NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS, The Kin^. (N.W Palace, Nimroud), NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS; AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ANCIENT ASSYRIA AND PERSIA, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE RECENT RESEARCHES IN THOSE COUNTRIES. By W. S. W. VAUX, M.A., " V ^ ASSISTANT IN THE DEPAETMENT OF ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM. LONDON: ARTHUR HALL, VIRTUE, & Co., 25, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCL, LONDON : BRADBITRY AND EYANS, PRINTERS, VVHITBFRIARS CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Introduction 1 CHAPTER II. A "■*4 t** The Kingdom of Assyria — Nimrod — His Name — Faith — First reigned in Babylon — Marginal Note — Early State of Babylon and Nineveh — Institution of Civil Society — Nomad Tribes, Ancient and Modem — Persian Nomads — Mongols — Turks — Magyars, &c. — Persian Tribes — Kurds — 'Early Name of Babel — Confusion of Tongues — Babylon — Early Greatness and long Subsequent Glory — Her Position — The Enterprise of her People — Nineveh — Classical Accounts of its Position — And Magnitude — The Classical meaning of “ Assyria — Kings of Nineveh — Amraphel — Teutamus — Blank of a Thousand Years— Parallel and Contemporary History of the Jews — Adjoining Nations — Philistines — Sidonians — Phoenician Colonies — Trade with the East in the Time of Solomon. ........ 6 CHAPTER III. History of Assyria, continued — Pul — Tiglath Pileser — Shalmaneser — Sen- nacherib — Descent into Egypt — Revolt of the Medes — Esarhaddon — Nabuchodonosor — War with Arphaxad (Phraortes) — Invasion of Judsea by Holophemes — Fall of Nineveh — Nebuchadnezzar — Chaldees — Sketch of their Ancient and Modern History. . . . . .29 CHAPTER IV. Nebuchadnezzar — Battle of Megiddo — Herodotus’s Account of it — Final } Destruction of Jerusalem — Nebuchadnezzar lays Siege to Tyre — Conquest of Egypt — Remarkable Fulfilment of Prophecies there — Works of Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon — Magnitude of that City — Belshazzar — Accounts of the Taking of Babylon by Cyrus, in Holy - Scripture— Herodotus — Xenophon — Darius the Mede. . . . 61 141241 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. PAGE Persia — Traditions and early Legendary History — Jemshid — Kai-Khosru (Cyrus) — Comparison of the rise of Cyrus and Jenghiz-Khan — Account of Herodotus — Death of Cyrus — Cambyses — Pseudo-Smerdis — Invasion of Scythia hy Darius — Story of Aristagoras and Cleomenes — Zoroaster — Particular Account of his system of Religion — Xerxes — Darius Codomannus — Invasion and Conquest of Persia hy Alexander the Great — Successors of Alexander — Seleucus and Seleucidse — Antiochus Epiphanes — First Contact between the Romans and the East — Popillius in Africa — Acilius Glahrio in AEtolia — Rise of the Parthian Empire — The Parthians the greatest opponents Rome ever had — Rise of the Sassanians — Ardeshir I. — Shahpur I. — Khosru Purviz — Conquest of Persia by the Muhammedans — Ismail-hen-Leith — Samanians — Mahmud of Ghazna — Turcomans — Alp- Arslan — Malek Shah — Hulagu and the Moghuls — Timur — Sketch of his Life and Conquests — Sefide Dynasty 76 CHAPTER VL Early Travellers — Chiefly to the Holy Land — Itinerary of Bourdeaux — Bishop Arculf — Willibald, the Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Eichstadt — The Monk Fidelis — Bernard the Wise — Pope Sylvester II. — Peter the Hermit — Crusades — The Anglo-Saxon ^wulf — Sigurd the Crusader — Benjamin of Tudela — His Travels — Account of the Khalafat — Sect of the Assassins — Marco Polo . . 142 CHAPTER VII. Babylon — Intermediate History from its capture by Cyrus to the commence- ment of Modern Travels — Early Travellers — Eldred — Rauwulf — Boeventing — Della Valle — Niebuhr — Abbe Beauchamp — Rich — Re- mains at Babylon — Kasr — Mujelibe — Birs NimrM — Major Rennell’s Controversy with Mr. Rich — Buckingham — Researches of Sir Robert Ker Porter — Ruins of Akerkuf — A1 Hheimer 165 CHAPTER VIII. M. Botta’s Discoveries at Khorsab^d — Mr. Layard’s Discoveries at Nimroud — Koyunjik — Mr. Ross’s Discoveries — Kalah Sherghdt — A1 Hathr — Mr. Ainsworth’s Account of a Visit to those Ruins — Rock Sculp- tures at Bavian — Malthaiyah — General Sketch of the Results of Mr. Layard’s Discoveries with regard to the History, Arts, and Religion of Ancient Assyria . . . . . • • .191 CONTENTS. Vll CHAPTER IX. PAGE Monumental Remains of Persia. — First period of the Achsemenian Dynasty — Persepolis— Aneient and Modern Names — Character of the Build- ings — Cyrus — Camhyses — Darius — Xerxes — What portions may he assigned to each — General Description of the Ruins from Chardin, Le Brun, Niebuhr, Ker Porter, and other Travellers — Derivation of Greek Art from the Persians — Remarks of Sir William Ouseley — Tombs behind Persepolis— Ruins of Murghab — Tomb of Cyrus— Pasargada, Ancient and Modem Accounts of — Haram of Jemshid — Persepolitan Temple near Shiraz — Istakhr — AchaDmeuian Tombs at Nakshi Rustam. — Second period. — Sassanian Remains at Nakshi Rustam — Bahram V. — Shahpur I. and Valerian — Fire Temple — Fire Altars — Nakshi Rejih — Rhey (Rhages) — Ruins of Shahpur, near Kdzerun — Remains at Behistun — Khosru Purviz and Shirm — Ferhad the Sculptor — Shahpur II 287 CHAPTER X. Discoveries of Major Rawlinson — Sculptures and Inscriptions from Behistun — ^Other Achsemenian Inscriptions — Of Cyrus at Murghdb — Of Darius at Persepolis — M. Elwend — On the Rock Tomb at Nakshi Rustdm— On the Window at Persepolis — And on a Cylinder at the British Museum — Of Xerxes at Elwend— Persepolis — Van — Vase of the Count de Caylus — Of Artaxerxes Ochus at Persepolis — Vase at St. Mark’s, Venice — On the Interpretation of the Cunei- form Inscriptions — Labours of Grotefend — Rask — St. Martin — Bour- nouf — Lassen — Rawlinson ...... NINE'VEH AND PERSEPOLIS. CHAPTER I. The story of Ancient Assyria, and of those parts of Persia and Media which lie near its ancient frontier and boundary, the Tigris, has been so often told, that there would seem to be little need of a new history. In the early days of our childhood, tales selected from Eastern history, and anecdotes from the lives of the rulers of that part of the world, have been a never-failing source of amusement ; in our boyhood the narrative of the wars between Persia and the small but gallant states of Greece were the earliest exercise of our genius, and the test of our future ability in graver studies ; w^hile, in our riper years, the study of the languages of those countries which, under different modifications, have continued to exercise a lasting influence over the destinies of the Oriental world, has been the necessary preparation of those who yearly leave our own shores to seek a lasting fame in the far distant East. No portion of the world has, indeed, or with so much reason, attracted the attention of the learned. The cradle of the human race, we find its first records in the most ancient writings of Holy Scripture — the scene of the confusion of the once universal lan- guage, it seems the starting-place whence the many varieties of the human speech have taken their origin — the home of the earliest people of whose parentage any, even the faintest, remembrance has been preserved — it were indeed strange, if lands so famous did not inspire a more than common interest ; if the deeds of their inhar bitants had not been sung by the poet, or narrated by the historian ; and if travellers had not devoted many an hour of painful toil to the investigation of their decaying and ruined memorials. 2 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. I. The loftiest strains of poetry are those which have been pre- served to us in the writings of the prophets, and in the inspired books of the Bible : and the noblest outpourings of the sacred song relate to the inhabitants of Assyria and Babylonia, while the earliest uninspired narrative, that of Herodotus, who has been called emphatically the Father of History, is devoted to an elaborate account of the wars, religion and customs of the same people : his tale is so accurately told, and is so clearly that of personal obser- vation, that many things which he points out as characteristic in his days of the people of that part of Asia, are no less true of those who, after an interval of more than 2000 years, inhabit the land through which he travelled. His story is the simple relation of a traveller carefully observing what was before his own eyes, and recording, with such learning as he possessed, the points which appeared to him most worthy of notice. At the same time, we find him everywhere seeking such information as he could gain from those around him, yet not taking all they said with an implicit faith : no subsequent writer has shown a fairer discrimination than Herodotus, or a more evident desire to speak the truth ; and each new discovery of European travellers or scholars demonstrates the good faith with which he has recorded what he saw and what he heard. And if the historian and the poet have made this land the theme of their best and noblest writings, what country is there which has been so often trod by the traveller, or what travellers more illus- trious than they who have sacrificed health, and who have cheer- fully encountered danger, so only they could bear away with them some relic