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]
East of the lîwân group on the north side of court B there is a stair, and still further east a narrow passage within the outer wall. A small door in the north-east corner of the side chamber, 46, gives access to an unlighted blind passage under the stair. The stair runs up to a landing-place which is connected by a low doorway with a small chamber situated above the eastern passage. Another door leads into a gangway hollowed out of the thickness of the outer wall, and from this gangway a door leads into a tiny circular room in the outer towers. I did not determine whether the gangway in the wall runs on interruptedly from court to court. On the whole, as Dr. Reuther has observed, this would seem to be improbable since the strict isolation of the courts is in all other respects preserved. Almost exactly above the entrance to the stair (an awkward piece of construction) sprang the first arch of the arcade which flanked the court from north to south. In every court this arcade has fallen, but on the south side of court H a portion of the first arch remains, together with the vault behind it (Plate 35, Fig. 2). I cleared away the ruins at the south end of this arcade and found the remains of the first column at a distance of 2·40 metres from the south wall. The arcade must therefore have been composed of four columns carrying five arches, corresponding with the blind arcade on the opposite wall. The massive stone vaulting of Ukhaiḍir was not suited to free standing arcades, and, as has been noticed in the mosque, when the wooden cross-beams perished, their collapse was inevitable.
To return to court B. The passage already mentioned, running parallel with the outer wall, leads into an oblong room, 47, 3·55 metres wide, which lies from east to west across the back of the lîwân group and the stair. This room is vaulted at either end but is left open near the centre (Plate 35, Fig. 3). The same oblong room is found behind the southern lîwân group of court B, and behind each of the lîwân groups in courts C, G, and H. In every case the vault next to the outer wall is pierced by a pair of terra-cotta pipes similar to the pipes described in No. 37. It is probable, as I shall show later (p. 82) that these rooms were intended for kitchens. On the south side of court B there is no stair; above the vault of the passage which leads into the oblong room, 51, there is a blind corridor accessible from No. 50 by a door placed in the east wall, some 2 metres from the ground. This door must have been approached by a wooden ladder or steps, but I climbed up into it over a heap of ruins. On the west side the antechamber of No. 49 is provided with a door into corridor 28. Immediately to the south of this door a wall, broken by a doorway, has been built across the corridor. This wall is a later addition; it is not bonded into the walls of the corridor, and it does not occur in the corresponding west arm.
Court C differs from court B in the absence of antechambers to the lîwân groups (Plate 33, Figs. 3 and 4). The lîwân opens into the court through a wide pointed arch carried on engaged columns; the side chambers are provided with doorways into the court, covered by ovoid arches set back from the jambs (Plate 36, Fig. 2), and the façade thus formed corresponds exactly with the façades of the court on the top floor of the three-storied block. Near the south-east corner of court C there is an arched doorway leading into the palace yard (Plate 37, Fig. 1). In the oblong chamber, 60, behind the southern lîwân group, the south wall is occupied by a blind arcade of four arches borne by piers 1·10 metres wide and 1·05 metres deep. A similar blind arcade occurs in the corresponding chamber of court G, and indeed, except for slight variations in the measurements, the only difference between courts C and G is that in the latter there is no door into the palace yard. In the same way court H re-echoes court B save that in court H there is no doorway between the southern antechamber, 82, and the corridor 28 (Plate 37, Fig. 3).
The arrangement of the rooms in court E is not symmetrical. On the east side court E is curtailed by the small oblong room, 61, and an open court, D. No. 61 is a continuation of the east arm of the corridor 28. It measures 5·25 metres from north to south and 3·50 metres from east to west. The square for the brick groin with which it is roofed is obtained by laying a transverse arch to north and south. It opens by two arched doors, divided by a pier, into court D, which measures 10 metres from north to south and 9·20 metres from east to west. In the south wall there is an arched doorway into the palace yard. To the east of court E there is space for one chamber only (62) and a winding stair which leads to the roof. On the west side there are two chambers, 67 and 68, communicating with one another and with the court. To the south of 67 there is a narrow passage (Plate 37, Fig. 2) which leads into an oblong room, 69, similar in all respects to the oblong rooms behind the lîwân groups in courts B, C, G, and H.[28] Between the barrel vaults of 67 and 68 and the south arm of corridor 28 are the usual tubes. The doorways of 67 and 68 are covered with ovoid arches set back from the jambs, but the opening into the narrow southern passage follows the line of the vault and oversails the wall. Above the vault of the passage there is an inaccessible passage or tube which exists for structural reasons only. To the south of court E lies a lîwân with its side chambers, the lîwân, 64, opening into the court by a wide archway, the side chambers by small doors, as in courts C and G. Finally, the space between 65 and 69 is filled up by a fourth room, 66, which communicates with 65 and with the narrow passage. Tubes are laid between all the barrel vaults of these rooms.[29]
The whole building above described is enclosed on three sides by a wall 1·60 metres thick, set with towers 2·40 metres in diameter which project 1·80 metres from the face of the wall (Plate 38, Fig. 1).[30] Through the upper part of the wall runs the low, vaulted, and unlighted gangway which has already been mentioned (Plate 39, Fig. 1). It is no more than a tube between the wall and the vaults that adjoin the wall, but it serves to give access to the round chambers hollowed out of the towers. Access to the roof can be obtained at three points, the stair at the south-east angle of the central court, the stair at the south-east angle of court F, and the stair at the south-east angle of court E. Further, the three doors out of the first floor rooms 99, 102, and 106 open on to the roof of the single-storied block. There are traces of a narrow parapet round the edge of the roof, and the different courts seem to have been divided from one another and from the corridor 28 by low walls on the roof (Plate 38, Fig. 2).
