The bases of
these arches are of stone, the rest is made of wood; they have a single
bay, or one principal bay with two smaller ones, and the top is in the
form of a Chinese roof.
The palaces present a succession of spacious courts surrounded by
buildings and are entered through gates in the form of triumphal arches.
Each separate portion of the structure is destined to a special use. The
women and children are usually relegated to the rear court.
The houses have one or two stories; their dimensions are regulated by
law, according to the rank and condition of the owner, and, as in all
Oriental dwellings, there are but few openings on the street.
While the Hindoos built with enduring materials, the Chinese generally
used brick and wood. The explanation of this fact is to be sought not so
much in their fear of the earthquakes with which they are constantly
threatened as in their narrow-mindedness and lack of ambition; they saw
no reason why an edifice should outlast the generation for which it was
constructed.
Judging from the ruins of Persepolis, the Medes and Persians must have
attained to a high degree of civilization in the time of Cyrus, but we
have no authentic records concerning their civil architecture. Their art
is derived from the Babylonians and Assyrians, from whom they must have
largely borrowed their customs.
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