Page 251 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

PART two: the
peripheral regions
Wc know nothing of the capital which topped these, but we have all the elements of the
stone columns, and wc shall discuss these elements separately. Here, again, Pasargadac
represents the formative phase of Achacmcnian art and Persepolis the mature, estab­
lished form.

ft-

NS

muii
M M

Figure 112. Column
with human-headed bull capital, from Persepolis
(Courtesy Dr Erich F. Schmidt)

The base of the columns of Pasargadac is a torus with horizontal flutings. Tliis is the
Ionian form of base, represented, in the time of Cyrus, by die columns which Croesus
of Lydia gave to the Artemision at Ephesus.62 In Greece Ionian columns retained this
type of base into later times, but at Persepolis and Susa bell-shaped bases with flower or
plant designs replaced the fluted torus (Plate 186; figure 112).
The fluted shaft of the columns at Persepolis is likewise derived from Ionia, although
the Greeks never used so large a number of flutings (forty to forty-eight). At Pasar­
gadac the shafts of the columns arc smooth.
222