History of Ancient Art

by Franz von Reber

The columns of Persia were developed with a characteristic conventionalization which, though not entirely without foreign precedents, was upon the whole original, and, at least in the more simple varieties, decidedly artistic; the capital was peculiarly adapted to its functions. But one small fragment has been found of the ancient remains of Pasargadæ, dating, according to inscriptions, to the epoch of Cyrus. It is a base, and is fortunately characteristic and interesting. (Fig. 79.) The tore is similar, upon the one hand, to the plinth-mouldings of Assyrian columns; upon the other, in its detail, to the more recent creation of the Ionic column, which was not without connection with the art of Mesopotamia. The ornamentation consists of shallow horizontal channellings, with sharp arrises like those of the so-called Proto-Doric shafts of Egypt, and is closely allied to the bases of the most ancient examples of the Ionic style. The terrace of Persepolis, with its monuments, built during or after the time of Darius, displays these bases only in the palaces built by that king. The tore there occurring was placed upon two square plinths. The later monuments of Persepolis, which, for the greater part, were built by Xerxes, show the base to have kept pace with the further advance of the shaft, and to have consisted of multiplied and embellished members. The square plinth is supplanted by a beautifully curved calyx, turned downward and ornamented by two rows of leaves—the upper rounded and heart-shaped, the lower lanceolate. To this is sometimes added a wreath of anthemions, which appears to have been taken from Syrian or Phœnician models. The projecting moulding of these more elaborate examples is diminished in size, and has lost the horizontal grooves. The shaft, with thirty-six shallow channels, separated by sharp arrises like those of the primitive base, rises upon the combined tore and plinth to a height of nine times its lower diameter. It is not inconsiderably diminished. The junction between shaft and base is effected, as in the Ionic style, by a gentle curve, ornamented by a small roundlet. The capital shows, instead of the floral form usual in other countries, an animal combination, which, from the analogy of certain gold coins of Western Asia, appears to have been a widely known symbol. It consists of two bull’s heads and shoulders, grown together back to back, with the front legs bent under them in a recumbent position. The head is drawn upward, the elegantly curved neck being ornamented by a rich chaplet. Upon the common back of the two animals lies the chief transverse beam of the ceiling. A description of the peculiar style of carving will be given in the section upon Persian sculpture. It may only be here premised that the general treatment of the animals is quite similar to that noticed in Assyria. The capital is particularly well adapted to receive and support two ceiling timbers crossing above it at right angles; the lower of these shows its section upon the front of the building, and rests upon the back of the bulls; while the epistyle beam upon it, which joins the columns and is seen in its whole length upon the front, is supported by the heads and by the main timber between them. This method of laying the ceiling beams was the reverse of that followed by the architects of other nations. The timbers of the ceiling, which run at right angles, are usually placed upon, and not beneath, the connecting epistyle.

In the time of Xerxes, these simple bull capitals appear not to have satisfied the increasing demands of luxurious elegance. Three new members were therefore placed below them, and the entire capital became almost as high as the remainder of the shaft, which was naturally much curtailed by this innovation. (Fig. 80.) The two lower of these new members may perhaps be counted as one—the wreath of falling leaves being regarded as part of the calyx above it. These leaves are very simply treated; they do not curve, and are terminated by a semicircle: between them and the calyx there is a small egg-and-dart moulding; that is to say, a wreath of small leaves entirely bent over. As the derivation of this characteristic member cannot be traced to Syria, the supposition is natural that it was derived from the Hellenic architecture of Asia Minor, which had been fully developed in its principal aspects since the time of Darius. The general form, as well as the detailed decoration of the upright calyx by narrow bundles of lotos-flowers, points so distinctly to an Egyptian model that it must, without further question, be ascribed to the influence of that land, which had been subjugated by the Persian Cambyses. After a repetition of the egg-and-dart moulding, there follows above the calyx a remarkable member of sixteen spiral rolls, as similar to the forms of Assyrian as to those of Ionic capitals. The spirals are so placed around the oblong kernel of the shaft that two touch upon each of its angles—thus standing vertically, and not horizontally. The derivation of the form appears to be owing more to Assyrian-Mesopotamian reminiscences than to any influence of the Greek Ionic style. The remarkable vertical position of the volutes is better explained by subordinate ornaments of the former than by architectural members of the latter land. The decorations upon the legs of thrones and other parts of furniture, shown by reliefs, prove the helix to have been more frequently used by the Assyrians as the vertical ornament of a shaft than as a horizontal coronation—a capital. (Fig. 81.) That the former usage was extensive is shown by the similar occurrence of the form upon Greek examples from Asia Minor. The spiral, with concave or convex fluting, with ribbed and channelled rolls, was originally double; in Persia it was transferred to a four-sided shaft, to serve, not as a coronation, but as a vertical ornament, as one of the three or four distinct members of the complicated capital. The double-headed animals were placed upon it as the termination of the column. In the mythological sculptures of Mesopotamian lands, lions and bulls shared equally the honors of frequent representation; and upon the capitals of Persepolis a horned and double-headed lion was substituted for the double-headed bull. This, however, was not in an important position, and the change is known by only a single example—the eastern portico of the Great Hall of Xerxes. (Fig. 82.) The isolated attempt was the more successful because no other animal forms had been so well conceived and characterized by the Orientals as the lion; that king of beasts, with open mouth and powerful paws, was the favorite subject for decorative treatment down to the latest times of Hellenic art. As the comparatively short fore legs of the lion could not be bent underneath the body, but were necessarily extended from the shoulder, the general outline of the capital was impaired by a long and straight horizontal line just at its junction with the shaft; and on this account the lions, notwithstanding their more majestic heads, could not displace the traditional bulls.