bably one of those Gates of Justice common throughout the east, and of which mention is frequent in the Old Testament. Like the Egyptian, these propyla diminish upwards, and are crowned by a cavetto, or hollow cornice : they are also adorned with fanciful colossal figures of animals, partly in low and partly in high relief, sculptured on their sides,—a huitum-headed winged bull being sculptured on each of the jambs of the first entrance almost identical in character with those found in the palaces at Nineveh and Khortiabad ; whilst at the opposite entrance are bulls without wings. Other but smaller halls are on either side.
On the right of this is the grand hall, the approach to which is by another double flight of stairs, the sides of which are lined by treble rows of lami-relievi slabs, with figures of processions, &c., like those found at Nineveh. The principal mats of building now remaining lies on the south or right hand of the entrance just described, and extends westward. This structure contains within, not a spacious hall suited for entertainments, but one filled with lines of columns, six in each line, so as to form a 'lumber of aisles intersecting each other.
Such a grove-like arrangement of numerous pillars is altogether unlike anything in Grecian architecture, but a similar disposition of pillars prevailed among the Egyptians, as be seen in the plan of the temple at Falfu [Eovrrthar Arienrrecrune], where both the pronaos and vestibule are in the same manner polysfylar, or filled with columns, although they occupy a smaller apace, and are consequently not so numerous. A more remarkable example is the temple of Karnak, described in the same article. In front, and flanking each side of the great ball, are hexastyle porticoes, the columns being two deep.
There are on the platform several halls or buildings, some appearing to have had four, others sixteen, thirty-two, and one a hundred pillars.
This last was a decastyle hall of, as would seem, about 225 feet each way, but as its entire height (according to Mr. Fergusson) was barely 25 feet, it was of low proportions. It had a portico in front flanked by two colossal bulls, on pedestals 18 feet long and 5 feet high ; and the flanks of the doorway were sculptured with representations of the king on his throne, and of various mythological subjects; but it had no lateral porticoes, and was altogether inferior in magnificence to the hall of Xerxes.
From a, careful comparison of the remains at Persepolis and Sum, with those of Assyria and the representations of a Persian palace on the tomb of Darius at Nakshd-linstam, Mr. Fergusson conjectures (` Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored ') that two orders of pillars were employed to support the roofs of the palace of Xerxes, one with double bull capitals, the other with the Ionic volutes such as are seen in the columns of the northern portico and gene rally in interiors. Brackets of wood lie thinks supported the beams
of the roof, at least internally, the double bull capital surmount ing the Ionic scrolls on the outside. The palace, he thinks, " sup ported a raised platform or War, on its roof ; identical with that represented in the tomb (of Darius at Naksh-i-Ruatam) on which the fire-altar was placed at which the king used to worship, or on which he was wont to exhibit himself to his subjects on state occasions." On the whole, Mr. Fergusson states as the result of his studies of Assyrian and Persian architecture in general, and of this building in particular, that " presuming it 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 feet by 350, and consequently covering 105,000 square feet ; 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 mediaeval 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 decora tions, 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." (` Handbook of Arch.' i. 197.) Of the splendour of the building there can be no question, but of its surpassing beauty we must take leave to doubt.
The taller columns at Persepolis are of gray marble, 5 feet 9 inches in diameter, and 65 feet 8 inches in height ; while the shorter ; or those with the Ionic scroll, are 40 feet to the bottom of the capital, that, including the Ionic scroll, being 16i feet : they are therefore of very slender proportions. Of some of these columns the ehafts are orna mented with a kind of zigzag or vandyke pattern, after the manner of the fragment found near the Treasury of Atreus at ; while others are fluted, but the channels are exceedingly narrow, being forty, or double the number of those of a Doric column. The bases and capitals are still more singular, both of them being very deep and of fanciful shape and outline. The most remarkable are formed by placing two bulls' heads and fore-parth back to back. Those with Ionic volutes have the volutes set vertically instead of horizontally. Mr. Ferguason has given restored copies of columns, and those with Ionic volutes, from Persepolis and Susa in his building called the Assyrian Court at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham.