Persepolis: Column with complete bull capital, 5th century BC

Date

Authors

Ghirshman, Roman
Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham

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Volume Title

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Abstract

Description

Showing that it came from the interior of a building, portico columns having the protomes resting directly on the shaft. "The column (the most original element of Achaemenian architecture) … has a bell-shaped base foreign to Hellenic art, just as the verticality of its decoration contrasts with the horizontality of its Greek counterpart. No Greek column rises to the height of the Achaemenian column, nor is it ever crowned with a composite capital as ponderous and complex as the Persian impost block, which in fact is unique in ancient architecture.

Citation

Source

Type

Archives Series

Date created

1962

Access Statement

License Rights

This image is provided for research purposes only and must not be reproduced without the prior permission of the Archives Program, Australian National University.

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