of the ancient greatness of its cities ? Their works are before the public ; they are full of accurate information, the result of the most earnest and devoted labour ; and the names of Niebuhr, Ker Porter, Morier, and Bich are familiar in our ears as household words. It may, however, be doubted whether the public generally have any very clear ideas of what has been really performed, or what has been the result of their investi- gations. Complete in themselves, and, in the case of Niebuhr and Ker Porter especially, models for the imitation of all future travellers, the very form in which their labours have been commemorated precludes many from the opportunity of perusing them as they deserve. Too often locked up in cumbrous quartos, and still fetching a price which is beyond the means of CHAP. I.] OBJECT OF THIS WORK. 8 most men, much that they have done has been practically of little value ; in many cases, too, the subsequent traveller has gone over nearly the same ground which his predecessor visited, and has added to the information he procured, or perhaps differed entirely from him in the views which he enunciated, so that the relative value of each man s labours, and the sum of the knowledge amassed by them all, can be determined only by a careful reading of their works in succession. No work exists that combines the general results of their dis- coveries, or which brings down to the present time the general information which has been collected. It has been therefore thought that a smaller work, which should bring together within a moderate compass what has been done by travellers, and what- ever knowledge can be acquired from other sources, might be not altogether an useless performance, and might serve as a con- venient digest of much valuable information at present scattered through many scarce and expensive volumes. It is with this object that the present volume is submitted to the public. Professing no original views, and containing no deep scientific research, it is not the wish of the author to supersede the separate perusal of any one of the many authorities from which it has been compiled, but simply to state with fairness what has been accom- plished up to the present time. It is believed that such a work may be of greater value just now, when the minds of men have been again turned in a manner not a little remarkable to Eastern subjects. A succession of unforeseen and unexpected discoveries has awakened a new interest in the hitherto semi-fabulous history of Eastern realms. The labours of Major Eawlinson have succeeded in unlocking one language at least, which has for more than two thousand years remained hope- lessly dead ; and the exertions of M. Botta and Mr. Layard have untombed the earliest sculptured memorials of the human race. The East has now resumed that interest which it possessed in the earlier pages of our history, and the studies of men are travel- ling in a channel which has been too long permitted to remain unexplored. For a long time the records of Oriental nations have, with the solitary exception of India, been allowed to sleep an unbroken sleep ; the minds of European students have, with few exceptions, pursued a course which seldom led them beyond the walls of Borne and Athens ; and classical glory, — the times 4 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. I. of Greece and Eome,— the language of the greatest republic and the mightiest of empires, — have retained a long and too exclusive hold on the imagination of the young and the labours of the riper scholar. Yet it was not so of old. The great deeds of our forefathers had an Eastern direction ; and the oft-repeated, though futile, attempts to wrest the Holy City from the Infidel produced a love for Oriental studies which long influenced the mind of Europe, and produced a lasting effect on some of the greatest writers of the West. The fall of Constantinople, and the consequent revival of learning, nearly effaced the earlier influence of the East; and the discovery of the Greek MSS., and the inven- tion of printing in the West, produced an effect on the literary labours of Europe which might have been anticipated. The direct influence of the Grecian mind on civilisation was at once per- ceived ; and the more poetical history of the East was either treated as fabulous, or laid aside as valueless. The work then as proposed will have for its object the elucida- tion of two distinct points : 1st. — The History of Assyria and Persia, and as connected with it, that of the Medes, the Jews, and Chaldees, so far as it can be ascertained from the Bible and the works of classical authors ; and Sndly. — The results of those modern inquiries which have been carried on for nearly three centuries by European tra- vellers. In the first part a sketch will be given of the course of those empires from the earliest notices in the sacred writings, down to the time of their decay at the commencement of the historical and classical age ; the changes which have taken place in the land and people will be briefly narrated, and the order in which the different empires succeeded each other will be given, as far as possible, according to the latest determinations of their chronology. From the commencement of the classical times, some account will be given of the state of those countries under their Grecian and Roman rulers ; and, lastly, the great change subsequent to the rise of Muhammed will be pointed out, and the almost entire extinction of their ancient records owing to the conduct, and peculiar principles, of the Mussulman conquerors. It is hoped that by these means, the student of the later discoveries may approach his labours with greater facility and CHAP, l] method of inquiry, 5 with more interest than he can do at present, and that a sketch so slight, yet comprehensive, may be found useful and not alto- gether void of entertainment to those whose object or w'hose time does not admit of the more laborious task of separate investi- gation. It will at least give the reader some idea of the nature of the countries themselves, and some insight into the physical difficulties with which travellers have had to contend in their adventurous career. It may serve to elevate their labours to a higher place in the estimation of the public, and to show that such pursuits may have a value in themselves which well deserves the honour they have at all times received from men of science and letters. It will show moreover with what rare excep- tions the results of such exertions have been due to any thing but individual enterprise and individual exertion, and how seldom nations which have reaped the fruit of such inquiries have in any way contributed to their advancement or success ; and above all things it will serve to demonstrate with what remarkable precision the prophecies of the Inspired Writers have been ful- filled, and that the historical course and development of these nations is in strict unison with that which the intelligent student of the Bible would be led to expect. There are two methods by which the proposed inquiry may be conducted : one, that pursued by Mr. Layard in Chap. I. of the Second Part of his work on Nineveh, by ascending from the last known date in the classical historians through the mythical or fabulous traditions of the country to the earliest notices pre- served in the Bible : the other, the reverse of the first, which, by commencing from the earliest accounts, descends by regular succession to the latest historical period. The former seems more fitted for a critical inquiry such as that carried on by Mr. Layard, the latter to be more adapted to the continued march of history. We have, in this work, chosen the second of the two methods, as on the whole best adapted to the simplicity of a popular view of the subject. 6 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. II. CHAPTER II. The Kingdom of Assyria — Nimrod — His Name — Faith — First reigned in Babylon —Marginal Note — Early State of Babylon and Nineveh — Institution of Civil Society — Nomad Tribes Ancient and Modern — Persian Nomads — Mongols — Turks — Magyars, &c. — Persian Tribes — Kurds — Early name of Babel — Confusion of Tongues — Babylon — Early Greatness and long Subsequent Glory — Her Position — The Enterprise of her People — Nineveh — Classical Accounts of its Position — And Magnitude — The Classical meaning of Assyria” — Kings of Nineveh — Amraphel — Teutamus — Blank of a Thousand Years — Parallel and Cotemporary History of the Jews — Adjoining Nations —Philistines — Sidonians — Phoenician Colonies — Trade with the East in the * Time of Solomon. The kingdom of Assyria, comprehending under that title in its most general signification the countries washed by the Euphrates and Tigris, of which Babylon and Nineveh were the two chief cities, must, from its greater antiquity, be described first. We find the earliest notice of it in Gen. x., 8 — 12, where, in speaking of the genealogy of the sons of Ham, the sacred writer says : — “ And Cush begat Nimrod : he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord ; wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord ; and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the plain of Shinar : out of that land went forth Ashur,” (or as the marginal note has interpreted it, “ he went out into Assyria,”) “ and builded Nineveh and the