The two flights that intervene between
the upper and lower shelving of the Takht depart from the general
rule, in that they are perpendicular to the wall of the platform.

1 FLANDIN and CostE, Ferse ancienne, Plate CXLIX.
? Digutaroy, L’ Art antique, tom. ii. p. 37- 3 [bid., p. 27.
132 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

A more felicitous arrangement than that of the double ramps
could not well have been devised, constituting as it does one of the
most remarkable features of Persepolitan architecture. ‘“ It enabled
the builder to increase the number of his flights on a compara-
tively narrow area, and permitted him at the same time to prepare
large surfaces, which presently would be adorned with sculpture and
inscriptions.”’ The
epigraphic texts
and inscriptions
specified above will
be dealt with when
we come to describe
the palaces; yet,
even now, we can-
not but draw atten-
tion to the peculiar
shape and the de-
tails that appear
about the parapet
of these stairs,
whose arrangement
will be best under-
stood by reference
to Figs. 60, 61,
showing the stair-
cases of the palaces
of Darius and
Xerxes respec-
tively. (See also
Pig, 12, No. 3,)
The inner side of

Fic. 60.—Persepolis. Staircase of the Palace of Darius. the parapet, which
Dievuaroy, L’Art antique, tom. iii. Fig. 111.

 

 

 

 

the visitor has to
his left as he ascends the steps, is divided into perpendicular
compartments terminating in a decided quarter round, and the
smaller faces arching in front are adorned with a rosette apiece.
Above it is a broken moulding, and above it again a crenela-
tion, whilst the eye of the merlon is surrounded by a window-like
frame (see Figs, 60, 61).2 The employment of the “stepped”
1 Dieuaroy, L’Art antique, tom. ii. p. 28. 2 [bid., tom. iii. pp. 78, 79.
SECONDARY Forms. 133

 

ornament is reminiscent of Assyria and of brick construction ; but
in the mouldings which appear around the merlons, as well as
the godroons of the main compartments recalling the elongated
egg-shaped moulding, we have evidences of independent taste
which knows how to blend imitation with native ingenuity.

The balcony that
terminated the front
- wall facing the stairs
has left no vestiges
behind it.
Forobvious
reasons the
crenelated

  
 
 
 
 
 
  
        
 

 
  
   
 

    
 

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Fic. 61.—Persepolis. Detail of parapet wall of staircase of the palace No. 2. FLANDIN and
Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate XCIV.

 

 

 

edge of some of these flights could not be continued along the
parapet, since it would have precluded the spectators who stood
under the porch in front of the palace, from leaning over it. The
only arrangement we can suppose to have existed here is that
exhibited in the parapet of the staircase of the great Palace of
Xerxes (Fig. 61).

If, on the one hand, the architect who attempts to restore the
buildings at Persepolis and Susa finds that embattlements are mis-
placed in that situation, this does not apply to attics where their
134 History oF Art IN ANTIQUITY.

 

presence is not only fitting but necessary, in accordance, too, with
Chaldzo-Assyrian architecture, which is allied to the Persian by so
many links. Hence it is that they appear at the summit of all our
buildings (see Plates III., V., VI., IX., and X.). That Assyrian
edifices were surmounted by crenelations is proved by the bas-reliefs
that have been discovered at Nine-
veh, representing edicula the top-
most member of whose cornice is
a serrated embattled edge,’ which
somewhat resembles that of the
edifices of Iran. Gvradinz would
seem to have been of frequent use
in Persia, for they not only appear
about staircases, but they form the
summit of fire-altars, some of which
are perhaps older than the palace at
Fic. 62.—Susa, Crenelated enamelled Persepolis.’ At Susa they invariably

brick. Louvre. Drawn by St. Elme ornamented enamelled bricks (Fig.

wae 62). They reappear later in a cer-
tain class of buildings that unquestionably belong to the Sassanid
period. Such would be the fagade of the hypogeum known as
Tagh-i-Bostan (Fig. 63). Again we find them at about the
same epoch embroidered on Persian robes, thus testifying once
more to the persistency of habits associated with a remote past,
whilst the head-covering of the priests, something in the shape of
the Egyptian gorge, terminates in a mural crown.®

Téxier, one among the architects who have tried their hand
at restoring the palaces of Persia, crowned all his lofts with the
grand Egyptian cavetto. That the moulding was largely em-
ployed at Persepolis admits of no doubt, but its presence was
restricted to the minor parts of the building—over the doorway,
for example. It may also have been applied to brick walls of
medium height, not made to carry complicated timber frames,
such as appear at the summit of lofty colonnades ; but it is hard
to understand how a junction could be effected between the gorge
and those enormous wood lofts which we have described. In
this case it would have been necessary to endow it with great

 

1 See Hist. of Art, tom. it. Figs. 41, 42.
2 FLANDIN and Cosre, Perse ancienne, Plate CLXXX.
3 Jbid., Plate CLXXXII.
SECONDARY Forms. 135

 

altitude and proportional salience, so as to bring it in accord
with the other members of the architecture. But, whatever the
material employed, wood or brick, the difficulties of execution
would have been wellnigh insurmountable. On the other hand,

“i 7

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: (4 i :
i ae ,
: | i hy

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Fic. 63.—Facade of the Tagh-i-Bostan. FLANDIN and Coste, Perse anctcnne, Plate IIT.

gradini could be carried up to any height without difficulty, by
simply increasing the number of bricks (laid out flat-wise), so as
to make them correspond with the dimensions of the building,
whilst their broken line was not void of elegance. The clay of
which they were composed might be warm with colour or left
136 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

to its natural tones, none the less the indented edge would stand
out clear and distinct against the deep azure of a Persian sky.

DECORATION.

Our study of the column and other minor forms of architecture
will have given the reader some inkling as to what Persian decoration
is likely to be. In this department, art transfers to stone shapes
that originated in timber, proved by the proportion it assigns to
the supports of its porches. Thanks to the almost boundless
resources at its disposal, it employs the most varied materials,
even such as are not found in the surroundings in which it unfolds,
but have to be fetched at great distances from its wood-yards ; this
it is, however, that has enabled it to steal on all hands arrange-
ments and forms that approved themselves to its taste. Some insight
may be had respecting the task the historian has to face, the
perplexities he must feel in trying to allot to the right source the
different influences whose trace he detects in the monuments sub-
mitted to his analysis, by taking into consideration the complex
character of what may be termed the outer shell, along with the:
methods applied to the embellishment and construction of the
edifice, the choice of the materials that constitute it, and the dis-
positions they have received. Hence it comes about, that in order
to impart to his edifices a richness and splendour in accord with
the magnitude of the plan, the Persian architect now makes
over the stone surface to the ornamentist and the sculptor, like
his confréres of Egypt and Greece ; now, imitating the Chaldeans
who brought everything out of the clay, he spreads over the brick
a brilliant and indestructible enamel ; elsewhere, like the Medes at
Ecbatana, he covers the wood with plaques and laminz of metal,
by which meanness of material is concealed and duration assured.

We have already had occasion to point out the most important
mouldings that at once form the crown and ornament in the faces
of Persian edifices ; during the process of our investigation we have
met with little more than one shape, having a genuine, original
flavour, namely, the one seen in the parapets of the staircases
(Figs. 60, 61). The rule everywhere else is a curious medley
of forms of different origin, whose visible signs are hardly such
as one would expect to see congregated together. The dislocation,
so to speak, may be traced everywhere. Look well, for example,
DECORATION. 137

 

at the very careful and clever composition of the stage on which
the king is depicted worshipping before the fire-altar at Naksh-i-
Rustem (Fig. 44). The uprights that serve as supports to the
upper floor could easily be mistaken for those of Assyrian pieces
of furniture; like these, they are adorned by superimposed rings
and pendant leaves, and terminate at the top in fanciful animals’
heads, whilst the feet are lions’ paws.’ Again, the simple but
none the less impressive theme, composed of a double tier of
human figures, on whose heads and arms the royal majesty is
carried, is clearly borrowed from the Ninevite artist.?

Amidst the number of designs derived from the decorative art
of Mesopotamia, that which appears in the top cross-bar of the
stage, consisting of alternate discs and beads, should not go
unnoticed (Fig. 44); below it an egg-shaped moulding, and
between each form, at the base, lance-heads. Should we be
required to name its provenance offhand, it is ten to one but
that the choice would fall upon some Greek building or another.
Harmonious, on the other hand, with the general character of
the composition is a scroll on the middle rail already referred to,
akin both to the mean portion of the Persian capital, and those
which the Assyrian ornamentist was wont to carve on bases and
capitals alike (Fig. 45).

The rosette is uniformly simple, albeit the number of its petals
is not constant ; it never loses altogether the aspect of a full-blown
star of Bethlehem, conspicuous among all other flowers among
the herbage clothing the stretches of Susiana and the tablelands
of Iran after the first rains in early spring. It crops up as
frequently on the enamelled bricks of Susa as in the stone orna-
ment of the palaces of Fars (Fig. 64). Had the flagging at
Persepolis been preserved like that of the royal residences at Calach
and Nineveh, we should, perchance, light upon elaborate patterns,
as such are revealed in the pavements of the latter. The richest
designs at Persepolis are seen in the upper part of the staircases,
where the centre of the division is occupied by a number of sinuous
stalks and regular curves (Fig. 65), that seem to have been
unknown to the art of the Delta;® but, instead of the “knob and
flower” border of alternating closed and open lotus flowers, which

1 Fist. of Art, tom. ii. Figs. 383, 385, 389. 390.

® Jbid., Fig. 337, p. 728. ® Jbid., Figs. 74, 82, 83.
4 Tbid., Figs. 96, 132. ° Lbid., Pp. 320.
138 History or ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

betray no little taste and refinement in those wreaths Greece bor-
rowed from Assyria, we have a thick-set band of rosettes. A fillet
seems to hold together the stalks, whose height is proportional
to the surface to
be filled in; they
are concealed
by sessile
leaves, and
terminate in a
fanlike vege-
table form, per-
haps the com-
mon __ palmetto
of the country.’
Whatever may
have been the
original model
of the device, it
lags far behind
the Assyrian
: scroll, as far as

Fic. 64.—Susa. Enamelled tile. Louvre. Drawn by St. Elme :
Gautier. elegance is

concerned.

A form which is not without analogy with the Persepolitan,
yet in some respects distinct from it, is lavishly displayed on the

DOO

 

Fh
—
bh

 

 

7; AT . VES Wo Vo
NABNABAY We i
AT 4 ot

REET IRA
Os

   

TOLASZ. SC

Fic. 65.—Persepolis. Crowning of staircase of palace No. 4. FLANDIN and Coste,
Perse ancienne, Plate CXXXV.

 

1 Dieulafoy speaks of ‘‘a herbaceous plant that grows plentifully in the plain of
Mervdacht,” but the form in question is about as unlike a plant of that kind as
could well be imagined. The eminent botanist, M. Franchet, is good enough to
send me the following :—“ To judge from its appearance, the design under discussion
would seem to have been taken trom a palm, the ‘hyphene’ or ‘chamerops ;’ I
incline for the latter, because of the scaly ornaments about the shaft of this kind of
column (stalks and leaves). If my opinion is worth anything, would it not be
possible to admit that the fanlike leaves of the chamerops suggested the device
which here takes the place of capital, and that the stalk of the shrub, with the
Decoration. 139

 

enamelled bricks of Susa. Superimposed shapes, with terminal
palm, are common to both (Fig. 66), the difference residing in the
design of the elements with upward direction. At Susa there is no
pretence to a realistic presentment, the flowers being piled one
upon the other, after the fashion of volutes. There seems to have
been here one of those deliberate modifications of the lotus
corolla which formed the delight of the Egyptian ornamentist ; we
might almost fancy that the ornament was taken from the ceiling
of a Theban tomb, where it often exhibits a very similar contour.’
It is just possible that Chaldzan enamellists, the instructors of the

 

Fic. 66.— Fragment of decoration of staircase. Louvre. Drawn by St. Elme Gautier.

Susians, may have seen the form on costly objects which the
Persians had brought from the Delta, and transferred it forthwith
on to their tiles. The palm often recurs on enamelled bricks,
where it serves to compose another design, that in which a band
seems to hold together a number of circles of varying hue, and two
palms opposed to each other at their base (Fig. 67). Finally,
palms are introduced into the composition of the upper and lower
scroll border of both the Archers’ (Fig. 68) and the Lions’ Frieze

persistent bases of the petiolates, prompted the idea of the shaft and ornaments
with equitant base arching outwardly at the summit? This, as near as possible, is
the aspect offered by the trunk of the chameerops.”

1 Fist. of Art, tom. i. Fig. 541, n. 4; Prisse D’Avennes, Hist. de Part égypticn,
tcm. 1. plates entitled “ Ornamentation des plafonds.”
140 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

(Plate XI.), where they are juxtaposed to a pair of light leaflets, -
and allied to each other by a flexible stalk which is carried across
the panel into consecutive semi-circles. Nor should minor shapes
be left unnoticed, such as the lance-heads that appear in the
middle of the gradine, and the tooth-moulding enframing. the
royal guards in Fig. 68 and the walking animals in Plate XI. 7°
We can hardly

light of ornament
\a

      
     

       
  
 
    

the pyramidal
trees, that con-
stantly occur in
the front wall of
the substructures
at Persepolis to
fill the surface
(Fig. 69). This
same tree crops

«\j up again in the
fa long sculptured

 
 

    

  

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sess \ SY bands that else-

I; \ A where occupy

verysimilar situa-

tions to these,

Ss “Sree where it serves

Fic. 67.—Susa. Enamelled ornament. Louvre. Drawn by to separate the
St. Elme Gautier.

groups from each
other, and “fills the part of a kind of punctuation.”? I am
inclined to think that the pyramidal shape figured was meant
for a cypress, a tree very common in Fars. Its contour is one
peculiarly fitted to conventional treatment. Its natural features,
though conventionalized, are well brought out in the art of Assyria ;?
in Persia its rendering is somewhat different, and still further
removed from nature, its aspect being that of a fine cone carved
all over with branches and fruit.’

1 FLANDIN and Costs, Perse ancienne, Plates CIII.-CVI.

2 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Fig, 151.

5 M. Franchet has sent me the following conjectural remarks :—“ With regard
to the second service, to which you have drawn my attention, it certainly looks
like a pine cone (Pinus /arix), which the artist has elongated into a tree; and to
UE RNY Ne Rie aE SZ oe
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Fic. 68.—Susa. The Archers’ Frieze. Whole panel, Drawn by Barclay.
J. DiEuLA¥Foy, 4 Suse, p. 295.
DEcoRATION. 143

When we have summed up the analogies which, in our
estimation, exist between the lower part of the Persepolitan capital
and the head of the palm, the list—a mighty short one—of the forms
which the creators of the royal architecture of the Achemenide
derived from the vegetable kingdom will be complete. Nor is
there greater variety in the motives taken from the fauna. Selec-
tion of types and
mode of inter-
pretation, every-
thing recalls the

 

 

 

 

culture of those pe SN... yA ZSTS CO
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empires that ARAN Wy '

were the pre-
decessors of
Persia. In. his
portrayal of a
living creature
the artist does
not seem to have
gone to nature,
and he has
scarcely taken
more trouble
with those fan-
tastic animals,
uniting the attri- é ;

Bae, Fic. 69.—Persepolis. Palace No. 2. Crowning of staircase.
butes of different FLANDIN and Coste, Plate XNNVIIL
species, which
he often introduced into his decoration. The lion and the bull
perpetually recur at Persepolis. Is it necessary to remind the
reader of the large place they occupy in the art productions of
Chaldza, Assyria, Phoenicia, and Asia Minor, where they figure as
embellishments to edifices, textile fabrics, artistic furniture, arms,

 

judge from the shape of the fruit, it may be a pine or cypress. I should say the
former, in that its pyramidal shape and cones are precisely those of the figure, and
point to a deodara, a tree that grows all over Afghanistan. On the other hand,
the cedar of Lebanon, which furnished Eastern nations with timber for their con-
structions, is certainly pyramidal when young.” To the above hints may be
objected that the larch and the cedar are not indigenous trees of Fars—at any
rate, at the present day; so that, to accept M. Franchet’s views, we must suppose
the said trees to have disappeared since antiquity.
144 History oF Art in AnrTIQuity.

 

and jewels? Then, too, the pose and grouping of lions which
the monuments of Chaldza and Assyria have rendered familiar,
are faithfully reproduced here. Now the animal is seen stretching
his neck towards his slayer, whose spear is about to enter his
side (Fig. 52);* now it is his turn to slay a bull whose vain
struggles are pitiful to behold (Plate XI.) ;* elsewhere, in the
lofts of the palaces, lions march in file, exactly as they do in the

   

    

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we aie Nt y 2
paddies?! som

afd mai ag OS

Wee oe
SSS. wane oe 7 he

Fic. 70.—Persepolis. Fragment of tomb No. 10. FLANDIN and CostE, Ferse ancienne,
Plate XCIV.

concentric zones of the bronze bowls of Assyria (Fig. 70).
Again, in the upper part of the parapet of staircases, lions, raised on
their hind legs, stand on either side of a winged disc (Fig. 65).‘
The bull is allotted by far the largest place in Persian decoration.
If in the lower portion of the edifice he never appears, except as
the vanquished of an unequal contest, his powerful and dignified
head looks down from the summit of every column; whilst, im-
movable and colossal, he watches at the threshold of the palace.

\ Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Fig. 332; tom. iii, Figs. 471-474, 544, 552.
2» Ibid., tom. ii. Fig. 443; tom. iil. Figs. 475, 476, 544, 624, 639.

* Jbid., tom. ii, Figs. 407, 415; tom. iii, Fig. 555.

4 Lbid., tom. v. Figs. 64, 79, 84, 192, I10, 122.
   

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Fic. 71.—Persepolis. Ccmbat of king with griffin. Sculpture in palace No. 8. FLANDIN and
Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate CLII.
DEcorRATION, 147

 

When the bull fulfils a function of this nature he already helongs
to the category of those fantastic and complex animals dear to the
taste of Oriental art ; when, for example, he has a man’s head and
the claws of an eagle. To this may be added the unicorn, who
first appears in Mesopotamia with a horn stuck in the middle of
the forehead, and a mouth and folds of skin that recall the head of
a lion—characteristics that are well brought out in the standard
figured a few pages back (Fig. 41) ;’ but nowhere, not even in the
country of its birth, is the type worked out in so grand a manner
as in one of the capitals of the great Palace of Xerxes (Fig. 31),
where the unicorn appears with the legs and paws of alion. Some-
times, as in the group of the Palace of Darius, depicting the combat
of the king with a monster, the chief elements of the grotesque
figure are those of a bird (Fig. 71). The ears resemble a bull ;
there are no horns; an eagle’s head; feathers on the neck, the
breast, and the back; the wings are folded against the flanks of
the animal; whilst the hind legs terminate in sharp claws. His
tail is a tuft of feathers, but the body and the shoulders are those
of a lion. Elsewhere is found a curious combination of forms,
which, while retaining a feathered crest, wings, and claws, exhibits
the head of a lion and a horn flattened at the point. Quaintest
of all is a scorpion’s tail (Fig. 72). Similar grotesque animals,
wherein the shapes of birds and animals of prey are united and
fused together, belong to the category of monsters to which the
Greeks gave the name of ypumes. We have found them every-
where on our path, whether in Egypt or Mesopotamia, Phcenicia
or Asia Minor, and have called them griffins.

Winged lions, man-headed, are not among the properties of the
Persepolitan artist. As to sphinxes, they are seen nowhere, either
in their Egyptian form, or that which Assyria assigned to the
animal when she borrowed the type. The fact that the repertory
of the Persian sculptor was less rich than that of his Egyptian and
Assyrian colleagues should cause no surprise; Persian art, in
its capacity of late comer, selected, among the various types
created by a past to which it turned for its inspiration, such forms
as were most to its taste. On the other hand, it should not be
forgotten that one of the characteristics of the Persepolitan de-
coration is the small space allotted to sculpture, compared with

? Other specimens of the Chaldzeo-Assyrian unicorn will be found in Ast. of Art,
‘tom. ii. Figs. 277, 331, 347 ; and tom, iii. Fig. 412.
148 History oF ArT 1n ANTIQUITY.

 

that which it occupies in the palaces of Nineveh. The difference
may be explained from the fact of the relative thinness of the
walls. Here
are found no
long passages
pierced through

a mountain of
TRALG

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CAWER. crude brick, de-
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COO Wy manding revéte-
Se IAQ ment a bas-
reliefs for the
walls. The
depth of the
openings is
feeble, and the
frame is but one
stone deep. The
doorway was, no
doubt, stolen
from the en-
trances to the
Assyrian palaces,
but the narrow
field allowed of
but two, or at
most three,
figures. In the
apartments, no
trace of slabs
decorated by the
chisel has been
discovered, such
as could have
been applied to
the base of walls;
had they existed,
some few fragments at least would have been found in the rubbish.
We are not to seek here, then, those spaces which the sculptor
filled with a dense crowd of personages, so as to convey to the
mind of the beholder a high conception of the majesty of his’

 

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- Fic. 72.—Persepolis. Combat of king with griffin. Palace No. 3.
FLANDIN and Cost, Ferse ancienne, Plate CXXV.
-DEcorRATION. 149

 

royal master. They are seen on the walls of the staircases and
the visible parts of that which leans against the parapets. There
the artist has written, if not the finest pages of his handiwork,
certainly the longest. In the rock-cut tombs, sculpture is always
found in the same situation—the face of the rock, which has been
prepared to receive the image of the king at his religious func-
tions, whilst below appears the pseudo-architecture in which we
recognize the copy of the palace facade (Plate I.).

There is, then, nothing here to be compared with the countless
multitudes that the Egyptian decorator scattered broadcast with
astonishing lavishness over the surfaces of houses, temples, and
tombs alike. The field where the Persian ornamentist was called
to exercise his ingenuity gave him no chance of emulating
his Assyrian confrére, although even he was confined within much
narrower limits than the Theban artist ; condemned, in fact, by
the nature of the materials and the arrangement of the building to
direct his inventive effort and intelligence to one small portion
only of the elevation of the walls. Not to mention monuments
such as Karnac and the tomb of Seti, by itself the Palace of
Sargon could show more figures carved in stone than the eight or
ten palaces grouped about the platform of Persepolis. Statuary
played, therefore, its part in the symphony, but its note was grave
and solemn, and would not have sufficed to assign to the construc-
tion, as a whole, the character of noble magnificence such as the
halls in which the king of kings received his court and the pre-
cincts that sheltered his august head ought to possess.

Solicitous to carry out his programme, the architect called to his
aid all the arts for which older civilizations had been famed. He
turned to good account the natural colour of the brick; by using
different kinds of clay and subjecting them to different degrees of
heat, he obtained materials which, though very simple, when set
up in place would form a kind of mosaic and thus introduce a little
variety in the aspect of a plain and extensive wall (Plates VII.,1X.).!
Elsewhere the master-mason overlaid his walls with a coat of
coloured stucco,’ more especially enamel, which the Chaldzans had

In moving about the rubbish that has accumulated around the Hall of a Hundred
Columns, M. Dieulafoy came upon red and light grey bricks (Z’Art antique, iii,
p. 11), a mode of colouring, as he justly observes, in common use in the edifices of
Persia from the tenth century A.D. With regard to discoveries of the same nature

made at Susa, see his Premier Rapport, p. 63.
* Dieulafoy has collected, at various points of the tumulus at Susa, fragments of
150 History oF Art In Antiquity.

 

taught him how to use, and which for ages they themselves had
applied to clay. Fixed by great firing, its frank vivid tones com-
posed a decoration at once more brilliant and lasting than the brush
could supply. Enamelled earths yielded revétements suitable to
all and any part of the edifice, whether supporting walls, outer
shell of hypostyle chambers, staircases, and even lofts, where,
owing to their lightness, they were very serviceable in filling up
interstices between the beams, so as to bring every part to an even
surface without risk of crushing the under supports. In other
parts of the entablature the wood was sheathed in plaques of
metal, adorned with work in vefoussé, that could be easily fastened
with nails to the joists of the roof or the planks of the gateways
by which the royal precincts were entered. The revéting, which
as a rule was bronze, was relieved and picked out with silver and
gold. Sometimes, as we know from the palace at Ecbatana, even
the tiles of the roof, duly sized, were coated with thin laminz of
the precious metals. On the whole, the task of the ornamentist
guided him to make judicious use of the boundless resources he had
at his command, though it must be confessed that now and again
he did not sufficiently resist the temptation of displaying his gold;
for example, when he put a plane-tree of the glittering metal near
the throne, perhaps, of one of the palaces. To a sober-minded
Greek of the fourth century, accustomed to the simple elegance of
Hellenic monuments, the display of the exhaustless wealth he beheld
around him must have appeared as bordering on vulgar ostentation.
Xenophon has preserved the dictum of the Greek ambassador,
who on his return among his countrymen, being questioned as to
the fabulous riches and gorgeousness of the Persian court, replied,
“ The famous plane-tree would not afford enough shade to shelter
a cicala from the ardour of the sun.”* Be that asit may, it remains
true that the general effect on the stranger notably of Greek
extraction was one of wonder, proved by a contemporary of the
successors of Alexander, who thus sums up the notion gained by
his countrymen respecting Persian palaces from the reports of
men that had visited Asia Minor, perhaps before Arbela, or with
the Macedonian :—“ As historians tell us, says the author of ‘ The
World’s Treatise’ (transmitted to us under the name of Aristotle),
red stucco, which he thinks was used to line the internal walls of the rooms (Dew-

xteme Rapport, etc., Revue arché., tom. viii. p. 265).
1 Xenopuon, Hell, I. vii. 38.
DeEcorATION. 151

 

the pomp and circumstance in the reign of Cambyses, Darius, and
Xerxes reached a very high pitch of magnificence and majesty.
Report says that the king had his residence at Susa or Ecbatana,
behind walls that hid him from the vulgar gaze, within a palace
where the glitter of gold, of electrum, and ivory was seen every-
where. Around his palaces were pylons and numerous vestibules,
several stadia from each other, whilst brazen gates and lofty walls
forbad access thereto.” *

Such details as these were not prompted by pure fancy; on the
contrary, they are in accord with the data furnished by the remains
of ancient edifices both at Susa and Persepolis. Hence there is
no reason to discard the mention of ivory, as if thrown out hap-
hazard and void of truth. Enormous quantities of it were
recovered, we know, at Nineveh.’ If but rare specimens have been
encountered among the ruins of Persia and Susiana, it is because
they were placed in conditions utterly at variance from those that
in Assyria served to preserve for our curiosity so many tenuous
and fragile fragments of her culture. The sovereigns of Persia
were even better situated than those of Mesopotamia for procuring
as much ivory as they required. Through the channel of their
Egyptian vassal, it found its way from the interior of Africa to the
ports of the Mediterranean. If we are to trust the testimony of
Herodotus, the tribute paid by Egypt to Persia, besides ebony and
gold, comprised twenty large elephant tusks ;* and in one of the
bas-reliefs of the royal houses at Persepolis, where people are
depicted bringing gifts to the king, appear elephant tusks.* On
the other hand, their empire extended further east than that of the
Sargonide, and included within its boundaries the valley of the
Indus, so that ivory was brought to Persia by ships which held
the Persian Gulf, whilst prodigious quantities found their way

1 Pseudo-Aristotle, Hepit xécpov, vi. VALENTIN Rose (De Aristotelis librorum
origine et auctoritate commentatio, Berlin, 1854, 8vo) is inclined to believe, from
various indications, that the author of the Ilepi xéopou lived before Eratosthenes
(p. 99), who dates from 276 to 196 B.c. AlscuyLus (fersai, 159) described the palace
of the great king as having its walls coated all over with gold, for such is the mean-
ing of xpvodcroApo. Sdouo. A taste for metal-plating has survived to this day in
Persia. Thus, the entrance gate of the mosque at Ispahan, opening on to the
great square, is covered with lamin of silver, and adorned with arabesques -and
inscriptions picked out with gold (TEx1ER, Description de? Arménie et de la Perse,
tom. ii. p. 136).

2 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. pp. 313-315, 729-731- 3 Herodotus, iii. 97.

4 FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate CXXX. (palace No. 4).
152 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

by caravan routes across the southern portion of the Iran plateau,
and thence straight to Ecbatana or Persepolis. The creamy
whiteness of the ivory was everywhere mingled with the brilliant
hues of metals, the reds, blues, yellows, and greens of stuccoes
and enamels, and the more sombre tints of precious woods,
cypress, cedar, and ebony. These in the interior of the building
were left to their natural colour; externally, however, timber, when
not overlaid with stucco, clay, or bronze, received a coating of paint,
which had the double purpose of preserving it more or less from
the destructive action of the weather, and inducing contrasts that
were not without charm. The flagging of the principal rooms was
made of tinted stones, cut and put together so as to form patterns
whose hues and designs were in imitation of those textile fabrics
which the artisans of Fars and Khorasan at the present day, with but
a few well-chosen colours, know so well how to weave (Plate I X.).

Tapestries contributed quite as much, if not more, as the solid
parts of the construction in helping the effect of the whole (Plate
VI.)," whether as floor covering or drapery hung from the roof
so as to shade the colonnades of the porticoes and open doorways,
perhaps also to mask brick and timber walls.

Thanks to their soft and light texture, they lent themselves
kindly to conceal mean outsides, whilst play of light and shade
could be had by shifting them ever so little. Symmetry and
amplitude of fold, elegance of fringe and tassel, lines and hues
happily combined, all helped to put the finishing touch to the
picturesque variety of the royal residence, giving it that air of
grand lavish display and boundless wealth, which seems to have
been the dominating character of Persian architecture. Internal
evidence shows that the author of the Book of Esther, whoever
he was, had seen, if not the palace of Ahasuerus—the Xerxes
of the Greeks, in whose reign he places his narrative—at least
some other Oriental palace, built on the same plan, decorated in
the same taste. Now, in the gorgeous scene of which he was
an eye-witness, the beautiful floors, the fine display of costly
stuffs and hangings, appear to have struck his imagination most:
“ The king made a feast unto all the people that were present in
Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in
the court of the garden of the king’s palace; where were white,
green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and

On the use of tapestries in the royal palaces at Sardes, see Athenzeus, xii. p. 514, C.
DECORATION. 153
purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of
gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and
black, marble. And they gave them drink in vessels of gold (the
vessels being diverse one from another), and royal wine in
abundance, according to the state of the king,”?

Although the features that attracted the attention of the
Jewish writer differ from those over which the pseudo-Aristotle
dwelt with evident complacency, the impression left by perusal
of the passages cited above is practically identical. One supple-
ments the other, and both aid us to reconstitute and put back in
their old place the wood-work, the metal and ivory applications, the
draperies of every kind, which, owing to their perishable nature,
were doomed to prompt and certain destruction. Ancient his-
torians make no allusion to enamelled earths in connection with
the palaces of Persia; yet, arguing from analogy, it could have
been safely predicted that they had largely contributed to decorate
her edifices even before they were found among the ruins. Their
employment is attested, for Babylon, by Ctesias, and recent dis-
coveries have fully confirmed his assertion ;? and for Nineveh, by
the result of the excavations ;° whilst we have frequently called
attention to the close relationship observable between Persian
and Chaldzan architecture. Moreover, the blue ornamental tiles
with which the mosques of Persia are embellished, and the beautiful
specimens of her majolica which form the glory of our collections,
testify one and all, that up to the last century she might be looked
upon as the classic home and birthplace of the charming art of
enamel, Was it at all likely that the taste and processes of this
mode of ornament would have waited as late as the Middle Ages

1 Esther i. 5-7. Reuss (Commentary) is disposed to believe that the story of
Esther was composed at the time of the persecutions directed against the Jews by
Antiochus Epiphanes ; that is to say, 170 years before our era (p. 291). Dieulafoy
thinks that Esther “‘ was written in good faith at Susa by a Susian Jew ; and that, to
judge from the Hebrew, its dates may be placed before the advent of Artaxerxes
Mnemon, and long before the Parthian conquest” (Ze Livre d’Esther et le palais
@ Assuérus, conference faite a la Société des études Juives, le 14 Avril, 1888, 8vo, Paris,
Durlacher). I confess to not being convinced by his line of argument, and am
unable to agree with him that the author of the “ Meghillah,” to give it its Jewish
name, wrote de visu about the Susian palace, inasmuch as the instances contained
in the narrative in question are of so vague and general a character as to fit any
Oriental mansion. Nor can I follow him when he designates as a “‘ description ”
casual hints thrown out in the tale (pp. 18-20).

2 Diodorus, II. vill. 6; Afist, of Art, tom. ii. pp. 297-300.

8 Tbid., tom. ii. pp. 301-310, Plates XIIL.-XV.
154 History oF Arr in ANTIQUITY.

 

before they were introduced into Iran? As was said in another
place, despite the invasions and conquests that have swept over
the country, despite monarchical and religious changes, Persia
has kept alive the feeling of nationality and what may be called
her national creed ; she has retained all her old habits, good and bad,
without prejudice to either. It may be inferred, therefore, that
if the Persian enamellist, since the Hegira, knew how to use the
whole gamut of tones best suited to enamelling, it was because
he had been initiated in the secrets of a craft, difficult amongst
all others, from the remote ages when the kings of Persia held
under their sway the whole of Anterior Asia."

Until the other day, however, the ruins of Persepolis had
furnished no data in support of this specious hypothesis. It was
vaguely intimated that plaques of light blue earthenware had been
found on the platform of the Takht-i-Jamshid by the German
mission under the direction of Stolze, a proof that ornamental
tiles were employed by the palace-builders.*? If no more were
found, it is because diligent search was not made for them. The
fragments that may exist are mixed with earth and rubbish, and
so small as to easily escape observation unless particular attention
is directed to them; and this, before the excavations at Susa,
could scarcely be expected of any one. Now that the discoveries

’ Reference has already been made to the valuable and enlightening work of
Count Gobineau, entitled Trois ans en Aste, 1855-1858 (Paris: Hachette et C'*, 1859,
8vo), and Les Religions et philosophies def Asie centrale (Paris: Didier, 18mo, 1866),

2 Digutaroy, L’Art antique, iii. 18. As already stated, the printed pages that
accompany the photographs published by Stolze make no allusion to any such find;
but the truth according to Dieulafoy would appear to be this: Local gossip attributed
the discovery of the blue plaques to one Andreas, an Armenian by birth, but who
had been naturalized a German subject. Flandin speaks of enamelled bricks, seen
by him at the summit of a hillock called Kaleh-i-Serb (the Cypress Fortress), above
Istakhr, where remains of fortifications and hydraulic works are extant, which he
thinks were intended to protect the royal platform and supply it with water. He
calls them “ modern bricks ;” but is not this an error likely to have occurred forty
years ago, when nothing was known in respect to Chaldaean and Persian enamels ?
At the time when the reservoirs in question were built for the convenience of the
palace, a glazed tile facing may have been given to the walls so as to bring them
in accord with the buildings on the esplanade; but why have taken the trouble
afterwards when the royal house was abandoned and destroyed? The question is
one that deserves to be studied afresh on the spot; we cannot sufficiently
recommend future explorers to climb the heights of Istakhr, so as to collect a few
fragments of those glazed shining bricks, It would be so easy now to determine
the epoch to which they belong.
DECORATION. 155

 

of Dieulafoy have told us how much in vogue they were in the
reign of the Achemenida, there is no longer room for doubt as to
enamel having been introduced as means of ornament in the
edifices of Persepolis. But without going farther, and before we
examine the ruins at the Takht-i-Jamshid, we can even now affirm,
without fear of being contradicted, that their employment was not
so large as at Susa. Marked differences are perceptible between
the two groups of palaces. Plans, designs, and materials are alike,
but the proportions of the latter vary one from the other. There
is more brick at Susa, and more stone at Persepolis. Thus at
Susa the entire decoration of the staircase was on enamelled clay ;
whilst at the Takht, ornaments and figures were fashioned out of
limestone. Here royal guards were carved in a kind of marble ;
there they were impressed upon clay, and stone sculpture is
conspicuously absent. Comparison of the twin types leads to the
conclusion that if enamels were introduced in the buildings of
Persia proper, it could only have been in minor parts—the lofts, for
example—where heavy stones would have been out of the question,
and where they concurred with metal to close the salient parts of the
timber frame. Hence it is that, on the authority of the pseudo-
architecture of the rock-cut tombs, we have put a lions’ frieze, the
animals marching in file, in the palaces we have attempted to restore.

The royal houses, both of Persia and Susiana, were built for the
same princes and by the same architects. What, then, is the
reason of the difference we have pointed out? Why was prefer-
ence given in the one place to work done by the chisel, and in the
other to metallic oxides fixed on clay impressed into moulds? As
we have said before, the geographical situation of the respective
palaces is the best answer as to the preponderance of this or that
material and consequent processes. At Susa, stone had to be
quarried and transported from a great distance and elevated at the
top of the mound, involving considerable mechanical labour. As
the capitals now in the Louvre testify, difficulties of this nature
were no serious impediment to builders who fetched their cedar
and cypress beams from Elburz, Taurus, and Lebanon. Never-
theless, there must have been a great temptation to make as large
a use of artificial stone as possible, for which clay could be had to
any amount in the neighbouring plain, so as to hasten on the work
for an impatient master. The necessity imposed upon the builders
biassed no doubt the direction of their labours; and, what more than
156 History oF Arr In ANTICUITY.

 

all, forced upon them the exclusive use of brick, and the notion of
overlaying them with vivid hues vitrified and made permanent by
the action of fire, was the fact that they were close upon a stoneless
region. Data tend to show that the art of the enamellist had its
birth in Chaldea; nevertheless, Dieulafoy found glazed tiles at
Susa, which he attributes to the time of the old Elamite kings. The
tokens by which he reaches this conclusion are open to doubt; in
any case, when the palaces of the Achzemenide were erected,
enamelling had doubtless been current for centuries among the
Susians, whence the art spread, and the taste for it became universal
in Persia. We have before observed that Susiana is but the
prolongation of Chaldza, from whom, in very early days, she
learnt the art, and passed it on to Persia; we should not marvel,
then, at its having been more flourishing there than on those
elevated tablelands, where it was a foreign importation.

At Susa, then, earth impressed in moulds everywhere replaces
hewn stone. Thus, near the principal gateways of the enceinte
within which were embraced the royal palaces, Dieulafoy found
fragments of bas-reliefs of red clay, that doubtless stood on
either side of the entrances. The quality and tone of the frag-
ments in question cannot be distinguished from the burnt bricks
of the wall they formerly adorned. By piecing them together
figures in relief more or less complete are obtained ; such as lions
and bulls, with or without wings, fantastic animals, amongst which
is one with the horns of a moufflon, resembling in every respect
the exemplar of unknown origin figured by us some years ago,
which we then attributed to Chaldeea. It is now in the Cabinet
des Antiques of the Bibliothéque Nationale,' and belongs to the
class of monsters which the Greeks designated under the general
appellation of “ Susian animals.”?

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Fig. 277.

2 See the oft-cited description of the mantle of Alcimanes of Sybaris, in the
treatise entitled: Iept Oavpaciwy dxovcpdrur, attributed to Aristotle (chap. xcvii.).
Before the discovery of Dieulafoy, M. Furtwaengler, in his excellent article “ Gryps,”
in Roscher’s Lexicon, had already advanced the view that the type in question
belonged exclusively to Persia. Whilst duly acknowledging his sagacity, we cannot
forbear the following doubt. Persian art, unlike that of Chaldao-Assyria, was not
a popular art, which, thanks to a flourishing industry and active commerce, diffused
its products all over Anterior Asia, it being little more than the humble slave of the
royal whims ; I should, therefore, hesitate to ascribe thereto any article that does

not bear the signs of having been purposely made for the prince, either to decorate
or furnish one of his palaces. I ask myself, therefore, if the type referred to may
DECORATION. 157

 

Thanks to the rich booty brought home by Dieulafoy, a very
fair notion may now be gained of the character and aspect of the
decoration which embellished the buildings of Susa during the
Persian monarchy, the principal elements of which are deposited
in the Louvre. Fire is at once a great destroyer and preserver.
The confused and shapeless mass of the enormous tumulus, out of
which so many unexpected objects have come, must still contain
in its depths thousands of bricks wherein enamel has preserved
all its freshness, the modelling all the precision of its contour and
relief. On the contrary, scarcely anything has been found, and
but little can remain, of the material which formed what may be
called the sheathing of the constructions; we mean to say metal
applied to wood. Of these revétements a notable fragment alone
has been recovered; it consists of bronze laminz that covered
the valves of the huge gateway leading to the area where rose the
Susian palace of Artaxerxes Mnemon (Fig. 73). “The design
is simple, happy, frankly deducible from the material employed.
Imagine a sheeting composed of square plaques one foot each
way. Each square is joined to its neighbour by three bronze fillets,
which fit corresponding grooves or channellings, cut in the wood
frame, so dear to the Assyrian decorator. The centre of each
square is adorned by a double daisy, whose contours are hammered
up. The bronze laminz were riveted and fixed to the boards by
iron clamps or knobs thickly studded ; whilst every petal, as well as
the centre of the daisy, had a nail driven in to make them fast.
The fragment that has been found is a complete square, and offers,
therefore, all the elements for the decoration of the doorways.” !

Diversity of materials employed, either in the body of the
edifice or as embellishment to surfaces, gave opportunity to the
Persian architect, of which he was not slow to avail himself, of
imparting to the ornament that variety and warmth of colour so
dear to Orientals, and which we have encountered in the valleys of
the Nile and the Tigris, as well as on Mount Sion. How far did
he venture in that direction? Was he content, like the Egyptians
and the yet more judicious Greeks, to overlay stone, mouldings,
and sculpture with one coat of colour? Among all the travellers

not have been invented in Chaldzea, and subsequently adopted by the Persians, and
if, despite its presence at Susa, valid reasons do not exist for carrying the tablet in
dispute to the account of the plastic art of Chaldzea,

? Dieutaroy, A Suse, p. 285.
158 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

who have examined the ruins at Persepolis,’ Téxier is the only
one who pretends having seen vestiges of colour on the bas-reliefs ;
but though he is quick to take in things at a glance, he cannot
always be relied upon. I have proved it more than once in Asia

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Fic. 73.—Fragment of revétement of doorway. Susa. Length, 48 c.; width, 48c. Louvre.
Drawn by St. Elme Gautier.

Minor when, along with MM. Guillaume and Delbet, we came to
examine more narrowly monuments described by the baron. In

1 Téxier (Description, tom. ii, pp. 188-190) affirms (1) having verified on
the dress of several bas-reliefs rosettes lightly drawn with the point, which could be
nothing else but the outline of a tinted ornament applied to the drapery; (2) of
having assured himself, by chemical analysis, that the bas-reliefs stood out on a
blue ground, to which ashes soaked in a solution of copper had been applied. He
owns, however, that perhaps he went a little far in covering with paint the entire
bas-relief in the restoration he published (Plates CXI., CXI. a, CXI. 8).
DECORATION. 159

 

any case his version is at variance with the testimony of. MM.
Flandin, Coste, and Dieulafoy ; they all declare that, despite minute
search, they were unable to detect pigments on either figure, wall
of facade, or mouldings of the structures.’ The fine polish of the
stone of door and window frame militates against the notion that
paint was added thereto, since it would have stultified the work
done with the chisel. Nor has sign or token of colour in this
situation revealed itself at Susa, where, unlike Persepolis, until
the other day, her remains have lain buried in the ground ; so that
had it been in existence, traces of it would have been found during
the excavations.

Nevertheless, if we are justified in discarding the hypothesis

 

 

Fic. 74.—Susa. Enamelled brick. Louvre. Drawn by St. Elme Gautier.

of a systematic colouring that everywhere would have veiled the
bare stone, the inborn taste of the native artist for brilliant hues
as means of expression would ere long assert itself, and prompt
him to enliven here and there the greys and whites of the limestone
with tones of a firmer, warmer, and more radiant accent, so as to be
a joy to the eye. M. Houssay has ascertained that the letters of
the long inscription on the tomb of Darius at Naksh-i-Rustem
stood out blue on the natural grey of the stone, whilst on the
enamelled slabs of Susa they were painted white on yellow or
blue grounds (Fig. 74). Such effects as these were above all

1 The avowed opinion of Coste may be read in the manuscript which, along with
his original drawings, is deposited in the Bibliothéque de l'Institut (ten pages are
devoted to the ruins of Persepolis). In the printed text Flandin expresses himself

in the same terms as his travelling companion (pp. 134,135). So DizuLaroy
(L’Art antique, tom. iii. p. 20). Stolze, on the other hand, is silent on the subject,
160 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

obtained from metals. Not a single fragment has been found of
the ears and horns applied separately to the bulls surmounting the
columns; but the fragmentary capitals deposited in the Louvre
show the mortises into which were inserted these applied pieces,
as well as the hole for the clamp at the base which served to keep
them in place (Fig. 42). Accessories of this nature were bronze,
for timber would have been too fragile. Left to its natural colour,
the metal would soon assume that beautiful green rust, or patina,
that covers the Chaldzan figurines exhumed at Tello; in the
better cared for and sumptuous royal mansions it was probably
gilt. The use of gold as means of enrichment, to which ancient
writers so frequently allude in relation to Ecbatana and Susa, is
stated by travellers to be still visible on many a point. Two
hundred years ago, Chardin, a keen and exact observer, discovered
in the hollow of cuneiform characters remains of gold that had
served to bring out the inscriptions from the dull ground of the
stone, to the no small amazement of the French traveller that it
should have withstood the action of time for so many centuries.’
One of the fragments preserved in the Louvre induces a still more
interesting and conclusive remark. It is a bull’s head, whose
eyeball offers a brown tint which is set off by the light grey of the
limestone. At first, Dieulafoy was puzzled how to account for it ;
but closer and more minute examination caused him to perceive in
the corner of the eye particles of a substance akin to the size which
gilders use at the present day. The pigment on the protuberant
part of the eye, being more exposed to the weather, was all washed
away, and nothing but a blue reflection, or what might be taken
for the shadow cast by the eyebrow, was left; whereas in the hollow,
where it was more sheltered, it had not entirely disappeared; thus
proving that gold-leaf had once been applied to that portion of
the figure. If the capitals at Persepolis show nothing of the kind,
it is because, not being protected by a thick bed of earth, they
are very much damaged, as a glance at Coste’s drawings and the
photographs of Stolze will abundantly prove. It should be
remarked that Flandin and Coste specify “a kind of bronze
greenish glaze, which in places seems to cover the inner walls
of certain portions of the enceinte.”* With the like reserve
they use as to whether they were not deceived by appearances,

1 CHarpin, Voyage en Perse, tom. viii. p. 321, edition Langles.
* FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, “Texte,” pp. 134, 135.
DECORATION. 161

 

we ask if this is not another instance that, as at Susa, gold was
likewise applied to surfaces.

Granting the employment of gilding, there was no reason why it
should have been restricted to that part of the monument where it
has been so fortunately preserved ; so that we may assume that the
horns of the bull at Susa were gilt as well. It is possible that
rosettes and mouldings about doorways and windows were picked
out with the precious metal. Why should the buildings at Perse-
polis, whose inscriptions were set off in gold, have been less richly
decorated than at Susa? Assuming that it was so, we may, with-
out appearing too bold, heighten here and there certain well-
chosen portions with gold that would mingle equally well with the
white, grey, or black of the stone, and the deep blues of the
enamel; the air and rain would soon mellow its tone, so that,
whilst accentuating certain details, it would never make them
obtrusive or break the fine harmony of the whole.

Nevertheless in the restorations we have proposed (Plates VI.,
IX.), we have used this mode of decoration with extreme reserve,
and nowhere has the stone been tinted. This was counselled, on
the one hand, by the quality of the stone, which is compact, finely
grained, and well prepared; whilst, on the other hand, traces of
embellishment of this nature are too rare to warrant the supposi-
tion that they were intended to recall the early temples of Greece.
These, built of a tufaceous stane more or less coarse, had not only
the relief of friezes and frontals made gay, but the dull colour of the
rough stone throughout enlivened by a coating of stucco. The
polychromy of the royal architecture of the Achemenidz was at
once more judicious and richer ; it depended less on the handling of
the brush than on the variety of the materials. Each one of these
has its special colour, resulting from its identity and, as it were,
personal vibration. However much one may try to infuse differ-
ence of colouring by additional pigments, the liquid tones rubbed
in with the brush will preserve through it all values that are
practically the same, and the impression they leave upon the vision
is tame and unexhilarating. It may be likened to an orchestra
that should contain none but brass or stringed instruments, where,
no matter the number of the musicians and their proficiency, a
certain paucity and monotony of sound will be inevitable.
162 History oF Art IN ANTIQUITY.

 

VAULTED STRUCTURES.

The buildings we have described up to this point, whereon the
Achemenidz have engraved their signature, belong one and all to
what may be termed the architrave system—that in which the
jambs of doorways uphold a lintel, whilst horizontal ceilings and
walls rest upon stone supports. But at Sarvistan and Feriz-
Abad, in the province of Fars (ancient Persia), remains of edifices
occur in which quite a different arrangement obtained ; the door-
ways being arched over, and square halls roofed in by cupolas
ovoid in shape.

The explorers who first lighted upon and pointed out these
ruins recognized in them monuments of the Sassanid period,
closely related to the great Takht-i-Khosri palace at Ctesiphon.’
This opinion, universally endorsed by the learned, does not find
acceptance with Dieulafoy.?, His conclusions are based upon a
ruinous structure, Ferash-Abad, which he sighted near Feraz-Abad
and Sarvistan during a visit he paid to the sites between 1881 and
1882, and which, though on a smaller scale, offers a disposition
akin to that of the larger buildings of the places last named? Like
his predecessors, he sees in the monuments at Feriiz-Abad and
Sarvistan ancient palaces, but palaces that would be coeval with the
Persepolitan and Susian examples. The latter, in his estimation,
represent an alien architecture due to the whim of royalty served
by Egyptian and Greek artists. On the contrary, in the cupola
buildings erected at about the same period by the grandees and
hereditary satraps, we are confronted by the relics of a true
national architecture, whose origin may be traced back to the
vaulted edifices of Assyria, but which, when transferred to Iran,
improved its methods, not only during the Achzemenid,. but
through the whole of the Sassanid period, when it may be said
to have been in full possession of all its means, to produce later
the beautiful mosques of the first centuries of Islam, whose remains

* FLanpiIn and Coste, Perse ancienne, pp. 23-27, 36-45, Plates XXVIIL,
XXIX., XXXVIII.-XLII.

? We accepted the hypothesis referred to above, with regard to the vaulted
edifices of Assyria (ist. of Art, tom. ii. pp. 174, 175, 260). So Frercusson, Hisé,
of Architecture, etc., 2nd edit., 1874, vol. 1. pp. 377-394, ‘‘Sassanian Architecture.”

* Dinuuaroy, L’ Art antique, etc., Part iv., “ Les monuments voités de l’époque
achéménide.”
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 163

 

compel the admiration of all those who visit them. Hence a
continuous transmission and progressive development of the arch
system would have been in force along with the cupola built on a
square plan; the work, begun perhaps even before Cyrus, and
_ carried on by his successors, furnished the Byzantine builders with
the first elements of dispositions which characterize their most
celebrated works—St. Sophia, for example—and which have
served as models to the art of the West.

Like all theories intent upon establishing a relation of cause
and effect between disjointed and consequently unexplained
phenomena, it is most fascinating; but this makes us all the
more cautious to examine whether the facts are exactly as they
have been made to appear, and whether they do not admit of a
somewhat different interpretation. In the first place, we deem it
of no little importance to have the question properly stated. In
the second place, we wish it to be fully understood that the
remarks and reserves about to follow are not addressed to M.
Choisy, whose conclusions, embodied in his beautiful work L’Ar¢
de bétir} we are quite prepared to endorse; our only point of
contention bears upon the age assigned by Dieulafoy to the cupola
monuments of Feriiz-Abad, Sarvistan, and Ferash-Abad. If the
date is to be fixed by specious conjecture, the only way is not only
to take into account the fact that inscriptions occur in the
Persepolitan and not in the Susian palaces, but every data to be
gleaned from plan, material, and decoration of the respective
structures. Application of this method has led Dieulafoy to date
the palace at Sarvistan, seemingly the younger of the two, “in the
reign of the last Achzemenide, or perhaps the Seleucide ;” as to
Feriiz-Abad, “older by a hundred and fifty or two hundred years,
it was due to a satrap of Xerxes or the first Artaxerxes.”” The
fact that the ornamental plaster at Fertiz-Abad reproduces
characteristic features exhibited in the Persepolitan decoration is
explained on the supposition of a later interpolation, when a more
refined taste induced the owner to mask the barbarous masonry, so
as to bring the edifice in accord with the taste of the day. In this
case, he adds, ‘the body of the edifice may go back to the age of

1 AucustTe Cuoisy, Z’Art de batir chee les Byzantins, 4th edit., 1882, 187 pages
and 25 plates. Consult, above all, chap. xiv., “ Essai historique, § 1; Origine des
méthodes.”

2 Dieutaroy, L’Art antique, iv. p. 75.
164 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

Cyrus, and better still, perhaps, to his grandfather Ariaramnes, the
last sovereign of Fars.”

We shall not stop to show the improbability of an hypothesis
that would ascribe a dual origin to the buildings. But we may
point out that the rubble of which the walls were made is too
coarse ever to have been left uncovered, and must have been
concealed by some kind of veil. Had it received two successive
coatings, the older would show in such
places as have peeled off; whereas a
glance at the photographs represent-
ing the interior of palaces proves that
no such thing exists.’’ Neither shall
we press Dieulafoy to tell us if, even
conjecturally, any one is entitled to
say whether twenty years or two
hundred elapsed between the erection
of the two palaces. Deliberate state-
ments such as these are only possible
where—as in the history of Greek
architecture, for example—numerous
buildings exist, of which many are
dated ; then, and only then, we are in
a position to measure with approxi-
mate certainty the length of the in-
tervals that interpose between the

 

. ps eee ean . mics ‘
Fic. 75.—Plan of palace at Ferdz-Abad. different limits of the series, though

FLANDIN and CostTE, Me 5
» ere and"S” even then cases may exist respect-

Plate XXXIX. :
ing which it is not easy to pronounce.

Art does not advance with uniform step in every part of the
same region. Hence it is that in Greece, from one valley to
another, occur gaps and delays in the unfolding of culture, apt.
to dig many a pitfall for a too hasty and asserting criticism. Not
to dwell longer on these details, we will confine ourselves to dis-
cussing the gist of the thesis lately put forth by Dieulafoy.’

The palace at Feriiz-Abad is 103 m. 46 c. long, by 55 m. 50 c.
wide (Fig. 75). The principal entrance, with a circular fountain
in front, fed by a copious spring, faces north, and offers the

1 Dieutaroy, L’Art antique, tom. iv., Plates XIV.-XVI.
2 Two views of the present state of the palaces at Feriiz-Abad and Sarvistan, and
a transverse section of the latter, will be found in Hist. of Art, vol. ii. Figs. 52-54.
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 165

 

aspect of a great vaulted hall opening upon an enormous porch
27m. 40 c. in length, and 13 m. 30 c. in depth (Fig. 76). Right
and left, two vaulted chambers adorned by niches precede three

 

 

   
    
 

 

 

EDD
2V Ten

 

Fic. 76.—Feriiz-Abad. Principal fagade restored. FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse ancienne,
Plate XL.

square halls with domed roofs, each measuring 13 m. 30 c. at the
side (Fig. 77). The apex of the cupola is 22 m. above the
ground. Next after the central court is a larger one 29 m. square,

    

lh

fe . i

1s 25
Fic. 77.—Fertiz-Abad. Section through width. FLANDIN and Costz, Jé:d., Plate XL.

77

be
e s

 

‘0

around which are distributed a number of vaulted rooms. The
walls in this edifice are all very thick; those of the domed halls:
being 4 m. 70 c, and the others from 2m. 30c. to 3m. 10 c,
The entire fabric was built of broken stone or rubble, bound by
a good mortar of lime mixed with sand; the facings were plaster
or mortar from two to three centimetres thick. The arches of
both doorways and niches are full centred, but the vaults and
cupolas are ovoid in shape.’

* The description of the two palaces is taken almost word for word from Coste’s
manuscript.
166 History oF ArT InN ANTIQUITY.

 

The palace at Sarvistan is go m. 35 c. long, and 33 m. 80.
wide (Fig. 78). The main entrance is on the west side; it
consists of three great arched bays adorned by engaged columns
(Fig. 79). The central porch faces a great hall 10 m. 80 c.
square, covered by a very tall cupola... Then comes a court with
lateral porch looking northward, which gives access to a hall with

 

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Fic. 78.-—Palace at Sarvistan. Plan. FLANDIN and Cosrr, Perse ancienne, Plate XXVIII.

two ranges of short, thick-set columns, followed by a smaller
chamber. The same arrangement of a hall with two ranges of
sturdy, short pillars, and smaller apartment with cupola, occurs on
the south side. The eastern face has but a single doorway, right
and left of which are found two tiny porters’ lodges. No stair-
cases exist leading to the terraces above (Fig. 80). We find
here the same use of the semi-circular and ovoid-shaped arch, the
same mode of construction as at Feraiz-Abad, with this difference,
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 167

 

that cupolas and vaults were built of large bricks, red and well
baked, 28 centimetres long, 25 centimetres across, and 8 centimetres

   
  

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Fic. 79.—Palace at Sarvistan. Principal fagade. FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse ancienne,
Plate XXIX.

thick. The inner walls had a coating of stone and mortar of lime,
whilst the short pillars are in masonry plastered over.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fic. 80.—Sarvistan. Longitudinal section through the right wing of the palace. FLANDIN
and Coste, /éid., Plate XXIX.
The interior of this monument was plainer and in less good
preservation than that at Feriiz-Abad, but plan and materials
were very similar to those of the latter; hence we may boldly
168 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

affirm that it belongs to the same school and the same progressive
period of Oriental art. When the time comes for giving a name
to the school and determining the period in question, we shall turn
now to the one, now to the other of these edifices as objects of
our remarks. Though differences are observable between Sar-
vistan and Feriz-Abad, they are sufficiently alike to admit of the
two cases—to use a legal expression—being joined together. To
these, incidentally as it were, may be added another monument
with cupola arrangement,

KK WN situated in the valley of
Ferash-Abad, th ree stages
ma ~ in a western direction

 

 
  
   

from Feriz. It is built
like the latter, of broken
stone, and its small size
and ruinous state would
not arrest our attention,
but for its dome, which
is intact and upheld by
four pillars roofed over
by extra-dosed (outre-
passées) arches (Figs.
81, 82)... The  pas-
sage from a square to a
circular form was ob-
tained here by one of
those transitory combinations, the forerunners of dispositions finally
adopted for suspending a cupola over pedentives. A cursory glance
at the map of the district in which Feriiz-Abad is situated will show
in what peculiar fashion the monuments were distributed.2-_ Thus
the palace we have described is five kilometres from a group of
ruins that rise in the middle of the plain. Of these, one structure
at least was built of large stones, and has all the appearance of
dating from the Achaemenid period; it is hard by, however, to
Sassanid bas-reliefs carved in the flanks of the gorge which it
seems to guard. The fact that structure and bas-reliefs are found
in close proximity with each other is not by itself sufficient to prove
that they are coeval. At Behistiin and Naksh-i-Rustem, the suc-

  

 

Fic. 81.—Ferash-Abad. Plan. Dizuiaroy, Z’Art
antique, tom. iv. Fig. 56.

1 Dieutaroy, L’Art antique, iv. pp. 77, 78, Plate XVIII.
2 FLANDIN and CostE, Perse ancienne, Plate XXXIV.
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 169

 

cessors of Ardeshir have certainly taken a great delight in setting
their own image side by side with that of the ancient sovereigns,
with whom they identified themselves on the pretence of being
their lineal descendants, so as to benefit by the traditions connected
with their name. But here, in the absence of sculpture that could
be stretched back to Xerxes or Darius, they had not the same
reasons for selecting the rocky defile whereon to cut their effigy ;

TNT

LE

Us

 

Fic. 82.—Ferash-Abad. Perspective view. DizuLaroy, L’ Art antique, tom. iv. Fig. 57.

yet could we suppose that there existed in the vicinity a favourite
royal residence, everything would explain itself, for then palace and
bas-reliefs would have formed a whole which might be dated from
one or another of these kings, a Shapur or Chosroes. This, how-
ever, is mere presumption; in order to solve the problem it
behoves us, on the example of Dieulafoy—nay, with the help of
his precise data of text and plates—to go into a minute study
of these edifices. Then the question will be asked as to what
they resemble, where others occur that not only offer the same
170 History or ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

dispositions, but are closely related to those about which we arc
busy.

As was said, the plan of Feriiz-Abad and that of Sarvistan
belong to the same school. The main body of the fabric, instead
of being destitute of walls, like the houses of the Achemenide,
and provided with numerous means of access evenly distributed
on all its faces, is entirely enclosed within thick walls; Sarvistan
has several lateral doorways, whilst there is but one for the
whole building at Feriiz-Abad ; in both monuments, however, the
opening in the middle of the main facade is so striking a feature
as to rivet the eye and reveal its exceptional importance. It is
a very wide, full-centred arcade, whose summit is almost flush
with the top of the building and forms a spacious porch which
opens into the great state apartments. These, square in shape,
are covered by cupolas, and constitute the front and public part
of the edifice. Behind are smaller chambers, barrel-vaulted, dis-
tributed along three sides of a great court; they were the
dwelling-rooms properly so called. Now, these plans are not
on the same lines as the palaces at Persepolis and Susa, nor on
those of the royal houses of Assyria... Then, too, there is no
coincidence between the construction of these edifices and that
of the buildings at Pasargadz and Persepolis. Nowhere do: we
find here the employment of blocks of stone which have a grand
beauty of their own, from their colossal size, the regularity of the
beds, and the care bestowed on the outer face that was never
to be disguised by ornament of any sort. Here, on the contrary,
the stonework of the two palaces is so rude and coarse as to have
made, in most instances, some kind of covering indispensable. At

* Were the edifices of Lower Chaldza better known, it is possible that more
marked resemblances would be found with the types we have just described. So
much, at least, may be inferred from a curious passage of Strabo: “The beams
used in the houses were of palmwood, all other timber being scarce in Babylonia;
and such pillars as the houses could boast were of the same material. Around each
pillar were twisted wisps of rushes, which were covered with several coatings of
paint (coloured plaster ?). The doors were overlaid with bitumen. Ze houses and
doorways were lofty, and we may add that they had vaulted roofs” (XVI. i. 5). Strabo
goes on to say that a very similar arrangement to this obtained in Susiana and
Sittace on the Tigris. Of course we cannot expect to find traces of posts and
timber-frames of palmwood in the palaces of Fars ; all we wished to do was to draw
attention to the vaulted chambers and lofty portals referred to above, proving that
the gateway in Chaldaea had something of the importance it has retained in Persian
architecture.
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 171

 

Feriz-Abad none but small units of limestone occur, that are used
in the rough as core to the walls, but roughly hewn into thin flat
slabs when introduced in the vaults and cupolas (Fig. 83). The
same system prevailed at Sarvistan. The walls were of broken
stone, whose external face was rudely prepared with the pick ;
courses and joints, however, were apparent, proving that the walls
were not plastered. On the other hand, the cupolas were built
of large square bricks, rudely dressed, but well baked. The
excellent quality of the mortar—lime mixed with sand—with which
the materials were bound accounts for the marvellous state of pre-
servation of these
piles. Since we do
not consider them

  
  

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< Sip

  
 
  

     
    

which we wish to
confine ourselves
for the present, we
shall not dwell
upon the processes

with which the <- “% ei
{ . Fic. 83.—Detail of great arches of the palace at Feriiz-Abad.

builder contrived DiguLaroy, L’Art antique, tom. iv. Fig. 27.

to suspend acupola

with circular base over a-square chamber. Those interested in the
subject will find ample information in Dieulafoy’s volume. All it is
needful to remember and bring into relief is that in both instances
the manner the vaults were set up betrays strange negligence or, if
preferred, inexperience, which at Feriiz-Abad verges on barbarism.
In order to conceal the uncouth appearance of the arches, due to
the nature of the materials employed, recourse was had to thick
layers of plaster (Fig. 83). Their shape—though, as a rule, that
of a semicircle—was by no means constant, and we find more than
one instance of the extra-dosed, or “ Mauresque” arch (Fig. 84).
They were scarcely more skilful in the way they managed the
point of junction between the top of the straight wall and the
curvilinear shape of the cupola; for no reliance is to be placed on
drawings, certainly pretty to look at, but on so reduced a scale
that a very imperfect idea is gained of the detail of the execution,
whilst they are utterly worthless as reference. As a matter of
fact, the stonework is neither on the corbel nor on the voussoir

Yiypaes
as dating from V7? SA iil
the period within MIE Ze
ra History oF Art IN ANTIQUITY. .

 

system, in which the units are cut the exact shape required for the
place they are to occupy; all we find here are overhanging stones

      
 
 

i yyy Grae i ey
Say ud
a ze et

   

  

Fic, 84.—Detail of portals of the palace at Fertiz-Abad.
tom. iv. Figs. 25, 26.

   

    
 
  
  
  
 

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Fic. 85.—Sarvistan. Column and springing of the arches of one
of the halls. déd., Plate VI.

Dieutaroy, LAré antique,

or pendentives, if
preferred, so
rudely set that
they would not
hold together any
time, but for the
supreme might of
mortar. Suchcare-
lessness as this
leaves an impres-
sion of decadence
rather than of
work accom-
plished in the age
of the Acheme-
nidz, when great
care was taken
with the construc-
tion; evidenced in
the monumentswe
have passed in re-
view in the course
of our systematic

analysis respecting the forms and processes of Persian architecture,
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 173

 

starting with Cyrus and Pasargade, ending at Susa with Arta-
xerxes Mnemon. It would be easy to multiply instances in proof of
coarse bad work seen in the two monuments in question. Thus
in the plastered arches that adorn the lower portion of the facade
at Feriiz-Abad, the pillars, without any necessity, are made to
extend beyond the arches they support, and the effect is not good
(Fig. 76). The
stonework at Sar- —
vistan is better; but
the same careless-
ness is observable
about the sturdy
short pillars, built of
unsquared stones,
that uphold the
counterforts inter-
posing between the
bays of the galleries
on the right and left
wing of the monu-
ment (Figs. 80,
85).

In order to carry
back Feriiz-Abad
and Sarvistan to the |
ageoftheAcheme- |_|
nide, Dieulafoy,
whilst acknowledg-
ing the clumsiness Tis: $6 oi Spis and Coste, Pere ancone, Plate XLII.
of arrangement we
have pointed out, insists upon the fact—which Flandin and
Coste had also noticed—that the arch and piers about the door-
ways and niches at Feriiz are inserted in a case copied on that
which occupies a similar situation around all the bays, real or

blank, at Persepolis and Susa. There is the same number of fillets,
and the same Egyptian gorge appears in the crown (Figs. 86,
87). As was said, the plaster facing has fallen away in many
places, but enough remains to give a fair idea of this mode of
treating a. surface (Fig. 87).

Although the presence of the arch suffices to imbue the openings

 

 

 

 

 

 

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174 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

at Fertiz-Abad with a physiognomy other than that of the. Perse-
politan exemplars, the imitation referred to above is certainly very
clumsily managed, but none the less unquestionable. Niches in the
palaces of Darius and Xerxes have a purpose to fulfil; they play
the part of windows closed by shutters, or oftener still of recesses,
whereas here their only depth is that of the feeble relief of their
mouldings beyond
the wall. More-
over, the abnormal
width of the arches
involved the ne-
cessity of enlarging
the rectangular
frames; so that, in
one of the cham-
bers at least, they
are brought so
close to each other
as to touch at the
top, and the effect
is far from happy.
This never occurs
in the buildings
whence the types
originated (Fig.
88). To judge
from the drawings

 

Fic. 87.—Feriiz-Abad. Detail of niches. Elevation and section. rC Aci
FLANDIN and Coste, Lerse ancienne, Plate XLII. ot Coste an 1eu-

lafoy’s photograph
(accurately reproduced by our draughtsman), the design of the
cavetto itself has undergone alteration at Feriiz-Abad, and does
not start, as at Persepolis, with a straight line.as a true Egyptian
gorge should, but curves and splays from the first, yielding a
profile that lacks the firm and frank character of the model.
Finally, the cornice of these doorways and niches has not the
remotest connection with that of the Persepolitan entablatures,
consisting as it does of a plain tooth ornament and a double
band (Fig. 88). It is equally insignificant at Sarvistan, where
it occurs twice; once as crown to the walls, and another time
over pendentives.
 

 

ree

WSs’

es

°

 

 

 

 

>
PPLBZZ are

 

Fic, 88.—Feriiz-Abad. Inner decoration. DizuLaFoy, Z’Art antique, tom. iv. Plate XV.
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 177

 

Look as he will, whether internally or externally, at the aspect
of the edifices that form the subject of our contention, Dieulafoy
will never succeed in ferreting out more than one solitary instance
that can be made to tell in favour of his theory, and thus add the
matter of many centuries to their age; namely, the adaptation of
the Persepolitan rectangular frame to a bay full centred. The
turning-point is to know if data warrant the assertion that the copy
in question could only have occurred in the day of the Achemenide,
when the art to which this characteristic device exclusively
belongs was still active.

The other hypothesis to which reference has already been made
is that which would attribute the partial adaptation and imitation
of the Persepolitan ornaments to the whim of a dilettante of
archaism, his peculiar bias prompting him to take up a form that
had long fallen into desuetude, but of which plenty of instances
were extant in the tumble-down edifices around him, about which
there still hovered something of the religious awe associated with
the heroes of Iranian stock, the mighty sovereigns of olden times.
Is not this explanation in accord with all that is known of the
habits and leanings current during the second Persian empire ?
Has not the Sassanid monarchy, both from the political and
religious system it instituted, as well as the language spoken under
its sway, all the characteristics of what historians call a restoration ?
Is not this evinced in the way it set itself to link the present with
the past, the chain of which had been broken by the Macedonians
and the Parthians, when it aimed at nothing less than to efface
and obliterate the effects of the long interregnum during which
Persians had obeyed alien sovereigns? Is it conceivable that the
arts of design should alone have escaped the action of desires and
ideas such as these ?

Of course, all the power and enthusiasm of the new masters
of Iran could not undo the work of the five hundred years
that interposed between Darius Codomanus and Ardeshir, in the
course of which the processes and the taste of architecture and
sculpture had been greatly modified ; nor could their action reach
the past when the traditions of the old Oriental art had been
abandoned, extinguished by the fascinating examples, first of
Greece and then of Rome. With the imposing works erected by
the latter all over the extent of her vast empire, the architecture

which uses the arch and vault had everywhere replaced that which
N
178 History oF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

employs none but lintels and platbands; a return to the hypostyle
hall was just as impossible as a revival of the superannuated
sculptural forms once created by Chaldzea and Assyria. Strange
though the bas-reliefs of Shaptir may at first sight appear, as soon
as we look well into them we recognize that the artists who carved
them were widely influenced by the Western masters that had
worked for those emperors whom the kings of Persia fought with
stubborn implacability. Sassanid art is an art of decadence and
transition, which, despite its exotic appearance and whimsicality
of headgear and costume, in many respects recalls that of the
Antonines and Severuses, whilst now and again we already
scent medizval times. On the other hand,
we are conscious of efforts made to connect
the present with the past of Persia, in the
character, at least, of certain details. Thus,
at Shapiir, near which are still seen a number
of quaint bas-reliefs carved in honour of the
prince who has given the name to the place,
Fic. 89.—Shapir. Monu- there is an almost square chamber, whose
ment in the centre of the :
ruins. Plan. Franpin Walls consist of a core of broken stone and
ee rest casings of well-dressed units put together
without cement (Figs. 89-91).1 Internally,
towards the upper part of the walls, animals, now in a very
poor condition, were distributed at a distance of two metres
from each other. Nevertheless, it is not difficult “to recognize
in them rough imitations of the kneeling bulls of the Persepo-
litan capitals.” As at the Takht-i-Jamshid, here also, their
function was to uphold architraves or floors, but they lag far behind
their models in point of execution. The fact that they are still in
place is due, no doubt, to their elevated situation, which has saved
and saves them from ruthless hands. Had the stone surface been
embellished with sculpture, details would still be visible; but the
blocks seem to have received no other care, beyond a rude hasty
chamfering. Each bull occupied two slabs or courses ; on the one
was the head, and the shoulder on the other (see Fig. 91).°
Had the architects of old likewise assigned the function of

  

1 The long side of the hall is 18 m. 38 c., and the short side 17 m. 30c.

> Franpin and Coste, La Perse, etc, p. 49. The height of the semi-bulls is
im. 26c.

3 The bull of our illustration is restored, and is too well restored.

N
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 179

 

brackets to these semi-bulls at the summit of their walls? It
is impossible to say; but there is no doubt that by the use
they made of the form in question, they broke its unity, or at

 

       

     

        
  
     
   
   

 

   

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Fic. 9c.—Shapiir. Monument in the centre of the ruins. Section, FLANDIN and CosTE,
Perse ancienne, Plate XLVII.

 

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least put it at the mercy of accidents easily foreseen, in that
the least settling of the masonry must have severed it in
twain. Moreover, the fact that the windows are full centred,
whilst it helps to date the monument, militates against its being
taken as a work of the Achzemenid
period, the terminal stone which was
to play the part of lintel having been
chiselled into an arch—an arrange-
ment that speaks volumes in favour
of an epoch when it was in common L
use, and the ordinary ending to the Y]}
bays of the edifice (Fig. 90). Finally, He aie ae are
surrounding a beautiful fountain south the centre of the ruins. Profile

; . restored. Jbéd,., Plate XLVII.
of these ruins, appears a moulding
with quite a Greek profile; but a double band of godroons,
cut on the external face of the cavetto, reminds us of the cor-
nices in the Persepolitan gateways.' The prince, then, who
built the edifices of Shapir would seem to have been solicitous
of recalling, even though only in certain features, the style and

1 Fianpin and Coste, oc. cit., Plate XLVI.

  
   
   
 
  

   

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180 Hisrory oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

aspect of the houses of his illustrious predecessors, and, still
on their example, to have made the neighbouring rocks the
receptacles of all the good and great things he had done in
honour of their memory.’ The ruins of the Takht-i-Madere-i-
Suleiman, near Shiraz, have appeared to many travellers as similar
in character to the above; they would represent a building raised
long after the fall of the Achemenidz, not only upon the models
of the Persepolitan palaces, but with materials stolen from their
ruins ;? notably in the isolated doors, made of huge blocks of
stone with sculptures chiselled in the depth of the frame. Both
from the fact that the pieces in these doorways were not set up
in their proper order, so that gaps occur and break continuity of
outline, that they are of black limestone, apparently not found in
the neighbouring heights of Shiraz, but common in the hills that
dominate the plain of Mervdasht, and that these blocks coincide
with those that. are missing at the Takht-i-Jamshid, has led to
suspect they they were taken from thence.* It would be well to
have the above statements verified ; should they turn out to be
true, there would be one more proof of the anxiety shown by the
sovereigns of the second Persian empire to revert to olden times.
Sassanid sculptures are found a little way from the ruins.

These are by no means the only instances that show how, long
after the Macedonian conquest, forms once familiar to national
architecture occasionally crop up. Of the part the latter had
assigned to embattlements we have spoken elsewhere ;* it will
suffice for the present to recall a monument, the grottoes of the
Tagh-i-Bostan, near Kermanshah, which ranks as one of the
masterpieces of Sassanid art.* In it membering and sculpture, rich
heavy scrolls, all bear the impress of the exuberant and full-
blown art derived from the Greco-Roman style of the last
centuries of the old era, such as it appeared in the eastern
divisions of the empire. Thus, over the great archway leading to
the most spacious of the subterranean chambers are figured
winged genii, whose type is taken from the victories of Greek
statuary; but the flat roof above terminates in very salient

1 FLANDIN and CostE, Perse ancienne, Plates XLVIII.-LIV.

2 [bid., Plate LV. and pp. 64-66. Morier would seem to have had the same
impression.