One other building stands within the palace yard, the group of rooms 140-152 to the east of the main palace. It is a later addition, though it resembles the rest of the palace too closely to admit of its having been added after the lapse of any considerable period of time. The north façade is prolonged beyond the chambers at either side, and is joined at the east end to one of the pilasters of the outer wall and at the west end to one of the towers of the inner wall, but it is not bonded in to the pilaster or to the tower. The northern end of the palace yard is thus divided off into a large court, which bears the same relation to the east annex as does the central court to the ceremonial chambers to the south of it. The stair to the first floor of the main palace was placed in this court, and it was approached from the main entrance through corridor 6. At the south-east corner the east annex does not connect with the angle of the east gate staircase, but is divided from it by an interval of ·30 metre.
The group of rooms 140-152 (the east annex) resembles in its main lines the group 29-42, south of the central court, and must have been intended for the same purposes. The north façade is decorated with blind arcades projecting ·25 metre from the face of the wall (Plate 39, Fig. 2). The ovoid arches, which contain very shallow calottes, are carried by engaged columns having a diameter of ·40 metre. A recessed polygon was placed in the spandrels. The arcade is best preserved at the west end, and it is there possible to see that a narrow cornice, consisting of a single course of stones, ran along the wall above the arches, and that above the cornice the top of the wall was adorned with small arched niches, borne on stumpy half-columns and separated from one another by larger engaged columns (compare the top of the outer north wall of the palace and the top of the north façade of the central court). At the west end of the façade, in the first intercolumniation of the blind arcade, there is a gateway 1·90 metres wide, covered by a pointed arch. A similar gateway seems to have existed in the second intercolumniation from the east end, but the façade here is much ruined. The north wall of rooms 140, 142, and 145 has fallen (Plate 39, Fig. 3). There can be no doubt that access was obtained to the lîwân, 140, by a wide archway, as in the case of the corresponding lîwân, 29, south of the central court. I saw no trace of a north door into chambers 142 and 145, though in all probability it existed. The lîwân, 140, is 5·40 metres wide by 10·50 metres long. Like the lîwân 29, it has two doors on each side and a door in the south wall. It is, however, vaulted in stone, not in brick, and the vault does not rise above the level of those on either side. The door-jambs are enriched with shallow pilasters, ·18 metre wide and ·4 metre deep, worked in stucco (Plate 40, Fig. 2). They do not carry an arch over the archivolt of the door. In the side doors the archivolt cuts into the line of the oversailing vault which is carried over them. Above the south door there is a high narrow arched window, giving additional light to room 141. On either side of the door is placed a shallow arched niche, 1 metre wide and ·5 metre deep. The arch is filled in with a calotte, the lower edge of which is sunk behind the face of the wall. To the west of 140 are two vaulted chambers, 142 and 143, communicating with one another and with a similar chamber, 144, lying further to the south. The vaults of 142, 143, and 144 are set at right angles to the vaults of 140 and 141, so as to form buttresses to them. On the east side the same arrangement is observed in rooms 145, 146, and 147. These six chambers correspond to the more elaborate chambers 31, 32, 33, and 40, 41, 42 of the main palace. No. 141 (which corresponds with No. 30) is provided with four doors, one in the middle of each side. It was covered, not by a barrel vault, but by a stone groined vault, which has now fallen (Plate 41, Fig. 1). The chambers east and west of 141 (Nos. 144 and 147; compare the columned rooms of the main palace) communicate with the yard on either side and also with the vaulted passage or antechamber 148. Into this passage (Plate 41, Fig. 2; compare No. 36 of the main palace) the south door of No. 141 opens. The vault of the passage has fallen. It was no doubt carried on the south side by columns and arches like No. 36. There are no chambers to east and west of the passage, but on either side of the open space to the south of it were two chambers, 149 and 150 to the west, 151 and 152 to the east. They communicated with one another and with the yard to the north, as well as with the corridor south of 141. Their vaults ran east and west. No. 150 has fallen almost completely and No. 152 is much ruined.[31] A doorway in No. 148 gives access to a stair which leads down into an underground room lying beneath Nos. 144, 143, and 142 (section e-f, Plate 5, Fig. 1). It is lighted by three splayed windows in the north wall; under the windows there is an arched niche or tâqchah. To the west of No. 142 there is a ruined chamber which contained a stair leading to the roof. Thus the analogy with the block of rooms Nos. 29-42 is complete even to the serdâb and the stair to the roof.
The vault construction in the east annex shows a variation from that of the main palace. Instead of the long tubes running parallel with the barrel vaults, the masonry between the parallel barrel vaults of the annex is lightened by short compartments set at right angles to the vaults. Plate 39, Fig. 3, shows this construction between the vaults of 143 and 146 and the ruined vaults of 142 and 145; Plate 42, Fig. 1, the same construction between the vaults 144, 141, and 147, and the ruined vault of the passage 148. This system is an improvement upon the tubular scheme, inasmuch as it fills in the space between the vaults more completely and gives greater solidity to the roof. Moreover, it has the advantage of leaving no long inaccessible tubes to serve as a home for birds and snakes. The decorative effect of the openings of the tubes is lost, but it was not needed in the blank east and west walls of the annex, nor yet in the arcaded north wall.
