at the suggestion of the courtesan Thais, to revenge the taking of Athens by Xerxes, but this story probably rests on the sole authority of Cleitarchus (Cleitarch. ap. A then, xiii, p. 576 e; Diod. Sic. xvii, 71, 2, 3; 72, 6; Plutarcli, in A lex. 38 ; Quint. Curt, v, 7, 3). According to some authors, tlie whole city, as well as the magnifi- cent palace, suiiered in the general conflagration (Diod. Sic. /. c; Arrian, iii, 18, 11; Pliny, //. N. vi, 26); but according to others it was only the palace (ro jSaai- X(iov) that was destroyed (Strabo, xv, p. 730 ; Plutarch, in Alex.SS). Quintus Curlius (v, 7, 5) mentions that the palace was built with a great quantity of cedar, which increased the ardor of the flames. It is prob- altle tliat the temples, which were of stone, escaped. That it could have been entirely destroyed seems hardly credible, for not only was it existing in the time of An- tigonus, king of Asia (B.C. 306), who visited the pal- ace himself (Diod. Sic. xix, 46, 6), but at the same pe- riod Peucestas and Eumenes, ibrtnerly generals of Alex- ander, and now antagonists of Antigonus, both visited Persepolis, and the latter moved his camp there and held it as the seat of govcrimient (TrpoT/yov rijg Ileprri- oog eif ntptTSTToAiv to (iaffiXitov, Diod. Sic. xix, 21, 2; 22, 1). From this it would appear that the city itself was called ro (3aai\uov. Moreover, at the time of Antioclius Epiphanes, as recorded above (2 Mace, ix, 2), it seems to have still been a repository of treasure; and Ptolemy {Geog. vi, 44; viii, 5, 13) mentions it as existing in his time. The extensive ruins now remain- ing would prove that it must either have been rebuilt or not totally destroyed by Alexander. It does not seem to have long survived the blow inflicted npon it by Alexander; for after the time of Antiochus Epiph- anes it disappears altogether from history as an in- habited place. Persepolis has been considered by many as identical with PasargadiC (Niebuhr, Lect. on Ant. Hist, i, 115; Ousely, Travels, ii, 6, 18), and in one pas- sage of an ancient author there is some obscurity (Ar- rian, iii, 18, 11), but the two cities are afterwards dis- tinguished (vii, 1, 1). All other ancient authors, how- ever, carefidly distinguish the position of tlie two cities . (Strabo, xv, p. 729 ; Pliny, vi, 26 ; Ptol. vi, 4 ), and it is now ascertained that the ruins of these two cities are more than forty miles apart. Persepolis was situated on the plains of Merduslif, near the junction of two streams, the Araxes (Bendamir) and the Medus (Pul- wan), while Pasargad:^ was about forty-nine miles from Persepolis on the plain of Miirghah, where even now exist the ruins of the tomb of Cyrus (Arrian, vi, 29). The ruins of Persepolis, which are very extensive, bear the name of Chehel Mina?; or " Forty Pillars," the re- mains of the palaces built by Darius, son of Hystaspes, and his son Xerxes. The city seems to have stood at the foot of the rock on which these ruins are placed. Three groups are chiefly distinguishable in the vast ruins existing on the spot. First, the Chehel Minar (Forty Pillars), with the Mountain of the Tombs (Rach- med), also called Takht-i-Jamshid, or the structure of Jamshid, after some fabulous ancient king, popularly supposed to be the founder of Persepolis. The next in order is Naksh-i-Rustam, to the north-west, with its tombs ; and the last, the building called the Haram of Jamshid. The most important is the first group, situ- ated on a vast terrace of eyclopean masonry at the foot of a lofty mountain-range. The extent of this terrace is about 1500 feet from north to south, and aljout 800 from east to Avest, and it was, according to Diodorus Sic- ulus, once surrounded by a triple wall of 16, 32, and 60 cubits respectively in height, for the threefold purpose of giving strength, inspiring a^ve, and defence. The wliole internal area is further divided into tlirce terraces— the lowest towards the south; the central being 800 feet square, and rising 45 feet aliove the plain : and the third, tlie northern, about 550 feet long, and 35 feet high. No traces of structures are to be found on the lowest plat- form; on the northern, only the so-called '-Propylaja" of Xerxes; but the central platform seems to have beeu
PERSEPOLIS
972
persp:polis
Eniiis of Persepolis.
occupied by the foremost structures, which again, how- ever, do not all appear to have stood on the same level. There are distinguished here the so-called "Great Hall of Xerxes" (called C'hehel Minar, by way of eminence), the Palace of Xerxes, and the Palace of Darius, tov.er- ing one above the other in successive elevations from the ground. The stone used for the buildings is dark- gray marble, cut into gigantic square blocks, and in many cases exquisitely polished. The ascent from the plain to the great northern platform is formed by two double flights, the steps of which are nearly 22 feet wide, 3^ inches high, and 15 inches in the tread, so that sev- eral travellers have been able to ascend them on horse- back. AVhat are called the Propytea of Xerxes on this platform are t\vo masses of stone-work, which probably formed an entrance-gatewa}' for foot-passengers, paved with gigantic slabs of polished marble. Portals, still standing, bear figures of animals 15 feet high, closely resembling the Assyrian bulls of Nineveh. The build- ing itself, conjectured to have been a hall 82 feet square, is, according to the cuneiform inscriptions, as interpreted b}' Hawlinson, the work of Xerxes. An expanse of 102 feet divides this platform from the central one, still bearing many of those columns of the Hall of Xerxes from which the ruins have taken their name. The staircase leading up to the Chehel Minar, or Forty Pil- lars, is, if possible, still more magnificent than the first; and the walls are more superbly decorated with sculp- tures, representing colossal warriors with spears, gigan- tic bulls, combats with wild beasts, processions, and the like; while broken capitals, shafts, pillars, and countless fragmcntsof buiklings, with cuneiform inscriptioifs, cover the whole vast space of this platform, 3.50 feet from north to south, and ."80 from cast to west. The Great Hall of Xerxes, perhaps the largest and most magnifi- cent structure the world has ever seen, is computed to have been a rectangle of about 'MW X 350 feet, ami to have consequently covered 105,(1(10 scpiare feet, or 2}, acres. The pillars were arranged in four divisions, consisting of a centre group six deej) ('very way, and an advanced body of twelve in two ranks, the .same luimber flanking the centre. Fifteen columns are all that now remain of the number. Their form is very beautifid. Their height is (iO feet, the circumference of the shaft 1(5, the length from the capital to the torus, 44 feet. .Tlie shaft is finely fluted in 52 divisions: at its lower extremity begin a cincture and a torus, the first two inches in ■fleptli, and the latter one foot, from whence devolves the pedestal, shaped like the cup and leaves of the pen- dent lotus, the capitals having been surmoimted by the