'General information on Persia for any future edition, 1895' [‎44r] (78/211)

20 April 1893
The R.T.B.A. Journal
303
tion as regards height as those in Egypt. But
what are we to think of M. Dieulafoy’s appellation
to the feature at Susa when we find that the dis
tance between the two walls—the opening, that is
to say—measures over 180 feet ? It seems to be
rather a stretch of the imagination to call this a
doorway, and it is unfortunate he did not search
between the two walls for some further indica
tions of an enclosure. It was from the inner
surface of one of the w’alls that the lion frieze, as
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A. —Plan of the Apadana, or Throne Room, in the Acropolis of Susa
a a, Traces of pavement showing line and thickness of walls.
before mentioned, was obtained. Beyond these
walls, and about 170 feet distant, stood the Apa
dana, which, with its porticoes, measured about
400 feet wide by 250 feet deep. A plan of this
palace is given in his general plan of site, which,
with the smaller pylons and the staircase, is re
produced above. In this it will be seen that he
encloses the ends of his porticoes with flank walls,
but he omits the wall on the south side of the
great hall. Such, he admits, was not his first
thought, and he suggests that on his return to
France, after his first visit to Susa, he assumed that
the enclosure consisted of four walls similar to
the Persepolitan examples. But while he w'as
occupied with the restoration four facts struck
him: First, that the principal entrances to the
Persepolitan examples are through a portico,
whereas there is none here on the south side,
which the staircase shows to have been the chief
entrance; secondly, the continuation of the pave
ment in front of the throne-room (mentioned for
the first time, but not shown where on plan),
which, running through, proved there could be
no wall there; thirdly, the orientation (south) of
this fa 9 ade; and fourthly, the
designation of the Susa Hall
by the Persian word Apadana,
which does not exist at Per-
sepolis. As regards the latter
fact, I have already pointed out
that he himself used the word
Apadana in connection with the
Hall of Xerxes in that city; and
as regards the second fact, in
1888, when he published his
work on L'Art antique de la
Perse, he showed a plan of the
Apadana at Susa with four walls.
His last visit to Susa was made
in 1886, two years before he
published this plan. But the
singular fact is that, even in his
GAtevt.vy complete work just issued, M.
Dieulafoy gives two versions—
one published, I think, in the
early part of 1892, the large
general plan from which I bor
row my illustration; and an
outline plan published in or
about November (p. 342), in
which he shows antee in the
great hall which are not sug
gested in the former. But I will
return to these features again.
To the second and fourth facts
I do not attach much import
ance, any more than M. Dieu
lafoy was inclined to do himself;
but with respect to the first and
third, I think there is consider
able reason for his restoration.
Placed as it is in face of the
great wall and staircase, there is
every probability that in this
example the central hall served
the purposes of the portico. It
faced the south, and the throne placed below the
second and third rows of columns is not likely to
have received the rays of the vertical sun. M.
Dieulafoy’s argument, how’ever, is chiefly based on
the existence of similar portions in other palaces,
built, as I think, by the Parthians and Sassanians
at a much later date, viz. at A1 Hadhr, Ctesiphon,
and Mashita, and the much later Persian palaces.
The precise epoch at which these were built is not
of importance ; they were erected in a similar clv
mate, and may well, therefore, be taken as argu
ment. The great halls at A1 Hadhr, by the way,
face east. Mashita and, probably, Ctesiphon have
south aspects.