8 Jbid., Plate LVI. ‘ Hist. of Art, tom. v. p. 539.

5 FLanpin and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plates III.-XVI.
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 181

 

crenelations (Fig. 63). As was said before, the part they play over
the hypogeum is of a purely ornamental character. They are
carved here in the living rock, instead of in the upper course of the
edifice, as at Persepolis, or made of bricks, as at Nineveh ; and
served no other object than to present to the eye a mode of
finishing the top which had obtained for centuries. |

Having now gone over all the instances that testify to the
intellectual bias we have pointed out, will it appear rash to suppose
that, long after the fall of the Achzemenide, a prince, with no
inconsiderable means at his disposal, took into his head not
only to build himself a palace, but tried to embellish and add
to its importance and effect, in reproducing something of the
arrangement and decoration of the structures of old? Clumsy
pretensions such as we find here, which aimed at clothing an
edifice constructed of broken stone after the Persepolitan fashion,
are of a piece both with the figured decorations carved in
the flank of the rock, the bull-shaped brackets at Shapir, and
the embattled edge of the Tagh; they one and all harked
back to the glorious past of Persia, and enabled their perpe-
trators to claim a share in those reminiscences, and benefit from
the halo that surrounded them. To give themselves the air
of building in the same taste as the Dariuses and Xerxeses, it
only needed introducing in the fabric some such adjuncts as appear
here, but they were inadequate to change its general character.
The general principle of architecture which obtained at Feriz-
Abad is opposed both to that of the royal architecture of the
Achemenidz, which makes no use of the arch, and to that of
Assyria, although in the latter occur several varieties of the barrel
vault. No square chambers, to speak of, are met with at Calach
and Nineveh; and there is nothing to prove in those instances
where their existence has been proclaimed that they were
covered with a dome; neither do we see those enormous porches
and wide tunnelled galleries extending through the whole depth
of the edifice. The masons who built these two palaces were not
the pupils and direct continuators of those who worked for the
last Ninevite princes, as we should be obliged to admit if we
accepted the date proposed by Dieulafoy ; their constructive art
is at one and the same time much less advanced, more daring and
ambitious. There are marked differences between their membering
and the processes of their decoration and those manifested at Khor-
182 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

sabad ; we surmise that a considerable interval has elapsed, during
which the world in general and art in particular have progressed.
In the total absence of inscriptions and historical data, it is quite
impossible to say in what year, or even century, the mysterious
edifices of Fars were erected. What admits of no doubt, however,
is that when we attempt to compare them with monuments of
which the date is pretty certain, and whose analogy with these is
incontestable, it is found that they invariably belong to compara-
tively modern times. Let us look into the plan. Its most notable
features are (1) the rectangular shape of the enceinte, within which
are embraced all the component parts of the pile; (2) the situation
occupied by the inner court that interposes between the public
and private apartments; (3) the importance assigned to the door,
which at Feriz-Abad opens in one of the minor faces of the
parallelogram, and is the only means of access to an area strictly
enclosed on all the other sides (Fig. 74). Now let us turn to
the Sassanid palace of Mahista, in Syria, supposed to have been
constructed by Chosroes Parvis II. (598-628 a.p.), and whose
ornamentation certainly bears the mark of that date.’ Here, too,
the plan is a rectangle, with a single entrance in exactly the same
situation as at Feriiz-Abad; and if the court is larger in pro-
portion to the size of the edifice in which it stands, its place
between the two groups of buildings is the same. Of the mag-
nificent palace of the Takht-i-Khosrii, erected by Chosroes Anu-
shirvan I. at Ctesiphon (531-579), nothing now remains but an
imposing facade that rears its head in the desert waste;* but

? All that is known of the monument is due to H. B. Tristram, Zhe Land of Moab
(Murray, 1873, 8vo), pp. 199-215. A description of the palace, with plan and
sections after Tristram, will be found in Fergusson’s Hist. of Architecture in all
Countries, 2nd edit., vol. i. pp. 337-398.

® FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plates CCXVI.-CCXVIII, p. 175. History
confirms the tradition according to which the building of the palace is attributed
to Chosroes I. Mention of it is made by the Byzantine writer Theophylactus of
Simocatta, who intimates that Chosroes employed Greek workmen in its construction
and decoration (sé, v. 6). If the Tagh-Eiwan, a ruinous and important Sassanid
edifice of Susiana, midway between Amarah and Dizful, is omitted in this place, it
is because our knowledge is confined to a picturesque view and a couple of lines
of Madame Dieulafoy’s (Za Perse, pp. 643-645), to the effect that “it contains a
vaulted nave in the centre of which appears a kind of square chamber covered
by a cupola.” Dieulafoy will in all likelihood give us more particulars about this
monument in the fifth part of his work which is shortly to appear.

The book was published last year, and in it will be found the details referred to
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to judge from the rdle assigned to the porch, twenty-eight
metres in height, and continued in the interior of the building by
a vaulted gallery twenty-two metres wide and thirty-five metres
long, the plan could not greatly differ from that of Fertz-
Abad (Fig. 92). The dimensions of the Khosrii are on a
much larger scale, but the disposition is identical. The great
vaulted doorway, opening in a massive front, remains to this day
the most original feature of Persian architecture ; it occurs in the
edifices erected in the reign of the national sovereigns, as well as in
those that have risen since the Arab conquest. A great arch
is the sole relic of the Tagh-i-Bostan (Fig. 63); whilst the huge
vaulted portal of the Tagh-i-Gherro ’—respecting whose date no
doubt exists—but for its look of decay, would not be singled out
from amidst the surrounding buildings, mosques, houses, and
caravanserais of modern Persia.” The plan of these edifices in
some respects approaches the one we have just described, both in
its rectangular shape and the rarity of its lateral openings. As at
Feraz Abad and Mahista here also one entrance, in the shape of
a large porch, opens on one of the small sides of the parallelogram.’

If we turn to consider the elevation, we shall also be obliged to
cite works of the last centuries of antiquity, in order to find types
analogous to those of our edifices of Fars. The palace of El-
Hadr (ancient Hatra), in Mesopotamia, is generally considered as
contemporaneous with the Parthians, as the sole monument,
perhaps, in which instances of their architecture have come down
to us.t In it, however, the apartments have no cupolas, and the
arrangement consists of a number of semi-circular vaults joined
one to the other; whereas the use of elliptic arches, such as we
have found at Feriz-Abad, Sarvistan, and Ferash-Abad, is
universal in the Sassanid edifices, whether at the Takht-i-Khosrt,

1 FLanpin and Coste, Lerse ancienne, Plates CCXIV., CCXV.

2 Thxrer, Description de ?Arménie et de la Perse, Plates XLIL, XLIII., LVI,
LXIX., LXX., etc. ; for the mosques, Plate LXXIX., plan of Persian house at
Ispahan.

® Coste, Monuments modernes de la Perse, Plate LXV. In one of the edifices of
this description noticed by Coste on the road leading from Teheran to Ispahan, the
principal facade, with a unique archway, is decorated, as at Feriizabad and the
Khosrii, by a series of blank arcatures.

4 With regard to the ruins at Hatra, consult more particularly G. RAWLINsoN,
The Sixth Great Monarchy (8vo, London, Murray, 1883), pp. 372-382, compiled
from the information furnished by Layard, Ross, and Ainsworth.
186 History oF ART In ANTIQUITY.

 

or the bridge of Altun-Kiipri: thrown across the Altun-Sii river,
the minor Zab of antiquity ;* whilst Persian architects continued
to employ them through the whole of the Middle Ages, and still
employ them.

If from the study of the general character of the forms we come
to consider ornamental devices, we shall reach the same con-
clusion. Thus, the mouldings that make up the oblong case and
enframe the semi-circular archway are precisely similar to those
manifested in numbers of portals erected during the Roman
empire. To confine our examples to Sassanid architecture: the
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the arch at the Takht-i-Gherro ;* whilst the panel in the pier at
Feriiz-Abad (Fig. 86) crops up at the Tagh-i-Bostan (Fig. 63),
with this difference, that instead of a plain convex shape with
slight projection beyond the wall, it is enriched here with a very
elaborate scroll.* At Feriiz, in order to break the monotony of
the vast lateral faces, recourse was had to blind arcades with
intervening semi-pilasters; the latter are carried up the whole
height of the wall to the cornice (Fig. 93). These same pilasters
without the arches occur at Sarvistan (Fig. 79).4. The general
principle of this decoration is akin to the ribs, or vertical toruses,
introduced by the architects of Chaldzea and Assyria in their
buildings at Warka and Khorsabad. The only difference resides
in the additional arcatures, a form that in the sixth century

‘ FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate CCXXIII
® Tbid., Plate CCXV. * Lbid., Plate V.
* Hist. of Art, tom. ii. pp. 257, 258, Figs. 100, 101.
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 187

 

furnished the architect of the Takht-i-Khosri with the elements
of the decoration of his fagade (Fig. 92); whilst between the
ninth and the eleventh century a.b. it was systematically applied
to the external walls of the churches at Ani, in Armenia, erected
by the Bagratide dynasty.’ Moreover, the porch of one of these
churches is supported by short sturdy columns, the outline and
proportions of which remind us of those which at Sarvistan uphold
the springing of the arch (Fig. 85).

Then, too, among the processes employed by this architecture,
should be noticed a practice which helps not a little to impart
a comparatively modern look to the buildings under consideration.
Thus, the Persepolitan ornaments imitated at Feritiz-Abad were
plaster throughout. Now, the extensive use—we might say abuse—
of stuccoed decoration is a distinguishing feature of Arab archi-
tecture. Plaster, when fresh, is soft and malleable of its nature, so
that it affords the craftsman an opportunity for showing his
dexterity of hand in those singularly delicate quillings, gofferings,
fillets, beading, and what not; but there is also the danger of
merging into mere fineness. There was nothing in the antique
architecture of the East, represented by that of the Assyrians and
of the first Persian empire, to foreshadow effects that in after times
would be demanded of a dangerously complaisant material.

Data, then, bear us out ia refusing to ascribe a remote antiquity
to the monuments that form the subject of our discussion, For
our part, we feel very far away indeed from the reign of Cyrus,
beyond which it is proposed to carry the construction of the body
of one of these buildings. We find it quite as impossible to move
on their date to a period when Sassanid art, in possession of all
its means, was running breast to breast with Byzantine art in
point of bold conception, breadth, and grandeur. Sarvistan, and
still more Feraz-Abad and Ferash-Abad, are certainly older than
the Takht-i-Khosrt, the Takht-i-Gherro, the Tagh-i-Bostan, and
Altun-Kipra. In the former the material of which walls and
vaulting are made is less regular, and left more or less in the
rough. The execution of the vaults shows singular clumsiness,
and yet allows us to guess that the constructor had already some
inkling of the services that presently will be demanded of the
vault, He feels that, thanks to the variety of the combinations to
be evolved therefrom, it lends itself better than any other system

1 'Taxrer, Description de ?Arminie et de la Perse, Plates XVII., XXIII.
188 History oF ArT IN AnTIQuity.

 

for covering vast spaces without cutting them up by internal
supports. If vaulting began very soon in Chaldza, it was because
of the nature of the material, the only one the builder had at his
command ; here, however, the art has already divested itself of
its swaddling clothes, but it still hovers on the threshold of that
other period in which the principle it has set itself will bring out
an abundance of exquisite fruits, and give birth, on the one hand,
to Byzantine architecture, whose masterpiece culminated in St.
Sophia, and, on the other, to the Persian architecture of the
second empire, whose lineal descendants are the stupendous
mosques of the Middle Ages. We are inclined to place the
edifices of Fertiz-Abad and Sarvistan in the reign of the last
Arsacidz or the first Sassanide.

There is a curious passage in Strabo worthy of more attention
than it seems to have received. The geographer, after having
enumerated the royal residences at Susa, Persepolis, and Pasar-
gade, as well as the Achemenid palaces at Gabe in Upper Persia
and Taocz on the coast, has the following :—“ It was so at least in
the time when the Persians were masters of Asia, but as years
rolled on and the country was reduced to a state of vassalage,
first by the Macedonians, and still more so by the Parthians,
these antique palaces were abandoned for houses of a humbler
description ; for if, up to the present, Persia has preserved native
sovereigns, they have lost much of their power, and are dependent
upon the Parthian king.”' It is just possible that the ruins of
Fertiz-Abad, Sarvistan, and Ferash-Abad represent the residences
of native princes who had become the vassals of the Parthians.
This would explain in a natural manner how, in a fit of patriotic
pride, one of them should have been tempted to decorate his
house in a fashion that would recall the heroes of his race. Then,
too, before Ardeshir, more than one Persian chief may have
wished, and perhaps tried, to win back for his country not only
her independence, but her former power as well.

If it should be thought that in carrying back the edifices in
question to the opening years of our era we have made them too
old, we are quite willing to transfer them to the first Sassanide,
who, after the revolution they had successfully carried through,
were in a better position to claim as their own some of the great
things done in that past which they strove to revive. Down to

’ Strabo, XV. iti. 3.
VAULTED STRUCTURES. 189

the day when Chosroes built himself the great palace at Ctesiphon,
the Sassanide, for the sake of a milder climate than could be
enjoyed at Pasargade and Persepolis, had their winter residence
in the plain joining on to the sea; particularly at Feriiz-Abad, a
place that—to judge from its strong ramparts, colossal fire-altar,
and rock sculptures—-would seem to have been a centre of no
mean importance.

 
190 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

CHAPTER III.
FUNEREAL ARCHITECTURE.

Tue IDEAS OF THE PERSIANS AS TO A FutTuRE LIFE.

Wuat were the ideas of the companions of Cyrus, Darius, and
Xerxes, the Persians of the fifth and sixth century, in respect to
a life beyond the grave, and what homage did they render to the
dead? It is impossible to say. Neither Herodotus nor other
Greek writers make any reference to the cult of the dead, whilst
the only sepulchral inscription that has come down to us _ has
no allusion thereto; we mean the long text engraved on the
tomb of Darius Hystaspes.’ If, in default of classical information,
we turn to the authority of the Avesta, for those primitive
notions we have seen universally diffused among the peoples of
Egypt and Syria, that we shall find among the Greeks and the
Romans, and should also have met among the Aryans of India
closely related to the Iranians had our path led to the valleys of
the Tigris and the Indus, all that can be culled there are childish
conceptions, vague in the extreme. It has been shown that the
Ferouhers, who play so important a part in Mazdian mythology,
were originally deified ancestors, like the “Pitris” of the
Hindoos ;* but in the system of the Avesta, such as it appears
after having been subjected to a long and gradual process of
elimination at the hand of a sacerdotal school, the Ferouhers
have become “the spiritual form of the being, independent of
and older than its material existence.” They have ceased to
have any communication with the bodies they once animated ;
they are genii pure and simple, the allies of Ahurd-Mazda,
1 Ménant, Les Achéménides, pp. 96-98.

> J. DaRMESTETER, Ormazd et Ahriman, pp. 130-132; Introduction au Vendidad,
Plate LXXIV., n. 1.
Tue IpEAs OF THE PERSIANS AS TO A Future LIFE. I91

 

whom they assist in his eternal conflict with demons. In
certain passages of the sacred book may, perhaps, be recognized
lost usages of a remote past; for example, in the following speech
the Ferouhers address to their worshippers: ‘Who will praise
us? Who will offer a sacrifice to us? Who will meditate upon
us? Who will bless us? Who will welcome us with meat and
garments in their hands?”* A later generation taught that the
food and clothes that should always accompany the reception of
the Ferouhers were to be understood as alms for the needy; but
is not this rather a vague reminiscence of a rite akin to the
sraddha, or funereal banquet, so often mentioned in the Laws of
Manou?? However that may be, when the books that contain
the doctrines elaborated by the priest-caste of the Magi found
general acceptance throughout Iran, the primary hypothesis which
every man about to leave this life sets for himself had long been
outstepped. Another belief had supervened—that which is borne
of the desire to find compensation in a better world for all the
injustices of which this earth is the scene, and which shock our
susceptibilities and give supreme sanction to moral law. The
next advance in this order of ideas which so largely occupied the
thoughts of the founders of Mazdaism was to conceive the body as
quite distinct from the soul; the latter was believed to set out on a
dreary and perilous journey immediately after leaving its earthly
tenement, and, according as the defunct had lived, it went toa place
of happiness or one of suffering, to heaven or hell, as we should say.’

What was to be done with bodies the soul had abandoned
in order to receive the reward of its good deeds ‘around the
golden throne of Ahura-Mazda,” or punishment “in endless
darkness” for its ill-doing? The Avesta is very explicit on this

1 The Zendavesta, Part II., the Sirdzahs, Yasts, and Nyayis, translated by James
Darmesteter, p. 192 (Farvardin Yast).

2 LoIsELEUR-DEsLonccHAMps, AZanava Dharma Sastra, Lois de Manou, 8vo, 1883,
i. 953 ili, 82, 122, 127, 146, 187, 274. To be childless is even now considered as a
dire misfortune by the Parsees, because, say the Destours, a man who has produced
no children has furnished no helpers to Ahura-Mazda in his struggle against evil,
and thereby exposes himself to go to hell. But at the bottom of a feeling that was
also current with the Greeks and the Romans, is there not something so remote
as to baffle our penetration, a dim survival of that primitive notion that he who
begets no sons will have no sacrifices nor food offered to his manes ?

3 Consult particularly Vas¢ xxii, Zendavesta, translated by Darmesteter, ii. pp.
314-323; in regard to the resurrection, see Introduction au Vendidad, \xxix., and
Yast xix. 89, and following verses.
192 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.
head, and forbids alike the two modes of burial in common use
among the nations of antiquity, ¢.g. incineration and inhumation.
They cannot be burnt, for that is a pollution of fire, the most
subtle and ethereal element, and again a symbol of the deity; or
buried, for that is a pollution of earth, the source of all life." The
only way of disposal which avoids the defilement of every element
is the consumption of the dead by the living. Dogs and birds of
prey shall devour and transform again into flesh the dead bodies.
Every traveller who has visited such districts as are inhabited by
Parsees, or followers of Mazda, has described the demas, or “ silent
towers,” in which the dead are exposed to become a prey to the
fowl of the air.” The site of these towers is far removed from the
haunts of man, at the summit of some mountain untrodden by
human feet; but in the air float rapacious birds, and as soon as a
hearse appears in sight they swoop down to perform their ghastly
office. In the centre of the area is a pit or well, the sides of which
are flagged, as also the ground upon which the corpses are laid.
The revéting is supposed to isolate the cemetery, so that it may
be considered as suspended in mid-air, as not touching the earth
upon which it rests. Twice a year the bones, stripped of flesh,
are cast in the yawning chasm, and when this is full the tower is
abandoned and another precisely similar is constructed a little way
off, which will be used for a shorter or longer space of time, accord-
ing to the numbers that will seek here their last resting-place.*
Creeds involving ‘such rites as these were scarcely of a nature
to favour the development of funereal architecture. Had the
regulations which we find in the Avesta already been accepted in
the day of the Achemenidz and put in force throughout Iran, this
chapter would not have been written, for the simple reason that
no Persian tombs would have been erected. If, on the contrary,

1 For the authors of the Avesta to allow a corpse to come in contact with either
fire or water is a sin not to be atoned for (Fargard, i. 17 ; vill. 743 i. 13).

2 «The Guebres,” says Prof. Rawlinson, “ construct round towers of considerable
height, without either door or window, having at the top a number of iron bars
which slope inwards. The towers are mounted by means of ladders, and the
bodies are placed crossways upon the bars. The vultures and crows which hover
about the towers soon strip the flesh from the bones, and the latter then fall
through to the bottom.”—Ep.

5 Numerous extracts from travellers who have described the funereal rites of the
Parsees will be found in Havelaque’s work, under the heading LZ’ Avesta Zoroastre
et le Mazdtisme (8vo, 1880, Maissonneuve), pp. 469-480. See also J. Darmesteter’s
Introduction to his translation of the Vendrdad, p. 91, n. 5.
Tue IpEAS OF THE PERSIANS AS TO A FuTuRE LIFE. 193

 

our study will comprise two or three different types, it is because
during the whole of that period such teachings, and the prescrip-
tions consequent upon them, had not yet acquired absolute
mastery over the minds of the nation at large, as was afterwards
the case in the reign of the Sassanide. Their rigorous observance
was still restricted to the priest-caste of the Magi recruited in
Media;* the laity, as we should say, took matters more easily.
This, Greek historians have recorded, and their testimony is
borne out by that of the monuments.

Herodotus? informs us that Cambyses, during his expedition in
Egypt, roused the indignation of the Persians because he gave the
body of Amasis to be burnt. ‘Of a truth,” he says, “the Persians
regard fire in the light of a god, and their laws, like those of the
Egyptians, forbid the burning of the dead. With the former, the
prohibition rests on the notion that it is unseemly for a god
to feed upon a mortal.” No funereal pyre, then, was ever
lighted in Media or Persia ; nevertheless it would appear that, in
the latter country in especial, the practice of burying the dead was
fairly general. After having tried to describe the manners and
customs of the Persians, the historian adds: “This I can say of
the Persians, because I know it on the best authority ; as to the
mode of burying their dead, it was told me as a secret, but I find
some difficulty in believing it: the body of a Persian, they say,
is not buried until the flesh has been torn off it by dogs and birds
of prey. This is certainly true of the Magi, who carry out the
practice openly. In any case the dead bodies are first completely
covered with a coating of wax and then deposited in the ground.” *
If we have cited the whole of this remarkable passage it is because
we incidentally learn what pains the historian took to collect
evidence in the countries he visited, and to put down nothing but
what he sincerely believed to be the truth. Then, too, in spite of
timid and seemingly contradictory statements, we get a pretty fair
insight into the real state of funereal usages current among a
people he wished to bring to the knowledge of his countrymen.
We have said that, as time went on, the logical development of
dualism assumed a fixed and positive shape, when the Magi came

1 DarmeEsTETER, Jutroduction, xlv. ; -
2 iii, 16. Ctesias (Frag. 57, extract by Photius) and Strabo (XV. iii. 14) attest

that to burn a corpse was a capital offence.
8 Herodotus, i. 140.
194 History oF ArT in ANTIQUITY.

 

to declare that the earth, the benefactress of man, the fellow-
worker of Ahura-Mazda, was likewise to be kept free from the
defilement of the dead; as to the people, they were suffered to
employ an entirely different practice. In the precaution taken,
however, to overlay the corpses with wax, as in the flagging of the
dakmas, may perhaps be recognized a concession made to ideas
that were beginning to prevail; they both virtually prevented
direct contact between the pure element and the flesh doomed to
dissolution. Under shelter of this tacit convention, which set
them right with their religious scruples, the kings built in the plain
or excavated in the side of the mountain those tombs of which
mention is often made by Greek writers.

If from these we turn to books of travels, in which the
monuments that still subsist above ground are described, the
impression they create is precisely similar to that which is
derived from perusal of classical writers. The first thing to strike
the beholder is the fact that several towns, as Yezd-i-cast and
many more, were built at the summit of rocky masses which
dominate the adjacent country.'. Such would be Ecbatana and
Baghistan, Persepolis and Susa, rising close to hilly ranges and lofty
ridges ; whilst from the lower slopes where man has established
himself, glimpses are caught of the mountainous chain at a little
distance. Yet neither in Persia proper nor in Media has a single
necropolis been discovered in the flanks of the cliff, as in Egypt
and Syria, in Asia Minor and Greece, where so many occur; no
solitary instance is found here of a city of the dead occupying a
wider area than any city of the living, with hundreds and thousands
of subterraneous chambers arranged in tiers, with staircases and
passages communicating with them. Again, in no part of the
country, either within the enceinte or at the approaches of the
town, do we come across those sepulchral edifices of varied shape,
and those groups of sarcophagi scattered with so lavish a hand
from one end of Lycia to another. Then, too, naught has been
descried akin to those mounds which, in Lower Chaldza, are
due to terra-cotta coffins heaped together and piled one upon
another in numbers it is impossible to calculate.

If during his excavations at Susa Dieulafoy’ lighted upon many

* Franpin and Coste, Perse moderne, Plates LXXXI,LXXXII.; Téxier,
Description, Plate LXXXVIII.
2 Hist. of Art, tom, ii, ch. lil. s. 2.
Tue Ipeas oF THE PERsIaANS AS TO A Future Lire. 195

 

such clay vats, the situation they occupied in the stratum, as well
as the objects that were found in them, led him to the conclusion
that they were not older than the Parthian epoch.’ In a word,
no chance plough or spade has ever brought to light, as so often
happens in Greece and Italy, a whole number of graves in which
the people of old sleep their last sleep, laid out in their earthy
beds ; and yet the population of Persia has never been displaced,
and if portions of the plateau are.still inhabited and susceptible of
cultivation, it is because the early Aryan immigrants, some three
thousand years ago and more, excavated canals so as to bring
subterraneous waters to the surface.

There are, then, no ancient cemeteries in Persia; albeit isolated
tombs occur here and there, of which many deserve to rank
among the most important and remarkable monuments of the first
Persian empire. Out of these, three are buildings constructed on
the same lines and with the same materials as the substructures of
the palaces and fire-altars; seven are hypogeia which may be safely
ascribed to the Achemenid kings—indeed, one of them still bears
engraved on the facade the name and exploits of the sovereign
who erected it; lastly, travellers have descried a few vaults on
various parts of this vast territory which may be taken as humble
imitations of the royal sepulchres.

The fact that tombs, whether built or hollowed in the rocky
wall, are so few in number was certainly not because the work
was above the capacity of the Persian artisan. From the speci-
mens we have engraved, both of his buildings, columns, and
capitals, a pretty good notion will have been gained of his skill
in working and dressing stone. He gave equal proof of his
boldness and patience when he attacked the living rock, as the
inscriptions and sculptures of the Persepolitan tombs and the rock
at Behistiin amply testify. If then tombs, built or subterraneous,
are very rare, if necropoles of the kind that hide within their
retreats all that goes to make a civilization now disappeared have
not and can never be found on Persian soil, the lacuna must not
be laid at the door of the builder, but as the natural effect of beliefs
whose character we have pointed out. Inhumation was not yet
regarded as odious and impious in the day of the Achemenide,
since the kings, and perhaps a few aping satraps, prepared tombs
for themselves in the neighbourhood of their palaces; but: their

1 DieuLaroy, Dewxiéme Rapport (Revue Arché., 1886, tom. viii. pp. 275, 276).
196 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

display of sepulchral luxury was in imitation of foreign examples.
Like these, they wished to leave after them instances that should
appeal to and astonish the imagination. As to private individuals,
they had not the same reasons for refusing to acquiesce in
practices which so well harmonized with the spirit of the religion
they publicly avowed. According to Herodotus, many of them
followed the example of the priest-caste of the Magi, and left
their bodies to the mercy of hungry dogs and birds. If others
continued to confide the dead to the earth, it was done quietly
and without ostentation, the corpses being duly protected in a
sheath of wax, so as to minimize as much as possible the wrong
done to the nursing element. In these conditions a simple grave
was enough for the purpose, dug by stealth, as it were, away from
pleasant homesteads and verdant fields.

Granting tendencies such as these, Persia had not—indeed, she
could not have—a funereal architecture of her own; no surprise,
then, need be felt at the tomb not having furnished its usual
contingent to the restitution of national art and the industry that
derives its inspiration from it. The fact that the few sepulchres
we are about to review were due to royalty will not detract
from their very great interest. As in the palaces, here also will
be found a mingling of direct copy and intelligent adaptation to
special needs and usages, so worked out by native fancy as to
imbue all the creations of Persian art with quite a peculiar and
individual character of their own.

Tue Burtt Toms.

Explorers—both those who believe they recognize Pasargade
in the ruins near Meshed-i-Marghab, and those who hold a
different view—are at one in considering the town represented
by the remains scattered over the ground there as older than
Persepolis (Fig. 94). In the former the name of Cyrus is
everywhere to be read on the stone, whilst in the latter the
founder of the monarchy is already forgotten, and along the
staircases and the approaches to the palace appear the names of
his successors, Darius and Xerxes. Here, too, edifices are on a
vaster scale, and more elaborately decorated. Persian art is seen
at its best, that art which in the upland valley of the Polvar had
not yet learnt how to embellish stone pillars with elegant flutes.
Tue Burtt Tomes. 197

 

The inscriptions, arrangement, and style of the ruins around
Meshed-i-Mirghab concur one and all to give a great degree of
probability to the now old theory that they are the relics of a
town and the royal houses constructed by Cyrus and Cambyses.
Here, in the heart of Persia proper, in a narrow valley bounded
by steep craggy ranges and defiles that could be easily defended,
rose the principal residence of the two first sovereigns. After

 

 

    
       
     
  
 

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Fic. 94.—Map of the Bee eae and COsTE,
the revolution headed by Darius, which transferred the crown to
his branch of the Achzemenid family, it was abandoned for the
lower plain of Mervdasht, with its mild delightful climate and
fertile soil, where he set about constructing the platform upon
which his successors continued to raise those noble piles the
Macedonians designated under the name of Persepolis.

The tombs, then, that we may expect to meet on the site of the
older of the two capitals will of necessity be those of the two first
kings of Persia or members of their family. Now, among the
monuments of which traces are still visible in this canton, that
which attracts the eye of the beholder and is also the best
198 History or Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

preserved is locally called Gabre-i-Madere-i-Suleiman (‘ The
Tomb of Solomon’s Mother”) (Fig. 49). It consists of a small
chamber, with a pedimented roof, raised upon a substructure
composed of six courses set back one from the other, so as to form.
wide steps, the lowest and highest acting as base; the top was
reached by a flight of steps now partly destroyed (Fig. 95).
The whole affects the aspect of a pyramid, so that, despite its
small size—it is but eleven metres in height—it is not wanting in
breadth and dignity.’

A colonnade, of which many of the bases are still in place, ran

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Fic. 95.—The Gabre. Longitudinal section. DiruLaroy, LZ’ Art antique de la Perse,
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along three sides at least of the building, and added not a little
to its effect. The wall of this porch, intervening between the
columns, was pierced by three narrow low doorways, whose jambs
still subsist. There seems to have been an exterior court that
partly surrounded the inner area; this is inferred from the pre-
sence of a fourth and larger portal which faces one of the openings
of the first wall. But the modern huts and tombs that are
crowded on this spot in order to be under the protecting wing of
the venerable Tomb of the Mother of Solomon, prevented sound-
ings being made by Dieulafoy along the marks left by the wall to
ascertain whether the conjecture had any existence in fact. All the
same, his plan is given below, because it reproduces details seemingly

* The substructure is 14 m. 40 c. long by 13 m. 36 c. wide. Height of plinth,
5m. 15 ¢c,; height of chamber, 5 m. 55 c.
Tukz Burtt Tome. 199

 

unnoticed by previous explorers (Fig. 96). It will be observed
that the doorway placed opposite the facade of the Gabre is not
in the axis of the monument, but a trifle to the right. The visitor
who should happen to be in the exterior court could not have
perceived the door of the naos, or diminutive chamber consti-

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tuting the essential part of the arrangement, its organic centre as
it were, without which the pile would not have been constructed.
The arrangements throughout betray solicitude to conceal first of
all the structure itself, then more particularly the case it harbours
200 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

behind its thick walls, built of large blocks of limestone dressed
to an even front with the utmost care, and bound by no cement.
An intruder, despite double walls, might have eluded the vigi-
lance of the porters, and caught a glimpse of the interior of the
sanctuary, just as they were momentarily off their guard, with
their backs turned to open the portal to allow the procession of
the priests to file into the adytum. ‘‘To prevent such a surprise
as this, the architect who constructed the edifice devised a
double set of doors, and made them both fold back inside, so as
to render simultaneous opening impossible. One who wished to

enter the Gabre, there-

Ly fore, after going through
the exterior door, had to
_ shut it after him before

he could open and pass
out of the other” (Fig.
97)."

Was the building a
chapel or a tomb? The
very peculiar character
of its arrangement would
accord equally well with
either hypothesis, and in
either case they would
wish to keep out and
repel intrusion. What we know of the rites of Magism makes
this pretty certain. The fire-altars figured on tombs and coins
are as unlike this tiny edifice as can well be imagined. We may
safely affirm that no sacred fire was ever lighted within its blind
walls; had they tried to do so, it would soon have gone out for
want of air. Besides, we find no mention, either by historians or
in the Avesta, that there existed here closed sanctuaries as in
Egypt, within which images or symbols of the deity were mys-
teriously preserved. The direct evidence is so strong that this
was a tomb, as scarcely to leave room for any doubt. Wall, colon-
nade, chamber, the whole building was conceived and executed in
view of receiving the mortal remains of a man, and this man could
be no other than an important personage. We have literary
testimony that the tomb of Cyrus was situated at Pasargadz, where

* Dieutaroy, L’ Art antique, tom. i. p. 48.

   

_

Fic. 97.—Plan of entrance to the Gabre. Scale of 34 c. t
the metre. DiEULAFoy, ZL’ Art antique, tom. i Fig. 54.
Tue Burtt Tomes. 201

 

it was visited by Alexander, just as Napoleon went to Potsdam to
see the vault of Frederick the Great. Strabo, at the end of his
account of the burning of Persepolis, goes on to say, “ Alexander
then went on to Pasargadz, likewise an ancient royal residence.
He visited the tomb of Cyrus. It was a tower of mediocre size,
standing in the middle of a park and lost to view amidst great
trees. The tower, solid and massive below, terminated in a roof
and chamber having a very narrow entrance.”* As to Aristo-
bulus, says Strabo, he went there by the command of Alexander
to see that the place was suitably kept, when he found a golden
bed and coffin of the same metal, a table upon which were laid
drinking bowls, a quantity of clothes, and jewels set with precious
stones. These objects, as we shall see presently, were all taken
away, except the bed and coffin, which were found broken to pieces
and the body lying on the floor, proving that the pillage had been
done not bya satrap, but by common thieves, who left behind what
they could not conveniently carry. In any case the tomb was rifled,
in spite of a number of Magi who had the keeping of it, and who
were allowed a sheep daily for their maintenance, besides a horse
monthly.2, Among the other acts of violence and rapine which
took place during the expedition of Alexander to distant Bactriana
and India, Aristobulus says the Persians had to deplore the
desecration of the tomb of Cyrus, and he ends his narrative with
the inscription incised on this very tomb:

“SrraNGER, I aM CyRUS, THE FOUNDER OF THE PERSIAN EM-
PIRE AND SOVEREIGN OF ASIA; ENVY ME NOT, THEREFORE, THIS
SEPULCHRE.” *

Then Strabo cites the formal statements of two writers, One-
sicritus and Aristus of Salamina, who assigned ten and two
stages to the tomb respectively. That no reliance is to be placed
on their testimony, which is altogether worthless and void of truth,
is proved from the fact that—unlike Aristobulus, whose recital we
should so much like to have within reach—they had never seen
the place, since they both speak of Greek inscriptions engraved
above the tomb. Arrian, too, understood quite well that Aristo-
bulus was alone to be trusted, and he is the only one he quotes.
We cannot then be far wrong in assuming that he almost tran-
scribed word for word a passage of which Strabo was content to

1 Strabo, XV. iii. 7. 2 Was not the horse intended for the sacrifice?—Trs.
8 Strabo, XV. iii. 7.
202 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

make a faithful summary. Arrian’s description of the monument is
at once more complete and precise. Were this, however, the
result of mere padding, done for the sake of infusing a little life
and interest into a text he had deemed arid and dry, the terms
used for defining details, for instance, would have been vague
and obscure, whereas it is the reverse which takes place, every
additional stroke serving to bring into relief the character and dis-
position of the monument. “ As to the tomb itself,” he says, “ the
lower part was a quadrangular mass made of hewn stone; above
was a chamber roofed in, and built of the same material; it had
but one small doorway, so narrow that a man of medium size
found great difficulty in getting in.”? His account of the funereal
furniture, if a trifle more detailed than Strabo’s, does not differ
from it, save in what relates to the coffin. This, says Arrian,
was put upon the bed.’

The first explorers have had no difficulty in accepting the
Gabre as the royal tomb seen and examined by Aristobulus ;* of
late, however, some have tried to show that the identification
is impossible.* Whichever view is taken, a monument to which
rightly perhaps such reminiscences are attached cannot fail to
excite interest ; on the other hand, there are very few antique con-
structions among the most famous of Greece and Rome, of which
we possess a more detailed description than that of the tomb of
Cyrus, the principal part of which is in excellent preservation,

1 ARRIAN, Anabasis, vi. 29.

2 Ev péow de rhs KAtvys H tUehos exetto f 7d cde. Tod Ke pov gyovea. This is both
positive and precise. It is true that a little before occur the following lines, év 8
TO oixyjpatt wiedov xpuohy KeloOar, iva TO cpa tod Kipov éréBarro, kal KAtyny Tapa
Th mvéAw, which would seem to indicate that the coffin was beside, and not on the
bed—a difficulty noticed by Krueger and Sintenis, Arrian’s best editors. They
think at the same time that the expression év pow is too formal not to have been
intended, and that in the first line, where mention of the bed is made, we must
either strike out apa, or suppose that a copyist put it in by mistake instead of é7d,
We may also explain it in this way. When Arrian incorporated into his narrative
the description of the first visit Aristobulus paid to the tomb, he did not make out
that the bed served as support to the coffin, so he added apa to make his sentence
more clear, and though as he went on he found the true position of affairs plainly
stated, it does not seem to have struck him. In any case he did not go over again
what he had written, so that the discrepancy was allowed to stand,

° Morier was the first to propose identifying the Gabre with the tomb of Cyrus.
After him Ker Porter, Téxier, and Coste entertained no doubt on the subject,
Stolze is most positive.

* Dreutaroy, L’ Art antique, tom. i. p. 46.
Tue Burtt Tome. 203

 

whilst there are still visible traces of subsidiary sections or annexes,
and the whole has been traced, measured, and drawn by travellers
whose testimony is in perfect accord. It isa problem, then, well
deserving to be discussed, all the more that data exist which may
help to solve it.

In the first place, let us reconsider the description of Aristobulus
by the light of the plan, perspective view, and section of the Gabre
(Figs. 96, 49, 95), when the numerous points of agreement
cannot fail to strike each one of us. Reference is made toa perzbolos,
or court, by the wayside leading to the memorial, within which
stood the small house of the Magi who had the keeping of the
tomb.’ Remains of the enceinte still exist, and it is possible that were
excavations made, they might result in the discovery of the site
of this same house or lodge. As to the colonnade, it is not
specially mentioned, but the word ferrbolos, often employed by
Greek historians in connection with the temples of Asia Minor and
Syria, where the sanctuary was always surrounded by spacious
courts and vast offices, is enough by itself to awake the idea of
ranges of columns around a court. If Aristobulus says nothing
of these covered walks, it is because he had seen too many, his
eye was too well accustomed to them to feel any surprise.
What, however, excited his attention were those trenches for irriga-
tion, the green lawns, and the shady walks leading to the enclosure.
The Greeks had nothing that resembled those well-timbered parks,
those paradises, as they said, amidst which the Persians loved
and love now to place their monuments.”

If from examining the annexes we pass to the tomb itself, we
can easily trace the characteristics insisted upon by Aristobulus,
eg. a quadrangular shape, a massive substructure, and a small
chamber with pedimented roof, making up a type of which this is

1 Elvas 88 évrés rod repiBwAou mpds TH dvaBdoe TH eri Tov Tdov depvucy oiknwa
opixpov Tots Mdyous rerounpevov, ot 84 éptrAaccov tov Kipou rdgov (Arrian, vi. 29).

® Grammarians tell us that the Greek word wapddecos is of Persian origin, modi-
fied from the Zend pairidaeza, found in the Avesta, where it has the general signifi-
cation of enclosure, a space fenced in (Vendidad, iii. 18, 19; v. 49). There is
nothing strange in the fact that in the dialect spoken in Persia at the time of the
Achzmenidz, it should have been used in a more definite sense, when it came to
denote those parks, full of beautiful trees and game, by which the great lords of
Persia set so much store, as we learn from Xenophon and Plutarch. The word no
longer exists in the Persian language We find it in Hebrew under the form of fardis,

whence it passed into Arabic as firdaus, and through Arabic it has got back to
Persian. The word is found in the name of the celebrated poet Firdausi.
204 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

the only instance we have in all that remains of Persian architecture.
The doorway is below man’s stature, being no more than 78 centi-
metres by 1 m. 35 c. in height. The expression used by Arrian
certainly implies more than simple stooping of head and shoulders ;
indeed, it might be argued that quite exceptionally, to round off his
sentence, he somewhat forced the sense of the text he followed.
There is, however, a more natural explanation. If Dieulafoy is
not mistaken in supposing that a double door occurred here, it is
very likely that Aristobulus, not prepared for the second door, let
go the first before he was aware of the fact, when he suddenly
found himself in a pitch-dark recess, of barely a square yard, inter-
vening between the doors (Fig.97). He may not unnaturally have
voted this a troublesome mode of entrance, and the disagreeable
impression was retained. A last correspondence between the
described and the real edifice is found in the mediocre height of
the mausoleum, hidden, as Strabo has it, by trees whose branches
overtop its roof. To the objection that aipyos is improper as
applied to the Gabre, we may answer that it had a wider significa-
tion, and that it denoted not only strong towers flanking the wall
of a town or a bridge, but, as several Hellenists have pointed out,
was often used to designate isolated buildings situated away from
busy centres. But what is more decisive still is the fact that the
word is not found in Arrian, who seems to have followed more
closely the text of Aristobulus. Who knows but that it may after all
be an addition of Strabo, who, having no drawing of the monument
to refer to, formed a somewhat confused notion of it and used
rather at random an inappropriate word in defining it? Nor is this
all. It is urged also that a chamber 3 m. 16 c. wide and 2 m. 18 c.
long, or a trifle over six square metres, could never have contained
all the objects enumerated by Arrian and Strabo ;? but we submit
that the space was sufficient, and with something over, for a bed,
a coffin, and a table. Bed and coffin can scarcely have been more
than two metres long, placed crosswise in the chamber, leaving
therefore enough room between the foot of the bed and the wall
for a table upon which were spread jewels and vases. If we allow
a width of about a yard to bed and coffin, there remains a narrow
passage on either side. The problem is further simplified if we

1 So Jacoss, in his Commentary upon the Anthology, vol. viii. p. 333; Corai,
Notes on Heliodorus, vol. ii. p. 28; Thesaurus, ed. Didot, s.v.
2 Six square metres is exactly equal to 636 centimetres.
Tue Burtt Toms. 205

 

admit that “the coffin was in the middle of the bed,”! so that the
latter was no more than a rectangular couch that served as
support. We shall find no difficulty in disposing of the carpets,
coloured pelisses, and fringed shawls about the bed, the floor,
or against the walls.’

Alexander again visited Pasargade and Persepolis on his return
from India, but, unwilling to take his troops across the lofty
ranges of Fars, he left them to follow the more direct route to
Susa, where they were to meet him, and, with a squadron of cavalry
and some light troops, he soon reached Pasargadz,* where, as far
as possible, he had the interior of the funereal chamber set to
rights. But as he wished everything done before he set out again,
the doorway, which he ordered to be walled up, was hastily
stopped with broken stone laid in mud. When all was complete,
the conqueror affixed his royal seal to the still humid clay.* In
order to protect the mortal remains of Cyrus against fresh injury,
he counted less on this thin barrier than the terror inspired by his
name. We cannot be surprised, then, to find wide open the door
formerly sealed by the victor of Arbela. When treasure-seekers
penetrated later into the chamber in the hope of still finding
some precious objects in it, a few blows with the pick sufficed
to bring down the light masonry; whereas the case of hewn
stone is as good as ever.

A last difficulty to be met is the absence of the inscription,
whose existence has been affirmed by every writer who has busied
himself with the monument. A recent traveller, M. Stolze, thinks
he can trace over the doorway a cavity, intended, perhaps, to fit a
tablet fastened to the wall by metal clamps, upon which was incised
the epigraphic text we have reproduced a few pages back. But
Aristobulus says nothing as to its situation, and, for aught we

1 See note above, p. 202.
2 T suppose—and if I am wrong will Dieulafoy enlighten me ?—that “the golden

trough (bath) that might be used for a partial or entire bath ” is a translation of
miedos (L’ Art antique, etc., tom. i. p. 2 1), but the word is current in the language of the
inscriptions to denote a funereal vat (coffin). That it was so employed might be
shown by hundreds of instances, but should doubts be felt on the subject, Arrian s
words, which we subjoin here, will effectually remove them: mveAov xpvojy Keto Oar,
iva 70 cGpa tod Kupou éGéramto (Anab., VI. xxix. 5).

® ARRIAN, Anad., VI. xxix. i. ; -

4 Thid.: Kat riv Ovpida 88 davioa Ta pev airis Ow évoixodopjoavta, 7a. 88 7HAG

~ a xn ‘ a A
eumrioavra Kal émBadrely TH Td 70 onpetov 76 BactArxov.
206 History oF Art 1n ANTIQUITY.

 

know to the contrary, it may have figured on a stela set up
before the zdiculum.’

Finally, some have affirmed that the Gabre could be nothing
but the tomb of a woman, probably that of Mandane, the mother
of Cyrus.? The reason adduced is that in Mohammedan countries
the tombstones set up over men’s graves are invariably round-
headed; whilst those of the women are triangular, and recall the
contour of the pedimented roof of the Gabre. That such a
usage exists at the present day in Turkey and Persia may be
readily conceded, and we may add that it is of no very recent
date ; but, we ask, is there any ground for carrying it back to
antiquity ? Is there aught in literary or stone documents to justify
the conjecture ? *

From the comparison we have instituted between the monu-
ment seen by Aristobulus and the Gabre, it does not follow that
the latter is the tomb of Cyrus, although the presumption in favour
of the hypothesis which identifies the two monuments is very
great indeed. The negative evidence derived from its style,
magnitude, and careful execution point it out as an edifice of
exceptional character, and the probability of its being the memo-
rial of Cyrus is thereby increased. The double wall, the colonnade
along three sides of the court, the precautions taken not only to
keep out intruders, but a too inquisitive eye as well, would be
meaningless, unless we admit that the founder of the Persian
empire was enthroned here after death, surrounded by a devoted
and respectful watch, whose figure, speedily magnified and trans-
formed by popular fancy, was already looked upon in the day of
Herodotus as that of a hero or semi-god, dimly perceived in a
remote past through the golden haze of fable.

Some notion of the aspect the monument offered when Alexander

* The photogravure published by Dieulafoy (Z’Art antigue, tom. i. p. 19) does
certainly show, in the situation indicated by the German explorer, something that
resembles a regular cutting.

2 [bid., 50.

* M. Oppert was the first to put forth the above notion (‘ Pasargades et
Mourghab,” in the Journal Asiatique, 1872, tom. xix. pp. 548-555). Iam ataloss to
know upon what data he bases his statement to the effect that a difference existed
between men’s and women’s graves, a difference observed by the Persians themselves
—‘ shown,” he says, “by the plans and sections of the tombs of Persepolis and
Naksh-i-Rustem, engraved by Flandin and Coste. ‘The vats found in the vaults are
all exactly alike, and the lids are missing.”
Tue Buitt Tomes. 207

saw it in its pristine state, may be gained from the ¢urbehs of
the Osmanlis at Eyub, which form so picturesque a group at the
head of the Golden Horn, and the zmdéms-zadeh encountered
from one end of Persia to another.! Around the tombs of the
Muslims, as of old at Pasargadz, the branches of great plane
trees dip into fountains that serve for ablutions, whilst their
grateful shade and cool atmosphere predispose and attune the
mind to meditation.

If from without we pass within the chamber, we shall find that
a subdued light pervades the scene and mellows the splendour of
the gorgeous drapery, behind which we divine the relief of the
coffin. The dimensions of the latter are sometimes colossal, so as
to induce the belief that the saint or hero which it contains was
above man’s stature. The cupola arrangement that characterizes
these modern funerary memorials is about their only point of dif-
ference between the edifices to which we have juxtaposed them. To
return: the building that may have sheltered the mortal remains of
Cyrus was well fitted for its probable destination. ‘he outline of
its base, which rises pyramidically, is continued by the pedimented
roof. Great prominence and value was imparted to the grave-
chamber, situated on a pedestal, constructed of huge solid blocks
so admirably joined together as to have defied the action of
time. Several travellers have recorded the impression produced
by the severe simplicity of style of the Gabre, of what one of
them calls its “ majesty.””

If we admit as highly probable the identity of the tomb of
Cyrus with the Gabre, the question as to the true site of Pasargade
will settle of itself, and render superfluous further discussion on
a geographical point which could lead to no satisfactory or certain
results. The map of this region is very imperfectly known, and
little is to be gathered from Arrian’s dry and vague account re-
lating to the march of Alexander, in which Carmania, Gedrosia,
Pasargade, and Persepolis are consecutively named. Dieulafoy,

1 In Persia the word z#dm-zadeh, son of imam, is applied to monuments supposed
to be the tombs of one of the twelve imams, the descendants of Ali, who are held
in great veneration by the Shiites. The Gabre, writes Téxier, reminded him of the
sepulchre of Shah-Riza, near Kim-Shah, The vault of the son of Ali is situated
in the middle of a garden, with an abundant supply of running water. A number
of cells sprinkled about are reserved for the guardians of the tomb (Description,
vol, ii. p. 156).

2 It is Ker Porter’s expression.
208 History oF Art IN ANTIQUITY.

 

 

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Fic. 98.—Pasargadze. Funereal tower. TéxEr, Description, Plate LXXXV.

not only covered Persia on the north, but enabled Cyrus to re-

press rebellions on the part of the Medes, who but yesterday were

masters of the situation, and might not unnaturally wish to regain

their ascendency.' He admits, therefore, that the town repre-
? Diguaroy, LZ’ Az? antique, tom. i. pp. 28-27.
Tue Burtt Toms. 209

 

sented by the ruins strewn over the plain of Meshed-i-Mirghab
was one of the twin cities that went by the name of Pasargade ;
but he accuses Strabo of having confused the town which Cyrus
founded on the spot where he met and defeated Astyages with
that where his tomb subsequently rose.’ At first sight it seems
natural enough that the founder of the Persian monarchy should
have wished to commemorate a victory fraught with consequences
that gave him an empire. Dieulafoy recognizes the sepultures at
Meshed-i-Mirghab as those of Mandane, the mother of Cyrus,
and his father Cambyses; but why separate the son from his
parents? All the tombs
of the princes of the Se
second dynasty, which  ._. eae a
f TR Tay (i Fiat TM

‘(i

 

commences with Darius
Hystaspes, are found in
the plain of Mervdasht ; ae ea
what more probable than | ~~’ FG mn
that the graves of Cyrus pe
and the members of his
family should be grouped
around the first capital
abandoned by Darius for
Persepolis ? =
In the ruinous tomb °uracor Dine anligud tom. i Big 18

seen at a little distance

from the Gabre (Fig. 98) was doubtless buried another member
of the family of Cyrus. It represents a second type of a built
vault; but we should know very little about it had our knowledge
been confined to this mutilated specimen. Fortunately for us, a
duplicate in a marvellous state of preservation is found at Naksh-
i-Rustem (Figs. 21, 104). “The plan, elevation, and style of
architecture in either edifice are almost identical, so that the
description of one will do for both.”® They are square towers
built of beautiful blocks of hewn stone, and measure about
seven metres at the side, with a height of twelve metres or there-
abouts,? whilst a denticulated ornament forms the cornice

      

      

“MAIR oe
viyiae 2248 ‘

(try Soe at

1 Strabo, XV. iil. 8. 2 Dreucaroy, L’Art antique, tom. i. p. 14.
-* The following are the exact dimensions of Coste :—Tower at Pasargadee :—width,
7m. 10 c,; length, 7 m. 40 c.; height, 12 m. 88 c. Tower at Naksh-i-Rustem :

7m. 29 c. each way; height, 11 m. 60 c. A third tower that nearly approaches
P
210 History oF ArT 1n ANTIQUITY.

 

 

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hae re Ske
(WI - erare |
Fic. 100,—Naksh-i-Rustem. Entrance and inclined plane to funerary tower. D1IEULAFOY,
L’ Art antique, tom. i. Plate XI.

 

 

i a
el !

the pair under consideration is figured but not described in Stolze’s Persepolis,
Plate CXI.VII. To judge from the photograph, the execution is not so good as in

our exemplars, but height and disposition are the same. The monument is situated

two hours’ march northward of Narabad, at the foot of Kuh-i-Pir-i-Mard.
Tue Burtt Tome. 211

 

of the Naksh-i-Rustem tower (Fig. 21) are purely decorative and

   

AE

YILMUW
h

|
Yin y
i a

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAMA

  

 

Fic. 101.—Naksh-i-Rustem. Transverse section of funerary tower. Dreutaroy, L’Art

antique, tom. i. Fig. 19.

do not go through the wall, whose depth is more than two metres.
They are double recessed, and furnished with an elbow-cushion.

The lower -por-
tion of the
structure is
solid, but the
upper part is
occupied by a
chamber, the
floor of which
is 5 m. 10 ¢.
above the level
of the plain.
Light is let in
through the
door. Inside
the chamber

 

Fic. 102,—Naksh-i-Rustem. Roof of funerary tower. /0id., Fig. 26.

the walls are quite plain, and measure 3 m. 77 c. each way.
212 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

The apartment was formerly approached by an exterior flight of
steps, the marks and foundations of which are still visible; they
are restored in our section and entrance view, after Dieulafoy
(Figs. 100, 101). His restitution is based on the fact, seemingly
unnoticed before him, that in the depth of the slab forming the
threshold, were contrived two parallel slides on an inclined plane
to facilitate the introduction of some heavy load into the apart-
ment (Fig. 100), which he argues could be no other than a coffin.
How the operation was managed is shown in Fig. 101. The
doors have left the marks of their movement in the stone floor ;
whilst the grooves for the pivots, cut both at the bottom and the
top, where they were fastened to the sides of the walls, are quite
distinct."

Some have thought that these towers were qwupatOea, or fire-
temples.?, The hypothesis cannot stand, and does not deserve
being argued at length. Fire-worship was neither celebrated
within well-closed chambers such as that of our illustration, nor on
its roof, whose slope on the four sides, though slight, is sufficiently
marked to preclude the idea of an altar having stood on it (Fig. 102).
On the other hand, the thickness of walls, roof, and ponderous:
stone doors, with which the apartment was originally closed, would
coincide with our notions of those treasuries at Pasargade and
Persepolis, within which, historians tell us, the kings of Persia
accumulated and preserved enormous quantities of the precious
metals which flowed into their hands as tribute from the whole of
Asia.* At first sight the conjecture is certainly fascinating.“ If*
nothing can be urged either way in regard to Pasargadz,® would it
not be passing strange that the treasury of Persepolis, instead of
being comprised within the area where rose the royal residences,
should have been more than three miles away, right in the middle
of the Mervdasht plain (Fig. 103)? A treasury which was to
supply the private expenditure of the prince must have been at the
very gate of his palace and one of its annexes.

The two monuments were certainly places of burial, but we

1 Digutaroy, L’Art antigue, iii. p. 2,n. 2. Ker Porter had also noticed grooves
and marks left by the stone doors (Z7avels, vol. i. p. 56).

> Téxier, Description, tom. il. pp. 149, 150. Morier was of the same opinion.

3 ARRIAN, Anabasis, iil. 18, 19.

* Raw.inson, Zhe Five Monarchies, vol. iii. p. 350, n. 6.

5 The passage in question does not occur at the place referred to.—Trs.
® Because of its ruinous complete state.—Trs.
 

 

 
 

 

 

     
 

 

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FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate LXIV.

Fic. 103.—Map of the northern portion of the plain of Mervdasht.

 
Tue Burtt Tome. ors

 

should follow a wrong scent in trying to recognize the tomb of
Cyrus in the Pasargadzan tower. It may be conceded that, to
take the word qupyos in its ordinary sense, it is more applicable to
the latter than a building such as the Gabre; but we have explained
why too much importance should not be given to the appellation.
On the other hand, two characteristic features, both of vital impor-
tance, are specified in the description our authors have borrowed
from Aristobulus, namely, the existence of a ferzbolos, and the
extraordinary narrowness of the entrance to the tomb. Around
the Gabre considerable remains of a portico and wall still exist,
but no traveller has pointed out sign or token of annexes such as
these around the tower of Pasargadez. On the other hand, if here
the front is too much ruined to permit of accurate measurement
being made of the door, the other tower at Naksh-i-Rustem
enables us to restore it with certainty. The latter is 1 m. 50. high
by 2 m. 20 c. broad—dimensions that are quite normal and do
not deserve Arrian’s strictures, to the effect that a man had much
ado to penetrate into the vault. If its identity with the Gabre
should be dismissed as impossible, it only remains to make up our
minds that the monument seen by Alexander and Aristobulus has
disappeared.

Some have asked themselves whether the type in question,
represented in either capital by a unique and well-constructed
exemplar, was not intended for a special function, set apart for
a very peculiar purpose ; whether, in fact, we are not confronted
here by edifices of the dakma class, “silent towers,” still in
common use among the Guebres at the present hour. As to the
difficulty that ancient writers, when they spoke of the manners
and customs of the Persians, have not even a passing allusion to
edifices of this nature, it might be answered that the Greeks did
not penetrate farther than Susa until Alexander; their knowledge
of the country, therefore, left much to be desired, whilst the bulk of
what they wrote is lost to us. Thus, for example, we only know
the writings of Ctesias from the citations of later writers and such
extracts as are found in Photius.'. We have a far better reason
to adduce for discarding the above hypothesis as incompatible with
the disposition of the two towers. Dakmas are yawning enclosures,
affording every facility to birds of prey to troop into them in large

’ The fragments of Ctesias have been collected by Ch. Miiller in Brd/iothégue
grecque-latine de Didot, following Herodotus.
216 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

numbers, where “the corpses must be laid on their backs, their
eyes turned towards the sun, exposed to the rain that will dissolve
their impure remains.” ' Whereas the structures we find here are
roofed in with heavy slabs of stone and destitute of windows; the
only means of access being the door, evidently intended to remain
closed the moment the body was ushered in and confided to the
depth of those walls. .

A certain degree of obduracy is displayed in refusing to consider
the towers about which we are busy as tombs, like all those in
which Persians of high degree found their last abode. Coste sup-
posed that the edifices in question were used as temporary tombs,
where the bodies of kings and princes of blood royal, immediately
after death, were deposited to undergo the necessary processes of
embalmment, after which they were taken to the mausoleums pre-
pared for them.” The notion has been revived by Dieulafoy. He
thus writes: “In this chapel the body of the king, away from
human gaze, was left to undergo slow decomposition, whilst the
bodies of his subjects were exposed for years in dakmas akin to
the funerary towers of the Guebres of Teheran and Yezd.”* He
thinks his conjecture is made good by “a cavity over the door, cut
one with the lintel,’ which, he argues, ‘was a groove prepared to
receive a stone or marble tablet, whereon was engraved the name
of the prince provisionally inhumed in the tower. As the inscrip-
tion had to be changed with each tenant, the hollow was shaped in
such a manner as to fit any tablet without interfering with the
building.” We have looked and looked again at his Plates VI. and
XI., to which he refers—faithfully reproduced in Figs. 301, 380
—but we confess to our inability to discover aught that resembles
a depression, or hollow frame, which, according to his version,
should exist here ; all we can trace is the relief of a moulding, the
crown of the door-case. Moreover, there is not a single passage,
either in the historians of the West or the Avesta, to favour the
view that the bodies of kings or commoners were required to make
a longer or shorter station in provisional tombs or dakmas, ere they
were confided to the earth. Then, too, a peculiar detail in the

1 Vendidad, Fargard (chapter) v. 14, ? Flandin and Coste, p. 141.

3 Dizutaroy, L’Art antique, i. p. 28.

* Mention is indeed made in the Avesta (Fargard v. 10-13) of a little house
erected for the purpose of receiving the bodies when bad weather prevented their
being transported at once to the dakma, but from the context it appears that the
Tue Burtt Tomes. 217

 

construction, already referred to, should be taken into account ; we
allude to the slides that occur in the threshold of the doorway (Fig.
too). Unless we are mistaken, the observant traveller is dead
against the conjectural opinion of the archeologist. Why all these
preparations, if the body was placed in the tower for the sole
purpose of embalmment or to be left until it was resolved into its
primitive elements? Had this been the case, the mode of trans-
port, as that in use at the present day, would have been a litter,
that would have carried the corpses straight to the dakmas and
“laid them, almost naked, across iron bars.” On the other hand,
the disposition of the threshold explains itself, if we admit that
it was resorted to in view of facilitating the movement of heavy
stone or wood cases, the coffins in which the dead, protected by
a solid ponderous lid, were placed to sleep their eternal sleep.

The safest way is to look upon the edifice in question as a
variation of the Persian tomb, a variation that in some respects
recalls one of the forms of the Lycian sepulchre, or mortuary
towers, of which many examples are found at Xanthus (Fig. 268).
The analogy is unquestionable; but is this to be accounted for on
the basis of imitation, and, if so, who was the borrower? Did a
Persian architect, either de vzsw or through common report,
take his inspiration from Lycian models, in or after the campaign
of Harpagus in Asia Minor, or did a satrap, delegated by the
king to act as his representative in the west, and who often died
at his post, introduce the type in the country of his adoption ?
We know not the time or for whom the tombs at Pasargade
and Persepolis were built, hence we are not in a position to
answer the questions. Difference of detail is sufficiently marked
between Persian and Lycian tombs to banish the idea that they
were copied one from the other. Considered as a whole, the
shape is simple enough to have been invented at about the same
time by two peoples, who both employed stone blocks of large
size in their constructions. Is not the idea of imparting some-
thing of the aspect of a stronghold to the grave-chamber intended

object of the legislator in providing a kind of shanty, or makeshift, was done in
view of preserving the domestic abode * from pollution; but as soon as was con-
venient, within a month at the outside, the corpse was commanded to be taken to
the dakma.

 

* T have said ‘‘ domestic” and not “mortuary” house, as it is obviously a mis-
print.—Trs. =
218 Hisrory oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

for their princes or their near relatives one that would naturally
suggest itself to the mind of man ?

If, in default of literary data of any description, we are unable
to hazard even a guess for whom or when the tower-shaped
sepulchres were built, this does not apply to the rock-tombs
fronting the plain of Mervdasht (Fig. 103). One of them is
dated, and the rest, executed on the same lines and grouped in
this same district, leave no room for doubt that they belong to
the second Achzemenid dynasty, which opens with Darius
Hystaspes.

THE SUBTERRANEAN TOMB.

Two of our plates, the one with the restoration of a domestic
residence (IX.), and the other with the restored edifices grouped
about the platform (X.), show the funereal hypogeia in the side
of the hill which supports the esplanade at Persepolis, whilst the
site of two of these tombs is also indicated in the general plan
(Fig. 10, Nos. 10, 11). Even before explorers (whose labours
are epitomized here) had commenced to study zz sztu the remains
of the Persian metropolis, we knew from Diodorus that royal
tombs would be found here. The historian at the end of his
description of the fortified enceinte within which rose the palaces
thus writes: “On the east of the citadel, at a distance of about
four plethra (123 metres), is a hill called the Royal Mount, which
contained the tombs of the kings of Persia. The rock was cut;
a number of chambers had been hollowed in the side of the cliff,
amongst which were those of defunct sovereigns. There were no
avenues to them. A special apparatus had been devised, by means
of which the corpses were hauled up and deposited in their last
abode.” *

Roughly speaking, the description is exact, and conveys a just
idea of the situation of the tombs. Diodorus had gone to good
authorities for his information, but he had not seen the localities ;
hence his account both of the hypogeia and of Persepolis con-
tains additions of his own which are not in accord with reality.
‘He pictured to himself a necropolis, such as were plentiful in
Greece and Asia Minor; e.g. a rocky mass whose face was honey-
combed with grave-chambers and deep galleries. Now, there are

1 Diodorus, xvii. 71.
 

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Printed by Wittmann

ROYAL TOMB
NAKSH-I-RUSTEM
 

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FLANDIN and Coste, erse anctenne, Plate CLXIL.

Fic. 104.—-Naksh-i-Rustem. General view of the necropolis.
 
Tue SUBTERRANEAN Tomp. 221

 

but three tombs altogether in the mountain behind Persepolis :
two, as stated, appear in our plan (Fig. 10, Nos. 10, 11), and
the third, a little to the eastward, is outside of it. Other four
tombs presenting the same general features are pierced in the
vertical wall of another hill which rises above the plain about five
kilometres northward of Persepolis. The name of Naksh-i-Rustem,
by which the place is known, is indifferently explained as due to
the bas-reliefs in which the natives think they recognize one of
the heroes of the Shahnameh, or the Kabrestan Kauriim (Guebre
cemetery), situated hard by (Fig. 104).

All these tombs, those of the one as those of the other group,
with but slight differences of detail, are as like one another as it
is possible to conceive ; to describe one is to describe them all;
hence it is that our Plate J. will suffice to give an idea of this
mode of entombment. The total height of each is 22 m. 50c.,
divided into three portions of almost equal size.” The middle
and longer compartment, in conjunction with the other two, forms
what is called a Greek cross. At Naksh-i-Rustem the division
corresponding with the lowest limb of the cross is about ten
metres above the level of the plain. The stone, though smoothed
over, is left quite plain, and forms a kind of huge bench, com-
prised within the salience of the rock on either side. It is a kind
of vestibule, whose height is greater than its width. The monu-
ment, properly so called, begins with the middle section, carved
architecturally into four engaged columns and a lofty double-
recessed doorway, surmounted by an Egyptian gorge (Fig. 105)
and a row of dentels, so as to reproduce a palace facade (Fig.
g). The upper portion of this doorway is solid rock, but
the lower section is cut away, so as to provide an entrance to the
vault excavated in the mass behind. The upper and lower
limb of the cross are of equal width, but the height of the
former is greater. The field, polished with more care than in the
rest of the facade, contains a bas-relief of an essentially religious

1 The plate in question represents No. 1 of Coste’s plan of the necropolis (Perse
ancienne, Plate CLX1X.), and in our general view of this same necropolis (Fig. 104),
reduced from Téxier’s Plate CXXXV., it appears at the extreme right of the
picture.

® Coste’s measurements of the facade at Naksh-i-Rustem are the following :—
Length of transverse limb, 18 m. 63 c.; length of upper and lower limb, 11 m. The
height of tomb No. 10 at Persepolis is given at 24 m. 50 c. ; middle portion, 17 m.,
length of upper division, ro m. 50 c.
222 . Hisrory oF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

character. Upon a stage—no doubt imitated from that which in
the reception halls supported the royal throne—the king is. seen
on a pedestal raised by four steps, in the act. of worshipping... His
long robe and tiara serve to distinguish him ;* in his left hand is
grasped a bent bow that touches the ground, whilst the right is
stretched towards the altar where the sacred fire .is burning.
Above, between the king and the altar, floats the image. of Ahura-
Mazda, borne on huge wings, behind

= which a solar disc is roughly suggested:
God and king are not the only per-
sonages the artist has introduced in
| * this section of the frontispiece; two
a rows, each consisting of fourteen men,
uphold the stage. The fact that these
figures are differently attired is ex-
plained. in a passage of the long in-
scription carved upon the tomb of
Darius, to the effect.that these bearers
ei personify the various peoples of the
empire, the provinces composing it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

IS. “If you reflect how great is the number
ons Yi aE Ys Ms a of ‘countries King Darius has had
Hie, 18s. Stead acer: Ds Fauance under his sway, and repeat it, look
wy soyaltomb, LANDIS se COSTE at the image of those who carry my

throne, and you will understand it.

Then you mall know that the spear of a Persian man went afar ;
then you will know that the Persian man has fought battles
at great distances from Persia.”” This the discovery made in
1885 by MM. Babin and Houssay, attached to Dieulafoy’s ex-
pedition, has served to corroborate. Thanks to a slight scaf-
folding which they set up against the tomb of Darius (Fig. 106),
they were able to explore the upper part more carefully than
their predecessors, when concealed under a coating of plaster,
which was easily removed, they read below the feet of seven
of these figures the names of several known satrapies. Other
figures are also to be found right and left of the principal decora-

 

1 The height of the king, according to the tombs, averages from 2 m. 20 ¢, to
2m.4oc. The figures of the porters below are about one metre less.
2 SpreceL, Die altpersischen Keilinschriften, 2nd edit. p. 57.
 

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ee

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106.—Tomb of Darius with scaffolding.
Fic. 106,.—

From a photograph of M. Houssay.

Hist. des Grecs, tom. ii. p. 37.

 
Tue SUBTERRANEAN TomB. 225

tion, on the band enframing it and the return angle or narrow

edge next to the surface of the native rock.’
This supplementary field is divided into three compartments
On

corresponding with the three stages of the main subject.

the front face of each division appears a single figure, and two
at the sides. On the left the figures represent guards carrying
long spears, and on the right servitors unarmed. Inside, the

simplicity of these tombs is in strong contrast with the lavish

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FLANDIN and Coste,

Fic. 107.—Persepolis. Plan of royal tomb south-east of the platform.
Perse ancienne, Plate CLXIII.

display of the architectural and sculptural ornament of the exterior.
The entrance between the central intercolumnation was low and
narrow, and could only be entered by stooping very low;? and
after the body had been deposited in it, it was carefully walled up.
The vault divides itself into a kind of vestibule and a somewhat
lower chamber, in the floor of which are hollowed, according to the
tombs, from one to nine funereal troughs (Figs. 107, 108). The

1 Our Plate I. is almost a front view, so that the figures on the return angle

are invisible; for on the right they are in shadow, and the edge is not seen on the

It is the same with most of the views of these tombs engraved by Coste and
A very good

left.

Téxier ; like ours, they all approach more or less the perpendicular.
idea may be gained of this arrangement by referring to the photogravure Dieulafoy
has just published of the tomb of Darius (ferse, tom. i. Plate X.). It is a side view,
and the whole of the three divisions on the left are seen. Finally, our section a little
farther on shows the true position of the figures of the side band facing the

spectator (Fig. 388).
2 The actual entrance is four or five feet.—TRs.
Q
226 History oF Art IN ANTIQUITY.

 

latter number is that of the tomb of Darius. Six are found on

 

  

  
 

 

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Fic. 108.—Persepolis. Section of royal tomb south-east of the platform. FLANDIN and CosTE,
Perse ancienne, Plate CLXIII.

   

    
   
   

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Fic, 109.—Naksh-i-Rustem. Tomb of Darius. Plan. Jé/d., Plate CLXX.

the left entrance, but none appear on the right (Fig. 109) ; the
THE SUBTERRANEAN Toms. go7

 

unsymmetrical arrangement being due to late additions that formed

no part of the original plan. The very peculiar arrangement of
two of the tombs at Naksh-i-Rustem (see our general view,

QUE + mn = a

_ ae ip

      
 

=

 

 

Fic. 110.—Naksh-i-Rustem. Plan of tombs on the left. FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse anetenne,
Plate CLXX.

Fig. 102, to the left), in which curved lines take to some extent
the place of straight ones (Fig. 110), should be noticed. No
inscription, no ornament appear on the walls of these hypogeia ;

 
    
   

  

Aa

=. eH ul as \
= ACWKCKCCCKerc“ = a =

a4

Fic. 111.—Persepolis. Tomb on the north-east. Longitudinal section. Jé¢d., Plate CLXV.

all are simple, and their dimensions are not great. The chambers
have flat roofs, save one at Persepolis, situated to the north-east
of the plateau, whose vestibule is vaulted (Fig. 111). There is
yet another feature by which this tomb is distinguished from her
sisters. The frontispiece, rock-cut as everywhere else, offered
228 History oF Art in Antiquity.

 

 

an offset or hollow below the lower limb of the cross, the effect
of which was not good, in that it produced an impression of
instability. Hence a wall of polygonal masonry was built under
the vault, which replaces the escarp, furnished, moreover, by the-
vertical section of the cliff (Fig. 112). If care was everywhere
taken to interpose a smooth wall, built or rock-cut, between the
level of the plain and the entrance to the tomb, it was for the
purpose of making the latter inaccessible.

There are no ramps or staircases, by means of which the Persian
architect knew so well how to combine commodious ascent and
monumental aspect. Even now, after centuries of neglect, during
which a path has been worn in the rock by treasure-seekers and
idlers, the porch can only be reached by scrambling and holding on
the projections of the rock; but in many instances Coste was obliged
to be hauled up by ropes, whilst we have shown in what manner
MM. Babin and Houssay managed to get at the inscriptions and
sculptures of the tomb of Darius (Fig. 106). Examination of the
sites has, therefore, fully confirmed the assertion of Diodorus as
to the mode the bodies were got into the vault. This is also
incidentally proved by Ctesias, who thus wrote:' “ Darius gave
orders to have a tomb excavated in the Double Mount.’ His
wishes were carried out. He then declared his intention to visit
the monument, but the Chaldees and his near relatives persuaded
him against it. The latter undertook to go in his stead; they were
raised in the air, pulled up by priests stationed at the top of
the rocky cliff, but these taking fright at the sight of serpents,
they let go the ropes, and the hapless people were precipitated and
killed by the fall. Darius was deeply grieved at the catastrophe,
and he forthwith had the forty culpable Magi beheaded.”

The tomb where this accident took place is situated at Naksh-
i-Rustem (Figs. 106, 109). The long inscription between the
pillars and in the upper section is written in the three languages
employed in the Persian Chancellery, and is well calculated to

? § 15, from extracts of Ctesias found in Photius, entitled IepdiKd.

2 The chain which overhangs Persepolis and Naksh-i-Rustem is said to be still
designated by Persians as Duta (Double). See Ch. Muller’s notes on Ctesias,
pp. 64, 65. A glance at the map (Fig. 103) will show the justness of the appella-
tion. The mountain in question, which bounds the plain of Mervdasht to the north,
and in whose southern side are excavated the twin groups of royal tombs, is cut
into two masses, forming a pendant one to the other, by the gorge at the bottom of
which flows the Polvar.
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Fic, 112.—Persepolis. Tomb on the north-east. Elevation. FLANDIN and CosTr,

Perse ancienne, Plate CLXVI.
THE SUBTERRANEAN Toms. 231

 

attract the eye of the beholder. Unfortunately it is much
damaged, more particularly the Persian text, whose lacune can
only be supplemented by the aid of the Assyrian version. This
is all the more regrettable that it is the one that would offer
fewer difficulties of reading.» But although the interpretation
of certain passages is open to question, the general drift is per-
fectly clear. We feel sure that he who enumerates the provinces
of his vast empire, who imputes to Ahura-Mazda the honour of
his great deeds, is Darius Hystaspes, the greatest king the
monarchy ever had.

By itself, the inscription suffices to prove that both the necropolis
at Naksh-i-Rustem and that which is situated behind the Takht-
i-Jamshid are royal sepulchres. If one alone is signed and dated,
all the rest are cut on the same pattern; they reproduce, with
trifling variations, the same groups, the same symbols, what might
be called the royal protocol, translated into plastic language; and
one and all repeat the same type. This type was created by
Darius, or rather the architect entrusted with the undertaking ; it
first appears on this tomb, whose progress the king had so much
at heart that, to satisfy himself of it, he came very near sharing
the fate of his father and mother.

