Of the two edifices at Qasr-i-Shirin, Bell felt that the Palace of Khosrow had the greatest similarities to Ukhaidir. She was struck by the use of barrel vaults to cover most of the interior spaces, as at Ukhaidir, not to mention evidence of similar vault types, including those with a slight outset from the wall at the level of the springing, which she compared to similar offset vaults at Ukhaidir.107 Bell could also observe similarities in room forms and arrangements, particularly striking among the so-called iwan groups in the Palace of Khosrow, which took on the same appearance as those found within the baits of the palace at Ukhaidir.108 The central part of the palace itself – with its large, open court in front, monumental iwan porch (no. 1),109 antechamber (no. 2) and lavish audience hall (no. 3) (Fig. 5.8),110 where the Sasanian ‘king of kings’ himself may have held court – provided the general scheme that would be adopted by the early Islamic architects in their planning of Ukhaidir's ceremonial core, with its open court, iwan porch and square hall of audience in behind. Last, and especially significant to Bell, was the overall layout of Khosrow's palace, in which the ceremonial rooms were placed in the centre of the palatial complex, separated from the rest by narrow corridors,111 and then flanked on either side and at the back by the private apartments or baits, with their iwan groups (Fig. 5.9).112 It is possible that these room groups represented the accommodations for the harem and other members of the royal court.113
At the same time, Bell was aware of some of the differences between the badly preserved Palace of Khosrow and Ukhaidir, and she did not use the latter to fill in the missing parts of the former.114 Lionel Bier's wry accusation regarding Bell's Qasr-i-Shirin palace plan – that it is a prime example of ‘how Sasanian architecture can be influenced by early Islam’ – seems somewhat unreasonable in light of the architectural differences Bell describes.115 Her reconstructed scheme, in which a latitudinal chamber (no. 2) appears between the porch (no. 1) and domed hall of audience (no. 3) in the ceremonial core of Khosrow's palace, for example, differs from Ukhaidir's arrangement, in which the principal iwan or porch (no. 29) gives immediate access to the hall of audience (no. 30). Furthermore, the strong defensive character of Ukhaidir, with its fortified outer enclosure wall and fortified gatehouse, can be contrasted with the unfortified nature of the Palace of Khosrow. Although the entire royal complex and large pleasure-grounds of Qasr-i-Shirin would have been surrounded by walls, the palace itself was resolutely undefended, standing in the centre of a capital of the Sasanian empire and not in some remote desert locale.116 Where Bell did see parallels between Khosrow's Palace and Ukhaidir – namely in the axial arrangement of the principal ceremonial rooms and the flanking iwan apartments – such features can often be corroborated by photographs of the still-standing structures she took on the spot and by her field notebook, in which her plans and measurements of such architectural features were carefully recorded.
Fig. 5.7 Bell’s plan of the Palace of Khosrow at the site of Qasr-i-Shirin (modern western Iran). The building, with its numerous corridors, courts and chambers, was actually built on two levels, the area of the central rooms and courts (Courts A–J and Halls 1–3) rising higher than the remaining parts of the structure.
Fig. 5.8 Hall 3 in the Palace of Khosrow, Qasr-i-Shirin, facing south-west. Bell regarded this space as a vast domed ‘hall of audience’. The remains of an adjacent rectangular vaulted iwan (no. 4) can be seen on the right side of the photograph. Qasr-i-Shirin’s other pre-modern structure, Chehar Qapu, can be seen in the distance beyond the palace.
