Bk. IV. Ch. VI. SERBISTAN. 383 as to be intelligible in themselves without the necessity of seeking for any foreign element which may have affected them. If it really was so, and the architecture of Constantinople was not influenced from the East, we must admit that the Sassanian was an independent and simultaneous invention, possessing characteristics well worthy of study. It is quite certain, too, that this style had a direct influence on the Christian and Moslem styles of Asia, which exhibit many features not derivable from any of the more Western styles. A few examples will render this clearer than it can be made in words. The plan and section (Woodcuts Nos. 255 and 256) of a small but interesting palace at Serbistan, will explain most of the peculiarities of the style. The entrances, it will be observed, are deep tunnel-like arches, but the centre is covered by a dome resting on pendentives, not filling up the angles by a great bracket, as was usual ,«^p^. 255. Plan of Palace at Ser- bistan. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. 256. Section on line A B of Palace at Serbistan. (From Flandin and Coste's " Voyage en Perse.") Scale 50 ft. to 1 in. Avith the Romans, but constructed by throwing a series of arches across them, as shown in the woodcut, so as to convert the square into the circular form required. The dome, too, is elliptical, not semi- circular, and is the next step to the pointed or conical dome, which was necessarily introduced in the more rainy climates further north. Being of brick, the building depended externally on stucco for its ornamentation; and this having perished, Ave are left without the means of judging of its details. In the lateral halls, pillars are placed at some distance from the Avails, from Avhich heavy transverse ribs spring. The builders thus obtained the means of counteracting the thrust of the vault, without breaking the external outline by buttresses, and without occupying much room on the floor, while at the same time these projections added considerably to the architectural effect of the interior. The date of the building is not correctly known, but it most probably belongs to the age of Shapour, in the middle of the fourth century. The palace at Firouzabad is probably a century more modern, and
