The main wall consists of a core of masonry 2·60 metres thick, rising about 10 metres above the present level of the ground (sectione-f, Plate 5, Fig. 1). It is difficult to get absolutely accurate measurements of height as the surface-level varies slightly according to the depth of ruin strewn over it. Blind arcades on the interior and on the exterior carry the chemin de ronde. On the interior, pilasters 1 metre deep are united by arches very slightly pointed (Plate 7,Fig. 1). The pilasters are without capital or impost, the arches springing directly from them. The arches rise to a height of 8·50 metres, and their span averages on the east wall a little under 3·85 metres, while the width of the pilasters averages 1·55 metres. The arches are composed of two rings of stone voussoirs, the inner ring laid vertically; i.e. with the broadside showing, the outer ring laid horizontally, with the narrow end showing. Dr. Reuther notices that in some instances the horizontal outer ring is lacking. The walls and pilasters, like all the walls of Ukhaiḍir, are built of thin irregular slabs of stone, very roughly coursed, with a binding course laid through them at intervals. In or above the binding courses are holes for wooden beams. There are four such holes in each pilaster and one in the spandrel between the arches. In the back wall of each arcade there are three holes up the centre, and two level with the springing of the arch. Similar holes for beams occur in all the walls of Ukhaiḍir. At a height of 1·50 metres above the level of the arches, the wall is set back ·40 metre and broken by windows, 11·80 metres above the ground, and 1·80 metres above the floor of the chemin de ronde. As the authors ofOcheïdirhave observed, these windows cannot have served any purpose of defence, since they are so high above the floor. There was thus no means of attacking from the wall a foe who had penetrated into the palace yard. Between each pair of windows, shallow pilasters, corresponding to the pilasters below, are carried up to the top of the wall. There are holes for beams between the window arches on wall and pilaster, and also directly above, along the top of the wall. On the exterior there is again a blind arcade 1 metre deep, consisting of two round arches between each tower (Plate 7, Fig. 2). The towers have a projection of 2·75 metres beyond the face of the arcade. The exterior arches bear no relation to the arches of the interior arcade. Two arches, with an average span of 3·85 metres, separated by a pilaster 1·60 metres wide, stand between each of the piers, 4·10 metres wide, against which the three-quarter round towers are placed. There are five of these towers between gateway and angle tower. They have a diameter of 3·30 metres, whereas the angle towers have a diameter of 5·10 metres. The holes for beams appear as on the inner side of the wall, but they do not correspond with the interior holes. As in the interior arcade, the outer arches are slightly pointed and spring directly from the pilasters. The top of the exterior arches is ·30 metre above the level of the floor of the chemin de ronde. The chemin de ronde does not occupy the whole width of the core of the wall (Plate 3, Fig. 2). The passage is 1·90 metres wide. On the inner side, the wall is 1 metre thick and broken by the above-mentioned windows looking into the yard; on the outer side there is a series of recesses covered by ovoid arches. Each recess, 1·45 metres wide and ·40 metre deep, contains either a loophole window or a door. The loopholes, of which there are four between each tower, open on to the exterior of the palace and command a wide view of the desert. They are ·65 metre wide on the inside and narrow outwards to ·20 metre. On the inside they are covered by a lintel withan arched niche above it, on the outside they have a triangular head with a single upright stone placed within it, supporting the side stones of the triangle, and a small inverted triangular aperture above (Plate 8, Fig. 3 and Plate 10, Fig. 2). Each window recess is machicolated, there being an interval of ·20 metre between the outer edge of the floor of the recess (which corresponds with the outer face of the core of the wall) and the inner side of the arches of the exterior arcade. Through this gap an enemy standing at the foot of the wall could be attacked. Every fifth recess contains a door, ·75 metre wide, which gave access to a small round chamber hollowed out of the thickness of the tower. In the whole circuit of the wall not one of these tower chambers is intact, but enough remains to determine their construction (Plate 8, Fig. 2). Each chamber was covered by an ovoid dome, in the masonry of which there are traces of flat ribs. There was a loophole in the walls on either side, from which the defenders could cover the curtain wall between tower and tower, and it is reasonable to suppose that there must have been a third loophole fronting the desert. The loopholes were constructed in the manner already described. It seems probable that the towers exceeded the curtain walls in height; many of the towers show fragments of masonry higher than the present summit of the walls. The angle towers rose a story above the chemin de ronde and contained a second round chamber above the chamber on the level of the chemin de ronde. Traces of this second chamber remain in the north-east and in the south-west towers (Plate 8, Fig. 1). A stair was