Persian architecture
Its influenced by the Aryan race, was a blend of
Egyptian interior columns, Assyrian art, and
wooden posts or columns. The Persians, who
emerged as masters of the Orient under Cyrus
(536 B.C.) and Cambyses (525 B.C.), built palaces
in Persepolis and Susa, surpassing the marvels in
the Nile Valley. They were not great innovators in
art but combined the Egyptian system of interior
columns with details borrowed from Assyrian art.
The Persians used both crude and baked bricks,
with baked bricks being more freely used than
Assyria. They also used stone for walls, columns,
and jambs and lintels of doors and windows. The palaces were erected on broad platforms, with
detached buildings, propylea, and vast audience halls. The Persians also used columns as internal
features in hypostyle halls and externally for porches and open kiosks. The Egyptians sought the forked
capital in their column, which was found in Ionic architecture and Lycian tombs. The Persian capitals are
unique and have no direct prototypes or derivatives. Their constituent clements may have been
borrowed from various sources. The Egyptian palm-capital in the lower member of the compound type
is evident. The doors and windows had banded architraves or trims and cavetto cornices very Egyptian in
character. The portals were flanked by winged monsters built up in several courses of stone, not carved
from single blocks like their prototypes. Plaster or enamelled bricks, replaced as a wall-finish in Assyrian
alabaster wainscot, are the oldest examples of the Persians' skill in a branch of ceramic art. The
architecture of Asiatic peoples that served as intermediaries between ancient civilizations of Egypt and
Assyria and Greeks is too slight to be considered here. The Greeks could have learned little beyond a few
clementary notions regarding sculpture and pottery from Cyprus. In Lycia, a new architectural style
emerged, influenced by Persia and the Ionian colonies. The tombs were mostly cut in the rock, with
walls and roofs imitating open structures framed of squared timbers. Some tombs had porches of Ionic
columns, some of which were of late date and copied from Asiatic Greek models. Some tombs at
Telmissus were examples of a primitive Ionic style. The Hebrews borrowed from the art of every people
with whom they had relations, resulting in a few extant remains of their architecture. Some tombs were
structural, while others were cut in the rock. The openings of rock-cut tombs had frames or pediments
carved with rich surface ornament, showing a mixture of Roman triglyphs, garlands, Syrian-Greek
acanthus leaves, Byzantine foliage, and naturalistic carvings of grapes and local plant-life. The national
Temple of Jehovah was a great achievement of Jewish architecture, represented by three successive
edifices on Mount Moriah, the site of the present "Mosque of Omar." The Temple of Solomon, built
around 525 B.C., was a magnificent creation of ancient art, combining Egyptian, Assyrian, and Roman
conceptions. Herod, who rebuilt it, reproduced the antique design and retained the porch of Solomon.
The Temple was defended by the Castle of Antonia and featured a new triple colonnade. The temple of
Zerubbabel, built 515 B.C., was a new design, following the pattern described in Ezekiel's vision. Other
monuments in Persiay include the tomb of Cyrus, the palace of Darius, and the Propylxa of Xerxes. These
structures, with their colossal columns and tower-like tombs, formed one of the most imposing
architectural groups in the world. Some monolithic tombs have been moved to European museums.