city of Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah : the same is a great city.” Brief as is the narrative, in consistency with the usual style and practice of the sacred penmen, who, giving particular attention to those points only which bear upon the fortunes of the chosen race, seldom mention, except incidentally, matters foreign to this object, there is still much for the reflection of him who peruses it attentively, and enough to enable him to form a tolerably accurate notion of the state of the world at the period to which the words refer. In the first place, though no clue is afforded as to the subsequent history of this first Assyrian prince, it is quite clear that his name has been thus prominently mentioned because he was at the time in which he lived, above all others, a remarkable person, and one whose great deeds fitted him for CHAP, n.] NAME OF NIMROD. peculiar selection, not impossibly, for some such reason as Sir Walter Ealegh has given, that Nimrod first abolished the simple system of paternity or eldership, and laid the earliest foundations of independent sovereign rule. Whoever, then, he was, it is evident that he was no common man ; and the names of the cities which are attributed to him prove, as we shall subsequently show, that his power must have been very great. It is not, therefore, at all strange that many attempts should have been made to identify the name of Nimrod with names recorded in classical history, and that it should have been supposed by some that he is the same as the Greek Ninus ; by others, as Belus (the Greek form of Baal or Lord). In the traditions of his own country he was considered to be the same as Orion ; and the Assyrians associated with him the hare and the dog in that constellation, preserving thereby a curious record of the “ mighty hunter ” of the Scripture narrative. Mr. Cullimore, in his work on Babylonian Cylinders, has engraven one in which Divinities are represented standing on a dog, behind which are eight stars. Mr. Selden mentions that in the constellation of Orion, Nimrod is known under the appellation of A1 Gebir (“ the mighty ”) ,* and Bochart has imagined, not without some reason, that the story of the Indian Bacchus is a classical tradition of the conquests of Nimrod and his successors. There has been almost as much discussion about the meaning of the name, and some have supposed that he W'as an usurper, because Nimrod would naturally be derived from a Hebrew word, meaning to rebel ; yet there is very little ground for this opinion. We should more naturally conclude from the history in the Bible, that Nimrod had the command of those who went with him into Shinar, and that he received rather than usurped this charge. It is nowhere stated, that Noah himself, or any of the sons of his own body, came with this troop, and Nimrod, as the descendant of Ham, would be excluded from the special promises made to his uncles, Shem and Japhet. In the same way, the phrase “ mighty hunter” has been variously interpreted, and some have thought that he was not only a leader, or chieftain, by the consent of his own people, but that, turning his weapons of hunting against men, he thereby compelled them to submit to his dominion. Like the heroes of great stature, the giants of the old world, he was doubtless the 8 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. n. most powerful chieftain of his day ; but tradition has not be- queathed to us enough of his history whereby we might determine the appropriateness of the title “ mighty hunter.” It is not of course possible to ascertain what form of religion he instituted, or how far he may have departed from the primitive faith of the sons of Noah : yet at a period so shortly after the Deluge, it is probable that his creed, like that of the descendants of Shem, was a nearly pure Deism. There is, however, a pretty constant tradition extant that Nimrod taught the adoration of fire as one of the simple ele- ments, or as the symbol of the Divine Majesty, a faith which we have abundant proof was from very early times common in many parts of the East, and is even now, after the lapse of 4000 years, not altogether extinct. He reigned, it would seem, from the first in Babylon, and so far, the short notice in Holy Scripture agrees with the classical tradition, for, according to the most general accounts which have been preserved, Belus and his son Ninus were its founders ; though some, indeed, as Ctesias, have attributed it to Semiramis ; but her reign, if not altogether mythical, must have been at least tw’O thousand years later than the first foundation of Babylon. It is worthy of remark, that the marginal note before referred to, “ he went out into Assyria,” may be, after all, the true sense of the passage ; while we have the alternative of supposing that Assur is the name of a man and not of a people, in which case it is probable that Assur may have been one of the lieutenants of Nimrod, and that he was sent by him to accomplish the conquest of the country adjoining Babylon, which in after times took its name from him. Such a view would be consistent with the constant habit of classical history, which gives to almost every town its Eponymus, or hero, whence its name and first greatness was believed to have been derived. The simple view is, how- ever, that suggested in the margin, which attributes to Nimrod himself the conquest of the whole country, and the foundation of Nineveh. If this be so, and Assur means a country and not a man, it would seem that Nimrod first possessed an empire at Babylon, and then in process of time extended his conquests over the nations around him. For indeed as Sir Walter Ralegh* has remarked, we may feel quite sure that the world, after the Flood, * Ralegh, Hist, of the World, p. 111., CHAP, n.] FIRST SEAT OF NIMROD’S EMPIRE. 9 “ was not peopled by imagination, neither had the children of Noah wings to fly from Shinar to the uttermost borders of Europe, Africa and Asia.” The story of Abraham, attentively considered, reveals the progress of the nations. It is stated that Abraham, the true successor of Shem, dwelt first at Ur, in Chaldea, thence removed to Charran, in Mesopotamia, and thence again to Sichem,in Palestine. Seven generations only had passed between the days of Shem and the removal of that Patriarch from lands which were swayed over by Nimrod and his descendants. It would seem, therefore, that, so far at least as history has recorded, the great masters of nations were, in the earliest times, and for ages subsequent, descendants of Ham, and not of Shem and Japhet. For we know that from Cush, Mizraim, and Canaan, the three children of Ham, cama those princes who so long ruled over Babylon, Egypt, and Syria. There is no reason to suppose that for a long period the separate or united empires of Babylon and Nineveh extended beyond their own frontiers, or came into collision with any of the ad- joining nations. It is more likely that for many centuries the empire of the plains watered by the Euphrates and Tigris, was divided between the Assyrians of Nineveh, and the inhabitants of Babylon, and that each city was in its turn dominant or sub* ject according to the valour or weakness of its princes. With the solitary exceptions of the traditions in classical authors of the conquests of the Indian Bacchus, which, as we have men* tioned already, are by some attributed to the Assyrian Ninus, we have no mention of either Babylon or Nineveh, as the head of a great conquering nation in early times. We find that Assyria, together with the King of Nisibis, sent only twenty thousand men to assist the Ammonites, a notice which implies either a great inferiority or else a disinclination for the cause they were requested to aid. For a long time, though the seat of the chief governments, neither city would be in a position to extend its con- quests far beyond the limits of its own territories, and the analogy of the early settlement of other Asiatic kingdoms w^ould lead us to suppose that the growth of the power of both cities was by no means rapid.* At the earliest periods to which our records ascend, we find Babel or Babylon mentioned as a city already existing; “the * See note A. at end of chapter. 