The German scholar Oscar Reuther offered the only other fully reconstructed scheme of the Palace of Khosrow at Qasr-i-Shirin, this appearing in his often-cited report on Sasanian architecture, in Arthur Upham Pope's magisterial, multivolume series A Survey of Persian Art, published in 1938. Ever the skilful architect, Reuther not only produced his own version of the plan of the palace,117 but he drew a lovely reconstruction,118 which has become widely accepted as the definitive form of the structure.119 As L. Bier has pointed out, however, Reuther himself probably never visited Qasr-i-Shirin, and his plan is simply an amalgam of de Morgan's and Bell's reconstructions, along with some postulated reconstructions derived from more recently excavated sites.120 Reuther's plan deviates from Bell's principally in the palace's central block, where de Morgan's columned entrance porch or iwan is added to Bell's straight walls,121 and Bell's subsequent latitudinal chamber is replaced by a domed hall that is flanked by vaulted side chambers.122 Behind this arrangement is an open, arcaded court with iwan at the back, taking the place of Bell's domed space. This reconstruction is far more conjectural than Bell's, and in truth, if anything can be seen as a copy of later Islamic palaces, it is this – although admittedly, it also corresponds favourably with the interior arrangements of other presumed Sasanian palaces, such as those at Firuzabad and Sarvistan.123 Ultimately, whichever reconstruction we choose to accept as the more faithful representation of Qasr-i-Shirin's magnificent complex, it is fair to conclude that Bell's primary motivation was to produce an honest plan of the structure. Her reconstructed scheme does appear to have been derived only from observations of surviving structures she encountered on the ground at Qasr-i-Shirin and not from preconceived notions as to what this palace should look like.
Fig. 5.9 A view towards the chambers (iwan groups) at the western ends of open courts Q and S, near the back of the Palace of Khosrow at Qasr-i-Shirin. These spaces are conjectured to have served as private apartments, with accommodations for members of the royal family and court.
Some of the debate concerning the date of the Palace of Khosrow can now be put to rest, given the most recent work on the ruins by Iranian archaeologists who have found compelling evidence in the form of pottery, coins and thermoluminescence dating for the early Islamic Abbasid age of the palace.124 If this dating is accepted, the monument's place within the evolution of the eastern palace, as formulated by Bell, must be rejected. Nonetheless, Bell's original observations of the intriguing parallels between this palace and Ukhaidir can still be supported, not because one building inspired the other, but because they were roughly contemporary edifices and would both have been informed by similar architectural concepts circulating around the Near East at the time of their construction.
Chehar Qapu (Fig. 5.10)
Besides her detailed description of the Palace of Khosrow, Bell's report on Qasr-i-Shirin includes a description of the ‘Smaller Palace’, or Chehar Qapu, which covered a large rectangular area125 just over half a kilometre to the south-west of the Palace of Khosrow (Fig. 5.11). According to Bell's observations, the building was accessed by a main entrance gateway, this flanked by courts and small chambers.126 The gateway opened into a long, open courtyard, Court D, with a further gate (no. 15) at its western end. On either side of Court D, and accessible to it by vaulted passageways at the court's western end, were groups of courts and associated rooms (Figs 5.12–13).127
At the western end of the Chahar Qapu, in an area much ruined, stood Hall 54, a large, square chamber over 16 m2 in area, with 3.90 metre-thick walls (Fig. 5.14). This particular feature dominated the whole complex.128 It was believed to have carried a dome constructed of brick and set upon squinch arches.129 Arched doorways gave access to the interior domed chamber on all four sides, these too being built of bricks and surmounted by small, round-headed windows.130 A few ruined chambers were observed to the north-west and south-west of Hall 54, but little else was preserved in this sector.131
In her description of Chehar Qapu, Bell never stated that the domed Hall 54 stood separate and detached from other structures around it; she merely said that she was not able to discern the exact form of the nearby structures on account of their ruined state, nor could she determine whether they had any relation to the hall.132 Nevertheless, her plan does render Hall 54 in a discrete state in the larger building,133 and in her published discussion of Qasr-i-Shirin, she pronounced it to be ‘isolated’.134 On the basis of this distinctive arrangement, she raises th
