Читать книгу Palace and Mosque at Ukhaidir: A Study in Early Mohammadan Architecture - Gertrude Lowthian Bell - Страница 5

Fig. 3. Arch construction. (From Ocheïdir, by kind permission of Dr. Reuther.)

The arches of the doorways in these rooms, and in all other small doorways in the palace, are constructed in a manner different from that which has been detailed above. Again I borrow the description from Dr. Reuther. A wooden centering has been placed upon the jambs; over this centering was laid a band of gypsum mortar and small stones, irregularly bedded, which, when it hardened, formed an inner arch of concrete (Fig. 3). When the span was narrow no other arch was considered necessary. When it was wider an outer arch of voussoirs laid horizontally encompassed the inner concrete arch. Not infrequently, besides the wooden centering, a permanent centering of mortar and reed was placed on either face of the concrete arch. When the wooden centering was removed the concrete arch remained, set back from the jambs, whereas in all the wide archways, such as those of room 4, the arch follows the principle of the vault and oversails the wall.

The passage, No. 20, which is 12·25 metres long by 2·80 metres wide, communicates by a door at its northern end with the small unlighted room, No. 21. The construction here is of interest (Plate 17, Fig. 2). The passage is finished by a shallow pointed calotte, standing out from the face of the wall and spanning the angles in the usual fashion with a horizontal masonry bracket. Below it, but not in the centre of the passage, is the small doorway, which is covered by a masonry lintel. The passage opens on to court A through an arcade of two pointed arches. The arches spring from engaged columns and from a squat masonry column placed between them. The rough capital and engaged capitals, from which the stucco has disappeared, are constructed in the same way as the engaged capitals in the great hall. On the opposite side of the court there was once a similar arcade of two arches which has now fallen; indeed, the arcade of No. 20 is the only free-standing arcade which remains intact in the whole palace, with the exception of those in rooms 33 and 40. Court A, 10·70 metres by 6·25 metres, communicates with corridor 6 by a vaulted passage, 1·90 metres wide and 4·25 metres high, leading to an arched doorway 1·60 metres wide and 2·55 metres high. East of this passage lies a vaulted room, No. 26, the door of which stands in the ruined cloister, No. 25. Room 26 is lighted by two small windows in the south wall, opening on to the court, and by a window-slit in the east wall, opening on to the palace yard. To the south of court A lie three chambers, Nos. 22, 23, and 24, which have a width varying from 4·05 metres to 3·85 metres and a length of 5 metres. They communicate with each other and with the court, added to which No. 22 possesses a third door leading into No. 20, and No. 24 a third door leading into No. 25. For the door leading from No. 24 into court A space has been provided by removing a section of the dividing wall between Nos. 23 and 24.

The arrangement of the west wing of the three-storied block is dissimilar from that of the east wing. Three chambers, 8, 9, and 10, lie to the west of the great hall. They have an average width of 3·70 metres, but in length they are only 5·75 metres. They are lighted by small windows high up in the west wall. They communicate with one another by doors covered with ovoid arches set back from the jambs, and with the great hall by small doors in the recesses. The vaults are pointed and oversail the walls. South of No. 10, a stair leads up from the southernmost doorway in the great hall to the first floor. The vault over this stair, of which I give a photograph (Plate 16, Fig. 2), will serve to illustrate the construction of all vaults at Ukhaiḍir over an inclined plane. They are built in horizontal sections, which form inverted steps; an unbroken rising vault is not to be found in the palace. To the east of this group of rooms with its stair is the cloistered court which I suggested, after my first visit, might be a mosque.[21] The suggestion has been borne out by the discovery of an arched niche in the south wall, which I believe to be the miḥrâb.[22]

