The Hall of a Hundred Columns was very splendid, as one may judge from this picture of its gateway (Fig. 27); but the _Chehl Minar_, or Great Hall of Audience, which is also called the Hall of Xerxes, was the most remarkable of all these edifices. Its ruins occupy a space of almost three hundred and fifty feet in length and two hundred and forty-six feet in width, and consist principally of four different kinds of columns. One portion of this hall was arranged in a square, in which there were six rows of six pillars each, and on three sides of this square there were magnificent porches, in each of which there were twelve columns; so that the number of pillars in the square was thirty-six, and that of those in the three porches was the same. These porches stood out boldly from the main building and were grand in their effect. [Illustration: FIG. 27.--GATEWAY OF HALL OF A HUNDRED COLUMNS.] The columns which remain in various parts of this hall are so high that it is thought that they must originally have measured sixty-four feet throughout the whole building. The capitals of the pillars were of three kinds: the double Horned Lion capital (Fig. 28) was used in the eastern porch, and was very simple; in the western porch was the double Bull capital, which corresponded to the first in size and general form, the difference being only in the shape of the animal. [Illustration: FIG. 28.--DOUBLE HORNED LION CAPITAL.] The north porch faced the great sculptured staircase, and was the real front of the hall. On this side the columns were much ornamented. The following plates show the entire design of them, and it will be seen that the bases were very beautiful (Figs. 29 and 30). [Illustration: FIG. 29.--COMPLEX CAPITAL AND BASE OF PILLARS, PERSEPOLIS.] [Illustration: FIG. 30.--BASE OF ANOTHER PILLAR, PERSEPOLIS.] The capitals have three distinct parts; at the bottom is a sort of bed of lotus leaves, part of which are turned down, and the others standing up form a kind of cup on which the next section above rests. The middle section is fluted and has spiral scrolls or volutes, such as are seen in Ionic capitals, only here they are in a perpendicular position instead of the customary horizontal one. The upper portion had the same double figures of bulls as were on the columns of the western colonnade. The decoration on the bases was made of two or three rows of hanging lotus leaves, some round and others pointed in form. The shafts of these pillars were formed of different blocks of stone joined by iron cramps; they were cut in exact and regular flutings, numbering from forty-eight to fifty-two on each pillar. [Illustration: FIG. 31.--GROUND PLAN (RESTORED) OF HALL OF XERXES, PERSEPOLIS.] This plan of the Hall of Audience will help you to understand its arrangement more clearly (Fig. 31).