70 



I'KKSIA 



centre a |M>rti<m wan left open f<ir the admission of 

 lijjht, lunl h' -lifted l>\ another unit raised ii|Min 

 plilr Tin- IVMI.IIILH nf tin- Hcxenty two columns 

 with uliirli il ii adorned are Htil| extant (fig. 1 ). 

 The hall Imd thirl) -i\ columns, si\ mi each side, 

 and on thrw Mile* hail an external portico, each 

 with two IIIWR of MX columns. These columns hail 



Fif. 1. -Plan of Great Hall of Xerxes at Penepolis. 



capitals, composed of bulla' heads and .-lion Men* 

 ( tig- '-' i, IIP! \vifii which the lieams of the roof rested ; 

 while others were ornamented with scrolls like the 

 Ionic order ( tig. 3). The liases also a re suggestive 

 of tin- origin of that <; r cek style. This hall was 

 Xitt fti-t l>y 3OO, inn! covered more ground than any 

 similar building* of antiquity, or anv medtovd 

 eftthednd except that of Milan. Tin'' palaces of 

 PtTHepoli* -taiiil on lofty platforms, imih with walls 

 of cyrlouean inawinry. and approai-liiil liv inaj.'iiili- 

 cent AiKliU of sUira, adorned, like ttopafinas, iil> 



2- K. :. 



UvUiU of IVrnian Airliiteetnic. 



~-iil|.tui.. ~>nirhat imilr t thrmc of Assyria. 

 Tin- intrtior wrrp nmanipnto.! itd paintinifi. 

 Tin- n- of id.- rrh wiu. known in Aiwyna, ax haw 

 bnn hown l.y tlm >ul>t<Tranaui arrli'i-,1 romlniiH 

 rrtd l.y Uyanl. ami il... k 'at.- of Kliorxahad 

 dimrfrwl l.y M. I'lar*. The arclien of tho Intt.-r 

 .pnk- if.ni thi- 1.U. ,,f wiilptuml hull., and 

 ar bMiitifnlly ornamented with enamelled hricks. 



In 1886 some extremely interewtinj? dimcoverie* 

 were made at Sua i Slmsltuii 1 in soiith-western 

 IVi-i.i In M. ami Mmlame Dienlatoy. who nn 

 railln-il and sriil to tin- Loiivn- a splcn<li<l frii/r 

 in coloured enamelled liricks with life si/cil li^mv> 

 of warriors from tin- palace of Dmiiis I., and 

 another similar fiir/c wiih lion> from the palace 

 i>i A rtaxerxea. A fin- simile reproduction of the 

 warrior frie/.e i- in the Kdinliiir^h Miiseiim of 

 Si-iem-e and Art. 



Modern I'er-ian an-liitei-tiire is separated liv a 

 wide historic -jap from that of ancient I'ersia, aml, 

 all posterior to the Moslem conijiie.-t. U-lon^s to 

 tin- type known an Saracenic or Arabian, lint it 

 : eems that the old art of 1'ei si.-i \\n a mon> direct 

 influence on that of modern I'ersia than lias lieen 

 soim-limes ailmiltiil ; anil even the K^'vptian type 

 of Saracenic art (see ARABIAN A.BCHITKCTUU) 

 may huve len moulded hy Pernian DM well as l.y 

 Byzantine artists, working for the Moslem con- 

 querors. In Persia itself there seems no doulit 

 that architecture of Mohammedan Persia, which 

 in its palmiest days rivalled in splendour that of 

 Egypt, liagdad vying with Cairo, is in many 



Fig. 4. Gateway of Maajid Shah, Ipahan. 



respects a reiirodm-tion of the ancient palaces of 

 Nineveh and liuliylon. In the mosque* thick 

 walls of Imperfectly Imrnt bricks are covered with 



l.rilliantly coloured decorations of glazed and 

 painted til and hricks. Fig. 4 is a view of the 

 gateway of the Masjid Shall, or liicai Mosque of 

 Ispahan, dating from the reign of Shah Ahltas the 

 Cn-at (I.VC) lls A.D.). 



I'KIIMAN I, \Nl.l "AiiK AND LlTKHATURE. The 



iim-ient and modern iilioins of Persia, which are 

 in general 'le-jgnated as Iranian or \\ '< -I Aryan, 

 belong to the great class of the Indo Kuropeaii 

 language* : but the term Pei-sian itself applies 



'< partienlarly to the language as it is now 



ipoken, with a few exceptions, throughout Persia, 

 anil in a few other place* formerly under Persian 

 dominion, like liokhara. \-c. The more important 

 lad better known of the ancient idioms are (I) 

 the '/.' ml (the Kast Iranian or Hactrian language'. 

 in two dialectsthe 'Gatha idiom' and the 