This tragic event must have contributed not a little to draw
attention to a monument whose striking grand aspect was in full
accord with its use. Thanks to the height of the escarp that
interposed between the pillared colonnade and the plain below,
the tomb appeared as if suspended ’mid heaven and earth, whence
it might well defy pollution. This the onlooker must have felt as
he gazed aloft, his mind filled with sacred awe and bewilder-
ment. Closer inspection only served to deepen first impressions ;
doorway and pillars, ornaments and personages sculptured on the
living rock, everything appeared as indestructible as the mountain
in which they were embodied. The simple severe lines of the
architecture of the middle division of the facade, the amplitude and
variety of the sculptured section above, were in happy contrast
with the vast surface of the bare rocky mass. The wild scenery
formed a superb frame for the inwrought portion, and served to
bring into relief its skilful adjustment. The composition had the

1 The picturesque view of the tomb of Darius (Fig. 106) was taken at a con-
siderable distance, hence it does not even show the position of the epigraph. It
will be found in Coste’s Plate CLXXIV.
232 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

merit of telling with marvellous clearness and lucidity its own tale—
the glorification of the prince, the pious and dreaded monarch who
had fought and wielded power with the help and by the grace of
Ahura-Mazda. The two lower stages represented—preceded by
a guard’s room—the facade of the palace where he had passed his
life, surrounded with the pomp and circumstance of an Oriental
court. Even now, behind the closed doorway which appeared
between the pillars, his presence was felt in the same way as of
yore, when, withdrawn in the interior of his palace and concealed
by crenelated walls from the multitude, he yet governed his
immense empire without showing himself to those millions of men
who owed him allegiance, amongst whom few, indeed, could boast
the privilege of having gazed upon his august face. Above was
ascene instinct with religious significance, where the king appeared
in a kind of apotheosis, borne on the heads and arms of his subjects,
whilst from his exalted position he looked down upon the world
stretching at his feet, in the solemn act of accomplishing the
highest of his kingly functions, doing homage to the god whom
his people held supreme, under the eye and with the concourse
of what might be termed his civil and military house, his officers
of state and personal attendants.

There can be no doubt as to the tomb of Darius being the oldest
of those near Persepolis; it was this prince, too, who commenced
those great works which led to the royal houses being constructed
one after another on the great artificial platform.’ Out of the
scheme selected by sculptor and builder in translating into stone
the royal conception, a work was evolved replete with quaintness
and originality. The decoration so patiently carved in the living
rock was a faithful transcript of the Persian palace, but how are
we to account for the fancy which took possession of the founder
of the second monarchy to replace the built tomb exemplified at
Pasargadz by one hollowed in the flank of the mountain? Why
so great a departure from the example set by Cyprus, his glorious
predecessor? It has been conjectured, with every appearance of
probability, that the innovation was suggested to Darius during
the Egyptian campaign, when he served under Cambyses ;? with
that prince he doubtless visited the Valley of the Kings and the
tombs at Thebes, which ranked very early among the curiosities
shown to strangers. But these were not his models. Quite insig-

1 Fist. of Art, tom. v. ch. v. § 3. > Herodotus, iii. 139.
THE SUBTERRANEAN Tomb. 233

 

nificant was the facade of the royal necropolis of the eighteenth
and nineteenth dynasty; the lavish display of chisel and brush
was reserved for the interior of the monument, whose narrow
entrance, as soon as the work was accomplished, was filled up
with stones supplied by the blasting of the surrounding rock, so
as to hide it from human gaze.'' Hence the precautions taken
to guard it against violation; the Egyptians setting the greatest
store to preserve the mummy eternally intact. We cannot be
surprised at the Persians having felt little concern to secure at
all costs a similar result. Saw they not daily the bodies of their
own relatives left to be devoured by hungry animals? Little
cared they if the entrance to the vault stood revealed, if the
chambered grave was shallow and plain to bareness; all they
aimed at was to turn out a facade that should convey a high
notion of the majesty of those princes whose image was carved
upon it, so as to save it from oblivion. The one thing required
was that in death the new masters of the Oriental world should
make as brave a figure, as the legendary Pharaohs whose effigies
they had beheld from one end of Egypt to the other, whose
exploits and conquests the priests of Memphis had recounted
to them. Among the types of funerary architecture Egypt
offered to their gaze, that which best answered a programme
that was to furnish elements befitting the royal tomb, as con-
ceived by the king, has now its finest examples at Beni Hassan.
As Darius went up the Nile these were the hypogeia he had
marked, their massive pillars standing out against the gloom
of the porches and the red escarps of the chain that skirts the
river. Select for one of these porches a composition out of
the many the Theban sculptor chiselled on the pylons of his
temples, add thereto a historical inscription akin to those long
bands of hieroglyphics explanatory of the sculptures, when, but for
difference of theme and mode of writing, there will be the royal
tombs of Persia. Why is there no inscription except on that of
Darius? How is it that his successors, whilst they continued to
carve their name and pedigree on the edifices they erected hard
by, suffered the stone of their sepulchres to remain mute? Were
they content with a bronze stela or an enamelled tablet, which, not
being one with the rock, disappeared with the fall of the dynasty ?
Who shall say? It appears, however, reasonable to suppose that
1 Hist. of Art, tom. i. p. 284, Figs. 178-180, 182.
234 History oF Art in Antiquity.

 

the other three tombs at Naksh-i-Rustem, though without
epigraphic texts, must belong to the immediate successors of Darius,
from the fact that they are exact copies of the older exemplars.
With regard to the tower-like tomb, it may have been erected for
a personage near the throne, Hystaspes for example, whom his
son may have wished to bury in a monument similar to that
which had received the mortal remains of the father of Cyrus
at Pasargade.

The four hypogeia did not by any means take up the whole
cliff, and ample space was left for others. Lack of room, then, was
not the motive which induced three monarchs to attack the moun-
tain that overhung their palaces. One was left unfinished ;* as
to the other two, some idea of their situation will be gained by re-
ferring to Nos. 10 and r1 on plan (Fig. 10). The type and propor-
tions of the facade are about the same as at Naksh-i-Rustem (Fig.
111), but the decoration is more elaborate. Here alone do we find
lintels and the side-posts of the doorway covered with rosettes and
lion friezes about the entablature (Figs. 58, 70).? Finally, the
hill leans towards the plain, instead of shooting up perpen-
dicularly as on the other side of the Polvar, so that the tombs, in
front of which broad steps have been cut in the rock, are more
easily approached ; and they constitute a distinct group, which
must be younger than that at Naksh-i-Rustem. Art proceeds
from the simple to the complex; its votaries, whilst reproducing
forms consecrated by tradition,.seek, as a rule, to introduce
fresh elements so as to outdo their predecessors.

Persia counted thirteen sovereigns from Cyrus to Darius
Codomanus, including the Magi Smerdis; but the latter, as a
traitor and usurper, can hardly have received the honours of
burial beside the descendants of Achzemenes. There are, then,
twelve princes and eight tombs, reckoning the Gabre. Out of
these, one may with much probability be assigned to Cyrus, whilst
there is another upon which Darius has affixed his signature. From
this computation, it would appear that four sovereigns had no
special monument set up to them in the necropolis. They were
in all likelihood such as only flitted across the royal scene; they
had no time given them to see to the execution of a tomb of their

1 FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse ancienne, Plates LXII., LXVII.
2 The frieze consists of eighteen lions, which are divided into two equal groups
looking towards the centre, occupied by a rosette.
Tue SUBTERRANEAN Toms. 235

 

own during the leisure of a long prosperous reign. To attempt
putting a name to each hypogeum would be vain; all we can say
is that the balance of internal evidence points to Xerxes, Arta-
xerxes Codomanus, and Darius Nothus as the princes that were
entombed at Naksh-i-Rustem, whilst the younger cemetery at
Persepolis was inaugurated by Artaxerxes Mnemon.

Although Susa would seem to have been the favourite city of
the kings of Persia, that in which they loved to hold their courts,
nothing has been found in the immediate neighbourhood that
resembles royal tombs; the sons of Achzemenes had a partiality
for the province that had been the cradle of their family, as a
place for their eternal repose.

On the other hand, explorers of Media have sighted hypogeia
whose plan and aspect recall the rock-cut monuments of Persepolis.
One of these tombs is found in the heart of Zagros, on the
road leading from Kermansah to Bagdad, a route which must
from time immemorial have been one of the main lines of com-
munication between Iran and Mesopotamia. The road enters
a hilly tract, and, after winding in and out of narrow gorges,
debouches upon a little plain, well watered, covered with ruins,
rock-sculptures, remains of houses, and a brace of fortresses,
seemingly of the Sassanid period.’ The district takes its name
from a caravanserai called Serpul-2-Zohab, The caravan station
is found four kilometres southward of this point, whence the
road runs along the foot of a lofty wall of rock which is almost
perpendicular, and partly cut with the chisel; the monument is
locally known as Dakhan Dadd (the Chamber, Shop, of David.)?
At a height of 5 m. 80 c. the stony mass has been cut in such a
fashion as to leave a pair of plinths of equal width, one above
the other, each with a salience of 1 m. 20 c, beyond the wall.
Again, 2 m. 50 c. above this, the rock has been polished into a
quadrangular block, 2 m. by 1 m. 45 c. broad. It is divided into
two equal sections. The left one is occupied by a personage clad
in a long robe, head and shoulders covered with a hood; his right
hand is outstretched, and his left holds an object of considerable
size not easily defined (Fig. 113). The costume and make of this
figure approach the Persepolitan examples of the hypogeia, rather
than the sculptures which, along with Pelehvi inscriptions, are

1 FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plates CCVI.-CCIX., CCXII., CCXIII.
2 Jbid., pp. 169, 170, Plates CCX., CCXI.
236 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

seen on the rocks hard by, dating undoubtedly from the second
Persian empire... The hood worn by the personage reminds us
also of the woollen tiara in vogue among the Magi of Strabo’s
time, with long flaps on each side of the face so as to cover the
mouth.? It occurs also on coins that are generally attributed
to those princes of Persia proper who enjoyed a quasi-inde-
pendence in the reign of the Seleucide, which they kept under the
Parthian dominion ;* we allude to tetradrachms of Attic weight
with Pelehvi lettering‘ (see tailpiece, end of chapter). The
legend seen on one
of the faces has not
yet been satisfactorily
deciphered, yet enough
is known to prove that
the money is posterior
to the Achzemenid rule.
Moreover, both sides
have an effigy of the
king, recognizable from
the band circling his
brow. On the one it
is a bust; on the other,
however, he stands
before the fire-altar; but neither wears the traditional tiara of
the successors of Cyrus.

To return: twelve metres above the plinth is a porch once
supported by two pillars; above it again an entablature, com-
posed of two narrow and one broad band. The shaft must have
been made of several drums joined together, for they have dis-
appeared. Bases and abaci, being rock-cut, are still in place. In
depth the porch is 3 m. 10 c., 9 m. wide, and 3 m. 5 c. high
(Fig. 114). The simple cube-like shape of the double base
reminds us of that which characterizes the necropolis at Naksh-i-

 

 

Fic. 113.—Serpul-i-Zohab. Figure carved on rock.
FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse ancienne, Plate CCXI.

1 The dress somewhat resembles that of the attendant holding a fly-catcher over
the head of the king at Persepolis. See FLaANDIN and CosTE, Perse ancienne, Plates
CLV., CLVI.

2 Strabo, XV. iii. 15. 5 Hist. of Art, tom. v. p. 587.

4 Barclay Heap, Hist. Mumorum, p. 696, Fig. 364. DizuLaroy (L’Art antique,
i, 19) has published a much enlarged copy of this and another similar piece, except
the effigy on the obverse. He calls them da7‘7cs, an appellation apt to mislead both
as to date and the monetary system to which they belong.
Tue SUBTERRANEAN TOMB. 237

 

Rustem (Fig. 9). A doorway, quite plain and destitute of side
posts, leads to a small vaulted chamber (Fig. 115, a), 2 m. 70 ¢.
in height; on the left is a sarcophagus, 8, hewn in the rock. Semi-
circular niches,
intended per-
haps to receive
lamps, appear in
the end wall.

In this same
hilly region,
about midway
between Behis-
tin and Kango-
var, at a place
called Shaneh, a
tomb, present-
ing the same
general  fea-

 

 

h b Fic. 114.—Serpul-i-Zohab. Elevation of tomb. FLANDIN and
tures, has been Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate CCXI.

excavated in
the rocky wall, some thirty metres above the ground. A rope was
the only means of approaching the platform. Two rectangular

bases mark the site

of a porch, behind yy WWWWWUWWww(T0
which opened two LT 7
vaults situated one yy, ay Uy
over the other; they Yj, 77
are furnished with
vats of about the
same size as at Ser-
pul-i-Zohab.. By
themselves, these
monuments are not
very interesting. If
we speak of them, it i Ss ee , loM

is because they may Fic. 115.—Serpul-i-Zohab. Plan of tomb. Zbid., Plate CCXI.
be considered as

humble imitations of the royal tombs of Fars. Some satrap, some
local chief, independent all but in name amidst the depths of these

' FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, p. 11.

 

       

 

 

 

 
238 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

mountains, where even now the Shahin-Shah finds great difficulty
in exacting obedience, may have wished to give himself the luxury
of a sepulture, whose disposition should evoke the remembrance
of the stately monuments in which the Kings of Kings were en-
tombed. Yet there is a difference that should be noticed. The
pillars were not engaged as at Persepolis; there was a real porch,
and the supports could be walked round. This feature, taken
together with the dressed block, brings these two Median tombs
very near those we have studied in Cappadocia and Paphlagonia.
Whether any induction can be drawn from the close resemblance
is another question. The valley of the Halys is a long way from
Media ; on the other hand, the Medes with Cyaxares, the Persians
with Cyrus, began at a very early date to overrun the Anatolian
plateau in quest of affrays or conquests. The flow never ceased ;
whilst later, they were despatched by their sovereign to govern
the western provinces of the empire, or convey troops across the
sea to subdue Greece and invade Europe.

The relief of the soil, both on the spurs of Taurus and the
counterforts of Zagros, is pretty even; who can tell but what the
great lords of Persia may have derived their inspiration from what
they had seen in Pontus and Cappadocia ? But for the grand page
of statuary which forms an integral part of the decoration of the
sepulchral facades in the royal necropolis of Persia, we might
be tempted to ask whether Darius or his architect was not in
some measure indebted to the art of Asia Minor ; yet, throughout
the interior of the peninsula, there are no really antique tombs
about which sculpture is made to play so effective a part. But
the scene imbued with so solemn a character reminds us of the
bas-reliefs where the Pharaoh offers his homage and that of his
people to his father Ammon, or some other deity of the Egyptian
pantheon. On the other hand, Egypt, at Beni Hassan and
elsewhere, offered numerous specimens of the rock-cut tomb with
porch in front, which led to the vault. Finally, the marvellous
decoration of the monuments of the Nile was of a nature to im-
press the mind of the conquerors far otherwise than a few unsigned
and scattered sepulchres, cut by a rude hand in the flank of rugged
cliffs, hidden away in wild gorges, amidst the tangle of forests.
These are the reasons that would incline us to believe that if the

' Hist. of Art, tom. v. Figs. 136, 140, 149. For the Cappadocian tomb, see
/bid., tom, iv. Fig. 344.
THE SUBTERRANEAN Toms. 239

 

artist whom Darius entrusted with the erection of his tomb sought
abroad the elements of a type which he bequeathed to successive
generations, he went to Egypt for them, to that Egypt whence
the kings of Persia, as Diodorus affirms, drew their costly materials
and skilful artificers. But these elements were quite distinct in
such edifices as suggested to him the principal designs of his
creation. His merit is to have united and woven them intoa
whole, truly expressive and imposing; hence it is that, though an
imitator, he has given proof of invention and taste, and produced
a work instinct with originality.

 

 

 

 

 

 
240 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

 

CHAPTER IV.
RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE.

“Tur Persians,” says Herodotus,’ “have neither images, nor
temples, nor altars; these they consider unlawful, and impute folly
to those that make them. This is because they do not believe like
the Greeks in the personality of the gods. Their practice is to
sacrifice to Zeus on the summit of the highest mountains, and
under the name of Zeus they understand the whole circumference
of the heavens.” Cicero, a diligent reader of Herodotus, had evi-
dently this passage in his mind’s eye when he gave it as his opinion
that if Xerxes burnt the temples of Athens, it was solely to punish
the Greeks for their sacrilege in their foolish attempt “to shut up
within walls the gods, before whom everything ought to be open
and free; the gods, whose temple and habitation were the whole
universe.”? The sentence is neatly turned ; so pleased was Cicero
with it that he put it in two of his works. But the explanation
Herodotus gives further on in the book cited above is both
simpler and more likely. The Persians burnt the Grecian temples
to avenge the sacking of Sardes.2 The Avesta, which condemns
in no measured terms the worshippers of the Devas, or demons,
and in a general way whoever does not strictly observe the rules
established by Zoroaster, in that he exposes himself to pollute
the sacred elements, fire, earth, and water, contains no sign or
token of the feeling imputed to the Persians by the Greek historian,
and more explicitly the Roman orator. Nowhere do we find
anathemas directed against closed temples, or images of the deity.

The information collected by Herodotus has in it a large
amount of truth. The historian had discernment enough to per-

1 i, rer. > Cicero, De Republica, III. ix. 14; De Legibus, Il. x. 26.
5 Herodotus, vi. 96, roo.
RELIGIous ARCHITECTURE. 241

 

ceive that in the beginning the supreme god of the Persians was
no other than the blue canopy of heaven;* he understood that
their religion, ere it got corrupted by contact with alien cults, was
a pure naturalism (nature-worship), when their homage was
addressed to the stars and the elements. “The Persians,” he
writes, “sacrifice to the sun, moon, earth, fire, water, and winds,
and originally sacrificed to these alone.” ? He even had an inkling
of the sacred character fire had in the belief of the Magi; for he
has recorded the horror they felt in bringing in contact with it
mortal remains,? and even victims offered to the gods. Then,
too, he gauged aright the part played by the Magi, who alone
could prepare the victim and slay it by the altar.° It is self-
evident, however, that in some respects his account is tinged with
exaggeration. Thus he twice repeats that ‘‘the Persians erect no
altars ;""° but on the facade of the rock-tombs we have seen
the king in the act of prayer, standing before an altar upon which
the celestial fire is burning (Plate I. and Figs. 106, 112). The steps
on which the altar is raised, the pyramidal shape of its middle
compartment, the three fillets by which the slab is terminated,
make up a whole utterly distinct from any we have met in Egypt,
Assyria, and Phcenicia (see tail-piece, end of chapter). It is the
same with the temples. Strabo, who at first confines himself to
almost reproducing word by word the account of Herodotus,’
leaves his guide to describe the ceremonies of which he had
been an eye-witness in Cappadocia, where at that time the Medo-
Persian religion was widely diffused, when he quaintly remarks
that his personal experience differs from the recital of historians.’
In this country, he writes, are seen what are called zupaie.a,
some of which are truly imposing sanctuaries, with an altar in
the middle, on which, amidst accumulated ashes, burns the ever-
lasting fire, watched over by thé Magi.® Strabo, it is true,
wrote four or five centuries after the golden age of the Ache-
menidz; but the inscription bears witness that in the day of
Darius there already was something that resembled those places
of worship where the Greek geographer had beheld the Magi at

1 DarMESTETER, Jntroduction to the Vendidad, Plate LVIII.

? Herodotus, i. 131. 8 Tbid., iii. 16. 4 [bid., i. 132. ’ bid.
8 Jbid., i. 131, 132. 7 Strabo, XV. iii. 13.

5 Tatra pev hycis éwpdxapev, éxeiva Sev tals ivropias Adyerat Kal ra. epetijs.

9

Strabo, XV. ili. 15.
R
242 History oF ArT in ANTIQUITY.

 

their litanies. In it King Darius declares: “The kingdom that
had been taken from our family I have restored. I have set it in
place. I re-established the ancient order (of things). The temples
that Gaumata the Magi had destroyed I gave back to the people.
I also returned the market-places, the farms, and houses of which
Gaumata had despoiled them. I re-established the people on the
ancient footing—Persia, Media, and the other provinces.” *

In spite, then, of the too sweeping assertion of Herodotus,
the historian may unhesitatingly seek the trace of those sanctuaries
that Darius boastingly declares he has rebuilt, but there seems little
chance of our finding here a religious architecture on a large scale.
To judge from the sculptures crowning the royal tomb, the sacred
fire, beside which the king stands in the attitude of deep medi-
tation, was in the open air; had the altar been roofed in would
not the smoke have greatly inconvenienced the officiating folk ?
Finally, fire, the most ethereal and subtle principle, attracted
their strongest regard as the condition of all life. It had been lit
from heaven; hence the necessity of removing aught that should
impede its free ascent, every obstacle interposing between it and
the inexhaustible source of heat and light whence it proceeded,
whither it aspired to return.

Edifices akin to the temples of Egypt and Chaldzea, Phcenicia
and Greece, wherein gods with human and animal features were
supposed to dwell, must not be inquired for in Persia. What we
may expect to recover are remains of those sanctuaries in the
middle of whose sacred area the pure radiant fire, symbol of
Ahuré-Mazda, sparkled on the altars. These, by reason of the
all-important part they played in the ritual, must have developed
into veritable monuments, lofty enough to enable the throng to
witness the ceremonies from afar.

It is possible that among the oldest religious monuments of the
Iranic Aryans should be classed a specimen which Gobineau has
alone mentioned, but imperfectly described. It is found in Media,
near the town of Demawend, situated at the foot of a conical

1 DaRMESTETER, Efudes iraniennes, tom. ii. pp. 129, 130. The passage in
question belongs to § 14 of the first column of the inscription. Upon the word
ayadand, translated by “temple,” see SPIEGEL, Keilinschriften, p. 89. It is derived
from the root yaz, signifying “to adore.” The proper rendering of the word
should be iepév, sacred place, place of worship, proved by the corresponding
group of the Assyrian text, d7#7 sa dui, “the houses of God.”
Reticious ARCHITECTURE. 243

 

mountain bearing the same name. In front of the houses rise
rough, steep rocks, and high up above a peak which dominates
the valley below. The summit is levelled out into a platform
some hundred paces from north to south, and about three metres
wide. The blocks of stone composing it are unsquared and of
great size, and brought to the mind of the explorer the Pelasgicon
at Athens and the walls of Tyrins.' The esplanade, narrow, away
from any spring, destitute alike of cisterns and traces of human
habitations, cannot mark the site of a stronghold. Besides, why
have sought to defend a ridge the possession of which would have
been of no material advantage ? But everything becomes clear
if we look upon it as a Median Aigh-place, an area prepared for
those sacrifices which the Persians loved to offer ‘‘on the highest
mountains.” The summit commanded an extensive view, with
the snowy head of Demawend in the distance; what better site
could be chosen for the accomplishment of those rites wherein
prayers were addressed to the visible immensity of the luminous
space ?

Up to the present nothing of this kind has been found in
Persia ; in many places, however, monuments have been noticed to
which the name of asesh-gah (fire-places) is applied by the.
natives. The shape and aspect of these atesh-gah admirably
coincide with the function popular fancy imputes to them. But for
their dimensions, that are on a larger scale than those of the altars
figured in the upper division of the royal tombs, crowned with
sacrificial fire, they might be taken as replicas of these (Plate I.).

Among these ancient fire-sanctuaries, that which rises at Naksh-
i-Rustem has a more primitive appearance than the rest (Fig. 116).
The plain was broken here by a rocky mass some four metres
high. Excepting a flight of three steps on the right leading to
the platform, the base of the stony knoll was left more or less in
its natural state. The top, however, had been cut in such a
fashion as not only to leave a level carefully smoothed over, but
two altars of unequal size,’ with gentle upward slope, have been
carved out of the solid rock as well. On the four faces the chisel
has traced semi-circular arches that seem to repose on four
engaged columns at the angles of the monument (Fig. 117), whose
upper floor forms a square, enframed in a row of triangular merlons

1 Hist. des Perses, tom. 1. pp. 31, 32.
2 The altar to the right is 1 m. 75 c. high, and its neighbour 1 m. 56 c.
244 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

 

(Fig. 118). The middle of this upper floor has been scooped out,
it is supposed, to provide the hearth whence the fire was to burst

 

 

 

 

Fic. 116.—Naksh-i-Rustem. Fire-altars. FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate CLXXX,

forth (Fig. 119). Whilst the crown of the doorway about the
altar of the royal sculptures recalls the roof of the palace, here, on
the contrary, the massive-
ness of the structure, the

Gg 7?) arches at the four sides,
the engaged pillars at the
Z DD corners, and above all the

embattled edge, everything
tends to remind us of cer-
tain types created by the
art of Mesopotamia. With
the exception of the crenelated
top the dispositions are similar
to those of a Chaldzan struc-
ture figured on the Black Stone
ee of Lord Aberdeen.’ It is just
eae a ee possible that they are older than
the great works at Persepolis,
and that they were erected for the old hamlet which Darius was
to exalt to the rank of metropolis.

 

 

 

 

 

4 ] 2M.

Fic. 117.—Naksh-i-Rustem. Plan ofaltars. ddd.

 

Fic. 118.—

 

* Hist. of Art, tom. ii, Fig, 79.
RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE. 245

 

If at Naksh-i-Rustem we find the altars in very good condition,
it is because they are incorporated with the rock which serves
them as base. Elsewhere nothing remains except the plinths on
which they rested ; if the latter are still in place they owe it to
sheer weight and massiveness. Such would be the pair of tiny
monuments at Meshed-i-Mirghab. They are two cube-like
monoliths, hollowed inside, known in the locality as Takht-1-Taus
(Peacock’s Stage) (Fig. 120). Measured at the base, one is 2 m.

 

  
 

 

gy

 

 

 

   

Fic. 120.—Pasargadee. View of fire-altars. FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse ancienne, Plate CCIII.

25 c.at the side, and 2 m. 12 c. in height ; its lower part is adorned
by a plinth, and it terminates in an upper floor 1 m. 59 c. each
way. The staircase, of seven steps, was cut in another monolithic
block in touch with the first (Figs. 121, 122). The other stage,
somewhat lower and broader (2 m. 60 c. at the side, by 1 m. 87 c.
in height), was doubtless likewise furnished with a flight of steps
now disappeared (Fig. 123).

The fact that here, as well as at Naksh-i-Rustem, adesh-gah
are met in pairs, has led some to argue as to whether the taller
of the two may not have been consecrated to the Good Principle,
whilst the smaller was reserved for the principle of Evil; no
literary document, however, authorizes the conjecture.’ Pure

1 FLanvIN, Relation, tom. li. p. 304.
246 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

light, symbol of goodness, could not shine in honour of the god
of darkness. Iran never advanced to the last consequence of
dualism ; that is to say, it never taught
the expediency of sacrificing to Angro-
Mainyis, the author of all evil, so as
to appease and disarm him. If, how-
ever, Persia offers two examples of
altars of this nature, or twin plinths,

  

nc aar en the rule does not seem to have been
ereits in an Fie, 122.—Pasar- = ae
OLallare VLAN: gade. Plan of absolute. At Ghir, near Feriz, is an
DIN and CosTE, altar. Jbdd

isolated monument, without a pendant
thereto, whose base disappears under
stones that have fallen from above; to which the Persians also
apply the name of atesh-gah (Fig. 124). The appearance of the

Perse ancienne,

Plate CCIII.

 

 

 

 

 

  

oe as a og {eM

FIG. 123.—Pasargade. Elevation and section of altars. J0zd.
ruin is a stony mass, which time has not yet entirely covered with
earth, whose function can have been no other than to elevate the
sacred hearth so as
to make it visible
at a distance.’ The
a ; Be four corners of the
- building emerge
from the rubbish.
Between these kind
of advanced works
the wall is not ap-
Fic. 124,—Feriiz-Abad. Fire-temple, Present state. Geometrical ee jueBs;
facade. /bid., Plate XXXVI. however, from the
talus formed by the
accumulated materials and the marks left by the stones, we are
led to infer that the central block of the construction had a
very prominent salience beyond those at the sides (see Fig. 124).
By sounding these fragments, it has been ascertained that the

* FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, pp. 36, 37.

 
RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE. 247

 

present topmost course was 8 m. 86 c. above a vast platform,
which served as base, raised two metres above the plain. The
shape and extent of the paved platform, in the middle of which
stood the building, have been determined by study of the soil
and the lines of the freestone blocks apparent in several places.
It was a rectangle, 82 m. 10 c. at the long sides, and 61 m. 10 c.
at the lesser ones."

Having progressed thus far, it remains to picture to one’s
self the dispositions of an edifice, in view of which so large
a substructure had been prepared. No trace of sealing is found
at the summit of the mass, but five metres from its four faces the
stones were set at right angles,
yielding the corners of a square
16 m. to c. at the side (see dia-
gram figured below, Fig. 125).
The space is on too narrow a
scale to admit of the hall of a
palace having stood here, but it
would have been most appro-
priate for one or several altars.
What may set us on the right
track for a probable restoration

 

 

z ig 7 te 7
Be fragmentary shaft of black Fic, 125.—Feriiz-Abad. Fire-temple. Plan.
stone built in the wall of a FLANDIN and Coste, Jerse ancienne.

: : . 3 Plate XXXVII.
neighbouring zmdm-zadeh, which

must have been taken away from our ruin. It was from this shaft
that Coste derived his idea of a restoration, which he never pub-
lished and which we borrow from his collection of original drawings
(Fig. 126). An open porch composed of two columns appears on
the upper level ; four lobbies, corresponding with the marks referred
to above, gave access to a small temple placed upon a platform
296 metres round, which could not fail to have an elegance suz
generis, and bear the stamp of the grand taste of the Achaemenid
age; for we should incline to ascribe the monument to that
reign. The column had thirty-eight flutes, a mode of embellish-
ment, as we have pointed out, not seen in Persia before the
Achemenide.? Study of the materials leads to the same conclu-
sion, notwithstanding a light layer of mortar laid on between the

1 FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate XXXVII.
* Hist. of Art, tom. v. p. 457.
248

horizontal beds.

History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

 

 

 

HAAUULRAOGUGGODHRD COCDONDCHNTANEE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I

cA

 

anil

Elevation restored.

Fire-temple.

Fic. 126.—Feriiz-Abad.

The size of the freestone blocks is pretty much

the same as at Pasargade
and Persepolis; they ave-
rage 1 m. 30 c. long by 65
c. high, and from 60 c. to
50 c. thick. The explorer
observed, not without sur-
prise, in the apparent. bed
of the last courses, that the
stones were joined together
by dovetails—a_ process
that does not seem to
have obtained in Sassanid
constructions (Fig. 125).
Finally, the units present
here the same irregulari-
ties, the joints yield, in
plan, the same broken lines,
as in the constructions of
the first empire. It is,
therefore, thought to recog-
nize in this monument the
sign manual of the masons
that built the edifices of
the Polvar valley, with this
difference, that here they
resorted to a mode of union
never employed there. This
departure from their habits
may have been due to
a need to hurry; mortar
is a quicker way to go to
work than dressing the
faces of the stone with
sufficient care, so as to
make them exactly fit one
another along the whole
surface.

The Takht-i- Rustem

(Throne of Rustem), of which mention has already been made,
Reicious ARCHITECTURE. 249

 

will close worthily the list of monuments of this description."
It lies two kilometres south of the ruins of Istakhr (Fig. 103).
It is a massive structure made of stone of great bulk, 13 m.
31 c. in one direction and 12 m. 46 c. in the other. Each of
the two lower courses has a height of 95 centimetres; the
upper is set back 58 centimetres from the one below, and together
they form the plinth of the monument. The stones were laid
without cement, and united by dovetails. Of subordinate dis-
positions nothing is left save a shaft 90 centimetres in diameter,
lying on the ground a little way from the structure ; whence the
inference may be drawn that, as at Fertiz-Abad, hex also was a
double-pillared porch, within which rose the altar (see Fig. 126).
It was doubtless the sanctuary most frequented by the inhabitants
of Istakhr, for it is much nearer the town than that which fronts
Naksh-i-Rustem.

We subjoin Dieulafoy’s description of a building situated in the
Susian plain, which he identifies with a temple: ‘‘ The edifice was
upheld by a substructure of about two metres (in height ?). The
form and dimensions of the upper platform were determined on
the spot. To the four columns, whose bases have been found,
corresponded a porch akin to that of the small palaces of the
Achemenide. I dismiss the hypothesis of an hypostyle hall,
because the bases that have been recovered belong to an order
always employed externally, and because the ramp by which the
building was entered terminates in the axis and the base of the
supports. Beyond the porch were first a rectangular hall, then
another porch with two pillars, a staircase, and a court, on three
faces of which ran a paved walk, which our excavations have un-
covered. The buildings that flanked the exterior porch were of
no great size. The total depth of those surrounding the court,
including the walls, averaged from 9 metres to 9 m. 20 c.
The widening (at stated intervals ?) of the paved walk around the
court corresponds with the thresholds of the doorways, and the
short flights of steps answer to symmetrical vestibules that ran
along the first hall and opened upon the external porch. The
stony masses found right and left of the staircase, masses that do
not reach by a long way the crest of the foundations of the
columns, doubtless supported stelas or statues; the gradines
situate in the centre of the court supported an altar, akin to the

1 FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, p. 73, Plate LXIII.
250 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

atesh-gah figured on the bas-reliefs of Persepolis. Objects of
small weight, permanent seats, or basins for ablutions, were placed
at the farther side of the court, which was lightly gravelled.” *

Unaided by a plan (shortly to be published), the above descrip-
tion conveys no very definite notion of the monument. In this
Susian building, however, we catch glimpses of some of the dis-
positions Coste has ascribed to the atesh-gah of Ghir; be it in
the raised altar, the ramps, notably the porch, which, though on
a smaller scale, recalls the Propylea of the Persepolitan palaces,
save that in the sanctuary uncovered by Dieulafoy the upper
platform of the central block, that upon which stood the priests
who attended to the fire, was seemingly less elevated than the
dependencies surrounding it.

_ The atesh-gah is, therefore, the sole monumental type and
representative of the religious architecture of Persia, one which is
encountered all over the country, but we are by no means sanguine
that fresh researches will lead to the discovery of another. We
have here the true national type created for the supreme rite of
Magism, that in which its whole cultus was summed up. Nor
was its ceremonial interrupted by the Macedonian conquest. On
a coin posterior to Alexander, of which we had occasion to speak
above (tail-piece, end of chapter iii.),’ is figured a monument, by
the side of which a king stands in the attitude of prayer. A glance
suffices to show that we are in face of an atesh-gah. Three
altars with very salient horns rise upon a block of masonry,
whose base and entablature the engraver has indicated ; between
the pillars at the angle, two parallel flights approach laterally the
landing-place that led to the platform. On the right appears an
object, supposed by some to be a banner; might not it be a poker
to stir the fire with ?

If during the Parthian domination the Mazdian temple thus
preserved its traditional form, it was not likely to lose it with the
Sassanidz, when Mazdaism became the state religion. Some have
thought to recognize an atesh-gah of the Sassanid period in the
built tower at Feriz that still measures twenty-eight metres in
height. It rises in the middle of the area representing the site of the
ancient town of Ardeshir-Khurreh (Ghar), which covered the bed

* Dizutaroy, Deuxitme Rapport (Revue Arché., 3° série, tom. viii. pp. 266- -240).
® Hist. of Art, tom. v. p. 635.
ReELicious ARCHITECTURE, 251

 

of an ancient lake (Fig. 127). Arab historians assert that Arde-

 

 

 

 

 

Fic. 127.—Fertiz-Abad. View of ruined tower. FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse ancienne,
; Plate XXXV.

shir erected, in his new capital, an atesh-gah of sufficient dimensions
2 Digutaroy, L’ Art antique de la Perse, tom. iv. p 6.
252 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

to have attracted the attention of travellers... Masoudy, however,
who visited Fars in 910 or thereabouts, formally states that the
Beit-en-Nar (fire-temple) built by Ardeshir stood upon a knoll an
hour beyond the town of Ghiir; near it was a very curious spring,
around which was celebrated a yearly festival. But, as we have
seen, the ruin in question is in the middle of a flat level, and
represents the swamp formerly drained by Ardeshir, bounded on
either side by an arm of the river; whilst throughout the canton
no other spring is met with except that which jets up and gushes
forth in front of the palace, five kilometres hence in a northern
direction.? Consequently the site of the temple seen by Masoudy
should be sought on one of the spurs of the range which overhangs
the palace.* As to the ruin figured on the preceding page, may not
it be the ‘lofty tower,” the fortress which, according to Tabari,
went by the name of ¢erdd/, tower, and which Ardeshir had built
in the middle of the town? Masoudy does indeed mention it, but
he adds that it had been destroyed by the Muslims. It was,
perhaps, a watch-tower, of which the exterior staircases leading
to the platform and the outer works were destroyed by the Arabs,
and reduced to its present fragmentary state, which justified the
epithet used by the historian.

We fear, then, that the notion of a temple built by a Sassanid
prince must be abandoned as illusory. All we know is that the
sacred fire continued to ascend to heaven throughout the duration
of the second empire, precisely as it had done during the first.
Fire-altars frequently appear on the coins struck by the Sassanid;
their forms are at once less simple and more attenuated than
those of a former age.* As to the disposition of the buildings
by which they were supported and enframed, no opinion can be
advanced, save that we know nothing about it.

From the day of the triumph of Islam over Magism, the
followers of Zoroaster have been compelled to wander forth from

 Tabari, German translation by Noeldeke, p. 11 ; French ditto, by Zottenberg,
ii. p. 72; Masoudy, translation by Barbier de Meynard, tom. iv. p. 78; Karnamak,
German translation by Noeldeke, p. 48; BarsizeR DE MEYNARD, D¢ctionnaire Geo-
graphique dela Perse, p. 175.

* FLanDIn and Coste, Perse ancienne, p. 34, for chart of plain.

* It is just possible that the ruin known as Kaleh Diick-h-tar (the Maiden’s Castle),
said by Coste to stand above the dell of Khiimaifigan, which he designates as
‘ruined fortress,” might throw some light on the question.

* Dieuraroy, L’ Art antique, iii. p. 9, Figs. 5-7.
Re.icious ARCHITECTURE. 253

 

their country, and obliged to use circumspection and humble
demeanour in order to be allowed a corner somewhere ; the a¢esh-
gah has had to make itself smaller, and descend to within little of
the ground level—withdraw itself within a strictly closed court to
escape from the gaze and intrusion of the non-Parsee; all the
same it has not suffered its fire to be extinguished. The mar-
vellous longevity, the persistence of a belief whose rites are now
precisely what they were in the days of the Dejoces, the Cyaxares,
the Cyruses, and Dariuses, has in it something that appeals to the
imagination and stirs it to unconscious respect. This has been
vividly expressed in a page we reproduce as an appropriate con-
clusion to our study.’. “ My researches,” writes Flandin, “in the
hypogeia of Persepolis were disturbed by an incident that deserves
being told. As I was ascending the path that led to the ruins,
I perceived two figures whose dress, even at that distance, looked
different from that of the Persians; they were two little old men,
hale and keen-eyed withal. . . . To my questions they answered
that they were traders from Yezd, on their home return from
a journey in the north of Persia. They went on to say that, like
the bulk of the inhabitants of Yezd, they were Guebres (fire-wor-
shippers), as Jemshid, the great king that had built the palaces of
Persepolis had been. They could not, they said, go by those noble
ruins without visiting them even as pilgrims. Having thus
spoken, they began to collect small pieces of wood and dry grass,
with which they made a pyre on the edge of the escarp of the
rock where we stood. They set fire to it, mumbling prayers in
a tongue I had not yet heard in those countries. It must have
been Zend, the language of Zoroaster and the Avesta, an idiom
which is scarcely to be distinguished from that whose characters
are incised on the walls of Persepolis. As the Guebres were
praying before their fire, I raised my eyes to the upper sculpture
on the facade of the funereal vault in front of which we stood.
The scene figured above was identical with the scene enacted
before me. Mazdaism, then, had still adepts, adherents whose
faith had been preserved through many centuries despite the
persecutions of the followers of Mohammed and Ali. The two
Guebres were gone, but the tiny pyre still burnt. I felt under
the sway of a truly religious impression, as I found myself alone
beside those embers that had been prayed to, and had received the
1 FLanvIn, (elation, tom. il. p. 203.
254 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

homage of two hoary inen prostrated before them. The smoke of
sacrifice slowly rose ina bluish pillar over the weird rocks that
dominated the silent plain covered with ruins, amidst which frag-
ments of antique fire-altars were still to be found.”

 

 
( 255 )

 

CHAPTER V.
CIVIL AND MILITARY ARCHITECTURE.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PALACE.

Tne principal effort of the Persian builder, like that of his
Assyrian colleague, was brought to bear upon* the palace.
Religious beliefs which discountenanced inhumation had not
favoured the development of a funerary architecture, and the
monotheistic tendencies of a cult whose sanctuaries at the outset
were the bare summits of lofty mountains, had retained through-
out, even when it could command the resources of a mighty
empire, the elementary and primitive form of the temple, an altar
set upon a plinth more or less elevated, rising on an esplanade
open to the sky. Such simplicity and uniformity as these were
in perfect harmony with the spirit of Magism and in accord
with the character of its rites. Hence, the palace, in a society
where the monarch played so conspicuous a part, could not fail
to assume a paramount importance. It was as if no building
could ever be vast enough, beautiful enough to become the resi-
dence of the majesty of the monarch, or furnish settings that
should enhance the splendour of its pageants and give point
thereto, under whatever aspect it was pleased to show itself.

Thus it was that the inventive faculty of the architect centred
in the palace. He had everywhere repeated, without scarcely
ringing a change, the same sepulchral type, the same temple
type. But when he was required to produce a stage befitting
his princes, so as to single out royalty from the rank and file,
he knew how to vary his theme so as to derive therefrom
several subordinate patterns, each with a distinct arrangement and
individual physiognomy. This he did because he had ample
opportunities for exercising his art, correcting, re-doing, and trying
256 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

one after another every imaginable combination, such at least as
the nature of the materials and the sites fixed upon permitted
him to take up. On the other hand, royal existence was
very complex ; its needs were many and most diverse, and it was
imperative that the edifices in which it would be carried on should
satisfy them all. Space must be found to place the king, his family,
and his harem in conditions so vast and luxurious as should
permit of those refinements and soft living without which the
Persians—unlike their ruder and sober progenitors, who with
Cyrus had subjugated Asia—could no longer dispense with.’
Around the monarch had to be grouped a whole host of officials,
body-guards and serving-men, and, next to the private apartments,
those vast state-rooms suited for public ceremonies and national
festivals. Such residences involved, according to localities, dis-
tributions more or less spacious, more or less complete. Capitals,
as Ecbatana, Susa, and Persepolis, were not alone in possessing
royal palaces. There were houses also in lesser centres where
kings stopped a few days during their periodical progress through
their states,’ so as to escape from the extreme of cold and heat,
which they would have found irksome and not void of actual
suffering. All they had to do was to profit by the marked
difference of climate induced by the relief of the soil, to shift their
quarters from the neighbourhood of the sea and the plains of
Mesopotamia in summer, for the first ledges of the Iranic plateau,
or, further still, to the foot of the lofty mountain ranges which
command it on the north. Hence they divided the year between
Babylon and Susa. In the spring they would, doubtless, go for
a few weeks to Tadce, on the Persian Gulf, a little way from
modern Bender-Bishir. They would then journey back to
Ecbatana, where during the whole summer they enjoyed the crisp
refreshing breezes blowing from the hills, sitting under beautiful
trees watered by clear mountain torrents which rush with roaring
sound down the gorges of Demawend. In the autumn they
resided at Persepolis.» Of course, a mere “box,” such as the
kings owned on the seaboard, could not be on the same scale as
the palace at Susa, where they made a longer stay and received
foreign embassies. Yet even at Susa or Babylon a winter house

* AtaBdnror ext tpupy éyévovto mpiro. dvtwy dvpOdrwv Tépoar (Athenzeus, xii.

8, p. 513).
® Strabo, XV. iii. 3. . * Athenzus, xii. 8.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PALACE. 257

 

must in some respects have differed from a summer one; it was
better closed, anda shield against cold and damp. Here was a
divergent element, the effects of which we should be better able
to appreciate were the whole labours of the royal architects within
reach. Our observations, however, solely bear on the Persepolitan
buildings and one exemplar out of those that crowned the mound
at Susa.

What helped not a little to prompt essayals that turned to the
advantage of art was the personal and ephemeral character of the
palace, to which reference was made in a former volume in relation
to the royal houses of Assyria." There the fact was disclosed to
us by the sculptures and inscriptions; here, the inscriptions
incised on the walls would have permitted us to surmise it, had
not Polycletus forestalled and set us on the scent. He was a
contemporary of Alexander, and, it would appear, well versed in
all things pertaining to Persia.” ‘‘On the summit of the mound at
Susa,” he writes, ‘“every king builds a separate palace for himself,
with treasuries and stores, a pile of building set apart for receiving
tributes levied in the course of his reign, and which must be kept
as a monument of his administration.” Excavations have not been
carried far enough to permit us to seek here a confirmation of the
above testimony, but it coincides with the extent of the ground
covered by the fragments of ancient constructions, and the depth
of the stratum overlaying them. As to Persepolis, besides anony-
mous buildings in a poor state, four kings have left structures
signed by them. Amongst all these edifices not two are alike.
Those that would seem to have been inhabited differ one from the
other both in their orientation and the general character of their
arrangement. Some are more spacious than others. Again,
neither the plan nor the dimensions of the colossal fabrics, those
we should call state apartments, throne-rooms, were uniform.*
Every prince had the very natural desire to imbue his work with a
character that should single it forth, and outshine his predecessors,
or at Jeast produce something quite different. It was seldom,

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii, pp. 122, 421.

® Polycletus, cited by Strabo, XV. iii. 21. It is owing to an error of the copyist
that Strabo’s manuscripts, instead of Polycletus known through other citations, have
the name of one Polycritus, which never appears anywhere else. The fragments
of the latter have been collected by C. Miiller (Seriptores rerum Alexandri

Magni, pp. 130-132).
® Palaces Nos. 2 and 8 in plan.
258 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

indeed, that a sovereign cared to complete or keep older buildings
in repair. Many of the royal houses at Persepolis look unfinished.
At Susa, the superb palace erected by Darius Hystaspes was
already a ruinous mass in the day of Artaxerxes Codomanus. His
grandson, Artaxerxes Mnemon, re-established the edifice, re-using
in the new construction part of the old materials, affixing his
name thereto. Such habits as these still obtain all over the East,
above all in Persia, and imply enormous waste of money and
labour. Ispahan, abandoned as a capital since the advent of the
Kajar dynasty, is in a deplorable state of desolation. The mag-
nificent palaces of the Sofis, which appeared at the end of a long
avenue of plane trees, are now turned into shops or falling to
pieces. The Shah inhabits Teheran, or rather the palaces by
which the town is encompassed. He never spends more than one
month in the same pavilion, and builds new ones to suit his
humour whenever he wearies of the old, or when some picturesque
spot has captivated his fancy. This building mania causes
architects and ornamentists to be in constant request, and affords
them ample opportunity for self-improvement, compelling them
to exercise their power of invention in a way that no patchwork
could do.

If the premise be granted that climate, race, and_ political
system have hardly changed, or very little in Persia, the conclusion
will irresistibly follow that royal architecture always preserved, and
still preserves, many of the features with which it started when it
made itself the handmaiden of roya'ty. One great peculiarity it has
is that no house of any pretension, let alone a princely mansion,
is without some marble basin in front, which is swept by trailing
branches, and, like a glass, reflects the wealth of foliage above.
Around it are gardens and sward fed to “deep greenness” by
many rills. So was it doubtless in olden times. The lake at
Fertz-Abad is just as full as when the facade of the palace pro-
longed itself in its clear depths. Nothing could be more arid than
the present aspect of the platform that once carried the Perse-
politan edifices. But the network of channels which furrowed the
artificial level proves that to a large extent provision was made
to irrigate the plateau. The contour and hollow of a number of
basins. have seemingly been traced. Without water, an abundant
supply of water, trees would not have grown ; and what Persian,
with his fondness, or rather passion for forest trees, would have
“AXX aed “audapout “aq “ Nj IV T. 3
pi aad “ALSOD P 4 AAOTA as 0 er}
xT Ue 3
NICNV ss T aatoedsiag *(zgz astd se ro} ev, Sci
b s) ZeNYS ‘ON
1 yseg Jo 90v T
v rd— ‘OID

=
mot

ION

|
ee I eee ie
fae
fo

Waitt ir
V

 

 

 

 

 

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lle Ose

 

 

 

 

 

 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PALACE. 261

 

been without them? The story Herodotus tells of Xerxes
is well known. Finding himself in Lydia, he came upon so
beautiful a plane tree as to become enamoured of it; he decked
it out with golden chains and bracelets of the same metal, as it had
been a loved mistress, and set a guard to watch over it.) The
story is too strange and bizarre to have been trumped up, but its
quaintness would strike the Greeks that followed in his train, and
the memory of it lived in the country. It is in accord with what
we know of the care taken by prince and satrap alike of their
‘“paradises,” those beautiful parks in which game was preserved ;
the pleasure they found in planting and watching the fine growth
of trees of various kinds.?, Born in a region where shady groves
and water were even more scant than in Greece, Persians held
them as boons without which life would lose much of its savour.
The importance they attached to them caused the Greeks to
wonder. The latter were far too engrossed with intellectual
pursuits, with gain and ambitious designs, to care for nature. One
journeying through the islands of the Archipelago can always tell
a Greek from a Turkish village. The latter is a green island, the
points of whose minarets bare'y outstrip the heads of sombre
cypresses, of walnut, and plane trees. Greek villages, on the
contrary, are more populous, richer, and industrious; but at a
distance they have the appearance of enormous cubical masses of
masonry, with here and there an isolated tree in some of the
courtyards, looking quite forlorn amidst that stony mass.
Wherever, as in Persia, a man endowed with worldly goods
occupies his leisure in devising long vistas of sombre avenues, that
shall be a refreshment to the eye, along with gurgling waters to

1 Herodotus, vii. 31.

2 XENOPHON, Economics, iv. 20-22 (Park of Cyrus the Younger at Sardes). See
also a description by the same author of the park of Pharnabazes at Daskylion
(Hellenica, 1V. i. 15, 16), as well as that given by PLuTARCH (Artaxerxes, xxv.) of
a royal park situated in Northern Media. Curious instances as to Persian tastes
will be found in an inscription from Dermenjik, near Magnesia, on the Meeander,
which MM. Cousin and Deschamps have transcribed ; it is the Greek translation of
a despatch Darius Hystaspes addressed to the satrap Gadates. In it the king con-
gratulates his servant upon the care he bestows on the royal demesnes under his
supervision, and the pains he takes “to grow in that part of Asia adjoining on the
A®gean plants whose native habitat is beyond Euphrates” (67 pev yop tiv éuny
éxmovels yhv, Tous mépav Evdpdrov Kaprovs éxt 7a KaTw THs Actas pépyn xataputevov,
raw ohv mpdbeow). This text, which M. Deschamps has obligingly communicated
to me, appeared in the Bulletin de correspondence hellénique, January, 1890.
262 History or Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

caress his ear with soft music, he is not likely to shut himself up
between four walls, as we are obliged to do in our uncertain climate,
where the weather changes from one hour to another, and bright
sunshine is so seldom with us. The principal apartments of the
residence, save those in which the private acts of domestic life are
carried on, are widely open on the exterior, at least on one side.
Here are distributed what are called zwax or talar, those great
chambers at the end of the court with jets of sparkling murmuring
water, which serve as adiwan-khané, reception-rooms; no door or
wall in front ; naught but a penthouse and flowing drapery to keep
off the sun when it falls on the facade (Fig. 128). Aboveall, there
is the kiosk—the name of which has passed into our language-—
a very different structure from those sprinkled about our gardens
and public walks to which we apply the term, fenced as they are
all round with walls. The Persian kiosk is a rectangular building,
raised upon an artificial platform. It has but a single wall at one
of the small sides, and beginnings of walls on the two main faces ;
in this manner shade can always be had at the farther end.
Naught is there to intercept the free access of air, naught to bar
the view; the soft breeze and tremulous light toy in and out of
the lofty slender pillars of wood, whose capitals, richly inwrought,
uphold above and in front of this kind of recess a light roof whick
juts far out from the ceiling (Fig. 40, 129). People craving
audience of the sovereign are often received here. The latter makes
it his sitting-room before and after the noon siesta, so as to enjoy
the freshness of the morning and evening air; here he smokes
the falium, as his eye languidly sweeps over the waters and
the green retreats around, the minarets and cupolas, the gardens
of the neighbouring town, the boundless reaches of the plateau,
and the distant mountain peaks. Travellers who have studied
Iran with intelligent curiosity, whether in the present or the past,
have one and all juxtaposed modern palaces (whose image they
have engraved) with ancient ones.'. Like the power of the
sovereigns, the dimensions and style of ornament of these edifices
have shrunk and faded, but their essential and characteristic
dispositions have remained unaltered—a fact that must be kept
well in view by the architect when he essays to restore
the royal houses of the Achemenids. It devolves upon him to

* Lortus, Chaldea and Susiana, p. 375 ; T&x1ER, Déscription de? Armente et ae la
Perse, tom. ii. p. 179 3 DiguLaroy, L’Art antique de la Perse, tom. ii. pp. 24-26. |
“AVIX Fld (aeeuaiup as.tag ‘ALSOD pu NIGNVIQ ‘avyedsy ‘uopeg Siow ay.—'6z1 ‘ol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PALACE. 265

remember that the Asiatic palace constructed for polygamous
princes, who shut up their wives and have them guarded by eunuchs,
has always been divided into two distinct sections, called respec-
tively by the Turks selamlk and harem, biriin and anderiin by the
Persians. Out of these one only will lend itself to a possible resto-
ration, that which has left considerable traces and remains above
ground ; notably the public portion of the building where the king
held his court. If this is so it is because in making his monu-
mental portals and groves of columns, the builder used none but
stone blocks of great size. We therefore propose to re-establish
this division only of the palace. The kiosk has always held a
most important place in the unit of royal constructions. Its ele-
ments are very simple, and may, at will, be enlarged to the propor-
tions of a colossal edifice, or reduced to the size of a small elegant
building; it is an open hall, with outlook upon the court at the
end of which it stands. Of course it has offices, smaller apart-
ments for secretaries entrusted with the despatch of current
business, serving-men, body-guards. Behind these a private pas-
sage, used by the king when, after official hours, he desires the
privacy of his own apartments. In this portion of the palace are
banqueting halls, small parlours, and sleeping apartments, which
do not call for magnitude and height, such as we expect to find
in the chambers where the sovereign, when he admits his sub-
jects to contemplate his face, wishes to appear enhanced and
exalted, as it were, above humanity by the exceptional proportions |
and magnificence of the setting. In the harem we no longer
require stone of great calibre, whose function is to cover vast
spaces that will be filled by multitudes; monolith side-posts and
lintels, massive shafts of limestone, would be superfluous; so
would the longest beams of cypress and cedar from Lebanon and
Elburz, such as would permit the widest possible interval between
the supports. Length of span is not wanted here. All we demand
of walls is that they shall be thick enough and lofty enough to
oppose an adequate barrier against peering eyes and inquisitive
ears ; whether they be of brick or stone will not matter; it will
always be easy to conceal them behind drapery and wainscoting.
These apartments were furnished with great luxury; but nothing
remains, or almost nothing but slight and confused vestiges, that
do not even permit of a plan being made. All that the curiosity
of the archeologist can hope to grasp and evoke—aided thereto
265 History oF Art IN ANTIQUITY.

 

by attentive study of ancient texts—out of the permanent con-
ditions of royal existence and the ruins of antique constructions, is’
the aspect of the state and reception halls. We may tell ourselves,
however, for our comfort, that we should have seen no more’ if,
with some Greek embassy, we had visited Susa or Persepolis in
the day of Darius or Artaxerxes.

It has been sought to attribute a technical and precise sense to
the different terms employed by the Persian scribes in the in-
scriptions engraved on the stones of the buildings of the Ache-
menide, be it to denote the whole pile or its various parts.

We do not propose engaging in a research of this nature. Despite
the reasons put forth, it does not appear to us that the signification
of any of the words in question has been established with certainty
either from the situation of any single one, or the elements of
which it is composed. Then, too, our mind misgives us as to the
word apadandé being, as advanced by the same authority, alone
applicable to ‘the great isolated halls where the king of Persia
gave audience on solemn occasions.” We perceive, it is true, that
the word appears on bases that once belonged to apartments of
this nature; but the etymology of afadand as given by that com-
petent linguist, M. James Darmesteter, means no more than
‘‘a building raised upon a height,” and is equally applicable to
“citadel,” “acropolis,” “palace ;” from Persian the word has passed
to the Semitic languages, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic? We
question, therefore, whether there is sufficient authority to narrow
and determine, as we are invited to do, the signification of the word
in question ; whether in the mind of those who used it, it did not
comprehend the whole block erected by the sovereign on a raised
ground as at Susa, and on an artificial platform as at Persepolis.
Besides, the subject has a mediocre importance for the architect.
Suppose he admitted all the values proposed for the different
terms, would that avail him in his restorations ?

Susa certainly had palaces as fine, as vast and grand as Persepolis,
but nothing now appears above ground; what subsists is buried
under an enormous accumulation of earth and rubbish, whence the
English and French excavations have only disengaged the frag-
ments of one of the buildings. Nor is this all; M. Dieulafoy, who
has completed the exhumation commenced by Loftus, up to the

* Dieutaroy, L’Art antique, tom. ii. p. 22, n. 1.
* J. DarmesTeter, Zvudes ivaniennes, tom. ii. p. 133.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PALACE. 267

 

present hour has only made known the result of his researches by
two reports that could necessarily contain but very summary
information. At Persepolis, on the contrary, on the desolate and
majestic esplanade, fifteen columns are still standing. Stone was
employed here to a greater extent than at Susa; hence the plan
and elevation of the principal edifices are not only apparent in
the lines of the foundations seen above ground, but also in
the beds for receiving the beams cut in the ante, which have
kept their whole height in the colossi superbly planted about the
portals, and the side-posts which tell us the situation of all the
openings. We have here, then, at least the bones, the skeleton
of the building. Last but not least, these ruins have the enormous
advantage of having been traced, drawn, and described by ex-
plorers of every nation since the beginning of the present century.
Their testimonies complete one another, confirm and check each
other; what has escaped one has been noted down and proclaimed
by a more attentive observer. The difficulty of the archzologist
is how best to choose from among so many sketches and photo-
graphic views and materials of unequal importance, but nearly
all valuable, which have been placed at his disposal. Persepolis
will be more especially the scene where we shall study those
sumptuous residences of the Great Kings, of which it was neces-
sary to give first a general idea. Before, however, we establish
ourselves upon the famous platform whose history opens with
Darius and closes with Alexander, before we set about restoring
those types of Persian art coeval with the epoch of the greatest
prosperity of the empire, it will be well to look back and make
a short stay at the ancient capital of Pasargadez, and try to com-
prehend the nature of the essayals of the royal architects on this
early scene of their activity, when they constructed and decorated
the gigantic buildings grouped about the lower valley of the
Polvar for the Achemenid dynasty, at the foot of those rocks
where they excavated their tombs as well.

* I find but twelve and thirteen in the two panoramas published by M. Dieulafoy
(L’Art antique, ii. iv.-xi.), but I make out fifteen in a photograph sent to me by
Houssay. The difference is owing doubtless to the fact that from the point
Dieulafoy stationed himself to take his views, some few columns were found in the
same line, those in front hiding those behind.

When Niebuhr visited the site, nineteen columns were still erect on the platform
of Persepolis.
268 History of ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

RovaL BuILDINGS AT PASARGAD.

It was near Pasargade that Cyrus defeated Astyages, and
the remembrance of a victory which had raised the Persians to
the first rank is said to have endeared the place to him. Hence
it was that he built here palaces and treasuries which still existed
at the time of the Macedonian invasion.” The ruins covering
the little plain which takes its name from the village of Meshed-
i-Mirghab are
supposed to be
the remains of
these edifices

   

“8 a il we ae ie Ro ae * SS oe

i)

oe
Saga Ips. Seis
ee — calles

 

a Sia Spas ne

    

     
   

 

  

 
  

 

 

 

a

(Fig. 94).

© 0 They stand

1S close to the
Ss | & 6 % tombs and
a a' altars we have
pe) © ec . described
| Sas above,” and are

te grouped within

a rectangle
2400 metres by

— a 700. Metres

Fic. 130.—Palace of Cyrus. Plan of present state. FLANDIN wide, whose cir-
and Coster, Perse ancienne, Plate CXCVII. :

cumference
corresponds, perhaps, with that of the ancient town.

Eight hundred metres northward of the Gabre (Fig. 49) is
an area slightly raised above the surrounding level, within which
rises a solitary pillar, along with three pilasters or ante which
formed the corners of the walls (Fig. 11, 23). Taking these
into account, as well as the traces left by several columns upon
the ground, jambs of doorways and juts of walls, an idea is gained
of the disposition of a building 44 m. 60 c. long by 34 m. 60 c.
broad (Fig. 130).

Among the apparent remains of the antique construction, a
four-pillared porch, with two lateral chambers, lends itself to a
probable restoration; then comes a great hypostyle hall, divided

Strabo, XV. ili. 3, 7, 8; Arrian, III. xviii. ro.
* Hist. of Art, tom. v. ch. iii. § 25 ch. iv. § 2.
RoyaL Buritpincs at PASARGADA. 269

 

into four aisles by two ranges of pillars which supported the
ceiling. M. Dieulafoy, in his restored plan, puts a second porch
with its annexes, and a colonnade of pillars along the main sides
(Fig. 131); he warns us, however, that the completion of the
edifice is conjectural and rests on feeble data enough.* Be that
as it may, there is naught in it to remind us of a tomb or temple
whilst it offers
a remarkable
analogy with
those edifices on
the Persepolitan
level which are
universally ac-
knowledged as
royal residences.
What may be
guessed of the
decoration about
the principal
openings in-
creases still
further the re-
semblance. Of
their jambs
nothing remains
but the lower
portion, broken
off almost flush

with the ground,

Fic. 131.—TPalace of Cyrus. Plan restored. DIEULAFOY.,
yet on these L’ Art antique, tom. i. Plate XVIII. ;

 

tiny fragments

vestiges of the bas-reliefs which adorned the door-frame may still
be distinguished ; their themes were seemingly akin to those that
occupy the same position at Persepolis. On one of these slabs
appear five human feet, the sole relics of the traditional group,
perhaps, of the king and two attendants. Another stone shows
two birds’ claws and an equal number of human feet; they bring
to mind another common device, the combat of a king with
one of those monsters Persian sculptors delighted to represent

? Dizutaroy, L’ Art antique, etc., tom. 1. p. 31.
270 History oF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

(Figs. 71, 72).1 Here, however, as far as human feet and
talons allow us to judge, the two actors in the scene, instead of
looking at each other, as they would have done had they been
engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict, moved in the same direction,
implying an arrangement somewhat different from what is
witnessed at Persepolis.’

The number of pillars is not large; their dimensions, together
with those of the building considered as a whole, do not come
near those displayed later at Persepolis and Susa, nor are the
walls as thick as on the platform of the
Takht-i-Jamshid. If the main lines of
the type that was to cumulate in the
palaces of the younger capitals are
already found here, on the other hand
everything tells us that we are con-
fronted by an art which, with young
faltering step, prepares itself for bolder
flights. The testimony of the epigraphic
texts bears out the impression thus re-
ceived; everywhere on these stones
appears the pithy inscription already in-
cised in the three languages which the
royal chancellery will continue to use;
it runs thus: “Iam Kurus, king, Ache-

 

 

Plan of pillars and their sub- ‘ :
structures.  FLaNpIN and menid” (I am King Cyrus, the Achame-

Persian text is the most

ancient monument of that idiom and
mode of writing ; it appears towards the top, on one of the faces
of three pillars which form the best-preserved portion of the edifice.
Their height is more than five metres.“ Each consists of three
beautiful blocks of limestone dressed with the utmost nicety (Fig.
23); all rest on a substructure more or less visible, half buried in
the soil like that of the ante, but which a few blows of the spade
would disengage (Figs. 132-134). All these foundations are
made of freestone, and originally were united together with metal

CosTE, £ i Plat .
CXCVIL €rse anclenne, ate nid). The

1 Dieutaroy, L’ Art antique, tom. i. pp. 29, 30.

® StoizE, Bemerkungen (relating to Plate CXXXVIL., in which are figured the
pair of bas-reliefs under notice).

8 DrguLaFoy, /oc. ci¢., tom. 1. Plates XIIT., XIV.

4 Coste has 5 m. 20 c., and Dieulafoy 7 metres.
Rovat Bvuitpincs aT PASARGADA. 271

 

clamps. That above this kind of plinth the wall was of crude
brick may be implied from the fact that one face of the pillars
was deeply concave, far more so than at Persepolis ; it constituted
veritable mortises, into which entered, tenon-like, the soft compact
mass of clay.’ It is not only because of what we learn as to
the constructive processes employed from that day in Persia,
that the side pilasters merit our attention; for the cuttings at the
top permit us to re-establish, as we have done at Persepolis,’ the
timber frame, of which the ends rested on the notches in question
—the woodwork, in fact, that formed the ceiling of the hypostyle
hall, and upheld the flat
roof. These set - offs,
each corresponding with
the extremity of a beam,
are figured below (Fig.
135). “The rectangle
A, B, C, bD, shows the
bed cut for receiving
the lower face of the
architrave: G, E, A, D, F,
H, the bed for a second
row of beams, upon
which rested the joists,
the exposed heads of Fi. 135[Palsee of Cys, Upper ral of os of the
which formed the den-

ticulated cornice ; whilst the indentation G, L, K, I, represents the
place reserved for the planks destined to enframe and keep in
place the bed of Zzs¢ constituting the flat roof. On the last notch,
M, N, P, T, S, R, reposed the beam which completed the frame about
the porch, found in the vertical salience of the pilasters beyond
the brick walls.*

If the timber frame allows itself to be restored with the utmost
eertainty,* the plan of the edifice offers too many doubtful and
obscure portions to make it expedient attempting a restoration of
the unit, in that certain important elements of the elevation are
missing ; so that we know not how the capital was made, and all
we can say of the sculptures that decorated the door-frame is that
they once existed. In such conditions as these the use and

 

1 Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 474-477. 2 Tbid., tom. v. pp. 480-486.
DIEULAFOY, Joc, cit., tom. i. p. 33, 34 ‘ Jbid., Plate XVI.
27D History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

general character of the edifice are the only items respecting
which some kind of guess may be hazarded.
We are even worse off in regard to the remains of a building
situated some hundred and fifty-nine metres in a northern direction,
cat eee » seer “ ce ae
QU ANZA, the plan (Fig. 94). What
. a | has led to the designation are
Sy a 2 bases of substructures and
' other fragmentary portions,
amongst which that of a shaft
Im. 1o c. in diameter should.
not pass unnoticed. A hy-
postyle hall is supposed to
have stood here, 38 metres
by 15 metres wide, with two
Fic. 136.—Pasargade. Plan of a small palace. ranges of four pillars each as
FLANDIN and Coste, ferse ancienne, Plate supports to the roof (Fig. 136).
CXCVIL.
A block 3 m. 50 c., set upon
a plinth to the north side of the hall, should be recognized as
the side-post of one of the doorways (Fig. 137).' The face of
this stone, against which leant the brick wall, is deeply concave ;
the opposite side, turned toward the clear of the opening, is
adorned by a bas-relief, about which we shall have
more to say presently, as one of the most curious
monuments of Persian sculpture. The brief inscrip-
tion with the name and title of Cyrus cited above,
mS ane which only a little while ago could be read above
bas-relief, the top of this jamb, has disappeared.? The site of
aoe a third building, to judge from a slight rising of
the ground, covered with stones and rubbish, should be sought
380 metres northward of the principal palace (Fig. 94). The
only limb that remains in place is a corner pilaster, made of
two blocks with a total height of 5 m. 60 c.; from which the
inference may be drawn that the building to which it belonged

   

 

 

f Filandin and Coste, p. 160. The block in question is 1 m. 58. long and 88
centimetres thick.

* The inscription has been seen and transcribed by every traveller who has
seen the place. It was éz sétw when Dieulafoy halted here in 1881. But when
Houssay visited the ruins, in 1885, it had disappeared. The whole of the upper
part of the top block had been torn away.
273

RoyaL BuILpINcs AT PASARGADA.

 

must have resem-

bled the two we

have just de-
scribed. As to
the inner disposi-
tion nothing can
be advanced. On

= Ne
go
2
28
Ga
o =
So
Qe
es
vo
cH
oOo 8

the

which

NO
fac
oo a
SS
a 2
es
24.5
wa HD Nn
oe
S 5 5
© es

marked on the

“Ruins of a
+

map,

” ‘Towards
the northern ex-

town.

tremity of the

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

over whose

surface ruins are
scattered

’

plain

 

 

 

 

 

 

about,

 

occurs a far more.
attractive monu-

is a

massive block of

It
freestone, known

ment.

Takht-t-

as the

(the
Stage of Solo-
mon), in length
232 m. 72 ¢c., with
a perpendicular
wall (where least

Soleiman

that

damaged)

still

a

attains

height of 12 m.

75 c. (Fig. 138).

Nothing could be
simpler than the

plan of the struc-

 
274

History or Art itn ANTIQUITY.

 

ture.

        
 

 

«on SY RRC RTE yee

          

    
  

AWE aN Geant
SEG plies

   

\ a SEO
Las Cae TSS

eee er
A

Plan.
and Cosre, ferse ancienne, Plate CCI.

Fic. 139.-—The ‘Takht-i-Soleiman. FLANDIN

   

  

Says
AMC

Sh Sinn Ta

ANT De A

AMT

GME

   
    

 
  
  
 

   
     
 

 

    

 
 

 
      

 

 

 

 

4 # am ee ah
eee 4
ole |
— [I  ]

I Sere

have been so beautiful ?

' Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 469, 470.

   

WIN eye
HOT AEIIGN na tis

En ,

     
 
 
  
 

en

   
  
    

2 ee

It is a parallelogram with only three sides ; the fourth face,

or rather where it should
have been, is formed by a
curve in the slope of the
hill, in strong contrast with
the geometrical regularity
of the other parts of the
tracing. Resaults, in the
form of advanced works,
occur at the four corners
of this enormous die of
masonry (Fig. 139). All
who have seen it are agreed
that it is a substructure.
Of its construction we have
already spoken;? it remains
to determine what it
was intended to carry.
Some have spoken of
a citadel.” If so, the
situation was singu-
larly ill chosen; the

  
  
 
    
  

Hirata at right place for a cas-
ee :
TEAM tellum, whose function

was to cover the plain
from the enemy
threatening it on the
north, would have
been at the entrance
of the defiles whence
emerges, along with
a stream, the road
that comes from Me-
dia. Had this been
a purely defensive
work, would the stone

Would they have taken the trouble to

* FLanpIn and Coste, Perse ancienne, pp. 161, 162 ; T&x1ER, Descriplion, tom. ii.

P- 149.
Roya Burtpincs at PAsARGAD&. 275

 

apply to the unsquared units constituting the core of the mass
a revétement of blocks of great size, dressed with a care scarcely
to be imagined (Figs. 140-142)?
Would they have been at the 7, Ye
pains of chiselling all the edges ZZ
and making all the beds of unequal
height, an irregularity that was
studied so as to provide the only
kind of decoration it was possible
to apply to these great surfaces?
On the other hand, nothing is more
natural than the carefully wrought

ashlar work we find here, if we see WAT a

in it a platform prepared for a ra V j/ DP
iia Md P Litt

palace that should command the
plain and be at the gates, as it °
were, of the town.’ It then becomes Fic. 141.—The Takht. Showing detail of
perfectly clear that the architect Cee Hiocen, pore
wished his substructure to look

elegant, noble, and in harmony with the magnificent edifice he
intended to erect upon that grand plinth. If he made the angles
to jut out, it was because against these
saliences would lean wide staircases
leading to the level where the royal
apartments were to be grouped.

This point being settled, we must try
and dispose of the following:—Was
this a kind of diminutive outline of the
Persepolitan esplanade, or did the latter
serve as model for the reduced copy of
the Takht-i-Soleiman, ordered by a sove-
reign desirous to endow Pasargadz with fh? ele i
a monument akin to that which every- ae
body admired in the new capital of a a Yi Le Vs
the kingdom? Of the two hypotheses, 5...) Oe ee *
the first appears far the most likely. courses. Ibid.
Neither on the platform around it, nor
at the foot of the mass, are there fragments from which it might
be inferred that the zz fetfo buildings were ever completed.

1 Digucaroy, L’Art antique, tom. 1. p. 13.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 
276 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

This is further proved by the state in which the upper beds of
the construction are found. Many of the joints are roughly
suggested, and the upper face of not a few stones is only cut
round the edges; the same degree of incompleteness is observable
in the upper portions of the facing (Fig. 17).

Had the work been commenced by Darius, or one of his
successors, would the execution have been suspended? On the
contrary, all explains itself if we admit that this monument, like
the palaces in the plain, dates from the reign of Cyrus. These,
after the conquest of Chaldzea, may have appeared unworthy the
power and majesty of the monarch; he may have wished to own
a palace which, like the sumptuous antique residence he had
occupied at Babylon, should look down from a great height on
the surrounding plain, with this difference, that, as he inhabited
a country where stone was plentiful, he substituted a built
substructure for the earth-mounds which, in the valley of the
Euphrates, constitute the base of edifices. To carry out the
programme laid before them, architect and masons had but to
apply methods with which they were already familiar. The works
were interrupted by the death of Cyrus, or else when Cambyses,
who had perhaps continued them, perished, leaving the throne to
an usurper not likely to feel any responsibility in regard to his
predecessors. Nor did they fare better at the hands of the second
founder of the empire, in that he transferred the seat of govern-
ment to Persepolis. Here were centred all the efforts of sovereigns
anxious to perpetuate the memory of their name by means of
spacious and rich buildings. As to Pasargadz, it was now no
more than a sacred town, venerated for the associations connected
therewith; it had temples, a treasury, a school of magic, and
pilgrims flocked to gaze upon the tomb of Cyrus.’ New palaces,
however, were no longer built there, just as none have been raised
at Ispahan since the present dynasty has transported its seat to
Teheran.

There is no occasion to regret having tarried in a town whose
importance and political 7é/e had so brief a duration. We have
pointed out the processes resorted to in the construction that
we shall meet again at Persepolis; the palace already offers the
outline of dispositions that we shall study elsewhere in specimens

* Priny, Hist. Wat, vi. 26: “Inde ad Orientem magi obtinent Pasargadas,
castellum in quo Cyri sepulcrum est.”
Tue PLATForRM AT PERSEPOLIS. 257

 

of far greater magnitude ; in it the architect aims at placing his
exemplar upon so elevated a pedestal as shall attract the eye
of the beholder from afar, whilst to the sculptor has been allotted
at least part of the space where he will distribute and establish
his bas-reliefs. To sum up the above remarks: Persian art does
not date from the conquest of Egypt, when relations with Greece
became closer and more frequent; in the day of Cyrus and
Cambyses it already had settled habits and tendencies, along with
characteristics proper thereto, and quite distinct from the culture
of other Eastern peoples. Hence it is that to soar to its full
height it had no need to change either its general principle or
the path it had carved out for itself. All it was required to do
was to take advantage of the resources and enormous capital the
ambition of Darius and his successors placed at its disposal.

Tue PLATFORM AT PERSEPOLIS.

At the present day the district where, from the reign of Darius,
Persian royalty fixed its residence contains naught but villages ;
all the same, it is one of the most fertile, well-watered parts of
Fars. The plain of Mervdasht is seventy and eighty kilometres
on the north-west ; its mean width is eight and twelve kilometres
towards the south-east (Fig. 7). A river, that may be the Araxes
of the ancients, flows through it, and loses itself in the Lake Miris.
It is called Polvar in the hilly district where it takes its rise,
Mirghab near the village of that name, Siwend Rud a little lower
down the gorge which serves as a line of demarcation between
the territory of Pasargadz and Persepolis, and Bend-Amir in the
plain of Mervdasht. If we have uniformly spoken of it as the
Polvar, and thus given it a conventional value which it only pos-
sesses in the first part of its course, it was for the sake of brevity
and to avoid confusion.

