We have now to describe the most remarkable of all the Persepolitan edifices—­a building the remains of which stretch nearly 350 feet in one direction, while in the other they extend 246 feet.  Its ruins consist almost entirely of pillars, which are divided into four groups.  The largest of these was a square of thirty-six pillars, arranged in six rows of six, all exactly equidistant from one another, and covering an area of above 20,000 square feet.  On three sides of this square, eastward, northward, and westward, were magnificent porches, each consisting of twelve columns, arranged in two rows, in line with the pillars of the central cluster.  These porches stood at the distance of seventy feet from the main building, and have the appearance of having been entirely separate from it.  They are 143 feet long, by thirty broad, and thus cover each an area of 4260 feet.  The most astonishing feature in the whole building is the height of the pillars.  These, according to the measurements of M. Flandin, had a uniform altitude throughout the building of sixty-four feet.  Even in their ruin, they tower over every other erection upon the platform, retaining often, in spite of the effects of time, an elevation of sixty feet.

The capitals of the pillars were of three kinds.  Those of the side colonnades were comparatively simple:  they consisted, in each case, of a single member, formed, in the eastern colonnade, of two half-griffins, with their heads looking in opposite directions [PLATE XLVII, Fig. 2]; and, in the western colonnade, of two half-bulls, arranged in the same manner [PLATE XLVII., Fig. 3].  The capitals of the pillars in the northern colonnade, which faced the great sculptured staircase, and constituted the true front of the building, were of a very complex character.  They may be best viewed as composed of three distinct members—­first, a sort of lotos-bud, accompanied by pendent leaves; then, above that, a member, composed of volutes like those of the Ionic order, but placed in a perpendicular instead of a horizontal direction; and at the top, a member composed of two half-bulls, exactly similar to that which forms the complete capital of the western group of pillars.  The pillars of the groat central cluster had capitals exactly like those of the northern colonnade.

The bases of the colonnade pillars are of singular beauty.  Bell-shaped, and ornamented with a double or triple row of pendent lotus-leaves, some rounded, some narrowed to a point; they are as graceful as they are rare in their forms, and attract the admiration of all beholders.  Above them rise the columns, tapering gently as they ascend, but without any swell or entasis.  They consist of several masses of stone, carefully joined together, and secured at the joints by an iron cramp in the direction of the column’s axis.  All are beautifully fluted along their entire length, the number of the incisions or flutings being from forty-eight to fifty-two in each pillar.  They are arcs of circles smaller than semicircles, thus resembling those of the Doric, rather than those of the Ionic or Corinthian order.  The cutting of all is very exact and regular.