Egyptian Vase. From a painting.
CHAPTER VI.
PARTHIAN AND SASSANIAN ARCHITECTURE.
CONTENTS.
Historical notice—Palaces of Al Hadhr and Diarbekr—Domes—Palaces of Serbistan—Firouzabad—Tâk Kesra—Mashita—Rabbath Ammon.
CHRONOLOGY.
| Parthians subject to Persia | B.C. 554 |
| Seleucus Nicator | 301 |
| Arsaces | 250 |
| Mithridates | 163-140 |
| Mithridates II | 124-89 |
| Palace of Al Hadhr built (about) | A.D. 200 |
| End of Parthian Empire | 227 |
| Ardeshir, or Artaxerxes, establishes Sassanian dynasty | 226 |
| Tiridates | 286-342 |
| Serbistan (about) | 350 |
| Bahram Gaur begins to reign | 420 |
| Firouzabad (about) | 450 |
| Khosru Nushirvan begins to reign | 531 |
| Khosru Nushirvan builds palace at Ctesiphon (about) | 550 |
| Khosru Purviz Chosroes | 591 |
| Palace at Mashita | 614-627 |
| Battle of Cadesia | 636 |
There still remains one other style to be described before leaving the domain of Heathendom to venture into the wide realms of Christian and Saracenic art with which the remainder of these two volumes is mainly occupied. Unfortunately it is not one that was of great importance while it existed, and it is one of which we know very little at present. This arises partly from the fact that all the principal buildings of the Sassanian kings were situated on or near the alluvial plains of Mesopotamia and were therefore built either of sun-burnt or imperfectly baked bricks, which consequently crumbled to dust, or, where erected with more durable materials, these have been quarried by the succeeding inhabitants of these fertile regions. Partly also it arises from the Sassanians not being essentially a building race. Their religion required no temples and their customs repudiated the splendour of the sepulchre, so that their buildings were mainly palaces. One of these, that at Dustagird, is described by all contemporary historians[[200]] as one of the most gorgeous palaces of the East, but its glories were ephemeral: gold and silver and precious hangings rich in colour and embroidery made up a splendour in which the more stable arts of architecture had but little part, and all perished in an hour when invaded by the victorious soldiers of Heraclius, or the more destructive hosts of Arabian invaders a few years afterwards. Whatever the cause however, never was destruction more complete. Two or three ruined palaces still exist in Persia and Mesopotamia. A fragment known as the Tâk Kesra still remains to indicate the spot where Ctesiphon once stood, but the site of Dustagird is still a matter of dispute. So little in fact remains that we should hardly be able to form an idea of what the style really was, but for the fortunate discovery of a palace at Mashita in Moab, which seems undoubtedly to have been erected by the last great king of this dynasty, and which is yet unsurpassed for beauty of detail and richness of ornament by any building of its class and age.
As nearly as may be, one thousand years had elapsed since the completion of the palaces at Persepolis and Susa and the commencement of this building, and for the great part of that period the history of Persian or Central Asian architecture is a blank. The Seleucidæ built nothing that has come down to our times. The Parthians, too, have left us little, so that it is practically only after a hiatus of nearly six centuries, that we again begin to feel that the art had not entirely perished in the populous countries of Central Asia; but even then our history recommences so timidly and with buildings of such uncertain dates as to be very far from satisfactory.