At the foot of the chain which bounds the plain to the north
are interspersed, with no sparing hand, the remains of all the
monuments which, from the day when they were brought to the
notice of European savants, have been visited by travellers whose
number has increased from century to century, and who have
been more sedulous, too, in noting down with scrupulous exact-
ness every detail of fabrication. The space within which the
278 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

monuments are grouped is not large (Fig. 103). Thus the tombs
of the oldest necropolis, Naksh-i-Rustem, display their lofty fronts
in the face of the rock some two thousand five hundred metres
beyond the right bank of the river, and about an equal distance
from the left bank rise the slender pillars of Persepolis. Between
the entombments of the kings and their palaces, at the point
where the stream, after leaving the district of Pasargadz, enters
a small plain flanked by abrupt, lofty rocks, the vestibule as it
were of the Mervdasht level, artificial hillocks and ruins still
apparent mark the site of the town, which from the Sassanid,
and perhaps the Achzmenid period, bore the name of Istakhr.
It certainly was in existence during the first Persian empire. A
borough with shopkeepers and artisans was absolutely necessary
near the royal castle, to supply the material needs of the royal
household and the numerous retinue of the prince, officials, soldiers,
and menials, who accompanied him whenever he moved from one
city to another. It is a pleasant plain, fruit-bearing, verdant, and
as great a delight to the eye as that of Shiraz; so that before the
decrease of the population and impoverishment of Persia, brought
about by centuries of misrule, Istakhr, owing to its fine position, the
best that could be chosen throughout the district, sheltered too from
northern blasts, could not but retain a certain importance and
sedentary population.

We shall return to Istakhr presently. Many of its monuments
present curious features upon which it will be well to dwell at some
length, and their interest will be more easily grasped when
we have reviewed the more important and varied group com-
prising the royal houses. These are sprinkled about in
picturesque disorder on a vast esplanade overhung by the rocky
hill that seems but a prolongation of it. The outline is broken
by a number of projections and indentations, distributed on all
the faces with utter disregard to regularity. Roughly speaking,
the enceinte forms the three sides of a parallelogram, whose length
is 473 metres, and the greatest breadth 286 metres (Fig. 143).
The height of the perpendicular wall surrounding the esplanade
varies from io to 12 metres, according to the state of the ground.
The execution is pretty much the same throughout; the horizon-
tality of the courses and polygonal masonry, which occur here and
there, may be due, perhaps, to later reconstructions and repairs

* I have omitted giving the bearings because obviously wrong.—Trs.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate LXVII.

General plan of buildings.

FIG. 143.—Persepolis.
THE PLAtrorM AT PERSEPOLIS. 281

 

(Fig. 20, Plates IIf., X.).". There is no attempt at ornament
excepting a plinth and a crown. The plinth, visible on many
a point, wherever it is not hidden under stones that have fallen
from the top, rather resembles that of the Gabre. As to the
crowning members, they have wholly disappeared ; nevertheless,
we can affirm that a continuous entablature was carried round the
whole summit of the wall.?, To-day the topmost bed is broken off
just below the level of the platform; the exposed face is covered
with sealing-holes, proving that this is not the real face, but that
it was originally revéted. Then, too, when the work was in
its pristine state, difference of level was redeemed by a frieze and
cornice,and thetwo
architectural mem-
bers constituted a
parapet around the
esplanade (Plates
IIL, 2%} Some
rare fragments of SF
the frieze are still j*ir”.
in place towards " "7

the southern ex- ae i

* Fic. 144.—Persepolis. Stone from the frieze of wall of platform.
pe AES: of the DiguLaroy, L’ Art antigue, tom. ii. Fig. 13.
Takht. They are

blocks that formed a horizontal course towards the top of the
plain wall, slightly overhanging it; but the frankly salient plat-
band enframing them helped still further to single them forth
(Fig. 144). The projecting cornice, however, was much more
exposed, hence it has everywhere broken away; but there are
stones in the rubbish banked up at the foot of the wall that look
very much as if they had come from the cornice of the royal tombs.
Mouldings and profiles are identical. Seek not among them,
however, remains of the entablature of the palaces, and suppose
that they broke away or were thrown over the edge of the plat-
form when the edifices fell in, or later, whilst the work of destruc-
tion was going on, which here extended over centuries. Not that
by itself the thing would have been impossible. Has not many
a piece of architecture and sculpture been found in the rubbish,
which until lately concealed the external base of the Athenian

1 Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 471, 472.
2 Digutaroy, L’Ar?t antique, tom. i. pp. 17, 18.

 

   
 

   

mi aT il ae
rs i i un alk Mt id

 

 
282 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

acropolis, and which had belonged to the monuments within the
enceinte ? Here, however, such an hypothesis is untenable,
because all the roofs were timber.” Suppose they had been of
stone, we should trace some rare vestige among the number of
fragments of shafts, capitals, and door-frames that strew the
esplanade, or in the field of ruins presented by the Hall of a
Hundred Columns. But among these stones, earth, and potsherds,
nothing of the kind has been recovered. Remains of the em-
battlement are found in the plain only; they lie a little in front
or near the foot of the wall, and are therefore relics of the
cornice that decorated the supporting wall.

This great work is signed by Darius. On the southern face
of the platform four inscriptions are engraved with his name.
Two are written in Persian, one in Susian, and the other in
Assyrian. In the first two Darius invokes Ahura-Mazda; he
enumerates the peoples that pay tribute to the empire, and places
the building under the safeguard of the army.? Was this stupen-
dous wall completed by Darius? We know not; in any case he
conceived the plan and carried it so far as to justify us in crediting
him with the honour of the emprise. A carriage road winding
round the southern face led from the plain to the platform; it then
went behind the edifice along the first slope of the hill, to
approach again the esplanade towards the east angle, whence it
mounted as far as the pair of tombs situated in the rock behind
the level (Fig. 143). A road that required so long a détour can
have been used by none but heavily laden carts; it was what
we should call the tradesmen’s entrance. Neither the tracing of
the road nor that part of the esplanade where it abutted show
sign or token of buildings to indicate that a royal cortége ever
took that direction. The true, the monumental entrance, the one
used by the king on his going out or coming in and visitors
bringing gifts in their hands or simple homage, was the superb
staircase by which even now the level is reached (Plate X.).

1 Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 479-486.

® SprecEL, Die altpersischen Keilinschriften, pp. 47-51 (#, 1), and p. 79. M&NANT
(Les Achéménides, pp. 80, 81) reproduces the translations which have been made of
the Susian and Assyrian texts. The first is supposed to contain a formal mention
of the palaces erected on the great level, but the interpretation of Susian texts is
still open to many doubts, Altogether these inscriptions form a band 7 m. 7o c.
towards the top of the wall (FLANDIN and Cosrr, Perse ancienne, Plates LXXI.,
LXXIT.).
Tue PLatrorM AT PERSEPOLIS. 283

 

‘‘ The staircase was let in a set-off of the wall, and preceded by
a landing-place raised upon a few steps, in advance of the naked
facade. In its present state it consists of two diverging flights
parallel to the wall of the Takht; e,g., two lower symmetrical land-
ing-places, then two converging ramps, separated from the first
flights by a supporting wall. The whole of the staircase consisted
of a hundred and eleven steps. The slope is so gentle, say Arab
writers without exaggeration, that persons on horseback ascend
and descend without difficulty, and the stair so wide that ten men
can mount at the same time. The steps, as well as the middle
and lower part of the substructure, are all in excellent state of
preservation (Fig. 145). The stairs in many places rest on the
native rock ;? the latter shows on not a few points of the esplanade,
where it carries without intermediaries the substructures of the
palaces and their colonnades, whilst elsewhere one treads upon
a floor carefully laid down. Hence the core and support of the
level is a kind of promontory that juts out from the mount, and
which the hand of man has cut in such a way as should answer
the use assigned thereto by the sovereign.* The levelling
along the northern wall was never finished; as no edifices were
erected on this side the rock was left in its rugosity. The
circumference of the massive block of masonry was as irregular
as its surface; perhaps the constructor multiplied projecting and
receding angles so as to accommodate the outline of the structure
to the natural irregularities of the ground, and reduce his work
to what was absolutely necessary. Much more labour would have
been required had they hewn the rock to obtain a rigorously
straight line on the three sides of the polygon. Even though
reduced to its minimum the effort was considerable. Cast your
eye on the two spurs the mountain sends out into the plain,* and
you will perceive that the surface is everywhere seamed by rents,
breaches more or less wide. It was a question of lowering here
the ridge, there of filling a ravine, taking from one side what was
required on the other—a work, in fact, that cannot be estimated at
its true value unless soundings could be made here, such as have

1 Dizuiaroy, L’Art antique, tom.i. p. 17. Coste (p. 77) has 106 steps, 58 for the
lower flights and 48 fur the upper. Their width is 7 metres. The middle landing-
place is a square, 14 m. 60 c. at the side. The height of the steps is ro centi-
metres.

2 Téxrer, Description, tom. il. p. 166.
8 FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, p. 75. ‘ Jbid., Plate LXVII.
284 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

permitted of a subterranean chart being drawn of the rock which
carries the edifices of the Haram-esh-Sherif.” * .

In the mean time what has been fully made out is that behind
the supporting wall there is another of dry stones, then a third
composed of earth and unsquared units, whose thickness naturally
varies according to the configuration of the rock.2 The _ in-
equalities offered by the stony ground in its natural state, may
have helped to suggest the notion of constructing the edifices at
slightly different levels, in that a great deal more of the mass
must have been cleared away had they attempted obtaining every-
where an absolutely horizontal area. Accommodating themselves
to the unevenness of the ground was all gain, for a consider-
able amount of manual labour was saved, whilst it provided a
number of esplanades, connected with each other by stairs whose
symmetrical balustrades not only broke the long monotonous line
of the substructure and added variety to the aspect, but prevented
the palaces being masked by each other, as they would have been
had their floor stood on the same level. Hence it is that, as in
the history of the plastic arts, here also the architect has known
how to bring out happy and original results from conditions that
at first sight might appear difficult to handle, but which he was
bound to accept as the choice of the prince or nation that gave
him his orders.

Four distinct horizontal plans may be counted on the platform.
The lower stage is narrow and insignificant. It extends along
the whole of the south wall, and does not seem to have supported
any edifices. The second level is approached by the great stair-
case (Fig. 145), and takes up about three-quarters of the super-
ficies of the platform; upon it were distributed the principal
buildings—the Propylea (Fig. 10, No. 1) and the Hall of a
Hundred Columns (No. 8). Proceeding from north to south is
another esplanade some three metres above this, which contains
the relics of the most important and attractive of all the royal
edifices, the hypostyle hall of Xerxes (No. 2). Again, to the
rear of this, but in exactly the same direction and more than three
metres higher up, is reached the terrace which carried two build-
ings, the palaces of Darius and Xerxes (Nos. 3 and 5). Lastly, a

* Hist. of Art, tom. iv. pp. 171-176, Fig, 106,
* Digeuaroy, L’Art antique, tom. ii. p. 15.
“ATOX Aig fazfo1g  *waroye[d 0) Surlpve asvoreis worn ‘stpodasiag. —SP1 ‘ong

 
Tue PLATFORM AT PERSEPOLIS. 287

 

building at the south-east angle (No. 4) appears to have had its
floors on the third stage.

It is on this side of the esplanade that the best view is obtained
of the mouths of the conduits, which form a perfect network
under the great platform. Their tracing is carefully indicated on
Coste’s plans.‘ Advantage of the living rock was taken in their
construction; elsewhere, whenever they stretched along soft
earth, freestone was used, with large overlying slabs. Whether
built or excavated, some of them must have been watercourses
which distributed the precious fluid to the inhabitants of the royal
city. On the last slopes of the mountain, near the tombs, are
deep hollows supposed to be reservoirs that would be fed,
perhaps, by a spring now dried up. Others of these channels
played the part of drains; they not only received the used water
of all the dwellings, which made up as large a population as that
of a good-sized town, but rain-waters which from the roofs of the
houses fell on the platform, and were then poured out into the
plain. Asa rule they are below man’s stature ; in places, however,
one can walk erect in them.” The bottom is covered with a deep
layer of mud.

Excavations still await the explorer on the esplanade. It is
matter for surprise that no European should have followed the
example set by Haji Muctamadaldaulet Ferhad Mirza, Governor
of Fars, who, in 1877, kept six hundred men at work for months;*
but I do not suppose that his workmen cost him much, if anything
at all. Did he light upon the treasure he expected to find here,
or at least some rare fragments of sculpture, enamelled tiles which
he could turn into gold? He has not let us into his secret. In
any case we may congratulate ourselves that such a whim ever
came into his head. To it we owe that recent travellers have
found the approaches and the interior of the Hall of a Hundred
Columns cleared down to the floor, where Téxier and Coste had
their progress impeded by earth two or three metres high. In
order to examine certain features of the construction, the latter
was obliged to cut through rubbish pressed down into a compact,
resisting mass by fragments of architecture lying upon it. Now

1 FLANDIN and Coste, ferse ancienne, Plates LXVII., XC., p. 128; Srouze,
Persepolis, Bemerkungen.

* Chardin, edit. Langlés, tom. viil. p. 329, ef sq.

8 Srouze, Zoc. cit., tom. i. Preface.
288 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

that this palace displays, like its neighbours, most of its bases
along with capitals whose very existence was questioned, little
remains to be done with regard to the other great royal houses.
All that subsists of them, antz and pillars, doorways and windows,
has been disengaged down to the substructures ; the latter resting
on the rock. The curious who have studied these ruins have
cleared here and there the bases of pillars and walls; nearly every-
where, whether in the space once occupied by palaces or in their
immediate vicinity, the original ground has been laid bare; but
the rest of the platform is covered with earth one metre deep.
To the rear of the hypostyle hall of Xerxes, as shown in our plan
(Fig. 143), are heaps of dust, of rubbish, and hillocks of stone
seven and eight metres in height. What is buried in their depths?
It amazes me that nobody should have attempted sounding
their flanks. Interesting discoveries might be expected if the
whole of the esplanade were uncovered, as has just been done for
the Acropolis at Athens.

Whatever may be the results of ulterior researches, they will not
modify to any great extent our present notion of the general
arrangement of the platform and the character of its enceinte. The
latter, considered as supporting wall, was admirably fitted for the
function it was called upon to fulfil; from the standing point of
a defensive work, however, its value was feeble even in its perfect
state, when it was surmounted by a parapet. The height was
mediocre, and permitted an escalade,

The numerous resaults it presents on all its faces added, no doubt,
to its strength. They were like so many counter-forts that gave
it more power of resistance against earthworks; but they favoured
at the same time the movements of the besiegers, in that the
re-entering angles afforded convenient places for ladders. There
are no towers anywhere to act as batteries and protect the
curtain, or any trace of crenelations. Finally, the principal stairs—
which it was difficult to barricade—offered a commodious means
of access, both from their width and gentle slope; their merits,
in the hypothesis of a pacific destination, would have turned to
serious drawbacks and elements of danger, had Persepolis been
a fortress in the ordinary sense of the term. We are thus led to
suspect that Diodorus’s description, the only Greek historian who
enters into particulars respecting the construction of the royal city,
is substantially correct. ‘ Before going further,” he writes, “I think
THE PLATFORM AT PERSEPOLIS. 289

 

it expedient to say a few words about the palaces the town con-
tained, palaces rendered famous for their magnificence. The
citadel was imposing from its situation, and surrounded by a triple.
wall. The first, provided with crenelations, rested on foundations
sixteen cubits high, the construction of which had cost vast sums
of money. The second was built like the first, and had double its
height. Finally, the third, whose circumference described a square,
attained to a height of sixty cubits; it was made of very hard stone,
and seemed destined to last for ever. Bronze gates appeared on
each of the four sides, and near them railings of the same metal.
With the gates the safety of the enceinte was assured, whilst the
bronze ramparts were calculated to astonish the beholder.” *

In the group of buildings we have studied there is naught
resembling, even at a distance, the presentment found in the
narrative of Diodorus. He speaks of three ramparts, which,
though he does not expressly say so, he pictures to himself as
concentric ; yet there is but one on the site, that which serves as
substructure to the esplanade. With regard to the other two
walls—of which nobody has seen a vestige—it might be supposed
that, being of brick, they have disappeared, and that the material
has been reduced to powder or re-used in the construction of modern
houses. It might be said that their foundations lie, perhaps, buried
under the crops of the plain, for the configuration of the soil will
not permit us to seek them anywhere else. Granting that it is so,
they would surround the city, which stretched at the foot of the
royal residences and protected these at a distance. The height
of the external, or first, wall was sixteen cubits, and that of the
second rampart was thirty-two cubits; for, in describing the
defences of a place, one must proceed as would a besieging enemy,
who has to take each successive wall ere he can enter the fortress.

1. Diodorus, xvii. 71. Strabo speaks of Persepolis in very vague terms, “ Perse-
polis,” he says, ‘‘after Susa, was the greatest and finest town of the empire ; it
possessed palaces whose magnificence was as nothing when compared with the
riches of all kinds they contained” (XV. iii. 6). Plutarch, whilst-mentioning the
burning of the palace (Adexander, 38), does not name Persepolis, and is silent as
to its edifices. lian certainly mentions it, but he ascribes its foundation to
Cyrus—a glaring mistake (His¢. Anim., i. 59). The one instance which is correct
in Quintus Curtius’ account (vi. 6, 7) is the indication of the great part timber
played in the construction of the Persepolitan palaces; but the author seems to
think that in his time all that was known as to the situation of Persepolis was
through vague tradition—that nothing remained of the imposing pile which even

now calls forth the admiration of travellers.
U
290 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

Hence the third enceinte, built of hard stone and rectangular in
shape, would coincide with the one we know; but not one feature is
in accord ; all we find to note are differences. The wall by which
the level is supported and bound is almost intact ; there is little
more than the cornice missing, and this allows itself to be easily
restored. It never had more than about the third of the height
assigned to it by Diodorus. We are equally puzzled as to the
site of the gates that “were to be seen at the four sides,” whose
bronze folding-doors and railings come in at the end of his
sentence with telling effect. A single avenue, the great stairs, led
to the north terrace; but no means of access occurred on the
other faces.

The testimony of Diodorus, then, is in opposition rather than
confirmed by that of the monuments; the discrepancy is all the
more strange that the historian, or, more strictly speaking, the
author he followed, presents on this same page a just idea enough
of the situation and character of the royal tombs... We may
perhaps penetrate the secret of such disagreement and _ inco-
herences from the fact that his guide was Clitarchus. He had
taken part in the expedition of Alexander, and with him travelled all
over Anterior Asia; he spoke, therefore, as an eye-witness. That
he was given to exaggeration and delighted to astonish his
readers, ancient writers attest. The mood was upon him when,
having to depict Persepolis, he drew upon his imagination to
round off and complete his notes, in order that the description
should come up to that of Ecbatana with its seven walls as
given by Herodotus.

When Darius and his successors, in the plenitude of their
power, erected the constructions at Persepolis, they could not
look forward to a day when the enemy would scale their native
mountains, threaten their capital, and disturb their tranquil
possession of that magnificent platform fronting so noble and
wide an expanse.’ From within those stately halls open to the
breeze, the monarch had peeps of the houses of Istakhr, nearly
lost amidst deeply shaded gardens; then his eye would follow the
line of its suburbs, that stretched far out into the plain, dotted

1 Hist, of Art, tom. v. pp. 617, 618,

4 All travellers who have visited Persepolis are unanimous in praising the beauty of
the view to be had from the platform. We borrow our instances from FLANDIN
(Relation, tom. ii. p. 147) and Digutaroy (Z’A7z, ete., ii. p- 17).
THE PLATFORM AT PERSEPOLIS. 291

 

about with clumps of trees, thousands of rills letting out the secret
of its freshness, greenness, and charming aspect. Beyond this
foreground, where everything told of life and prosperity, he caught
glimpses in the far south of the long ridges of Luristan, whilst in
the middle distance he could see the lofty peaks of Fars which the
dying sun had set aglow. Towards the north-west, in the direction
of Pasargade, his eye rested confidently on the mountain chain
which rose on the only side whence danger could be apprehended.
A revolt from the old subjects of Cyaxares was always possible.
But a fortified gate closed the road on the north, whilst im-
mediately behind Istakhr, forts had been constructed at the
summit of abrupt rocks, so as to bar the passage to the Medes.
These were the defences of the plain; the king, entrenched
behind mountains and fortified gorges, had no need to shut
himself up within high walls. Besides, what would have been
the use of ramparts that could always be taken in the rear, by
climbing round the slopes of the rocky hill that overhangs the
royal castle? Effectually to protect the latter, a wall must have
stretched along the foot of the cliff, exactly as Diodorus re-
presented to himself the citadel of Persepolis with four sym-
metrical sides; but no vestige of a circumvallation wall has been
discovered between the buildings of the platform and the tombs.
hollowed in the rock. True, an explorer, Téxier, mentions “a
kind of rampart made of mud, thoroughly Babylonian in its style
of construction, flanked at regular intervals with great square
towers. The wall, of which traces first appear near the tombs,
rises obliquely up to the summit of the hill, or rather the first
crag; then it redescends to abut on the north-east angle of the
level.” Téxier has not seen the remains of the rampart which he
describes on the testimony of a traveller whose narrative has not
been published. Their existence, therefore, might be questioned,
except that Stolze likewise reports having seen them.’ In his
estimation the wall consisted of alternating courses of yellow and
brown bricks; the first were five and the others ten centimetres
thick. The enceinte, which started from the north angle of the
level, has left enough fragments on the slopes to enable one to
follow its line up to behind the royal tombs. It is just possible
that after the fall of the Achemenide, the princes of Persia proper

1 Téxier, Description, i, p. 167.
2 Persepolis, Bemerkungen. Photogrammetrische aufgenommene Plan.
292 History oF 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 Hee of the enceinte, sixty
cubits high, “ built of hard stone.”

Study of the site, then, and the position di 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.for 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
Chaldzea and Assyria, the depths of which are sounded to-day by our
curiosity ; 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@a 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 structures
on.the platform present themselves. That the importance of the
edifice in.the general plan was real is shown in its dimensions,
which were. considerable, and the lavish care bestowed upon its
execution (Fig. 10, No. 1; Figs. 19, 143).' Its principal remains
are two great piers, some eleven metres high, beyond -which
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 Plate 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

* FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, pp. 78-82.
 

PERSEPOLIS
PROPYL(CA OF XERXES

Present State
Tue PROPYLZA ON THE PLATFORM. 293

 

made. Beyond the passages rise two slender columns, the upper

part of whose capital is alone wanting (Fig. 147); the site of two
other shafts is shown by their bases, which are still in place, and
about which lie a number of fragments of capitals.?- Again, beyond
the symmetrical group formed by these supports are other two

 

Hfitk ii
A

 

 

- 146.— . ANDIN and COSTE Fic. 147.—Columns of the Propylea. Drgu-
as ee Plate LXXIII. E LaAFoy, L’Art antique, tom. il. Plate XXII.

pillars turned the opposite way, and similar to the first both in
plan and proportions, save that the arrangement of the gigantic
animals flanking the doorway is different. On one of the facades
(looking towards the mountain) the images decidedly belong to the

2 FLanpin and Coste, dc. cit., Plate LXXIV. The height of the columns in
bec . their present state is 16 m. 58 c.
2904 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

conventional type created by Chaldzan plastic art, whilst those on
the other side (towards the staircase) have no wings surmounting
the back, nor high tiara crowning a man’s head, nor long curly
beard falling on the breast. Here the sculptor was content to
represent real bulls, as he has done elsewhere, either where the fore
parts alone are figured, as about the capitals, or the whole animal
with his powerful development of force, as in the compartments
of the balustrade of the stairs leading to the palace. The elements
that still remain of these supports are quite sufficient to enable
us to restore them with certainty (Plate III.). The four stone
pillars formed the piers of a brace of great portals, pierced right
through two bodies of buildings, whose width is given by the
stones that are visible at the back of the west facade (fronting the
stairs). A few blows of the spade on the opposite side would
uncover blocks which, like these, served as substructures. That
they are the foundation walls whereon reposed the brick mass of
this and the other buildings on the platform, is proved by the
spurs (‘waiting stones”) at the side of each pillar, which helped
the clay to marry the limestone. As to the pillars, they were
not isolated like those in front of the temples of Phcenicia or
the temple of Solomon at Jerusalem, where they replaced Egyptian
obelisks.' Study of the plans of Persian architecture shows that
this art has always assigned the part of support to its column;
and this was precisely the function it fulfilled here, where it upheld
an entablature which connected the two pavilions; thus consti-
tuting a whole in which the elegance and lightness of the central
porch were in pleasing contrast with the massive amplitude of
the two frontispieces. The whole character of the building, the
position it occupies in front of the stairs, near the edge of the
esplanade, give us the key as to its arrangement. It cannot have
been a throne-room or a domestic dwelling, because it is widely
open on its four faces, and has neither the size nor the inner
arrangement offered by edifices where the king held his court or
lived surrounded by his wives.” It is no more than a monumental
entrance, somewhat analogous to those pylons that adorn the front
of Egyptian temples, and it is likely that here, as in the royal
tombs, we have a reminiscence of Egyptian architecture, a clever
and discreet copy of one of its favourite themes. The main

+ Hist. of Art, tom. ili. pp. 119-122; tom. iv. pp. 291, 292.
> The total length of the building is 37 m. 37 ¢,
 

 

Ch,Chipiez del, ; H.Selhier sc.

PERSEPOLIS

PROPYLC&A OF XERXES
PERSPECTIVE VIEW
Restored by Ch.Chipiez
THE PROPYL&A ON THE PLATFORM. 295

 

idea was borrowed; but it was made subservient to the habits
and exigencies of an art which, from a natural effect of its origins,
prefers lighter and more slender shapes than those that delighted
the builder of the Nile Valley. Hence in speaking of them we
shall not use the term “pylon,” lest it should call forth an image
and type differing in too many respects from that of our restora-
tion. The right name for them is “ Propylea.” The Greeks
applied it to buildings which, like this, consisted of a porch or
gateway comprised between two massive wings.

Our restoration needs scarcely to be justified, though it differs
from that proposed in Coste’s plan,’ in that the sides are higher,
more massive, and therefore stand better. Coste did not grasp
that here, as in all the palaces of the enceinte, the stone door-
frame was connected with a brick wall, so that his restored
structure is somewhat thin and poor, and loses of its effect. The
plinth upon which the bulls are set up is not an invented detail,
though it is barely seen in our view (Plate II.), representing as it
does the north-east side in its present state, where it lies almost
buried.? It is entirely disengaged, however, on the opposite face,
so that exact measurements could be made.’ As to the entrances,
they have lost lintel and cornice; but the missing limbs are easily
restored from a number of other doorways, either built or chiselled
in the native rock about this same platform (Figs. 14, 15, 22,
57, 58, 105). We have said on what data we relied for over-
laying the masses of adobe with a facing of burnt brick, which,
owing to the variety of tones obtained from different clay and
degree of firing, had the appearance of mosaic.‘ Our frieze of
enamelled lions, which appears below the cornice, is borrowed
from the entablature of the rock-cut tombs; as to the embattled
edge, it is the natural and inevitable mode of finishing the loft
in this architecture.® Finally, over the hollows, seven metres

1 Franpin and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate LXXXVII.
® The plate in question is reproduced from the fine heliogravure engraved by

Dreuvaroy (L’Art antique, ii. Plate X1I.).
8 Fyanpin and Coste, Joc. cit, Plates LXXVII.-LXXIX., pp. 78-81. The

plinth is 1 m. 70 c. in height, by 36 c. wide on the inner face; its salience
beyond the facades is 1 m. 50 c. In order to show the noblest decorative
form employed by Persian sculpture, M. Chipiez has been guilty of a slight
infidelity, He has transferred to the north-west fagade—figured in his drawing—
those man-headed winged bulls that correctly belong to the north-east side.

4 Hist. of Art, tom. iv. p. 549. n. I. 5 Jbid., tom. Vv. p. 533.
296 History or Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

wide,’ interposing between the columns and the side walls, no other
covering was possible save one of timber; whilst the indenta-
tions at the top of the pillars gave us the composition of the
wood frame.?

This beautiful work was signed by Xerxes; our restored
perspective view shows—on those inner faces of the passage that
are visible—the place of the trilingual inscriptions, where the
son of Darius boasts having built this porch, “which points out
every country.” By this was probably meant, “ whence a vast
expanse could be embraced.”* One who stood in the centre of
the colonnade, in the axis of the building, had only the view inter-
cepted towards the north-east by the mountains immediately
behind it ; on the three other sides it was open country as far as
the eye could reach ; but the scene calculated above all to charm
and astonish the beholder, towards which his gaze would steal
back again and again, presented itself to the south-east of the
esplanade, where clustered the principal buildings. The architect
had calculated everything, and subordinated all the other parts to
produce the effect to be seen here. The Propylea are not turned
towards the stairs; hence a person approaching the platform by
either flight of steps does not perceive them until he has reached
the head of the stairs, when he is faced by one of the lateral
porches. These gateways facilitated circulation ; they cleared the
way; but they were neither used by royal pageants when from
the plain they mounted to the platform, nor by subjects that
brought gifts to the sovereign, nor by foreign ambassadors on
audience days. It is probable that from the upper landing the
royal way went round to the left, so as to deposit princes and
exalted personages under the porch, whence they could look
down upon a forest of columns, the great hypostyle hall of

1 The intervening space between the columns is 6 m. 50 c., and the same
distance between them and the nearest pilasters.

2 Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 479-486.

® SPIEGEL, Die altpersischen Keilinschriften, pp. 59-123. With regard to the
word visadahyum, which he renders by alle Laender zeigend, * showing all lands,”
Spiegel asks whether the expression may not be in allusion to the bas-reliefs which
adorned the porch and represented the different peoples of the empire. This
might well be, except that narrowness of space does not lend itself to figured
decorations of this nature, such as we shall meet along the stairs of the palaces,
where far more extensive fields were reserved for the sculptor. Then, too, fragments
of capitals by which the shafts were terminated are found here ; why should all the
bands of sculpture have disappeared without leaving the slightest vestige ?
Tue HypostyvLte Hatt or XERXES. 297

 

Xerxes, and take in at a glance the other palaces staged at the
sides and behind this superb building. Well might the heart of
the prince swell with pride as he contemplated a spectacle not to
be matched anywhere in the habitable world. As to the visitor,
who for the first time set his foot on that platform, the impressions
he took away with him of the power and majesty of kings whose
whim could produce creations so marvellous and rare, would
remain with him as long as life lasted.

Tue HvyrostyLte Hatt or XERXES.

Proceeding beyond the Propylea to the south-east, a platform
is traversed, some fifty-four metres long, about which appear no
traces of ancient buildings, if we except a rectangular reservoir
excavated in the rock (Fig. 143), whose rim is more than
one metre above the present level. The basin was originally
sunk into the artificial soil, and, along with the fountains, served
to water the trees and flowering shrubs planted on the espla-
nade. Its cornice was composed of a fillet, cavetto, and baguette.
There may, perhaps, have been a pendant to this on the other
side of the royal way; but the calcareous stratum does not crop
up to the surface on that part of the esplanade, hence if there
existed a reservoir, it was of stone or brick, and has disap-
peared along with the earth surrounding it. There is a detail,
well brought out in the general plan (Fig. 143), that tends to
favour the hypothesis of a garden that would have extended in
and out of the Propyleea,’ as far as the palace nearest to them.
The facades both of the palace and of the Propylea are parallel
to each other ; but the transverse axis of the latter is not in the
centre of the hypostyle hall, and if carried right through would leave
on the left, towards the north-east, the middle intercolumnation.
We can scarcely imagine such a disposition as this to have been
premeditated and freely chosen. It is likely that the Propylea
were the first built, and that when the palace came to be raised,
the ground or some other local condition did not lend itself to the
original plan being carried out; so that the great colonnade was
traced without giving much thought to establish rigorous sym-
metry between it and the central porch. A few shrubs planted

1 The basin is 5 m. 7o c. long, by 4 m. 80 c. wide, and go c. deep.
* They are four in number.
298 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

between the two edifices would mask the bases of the columns
turned towards each other, and to a certain extent diminish the
ill effect.

A little beyond the basin stands an esplanade approached
by four single flights of steps with divergent ramps (Fig. 148),
two of which are central, and form a landing-place 27 m. 20 c.

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Perse ancienne, Plate XC.

by 5 m. 10 c, broad. The length of the supporting wall of this
landing, which extends right and left, is seventeen metres. The
two other flights at the sides of this fagade face each other like
the preceding ones; they approach laterally to a central object.
and constitute, as it were, a more extensive landing-place nearer to
the colonnade. In length the basement of this platform is fifteen
metres to the eastward, and sixteen metres on the opposite side.
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Restored by Ch. Chipier.
THe Hyprostyte Haut or XERXES. 299

 

the straight line of wall, against which leans the central landing-
place, and finally merges into the great exterior rampart of the
platform, which at this point has a salience of ten metres (Fig.
143). The whole front, embraced between the two lower stairs at
either extremity, is some eighty-three metres long and entirely
covered with sculptures; it constitutes the whole plinth of the
facade whereon stands the palace. Three tablets intended to
receive inscriptions occur, one directly under the landing and the
other two at the sides of this same facade (Plate 1V.). One bears
the name of Xerxes, and the usual invocation to Ahura-Mazda.’
Bas-reliefs enframed within rich decorative designs adorn the walls
of the stairs, as well as that next to the esplanade, and the parapet
wall (Figs. 61, 65, 69). Here runs a line of figures answering
in number with the steps; they follow the slope of the stairs, and
look as if they ascended them to go and relieve guard at the
palace gate (Fig. 61). On the front of the central landing-place
are two groups of guardsmen of four each; they walk towards
each other, or, rather, they watch over the shield whereon the
king was to affix his signature and proclaim his belief, but which,
for some unexplained reason, was left blank. The field here
is divided into two sections. In the next flight, however, three
rows of figures appear on either side of the stairs; on the left
are the king’s attendants, serving-men who drive his chariots
and lead his horses, courtiers, doryphores, and the like; on
the right, personages of a more varied aspect, clad in their
national costume, the various people of the empire, bringing or
leading, as a token of fealty, rare grains, fruit, and native
animals. Of the upper row of figures their lower extremities
alone remain, but they suffice to show that they were in every
respect similar to those that filled the other bands. Except
towards the top of the basement the sculptures are well pre-
served everywhere. The theme which, owing to its greater
proportion and high relief, attracts attention most is that which
appears in the spandrils of all the stairs, both at each extremity
and on either side of the central projection they present to the
spectator; in these compartments statuary has represented the

1 SpreGEL, Die altpersischen Keilinschriften, p. 63.. The only one of these
tablets that has been filled contains a text in the (old) Persian language; the
other two tablets, intended for the Assyrian and Susian legends, were never
inscribed.
300 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

combat of the lion and a bull, or rather the victory of the lion
over the bull. The height of the latter is about two metres,
whilst the figures in the divisions of the principal field are very
much below life-size, being no more than 2 (English) feet ro
inches. The parapet of the wall to which this rich decoration was
applied has entirely disappeared ; a number of fragments, however,
lie on the ground exactly where they fell; hence a certain recon-
struction is not only possible, but by piecing them together exact
measurements may be and have been taken, and it is found that
the crowning member was 3 m. 50 c. in height (Plate IV.).

One approaching the platform by the stairs leading from the
plain sees rising immediately before him an imposing group of
thirteen columns, loftier than those of the Propylaa (Fig. 149).
There is but one voice among those to whom it has been given to
visit these scenes, as to the effect produced on them by these tall,
massive shafts, standing as beacons on that deserted plateau, to
point the site where once stood Persepolis to the traveller at a
distance. When the astonishment of the latter has somewhat
subsided, and from the stupendous height of these great. stone
trunks, he lowers his eye to the ground, he perceives a number
of bases or stones which mark the site of others; he then tries
to understand the arrangement of the building, and ere long
he grasps the fact-that in the middle of the platform rose a
cluster of thirty-six columns, arranged in sets of four and one to
follow, whilst in front and at the sides were other three series
of twelve each. All these colonnades correspond with each other,
yet each is distinct, with a physiognomy of its own, and features
that serve to distinguish them from one another. In height the
columns are all 19 m. 40 c.; the distance between them, measured.
from axis to axis, is nine metres; but no two groups have the
same capital. This consists of brackets and volutes in the front
porch and the central ranges, and belongs, therefore, to the most
complex type (Fig. 32), whilst the simplest device Persian art
has applied to this architectural member is seen at the sides. If
in this respect the lateral colonnades resemble each other, they
were not copied on the same pattern ; for a unicorn surmounts the
shaft on the right side (Fig. 31), and a bull on the left-hand
side (Fig. 150). Again, the capitals of the columns of the central
hall and those of the front porch are certainly alike, but their
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FIG. 149.—View of remains of hypostyle hall.
Tue HypostyLeE Hatt or XERXES. 303

 

bases (Fig. 150, to the left), whereas the type of the order exhi-
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Fic. 150.—Capital and base of column to the westward. Base of column of central pavilion.
FLANDIN and Coste, Perse anctenne, Plate XCII.

150, on the right, Plate V.). The base consists of a plinth,
shoe, and the torus of all Persian bases. Plinth and base are cut
in one stone, resting upon a block 3 m. 50 c. at the side; many
304 History or 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 axis on the remaining columns at the
extremities, is 13 m. 4o c. distant from the edge of the platform.
A line drawn between the two mutilated 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 Propylea? 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 are found the marks of thirty-six columns, spaced
equidistant from one another, as in the west and east porches. Four
columns are still extant in the latter and five in the former.

The next monument will not require long or elaborate 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 supported 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. 148).
Tue HyrostyLte Hay or XERXES. 305

 

We have described, after the most exact of witnesses, all that
exists of the magnificent buildings of Xerxes, and noted par?
passu the dispositions that are still to be read on the ground.'
These, no matter how patent and clear, are not enough for us; at
least, they do not seem adequate in every instance to tell us how
to represent the building. The colonnades were certainly roofed
in; for the beds cut in the capitals, between the heads of the bulls,
could have no other use save to carry wood architraves; but if
the structure was covered, was it walled as well, either throughout
or in parts only? With any other architecture but that of Persia
the question would not even be asked; and from the fact that
no trace of walls is found we should at once conclude that
none were built. Here, however, the case is somewhat different,
inasmuch as we have proofs that thick walls of not a few Persian
edifices have entirely disappeared. Those walls were brick, and
in the course of time unbaked clay turns to dust, whilst baked
bricks are re-used in new buildings. When, therefore, we have
to deal with Persia and the reconstruction of her edifices we
may boldly put a wall at a given point, though no signs of it are
visible. Are we justified to take so great a liberty in this
instance? We wot not, and here follow our reasons.

If in the remains of the royal buildings grouped about the
Persepolitan platform we no longer find vestiges of the massive
walls that once surrounded the state-rooms, their tracing is indicated
by the stone ante of the fagade in which the doors and windows
of the structures were enframed. Between nearly all the door-
ways are still the marks of the foundation stones which once
carried both door-cases and the brick masonry which connected
them (Figs. 14, 21). The very peculiar and strange aspect
of the Persepolitan ruins is chiefly due to this mingling of
elements, some of which have maintained themselves nearly intact
everywhere, whilst others are represented by the voids they have
left behind. It was a mode of construction familiar to the Persian
architect from the day of Cyrus, and applied at Persepolis to every
style of building, whether Propylza, palaces, or throne-rooms.
The only exception to this general rule is found in the hypostyle
hall of Xerxes. The ground between the central colonnade and
the lateral porches, where walls might be supposed to have been,

1 FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, pp. 81-102.
2 Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 474-479.
306 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

is everywhere naked and smooth. The four blocks, arranged in
sets of two, which stand between the front porch and the side
of the hall turned towards the stairs, are all that is left of its
dispositions in this region (Fig. 148). These, however, are no
more than substructures, the undefined character of which will
lend itself to any conjecture. It would be vain to seek here, at
those points where, by analogy with other Persepolitan buildings,
we should expect to find remains of those lofty pillars of limestone
which everywhere play the part of ante. Nor is there aught to
induce the belief that doors, niches, or windows, foundation stone,
lintel, or carved panel ever existed here ; whilst traces of sub-
structures made of materials of great size, forming the continuous
base of the stone wall between these minor buildings, are equally
non-extant. This the plans, pencil sketches, photographs, new and
old, that have been made of this part of the esplanade plainly show.’

1 In this respect Téxier (Plates XCIII., XCIV.) and Coste’s plans (Plate XC.)
are in perfect agreement ; so is the “‘ photogrammetrical plan” of honest, minute, and
scrupulously exact Stolze, obtained, he says, by means of more than three hundred
clichés taken with the photographic theodolite of A. Meydenbauer (Plates CKLVIII.-
CL.), in which is reproduced every vestige of structures, every roughness of the
ground. Two photographic views in this same collection, representing the ruins
of the hypostyle hall under consideration, exhibit a number of bases and fragments
of shafts, but not the remotest trace of door or window. It is the same in Dieu-
lafoy’s panorama (L’ Art antique, tom. ii. Plates VIII.-XI.). I find nothing against
these witnesses except the note-book of Dieulafoy. To judge from a sketch he
obligingly put at my disposal, there would be remains of a window between the main
and eastern colonnade. But we may remark that in the chapter dealing with the
edifices of the Takht (/vc. ci¢., li. 3), he has made no mention of having observed the
said window ; yet it was a discovery of no mean importance, since it was of a nature
to raise grave objections against Coste’s mode of reconstructing the edifice. There
is more; the notes dotted down in his diary are not reproduced, at least with
precision, in the general plan of the Takht (Plate II.). In it Dieulafoy puts indeed
two openings, but they are between the central cluster and the right wing, whilst
the opposite side, where, according to his diary, there should be a window, is left
blank. Silence and discrepancy such as these between data obtained on the spot
and a restored plan made at home make one suspect that the vestiges Dieulafoy
noticed were so faint as to have counselled reticence. He cannot be offended,
therefore, if we make no more of them than he has done himself. Photographs
and plans indicate all the substructures situated behind the front colonnade. How
are we to credit everybody having failed to see remains of an opening in the eastern
porch akin to those of the other buildings on this same esplanade? Appearances
may have deceived Dieulafoy, and caused him to attribute a character, to certain
traces, hurriedly dotted down, which could not stand the test of narrower inspection.
The traces he discovered may represent.a podium, intended to carry an altar or
figures—some disposition, in fact, of which we know not the use. What leaves no
Tue HyrostyLE Hat oF XERXES. -307

 

The stones of frames and pillars, it has been said, may have dis-
appeared, taken away to the last stone by the villagers. But how
can we explain the fact of the pillagers having singled forth this one
structure and spared all the rest ? If a dead set was made against
the ruins of Persepolis, would not traces of these ravages be found
about the other royal houses? Yet the Palace of Darius, which is
contiguous to the hypostyle hall of Xerxes, has all its ante and
frames intact; whilst a few steps farther, no less than forty door-
cases are ranged in almost perfect order around the Hall of
a Hundred Columns. Will it be urged that as the hypostyle
hall was on the very edge of the platform, it was plundered first ?
But in that case why not have begun with the Propylza almost in
touch with the stairs? Here, however, the huge stones that
formed: the jambs of the doorways are still in place. Besides,
would a distance of some hundred yards or thereabouts have
been a serious obstacle to rustics bent upon removing materials
from the platform? Admitting they carted away what was nearer
to hand, can we suppose their having confined their depredations
to this one edifice ?

The total disappearance of ante and stone frames from the
hypostyle hall is, then, highly improbable; its antze and stone frames
would doubtless have been of greater dimension than either those
of the Palace of Darius or the Hall of a Hundred Columns. If
it should be deemed necessary to puta wall between the inner and
the lateral colonnades, on the only model which seems appro-
priate in a restoration of the Hall of a Hundred Columns, we must
suppose a building wherein brick had not only furnished the
material for the walls strictly so called, as in Chaldza, but doors,
windows, niches, and ante as well; in fact, a structure wholly
destitute of stone, where, as a natural consequence, sculpture
would have no place.

That the hypostyle hall of Xerxes was a queen among the
other monuments of the platform, is shown in the imposing
adjustment and the wealth of ornament displayed about the stairs
by which it was approached, the extent of the ground it covered,
the exceptional height and magnificence of its quadruple colon-
nade. Can we seriously imagine that an arrangement employed
everywhere else with signal success, was abandoned in the one

doubt in the mind of the observer is that continuous substructures, window and
door frames, are conspicuously absent.
309 History or Arr in AnTIQUuITY.

 

’

edifice “ which was the pride and glory of Persian architecture ;’
that it lacked stone ante and frames, that is to say materials of
great size, which would not only endow the building with an
air of solidity, but lend themselves well to the chiselling of
profiles frankly and boldly salient in a fashion not to be obtained
from brick, providing at the same time large fields for the sculptor
where the sacred image of the monarch might be repeated under
various semblances? Of all the hypotheses that could have
been adduced, it is about the most improbable, and in direct
opposition to what we know of the habits of the Persian builder,
and, above all, the ideas we have gathered during our survey of the
preserved parts. Then, too, beside the great sculptured pages
that extend down the sloping sides of the stairs, along bases,
enormous shafts, and superb capitals boldly carved in the finest
stone that could be extracted from the flanks of the hill, how
poor and clumsy would a flat mud wall have looked, no matter
how rich and gay the colours with which it had been clothed.
Again, the hollows and entrances to the monument would have
been mean and poor when compared with the amplitude and noble
aspect which the companion buildings owe to the stone member-
ing and the firm accents of the bas-reliefs with which the door-
frames are embellished.

The balance of evidence, then, is that no wall ever existed here
akin to that of the Hall of a Hundred Columns, with stone ante,
side-posts, and lintels of the same material ; nor was there a brick
wallaround it. This, though its disappearance might be accounted
for, would have been incongruous in the general conditions of
Persian architecture, more especially in an edifice whose existing
remains testify to the care and luxury bestowed upon it. It
behoves us, however, to test, as an arithmetician would say, the
operation by which the above result has been obtained. We
subjoin the restored plan of Fergusson (Fig. 151), so as to enable
the reader to follow our argument. Reference to it will show that
between the principal and minor colonnades he places a wall whose
extremities at the four corners project, ante fashion, on the small
sides of the porches; these are all made to open outwardly so
as to form porticoes or covered walks on three sides of the
building. This arrangement, reproduced with slight variations by
Dieulafoy in his reconstruction of the great palace at Susa, is open
to grave objections. In the first place, it has not the advantages
Tue HypostyLE Hatt oF XERXES. 309

 

of a continuous peristyle, as would a perypteral temple, which
may be walked round under cover; in the second place, it yields
receding angles between the ante of the porches in the fagade,
the appearance of which is most disagreeable. To fill up these
recesses Fergusson has imagined here chambers for which there
is not the slightest authority on the site ; and, more than all, the
configuration of the ground tells dead against the hypothesis of a

 

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Fic. 151.—Restored plan of hypostyle hall. After FERGUSSON, Hist. of Architecture, 2nd edition,
vol, i. Fig. go.

place enclosed by walls. These details, however, are completely
ignored and passed over by him. Look well at the plan of the
ruins as they now are (Fig. 148), and you will perceive marks of
drains, whose existence has been referred to a few pages back.
Now, in the reconstruction proposed by Fergusson, these drains
run right under the line of his side walls, between the central
pavilion and the lateral porches ; a strange oversight on the part
of the architect thus to undermine his own work. As the channels
must have carried off the surplus water from the roof of the
building, a heavy fall of rain would have caused them to overflow
with disastrous effect on the foundation wall. Besides, how were
the pipes, stretching for a distance of some seventy yards, to be
310 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

kept in order?! Why, of all the palaces, should the largest and
finest have been picked out for the express purpose, as it were, of
having its constructions imperilled by so ill advised a mode of
drainage ?

Study of the ground suggests yet another remark. In the
hypothesis which forms the subject of our discussion, the porches
have walls at the farther end and at the inner sides. The sole means
of communication between them and the central room are a few
doorways pierced in the back wall; circulation then flowed towards
the exposed faces, which, being free and open, permitted the
surging crowd to walk in comfort and at their ease between the
widely: spaced pillars, without let or hindrance. This was all very
well for the eastern and anterior porch ; for in front of this stretched
a terrace spacious enough for a double line of visitors to have
moved at their ease. But the interval between the edge of the
platform and the west portico was barely a yard wide; the least
pushing would thrust the surging crowd against the parapet and
cause a blockage. If, on the contrary, we suppose the sides of the
central pavilion to have been open, narrowness of space on the
opposite side will not signify ; access to and exit from the hall
would be found in the avenue, more than twenty metres wide,
interposed between it and the lateral colonnades.

The central pavilion is universally recognized as a throne-room,
where, on stated days, the king received the homage of his subjects
and foreign ambassadors. Some idea of what such a reception must
have been may be gained from an Indian durbar. The monarch,
seated on an elevated stage, was for the nonce the d@zez solezl upon
whom all eyes were riveted. The greater the number of people
that found accommodation within the precincts, and who could thus
catch a near or distant glimpse of the august face, usually hidden
from vulgar gaze, the better did the building fulfil the function for
which it had been erected. In our opinion Fergusson’s restoration
would but imperfectly have done this. The veil of lofty walls
would effectually have excluded all those that were not lucky
enough or bold enough to push their way into the hall; nor could
the phases of the ceremony have been witnessed from the door-
ways, since one only on each face was in a line with the throne.
As to the people congregated in the side porticoes, they would, of

1 As our general pian is on too small a scale to show Flandin and Coste’s
tracing (Perse ancienne, Plate LXVIL.), it has been left out.
Tue HypostytE HALt or XERXES. 311

 

course, see nothing of what was going on inside the pavilion.
Hence the space they cover, which is about two-thirds of the ground
occupied by the building, would, in a manner, have been thrown
away.

A critical analysis of what may be termed the “ walled system ”
has brought us round to Coste’s solution of the problem, the general
principle of which we have adopted, whilst reserving to ourselves
the right of modifying and perfecting it in more than one particular.
Agreeably with Coste, then, there would be no enclosure, strictly
so called, between the central and the three other colonnades; a
simple balustrade, breast high, sufficed to divide off the various
sections of the building, and to keep the classes quite distinct. In
this manner not only would the honoured guests gathered in the
great hall see the king on these festive occasions, but the people
about the minor porticoes would witness the imposing scene as
well, and see their monarch surrounded by his personal attendants
and the great nobles of the realm. The king from his lofty seat,
situated in the middle of the room, would look down upon every
head, and could thus descry the humblest and meanest of those
present, clustering about the last rows of pillars. These, hung
with curtains or awnings, fixed by a light wooden frame, would
give a welcome shelter to those grouped about the colonnades ; for
the roof was much too high to screen the spectators against the
sun. The situation occupied in our restoration by this light and
movable veil, better than aught else defines the difference between
ours and Fergusson’s plan. In the latter the porches look on the
open; in the former, however, they are turned the other way about
—they all face the royal pavilion. There is but one point of diver-
gence between the minor colonnades. That which rises behind the
stairs was to serve as passage to the throne-room as well; three
wide doors have been pierced in the wall, and over them drapery,
regulated by pulleys, rises and falls like an ordinary fortiére of
modern Persia (Plate X. and Fig. 128).

It may be objected that naught resembling these open porticoes
occurs either in Egyptian or Assyrian art; but Persian culture,
which borrowed certain elements from its predecessors, is distin-
guished by arrangements that are peculiar thereto, one of them
being that which we think we are justified in introducing in the.
reconstruction of the Palace of Xerxes. Anybody having doubts
on the subject need but glance back at the Propylea on the
312 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

esplanade ; each constitutes a porch which is not in touch with the
wall, being no more than a passage. But in their character of
colossal gateway, four pillars were sufficient support to the roof.
In the lateral porches, however, their number is twelve. Except-
ing for this, the principle is identical.

The great difference observable between the Palace of Xerxes,
as we have restored it, and the Hall of a Hundred Columns, though
apt to startle at first, is precisely as it should be. No inscription has
been preserved of the latter, from which to date this anonymous
building, but it certainly was a reception room also, walled on all
its faces, with a porch-like colonnade in front (Plates VII., VIII,
and X.). As to which of the pair was built last need not be dis-
cussed here, but was it likely that so great an effort would have
been made for the sole purpose of repeating, ona different scale and
with slight variations, an old and familiar theme? Is it not more
natural to suppose that the younger architect wished to create a
work that should offer a new aspect? The Hall of a Hundred
Columns is but an enlargement of the hypostyle hall, around which
chambers are distributed (Fig. 13). The pillared building, how-
ever, raised on the verge of the plateau by the order of Xerxes,
belongs quite toa different type ; if its dimensions are exceptionally
large, if its size is prodigious and its ornamentation liberal, it is
none the less a kiosk.

The ground itself shows but one instance which might be taken
to favour the hypothesis we traverse. Midway between the front
porch and the principal colonnade are four blocks of masonry
spaced like the pillars. If good reasons were to hand, for supposing
this to have been a walled structure, there is no doubt that these
same blocks stand in the situation generally occupied by the
main doorways. To those, however, who like us have been led to
form a totally different estimate of the arrangement of the palace
there is no difficulty in making out the use to which the foundation
stones were put. We may, then, recognize them as the remains of
pedestals, separated by wide spaces in gateway fashion. Along
with Coste, one is tempted to put colossal bulls on these pedestals,
which, agreeably with Oriental tradition, both here, at the Propylea,
and the Hall of a Hundred Columns, acted as sentinels about the
doorway.’ Nor is this all. As these bulls were not set up against
a wall, they ought to have been executed in the round, and not in

1 FLanpbIN and Coste, Ferse ancienne, Plate CXII,
Tut HyrostyLE Hatt oF XERXES. 313

 

high relief as in the other edifices. Curiously enough, in the ruins
of another palace on the esplanade a great fragment of a figure of
this description has been discovered (Fig. 152).'_ The dimensions,
it must be owned, are certainly much below what would have been
requisite for images placed in front of the pavilion, in order to
bring them in harmony with the proportions of pillars and capitals
around, At Hamadan (Ecbatana) there is a lion which in its
terribly mutilated state is still four metres long. These two
specimens are enough to prove that work in the round was not
beyond the capacity of the Persian sculptor.

So far we have accounted for the reasons which have guided
us; it remains to add a few explanatory. remarks to enable the
reader to understand the plates where the whole of our restora-
tion is figured. To take them in their order of succession, Plate IV.
shows the geometrical
elevation of the palace,
from which the front
porch has been left out,
because its pillars, being
in the same line as those
of the main colonnade, wu)
would have covered and ,fiG,152._Fregmentf bull Length 1. g9 6,
concealed them. We
have also refrained from restoring the bulls to which reference
was made above, for the simple reason that no data exist as
to their shape and character. As to the parapet whereon stood
these decorative figures, it is hidden by the basement of the
parapet. It will be noticed that our arrangement of the pillars
in the central hall is one of four, leaving one pillar out of every
five. We have placed this residuum in a single row around
the hall, thus bringing all its faces in harmony with the minor
colonnades at the sides and front (see Fig. 153). The ex-
tremities of the main facade are crowned with a bull capital, the
animal being represented full face and not in profile, so as to
obtain part of the relief out of the entablature and strengthen the
angles of the building. In this fashion we get very nearly the aspect
which antz would have,-albeit procured by different means. The
idea of fortifying the corners by stretching the device of the capital
on to the entablature was sometimes resorted to by Greek architects

1 FLanpDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plates CXXX., CKXXV.

 
314 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

for the side pillars of their Ionic arrangements,’ though, as a rule,
their forms are widely different from those of the Persian builder.
There is no difficulty here in getting exactly what we require, in-
asmuch as with the cruciform brackets the group of semi-bulls de-
scribing a quarter round could be turned at will, and, no matter the
situation assigned thereto, its mutual relations with the middle
section would not be disturbed. The beams that jut out from the
roof seem to bear on the neck of the bulls; in reality they rest on
the small cushion placed between the heads of the animals. The

 

Fic. 153.—Plan of capitals of the central and side colonnades.

pieces composing the timber frame cross each other at right angles
and project far beyond the vertical line of the columns. This is
no more than a bolder application of the corbel process, the use of
which imbues the coverings of modern Persian edifices with so
peculiar an aspect.’

The composition of the timber roof has already been explained

1 Cu. Curriez, art. “Colonne” in the Dictionnaire des antiguités of Daremberg
and Saglio, p. 1342.

® Reference to Coste’s restoration (Perse ancienne, Plate CXII.) will show that the
situation of the capitals on the anterior face of the lateral porches is exactly like our
own, and, like our own, they are figured facing, in imitation of a corner pillar still
in situ.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Ch Chiprez del Darn hourgez cbhromolith
 
Tue HypostyLte Hatt or XERXES. 315

 

by a diagram showing each and all its elements (Fig. 27). A
liberal revétement of enamelled clay, of metal, and perhaps ivory
covered all its faces. It was a foregone conclusion that embattle-
ments and a lion frieze must be made of terra-cotta, out of which
they could be so easily fashioned. We have the authority of the
rock-cut tombs for the situation we have assigned to our dory-
phore frieze (Fig. 70), whilst the enamelled tiles constituting it
have come out of the recent excavations at Susa (Plate XI).
Then, too, enamelled clay has furnished the materials for the image
of Ahura-Mazda, which we have borrowed from the central landing-
place, and figured at the top of our edifice, where the huge open
wings of the god spread right and left over the palace, as if to take
its inmates under his safeguard. Metal plaques may have been
applied to the uucovered ends of the joists to protect them against
the weather, whilst bronze rosettes, enframing the heads of iron
clamps, were profusely distributed all over the surface. The wood
was painted throughout, and required re-doing pretty often, for the
ancients did not use oil for the purpose. Its preserving qualities,
which far outweigh coats of paint, were unknown to them.
Internally, the lower face of the loft, or ceiling, was embellished
in the same style and as liberally as the vertical face. The nature
of the materials employed and the mode of putting them together
involved division of surface arranged in compartments. As here
timber would not be exposed to outside damp, metal was less
necessary, or at least had not the same part to play. If introduced
in decorations where grounds were tinted and the main lines
put in with the brush, it was to heighten the contour of the painted
panels, or bring out the central part. The general character of the
wood-panelling is well seen in Plate VI.; a diagram shows that a
distinct and special disposition was adopted for the centre of the
hall, where the prince is seated with the great nobles around him
(Fig. 154). There the ceiling is slightly raised, and completely
covered with gold or silver laminz, whose sheen is in excellent
harmony with the elevated stage and the royal throne placed upon
it. An idea of this sacred stage may be gained from that which
appears towards the top of the frontispiece of the rock-cut tomb
at Naksh-i-Rustem and the sacred mount behind Persepolis (Fig.
112). The traditional stage, as stated some few pages back, has
survived in Persia; on state occasions the shah gives audience
seated on a ¢Zakhi, as it is now called (Fig. 155). If the forms of the
History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

316

 

modern exemplar lag far behind the noble purity which the Perse-

 

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Fic. 154.—The hypostyle hall.

politan sculptor knew how to impart to his figures, the principle is

Here and there, lions and caryatides support the royal

identical.
Tue HypostvLeE Haiti or XERXES. 317

 

seat, figures making up a design whose oldest examples are found
in Assyria. Above the throne we have placed a sumptuous and
ample -canopy of broidered work (Plate IV.), furnished from that
which the artist has chiselled about the doorways of the Hall of a
Hundred Columns (Fig. 156). Considered as a whole, the central
pavilion, as we have restored it (Plate V.), is no more than this
same canopy enlarged. The two slender uprights of metal or gilt
wood have been turned into a vast grove of gigantic pillars, the
ceiling they uphold and maintain in mid-air is placed so high as to

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Fic. 155.—The throne of the shah. FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse anctenne, Plate XXXII.

make details adorning it barely perceptible to the naked eye; none
the less this enormous wood loft plays here the part of the small
square pieces to which was nailed the light drapery of the royal
awning, and which attendants carried whenever the king took his
walks abroad, so as to spread it over his head if it should please
him to rest awhile. These hangings must have assumed colossal
proportions in the throne-room. In the upper part of the entab-
lature modillions were distributed around the building, whose
salience beyond the columns was inadequate per se to screen the
royal person from the burning sun of noon. Hence between
him and the multitudes pressing into the hall, open to the four
winds of heaven, a veil was needed reaching at least down to the
middle of the shaft, which, without intercepting the view, should
318 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

throw the colonnade in deep shade during the warm part of the

   

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Tue HypostyLe Hatt or XERXES. 321

 

day. It was fastened to screw-rings driven in the inferior face of the
architrave, between the capitals. In Plate VI. we were obliged
to displace it and transfer the points of attachment round the
external face of the cross-beams so as to show the ceilings, but the
curtain occupies its right position both in the geometrical elevation
(Plate IV.) and the perspective view (Plate V.). Putting together
our knowledge of Oriental tissues of this nature, derived both from
ancient texts, monuments, and the magnitude of the hollows this
particular curtain would cover, a pretty fair notion of its aspect
may be gained.

Thus the space between the columns is about seven metres ; the
length of the drapery, to look well and fulfil its purpose, must have
been from nine to ten metres and proportionally wide (Fig. 157).
Of course a curtain of this dimension could not be in one piece; this
is proved from the canopy figured a little farther on (Fig. 156), which
plainly shows that the original upon which the sculptor had copied
his was made up of a number of strips joined together, with a long
fringe and tassels sewn upon the lower border. In this instance
the principle was the same, except that many more pieces were
required to reach across the wide intercolumnations. The curtain
is divided horizontally into two pieces, fastened by rings to three or
four rods of metal, themselves firmly fixed by stout screw-rings
driven into the cross-beams of the ceiling and the capitals at the
side. The upper band is no more than loose netting. A number
of narrow open strips of insertion are let in between the vertical
bands of the main piece, and on each side a row of thickly studded
rosettes enframe the figured decoration, the latter consisting of
griffins set in pairs, face to face, with a palmette between them
in true Assyrian fashion. They are “the sacred animals of the
Persians and Susians,” spoken of by a Greek writer as having
been carved about the portals of the Persepolitan palaces.’

The griffin figured here was furnished by a fragment of sculpture
recovered at Athens, and no hesitation need be felt in recognizing
in it a form borrowed from some Asiatic tapestry ® (Fig. 158).
Lions passant had their appointed place both above, below, and as

1 Hist. of Art, tom. v. p. 556.

» Crarac (Musée de Sculpture, Plate CXCV. tom. ii. p. 285) has thoroughly grasped
the character of the bas-relief published by him. I cannot make out why he should
incline to see in it a representation of a banner; the standards of the ancients were
not of woven materials.

Y
322 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

border on the left side; they it is, who along with rosettes and
winged discs, adcrn the bas-relief representing the royal canopy
(Fig. 156). The whole is kept in form by a long feathery fringe
and heavy weights in the shape of flowers (Fig. 157).

These hangings were not intended always to fall straight
down between the pillars, as figured in our restoration; for, as
already remarked, stout pulleys served to regulate them and
shift their position as required. It is not to be supposed that
costly tissues of this description

hS ‘ would be left hanging throughout
ix & os K Aoo\ I the year; moths, damp, and dust
RS ACH KOS ANY would have played havoc with
CY | them and ruined them in no time.
Hence they were taken down when
not needed, and put up again
when the king was expected. The
operation was not an easy one;
yet workmen had to mount higher
to keep the timber roof in thorough
repair, and see that the beds of
beaten earth preserved their in-
cline, in order that the rain water
should flow into the gutters. The
latter are figured in our Plates IV.
and V. in the shape of a bull, an
animal for whom both the architect
and sculptor of Persia had so great
a predilection. Except the slight
incline at the sides, the terrace-
roof was level throughout. As the hall was open on the four
faces, vertical slits in the roof for lighting it were unnecessary.

The Palace of Xerxes was the largest and grandest ever built
by the hand of man, before the use of iron put at his disposal new
resources, The seventy-two pillars supporting the ceilings are
nearly of the same height as the enormous pillars forming the
central nave of the famous hypostyle hall at Karnac. The area
covered by the Persepolitan building far exceeds that of the
Pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty. True, the site occupied by
the central pavilion is but 2500 m. square, whilst that of the
Egyptian colonnade is more than 5000 m.; but if we count

4

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joc.
Tut HypostyLE Hatt or XERXES. 323

 

with the central pavilion, the annexes belonging thereto, e.g. the
three sides and the passages interposing between these and the
throne, it is found that the area covered by the block is no less
than 7500 square metres. There is no Gothic cathedral, ex-
cepting the Duomo at Milan, whose walls embrace so enormous
a space.

When the pile in its pristine state rose in the middle of the
platform, not only was the eye of the beholder astonished at its
stupendous dimensions and massive grandeur, but it must have
been charmed no less by its elegance and the peculiar character
of its fairness. And this, we hope, will be the impression which
the study of our woodcuts will leave; notably the perspective
view, which represents it as it would have appeared to one
standing in the middle of the level directly in front of the great
stairs, midway between the Propylea and the corner of the
Hall of a Hundred Columns (Plate V.).1. No better site could
have been selected for showing the structure under its most
favourable aspect; nor one whence the unity of plan could be
more easily grasped, and the variety of detail it yields in the
elevation be conveyed with greater emphasis. From this point of
vantage, the porticoes make up an exquisite setting for the
imposing mass of the royal pavilion ; they do not unduly obtrude or
mask the building from the spectator—they prepare his mind for
the glorious view which is to follow. The severe simplicity of the
basement, built of enormous blocks of stone, is in happy contrast
with the mouldings of the bases and the richness of the airy pillars,
striated all over with delicate flutes, as well as the mingling of curved
and straight lines and the amazing vigour of contour of the capitals,
and, as if this was not enough, with the deep salience of the entab-
lature wherein metal and enamel add point and sparkle to the
facade. Spread on the floor, stiffened wall-like between the sup-
ports, suspended to the architrave, the fairest tapestries enriched
the picture with variety of forms, brilliancy of hues, relieved by
the grey tone of the stone colonnades. To complete this harmony
were gardens full of trees with every shade of green, through the
openings of which, as in a grove, appeared here a cluster of pillars,
there a long vista of porticoes (Plate IV.). Besides these permanent
elements of decoration there was the movement and stir of the
multitude, which on gala days would throng the colonnades clad in

1 The view is taken from the north side.
324 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

their festive apparel; the uniform of the body-guard ranged around
the throne, the pellucid light toying about their polished arms ;
the gorgeous and magnificent attire of the royal suite. If your
imagination could evoke but for an instant all those figures
sculptured down the side walls of the steps, and deck them in
the colours we know were theirs—from the figured bas-reliefs
discovered at Susa—grouping them at the approaches and the
interior of the edifice, and, put there along with these, the thou-
sands of outsiders that helped to fill the scene, though evanescent,
a vision of such splendour would be called forth as ever human
genius offered to the mortal gaze.

Tue Haut or a Hunprep CoLumns.

If proximity alone were considered, after the great hypostyle
hall, the next building to be visited would be the Palace of Darius,
which stands close to it (Fig. 10, No. 3). But in reviewing the
edifices on the plateau, we have classed them not according to
locality, but the uses to which they were put; hence it is that the
monument which most resembles the one just described rises in
the centre of the platform, covering a space of 6484 m. square.
Its plan is much simpler and lends itself to be easily restored ;
although out of the hundred columns that once supported the roof
one alone remains zz sca. In shape the built surface is a
parallelogram 75 m. 82 c. from east to west, and gt m. 16 c. from.
north to south.’ That the principal fagade was on the north side
is made manifest by two stone pillars which occur in front of the
mass of building, fanked by gigantic bulls akin to those of the
Propylea; whilst bell-shaped bases have been disengaged in the
space interposing between them. These pillars, against which
stood colossi, jutting out beyond them, were no other than ante ;
they formed the heads of the lateral walls of a porch 56 m. long
and 16m. deep. Counting the intervals between the bases, we
get the number of pillars, which was sixteen, arranged in two rows
of eight (Fig. 159). Two great portals open upon the porch. As
you pass behind their veil, some few yards beyond, you become
aware that along four lines of uniform length that cross each
other at right angles, forty-four stone frames, between doors,
windows, and niches, were distributed here, constituting one of

» FLanpin and Coste, Perse ancienne, pp. 119-127.
Tue Hau or a Hunprep. CoLumns. 325

 

the peculiar features of Persepolitan architecture, to which reference
has already been made more than once (Fig. 57). By setting up
in imagination, the original brick wall, 3 m. 25 c. thick, which con-

LA

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Fic. 159.—The Hall of a Hundred Columns. FLANDIN and CostE, Jerse ancienne, Plate CXLIX.

nected these minor buildings with one another, we get the whole
area which it embraced, when close examination of the floor of the
latter will satisfactorily bring home the fact that no bearing-wall
stood here. Of ancient structures nothing remains save frag-
326 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

ments of bases, and when these fail, their foundations; the
intercolumnations are about those of the portico, 6 m. 20 c.,*
measured from one axis to another, whilst all the bases, without
one exception, are uniform in shape.

Even before recent excavations had brought to light a number
of supports which till then had lain buried, their number, amounting
to a hundred, had been made out from the marks of bases left on
the floor. They were distributed in rows of ten each, and upheld
the roof of a square hall,’ whose disposition, if we except.the wall
by which it was enclosed, is identical with that of the central
pavilion of the great Palace of Xerxes. With data of this nature
to go by, it is easy to restore the edifice. There are no diver-
gences of any importance between those that have attempted it
in the past, nor is it likely that, save in points of minor detail, any
will occur in the future, the main divisions being traced by the ruins
themselves. The advantage which our restoration (Plates VII.,
VIII.) has over that of Coste is twofold, in that ampler provision
is made for lighting the hall, whilst the decoration is more in
character with the colossal proportions of the edifice.* Why
should the architect have displayed less magnificence here than in
the other throne-room or in the palace at Susa, where the surfaces
were enriched all over with gay and many-coloured enamels ?

There is no sign or token of porches or chambers around the
edifice ; no other dependency save a portico which forms a kind of
pronaos in front. Its width is less than that of the hall against
which it leans. We have put great panels over its farther wall,
made up of glazed bricks of many hues, so adjusted as to imitate
the forms and aspect of carpets; this we have repeated on the
uncovered face of the wall enclosing the hypostyle hall! Anta
have been distributed, one at each corner of this same wall, in
order that the building should not only look firmer, but in reality
be more solid. They are fluted all over—a mode of embellishment

1 According to Coste, the spacing of the pillars in the hall is 6 m.-1oc.; but,
then, it should be borne in mind that his observations were restricted to a pair or so
of bases which he had disengaged. In conditions such as these a slight discrepancy
is likely to have occurred.

2 The hall, it would seem, is not a perfect square. Teéxier (tom. ii. pp. 178, 179)
noticed a difference of one metre between the sides, whilst Coste sets it down at
fifteen centimetres. :

3 FLaNDIN and CosTE, Perse anctenne, Plate CLIX.

4 Two sides of the wall in question appear in the middle distance of the perspec-
tive view of the Palace of Darius as restored by us (see Plate IX.).
 

 

 

 

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Restored by Ch. Chipic:.

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5 —GEOMETRICAL ELEVATION AND LONGITUDINAL SECTION.

 

HALL OF A HUNDRED COLUMN
Tue Hart or A Hunprep Couns. 329

 

Corresponding with those vertical grooves which the Assyrian
builder made use of to break the monotony of the surfaces of his
great mud walls.‘ As at Shapir, here also are figured, along the
three sides destitute of colonnades, bulls’ heads that project from the
wall frieze fashion, and recall the device of the capitals. Finally,
on the precedent of the bull at Persepolis (Fig. 152) and the
Ecbatana lion, we have set a griffin upon a plinth at the summit
of every anta; for we may reasonably suppose that the Persian
architect introduced decorative figures in the same situation as the
Greek acroteria, the outline of which stood out against the azure
sky. To facilitate the outflow of the throng, which, as soon as the
solemnities were over, would effect a precipitate retreat and cause
a crush in the porch, a private door was pierced in each of the
lateral walls. The only windows of the edifice were in the north
side and looked upon the porch. The entrances of the latter,
wider and loftier than those of the remaining faces, were used by
the king, the courtiers, and ‘the guards forming his retinue. The
sculptures adorning their jambs were naturally more important
than those about the other doorways.’

There are no traces of grooves for doors, windows, or
sockets for hinges; a veil was drawn across them, which was
almost entirely let down during the day, so as to exclude the rays
of the sun (as shown in Plate VII.) or the heated dazzling
floor. It is clear that sufficient light could not have entered
the long aisles from the eight openings, and that some parts would
always have been in deep darkness. We have therefore
slightly raised the roof towards the centre of the building, and
devised rectangular apertures in the timber casing forming the
walls of this kind of lantern. Though small, these slits would
let in sufficient light for an ‘Eastern household. During our
survey of the edifices of Egypt and Assyria, the fact was made
manifest to us that the architects of those countrie$ were particularly
mindful to secure for their apartments an atmosphere considerably
lower than that outside. Hence it is that to attain this result they
were content with a feeble light, even for those interiors most

richly decorated.’

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. pp. 259-263, Figs. 102-197.
2 The width of the four doorways west and east is 2 m. 6c. ; that of the two
south doors is 3 m. 25 ¢.; whilst those of the main facade are 4 m. 3 c. wide.

8 Hist. of Art, tom. i. p. 364; tom. ii, pp. 186-194.
328 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

   

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Fic. 160.—Plan of floor and ceiling. Drawn by Ch. Chipiez.

floor, mace up of stones of different colours, has been conceived
on the lines of that mentioned in the Book of Esther (ch. 1. 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
 

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PERSEPOLIs
THE HALL OF A HUNDRED COLUMNS
PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF INTERIOR
Tue Hari or a Hunprep CoLuMNS. 329

 

cedar, walnut, or cypress has been carried up to the architrave,
the sombre tints of which were married to the radiant hues of
metal and ivory. Everywhere else the lower portion of the wall
is covered with tapestry, whilst above three rows of squares of
enamelled clay, frieze-like, repeat the scenes and the groups which
the chisel has carved on the stone of the stairs and the Persepolitan
gateways.

It has been shown that Persian art is distinguished by a module,
that is to say, a correspondence more or less defined between the
various parts of the building... Hence, although the columns are
all broken or overturned, it has been possible to arrive at a suffi-
ciently near estimate respecting their height. The bases measure
1 m.75 c.,and the shaft is 94 centimetres in diameter.* Adopting
the proportions yielded by the Propylea and the hypostyle hall
of Xerxes, we get a column of close upon 11 m. 50 c. in height.
We need not hesitate to place here the most complex capital,
that which inserts inverted bell, brackets, and basket between
the shaft and the crown. Fragments of all these members have
been found among the ruins.®

Our perspective view of the interior (Plate VIII.), a section
effected behind the first row of pillars, is intended to show forth
the effect the building would produce upon the visitor when,
raising the veil, he stood at the threshold and allowed his eye to
travel down the aisles, in and out of those hundred columns,
arranged in sets of five each. The impression he then received
would be of so deep a nature as never to be effaced. Excepting
Karnac, there is no building in the ancient world which enclosed
so vast an area as this, one whose roof was upheld by so many
pillars, or the splendour of whose decoration was in better
correspondence with the enormous dimensions.* At once sur-
prised and entranced, his eye looked down upon those long files of

1 Hist, of Art, tom. v. pp. 458-460. * Coste, manuscript.

8 In the view of the ruins engraved by Coste (ferse ancienne, Plate CXLVIII.)
are the fragments of the member which we have juxtaposed with the head of a palm,
a member likewise seen in the foreground of two photographs published by Stolze
(Plates LIII., LXVIII.). This same collection contains a fragmentary bracket
outwardly curled into volutes (Plate LXVII.). Coste (doc. cit., p. 121) had already
declared the existence of volutes.

4 The hypostyle hall at Karnac has a superficies of 5702 square metres, and the
number of its columns is 134. The surface occupied by the Persepolitan throne-
room is 4225 metres. :
330 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

 

white trunks which rose upwards with so bold an air to meet the
roof; then, as he lowered it to the floor, or raised it towards the
capitals and the ceilings, it beheld none but soft rich tints which the
subdued light, falling from above, had fused into a marvellous
harmony and graduated into dark shades in the distant parts of
the hall. The play of light and shade changed with every hour
of the day with the rise and fall of the curtains, but, though the
aspect varied, the edifice was not robbed of its depth, one would
be tempted to say its immensity, could the expression be applied
to a work made by human hands.

