Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

HISTORY OF PERSIA. 11$
bases only have as yet been discovered, six in the hall,
and two in the porch, but I cannot help thinking that
if another Layard will do for Persepolis one half he
did for Nineveh, much more may yet be found,
and many unsolved problems set at rest. In front of
the portico of the " Hall of a Hundred Columns," still
stand the mutilated remains of what were probably
man-headed bulls, though it must be admitted, that
this is not quite certain, owing to their present ruined
state. The columns and the composite capitals of
this portico, are of the same character as those in the
Eastern Palace, the blocks of stone being often ten
feet square by seven thick ;
hence Professor Rawlinson
infers that this room may have served as the audience
chamber of its builder.
We come now to the last, but, on the whole, the
greatest work on the whole platform, another great
" Hall of Audience," the remains of which, stretching
350 feet in one direction, and 256 ieet in the other,
comprehend more than 20,000 square feet. Its existing
ruins consist almost wholly of four groups of
enormous pillars, of the extraordinary height of sixty-four
feet, carrying capitals formed of either two half gryphons
or two half bulls, back to back, and themselves varying
considerably from plain and simple fluting, to a remarkable
richness of ornamentation. The bases of
the columns are of great beauty, in form bell-shaped,
and adorned with a double or triple row of pendent
lotus-leaves, some rounded, and some narrowed to a
point. Capitals and bases perfectly resembling these,
and scarcely inferior to them in beauty of execution,
were found by Mr. Loftus, in his excavations at Susa