placed in each of the four angles of the castle yard (Plate 7, Fig. 1). The stairs, which were vaulted in a manner which will be described later (below p. 16), wound twice round the newel post before they reached the gallery of the chemin de ronde, and thereafter rose one story higher in order to reach the summit of the wall, and the upper chamber of the angle towers. It is probable that the summit of the wall was given a crenellated parapet in order to protect those who walked along it. Nor was it only from the angles of the yard that the chemin de ronde could be approached. It was accessible from the top story of the palace and also by means of stairs which were situated on either side of the east, south and west gates. None of these gates are well preserved and in no case have the stairs escaped ruin, but the mark of the stair can be seen clearly on the inner face of the wall (Plate 9, Fig. 1). The three gateways are all alike (sectiong-h, Plate 5, Fig. 2). They are flanked on the exterior by segments of towers (Plate 9, Fig. 2). The outer archway, which contained the door, has in every case been blocked up by the Beduin; it is therefore impossible to tell its exact depth, though its width, 2·10 metres, can be determined. I omitted to note the portcullis of which the authors ofOcheïdirfound traces outside the door.[15]An inner arched niche, 1·45 metres long by 2·50 metres wide, is visible from the interior, together with a portion of thechamber into which it led. This chamber was 6·30 metres long by 3·10 metres wide, and was covered by a pointed barrel vault oversailing the face of the walls. Over the doorway on the inside, there is an arched niche which communicated with the arch of the outer gate by a rectangular funnel. It is impossible to imagine what can have been the purpose of this funnel, which connected the bottom of the niche with the top of the arch, unless it were meant to receive the bolt of the door, but I do not think that even this explanation will hold. The authors ofOcheïdirobserved a similar communication between every niche placed over a doorway and the arch below it. The construction is made clear in their admirable drawing (Ocheïdir, Fig. 19). They offer no conclusion as to its purpose, but since it occurs in archways which show no sign of having contained a door, the idea that it was meant to provide space for a bolt cannot be maintained. The inner wall of the gate-house, which has in every case fallen, projected into the palace yard 3·50 metres from the face of the inner pilasters of the enclosing wall. Besides the vaulted passage or chamber in the centre, it comprised the above-mentioned staircases. I detected traces of a door between the gate-room and the staircase on either side. The stair wound once round the rectangular newel post and reached a chamber on the first floor, above the gate-room. The doors of communication between the stair and this chamber are not preserved. The chamber is unusually low, 3·30 metres from the floor to the top of the vault. It is provided with a large window, 2·50 metres high, in the outer wall, opening on to the desert. The stair turned once more round the newel post and led into the chemin de ronde, with which the upper chamber of the gate-house communicated by doorways. The vaulting construction of the south gateway, which is the best preserved (Plate 9, Fig. 1), shows that the vault of the upper story must have cut across the vaults of the passage, from which it was separated by transverse arches. A big window in the outer wall opens down to the floor of the chamber and the learned authors ofOcheïdirplace here, no doubt correctly, a hourd projecting from the wall over the doorway below. There are small rectangular domed chambers in the towers on either side of the gate, the domes being set over the angles of the square on horizontal brackets. The gate-house was probably carried up, like the angle towers, a story higher, and the stairs must have communicated with the upper story, to judge by the evidence afforded by the south gate-house. On the north façade, and there only, the summit of the wall was given a decoration consisting of a row of arched niches carried by small engaged columns (Plate 8, Fig. 3). The authors ofOcheïdirdescribe these arches as horse-shoed; they seemed to me to be merely slightly stilted and adorned with a double fillet. Below the niches runs a band of lozenges. Between each niche is set a larger engaged column, and these columns appear to have been carried up higher than the arches and in all probability bore an architrave, thus forming a rectangular frame to each niche, but the exact nature of the decoration here is uncertain, since the wallhas broken away. The chemin de ronde was covered by a pointed stone vault, most of which has fallen in (Plate 10, Fig. 1). Like all the vaults of Ukhaiḍir it oversails the face of the wall. The lower part is built of horizontal courses, while in the upper part the stone slabs are laid in vertical rings so as to dispense with centering, and this is the construction in all the vaults of the palace. At the springing of the vault a wooden beam crossed the passage from wall to wall. The holes for these beams are visible, and in some places a splintered fragment of wood projects from the masonry. At the angles of the passage the vaults from either side come together in a simple diagonal section, i.e. there was no intersection of the vaults.