10 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. n. beginning” of the kingdom of Nimrod, though apparently not owing its foundation to him. It was, probably, the earliest town in which there was a large and settled people, and from it the first rudiments of civilisation spread over the surrounding nations. It long enjoyed the pre-eminence which it had acquired so early ; no city but Rome has any claim to equal greatness ; and when it fell, as it did, just when Alexander the Great would have made it the capital of the greatest empire of the Old World, it still (as Heeren has remarked*) left traces of its former glory. For some time, Seleucia, the royal residence of the followers of Seleucus, kept alive the remembrance of the ancient city; then Ctesiphon, which followed Seleucia as the capital of the Parthian Empire, handed on its fame, though much shorn of its original brightness. When these fell before the arms of the conquering Arabs, the royal cities of Baghdad and Hormaz arose in their place, and the last glimmer of the ancient splendour of Babylon still hovers over the half-ruined Basra. Much of the early greatness of Babylon is no doubt attributable to the remarkable geographical advantages she enjoyed : in a position nearly central, the chief city of a land watered by two of the finest rivers in the world, Babylon must have been very early in history the foremost state of Western Asia, and the natural centre for receiving and transmitting onward the international commerce of Asia. Between the Indus on the east, and the Mediterranean on the west, it was the central mart for such eastern luxuries as found a readv market V in the west ; at no great distance from the Persian Gulf, and in its great river possessing all that was necessary for inland traffic, it would be the natural place at which the seafaring nations of India were admitted to the heart of Asia, and afforded the readiest means of communication with those who dwelt on the Euxine or Caspian shores. Thus favoured by nature, it was long the central point where the merchants of nearly all the nations of the civilised world assembled, and such through all its changes it continued till the operation of external causes changed the course which Asiatic commerce had hitherto pur- sued. Neither the sword of the conqueror, nor the untiring hand of Oriental despotism could ruin, though for a time they * Heeren, Asiatic Nations. CHAP. II.] BABYLON. 11 might diminish, its prosperity ; and it was only when the enter- prise of Europe found a path across the ocean to India, and the commerce of the world became a sea trade instead of a land trade, that the royal city on the banks of the Euphrates finally decayed. But not alone to her position, unrivalled as it seems to have been for carrying on a commerce with the whole world, was Babylon indebted for her greatness. Her people seem to have known full well how they could best assist the beneficent inten- tions of nature. The very soil they dwelt on, and the river which fertilised their lands, had their respective disadvantages, and the peculiar geological formation of their country, which was one vast alluvial basin of dried mud, like the generality of steppe regions, afforded them no stone wherewith they could exercise their archi- tectural genius. The vast waters of the Euphrates roll on to the sea in a slow and sluggish tide between banks so low that the least increase from the melting snows of Armenia would, but for artificial embankments, be ever causing an overflow. Emulating their kindred tribes in Egypt the Babylonians had to wrest their lands from the invasion of the flood and the dominion of the waters ; and an impulse was thus directly given to the progress of civilisa- tion and of arts which made them no less celebrated than their Egyptian brethren. Hence a variety of canals and lakes, some of extraordinary size, which were used to draw off the superfluous waters of the great river, and those remarkable constructions of baked and unbaked bricks which, from the earliest historian to the latest traveller, have been the wonder and admiration of the world. Yet, full of interest as would have been the Babylonian history during the earlier stages of its existence, it is not a little remarkable how entirely after its first appearance Babylon vanishes from the page of history. The Jewish annalists had, as we have already mentioned, no inducement to mention her ; the Babylonian chronicles have long since been wholly lost, and the accounts of Herodotus and Ctesias, though, on the whole, doubtless true, hardly admit of accurate chronological arrangement. Their historical myths rest almost exclusively on the names of Semiramis, Ninus, and Belus, suggesting indeed a strong probability that great conquerors had arisen in this part of Asia before the origin of the Babylonio-Chaldean Empire, and had founded two separate kingdoms whose deeds 12 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. II. have been preserved under the one name of the Assyrian Empire, yet omitting many important facts which the student of history would gladly have preserved from oblivion.* V^ith this slight sketch of the early history of Babylon it will be perhaps well to take next in order that of its great rival, and long superior in military power, Nineveh. It is indeed by no means easy to keep the story of the two towns separate and distinct, as there was a great resemblance between them, not only in their structure but in their extent and population. The Greeks and Homans give no account of Nineveh which can be considered satisfactory, and so great a variety exists between the different reports which have been, handed down to us that it is not easy to deduce from them any one consistent account. The entire overthrow of the city preceded the first of the Greek historians by more than a century, and from the time of its destruction it appears never to have been, like its sister city, rebuilt. Unlike Babylon, though well placed for land-commerce, its position, at above four hundred miles from the Persian Gulf, did not render its continuance so necessary to the purposes of the world ; while, at the same time, it could never have been the centre of that trade which made Babylon so great, and its power so enduring. Yet, though inferior to Babylon in length of duration, as perhaps in early greatness, it is remarkable that, during the great blank of Babylonish history to which we have alluded, Nineveh was supposed, by all the classical writers at least, to have been the chief and ruling city, and a long succession of kings has been given to her. Their ignorance, however, of the geography of the country is curious, inasmuch as no two authors agree as to the exact position of this once illustrious city. Thus, Ctesias and Diodorus placed it on the Euphrates, which could not have been its true position, and which is hardly explained by the supposition that there were in ancient times two cities bearing the name of Ninus. Herodotus, Arrian, and Eustathius more correctly place it on the Tigris ; Pliny, on the west side of that river, in nearly the same position as that occupied by the modern town of Mosul. * See note B. at end of chapter. CHAP, n.] NINEVEH. 13 Ptolemy describes it beyond the Tigris to the east, at the con- fluence of that river and the Lycus (or lesser Zab). Strabo follows Ptolemy, and agrees with him that Nineveh was in Aturia, beyond the Lycus with reference to Arbela ; that is to say, that the Lycus divides the Babylonian territory in which Arbela was, from the Assyrian in which Nineveh stood. And of later writers, Benjamin of Tudela preserves an accurate description of its position on the left bank of the rivers, when he says, “ Inter quam Al Mosul et Ninivem pons tantiim intercedit ; ” and Salaha, who was sent by the Nestorians to Rome in a. d. 1553, thus describes the position of Nineveh when speaking of Mosul : “ Mosul situ est ad ripam fluvii Tigridis, d qua altera parte ripce ohest Ninive tres mille passihus." It is a remarkable proof of the complete destruction of Nineveh that none of the historians of Alexander’s campaigns allude to it, though he must have passed within a few miles of it, on his way to fight the battles of Arbela and Gaugamela. Xenophon, in the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, probably did see its ruins ; but we cannot speak with certainty from his description, which some have imagined, though we think erroneously, applied to the ruins of Al Hathr. Lucian confirms its entire decay in his day, which, as a native of Samosata in Cappadocia, he had probably good means of knowing. The ancients seem to have had a more just idea of its magnitude than of its position. Thus Strabo considers it to have been much larger than Babylon. Diodorus speaks of the immense structure of its walls, and states that Semiramis erected a tomb in its centre for Ninus and herself; and Eustathius, in Dionys. Perieg., confirms this view; there is also a distich in the Anthologia, attributed to Antipater, which seems to confirm this view. Jonah calls it a city of “ three days' journey," but whether this means in circumference or diameter is uncertain ; the idea of its magni- tude is further confirmed by Nahum in his description of its overthrow. There is almost as much indistinctness in the classical account of the country in which Nineveh was situated, and of which it was the capital. As a term of geography, Assyria was used in many and various senses by the writers of antiquity. The Greeks and Romans used it as a general designation for the district including Babylonia, Mesopotamia, and Adiabene, and even some- 14 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. h. times extended it to Asia Minor. Thus Herodotus* remarks that the Greeks called the Assyrians of the army of Xerxes, Syrians; and Arrian f (himself a native of Cappadocia) makes it border on Cilicia. Ptolemy and the Koman historians limit it to the countries east of the Tigris, and make the M. Niphates divide it from Armenia, and M. Zagros from Media, and give Susiana and Babylonia as its southern boundaries. It would seem that anciently the country north-west of the Lycus was called Aturia, a mere dialectical variation of the name Assyria : from this the name spread west and south. By the revolt of the Medes it was probably restricted to the northern part ; and, when conquered by Cyrus, it became one of the satrapies of the Persian Empire, and was sometimes called Babylonia and sometimes Assyria, with