n is the smallest, and probably the earliest of
the four. It has been assigned conjecturally to the middle of the fourth
century, or the reign of Sapor II. The ground plan is an oblong but
little removed from a square, the length being 42 French metres, and the
breadth nearly 37 metres. [PLATE XXV., Fig. 1.] The building faces west,
and is entered by three archways, between which are groups of three
semi-circular pilasters, while beyond the two outer arches towards the
angles of the building is a single similar pilaster. Within the archways
are halls or porches of different depths, the central one of the three
being the shallowest. [PLATE XXV., Fig. 2.] This opens by an arched
doorway into a square chamber, the largest in the edifice. It is domed,
and has a diameter of about 42 feet or, including recesses, of above 57
feet. The interior height of the dome from the floor is 65 feet. Beyond
the domed chamber is a court, which measures 45 feet by 40, and has
rooms of various sizes opening into it. One of these is domed; and
others are for the most part vaulted. The great domed chamber opens
towards the north, on a deep porch or hall, which was entered from
without by the usual arched portal. On the south it communicates with a
pillared hall, above 60 feet long by 30 broad. There is another somewhat
similar hall on the north side of the building, in width about equal,
but in length not quite 50 feet. In both halls the pillars are short,
not exceeding six feet. They support piers, which run up perpendicularly
for a considerable height, and then become ribs of the vaulting.

[Illustration: PLATE XXV.]

The Firuzabad palace has a length of above 390 and a width of above
180 feet. Its supposed date is A.D. 450, or the reign of Isdigerd I.
As usual the ground plan is an oblong square. [PLATE XXVI.] It is
remarkable that the entire building had but a single entrance. This was
by a noble arch, above 50 feet in height, which faced north, and gave
admission into a vaulted hall, nearly 90 feet long by 43 wide, having at
either side two lesser halls of a similar character, opening into it
by somewhat low semi-circular arches, of nearly the full width of the
apartments. Beyond these rooms, and communicating with them by narrow,
but elegant doorways, were three domed chambers precisely similar,
occupying together the full width of the building, each about 43 feet
square, and crowned by elliptical domes rising to the height of nearly