The mosque (since I may now give it this title without hesitation) is approached by two doorways from the west corridor, 5. These doorways lead into an open rectangular court, the ṣaḥn, 10·30 metres from north to south by 16 metres from east to west. To east, south, and west of the court ran porticoes, or riwâqs, to use their Arabic name, which have now fallen (Plate 18, Fig. 1). The engaged columns on the north side and the south-east angle pier are, however, standing, and they determine the width of the riwâqs. The southern riwâq was the widest (4·05 metres), and this is the portion of the mosque which is known as the ḥaram. The east and west riwâqs are alike 3 metres wide. The arcades, which separate the riwâqs from the ṣaḥn, occupy a space 1 metre thick. On the west side the arcade is entirely ruined, but on the east side part of the arches at either end are still to be seen (Plate 19, Figs. 1 and 2). From these fragments it is apparent that there must have been three arches on the east and west sides, while approximately similar proportions would allow five arches on the south side. (The span of the south arches must have been about ·30 metre less than the span of the east and west arches.) The north end of the east and west vaults rested against the north wall, the south end against a transverse arch, in order to avoid intersection with the vault of the ḥaram. The east vault, which is best preserved, is a slightly pointed ovoid and oversails the east wall. Below the spring of the vault can be seen the windows of rooms 8 and 9; the window of room 10 opens into the ḥaram. Immediately above the springing of the vault there are three holes for cross beams, the decay of which has entailed the ruin of the vault. The fallen masses of masonry columns and vault form heaps of débris on all three sides of the court. At the eastern end of the ḥaram there is a low door, almost blocked by ruin heaps, which gives access to a narrow blind passage situated under the stair. The vault of the ḥaram has received an elaborate decoration in stucco. It was divided into sections by nine transverse arches, 1 metre wide. They cannot have had any correspondence with the columns and arches of the arcade, nor was this necessary, for they sprang from above the line of the vault and therefore from above the summit of the arches of the arcade. The transverse arches were decorated with lozenges (wards as they would be called in modern Arabic) having a zigzag outline (Plate 18, Fig. 1). In the centre of each lozenge there was a round hole, or rosette, recessed back in concentric circles. Between the transverse arches the vault was worked in parallel bars of stucco, the one oversailing the other. The bars begin at a distance of about ·80 metre above the spring of the vault. It is evident that this vault must have been constructed over a light centering, and Dr. Reuther is of opinion that the singular ridged decoration was suggested by the impression left by the centering boards upon the plaster.[23] The top of the vault was probably treated as in room 31, where a decoration similar to that of the ḥaram is more fully preserved. Holes for cross-beams break the fourth and fifth stucco ridge between each transverse arch. Between the terminal transverse arches and the wall at either end of the ḥaram there is a space 1·60 metres long. It is divided into two quarter-domes by a transverse arch which springs from the back wall, at right angles to the transverse arches of the vault. This arch is decorated in exactly the same manner as the others and must have joined the first transverse arch at either end, at the summit of the vault. The quarter-domes are covered with stucco ornament. At the east end (Plate 20, Fig. 1) a fluted squinch occupies the two angles; on either side of it are two shallow calottes. Three concentrically recessed rosettes are set above each of the calottes, and there is a like motive in the apex of the calotte. Above the squinch and calottes there is a band of four isolated crenellations, the same motive which appears on the archivolt over the doors of corridors 5 and 6. Above the crenellations are vestiges of a decorated band, and above the band the apex of the quarter-dome is fluted. At the west end there is a slight variation in the proportions and in the motives of the lower register of the quarter-domes (Plate 20, Fig. 2). The squinch, instead of being fluted, is decorated with three concentric bands, sunk one within the other. At its base lies one of the usual concentric rosettes. The same rosette is placed on either side of each calotte and within the calotte, the rosette above the calotte being omitted. The crenellated motive of the east end is repeated at the west end, but the band between the crenellations and the flutes of the quarter-domes is omitted.

The miḥrâb niche is not placed exactly in the centre of the south wall, but a few centimetres to the east (Plate 18, Fig. 2). If there was any stucco ornament upon it, it was all carried away by the fall of the vault. The semi-dome which covers it is set over the rectangular niche on horizontal brackets of masonry, like all other semi-domes and calottes in the palace. The archivolt is constructed of a double ring of voussoirs, the inner ring laid vertically, the outer horizontally. There is no reason to doubt that the miḥrâb is contemporary with the wall. The plaster which remains upon the interior of the semi-dome shows no sign of decoration. Below the semi-dome the face of the walls of the niche is much injured by the heavy masses of fallen masonry.

The angle pier which took the corner arches of the ḥaram and the east arcade shows, on the sides facing the arcades, returns in the shape of engaged columns. A third return is rectangular and corresponds with a return on the east wall, the two carrying the transverse arch which terminates the eastern vault. In the fragment of this vault which is standing the principles of construction can be discerned unusually well (Plate 19). The vault is built of thin slabs of stone, laid in rings, with a marked inclination against the northern head wall. At the southern end these rings fan out so as to meet the transverse arch.

One more detail remains to be noticed. The two doors from the west corridor, 5, stand in recesses 1 metre deep. The recesses are covered by a calotte, and round the archivolt is placed a stucco decoration consisting of seven cusps (Plate 21, Fig. 1).

The first floor of the north gate tower has already been described. The east door of room 90 communicates with the vaulted and unlighted room, 93. A thin dividing wall separates room 93 from room 94 (there is a small aperture like a window in this wall). Beyond another thin dividing wall lies room 95, with a window at its eastern end looking into the palace yard. These three rooms, 93, 94, and 95, occupy the space above the east corridor, 6. Room 107 is on a lower level; it is approached from 93 by a doorway with steps and is wholly unlighted. The group of rooms Nos. 103, 104, and 105 are on the same level as 107. They are 14·75 metres long and correspond in width with the rooms below them. At their western end they are provided with a masonry divan, 1·20 metres wide and raised ·55 metre above the level of the floor. The meaning of this divan is apparent in the section (section a-b, Plate 4, Fig. 1); it was needed in order to lift the floor of the three rooms above the vaulted tube which lies parallel to the vault of the great hall. The height of these rooms from the floor to the top of the vault is 4·20 metres. They communicate with each other and with the vaulted passage 108, and room 103 possesses further a door in the south wall leading into room 102. The latter returns to the level of rooms 93, 94, and 95, and consequently steps are placed in the doorway of 103.

