Plan of Persepolis. A, Grand Stairway. B, Propylaea of Xerxes. C, Well. D, Stairway
leading to Central Platform. G, Great Hall of Xerxes. E and F, Side Porticoes of Great
Hall of Xerxes. H, Propylaea of Darius. K, Palace of Darius. L, Palace of Xerxes.
M, Ruins of Time of Xerxes. N, Palace of Artaxerxes Ochus. O, Ruins, use unknown,
of time of Xerxes. P, Hall of 100 Columins. (Fig. 15.)

Rock-Cut Tomb of Darius. (Fig. 3.)

area that in Egypt would have necessitated the employment of 136 columns, in Persia was furnished with but 34. The illustration depicts a corner of each of these great halls. Poth plans are drawn at the same scale and graphically present the astonishing difference in the spacing of the Persian and Egyptian columns.

Persian Capital

The capital and shaft (Fig. 5.) used in the palace at Susa differed in several points of detail from the Darius icmb column (Fig. 6.). In the tomb the coupled monsters rested directly upon the astragal, while in the palace two singular members were interposed between the animals and the shaft. The upper of these consisted of groups of vertically applied scrolls, which may have been inspired by the curling of the shavings as they are detached from a piece of timber by a draw knife. This strangely placed volute design is so at variance with structural propriety that no

other explanation than a simple carpenter work reminiscence appears tenable. The lower of the two members was probably suggested by the phenomena of palm tree growth, the drooping of the brown fronds and the sturdy fresh growth of the new leaves.

Comparison with Ptolemaic palm capitals of Egypt is inevitable but the general content of the decoration points to a purely Persian origin. The shaft was fluted and was supported by a high decorated base.

Esthetics of Persian Order

It has been remarked as a noteworthy fact that the Persepolis order is unique in the history of architecture, and that it is without derivatives. This is not at all strange, for to become an artistic expression of any subsequent race the maladaptation of the parts of the column would have necessitated a complete remodelling. The illogical structure, the disproportionate ornament and the lack of organic relation of the elements could not but appear other than inartistic to a people, such as the Greeks, whose columnar details were united by a singleness of function, where all the transitions from the vertical to the horizontal were designed with due regard to the laws of optical exploitation and in a way to emphasize the structural meaning of each element—a result, as Hegel writes, in which neither idea

CORNER OF GREAT HALL
PALACE OF XERXES AT FERSEPOLIS

SCALE 1/2"-10" (Fig. 4.)

CORNER OF HYPOSTYLE HALL

KARNAK

nor form predominate but the spirit and expression are

one.

It was this problem of adaptation that militated against the continuance of the Persepolis type. In art, mechanical imitation of previous forms is inhibited when there is a lack of adjustment of means to end-of form to function. With a race the same condition exists as in the individual. A situation is brought to consciousness by the appearance of a new problem. A separation of the old and new ensues. It is in this process of mediation that the individuality or character of the race or person comes to the front. Now the Persepolis capital, composed of native elements and details borrowed from foreign arts represents a mediatory process in the Persian race, and so is indisputably a concrete index of its individuality.

"It may have contented them," writes Loftus, "to borrow indiscriminately from all nations, so that each of the hundred columns surrounding their thrones (at Persepolis and Susa) might bear upon its fluted shaft the lotus, the palm and the bull, and symbolize the glories which the victorious arms of the Persians had gathered upon the battlefields of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Babylonia." Being completely an expression of the unique conditions and character of the country it could never be successfully transplanted.

Religious Monuments

The Persians did not believe that their gods inhabited the forms of images, hence there was no reason for the construction of a sacred dwelling for deity. Fire was regarded with especial veneration, as the purest symbol of Ahura Mazda, the supreme being. To render homage to their gods, altars, elevated upon terraces, were erected upon which the sacrificial flame was kindled. On lofty summits Magian fires were kept burning continually from generation to generation. To protect the sacred element from the desecrating contact with dust, impurities carried by rain or snow, the altar was surrounded by a protective structure.