The fact that a similar system of small compartments is to be observed in the building outside the palace to the north (though they are here laid parallel to the barrel vaults) leads me to suspect that it must have been built at about the same period, and is therefore a later addition to the original plan. It is completely detached from the palace, but it stands in line with the west wall of the palace and parallel to the north wall (Plate 43, Figs. 1 and 2). It is separated by a distance of 13·25 metres from the face of the arcades of the north wall. It was itself constructed at two different periods. The older portion lies to the south, nearest to the palace, and consists of a large open court, J, 33·20 metres from north to south and 24·80 metres from east to west, flanked on the east side by six vaulted rooms. The southernmost of these six rooms, 153, is 9·55 metres from north to south and 7·80 metres from east to west. It is separated from court J by a wall 1 metre thick, but on the east side its wall is 1·90 metres thick and shows upon the exterior traces of an outer stair, leading to the roof, which passed over the wide arched opening in the east wall. The vault, which must have stood two stories high, like the vault of the great hall, has fallen. The remaining rooms, 154-158, have doors in the east wall and small loopholed windows in the west wall (Plate 42, Fig. 2). The rooms are divided across the centre by a transverse arch and vaulted in two compartments, the vaults running east and west. Court J had a cloister upon the west side; it has entirely disappeared, but the spring of its vault is visible on the inner side of the west wall. Probably the vault was carried on the east side by columns and arches. Four round towers project at irregular intervals from the exterior of the west wall (Plate 44, Figs. 1 and 2); they have the same diameter as the towers in the outer palace wall. The southernmost is about 3·40 metres from the southern angle of the court—an exact measurement is difficult because the angle of the wall is ruined. The next tower lies 5·65 metres to the north of the first; an interval of 7·35 metres separates it from the third tower, and the third tower is 10·70 metres from the larger tower at the north-west angle of the court. The angle tower contains a winding stair. The three smaller towers seem to be a later addition to the wall; they bear no relation to the three doors, and they block some of the windows. The windows are placed in groups of three, two groups between the south-west angle and the first door, one group between the first and second, and the second and third doors, and two groups between the third door and the angle tower. There are traces of a similar group in the north wall immediately to the east of the angle tower, and the straight face at the east end of the north wall gives reason to believe that there was a group of windows here also. The north wall is much ruined, and the ruin heaps are covered with blown sand. The arches of the windows are carried by engaged columns.[32]
To the north of room 158, and in a line with it, lie nine vaulted chambers which were added at a later date (Plate 44, Fig. 2). They are separated from No. 158 by a stair running up to the roof, with a doorway to the west. At the east end there is a small room under the top of the stair with a loophole window in the east wall. From this room, which is accessible from No. 159, a stair, now completely ruined, led down into a substructure. Nos. 159 and 160 are 4 metres broad; they are covered by barrel vaults and have a door at either end. No. 161 opens by two doors into No. 162. No. 162 is 4·80 metres broad and is divided across the centre by a transverse arch. East of the transverse arch only half the space is vaulted over. Besides the doors, there are two small windows high up in the north and south wall. In the east and west walls there is a wide archway instead of the usual doors. The five rooms 163-167 resemble in all respects Nos. 159-161. Except over No. 162, where the vault is higher than in the other chambers, the roof of rooms 154-167 is raised above small compartments lying over the barrel vaults (Plate 42, Figs. 2 and 3), and the mass of masonry between the vaults was lightened in the same manner. Slit-like windows appear high up in the east wall between the vaults (not, however, in rooms 153-162), doubtless in connexion with these compartments.
At a considerable distance to the north-east of the palace stands the small building which is known as the Ḥammâm (Plate 5, Fig. 3). Unlike the rest of the palace, it is not oriented. It consists of a long chamber running slightly to the west of north (about 24°), 10·65 metres long by 5·30 wide. It was covered by a vault which has now fallen. The door is on the east side; in the north and south walls there is a deep rectangular niche. A door in the north-east corner leads into a smaller chamber, 4·10 × 3·30 metres. In this building the thrust of the vault over the larger chamber is taken by outer buttresses, the only instance of such construction at Ukhaiḍir. On the east side there is one buttress ·60 metre deep; on the west side three, 1·25 metres deep. A stair leading to the roof ran up over the western buttress.
CHAPTER II
QṢAIR, MUDJḌAH, AND ‘AṬSHÂN
QṢAIR
Among gypsum hillocks, about an hour’s ride to the north-east of Ukhaiḍir, lie the ruins of a village known to the Arabs as Qṣair.[33] There have been here a number of small houses, possibly lodgings for the gypsum workers, and I noticed several deep rectangular tanks, though whether they were intended for the storage of water, or were connected with the process of gypsum working, I do not know. Broken pottery was scattered sparsely over the ruin heaps; most of it was unglazed, but there were also fragments of blue glazed ware and a few pieces with a black glaze on the inner side. Such sherds as these are to be found on every site, mediaeval or modern, in Mesopotamia, and do not offer any conclusive evidence as to date. One large building is standing in ruins (Plate 5, Fig. 4). It lies approximately north-east by south-west and has been enclosed by a wall of sun-dried brick, set with towers. On two sides this wall was clearly visible; it lay thirty-two paces from the central edifice on the north-east and one hundred and ten paces from it on the south-west side. The ‘little castle’, from which Qṣair takes its modern name, is a long narrow building 45·15 × 8·95 metres. The walls, 1 metre thick, are constructed of stones and gypsum mortar, but the masonry is slightly different in character from that of Ukhaiḍir. The stones, instead of being broken into thin slabs, are used in thicker blocks, and the binding courses are of the same blocks, whereas at Ukhaiḍir they are almost always composed of particularly thin slabs. There are traces of plaster upon the walls, but window and niche angles are finished with large blocks cut with a certain amount of care, another feature which is not to be observed in the smaller materials of Ukhaiḍir. The north-east end of the building was divided off by a wide archway, of which only the returns in the walls remain. The chamber thus formed (6·30 metres long by 5·95 metres wide) was finished by a niche covered by a shallow ovoid calotte. The niche is rectangular in plan, 1·26 metres deep by 3·25 metres wide. The calotte was carried over the angles by shallow squinches, of which the archivolt was decorated with a zigzag ornament in plaster,[34] while at the base of the calotte there has been a similar band of plaster ornament. The construction of this niche recalls with fidelity the terminal semi-dome of a room in the Umayyad castle of Kharâneh (see below, p. 114). Above the calotte there is a small rectangular window (Plate 45, Figs. 1 and 2). The back wall of the niche is exceedingly thin (·45 metre thick) and has in consequence broken away. There is a window high up in each of the side walls of the chamber, ·50 metre from the transverse arch.