At the north end of the passage 108 there is a door sunk below the level of the floor and covered by an arch oversailing the jambs (Plate 21, Fig. 2). It communicates with the ramp which comes up from the great hall. East of this door there are the remains of an engaged column, and it is obvious that the passage must have been flanked here by an open arcade (Plate 3, Fig. 1). Steps in the doorway at its southern end lead up to room 106, which is on the same level as 102. South of court A lie three rooms, 109, 110, and 111. They are not as deep as the rooms below them on the ground floor (4·40 metres as against 5 metres) since space has to be provided for a narrow ledge above court A. On to this ledge the north doors of the three rooms open. On the north side of court A the ramp, after passing the doorway of 108, is continued upwards (its windows can be seen in the wall of the court (Plate 22, Fig. 1)). A wide doorway opens on to a stair, which will be described later, coming up from the palace yard. The ramp is then carried on along the east side of court A, and finally opens on to the roof of 111 and of the narrow passage to the east side of it. The last portion of the ramp is ruined, but traces of the vault which supported its floor can be seen in the east wall of court A, together with the spring of the vault with which it was roofed. Between the ramp and the vault of 25 there appears to have been a vaulted passage, very low at its northern end, and lighted by a rectangular window which overlooks the palace yard. It opened at the southern end, through a narrow vaulted way, on to the roof of No. 47.

The outer stair from the yard is a later addition (Plate 40, Fig. 1). The round tower at the northern end of the wall has been cut away to receive it, and it was supported further by four rectangular piers, two on either side of the tower, which were built up against the wall. These piers were not bonded into the wall, and the northernmost has entirely fallen away, but it can still be traced on the face of the masonry. The communication with the first floor was effected, as has been mentioned, by means of a door at the north-east angle of the ramp.

Room 106 occupies the vaulted space at the west end of 47 and has a door to the south opening on to the roof of 45. To the west a door leads into corridor 102, which lies above the eastern wing of corridor 28 (Plate 22, Fig. 2). It has a door to the south opening on to the roof, and is lighted by narrow windows in the south wall. West of 102 was the small room, 101, now ruined, and beyond it rooms 100 and 99 above the west wing of corridor 28. The height of these rooms on the first floor is only 3·55 metres to the top of the vault. No. 100 communicates by a door and steps with the stair leading up from the south-west corner of the great hall, and so with the first floor chambers of the west wing. These can be approached also from the west door of room 89, which opens into the passage room No. 92. In the south wall of 92 there is first a door and steps which lead down to No. 96, secondly a door giving access to the roof of the east riwâq of the mosque, and further west a narrow window which overlooks the ṣaḥn. There are two similar windows in the south wall of 91 and a door on to the roof of the west riwâq of the mosque. (The windows and the door of the west riwâq can be seen in Plate 23, Fig. 1.) At the western end of 91 a window opens on to the palace yard. Rooms 96, 97, and 98 lie above 8, 9, and 10. They are lighted by narrow windows in the west wall, which can be seen in Plate 19, Fig. 1. They communicate with each other by doors covered by ovoid arches set back from the jambs and breaking into the curve of the vault, and each has access through an arched opening in the east wall to a small room ·85 metre wide, lying at a higher level. The northernmost of these three small rooms lies under the stair leading from No. 89 to the second floor, and its vault slopes down at the northern end in order to leave space for the stair. No. 98 opens by a door on to the staircase from the great hall. At the west end of the staircase there is a door leading out on to the roof of the ḥaram, and above it is placed a window. Both door and window can be seen in Plate 19, Fig. 1. Opposite to this door and window there is a large opening in the west wall of the great hall, doubtless in order to secure a little additional light in that dark edifice.

The stair and the ramp from the great hall were therefore the sole means of approaching the first floor until the outer stair from the yard was added. The second floor could be approached in a circuitous manner by the upper part of the ramp and over the roof of rooms 111, 110, and 109, or more directly by the stair leading out of room 89. But this stair could only be reached either by the ramp and through rooms 105, 107, 93, 90, 88, and 89, or by the stair out of the great hall and through rooms 98, 97, 96, 92, and 89. The second floor could also be reached from the yard, by the stairs in the north-east and north-west angles and thence along the chemin de ronde.