The principal entrance of the palace is the north gate (Plate 11, Fig. 1). Before the door there is an artificial platform thirty-two paces from north to south by eighty-seven paces from east to west. The door is placed in a rectangular tower, 15·70 metres wide, which projects 5·10 metres from the face of the wall, 2·40 metres from the face of the towers. Between the west side of the gate-tower and the first of the western round towers is stretched a vault 2·50 metres in depth (Plate 11, Fig. 2). Upon this vault rests a small platform, immediately below the loopholes of the chemin de ronde, at the level of the second story. On the east side of the gate-tower there are traces of a similar vault, but this must have fallen at a period when the palace was still inhabited, since the place which it occupied upon the wall has been carefully plastered over. The pointed arch over the north door is a later reconstruction. The door leads into a narrow room, No. 1, 5·95 metres by 3 metres, from which there is access to rooms 2 and 3. These rooms are irregular in shape, unlighted, and built over vaults which are now filled with débris. The authors ofOcheïdirsuggest that they may have gone down to the water-level. I doubt it. The water-level in the palace yard is considerably deeper than these vaults are likely to have been, and the water there is too brackish to drink. It is more likely that these subterranean chambers were dungeons. The vault over room 1 is not continuous. It is composed of a series of seven transverse arches, ·65 metre wide, separated by spaces ·20 metre wide (Plate 12, Fig. 1). These apertures enabled the occupants of room 88, on the first floor, to pour boiling liquids on any foe who had passed through the door. Room 1 is bounded to the south by an arched doorway, oversailing the wall, as is the case with all wide arched openings at Ukhaiḍir, beyond which lies the smaller chamber No. 4, 4·15 metres long by 3·10 wide. A transverse arch cuts off 1·05 metres of this space, leaving a square of 3·10 metres to be covered by a fluted dome (Plate 13, Fig. 1).[16]The remaining three sides of the chamber are broken by pointed archways which give access tothe great hall (No. 7), and to the passages Nos. 5 and 6. The fluted circle of the dome is set upon a fillet which has a projection of about 1 centimetre from the face of the wall below (Plate 13, Fig. 2). The circle is accommodated to the square by a course of stones forming at each corner a flat triangular bracket, rounded upon the inner side. The upper part of the dome is much ruined. The curve must have been ovoid and it is probable that an aperture was left at the summit, since the dome, if closed, would have projected considerably above the floor level of room 88. The hole in the upper floor, like the slits in the roof of room 1, would have served for purposes of attack when the enemy had forced an entrance.
The authors ofOcheïdirhave pointed out that the original scheme of the castle did not include the present north door, nor yet the massive enclosing wall with its towers and gates. As it was first planned, the north door stood well within the existing entrance, between two segments of towers. A part of these towers is visible in rooms 2 and 3. But when the walls had been raised about 2·80 metres from the ground, the plan was altered and the outer wall and north door added to it. The north palace wall, with its round towers and gateway, was then incorporated in the larger outer wall. A glance at Dr. Reuther’s plan will show how this was effected (Fig. 1). Although the alteration took place while building was in progress and does not denote a later period of construction, it is yet of importance, as I shall have occasion to show later.
On the first floor the gate-tower is occupied by three vaulted chambers, 88, 89, and 90. The central room, 88, is 4·50 metres wide and therefore wider by 1·50 metres than the passage room, 1, below it. Consequently the slits between the transverse arches of 1 do not take up the whole width of 88, but leave a passage along the wall on either side. The chamber is low, measuring only 3·55 metres to the top of the vault. The vault oversails the wall; the lower part is composed of stones laid horizontally, the upper part of stones laid in vertical rings, with an inclination backwards against the north wall. At the southern end a space between the vertical rings and the south wall is filled in with horizontal courses (Plate 12, Fig. 2). The arches of the side doors break into the vault. In the north wall there is a large window, the upper part of which has fallen away, though some of the lower part remains. It is slightly recessed on the exterior (Plate 11, Fig. 2), and Dr. Reuther gives the explanation of this recess. It contained the groove of the portcullis, which has been obliterated below owing to the rebuilding of the north door at a later period. In the south wall of room 88 there are three arched windows opening into the great hall. The central window is the largest; in all three the arch is surmounted by a shallow arched niche. The narrow vaulted rooms 89 and 90 are approached by round-arched doorways and lighted only by very small windows high up in the north wall. In room 89 there is a staircase leading up to the second floor. Rooms 89 and 90 open into long corridors corresponding in width with the corridors 5 and 6.
