subsist by agriculture, the Persians adopted the usual expedient, in this age, of imposing a poll-tax.[1]
The Sassanian Empire did not distinguish itself in the realm of art; and the scanty remains which have been discovered indicate that their architectural productions owed much to Byzantine co-operation.[2] As temple worship was a minor feature of the Zoroastrian religion, which consisted almost wholly in forms of private devotion,[3] no ruins pertaining to buildings of that class have been found;[4] but in several places portions of dilapidated palaces exist, which enable us to estimate accurately the artistic proficiency of the Sassanians.[5] The residence of the Shahinshah was a quadrangular edifice built around a central court. Externally the walls were diversified by two or three superimposed rows of slender columns, those rising from the ground being much taller than the upper ranges. The distinctive part of the architectural design was an arched entrance, wide and lofty,
- ↑ Zachariah Myt., ix, 6.
- ↑ Besides the objective evidence, there is a direct statement of the fact; Theophylactus Sim., v, 6.
- ↑ The practical application of the doctrine of the Avesta has been described at considerable length by Max Duncker (op. cit., v), but the school of Darmsteter would aver that his exposition applies with more accuracy to the age of the Sassanians than to that of the Achaemenians, whom alone he deals with.
- ↑ Some remains, almost certainly those of fire-temples, exist, but they are architecturally insignificant, being, in fact, merely low stone towers a few feet square. The interior was only a cell with just room enough to accommodate a small altar, on which a perpetual fire was kept up; see Ferguson, Hist. Archit., Lond., 1874, i, 202; cf. Perrot and Chipiez, Persian Art, i, 892.
- ↑ The chief work which gives representations of Sassanian architecture is that of Flandin and Coste, Voyage en Perse, Paris, 1851. Many have been copied by Rawlinson, op. cit.