an indistinctness of nomenclature which prevailed during the wars of the Homans and Parthians. It has been already stated that the heathen writers mention a long list of kings who succeeded Ninus, or Nimrod, the traditional founder of Nineveh, and that history has preserved scarcely any memorial of them. One or two of them, however, are incidentally mentioned. Thus we have Amraphel, \ king of Shinar, in the time of Abraham, who with two others followed Chedorlaomer, king of the Elamites, in the war against the kings of Canaan. Plato makes the kingdom of Troy dependent upon the Assyrian empire ; and Ctesias says that Teutamus, the twenty-third king of Nineveh, sent Memnon with a body of troops to aid the Trojans. But what is most remarkable is, that it appears to have escaped the notice of the ancients that there must have been at least two Assyrian dynasties, notwithstanding a passage in Herodotus would favour this supposition ; for he states that Assyria was an inde- pendent kingdom after the revolt of the Medes. It seems clear that by the dissolution of the first empire the neighbouring states became separate kingdoms, and hence we have the distinct empires of the Medes and Persians, Babylonians and Assyrians. In the end, the Assyrians yielded to the supremacy of the Medes, and Nineveh was overthrown by the united forces of Babylonia and Media. On this supposition, the first dynasty must be considered as commencing with Ninus, and terminating with * Herod, vii. 63. f Arrian, ii. 5, 6. J Gen. xiv. 1. CHAP. II.] EARLY ASSYRIAN HISTORY. 15 Sardanapalus, the kings of which are, as far as we at present know, mythical. The second, which may be called, for distinction’s sake, the Scriptural^ begins with Pul, and ends with Saracus (or Ninus II.) Embracing therefore the earliest and the latest period, it is evident that there are three stages in the history. 1st, Babylon. 2nd, Nineveh. 3rd, Babylon. It is not probable that the two cities were at an equal pitch of glory at the same time. This alternation of power is evident in Holy Scripture ; thus, in the middle of the reign of Manasseh, about B. C. 680, a king of Assyria was master of Babylon, for his “ captains took Manasseh and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon.” * Again some years later in the reign of Nabuchodonosor, king of Assyria, B. C. 634, Babylon was free, as may be gathered from the account in Judith, where it is stated that the inhabitants of the countries round Nineveh made light of the king’s command to go with him to battle, (Judith i. 7, 12,) which confirms the statement of Herodotus f that the allies of Phraortes were they who dwelt by the Euphrates and Tigris. Among the earliest writers on Assyrian history are Ctesias and Berosus ; the former of whom founded his history upon extracts from Babylonian annals. Neither of these authors has been fortunate enough to transmit their original writings to our times. In their place exist a host of fragmentary copyists, Eusebius, Abydenus, Polyhistor, &c., who have more or less founded their histories on the earlier records of those authors whose works were extant when they formed their compilations. From the time of Amraphel we have no authentic history of any Assyrian king for more than a thousand years. But during this long period of darkness we have in the Bible an account of the rise of more than one neighbouring state, which for a while rivalled, but in the end submitted to, the growing great- ness and almost universal empire of the rulers of Mesopotamia. Of these, the Theocracy of Judea naturally occupies the longest period of time and the most prominent place. Its early history from the time the Israelites entered Canaan under Joshua, to the establishment of the royal line in the House of Judah, is a series of almost unceasing wars with the idolatrous tribes around, * 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. t Herod, i. 102. ]6 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. II. broken by short intervals of peace, periods which were little distinguished by those events which make nations great in the eyes of posterity. Its territory had not in this period been extended beyond its original boundaries, nor had there been com- munication enough of a commercial character with the surround- ing nations to extend to foreign people the fame of its rulers, or the greatness of its nation. Under David, however, the kingdom had been considerably enlarged, and settled laws were estab: lished. The arms of the Hebrews had become a cause of alarm to the countries near them; hence, the reign of Solomon was peaceful, and a commercial spirit was encouraged by that monarch, which spread far and wide the renown of his people and the wisdom an*d ability of their sovereign. For “ he was wiser than all men ; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all nations round about.”* In his days, there is no question that the Hebrews were the ruling people, and their empire the chief monarchy of Western Asia. From the Medi- terranean Sea to the Euphrates, from the river of Egypt to Berytus, Hamath, and Thapsacus, and towards the east to the Hagerenes on the Persian Gulf, all were subject to the sway of Solomon. The warlike and civilised Philistines, the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, the Nomadic Arabians of the desert, and the Syrians of Damascus paid him tribute. Peace gave to all his subjects prosperity, the trade he fostered brought wealth into the country, and the building of the temple and of the several palaces introduced foreign artists, by whom his own people were instructed : and the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made to be as the sycamore that are in the vale for abundance.”f The chief nations which adjoined the Israelites at that time were the Sidonians on the north, and the Philistines on the south ; both were con- founded by the Greeks, and generally known under the one name of Phoenicians. The Philistines had been for the longest period a thorn in the side of the growing nation of the Hebrews, but had been at length subdued by the valour of David and his captains. With the Sidonians, however, there had been on the whole more peace than war, and though at times * 1 Kings, iv. 31. f 1 Kings, X. 27. CHAP. II.] PHCENICIAISr COLONIES. ir they seized captives and “ sold the children of Israel and the children of Jerusalem to the Grecians,”* circumstances had prevented such acts leading to any long or destructive war. We find that “ their country was nourished ” by the land of Israel, f and that already Judah and the land of Israel traded in their market for “ wheat of Minnith and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm,” I while a similarity of language which is proved by words occurring at Carthage and their colonies, must have tended to foster a kindred spirit. § The result of this long and slightly disturbed peace was, that the Phoenicians succeeded in building many cities, which in their turn played an important part in the subsequent history of the world. Of these, Aradus, an island in the far North ; and An- taradus, opposite to it on the main land; Tripolis, (now Tarablus); Byblus, or Berytus, (now Bey rut) ; and Tyre in the tribe of Asher, were the most remarkable. In the time of Solomon, the towns of Sidon and Tyre had attained an unparalleled pitch of greatness, and engrossed nearly all the trade which then existed in the World. Nor were their colonies less memorable. Already had they penetrated to the Black Sea, and founded the city of Bithy- nium. The “Isles of the Gentiles,” Greece and Italy, had received many of their adventurous merchants ; and at Utica, Carthage, and Adrumetum in Africa, in Cyprus, Sicily, and the Balearic Islands, in Tartessus on the Guadalquivir, and Gades in Spain, their colonists had founded cities which were destined to endure long after the decay of the parent states. “ Flow freely through thy land like the Nile,” exclaims the prophet on the destruction of Tyre, “ for no bond restrains thee any more.”H During the reign of Solomon, the Phoenicians were in strict bonds of friendship with that king, which opened to them the still richer trade with the East. Their cities became the great marts for spices and gold from the South of Arabia, and for ebony, ivory, and cotton, the native products of India. Hitherto this trade had been carried on chiefly by caravans from Haran, Canaan, Eden, and ShebaH and by Gerra, a town on the Persian Gulf, m which * Joel, iii. 6; Amos i. 9. + Acts, xii. 20. J Ezekiel, xxviii. 17. § At Carthage the leading officers were called suffetes, which is nothing more than a graecised form of the Hebrew name for judges, shophetim. II Isaiah, xxiii. 10, according to the translation of Gesenius. ^ Ezek. xxvii. 23. C 18 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. n. the Pbcenicians had a port in the small island of Dedan, a name given by Ezekiel to two places, one a town in the north of Arabia, which supplied the Tyrians with wool, the other the mart where the wealth of India was collected. The caravans from this quarter came directly across the desert of Arabia, and their journeys are thus described in Isaiah : — “ In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, 0 ye travelling companies of Dedanim. The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they pre- vented with their bread him that fled.”