The remainder of the building appears to have consisted of a single chamber 33·10 metres long. The south-west end is very much ruined. There are traces of five doors on either side, and of a door in the south-west wall. The two doors in either side wall at the north-west end of the chamber were flanked by windows—probably there were more windows, though the ruined condition of the wall makes it difficult to speak with certainty. As regards the roof, there are remains of the spring of a vault in the north-east chamber and on the south-west side of the southern return of the transverse arch. On the exterior, at the north-east end, the wall is set back above the top of the calotte, and immediately below that level the east corner is sliced off diagonally, so as to form a triangular niche which has been partly covered by thin slabs (Plate 45, Fig. 3). Above the level of the calotte the angles of the building on either side appear to have been similarly sliced off. The side windows of the north-east chamber are rounded at the top, but the openings are so small that it was not necessary to construct these arches with voussoirs, and they are merely cut out of the masonry of the wall. The archivolt of the north-east niche is composed of a single row of voussoirs laid horizontally, as is the case in some of the more roughly built arches at Ukhaiḍir (for instance the door of passage 137, Plate 24, Fig. 2). None of the doorways are preserved up to the height of lintel or arch.
I am inclined to suppose that this building was connected in some way with the working of the gypsum. It is possible that it may belong to the same period as Ukhaiḍir.
MUDJḌAH
I sighted the tower of Mudjḍah from the top of the ṭâr east of Ukhaiḍir[35] (Plate 46, Fig. 1). It stands in the level desert which stretches east to the Hindiyyeh; there are no ruins in its vicinity, nor any evidence of water storage (Plate 47, Fig. 2). The tower is built of bricks measuring ·27 × ·27 × ·7 metre. It rests upon a base of 4·35 metres square and 2·85 metres high, each side of which is adorned with three rectangular niches ·20 metre deep and ·36 metre wide. Each niche is covered by a triply recessed arch, roughly constructed of half-bricks set in rings, not as voussoirs (Plate 47, Fig. 3). Above the square niched substructure the tower is circular, and for a height of about 2 metres the wall is plain. On the east side, above the central niche of the substructure, is placed a door (Plate 47, Fig. 1). The arch of the door, which is set in the second decorated zone of the tower, consists of a double row of half-bricks laid vertically and an outer belt of brick voussoirs laid horizontally. Each of the three members of the arch is recessed behind the other, the outer voussoirs being flush with the face of the wall. The door gives access to a winding stair, ·60 metre wide, which leads to the top of the tower. The second decorated zone consists of a band of rectangular flutings, forming a zigzag in plan. Two courses above these flutings there is a course of bricks laid corner-wise so as to constitute a dog-tooth motive. The wall is then carried up for another six courses in plain masonry, above which lies a second course of brick dog-tooths. The succeeding zone is adorned with eight triply recessed niches with rectangular heads. After four more courses of plain brickwork there is a third course of dog-tooths, and on the west side of the tower five courses of plain brickwork are preserved above the dog-tooths. That there was at least one other decorated zone seems certain. If my theory is correct, that the tower was intended as a landmark for caravans passing over this flat expanse from Nedjef to ‘Ain al-Tamr, it is important to observe that at its present height it is not visible from ‘Aṭshân, which is the nearest caravanserai to the east of Mudjḍah.
For purposes of comparison, I will set beside the tower of Mudjḍah a minaret, as yet unpublished, belonging to a ruined mosque at Ṭâûq, south of Kerkûk (Plate 48, Fig. 1). This minaret stood upon a low square base of which the surface of the brickwork is decayed. Upon this base was placed an octagon divided into three decorated zones; the first and third are furnished with eight small arched niches, the central zone with eight larger niches, each one being recessed behind a rectangular frame of masonry. The remainder of the minaret is round and is adorned with broad alternating bands of brickwork, zigzags and diamonds, the latter being slightly recessed. The door is placed high up above the octagon and has no apparent means of access; probably it was approached from the top of the mosque. The summit of the minaret has fallen; of the mosque nothing remains but low mounds, and I know no record of its construction. Ṭâûq is not mentioned by the earlier Arab geographers.[36] Rich saw there a small gateway, the architecture of which he compares with the Mustanṣiriyyeh at Baghdâd,[37] dated A.D. 1233, and the brickwork zigzags of the minaret are not unlike the decoration of the minaret in the Sûq al-Ghazl at Baghdâd, which may have been built about the same time as the Mustanṣiriyyeh or a little earlier.[38] This is the period to which I should assign the minaret of Ṭâûq, but the tower of Mudjḍah must belong to an earlier age. Instead of the broad ogee of the arches in the Ṭâûq niches, the arches in the lower zone of niches at Mudjḍah are round, or as nearly round as their primitive construction would permit. The rectangular flutings are characteristic of a group of Persian monuments which are dated by Professor Sarre from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries,[39] but the prototype is to be found in two minarets of an older period, the towers of Ghazni, one of which was built by Maḥmûd of Ghazni (A.D. 947-1030) and the other by his immediate successor.[40]
‘AṬSHÂN
Two hours’ ride to the south-east of Mudjḍah is the ruined caravanserai which the Arabs call ‘Aṭshân, the Thirsty—the name is well deserved, for there is no water nearer than the Hindiyyeh.[41] It is not exactly oriented, but faces approximately north (Plate 46, Fig. 2). It is built of brick tiles varying from ·31 × ·31 × ·7 metre to ·32 × ·32 × ·8 metre and sometimes as large as ·34 metre square. The walls enclose an area 29 metres square; they are 1·80 metres thick, and are strengthened at the angles by round towers, 4·10 metres in diameter, projecting 1·90 metres from the face of the walls, as well as by smaller towers 2·75 metres in diameter which are placed in the centre of the east, west, and south walls. The small towers have the same projection as the angle towers. In the centre of the north wall is the gate, which is pierced through a double tower having a projection of 3·10 metres from the face of the wall. The gate towers are preserved up to a considerably greater height than the other towers (Plate 48, Fig. 2), but the systematic levelling of the walls and towers is probably due to brick-robbers, and there is nothing to indicate their original height. Even the gate-house towers have been higher than they are at present (Plate 49, Fig. 1). The west wall has fallen, carrying with it the south-west tower and all the constructions in the interior which ran along this side. The whole edifice looks as if it had been terribly shaken by earthquake; great cracks have sprung open in the solid masonry; the north-east tower leans outward and is on the point of falling.
