fragments consisted of capitals of pillars [PLATE
V. Fig. 3], portions of cornices, and specimens of a sort of diapering
which seems to have been applied to screens or thin partitions. The
capitals were somewhat heavy in design, and at first sight struck the
spectator as barbarous; but they exhibited a good deal of ingenious
boldness, an absence of conventionality, and an occasional quaintness
of design not unworthy of a Gothic decorator. One especially, which
combines the upper portion of a human figure, wearing the puffed-out
hair or wig, which the Parthians affected, with an elegant leaf rising
from the neck of the capital, and curving gracefully under the abacus,
has decided merit, and is "suggestive of the later Byzantine style." The
cornices occasionally reminded the discoverer of the remarkable frieze
at El-Hadhr, and were characterized by the same freedom and boldness
of invention as the capitals. But the most curious remains were the
fragments of a sort of screen work, pieces of plaster covered with
geometric designs upon both sides, the patterns on the two sides
differing. [PLATE V. Fig. 4.] These designs, though unlike in many
respects the arabesques of the Mohammedans, yet seemed on the whole to
be their precursors, the "geometric curves and tracery" appearing
to "shadow forth the beauty and richness of a style which afterwards
followed the tide of Mohammedan conquest to the remotest corners of the
known world."

The ornamental coffins were of a coarse glazed earthenware, bluish-green
in hue, and belonged to the kind which has been called "slipper-shaped."
[PLATE VI. Fig. 1.] They varied in length from three feet to six, and
had a large aperture at their upper end, by means of which the body was
placed in them, and a flat lid to close this aperture, ornamented like
the coffin, and fixed in its place by a fine lime cement. A second
aperture at the lower extremity of the coffin allowed for the escape
of the gases disengaged during decomposition. The ornamentation of the
coffins varied, but consisted generally of small figures of men, about
six or seven inches in length, the most usual figure being a warrior
with his arms akimbo and his legs astride, wearing on his head a
coiffure, like that which is seen on the Parthian coins, and having a
sword hanging from the belt. [PLATE VI. Fig. 2.]

[Illustration: PLATE 6.]

Of the statuettes in terra-cotta, one of the most curious represented a
Parthian warrior