É. Apor (ed.): Stein, Aurel: Old Routes of Western Iran. (Budapest Oriental Reprints, Ser. B 2.)
Chapter II. —In Kohgalu Tracts
6 8 IN KOHGALU TRACTS [Chap. II origin is confirmed by the massive pavilion-like structure standing about 100 yards from the surviving arch on the left bank (Fig. 21). The hall inside measures 20 feet 6 inches square, the span of the four vaults enclosing it is 16 feet 6 inches, and the piers on which these and the dome carried by them rest are roughly 8 feet 6 inches square on the ground. Broken as these piers are, the arches still retain their noble semicircular shape. Of the dome which sprang from a circular drum above squinches at a height of more than 27 feet, only a height of about 6 feet remains on the northern side. Traces of clerestory openings can be seen. On the inside of the piers pieces of very hard white plaster still cling in places to the solid masonry, which throughout consists of cemented rubble. Even in its ruined state the structure standing alone with its fine proportions presents an impressive appearance. Its purpose can scarcely have been anything else but to serve as a takht or royal pavilion from which to watch the river passage. How often may it have seen the armed bands of mailed horsemen, retainers of the great feudatories from Färs, the Sasanian dynasty's home-land, pass here on their way to Mesopotamia to fight the King of Kings' battles against Rome, the hereditary foe ? Far more imposing are the remains of the upper, and undoubtedly later, bridge (Fig. 19). They comprise two arches with their piers on the left bank and four arches with piers on the right bank. There, too, still rises in massive strength the high buttressed pier on which rested the great central arch once spanning the river. This here flows in a deep rock-lined channel about 60 yards wide. This great arch has completely fallen, and no remains