The north doorway is set back ·75 metre within the segments of the flanking towers.[42] The doorway is 1·35 metres wide and opens into a small chamber, 2·40 metres square, which is covered by a barrel vault. The inner doorway is set back within an arched niche (Plate 49, Fig. 2). To the west, a small opening has been pierced through the wall (it can be seen in Plate 49, Figs. 1 and 2), but it has been formed merely by removing the bricks of the wall and bears no sign of having existed in the original plan. The arches over the outer doorway and over the interior niche are composed of a course and a half of tiles laid vertically and an outer ring of brick voussoirs laid horizontally. The gateway leads into an irregular courtyard which has been surrounded on three sides by chambers. Near the centre of the court there is a brick tank, 2·90 by 3·25 metres. This seems to have been the only provision which was made for water. A row of chambers 3·50 metres wide lies along the west wall. No. 1 is 5·80 metres long and has been roofed with a barrel vault running north and south. No. 2 has a length of 3·75 metres and was vaulted from east to west. No. 3 is 9·10 metres long and No. 4 is 4·15 metres long. There is no door between Nos. 3 and 4. In the latter room a space of ·80 metre is left open upon the east side and the remainder of the chamber is covered with a barrel vault lying east and west. Judging from the analogy of similar rooms at Ukhaiḍir, No. 4 was probably the kitchen. No. 3 seems to have communicated with the court by a door in the north-west corner. Parallel to it lies the vaulted lîwân, No. 5, 4·90 metres wide (Plate 50, Figs, 1 and 2). At its southern end a door, placed in a wide and shallow niche, opens into No. 6. No. 6 communicates both with No. 4 and with the long, partially ruined hall, No. 7. The doorway between 6 and 7, 2·05 metres wide (the arch has broken away), is placed within a niche 1·45 metres deep which is covered by the segment of a semi-dome (Plate 51, Fig. 2). The semi-dome is laid across the angles by means of masonry brackets which must have borne a very strong resemblance to pendentives. The horizontal courses are carried up in the centre of the semi-dome for three courses, each shorter than the one below, and round this pyramidal core the brickwork of the semi-dome is laid concentrically.[43] To the south, the door niche is carried back beyond the width of the semi-dome, forming a small vaulted recess. No. 7 seems to have been provided with a door opening on to the court, but the western end of the north wall is completely ruined. A very narrow door under the semi-dome gave access to room 8, which could also be approached from the court by an arched door in the west wall (Plate 52, Fig. 1). No. 8, 2·90 by 5·75 metres, lies parallel to No. 7, and is roofed with a barrel vault. In the west wall, north of the door, there is an arched niche, ·54 metre deep, and a similar niche is placed in the north wall. The main interest of No. 8 is the decoration on the exterior. On the west wall a simple and effective pattern is produced by laying a couple of rows of brick tiles face outwards at intervals along the top of the wall, and below these, north of the door, a rectangular tablet was formed, for purely decorative purposes, by inserting 2 or 2½ rows of faced tiles into the wall. The top of the north wall was ornamented with a row of four arched niches (Plate 50, Fig. 2). Small engaged columns, without bases, carry imposts formed of a single brick, from which spring round arches decorated with three fillets in plaster. One of the niches is pierced by a narrow window. The vault construction is very similar to that of Ukhaiḍir. All the vaults oversail the walls by 4 centimetres. The lower part of the vault is composed of from five to nine courses of bricks laid horizontally, the upper of bricks laid vertically. Over the ovoid arch thus formed (it is always a course and a half thick) are carried the horizontal courses of the walls. I looked carefully for any trace of tubes between the parallel vaults, but found none; the masonry seems to be solid in every case. All the door arches, as far as can be determined in their ruined state, were round and sprang flush with the jambs.
The fortress-like character of the khân of ‘Aṭshân, the plan of its gateway, and the details of its construction and decoration incline me to assign to it a date not far removed from that of Ukhaiḍir. The tower of Mudjḍah must stand in intimate connexion with the khân, for I can conceive of no reason for the erection of an isolated tower in the midst of a waterless desert, unless it were intended to serve some purpose on the caravan track from Kûfah to ‘Ain al-Tamr, of which the khân of ‘Aṭshan was the intermediate stage.[44] I would suggest that neither khân nor tower can be dated much later than the ninth century; both are valuable and interesting examples of early Mohammadan architecture of the age, or at least of the school, to which Ukhaiḍir itself belongs.
CHAPTER III
QAṢR-I-SHÎRÎN
The general disposition of the Sasanian ruins at Qaṣr-i-Shîrîn has been given by M. de Morgan, and the plan of the two principal buildings, the palace of Khusrau and the palace (if palace it were) of Chehâr Qapû, both of which I examined, appear in the same volume.[45] It is quite possible that the ruins may have suffered to a certain extent during the years which elapsed between M. de Morgan’s visit and my own, and this may account for the omission in my plans of some features which are shown by him. Nowhere did I observe stucco decorations in so good a state of preservation as that which is depicted in his Figure 208. I have, however, compared my photographs with those published by him and found no very noticeable differences. Moreover, it will be observed that such details as are absent from my plans are usually indicated hypothetically on those of the French mission, and it is therefore doubtful how much of them was actually seen and how much was conjectural. A very little excavation would determine whether these conjectures are correct. It is much to be regretted that I had not the French plans with me, as I might have been able to form some more definite opinion as to the value of the proposed restorations. As it is I must content myself with recording that which I saw above ground.
