res. These are built in a solid way, of hewn stone, and consist
either of one or two chambers. They vary in size from twenty feet square
to forty, and are generally of about the same height. Some are perfectly
plain, but the exteriors of others are ornamented with pilasters. The
reservoirs occur in the paved court which surrounds the main building;
they have narrow apertures, but expand below the aperture into the shape
of a bell, and are carefully constructed of well-cut stones closely
fitted together.

The material used at Hatra is uniformly a brownish gray limestone; and
the cutting is so clean and smooth that it is doubted whether the stones
have needed any cement. If cement has been employed, at any rate
it cannot now be seen, the stones everywhere appearing to touch one
another.

There are several buildings remaining in Persia, the date of which
cannot be much later than that of the Hatra edifice; but, as it is on
the whole more probable that they belong to the Sassanian than to the
Parthian period, no account of them will be given here. It will be
sufficient to observe that their architecture grows naturally out of
that which was in use at Hatra, and that thus we are entitled to ascribe
to Parthian times and to subjects of the Parthian Empire that impulse
to Oriental architecture which awoke it to renewed life after a sleep
of ages, and which in a short time produced such imposing results as
the Takht-i-Khuzroo at Ctesiphon, the ruins of Shapur, and the triumphal
arch at Takht-i-Bostan.

The decorative and fictile art of the Parthians has received no
inconsiderable amount of illustration from remains discovered, in the
years 1850-1852, in Babylonia. In combination with a series of Parthian
coins were found by Mr. Loftus, on the site of the ancient Erech (now
Warka), a number of objects in clay, plaster, and metal, enabling us
to form a fair idea of the mode in which purely Parthian edifices were
decorated during the best times of the empire, and of the style that
then prevailed in respect of personal ornaments, domestic utensils, and
other objects capable, more or less, of aesthetic handling. The remains
discovered comprised numerous architectural fragments in plaster and
brick; a large number of ornamental coffins; several statuettes in
terra-cotta; jars, jugs, vases, and lamps in earthenware; some small
glass bottles; and various personal decorations, such as beads, rings,
and earrings.

The architectural