Fig. 1.North wall of palace, showing original scheme. (FromOcheïdir, by kind permission of Dr. Reuther.)
Fig. 1.North wall of palace, showing original scheme. (FromOcheïdir, by kind permission of Dr. Reuther.)
Fig. 1.North wall of palace, showing original scheme. (FromOcheïdir, by kind permission of Dr. Reuther.)
Fig. 2.Arch construction. (FromOcheïdir, by kind permission of Dr. Reuther.)
Fig. 2.Arch construction. (FromOcheïdir, by kind permission of Dr. Reuther.)
Fig. 2.Arch construction. (FromOcheïdir, by kind permission of Dr. Reuther.)
The great hall, to the south of room 4, is the largest chamber in the palace. It is 15·50 metres long by 7 metres wide, but its width is increased on either side by arched recesses 1·40 metres deep and from 2·20 metres to 2·30 metres wide (Plate 14, Fig. 1). These recesses, five on either side, are separated from one another by squat engaged columns set against piers which are ·80 metre deep. The columns carry rectangular impost-capitals from which spring the shallow slightly pointed semi-domes, or calottes, which cover the recesses. The capitals are very roughly constructed of small stones. There are traces of a shallow abacus, while a cavetto moulded in plaster seems to have been interposed between capital and shaft. At the corners a triangular stone adjusted the circle of the column to the square of the abacus, and the whole was no doubt covered with plaster. The abacus projection runs back along the walls of the niche and above it the calotte springs from another small projection (Plate 15, Figs. 1 and 2). The calottes are bracketed over the angles, the construction being the same as that described in the dome of room 4. All the niches of Ukhaiḍir are treated in like fashion. The method employed in constructing the archivolts is admirably described by Dr. Reuther.[17]The face of the arch is formed by a permanent centering composed of gypsum and reeds. The vaulting takes place, not above the centering but between the two centering arches, the vault being built in vertical rings (Fig. 2). When the arches are of wide span an outer ring of horizontal voussoirs is added to the inner arch. This system is common in Mesopotamia to the present day, and is found frequently at Ukhaiḍir. In the great hall there are holes for wooden beams below the abacus of the capitals and in the spandrels of the arches. The northern recess on the east side is open and gives access to a ramp which leads to the first floor. The second, third, andfifth recesses contain low doors covered by a segmental arch. On the west side similar doors are set in the first, third, fourth, and fifth recesses, the last named giving access to a stair (Plate 15, Fig. 2). The calotte archivolts at their highest point are 3·50 metres above the present level of the floor. The wall is carried up for another 1·25 metres, where there is a double outset from its face. Above this outset the stone vault runs up perpendicularly for about ·80 metre and the remainder of the vault is of brick (Plate 14, Fig. 2). For a height of about 1·50 metres the brick tiles are laid horizontally, but when the curve of the vault increases the bricks are set upright in vertical rings. The vault thus formed is built without centering; it has a slightly pointed, ovoid shape and is much stilted. The north wall remains intact and its scheme of decoration is instructive (Plate 16, Fig. 1). The arched door, 3·50 metres high, is set back within a niche 1 metre deep. About ·90 metre above the arch of the door stands a very shallow calotte covering the niche. The face of the calotte is recessed, which enhances its decorative value by giving it a double outline. As Dr. Reuther has observed,[18]the calotte is not ‘the segment of a pointed dome, but its curve in horizontal section springs sharply back from the face of the archivolt and flattens rapidly behind. Thereby the effect of the shadow is strongly felt at the edge, and the calotte seems to be deeper and more markedly vaulted than it is in reality’. At the base of the calotte there is a small niche which has been broken through owing to the partial ruin of the dome behind it.[19]In the wall on either side of the calotte there is a shallow arched niche. The arch is carried on pairs of engaged columns and is enclosed in a rectangular label. Above the calotte are the three windows of the first floor room, 88, covered by segmental arches. The windows are framed by engaged columns which carry stilted round-arched calottes. The south wall of the great hall is partly ruined. The doorway seems to have been of the same proportions as the door in the north wall, but it was not set back within a niche. The small decorative niches reappear on either side, and there were probably three windows opening into room 101 in the upper story, indeed on the west side the window jamb can still be seen. Even with these windows the great hall must have been most insufficiently lighted, since neither its doors nor its windows open directly on to the exterior of the building. To the south lay the small rectangular chamber, No. 27, which was probably, as Dr. Reuther suggests, covered by a dome similar to the dome of No. 4. It opens to east and west into the vaulted corridor 28, and on the south into the central court.