e possibility that the hall functioned as a fire temple, and she compares it to other structures with proposed fire temples, such as the square western annex of the ‘palace’ at Hatra.135 Bell's concluding remarks convey her opinion that on account of Chehar Qapu's lack of symmetry and irregularity in the arrangement of the rooms, and its conspicuous square hall at one end, it is not similar to Ukhaidir.136 Bell herself was convinced of the building's Sasanian date and saw it as sacred, with a fire temple ‘wherein the holy element burned with a perpetual flame’.137
It is striking the degree to which Bell's observations and conclusions about Chehar Qapu have held sway over the literature, and few scholars, until recently, have further clarified this structure. Bell's plan, description and photographs have thus far been the most extensive record of Chehar Qapu, and her report has been used as the basis of all later scholarly interpretations. Thus, other scholars, such as K. Erdmann, E. Herzfeld and G. Gullini, regarded Bell's rendering of the isolated place of the domed Hall 54 accurate, and this led to their agreement that the hall functioned as a fire temple.138 Reuther, in his much-quoted chapter on Sasanian architecture, adopted Bell's plan, only adding an ambulatory around Hall 54 and remarking that amid the ruins, this feature could have been missed.139 He also noted that the recess in the outer stonework between the arched doors and the windows above140 could have supported the springing of a lower vaulted walkway.141 He, too, favoured the hall's identity as a fire temple.142
J. Schmidt was one of the first to seriously challenge Chehar Qapu's function as a fire temple, citing early Arab descriptions of the settlement at Qasr-i-Shirin, none of which make any mention at all of a fire temple there.143 Schmidt suggests, alternatively, that the building as a whole may represent a palace, and that it is remarkably similar in its internal layout to the Abbasid palace at Ukhaidir.144 Bier also recognized the two palaces’ similar outer dimensions and elaborate entrance complexes, which comprise a long hall terminating in small vestibules at both ends.145 The second vestibule in both palaces gives access to an open court beyond. The disposition of baits around the central part of the palaces is also regarded as similar. Last, Bier equates the square, domed Hall 54 of Chehar Qapu to Room 30 at Ukhaidir, regarding both as the principal focus of the building (audience chambers) and noting their similar position towards the back of the palace.146
Fig. 5.10 Bell’s plan of the Chehar Qapu at Qasr-i-Shirin. Many scholars, including Bell, have postulated that the building functioned as a Sasanian fire temple on account of the large square Hall 54 near the back. It is more likely, however, that this was a palace from the Islamic period.
Fig. 5.11 A general view of the ruins of Chehar Qapu at Qasr-i-Shirin from the south-east, showing the remains of vaulted spaces and of the massive square Hall 54, to the right of centre.
Perhaps the most striking parallel between the two palaces, and one that has not yet been noted in print, is the uncannily similar position and plan of a rectangular court to the right of the entrance complex, which is surrounded on two or three sides by covered porticos.147 Since this complex at Ukhaidir has been unanimously accepted as the palace's mosque, it is tempting to assign the same function to the arrangement at Chehar Qapu, and thus to argue for the building's Islamic – not Sasanian – date, something already suspected by Bier.148 It is interesting that Bell herself never observed these striking parallels, preferring the Palace of Khosrow as the better parallel to Ukhaidir, and pointing to the lack of a symmetrical arrangement in Chehar Qapu as being the ultimate factor negating its identity as a palace and its similarity to Ukhaidir.149
Since Bell's and Reuther's time, probes around Chehar Qapu have shown that Hall 54 was not completely isolated but rather was part of a complex surrounded by other chambers, making its identity as a fire temple less likely.150 Moreover, recent Iranian investigations have found evidence for columns surrounding Hall 54 on all four sides, giving the arrangement the form of a pavilion.151 Lastly, a great deal of Islamic pottery has also been found in and around the complex, lending credence to a later Islamic date.152
Fig. 5.12 Within the ruined spaces of Chehar Qapu, Bell could often make out interesting architectural features, such as this corner squinch in Room 14, which would have helped to resolve the angle between the square space of the room below and its domed roof. Parts of the plastered fillets of the squinch are still preserved.
In the end, we are still not in a position to state definitively the date and function of Chehar Qapu, although an Islamic date seems highly plausible, given the evidence described above. Whatever the case, Bell's drawn plan of the complex is still the most complete record in existence of this building, and it has continued to be that from which almost all reconstructions, comparisons and interpretations are made.
