Rules · Materials · Structure · Use
Dig the foundations down to bedrock and fill them with rubble; then build with the best material of every province, each worked by the people who know it best.
Darius’s charter for his palace at Susa is a list: cedar from Lebanon, other timbers from Gandhara and Carmania, gold from Sardis and Bactria, stones from Sogdiana and Chorasmia, ivory from Ethiopia, Sind and Arachosia; bricks moulded by Babylonians, stone cut by Ionians and Sardians, gold worked by Medes and Egyptians. At Persepolis the same idea is carved in relief on the stairs of the Apadana, where delegations of twenty-three peoples bring their gifts to the king.
Weight for weight, timber is many times stronger in bending than stone; long spans in trabeated buildings are therefore roofed with timber beams resting on stone walls and columns.
bending strength ÷ density: oak ≈ 70 · limestone ≈ 3 (kPa per kg ⁄ m³)
Crown the Persian column with two kneeling bulls (or lions, or griffins) set back to back; lay the main beam in the saddle between their necks, and the cross-beams on their heads.
Throw an arch diagonally across each upper corner of the square, backed by a small conch or cone; the four squinches and the four walls between them make an octagon, on which a round dome can sit.
octagon side = S (√2 − 1) ≈ 0.414 S; squinch span = octagon side
Make the hall square and fill it with columns on a square grid; put a portico two columns deep across the front, between solid corner towers; build the walls of mud brick and keep stone for columns, door and window frames.
Cite this page Chris Paton, “The palace built by the whole empire”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/susa-charter. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.