584 



Klldifc boo* arc t*o ringes of human figure!, fourteen in num. 

 V ^'Y ' b*r, wid oeHy a Urge it life ; they are each holding up 

 both hands, a* it to support the entablature. At each 

 of thee there it a ort of column, crowned 

 with the head of a it range animal. Above all these, up- 

 on three step*, if the figure of a king with something in hit 

 right hand, the form of which cannot be distinctly made 

 out ; but he holds a how in hi left hand. Before him is 

 an altar, with a flame riling from it ; and it it (aid that the 

 figure of the tun wai behind the king. Above the altar 

 it a tmall figure, too indistinct to be made out. At right 

 angle* with the line of front, in the returning face of the 

 rock, on both sidet of the front area, there are niches with 

 natue* in them. Le Brun entered a tomb to the south 

 of this; the entry had only two feet of height, and the 

 vault was 46 feet broad and 20 deep. Two hundred and 

 fifteen paces south of the edifice, there is a column now 

 standing upon its base 5 and near it are the bases of eight 

 others, at seven and eight paces distant from each other: 

 the height of the base is 3 feet 6 inches. At the sides 

 of tbe two bases towards the south, arc two fragments 

 of camels, which may have been upon the columns. 

 Six hundred and fifty paces to the north, is another por- 

 tico, not inferior to that which has been described. Le 

 Thirteen Brun found about 1300 figures of men and animals sculp- 

 hundred fi. tnred on the tombs ; some of the men were from 7 feet 5 

 ;are*. inches to 10 feet 7 inches high, some had parasols or um- 

 brellas over them, and many were armed with lances, and 

 combating lions. 



Such are the splendid ruins of Perscpolis. They bear 

 incontrovertible evidence of antiquity ; and although in 

 tome things they resemble Egyptian, and in others Indian 

 edifices, they, especially in the palace, possess leading 

 features sufficiently distinct to entitle them to be consi- 

 dered as a separate school. Yet as being, amongst nu- 

 merous palaces, the only vestiges of lofty stone columns 

 and numerous sculptures, and being traced immediately 

 subsequent to the Egyptian expedition under Cambyses, 

 they afford strong grounds for believing that Thebaid 

 influence, by example, or workmen, or both, led to these 

 works, to unlike what had formerly been practised in 

 Persia. That the style was not spread over the empire, 

 may be accounted for, from its immediate subjugation by 

 the Greeks. 



Modem With regard to the practice of Persian architecture 



pricttcr. in modern times, their sacred edifices have an uniform 

 character of Turkish mosque's ; some in monastic quadran- 

 gles, with flat domes over each separate apartment, and 

 others with lofty minarets, or tall pillars. The churches 

 of the Anninian Christians arc rectangular, with a circular 

 recess on each side, and four great pillars in the middle of 

 the cell. That of Echsmiazm, the plan and elevation of 

 which is given by Sir John Chardin, measures 102 feet 

 by 88, exclusive of the circular recesses on each side ; 

 the pilasters at each of these recesses, and in the four 

 piers occupying the middle of the cell, are said to be of 

 (tone, 72 feet in height. 



" In architecture, as well as in sculpture," says Mr 

 Kinncir, the mit recent traveller in Persia, ' the ancient 

 in would appear to have surpassed their descendants. 

 Of this we have many noble specimens in the ruins of 

 IVroepolU, Sbuster, the hall of Kungaver, and the re- 

 uint of the palace of Chosroet Parvi/., at Ctcsiphon. 

 The chief ornaments of the modern buildings, are the 

 domes and mmareti j and considering the materials wi:h 

 which i hey arc built, many of the Colleges and mosques 

 are Urge and magnificent structure*. The grand mosque 

 F Sultaun Khodabunda, in the Sultanea, i< 



CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



particularly handsome, and many of the public edifices at 

 .Shiran/ and Ispahan, ar well worthy of attention. 



The general outlines of all the cities in Persia arc the 

 same. They are surrounded by a mud, and sometimes 

 by a brick wall, flanked at regular distances with round 

 or square towers. The streets are narrow and dirty, 

 having * gutter running through the centre, and the 

 houses, which are low, flat roofed, and built of brick or 

 mud, have each a small court, surrounded by a high wall. 

 They have seldom or never any windows to the street ; 

 and that part of the sitting rooms which fronts the court 

 is entirely open, with a large curtain to let down when 

 the rooms are not in use. The palaces of the nobility, 

 although mean in their exterior appearance, are both 

 convenient and elegant within. They are divided into 

 several courts, in the most retired of which is the haram, 

 or apartments of the women. The centre court is usually 

 square, divided into parterres of flowers, with a jet d'eau 

 continually playing before the window of the deiran katiu, 

 or public hall. The walls and ceilings of this hall, are 

 adorned with a profusion of paintings, and inlaid with 

 looking glasses ; the floor is covered with carpets and 

 numuds ; and one entire side of the room is taken up 

 with large sash windows of painted glass. The apart- 

 ments of the haram are frequently fitted up with great 

 taste and magnificence, but the sleeping rooms allotted 

 to strangers are, in general, small. The Bazars, or 

 market places, in some cities, particularly those of Lar 

 and Shirauz, may be accounted handsome buildings, but 

 the mosques, minarets and colleges are the chief orna- 

 ments of the Persian cities." See Kinneir's Geogra- 

 phical Memoir of Persia, p. 52. Lend. 1813. 



" The royal inn, without the city of Cashan," says Sir 

 John Chardin, " joining to the gate that looks toward the 

 east, is the finest in all Persia. It is four-square, every 

 front whhinside being two hundred geometrical paces ; 

 and two stories, with an antichamber or holiowness below, 

 that runs all along the length of the two fronts, raised 

 about the height of a man above the court, and four inches 

 below the level of the chamber. It is eight feet deep, 

 paved with white marble, almost as transparent as por- 

 phyry. The stories on the sides contain fifteen cham- 

 bers of the same figure ; the two others had but ten, 

 with a large one in the middle, having five chambers. 

 The other apartments consisted of one chamber, fifteen 

 feet long and ten broad, high and vaulted, with a chim- 

 ney in the middle, and a square portico before, ten feet 

 wide, covered with a half duomo, with a contrivance for 

 a chimney on each side, which was for the servants to 

 lodge in. The second story was contrived like that be- 

 low, with a baluster four feet high, that let in the light, 

 and ran round the structure. In the geometrical part of 

 the draught, you may perceive a hexagonal in the midst 

 of the entrance, every front of which is a large shop, 

 where are to be sold all manner of belly-timber, wood, 

 and forage. The entrance is under a high and magnifi- 

 cent portal, adorned with Mosaic work, like all the rest 

 of the building ; and upon the sides runs a portico, where 

 you may lie in the day-time as conveniently and as plea- 

 santly, as in the inn itself. The fountain in the middle 

 of the court is raised above five feet ; and the brims of it 

 are four feet broad, for the convenience of those 

 will say their prayers after they have performed their 

 purifications. 



" The hinder part of the caravansary consists of 

 very large stables, with places for servants and lug- 

 gage, built almost according to the same symmetry 

 as the apartments already mentions!, at ! 