Juxtaposition and comparison of this structure with the hall
where Xerxes has affixed his signature lead to the inevitable
conclusion that it was also an audience, a throne room. Resem-
blances between the two edifices strike the beholder from the first.
The same materials were used in both to raise a pavilion over the
head of the monarch, whilst the columns constituted arrangements
that were precisely similar. Nevertheless there are marked
differences. The Hall of a Hundred Columns covers a more
extensive area than the central pavilion of the other palace.
As already observed, however, the latter, considered in its
entirety, with the porches flanking it, is far greater; but though
it occupies a wider surface, it counts but seventy-two instead
of a hundred columns, a deficiency made up by loftier pro-
portions. The Palace of Xerxes is carried by a platform which
raises it and adds to its importance; nothing of the kind occurs
here; there are no differences of level involving monumental
stairs, turned to so splendid a purpose by the builder. The floor
of the edifice rests on the second esplanade, somewhat apart from
the other palaces, so that the open space surrounding it shows off
its dimensions to good advantage. Here as there, sculptor and
architect have united and joined hands in impressing upon the
mind an idea of the power and quasi-divine majesty of the
sovereign; but the sculptures which elsewhere adorn the basement
are carved here on the body of the edifice—they embellish the
jambs of the portals. As the field where they appear is dif-
ferently shaped, the bands shorter and vertical instead of being
horizontal, the figures are fewer, and assume a different air
altogether; and colossal images jut out from the heads of the
walls. This result is due to divergence of the architectural scheme
adopted by the authors of the rival buildings—difference between
Tue Hatt or A Hunprep Co.tumns. aa7

 

a walled saloon and an open kiosk. Which of the two was fairest,
dearest, and most admired by the sons of Achzemenes? It is
not easy to say; in order to give a discriminating vote it had
been necessary to see the pair of edifices in their pristine state,
clothed in their ample and rich decoration. All we durst affirm
is that the conception of the architect of Xerxes bears off the
palm for originality and strangeness of aspect over that of his rival.

The fact that the plan of the Hall of a Hundred Columns is
similar to that of the royal edifices at Pasargade, the difference
being solely one of size, inclines us to believe—in the absence of
historical or epigraphic data—that the monument is older than
the audience hall of Xerxes. The arrangement of the latter
is more complicated, and it is a trite remark to make, that
art proceeds from the simple to the complex. Nor should the
height of the pillars be left out of the reckoning. Columns to
which an altitude of some twenty metres had been allotted in one
reign were not likely to be shorn of nearly half that height in the
next; the existing sovereign would be loth to appear less daring
than his predecessor in the matter of supports to his ceilings.
Lastly, the sculptures of the unsigned palace are the finest and
noblest in style at Persepolis, those where execution has been
most carefully attended to. To judge from our knowledge of
other countries, the highest degree of perfection attained by native
art must synchronize with the good administration and the pros-
perity which the empire enjoyed under the reign of the greatest
sovereign of the Achzmenid dynasty, whilst the decay of the
Persian monarchy, which began with the death of Darius, must
ere long have affected even plastic art. The probability, then, is
in favour of the hypothesis which would attribute to Darius the
erection of the Hall of a Hundred Columns. Upon the platform,
composed of solid masses of hewn stone, he selected the site for
building himself not only a (summer ?) palace (of which a restora-
tion has been attempted in Plate IX.), but a spacious winter house
to accommodate him during the months he was wont to spend in
his cradle-land, as well as a hall whose proportions and magnificence
would enable him to show himself to his subjects with a majesty
and in a setting befitting a monarch whom so many millions of
men obeyed, from the banks of the Indus to the borders of the
fEgean Sea. Later, Xerxes, in the fulness of his pride, conceived
the ambitious project of eclipsing his glorious father, of producing
aan History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

a finer and greater architectural wonder than the masterpiece of
the preceding reign. The royal whim gave birth to the hypostyle
hall, with its fair Propylea and portico four times repeated. It is
possible that the Propylea were in imitation of a type invented
by the builders of Darius; for the Hall of a Hundred Columns
seems to have had a monumental avenue situated in front of its
porch. At the distance of some fifty-eight metres from the latter
are ruins which look as if they might belong to a pylon analogous
to the one we have described and restored. At this point are
encountered remains of several courses of masonry, fragments of
pillars, capitals, bulls in high relief, set up against the walls
(Fig. 10, No. 9). In the general view of the Persepolitan
buildings, this porch has been restored from instances furnished by
the structure to which it served as model or of which it was the
copy (Plate X.). As already adverted to, certain portions of the
building are very rudely put together, whence one might be
tempted to conclude that the edifice was never completed.’ If
so, it would involve seeing in it a later addition to the primitive
plan by one or other of the last sovereigns of Persia, when, the
fall of the monarchy having supervened, nothing more was ever
done to it.

There are evident traces that the royal house which Alexander
burnt down at Persepolis, urged thereto, say his historians, by the
courtesan Thais, must have been the Hall of a Hundred Columns.’
The condition in which the shell is found confirms the conjecture.
No other palace has been discovered with so enormous an amount
of rubbish inside, the floor lying under a thick bed of ashes, which
the microscope has revealed to be carbonized cedar.* When the
timber roof, half consumed by the flames, yielding, too, under the
superimposed weight of earth and brick casing, suddenly fell in,
it carried along with it capitals and pillars, the broken fragments
of which have lain undisturbed until the other day.

INHABITED PALACES.

The throne-rooms were reserved for rare occasions, days when
the king showed himself in all his bravery to his people. By the
side of these it was necessary to have dwellings ordained in view

1 FLANDIN and Coste, Perse anctenne, p. 127. 4 PLutarcH, Alexander, xxxviii.
8 SrozE, Persepolis, Bemerkungen,
*XIXX eld ‘syogasaag
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bly ee N INS

aad

 
INHABITED PALACES. 335

 

of carrying on ordinary life, with its needs and pleasures. Abodes
of this nature, to the number of four, perhaps five, seem to have
occupied the southern part of the platform, and in dimensions and
arrangement to have slightly differed from one another. Although
the house, about which the name of Darius everywhere appears,
was by no means the largest, nor even, mayhap, the most pro-
fusely ornamented, we shall adopt it nevertheless as type of
domestic dwelling (Fig. 10, No. 3), for the simple reason that
it is the least injured of all the palaces (Fig. 13). Hence
differences observable between our restoration and those that have
already been published are of minor importance, and bear solely
upon the nature of the decoration and that of the entablature.’

The Palace of Darius is seated upon a platform cv. three metres
above that where Xerxes subsequently erected his prodigious
colonnade. As around the latter, sculptures adorn the retaining
wall and extend along the four ramps, of which two are on the
west and the other two on the south face. Here stands the real
facade—a porch of eight pillars arranged in two ranges, leading
to a hypostyle hall of sixteen columns (Figs. 14, 82, 161).
Front porch in antis, stone doorways and sculptures along their
jambs, niches, and hypostyle hall, are familiar to us from the
exemplar of a Hundred Columns. At first sight, then, one is
inclined to consider it as no more than a reduced copy of the
colossal edifice. Narrower inspection, however, discloses the fact
that a number of rectangular chambers of varying size existed
here. Out of these, two, one on each side of the porch, were
porter and guard rooms, whilst the remaining seven opened upon
the flanks and the farther end of the central colonnade, behind
which two narrow passages may have led outside through openings
pierced in the brick wall. These have disappeared ; what remains,
besides niches recessed in the depth of the wall, are the frames
of hewn stone of doorways, which were certainly not closed by
hangings like the throne-room. On the inner side of all the cases,
at the top, are channellings that can only have served to receive
door-hinges. Right across the topmost stone runs a circular
groove, twenty-two centimetres wide and six centimetres deep,
indicating where the door-pivots were set (Figs. 162-164).

The inner arrangement of this edifice resembles that which

* This is the harem of Téxier, so called, he says, by the natives (Description,
tom. ii, pp. 180, 181); but why it should be so he has not told us.
336 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

obtains to this hour all over the East. Thus the chambers looked

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Fic. 162.—Plan of pier of door-
way. FLANDIN and CosTE,
Perse anctenne, Plate CX VIII,

into the central hall, so as to shield the
inmates against dust, heat, and the dazzling
light on the external side. The sleeping
apartments and banqueting halls must
have been at the end, where the chambers
are independent and spacious. Secre-
taries and personal attendants occupied
in all probability the small chambers
at the sides. That they were of minor
importance is shown from the fact that
they fronted the pillars, and, to a certain
extent, were hidden by them, and not the
intercolumnations, like those at the end.
If we compare the central hall with the

 

   

 

 

   

 

 
 

 

    

   
 

      
    

 

 

 

 

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Fic. sa —Tolevation of doorway. 07d. Fic. 164.—Section of doorway. dd.

gigantic buildings we
appear insignificant.

have just described, its dimensions will

Yet, on those occasions when the king
 

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INHABITED PALACES. 337

 

was loth to repair to either of the great throne-rooms, the hall,
though not grand, had enough of elegance and beauty of form
to serve the purpose of a great monarch for holding /evées and
giving audiences. Here his image, above life size, appeared
everywhere carved in the depth of massive door-frames. Below,
around, and above these sculptures were floors, walls, and ceilings,
decorated in the same taste and as liberally as the larger reception-
rooms. The precious metals and costly woods, ivory and enamels,
curtains of brilliant hues, mingled their severe and gay tints into
excellent harmony.

About the hall and porch not a single shaft is zz ste; and,
stranger still, neither bases, nor drums, nor capitals strew the
floor... All that has been discovered, either by Coste or the more
extensive diggings of the Governor of Shiraz, are foundation-
stones of pillars, composed of irregular blocks which, before the
excavations in question took place, were overlaid by paving slabs.
These substructures show no circular depression or hollow at the
top, either in the vestibule or the central colonnade, to mark the
site of the bases.? Hence the question has been asked as to
whether the pillars were not wood, as those which uphold the
‘Mirrors’ Pavilion” at Ispahan (Fig. 129). By itself the con-
jecture is plausible enough ; nevertheless, timber supports would
doubtless have been more airy than these derived from lime-
stone. Antz, however, tell a different tale, inasmuch as they
yield the same proportion for the shafts supporting the roof of
the porch as in those edifices where the existence of stone columns
cannot be questioned. In the false architecture of the royal tombs
—universally acknowledged as a faithful representation of the
palace facade—the pillars invariably seem to have been copied
upon a stone model ;* hence we have introduced it here, whilst
fully admitting the difficulty of how to account for their total
disappearance.

No trace has been detected of a second story about this

1 Sroize, Persepolis, Bemerkungen.

2 G. Raw.inson, Zhe Five Great Monarchies, tom. iv. p. 260.

The above is the right reference, which I have corrected. In a foot-note Pro-
fessor Rawlinscn says: ‘The non-discovery of any fragment of a pillar is strong
evidence that the supports were not of stone. That those at Acbatana were mainly
of wood, plaited with gold and silver, we know from Polybius (see vol. iii., ‘The

Monarchies,’ p. 20).”—TRs.
3 Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 451, 452.
338 History or Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

or any other Persepolitan edifice. To the present hour Persian
dwellings and palaces have but a ground floor, divided into
apartments, the number of which depends upon the fortune
of the owner. As to the great throne-rooms, their character
excludes the notion of more than one story ; each shell, being a
perfect unit in itself, was in no need of dependencies, so that we
cannot suppose any having existed here. Aught more whimsical
than the restoration of Fergusson, who places a second order of
pillars above the ceilings of the hypostyle halls with a fire-altar
for the king to worship at, cannot well be imagined, and will not
bear the test of close inspection. In the economy of these build-
ings, where was it possible to find sufficient space for a monu-
mental staircase, the flights of which would reach a height of
fifteen or twenty metres, after the fashion of those of the palaces ?
We cannot imagine the monarch clambering up like common
workmen when required to repair the roof or regulate the
hangings.’

Our restoration of the principal facade (Plate IX.) offers, so to
speak, no doubtful elements. This any one can see for himself by
reference to the views of the ruins in their present state, published
by Coste and other explorers.? The crenelations at the side of
our stairs are furnished by fragments recovered among the ruins
of the building (Fig. 60). A frieze, composed of palms highly
conventionalized and characteristic of Persian decoration, adorns
the front of the landing-place (Figs. 65, 66, 69). In the
middle appear the lower extremities of griffins and a winged
globe. The monolith ante at the sides are still extant; one
has preserved its whole height, 6 m. 80 c., and the other is trun-
cated. The finely built basement of large blocks of stone which
carried the wings is still in place up to about the height of the
stairs; it has a slight projection which at the extremities serves
as base to a kind of pilaster. The depth and the traces left
by the porch have already been adverted to. As to the niches
and doorways at the back and the sides of this same vestibule,

1 Fergusson thought enough space could have been left at one side of the building
for a narrow staircase.—TRs.

2 FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plates CXIV.-CXVIIL.; Téxier, Descrip-
tion, Plates CXVII., CXVIII.; Dizutaroy, Z’Art antique, Plates XV.-XVIL.,
XXIL

5 The griffins have seemingly been forgotten.-—Trs.
INHABITED PALACES. 339

 

they are all intact (Fig. 14). The character of the entablature
is determined by the profile of the indentations cut at the summit
of such ante as have preserved their heads, as well as the marks
the bases of the front row of pillars have left on the floor (Fig.
13). By setting up the shafts the real nature of the entablature
is revealed to us; for we then perceive that the position of the
capitals was a good deal behind the beds (whose profile is quite
distinct), whereon rested the beam-heads of the roof. Granted the
relative situation of the summits of the walls and of the supports,
the roof must have jutted out far beyond the pillars, penthouse
fashion; and M. Chipiez’s drawings indicate very clearly the
manner the timber pieces were put together so as to bring about
this result (Figs. 25, 26).". The deep salience observable in the
roof fagade is peculiar to Oriental architecture. Greek temples,
not excepting the most antique, have nothing of the kind.
Conjecture, then, has but a small share in our restoration. If
the central crenelation of the landing-place differs from that at
the side, this was done for the greater convenience of the inmates
of the palace, in order that when they happened to be in the porch
they should be able to lean comfortably against the parapet. A
lion at rest appears at the summit of the monolith ante. The
massive, pilaster-like character of the latter demanded a crowning
member; and reference has already been made to fragments of
figures in the round discovered among the ruins of the Persepolitan
palaces, which must have played the part we have assigned to
them here in the decoration. If the figures under notice are not

* The plan of Dieulafoy (L’Art antique, ii, Plate XIII.) brings out the peculiarity
in question, as well as in that of Coste, which we figured above (Fig. 13); but
Coste did not find out that the penthouse would solve the problem. In the restoration
he has engraved of this building, he has moved forward the columns so as to bring
them on a line with the heads of the walls. Nevertheless, he refrained from modifying
the result reached by tracings and measurements made on the spot, and allowed the
discrepancy between the present state of the ruins and his restoration to remain, so
that we are let into the secret of his inward cogitation and conscientious way of
going to work (see Perse ancienne, Plates CXXI., CXXI. a.).

® Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 710, 711. A curious instance may be mentioned
of a juxtaposition which would help to justify the use we have made of isolated
animal figures, by placing them at the summit of ante or pedestals. A pillar of
Asoka, the famous Buddhist reformer of India, carries at the top the image in round
boss of a lion (E. Soxtp1, Les arts méconnus, p. 326). When Asoka erected his
edifices some two hundred and fifty years before our era, the Persepolitan palaces
had not long been overturned. The frequent and lasting relations existing between
Persia and India throughout the Achemenid period, are matters of common
340 History or Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

indicated in the pseudo architecture of the royal tombs, that is
because their entablature upholds the stage upon which are placed
king and altar. It was purposely simplified and transformed into
a kind of pedestal; its upper limbs had to come away in view
of the special function it was made to fulfil. The brick wall
behind the porch is divided into panels; above appears a frieze
made up of archers, copied on those found at Susa in the ‘same
situation (see Plate XII.). The whole decoration is enamelled
clay. The roof of the central pavilion is raised above that of the
lateral sections. Here are found apartments of less importance
than those in the exterior porch or the hypostyle hall. The crown
is not uniform throughout the building ; for embattlements appear
in the centre, whilst the Egyptian gorge is the mode of finishing
the top at the sides. The restored woodwork presented by
M. Chipiez (Figs. 25, 26) indicates how the shape in question
could be obtained from timber. That crenelations were gilt may
be deduced from the palace at Ecbatana, where all the wood was
covered with laminz of the precious metals.” As to the gorge,
we have repeatedly pointed out that it invariably figures about
doorways and niches, the minor sections of the unit, in all the
buildings at Persepolis. Consequently it will not appear out of
place in wings, which, like these, are of a supplementary and minor
character. The pillars in the vestibule are not striated with
flutings ; it was one way of indicating that the columns of some of
the palaces may have been plain, like those of the pseudo facades
at Naksh-i-Rustem. Despite the simplification, the central edifice,
with its colonnade and portals embellished with sculptures,
preserves a rich and varied aspect; whereas the sole ornament
about the walls surrounding the chambers is obtained from bricks
of different colours set out in geometrical patterns, a mode of
adornment which cost little or no effort to the builder, but which
he found very useful for large surfaces.2 Above this kind of
tapestried decoration, composed of bands bisecting one another,
we have put a figured frieze made up of griffins face to face,
separated by a tree—a device which belongs to “the properties”

knowledge. Part of the basin of the Indus was a satrapy in the reign of Darius.
Through that channel certain characteristic forms of the royal architecture of
Persia may have found their way to distant India, and the remains ot such imitations
might exhibit features no longer current in their models.

* Hist. of Art, tom. v. p. 499. * Ibid. p. 549.
INHABITED PALAcEs. 341

 

of Oriental art. Somewhat higher again, just below the frieze,
are pierced small windows with balustrade-like casement of stone,
so as to show how the architect could introduce a little light into
his apartments, which otherwise would only be lighted through
the door. 5

In front of the palace we have imagined the soil furrowed by
countless rills, masked by plants and shrubs which they feed into
greenness, a contrivance still resorted to in modern Persia to
obtain the equivalent of our lawns, Around the grassy plots are
level walks or paths paved with coloured flags. Towards the right
is seen part of a basin, and in the middle a pedestal with an iron
cage at the top.!| Reference has been made to a reservoir situated
at the entrance of the esplanade, midway between the Propylea
and the hypostyle hall. On the other hand, the bas-reliefs of
Assyria and Egypt tell us that the monarchs of these countries
liked to surround themselves with semi-tamed lions and other
ferz, either let loose in their parks or shut up near the palace.

Over against the basin appears, in its present condition, one of
the flights of the Palace of Xerxes, and upon a pedestal a bull,
whose function in that situation we have explained elsewhere.
The one exemplar we possess of these solitary figures was
discovered among the stones and rubbish of this very building.
A little further again, in the background, we get a side view of
the Hall of a Hundred Columns with its restored walls, and
behind, one of the royal tombs (see Plate 1X.). Palms have
been interspersed in between the buildings. ‘Their airy stem and
elegant head of leaves, better than any other vegetable form,
lend themselves well to be grouped about edifices to the best
advantage of the latter, whilst they serve to bring out their
elevation. Palm trees are no longer cultivated in the plain of
Mervdasht, yet the climate admits of their being grown as
ornamental plants. All they require is a little water at the roots
during the summer months, and a place not open to the wintry
blasts which blow from the north. Of the fondness the Persians
had and still have for trees of fine growth, the pleasure they took
in trying to acclimatize such as were not indigenous, we have
spoken in another place.’

The palace we have just restored and placed in its setting was

1 Pedestal and cage have seemingly been forgotten.—Trs.
2 Hist. af Art tam y, p. 657.
342 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

built by Darius. Of this he has informed us in a number of inscrip-
tions engraved in three languages about window and door frames.’
But Darius was not spared long enough to finish his work, as
we learn from a longer and more important inscription of Xerxes,
which appears on the substructures and the face of a side pillar,”
where he says that he has completed the work commenced by his
father. Finally, a hundred and fifty years later, Artaxerxes Ochus
caused a third inscription to be incised in the front of the western
landing-place, to record his having erected a double flight of
steps here.’ It is not difficult to hazard a guess as to his reason
for having opened a new entrance on that face.

The surface covered by the Palace of Darius, though not
‘exceeding twelve hundred metres, had enough accommodation
for the king in his public character and his immediate attendants,
but it could not have housed his wives, children, and their
numerous attendants. As in other residences, ancient and
modern, of Oriental sovereigns, the harem formed doubtless a
separate block. The writer of the Book of Esther again
and again distinguishes the “royal house” and the “house of
the women” at Susa. This “house of the women” we are
tempted to seek, for Persepclis, at the south-west angle of the
platform. Here remains of a terribly ruinous building are seen,
consisting of fragments of columns, marks of foundation stones,
and juts of walls, along with the lower extremities of figures that
formed the upper row on the face of the flight of stairs, exactly
as in the other staircases (Fig. 10, No. 4). Here, too, are remains
of a landing-place turned towards that of Darius. For the two
edifices faced each other ; each was a pendant to the other, a unit
split into two halves. The isolated situation occupied by these
ruins, at one end of the esplanade, favours the hypothesis that
the harem stood here:

The inscription on the stairs built by Ochus is repeated here
word for word on the substructure, leading to the inference that
the two edifices were erected simultaneously. Of course, Darius
had a harem of his own, the remains of which lie, perhaps, under
the hillock of earth and rubbish east of the palace bearing his
name, and which has not yet been cleared. Ochus had a larger
number of wives, involving a proportionate number of eunuchs

1 Fr, SPIEGEL, Die altpersischen Keilinschriften, 1881, p. 51.
* Tbid., pp. 63, 64. ® [bid., p. 69.
 

 

 
‘INHABITED PALACES. 343

 

to look after them, than his famous ancestor ; hence the ancient
building was not deemed large enough, and one more spacious
and more liberally decorated was built. As during his periodical
Stay at Persepolis he often took up his quarters in the palace con-
nected with the memory of the second founder of the monarchy,
he wished to have a more easy means of ingress to and egress
from the Gyneczeum than had been provided in the former reigns.
To this end he opened a door and made a staircase on the west
side, so as not to be obliged to go round the hypostyle hall and
the porch. Greek historians tell us that the manners of the Persians
underwent a change greatly for the worse from the sixth to about
the middle of the fourth century s.c.

It may, perhaps, be objected that the scenes figured on the
walls of the Palace of Ochus have nothing to distinguish them
from those of other palaces. But it should be observed that the
only bas-reliefs that have been preserved are those over the sub-
structures, and that we know nothing as to what was sculptured
upon the jambs of doorways.

Persian sculpture had but few themes at its disposal, which it
reproduced without ringing a change; so that we should not be
surprised—leaving aside the question as to the use of the building
—if the artist had reproduced here images which his chisel was
accustomed to sow liberally on the face of staircases his master
would ascend, and the portals in and out of which he would pass.

The harem under notice, if it be a harem, was equally near the
block called the Palace of Xerxes, because the name of that prince
is seen in more than one place (Fig. 110, No. 5). After the two
great throne-rooms, it was the largest building on the esplanade,
with a surface of 2120 square metres. It will not require a
detailed description; taken altogether, it is in a much poorer
state than the Palace of Darius, the dispositions of which it repro-
duces, but on a larger scale (Fig. 165). Thus, the front porch
has twelve pillars instead of eight, and the central hall thirty-six
instead of sixteen ;? its chambers, at the sides of porch and _ hall,
are large in proportion, the ceiling of the two principal ones being
upheld by four pillars. The only striking difference resides in
the absence of any apartments at the farther side.

1 FLaNnDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, “Texte,” pp. 110-115.
2 The floor of this building was one with the rock. Roughnesses all over the
stony floor mark the site of columns ; adhering to them are still fragments of bases,
344 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

In order to allow space for a broad terrace in front, the building
was thrown back as far as it would go, so close to the edge of the
platform that the central hall was brought to the very verge of the

 

 

 

 

Fic. 165.—The Palace of Xerxes. Plan. FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate CXKXXT.

sheer descent of the south or lowest terrace. The channel running
under the palace throughout its length should be noticed. The
fact that it branches right and left towards the end of the saloon,
INHABITED PALACES. 345

 

and rapidly sinks after leaving it, seems to indicate a drain (Fig.
166).'. The palace was approached by several flights of steps.
The peculiarity of the southern staircase has already been noticed ;
unlike all the others, which are parallel to the wall of the platform
to which they lead, it is perpendicular to it. The steps are cut in
the rock; there is no parapet and no ornament.

The sculptured decoration of this edifice has nothing to dis-
tinguish it from the general run, except that here the symbolic
combats between king and monsters, that form the sole orna-
mentation of the lateral chambers in the Palace of Darius, are
replaced by figures of attendants carrying napkins, vases for per-
fumes, and the like, a substitution which may be explained by the

   

Wa ae

Fic. 166.— Palace of Xerxes. Longitudinal section through axis of channel. FLANDIN and
' Cosre, Ferse ancienne, Plate CXXXV.

gradual development of sensual enjoyment and love of display in
the court life.

The Palace of Darius faces south, whilst all the other buildings
are turned towards the north, or rather north-west, a direction
naturally preferred in such a climate. This may have been the
reason why Xerxes, dissatisfied with his father’s house, open to
the broad full sunshine, as much courted in winter as it is dreaded
in summer, desired his palace to front north, an orientation which
in that burning zone is by far the most agreeable during the
gneater portion of the year, and would thus enable him to live in
comfort at Persepolis when he pleased.”

1 The existence of the channel in question induced Téxier to give the name of
“ Baths” to the structure. We have pointed out the existence of ducts of this
nature about the hypostyle hall of Xerxes, but no one would dream of ascribing
to the latter such a function. Ducts were required to carry off used water and
tefnee from the domestic dwelling.
* With a little management, Persepolis is not a bad place in which to spend the
gummer. Its situation is 1699 metres above sea level. M. Houssay states that the
thermometer in the month of July marked from 40° to 41° in the shade outside.
346 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

If the use and character of the palaces erected by the two first
kings of the second dynasty may be guessed at from the plan, if
the texts engraved about them leave no doubt as to the name of
the founders, we have no such instances in respect to another
building, the remains of which lie about fifty-five metres from the
eastern wall of the Palace of Xerxes, whilst the total absence of
any inscriptions is not helpful when we try to picture to ourselves its
original appearance (Fig. 10, No. 6).!. The plan is very singular.
The building is half buried in the rubbish which has accumu-
lated at its base (Figs. 24, 167);
nevertheless it is recognized that it
consisted of a porch of eight columns
arranged in two rows, and a hypos-
tyle hall of sixteen pillars, but un-
accompanied by any vestige of lateral
chambers. Like the inhabited palaces,
the central colonnade is not square,
but oblong in shape. If annexes,
the walls of which would have dis-
appeared, are out of the running, then
we must look upon it as an audience-
room, a greatly reduced copy or pro-
totype of the Hall of a Hundred
Fic. 167.—Building on the north-west Colimaile: ore aoe proposed .

side. Fragnrent of door-frame. CONsider this ruinous block as the

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FLANDIN and CostTE, & 1 :
PlateCXLIL "~~ most ancient structure on the plat-
form, the erection of which might
be attributed to Cambyses, or even Cyrus. “Its architecture

is peculiarly grand, with a monolithic character of solidity about
it, and a massiveness of proportion greater than that possessed
by any other edifice on the platform ;* whilst the sculpture has

The heat radiating from the ground a few steps beyond would naturally tell on the
mercury. In the great hypostyle halls of the palaces, furnished with thick walls and
due appliances for keeping off the sun, the temperature must have been at least 10°
or 15° lower than outside. Then, too, the noon heat was compensated by the
delightful coolness of the nights. In the morning the thermometer is not above
15° or 20°.

1 FLanDIN and Coste, Joc. cit., pp. 115, 116.

* In dimension the monument is 18 m. 88 c. by 27 m. 67c, and 15m. 74c,
long and gm. 50c. deep. The total surface it covers is not more than 504 metres.

* Fercusson, Zhe Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis restored, Pp. 131-133.
INHABITED PALACES. 347

 

a higher and bolder relief than anywhere else.!| A main objec-
tion against this hypothesis resides in the fact that the works
on the esplanade do not appear to have been commenced before
the reign of Darius. Moreover, none of the explorers who have
studied the remains of these buildings on the spot have been
impressed with difference of style between them; nor do they
think a considerable space divides one from the other. One of
them goes so far as to affirm that the bas-reliefs of the edifice we
are considering were fashioned by the same hand as those of the
Palace of Xerxes.”

To complete this list, it remains to mention confused traces,
which lie midway between the Palace of Xerxes and the south-west
angle of the Hall of a Hundred Columns (Fig. ro in plan). Here
most certainly stood a structure of some importance, the piers
of which had a mean altitude of 6m. 50c. The mass, however,
is too hopelessly ruined to permit hazarding a guess at the plan
or attempting a reconstruction. More utterly ruined still are the
remains of a porch at the very verge of the terrace, west of the
Palace of Darius. We are equally at sea respecting a hillock
which rises in the plain, at some distance from the south corner of
the platform (Fig. 10). The edifice, now irretrievably destroyed,
was nearer than any other to the villages and their cemeteries.
All that can be made out are the jambs of a doorway, sculptured in
the taste of those of the palaces on the platform, but in so poor
a state as to be undistinguishable. Our view, taken from the
north-west, represents the group of edifices that constituted the
royal residence before the Macedonian conquest and the violent
scenes which accompanied it; that is to say, about the middle of
the fourth century B.c. (Plate IX.). Of course, there were many
more buildings than those we have put in our picture; since,
wherever the platform has not been cleared, are heaps of stone
and rubbish, veritable hillocks as yet unsounded. We have only
undertaken to restore the remains of such buildings as are im-
portant enough to permit of a restoration not altogether based
on pure fancy. Travellers, after due examination of these ruins,
have expressed the opinion that many of them were never
finished. Tablets ready prepared for inscriptions which have

1 This is not so. Fergusson says that “‘its sculptures are identical with those
of the sister edifice.”—-Trs,
2 Srouze, Lersepolis, Bemerkungen.
348 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

never been incised ;* stairs the sculptures of which have not all
been executed ;* whilst elsewhere, towards the north of the great
level, a number of shafts and capitals in an incomplete state lie
scattered about, leading to the inference that constructive works
were actually in progress at more than one point of the platform,
when the downfall of the monarchy put an end to them.®

The Achzemenidz,* as kings of the same family, do not seem to
have been so utterly indifferent to complete the work or keep in
repair the buildings of their predecessors, as the Pharaohs of Egypt,
for example, who struck off the names from sphinxes and temples
of former dynasties that they might write their own: or the
monarchs of Assyria, every one of whom, on ascending the throne,
forthwith had a palace of his own built; when, to go quicker
to work, the old materials, alabaster slabs incised with the exploits
of their predecessors, were re-used. At Persepolis, on the other
hand, Xerxes puts the finishing touches to a palace erected by
his father, and Ochus adds an important part thereto. When
Artaxerxes Mnemon builds a throne-room at Susa, he declares
that he does no more than re-establish in its pristine fairness
a palace formerly raised by the son of Hystaspes. All the same,
despite, too, community of interests openly proclaimed, it is just
possible that when a king died and left works in a state of pro-
gression, delay and suspension may frequently have supervened
during internal turmoils and disturbances brought about by rival
claims to the throne. We are too far removed from the scene of
events to be able to single out what was left unfinished from what
was demolished ; consequently we have supposed all the edifices
which appear in our perspective view as having been complete.

The structures under consideration have been described sepa-

t This is the case in the hypostyle hall of Xerxes (Hist, of Art, tom. v. p. 696,
note 1).

® Stolze reports that the figured decoration about the palaces of Xerxes and
Ochus was left unfinished (Persepolis, loc. cit.).

Ker Porter had also noticed the lacune.—Trs.

* FLANDIN, Aelation, tom. ii, p. 200. Srouze (Bemerkungen, i.) has asked himself
the question whether the pillars intended for the hypostyle hall were all set up
—if there were more than those that are still standing or prone on the ground
He remarks that none but units of small size are used as head-stones in Moham-
medan cemeteries; hence the difficulty in accounting for such masses as these
enormous shafts having disappeared is not easily met.

* To say that “the kings of Persia were all descended from Achamenes” is
obviously a lapsus fenna, which I have left out.—Trs.
INHABITED PALACES. 349

 

rately, making long explanatory notes in connection with them super-
fluous ; plan in hand (Fig. 143), as well as general view, Plate X.,’
it is quite easy to measure the distances interposing between the
various palaces. In it the north face occupies the foreground ; on
the right, a foreshortened view of the basement wall, the pristine
aspect of which is due to its restored parapet, broken off everywhere.
The grand sweep with which it shoots out into the plain brings
home to us how powerful was the master who ordered this work,
whilst the beauty and finish of the workmanship testify to the
technical skill of the masons in his employ. The numerous juts and
curves in the wall break the lines and induce play of light and shade,
imparting thereto something of the picturesque variety—we had
almost said, the life—of the natural rock. Of course, the optical
delusion is but transient, and soon yields before the clever adjust-
ment of the staircase ; in the face of it the beholder realizes that here
stands one of the noblest creations ever achieved by human genius.

Close to the head of the stairs rise the Propylea, turned towards
the hypostyle hall of Xerxes, of which they form the approach.
The latter, proudly seated on its platform, displays its triple
crown of porticoes; one faces the spectator and invites the eye
to look down the vista of its pillars, whilst we catch a glimpse
of the angle of the second and the small side of the third.
Fronting the anterior porch are four masts, akin to those that
stood in front of Assyrian palaces, wooden poles whose exterior
disappears under a metal casing, whilst a banner at the top yields
opportunity for draperies of many hues, gaily floating with the
breeze. Somewhat in advance of these, again, an equal number
of bulls are set up on pedestals. These accessories serve to indi-
cate in what fashion spaces interposing between the structures
could be filled in and embellished. Then, too, the unfailing
presence of trees furnished the means towards the same end; if
we have made but scant use of them, it was for the sake of keeping
the edifices uncovered.

This, the first palace encountered on the esplanade, was that
which, owing to its extraordinary dimensions and originality of
adjustment, must have produced the deepest impression on the:
beholder ; hence the important 7vé/e it fills in our restoration.
The Palace of Darius being turned towards the south, we naturally
obtain but a back view, and even that is partially concealed ;

1 Corrected from the Errata.
350 History or Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

as to the house of Ochus, its ruinous state forbade attempting a
restoration. The Palace of Xerxes, and in its rear the hypostyle
hall, are seen in the background; thanks to the height of the
platform upon which they stand, and the space interposing between
them, the whole facade is displayed to view. On the left—
somewhat apart from the other buildings—upon the central and
highest platform, appears the mysterious pillared hall with porch
in front (No. 6 in plan) ; that which, however, rivets the attention
is the enormous mass of the Hall of a Hundred Columns and its
Propylea, restored upon the model of the other monumental
portal, but turned the other way. We had not the same data
with regard to the building of which scanty fragments have been
noticed between the south angle of the Hall of a Hundred Columns,
and the mounds fringing the group of structures towards the
east (No. 7 in plan), hence the former has been omitted from
our general view ; but as there is but little doubt that the latter
represent the site of ancient buildings, notably the hillock
contiguous to the Palace of Darius, we have allowed conjecture
in this one instance to have its way, and have placed there
an ornamental pavilion surrounded with beautiful trees, a building
analogous to the staged towers of Assyria, surmounted by a kiosk
of wood or metal. From this belvedere, the king at a glance could
take in the palaces he or his ancestors had built, along with
the magnificent panorama of the outlying city, and the verdant
plain hemmed in by a belt of lofty mountains. At the farther
end, in the background, the view was intercepted by the rampart
of hills overhanging the esplanade that served as pedestal
to the monuments grouped about it. In the rocky flanks
of this St. Denis of the Persian monarchs, in touch with their
Versailles, stand out a brace of tombs (Fig. 10, Nos. 10, Fi}
The dark grey of those bare slopes formed a pleasing contrast —
with the manifold splendours of the royal borough, which no
pencil, however faithful or cunning, is able to convey; a deft
brush, aided by the magic of colour, could alone attempt repro-
ducing some of its effects. In order to realize the appearance
the great level offered to Alexander and his amazed companions,
we should have-to restore the elements which infuse so great
a charm and fascination in the modern dwellings of Persia. We
should have to bring gleaming water from the mountains to fill
the channels, traces of which are visible on the ground; clothe
INHABITED PALACES. 351

 

the naked rock with dewy mossy grass; intersperse mobile living
domes of plane and cypress among white colonnades outlined
against the sky, mirrored in the basins of fountains; renew the
radiancy and splendour of tints the brush had applied to stone
and brick, along with those inherent to the materials employed —
costly woods, the creamy white of ivory, the precious metals, such
as bronze, silver, and gold.

A severe critical taste may find fault with Persian architecture ;
yet it cannot deny thereto harmony of tones and the grandeur
arising from mere size; the effect of which must have been pro-
digious, even upon minds accustomed to the supreme elegance and
noble purity of Hellenic temples. The platform erected by Darius
preserves the remains of no less than eight different buildings, and
it is probable that many more are hidden under accumulated
rubbish, Among the ruins still visible above ground may be
counted over twelve hundred figures carved on freestone. Despite
lacunae, these fragments, all told, are among the best specimens
the nations of antiquity have handed down to us, or the least
ill used by the hand of man or the action of the weather, and
testify at the same time to no mean effort. Traces of repairs and
alterations have certainly been detected in the Palace of Darius,
and may be due to some prince or satrap who wished to establish
himself in a house formerly erected by the greatest king of Persia.
To this date also belongs a wall, vestiges of which appear on the
hill behind the tombs.’ But if an attempt was ever made to
inhabit the palace, the intruders do not appear to have remained
long, for the residence must even then have been a wilderness of
ruins. No monument has been found on the platform stamped
with the style of the Seleucidz, Parthians, or Sassanide. The
work of destruction begun by the Macedonians did not stop
then. Not only is the Hall of a Hundred Columns strewn with
cinders, but the deep splits observable in the stones of the Palace
of Xerxes seem likewise to have been caused by intense heat.? The
edifices which the firebrand of the Athenian Thais had spared, did
not survive any length of time those she had vowed to the flames.
They, too, must have perished by the falling in of the roof, when
pillars and capitals were cast down. Moreover, as the coverings

1 Hist. of Art, tom. v. p. 528, note 4,and p. 619.

* SrouzE, Persepolis, Bemerkungen, TExiER (Description de l’ Arménie et delaPerse,
tom. ii. p. 184) makes the same observation.
352 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

were no longer looked after and repaired, the waters ere long
percolated the earth and reached the wood architraves, rotting
them ; a little sooner or a little later, they gave way under the
heavy beds of earth they carried. Elsewhere the mud walls may
have been the first to shrink and split, and thus induced the dislo-
cation of the woodwork. Unlike the temples of Egypt and
Greece, where entablatures are stone, these buildings could not
be endowed with the same degree of solidity, the same possibilities
of duration, as the former. Fifty years, perhaps, sufficed to reduce
them to a state not far removed from that in which they now
appear; for later generations, it would seem, were not given to
come here on pirating errands. Had they been so inclined,
would they not have begun to remove loose stones ready to hand,
rather than trouble themselves with demolishing very resisting
materials and splitting up the enormous monoliths of frames and
ante? Yet, as already observed, lying on the ground, at several
points of the esplanade, are hewn stones—drums—which, though
complete, have never been set up. Moreover, the difficulties of
transport would have been considerable. The approaches to the
plateau are staircases, which do not lend themselves readily to
cartage. If the inhabitants of Istakhr required hewn stone, there
was no need to go any distance for it; enough and to spare
could be got close at hand, out of their own antique buildings.
Yet not a few of these, the fortified gate and fire-altars for instance,
are almost intact. This may, perhaps, be ascribed to the fact that
the traditions of the royal architecture of the Achemenide were
speedily forgotten after the fall of the dynasty. Henceforward
brick, a material at once inexpensive and more easily procured,
was universally employed in the province. Istakhr has ceased
to exist for the last nine hundred years; to-day, what would
the miserable peasantry of the plain do with those stupendous
blocks of stone? What situation would they give them about
their hovels, whose walls are made of fzs¢? What they wrenched
away from the pavement of the platform during centuries are, now
and again, a few slabs to set over their graves, and, oftener still, a
fragmentary shaft, turned into a roller to keep in form the bed or
beds of earth which form the covering of their houses. The
roller is an institution which obtains all over the East, where the
roofs are flat. Perhaps this may account for all the pillars of
feeble calibre having disappeared from the inhabited palaces.
( 353) )

 

SOME MORE PALACES OTHER THAN AT PERSEPOLIS.

Study of the ruins at Persepolis has familiarized us with the
spirit and the methods of Persian architecture. It has permitted us
to restore the more important edifices which the Achemenidze built
as seats of royalty. The historian divides the art of the powerful
empire into three distinct types, represented severally by the
open throne-room, the walled throne-room, and the inhabited
palace. There was no great necessity to proceed further. On
reflection, however, we deemed it expedient to throw in a few
remarks in relation to very similar remains which have been
discovered at various other places of the territory, but which are
not calculated to alter in any essential the notion we have gained
of the royal buildings, nor will they add any novel feature to the
sum of our knowledge. Within these limitations it is fair to say
that they are not devoid of interest; they serve to show that
the official art of the Achzmenid dynasty, from its birth to its
dying day, was one and the same. It may have assigned, in
localities, greater or less prominence to this or that material,
replaced—in Susiana for instance—bas-reliefs carved on stone by
sculptures on enamelled clay, yet without prejudice to the form,
which remained unaltered. Ifa certain number of edifices exhibit
plans which cannot wholly be unravelled, dispositions which baffle
our ingenuity, the bases of columns, shafts, capitals, and figures,
uniformly arranged, are precisely alike everywhere. Let us take
Istakhr as an instance, a town which preserved considerable
importance down to medieval times, and outlived, therefore, many
centuries the palaces on the platform.! Fragments of columns
and of capitals, both complex and simple, are found at many a
point of the site representing the old city (Fig. 103,.c),’ clearly
proving that more than one building at Istakhr was coeval with
the Persepolitan exemplars, although one alone has left vestiges of
sufficient magnitude to be identified with a palace (Fig. 103, a).?

1 After the Arab conquest the inhabitants of Istakhr, fervent fire-worshippers,
rebelled several times against their new masters, and in the course of these turmoils
caused by insurrections, the town must have greatly suffered ; but it was not finally
destroyed and abandoned until the tenth century 4.D., during the wars which laid
waste Persia in the reign of Samsan-ed-Daulah (BARBIER DE MEynarD, Dict. géog.
hist. et litter. de la Perse, p. 49).

? Flandin and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate LXI. p. 69.
354 Historv oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

Not only is there a whole column, with its bull capital still in place,
but the bases that once belonged to eight other pillars, including
a number of jambs of doorways and niches, are extant, whilst the
ground is literally covered with drums (Fig. 23) still attached.

If this is quite enough to prove the importance of the edifice, it
is not enough to re-
move the difficulties
towards restoring
the plan. Door-
frames and_ pillars
appear to have been
surrounded by a
wall, the marks of
which are visible,
and which encom-
passed an irregular
polygon. Semi-cir-
cular saliences, seem-
inglythe foundations
of towers, occur at
regular intervals on
one face, in length 75
metres (Fig. 168).
What was the pur-
ig = pose of these coun-

ane a terforts in- such a
~ i me _ | situation? Had they

wan’ > extended on the
other sides we should
look upon them as

 

   

     
 

  

era a meat ar CTR

ea

   

      

 

 

 

 

Fic. 168.—Istakhr. Principal palace. General plan of ruins. .
FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse anctenne, Plate LVITI. defensive wor ks.

The remains of the
inner dispositions, however, have nothing about them to recall
a fortress. It is just possible that the wall did not belong to the
original plan, for its foundations consist of small stones bedded in
good mortar, whilst on the north face are courses of large units joined
together without cement. These fragments are 2 m. 35 c. and 2m.
75 ¢. thick, but the masonry wall is barely 1 m. 70 c. Hence the
presumption that it is younger than the pillars and the massive open-
ings, which belonged to a hypostyle hall fronted by a porch, a hall
SoME MORE PALACES OTHER THAN AT PERSEPOLIS. 355

 

one side of which would be represented by the relics shown in our
illustration (Fig. 169), 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 their 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
4m. 45 c. in one direction and 4 m.85 c. in another. As far as may be

 

 
    

 

 

ie ~ ia

 

-Fic. 169.—Istakhr. Principal building. Plan of antique portion. FLANDIN and CosTE,
Perse ancienne, 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 offspring
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 Pasargadz, and which
must perforce be carried back to remote antiquity.”

1 Hist. of Art, tom'y. pp. 459, 460.
® Srouze. Persedolis, Plate CKXVII., and Bemerkungen.
356 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

An explanation of the enigmatical aspect presented by these
ruins may, perhaps, be found in a passage of the Arab chronicler
Makdisi, who wrote somewhere about the latter half of the tenth
century of our era (985). “The principal mosque at Istakhr,” he
says, “is situated near the bazaars, by which it is surrounded on
three sides. It is built after the manner of the finest mosques of
Syria. Its columns are round. At the summit of every pillar
appears a cow. Report has it that it was formerly a fire-temple.””’
The wall of rubble, with its counterforts, is no more than an
enceinte built after the triumph of Islam to enclose the courts of
the mosque. The main body of the latter, comprising the mzhrad
and zimber, represented the covered part or central colonnade,
formerly erected by an Achaemenid prince, with bull-capitals,
which town-bred Makdisi mistook for cows. The inhabitants of
Istakhr were fully conscious of the antiquity of their monument,
of its travelling back to sovereigns who had been fire-worshippers.
But they erred when they identified it with a temple. ‘The great
vaulted apartments which obtained in the time of the Sassanide
imparted to their palaces a very different aspect from that of the
buildings erected by the architects of Darius and Xerxes, and
explains the misconception of the later Istakhrians. But for the
disaster which overtook their city in comparatively modern times,
the traveller would, perhaps, hear at the present hour the name of
Allah proclaimed under the roof of a building where, twenty-
three or twenty-four centuries earlier, a pious monarch had
doubtless engraved in some corner of its walls the image and title
of his supreme god, Ahurd-Mazda.

Remains of a structure anterior to Islamism likewise occur in
the rich plain where, embosomed amidst gardens of unsurpassing
fairness, rises Shiraz, the modern capital of Fars. They are found
about six kilometres from the town, in a south-west direction, and
are locally known as Takht-i- Madere-i-Suleiman or Mejid-i- Madere-
i-Suleiman (the Throne or Mosque of the Mother of Solomon. They
consist of three great isolated doorways, akin to the examples
which muster so strong on the Persepolitan platform (Fig. 170).
A number of loose stones mark the site of a fourth, and help us
to reconstruct the plan of a square hall, 13 metres at the side
(Fig. 171). Detached fragments, both of cornice and steps, lie

* Cited by Noeldeke in his article entitled “Persepolis,” in Encyclopedia Britan-
nica, gth edit., tom. xviii. p. 558.
SOME MORE PALACES OTHER THAN AT PERSEPOLIS. 357

 

scattered about; whilst figures of servitors carrying napkins and
vases, with which the buildings of the Takht-i-Jamshid have
familiarized us, reappear on the jambs of doorways (Fig. 172).
The impress of the royal architecture of the Achemenide is mani-
fest on one
and all of
these frag-
ments. But
whether the
palace—as a
superficial ex-
amination
would incline
one to believe
—dates from

the reign of

Cyrus or Cam- Fic. 170.—Shiraz. View of ruins of a palace. FLANDIN and CosTE,
Perse ancienne, Plate LV.

 

byses, or
whether, siding with explorers who have studied the site, we should
look upon it as a monument built with materials stolen from the
ruins at Persepolis, transported and set in place to gratify the
whim of some prince or other, is not so easy to determine.'
The platbands or lintels
are of different size and
do not match, and the
striated stones of the Hl é
thresholds are clearly
fragments of cornice.
Then, too, here and ‘———#-

there are vestiges of ‘

Fic. 171.—Shiraz. Plan Fic. 172.—Shiraz. Elevation
walls made of rubble of building. Zézd. and section of one of the door-

laid out in mortar with ways. Loid,

strange carelessness.

Some have sought to solve the question by comparing and
measuring the gaps left in the edifices at Persepolis with the
stones under notice, but we do not think the point at issue admits
of being definitely settled that way, since buildings, now com-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TH

 

 

1 Hist. of Art, tom. v. pp. 579-580. Like Morier, the elder Niebuhr had come
to the conclusion that the structure was erected with old materials pieced together
( Voyage en Arabie, tom. ii. p. 136). ;
358 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

pletely destroyed, but which once stood both on the esplanade
of the Takht-i-Jamshid and the plain of Istakhr, might have
furnished the fragments in dispute.

We are not beset by the same doubts in connection with the
remains of another monument situated at Hamadan (Ecbatana).'
The name of Artaxerxes II. appears on the torus of bases, which
reproduce one of the types exhibited in the Persepolitan palaces ;
hence the induction that we are faced here by a replica of the

      

ic BPS

   

Fic. 173.—Hamadan. View of remains of ancient building
ancienne, Plate XXV.

LE

AZ

. FLANDIN and CostTF, Perse

latter. Unfortunately, no plan has been made of these ruins,
which neither Téxier nor Coste visited. The only ancient build-
ing examined by Coste at Hamadan is not easily dated, for it bears
no inscriptions, and its shapes are of a most peculiar character.
Its remains, represented by several huge blocks, and the frag-
ments of two columns, or foundation stones still zz sztu, lie
two kilometres south-east of Hamadan, and mark the site of
an important edifice (Fig. 173). One of the stones is almost
entirely buried; but the other, seemingly corresponding with
a shaft of greater calibre, is wholly disengaged. It is a monolith ;

1 Hist. of Art, tom. v. p. 501, n. 2. We found the base-fragment bearing the in-
scription referred to above in the Persian section of the Exposition Universelle of
1889. It formed part of the collection of M. Richard, professor at the military
school at Teheran. It never was, as believed, in the Tiflis Museum. The miscon-
ception arose in this wise : M. Ermakov, a photographer established at Tiflis, finding
himself at Teheran, took a c/iché, from which proofs were sown all over Europe.
SOME MORE PALACES OTHER TIAN AT PERSEPOLIS. 359

 

a disc 56 c. in thickness and 2 m. 50 c. in diameter, attached to
the plinth, which was let into a cavity of the rock, in length 5 m.
by 2 m. in height. Between the pedestal and the beginning of
the cylinder a slight notch was cut into the stone (Figs. 174,
175). Was the disc the beginning of the shaft, or rather a kind

 
     

LS

 

of base, a circular platband akin to that upon which rests the
Pasargade pillar (Fig. 111)? Asa preliminary towards an opinion
one way or another, it would be requisite to measure the drums
strewing the ground. Another feature the monument bears in
common with the unique pillar which rears its head near the tomb
of Cyrus resides in this: both shaft and disc were plain. These
analogies permit us to infer that both constructions, at Ecbatana
and Pasargade,
are pretty near y o> ee 7 :
of the sameage, _ y/ w Yj
anterior to the i 7, /,
period when the ial . Vda
rules which Fics. 174, 175.—Hamadan. Plan and profile of base. FLANDIN
and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plate XXV.
governed what
may be called the classical architecture of Persia were fixed.

As, during his visits at Ecbatana, the great king was far re-
moved from his western provinces, it is probable that he never
spent more than a few weeks there, so as to escape from the great
summer heat. Susa seems to have been the residence of his
predilection, where he loved best to hold his court. He was nearer
than at Babylon to his cradle-land, that Persia where his entomb-
ment was ready prepared by the side of his ancestors, whither
news could reach him almost as speedily’ across the flat stretches
of Mesapotamia and Susiana on a swift horse. Its charms as a
winter residence are wellnigh unsurpassed. Whilst icy-cold
winds sweep over the uplands of Iran in storms of snow and rain,
sometimes whirling on to the open plains of Chaldza, the air
there is soft and balmy, undisturbed by northern blasts, shielded
as it is by the lofty range of mountains in its rear; it has, moreover,
the advantage of being much nearer to the sea than Babylonia.”

In the estimation of the Greeks, Susa was the true capital of the
empire. A%schylus lays here the scene of his Iépaa ; here Greek
1 Strabo, XV. iii. 2.
2 The Dieulafoy Mission spent two winters at Susa. During that time the
thermometer was never below 15°. It sometimes fell to 3° and 4° in the night.
Once onlv a slight white frost was observed before sunrise.
360 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

envoys and refugees were received by the Achemenide. Yet,
curiously enough, Strabo is the only historian who furnishes
details as to the aspect and extent of the town. “Susa,” he
writes, ‘is supposed to have been founded by Tithonus, the father
of Mnemon, who built a wall around it, 120 stadia, embracing an
oblong square. According to some historians, the walls, the
temples, and the royal palace at Susa were built of burnt bricks
bound together with bitumen. Polycletus, on the other hand,
says that ‘“‘Susa was an open city, 200 stadia in circumference ;
that the Persians took great pains in embellishing it above all
others, although they likewise set great store by Persepolis and

 

 

 

Es

Fic. 176.—Assyrian plan of Susa. Lavarp, A Second Series of the Monuments of Nineveh,
Plate XLIX.

Pasargade.”' We have Strabo’s own word to the effect that
he was equally well informed with regard to the situation of
the royal buildings at the summit of the mound? Excavations
have fully confirmed his testimony as to the part brick and
bitumen played in the fabrication. Nor is there much difficulty
in accounting for discrepancies due to information he had derived
from this or that source. Susa must have been surrounded by
a wall during the reign of her native princes, who were often
obliged to defend her against the attacks of Babylonian and
Ninevite conquerors. In any case, it figures as a walled city in a
rough kind of plan which the Assyrian sculptors of Asur-nat-
Sirpal introduced into the bas-reliefs representing the main
episodes of that king’s campaigns in the district of Elam (Fig. 176).
But in the interval extending from Cyrus to Darius Codomanus,
who would have been bold enough to attack Susa, the favourite
Strabo, XV. ili. 2, 3. 2 Tbid., 21.
SOME MORE PALACES OTHER THAN AT PERSEPOLIS. 361

 

residence of the Lords of Asia? In those two hundred and fifty
years of prosperity her rampart, being found too narrow, was
broken through in many places, and the whole suffered to crumble
away. A very slight knowledge of Eastern centres, and of their
tendency to spread English fashion into vast suburbs, for the sake
of garden and greenery, helps one to understand how it came to
pass that two travellers, at a distance of fifty years from each
other, should have judged so differently of the expanse occupied
by the urban population agglomerated around the artificial hill
which formed its nucleus.

The mound in question has preserved to the present hour its
name of Shush, which the old tribal chief applied thereto when he
first determined to make it the seat of his fortified castle, whence
he might command and rule the rich land below. The broad hillock
lies but a few miles from Dizful, and covers a superficies of close
upon a hundred hectares. Its mean height is twenty-two metres,
and, in places, it rises to thirty-six metres above the surrounding
plain (Fig. 6).

From what was known of its long.and brilliant career, it was
fully expected that the mound carried, hidden in its flanks, the
remains of many important buildings that would be found staged
in chronological order one above the other, like the strata which
form the crust of our planet. As after the Macedonian conquest
Susa fell from her high estate of metropolis never to rise again,
it was conjectured that remains of edifices of the Achaemenid
period would be found at the top, and consequently the first to be
uncovered by attacking the apex of the tumulus. These previsions
were amply realized. The excavations of Loftus, directed against
one of the projections of the mound, almost with the first blows of
the pick-axe discovered bases whereon the names of Darius and
Artaxerxes were plainly written (Fig. 12). The opening of
other trenches revealed a building in which he at once recognized
a striking resemblance to the hypostyle hall of Xerxes at
Persepolis, “the general form, the dimensions and_ peculiar
ornamentation employed,” being identical with the column bases
in the Great Hall (Fig. 177).!. Some thirty years or more after-

1 Lortus, Zravels and Researches, ch. xxv.-xxxi. The impression gained by
Loftus—one of the most sagacious and intelligent travellers that ever breathed—
from his excavations was to the effect that the Great Hall of Xerxes at Persepolis
and that of Artaxerxes at Susa had never been walled in, but were simply closed
362 History or ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

wards, Dieulafoy, under more favourable circumstances, both in the
matter of time and money, undertook to clear the site which his
predecessor had partially uncovered. If, in order to operate
simultaneously at several places, he was obliged to divide his
hands into several working parties, yet he did not completely
disengage the noble building towards which his main effort was
directed, but he succeeded in bringing to light new and more
important parts. At the same time, he tried to gain a general

  

2 EAS
‘tees:

   

Fic. 177.—Susa. Shaft of column and fragment of capital. After M. Houssay’s photograph.

idea of the buildings that were grouped here, and the nature of
the enceinte surrounding them. The progress of his work is shown
by the trenches which he opened and noted down in the general
plan we have borrowed from him (Fig. 6). Nor is this all. He
recovered and brought to France fragments of edifices both
numerous and varied, headed by the enormous stone capital which
so bravely figures in the Louvre, together with hundreds of
glazed bricks, which came as a surprise and revelation upon the
public at large and artists, if not archeologists versed in such
matters.

by means of curtains (/0:d., pp. 374, 375). He records the fact that he sought in

vain, by means of trenches, for traces of a wall that would have interposed
between the central square of columns and the lateral porticoes.
SOME MORE PALACES OTHER THAN AT PERSEPOLIS. 363

 

We have made ample use of such materials as are due to the
energy and intelligence of Dieulafoy ; we have employed them to
represent, by means of drawings made upon the originals, types
—the bull-capital, for instance—which until his discoveries were
known only through interpretations more or less faithful (Figs.
185, 186). We have largely drawn from his vast store in order
to enable the reader to understand what effects the Persian
decorator could produce from clay impressed into moulds, and
the gay tints he might infuse into it by firing. Nevertheless, we
do not propose doing for the great palace at Susa what we did for
the principal buildings at Persepolis; it is only fitting that we
should leave the honour and perils of the emprise to its discoverer.
Apart from this scruple, our pen has been stayed by the fact that
Dieulafoy has not yet published the work in which he intends
to set forth the result of his explorations, the tracings and
measurements effected on the site, the why and wherefore of his
restorations.

In default of a personal study, towards which elements were
wanting, some surprise may be felt at the absence in this place of
a brief exposition relating to the restoration of the main building
at Susa, or at least a transcript of his restored plan as presented
to the public by Dieulafoy at the Exposition Universelle in 18809.
The reasons which decided the course we have taken are as
follows :—

M. Dieulafoy has published not one, but three successive plans of
the building he calls Apadana, and each is distinguished by notable
differences." In 1884 he gave us a plan with lateral colonnades,
but with no anterior porch. At the time of its publication
Dieulafoy, though he had seen Susa, had not yet made any exca-
vations, so that we may dismiss it as premature and of no account.
But we confess to being puzzled when we turn to compare his plans
of 1887 and 1889. In 1887 Dieulafoy was in possession of all the
data which his labours had furnished him with. The plan he for-
warded to the able critic who was his mouthpiece in the Gazette
archéologigue was no more nor less than Fergusson's own plan of
the hypostyle hall at Persepolis (see Fig. 151). The only point of

1 DizuLaroy, L’ Art antique, etc., tom. ii. Fig. 17; A. CHorsy “ Les fouilles de
Suse et art antique de la Perse,” p. 12, Fig. 1 (Gazette arché., 1887, pp. 8-18). See
also a model in relief deposited in the mission-room of the permanent exhibition at
the Public Instruction Office, on the first floor of the palace.
364 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

difference was the omission from the facade of the two chambers
Fergusson has put there to fill triangular hollows exceedingly dis-
agreeable of aspect. Two years later, we are treated to a totally
different conception. ‘True, he has preserved the triple colonnade,
but the front portico has been transferred to the rear of the square
phalanx. The hall, instead of being entirely enclosed, is walled
in on three sides alone, the front portico looking outwards. The
latter is comprised within ante shaped upon the models of
Assyrian towers.’ Which of these two contradictory plans should
have been selected? Is that which appeared in 1889 to be final,
or are we to look upon it as a mere expedient to show how the
hall, which would have been left in utter darkness, could be
lighted, or as a means devised for the greater display of the central
phalanx and its long ranges of lofty columns ??

The dearth of documents, then, precludes our entering into a
discussion as to which of the two restorations is in better accord
with the remains of edifices which have been exhumed. This
only we would observe. Whatever may be thought of the un-
expected scheme Dieulafoy seems to have definitely adopted,
it can in no wise influence our restorations of the buildings at
Persepolis. In speaking of these it should be remarked that all
the plans that have hitherto appeared, invariably place a portico
both in front of the hypostyle hall, the throne-room and the in-
habited palaces. No possible doubt exists on this head; it is as
clear as daylight that the principal entrance to both the Hall of a
Hundred Columns and the Great Hall of Xerxes was from
the vestibule, with two ranges of columns flanked by a pair of
winged bulls (Fig. 159). Whether the latter was open, as the
state of the ruins indicates, or walled in as Fergusson assumed, its
true entrance was on the north-west face opposite the Propylza,

1 We have our doubts with regard to the channellings Dieulafoy has put over his
square pillars. Had ornament of that nature been of frequent occurrence in
Persian architecture, should not we find traces of it in the Hall of a Hundred
Columns, and in the palaces of Darius and Xerxes? Yet their pilasters are perfectly
smooth; more than this, part of their mass towards the base—at least in the first-
mentioned edifice—is infringed upon by the body of the bulls, thereby excluding
the idea of a panel contrived in the face of the wall; in that it would have been
shorn of its proper height and thus destroyed the effect of the device.

2 Dieulafoy could have obtained the same result with less expenditure of time
and labour, by presenting a transverse section similar to that which yielded our
perspective view of the interior of the Hall of a Hundred Columns. The wall of
the facade and the portico would have had to come away.
SoME MORE PALACES OTHER THAN AT PERSEPOLIS. 365

 

over a fine landing-place approached by four flights of steps.
Did the arrangement put forth by Dieulafoy have any existence in
fact at Susa? For our part we find some difficulty in admitting
it; in any case, we are quite positive that naught resembling it
ever was seen at Persepolis.

This premised, we will proceed to give some general indica-
tions in regard to the size and peculiar architectonic shapes of the
building. The surface covered seems to have been 9200 square
metres ; the external groups or porticoes were each 70 m. long, by
17m. 50c. deep. The number of the pillars was seventy-two, all
told ; thirty-six in the square phalanx and twelve for each external
portico. Of these not one is in place. The measurements taken
by Dieulafoy, however, of the extant bases and drums have
enabled him to determine the total height of the pillar including
the capital, which he puts at 19 m. 25 c. ;’ and the entire elevation
of the building with the entablature at 26 m. 25 c.2. The simple
type of capital, where the bulls repose directly on the shaft,
occurred in the external groups; in the inner colonnade were
reproduced the four distinct forms which characterize the complex
type. The central hall had round bases, whilst those of the outer
porticoes were bell-shaped. A vast court would seem to have
occupied the space immediately in front of it; it was entered by a
kind of pylon, analogous to the two specimens of the Persepolitan
platform. Flights, seemingly wider and as easily ascended as
at the Takht-i-Jamshid, served to connect the different levels.
Their crenelated parapet was overlaid with glazed tiles (Fig. 178).
We also hear of a path that wound its way, between two walls,
to the landing-place flush with the palace, to enable the king to
drive to the door without getting out of his chariot. It is im-
possible for us to give a detailed account of the arrangements
seemingly traceable on the site, or describe the long ramps, or the
gates which communicated with the town. We wished, however,
to point out the dominant lines of the Susian palace, in order to
prove that it was a sumptuous reception-room akin to the pair
at Persepolis, more particularly the Great Hall of Xerxes. The
number, the height, and the way the pillars were distributed,
are practically identical in both; in -both the two orders of

1 In diameter is 1 m. 58 c.

2 These figures were taken from the poster or *hand-bill which accompanied
Dieulafoy’s restorations deposited in the Champ de Mars.
366 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

Persian columns appear in exactly the same situations. If we
only considered the two arrangements respecting which no doubt
exists, we should be tempted to believe that the two edifices
were copied one from the other. But who shall say which served
as model?

Incised upon the base of four pillars appears the trilingual cunei-
form inscription of Artaxerxes Mnemon; and it records at the same
time the completion of the edifice, which had been commenced
by Darius Hystaspes... How much did Artaxerxes add to the

 

 

 

 

 

S Aad) = 4M
tng ON} i
= lw) Ga Ga) Gy f ZED (ye yd

Se) ANY ag) Cay SH Wy
Os) a) Gd) Gadd Cys) PARES (oh dash sh Os
Y 4d Gs) Od (Od Cn) GRO Go) Gash yt) Gas
OS Gd Od Od Od Gd Gd lot Gt bd Gd Gd bd EER
6d Gd Gd Gd Gd Gd Gd Gs Gd Gah did Cat Gd

4) GD On) Yt) 9 BD Gd yd (od Ui Gd Gd Gud das

TOMASL SC

Fic. 178.—Upper part of parapet wall of staircase, Susa. Louvre.

original building ? Are we to believe, as some have deduced from
the Assyrian version, that he rebuilt the palace destroyed by fire in
the reign of Artaxerxes Longomanus ?? It is beyond our province
to discuss the question here. That which, however, tends to
confirm the hypothesis that the palace was entirely rebuilt by
Artaxerxes Mnemon is not only because he has affixed his name
to the work, but also because of the inequality of manipula-
tion observable about the capitals. Thus, sometimes the execution
is excellent, the relief frankly accentuated ; whilst at. other times
the form is incised and the effect obtained mediocre in the
extreme. Hence the inference that the beautifully wrought

* SPIEGEL, Die altpersischen Keilinschriften, p. 69.
* Spiegel considers the interpretation proposed by Oppert as open to doubt
(p. 128).
SOME MORE PALACES OTHER THAN AT PERSEPOLIS. 367

 

material which appears in the restoration of the fourth century B.c.
belonged to the primitive structure and was re-used, whilst the
entirely new parts bear the impress of the decay which had
descended upon the empire. This is traceable also in the loose
way in which the cuneiform lettering is incised, and the numerous
grammatical inaccuracies’ which occur in the inscriptions of this
date. It is probable that the leading lines of the plan. were
adhered to; so that the edifice, to judge from its dispositions, pro-
portions, and the forms adorning it, would thus travel back to the
golden age of Persian architecture, and, as the work of Darius,
would naturally be somewhat older than the hypostyle hall of
Xerxes.

Despite close resemblances which suggest the idea that the
same architect built both palaces, there was at all times a notable
difference between them, arising from their respective geographical
situation. Edifices at Persepolis rested upon the native lime-
stone, and the latter was largely used in the building to the
exclusion of brick, which played but a minor part. At Susa, the
structure is seated upon an artificial mound, some twenty-six miles
from the lower slopes of the mountains; the flat level where it
stands is a prolongation of the boundless rolling plains of
Chaldza, and brick occupies the largest possible space. Stone is
hardly seen except in pillars and door-frames; all the rest,
staircases and substructures against which they lean, basements,
ramparts, and Propylza, is built of brick burnt or unburnt. From
the same material too, now in its natural state, now covered with

1 SPIEGEL, Joc. cit., p. 126.

M. Norris writes : “‘ The careless manner in which this inscription was engraved,
the abnormal spelling, and the unusual forms of the letters, and inaccuracies, all
combine to throw difficulties in the way of a satisfactory explanation of the inscrip-
tion... .” These irregularities, he thinks, arise from a desire on the part of the
writer to make the translation as literal as possible, even to the errors of the
original ; whilst M. Pinches, in a note kindly forwarded to me, says: ‘‘ Each base
when perfect, contained a threefold inscription, one being ancient Persian, another
Median, and the third Semitic Babylonian ;” which he translates as follows: ‘“ Says
King Artaxerxes, the great king, the king [of kings, the king of countries, the king
of ] this earth, the son of Darius the king. Darius was the son of Artaxerxes [the
king, Artaxerxes was the son of Xerxes the king], Xerxes was the son of Darius the
king, Darius was the son of [Hystaspes] the Achemenian. Darius, my ancestor,
built this palace [upon this mountain (?) In the time of Artaxerxes fire burnt it].
Under the protection of Ormuzd, Anaitu, and Mitra [I have rebuilt this palace..
May Ormuzd, Anaitu, and Mitra protect me from all evil, and may they not destroy
or spoil what I have done].”—Trs.
368 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

enamel, was obtained the whole sculptured decoration excepting
the capitals. As in Chaldza, here and there bitumen was made
to play the part of mortar; by its means a perfect cohesion was
assured to the glazed squares, for the least girding would have
caused the lines of the decoration to fall out of place.* From the
above instances it will be seen that the buildings at Susa hold a
middle course between those of Persia proper and those of
Chaldza. They are of a composite character. Their adjustment
and the themes treated by sculpture belong to Persia; but the
technique applied to them, represented by clay impressed into
moulds, where variety of tint is either obtained from colouring
matter mixed with the paste, or the degree of firing through
which it is passed, or pigments spread over the tiles with the brush
of the enamellist, is Chaldzan, at least to a very large extent. As.
to the mighty ramparts wholly made of crude brick, they betray in.
a far greater degree the stamp of the methods of Chaldean
industry ; but inasmuch as they are the sole relic of the military
architecture of the Achemenide, of which the disposition can be
grasped, they could not be passed over without a word of
recognition on our part. We await the description and restoration
which have been promised to us, and which cannot fail to awaken
interest of the highest order.

TowNs AND THEIR DEFENCES.

When Alexander invaded the country there were no walled cities
either from one end of Iran to the other, or in the adjoining
provinces, Susiana for instance. If ramparts ever existed, during
along and peaceful era they had come to be regarded as super-
fluous appendages, so that left to themselves they had very
naturally gone the way of all things. Unbaked bricks had been
reduced to powder, and the emporiums towards which flowed the
productions of all Asia had speedily extended far out into the
plain, in order that they might surround their dwellings with
beautiful gardens. No wall surrounded Ecbatana or Susa when
Alexander entered them;? but then, as now in those regions,

? Dieuaroy, Premier Rapport, p. 68.

* For Ecbatana, Polybius, X. xxvii. 6. For Susa, Strabo, XVI. iii.; Polybius, V.
xlviii. During the frequent affrays in the reign of the Seleucide, Molon entered

the town without resistance, but his progress was checked before the citadel within
which his adversary had shut himself up.
Towns AND THEIR DEFENCES, 369

 

every town had kept its fortress in good order. Behind its thick
friendly walls the king could take refuge and place his treasures
in safety.

Of all these fortresses the best known, and in all likelihood the
most ancient, was that of Susa. The Greeks ascribed its origin
to the Homeric hero, Mnemon, son of Dawn. It was their mode
of testifying to its remote antiquity. It formed the capital of
the Elamite kings, and Assyrian texts record its existence. Upon

       
 
 
   
  
 

  
 

a P rail

Fic. 179.—Showing the fortress at Susa, as seen on archers’ dress. Actual size. Louvre.

the bas-reliefs of Asur-nat-Sirpal (Fig. 176) appears a very rude
view of it; we should perhaps also identify it in the towers figured
on the dress of the archers decorating the palace at Susa (Fig. 179,
and Plate XII.).

It was in the nature of things that the Assyrians, and after them
the Chaldeans, should have maintained the place in a state of
defence, with a strong garrison to keep in subjection a people that
looked back with longing regret on the loss of their independence.*
[It is just possible that when Cyrus and his successors made Susa
one of their capitals, they did no more than repair the breaches
made in the ramparts and the battlements, for neither the tracing
of these fortifications nor the dispositions which characterize

1 In the same way Alexander appoints a Persian governor over Susiana, and takes
care to have the fortress at Susa garrisoned by Macedonians, under the command
of Mazaros, one of his érafpot (Arrian, III. xvi. 9).
490 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

them betray aught Persian about them. But as it is quite im-
possible at this date to distinguish between successive recon-
structions, the historian must needs carry the whole structure to
the account of the last people who helped to constitute and pre-
serve it. The notion gained by Dieulafoy respecting the Susian
defences, such as the Macedonian conquest left them, is summed
up in the following words :—

“The fortification works consisted first of a deep broad ditch full
of water, communicating with the Shaiir and a double rampart.
The external or first wall was massive and built of crude bricks,
in width 23 metres by 22 metres in height. Against the inner
lining of the wall—separated from the masonry by a trail of small
pebbles or gravel—leant a mass of earth beaten into a compact
mass, 27 metres thick and 18 metres high. On this platform stood
two groups of buildings which served at once as barracks and
walk round, where, shielded by the earthworks, the defenders could
circulate without danger, even when the first rampart was already
in the grasp of the besiegers. The second rampart, 14 m. 70 c.
broad, was constituted by two walls of unbaked brick, in thickness
3m. 50c. to 4 m. 60 c., between which damp earth was beaten
down. Behind the second rampart ran a path the extent of which
I was unable to determine. Broadly stated, the enceinte was not
furnished with bastions ; its tracing in plan is in the shape of a saw
with teeth at right angles. It is the indented line described. by
Philo. At one point only of the external wall, in the middle of
fragments of masonry, I detected a vaulted gallery lined with
baked bricks.

“ Besides other information, the clearing of the walls of the for-
tress has clearly shown that the roughnesses of the ground, no
matter their apparent complication, corresponded with the salience
of ancient fortifications. Due allowance, however, should be made
for the direction of prevailing rains, and the very different damage
they inflict upon the walls, according as these face this or that
point of the compass. We knew at once from the mere aspect of
the ground the situation the towers had occupied. Towers had
been distributed at the crenelated summits of the fortress, and its
tracing had been so contrived that the towers of the second ram-
part struck the middle of the curtains of the exterior wall. From

‘ PuiLo, Fortification Treatise, viii. 13 (translated by Rochas d’

Pr ation , Aiglun in
Principes de la fortification antique, Paris, Ducher, 8vo, 1884).
wee

TOWNS AND THEIR DEFENCES. 371

 

the fact that the inner defences and the towers had lost their
crown, I was unable to determine their height, which, to judge
from the accumulated rubbish at their base, was not great. Study
of the surveys of the ancients, as well as examination of the fortress
at Susa and of Assyrian bas-reliefs, a study undertaken with the

_ view of acquainting myself with the ancient mode of defence and

attack, enables me to fix the command each of these defences had
over that immediately below, at about ten Babylonian cubits.

“ Granting the altitude of 22 metres, which I measured directly
on the external curtain, would bring the crest of the first towers
to about 27 metres, the second curtain to 32 metres, and the last
and highest towers from 37 to 42 metres. The height of the
defences around the apadana was somewhat less; but these were
considerably higher at one point of the Elamite tumulus, and
around the citadel, as the amount of rubbish gathered here plainly
showed. In this last rampart curtains and towers would have
attained severally 46 metres and 51 metres. ¢The dispositions
adopted by the Susian engineers were not simple by any means.
They approached the Babylonian defences, both in height, the
situation of their barracks, and their enormous masses. In the
tracing, however, notably the profiles, the Susian fortification works
belong to the Graco-Phcenician group of which Philo is the his-
torian. This is not the place to discuss the origin of.a defensive
system, the oldest application of which goes back to the early
Aryan kings of Ecbatana and the youngest to the Emperor Theo-
dosius, who reigned at Byzantium in 413 4.p. I confine myself
for the present to noting the facts without drawing inferences
therefrom.” *

We cannot question assertions entirely based on measurements
and observations of which a more detailed account has been
promised by Dieulafoy. When the documents in question are to
hand, we shall be able to determine whether the juxtaposition
between the fortifications at Susa and the Greeco-Pheenician group
can be justified, or whether the nature of the materials employed
in the Elamite castellum does not per se explain the peculiarities
which struck Dieulafoy. Flankers are the due accompaniment of
earthworks. ‘The defender,” says a great authority, “cannot
see the foot of the wall by which he is protected; that portion
of the rampart must be defended by projectiles from some other

1 Dirutaroy, Deuxidme Rapport, pp. 33-36.
a72 History oF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

quarter, that is to say works turned towards the curtain. In the
West, earth fortifications date from the introduction of siege-guns ;
in Persia they were imposed by the absence of stone ; in both cases
it led to flankers or lateral fortifications.” *

What we may even now consider as established is the analogy
of the constructive scheme adopted at Susa with that practised by
the military architects of Babylonia and Assyria. Prodigious
thickness of ramparts, earthworks faced with crude or baked
brick, obtained in both regions. AThere is but one feature which
seems peculiar to the Susian fortress, namely the insertion of gravel
between the rampart properly so called and its epaulment to drain
the mass, a contrivance familiar to modern engineering, but which
it is somewhat startling to observe in defensive works of remote
antiquity. , The lack of stone in the plains of the Euphrates for-
bade the Chaldean builder to have recourse to precautionary
measures of this nature. To carry off water from their artificial
mounds, they sometimes used conduits which stretched from the
summit to the base.’

