Page 245 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

part two:
the peripheral
REGIONS
arc
f, , fcw traces of buildi
is a thice-rooincd pavilion raised mgs
on a plinth,
or even

I

Figure 108. The terrace of Mcshcd-i-Sulaiman

The permanent residence which Cyrus the Great erected at Pasargadae (Figure 109)
still retains the character of a settlement of a nomad chief.46 Separate pavilions stood in a
vast park surrounded by a wall thirteen feet thick. A monumental gate-house gave access
to the enclosure. Its outer entrance was guarded by two huge winged bulls, its inner
opening by human-headed bulls of the Assyrian type, all of greyish-black limestone.
Eight columns on black stone bases supported the roof of the main room; there were
small chambers on either side. One of the door-jambs of these is preserved. It shows, in
relief, a four-winged demon with an odd composite crown (Figure 116), and bore the
building inscription:
I, Cyrus, the king, the Achaemenid (viz. built this).
Six hundred yards farther on stands an Audience Hall (Palace S). It consists of an
oblong hypostyle audience-chamber surrounded by four pillared porticoes. On e
south-western side, where one entered, the portico was flanked by square towers; at the
back the portico was in antis. The central room had niches and door-frames of stone an 1
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