The rooms on the second floor do not correspond regularly with those of the floors below (Plate 3, Fig. 2). The second floor of the gate-tower is much ruined. It is possible that, as the authors of Ocheïdir suggest, it was originally divided into three chambers lying north and south. Parts of the south wall remain, and there is clear evidence of a door jamb near its eastern end. On the east side the doorways leading into 117 and into the chemin de ronde are standing, together with the south jamb of a doorway which undoubtedly gave access to the roof of the vault between the gate-tower and the first round tower. The door into the corresponding balcony on the west side is gone, the door of the western wing of the chemin de ronde is much ruined, but the door into No. 116 is still perfect. Neither of these walls, to east and to west, shows any trace of a vault; the vault, if vault there were, covering the gate-tower chambers must therefore have sprung much higher than the vaults of the adjoining chambers.[24]

To the west of 116 is a small room, 115, with a door into the chemin de ronde and a door into the open court, 114. A window in the south wall of this court overlooks the ṣaḥn of the mosque (Plate 23, Fig. 1). Still further west is a vaulted room, 113, presumably with a window looking out into the yard, but the west wall is much ruined. On the opposite side of the gate-tower, No. 117 opens into a small rectangular area, 118, where there is no sign of a roof; to the east of it lies an open space embracing the roofs of Nos. 94 and 95 together with a part of 93. Here, too, there is no trace of a vault in the north wall, nor of any party walls. The series of rooms on either side of the gate-tower, occupying the area over the corridors on the ground floor and of the corresponding rooms on the first floor, are designated by Dr. Reuther casemates because they were connected with the chemin de ronde and probably played some part in the defence of the palace. In all of them the vaults, which oversail the walls in the usual fashion, are slightly flattened at the top.

A door in the south wall of No. 117 leads into an open court, 16·95 metres from east to west by 12·60 metres from north to south. It does not lie in the centre of the three-storied block, but extends considerably to the east of the central axis. The stair from the first floor reaches the second floor at the north-west angle of this court. The door into 119 opens awkwardly over the stair. On the east, south, and west sides of the court stand groups of three chambers, the central chamber opening into the court by a wide archway springing from engaged columns, the side chambers by doors covered by ovoid arches set back from the jambs (Plate 23, Fig. 2); and here we have an architectural group which dominates all the courts upon the ground floor of the palace that are yet to be described. The central chamber with its wide archway is the lîwân or reception-room,[25] the side chambers are, in one form or another, its invariable or almost invariable complement. I shall henceforward speak of the whole as a lîwân group. As Dr. Reuther has pointed out, the occupants of an oriental room seat themselves upon cushions or dîwâns against the wall, the dîwân, cushion or carpet, which is placed against the back wall, being the place of honour. In order not to break up the company, the side doors of every room are situated as far as possible from the back wall, and it will be noticed that this rule holds good in every living-room of the palace. At Ukhaiḍir (though this is not always the case) in every lîwân group the rooms communicate with each other. It is common in oriental houses to build lîwâns facing different points of the compass so as to secure a comfortable shade at different hours of the day, and warmth or coolness at different seasons of the year. The lîwân group, if such it were, over the gate-tower would have served the purpose of a winter reception-room, for it faced south; the group facing north would be used in summer.

In the lîwân group on the west side of the court the rooms are 5·95 metres long with an average width of 4 metres. The vaults here are all standing, and the rooms are considerably higher than those on the first floor, measuring 5·25 metres to the top of the vault. (It is difficult to get exact measurements for the height of the rooms on the ground floor owing to irregularities in the level of the ground, but I think that a height of 5 metres to the top of the vault is not far wrong.) Between the parallel barrel vaults are masonry tubes, which are visible upon the façade in the form of small openings like windows between the arches of the central and of the side rooms. To the south of No. 121 there is a small open court, 123, which is approached by a narrow passage from the main court. A door from it leads into No. 122, which is completely ruined. On the north side of the court, 123, there was a stair which gave access to the flat roof of Nos. 121, 120, and 119. On the north side of 119 a fragment of wall rises above the level of the roof; it was probably connected with the high vault of the gate-house chambers. In the lîwân group on the south side of the court, the rooms, 124, 125, and 126, are 7 metres long, but their exact width is difficult to determine since the party walls have fallen (Plate 24, Fig. 1). It must, however, have averaged about 4 metres like the width of the rooms on the west side. On the east side of the court a vaulted passage runs parallel to 137; the door into the court is standing and its arch oversails the jambs, whereas the arches of all the other doors are set back (Plate 24). Above the door there is a narrow window. A lîwân group follows to the south of the passage (Plate 24, Figs. 1 and 2). The rooms are 7·45 metres long; their width varies, as far as I could ascertain in their ruined condition. According to my estimates No. 132 is 2·85 metres wide, No. 131 is 3·95 metres wide, and No. 130 is 4 metres wide. Still further south there is a small open court, No. 127, corresponding to No. 123. A door in the south wall opens on to a narrow parapet or balcony which crowns the façade of the first floor. To the east lies an irregular chamber, 128, which is totally ruined.