THE PALACE OF KHUSRAU
The larger edifice, which is known as the palace of Khusrau (i.e. Chosroës II, Parwêz, A.D. 590-628), is not built upon a single level. The central part is raised above the plain by means of a solid platform of earth some 3 metres high. The terribly ruined state of the buildings made it difficult to take elevation measurements which should approach to accuracy; I have therefore endeavoured to give a correct impression of the structures upon the two levels by reproducing the plan in two parts. In the one (Plate 53) the upper rooms and courts are given; the uncovered areas on the upper level are lightly tinted, the covered rooms are dotted, while the buildings on the lower level are shown only in outline. In the other (Plate 54) the upper level is left in outline and the covered and open areas of the lower level are fully indicated.
The palace is exactly oriented, the main rooms and entrance facing east. The building materials are undressed stones laid in a thick bed of gypsum mortar. The stones are used exactly in the shape in which they were furnished by nature, a shape which happened to be that of large rounded pebbles. With such materials accurately coursed masonry is not to be expected. The core of the walls is no more than a mass of concrete with stones bedded at haphazard in the strong gypsum mortar. On the outer surface of the wall, particularly in important chambers, the pebbles are, however, coursed with considerable care, but the face of the walls is necessarily very rough and must always have been covered with plaster. The vaults are constructed of the same unfavourable materials. They were built over a centering on which was laid an inner skin of stones and mortar; when this had hardened it was strong enough to bear the mass of concrete which was built round and above it. Construction of this kind would have been impossible but for the excellent qualities of the mortar. I observed that the vaults both in this palace and at Chehâr Qapû had almost invariably a slight outset from the wall (Plate 52, Fig. 2), as is generally the case in Sasanian vault building, whether in brick or in stone. The vaults are round or slightly ovoid, except in the lower corridor, under the margin of the platform (Plate 54, Corridor 103). Here the vaults are very markedly pointed (Plate 51, Fig. 1), but I should attribute this form not to any conscious predilection for the pointed arch—an arch which was, so far as I am aware, unknown to Sasanian architects—but to an accident inherent in the rude construction of an unimportant part of the building. Occasionally brick was used. I saw fragments of brick among the ruins of the palace of Khusrau, and in Chehâr Qapû some brick vaults are still standing. The walls which were intended to support these massive stone roofs were seldom less than 1·30 metres thick, and sometimes considerably thicker. (In Chehâr Qapû, however, they are not infrequently reduced to a thickness of little over a metre.)
The eastern end of the platform is devoid of constructions. It is accessible by means of three double ramps which will be described in dealing with the lower level of the palace. Excluding the width of the ramps, the open platform is 149 metres long (reckoning it up to the east wall of chambers 21, 22, and 23) and 98 metres wide. The main gateway of the palace is much ruined. The hall or porch which is numbered 1 on the plan is indicated by two grass-grown mounds, 26·60 metres long by about 5·40 metres broad, leaving a space of about 9·80 metres between. Another mound lying north and south marks the eastern limit of No. 2. At either end of this latitudinal chamber there were traces of cross walls, which I have shown on the plan. Upon the eastern mound I saw through the grass circular patches of brick which may have been the remains of columns. Whether No. 1 was flanked on either side by columns, as M. de Morgan has represented it to have been, I have no means of determining, but I have little doubt that it was a covered porch of some kind leading to a latitudinal chamber, No. 2, which was some 45 metres long (between the cross-walls) by 17 metres wide, and that this chamber was a covered antechamber to the hall of audience, No. 3. The hall (3) is 27·20 metres square; the walls are ruined down to the level of the side door arches, and the interior is filled with ruins to the depth of about 1 metre—judging by the present ground-level in the doorways (Plate 55, Figs. 1 and 2). At each corner of the hall, 2·90 metres from the walls on either side, there are the remains of a pier, 1·40 metres square, with two engaged columns projecting about 1 metre and producing a heart-shaped ground-plan. The pier at the south-west corner is tolerably well preserved, and there can be no doubt as to its form. The eastern wall of the hall is 4·35 metres thick and is broken by a single door 3 metres wide. At the south-east corner a small doorway leads into a short passage, probably vaulted, which gives access to the open platform. On the west side of the hall lies a lîwân (4) 5·10 × 13·15 metres. A door, 1·60 metres wide, opens into court A, but there is no direct communication between the lîwân and its subsidiary chambers. Of these last there are two on either side. To the north, room 5 opens by doors into hall 3 and court A. No. 6 has only one door, opening into a narrow passage (9) which was probably covered by a vault. On the south side No. 7 corresponds exactly with No. 5, while No. 8 opens into No. 7 and not into the corridor 10. These corridors (9 and 10) lead respectively out of the north-west and the south-west corners of hall 3; they are prolonged beyond rooms 6 and 8 and open into court A. Parallel to them run a second pair of corridors (11 and 12) which are two of the main gangways of the palace. No. 11 is 1·80 metres wide. Its eastern end is, so far as I could ascertain, a cul-de-sac, but it may possibly be provided with a door into room 13 (the walls are very much ruined here). A doorway, placed immediately west of the end of corridor 9, leads into court A, and doors on the north side communicate with courts D and E. Corridor 12 is 1·70 metres wide and leads out of hall 3; the arched doorway into the hall is preserved. The only other doorway in this corridor of which I could make certain is one communicating with court I, but in both corridors (11 and 12) the walls are so much ruined that I cannot feel sure that they do not possess more doors. Beyond courts F and J both corridors drop down to the lower level and are then continued to the western limit of court B, where they turn at right angles and unite behind court B, but on the lower level. Whether the descent was accomplished by steps or by a ramp I could not determine, but in No. 12 the vault at this point was well preserved, and I noticed that, as in the stairs and ramps of Ukhaiḍir, it was built not in an inclined plane, but in sections rising one above the other like inverted steps (Plate 56, Fig. 1). East of hall 3 and of the chambers pertaining to it, the remainder of the central area of the palace is occupied by two courts, A and B, 33·90 metres wide, divided from one another by a much ruined cross wall in which there was presumably a door. Court A is 40 metres long from the west wall of the lîwân (4) to the cross-wall; court B is 71·30 metres long from the cross wall to the end of the platform.
