In science, art, and learning, the Persians developed nothing that
was new, except in architecture. In the conquest of the Assyrians,
Babylonians, Phœnicians, and Egyptians, the Persian kings and nobles
came into possession alike of the scientific acquirements and
learning of those peoples, and of the products of their mechanical
arts. The Persians were soldiers, and not craftsmen, and had no need
to be producers, when they could be purchasers, of the carpets and
muslins of Babylon and Sardis, the fine linen of Egypt, and the rich
variety of wares that Phœnician commerce spread throughout the
empire.
ARCHITECTURE.--In architecture, they were at first pupils of the
Assyrians and Babylonians. The splendid palaces and temples of
Nineveh and Babylon had existed for centuries before the Persians
were anything more than a hardy tribe of warriors, and it was only
after the acquirement of imperial sway that they began to erect
great and elegant buildings for themselves. When that time came, the
Persians showed that they could produce, by adaptation of older
models, an architectural style of their own. This style was one that
comes between the sombre, massive grandeur of Assyrian and Egyptian
edifices and the perfect symmetry and beauty of the achievements of
Greek art.
PALACES AND TOMBS, not temples, were the masterpieces of Persian
building. The ruins of the city of Persepolis, in the province of
Persis, are the most famous remains of Persian architecture. Here,
on a terraced platform, stood vast and splendid palaces, the
doorways adorned with beautiful bas-reliefs. The great double
staircase leading up to the “Palace of Forty Pillars” is especially
rich in sculptured human figures. The columns are beautiful in form,
sixty feet in total height, with the shaft finely fluted, and the
pedestal in the form of the cup and leaves of a pendent lotus.
Throughout the ruins a love of ornament and display is visible. In
the bas-reliefs are profuse decorations of fretwork fringes, borders
of sculptured bulls and lions, and stone-work of carved roses.