Note 87 — Chapter IV · GENESIS OF THE EARLY MOHAMMADAN PALACE

Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands, p. 564, compares it to the ancient Greek houses at Delos, for which see Durm, Baukunst der Griechen, p. 516. The juxtaposition of megaron and andron, each group of rooms opening into its own court, recalls irresistibly a yet older type; cf. the plan of Tiryns, Perrot-Chipiez, Histoire de l’Art, vol. vi, Plate 2. It is curious to note that the audience halls at Niffer are the oriental latitudinal chambers; indeed they have the closest connexion with the old Babylonian house type, which, as Professor Koldewey has observed, postulates invariably a court with a large chamber to the south of it. The Niffer palace is little more than a reproduction of such houses as the big house in the Merkes at Babylon, plus the column, which was due to Greek influence. See Koldewey, Das wieder erstehende Babylon, pp. 279 et seq.