To north and south of the central area lie a series of courts with lîwân groups, on the west side courts C and G alone offer slight variations of scheme. In court C there is a lîwân group at either end, the western group being the more important; as will be seen, this is the usual arrangement in the courts on the lower level. There are, besides, three chambers (13, 14, and 15), lying between court C and hall 3. These chambers are almost completely buried under ruin heaps overgrown with grass; I was able to see that No. 13 opened into No. 3 and into court C, but I could not determine the position of the doors in Nos. 14 and 15. Court C measures 21·60 metres from north to south and 19·20 metres from east to west. The western lîwân is 5·20 by 7·25 metres. I would here remark that in all cases the lîwâns open by their full width on to the court, whereas in the French plan the entrance arch is narrowed by short returns in the side walls. The side chambers (17 and 18) do not communicate with the lîwân (a rule which is followed throughout the palace), but have doors only into the court. A door in the west wall of the lîwân (16) leads into a latitudinally placed chamber (19) measuring 5·10 by 14·30 metres, which is separated by a wall at the south end from a small subsidiary chamber, 1·75 metres wide, with which it communicates by a narrow door. There is also a doorway between No. 19 and court D. This group of rooms (16 to 19) occurs unchanged in courts E, G, H and I, and is provided invariably with a posterior court. In one case only, court H, a shallow lîwân group is placed at the west end of the posterior court. All the latitudinal chambers (19, 28, 32, and 42) behind the lîwâns are completely ruined. I conjecture that they were vaulted, but it is possible that they were not wholly covered, like the corresponding chambers behind the lîwâns at Ukhaiḍir. On the analogy of Ukhaiḍir they must have served the purpose of kitchens. I saw no trace in court C of the columns which are placed there in the French plan. At the east end there is a shallow lîwân group (21, 22, and 23), the lîwân being 4 metres deep. To the north of this group lies a short passage leading to a door which communicates with the open platform. A corresponding passage (20), 2·30 metres wide, leads out of the north-west corner of court C, runs along the north side of courts D, E, and F, drops on to the lower level in the same manner as corridors 11 and 12, is continued as far west as they, and then turns off at right angles and joins the cross-passage which connects them. North of court C are two chambers on the upper level (106 and 24). No. 106 is a long passage room with two rectangular arched niches in the south wall, a door at the east end opening on to the platform, and a door at the west end which gives access to a ramp that descends into the exterior park, between the retaining wall to the south and the wall of a chamber on the lower level to the north. In the north wall of No. 106 there is a door leading into No. 24, a much ruined room about 7·50 metres square, and a door further west opening on to the roof of a short passage.
Courts E and F stand in the same relation to one another as courts C and D; court E is the forecourt of a lîwân group with a kitchen (25 to 28); court F is the posterior court. The western wall of court F is the retaining wall of the mound on which the rooms and courts of the upper level are built. Court F, together with No. 28, are omitted in M. de Morgan’s plan, a fact which shows that there must be serious errors in his measurements.
Upon the southern side of the platform, court G is divided from the hall 3 by three chambers (33, 34, and 35) which, like the corresponding chambers north of the hall, are ruined and filled with débris. They appear to have had no communication with the hall. On the south side a door leads from court G into corridor 43, 2·60 metres wide, which corresponds with the northern corridor (20). The western end of court G is occupied by a lîwân group and kitchen (29-32), the latter opening into court H. Court H, 15 metres from east to west, differs, as has been said, from its counterpart court D, in that it is furnished with a shallow lîwân group at its western end. These rooms (36, 37 and 38) are much ruined, but it appeared to me that there was no communication with court I. Court I, 14·20 metres from east to west, and court J, 17·80 metres from east to west, with the lîwân group and kitchen between them, correspond exactly in their arrangement with courts E and F. I do not doubt that all the rooms above described were covered by barrel vaults, but there is no wall on the upper level that stands much more than a metre high, and therefore no vault is preserved.
In the central part of the palace the upper level is prolonged to the western end of court B, but in the wings it ends with courts F and J. Thus it is that the rooms and courts which flank the western end of court B are upon the lower level. They form two complete units, one on either side. The northern unit is composed of courts K and L and rooms 44 to 50. On the east side of court K lies a shallow lîwân group (48, 49, 50), the lîwân being 3·25 metres deep. On the west side the lîwân group differs somewhat from those which have been already described. A narrow antechamber, 2·40 metres deep, is interposed between the lîwân with its side chambers (44, 45, 46) and the court. A wide archway, corresponding with the arch of the lîwân, and two doors, corresponding with the doors of the side chambers, open into court K, but the width of the arch and doors of the antechamber is slightly greater than the width of the arch and doors of the lîwân and its side chambers. The door of 46 is 1·05 metres wide and stands 1·85 metres from the south wall; the corresponding door of the antechamber is 1·70 metres wide and stands 1·30 metres from the south wall. The arch of the lîwân has a width of 5·20 metres; the corresponding arch of the antechamber is 5·80 metres wide. Neither here nor in any other court where the antechamber occurs is it possible to determine the exact relation between the vault of the antechamber and the vault of the lîwân, but the fact that the lîwân arch seems to have been narrower than the antechamber arch (it is only in court K that the measurements can be taken with anything approaching to accuracy) leads me to suppose that the vault of the lîwân cannot have been carried through to the court, as at Ukhaiḍir. In that case the antechamber must have been roofed with a continuous vault laid at right angles to, and possibly higher than, the vault of the lîwân. The antechamber communicates with corridor 11. Courts M and N, on the south side of court B, are the counterpart of courts K and L. The southern end of the antechamber is exceptionally well preserved, and the arched doorway leading into corridor 42 is standing (Plate 56, Fig. 2). Part of the vault of corridor 42 can be seen in Plate 57, Fig. 1.