Hatra
As Bell had long known about the site of Hatra and its importance for comprehending the development of architecture in the Near East, her 1911 Mesopotamian trip would have been incomplete had she not been able to visit this magnificent desert site and take in some of its impressive ruins. Although not the first to record Hatra, Bell took careful note of several of its remains, these consequently figuring prominently in her scholarly work on Ukhaidir and her discussion of the development of Oriental palatial architecture.
First settled in the Late Hellenistic period (second to first centuries BCE), Hatra became the seat of a local Arab dynasty, gaining its economic livelihood as a caravan stop and trading centre on several vital trade routes through the desert steppe of northern Mesopotamia.153 Hatra also lay near the border between the Parthian kingdom and the territories controlled by the Romans and became for a time a buffer state that checked the advance of the Romans.154 Hatra would continue to be closely linked to the Parthians up to the second century CE, and its art and architecture bears the strong imprint of Parthian culture and religion. The site withstood several Roman attempts at capture during the reigns of Trajan (116/117 CE) and Septimius Severus (198/199 CE), but after the collapse of the Parthians in the early third century, Hatra became allied with Rome and housed one of its legionary garrisons. The city was eventually captured by the Sasanians under their leader Ardashir and his son Shapur I in 240–1 CE and fell into decline thereafter, becoming deserted by the mid-fourth century CE.155 Hatra remained an abandoned, ruined site, infrequently visited, until the beginning of the twentieth century, when investigations by the German archaeologist Walter Andrae on behalf of the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft were carried out.156 The site underwent further excavations by Iraq's Directorate General of Antiquities and restorations later in the twentieth century, and was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1985.157 Today, Hatra's future is most precarious, having fallen victim to Islamic State (IS) and suffering from deliberate, devastating acts of vandalism and destruction (reported further below).
Gertrude Bell's interest in Hatra may originally have been sparked in early 1909 by Bernhard Moritz, who mentioned the site to her when she visited him in Cairo before her first journey into Mesopotamia.158 Later, upon arriving at Assur in early April of the same year, Bell learned from Andrae about his own investigations of Hatra, which he had begun in 1906 and was carrying out in tandem with his more extensive excavations at Assur.159 From Bell's diary entry we know that Andrae showed Bell photographs of Hatra when she was at Assur in April 1909, and that she was fascinated by the site's ample display of carved ornaments, which adorned the lintels and jambs of doorways.160 Hatra was also part of an animated discussion of vaults, domes and niches that took place over dinner in the Assur dig-house that night, along with the subject of the place of Parthian architecture – including that from Hatra – in the long evolution of architectural traditions in the Near East, which continued to the time of Ukhaidir's construction.161 Altogether, Bell could see, from this early stage in her thinking about Ukhaidir, that Hatra played a pivotal role in her understanding of the architectural traditions from which the makers of her desert palace had received inspirations and influences.
Fig. 5.13 Room 31 in Chehar Qapu, with an ovoid, offset vault, and a small arched niche in the back wall. Bell compared vaults such as these at Qasr-i-Shirin to those at Ukhaidir, although different construction materials (stone versus brick) had been used.
Bell's interest in the Parthian architecture at Hatra did not wane upon the completion of her 1909 trip, for she questioned Andrae further about the impact of Western art and architecture on Hatra in a letter she wrote to him in 1910.162 Andrae's reply, in a letter dated 20 June 1910,163 expresses uncertainty as to the specific lines of Western influence upon Hatra, suggesting that they came via Rome and Hellenistic forms already transposed in the Near East. He asserts, nonetheless, that it is difficult to find direct descendants at Hatra, since everything already appears there in hybrid form, with a curious melding of Eastern and Western traditions. The complex, entwined nature of Near Eastern art and architecture that Andrae emphasizes is a prominent and persistent theme in much of Bell's scholarly writing pertaining to late antiquity and the early Islamic period, and it is probable that Andrae – along with Herzfeld, who also emphasized this theme in much of his work – provided the strongest influences in her thinking on this subject.
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