* Hence the importance of Petra as a resting-place for their caravans, whose remains still attest its former greatness, situated as it was in a hollow pass, in a valley surrounded by rocks : Diodorus tells us that the Arabians held a common mart in it for their merchandise. From Petra the product of the commerce was carried on to what Herodotus calls the “Arabian Marts” near Gaza, and thence transmitted by sea to Tyre. The conquests of Solomon opened a better channel for the Phoenician commerce. By subduing Edom, and establishing his authority through the territory to the north of the Red Sea, he was able to open the harbours of Eloth and Ezion Geber to Phoenician enterprise ; and the united fleets of Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre, visited Ophir (or Western India), and were occupied for three years on each voyage, owing to the difficulties of the navi- gation, and the delay in the collection of their cargoes,! store-cities were built for the use of the Phoenicians, which were famous in after times for their magnificence — Baalbec, and the even more celebrated Tadmor or Palmyra. Some traces of the histories of Hiram, king of Tyre, and Solomon, are preserved in the records of Heathen antiquity. Joseph, c. Apion, i. 18, quoting from Menander, the historian, who was a native of Ephesus, says : — “ On the death of Abibalus (Ethbaal), his son Hiram took the kingdom. He dedicated the golden pillar that is in Jupiter’s (Baal’s) temple ; he went and cut down timber from the mountain called Libanus, and got timber of cedar for the roof of his temples. He also pulled down old temples and built new ones — besides this, he consecrated those of Hercules and Astarte. Under this king there was a younger son, Abdemon, who by his acuteness mastered the problems which Solomon, the king of * Isaiah, xxi. 13. f 1 Kings, X. 37. CHAP. II.] INSTITUTION OF CIVIL SOCIETY. 19 Jerusalem, had recommended to he solved.” It is clear that the history of Jerusalem and Tyre has been confused by Menander, and that he attributed to a temple of Jupiter at Tyre what was really true of the temple of Jehovah, built by Solomon in Jeru- salem ; yet without this, the other parts of the story coincide perfectly with what we know from Holy Scripture of the history of those kingdoms. Note A. INSTITUTION OF CIVIL SOCIETY, &c. The history of the early settlement of nations is in itself one of great interest ; and it is still more important when we are treating of Asiatic history, which has continued to present from the earliest times an unchangeability of character which is not found among the tribes which have peopled Europe. It is therefore worth while to pause in our general account of Assyria, to trace, so far as we may, some of the steps which has made modern Asiatic history what it is, and to show how remarkably the present state of the tribes of that quarter of the globe coincides with what we know of their ancient condition. We shall therefore consider at some length the progress of the Institution of Civil Society in the earliest periods of the World’s life, when the tribes first settled at Babel, or in its neigh- bourhood, in the dawn of history, and from which the country of the Mesopotamian plains probably derived its first importance. The necessity of repelling lawless aggression would naturally be the first thing that would bring families together, and lead them to unite in societies for purposes of mutual defence. To secure this object, the combined force of many indi- viduals would often be requisite ; and hence, in the early stages of human improvement, a numerous progeny, particularly of sons, is earnestly desired, and highly valued. The members of one family would, however, rarely be able of themselves to maintain successfully their own rights ; hence they would naturally seek the aid of the families around them, and in their immediate vicinity ; and covenants for mutual assistance, on terms of mutual agreement, would soon be made. The religious sanction of the oath would be the natural bond ; and the public worship of God would almost immediately follow, and would be among the first direct institutions of the united people. Hence would result a variety of laws, in the first instance, very simple, and afiecting only the most momentous interests of each family, as those relating to marriage, private property, the punishment of transgressors, and the duties of religion. For in fact, where our inquiries are confined to the infancy of society, and the original state of empires, we find that the web of national history, though woven by so many different artists, bears almost everywhere an uniform tex- ture. As new occasions, and with them new necessities arose, the first principles are gradually strengthened, improved, and enlarged, by other c 2 20 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [CKxiP. II. compacts and laws, which are either expressly enacted, or tacitly admitted ; and as individual families endeavoured to increase their property, to lighten their labours, and to attain greater comfort and ease, society itself acquired firmness and compactness. Some such rules as these will be found to have existed in all nations ; but the study of history will show a great difference in their gradual growth and formation, between the Nomadic and settled tribes, a dif- ference which may at once be accounted for by differences of position and circumstances. The social bond would naturally be very weak among a people who lived as herdsmen, or who wandered as hunters over vast plains, and who, from the nature of their various pursuits, the scarcity of herbage for their cattle, or of game for their sport or subsistence, could have no settled abodes. Hence, though originally very nearly connected together as families from one common ancestor, their living together in after times would depend entirely on voluntary associations. Separations would take place, such as that narrated in the Bible, when the herdsmen of Lot and Abram parted asunder, because there was a strife” between them, and Lot was induced to choose the plains of Jordan and the neighbourhood of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were well watered everywhere, ‘‘ even as the garden of the Lord,” while Abram continued to dwell in the Land of Canaan. For tribes so living, it is clear that there could have been but little of what we understand by Civil Society. Their laws were little more than edicts enounced from time to time, and enforced, as occasion required, by their several chieftains ; and hence, when desirous of improvements, their emirs would seldom be able to enforce them, except with the risk of losing much of their own authority. What was gained by one tribe during the long reign of an able ruler, would be lost again, or greatly impaired, by the succession of another and less able chieftain. Rapine and its attendant evils would necessarily result from such a state, for expert robbers would easily, and without fear of detection or punish- ment, commit extensive depredations on the wandering herds. Nor is this, the original and necessary condition of the Nomad tribes, changed by the lapse of time. Such was the early state of the sons of Ishmael, “ their hand was against every man, and every man’s hand against them.” Such it has continued through past ages, under every change of rulers, and such it still endures, wherever the climate or other conditions of the country have been such as to render permanent conquest by more civilised and settled nations impossible. To this day the wandering tribes that people the plains of Mesopotamia in the spring tide, and where the neighbourhood of the great rivers affords ample and good pasturage for their cattle, reproduce the habits, and customs, and usages of their primitive fathers, and caring little for the pleasures and advantages of a society more closely united, refuse to restrict their liberty by adopting the ordinary but conven- tional usages of society. Mr. Layard and Mr. Frazer frequently men- tion the present Nomads of Mesopotamia and Persia, and the former gives an animated description of the march of the Shammar tribe, one of the most important of the roving tribes which at the present day occupy the great plains between the Tigris and the Euphrates. We soon found Ourselves,” says he, (vol. i. p. 90,) “ in the midst of wide-spreading flocks of CHAP. IT.] NOMAD TRIBES OF ASIA. 21 sheep and camels. As far as the eye could reach, to the right, to the left, and in front, still the same moving crowd. Long lines of asses and bullocks, laden with black tents, huge cauldrons, and variegated carpets ; aged women and men, no longer able to walk, tied on the heap of domestic furniture ; infants crammed into saddle-bags, their tiny heads thrust through the nar- row opening, balanced on the animal’s back by kids or lambs tied on the opposite side ; girls clothed only in the close-fitting Arab shirt, which dis- played, rather than concealed, their graceful forms ; mothers with their children on their shoulders ; boys driving flocks of lambs ; horsemen armed with their long tufted spears, scouring the plain on their fleet mares; riders urging their dromedaries with their short hooked sticks, and leading their high-bred steeds by the halter ; colts galloping among the throng ; high-born ladies seated in the centre of huge wings, which extend like those of a butterfly, from each side of a camel’s hump, and are no less gaudy and variegated. Such was the motley crowd through which we had to wend our way for several hours. Our appearance created a lively sensation. The horsemen assembled round us, and rode by our side ; the children yelled, and ran after the Franks.” Frazer, in his Persia (Edinb. Cyclop. 