The cross-passage connecting corridors 20, 11 and 12 affords communication with the western courts, which form three units, all exactly alike, except for slight variations in width. Each unit consists of a pair of courts and two groups of rooms. A shallow lîwân group lies at the east end of each of the forecourts, O, Q, and S (Plate 57, Fig. 2). Doors from the passage are placed in the side chambers of the lîwâns, and corresponding doors open into the courts. As far as I could ascertain the courts communicated with one another, but the division walls are ruined, often down to ground-level, and it is hard to decide between a doorway and a breach. At the west end of the courts stands a more important lîwân group with an antechamber (Plate 58, Figs. 1 and 2, and Plate 59, Fig. 1). In no case is there a door in the back of the lîwân, but communication with the posterior court is provided by means of a narrow vaulted passage (59, 67 and 75) placed to the south of the lîwân group.[46] There is no latitudinal chamber in the posterior courts, but a small additional chamber (58, 66 and 74), possibly for domestic purposes, lies on the northern side of each lîwân group. A corridor (79) leading out of court N bounds these courts to the south, and at right angles to it another corridor (80) bounds them to the west. The outer wall of No. 80 is ruined to the foundations, and I could not see whether there were doorways opening into the park. There were clear traces of doors leading into this corridor from courts P and T. Parallel to No. 79, but wholly separated from it, runs the continuation of corridor 43, which, after passing round the south side of court N, turns at right angles and opens at its western end into the park (Plate 59, Fig. 2). To the south of these corridors lies a large court, U, with remains of an arcade along its northern side. The space between the arcade and the wall of corridor 43 was probably vaulted; at its southern end it opens into the corridor. Court U is almost square (51 × 51·70 metres). To the west and south its walls are ruined, but on the west side great heaps of stones furnish indications of a gate. On the opposite side of the court there is another gateway of which a considerable part is standing. It is situated at the west end of a rectangular area, court V, arcaded on either side, which must have been intended for a private pleasure-ground or a place for games (Plate 60, Fig. 1). The latter is the more probable conjecture, since there is no direct communication between court V and the palace. The gateway was an important structure. From the western court (U) a porch 2·70 metres deep opened through an archway 3·70 metres wide into a rectangular vaulted chamber (83) 4·50 metres from east to west (Plate 60, Fig. 2). To the east of 83 lay a chamber (82) almost square (5·90 × 5·80 metres) having a rectangular vaulted niche, 1·50 metres deep, to north and south and an archway to the east opening into court V. No. 82 must have been covered by a dome, which was in all probability set over the angles on squinch arches (see below, Plate 69), but no part of the dome is standing (Plate 61). On either side of the gateway there are four chambers accessible only from court V. No. 85 opens into the passage, probably vaulted, which was formed by the northern arcade; No. 89 opens on to the area outside the southern arcade. It would be natural to expect that an outer wall ran parallel to this arcade, dividing court V from the park, and I looked for traces of such a wall, but did not find them. Court V (18·50 × 102·50 metres) terminates in a group of much-ruined buildings of which I could only make out the general plan. The arcaded passage (92) ends in a small vaulted and unlighted room (93) (6·55 × 3·55 metres). To the south of 93 are two large chambers (94 and 95), No. 94 terminating at the southern end in a deep niche. Nos. 93 and 94 are separated by a narrow passage from a small rectangular court (W) having two chambers at either end. Of these chambers Nos. 99 and 100 are completely ruined, but the vaults of Nos. 97 and 98, which are built partly under the upper platform, are standing (Plate 62). To the south lies another small court (X) out of which the passage 101 leads into a small rectangular chamber (102) which in turn communicates with the arcaded corridor 103. This corridor runs round the eastern end of the platform which is carried over it on a vault. The vault, which was very roughly constructed, is noticeably pointed, especially on the east side (Plate 51, Fig. 1). Three double ramps provided access to the platform, the eastern pair being the largest and most important. The eastern ramps begin opposite the fourth detached pier at either end of the arcade of the corridor, where a mass of masonry 6·60 metres long by 4·90 wide blocks the adjoining arch. Vaults carrying the ramp are placed before the seventh and eighth arches from either end of the arcade, and in front of the central arch lies a vaulted chamber 3·75 metres wide. The length of this double ramp is 48 metres (Plate 63, Fig. 1). On the west side of the corridor there are nine vaulted chambers, 5·80 metres deep, which are tunnelled out under the platform. Their doorways correspond with the arches of the corridor. A detached chamber lies at either end of the corridor. The north and south ramps are constructed in the same fashion, but they are only 30·80 metres long. Opposite the central vault there is a chamber under the platform; on either side the platform is solid, after which there are two vaulted chambers.
On the north side of the palace there is another group of much-ruined buildings on the lower level. The arcaded corridor (103) ends at this point in a narrow vaulted chamber (104) which lies under No. 106. Like 106, No. 104 has two arched niches in the south wall. It abuts at its western end against the ramp which descends from No. 106. A narrow passage leads out into a large enclosure, court Y, in which all the walls are ruined. Plate 63, Fig. 2, shows the eastern end of No. 106 with its vault partially preserved, and the walls and substructures of No. 24. In the south-west angle of court Y there was a large chamber (105), and the north-west corner was occupied by two groups of three rooms lying to north and south of the small court Z. Possibly there was a somewhat similar arrangement of rooms on either side of court Z[47].