24

HISTORY
OF
AllCIHTECTUllE.
Iff
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fifTF
m
s a 1
lialilJitiiiil: iji'li T! 1
East, iftlicv may bo so callod, we havo licve given the i)laii of that just ahovt- iianied
{
Ji;/.
33.).
The i)alaces of the kings
are enclosed in a fort of lofty
walls, about three iniles in cir-
cuit
;
in general the front room
or hall is very o])en, and the
roof sui)])orted by carved and
gilded coliiinns. The windows
glazed with curiously stained
glass of a variety of colours
;
each has a fountain in front.
The palace of Cheliel Sitoon
or forty pillars, is ])laced in thf
middle of an immense square
intersected by canals, and
planted with trees. Towards
the garden is an oi)en
saloon
whose ceiling is borne by
eighteen columns, inlaid with
mirrors, and appearing at a dis-
tance to consist entirely of
"lass. The base of each is of
snnniJnm
rpa
FiR.
3.1
maible, sculptured into four lions, so placed that the shafts stand on them. iNlirrors are
distributed on the walls in great profusion, and the ceiling is ornamented with gilt flowers.
An arched recess leads from the apartment just described into a sj)acious and sjdendid hall,
whose roof is formed into a variety of domes, decorated with painting and gilding. 'I'he
walls are jjartly of white marble, and partly covered with mirrors, and are moreover deco-
rated with six large paintings, whose subjects are the battles and royal fetes of Shah Ismael
and Shah Abbas the Great. Though of considerable age, the colours are fresh, and the
gilding still brilliant. Adjoining the palace is the harem, erected but a few years ago.
The bazaars are much celebrated
;
they consist of large wide passages, arched, and lighte;!
from above, with buildings or stores on each side. One of these was formerly 600 geo-
metrical ])aces in length, very broad and lofty. From these being adjacent to each otheF,
a person might traverse the Avhole city sheltered from the weather. In Isjiahan, we must
not forget to notice that some line bridges exist, which cross the river Zenderond.
Sect. V.
JRWISH ANn I'MCENICIAN A It CHITECTU HE.
52. "We are scarcely justified in giving a section, though short, to the architecture of the
.lews, since the only buildings recorded as of tliat nation are the Temple of Jerusalem con-
structed by Solomon, and the house of the forest of Lebanon. The shepherd tribes of
Israel, indeed, do not seem to have recjuired such dwellings or temples as would lead them,
when they settled in cities, to the adoption of any style very diHerent from that of their
neighbours. Whatever monuments are mentioned by them a])))ear to have been rude, and
have been already noticed in the section on Druidical and Celtic architecture. When
Solomon ascended the throne, anxious to fulfil the wish his father had long entertained o.'
erecting a fixed temple for the reception of the ark, he was not only obliged to send to
Tyre for workmen, but for an architect also. Upon this temple a dissertation has been
written by a Spaniard of the name of V'illalpanda, wherein he, with consummate simplicity,
urges that the orders, instead of being the invention of the Greeks, were the invention of God
limself, and that Callimachus most shamefully put forth pretensions to the formation of tlie
f^orinthian capital which, he says, had been used centuries before in the temple at Jerusalem.
The following account of the temjjle is from the sixth chapter of the First Book of Kings.
Its plan was a parallelogram (taking the cubit at
1
-824 ft., being the length generally
assigned to it) of about lOOAft. by 3G^ft., being as nearly as may be two thirds of the
size of the church of St. Martin's in the Fields. In front was a pronaos, or portico,
stretching through the whole front (SSts ft.) of the temple, and its depth was half its extent.
The cell, or main body of the temple, was
54j
ft. deep, and the sanctuary beyond
36^
feet, the height of it being equal to its length and breadth. The height of the middle
l)art, or cell, was
54f
ft.
;
and that of the iiortico the same as the sanctuary, that is,
36,^
ft., judging from the height of the columns. In the interior, the body of the temple
was surrounded by three tiers of chambers, to which there was an ascent by stairs; and the
central part was open to the sky. The ends of the beams of the floors rested on corbls of
stone, and were not inserted into the walls, which were lined with cedar carved into