LKSSONS IN Ai:-iirn-:Ti'i:r.. 



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LESSONS IN ARCHITECTURE. V. 



ANCIENT AKCIHTECTUBE OF PERSIA ORCKK AllOIUTKCTU' 

 I-AKTHENON DOK1C ORDER Or ARCHITECTURE. 



Si.Mii.Ai; : . the excavated tomplea of India, arc tho excavated 

 raepolia and Nakahi-Kouatum. At tho foot of tho 

 rock of latakhr, thirty miles south of Shiraz, stand tho ruins of 

 Penepolia, once the capital of the ancient and powerful Persian 

 empire. The platform, which first strikes the eye of tho 

 traveller, appears to have been surrounded by a triple wall s 

 of the first two, as described by an- 

 , no trace now re- 

 mains ; but the third, which still 

 exists, is a square out in the moun- 

 tain, and ia 60 cubits high. It is 

 defended by palisades of copper, with 

 doors of the same, 20 cubits high. 

 The first wall was to inspire awe, the 

 second was for strength, and the 

 third for tho defence of the palace. 

 To the east of this, at the distance of 

 400 feet, is the royal mountain con- 

 taining the tombs of the kings. Here 

 the rock is hollowed out into several 

 chambers, to gain the entrance to 

 which the coffins are hoisted up by 

 machinery ; no other way of ascend- 

 ing them exists. This sacred en- 

 closure, connected with the platform below, comes within the 

 bounds of what may be called the castellated palace. The 

 illustration below is a sketch of one of the tombs in the Shah 

 Kuh or 1 Joy nl Mountain. 



On the ground above appear several mounds and rocky heaps, 

 presenting tho appearance of three distinct lines of walls and 

 towns. Tho steep faces of this rocky palace are formed of 

 dark- grey marble, cut into gigantic square blocks, exquisitely 

 polished, and, without the aid of mortar, fitted to each other 

 with such closeness and precision, that tho whole platform 

 must have appeared as part of the 

 rock itself. On the interior faces of 

 the walls of the platform within the 

 portal are sculptured two colossal 

 bulls, symbolical of power, and suit- 

 ably placed at the gate of the palace 

 of the great king. South of the 

 portal appears the magnificent ter- 

 race which supports the Hall of 

 Columns. This series of columns is 

 called Ghel Minar, or palace of forty 

 columns, and is approached by a 

 flight of steps remarkable for their 

 grandeur and the beauty of their de- 

 coration. But the columns them- 

 selves are the most surprising in 

 these respects ; they are each 60 feet 

 high, the circumference of the shaft 

 being 16 feet, and the distance from 

 the capital at the top of the shaft to 

 the bottom 44 feet. The shaft is 

 finely fluted in 32 divisions ; at its 

 lower extremity begin a cincture and 

 a torus the first two inches deep, 

 and the latter one foot whence de- 

 volves tho pedestal in the form of the 

 cup and leaves of a lotus or lily. This 



rests on a plinth of eight inches, and in circumference 24 feet 6 

 inches, the whole from the cincture to the plinth being 5 feet 10 

 inches in height. The capitals which remain, though much injured, 

 are sufficient to show that they were surmounted by the demi-bull. 

 The heads of the bulls forming the capitals look to the various 

 fronts of tho terrace. But it is impossible in our limited space 

 to indulge in the details of these extraordinary ruins ; we can 

 only refer our readers to the works which contain fuller descrip- 



BEMAIN8 OF THE PARTHENON AT ATHENS. 



TOMB AT PEKSEPOL1S. 



The four moat elevated are executed in a superior stylo, and 

 apparently co-oval with Persepolis, and belonging to the early 

 king* of Persia. The lower tomb* appear to belong to the 

 period of the RMninn dyiuuty , and therefore to ft ormsMeTftbly 

 later period. The description of these remarkable tomb* will 

 ruuiincl ua of tho " new tomb " of Joaeph of Arimatbcat, " which 

 he had hewn out in tho rock," and of the " great ton*" which 

 waa rolled to " the door of the aepulchre, wherein wu never 

 man yet laid," till tho "King of kings" himself beoame the 

 tenant of its walla. It explains alo the meaning of the pMfl* 

 " the stooped down ami looked into 

 tho sepulchre," which is to inaccu- 

 rately translated in oar vemion, and 

 which ought to be simply "she peeped 

 into the sepulchre." " To peep " is 

 tho exact translation of paralatpto, 

 and, according to Johnson, signifies) 

 " to look closely or curiously, to iook 

 through any ere vice ; " the darkness 

 of the interior of the tomb requiring 

 a close and narrow look, to ascertain 

 if its tenant, the " King of Glory," 

 were there. 



After this short digression, we pro- 

 ceed to remark that the latest monu- 

 ments discovered at Khorsabad, near 

 Nineveh, having exhibited no exam- 

 ple of a column or even of isolated 



pillars, no comparison can be instituted between the column 

 constructed by the Assyrians, if they did erect any, and those 

 of tho other people of Asia. The nations we have named in 

 our preceding observations were in the height of civilisation, 

 while the Grecian arts were in their cradle ; and it is difficult 

 to admit that the Greeks had not learned their first lessons in 

 architecture by the study of the Asiatic or African orders 

 which we have described. In fact, the most ancient type of 

 the Greek orders, the Doric, particularly at its commencement, 

 is nearly tho same as that exhibited in the tombs of the 

 Heptanomis, and which Champollion 

 called Proto- Doric or primitive Doric. 

 The genius of Greece developed this 

 first idea, enriched it with details 

 which the Egyptians had neglected, 

 and formed out of it the first basis 

 of its national architecture. The 

 principal character of the Greek Doric 

 is the nobleness and dignity of the 

 whole order, the severe simplicity of 

 its details, and the moderation of its 

 ornaments. The columns have no 

 base ; the shaft is ornamented by wide 

 and shallow flutinga ; the capital is 

 composed of a large moulding in the 

 form of a cup or flat rase, which rests 

 upon two or three little fillets, and is 

 surmounted by a square tablet. The 

 triglyphs, the fluted ornaments at the 

 extremity of the architraves, which 

 are seen in the frieze and entablature, 

 belong exclusively to this order ; the 

 square spaces or metopes between the 

 triglyphs are frequently occupied 

 with sculptures of isolated subjects ; 

 but the polished frieze, and conse- 

 quently the continued subject, are in 



this order very rare. Still this order does not exclude all deco- 

 ration ; and in buildings of a common character it loses its 

 heaviness, and becomes very elegant ; the mouldings then be- 

 come finer, and some are decorated with various ornaments* 

 An example of the Doric column is given in the next page. 



According to Vibrnvius, it was in the temple of Juno, at 

 Argos, where the Doric order of architecture first rose to 

 marked eminence, and became the model for the magnificent 

 edifices afterwards erected throughout Greece. It was next 



tions of them, as those of Le Bruyn, Sir William Ouseley. 



Robert Ker Porter, and others. A few miles distant from Perse- employed in the temple of Jupiter Nemens, at Xemca, between 

 polis stands the excavated hill of Nakshi-Roustam. It is about Argos and Corinth; of Jupiter Olympins, at Olympia, in Elis, 

 1, 200 feet hiph, and presents a precipitous face of whitish marble, in a splendid triple portico in the city of Flis; and in three 

 nearly the whole of which is covered with sculptured tombs. | temples of the some city namely, those of Juno, Minerva, and 



35 N.E. 