1834), has well described the habits and customs of the wandering hordes, and has pointed out a dis- tinction existing among the aboriginal people in Asia, (and more especially of Persia,) which has been perpetuated through all times and through all the changes of their history. He shows that an immense portion of that continent is inhabited chiefly by tribes which may be called migratory; but that in many parts of it they have merged into the body of the natives, wherever a regular government has been established ; and that whenever any one of these tribes has risen to considerable power, and has fixed its seat of empire in some one insulated spot, as, for instance, the Moguls and Uzbeks at Bokhara, Khiva, and Cash gar, the nomadic wanderers swarm around the imperial city for protection or service, but seldom intrude among their agricultural and commercial brethren. In Persia a large population of Nomads are still existing separately from the rest of the people, though at the same time residing in the very heart of the community, and supply- ing the principal military force of the country, and its only hereditary aristocracy. These tribes are bold and free, wild as their brethren from the pathless steppes, warlike and rude, quarrelsome and eager for plunder. They despise the pacific drudges who occupy the cities and cultivate the plains, and wander at will over the boundless deserts, are uncertain in their loyalty, though hospitable and generous to the stranger. Their habits are at once pastoral, military, and predatory. They speak in general a rude dialect, and are subdivided in many branches which derive their desig- nations from their original progenitor. The wandering tribes of Central Asia have in all ages occupied an important place, and played a conspicuous part, in the drama of Oriental History, and we shall have repeated occasion to allude to them in the course of our narrative. In the most ancient times we hear of descents from the north of tribes called, by the classical authors, Scythians ; in later days the Mongol, the Turk, and Tartar, have successively made their inroads and established settlements in the richest and most fertile 22 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. II. provinces ; and it is well to remember that the Goths, the Huns, the Vandals, and the Magyar races, who form the hereditary nobility of Hun- gary, were but waves of the same great tide which has from the beginning of things swept onward from the East to the West. At the present time it would seem that the central part of Asia is very much less peopled than it was originally, and that the steppes of Tartary which furnished the mighty hosts of Jenghiz Khan and Timur, though they filled the lands they con- quered with a new people, have not themselves been in equal proportions replenished. It is now many centuries since a stranger tribe has invaded the southern provinces, and, so far as we can judge from such statistical accounts as we have, there seems little probability of any such invasions for the future. The Nomad tribes now most renowned, are those who, as we have mentioned, still occupy the central districts of Persia, and extend from thence to the south and west over the plains of Mesopotamia, and the Deserts of Arabia and Northern Africa. To those in Arabia we shall have little occasion to refer, but with those in Mesopotamia and Persia, the travellers whose labours we have to record have always been in constant communication. It may be well, therefore, here to give some account of them. In the Persian provinces there are tribes of Arabian and Turkish descent : the first occupy the low land between the mountains and the Persian gulf, called Dushtistan and Chab. They came over with the Muhammedan Conquerors, and settled in Balkh and Khorassan, where they still remain a distinct race. In the former district they speak the language, wear the dress, and, for the most part, preserve the customs of their mother country ; poor and frugal in their habits, they are scarcely less rude than their aboriginal ancestors, and nearly as wild and independent as their forefathers. Denied the luxuries and careless of the ornaments of more civilised nations, they eat the bread of con- tentment, and deem no food so delightful as that to which they were accustomed in their ancient desert homes. Mr. Morier mentions an anecdote of an Arab woman who had been in England , and who returned in the suite of the English ambassador to Persia. On her return she told her countrywomen of the riches and the beauty of the land she had visited, and described the roads, the carriages, the fine country, the splendour of the cities, and the fertility of the well-cultivated soil. Her audience were full of admiration, and had almost retired in envy, when she happened to mention that there was but one thing wanting to make the whole scene perfect. ^‘And what is thatl” said they. ^^Why it has not a single date-tree. All the time that I was there I never ceased to look for one, but I looked in vain.” The charm was instantly broken ; the Arabs turned away in pity for men, who, whatever might be their comforts or their magnificence, were condemned to live in a country where there were no date-trees. The first appearance of the second or Turkish race is believed to have taken place early in the seventh century, when a horde, called Khazars, descended from the Volga, and joining the Emperor Heraclius in Georgia, on his march against Khosrou Purviz, obtained a permanent footing in that country. Since that period various streams came down from the deserts beyond the Oxus and the Volga, and by various races, families, armies, and nations have established themselves in different places. Even the Parthians CHAP. II.] TRIBES OF PERSIA. 23 themselves are supposed to be of the same Scythian origin. Lastly came the Turkomans, who founded the dynasties of Saman arid Ghazna, the Seljuks of Persia, the Moguls under Jenghiz-khan, the Turks under Timur, and the Uzbek Tartars. Besides these greater inroads, many smaller tribes, pressed on by the necessities of a superabundant population, have settled in Maveral Nahar and the desert between that province and Khorassan, and have slowly but surely insinuated themselves into Persia. From these originally marauding tribes have sprung the noblest of the military clans, and the ruling dynasty of the present days, the Kajars. The wild inhabitants of the modern Kurdistan, claim an origin different from these, and imagine that they are the offspring of the Jins or genii of the air. Their great antiquity seems undoubted, and they are probably connected with the brave Carduchi, who occupied their native mountains in the days of Xenophon, and who, as we shall see hereafter, were probably the parents of the still more celebrated Chaldees. A great change is found to take place in the habits and dispositions of the people, who are originally, and by nature, wanderers, when by accident they become familiarised with luxury or civilisation. The young chiefs, as Frazer has remarked, soon acquire a kind of specious politeness, and a facility of dissimulation, which, grafted on a stock naturally rude and haughty, produces, in the end, a character in which little worth and honesty is to be found. Forming in Persia the main military strength of the country, they are patronised by the court, and become the attendants on the royal person. As they advance in years they obtain higher appoint- ments, or retire to their native districts, leaving their sons to undergo a similar training. In their own country, surrounded by their own people, and dignified by a large company of their own retainers, the chiefs are seen to advantage, and display a frankness and generosity not common in cour- tiers ; yet the slightest provocation is enough to arouse them to the most furious and ungovernable passion. So well is this facility known, that the sovereign himself, should he have been the object of their intemperance, seldom does more than smile and forgive, if the offender can plead that he is an Ily^t (or a wanderer). Sir John Malcolm mentions having been present when one of these rude warriors abused and grossly insulted the prime minis- ter. On inquiring the next day whether the minister had punished him, the savage replied — It is all settled ; I have made an apology ; I told the minister that I was an Ily^t, and that you know ” — added he, laughing — “ is an excuse for anything wrong a man can say or do.” It may be easily imagined that with such a people education has made little or no progress, and that religion cannot show even the observance of the commonest external forms. Like their chiefs, the common people have but one study, how to excel in warlike accomplishments ; with them, too, the Lacedsemonian virtues of stealing adroitly, and of bearing pain is equally fashionable. Though their creed is theoretically Muhammedan, they rarely abstain from animal food or wine ; and even the flesh of the