DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0230
191
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE.
Part 1.
CHAPTEE IY.
PERSIA.
CHBONOLOGY.
DATES.
Cyrus founds Pasargad®.b.c. 560
Cambyses’ buildings at ditto .... 525
Darius builds palace at Persepolis . . . 521
Xerxes builds halls at Persepolis and Susa 485
Artaxerxes Longimanus. 465
DATES.
Darius Nothus.b.c. 424
Artaxerxes Mnemon repairs buildings at
Persepolis and Susa. 405
Destruction of Persian Empire by Alex-
ander. 331
There still remains a third chapter to write before the survey of the
architecture of the central region of Asia is complete—before incleed a
great deal which has just been assumed can become capable of proof.
By a fortunate accident the Persians used stone where the Assyrians
used only wood, and consequently many details of their architecture
have come down to our day which would otherwise have passed away had
the more perishable materials of their predecessors been made use of.
Whatever else the ancient world may owe to the learning of the
Egyptians, it seems certain that they were the first to make use of
stone as a constructive building material. As before mentioned, the
Egyptians used a stone Proto-Doric pillar at least 1000 years before
the Greeks or the Etruscans, or any other ancient people we know
of, dreamt of such a thing. The Babylonians and Assyrians never
seem to have used stone constructively, except as the revetement of
a terrace wall ; and it was not till after the conquest of Egypt by
Cambyses that we find any Asiatic nations using a pillar of stone in
architecture, or doing more than building a wall, or heaping mass on
mass of this material without any constructive contrivance. The
Indians first learned this art from the Bactrian Greeks, and many
civilised Asiatic nations still prefer wood for their palaces and
temples, as the Assyrians did, and only use stone as “ a heap.” It
must have been difficult, however, for any intelligent people to visit the
wonderful stone temples of Thebes and Memphis without being struck
by their superior magnificence and clurability; and we consequently
find the Persians on their return, though reproducing their old forms,
adopting the new material, which, fortunately for them and for our
history, was found in abundance in the neighbourhood of their capitals.
Even, however, on the most cursory inspect-ion, it is easy to see
how little the art-s of the Assyrians were changed by their successors.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE.
Part 1.
CHAPTEE IY.
PERSIA.
CHBONOLOGY.
DATES.
Cyrus founds Pasargad®.b.c. 560
Cambyses’ buildings at ditto .... 525
Darius builds palace at Persepolis . . . 521
Xerxes builds halls at Persepolis and Susa 485
Artaxerxes Longimanus. 465
DATES.
Darius Nothus.b.c. 424
Artaxerxes Mnemon repairs buildings at
Persepolis and Susa. 405
Destruction of Persian Empire by Alex-
ander. 331
There still remains a third chapter to write before the survey of the
architecture of the central region of Asia is complete—before incleed a
great deal which has just been assumed can become capable of proof.
By a fortunate accident the Persians used stone where the Assyrians
used only wood, and consequently many details of their architecture
have come down to our day which would otherwise have passed away had
the more perishable materials of their predecessors been made use of.
Whatever else the ancient world may owe to the learning of the
Egyptians, it seems certain that they were the first to make use of
stone as a constructive building material. As before mentioned, the
Egyptians used a stone Proto-Doric pillar at least 1000 years before
the Greeks or the Etruscans, or any other ancient people we know
of, dreamt of such a thing. The Babylonians and Assyrians never
seem to have used stone constructively, except as the revetement of
a terrace wall ; and it was not till after the conquest of Egypt by
Cambyses that we find any Asiatic nations using a pillar of stone in
architecture, or doing more than building a wall, or heaping mass on
mass of this material without any constructive contrivance. The
Indians first learned this art from the Bactrian Greeks, and many
civilised Asiatic nations still prefer wood for their palaces and
temples, as the Assyrians did, and only use stone as “ a heap.” It
must have been difficult, however, for any intelligent people to visit the
wonderful stone temples of Thebes and Memphis without being struck
by their superior magnificence and clurability; and we consequently
find the Persians on their return, though reproducing their old forms,
adopting the new material, which, fortunately for them and for our
history, was found in abundance in the neighbourhood of their capitals.
Even, however, on the most cursory inspect-ion, it is easy to see
how little the art-s of the Assyrians were changed by their successors.