Excavations have proved that Susa was surrounded bya double
rampart, a fact which tends to make for Herodotus, when he
speaks of seven concentric walls which encompassed Ecbatana,
along the flanks of the hill at the summit of which stood the
palace of Dejoces. Was their number really seven, as the historian
states ?* The materials he collected for that part of his history
had come to him from a great distance, and doubtless had gathered
strength and multiplied on the way. Nevertheless, even now,
more than one fastness rears its strange and picturesque walls in
the hilly range of Zagros, and in both Turkish and Persian Kur-
distan. Their walls have often been rebuilt upon foundations
which have disappeared under frequent repairs, but, as of old, they
are staged one upon the other and are standing witnesses to the
ancient tradition of multiplicity of ramparts of stone or brick.
The exhaustless quarries of the Elwend supplied freestone in
abundance to Ecbatana, yet her defences, as proved by the crene-
lations of the fortress, each painted a different hue, were wholly
made of brick. Enamel, we know, is fixed on clay by firing, and
there is no instance of its ever having been applied to stone.
There is no valid reason why we should not accept as substantially

* Cuoisy, Les fouilles de Suse et Vart antique de la Perse, p. 11.
* Hist. of Art, tom. ii. pp. 160, 161. ° Herodotus, i. 98.
TowNs AND THEIR DEFENCES. 373

 

correct the testimony of Herodotus relating to a mode of decora-
tion likely to have impressed him in that it was utterly opposed
to the taste and habits of Greece, whilst his minute details could
not be readily trumped up. He had them from a voucher worthy
of belief. If the Median kings tinted the summits of their walls
it was on the model of Assyrian edifices, for at that time the
only influence which could reach them was the grand civilization,
many centuries old, of the Euphrates valley. In the variously
coloured crenelations Herodotus enumerates, we recognize an
arrangement of frequent occurrence on the enamels of Nineveh,
Babylon, and Susa. That the tradition has not died out in the
country, the mosques of modern Persia attest, to embellish which
the enamellist has occasionally introduced tiles of brilliant pris-
matic hues, reflexes of gold and silver, similar to those which
glinted about the loftier walls at Ecbatana; that is to say, those
next to the palace.’

No isolated mound has been reported, either from Hamadan or
the immediate neighbourhood, answering to the idea which the
account of Polybius relating to the site of the old castle at Ecba-
tana is apt to conjure up in our mind. The aspect of the ground
appears to have completely changed since antiquity, so that no
traveller, at first sight, has been able to identify it.

Sir Henry Rawlinson is inclined to seek the fortress with the
sevenfold wall, not in the vicinity of Hamadan, but in Media
Atropatene, at a place called Takht-i-Suleiman.’ Its situation is
certainly remarkably strong, and art has greatly added thereto
and increased the number of its natural lines of defence. The
whole question resolves itself in this: Were there actually two
Ecbatanas in Media—as Moses Chorenus seems to imply—
which Greek historians, ignorant of the fact, confounded one with
the other. Did Herodotus’s description apply to northern or
southern Ecbatana, ¢,g. the city of Polybius, and the historians of
Alexander’s campaign? This is not the place to discuss a point
bearing upon history and topography. It is enough to have
pointed it out to the curiosity of future explorers.

1 Flandin and Coste point out a hillock which rises in the middle of the plain east
of Hamadan, as the most likely site for the fortress under consideration. Traces of
ancient remains are certainly seen here, but in other respects nothing about the site
corresponds with the data furnished by Herodotus (Perse ancienne, p. 18).

2G, Rawiinson, Zhe Five Great Monarchies, tom. ii. p. 268.
374 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

Persia has been studied with more attention than Media, and
fortified enceintes in a ruinous state, but with peculiarities of a

   

r? ow

la ‘a a 6

on)

 

5 “te Mi
Fic, 180.—Fortified gate, Istakhr. Plan. FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse ancienne, Plate LX.

striking character, have been encountered in many places.'. Their
general appearance, however, has nothing to denote great antiquity,

 

Fic. 181.—Fortified gate, Istakhr. Longitudinal section. Zézd.

and points to the Sassanid rather than the Achzmenid period. On
the other hand, we have strong evidence that the gateway which

1 Fianpin and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plates XXXI., XXXII, CCIX., CCXII.,
CCXIII.
TOwNS AND THEIR DEFENCES. 375

 

formed the entrance to Istakhr leads back to the ancient empire
of Persia (Figs. 180-182). Like the buildings at Persepolis,
which it resembles, save in dimensions, it was built of huge blocks
of limestone, fitted together without cement, whilst its arrangement
recalls the Propylea on the platform. Its remains consist of the
lower courses of twothick walls, some twelve metres apart, with central
pillar and ante as supports to a kind of porch with wood covering,
the openings of which were lofty enough for the free passage of
caravans, of chariots and camels, whilst the height of the other
two avenues at the sides
was only a trifle above
man’s stature. Of these
one has preserved its
stone lintel (see Fig.
182). The caravan ; is 10 Ms

route, which from Media S,{S4—Forifed gale Intake Traneerae seton
led through the upper

valley of the Polvar to Pasargadz, abutted here. The soldiers
stationed to guard the pass stood at this gate and inspected
travellers on their way to the town, and perhaps exacted a small
toll. Gates similar to this were to be found on the highways of
commerce in many other parts of the empire, and, like this, they
were situated at the entrance of defiles. Such would be the Cas-
pian, Cilician, and Amanian gates or pyle. The Istakhr exemplar
helps one to gain a notion of their arrangement and aspect.

Local tradition told of another fastness as having oceupied the
most commanding situation of the small range of mountains which
take their name from Istakhr, and which was still standing at a
comparatively recent period. To judge from the narrowness of the
summit, where occur traces of walls and tanks, the defensive works
in question could be no more than a kind of watch-tower. Whether
these remains bear the sign manual of the builders of Darius and
his successors, no traveller has as yet thought it worth his while to
find out.

 

 

     
    
   
    
 

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376 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

CHAPTER VI.
SCULPTURE.

ScuULPTURE IN MEDIA AND SUSIANA.

THE empire of Cyaxares and Astyages was of too short a duration
to create an independent art; as a matter of fact, up to the moment
we write no statuary has been found which might have served to
decorate their palaces. The Medians had no relations with the
culture of Egypt and Greece, and were influenced by Assyria alone ;
at first as vassals and tributaries, and even later, when they got
the upper hand, took Nineveh, and destroyed it, they remained
none the less the clients of the industrial centres of Mesopotamia.
Their architecture may have been imbued with a certain degree
of individuality, due to materials which Chaldza did not possess,
but within the limits of plastic art, where the devices resorted to
by sculptor and painter for the representation of the human form are
purely conventional, the Medes, both when they modelled clay or
when they fashioned stone in the semblance of their gods and kings,
were from beginning to end the faithful pupils of Babylonia and
Nineveh. Shapes, symbols, and types were derived from the
weapons, the artistic furniture, and manufactured objects procured
in the markets of the Euphrates basin, the northern part of
which had been incorporated with the empire. Should a piece of
sculpture, older than the reign of Cyrus, ever come out of the
ruins of Ecbatana, the chances are that it would be a copy pure
and simple of Assyrian bas-reliefs, more or less skilfully executed.
This does not apply to Susiana; from that quarter hoary an-
tiquities may be discovered which will move back the present
boundary line of our horizon. If from the days of Cyrus, and
perhaps even before his accession to power, the Medes were subject
to Persia and henceforward shared her destinies, they could look
ScuLpTuRE IN MerpiA AND SUSIANA. gue

 

back upon a long and brilliant past of autonomous and distinct ex-
istence. Hence the question has been broached as to whether
Median civilization may not be even older than that of Chaldza.
Whatever may be thought of the ethnic affinities of the Susians,
it is clear that their monumental history started into being long
before the Achemenidz came to the front. When the latter made
Susa one of their favourite residences, the royal fortress, figured in
the bas-reliefs of Assyrian conquerors, had been standing for
centuries in the middle of the plain (Fig. 176). In the upper
layers of the tumulus, Loftus and Dieulafoy discovered remains of
edifices erected by Darius and Artaxerxes, but the huge mound
still contains, buried in its capacious flanks, fragments of older
buildings along with terra-cotta bas-reliefs which served to decorate
them. The French explorer even thinks that some of his trenches
uncovered portions of walls and enamels which he would ascribe
to the Elamite kings.’ In the work he is preparing for publication
he will tell us the reasons which have led him to assign a very
great age to a number of fragments (bas-reliefs on terra-cotta or
stone ?) he has collected. What tends to give colouring to his
assertion is the fact that rock-cut sculptures of unquestionable
antiquity are said to exist at many other points of Susiana. Such
would be the bas-reliefs, accompanied by long inscriptions, that
have been found on the plateau of Malamir, not far from the town
of that name, on a forbidding site called Kale Pharan (Fortress of
Pharaoh).? We selected two of the least damaged out of the
collection to enable the reader to gain an idea of the peculiar
character of these monuments (Figs. 183, 184).

Both seem to represent a god receiving the homage of his
worshippers. As in the Ibriz bas-relief of Syro-Cappadocia, he
stands erect, and is known by his stature, which far exceeds that of
the surrounding figures. The attitude and dress, however, are not
uniform. In the one picture the god appears sunk in meditation,
his hands folded on his breast (Fig. 183) ; in the other they are

1 DreuLaroy, Premicr Rapport, p. 65.

2 Weare indebted to M. Houssay for the illustrations figured below (Fig. 183, 184) ;
they are faithful images of the bas-reliefs referred to. They were described, but
without illustrations, long ago by Sir H. Layard, who counted five distinct pictures,
making up 340 figures, from 2 m. to 25 c. in height, Part of the texts which he
copied appeared in vol. 1. of Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asta. Consult also
DieuLaroy, Revue arché., 3° série, tom. vi. pp. 224-227, and Plate XXIV. (our
Fig. 183).
378 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

outstretched as if in the act of blessing (Fig. 184). The head
is covered, in either instance, with a tight-fitting cap, whence
escapes a plait of hair which falls behind on the shoulder, the
beard is long and curled in true Assyrian fashion. If, then,
certain features are common to both personages, this does not

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extend to the costume, than which nothing could be more unlike.
The long, heavily fringed robe, profusely ornamented with rosette
borders, of the principal figure (in the first illustration) recalls
that of the kings of Nineveh. Most of the minor personages are
likewise habited in flowing garments falling low over the ankles !
The feet are bare. Chaldzean cylinders have familiarized us with
the peculiar appearance of the flounced petticoat, crossed by
horizontal stripes, worn by the figure immediately behind the god,

' Four of the figures wear tunics.—Ep.
ScuLpTURE IN MEDIA AND SUSIANA. 379

 

and on a plane with him. In the next illustration, on the other
hand, the god is clothed in a short tunic made of some plain thick
stuff, without ornament of any kind, which falls below the knee
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allows us to judge, the feet are encased in “turned-up” shoes
(Fig. 184). If the theme of these sculptures appears to be alike,
the greater development of that of Fig. 183 permits of its being
more easily grasped. It exhibits a sacrifice. Two men stand erect
behind the god. The short tunic and bow of the first may denote
380 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

a king in warlike costume, whilst a priest seems to be intended
in the flowing drapery of the other. In front are three temple
slaves, carrying severally a vase and musical instruments, a harp
and a kind of lyre. Below, a servant is seen leading a high-
horned animal, doubtless to the sacrificial altar, but to what species
it belongs it would be hard to say.

The next plane, in a descending scale, exhibits the bodies of
three rams stretched out on the ground, and in front their heads
arranged ina row. Below these, again, appear two men urging a
young heifer in the direction of the officiating priest, before
whom, on the ground, lies a bull’s head. The other bas-relief is
both simpler and ruder in make (Fig. 184). The bodies of seven
animals, supposed to represent a lioness and her cubs, are spread
out before the god. Stooping over the lioness is a figure which,
to judge from the feet, must be a man. Could it perchance be the
sportsman skinning the animals? The work is so uncouth and
barbarous as to preclude a decided opinion. Lastly, about the
middle of the picture to the right, are four diminutive figures
habited in long robes, which may be priests or worshippers. The
attitudes and instruments figured in one of the sculptures recall
certain bas-reliefs of Chaldzea and Assyria, notably the latter,'
whilst the other challenges comparison with the bas-reliefs chiselled
in the face of the rocky walls of Amanus, Taurus, and the minor
ranges of Asia Minor, which we assigned to the Hittites.

Many of the details, be it the peculiar boots, the thick legs,
the bell-shaped tunic, and, above all, the roughly suggested and
barely outlined figures, are almost identical. There is an enormous
gap between this and the other divine simulacrum, wherein a
full face and side view are so curiously mingled, where, too,
the rendering of the draperies denotes great skill. Superficial
examination would incline one to regard the bas-relief we have
compared with the art of Northern Syria and Cappadocia as the
older of the pair described, but uncouth make is not always a
sure sign of great antiquity. This much seems probable, that if
the Malamir bas-reliefs belong to one people, they were not
chiselled in the same day, or by the same sculptors. We know
next to nothing of the history of the Susian nation, save that
their situation between the mountains and the sea, coupled with
the fertility of their soil, excited at all times the cupidity of their

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Figs. 157, 291. ® Lbid., tom. iv. § vi.
MetTHops AND MATERIALS, 381

 

neighbours, Art,in a country so often attacked and so often ravaged,
may well have had its stagnant periods, its retrograde periods; so that
to date the monuments in question on their merits or demerits as
artistic productions alone might lead to false conclusions. All
would be changed could Susian inscriptions, like that of Fig.
183, be read and translated, which, to judge from its length,
would, no doubt, be instructive in more ways than one. Until
then all we can affirm is that the sculptures we have passed in
review have no affinity with the art which flourished in the reign
of the Achemenide. The divergence does not so much reside in
the texts engraved near the figures—for these often fail in both
instances—as in the style, the taste, and character of the work itself.
These monuments owe nothing to Egypt or Greece. The details
observable in them are all of a nature that admit of being explained
by the examples and the practices of the oldest civilizations of
Asia. On the other hand, if the works executed for Cyrus and
his successors still revert, in more than one essential, to the tradi-
tions connected with the arts of Chaldza and Assyria, we feel that
other influences are already at work as well.

MetHuops AND MATERIALS.

The monuments of what we will denominate Persian sculpture
have this one thing in common, that they are all royal, and repre-
sent either the king himself or scenes intended to remind the
spectator of him, and impress upon his mind an idea of his power
and majesty. The more important are met in the province now
called Fars, watered by the Polvar ; but outside of these limits, in
Media and Susiana, others have also been discovered. Hence it
is that in drawing up the list of those upon which our attention
will dwell awhile, not only must considerations other than those of
locality be taken into account, but the language of the inscriptions
engraved side by side with the sculptures, and, above all, the
subject handled by the artist, along with peculiarities of fabrication
must be reckoned in as well. The Persepolitan sculptures—owing
to their bulk and the facilities they offer to the observer—are the
starting-point and the chief object of the present study. The
historian, however, finds in other places themes of which no
examples exist in what has been preserved of the palaces on the
Takht. Elsewhere, too, as at Susa, the working material changes ;
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Fic. 186
384 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

terra-cotta takes the place of stone, thereby inducing a notable
change in the aspect of the decoration. We are bound, then, to
take into our calculation monuments which, though less important,
yet belong to the same school as those at Persepolis, no matter
the quarter of the vast empire founded by Cyrus they may hail
from, since they are helpful in furnishing elements for a precise
and complete definition.

For the rest, the number of these monuments is small enough.
Those of Persia proper consist of the great pages of sculpture
displayed on the substructures of the Persepolitan palaces and on
their door-frames, along with the tombs to the rear of the royal
residence, those at Naksh-i-Rustem; and the single bas-relief
still 2 s¢¢w amidst the ruins of Pasargade. Media owns the great
bas-relief of Behistiin and works of minor importance, one of which,
though seemingly not destitute of interest, has not been sketched
by any traveller. Finally, there are the glazed tiles exhumed at
Susa by Dieulafoy, now in the Louvre. Glyptic and numismatic
arts add their quota ; notably the first, which faithfully reproduces,
on a diminutive scale, the types created and consecrated by the
royal sculptors. Many an engraved stone looks as a copy in small
of a Persepolitan bas-relief.

The monuments we have enumerated are all in low relief. The
Persian school, as we know it, evinces no great taste for sculpture
in the round. The only detached figures of which traces exist are
the Persepolis bull (Fig. 152) and the colossal lion at Hamadan.'
The latter is terribly disfigured ; tail and paws have disappeared,
whilst the head is mutilated. From the body, which alone remains,
no guess can be hazarded as to its original posture. In proof,
however, that statuary was not above the capacity of the Persian
sculptor, we need but turn to the capitals surmounting the pillars
at Persepolis and Susa (Figs. 185, 186). The execution of the
fore-part and side of the bulls is truly masterly, and in the round
boss.” The hollow of the ear and nostril, the salience of the horns

' FLANDIN and Coste, Ferse ancienne, p. 17, Plate XXV.

* The images of Persepolitan capitals we have figured (Figs. 31-33, 150)
are all more or less restorations, not one complete capital having been found at
Persepolis, where architectonic fragments have been exposed to the weather for
centuries. The capital Dieulafoy brought from Susa (now in the Louvre), where it
had lain buried at a depth of several metres until it was exhumed by him, is in a
far better condition. With the exception of the horns, which were always executed
as separate pieces, one of the bulls is almost intact. That to the left has lost his
METHODS AND MATERIALS. 385

 

and the roundness of the eyeball, the breadth of the face, the ampli-
tude of the knees bent back at right angles, the hoof resting on the
bracket, the thick tufts of hair falling about the forehead, neck, and
body, every touch is full of fire, spirit, and vigour, and one and all
testify to the rare knowledge of the sculptor as an ornamentist.
He understood how far he could simplify the form the better to
emphasize the broad outline and clearly define the type he had
selected, so that, despite the elevation at which it stands, it should
lose none of its effect.

It might have been supposed that sculptors who gave proof of
such genuine artistic qualities as these, would find no difficulty in
producing statues as good as those set up to the Pharaohs in many
parts of Egypt, that Egypt rendered familiar to them by the ex-
peditions of Cambyses, Darius, and Artaxerxes Ochus. According
to Plutarch, statues were actually made in Persia. He recounts
that when the soldiers of Alexander entered the capital of Persia,
they cast down a statue of Xerxes from its pedestal." But what
reliance can we place in such an assertion? Until fragments of
statuary have been found, we may question whether the historian
had any authority in the writer he followed for that part of his
narrative, and the term he employed. The so-called statue may
have been no more than an image carved upon a stela, like those
of the bas-reliefs at Persepolis, representing the kings for whom
the palaces were built. As to the statues of gods and goddesses, it
is well known that they did not obtain in Persia until the fourth
century B.c., when Ochus, affirms Berosus, set up statues to Anahita
in the principal towns of the empire.” Traces of these simulacra,
in imitation of a foreign fashion, have not been preserved. A
descriptive passage in the Vendidad-Sada may possibly apply to
the images of Anahita, of which the first type must have been
muzzle and bits of minor importance ; they could, however, be easily restored from
the corresponding parts of his companion. For Persepolis, perhaps the best-pre-
served specimen is the bull-capital which lies on the floor of the hypostyle hall of
Xerxes, of which a capital photograph will be found in Stolze’s Plate XCIL.

1 That Plutarch (Alexander, xxxvii.) thought a piece of statuary was intended is
proved by the word dvSpias, which he uses. This term is not found in a passage of
Herodotus which has sometimes been cited to prove the existence of another statue
of Persian make (iii. 88). The words of the historian, to the effect that Darius
wished to perpetuate by a monument a victory he owed to his horse, are as follows :
Tirov rounodpevos MOwov eornoe. The word tumos seems rather to imply a bas-relief

than a statue properly so called. :
2 Berosus, Frag. 16 (MULLER, Hist, Grecorum, tom. 11).
aC
386 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

furnished by Chaldea.’ If we are left in some uncertainty with
regard to the extent of work executed in the round by the Persian
sculptor, we know, on the other hand, that in obedience to the
examples set him by his Oriental predecessors, he often modelled
figures in very high relief for the builder, nearly approaching to
statuary, at least in the foreparts made to project far out beyond
the anta or the side-posts of doorways, whilst the body was carved
in flat relief on the lateral faces of the wall. From Chaldza and
Assyria also were borrowed the human-visaged, winged bulls
(Plates II., III.). It is just possible that many of these animals
were originally grouped about the esplanade, but their smaller size
caused them to be more easily destroyed. Of the four colossi that
remain, two stand at the entrance gate or Propylea, and the other
two at that of the Hall of a Hundred Columns. Imitation is
written in unmistakable language on their faces. Thus, on their
heads, instead of the coiffure of the kings of Persia, is the high
Assyrian tiara adorned with bull’s horns. But while the sculptor
appropriated this symbolic type, he was no slavish imitator, and
the changes he introduced into the colossi have the twofold result
of assuring a more pleasing aspect and bringing them in excellent
harmony with the surrounding figures. He discarded the singular
conventional device resorted to by the Ninevite sculptor in order
to endow the monster with a double attitude by giving him five
instead of four paws, so that he appears to be walking when
seen sideways, and at rest when seen full face. Nothing of
the kind occurs here; the quadruped has the right number of
limbs and anormal posture. To judge from the legs, which are
accurately drawn, he is free from the want of breadth which
characterizes the Ninevite bulls. As to the heads they are too far
gone to lend themselves to a comparison.?. Then, too, he has
improved on his model and imparted a more elegant curve to the
wings, which is that of the griffins and sphinxes of Phcenicia.
Finally, the proportions of these animals are in perfect accord with
the height of the palaces at the threshold of which they are set as
guards, and far exceed the dimensions they ever attained in the
country of their birth. In height, those at the Propylea measure

* Vendidad, translated by J. Darmesteter, ch. xxx. tom. ii. p. 82.

? Dizutaroy, L’Art antique, etc., tom. iii. pp. 91, 92. The photographs published
by the French explorer confirm in full his written testimony ; it is the same with
Stolze’s photographs (Persepolis, Plates LV., LXXXVII., LXXXVIIL).
MetHops AND MATERIALS. 387

 

5 m. 55 c. and 6 m. in length, and though the pair at the Hall of a
Hundred Columns cannot be measured, because of their poor
condition, what remains suffices to show that they were even on
a grander scale." The Khorsabad exemplars at the Louvre are
supposed to be the largest Assyria ever sculptured, yet they fall
short of these figures.” Fragments of bulls occupying the same
situation, and similar to these, would seem to have been recovered
at Susa. The material they were made of, however, was brick
overlaid with glaze.*

Excepting small figures disinterred in the ruins of Susa, all we
shall have to pass in review are sculptures in low relief. As in
Assyria, here also, bas-relief was the sculptor’s favourite mode of
expression. He chiselled it both on rough and hewn stone, he
modelled it in clay, allowing it now and again to retain the fine
red tone it acquires in the kiln when it is of good quality, whilst
elsewhere he covered it with enamelled glaze. Relief was doubtless
also obtained from vepoussé work, either in gold and silver, notably
bronze. Again, buildings were largely decorated with gold and
silver plaiting, more particularly bronze beaten out into relief, but
no trace of work of this nature embellished with figures has been
found. The only fragment we possess of similar revétements is
that seen in Fig. 73, but all it offers to the eye are a few knobs
that served to keep it in place, and an ornamental rosette. Some
travellers think they are in a position to affirm that metal orna-
ment was applied to bas-reliefs. One of them found traces in the
small cavities of the shoulders, the chest and the palms of the
hands, of two great royal effigies which decorated the main
entrance to the Palace of Darius.‘ In any case, a mode of orna-
ment such as this would be the exception rather than the rule,
introduced to heighten the effect of special and more important
figures ; arms and attributes were chiselled with sufficient care and
precision on stone to make adjuncts of this nature superfluous.

1 FLANDIN and CosTE, Lerse ancienne, pp. 78, 120.

2 Their height is 4 m. 20 c.

8 DizuLaroy, Deuxitme Rapport, p. 21.

4 Niepuur, Voyage en Arabie, tom. il. p. 112 ; TéxiEr, Description, etc., tom. ii,

p. 189.
388 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS.

Before we approach the more important and larger group of
bas-reliefs at Persepolis, it will be well to describe a monument
unique of its kind, whether from the subject it represents or the
peculiar character of its fabrication. We allude to the single figure
still 2 s¢¢z among the ruins of the town which we hold to have
been Pasargade (Fig. 187).

The figures that decorated the door-frames of the principal edifice
have all disappeared, except the feet which are long and bare,
or rather sandalled, like those exhibited in Assyrian bas-reliefs,
leaving the toes exposed.’ It is
probable that the precious monu-
ment (Figs. 136, 137),’ seemingly
the jamb of a doorway, belonged
to a building of smaller dimensions.
To return: the personage stands
—MIUN GL Milo erect, in profile. He is clad in
Mie Ci ifn a long fringed robe, which falls
Fic, 188,—Head-dress of Cyrus. Fian- Strait and without a plait, over

De a eee nee Pe the ankles, From the bend of the

; arm to the bottom of the garment
runs a border of rosettes. The feet seem bare. The left arm is
supposed to hang down close to the body and is hidden by it.
The right is half raised from the elbow, and holds up an object
which it is difficult to make out because of the worn state of the
stone.2 A small horn, resembling that of a ram, is twisted round the
ear. The hair is worn in four plaits cut low on the neck. Above the
head two ‘huge goat’s horns branch out on either side, and support
an exceedingly complicated head-dress made up of three solar
discs, from which emerge bundles of reeds held together with a

          

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1 Srouze, Persepolis, Plate CKXXVII.

* Stolze has a fairly good photograph of the bas-relief referred to above (Persepolis,
PlateCXXXII.). Init the head and drapery are somewhat more worn than is shown
in Dieulafoy’s drawing ; ; the difference may be due to the latter having supplemented
by “touch” what is no longer apparent to the eye.

8 M. Dieulafoy “recognizes in it a statuette with double cap, widely different from
the pshent, topped by the sacred wreus” (L’Art antigue, etc., tom. i. p. 3 5). He
would seem to be endowed with second sight, for neither Ker Porter, nor Téxier,
nor Flandin, nor Stolze have detected anything of the kind.
             

                  

           

 

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THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 391

 

string, and between them are ostrich feathers. A pair of snakes
encircle the group (Fig. 188). From his shoulders issue four
wings, two raised upwards above his head, the others bent towards
the ground. The horn twisted round the ear, the strange head-
dress, and, above all, the two sets of wings, place the figure outside
the world and reality. Yet only a few years ago, the brief, pithy
inscription of Cyrus could be read above it;? hence it is that the
figure has been universally acknowledged as that of Cyrus, all the
more that the situation it occupied about the doorway is generally
that assigned to the image of the king at Persepolis. In the
capital, however, he is invariably portrayed as a human being,
with the attributes and costume which were his in life, whereas
here every detail suggests a god or genii. How can we recon-
cile the testimony of the inscription with the outward appear-
ance of the sculpture? The two things will be found in perfect
agreement if we assume that the sculptor wished to represent the
conqueror not asa simple mortal, but a being above humanity,
a hero or semi-god. In order to give expression to his idea, he
sought such attributes and symbols as should be easily read by
all? If his lines had been cast among nations where art could look
back upon centuries of existence, all he need have done would have
been to draw from the general store shapes consecrated by tradi-
tion. Persia, however, had not yet a plastic language of her own ;
hence he was obliged to provide himself elsewhere—apply to more
advanced nations, Assyria and Egypt, in full possession of a system
of signs which as yet he had not. The trace of this double influ-
ence is plainly visible in the sculpture under notice. The shape
and ornament of the dress, the quadruple plume-covering, are
thoroughly Assyrian. Winged figures in Egypt have never more
than half that number. Yet the most significant feature, Ammon’s
horns, that upon which the artist depended for the impression he
desired to produce, was derived from Egypt. Thence too, mayhap,
was borrowed the arrangement of the hair, seemingly copied upon
one of those wigs in vogue on the banks of the Nile, where the

1 Hist, of Art, tom. v. pp. 668-670.

? With regard to the figure under discussion, M. Dieutaroy (L’Art antique, etc.,
tom. i, p. 35) draws attention to a passage of Herodotus (i. 109), from which it
would appear that in the locality where he was treated to the dream of Cyrus, which
he retails, wings issuing from the shoulders were symbolic of divine or royal power.

If the emblem was familiar to all, it was due to the winged bulls and genii in the
semblance of men of Chaldza and Assyria.
392 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

heads were shaved. The effort to reproduce with minute pre-
cision one of the many varieties of the quaint, hieratic head-dresses
of the Delta is very evident. The one he chose was the diadem
Egyptologists call Ze¢es, which appears as the exclusive attribute
of Thot in the older monuments ; but from the twentieth dynasty
it invariably forms the head-gear of kings and gods alike.

Is the execution of this bas-relief to be carried back to the reign
of Cyrus, as at first sight the legend which accompanied it would
tempt one todo? Wethink not. The idea ofa kind of hypothesis
is not likely to have been started until after the death of the king.
Moreover, the Egyptian elements about it are helpful in setting us
on the right scent; in the time of Cyrus Persia had no relation with
Egypt. It might even be supposed that the forms in question
were derived from one of those Egyptian or pseudo- Egyptian
articles, such as Phoenicia imported everywhere, but is it not more
natural to believe that the idea of these borrowings was suggested
by those figures of princes and deities with which the edifices of
Egypt were covered? In this case, the sculpture would date in
the reign of Cambyses, perhaps still later. The son of Cyrus must
have wished to put a finishing hand to such constructions as had
been commenced by his father, and the notion of investing him
with something of the outward appearance of the great Pharaohs
of a former age was probably conceived during his Egyptian expe-
dition. If it should be urged that the last days of Cambyses were
spent amidst too much disquiet and turmoil to have permitted him
to give his attention to a work of this kind, we can fall back on
Darius as a likely person. By his victory over the Magi, he had
brought back the crown into the family of the Achaemenidz, when
he must have been anxious to do homage to the hero whose
honours had devolved upon him. In order to appear before the
world as the rightful heir, what better device could be imagined
than dutifully to complete an edifice left unfinished by his illustrious
kinsman, and exhibit his effigy in a fashion that shouid enhance
the glory of his name ?.

True, the style of this work greatly differs from that of the
sculptures at Persepolis, nor is the treatment of the drapery in the
same taste. Its author had received no lessons except from
Assyria and Egypt; he still belonged to the group of artists who
had been entrusted with the erection and decoration of the palaces
of the first two kings. Yet it is just possible that the old school,
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 393

 

in the completion of works left in progress at Pasargade, continued
the style in which they were commenced, when a few miles distant
a younger and new school, open to other influences, essayed higher
flights. If on the whole we are inclined to date the Egypto-like bas-
relief at Pasargade after the death of Cambyses, almost in the
same breath we must add that it must be placed no later than the
opening years of the reign of Darius. In fact, the types and

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Fic. 189.—Bas-relief at Behistiin. After 1. Rawlinson, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,
vol. x. Plate I.

manipulation exhibited on the rock bas-relief at Behistiin, whose
date is fixed in the fifth or sixth year of his rule, already present
the types of the Persepolitan sculptures, in so far at least as can
be judged from the somewhat rough drawings that have been
published (Fig. 189). Its situation high up in the vertical face
of the rock, fronting the plain, militates against its being photo-
graphed (Fig. 5); travellers have copied the figures and the
inscription accompanying it with the help of the telescope. The
scene occupies the lower portion of a field previously prepared,
enframed in and shielded by a salient band. The main side, from
right to left, is 7-m. 80 c. The figures are thirteen in number,
394 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

and the composition is well ordered and easily grasped. Darius,
a crown upon his head, is erect, and towers far above the people
by whom he is surrounded; with one foot he presses down a
vanquished foe, who, prostrated upon the ground, raises suppli-
catingly his arms to him. The king rests his left hand against his
bow, and with the right, which is uplifted, seems to point with
imperious and contemptuous gesture to a group of ten prisoners
moving towards him, their hands tied behind their backs, chained
together by a cord passed round their neck. Their costume is not
uniform, and a high pointed tiara singles forth the last in the ring
to the right. These differences were insufficient guides, even for
contemporaries, in helping to put a name upon the various delin-
quents, whilst posterity must have groped hopelessly in the dark.
To obviate this, therefore, a label was engraved with the titles and
the crime of the individual specified on it, either above his head,
below his feet, or on his garment. Two guards stand behind the
king; in the hand of one is carried a bow, whilst in the other is
grasped a spear, and above the scene, with winged circle around
his middle, hovers the image of Ahura-Mazda, by whose help
Darius has overcome his competitors."

Persian sculpture has already lost its Assyrian aspect; with the
exception of one feature, the dress, the arms, the types, and the
make, all is different. As at Nineveh, the sculpture is a plastic
translation of a page of history, supplemented by an inscription,
in which Darius records the years of strife which had marked the
beginning of his reign, the pretenders he had to contend with,
and how those over whom his avenging hand was now raised, had
been defeated one after another. Did the art of which this
sculpture is one of the oldest emanations continue in the same

1 In Zagros, not far from Holwan, is a rock-cut bas-relief, of which no drawing
has yet appeared, but which Sir Henry Rawlinson unhesitatingly ascribes to the
Achemenid period. “The picture represents a man clad ina tunic and rounded
cap ; his left arm supports a shield and his right a mace, whilst his left foot tramples
upon a fallen foe. Before the king stands a prisoner, his hands tied behind-his back,
whose height is equal to that of the king. In the background, four figures, smaller
and without clothes, kneel and pray ; they would seem to represent the side of the
vanquished chief. The platform upon which this scene is enacted is upheld on
the heads and hands of a row of tiny figures, a disposition known to us from the
tombs at Persepolis” (“March from Zohab to Khuzistan,” p. 37, Journal of the
Royal Geographical Society, tom. ix., 1839). The upper section of this monument,
therefore, would recall Behistiin, whilst the lower is reminiscent of Persepolis,
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 395

 

lines (flat relief)? The answer to the question is to be found in
the study and description of the bas-reliefs at Persepolis.

From the restorations we have placed before the eye of the
reader, he will have gained some notion as to the fields the Per-
sian architect reserved for bas-reliefs in his buildings, of which a
goodly number have already been figured (Figs. 16, 22, 57,
61, 65, 69-71, 92, 156). These he put wherever his mode
of construction led to the employment of stone, and the latter
was a sufficiently important factor in the edifice to make un-
necessary chiselled slabs as lining to brick walls, either externally
to the facades or internally, as in Assyria. The substructures of
the platforms upon which rose the palaces were built of fine blocks
of limestone, and the faces corresponding with the slopes of the
stairs were covered with figures, well calculated to attract the eye of
the visitor. The largest spaces, extending right and left of the stair-
cases, lent themselves to long processional scenes. The fields
offered here to the artist were less spacious, but varied in shape
and sharply defined. Thus the wall which forms the front of the
landing-place is divided into three compartments, a rectangle in
the middle, and angular spaces or triangles at the sides (Plates
IV., [X.). The two walls which in most palaces constitute the
frame of the stairs are embellished with a figured decoration
(Figs. 16, 61), whilst on the broken plane formed at the side by
the ramps runs a line of figures answering in number with the
steps, each one of which appears to form a pedestal for its relative
figure.

Having gone past these rows of people lengthened out upon the
walls, the palace itself is reached, when the visitor is not only con-
fronted by sculptures of a completely different character, but, instead
of being displayed in horizontal bands, they appear in the narrow
perpendicular fields of the inner faces of every door-frame. On
the external wall are distributed well-chosen types of life-guards
whose duty was to watch over the king, and the peoples who
present their homage or costly gifts. Along with officers, courtiers,
subjects, and vassals on their way to the king’s levée, their hands
loaded with offerings, whose demeanour is that of devotees repair-
ing to the altars of their gods, appears the image of a lion, the
well-known symbol of triumphant force, which scoffs and makes
light of perils, no matter their nature. In the triangular panels the
lion is represented in the act of killing a bull, an animal that
396 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

 
 
 
 
  

   
 

 

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modern Persians
even now foredoom
to perish in a san-
guinary sport in
which they delight.’

In the crowning
friezes the lion is por-
trayed stalking with
proud mien (Fig.
70), or in worship-
ping attitude before
the emblem of Ahuré-
Mazda (Fig. 65). In
sculptures of this
description the king
nowhere appears, yet
every figure pro-
claims him as it were,
awakes the idea of
his power
and majesty,
and prepares
the mind to
behold his
august per-
son at the
threshold of
those halls
where he
holds his
court, or at
that of his
privateapart-

* Chardin
(edit. Langl&s),
tom. viii. p. 272;
Fianpin, fela-
tion, tom. il. p.

Fic. 190.—Persepolis. Bas-relief on door-frame of the Hall of a Hundred
Columns. FLANDIN and Coste, Lerse ancienne, Plate CLVI. ee Both tra-

vellers testify to

the precautions taken to ensure the triumph of the lion, the emblem of royalty.
    

    

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Fic. 191.—Persepolis. Bas-relief on door-frame of palace No. 7. FLANDIN and CosrE,
Perse anctenne, Plate CXLVII.
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 399

 

ments. There he challenges admiration, whether he is represented
seated on his throne under a sumptuous canopy, his mighty host
ranged below in battle array (Fig. 156), or carried on the out-
stretched arms of his subjects, as on the sepulchral facades (Fig.
190), or, erect, about to pass behind the veil of his portal, with
an escort of eight men holding parasol and fly-chaser above his
head (Fig. 191), or plunging his dagger in the flank of monsters
inimical to man (Figs. 71, 72).

The two orders of pictures appear externally on the face of the
platform, and internally about the doorways of the palaces of Darius
and Xerxes. As to the two great throne-rooms, the one is with-
out doorways, and the other is destitute of stairs and sustaining walls.
These enormous edifices, therefore, exhibit but one-half of the
decorative scheme-—we had almost said, one of the twin chapters
composing the book ; but this unique chapter is written with more
amplitude than could be effected in the narrower limits of the
buildings of minor dimensions. The fields made over to the
sculptor are more spacious, so that he could translate his con-
ception with a greater number of figures, and thereby infuse more
variety of expression. The Hall of a Hundred Columns exhibits
the finest examples of those groups where the royal figure, recog
nizable by his loftier stature and attributes, is the central or
highest point of the group. In front of the Great Hall of Xerxes,
on the other hand, on the face of its substructure, the favourite
theme of Persian statuary is seen at its best—that in which every-
thing tells of the monarch without actually introducing him. The
wall extending between its four flights is double the length of that
of the inhabited palaces, for these have only two flights apiece,
and lofty enough to have been divided into three bands or compart-
ments, so that the figures displayed here may be counted, not
singly or by the dozen, but by hundreds. This it is which has
enabled the artist to aim at an altogether different effort of inven-
tion than in those monuments where space was doled out to him
with a sparing hand. The highest of the three rows is in a
deplorable mutilated state, and unaccompanied, as at Behistiin, by
an inscription. Despite it all, it is quite easy to grasp the general
drift of the vast composition, rolled out sixty metres in length.

The landing-place is the ideal centre of the picture. The two
processions, both the figures mounting the steps and those in the
horizontal bands of the wall, face each other and approach towards
400 History oF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

a central point, where they meet on the upper platform in front of
the royal throne (Plate IV.). The processional scenes on either
side move in one direction; but although their attitude is very
similar and the space interposing between them is uniform,
they are quite distinct. Thus, the ose and costumes of the
subjects on the right of the principal stairs present a much greater
variety. The lines of figures, instead of forming, as on the opposite
side, continuous series, are divided into groups by means of
diminutive cypress-like trees, which allow the eye to rest in suc-
cession upon a number of distinct pictures; then, too, there is a
happy admixture of animal with human forms. Doryphores or
guards armed with spears, to the number of a hundred or there-
abouts, head the left processional train, extending like the other
along the slope of the stairs and the horizontal bands. Greek
writers never fail to mention them in connection with the grand
display that surrounded the Lord of Persia, both when he re-
viewed his troops, or in those rare pomps when he showed himself
to his people. Their duty was to watch over the life of the king,
around whom also they cluster on the facades of the royal tombs,
and they were always the first to arrive, in order that they might
station themselves about his throne. Behind this kind of piquet
or body-guard came what might be called his own people, those
kinsmen that would rally round him and form a living wall of
their bodies on the field of battle,* the great nobles, courtiers,
officers of every grade, the chiefs of the nation, all those whose
birth or office entitled them to appear before the august presence.
The similarity of costume which distinguishes these figures
betokens equality of rank (Fig. 192). The whole row in this
division exhibits but two types, of which every alternate subject
is draped ina long robe, its full loose sleeves reaching to the
wrists, and its flowing skirts to the ankles. On their heads is a
high fluted tiara, square in shape. The other alternate figures,
immediately in front or behind, are attired in a close-fitting tunic
_falling on baggy trousers below the knee. Their head-dress is a

round topped cap, probably of felt, projecting on the forehead.
The Persians of that day would understand at half a glance and
put a name to the two sets of dignitaries the sculptor had differen-
tiated in this way. As to ourselves, we may be permitted to feel

1 Xenovuon, Cyrop., VIII. iii. 9-18; Quintus Curtius, IIT. iii.
2 Quintus Curtius, IT], ii. 21.
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 40!

 

less confident. The notion that the artist intended to represent
civil and military orders may safely be dismissed, inasmuch as such
a distinction did not exist in antiquity. The more likely conjec-
ture is the following :—The subjects are representatives of the
sister nations, who shared among themselves all the high offices
of the state; the Medes, on the one hand, recognizable from their
ample flowing garments, which the successors of Cyrus borrowed
from them,’ and on the other hand the Persians, in tight-fitting
gaberdines and leather breeches, axaxyrides, as said the Greeks,
the genuine habit of those hardy mountaineers, displayed perhaps
by their descendants out of national pride in public ceremonials,
though it had long been out of fashion.» What tends to confirm
the hypothesis is the strong family likeness between the figures of
this robed and tunicked train. Their height and cast of features
are so very similar as to preclude difference of race. All are armed
with a short dagger, stuck in the belt in front or fastened to a
leather string and falling on the right thigh (Fig. 192). Several
of them have a cased bow hanging on the left hip, but the figures
so armed belong to either series indifferently. This applies to
those—and their number is not small—holding a flower in their
right hand. The custom is widely diffused in modern Persia,
where it is considered good form to carry in the hand a flower,
rose, jessamine, tulip, hyacinth, etc., and offer it to the first
acquaintance one may chance to meet on the way. All have
earrings and bracelets to their wrists, and all wear massive collars
as badges of their official rank. Finally, all have their hair and
beard dressed with the utmost care and profusely curled, with a
bushy fulness and termination of curls on the neck, or lengthening
out into a point under the chin, without, however, attaining the
length of Assyrian beards. The upper classes could alone find
leisure for the elaborate trimming, curling, and crisping witnessed
here.* The beard and hair of the guards, though shorter, are

1 Xenopuon, Cyrop., I. ii. 2; VIII. i. go.

? Herodotus, i. 713 v. 49; vii. 61; Strabo, XV. ili. 19. A sheepskin jacket, the
wool turned inside, is the winter habiliment of the peasantry of Persia at the
present hour.

5 The terms used by Greek historians to describe the Persian sword coincide
with that figured on the monuments. Herodotus calls it éyxeipiS.ov (vil. 61), and
Josephus é:Pidvov (Ant. Jud., XX. viii. 10).

4 The luxuriance of the hair in the personages in question is not such as to imply |
the use of wigs which Xenophon ascribes to Medes of high degree (Cyvop., I. iii. 2).

2D
402 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

dressed in the same taste. Some wear the fluted tiara, others the
rounded cap; many are bare-headed, with a cord twisted round
their head fillet-fashion, like the archers at Susa (Plate XII.).
Of the upper row of figures their lower extremities alone remain.
Here, behind the doryphores, are horses led by the hand, then a

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Fic, 192.—Persepolis. Bas-relief on sub-structure of hypostyle hall of Xerxes. FLANDIN
and Costs, Perse ancienne, Plate LXV.

chariot, etc.—details that are conformable to the descriptions which
historians have handed down to us of royal processions (Plate IV.).

The right wing is not headed by guards. In front of the
principal groups are figures which Eastern travellers find no diffi-
culty in identifying with those court officers by whom they them-
selves were introduced to the presence of the shah. On the bas.
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 403

 

reliefs, as now at Teheran, these chamberlains carry a staff as badge
of their office, and hold the traveller by the hand as they lead him
to the foot of the throne (Fig. 193). The part they play in the
pictures enables us to understand the meaning of these, a meaning
which closer inspection of the several groups renders very clear.

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Fic. 193.—Persepolis. Ushers introducing tribute-bearers, FLANDIN and senor Pees
; ancienne, Plate C1X,

It is a plastic translation, as it were, of part of the inscription at
Behistiin.!. In it King Darius exclaims, ‘‘ There are the provinces
which, by the help of Ahurd-Mazda, fell to my lot; they were
under my sway; they drought me their tributes; night and day
were my behests carried on there.” We may therefore assume
that the subjects on this wall are delegates through whose inter-
mediary the various nations of which the empire was composed

2 Column i. § 7.
404 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

sent their oblations to the king in the choicest and rarest products
of their soil. Homage and free gifts to the sovereign are tra-
ditional, and to this day are offered to the shah at the Noriz or
vernal equinox, a festival, say the Persians, instituted by Jemshid
himself in honour of the sun, which at that time regains its full
vigour and vivifies nature.’ Notwithstanding the implacable war
Islamism has waged against a past it abhors, it has not succeeded
in stamping out of Iran the usage in question; so that popular
tradition is probably right in referring it to high antiquity, and
holding that it was already in full swing when subjects and vassals
paid in their annual tributes to the royal treasurers of the Achz-
menidz, and strove above all to please the master by some gift
out of the common, calculated to attract his momentary gaze.

On this hypothesis the place occupied by the animals in the
scene is easily grasped; some were figured because of their size
and marvellous good points, others because they were quaint and
rare. Rams, and particularly horses, belong to the first category ;
the latter are led by the hand or they draw a chariot (Fig. 194).’
Historians speak in eulogistic terms of Nisaan steeds reared for
the royal stables in the northern provinces.* By the side of these
are curious animals, doubtless intended for the royal preserves
and menageries. Such would be the zebu, or humped Indian ox
(Fig. 195), the double-humped camel of Bactria (Fig. 196), and
the wild ass, the object of the chase, respecting whose untamable
savagery and marvellous swiftness the Persians recount many a
tale ; then comes a lioness, perhaps tamed, with pendant udders.*
Neither costume nor head-dress are uniform. Several tiaras are
very distinct in shape ; and, among the tribute-bearers, some have
a kind of cloth round their heads, or £uffyzeh, as it is now called,®
whilst others wear the national high-pointed cap of the Sacze, or
Transoxian Scyths*—a headgear which likewise appears at
Behistiin, about a man labelled Karakha the Scyth (Fig. 1809),

* With regard to the Noriiz festivities, see Gopingau, Hist. des Perses, tom. i.
pp. 108, 109.

* Our illustration is after a photograph taken from the original in the British
Museum.

® Herodotus, ili. 106 ; vii. 4o.

* FLANDIN and Coster, Perse ancienne, Plate CIV.

* Strabo mentions the coiffure in question as that worn by the common people in
Persia : paxos owddvidy t mepl rij Kepodrg (XV. ili. 19).

° Herodotus, vii. 64.
 

 
  

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THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 407

 

and which we met at Boghaz Keui, in Asia Minor.!. The feet
are sometimes sandalled, sometimes defended by buskins.

Greater variety is observable in the objects which the delegates
bring to the monarch—stuffs in bunchy folds; perhaps furs; tapes-
tries; housings broidered with silver and gold thread, similar to
those worked at present in all Eastern bazaars ; costly vases filled
with rare perfumes; personal ornaments, such as massive bracelets,

 

 

 

 

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Fic. 195.—Pcrsepolis. Indian humped ox. FLANDIN and CostE, Perse ancienne, Plate CV.

chains, arms, and battle-axes. As to the large balls held in each
hand by two of the figures, it is not easy to offer an opinion.
Are they gold melted down into round shapes, or exotic fruits
prized for their exquisite flavour? Equally mysterious are scales
carried by some of the men (Fig. 193). Were they intended
to. weigh the metal before the king, bars or huge rings easy of
transport, paid in as tribute ?

If the groups in the upper line of figures were not so terribly
defaced, we should doubtless find among them great variety in the
matter of dress, weapons, and offerings. The lacuna, however, can

1 Hist. of Art, tom. iv. pp. 633, 738, Plate VIII.
408 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

be supplemented by the inhabited palaces; for instance, that of
Darius, where the theme is repeated, though in another situation,
namely, on the parapet walls of the stairs (Fig. 16). Thus, in
the hands of several men mounting the steps are duplicates of
those vases that are so plentiful in the great bas-relief of the
hypostyle hall. Some carry rounded objects, very like a casket in
shape, whilst others press a kid to their chest.1_ Elsewhere, in the

 

 

 

       

  

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Fic. 196.—Persepolis. Double-humped Bactrian camel. FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse
, ancienne, Plate CVIII.

Palace of Ochus, the figures are clothed in the short tunic; their
lower limbs and feet are bare; both arms are used to steady on
their shoulder a crescent-shaped object, which can be naught but
an elephant’s tusk (Fig. 197). The lions’ skins hunters are about
to lay at the feet of the Lord of Asia are doubtless earnest-money
from conquered India (Fig. 198).

In this manner did the sculptor strive to introduce variety of
detail and novel forms in the figured decoration from one palace to
another; do what he would, however, he could not avoid a certain

* A man is figured in the Palace of Xerxes as leading by the horn a wild goat.
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 409

 

degree of sameness in a succession of people whose business being
very similar obliged them to make the same gestures, and assume a
uniform attitude, except those attending on animals. Our descrip-
tion of the Hall of a Hundred Columns will show what resources
he found in the other theme of
his adoption ; namely, the repre-
sentations of the monarch. As
the principal doorways open upon
the portico, the sculptures which
adorn the inner faces of the door-
frames transcend all others in rich-
ness of composition. Here the
king is seated on an elevated
throne (Fig. t90). On his head
is the cydarzs, the smooth flat-
topped tiara, which none but the
monarch could wear, and in shape
not unlike the undress cap of
Russian and Prussian officers.’ His
beard, which is curled, falls low
on the chest, and is somewhat
longer than that of the other
figures. The purple cazdys, the
dignified Median robe, descends
to the ankles and on the feet,
which are supported by a foot-
stool. In one hand is held the
sceptre and in the other a flower.
Behind him stands an attendant
waving a fly-chaser over his head.
The. originality of the picture 1S Fic. 197.—Persepolis. ‘Presentation
sides above all in the accessories. pe a ee
The regal seat is placed upon an

elevated stage, or ¢akhze, as it now is called in Persia; the upper
part of which is upheld by uprights of fine workmanship, whilst
fourteen figures bear its cross-beams on their heads and raised
arms. We recognize the representatives of the conquered nations
in the variety of costume and type figured here. Processions of

1 The shape of the cydaris, despite the small scale of our illustration, is well seen
in Fig. 156.

 
410 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

this kind occur in the substructures, where they appear, however,
under a different aspect, as bearers of free gifts. The idea is
the same, and, although somewhat differently treated, is easily
grasped. Besides, Darius leaves no doubt on the subject. “If
for a moment thou dost reflect how great is the number of
countries King Darius held under his sceptre, and thou dost
We repeat it [count up], cast thine eye

SSS. upon the image of those that carry
2 iio wie my throne and then wilt thou under-
Lue stand.”

As to the corresponding bas-reliefs
on the sides of the doorways of the
posterior facade, they are very similar
to these, except that, in order to
adapt them to the shape of the field,
the artist has selected a different
order of images. On this side he
took up again the train of guards
that conduct the procession of the
great dignitaries of State along the
wall and up the steps, and he has
grouped them not around their lord
—the panel would not lend itself to
the arrangement — but below him.
They stand out in five lines of ten
each, one and all with their special
equipment (Fig. 156); three only out
of the number being furnished with
bucklers. The main scene towards

  
 
 
 
         

 

Fic. 198.— Persepolis. Presentation . Ee
oflions’skins. FLanpin and Costs, the top is a repetition of that on

Fferse anctenne, Plate CXXX. . . é
: the opposite side, save that minor

figures are added thereto. Behind the monarch and the atten-
dant fanning him is an official, who appears to be the royal
arm-bearer. He holds a small battle-axe or sledge-hammer in
one hand, and carries a bow strung on his left shoulder, tilted
up by a forked stick, to which a very different use may be
assigned besides that of serving as rest to the arm so as to
enable the archer to take a good aim. A doryphore closes the
march. On the ground, before the king, are two cylindrical
1 SprEGEL, Die altpersische Keilinschriften, p. 57.
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 4II

 

objects, which may be incense-burners; they stand between him
and a man leaning on a staff, seemingly engaged in conversation
with the monarch. To the extreme right, forming a pen-
dant to the lance-bearer, is an attendant carrying a vase. In
both doorways a sumptuous canopy is placed over the head of the
monarch, and where the upper part of the stone has not been
knocked off, hovers the image of Ahura-Mazda, with outstretched
wings. The decoration of the lateral doorways is more simple.
It portrays the combat of the king with a monster, the appearance
of which changes from one opening to the other (Fig. 71). The
king’s dress has undergone a slight modification ; he is certainly
attired in the Median robe, but, for greater convenience, it is
caught up at the belt in front, and thrown back from above the
knee, which is thus left uncovered. Nor does he wear the high
tiara, which in the heat of the affray might have got out of gear.
The head is bound by a simple fillet which keeps the hair in form.
Very similar groups adorn the lesser doorways of the inhabited
palaces (Fig. 72). On the main portals looking outwards on the
porch, we again find the king with all the attributes of regal
dignity, but as the space would have been too narrow for the
elaborate decoration exhibited at the sides of the colossal door-
ways of the Hall of a Hundred Columns, the scene was simplified.
Of course the monarch holds a sceptre in his hand; but he is no
longer seated upon a stage, whence his eye could travel down
the assembled multitude in civilian and military dress. His feet
touch the ground; he stands erect, as though coming out of the
palace to meet the thousands of men on their way to him, either
loaded with offerings, or to discharge the duties of their office.
He is about to expose his august head to the light of day, so
that a fan would be inadequate protection; a second attendant,
therefore, presses forward to cover and shield him with a parasol
(Fig. 191). The representation of royal existence is completed
in the interior of palaces. Thus, at the further end of the Palace
of Xerxes, on one of the jambs still zz setw amidst the sur-
rounding ruins, are two figures that carry objects for the royal
toilet ; the first holds a flask and a napkin, the next a two-handled
bucket and a kind of censer. Both are zmpudes, pages attached to
the service of the private apartments (Fig. 199). Greater variety
and richness occur here than anywhere else, where even the frames
of niches and false windows are embellished with sculptures,
412 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

Though many, the figures we have enumerated represent
but a very small proportion of those that once decorated the
buildings on the esplanade. There are palaces of which naught
remains but a few stones, whilst of those that have least suffered

     
  
    
  

      
      
     
   
 
 
   
   
  
  
     
 
       

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Fic. 199.—Persepolis. Royalattendants. FLANDIN and CostE, Perse ancienne, Plate CXXXV. a,

the upper part of their substructures has disappeared, along with
the sculptures chiselled thereon. Fragments, however, of all the
more important groups are extant, and they suffice to prove that
the destroyed parts had nothing, either in form, type, or workman-
ship, which greatly differed from the preserved sections. Our
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 413

 

hypothesis is confirmed by what we know of the habits of the
Persian sculptor. He felt no compunction in repeating the very
same figures and putting them in long trains before the eye of the
spectator, so that we may boldly conclude that the sculptured
decoration of the palaces at Persepolis isno more than the develop-
ment—here ampler and more discursive, there abridged and
crowded—of the twin themes we have divined under multiplicity
of images, and singled forth from the varieties which might
obscure the primitive simplicity.

These same themes furnished the elements of the decoration of
the rock-cut tombs coeval with the palaces; with this difference,
that there the component parts are grouped in a different manner,
but are as easily grasped. Thus, the guards or spearmen are
ranged at either side of the field, on the small face of the return
square, which connects it with the native rock. As in the Hall of
a Hundred Columns, the gift-bearers are turned into supports of the
throne, and represent the principal nations of the empire. The
king, almost alone in the middle of a great space, rules the whole
crowd, and is the centre of attraction of every eye. His pose and
attributes, however, are not those which are exhibited in the
sculptures of the palaces. He stands in the act of worship before
the altar, whilst his attitude as he leans against the bow is that
of a warrior, a conqueror (Figs. 9, 24, 104, 106, 108, III, 112).
The great bas-relief constituting the frontispiece of the royal tombs
is, then, the synthesis of an entire conception, a whole plastic
creation. In the lower and lateral sections, the scene enacted is
the homage subjects must surrender to their Lord, who stands on
the platform about to accomplish the gravest and most solemn
act which can devolve on the sovereign.

The group of the lion and the bull, under a symbolic form, is
repeated without the slightest change of situation or of posture in
the several buildings, and appears to be no more than the combat
where the king is represented in the act of slaying, almost without
effort, monsters that threaten the well-being of his people * (Plates

1 Some hold that the victory of the lion over the bull represents that of the sun,
who triumphs over water contained in the clouds or inthe earth. This interpretation,
which was propounded by Lajard, seems to have found general acceptance. Yet it
is supported by no ancient texts, and is not justified, especially for Persia, by any
monuments relating to her religious tenets. There are, it is true, in the Buz-

dehesh, texts which might be cited as favouring the identification of the bull with
the humid element. Ahura-Mazda created the bull, the source of life, whose sperm
414 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

{[V. and 1X.). As to the bulls set to guard portals, either upon
pedestals or at the summit of antz, and walking lions on friezes, they
are traditional and purely decorative figures. In that portion of the
work where the Persian sculptor expresses ideas of his own, there
is nothing which may not be classed in either of the broad divisions
we have delineated, with the palace at one end and the tomb at
the other, under the multiform aspects imposed upon the artist by
the variable dimensions of the fields and the peculiar character of
the edifices to be decorated. We do not find here the variety
offered by the sculptures of Egypt, or even the bas-reliefs of
Assyria, although the circle of these is already comprised within
narrower limits. Here are no war scenes, no pictures of life passed
in the camp, no marching of armies, no beleaguered cities and no
battles, no long processions of prisoners, from which many an in-
structive and picturesque detail may be gathered. Then, too, we
might expect to come across those royal hunts, in which the
Achemenide, like the Sargonidz, loved to exhibit their dexterity
and fearlessness.’ Instances of these occur in the rock bas-reliefs
of the Sassanidz,? but not one specimen could be cited in proof
that a similar pastime was favoured by their predecessors.

The expedients resorted to by the scene-manager, the boundaries
within which he rigorously confined his theme, prove that his
personnel was singularly small. There were no women in his
company. Woman, in the paintings and sculptures of Egypt, has
her young, supple, and elegant form half revealed through the
transparent gossamer in which it is draped ; woman, who occasion-
ally appears in Assyrian bas-reliefs, either as a captive or,
though more rarely, as a queen and goddess, is entirely ignored
by the Persian artist; it looks almost as if he did not believe in
her existence. As a natural sequence, and through no lack of
opportunities, he did not introduce in his regal pageants those
beardless, full-faced eunuchs who, at Nineveh, make so excellent a
foil to the manly but somewhat hard-visaged princes and warriors.

If Persian art deprived itself of the resources afforded by the

was launched into space. The bull is sometimes identified with the moon, but
there is no proof of his connection with the lion. The latter is not once mentioned
in the Avesta,

1 Herodotus, iv. 129; Cresias, Lxcerpta Persica, 40.

2 The bas-reliefs at Takht-i-Bostan represent the hunting expeditions of Chosroes
(FLANDIN and Coste, Perse ancienne, Plates X. and XII).
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 415

 

difference of features which characterize the two sexes, it is because
it had no love for the human form as such, nor its fairness. What
determined the artist in his choice of subjects and types, to which
he strictly adhered, is that they sufficed him for carrying out the
programme traced by the lords whose orders he executed. He
was commanded to represent the monarch with the pomps sur-
rounding his court, and woman, having no part in them, was
naturally left out. The abstract character this art assumed in
the sculptures at Persepolis is no less remarkable. At Behistiin
it is no longer a faithful portraiture of a given event or real
incident, as in Assyria (Fig. 189). The ten rebels who appear
before Darius, a rope around their necks, had not all been hunted
down and dragged to the stake inaday. The scene represents
the achievement of several campaigns ; it exhibits culprits awaiting
a common doom, whose heads had rolled off their shoulders at
different times and places.

This tendency is even more marked in the sculptures at Per-
sepolis. On the only tomb which bears any writing, short legends
appear, it is true, by the side of minor figures; as Gobryas of
Patischoria (?), the lance-bearer of Darius, Aspathines, companion
and charioteer of Darius.* But, even if we suppose these
indications to have been more numerous than they are, they will in
no way affect the spirit which inspired the work. What the
artist strove to depict both on the frontispieces, the front of the
palaces, and their door-frames, was neither a sacrifice nor a festival
which had taken place ona particular day of a particular year ;
it was not, as at Nineveh, to record the king’s prowess in this or
that hunting expedition, when he was near losing his life, but had
secured a larger bag than usual. To attribute any reality to the
combat between the king and monsters, griffins and unicorns, is
out of the question. This applies in full to the picture where the
king sits enthroned upon a platform upheld on the shoulders and
the head of caryatids, where negroes hustle the great nobles of
the white race. It is self-evident that we have to do with fiction
and symbolism. Even where the king appears in a more natural
attitude, e.g. erect at the threshold of his dwelling, as far as we
can see, he is not engaged in any particular business, but seems
to take his ease. Lastly, in the processional scenes mounting
towards the monarch, the figures are ranged according to a

1 SprEcEL, Die altpersischen Keilinschriften, p. 59.
416 Hirstory or ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

systematic order, which precludes all idea of a sincere and realistic
imitation of life.

If, from the manner of understanding the task laid upon him the
sculptor refrained from exhibiting the human form in the fire of
impassioned movement; if thereby he doomed his work to acertain
degree of sameness, his gods, such as he depicted them, did not
furnish him with the means of remedying the blemish. The super-
natural world, for which the culture of Egypt and Chaldzo-Assyria
knew how to invent so wonderful a variety of forms, is represented
here by a single type, and that not even of native growth, but
borrowed, with slight modifications, from the plastic art of Baby-
lonia and Nineveh.

The image under notice always appears in the same situation,
the centre of the crowning of the facades and the upper part
of the bas-reliefs. It is that of a man of diminutive stature, whose
costume consists of the regal head-dress and robe, with girdle
whose ends float far behind;* but his feathered petticoat puts
him at once outside and above humanity. The huge ring, doubt-
less an emblem of the solar disc, which is passed round his middle,
the ample plumage of his outstretched wings, which uphold him
in mid-air, help farther to emphasize his divine character. The
wings are elegant in design, and fan-like about the sculptures of the
facades (tail-piece, end of chapter v.); but those exhibited over the
tombs are much more simple (Fig. 112, Plate I.), and constructed
on a clumsy plan enough (Fig. 200). The god, who, from the
tenor of the inscriptions, can be no other than Ahurd-Mazda,
holds a ring in one hand, whilst the other is outstretched, as if
addressing his worshippers, or in the act of blessing. The size,
gesture, and attributes of the figure are everywhere the same,
and the part it plays in the composition is never a conspicuous
one. The lofty moral standard and purity of belief of the
Persians are worthy of all praise; at the same time, it must be
acknowledged that this essentially spiritualistic simplicity of creed
and ritual was not calculated to foster flights of the imagination and

' With regard to the symbol in question, consult GosLeT D’ALVIELLA, Recherches
sur histoire du globe ailé hors de l’ Egypte, 8vo, 1888, Bruxelles.

* These streamers appear already here and there in the artistic manifestations of
Assyria (Zist. of Art, tom. ii. Fig. 18), and what perhaps may explain their origin
is the cylinder, where they reach down to the hands of the worshippers, and serve
as a material link between them and the deity (/oc. cit, Fig. 153).
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 417

 

the arts of design. It did not call forth those efforts which the
richer mythology of other nations imposed upon the artist, obliged
as he was to use whatever skill might be his for the rendering of
the form, and make perceptible to the eye, by slight modifications
of outline, those manifold aspects under which he and his country-
men conceived the substance and action of the several deities.’

at

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WHT
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ori

ne dlnchalivcs SIR BE SE Main i
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Fic. 200.—Persepolis. Graven image of Ahura-Mazda, FLANDIN and Costs,
Perse ancienne, Plate CLXIV.

1 It is curious to note the total absence in the sculptures of mythical represen-
tations such as could be derived from the Avesta. It might also have been expected
that the sculptor, in depicting the triumphant combat of the king over the power of
evil, would have brought him in conflict with Azi Dahaka or Zohak, generally
figured as a man with two serpent’s heads about his shoulders (JAMES DARMESTETER,
Introduction au Vendidad, Plate LXV.), but there is nothing of the sort. The
monarch invariably contends with monsters of Chaldean origin. Again, we find
no image of the Pairika,* Peri, and other demonic creations, of which frequent
mention is made in the sacred books (Jvc. cit, Plates LXVL, LXVII.). It is not
to be denied that animals like the three-footed ass of the Avesta, from an artistic
standpoint, were less happy conceptions than the lion, the griffin, and the unicorn.
Again, notwithstanding the importance which sacrifices occupy in the Mazdian
worship, no reference is made to them in the bas-reliefs (/oc. cit., Plate LXVIIL.).
These types, of purely Aryan creation, are exhibited much later, in a Sassanid
sculpture for instance, where Ahura-Mazda is shown in the act of slaying a man
with a snake entwined around his head, who can be no other than Zohak. Every-
body knows how popular became the worship of Mithra and its attending sacrifices,
in the basin of the Mediterranean during the Roman period, the origins of which
must be sought in Persia.

* A fairy, originally a creation of Angro-Mainyus, but which in time “developed
into the protecting genius of heroes, who were indebted to her for their supernatural

strength” (Haug, in Bunsen’s Z¢y/7, vol. iil. p. 482).—TRs.
2E
418 History oF ArT 1n ANTIQUITY.

 

We need not be surprised, then, if official art measured out
so scantily the space divine simulacra were to occupy in its
monumental compositions ; granted the ideas and habits amidst
which it lived, no other result could be possible. Hence it is
that we do not find here those tiny images
of metal or terra-cotta, copies in small of
statues set up in temples to enhance the
solemnity of public worship, and of which
all other countries turned out thousands of
exemplars. The true sons of Iran do not
appear to have had familiar and domestic
idols. Naught of the kind has been dis-
covered in Persia, for no such character can
be imputed to the bronze statuettes, true in
form but rude in make, which M. Dieulafoy
brought back from Susa.’ Such would be
Fig. 201, representing a man with
the general characteristics of the
figures at Persepolis, who presses
a dog to his side; a walking lion
(Fig. 202), and a few more objects
of the like description, the use of
which is not apparent. As to the
clay figurines that Loftus and more
recent explorers collected in vast
SN quantities at Susa, representing a

Fic. 201.—Bronze statuette. Louvre. nude woman with prominent hips

aa by St. Elme Gautier. Actual anid abdomen, ee identify them

with Mylitta or Ashtoreth, what-
ever name be preferred, a Chaldzean goddess of fecundity.” Susa
was indeed raised to the rank of capital, and if the kings made
long stays there with their court, if the citadel was garrisoned with

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

1 Gopineau (Hist. des Perses, vol. i. pp. 19, 20) speaks of a bronze plate two
feet square and three inches thick, which would appear to have been found amidst
the ruins of Persepolis some few years before the publication (1869) of his book.
On it is graven the image of two dancing dyws, or demons, face to face; they are,
seemingly, exact facsimiles of those of Assyria, characterized by the length of their
ears, teeth, and body. The plaque is supposed to be a mould used for obtaining
clay forms in relief. It is now in the mosque of Shah Abd-ul-Aziz, near Rhages.
It would be well to have a drawing made of it.

2 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. p. 82 and Fig. 16,
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 419

 

Medes and Persians, the population of the adjacent country and
of the town itself was Susian, and worshipped therefore gods
and practised rites intimately related to those of Babylonia, which
stretched back to the earliest days.

For the rest it is quite impossible, even approximately, to date
this or that statuette, all of which are equally uncouth and
barbarous. The moulds into which were impressed these and
sundry other types dear to popular superstitions were kept
constantly at work to the very last days of antiquity. The same
remark applies to the small figures of musicians which Loftus
picked up at Susa.
They are reproduc-
tions of a type which
we know from the
art of Chaldza and
Assyria.

In Egypt, Chal-
dea, and Greece,
small objects of this
kind often come in as
stop-gaps to bridge --
over lacune caused nn

; ; 7 Fic. 202.—Bronze statuette. Louvre. Drawn by
by accidents un St. Elme Gautier. Actual size.

 

toward events; here,

however, we must not rely upon having our imperfect infor-
mation supplemented in this manner. The bas-reliefs at Per-
sepolis tell us what were the ideas of the artist and the processes
he made use of in translating them; here, then, we are bound to
study his handiwork, even after the excavations at Susa. From
the latter have only come fragments, which at the time of their
discovery did not occupy their original position, so that Dieulafoy,
in his restored building of Susa, mainly relied on analogies obser-
vable between the edifices at Persepolis and the whilom capital
of Susiana for the place he assigned to them.

Under a seeming appearance of complexity which melts away
before careful examination, the arrangement, grouping, and
execution of all these figures is as simple as can be imagined.
Whoever was the artist entrusted by Darius with the decoration
of his palace, the first erected on the platform, it is clear that he
had no intention of transmitting to posterity the remembrance of
420 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

any particular event during that reign. He would have had to
select out of too many exploits and too many brilliant victories.
Moreover, the dimensions and mode of construction of the palace
did not afford fields as vast as those where the Assyrian
sculptor had chronicled, in long series of separate pictures, the
victorious campaigns of his lord and master. Thus restricted
in space, the Persian artist imagined a different scheme; he
chalked out the plan of a vast composition that should be the
glorification of a royal power whose titular representatives might
change, but not the dignity itself, no matter in what hands it
might be vested for the time being.t The idea, as already observed,
was suggested to him by those stately pageants he beheld on
festive days. It might be called a plastic poem, which divides
itself into two chapters, we had almost said into two cantos. The
first, or processional scenes, is only a kind of prelude, whilst the
second is the main part of the work, and is entirely filled with
the manifold aspects of the majesty of the monarch. In these
pictures, in order to set a mark between him and his servile adoring
subordinates, he is always made taller than all the surrounding
figures. The preface might be lengthened out or abridged at
will; all it required was to increase or diminish the number
of tribute-bearers and guards. With the principal theme, how-
ever, the decorator had recourse to another method. In order to
adapt it to the exigencies of his canvas, he chose now scenes of
a symbolic import, now scenes taken direct from nature; the
whole constituting a plastic pzan carved into a succession of
images in honour of the sovereign. We find in the several
palaces the same fundamental ideas, the same rhythm, the same
division into stanzas, except that the text may be longer in the one
and shorter in another. Yet it is not in the great hypostyle halls
that we shall find it in its completeness, but in the much smaller
Palace of Darius, perhaps the oldest on the platform. For it was
sketched the ordinance of the composition the inner sense of
which we have defined. The arrangement so greatly approved
itself to the Lord of Asia and the public generally that it was
repeated in later edifices, the sculptor taking no further heed
than to make it fit the particular plan of this or that palace

* IT have omitted the enumeration of the several subjects that composed the
processional scenes, because they are fully detailed above; both in the palaces of
Darius and Xerxes, the hypostyle halls, and the great staircase.—Trs.
 

 

 
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THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 421

 

and the variable dimensions which the architect had reserved
for him.

Was it the same at Susa, and was the twofold theme which
furnished the whole decoration at Persepolis adopted there also ?
The fact that sculpture on stone is practically non-existent in the
Susian city, its sole representatives being the bulls at the summit
of columns, renders it very doubtful. It would seem, however, that
stone door-frames were not unknown, since fragments were re-
covered by Dieulafoy (Fig. 59); but nothing proves that, as at
Pasargade and Persepolis, sculptures adorned the inner faces at
the sides. No bas-reliefs have been found at Susa except those
on terra-cotta, a material that does not lend itself as well as stone
for varied aspects.

Moulds made for impressing clay figures in them are not
cast away after one exemplar has been obtained. Hence it is
that it would have been difficult to procure, by the processes
of stamping, aught approaching the processional scenes of the
tribute-bearers in front of the hypostyle hall of Xerxes, scenes
where pose, costume, and attributes change from one figure to
another.

The result of the excavations at Susa fully justify our unbelief.
In the vast quantity of glazed bricks collected there, nothing
seems to have been found that could have belonged to trains such
as the gift-bearers, or the sculptures chiselled on the jambs of the
doorways of Persia. The piecing together of these fragments has
revealed the fact that they belonged to friezes, a location where the
same form may be carried round the whole edifice. In this way
were reconstructed friezes of walking animals (Plate XI.) and
guards’ processions (Plate XII.) ; whilst certain portions seem to
indicate that the combat between the lion and the bull likewise
adorned the angles formed by the slope of the stairs."’ The remains
of the latter are interesting, in so far as they prove the existence at
Susa of a subject in favour with Persian sculpture; their number,
however, is too small to permit a reconstruction of the group of

1 Besides the glazed tiles in question, there are fragments from Susa which lead to
the conclusion that flat figures painted with the brush were applied to the front wall
of the stairs, These fragments contain also portions of the band which ran up the
sides of the steps and along the central projection facing the spectator; but the
broken pieces are too minute to permit hazarding a guess as to the theme of the

decoration.
422 Hisrory oF Arr «nN ANTIQUITY.

 

which they were a component part. Bricks bearing guards upon
them abounded ; two cupboards in the Louvre are brimful of pieces
that were not required in the restoration. By dint of patience,
M. Dieulafoy succeeded in making up nine figures, with here and
there an additional bit of plaster, carefully painted with the brush
in imitation of genuine pieces, so that from his restoration—which
may unhesitatingly be accepted as a faithful delineation of the
original—a just idea may be formed of the effect it produced when
in place and entire.t Unfortunately none of the heads of these
figures have preserved their contour and exact profile, hence they
were restored after the sculptures at Persepolis.’

M. Dieulafoy thinks that the figures under consideration were
placed, not on the supporting wall, as at Persepolis, but in the
porticoes and the external faces of the walls surrounding the great
hall of the palace, so as not to expose them to the outer air. In
his restoration they stand about 14 m. 4o c. above the ground,
so that the heads are nearly 16 m. from the floor.* As the
total height of the. figures is only 1 m. 50 c., I fail to be con-
vinced of the correctness of such an arrangement. They would
surely have looked very insignificant from below, and the eye
of the spectator would have been unable to grasp details of
costumes wrought with so minute a care, as if intended for close
inspection. With regard to the lion frieze that forms a pendant
to the Archers’ in the Louvre, Dieulafoy is of opinion that it
decorated the crowning of the Propylea which rose in front of the
palace—a conjecture which carries conviction with it," inasmuch
as the relief of the animals is not only higher than that of the

1 See the twin pictures exhibited side by side with the friezes, against the windows,
where the restored parts of each figure are indicated by hatchings.

