Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/50

IV. — Architecture op the Medes and Persians. Under the rule of Cyrus the Great (559—529 B.C.) the Persians obtained ascendancy over the Medes, and extended their dominions on all sides. For upwards of two centuries they were a great nation, and many important remains of their architecture may be seen to this day. The art of these nations is a late offshoot of that of Assyria. The Medes and Persians adopted the terraced platforms and the brick walls faced with costly materials characteristic of the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh. This style of ornamenting walls, which was common throughout the whole of Central Asia and in ancient Egypt, may perhaps have sprung from the designs of the exquisite textile fabrics, in the manufacture of which the people of the East excelled in very early times. The royal palace of Ecbatana, the capital of Media, was seven stories high, built in the terraced style, with coloured walls in some parts glowing with gold and silver. These walls bear a striking affinity to those faced with coloured glazed bricks, which were used in the palaces of Nineveh. The columns and ceiling-beams of the halls were made of cedar and cypress wood, and covered with gold and silver plates. Intercourse with the Greeks of Asia Minor greatly influenced Persian architecture, and led to the extensive employment of marble, and the adoption of many Greek ornaments. On the site of the ancient Pasargadae, near the modern Murghab, the ruins of a large structural tomb have been discovered, supposed to be that of Cyrus. It