Fig. 251.—Palace at Sarvistan, Principal Façade. (F.C.) (P. & C.) Example of Domed and Vaulted Structure.
The staircase walls and other parts of the buildings were often covered with tiles made of a white cement, and enamelled in colour decoration. These have been found chiefly at Susa. The principal parts or body of the building were of stone or brick, and the upper parts were supposed to be of wood. This is correctly inferred by the stepped notches still to be seen in the antæ, or corner piers of stone, which must have been cut in this way to receive the ends of the ceiling beams (Perrot & Chipiez). Wood was a scarce material in Persia, and must have been brought from the Elburz Mountains at a great cost of time and labour; but this would be nothing to a king like Darius, whose revenue was reckoned at about £27,000,000 of English money.
Fig. 252.—Column with Volute Capital, Persepolis.
Fig. 253.—Base of Pillar at Susa. (D.) (P. & C.)
Remains of Persian buildings of another order, the vaulted structures (Fig. 251), have been found at Sarvistan and Ferūz-abad, in the province of Fars (Ancient Persia), which some archæologists have ascribed to the time of the Sassinid Dynasty, the construction of which is supposed to have been derived from their prototypes, the domed and vaulted buildings of Assyria (see Fig. 250).
Fig. 254.—Base and Capital from Persepolis; Propylæa. (F.C.) (P. & C.)