The interior ornamentation was probably, in a great measure, by stucco, painting, and perhaps gilding.  All this, however, if it existed, has disappeared; and the interiors now present a bare and naked appearance, which is only slightly relieved by the occasional occurrence of windows, of ornamental doorways, and of niches, which recall well-known features at Persepolis.  In some instances, however, the arrangement of the larger rooms was improved by means of short pillars, placed at some distance from the walls, and supporting a sort of transverse rib, which broke the uniformity of the roof.  The pillars were connected with the side walls by low arches.

Such are the main peculiarities of Sassanian palace architecture.  The general effect of the great halls is grand, though scarcely beautiful; and, in the best specimens, the entire palace has an air of simple severity which is striking and dignified.  The internal arrangements do not appear to be very convenient.  Too much is sacrificed to regularity; and the opening of each room into its neighbor must, one would think, have been unsatisfactory.  Still, the edifices are regarded as “indicating considerable originality and power,” though they “point to a state of society when attention to security hardly allowed the architect the free exercise of the more delicate ornaments of his art.”

From this general account of the main features of the architecture it is proposed now to proceed to a more particular description of the principal extant Sassanian buildings—­the palaces at Serbistan, Firuzabad, Ctesiphon, and Mashita.

The palace at Serbistan 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.