Holes for wooden beams can be seen on the north wall of the great hall, two on either side of the portal niche, one on either side of the shallow decorative niches, and one on either side of the group of windows. On the south wall they have been somewhat differently disposed, one on either side of the doorat the level of the arch, one almost immediately above, higher than the top of the arch, and three higher up still, following the curve of the vault (Plate 14, Fig. 2).
The masses of masonry on either side of the vault are lightened by the tubes which are characteristic of the vaulting system of Ukhaiḍir (sectiona-b, Plate 4, Fig. 1). One of these tubes pierces the wall on either side, partly above the calottes of the recesses. On the east side the opening of this tube can be seen high up in the wall of the corridor 28; on the west side the tube is not visible owing to the interposition of a stair behind the corridor, but there can be no doubt that it exists. Again towards the top of the vault there is another pair of tubes. The western of these two can be seen through a breach in the wall of the stair which leads from room 89 to the second floor; I infer its eastern counterpart. The vault of the great hall is buttressed by the vaults of the chambers of the ground floor and of the first floor which lie at right angles to it.
The wings of the three-storied block, of which the great hall forms the centre, are bounded to the north by the two vaulted corridors 5 and 6 (Plate 17, Fig. 1), the western corridor, 5, being 34 metres long, and the eastern, 6, 34·90 metres long. The vaults are constructed in the usual fashion, oversailing the wall and built of thin slabs of stone, laid vertically in concentric, slightly pointed rings. The corridors lead into the palace yard. The door of the west corridor is much ruined. The door of the east corridor is set in a niche surmounted by a shallow calotte, of which the archivolt is slightly pointed. Below the calotte, between it and the arch of the door, is a second small arched niche, connected by the usual funnel with the top of the door arch. The calotte is outlined by a singular decoration composed of a crenellated motive.[20]The crenellated motive is common in the ornament of Ukhaiḍir and elsewhere, but I am not acquainted with any other example of its application to the archivolt.
To the south of the east corridor runs a vaulted ramp, a sloping passage from the great hall to the first floor. To the south of the ramp lie two groups of three vaulted chambers. In the inner group, Nos. 12, 13, and 14, the rooms are 7 metres long with an average width of 3·50 metres. They are separated from each other by walls 1 metre thick, and communicate with each other by doors covered by ovoid arches set back from the jambs. Each room possesses a door into the great hall, but since the position of these doors is determined by that of the recesses in the hall, which do not correspond with the rooms behind them, the doors are never in the centre of the rooms, and in one case, No. 13, the side wall is narrowed to allow space for the door. The wall which separates the rooms from the recesses of the great hall is 1·50 metres thick. A door at the east end of each room leads into the corresponding room of thesecond group. In this group the rooms 15, 16, and 17, while they have the same width as those of the first group, are considerably shorter, measuring only 4·80 metres. They communicate with each other and with the vaulted passage, 20. Room 17 has further a door in the north wall, which leads into the small vaulted room, No. 18, and this in turn is connected with a still smaller room, No. 19. Nos. 18 and 19 lie under the ramp, and No. 19 is in consequence extremely low. None of the chambers above described are provided with windows; what light they possess filters in through the doors. Nos. 12, 13, and 14 are therefore exceedingly dark, and must have been darker still when the south wall of the great hall was intact. Nos. 18 and 19 are totally unillumined, and for this reason, and on account of the inconvenience of their low vaults, it may be presumed that they were not used for dwelling purposes.
Fig. 3.Arch construction. (FromOcheïdir, by kind permission of Dr. Reuther.)
Fig. 3.Arch construction. (FromOcheïdir, by kind permission of Dr. Reuther.)
Fig. 3.Arch construction. (FromOcheïdir, 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 courtAthrough 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. CourtA, 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 courtAlie 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 courtAspace 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 archesthe 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 arcadeshows, 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 (sectiona-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 courtAlie 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 courtAthe 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 widedoorway 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 courtA, 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 courtA, 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 endof 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 ofOcheïdirsuggest, 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 partof 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 arevisible 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,BandC, with their living-rooms on the east side; two exactly similar courts,GandH, 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 roundto the south of the chambers dependent on the central court, and runs from east to west between them and courtEwith 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 smallniche 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 outwardstowards 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 (sectione-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 westernvault 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 (sectione-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 ofOcheïdirI 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.