'General information on Persia for any future edition, 1895' [‎39v] (69/211)

302
The R.I.B.A. Journal
20 April 1893
had the outlines drawn on them whilst still in a
soft state, slight furrows being left to keep the
enamel in its place. The blocks were afterwards
burnt, and although here and there the enamel
has slightly run, this has only taken away what
mi^ht have been too hard an outline. Seen fr° m
a distance the effect is most decorative, and the
beautv and harmony of the colours are perfect.
The frieze of archers was found at a much lower
level in the proximity of the south-east corner of
the Apadana ; and M. Dieulafoy is of opinion that
it is of far earlier date than Artaxerxes Mnemon,
and belonged probably to the Palace of Darius.
Though found at a much lower depth, and belong
ing to an earlier palace, M. Dieulafoy places it
as” decoration to the wall in his restoration of
Artaxerxes’ Palace, which scarcely seems reason
able. The only use a Persian monarch made of
' his predecessor’s palace was to employ the ma
terials as a filling-in to his own walls.
The wall-lining of the great staircase was not
found in situ; in fact, no trace of the latter
remained; and so many patterns of staircase
wall-lining were discovered that I can only sup
pose there were several staircases, the position
of one only of which M. Dieulafoy considers he
has found. When we come to the discoveries
made in the Apadana,* I must confess to a
certain amount of disappointment at the very
moderate addition M. Dieulafoy contributes to
our knowledge on the precise plan of this struc
ture. Already in 1850 Loftus had discovered and
measured the Apadana, which he showed had a
central hall of thirty-six columns and three
porticoes, precisely the same as the Palace of
Xerxes, except that it was of slightly smaller
dimensions ; and common sense would lead us to
suppose, in opposition to the theories of Coste,
Texier. and MM. Perrot and Chipiez, that Fergus-
son’s restoration, with walls round the central hall
and flanking the porticoes existing, was correct.
Absolutely the only addition M. Dieulafoy makes
now to our knowledge is the fact that at the north
and west angles of the hall he discovered the
position of the wall, which he traces, by the dis
continuance of the pavement (see Plan A), the
thickness of the wall being 16 feet. This is a
very poor contribution; in fact, it seems that
the extraordinary value of the artistic treasures
which day by day he was unearthing on the
site caused him to forget that he might one day
be called upon to work out a restoration of the
Apadana itself. Loftus had also discovered the
* This is the term given to the central hall of
columns of a Persian palace, and is so recorded in an
inscription found at Ecbatana. M. Dieulafoy con
tends that it is not mentioned in any building at
Persepolis. and applies only to the example at Susa,
because on one of its faces (the south) there was no
enclosure wall to the hall of columns. As M. Dieu
lafoy. however, in his work, L'Art antique de la
Perse, gives that name to the Hall of Xerxes, which
certainly had four enclosure walls, and, moreover, on
plate xxi., vol. ii. describes a column as coming from
the Apadana of Xerxes, he must have changed his
mind.—B. P. S-
remains of capitals and bases, which would have
enabled us, by comparison with the palace at
Persepolis, to restore wall and porticoes as M.
Dieuiafoy has done.
In order to show the relative position of its three
subdivisions, the Acropolis of Susa consists of a
plateau in the shape of a rhomboid, measuring,
approximately, 3,000 feet long from east to west,
and 2,800 feet from north to south. A spur at
the south-east angle makes the east side about
3,600 feet long. This side, occupying nearly half
the plateau, and called the Royal Acropohs, con
tained the palaces of the king, his harem, and the
residences of his retinue. On the south-west
angle the citadel, with a semicircular front facing
south-'west, occupied half of the west side, and
the Apadana, with its court and terrace, the other
half. These two latter overlooked the valley
through which the Chaour River ran. Between the
three was a triangular space, which M. Dieulafoy
calls the “ Place d’Armes.” From this was the
principal approach to the Apadana. iwo others
existed; one on the north side, with an ascent for
chariots to a road round the Apadana; and on the
south side a communication with the Royal Acro-
pohs through a stone gateway, portions of which
were found. No trace of the great staircase leading
to the Apadana platform from the “ Place d’Armes
could be discovered; but the marked difference in
level between the two. and traces of an enclosure-
wall on the north side, enabled M. Dieulafoy to
approximate its position (see Plan A). In other
parts of the excavations—chiefly, I beheve, in
the walls built by the Sassanians at a later period
—M. Dieulafoy discovered the enamelled beton
slabs which face the walls of this staircase, and by
piecing them together he was able to determine
pretty accurately the rise (4 inches) and tread
(15 inches) of the steps, and, by the difference in
level, the total ascent. The length of the steps
and the size of the landing failed him; here,
however, he was able to base his restoration on
the great staircase of Persepohs. It (see Plan A)
consisted of a double flight running right and left,
with return-flights, and he has shown 36 steps,
which give a total rise of about 8 feet. In
front of the staircase, and at about 300 feet dis
tant, M. Dieulafoy traced the remains of two
immense wails, about 23 feet thick and 230 feet
long each, and these, by a curious misnomer, as
it seems to me, he calls pylons. He compares
them with the pylons of Egypt, which, as u e
know, were immense doorways in stone, with
pyramidical masses on each side, sometimes of
stone and sometimes of brick, the actual doorway
ranging from 10 to 25 feet wide, and proportion-
atelv double the height. He also quotes as. a
similar feature the Vicadahya at Persepolis. (This,
according to Fergusson. was a square hall, with
its roof supported by four columns, and with centre
doorways on each face; two of these still re
main ; the trace of the third is shown in Coste s
work; this, however, does not prevent all the
French archaeologists from supposing it to be open
on the two sides.) The principal doorway in this
Vicadahya is 12 feet wide, with the same propor-