Turning from these to the hexastyle halls, the smallest but most perfect (woodcut No. 137) is that standing on the southern edge of the upper

platform, the inscriptions on

which certainly prove it to have been built by Xerxes.

Its platform is approached. by 2 flights of steps, that on the east being the one represented in woodcut No. 132, and there are indications of a tetrastyle hall or gate. having existed on its summit. That to the west is simpler. The hall itself had a portico of 12 columns, and on each side a range of smaller apartments, the two principal of which had their roofs supported by 4 pillars each.

The great value of this building, however, is that it enables us to understand the arrangement of the great Hall of Xerxes--the Chehil

Minar the most splendid building of which any remains exist in this part of the world. From the annexed plan (woodent No. 138) it will

138.

Restored plan of Great Hall of Xerxes at Persepolis. Scale 100 ft to 1 in.

be seen that the plan of the whole central part is identical with that of the building just described, as the bases of all the 72 columns still exist in situ, as well as the jambs of the 2 principal doorways shaded darker in the plan. The walls only are restored from the preceding

illustration. Instead of the 2 distyle halls on each side, this had hexastyle porticos of 12 pillars each, like that in front; the angles between which were filled up with rooms or buildings, probably such as suggested in the plan.

Two orders of pillars were employed to support the roof of this splendid building, one, represented in woodcut No. 139, with double bull-capitals, like those of the porch of Darius's palace. These are 67 ft. 4 in. in height from the floor to the back of the bull's neck, or 64 ft. to the under side of the beam that lay between the bulls. The other order, with the Ionic volutes (woodcut No. 140), which is also that employed in the northern portico, and generally in interiors throughout, is nearly identical, as far as the base and shaft are concerned, except in height. The capital, however, differs widely, and is 16 ft. 6 in. in height, making an order altogether 9 ft. 7 in. less than the external one, the difference being made up by brackets of wood, which supported

139. Pillar of Western Portico. 140. Pillar of Northern Portico. the beams of the roof, internally at least, though externally the double bull capital probably surmounted these Ioniclike scrolls.

There is no reason to doubt that these halls also had platforms or talars like the smaller halls, which besides would serve to shelter any opening in the roof; though in the present instance it seems

very doubtful if any such openings or skylights existed or were required.

Thus arranged, the section of the buildings would be as shown in the woodcut (No. 141); and presuming it to be sculptured and

painted as richly as other buildings of its age and class, which it no doubt was, it was not only one of the largest, but one of the most splendid buildings of antiquity. In plan it was a rectangle of about 300 ft. by 350, and consequently covering 105,000 square ft.; it was thus larger than the hypostyle hall at Karnac, or any of the largest temples of Greece or Rome. It is larger, too, than any mediæval cathedral except that of Milan; and although it has neither the stone roof of a cathedral, nor the massiveness of an Egyptian building, still its size and proportions, combined with lightness, and the beauty of its decorations, must have made it one of the most beautiful buildings ever erected, and both in design and proportion far surpassing those of Assyria, though possessing much of detail or ornament so similar as to be almost identical in style.

There is no octastyle hall at Persepolis, and only one decastyle. In this instance the hall itself measured about 225 ft. each way, and had 100 pillars on its floor; still it was low in proportion, and devoid of lateral porticos, and consequently by no means so magnificent a building as the great hall of Xerxes. The portico in front was 2 ranges in depth, and flanked by gigantic bulls; but as the whole height was barely 25 ft., it could not have been a remarkable or pleasing object. Indeed, the sculptures on the jambs of the doorways are the most interesting part of this building, representing the king on his throne, and various mythological subjects, on a more extensive scale than those similarly situated in the other buildings of the platform: for it is probable that in the other palaces these subjects were painted on the internal walls, as was done in those Assyrian halls which were not revêted with slabs. With an appropriateness that cannot be too much praised, sculpture seems only to have been used in parts of the building exposed to atmospheric injury, but at the same time also always to have been employed there in preference to painting.

Besides these there are the remains of several buildings on the plain, and within the precincts of the town of Istakr a building still

1

he temple, or, as it was as frequently called by the Greeks, the tombof Belus, we have no difficulty in recognising the source whence this form of sepulture is derived.

The building before us is in fact a reproduction, on a small scale, of the tomb of the founder of the Babylonian dynasty. Like it, it consists of a pyramid of 7 stories, with a chamber or cell in the upper one. In this instance the chamber is proportionally magnified, and the stories become mere steps, but the form and arrangements are the same, and this is in fact the only representation we have of one at least of the Babylonian modes of sepulture.