2 All the heads, without a single exception, have been restored. One figure only,
the last in the row to the left, near the court, has preserved the beginning of the
nose and the under eyelid. On the other hand, the crown of the head of several
figures is intact, and four have kept their beards (side of court), All the rest of the
row are much more built up.

8 The tiles that served to compose the Archers’ Frieze were recovered in front of
the Palace of Artaxerxes, ata depth of more than four metres below the floor of that
edifice. Hence the conclusion is forced upon us that they belonged to the primitive
building. The excavations, however, have shed no light respecting the position
the materials in question occupied in the Palace of Darius.

4 The tiles of the frieze were found in a court, the flooring of which was broken
by their fall; proving that they came from a considerable height. The tinted side
was turned to the ground (DieuLaroy, A Suse, pp. 132, 133).
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 423

 

archers, but the manipulation is characterized by greater breadth
as well. The powerful head, the thickness of the mane, the
salience of the shoulder-blade and the principal muscles, every
detail is distinctly marked by bold modelling, and this is farther
emphasized by contrast of colour. The figures are best seen at a
distance. Finally, we have the authority of the rock-cut tombs

   

  

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Fic. 203.—Persepolis, Guardsmen, FLANDIN and CosTE, Perse ancienne, Plate CI.
(see p. 400).

 

 

(Fig. 70) for the position which the rows of walking lions occupy
in our restoration (Plates III., 1V., and VII.)

Whatever may have been the location of the Archers’ Frieze in
the principal building at Susa, it is probable that, as at Persepolis,
it was divided into two groups that advanced towards each other.
This is the way they have been arranged in the right-hand panel
at the Louvre, where the two lines of figures are separated by a
central space covered with inscriptions, the huge lettering of which
424 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

stands out white on blue ground.’ We have no fault to find with
the disposition in itself; but were the archers moved down nearer
to the ground, a different mode might be preferred.

As at the Takht, therefore, the central landing-place or opening
intervened between the two processional scenes; so that on one
side of the lobby or doorway, as the case might be, the guards
would walk in one direction, whilst the movement was reversed
on the opposite wing. Hence
another place must be sought
for the inscriptions. The
guards are represented in
profile and in marching order
(Plate XII.). They carry a
bow strung on the left shoulder,
and a quiver hung at the back,
ornamented with top-knots and
embroidery. They hold up
their javelins with both hands,
like our soldiers when they
present arms. The arrows,
which were of wood tipped
with metal, were deeply and
firmly set, and terminated at
their lower extremity in a ball
overlaid with a coat of paint
of the same tone as the arrow-
heads. The archers may be

= said to have had a uniform;

Fie, aac Fengpai Guudsper. fui" for if the colours and designs
of their dress vary from one

figure to another, if white predominates in the one and yellow
in the other, they are all cut out of the same pattern. The
chief article was a long tunic reaching to the ankles, with wide
hanging sleeves that covered the arm and wrist ; the robe was
ornamented by a rich border of rosettes or lozenges, in pleasing
contrast with its coloured ground; over it was worn a kind of

 

 

 

 

 

1 The inscription under notice, bearing the names of Darius Hystapses and Otanes,
one of the conspirators who helped to raise Darius to the throne, is composed
of several disjointed fragments, without any relation to each other. They were
put up for an ornamental rather than a documentary purpose.
THEMES AND THEIR SITUATIONS. 425

 

corselet open at the sides for the arms and wide sleeves of the
dress. The feet were defended by shoes of soft yellow leather,
fastened in front and reaching high up the instep. Their
persons were adorned with jewellery; golden bracelets around the
wrists, and pendants of the same material in their ears. A simple
fillet bound their heads, very similar to the cord of camel’s hair

sot SS ESAS SRS

Ss
SS We CEE

SS

HTT

ey

E| Pr Se
NE ee
Koss
FH LMU
Tt if qa” =

MNily

‘

 

Fic, 205.—Naksh-i-Rustem. Tomb of Darius. Head of guardsman. From a photograpa
of M. Houssay.

used by the Arabs of Syria and Palestine to keep in place their
kuffyieh. \f the head-covering of the greater proportion of the
royal guards at Persepolis is the ribbed or round-topped tiara
(Fig. 203), a good many are attired in the style and reproduce
the type we have just described (Fig. 204); the only difference is
the absence of corselets, bow, and quivers. Guards, however,
shouldering the bow are sculptured at the sides of the tomb of
Darius (Fig. 205), and are precisely similar to those referred to
426 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

above. Did the soldiers represented here belong to the Ten
Thousand or the Immortals, as the Greeks called them, a body
of troops that followed close behind the king on the march ??

Although nothing can be urged against the hypothesis, the data
furnished by Herodotus on the equipment of this picked corps
are inadequate to prove their identity.” However that may be, it
is certain that long processions of them are right and fitting in the
palaces of monarchs who owed their ascendency to the “spear
of the Persian man,” as Darius declares in the inscription
engraved upon his tomb.’

Having gone over the few subjects that were treated by the
sculptors entrusted with the decoration of the palaces erected for
the Achemenidz, we will now proceed to define the style and
workmanship of these same artists, along with the talent they dis-
played in the prosecution of their work.

STYLE AND EXECUTION.

The only monument left to represent the primitive period of
Persian sculpture, is the Cyrus at Pasargade (Fig. 187); but
unfortunately the uncovered parts of the figure, the head, hands,
and feet, are terribly defaced; so that it is more especially from the
costume that we surmise where the artist took his models. The
drapery is as straight as at Khorsabad, and there are no folds to
indicate movement and vary its aspect. The processes are those
of Assyrian art, but applied by an imitator, The fabrication
seems to have lost its energy and character.

The monuments at Persepolis are equally damaged ; far more
than is to be implied from the drawings that have been published.
The sculptures have been exposed to the elements for the last
twenty-two or twenty-four centuries, and, but for the hardness of
the limestone in which they were chiselled, they would long ago
have disappeared without leaving a sign of their existence.

1 Herodotus, vii. 41, 83.

2 DiguLaroy (Deuxidme Rapport, p. 18) recognizes a silver pomegranate in the
ball that ornamented the lower extremity of the spear; but, as stated above, it had
a coat of paint of the same colour as the arrow-head, and the latter was certainly
not silver. Besides, there is nothing about the ball to single it out as a pomegranate.
It far more resembles an apple (uyAa), which, Herodotus tells us, adorned the
extremity of the shaft of another body of spearmen, and was of gold.

® SpreceL, Die altpersischen Keilinschriften, p. 57.
STYLE AND EXECUTION. 427

 

Despite the excellent quality of the stone, many portions of the
figures look as if they had been peeled off, as if excoriated.
The heads are in a deplorable mutilated state, notably in the
pictures, most exposed to view, representing the monarch, which
decorated the door-frames, where very often nothing remains
except the trace left by the mass on the stone (Fig. 191). The
blind zeal and stupid wantonness of the Moslems have terribly
defaced the features. The best-preserved sculptures occur on
the facades of the rock-cut tombs, where their elevated situation
saved them from the like fate (Fig. 205). Excavations made at
the foot of the substructures have uncovered a certain number
that were buried in antiquity under a protecting stratum of
rubbish. Though not many, these pieces are almost intact, and
quite enough to enable the historian to understand the peculiar
touches which characterize the sculpture we are considering, and
which single it out from that of nations from whom it may have
derived some of its models and inspiration.

Persian art is connected with that of Asia by a striking
peculiarity ; inasmuch as in the latter, the body appears invari-
ably and strictly draped. The warm, equable climate of Egypt
and the fine, light texture of her fabrics were the primary causes
which developed in her midst a feeling for the beauty of the
naked form, such as no other Oriental nation’ seems to have
possessed. From the day of the Achemenidz (Cambyses), when
Egypt became a province of the empire, the Persian sculptor
could have borrowed his models thence as easily as the architect ;
the surroundings, however, in which his life was spent were
against it. Asin Assyria, the people he depicted were obliged to
wear woollen and leather garments that should protect them
against the cold in winter and the heat in summer. Hence it is
that he followed on the path traced by his predecessor, the
Ninevite sculptor, and search as we may we shall not find a single
specimen of the nude in the whole extent of his work. When a
short tunic is worn, the arms and lower extremities are naturally
bare ; and the modelling of these parts is good, and free from the
contortions which characterize similar figures in the sculptures of
Assyria (Fig. 206). If occasionally the relief of the veins is given
undue prominence (Fig. 207), the markings of the joints and the
attachment of the muscles are not exaggerated, as in Mesopotamia,
with rude barbarous emphasis which seems to be intentional.
428 History oF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

Faulty execution errs sometimes on the opposite side. Thus the

eeeeenes Sea —

Fic. 206.—Persepolis, Palace of Darius. Combat of
king with unicorn. J. DrzuLaroy, La Perse, la
Chaldée et la Susiane, p. 401.

 

outline, instead of being
sharply defined, is some-
what soft and rounded, and
betrays hurry. Never-
theless the human form
concealed behind its veil
of drapery is treated with
a degree of truth which far
transcends the work of the
Ninevite artist at his best.

Look, for instance, at
the Susian archers (Plate
XII.).. The eye is agree-
ably surprised at the light
elegance of their appear-
ance. The short jacket
sets off the round curve
of the hips, whilst the
clinging tunic marks the
lines of the form, as does
the buskin, which fits like
a glove, and draws atten-
tion to the shapely ankle
and high arched instep.'
The hands, too, are good
and accurately drawn. Of
the truth of this the reader
can satisfy himself by look-
ing at the originals now
in the Louvre ; whilst the
fragments of bas - reliefs
from Persepolis, preserved

1 This character of the Persian
sculpture is fully grasped and
happily expressed by M. E.
Portier (‘Les antiquités de
Suse rapportées par la Mission
Dieulafoy au Musée du Louvre,”
in the Gazette de Beaux-Arts,

Nov, 1886). We have followed him closely in our definition of it.
STYLE AND EXEcUTION. 429

 

in European museums, will show that the same degree of ex-
cellence is observable in the treatment of sculpture on stone.

If, despite opaque and complete covering, the body has become
more visible, it is because the former has lost the rigidity of the
Assyrian chasuble, which hangs on, but seems to have no con-

 

Fic. 207.—Persepolis. Bas-relief of hypostyle hall of Xerxes. From cast in the Louvre.

nection with the figure and the limbs it clothes. Here, on the
contrary, the exquisite softness of the stuff hugs the form and
brings out every shade of the outline, revealing whilst concealing
it. The effect would be impossible had the fabric retained the
stiffness which, in the days of Sargon and Sennacherib, caused

1 The British Museum has a number of sculptures that came from the sub-
structures of the hypostyle hall of Xerxes. The casts deposited in the Louvre by
M. Lottin de Laval belong to different palaces, and will shortly be open to the

public.
430 History or Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

it to hang straight from the shoulders without fold or crease.
Here for the first time Oriental sculpture seems to have at-
tempted the study of folds, and striven to suggest with truth
and simplicity the aspect a tissue, however thick, should present
when draping the body. The line of the sleeves at the wrist is
broken into a kind of zigzag; the
sides of the dress are panelled
with three or four broad plaits
to “set” the petticoat, and be-
tween them, in front and at the
back, the stuff is lightly draped
to facilitate the forward and back-
ward movement of the walk (Figs.
207, 20%). The principle of the
arrangement is suggested by
nature and the direction the folds
will take on the living model ;
yet conventionalism and sytem
have so large a share in it, that
when it reappears in Greek sculp-
tures of the sixth century B.c. we
cannot help being struck with the
perfect coincidence. So remark-
able is this that the hypothesis
of its being due to chance must
be dismissed; and if there was
borrowing, no one will conceive
it possible that the Greeks were
the borrowers. Persian art does
; ; not exist, so to speak, before
“yall of Nemes.” From east inthe Lowe. Darius; when the latter, towards
520 B.C, commenced his great
architectural works, the very similar treatment of drapery by the
Greek sculptor was of considerable standing. That such a mode
of interpretation was not suggested to him at a particular date by
alien example, but that it corresponds with an important phase
of continuous effort and long artistic labour, a whole series of
essayals abundantly prove.
Study of folds is even traceable in the enamelled bas-reliefs at
Susa, but there, owing to the material, they could not be deeply

 
STYLE AND EXECUTION. 431

 

marked without damaging the effect the painter aimed at pro-
ducing. The contrast offered by the broad vertical plaits which
at Persepolis interpose between the relief of the drapery (Fig. 208)
was obtained by a band, in the same situation, of different hue than
the rest of the dress (Plate XII.) As to the oblique plaits of the
yellow petticoats, patterned with rosettes, they are indicated by a
light ribbing, which is left out from the white specimens, where it
would have been more difficult to bring it into harmony with
the character of the form, those lozenge-shaped towers, copied
perhaps on those of the fortress at Susa (Fig. 209). In .order to
appreciate the advantage which the Persian sculptor derived from
drapery, we must, then, turn to the sculptures on stone, when it
will be acknowledged that he used his knowledge with no small
skill to assure play of light and shade, which would have been
misplaced in those parts where he strove above all to charm the
eye by contrast and harmonies of hues. The folds his chisel
modelled are not wanting in breadth and dignity ; given the cut
and the movement of the body, they are as they should be; their
fault, like that of Greek archaic art, lies in uniformity which verges
upon sameness. Thus in the number of subjects we have placed
under the eye of the reader, and they are not few, there is a
repetition of exactly the same figures, attitude, and dress which is
wearisome ; whilst the costume of several of the tribute-bearers
and the caryatids supporting the throne, is a tight-fitting kind of
corselet or straight mantle, barely outlined. Take, for example,
the gaily apparelled archers of Susa or the guards of Persepolis
mounting the steps or filing past on the substructures, all are alike
and on the same pattern ; at Susa the only item which differentiates
them is the colour of their dress, and at Persepolis minor details
of costume and equipment. Pose, however, and even gesture are
precisely similar in all; one might almost fancy that they were
machine-made.

The artist who planned this sculptured decoration does not
seem to have been altogether free from certain misgivings, and
now and again the desire of introducing a little variety in the
interminable rows of people, as like as peas to one another, is
very apparent. In the vast composition which covers the sides of
the stairs and the supporting wall of the great Palace of Xerxes,
there is evident effort to break through the tiresome repetition
of the same form. In the processional scene, composed of Persian
432 History oF Art 1N ANTIQUITY.

 

and Median nobles, on the left wing of the stairs, every other
figure moving towards a central point is turned back as if engaged
in conversation with his neighbour; his hand is stretched out
to him, or placed upon his shoulder or his chest (Figs. 192, 207).
The intention is worthy of praise, but the result is by no means
satisfactory. The inconsistency between the character of the move-
ment—which struggles hard to be at ease and natural, but woefully
fails—and the persistency with which it reappears at regular inter-
vals, without a change, from one end of the wall to the other is very
apparent. On the opposite wing to the right, the subject lends
itself more easily to a solution of the inner workings of the artist.
The gift-bearers represent nations distinguished by peculiarities
of physiognomy and costume; the gifts they are about to lay at
the feet of the sovereign are as different as the countries which
produced them, including animals of diverse species, yet it cannot
be said that the sculptor made the most of these several elements.
Dress and equipment change from one subject to another, but the
type of the face does not change with the costume; the figures,
no matter their functions, tribute-bearers bending under the weight
of their oblations, and animal drivers, all have the same bearing.

Then, too, the animals are patterns of perfect good behaviour,
not one falling out of line; rams and oxen are without the least
inclination to butt, and horses have no mind to rear. Men and
animals advance with even, measured step as if on parade.

The same impression is produced by taking one by one the
principal figures. Thus the king is represented in three or
four attitudes and never more. On the sepulchral facades he is
upright in the act of worshipping. On the jambs of the doorways
he slays monsters, or is seated on a throne, or comes out of his
palace ; but whether he contends against lion or griffin, his dress
is invariably caught up in the same fashion, with exactly the same
number of plaits, and the same number of curls is exhibited about
head and chin. On these peaceful occasions, when he shows him-
self to his people in serene majesty, a sceptre is grasped in the
left hand and a flower is carried in the other. If repetitions are
plentiful and symmetrical arrangement forms the rule, it is not
because the sculptor lacked the imaginative faculty; he gave
abundant proof of it in the plan of his vast decorative com-
position, where every detail concurs so admirably to express unity
of idea and unity of sentiment. The true explanation of faulty
STYLE AND EXECUTION. 433

 

arrangement resides in a very marked tendency to the abstract
and generalization. A narrative art, such as that of Assyria, was
put upon its mettle when it was required to record the main
incidents of the chasé or of a campaign; it compelled the artist
to exhibit his subjects under very different aspects, so as to impart
to them something of the movement and variety of real life. In
order to-do this, he took what the latter afforded him; and he
solved as best he might—sometimes indeed with startling effect—
the problems it presented to him. As yet his attempts were
unskilful and clumsy ; he often only half succeeded, but that was not
because he did not try very much and dare very much. Sometimes,
indeed, chance or his audacity served him better, or at least as well
as science. The nature of Persian sculpture brought with it
neither the mishaps nor the flukes which attended on Assyrian art.
Inequalities of make, though very rare, occasionally occur in certain
pictures—the processional scenes, for example, where a great
number of figures are introduced ; but they may have been due
to unskilful artisans employed on the work. As a rule, the
design shows almost in every instance correctness of outline and
surety of hand. Nowhere is this more conspicuous than in the
sculptures about the doorways, where an air of sameness is very
apparent, as if the handiwork of one person. The artist, con-
scious that he was working for the master, would leave nothing
to chance or to untried hands, and elected to repeat himself rather
than attempt aught above his capacity, which might risk to
disturb the harmony of a unit planned with so much serious
thought and care.

The question has been raised as to whether the kings could
be as easily singled out in these pictures, as in Egypt, either from
their stature or peculiarities of countenance ; whether, in fact, we
are in face of portraits. Granted that the painter aimed at being
a portraitist, it would be impossible to judge how far he succeeded,
since, in almost all the representations of the king, the head is so
terribly defaced, as to forbid the possibility of noticing those light
shades and inflections of outline which would impart thereto an
individual character. For the rest, all the figures under notice
have practically the same proportion, and in the little that remains
of the face the differences observable from one palace to another
are very trifling. It is no more than might have been expected,

and is but the logical sequence of the tendency we have pointed out.
2F
434 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

The hero to whom these stones sang a hymn was not this or that
king, Xerxes rather than Darius; no matter his name, it was the
king, the successor of Cyrus, the dread lord who, conjointly with
Ahura-Mazda, maintained the Persians in the ascendency which
had been won for them by his ancestors. Darius may have
furnished the primary lineaments of the royal effigy ; but it does
not appear that aught was changed or added thereto in after times,
when it became the ideal image of the Achzmenid royalty.

If, owing to a natural bias, the art of Persia did not rise to
portraiture, its inclination, on the other hand, could not but induce
it to sum up and personify, in a certain number of types sharply
defined, the most striking physical characteristics of the principal
nations, the conquering and the conquered, whose represen-
tatives he grouped about the throne. The masterpiece of the
kind is the presentment by the Persepolitan sculptor of the type of
the Aryan race to which he was proud to belong. This type he
composed and modelled from the finest specimens of the family,
such as they are still found in the south of Iran, among the hilly
tribes that have not intermarried with the Turcomans, but have
kept the purity of the race intact. None finer or nobler than this
can be found in the habitable world, not even in Greece. Nowhere
is the forehead, which is on a line with the nose, higher and
straighter, and the eyebrow more finely arched. Nowhere is the
eye more open and longer, the mouth more exquisitely shaped,
with lips neither too thin nor too full. A black curly beard conceals
the well-rounded chin, and the tall, finely proportioned figure is
set off by a wealth of soft hair.

The proud Medes and Persians must have felt inwardly gratified
as they recognized themselves in this type, which bears a certain
resemblance, but is more elegant than that which the Assyrian
sculptor ascribed to the chiefs of his nation. The profile of the
latter is rendered somewhat hard and heavy by a hooked nose
and swelling nostril, recalling a bird of prey.

The character of the theme involved the representation of the
Aryan type almost to the exclusion of any other in the has-reliefs ;
and we find it repeated everywhere, both ona large and small
scale, whether on the facades of the tombs or the walls of the
palaces. As for the other nations, the sculptor had not the same
reasons to feel particularly interested about them. He was
content, for the most part, with giving them peculiarities of dress
STYLE AND EXECUTION. 435

 

which should serve to characterize them, but their features are
appreciably the same as those of their conquerors. We notice,
however, figures with straight hair and top-knot, and sometimes
a curled moustache; others appear smooth-faced or almost so,
in strong contrast with the abundance of curly hair and beard
of the Persians. On those rare occasions when the artist
found himself in face of a very distinct type, entirely opposed to
the Aryan, he strove faithfully to imitate his model. Thus among
the figures whose heads have least suffered in the Hall of a
Hundred Columns, are two specimens which, on that account, have
been noticed by all travellers. One is manifestly that of a
negro, portrayed with all the peculiarities of the race: woolly hair,
fat short nose, and thick lips; his dress, too, differs from that
of the others (Fig. 209) ;” whilst, in the picture that forms a
pendant to this, we find the flat face and scanty beard of a Tartar
(Fig. 210). The sculptor may thus have intended to oppose
the nomad tribes of the Oxus to the blacks of Ethiopia, on the
Upper Nile, so as to bring home to the mind of the spectator the
immense extent of an empire which comprised within its boun-
daries populations so widely different in manners and aspect.
Simultaneously with the king, the soldiers, and the tribute-
bearers, animals too have become mere abstractions, and only
interest the sculptor so far that they play a part in the festival
given in honour of the monarch. To the lion is allotted the largest
place in the bas-reliefs at Persepolis ; but the native sculptor does
not appear to have felt any interest in observing the animal either
in the soft abandonment of sleep, the elegance of his walk, the
spring of his bounds, the mad fury of the conflict, or have cared
to be present at the agonizing death. The rows of lions repre-
sented on the friezes of the tombs are accurately drawn ; but they
are done from copies, not from the living animal (Fig. 70). In
the combat between the king and the lion, the griffin and unicorn,
monsters which are but modifications of the king of beasts, the
limbs are not only drawn with care, but with vigour and spirit
(Figs. 71, 72, 206). The fault of these representations resides

1 FLanpIN and Coste, Zerse anctenne, Plates CIX., CXIX., CLV.

2 Flandin, in his drawing, which we reproduce, did not exaggerate the physio-
gnomic peculiarities of the woolly-haired fellow. They are also distinctly traced by
Ker Porter (vol. i. Plate L.). The elder Niebuhr likewise (p. 121) noticed the
African type.
436 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

in this, that neither king nor monster appear to fight in good
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the vanquished are tame, conventional, and uniform. Finally,
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Hypostyle hall of Xerxes.

Fic. 211.—Persepolis.
STYLE AND EXECUTION. 439

 

of the lion in full is spoiled by heaviness and exaggeration of
muscular power. As to the head of the bull, it has lost much of
the noble aspect and grandeur which it presents in the capitals.
The paw he raises against the side hangs loose as if dislocated,
and the effect is not pleasing by any means; the body of the
animal is somewhat too thin (Fig. 211). A relative superiority of
draughtsmanship is observable throughout the series of the gift-
bearers, which contains, besides several horses, a figure of the ass,
the humped ox, the camel, and two rams. The form, though true
to nature, is merely outlined (Figs. 195, 196). It should also be
observed that the proportion of the human to the animal figures is
not very well kept ; the latter are decidedly too small. The worst
fault is the total absence of any attempt at reproducing the
physiognomic peculiarities of the various species, whereas it forms
a conspicuous feature in the similar figures of Egypt and Assyria,
so that the animal-drawing of the artists of those countries may
challenge comparison with any artistic productions of the kind.
The one exception to this general rule is furnished by the
enamelled clay friezes at Susa. Oriental art has produced nothing
finer than the lion figures which seemingly decorated the entab-
lature of the Propylea’ (Plate XI.). The mingling of feline
suppleness and power which characterize the king of beasts was
never handled with more consummate skill. The head, above all,
enframed in its thick mane, with the frightening gaping mouth, the
long teeth, and protruding tongue, must be pronounced admirable
(Fig. 212); but we may ask to whom should we ascribe the
honour ? Both from the materials employed and the taste of the
ornamentation, the buildings at Susa are only half Persian.
Except for their arrangement, which is that of edifices sprung from
stone, we could almost believe, whilst examining the bulk of frag-
ments collected in those ruins, that we have to do with the relics
of one or another of the Babylonian palaces. The elements of the
decoration are all derived from enamel; and we know that
Chaldza had carried on the art for centuries, when as yet the
inhabitants of the Iranic plateaux were but husbandmen and
woodmen, content with the simple handicrafts practised under the
tent and the hut.

Of course, when Mesopotamia and the table-lands of the interior
were united under one sceptre, the art of the enamellist rapidly

? The lions in question are 1 m. 75 c. in height, and 3 m. 50 c. in length,
440 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

spread, and its success on the soil of Persia was so marvellous, that
the Middle Ages, and even modern times, looked upon Persia as
the country of its birth; yet when Darius undertook to build a
palace at Susa, it was just then creeping in; and two generations
had scarcely elapsed since first the Persians had entered into
relations with Chaldza, the real home of an art which, more than
any other, has its secret ingredients, the successful application of

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which depends upon a turn of the hand. Why should Darius have
called Persian artisans to Susiana, when he found ready prepared
at Susa workshops for moulding, painting, and firing? He had
only to express a wish and as many craftsmen as he required
would forthwith set to work to clothe the building with a silver,
gold, or azure veil. If, however, artificers were gotten from alien
sources, he went to Babylonia for them. Whether Susian or
Chaldean, the technical skill of the enamellists was sufficiently
STYLE AND EXECUTION. 441

 

advanced to enable them to apply their processes to any subject
that might be presented to them. In the same masterly fashion
with which they had formerly executed those hunting scenes on
enamelled bricks, said by Ctesias to have adorned the walls of the
palaces at Babylon,’ so at Susa, when they were ordered to embellish
the house of the new masters of the East, their brush and boasting-
tool reproduced on clay the type of the royal archers, which at
Persepolis was sculptured on stone. But whilst they made new
moulds they continued to use those they already possessed.
Hence it is that the walking lions on the friezes at Susa are
constructed on precisely the same lines as the exemplars of Assyria
and Chaldza, save that they show decided progress on the latter,
for not only is the management of colour to heighten the relief
better understood, but the modelling is bolder. Proportion and
pose, however, are identical ; both strove after a realistic interpreta-
tion of nature.” To the same artisans must be attributed the
animal figures on unglazed clay that seem to have formed part of
the inner decoration of one of the gates to the citadel. The
elegance and vigour of the modelling are truly wonderful, and
recall the fabrication of the lions on the enamelled frieze. Their
archetypes will some day or other be discovered at Babylon.
Unfortunately the fragments hitherto collected in that city are
mere crumbs, and therefore do not lend themselves to the recon-

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. p. 298. In the seventeenth century there was in France, in
the Peiresc collection, a Chaldgzan enamelled brick in a better state of preservation
than any we possess. What has become of it? Here is the description its former
owner gives of it: “I should dare to advance another conjecture” (in regard to
thyrsi) “had I time to examine a fragment in my collection, which originally came
from Persia, and was picked up at Bagdad seven or eight years ago. It is the
oldest, and possibly the most remarkable piece in my possession ; though it is no
more than a remnant of an ancient brick covered with incrustation, very similar to
that of the Chinese, but enamelled and coloured a bluish green like the idols of
the Egyptian mummies.” (The brick in question may be of the class Pliny calls
Jaterculi, used by the Babylonians for noting down their astronomical observations.)
“Tt exhibits hieroglyphic characters, and tinted figures barely outlined, dressed in a
quasi-Egyptian mode, yet slightly different. The figures carry long sticks not unlike
‘hyrsi, terminating in a radiating tuft, which may very well be Babylonian papyrus.
Bacchus must have called at Babylon on his way to India, whence he may have
brought it along with other trophies” (Lettres de Peirese aux fréres Dupuy, published
by Ph. Tamizey de Larroque, in the collection of Unpublished Documents relating
to French History, 1888, tom. i. p. 641.

2 Hist. of Art, tom. il, Plate XV.

8 DiguLaroy, Deuxiéme Rapport, pp. 21, 41.
442 History oF Art IN ANTIQUITY.

 

stitution of a unit. Yet among these tiny relics is a fragmentary
lion whose mode of enamelling exhibits the qualities of tone,
the resplendency, and the solidity which we find at Susa.* As
already observed, the high excellence of Chaldzean enamel is sadly
to seek at Nineveh. Had the lions that make so brave a figure in
the Louvre been exhumed a little sooner, they might have served
to fill one of the most serious lacune in the history we are writing,
and we should not have hesitated to assign them to the original
and powerful art of Chaldza, whose labours are now solely
represented by figurines of bronze and terra-cotta, including a rich
treasure of engraved stones, all the rest having almost entirely
disappeared.

When we compare the monuments of this kind that have been
preserved, whether of Egyptian, Phoenician, Mesopotamian, or
Susian origin, we perceive that in no instance did the ancient
enamel-painter aim with his few pigments at reproducing realistic
colouring in his presentment of inanimate and living forms. With
a just appreciation of the narrow limits within which his art moved,
he used colour either to gladden the eye with its harmonies and
contrasts, or to emphasize the outline and modelling by a few
bold, vivid touches. As at Khorsabad, here also the colouring is
highly conventional. The shoulder-blade of the lions is marked
by a blue patch; the mane, the masses of hair under the body,
about the legs, and the hind parts, are of the same hue, laid on
with a broad touch of the brush. The tone is not uniform, and
varies from one figure to another. Yet, in face of similar figures,
nobody will ever imagine that the wild beasts which haunt the
banks of the Choaspes, fringed with tamarisks and rushes, had blue
skins.? The tint in this instance is no more than a value put in to
strengthen the lines and heighten the salience of the muscles and
joints. Thus the hands and lower extremities of the archers, now
in the Louvre, to which reference has repeatedly been made, are
painted dark brown; and Dieulafoy found tiles which appear to have
belonged to very similar figures, where the same parts had a coat
of white glaze laid on.’ We are quite willing to admit that two
rows of figures of different hue extended here right and left of the

1 Hist. of Art, tom. it. pp. 299, 300.

> From Khorsabad came a blue-winged bull (/é:d., Plate XIV.).

° The fragments in question and a bit of the head are deposited in a cabinet of
the second room at the Louvre.
STYLE AND EXECUTION. 443

 

landing-place or portal; but in our estimation the conclusions
deduced therefrom by M. Dieulafoy are open to question.
According to him, the artist represented here the contingents of
two different people. The white guard was intended to represent
the two principal nations, the Medes and the Persians. On the
other hand, the black guard, according to this theory, was recruited
in the outlying country of Susiana, and the swarthy colour given
them by the painter would coincide with the highly probable con-
jecture, which has been independently advanced, that the Elamites
belonged to a negroid race.’

We fear that it is making too much of what seems to be a
mere artistic contrivance. The enamelled panels at Khorsabad
exhibit genii painted yellow from head to foot, excepting the hair
and beard.* Will it be inferred therefrom that the Assyrians
pictured to themselves their gods with a saffron or yellow ochre
complexion? In pictures of this description, it is the outline and
not the colour which invests form with its special characteristics,
and if used at all, it is merely for the sake of its pleasantness.
Dieulafoy seems unconsciously to have felt this, since with the
scanty remains of one of the brown heads to hand, he was led to
restore one and all with the noble profile of the Aryan race, such
as he found it in the bas-reliefs at Persepolis. Besides, had the
intention of the painter been what he is credited with, would not he
have modelled a negro’s mask, as he did with so sure a hand in
the Hall of a Hundred Columns? According to Herodotus, the
Immortals, which Dieulafoy would recognize here, were recruited
from the Persians alone ;* to none but his countrymen, the scions
of the people whose fortunes were intimately bound up with those
of the Achemenidz, would the king trust the safeguard of his
person. But what renders the hypothesis of a negro watch
doubtful, is not so much the assertion of the historian as study of
the art which created the figures under consideration. The
alternation of white and black is a simple means resorted to by
the artist for varying the effects. No art has opened its gates
wider at all times and places to conventionalism, than that of
the enamellist, and no other has accepted it more easily. Persian
sculpture, on the other hand, is by no means destitute of con-
ventionalism. Everybody was fully aware that the king was no

1 DigzuLaroy, Deuxitme Rapport, pp. 18, 19.
2 Prace, Winive et / Assyrie, Plates XV., XVI. * Herodotus, vii. 41, 83.
444 Hisrory oF Art IN ANTIQUITY.

 

taller than the bulk of his subjects, yet there was no difficulty in
grasping why the sculptor had represented him as towering over
them all (Figs. 156, 190, 191).’

Another singular piece of conventionalism is the platform upon
which the throne is placed, both on the sepulchral facades, and
the pictures that adorn the door-frames of the palaces (Figs. 156,
190). Two or three rows of figures, with raised arms, support
the wooden frame; the situation they occupy one above the other,

 

 

 

 

saatttiy
fat it
OC

 

 

 

 

 

Fic. 213.—Persepolis. Bas-relief of hypostyle hall of Xerxes. FLANDIN and CosrE,
Perse ancienne, Plate CVI.

between the uprights of the colossal stage, corresponds with no
scene in real life. Our eye, however, is carried along the hori-
zontal planes, and our imagination immediately supplies a ground
upon which their feet are as firmly planted as those of the statues
which, at Teheran, bear on their shoulders the platform upon
which the shah is seated on audience days (Fig. 155). The
artist trusted to the imaginative faculty of the spectator to assist
him in seeing the staged figures juxtaposed on a horizontal line.

* XENOPHON (Cyrop., VIIL. iii. 14) seems to hint at the king having used artificial

means so as to add to his height when he appeared on public occasions, whether on
the platform or in his chariot.
STYLE AND EXECUTION. 445

 

It is even more easy to restore the true aspect of the things
portrayed in those instances where the sculptor, in a lazy mood
perhaps, contented himself with undue simplification. Thus, in
the oft-repeated sculpture of the lion slaying the bull, the latter is
depicted with a unique horn, but we immediately put the other
behind the one we see (Fig. 211). This holds good with regard
to the rams already referred to, which belong to the series of
tribute-bearers, and an antelope
from another palace (Figs. 213,214). {— oF
If, at the end of this study, we try
to realize the impression left by the
works that have passed before our
eyes and the reflections they have
awakened, the following appears to
be the notion gained as to the merits
and demerits of the Persian sculptor.
His handiwork shows great care,
and he was admirably served in the
quality of the stone he employed, a
limestone not too hard for the chisel,
and as finely grained as marble. All
who have seen the originals are
agreed respecting the exquisite finish
of the execution; indeed,so remark- |. tard ae Ay
able is this as to recall bronze work, Fic. 214.-—Persepolis. Bas-relief of Palace
notably the wings of the colossi set Or enes  PORRXVL, eons
up at the doorways, and the griffins
engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with the monarch (Plate II., Fig.
207). But such minute precision, though valuable and even
pleasing in the rendering of many a detail, is accompanied by
a certain dryness, more particularly noticeable in the outline,
which is somewhat poor. As a rule, the drawing, though
wanting in breadth and decision, is accurate, at least in the
principal figures; a large proportion of the minor ones, how-
ever, are manifestly too short, and the head too large for the
body (Fig. 215). It may be said, then, that in some respects the
Persian artist has more technical skill than the Egyptian and
Assyrian. The laws of anatomy are better observed. Persian

 

 
       
    
     

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TUTE Tae

 

 

 

 

Téxier, Description, etc., tom. ii, pp. 168, 170; FLANDIN, Relation, tom. li.
p. 167.
446 History or Art in Antiquity.

 

sculpture des not exhibit those startling dislocations, limbs so
ill attached to the body
as to appear broken,
blemishes that so often
offend the eye in the
paintings of Egypt, and
sometimes even in her
sculpture." Then, too,
it is free from violent
exaggeration in the pro-
jection of the bones and
muscles, which in the
older work of Assyria,
the bas-reliefs of Asur-
nat-Sirpal for example,
results in obvious de-
formity. Here the
figures, no matter their
posture, are invariably,
as a painter would say,
well shaken together,
and the form, whether
covered or uncovered, is
true to nature; its pro-
portions are strictly kept,
and neither reduced nor
added to. Nor is this
all; other features, too,
prove dexterity of hand
and improvement in the
art under notice. The
figures exhibited on the
sculptured slabs of As-
syrian palaces nearly
always present a plane
surface whereon the de-
tails are incised, whilst

 

Fic. 215.—Persepolis. Hypostyle hall of Xerxes.
Bas-relief. From cast in the Louvre. the edge that surrounds

the wrought space is cut
1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Figs. 13, 16, 91, 98, etc.
STYLE AND EXECUTION. 447

 

straight and is perpendicular to the ground. But this is not the
case in the more important groups at Persepolis; for example,
the combat of the king with monsters (Figs. 71, 72, 207), where
the relief, which is considerable, has received a certain degree of
modelling. The thickness of the image is not uniform, and
curved surfaces connect it with the field. A last item, as tending
to prove the superiority of the Persian artist, should not go
unnoticed; namely, the introduction of folds in the rendering of
drapery, and his effort to obtain effects by means of stuffs which
Asiatic art had felt incompetent to attempt before his time.

Yet, curiously enough, the art is incomplete, and the technical
skill of the sculptor, so new to Oriental art, did not save him from
a certain degree of clumsiness, which is surprising enough. It
might be said that he was conscious of his inability to draw the
figure in full, for I notice but one solitary instance in the whole
extent of his work: that of the lion devouring the bull on the
front of the stairs (Fig. 211). But the choice he adopted led him
to the singular result that when he aimed at introducing variety
in the processional scene representing Median and Persian
grandees, he put subjects that look towards their neighbours, their
heads and feet turned to the left, whilst the body is seen full
front. This places the figure in a painful and awkward posi-
tion, which could not be retained by a living man without great
discomfort (Fig. 192). The Ninevite sculptor knew how to draw
the eye tolerably well, as it appears when seen sideways ;* but
at Persepolis it is always full, no matter if the heads face the
spectator or are in profile, so that we are forcibly reminded of
the early paintings and statuary of Greece (Figs. 205, 206). In
this respect Persian art is more backward than that of Assyria.

There is but one way of explaining the admixture of skill and
awkwardness, a timidity that recoiled in face of certain essayals
boldly grappled with in other countries, a faint-heartedness of a
chisel so sure and self-possessed. The qualities we have pointed
out are not the result of native development, by means of which
the artist, after continuous and repeated attempts, coupled with
his own talent, succeded in giving life to the interpretation of his
bas-reliefs. We do not feel here the originality or the corre-
spondence of all the parts which never fail, when it is a long and
sincere study of nature’that has given birth to the art. Nature

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Plate X.
448 History oF Art in AnTrQuITy.

 

was neither the sole nor the chief mistress of Persian art. What
it knows, and it knows a good deal, is mainly due to the teaching
of its predecessor of Asia, and its contemporary, the Ionian
sculptor. Its faults are those of a pupil who felt embarrassed
how to choose between two masters who were not always agreed,
or perhaps because their models were not such as he could
blindly follow. In the first instance he had to select, and his
choice was not always happy. Many an Assyrian bas-relief
would have set him on the right track for placing the eye in
profile when required; but he preferred to follow ae esi
of Greek art, which, down to the sixth century B.c., persists,
even in the best-executed stelas, in drawing the ee like an
untutored child.’ If elsewhere, in a vain attempt to present his
figures in the graceful freedom of ordinary life, he has given
them instead a painful attitude, it is because a natural posture was
not to be found either in the monuments of Assyria or the early
works of Greece. In both all the subjects of a processional scene
have invariably their heads and feet turned in the direction
towards which they advance. To settle uncertainties and faults
such as these, the artist should have gone straight to Nature; but
he was not in the habit of consulting her; all he cared to obtain
from her were accessories and mere detail. Thus he faithfully
copied the head-dress, the cut of the robe, the weapons, and equip-
ment, as he saw them about him; but his canon of proportions,
and even his notion of beauty, were borrowed from alien sources.
When an art had to be created on the spot to adorn and add to
the dignity of the young royal establishment in upstart Persia
(which was but of yesterday), agents were recruited from all parts
to satisfy as quickly as possible the whim of a sovereign whose
will was law. This historians have incidentally told us; but even
without their testimony we should have gathered as much from
the monuments themselves. We should like to know the names
of the principal architects and the ornamentists of these buildings,
or at least to what race they belonged. Our curiosity, however,
will never be satisfied. Though sorry for ourselves, we must fie
content with defining the peculiar conditions which circumstances
brought to bear upon this nascent art, and showing how it
applied forms previously created to new themes and the representa-

* Look, for instance, at the stela of Ariston, commonly dated from the sixth
century, which goes by the name of the “‘ Marathon Warrior.”
Givpric ART, 449

 

tion of an ethnic type whose features had not yet been chiselled
by the sculptor. :

Inheritor of Assyria on the one hand, and of Greece on the
other, Persian sculpture is, then, to a certain extent more advanced
than that of Egypt and the Semitic nations of Mesopotamia; all
the same it is a less interesting art. It is not the spontaneous
creation of a people who use the language of forms, concur-
rently with that of words, to express their emotions and their
ideas. Neither do we trace in such figures as are of genuine
native make the thrill, as it were, which an artist, sprung from a
nation gifted for plastic arts, feels in presence of a human form
endowed with harmonious lines, when he collects and puts forth
his strength for a mighty effort. The significance of the image
rather than the beauty pertaining thereto determined the choice
of the artist, who wished above all that each group, each figure,
each attitude, conjointly with the general flow of the composition,
should help in producing the desired effect, and deepen still
more the religious awe which the assembled multitudes owed to
their sovereign. If Persian sculpture is expressive, it is because
of this all-inspiring idea; the feeling which filled the mind of its
creator rises everywhere to the surface, and penetrates it, so to
speak, with something of a majestic gravity and self-possession
which are not void of attractiveness, whilst the whole presents
a unity of style and tone imposing in their effect. It must be
confessed, however, that this very high-pitched and unbroken tone
is somewhat frigid. ‘The artist never took off his best coat so as
to introduce comedy in his composition; the attention of the
spectator is never excited by picturesque tales ingeniously worked
in, some accident happily contrived to break the sameness of the
main action. Everything is as well regulated and, we might
almost say, as stiff as the order and etiquette of a court ceremonial.

Guyptic ART.

If many a data induce the belief that artists of Persian birth
had no hand in the sculptures we have just described, there are
even greater reasons for rejecting intaglios as of native work-
manship. These are rare enough, and divide themselves into
two classes, the one engraved with Persian characters, and the

other, by far the largest, distinguished by forms and make which
2G
450 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

so nearly approach the sculptures at Persepolis as to render
probable the supposition of a common origin. Of all the arts
of drawing, gem-engraving is perhaps that which requires
longest apprenticeship to master its minute and delicate processes.
The craft had been practised and handed down from father
to son for centuries in Mesopotamia, where from the days of the
old Chaldzan kings, hematite, chalcedony, cornelian, sapphire,
and other stones were selected for engraving designs or figures
upon them. Patient industrial Phoenicia had quickly mastered
the secrets of the point and spinning-wheel. The Persians, how-
ever, could not be expected to forsake the spear and sword, to
which they were accustomed, for tools that would oblige them to
sit quietly for hours at a stretch.

In speaking of Persian intaglios, therefore, we must be under-
stood to mean that the same were ordered by Persians desirous
to have seals bearing legends in their own language, or figures
representing their deities or their monarchs. Whether the
engraver came from Chaldza or Pheenicia is of little moment;
what is important is the fact that these signets bear upon them
the mark of having been specially designed for the use and benefit
of Persians, and this it is which enables us to place them imme-
diately after the sculptures at Persepolis and Susa, which in many
respects they complete, and thus add valuable information. They
tell us which of the themes exhibited in the decoration of the
palaces and the tombs became the favourites for gem-engraving.
Thus, for instance, forms, the absence of which we noticed at
Persepolis with surprise, occur upon intaglios, and the inference is
irresistible that they formed part of the ornamentation of the
Achemenid buildings now destroyed. Such would be hunting
scenes. The part they play in the repertory of Egyptian, Chaldzan,
and Assyrian artists is well known. Though the Achemenide
did not follow the chase with the zest and ardour of the kings
of Calach and Nineveh, they had a real taste for the healthy
exercise and the perils consequent upon it. In proof of this the
reader may be referred to the signet-cylinder in chalcedony
figured below (Fig. 216). It bears a trilingual inscription; the
Persian text says, “I am Darius, king,” and the Babylonian
version adds a qualificative, “I am Darius, king, great.” As on
numbers of Chaldzo-Assyrian gems, here also the main group is
enframed by two palms; between these the king, with his
Guiyptic Art. 45

 

charioteer in front, is upright in a light car, and appears in the
act of shooting a lion, who has already received two arrows, and
is raised on his hind-legs close upon the horses. A smaller lion
lies on the ground, and the wheels are about to pass over him.
More than one Assyrian bas-relief may have furnished the model
for this group ;* and though, as already observed, we have no in-
stance of such a scene as this in the Persepolitan sculptures, their
influence upon the engraver is manifest. Thus in the pictures
both of the palaces and the tombs the symbolic figure of Ahura-
Mazda, as represented in the Hall of a Hundred Columns, hovers
above the king (tail-piece,
chapter v.). Like the <7 077
Cyrus of the solemn pomp . sé eg. Sees
described by Xenophon, pax G . Sates
or the prince of the bas-
reliefs on the Takht, the
king’s stature is greater
than that of his charioteer,
whilst the posture of the
lion is precisely similar to
that of those figured about
the Persepolitan door-
ways (Figs. 71, 72).
Here, however, the attitude was not commanded by the nature
or exiguity of the field. In the group of the palaces the animal
has raised himself on his hind-legs to fix both fangs and claws
in the breast of his foe, against whom he leans, and is thus
able to keep his posture. But nothing of the kind is seen here,
so that the appearance of the brute is suggestive of a learned
animal dancing before the royal car.” If the action of the horses
is good, if the attitude of the Jehu is fairly natural, that of the
king is stiff and decidedly bad ; his arrow will never hit the beast,
but shoot clean over his head.

The signet of Darius, or, to speak accurately, of one of the three
kings of that name who occupied the throne between the sixth
and the fourth century s.c., has then no great merit as a work

rye

   
 
   
  

 
   
  

zy

 
 
  

= v

ae

Rhyl

=~

»)

Waltal se

Fic. 216.—Signet of Darius. British Museum.

1 Lavarp, Monuments of Nineveh, 1st Series, Plates X., XL, XXXL, L.

2 The work of the Assyrian sculptor shows but one monster represented up-
right without support; but then it is a griffin, and his claws give him a wider
base to stand upon (Layarp, Monuments of Nineveh, ist Series, Plate V.).
452 History or ArT 1n ANTIQUITY.

 

of art; but the inscription which accompanies it is sufficient
voucher of its being a royal seal, with a royal name, written too
in the three languages employed in the chancellery of the
Achzmenide, instances of which appear both on the facades of
the rock-tombs and the palaces. Even without the legend, the
forms by themselves would almost have been enough to reveal
the probable use and the exalted rank of its owner. In the first
place, there is the symbol of Ahura-Mazda, and the god would
surely not have lowered himself to spread his wings over a no-
body. Again, the monarch alone had the right to pursue the king
of the forest seated in his car, and the theme was one to which
Assyro-Chaldzean art had assigned a conventional meaning not
likely to fall into desuetude from want of practice. Finally, if the
monarch has not the high tiara slightly swelling as it ascends
towards the top, identified with the £7ztaris, kidaris (Fig. 190),
the lower fluted tiara he wears, is likewise a royal head-dress,
which invariably occurs upon darics (Figs. 227, 228).

The brevity of the inscription affords no clue as to which of the
Dariuses the signet should be ascribed. The first impulse is to
credit the son of Hystaspes with it; one’s self-love is secretly
flattered in being able to handle a cylinder used by the greatest of
the Achzmenidz to impress the sign of his royal will upon wax or
soft clay. We cannot discuss in this place the considerations put
forth in respect to the writing, in order to justify a proneness to
yield to the temptation referred to above.’ In make the engraved
stone under notice is cold but tolerably good; in it the artist has
introduced forms taken from ancient models, without arranging
or modifying them so as to make them stand and look well.
Such would be the archer taking aim at the lion, and the action
of the latter as he prepares to spring upon the man. The piece
betrays traces of the decay which descended upon the empire
towards the middle of the fifth century 3.c., when government,
manners and customs, religion and language all underwent rapid
change. In such a state as this, art could not escape the general
corruption which must have invaded gem-engraving and sculpture
on a large scale as well. We should rather incline, therefore,
to date the seal from the last Achaemenid, Darius Codomanus, or
more likely perhaps, seeing that his reign was peaceful and lasted
a long time, Darius Nothus (425-405).

J. Ménant, Recherches sur la glyptique orientale, tom. ii. p. 168.
Giyetic ART. 453

 

The Persian origin of the next specimen is rendered certain by
its inscription. It is a cylinder in lapis-lazuli which belongs to the
Armoury at Brussels (Fig. 217). The representation consists of
a bearded individual, erect, and about to offer a wreath to the
symbolic sacred tree, such as it appears on the bas-reliefs and
cylinders of the second monarchy ; above, in the field, is a star,
below an ornamental chain, and
behind the personage, a Per-
sian inscription of three lines
parallel to the axis of the
cylinder, which may be trans-
lated as follows: “Signet of the
wife of Khsarasasya,” or per-

; ‘ Fic. 217.—Cylinder. J. M&ENANT, Recherches
haps : “Signet of the woman sur la glyptique orientale, tom. ii. Fig. 150.
yd

 

 

 

 

Khsarsya. There are still

other two stones with Persian characters,’ but as the designs they
embody are destitute of interest we refrain from reproducing them,
so as to reserve more space to another category of intaglios, which,
though without inscriptions, appear to belong to Persia, either
from the general character of
the forms” or sometimes a Boake
simple detail of costume. HiporOner
The most curious of all these Bac
monuments is a fine cylinder
in chalcedony at the Museum
de | Hermitage, in St. Peters-
burg (Fig. 218),° with the tra-
ditional palm introduced Ns Fic. 218.—Drawn by St. Elme Gautier.
field. In front of this tree, the Cylinder. Jéid., Plate IX. Fig. 1.
king, with bow and javelin
about his shoulders, is seen in the act of spearing a foe, who,
bent upon one knee, turns to beg for mercy of his conqueror.
Behind the two principal figures are four men standing upright,
their hands behind their backs, and a rope passed round their
necks.

 

   

 

 

1 J. Méwant, Recherches, etc., tom. ii. p. 172, 2 Tbid., Figs. 149, 151.

3 Comptes rendus de la commission archéologique de St. Petersbourg, 1881, Plate V.
Figs. 8, 9, pp. 81, 82. The cylinder in question was bought at Kertch, and had
probably been picked up in some neighbouring tomb. Its gold mount seems to be
Greek work of the fourth century (J. MéNanv, /0c. cit., pp. 168-170).
454 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

The analogy with the Behistin bas-relief is most remarkable
(Fig. 189). The prisoners, if fewer in number, are grouped
exactly as those of the rock-cut tomb, but the arrangement of the
chief figures is somewhat different. The rebel is not prostrated in
the dust—he only kneels; and his lord does not spurn him with
his foot, but despatches him with his spear. The theme, however,
is very similar. There is no doubt as to the equipment and the
costume of the conqueror being those of the Achemenide. We
recognize in him the invincible archer of the sculptures and of the
coins ; he wears the long robe with ample sleeves, caught up in
front to recall the previous combat, exactly as in the pictures
which at Persepolis represent the struggle of the king with monsters
(Figs. 71, 72). This, perhaps, is also the reason why he has
neither the high smooth tiara, nor the fluted cap of Darius, but
a head-dress which brings to mind the ribbed specimen (Fig. 203)
worn by common Persian soldiers.

The head-covering of the rebel, with raised borders, out of
which issue feather-like appendages, is most peculiar, and has
given rise to the conjecture that he is no other than the Magi
Gaumata. In order to give weight to the hypothesis, it would
be well, in the first place, to prove that such was the usual
head-dress of the Magi; but in that case it would scarcely agree
with the ocular testimony of Strabo, who describes it as “a felt
tiara, with lappets that fall on the sides of the face, veiling the
mouth,”* like the exemplar exhibited on the tomb at Serpil
(Fig. 113); whilst the cap of the cylinder is quite different, leaving
as it does face and mouth exposed. What it most approaches
is the profusely ornamented, tall, horned tiara of the Chaldzan
cylinders.”

If then the tiara theory be persisted in for the sake of connecting
it with history, it would be more natural perhaps to identify its
wearer with one or other of the Babylonian chiefs, who instigated
their countrymen to frequent rebellions during the reign of the
first Achzmenide, and which the latter were obliged to quell
with might and inain. Be that as it may, we can say with
certainty that whoever engraved the cylinder, intended to per-
petuate the remembrance of a recent victory of the monarch,

1 Strabo, XV. iii. 15.
® Hist. of Art, tom. i. Figs. 327, 333; J. Mitnanr, Recherches, tom. i. Figs. 59,
60, 63-65, 67, 74, 84, etc.
Gtyptic Art. AS5

 

and that his workmanship is fairly firm and better than that
of the signet of Darius. I am inclined to think it older;
perhaps coeval with the Behistiin bas-relief, which it recalls in
many respects.

The archer with the fluted tiara reappears on a scaraboid
that belongs to the Cabinet de Paris (Fig. 219). Persian seals
date from a period when cones and the many
varieties of the scarabeeus were beginning to
supersede cylinders, About this time the theme
seemingly most in favour in the workshops where
gem-engraving was carried on, is that of the king
struggling with the lion or cognate monsters
whom he slays at Persepolis. Thus, the monarch
is seen fighting the king of beasts upon a cone Fis. 219.— Scara-

: . : beeoid cone. Sap-
of white chalcedony picked up at Persepolis by _ phirine Chalce-
Flandin and Coste (tail-piece, chap. ii.). An ae
irregular cone from Pharsalia represents the combat of the
prince with a griffin (Fig. 220).” Elsewhere, he is depicted
between two animals whom he keeps at a distance with his
arms; a subject borrowed from the Assyrian ornamentist.*
Again, winged monsters, with the horns of the wild goat, occur
upon a cylinder which belongs to the museum at the Hague
(Fig. 221). A scarabaeoid cone in the Cabinet de France repro-
duces nearly the same theme; with this difference,
that the king is supported by the symbolic ship of
the sun, in his capacity as offspring of the solar god
(Fig. 222). Here, then, we have another instance of
the mingling of several styles, so curiously exemplified
in the figure of Cyrus at Pasargade.

 

 

Come.

The form of Ahura-Mazda, introduced in the field, Chalce-

he dony.
stamps as Persian work a fine cone of sapphirine

chalcedony which Dieulafoy brought from Susa (Fig. 223). Below
the divine emblem is a circular frame with the bust of the king ;
the winged sphinxes on either side, with the pshent on their heads,
betray Egyptian influence; whilst a cylinder in the possession of

1 CHapoulLLet, Catalogue général, 1858, No. 1049.

2 An impression of the engraved stone under notice was forwarded to me by
M. Solomon Reinach. It belongs to M. Robert, French consul at Volo, who
bought it of a peasant near Pharsalia.

8 Fist. of Art, tom. ii. Figs. 443, 444, 449.
456 Hisrory oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

M. G. Schlumberger points rather to Assyrian models.! Thus the

 

Fic. 221.—Cylinder. Variegated
agate. J. MENANT, Recherches,
tom. ii. Fig. 144.

upper part of the field

two sphinxes, which form a
pendant to each other, are
human-visaged and wear a
tiara like the bulls who act
as guardians at the gates of
Assyrian palaces (Fig. 224).
Their paws are raised as if Fic. 222.—Scara-
to shield the sacred plant in- See, i:
terposing between them. The

is occupied by the winged disc, and above,

 

as in all the monuments of the Achzemenide, appears the figure

 

Fic. 223.—Cone. Louvre. Diameter
of seal, 2c.

of the deity. The head is mutilated.
Right and left of the god are a crescent
and a star, whilst two palms form the
side borders. An Aramaic inscription
in characters of the Persian epoch runs
from right to left above the sphinxes.
The letters are distinct and well formed.
The text by itself is sufficient proof of
the authenticity of the monument. It
may be thus translated: “Seal of Mitras,
the son of Saili.”. Mitras is a Persian
name, and its presence upon the en-

graved stone is an additional reason why we should connect it
with the group we have just described. It comes from Bei-
routh, and may have been engraved in Syria for some official of

 

     
     
  
  

My
Wiz

IS LY ARP SAR TAS

fe
S

WY

ERE

(Kk

 

 

Fic, 224.—Cylinder. Brown
amber.

the Great King. The composition bears
the mark of the eclecticism which cha-
racterizes Phoenician taste, and the fact
that the text is written in a Semitic lan-
guage is not without significance. A
certain number of cones exhibit no other
form beyond the symbol of Ahura-Mazda,
the shape of whose tiara points to the

Persian epoch (Fig. 225).
The last monument of this series was found, like one of the
exemplars already described, on the Cimmerian Bosphorus (Fig.

* PHILIPPE BERGER, “Cylindre perse avec légende araméenne” (Gazefte arché.,

1888, pp. 143, 144).
Mepat ENGRAVING. 457

 

226).' It represents the combat of the great king with two Greek
warriors, recognizable from the helmet. The former, habited in
the usual long robe and fluted tiara, brandishes a long pike against
the foe, whilst with the right hand he uses the bow to parry the
thrusts of his antagonist. One of the Greek warriors
has already fallen, and the other seems about to
follow. A winged disc, of Assyrian type rather
than Persian, appears above the scene. Where and
by whom was this seal engraved? It is hard to
say. But for the fact that victory all over the line Pe gat
seems assured to the Persian champion, we should Cabeect
be tempted to see in it an imitation of Oriental

art executed by some Greek artist settled on the Bosphorus, the
boundary line of the Asiatic and Hellenic world. But would
Hellenic pride, with its contempt for Barbarians, ever have con-
sented to give such a turn as this to
the combat ?

Our list could be easily lengthened
out, but the specimens, and more
especially the Persian coins we have
figured, are sufficiently distinct to
enable the reader to single them
out in collections of engraved stones,
when they happen to be mixed with
those of other countries.” The term
‘Persian coins” is applied by us to such pieces as were struck,
in this period, by the Achemenidz in precisely the same con-
ditions as those attending on the seals, a selection of which has
been placed before the reader.

 

 

   
 

eo
Mh
eed

.
cass

Fic. 226.—Cylinder. Chalcedony.

MEDAL ENGRAVING.

The designation of “Persian coinage” must be understood within
the same limitations as “ Persian intaglios,” except that these
are far in advance of coined money as artistic productions. Of
course it is not probable that seals were of Persian workmanship ;

1 Antiquités du Bosphore Cimmérien, Plate XVI. Fig. 5.

2 Some few engraved stones, akin to those we have figured, will be found in the
“Catalogue d’une collection d’intailles asiatiques,” published by A. DE GoBinEAU
(Revue arché., N.S., 1874, tom. xxvii.) See particularly Nos. 47-60.
458 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

all the same, they obtained from one end of Anterior Asia to the
other, and were used by the princes and the chiefs of the domi-
nant nation. This is proved by the legends and the types or
devices engraved upon them, as well as the fact that they are met
with everywhere, in Media, Persia, and Mesopotamia, no less than
in the western provinces in touch with the Mediterranean. A
certain number were collected at Persepolis and Susa. This does
not apply to coins, even those issued by the Great King, where his
effigy is more easily recognizable. As far as I know, none have
been found at Persepolis, nor did Dieulafoy in his two campaigns
at Susa, during which he disturbed and turned about so much
earth, light upon a single specimen either in the ruinous mass of
the citadel or the palaces. This was no mere accident, for numbers
of Parthian, notably Sassanid coins, were collected in the trenches
by his men. If Achaemenid currency is sadly to seek in the
Dieulafoy Mission, it is because its use was unknown in the interior
of the empire until Alexander and his successors, and even then it
was only introduced slowly and by degrees. Previous to that
time, in all the districts that were in direct contact and relation-
ship with the Greeks, the means of exchange for the ordinary
purposes of trade were ingots of silver and gold carefully weighed.
We learn from ancient writers that the royal treasury at Susa
contained but a small proportion of money.*’ Alexander found forty
thousand talents’ worth of gold and silver bullion, but only nine
thousand talents’ worth of coined money.” The monarch had no
interest in accumulating vast quantities of coins, which had no
circulation in the region where he usually resided, lying between
Ecbatana, Susa, and Babylon. All he required was to have
enough at hand to make presents to some ambassador from Sparta
or Athens, or reward the services of Greek leeches and sculptors.
On the other hand, the rich provinces to the west of Lebanon,
Amanus, and Taurus had used currency in their commercial trans-
actions some time before they were incorporated with the empire
by Cyrus, an example that he and his successors must soon have
followed, at any rate in their relations with traders and agents
in distant provinces. Had they given up a royal prerogative
which the kings of Lydia had exercised with brilliant result ere
their country was absorbed by Persia, they could not but have

fallen in the estimation of their subjects. It is probable tha
1 Polyclitus, cited by Strabo, XV. il. 21. 2 Diodorus, xvii. 66.
MepaL ENGRAVING. 459

 

Cyrus and Cambyses allowed the mint at Sardes to continue the
issue of gold and silver staters, in the old style and the old
types, with which the native populations were accustomed. When,
however, Darius reorganized the empire he felt the necessity of
presenting, or rather imposing upon those peoples, a coinage that
should bear his own stamp, as an ever-present witness to the power
of the new lords of the East. To this end he determined to
circulate his own money throughout that region in place of the
old, connected as it was with the ancient order of things. This
Herodotus affirms in the following words :—‘ The money coined
by Darius was of gold, refined and of the greatest purity.”* The
moneys referred to are nearly free from alloy, and are the darics
of the Greek writers, of which specimens are plentiful in our
collections. As soon as the mintage had been determined upon,
enormous quantities of the new struck coins were circulated in the
Persian provinces of Asia Minor, for, according to Herodotus, as
early as the reign of Xerxes the. Lydian Pithius, tyrant of
Celzne, had in his possession no less than 3,993,000 of them.*
Whether the sum is accurate or not is of little moment; the fact
that the historian could make the statement without being taxed
with gross exaggeration proves that about this time both the
dynasts and the wealthy citizens of Greek cities kept millions of
darics in their strong coffers.

The issue of the royal mint at Sardes was unable to satisfy
demands implied by the figures referred to above, and other
mints were established in several cities, notably in Cilicia and
Syria. There can be no doubt that coins were struck in great
numbers at Tarsus and Tyre.* The fabrication was placed under
the supervision of royal officers, who furnished the metal in
bullion form, and had it carefully weighed and the pieces noted
down as they were minted. But the men employed to engrave
the dies and stamp the ingots (flaws) were either Greek or
Pheenician. It is self-evident that countries where coinage was

1 Under Persian rule, writes M. Barclay Head, it is possible that gold darics
and silver sizli may have been struck there, but of this we have no proof.—TRs.

2 Herodotus, iv. 66.

8 ‘The alloy found in the darics is only y$y (FR. LENORMANT, La monnaie dans
Pantiguité, tom. ii. p. 187).

4 Herodotus, vii. 28, 29.

5 Barctay V. Heap, Zhe Coinage of Lydia and Persia, p. 33; FR. LENORMANT,
La monnaie dans Vantiquité, tom, ii. pp. 9, 10.
460 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

as yet unknown would have furnished artificers and coiners of
little or no value, but where currency had been in common use
for a hundred and fifty years, not only could trained artisans be
obtained, but they would be found subservient to the wishes of
the master, and ready to execute any work presented to them.
The style and the types engraved upon their matrices, however,
would remain unchanged. Hence it is that the royal coins of the
Achemenide have a less distinct Oriental appearance than
engraved stones. To consider the style of their fabrication alone,
they should be classed with the series of the archaic coined money
of Phoenicia and Greece. The fact that they have a national
character and are Persian, is due to the device Darius caused to
be engraved upon them, a device they retained to the last days of
the monarchy, and even for some time afterwards.’

The type referred to is that of the king in his character as
indomitable archer. The sculptors both at Behistiin and Persepolis
have shown us the king carrying the bow; but on the great com-
memorative sculpture, as upon the sepulchral facades, the king
does not use it as an offensive weapon. In the one instance he is.
supposed to have overcome all resistance and to reap the fruit of his
triumph, whilst in the other he is understood to have accomplished
the work allotted to him in life, so that his attitude before the sacred
fire, under the eye of his god, is one of prayer and meditation,
and therefore in either group the bow is at rest (Figs. 189, 112).

But on the coins the king is represented in a bellicose posture.
In order to take a sure aim, he kneels to bend the bow, and the
arrow he is about to shoot will reach his foe and that of his people,
flee he never so swiftly. The Greeks, who had substantial
reasons to remember the darics, call them familiarly and simply
“archers.” We have already adverted to the joke of Agesilaus,
who, being forced to retire from an invasion of Persia by the
bribery used by the Great King to instigate the Athenians and
Thebans against Sparta, said that “ten (?) thousand archers had
defeated him.”* The successful advance of the Spartan general
in Lydia and Phrygia foreshadowed the conquests of Alexander.

The vast extent of the empire favoured the success of the new
coinage, and inasmuch as it facilitated the ordinary transactions of
commerce, the latter was induced to use a currency which the

> Fr. Lenormant, La monnaie dans l’antiquité, tom. ii. p. 19.
* PLUTARCH, Agesilaus, xv.
MeEpAL ENGRAVING. 461

 

royal treasuries accepted everywhere at its standard value, so that
it could be offered in discharge of payments, without loss and often
with a bonus, in the most distant markets. The excellent quality
of these pieces, a quality they retained to the last day of their
issue, contributed, no doubt, to their being justly prized ; and their
extreme simplicity was no less in their favour. The first coin
struck by the king was a gold stater weighing 8 grs. 4o dwt., or
the sixtieth part of the light'Assyrian or Babylonic mua; then
followed the silver coins of the weight of 5 grs. 60 dwt., twenty of
them going to a gold piece, or real “daric” (6 Aapetxds).’ If this
name was applied by the ancients to the silver coins, it was
inadvertently. Their proper denomination was “Medic siglos”
(ciyhos pydixds, or simply oiyhos).? Subsidiary coinage, struck by
cities or dynasts that had retained the right of mintage, was
different in different localities. From their mints were also issued
bronze pieces, the royal types being used for none but silver and
gold. Darics seem to have been struck to pay the army, whilst
the sigli were used to cover the expenses of the Phcenician fleet ;
this we learn from several ancient texts whose evidence is con-
firmed by study of the coins themselves.* The device which oftener
occurs on the reverse of the siglos is a galley (tail-piece, end of
chapter), a device obviously suggested by the nature of the public
service of which the machinery was kept going by the issue of this
particular mintage, paid by the royal treasurers to the chief officers
of the squadrons. The money that Tyrian and Sidonian sailors
and Greek mercenaries thus received was spent in the districts
where the service called them. Hence it is that darics and silver
coins are plentiful along the costs of the eastern basin of the
Mediterranean and so seldom met with beyond the Euphrates
in the heart of the empire. The Persian coins found in our
collections come from Asia Minor, notably Syria and Egypt.

1 The word Aapetds was generally accepted as derived from the name Darius.
The etymology has been recently disputed by an Assyriologist who read the word
dariku on a Babylonian tablet dated in the twelfth year of Nabonidus, five years
before the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, where it seems to stand for a measure
or weight (Barctay V. Heap, Joc. cit, p. 698; HoFrrMann, Miscellen, ii., in
Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, tom. i. § 4). The late Bertin, who was connected for
years with the British Museum.—Trs.

I have written the note in accordance with Perrot’s former one, the wording of
which agrees with well-known authorities. —Trs.

2 PLuTaRcH, Cimon, X. ii.
® Fr, LenorMAnt, La monnaie dans Cantiquité, tom. i. pp. 137, 138.
462 History or ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

Hauls of them, or as. numismatists call them ‘treasures,’ are
often discovered in those countries, where they have lain in their
hiding-places for centuries.

The first darics were probably issued about 516 B.c., when
Darius Hystaspes, being rid of his rivals, turned his attention to
the administration of his vast empire. The fabrication could
not but increase with his successors when Persia became more
intimately mixed up with the affairs of the West, and it was not
interrupted, at least for a time, by the disruption of the empire
founded by Cyrus. Alexander and his successors appear to have
continued to issue coinage on the old system, until their own
money was sufficiently known to effectually replace that of their
predecessors, both in the interior of the empire and beyond its
frontiers! The fabrication of Persian coinage lasted, therefore,
at least two hundred years, and was carried on under the rule
of ten kings; but the absence of any inscription on the darics and
the sigli precludes the possibility of their being classified according
to the reigns in which they must have been issued.’ The question
has been asked whether the classification of the coins might not be
reached through another channel, at least for some of these
princes; to this end the types of Xerxes and Darius have been
compared, and a difference, real or supposed, detected between
them. In order to do this, however, with any chance of success,
we should in the first place possess authentic portraits of these
two sovereigns, but nothing of the kind exists at Persepolis or
anywhere else. Even admitting for the sake of argument that
sculpture, inasmuch as it better preserved, or less prone to seek
the general features alone of the royal model, had transmitted to us
the portraits under notice, it would be very difficult to distinguish
them on the coins. Take any given number of darics and sigli
and you will find that they all exhibit the archer on the obverse,
and an incuse square on the reverse (Fig. 227). The only

1 There are reasons for believing that the double daric or gold tetradrachm—of
which specimens are known—was not issued before Alexander (BarcLay V. Heap,
Hist. Numorum, Pp. 700).

Numerous specimens of this coin, says M. Barclay Head, have recently been
discovered, and neurly all the pieces in the British Museum have come to us from
the Panjab (/oc. cé¢.).—TRs.

2 This opinion of M. Barclay Head, who has studied the specimens under
consideration with such minute care, is not shared by M. Lenormant (Zhe Cocnage
of Lydia and Persia, p. 28).
MEDAL ENGRAVING. 463

 

difference between the several types is in the style, which, in the
later pieces, betrays a surer and more skilful hand. The hollow
square, too, as a rule, is more regular (Fig. 228); but, curiously
enough, a number of double gold darics, with Greek letters, and
consequently issued after the break up of
the empire, still preserve the rude incuse
square of earlier days on the reverse (Fig.
229). We have no criterion, therefore, to ©
guide us in classifying these coins in a con- ics, soa aabie sien
tinuous series. The archaic appearance of ae Oe thie ee
the coins in question, upon which the devices
adopted at the outset appear to the last day of their issue, was
intentional, and not the result of ignorance or inability to do
better. Nothing would have been easier for the Persians than
to require engravers to renew their matrices, so as to bring them
in harmony with the rapid progress obser-
vable in every other department during the
fifth century B.c. If they abstained, it was
because prudence counselled them not to
perplex their ordinary customers, their sub- Fs. ree
jects and neighbours, who were accustomed a ie
to the coinage, and whose suspicions would have been aroused
had any alteration been made in its appearance. We know that
this was the guiding motive which caused the monetary magis-
trates at Athens, under whose supervision the tetradrachms were
minted, to adhere to the archaic types
and style in an age close upon Phidias.
The device which occurs on the
face or obverse of the siglos, whether
struck by the royal officers or in the = :
cities and by the dynasts subject to Fie ee ee Wolds
Persia, is that of the king under various
aspects, whilst the type on the reverse, being the special mark of
the people or the local dynast (by whom it was issued), changes
in different localities. The devices exhibited on the double siglos,
of which the largest issues seem to have been made, are figured
below (Fig. 230). The relative position of the king in his chariot
with his Jehu, seen on the obverse, is identical with that of the
signet of Darius. Here, however, the monarch is not engaged in
the chase of the king of beasts; the horses are at walking pace,

 

   

a SS

     
464 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

with an attendant behind carrying the sceptre and censer. On
the reverse is a war-galley, an emblem singularly appropriate for
a maritime city such as Tyre, or to denote perhaps that the coin
was intended for the payment
of the fleet. In this class of
pieces Phcenician letters ap-
pear in the field, sometimes
on both sides, as in Fig. 230,
- se at other times on one side
Fic. 230.—Double siglos. Silver. BARCLAY only (Fig. 231), clearly show-
HEAD, Coinage, Plate III. Fig. 1. ?
ing that they were struck on
Syrian soil. The letters on the reverse vary from one coin to
another, and seem to indicate the year of the reign in which they
were minted. A curious de-
tail about these pieces, and
one that implies their royal
provenance, is that, although
the type remains unchanged,
: = 4 the attendant behind the king
Fic. 231.—Double siglos. Silver. /déd., in his chariot often wears the
Plate II. Fig. 19. oe
pshent ; hence the inference
that similar coins were struck in Egypt, Phoenicia, or Cilicia.!
The reappearance of these same types, slightly modified, as also
of Punic letters, assign the
same origin to another series
of sigli, of which several
varieties are known. On
the obverse, the king in
his chariot with galloping
horses; at the side a run-
Fic. 232.—Double siglos. Silver. /bi, ning animal, seemingly the
Bigs te wild goat. On the reverse,

  
   

   

   

 

* We have not reproduced the coin, which Dieulafoy has engraved four times its
original size (L’Art antique de la Perse, tom. iii. Fig, 122), because the devices which it
bears have no connection with the series we are considering. The types on one
side are the Athenian owl and the Egyptian symbols of the crook and flail; on the
other, Melkarth riding over the waves upon a sea-horse, and beneath the waves
sporting dolphins. Phoenician letters appear sometimes in the field, viz. a Mim
and an Ain beside the owl. Barclay V. Head attributes the specimen to Tyre (His¢,
Numorum, p. 674, Fig. 356).

y is the initial letter of the name of Tyre.—Trs,
MEDAL ENGRAVING. 465

 

a city wall with five crenelated towers, and in front a war-ship.
Below, at the base, two lions back to back (Fig. 232). The
battlemented city, with the galley riding at anchor, is seen on
another coin (Fig. 233); but the ob-
verse exhibits the combat of the king
and the lion, a group familiar to us
from the bas-reliefs and engraved
stones. The same device adorns the
reverse of a coin struck at Tarsus, as Fic. 233.—Double siglos.

 

Silver.
we learn from the bilingual inscrip- BARCLAY HBADy Comdeey Rate

Il. Fig. 4.
tion in Greek and Aramaic. The

king is figured upright; in one hand he grasps the spear, and
in the other an object resembling the crux ansata. In the field
is a lotus flower (Fig. 234).

In other satrapal and dynastic specimens the consecrated coin-
type of the darics reappears, with ad-
ditions that somewhat modify their
character. Thus, we possess several
exemplars, where the legend at the side
of the kneeling archer reads: nvearorHs ae
(Fig. 235); with an incuse square on Fic. 234.—Silver coin. Tarsus.
the reverse. The name which is written
in the Ionic character is unknown, but is doubtless that of some
tyrant who governed one of the cities in the satrapy of Sardes
for the Great King in the fifth century B.c. Others again, though
exhibiting the same coin-type, have no inscription on the face,
whilst on the reverse, in the place
of the guadratum incusum, ap-
pears the figure of a horseman
in full gallop—perhaps a Persian
—with brandishing spear (Fig.
236). This coin is later than the
preceding one, and the Aramaic
letter and dolphin upon the ex-
ergue recall Syria and Cilicia. The device of another is a
trotting horseman, with traces of an Aramaic legend upon the
exergue—perhaps the name of Tarsus (Fig. 237); behind the
archer is the crux ansata,

Again, a silver coin of unknown origin has the bust of the

archer (Fig. 238), with bow in one hand and a bunch of arrows in
2H

 

   

Fic. 235.—Silver tetradrachm. BARCLAY
HEAD, Coinage, Plate ILI. Fig. 18.
466 History or ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

the other. An exemplar with Greek legend from Mallus, in
Cilicia, takes us farther away from the daric type (Fig. 239). The
king is running, and holds a bow in the left hand and a long spear

 

Fic. 236.—Silver coin of unknown Fic. 237.—Silver coin of unknown
satrap. satrap.

in the right. In the field at the side is an ear of corn. The device
on the reverse is in the Greek style and taste; it depicts Hercules
slaying the Nemzan lion. A purely fanciful type is seen on the
fine coin, unique of its kind, and certainly
struck by one of the Ionic cities (Fig.
240). On the obverse a lyre, the usual
coin-type of Colophon, with the legend

sg es silver asia. Some are inclined to identify the
figure upon it with Artaxerxes Mnemon;'

but the Achemenidz are invariably characterized by either the
kidaris or the fluted tiara, and the head-dress which the engraver
has bestowed upon his personage is worn by subordinates alone

at Persepolis. The coin, therefore, is more likely to have been
struck by a satrap.