The passage, 137, leads into a gallery, No. 134, which was finished on the east side by an open arcade (Plate 25, Fig. 1). Traces of an engaged column remain at the north end of the arcade, and the vault was constructed with transverse arches in the same manner as the vaults round the ṣaḥn of the mosque. There was, however, no stucco decoration in this upper gallery. At the angles stood quarter-domes over unadorned squinch arches (Plate 25, Fig. 2). The gallery opens at its south-eastern end on to the roof of No. 109. To the south of the gallery there are two narrow chambers, one with a door into the gallery, the other with a door on to the roof of 109. They are almost completely ruined. Dr. Reuther places in them a stair leading by a double flight on to the roof.

The main part of the palace, one story high, lies to the south of the three-storied block. Except for a group of rooms in the east side of the yard, which is a later addition, it is symmetrically arranged round a central court. It falls into three divisions: two courts, B and C, with their living-rooms on the east side; two exactly similar courts, G and H, on the west side; a central court with a group of chambers to the south of it, and further south a small court, E, with rooms on three sides of it, and a subsidiary court, D, further east. The long vaulted corridor, 28, which runs from east to west between the great hall and the central court, turns at right angles and runs from north to south between the central court with its chambers and the side wings. It is then carried round to the south of the chambers dependent on the central court, and runs from east to west between them and court E with its chambers.

The central court is 32·70 metres from north to south and 27 metres from east to west. It is surrounded to east, north, and west by a blind arcade which forms part, on the north side, of the façade of the three-storied block (Plate 6, Fig. 2). The arcade is 1 metre deep. Engaged half-columns set against rectangular piers carry shallow calottes, the archivolt of which is slightly horse-shoed (Plate 26, Fig. 1). The intercolumniation varies from 2·35 to 2·55 metres. All the details were of stucco, which has now broken away. The columns, piers, and walls are of stone masonry; the capitals, calottes, and archivolts, together with the wall above them, are of brick. The capitals, which are much damaged, are cubes formed of three courses of bricks; the calottes are of brick laid in horizontal courses and carried over the angles of the niches by horizontal brackets; the horse-shoed archivolts are composed of an inner ring of brick tiles laid horizontally, and an outer ring laid vertically. Of the outer ring only fragments remain. In one case (the calotte immediately to the south of the east door) the tiles are laid in rings, and the curve of the archivolt is not horse-shoed (Plate 26, Fig. 2). The corresponding calotte on the west side has fallen. In the centre of each calotte, and impinging upon the stonework below, there is an oblong window which lights corridor 28. On the north side of the court only two of the niches and calottes remain intact to the east of the central door, and only one to the west of the central door. In the centre the whole face of the wall has fallen, carrying with it parts of the corridors on the first floor and part of the south wall of the great hall. The small chamber, 27, which was probably covered with a dome, is entirely ruined, together with room 101 above it. It is therefore impossible to determine the exact form of the doorway which led from 27 into the central court, but there is no reason to suppose that it differed materially from the door on the east side of the court. The nature of the horizontal decorations which govern the façade preclude all idea of a large central door. The blind arcade of the first floor is not so high as the arcade below it (Plates 27 and 85). Instead of the half-columns and piers of the ground floor, the archivolts of the first floor spring from a cluster of four small engaged columns which must have been finished in stucco. Nothing remains of the capitals. In the spandrels are placed oblong windows lighting the upper corridors, 100 and 102. On the face of the pointed arches of the arcade it is still possible to trace a scolloped ornament in plaster, like that which exists over the doors of the mosque. Within the large arches there is a system of small blind arched niches flanked by slender engaged colonnettes of which little trace remains. There are five of these niches within each of the large niches, two below and three above, the central niche in the group of three being the largest. There is a slight error here in Dr. Reuther’s reconstruction, an error to which he himself called my attention. He has placed only one small niche in the upper register instead of three. The side niches can be seen in Plate 27. He suggests that in the middle of the façade one or more of these small niches must have contained windows in order to give additional light to room 101, since it was from room 101 that most of the light in the great hall was derived. Beyond the arcading on either side of the façade the wall was finished by a solid pier, the surface of which was broken by three projecting horizontal bars. The cornices are not preserved, but, as I shall show later, they cannot have been very important. The decoration of the façade ends on the level of the second floor and forms a narrow balcony a little over 1 metre wide which runs along the face of the building. The wall of the second floor is recessed a few centimetres to give additional width to this balcony. On to it open the doors of Nos. 123 and 127. These doors are not placed symmetrically with respect to the façade; the west door is nearer the centre than is the east door. The plain wall is carried up to the top of the door arches; above that level there is a band of shallow arched niches which appear to have been divided from one another by engaged columns, probably carrying an architrave, like the niches on the summit of the outer north wall of the palace.

