Page 246 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

THE ART OF ANCIENT PERSIA
was presumably lighted from above, for its ceiling rose well beyond those of the porti-
cocs, and there was, therefore, opportunity for clerestory lighting. Its columns stood
thirty-six feet high and those of the surrounding porticoes only eighteen feet. Through-
out thc buildings at Pasargadac the stone-work is in two colours, an enrichment not,
apparently, used in later reigns: black column-bases support white shafts; black niches
and door-frames arc set in wliitc walls.
There were reliefs on the door which lead into the audience chamber, but only the
lower parts arc preserved. There are two themes only. On the doors of the short walls
one saw two figures, the first of which had birds’ claws instead of feet. Perhaps it was the
victim of the second. On the doors of the long walls the relief showed an ox led in by
three barefooted persons, perhaps priests.47 The columns had capitals of the type better
known from Susa and Persepolis, though with unusual variations.48
Another building (Palace P) stood some 800 yards farther to the north. It is inter­
preted as a residential palace. Its front consists of an open portico of twenty wooden
columns in antis, about eighteen feet high, as a surviving pilaster shows. At the back of
this portico there ran a long bench, of white limestone with a black top, and black bands
are let into the wliitc limestone pavement. A single door leads to the central hall, which
is almost square and contains thirty columns. There is no trace of the capitals, but curved

N
100 ZOO ft* TP! r.

400 Soo 1 r.u
.)--------

Figure 109. Plan of Pasargadac

remnants of brightly coloured plaster seem to derive from the casing of the columns.
The building contained another portico at the back, but at die sides there were a number
of smaller rooms, closed and built of mud-brick with mud floors - presumably the living
apartments. The two doorways between the central hall and the porticoes were carved
with figures of the king followed by a servant leaving die hall. These embellishments
were perhaps made or completed by Darius, as we shall see in discussing the reliefs.

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