 

The weight of the coins we have passed in review is not

 

Fic, 239.—Silver coin, Mallus.

Fic. 240.—Silver tetradrachm. BARCLAY
HEAD, Coinage, Plate III. Fig. 24.

uniform. This suffices to prove that they did not all come from
the royal mints. We cannot discuss in this history the several
problems the fact involves. We care little to know the nature and
the extent of the restrictions imposed by the great king upon
cities, satraps, and dynasts, who were allowed the right of coinage
for their necessities. It is no doubt difficult to fix the line which

* Wapoincron, Adélanges de Numismatique, 1861, p. 96.
MepaL ENGRAVING. 467

 

separates the pieces coined by the royal mint from those issued
by petty vassal states, where, either to parade their loyalty, or
perhaps much more from a desire to assure a wide circulation to
their currency, they impressed the figure of the king, as a mark of
their dependency, on the face of their sigli, What we had at
heart was to show, by a few well-chosen specimens, how engravers
popularized the forms and symbols statuary had created in order
to exalt royalty and impress upon the minds of all an idea of the
power and majesty of the monarch.

 
468 History OF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

CHAPTER VII.
INDUSTRIAL ARTS.

For a country to be possessed of industrial arts truly deserving
the name, not only is it necessary that the people engaged in
manual labour should not be looked down upon, but also that a
taste for beautiful things should be sufficiently diffused to influence
the artisan himself; for in that case he is prone to infuse in
everything he makes a just and keen feeling for the delicate
shades of the form. It is the presence of this feeling which
dignifies labour sometimes considered as servile. Things were
thus ordered in the workshops of Egypt and Chaldzea, and, above
all, in Greece, where the artisan easily merges into the artist, no
sharply defined line dividing them. Then were created the types
and ornamental devices which formed the stock-in-trade of high
antiquity. Nothing of the kind was to be expected from Iran.
The ancient Persians felt little esteem for mechanical arts and
industrial enterprise. The loud activity, the gossip without which
no barter could be effected in the Greek agora, excited their
astonishment and disgust.” The agora, however, presupposes an
agglomerated population, but Persia in the fifth century B.c. does
not seem to have had a single town of sufficient importance for its
name to have travelled to Greece. The Hellenes knew of
scarcely any other place throughout Iran except Ecbatana.? All

1 Herodotus, ii. 167 ; Strabo, XV. iii. 19 : odre wwAodow ovre dvodvrat

2 Herodotus, i. 153.

° Anaximenes knew that Pasargadz was founded by Cyrus, but his calling it
Ilepoiv otpardredov [Parsa-gherd] shows that he supposed it to be a simple fortress
(Stephanus of Byzantium, s.z. Haccapydda:). For the analogy of the word gherd
to castellum, compare the modern names of such places as Darabgherd, Lasjird,
Burujird, and the cer/a termination of the names of ancient cities of Armenia and
INDUSTRIAL ARTS. 469

 

the best informed writers, or such as wished to appear so, Hero-
dotus, Xenophon, and after him Ctesias, who traversed the country
lying between the capital of Media and Susa, have recorded the
fact that they perceived no town worthy of mention, none to be
compared with the busy centres of Mesopotamia teeming with
population. This is not to be explained by the distance separating
Persia from Greece, but because city life began very late on the
uplands of Fars. A notion of the social state and the manners
of the natives in the time of Cyrus may be gathered from the
description Sir H. Layard gives of the ordinary life of the
Bakthyaris, amongst whom he lived a year or two in his youth.’
Of course, when Persia became the mistress of the East, the bulk
of those tribes followed the king in his campaigns, as body-guards
and officers; in the latter capacity they either lived with him or
were despatched to govern the several provinces of the empire.
Thus transplanted, they yielded to the influence of the peoples
they had conquered, who were possessed, however, of greater
wealth and culture. But those who remained quietly at home were
long in changing their habits. The industries they practised were
of the simple kind which woodmen and husbandmen cannot dis-
pense with, and among their crafts there is only that of carpet
manufacture, which, had not its productions wholly disappeared,
could have passed as work of any artistic merit. Carpets must
always have been necessaries to cover the earth floor of the tent
and the house. At the present day the finest looms come from
the northern provinces of Iran, especially Khorasan ; but it is not
probable that at that time the fabrics of those districts had
acquired any repute. The great king, it would appear, procured
from Lydia and Babylonia carpets for the halls and courts of his
palaces ;? and the models thus introduced in Persia were in all
likelihood soon copied with success. On the one hand, the weaver
had wools of excellent quality, and on the other the arrangement
of the royal residence induced a large demand for drapery of all

Parthia, Tigrano-certa, Carcathio-certa, etc. (Raw .inson, The Five Great Monarchies,
tom. iii, p. 91, n. 28).

The above reference has no such note, nor do the names appear in the index.—
TRs.

1 LayarD, Early Adventures in Persia.

2 For Lydian carpets we have the testimony of Athenzeus (xi 514, C.),
whilst Arrian writes that the coffin of Cyrus at Pasargade was covered “ with
Babylonian carpets ” (Azabasis, VI. xxix. 5).
470 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

kinds, and thus favoured its manufacture. We learn from Athenzus
that, at a banquet given at Alexandria by Ptolemy Philadelphus,
the feet of the guests, as they reclined upon couches, rested upon
Persian carpets, upon which animals were figured in a wonderful
manner.’ Under the rule of the successors of Alexander, then,
carpet manufacture was in full swing in Persia, where it has con-
tinued to the present day ; but it has relinquished its former taste
for animal portraiture and exclusively confines itself to ornament
derived from geometrical and vegetable forms. These it has con-
ventionalized into what is commonly called arabesque. It would
be interesting to know if in the patterns which Persia has now
repeated for centuries, any can travel back to antiquity. M.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fic, 241.—Device taken from a carpet, Ispahan.

Houssay, with great ingenuity, has tried to show that the carpet
pattern (Fig. 241) was suggested by the bull capital at Persepolis,
where the animals appear back to back. Whether the conjecture
can ever become an established fact must for the present remain
an open question, though it is sufficiently ingenious to deserve
recognition.

When we described the enamelled sculptures at Susa, we
pointed out that if one at least of the themes treated by the
enamellist belonged to Persia, the technique was wholly Susian
and Babylonian; that, according to all appearance, the art of
enamel did not acquire a firm foothold in the country until the
close of the Achemenid era. Our view is confirmed by the late
excavations at Susa, and others made in several parts of the
territory, in that no fragment whatever of enamelled pottery has

1 Atheneeus, v. 197, B.
INDUSTRIAL Arts. 471

 

been brought to light which, either by the situation it occupied at
the time of its discovery, or the character of its ornament, could

with any semblance
of probability be
attributed to the
Achemenide.
Among the vases
Dieulafoy exhumed
at Susa, those he
carries back to high
antiquity are small
specimens of red
pottery destitute of
ornament; and’ he
assigns his five ex-
emplars of blue
enamel to the Par-
thians and the Sas-
sanide. The sound-
ness of his opinion

 

Fic, 242.—Vase. Black ware. Richard Collection. Height
to spout, 11.c, Drawn by Couturat.

is proved by a whole series of vases which have come both from
the excavations made at Rey (ancient Rhagze) in Media, and in

   

   

 

SSS SS__

SV

   

F1G. 243.—On the right, black clay vase; height 9c. On the left, yellow clay vase ; height,

8c. Richard Collection.

Parthia on the site of a town supposed to have been Hecatom-
pylos. All these specimens formed part of the collection ex-
hibited in 1889, at the Champ de Mars, by MM. Richard and
A9e History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

Lemaire, who obligingly allowed our draughtsman to make copies

of them.’

The oldest specimens in this pottery appear to be vases of
black ware with very thick walls, perhaps hand-made. Some are

 

Fic. 244.—Black clay vase. Height, 95 c. Richard
Collection.

quite plain (Fig. 242,
243, on the right);
others are adorned by
lines rudely incised on
the soft clay (Fig. 244),
making up vertical
bands which divide
the body of the vase
into a number of com-
partments, filled in by
other equally rude
lines in the shape of
triangles. The forms,
though heavy, are both
solid and commodious.

A step in advance
was made in the red

ware specimen (Fig. 245); for though equally plain and rude,
it exhibits thinner walls. A still greater progress is observable

   
    

  
 
   

ae:

BT 2

Be.

Wy”
ies
if

YB

 

 
 

   
   

Fic. 245.—Red earthen vase. Height, 7 c.
Richard Collection.

in several vases of red or
pale yellow clay, orna-
mented by geometrical de-
signs traced with some
brown pigment dull in tone
and of varying depth. The
form of the vase (Fig. 246)
is still clumsy enough, yet
there is real and steady im-
provement, greater richness
of design, in every speci-
men as we advance. The
principle of the decoration
consists of the division of

the body of the vase into a certain number of fields, where blank
Spaces are opposed to ornamented ones, obtained now by straight
1 The vases in question have been acquired by the Louvre.
INDUSTRIAL ARTS. 473

 

lines, now by sinuous forms, in imitation, perhaps, of waves. Such
would be a kind of jar (Fig. 247) resembling a Greek fzthos.
The shape in Fig. 248 indicates greater effort of invention. The
ornament, however, is rude enough, and consists of perpen-
dicular and horizontal bands. The shape, however, has a great
defect in that one is puzzled as to which is the top and which the
base. It requires a little consideration to distinguish the latter,
so near is it to the upper part. Both form and ornament are better
understood in the next two
specimens. Thus, the out-
line of Fig. 249 is in ex-
cellent taste, and a pleasing
effect is obtained by the
double set of triangles
around the base and the
upper rim. But the master-
piece of the potter is seen
in Fig. 243 (to the left) ;
its shape closely resembles
the coffee-cups of Turkey
‘and Persia in the present
day. The decoration is
composed of bands of a
kind of trellis-work, where
the lines cross each other

obliquely and form diminu- EG ABT SS Teak Meine tas
tive lozenges, and between

them a row of chevrons; each band is separated, and the ornament
well kept together by strips in relief. Though not destitute of
elegance, the main characteristic of all these pieces is great sim-
plicity. The best of them has nothing to foreshadow or remind
us of the brilliant hues, the fanciful but charming forms, exhibited
on glazed pottery (majolica).

What these vases recall, with their dull tones and linear ornament,
whether incised with the point or traced with the brush, are frag-
ments collected in the ruins of Assyrian palaces, or the oldest tombs
in Cyprus, or the lowest strata of the substructures of the Temple
at Jerusalem, or those of Lydia and Caria.1_ Unglazed pottery

1 Hist. of Art, tom. ii. Figs. 373-379; tom. iii. Figs. 478, 479, pp. 485-488;
tom, iv, Figs. 244-248.

 
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INDUSTRIAL ARTS. 475

 

of the kind which was in common use throughout Anterior Asia
and Greece during the Mycenian period was made, then, in
Persia long before she developed a taste and learnt of Egypt,
Phoenicia, and Chaldza how to manufacture glazed earthenware.
From these primitive ceramic productions the genius of Greece
evolved the painted vase, where the natural colour of the clay is
used as ground, over which are traced figures and ornament often
of intrinsic merit. Oriental genius was unable to aim at so high
a standard; its rich fancy took another turn and made it woo
beauty of another
kind, namely, effects
and contrastsof colour
and variety of form.
Inasmuch as the
art of enamel had so
brilliant a career in
Persia, it will not ap-
pear out of place if we
insist upon a monu-
ment it has left of its
industry, not on the
soil of Persia, it is
true, but. raised by Fic. 249.—Vase. ere Richard
one of her kings and
imbued with precisely the same characteristics as the palaces at
Persepolis and Susa. The enamels which decorated the most
famous of the royal residences have a double interest for us, in
that they show us the oldest Oriental art under an aspect which
until lately was wholly unsuspected; and at the same time we
learn what were the models whence the ceramists of medizeval and
modern Persia inspired themselves. Thus the fairness of enamelled
clay was already appreciated under the rule of the Achemenide,
when Susian and Chaldzan artificers were required to line the walls
and the entablatures of the palaces with it. The exquisite blending
of vivid and soft hues harmonized admirably with the deep azure of
an almost always unclouded sky, whilst enamel alone could enliven
the greyish tints of the distant plain, or the denuded tops of the
lofty mountains, and the grand but dull landscapes, so often
destitute of the refreshing sight of verdure. They eagerly learnt,
therefore, the processes of an art so admirably suited to the

 
476 History oF ArT 1n ANTIQUITY.

 

climate and the surroundings; the requisite materials were within
reach of their hand; they were trained to use warm and trans-
lucent colours which could be applied indifferently to small articles
of luxury and personal ornaments of gold and silver, artistic
furniture, pottery, and the walls and roof coverings of enormous
edifices. The art spread from Persia beyond the Oxus to the
frontiers of China, as well as India and Afghanistan. Among the
choicest products of this industry are the ornamental tiles with
which the mosques were decorated, along with flagons, plates, and
dishes.

Persian earthenware, so much admired nowadays, differs in some
respects——style and ornamental designs— from that which has come
from Susa. Though somewhat changed, it is none the less the
daughter and continuator of that very old art-industry, the remains
of which, snatched from the ruins of Assyria, Chaldza, and Elam,
enrich now the British Museum, and above all the Persian Room
at the Louvre.’ It is beyond our province to institute a com-
parison between the two schools; but it was necessary to point
out to future students of ceramic art how far back they should
carry their investigations and researches.

The body of the enamelled tiles at Susa is not common potter’s
clay, but a kind of sandy, silicious frit. If enamels seldom occur
on bricks, it was doubtless because they found out that, in order to
effect the fusion and lasting adhesion of the colours, the composi-
tion of the paste must be somewhat different from that of building
materials. Squares intended for the lining of walls were not
made with the frit in question. Squares have a great drawback ;
no matter how carefully they may be fixed, they are sure to get
loose through Plutonic agency or the mere action of time, when
the least shaking of the soil will detach them and cause them to
fall. This I learnt at Broussa, where, in consequence of an
earthquake, varnished plaques, the glory of the Green Mosque, fell
off by hundreds, and imaums made a good penny out of those
that had not been damaged by the fall in selling them to travellers.

* Loftus brought home fragments of the enamelled decoration of the palace at
Susa, which he deposited in the British Museum. It is somewhat strange that
they should not have excited more attention. He mentions a winged disc as
among the devices exhibited on the glazed earthenware in question, a form which
does not appear on the slabs belonging to the Louvre (Zravels and Researches,

PP. 396-398).
INDUSTRIAL ARTS. 477

 

The same remarks hold good in regard to many a mosque in
Persia, robbed of the better half of their decoration; but edifices
that have suffered in this way are not the oldest, as might be
expected, but the most modern. The architect at first applied
enamel to the side of the brick which would constitute the face
of the wall. The use of tiles as vevétement is not older than the
Sefyvieh dynasty; it is an indication of decay which betrays
itself in many other ways.

The method followed in Persia down to the sixteenth century
was precisely the same as that of the Chaldean ceramists. The

EEA
LEAL

 

Fic. 250.—Susa. Enamelled slab. Dimensions at the sides, 35 c. by 33 ¢.3 height of edge, 9 ¢-

coloured decoration of the palaces at Susa is made up, not of
small squares, but of large slabs applied to the base of the wall,
Enamel, as already observed, was only applied to the face which
would be visible in the construction (Figs. 64, 250). The only
exception to the rule occurs in those which lined the tops of the
ramps, the upper face of which is enamelled; but one and all
were kept in place by their own weight, and bitumen poured in
the vertical and horizontal joints. The kind of mosaic formed by
ornaments fixed to the external faces of these slabs was in no
danger of peeling off, but would last as long as the wall, of which
it was as the epidermis. The process involved in obtaining such
a result as this was not an easy one. The edge of these terra-
cotta plaques has a mean height of nine centimetres ; each archer
was made up of fifty or thereabouts of them. Very skilful work-
men were selected to piece them together so as to form the figure,
but as many as were required could always be obtained. The
operation was facilitated by marks made with the graver in the
478 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

slabs, which indicated the situation they were to occupy and the
pieces they would have next to them. Loftus noticed several
such indentations. made by the taskmaster.1 What heightened
the effect of these enamels and added to their resistance are
strips or lines in relief which surround the outlines of the design
(Fig. 251). The enclosed spaces were painted much in the same
way as enamels on metal, the appearance of which they recall. As
arule, the salient strips have shielded the enamel. There are bricks,

 

‘S “ELME Gaglen

Fic. 251.—Susa. Enamelled slab. Fragment of archer’s robe. Actual size.

however, notably a certain number of rosettes, where the colouring
matter has fallen off and left nothing but the lines within which it
was enclosed. A fair notion may be gained of the tones found
on the palette of the enamellist from our Plates XI. and XII.
Their number was small, and the absence of red is as conspicuous
as in the enamels of Assyrian origin. The ground is invariably
a greenish blue, a colour to which Persia was faithful throughout
the Middle Ages. The tone, slightly modified, with just a dash
of green in it, reappears in certain details about the figures. It
blends excellently well with the yellows and whites, and a dark
brown of which the painter made a lavish use. Whether the fact
that the whites have changed most should be ascribed to their
being less solid, or because they got soiled by long contact with
the earth, certain it is that they have in nearly every instance lost

* Lortus, Travels and Researches, p. 398.
INDUSTRIAL ARTS. 479

 

their brilliancy. The yellows and greens have kept their colour
fairly well. As to the blues, it will be noticed that not only does
the shade vary in the several panels, but also from one brick to
another. Of course to a certain extent a similar divergence may
have arisen from a more or less moist ground; but it is probable
that the intensity of the blue field, even when quite fresh, was
anything but uniform. The master-craft, such as the East has
practised it at all times and is still practising it, has always
allowed great individual latitude in working out the details of the
decoration. The fast and dry lines which prevail in Western
workshops, where the colouring pigments are doled out like physic,
where fabrication is carried on ona large scale, and moulds are used
unceasingly in turning out precisely the same forms, are not
binding on the Eastern artisan. He has learnt and followed his
craft from infancy; his hand is left free to make his own composi-
tion, and is not restricted to uniformity of hue, as distasteful to
him as it would be to his employers. Even supposing he had
wished to produce evenness of tone, allowance had to be made
for accidents occasioned by the firing, which even now, in spite
of the improvements introduced in the manufacture, still prepare
many disagreeable surprises to our well-trained ceramists. A
few degrees more or less of heat will bring out many a piece
from the kiln with a very different colour from that which was
expected. Look well, for example, at the fine turquoise blue
which the Persian enamellist manufactured in matchless perfection
in the reign of the Timirides. Travellers who had the oppor-
tunity of seeing them at Tabrez and elsewhere, tell us that
its hue is by no means constant in the several pieces of the same
building.

This applies in full to the selection of colours. Thus in the
Archers’ Frieze, robes with yellow grounds alternate with others
with white grounds; but the patterns of both types have much
variety. The painter would not be restrained even from the
example of his own model, but introduced little variations as he
went on and as fancy prompted him, whilst keeping within the
same chromatic scale of tones. It is the same with the archers’
beards, where a pale greenish blue alternates with a much
deeper tone.

If the artist took liberties even when he was obliged to keep
within certain bounds imposed by the costume and the living form,
480 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

he was held back by no such restraint in his treatment of geome-
trical forms, when he allowed ‘his imagination free play without
troubling himself.as to. reality. Here fancy reigned supreme; it
regulated the selection of tones, and whilst working out the general
arrangement of the design, it felt no scruple in now and again
replacing one colour by another in the several sections of the work.
Fig. 252 is an instance of this mode of procedure ; it consists of
two fragments which seem to have belonged to the upper part of a
panel where the decoration, entirely composed of linear elements,
recalls a floor made up of several kinds of stone. The appearance
of the piece is so peculiar that at first sight one might be tempted
to think it older than the archers and the lions. This seemingly
more primitive aspect, due to the triangles opposed to one another,
does not stand the test of narrow inspection. The colours are
identical with those of the figured panels, and the terminal scroll
is very like that which encloses the lions and the Archers’ Frieze,
whilst the tracing exhibits even greater refinement and elegance
(Fig. 68 and Plate XI.).

The inference to be drawn, therefore, is that they are all of one
age; but as they were to occupy different situations in the build-
ing, the ornamentist dexterously availed himself of each and
every device it is possible to employ in the kind of decoration, in
order to introduce variety into his scheme. The Persian enamel-
list did not travel beyond the vegetable kingdom and geometrical
forms. He discarded the figure, a determination no doubt induced
by the severity of the law of Islam, which forbids the representa-
tion of living forms. His predecessor had not been shackled by
any such prejudice; his taste, therefore, could be exercised on
broader lines. Hence his figures in nobleness of style can chal-
lenge comparison with those chiselled on limestone. Then, too,
the forms he derived from a free interpretation of leafage and
flowers have more variety than those of the Persian enamellist.
Of the truth of this the reader can convince himself, by turning to
the palms (Figs. 66, 67), the rosettes (Figs. 64, 251), and the
scrolls (Figs. 68, 253, and Plate XI.). Side by side with these we
find linear ornament in its simplest form—the tooth device, for ex-
ample (Fig. 67), triangles opposed to each other (Fig. 252), bars
and circles with concentric rings of many hues (Fig. 67), arrow-
heads and the like (Fig. 62), which the decorator uses in swift
succession. Thus, both at Susa (Fig. 178) and Persepolis (Figs.
| A

NOL)

 

 

Fic, 252.—Susa. Enamelledclay. Height of Icwer brick, 20 c. ; height of upper, 12 c.
483

INDUSTRIAL ARTS.

 

65, 66) the external face of one of the flights of steps was

profusely embellished with lotus flowers, and the inner side was

 

‘2 6 ‘yOLIG Yous Jo aSpa jo WYSIOPY «“quis palfeweuy, ‘esng—"ESz ‘OIg

y blue and white, perpendi-

WEG
Ye Z Vy
Vy Willy

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pT
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YY)

enriched by great volutes, alternatel

like those of the capitals and the feet of the throne

cularly placed,
 

484 History oF Art IN ANTIQUITY.

 

(Figs. 32, 45), whilst additional variety was assured by the in-
scriptions, which stand out white on blue ground (Fig. 74).

The furniture of the royal palaces and the houses of the great
lords of the empire was doubtless in accord with the splendour of
the decoration which covered both wall and floor,’ but there is no
reason to believe that it was in any way remarkable. The luxury
of the conquerors was got out of the patient industry of the van-
quished peoples. The forms of their chairs, as we find them in
sculptures, are very similar to the exemplars we met in Assyria
and Phcenicia. To some such piece of furniture belonged the
small ivory cone adorned with trefoil and pelican figures. It was

: picked up at Susa, along with
a bronze lamp, found under
the bricks of the Archers’
Frieze. But who will tell
us where the ivory was
chiselled ?. The attribution
to Persia of an electrum piece,
supposed to have been found
near Sparta, in Greece, and
which from the Caylus Col-
lection has passed to the
Louvre, is open to question
(Fig. 254). The pose of
the bull to which this head

Fic. 254.—Head jae ae Louvre. belonged was couchant, the

legs folded under the body
in true bovine fashion.? As already remarked, the body was stolen
from the Louvre; what remains of the monument shows that it was
work beaten out with the hammer. The granules to express the
eyes, the hair and chaplet, were made separately and soldered on
to the piece. The horns, pierced by half a dozen holes, curl round
so as to form a huge ring, until they meet at the top. The granuv-
lated ornament extended to the shoulder and reminded De Caylus

 

1 That the Persians were luxurious in the furniture and fittings of their houses,
and had their couches gilt or silvered, may be gathered from Herodotus, ix. 80, 81 ;
XENOPHON, Cyrop., VIIL., viii. 16. As to their gold and silver plate, see Hero-
dotus, ix. 80; XENOPHON, Cyrop., I. viii. 18 ; Strabo, XV. iii. 19.

2 Cayius, Recueil dantiquités, tom. ii. part 1, Plate XI. p. 42; Lonoptrier,
Notice des antiquites assyriennes, babyloniennes, perses, hebraiques, etc. (3rd edition,
1854), No. 556.
 

INDUSTRIAL ARTS. 485

 

of the ringlets of the colossi at Persepolis. A certain analogy may
also be found between the attitude of our bull and the posture
of that of the Persepolitan capital, but not striking by any means.
It is just possible that the work is Phoenician or archaic Greek.

To native industry, on the other hand, should be attributed
bronze articles found at Rey, along with the vases of the Richard
Collection. They number a plain bracelet of wire, twisted half a
dozen times round the wrist; several pins with triangular stems
and heads with double spiral, very similar to the scrolls so often
exhibited on the slabs and personal ornaments of Mycene. If
there is no doubt as to these forms being of the kind which we
associate with high antiquity, it must be admitted that they are
likewise met with in other countries. The bracelet and the pins
under notice belonged to common people; greater artistic skill
was bestowed upon the jewellery, not only worn by the king and
the great nobles, but by the soldiers of crack corps,’ whose circlets
for the wrist and collars were gold or silver. Such would be the
bracelets, terminating in animals’ heads, which the figures in the
processional scene of the hypostyle hall (Fig. 194) hold in the
hand as free gifts. They are of a style and fornmy which we know
of old from the monuments of Assyria.

What most struck the Greeks when first they came in contact
with the Persians, was the rich and magnificent apparel of the
latter, the strange appearance of their long robes patterned with
clustering flowers and leaves, mingled with animal figures real or
fantastic. The contrast was great between habiliments brilliantly
coloured and the severe simplicity of the Greek dress. We shall
see presently that when Hellenic painters introduced princes and
Oriental warriors in their compositions, they took pains to dis-
tinguish them from their countrymen by difference of costume.
They invariably represent the former with ample trailing robes of
as many hues as they can put in, without much thought as to
reality; hence their presentment of the textiles and broidered
fabrics of Asia is not happy. In order to gain a correct notion of
the stuffs worn by Persian kings and nobles we must not turn to
Grecian vases, but rather to the bas-reliefs of Assyria, where the
chisel copied with astonishing patience the complicated maze of
fantastic designs. If with these we compare the costume of the
Achzemenide, as described by Greek writers, we shall find that,

1 Herodotus, vii. 83.
486 History oF Art in ANTIQUITY.

 

although the dynasty which began with Cyrus succeeded in starting
into being a style of architecture and sculpture by no means de-
ficient in originality, the inventive movement to which these bore
witness did not extend to minor arts. Industry was scarcely
affected by the change royalty had ushered in. It continued to
work and produce until the Macedonian conquest, in pretty much
the same spirit and the same conditions as of old under the rule of
the Assyrian, Mede, and Chaldzan lords of Asia.

 
( 487 )

 

CHAPTER VIII.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ART.

In describing the principal monuments whose remains represent
the art-productions of Persia, we had occasion more than once to
point out the resemblances that exist between them and the monu-
ments of Egypt, Assyria, and Greece. Such resemblances could
not be explained save on the hypothesis that Persia had copied
and learnt of foreign masters. When the buildings of Persepolis
were erected, and her bas-reliefs sculptured, the genius of Chaldea
and of Egypt had run its course. As to Greece, if she had not yet
given to the world her fairest works, she was on the eve of giving
them, and her plastic art was already imbued with original features
which singled it forth from that of the antique cultures of the East.
Persian art, then, is neither a primitive nor a simple art, in that
it was acted upon by many and divergent influences, and conse-
quently made up of different elements, some of which came to it
from the great nations which the victorious hand of the Achemenide
had caused to fall from their high estate, whilst it borrowed others
from that young nation the Persians had met on their path when
their kings had led them to the borders of the. Mediterranean.

The conclusion we have reached cannot have come asa surprise
upon the reader, since every page in this study has led up to it;
but it must be admitted that we feel somewhat puzzled when we
try to sum up and apportion to each master the share he con-
tributed to the architectonic and sculptural types of Persian art.
Nevertheless we are bound to do for it what we did for Phoenician
art, and try to analyze it to the best of our power, so as to have
a clear understanding in regard to the origin of every item of
an art which is neither the result of the primary conditions where
it developed itself, nor to be explained by the ancient habits
488 History oF ART IN ANTIQUITY.

 

of the populations of Iran, or by the examples and traditions of
Medic royalty.

As might have been foreseen, the adjoining countries of Chaldza
and Assyria were those that gave most to Persia. They taught
her to raise artificial mounds whereon to place her buildings, and
monumental staircases on their fronts, at once an easy means of
ascent and superbly decorative. If in the construction of these
gigantic plinths or ramps Persia substituted stone for the brick
of Chaldza, the principle was identical. The builders of both
countries were actuated by the desire to elevate the house of the
sovereign above the plain and the habitations of meaner men; a
nameless rabble, bound to the soil or doomed to carry on the
business of life in obscurity, whose lot was serfdom and obedience.
The eye could measure at one glance the distance which separated
the king from the plebs.

Reminiscent of Assyria also is the adoption of brick walls,
which were not imposed upon the architect, as in Mesopotamia,
by the dearth of stone; so that if he introduced the frail material
in his finest buildings, it is probable that it was in imitation of the
royal houses at Babylon and Nineveh. From thence, too, he
borrowed decorative methods. In order to vary the external face
of his great mud walls he built them of different qualities of brick ;
and in the most carefully wrought parts of the palace he applied
enamel, costly woods, either in their natural colour or tinted ; ivory,
and metal, and he crowned his walls with crenelations. The
situation which, as a rule, he assigned to sculpture in his buildings
is very similar to that which it always occupies in Assyrian edifices.
Whilst the Egyptian artist distributed bas-reliefs all over his pylons
and his temples, and the Greek reserved them for the entabla-
ture, the Persepolitan sculptor, as he of Calach and Nineveh, placed
the most important and finished of his figures level with the
ground, at the sides of doorways, on the. face of substructures, and
along the walls of his ramps. The resemblance is not only
observable in the choice of sites, but also in that of the themes.
Thus colossi guard the gateways, and we find here the symbolic
groups we noticed on the banks of the Tigris, such as the winged
globe, the figure of the deity hovering in the air surrounded by a
ring, which recalls the solar disc; the hero Overcoming monsters,
whom he strangles in his embrace or pierces with his sword; the
king seated on his throne, surrounded by attendants who carry the
 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ArT. 489

 

parasol over his head or chase the flies from his brow. Then, too,
the same series of figures, viziers and officers of every rank, meet
our gaze; body-guards, personal attendants, and tributaries form a
scene on the wall, systematically arranged, as in the solemn pro-
cessions, and so grouped as to convey to the spectator a high idea
of the power of the sovereign in honour of whom the train is
formed and passes on. The analogies are far too distinct to
permit us to consider them as due to mere chance. Nevertheless,
there is one feature, and that an important one, which serves to
distinguish the Achaemenid architecture from that of the Sargonide,
namely, the dominant part the column has assumed here. Its réle
in the monuments of Assyria—where it seldom appears—is a sub-
ordinate one. Thus, at Nimroud, Khorsabad, and Koyunjik, we
only find it in the minor sections—porches or external galleries, for
instance. Flat or vaulted ceilings are wholly supported by the
stout walls of rectangular apartments. ‘The latter, therefore, were
doomed to mediocre dimensions, at léast in one direction. Persia,
on the contrary, challenges comparison with Egypt in the size of
her open halls, the largest the world had seen before the employ-
ment of iron. The question has often been asked as to which
hypostyle halls, whether those at Persepolis and Susa or Thebes,
were the grandest and fairest. Placed as was Persia in the
vicinity and under the direct influence of a people which, so to
speak, had ignored the column, the large use she made of it can
only be explained on the assumption that she was stirred thereto
by suggestions from without. Of course wood pillars were known
to her, in that she had seen them in the palaces and the houses
of the Medes; indeed, she had set about replacing them by pillars
of stone as early as the time of Cyrus; but there is an enormous
distance between the plain smooth column and the small apart-
ments at Pasargade, and the majestic fluted column and the pro-
digious halls at Persepolis and Susa. Fortunately for us, history
opportunely steps in to explain the transformation. Without it the
problem might perhaps have remained unsolved ; by its light we
can account for the circumstances which induced so unexpected
and brilliant.a development of the column from the day of Darius
among the Persians. This was brought about by the conquest
of Egypt by Cambyses and the dazzling impression left by
the marvels of Sais, Memphis, and Thebes. The Persians
already knew how to work stone, and set one upon another the
490 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

drums of those airy shafts which, by their proportions, recall the
trunks of trees whence they sprang; it is probable that they were
even then surmounted by those strangely shaped capitals, for the
origin of which we should apparently look towards Assyria. But
is it conceivable that without the thrill of admiration stirred in
their breast in face of the buildings of the Nile Valley, they would
have had the notion and the desire thus to elongate and adorn
the column; to multiply it, as it were, by itself; to raise on the
esplanades those forests of pillars where the eye, wherever it turns,
sees nothing but long and lofty vistas of naves, bounded by walls
on which, through the haze, is discreetly reflected the sheen of
gay hangings and enamels? Imitation seems self-evident; with
this difference, that in Egypt, where the temple is the principal
monument, the hypostyle hall serves as vestibule to the sanctuaries
of the gods. Here, however, where the temple is only an altar
open to the sky placed upon a slightly raised stage, the hypostyle
chamber has been transferred to the palace. With this exception
the general principle and effects are identical in both instances.

So remarkable a correspondence as this would by itself enable
us to affirm that contact with Egypt was not barren in its effects;
that study of the monuments of that grand civilization was mainly
answerable for the turn taken by Persian art in the reign of the
son of Hystaspes, when the empire reached the zenith of its power
and of its inventive activity. Should our evidence be thought
inadequate, we can complete it by pointing out other indications
in proof of the borrowings, together with the testimony of an ancient
writer, to the effect that Egyptian artists were called in by the
Achemenid kings to help in the works then in progress at
Persepolis and Susa. We might almost have dispensed with the
testimony of Diodorus, since these alien workmen signed, so to
speak, their work. Thus, in the complex type of the volute
capital, among the several elements of which it is composed, we
think we find the head of a palm tree, a form derived from a
certain class of Egyptian capitals. But what is still more
significant is that, without one exception, all the openings of the
edifices of the Takht-i-Jamshid, niches, windows, and portals, are
surmounted by the “Egyptian gorge,” a moulding which strictly
belongs to the Delta, and of which they not only reproduced the
profile but the grooves which seam its surface and impart thereto
so peculiar an aspect. It is almost a literal transcript; if details
 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ART. 491

 

have been modified, it is so slightly as to be imperceptible at first
sight. This is so true that, in order to detect the variations, it is
necessary to juxtapose the two types of cornice, the Egyptian and
the Persian, and look narrowly at them. Traces of these borrow-
ings are more rare in sculpture. Nevertheless, over the head of a
figure which seems to represent Cyrus, the founder of the empire,
is there not a tall and peculiar head-dress, every detail of which
was taken from some Egyptian bas-relief ?

The relations with Egypt, and the influence the latter exercised
upon the art of Persia, do not stop here; we find elsewhere
examples of the adoption of Egyptian forms. If at a given time
the vault hollowed in the rock supersedes the built tomb, of which
the most curious example is that of Cyrus, when did the change
take place? Why, in the reign of Darius, after the new masters
of Egypt had seen the speos, sepultures, or temples which a
trained and patient chisel had carved for thousands of years in the
depths of the cliffs of the Libyan and Arabian chains of mountains.
But if they imitated it was in no servile spirit. Thus the Persian
architect did not give to his funerary chamber the vast proportions
it had assumed in the necropoles of Thebes; whilst he put outside,
in the light of day, the figures which in Egypt adorned the interior
of the vault; or, to speak accurately, the sculptured decoration he
applied to his sepulchral front is a faithful reproduction of that of
the facade of the subterraneous temples of the Delta. Again, the
arrangement of his frontispiece must be pronounced truly remark-
able. His was the idea of putting there the copy of the palace facade,
above which rises the fire-altar and the graven image of the tutelar
deity of the monarch and the people. The composition, considered
as a whole, redounds to the honour and the ingenuity of the artist
who conceived it; though it must be admitted that it is rather a
clever adaptation than an original work. As already remarked,
they had no thought of it until they visited and admired Egypt,
whose hypogeia embodied the outlines and the main elements of
the type we have studied in the royal tombs at Naksh-i-Rustem
and Persepolis.

If Persia got her first lessons from Assyria, as well as those first
principles of which the effects are felt to this day in the develop-
ment of our culture; if, later, she borrowed much from Egypt, did
she take nothing from Asiatic Greece, which was her vassal
from the day of Cyrus and remained so for more than two
492 History oF ArT In ANTIQUITY.

 

centuries, or from European Greece, which she invaded? Did
Ionian artists teach her nothing? Did they give her none of their
taste and style when they entered her service, either of their own
free will or when forcibly taken from their native towns and trans-
planted in the interior of Asia? Above all, did she learn naught of
those marbles and bronzes, chiselled by the best Grecian sculptors,
of which she despoiled the temples of Hellas to decorate the
palaces of Susa and Persepolis ?

It would be passing strange if these points of touch, whether
spontaneous or enforced, together with the presence of stupendous
models, had exercised no influence, had left no trace on the art-
productions of Persia. Though slight and unobtrusive, these
traces exist. Greek genius made itself felt both in architec-
ture and sculpture; but the difficulty is correctly to define
the mode in which the action was produced and measure its
intensity, without omitting any indication which may testify to the
points in touch under notice, keeping free at the same time from
exaggeration as to its importance and effects. The temptation to
sin in this direction has not always been sufficiently resisted. Many
are apt to start with the idea—right if not pushed too far—that
Grecian art was superior to all and everything which had preceded
it in the antique world, and the mind thus biassed cannot readily
grasp why, from the day when relations were entered into between
the Greeks and their neighbours, the mastery of Hellenic art
should not have been powerful enough to bear down all opposition
and impose itself on those Barbarians, as they would say, and
cause them to adopt a system of forms quite fresh from the mint
of that gifted race. By applying this theory to Persia we should
not only be guilty of anachronism, but the dupes of optical delusion.
Grecian art could only possess this ascendency on the day when
its technique was so perfect that it could use, with supreme
freedom, all the means of expression which belong to plastic art.
Now, towards the end of the sixth century B.c., when Persian art
finally constituted itself and adopted its style and forms, Grecian
architecture and sculpture were still groping and trying to emerge
from the trammels of archaism. Nor is this all. Their noblest master-
pieces, the fruit of their intellectual travail, had to wait until the
battles fought on the Granicus, Issus, and at Arbela laid Asia at
the feet of the conqueror, and compelled her to open her gates to
Hellenic culture. Military and political conquest led the way to
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ART. 493

 

mofal conquest; without the former the latter would not have
been. The great king Darius not only put down the Ionian
revolt, but occupied Macedonia, and whilst his fleet sailed
triumphantly all over the A°gean he was collecting a formidable
host to despatch against Athens. Everything seemed to favour
him in that long duel between Asia and Europe, of which
Herodotus tries to explain the causes and the various phases in
the opening chapter of his narrative.

Sculpture betrays, perhaps more clearly than aught else, the real
though small share of Grecian art in the development of that of
Persia. We laid stress upon a distinguishing feature of the
Persian bas-reliefs as against those at Nineveh, which they recall
in many respects. The sculptor set himself the task of rendering the
movement and the folds of the stuff in which he clothes his figures,
and he has succeeded to a certain extent. The first instance of
the study of folds appears in the statues of Tello, the oldest in
Chaldza, but details are treated in a much more summary fashion
than at Persepolis. It seems, however, that the sculptors of
Mesopotamia had long forgotten even the tradition of what their
predecessors had attempted in this path, when the palaces of the
Sargons and Nebuchadnezzars were erected, which subsequently
served as models to the successors of Cyrus. In the figures of
Assyria the drapery is no longer allowed any play; the dress
clings to the form. If the Persian sculptor freed himself from
this conventional mode, whence did he derive his notion, except
from the models offered by the statues carried away from Greece,
and the examples he received from Hellenic artists who chiselled
stone side by side with him in the royal yards? Telephanes, of
whom Pliny writes that he had done much work for Darius and
Xerxes, may have put his hand to some of the groups which
embellished the doorways of the Hall ofa Hundred Columns, or the
substructures of the great hypostyle hall.t It was quite enough to

1 With regard to Telephanes, see note which M. Heuzey read at the Académie
des Inscriptions (Revue politique, Nov. 20, 1886). Pliny writes that he was not so
well known as his contemporaries Polyclitus and Myron: “Quoniam se regum
Xerxis atque Darii officinis dediderit.”. M. Heuzey sees in him one of those Greeks
who, after the collapse of the Ionian revolt, preferred to enter the service of Persia,
forcibly or otherwise, rather than leave the country. This took place in the last
years of the reign of Darius. Telephanes rose to a high situation in the next reign,
when he became the sculptor in chief of Xerxes, a fact which would explain why the
name of the latter should appear before that of Darius in the author cited by Pliny.
494 History or Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

give the tone and create a tradition. Put on their mettle, the
numerous artisans who helped to complete those collective works,
despite inequality of skill, profited in their several degrees by the
teaching they got gratis ; hence it is that although the themes are
different, although the figures are not distributed about the build-
ing as they would in Greece, there is a strong family likeness
between Persian sculpture and the Grecian previous to the Medic
wars. In proof of this the reader has only to place in juxtaposition
the mouldings of any bas-reliefs at Persepolis with those of the
fragments that have come down to us of the sculptures of the first
temple of Ephesus, erected in the reign of Croesus, when the
remarkable analogy of make, and more particularly the treatment
of the drapery, cannot fail to strike him.

It is the same, though perhaps in a less degree, with sculpture.
There, too, we feel, in places, a reflex as it were of the style and
the taste of Greece. The resemblance is not-one of arrangement
in the building, or even of selection of forms, but of execution
alone. Thus in principle the Persepolitan capital is wholly
different from that of the several Greek specimens ; but among
those elements which we think of Asiatic origin, there crops up
now an astragal which reminds us of the Ionic capital, now oves
and beads that strongly savour of Greece. The same remark
applies to the door-cases of the tombs and palaces. Both are
surmounted by the Egyptian gorge, and if the three faces in
retreat, of which they are composed, reappear about the doorways
of Grecian buildings, it is because here and there they are
survivals of the posts which surrounded the openings of the
wooden house. Superficial inspection of the door-frame would
tempt one to affirm that there is nothing about it which betrays its
having been taken from the repertory of the Greek ornamentist ;
but if we look at it well we shall carry away quite a different
impression. Thus in Egypt, around the plain torus of the cornice,
are carried fillets traced with the brush; they are replaced here
by a baguette which resembles a chaplet of oves, alternating with
discs or round balls (Fig. 15). Similar chaplets, enclosed by
elegant fluted baguettes, adorn the inner faces of the jambs and
lintels. The cradle-land of all the forms we have passed in review

Then, too, the use of the verb dediderit in connection with Telephanes’ works
implies that it extended over a certain time and was not accomplished during a
flying visit.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ART. 495

 

is either Iran, Assyria, or Egypt; they were touched up, however,
corrected, and embellished in the country of their adoption by the
happy knack of a chisel more skilful and delicate than that which
first modelled them either in wood, clay, or stone. To use the
language of grammarians, we are faced here by Hellenisms which
impart to the style of these monuments a complexion and tinge
sut generis, though preserving in the main, both as to style and
substance, a thorough Asiatic and Eastern character. Thus the
buildings of Persia, be it from the artificial mounds whereon they
are placed, the stairs by which they are approached, their mode of
construction, the enormous masses of fzsé which constitute their
thick walls, are allied to the traditions of Assyrian architecture.
As a rule the building material Greece employed was dressed
stone. The first outline of the hypostyle hall may perhaps have
been suggested by the wooden house of Northern Media, whose
ceiling was upheld by the trunks of trees, eight or ten in number ;
but its stupendous proportions and the development of the pillars
supporting its roof, multiplied tenfold at Persepolis and Susa—that
is to say, which rose to seventy-two or a hundred—were copied on
the models of Egypt. In any case, nothing of the kind occurs in
Greece. Her architects place their columns outside the building,
along a wall so as to form a portico, or in the interior to divide
the cella in several naves; and their roof does not rest upon
an indefinite number of pillars with a quincunx arrangement.
The large place enamels held at Susa will be remembered; and
we may safely conclude that they also figured at Persepolis. Now,
this is a mode of decoration which Greece never employed; it
belongs to countries such as Chaldzea, where houses are built of
mud. As to sculpture, its themes and symbols, the way the figures
are distributed about the building, everything bears the stamp of
the habits and the taste of the plastic art of Assyria. The share
of Greece in the education of the sculptor is only perceptible to a
well-trained eye ; it only betrays itself in the quality of the work,
in nice delicate touches, in a certain suppleness one did not expect
to find here.

The deduction to be drawn from a critical analysis of Persian
art is that, unlike that of Egypt and Chaldza, it is not the spon-
taneous expression of the ideas and the beliefs of a great people.
It is the last comer of the arts of Anterior Asia ; and its inspirations
are derived from the types created by its predecessors, and the
496 History oF Art In ANTIQUITY.

 

methods it applies are no less theirs. Nevertheless its monuments,
as our restorations amply show, are more than simple copies of
monuments of Assyria and Egypt. Persian art is not deficient in
originality. Of course, it cannot compete in power and expression
with that of Egypt, of Chaldaea and Greece; in its limitations, how-
ever, it is real, worthy of our regard and susceptible of being defined.

Like the art of Phoenicia, which likewise ranks among minor
stars, the originality of Persian art resides, firstly, in the observance
of regularity and proportion, and its nicety in combining the
several elements it had borrowed ; and, secondly, in the extra-
ordinary size of the principal edifices, in the building of which the
architect used processes not his own, as well as the amazing
luxury of ornaments in which he clothed them. Phcenicia drew
from the same sources. Why so different the results? Because
the work of fusion and adaptation was effected in somewhat different
conditions among the two peoples. In Phcenicia the main business
of life was one of lucre—how to get large returns for money
invested in commercial enterprises. In order to do this they did
not scruple to defraud their customers as to the origin of the goods
they exported and offered for sale. They passed off as genuine
Egyptian, Chaldean, or Greek, as the case might be, idols
and jewellery, vases of glass and clay, arms and pieces of furniture,
manufactured at Tyre or Sidon, the products of whose workshops
were industrial rather than artistic. Although we know imper-
fectly the monuments erected by these two cities, we none the less
penetrate their character. The tomb shows that great care was
bestowed upon it, but it is wanting in grandeur; of their temples
and palaces scarcely a trace exists, save a pale shadowy remem-
brance. On the other hand, imposing remains are extant of
fortified works which Punic cities, whether in the east or the west,
once built to protect themselves or their trade against the enemy.
Similar works are best remembered by history. Such would be
aqueducts and cisterns, military and commercial harbours, moles
and quays, arsenals and magazines, whose proportions and solidity
find ample recognition in the narrative of ancient writers ; erected
one and all for practical purposes by merchant guilds. In
Phoenicia the engineer ranked above the architect.

But in Persia the artist was neither the slave of private interest
nor of a corporation. He was dependent on his master and king
alone ; actuated by the all-engrossing idea of glorifying the royal
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ART. 497

 

person, alive or dead. Hence the prince lavished upon him, with
truly regal liberality, all the resources of the greatest empire the
sun had yet shone upon—the best stone, the best woods the
mountains could furnish, the finest potter’s clay, precious metals, of
which vast quantities were accumulated in his treasuries, the ivory
of India and Africa, the cedar of Lebanon or Taurus; and he
added to these admirable working materials picked artificers
gotten from every part, Memphis and Tyre, Ecbatana and
Babylon, Miletus and Ephesus. All he required in return was
that he should produce size and beauty, erect him a building
whose proportions and wealth of ornament should deepen still
more the respect, mingled with religious awe and admiration,
which the people felt for their sovereign.

Thus an art was formed which has been happily described as
“a composite art, sprung from a royal whim, but which kneaded
into a powerful unity, like the empire itself, all the artistic forms
which had captivated it in the provinces of Assyria, Egypt, or
Asiatic Greece ; it was the caprice of an almighty dilettante gifted
with a grand taste.” .

Such conditions as these are most peculiar, and help us to
grasp the merits and demerits of the art under consideration.
As ways and means formed no part of its calculations, it built
edifices where the stupendous dimensions of the plan take nothing
from the finish of the work. If this came about, it was because
stone, which held so large a place here, does not admit, like crude
or even baked brick, press-gangs that work under the stick. In
order to achieve works such as the substructures of the platform
at Persepolis, or the gigantic colonnade of Xerxes, as skilful and
experienced workmen as could be procured were required. What,
then, shall we say of chisellers who fashioned bases, door- frames,
and niches, sculptors who modelled those superb capitals, and
carpenters who put together pieces both numerous and com-
plicated to form the coverings? The execution we find here is far
more finished than in the palaces of Assyria; it is, perhaps, even
superior to that of most Egyptian buildings. Had the temples of
Ionia and the example of Greek workmen anything to do with this
relative perfection? It is hard to say; but it cannot be denied
that, owing to the absolute precision of the materials employed,
as well as the make of the ornaments and mouldings, the edifices

1 J. DaRMESTETER, Coup a’ceil sur l'histoire de la Perse, p. 18.
2K
498 History or ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

at Persepolis bear some analogy to those of Greece. No sign of
hurry or neglect is to be detected anywhere ; the utmost nicety
and care extend to the minutest detail, and everything combines
to convey the idea that they were the creation of an omnipotent
will, served by intelligent and pliant instruments.

On the other hand, Persian art lacks variety and the inventive
faculty. Strictly speaking, its tomb, palace, and temple have but
one type apiece; it has but one cornice, one -entablature, one
column, and one capital. The variations it introduced in the plans
and the elements composing its elevations never modify to any
great extent the appearance of the building. It repeated without
a break, from first to last, the forms it took up when, in the reign
of Darius, it finally constituted itself. Unlike the arts of Egypt
and Greece, which kept their ground in face of national defeats,
and survived many centuries after the peoples who had created
them had lost their independence, that of Persia ceased to be or
to produce, and disappeared from the world’s annals along with
the royal family whose nod had called it into being. It never had
but one idea at its command, and the treatment of its themes
bore upon one series alone; hence it is that, despite its grandeur,
the effect is somewhat poor, tame, and monotonous. One might
almost imagine that it emerged full grown from the bold initiative
of the resolute man to whom Darius entrusted the direction of
his monumental works, and that he retained the situation in the
following reign. This “superintendent of the royal buildings,”
this Eastern Lebrun, guided by great taste and intelligence,
examined with critical eye the vast store of forms which the
repertory of previous or contemporaneous arts offered to him, out
of which he selected those best suited for his purpose, and with
them he deftly composed a well-jointed system, a harmonious
whole. This great artist, whose name history has forgotten,
worked out so well the programme submitted to him, he so far
fulfilled the expectations of his employers, that his successors
thought they could do no better than continue in the path opened
by him. They enlarged or diminished the proportions of the
building to suit the will of their masters. In matters of detail
they sometimes even ventured on slight innovations. In essentials,
however, whether of arrangement, principle, or spirit, their work
remained unchanged. They adhered to the rules laid down by
the architect in the models he transmitted to his continuators, be
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ART. 499

 

it in the enceinte, the great staircase, the inhabited palace, and
the tomb of Darius. It is probable that the Hall of a Hundred
Columns, and perhaps the hypostyle hall of Xerxes, built at the
beginning of his reign, should be placed in the same category.

Of course, this is a mere hypothesis, yet it has at least the merit
to explain, better than any other, the strangeness of an art whose
finest works were all produced within a very narrow space of time,
which began somewhere about the year 500 B.c., and lived on for
nearly two hundred years with no marked change or progress.
This immovableness, despite an appearance of great brilliancy at
times, implies decay more or less marked. If in the course of so
long a period no evolution or progress was manifested in this art,
it was because, unlike that of the peoples whence it had taken its
inspirations at the outset, it could not renew its strength and
youth at the quickening fountains of religion and poetry. The
simplicity of the dogma and the monotheistic proclivities of
Magism did not stir the artist to lend a body to the deities or
vary their appearance and attributes. Popular legends could find
no place in a sculpture that was set upon representing the
monarch, and again the monarch, and nought but the monarch in
the different attitudes of his public or private existence. The
monumental and ornamented tomb, such as we see it in the two
royal necropoles, almost savours of heresy; no one but the
prince, whose position placed him above the prejudices of public
opinion, could indulge in the luxury. In a country where the
king was emphatically the state, the architect and the sculptor
neither worked for private individuals nor corporations, so that
they lacked opportunities for introducing variety in the schemes
submitted to them, or renewing their working powers and perfect-
ing their art. That art with the ancient Persians was but on the
surface and had no roots, is proved from the fact that the minor
or industrial arts neither flourished nor lived side by side with
the nobler art. The furniture and utensils exhibited on the
bas-reliefs at Persepolis are void of originality, and those that
have come out of the excavations are utterly insignificant. The
half score or so of vases we have figured as specimens of the
ceramic industry of the Achemenidz testify to no inventive power
or delicacy whatsoever. No surer test than this could be put
forth in proof of the theory we uphold; the smallest article
fashioned by an artisan who belongs to a people truly gifted with
500 History oF ArT IN ANTIQUITY.

 

a genius for plastic art carries with it something of the taste
manifested on the grandest buildings and the statues of the gods
and heroes. Just as the tiniest bit of a broken mirror will still
reflect—in a fragmentary fashion, it is true—the images the glass,
of which it is but a remnant, used to throw back in full, so the
language of a personal ornament, a chair of Egyptian make, a
bronze tazza, a piece of woven stuff from Chaldza, or a Greek
amphora, is just as distinct as that of the colossi of the Rames-
seum, the friezes at Nimroud and Khorsabad, and those of
Parthenon. To one able to read their writing, these small articles
proclaim as loudly the way these several nations understood and
rendered the beauty of the living form.

The case was different in Persia. The artisans who clothed
and decked the peasantry or the townsfolk, and furnished their
houses, were not the pupils and humble followers of the architects
and sculptors of the Great King. The Persians were not only
masters of the whole of Anterior Asia, but of Egypt as well; the
industrial centres comprised within this vast territory furnished
them with the best products, or those most in vogue, of their
workshops. But whilst from the banks of the Indus to the
borders of the Mediterranean the conquered nations everywhere
worked for the Persians, they, in pretty much the same con-
ditions as the Turks afterwards, turned all their energies to the
defence, the administration, and the development of the resources
of the vast empire. The genius of the people was adverse to
that patient industry involved in the pursuit of crafts for which
it entertained a certain contempt.

The art of Persia, then, was purely an official art, the property
of a dynasty and the court; but it was not a real national art.
Moreover, who will tell us whether either the anonymous master
to whom we tentatively attribute a great proportion of the
sculpture at Persepolis, or the artists who succeeded him and
completed the buildings he had commenced, or restored and
copied them for later princes, were Persians by birth? For my
part, I very much doubt it. The builders of the beautiful mosques
at Broussa, and those of the first Osmanlis at Stamboul, were
not Turcomans, but Greeks and Armenians. The companions in
arms of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius were just as incapable of
executing stupendous works like these as were those of Bajazet,
Mahomet II., and Suleiman the Magnificent in the fifteenth and
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ART. 501

 

 

sixteenth centuries of our era. The native energy of these
mountaineers and the intelligence of their chiefs had made of
them able captains, excellent officers, and imperious satraps; but
where should they have learnt how to accomplish the delicate
task of selecting and uniting the elements with which the royal
art of Persia was formed, and taking the direction of works and
of men who belonged to at least three different nationalities and
different training ? It is highly probable, then, that the architect
or architects who received the commands of the Achemenidze to
build their tombs and palaces were strangers. The situation of
Syria at the gates of three different worlds, Egypt, Chaldzea, and
Greece, induced betimes a taste for eclecticism, and long practice
had made them masters of the art. It is just possible that it was
a Phoenician who, with the pliancy of the men of his race, took
the principal part in the formation of that complex art we have
designated as Persian, and which it would perhaps be more
correct to call Achaemenid art.

Be that as it may, the interest which this art possesses in the eyes
of the critic resides in the fact that it embodies all the labours and
plastic creations of the oldest civilized peoples, of whom Greece
and Rome were destined to become the heirs. At the same
time, it is the first which, inasmuch as it is so much later than its
predecessors, was influenced by the genius of Hellas, of which the
traces are very apparent. Hence it is that the study of Persian
art forms the natural conclusion to the history of Oriental arts, a
study which we took up without sufficiently measuring, perhaps,
the magnitude and importance of our self-imposed task. We
have now run the first part of our course, that which lay across
the least trodden ground. Henceforward our path is clear, and
nothing more interposes between us and Greece, upon which our
eyes have ever been fixed—as towards a longed-for goal and land
of promise—even when we seemed to wander farthest away from
it, and lose sight of its shores amidst the many curves and
windings of the long way.

“‘Arva, beata
oy : +
Petamus arva, divites et insulas !

 
INDEX.

A.

ELIAN on Persepolis, 289 7.

Ahfira-Mazda, meaning of, 12, 13; found
in all inscriptions, 14 7., 15 7., 16-18,
393, 396, 416-418, 451, 452, 456,

457-
Alphabet, Persian, 32,33; Aramaic, 32 z.,

33.

Altun-Kiprd, 187.

Amiaud, 15 2.

Anahita, 15, 30, 385.

Anaximenes, 468 7.

Anaxyrides, 401.

Andertn, 265.

Angré-Mainyfis (Ahriman), meaning of,
12, 133; not named in the inscriptions,
14 7.

Animals, face to face, in Persia, 456.

Apadana, meaning of, 266.

Arch, semi-circular, in vaulted edifices of
Persia, 162-177; false, 171, 172, 185,
186.

Archer on engraved stones and darics,
451, 455, 457, 463, 464, 466.

Aristobulus on the tomb of Cyrus, 201-
206, 215.

Aristotle, on Persian palaces, 151 #.; on
Susian animals, 156 7. :

Arrangement in Persian buildings, 57—

aera on the country, 7, 201-205,
469 .; on old Persian characters,
32%,

Arsacidee, philhellenism of, 34.

Artaxerxes Mnemon, builds at Susa, 348,
362; at Ecbatana, 358, 359; his so-
called effigy on coin, 466.

Ashan, Ig 2.

Asoka, column, 339 .

Atesh-gah, 243-245, 249-251.

Athenzeus, 256 7., 469, 470.

Atropaténe, 6.

 

Avesta, meaning of name, 12 7., Igo;
citations, 191, 192 #., 385, 386, 417 2.
Azerbijan, 6.

B.

BakTHIvARIs, the, 7, 49.

Base, of column in Persia, 53-55 ; cam-
paniform, 118, 358, 359.

Behistiin, monument of, 33 x., 36, 38,
393, 394, 415.

Berosus, 385.

Birun, 265.

Bitumen at Susa, 368.

Bosphorus, Cimmerian, Persian intaglios
from, 456

Bow on the shoulder of guardsmen, 424.

Bracelet, in bas-reliefs, 401, 425 ; bronze,
485.

Brick in Persia, 48, 77-79, 149, 150,
152, 156, 289, 291, 367.

Broussa, enamelled tiles of mosques at,
476.

Bull, in Persia, 144-147; winged, at
entrance of Persian buildings, 62 ; on
Persian capitals, 97-107; on cornice
at Shapiir, 178, 179; symbolic mean-
ing doubtful, 413 2. ; head in electrum,
484; in round boss, 512, 513.

Burning of palace, Persepolis, 332, 351.

G

CameEL, double-humped, 408.

Candys, 409.

Cap, adorned by horns on Persian
intaglio, like those of Chaldean cy-
linders, 455.

Capital in Persia, 55, 56, go-95, 105-
112, 313, 314.

Caryatides of royal throne, 137.
504

INDEX.

 

Caylus, De, 484 2.

Cedar, at Persepolis, whence imported,
50,51 2.3 deodora, in decoration, 143 7.

Chancellery, Persian, 31, 32.

Channels under platform at Persepolis,
287, 309, 310, 344, 345.

Chardin, 35 2., 287, 396 z.

Chase, in Persian sculptures, 414; on
intaglios, 451, 455.

Chel Minar, 45.

Chipiez, Ch., 81-86, 314.

Choisy, study on the art of building,
163 7.

Cicero, 240 2.

Cidaris, 409.

Clamps, iron, 70, 71, 270, 271.

Clarac, 321.

Cloisonné enamels at Susa, 478.

Coinage in Persia, 458-463.

Column, in Persia, 53, 2933; airy pro-
portions, 53; flutes, probable origin,
57, 87, 96, 105. ;

Cornice, Egyptian, in Persia, 62, 123,
124; copied at Feriiz-Abad, 174.

Coste, Pascal, 35 7., 152 7., 156-167 ;
fire-temple restored by, 248; Propyleea
at Persepolis, 293; Palace of Xerxes,
306 w.; of Darius, 333.

Crenelations in Persian buildings, 132-
136, 180, 339, 340, 366.

Crescent on engraved stone, 457.

Crowning, Persian, 133-136.

Ctesias, 215 7., 228 7.

Cupola in vaulted buildings of Persia,
170, 171.

Cypress, in Persia, 49 7. ; in decoration,
49 7, 140.

Cyrus, tomb of, 197-207; palaces at
Pasargade, 268-272 ; representation
of, 388-393.

D.

DAKMAS, 192 %., 215-217.

Darics, 460, 461, 463.

Darius Hystaspes, tomb of, 222-231 ;
letter to satrap, 261 . ; wall of plat-
form at Persepolis signed by, 282;
probable author of the Hall of a
Hundred Columns, 331; inhabited
palace, 333-338; builds a palace at
Susa, 361.

Darius Nothus, attribution of seal to, 452.

Darmesteter, James, work on ancient
Persia, 9 7.-12 7., 32 2, 33 %, 101 7%,
190-192 w., 241 m., 242 #., 206 7,
417 Ml, 497 2

Daskylon, residence of a satrap, 32.

Delattre, 8 7.

Delos, bulls’ porch, 56, 87.

Demaratus, 30.

Democedes, 26 2.

Demons in Persian sculptures, 413 7.,
418 2.

Dentels in Persia, 85, 123, 124.

Dieulafoy, Jane, 36, 42 7.

Dieulafoy, Marcel, labour of, 36, 43-
45, 48; discussion and opinions, 42
m., 118 2, 128, 155-160, 162-164,
168-173, 175, 198-212, 216, 217,
222,°223, 250-253, 262, 266, 267 z.,
269-272, 275, 281, 283, 284; dis-
coveries and remarks, 50, 51, 60, 70-
77 4% 79, 100, I12, I14, 115, 117,
118 #., 123-125, 154, 157, 290, 295,
306 7%, 339 M5 359, 362-365, 368.

Diodorus Siculus, 38 .; upon artificers
imported from Egypt, 113; royal
tombs at Persepolis, 218; enceinte at
Persepolis, 288-290 2.

Door, in Persian buildings, 124, 125,
127; in Chaldean architecture, 170 2. ;
in buildings after the Achemenidian
era, 182.

Doryphores, 403, 405, 407-410.

Drapery in Persian palaces, 132, 133,

152, 153.

E.

EAR-PENDANTS on sculptures, 425.

Ecbatana, wooden palace, 99-104; in-
scription on bases, ror x.; defences,
360, 361, 369-372.

Elam, 10, 11.

Enamel in Persian decoration, 150, 153-
155, 368, 421 ™, 430, 476, 483.

Erechtheum, gateway to, 127.

Esther, Book of, 152, 153 7, 342.

Ethnic types at Persepolis, 402-404,
407-409, 436.

Excavations by Persian governor, 287.

Fy

Facinc, no figures, in Persian sculpture,
447.

Fars, 9 7.

Ferash-Abad, ruinous building, 168, 169.

Fergusson, 162 7., 338, 347.

Ferouhers, 191. ;

Feriiz-Abad, palace, 162-165, 182-189 ,
INDEX.

fire-temples, 189, 247-251; fortress,
189, 252.

Flandin, Eugtne, 152, 160, 244-254,
259, 263, 268, 274, 279, 283, 287,
387 %., 396, 397, 402, 403, 407, 408.

Floor-patterns of Persian palaces, 153,
154, 328; copied on mural decoration,
476-484.

Fly-chaser over head of king, 396, 409

Folds in Persian sculpture, 429, 430.

Furniture of the Persians, 484.

Furthwaengler, 156 x.

G.

GaBRE-I- MADERE-I-SULEIMAN,

. 197-200, 207.

Galley on Persian sigli, 464, 467.

Geometrical decoration in Persia, 471-
475.

Gherd, ending of, in Persian names of
localities, 468 7.

Ghilan, 6.

Gilding in Persia, 160.

Gobineau, De, Zrots ans en Asie, 13 n.;
Religions et philosophies de 0 Aste cen-
trale, 154 n.; Hist. des Perses, 1543
Catalogue @une collection a’intailles,
418 #., 457 2%.

Griffin in Persia, 144, 156, 321, 338,
435.

43, 44,

H.

Hates diadem, 392.

Halevy, J., 10 2

Hamadan, 36, 358, 359.

Harem, situation of, at Persepolis, 342.
Hatra (El-Hadr), Parthian palace, 185,

193.

Head, Barclay, 459, 461 ~, 462 2,
464 2.-466.

Head-dress in Persia, 396, 397, 402~
404,

Herodotus, 13 7., 20 %.-22 m., 25-27,
30, 190, 196, 215, 232, 240, 241, 261,
401, 404, 414, 459, 408, 484, 485.

Heuzey, 493.

Hittites, points of resemblance between
Susian and Hittite sculptures, 377.

Holwan, bas-relief, 394 2.

Homolle, 57 x.

Houssay, 10, 11 #, 159, 267 #., 272 M.,

377:
Hovelaque, Abel, 12 x.
Humped ox, 407.
Hyrcania, 6.

Dos

IBREEZ, 377-

Imam-zadeh, meaning of, 207.

Immortals, the, 426.

India, what she has given to the West, 5.

Inscriptions, Behisttin, 33, 39, 3933
painted in Persia, 159, 415 3 of Cyrus,
201; of tomb of Darius, 222, 425 ;
Xerxes, 296; Artaxerxes, 366, 367 7. ;
Susa, on enamelled bricks, 422 2.

Instruments, musical, on Susian bas-
reliefs, 423, 424.

Irak Ajemi, 6.

Istakhr, palaces of, 354, 356; fortified
gate, 374, 375-

Ivory, in Persian decoration, 151; bearers
of, at Persepolis, 408, 409.

Iwan, 262.

JusTI, 10 7.

K.

Kanauts, kanats, 6, 7.

Kane-i-Dara, “house of Darius,” 45.

Kangovar temple, 37.

Karnac compared with hypostyle hall of
Xerxes, 322.

Ker Porter, 202 7., 207, 435 7.

Khorasan, 6.

Khuzistan, 6.

Kiosk, 262-265.

Kossovics, 33, # I.

L.

LaJARD, 413 2.

Language, Medic, 10; Persian, 10, 31-
33; Susian, 11.

Layard, Sir H., 49 z., 360.

Leaves, reversed as ornament, ring of,
89, 91, 93, 97, 109.

Lenormant, Fr., 459 7. 462.

Lighting of hypostyle halls, 85.

Limestone in Persia, 47 7.

Lion, order of Lion and Sun, 18; on
Assyrian flag, 108, 109; masks on
Egyptian capitals, 108-112 ; in Persia,
144, 147, 313, 3¢55 walking on
friezes, 234, 315; On antee, 239, 267 ;
about doorways, 267; Susian bas-re-
506

INDEX.

 

liefs, 380 ; colossal, at Hamadan, 384 ;
figurine, at Susa, 419; or bull, 437;
hunted by the king, 451.

Loftus, 162; opinion with regard to the
great palace at Susa, 361 7, 476 7. ;
detects task-marks on bricks, 478 z.

Longpérier, De, 484 7.

M.

Mact, 11; head-dress, 236.

Mahista, Sassanid palace, 185.

Malamir, monuments near, 43, 47, 377.

Mallus, coinage of, 466.

Manou, laws of, 191 x.

Masons’ marks, 70 2,

Mazanderan, 6 ; houses upheld by wood
pillars, 98-100.

Mazdaism, 11, 16.

Medes, 4, 9, 11; probable state of their
art, 376.

Ménant, Jules, 282 x.

Mervdasht, plan of, 44, 277, 278.

Meshed-i-Mirghab, 43, 268.

Metal, used as casing in Persia, 150, 152,
155; tributes, perhaps, of, 403; ap-
plied to walls, 488.

Modern architecture in Persia, 103, 104.

Module in Persian architecture, 58.

Morier, 101 7.

Mortar, 165, 167.

Mouldings, Persian, 115, 117, 123-125,
127-129.

N.

NaKSH-I-RUSTEM, 43, 73, 74, 210, 211,
218-224, 244, 245.

Negro, head of, at Persepolis, 436.

Niches, in Persian palaces, 130; copied
at Feriiz-Abad, 174.

Niebuhr, Cartens, 35 7, 267 7., 357.

Noeldeke, 36 ~., 251 7.

Noriz, festival, 4or.

O.

Oax in Persia, 49.

Ochus, buildings
343-

Ogee-shaped moulding, 123.

Oppert, 43 7., 206 2.

Orientation of palaces at Persepolis, 345.

at Persepolis, 342,

P.

Pato (date), in Susiana, 49; in Persian
capital, 93, 114-116; dwarf, repro-
duced on sculpture, 138-141; at Per-
sepolis, 138; on engraved stones, 451,
453,456,

Palmette in Persia, 138-141, 338.

TlapdSecos, etymology of, 203; speci-
mens of, 261.

Parasol over the head of the king, 396.

Parthians, 13 7, 16.

Pasargade, situation, 43, 196 ; buildings,
196-208, 246, 268-273; bas-relief,
388-393; already mentioned by
Anaximenes, 468.

Peiresc, enamelled brick from collection
of, 441 7.

Persepolis, origin of name, 45 7.

Pillar, wood, 48, 49; origin of Persian,
96-99; perhaps of wood at Perse-
polis, 337 %.

Pins, bronze, 485.

Plan, of Persian buildings, 61, 62, 69 ;
of vaulted edifices of Fars, 162-175.

Plane tree in Persia, 50, 261.

Plaster at Feriiz-Abad, 170, 172, 187.

Pliny, 276.

Plutarch, Life of Artaxerxes, 15 2., 26 1. ;
Life of Alexander, 385 2.

Polvar-Rud, 6, 43, 44.

Polybius, description of the palace at
Ecbatana, 99, 368 7.

Polychromy in Persia, 157-160.

Polyclitus cited by Strabo, 257 ., 458 7.

Portrait not found in Persian sculpture,
433.

Pottier, E., 428 z.

Propylza, destroyed, 292-294; why so
called at Persepolis, 295. ;

Pshent, on intaglio, 455, 456; on Persian
sigli, 464. .

IIlvpyos, meaning of, 215.

Pythius, gifts to Xerxes, 27.

Q.

Quintus CurRTIUS, 80 #., 289 2.

R.

Ram at Persepolis, 404.
Rawlinson, George, 50 %., 51 #., IOf,

185 7, 373, 469 %.
Rawlinson, Sir H., 10 7., 101 %., 394 %.
INDEx.

Renan, E., 17 2.

Rhage (Rey), 471.

Rich, 70 z.

Roof, flat in Persia, 81-83.

Rosettes in Persian decoration, 128, 129,
137, 138.

S.

SACRED tree on engraved stone, 453.
Sacrifice in Susian bas-reliefs, 378.
Sahneh, tomb, 137.

Sardes, residence of a satrap, 25.

Sarvistan, palace, 163, 164 #., 166, 170,
171, 173, 186, 188.

Sassanid, Shapfir, 18; character of
their art, 162-163.

Scorpion, tail of, in Persian monster,
147.

Serpil-i-Zohab, tomb, 235-237.

Siglos, Medic, 461.

Shahnameh, 17.

Shapir, 47; Sassanid ruins, 178. 179,
382, 383.

Shiraz, 356, 357-

Shoe, pointed, on Susian bas-relief, 379.

Spear-head, ornamental device, 140,
Fig. 347. ee

Sphinx, on Persian intaglio, 456; not
found in Persian sculpture, 147.

Spiegel, Fr., 222, 242, 282, 296, 299,
366, 367.

Staircases of Persian palaces, 131-133,
282, 283, 292.

Statues carried away from Greece by the
Persians, 27.

Statuettes, bronze and terra-cotta, in
Susiana, 418, 419.

Stolze, 43 7, 77 Ws, 9O 7%, 205, 209, 270,
287, 291, 337, 348, 351, 355-

Story, a single one in Persian palaces,
337, 338)

Strabo, on Persia, 7, 32 %, 359) 360;
houses of Babylonia, 170 %.; inde-
pendent sovereigns of Persia after the
Achemenide, 188 %., 201-209; on
the Magi, 193 7., 241 ; tomb of Cyrus,
201-209; Persian customs, 256, 468 ;
on Pasargade, 268; on Persepolis,
289 7.; Persian dress, 404 7

Stucco in Persian buildings, 150.

Sun device on intaglio, 456, Fig. 504.

Susa, palaces, 359-367 ; wall, 360, 361,
367, 368.

Susian types, 10, II.

Susiana, national art, 370-373.

Sword, Persian, 401-403.

507

T.

TaGu-1-BosTAN, 134, 180, 185, 187.
Takht-i-Gherro, 185-187.
Takht-i-Jamshid, 45, 69.
Takht-i-Khosri, 182, 185, 187.
Takht-i-Rustem, 218, 219.
Takht-i-Soleiman, 273-275.
Takhte, meaning of, 43 x.
Takhte-i-Madere-i-Suleiman, at Meshed-
i-Mirghab, 69; at Shiraz, 180,
Talar, 259.
Tarsus, Persian mint of, 459, 464 x.
Tartar, head of, Persepolis, 436.
Telephanes of Phocza, 27, 493.
Temperature, Persepolis, 345 7; Susa,

359 7

Tetradrachms, Attic, early style, 463.

Téxier, Ch, on Persia, 35 7, 65 7%, 157
m., 185 2., 187, 212, 225, 274, 283,
292, 306, 335.

Theodorus of Samos, 27 2.

Throne, 115-126, 310.

Throne-bearers, 396.

Thucydides on Persian characters, 31 7.

Tiara, Persian, 396, 397, 402 403, 412;
423-425. Ie

Timber-frame of Persian buildings, 80-
87, 271.

Tissues in Persia, 485.

Tooth-device, in Persia, 137; copied at
Feriiz-Abad, 174.

Torus fluted in Persian base, 117, 118.

Transportation of Greeks in the interior
of Asia, 28 2.

Treasuries of Persian kings, 212.

Trees, partiality of the Persians for, 260—

_ 262.
Tristram, 182 7.
Trousers of ancient Persians, 400.

U.

Unfinished state of buildings at Perse-
polis, 258, 332.

Unicorn, 145, 147.

Ushers at Persian court, 402, 403.

Vv.

Vautt in Persia, 162-189.

Vegetables, decoration derived from, in
Persia, 114, 115, 129, 133, 135) 137-
144, 477, 478, 481, 483.
508 INDEx.

 

 

Vine, golden, of the kings of Persia, 27. Windows in Persian palace, 130
Volute in Persian capital, 94, 95, 115, Wings, in Egypt, 391; and Assyria, 386.
116, 138.

X.
W.
XENOPHON on the Persians, 28 z., 241
WADDINGTON, 466 z. n., 261 2, 444 2.
Walnut in Persia, 261. Xerxes, signed the Propylaa, 296, 297 ;
Weights in Persian sculptures, 403. the great hypostyle hall, 298; Palace
Wild goat, 408 x. of, 344, 3453 so-called statue of, 385.

 

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