To return to the central court. On the east side there is a doorway in the third intercolumniation from the south end (Plate 26, Fig. 2). It leads into corridor 28. The arch of this door is set back from the jambs, but the upper part is ruined. The corresponding door on the west side has disappeared, together with most of the south-west end of the wall. On the east side the arcading is not carried into the angle of the court. The southernmost archivolt ends against a quarter-column, beyond which space is provided for the entrance of a stair which leads down to a vaulted chamber below the level of the ground (Plate 28, Fig. 1). Above this entrance there is a fluted semi-dome finished by a fillet (Plate 28, Fig. 2). The semi-dome is set horizontally over the angles of the niche in the accustomed manner. The actual entrance to the stair is covered not by an arch but by a masonry lintel (compare the door between 20 and 21).

The south side of the court is also arcaded, but not in the same fashion. The arcades are much shallower (·40 metre deep) and they are differently grouped. In the centre of the south wall there was a wide archway (4·20 metres wide) leading into room 29. This arch rose above the level of the arcade on either side of it and the chambers behind it were higher than the adjoining chambers (Plate 29, Fig. 1). On either side of the entrance there is an unusually large engaged column; beyond these columns there is a flat pier and an engaged quarter-column, followed by a niche ·80 metre wide covered by a shallow calotte (Plate 29, Fig. 2). Three more recesses, measuring in width 1·95 metres, 2·10 metres, and 2·50 metres, and separated from each other by engaged columns of about ·70 metre diameter, occupy the remainder of the façade. In no case is the capital preserved, but it is noticeable that all the columns swell outwards towards the top. The archivolts are ovoid, not horse-shoed. The first niche on either side of the small niches contains a door leading on the west side into No. 31 and on the east side into No. 42. The third big niche on the east side contains another and a smaller door which gives access to a stair leading to the roof (Plate 28, Fig. 1). The doors of Nos. 31 and 42 offer good examples of arch construction (Plate 29, Fig. 3). The arch is set back from the jambs and formed of an inner ring of concrete and an outer ring of stone voussoirs laid horizontally. The calottes covering the niches are of brick, but unlike the calottes on the other three sides of the court, the bricks are set horizontally and vertically and used in half and quarter lengths so as to form intricate designs which Dr. Reuther compares very aptly to the Hazârbâf motives so common in oriental woodwork (Plate 29, Fig. 2).

South of the central court lies a group of rooms of a ceremonial character. In the centre of this group is the lîwân No. 29, 6 x 10·70 metres. It was covered by a barrel vault of brick, which has now fallen in. The vault oversailed the wall and its point of springing is 4·30 metres above the level of the ground, instead of the 3·40 metres above ground-level at which the vaults spring in the adjoining chambers to east and west. It is therefore clear that the vault of 29 must considerably have overtopped the other vaults, and as I shall show later, it is usual to find the ceremonial lîwân higher and more important than the remaining chambers of the group. I have followed Dr. Reuther in giving it a rectangular frame upon the façade of the court (section e-f, Plate 5, Fig. 1). Two large doors, 1·50 metres wide and 3·64 high to the top of the arch, open on either side of the lîwân, on the east into rooms 41 and 42, and on the west into rooms 31 and 32, which lie at right angles to the lîwân. At the south end a similar door leads into No. 30, a chamber 6 metres square, which has been covered by a barrel vault of brick running north and south, and doubtless the same height as the vault of the lîwân. Doors of the same character, with ovoid arches set back from the jambs, are placed in the middle of the east, south, and west walls of No. 30. The fact that the high vaults of Nos. 29 and 30 were not sufficiently buttressed by the lower vaults on either side accounts for their fall.

Rooms 31 and 32 are distinguished by a plaster decoration more elaborate than any which is to be found elsewhere in the palace, with the sole exception of the mosque. The vault of No. 31 resembles the vault of the ḥaram, and like the ḥaram vault it must have been built over a centering. It is divided into two compartments by three transverse arches, one spanning the centre of the chamber, the other two placed respectively against the east and west walls (Plate 30, Fig. 1). These transverse arches, which are ·95 metre wide, spring from a double outset at a height of 2·80 metres from the ground. The vault between the arches springs at a point ·25 metre higher. It is composed, like the ḥaram vault, of narrow oversailing ridges worked in stucco. Along the top of the vault are placed between each pair of transverse arches four square stucco motives, some of which remain intact. They differ slightly from each other, but all are variants of the same theme (Plate 30, Fig. 2). The first from the east end consists of four squares within one another, like a Chinese box, each sunk behind the other. In the centre there is a circular rosette, doubly recessed. In the second a single recessed square contains a saucer-shaped motive, the surface of the saucer being covered with rings of small plaster excrescences. In the third the usual recessed square is filled with a triply sunk diamond, with a recessed rosette in the centre. In the fourth the recessed square frame is filled with a recessed diamond, within the diamond is a recessed square, within the square a second recessed diamond, in the centre of which is a rosette. In the western compartment two of the motives consist of squares sunk within one another, a third of a doubly sunk square containing a triply sunk rosette, while the fourth is obliterated. Finally high up in the east and west walls under the vault is placed a small niche whereof the arch springs from engaged colonnettes.

No. 31 is connected with No. 32 by a door opposite to the door in the central court. The construction of the roof in No. 32 is different from any other example of roofing in the palace. It is divided into three compartments by four heavy transverse arches which spring at a height of 2·85 metres from the floor, level and are set forward twice from the face of the wall (Plate 31, Fig. 1). Between the arches small barrel vaults are stretched across the chamber from north to south. In the eastern compartment the north and south head walls are carried up to the height of the vault. Immediately below the spring of the vault there is a sunk band in the head walls decorated with three recessed circles or rosettes. In the central and western compartment the vault terminates against a semi-dome, set over the angles in one case horizontally, in the other (the western compartment) by means of small recessed squinches (compare the west end of the ḥaram). Below the semi-domes there are a couple of narrow fillets, and below the sunk band of the eastern compartment a single wide fillet. Below these, at the same level in all the compartments, the head wall is decorated with pairs of arched niches, the arches being supported by engaged colonnettes. The colonnettes have no bases; a narrow impost serves them as capital. The face of the arches is decorated in two of the compartments by fillets and in the third (the western) by a zigzag motive. Within each niche there is a spear-shaped ornament sunk in the wall. In the spandrel between the arches there lies a recessed rosette. At a height of ·35 metre above the springing point of the transverse arches the head wall is set very slightly forward, in imitation of the outset of an oversailing vault. The arches of the doors rise higher than the level of this outset, which is lifted in a rectangular label over them. The barrel vaults between the transverse arches are variously treated. The eastern vault is divided into sections by three short transverse arches, each of which is decorated by a square sunk motive. The central vault has the same number of short transverse arches, but these are undecorated. The western vault is provided with a transverse arch against the semi-dome at either end, while the remainder of its length is decorated with stucco ridges. A pair of niches, smaller than those upon the side walls, is placed in the east and in the west wall under the transverse arches, but the spear-shaped ornament and the recessed rosette of the side niches is omitted.

Rooms 31 and 32 are 10·05 metres from east to west and 4·90 metres from north to south. Room 41, lying opposite to room 32, has an equal length and the same system of doors, but no decoration. Room 42, which corresponds with room 31, is only 7·25 metres from east to west, since space had to be allowed for the two stairs leading out of the central court, one to the roof and one to the underground chamber. In the south-east corner of No. 42 there is a small door giving access to a narrow passage behind the block of masonry which contains the upper stair. It turns at right angles into a short passage lying above the lower stair. The vaulted underground chamber corresponds in length and width with No. 42 (section e-f, Plate 5, Fig. 1). It is lighted by three small windows which are splayed upwards to the ground-level—one of these can be seen in Fig. 3 of Plate 29. The room was filled with débris, so that I cannot be certain of its height. In the west wall there is an arched niche or ṭâqchah. In the intense heat of southern Mesopotamia it is customary to provide all houses with underground chambers, wherein the inhabitants spend the greater part of their day in summer. They are known as serdâbs. To the authors of Ocheïdir I am indebted for an interesting observation with regard to the vault of No. 41.[26] It was built in sections over a movable centering which has left its mark upon the concrete of which the vault was formed.

Rooms 32 and 41 communicated by doors in the south wall with the columned chambers 33 and 40 (Plate 31, Fig. 2), which are exactly alike in every respect, except that No. 40 is connected by a door with the room to the south, No. 39, whereas there is no south door in No. 32. Both 33 and 40 have doors, covered with ovoid arches set back from the jambs, leading into the corridor 28, and both are divided into three aisles by two arcades of three arches carried on two masonry columns. The aisles run north and south. The innermost aisle in either case forms part of the vaulted corridor, 36, which runs round three sides of No. 30. This aisle is only 2·50 metres wide, as compared with the 2·85 metres of the other two aisles. All the aisles are roofed with barrel vaults. Though the columns are of stone masonry, the capitals, together with the arches and walls they carry, and the segmental vaults, are of brick. The columns are separated from one another from north to south by a distance of 2·50 metres, but the distance between each column and the wall behind it is only ·90 metre; hence the wide central arches rise almost to the spring of the vault, whereas the side arches are from their narrow span necessarily much lower (Plate 32, Fig. 1). The curve of all the arches is a pointed ovoid, and the narrow arches are considerably stilted. These last are built of concentric rings of small brick tiles, the inner band laid vertically, the outer horizontally. The large arches are composed of two concentric rings of voussoirs, both laid vertically, the inner ring being of large tiles used in their full size, the outer ring of half of the same tiles. The capitals are better preserved than any in the palace, and from one of the capitals of No. 33 in particular, an excellent idea of the form of the impost-capital commonly used at Ukhaiḍir can be obtained. (It is the capital seen in Plate 32, Fig. 1.) The cube of the capital is adapted to the circle of the column by placing an angle of brick under each corner. The capital is composed of a shallow ovolo in moulded plaster surmounted by an abacus which consists of a single course of bricks and carries an impost formed of three courses of brick. Within the arches the impost slightly oversails the abacus.

On the south side of corridor 36 the vault has fallen, together with the columns between the engaged piers which must have supported the arcade (Plate 31, Fig. 3). The spring of the arches can be seen against the piers. From the fragments that exist, the barrel vaults do not seem to have intersected one another but to have met diagonally at the angles. At the east and west ends of No. 36 a door opens into rooms 39 and 34. No. 34 communicates with a parallel chamber, No. 35, which opens independently upon the narrow open court, F, between 36 and the corridor 28. The eastern side of this court was much ruined. In the south-east corner was a stair which led up to the roof. To the north, and partly under the stair, lies a small room, 38, communicating with another narrow room, 37, which was not entirely vaulted over. That it was intended to contain a fire is clear from the fact that the vault is pierced by two terra-cotta pipes, the one 29 centimetres in diameter, the other 12 centimetres, which must have served as chimneys. Similar pipes occur elsewhere and will be mentioned later.

The long corridor, 28, which lies to east and west of the central court and its group of chambers, turns at right angles and encloses the whole central block. The corridor is covered by a semicircular stone vault, oversailing the walls; at four points, however, it is left unroofed in order to admit light and air. These openings are flanked by transverse arches, springing a few centimetres lower than the spring of the vault. The angles of the corridor are roofed with groined vaults, and groined vaults occur in two places, towards the middle of each of the long sides of the corridor. Moreover, a small extension of the east arm of the corridor, No. 61, is also roofed with a groin. This last is the example given by Dr. Reuther on Plate 13 of Ocheïdir; it is the only groin in the palace which is built of brick. Where the groins do not rest on the head wall, they are laid against transverse arches, springing from a point lower than the springing of the vault. The lower parts of the groin are built of stones laid horizontally and forming a bracket from which spring the intersecting vaults (Plate 32, Fig. 2). The vaults are also built of thin slabs of stone, cut in the shape of bricks, and laid with a slight inclination backwards against the head wall or the transverse arch. This construction demanded little or no centering. In the north-east angle of the corridor there is a small door in the east wall which gave access to a stair or passage running under the wall. It was so much blocked by ruins that I could not penetrate into it.

From the corridor a door opens into each of the five courts, B and C on the east side, forming the eastern wing of the palace, H and G on the west side, forming the western wing, and E to the south. The courts have no direct communication with each other. The chambers on the north and south sides of these courts are all arranged in lîwân groups, but there are differences in detail between courts B and H on the one hand, and courts C and G on the other, while the position and size of court E has led to further modifications. Court B (Plate 33, Figs. 1 and 2) measures 15·20 metres from north to south, and 17·60 metres from east to west, but on the west side ·40 metre is occupied by a shallow blind arcade, and on the east side 3 metres was taken up by an arcaded passage which is now ruined. The blind arcade is composed of five arches carried by engaged piers which have an average width of ·70 metre. The arches are round and spring directly from the piers without the interposition of impost or capital. In the central of the five intercolumniations is placed the door from the corridor. To the north and to the south of the court lies a lîwân group of three vaulted chambers. The lîwân opens on to the court through an archway 2·60 metres wide flanked by engaged columns and piers (Plate 34, Fig. 1). The side chambers communicate by means of arched doorways with small antechambers, which in turn open into the court through arched doorways 2·05 metres wide, flanked by engaged columns (Plate 34, Fig. 2. The mass of brickwork which partly blocks the doorway is a later addition). The antechambers are roofed with barrel vaults running east and west, which are separated from the outer end of the lîwân vault by transverse arches; thus the vault of the lîwân is enabled to run through to the wall of the court (Plate 35, Fig. 1). Structurally, the antechambers are therefore distinct from the outer end of the lîwân; practically the antechambers and the outer end of the lîwân form a kind of narthex, the outer end of the lîwân being part of the narthex and not an integral part of the reception-room. This fact is accentuated by the position of the side doors in the lîwân. The sitting space along the walls ends with these doors, and for practical purposes the lîwân is no longer than the side chambers. The capitals of the engaged columns are rectangular impost blocks of stone masonry. Between the parallel barrel vaults there is the usual system of tubes (Fig. 4). The tubes running north and south are carried over the transverse arches of the antechambers, and their openings appear on the façade of the lîwân groups. Where the façade has fallen, as, for example, on the south side of court B, the construction can be clearly traced, and it is also possible to observe that tubes ran from east to west between the wall of the façade and the barrel vaults of the antechambers, as well as on the inner side of the same barrel vaults. Perhaps these tubes were connected with a tube running north and south parallel with the vault of the corridor. The vaults are ovoid and are constructed of a single course of stones laid vertically supporting a mass of stone and concrete. In all the interior doors the arches are set back from the jambs (Plate 36, Fig. 1) and constructed in the manner described on p. 15. Upon the plaster of the west wall of No. 44, south of the door leading into No. 45, there is a graffito inscription in Arabic (see below, p. 161).[27]