hog is not unfrequently a Kurdish delicacy. “ Our religion, and that of the Franks, have much similarity,” observed a Kurd to an English gentleman one day ; *‘we eat hog’s flesh, drink wine, keep no fasts, and say no prayers.” With these tribes, as with the coasting pirates of ancient Greece, the name 24 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. II. of the plunderer is a title of honour, while that of a thief is never heard without indignation. Nor is the distinction between them immaterial, for the one implies the successful exertion of courage and strength, of open and resolute daring ; the other, meanness and deceit, and a consciousness of weakness. Hence their love of martial stories and recitals, and their willingness to recount to the listener the deeds of pillage and atrocity in which they have themselves been actors. “ I happened one day, when on the march to Sultanieh,” says Malcolm, “ to ask a chief of one of the tribes what ruins were those upon the right of our road?” His eyes glistened at the question. It is more than twenty years,” said he, since I accom- panied my uncle in a night attack to plunder and destroy that very village, and it has never been rebuilt. The inhabitants, who are a bad race, and our enemies, have settled near it, and are again grown rich. I trust in God the days of tranquillity will not last long, and if old times return, I shall have another blow at these gentlemen before I die.” These sketches, slight as they are, may perhaps give some idea of the character of the wandering tribes, who still preserve, but little changed, the manners of their remote forefathers. The progress of civilisation has, as has been noticed, an evil rather than a good effect ; and the Ily^ts who settle in the towns generally exceed the worst of the citizens in profligacy. The occupations of the wanderers, when at peace, are chiefly pastoral ; and their food, the produce of their flocks and herds, with black bread, sour milk with curds, and occasionally, though rarely, a little meat; though not abjuring wine, they seldom indulge in any intoxicating liquor. The number, which go in a body, depends on the extent of pasture they can com- mand. The tribes usually encamp in the form of a square or street, the abode of the chief being in the centre ; often, however, they spread with- out any order along the banks of a rivulet, and the traveller reaching an eminence which overlooks the valley, may see their black tents like spiders’ webs stretched upon the ground in clusters, and horses, camels, mules, sheep, and cattle, ranging at large around. When the pastures are bare they shift to another spot. It is not safe for travellers slightly pro- tected to meet such companies on their march. Frazer mentions that once on his way to Shiraz, being in advance of his friends, he observed, in the gray of the morning, one or two men appear from a hollow. Their numbers soon rapidly increased to fifteen or sixteen well-armed fellows, who quickly approached. A halt was called till the party came up, during which they stood eyeing the strangers, and balancing, as it were, the expe- diency of an attack. Apparently, they distrusted the result, and sent one of their body forward to parley. They said they were from the encampment of a neighbouring tribe, on search for strayed cattle, and they went away in another direction. That may or may not be true,” observed one of the attendants, himself an old freebooter; “but these fellows, once on foot, will not return as they came ; their own or another’s they will have ; they dare not go home to their wives empty-handed.” Colonel Kinneir, who travelled through many of the wildest parts of the country, gives an ani- mated description of the warriors of Kurdistan. “ When,” says he, “ a Kurdish chief takes the field, his equipment varies but little from that of the knights of the days of chivalry ; and the Saracen who fought under the CHAP. II.] SETTLED TEIBES. 25 great Saladin was probably armed in the very same manner as he who now makes war upon the Persians. His breast is defended by a steel corslet inlaid with gold and silver ; whilst a small wooden shield, thickly studded with brass nails, is slung over his left shoulder when not in use. His lance is carried by his page, or esquire, who is also mounted ; a carabine is slung across his back ; his pistols and dagger are stuck in his girdle ; and a light scimitar hangs by his side. Attached to his saddle, on the right, is a small case holding three darts, each about two feet and a half in length ; and on the left, at the saddle bow, you perceive a mace, the most deadly of all his weapons. It is two feet and a half in length ; sometimes embossed with gold, at other times set with precious stones. The darts have steel points about six inches long, and a weighty piece of iron or lead at the upper part to give them velocity when thrown by the hand.” On the other hand, men who have fixed dwellings, and are employed in agriculture and the tillage of the ground, soon become attached to the soil, which affords nourishment to themselves and their families, and are reluctant to tear themselves away from property which does not admit of removal. They are desirous to secure their possessions, to improve them as they best may, to defend them from the incursion of robbers, and from the invasions of the wild beasts of the forest and desert. The bonds of social life become gradually more closely drawn, and ties of family and kindred become the pleasing bonds whereby civilisation is advanced. The community is enlivened by a spirit of activity, whence arise improvements and inventions in the arts, a greater abundance and variety of food, and many comforts and pleasures which tend to elevate the human character. Hence it is that men are willing to relinquish the privileges of complete independence, when such important advantages can be gained at so small a loss. Thus they experience the happiness and advantages of a community closely connected, and will not part with them, unless hostile invasions, or other adverse occurrences compel them to separate. Hence, too, a people once thus connected, and long bound together by family ties, though scattered by distant emigrations, or broken up by failures in husbandry, seldom relapse into their original savage state. They lose, indeed, the external ornaments of civilisation, but they retain, little impaired and slightly weakened, the principles, the habits, and the spirit which has once raised them from barbarism to share in the blessings of civil society. In the slight sketch of the early history of nations preserved by Moses, we have little that can be called a record of the state of civil society ; yet what we see is, and has been, the state in other parts of Asia, we may believe to have been that of the people whom Moses describes. The Mosaic account does little more than preserve the one great fact, that the world was created, and not self-originating : it gives a short account of mankind in general, and a more particular history of those persons who were likely to have an especial interest for the Hebrews as their ancestors, and the first founders of their commonwealth. We may presume that the first form of government was strictly patriarchal. Cain was the first to separate from his father’s society, and it is possible that fear of punishment for the murder of his brother was the motive which induced him to settle in a different and distant land. Yet in his case the mode of government probably 26 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. II. continued the same ; and till the commencement of wars, and successful termination of aggressive attacks, we have no reason to suppose that the patriarchal assumed a monarchical, or in any wise a different form. The patriarchal was that original state of nations which everywhere retained the name of the golden age, “ the memory of which,” to use the words of Coleridge, the self-dissatisfied race of men have everywhere pre- served and cherished * and which the prophets and poets of later times have painted in the liveliest colours, and exhibited as a picture of perfect happiness. Then, if ever it was, that labour was a sweet name for the activity of sane minds in healthful bodies.” The short record of the early chapters of Genesis show that even before the Flood men had begun to turn their minds to agriculture and the improvement of the arts ; and the ten generations of the fifth chapter, however wanting in detail, give the outline of the societies which we find perpetuated among the sons of Noah, when the earth began to be re-peopled after that inundation. The great length of life permitted to the early patriarchs preserved uninjured the germs of civilisation. Adam’s life of 931 years enabled him to converse with eight generations of his children ; Methuselah, his descendant in the eighth generation, conveyed the knowledge which had been acquired to Noah, his grandson ; and an unity of sentiment, of feeling, and of worship was pre- served, which at no subsequent period of the world’s history could possibly have been maintained. Note B. BABEL.— CONFUSION OF TONGUES, &c. &c. The name of Babel has been associated in the mind of every one who has read the Bible, with another event which is there recorded, and which is so remarkable, that it will be well to pause for a while, and to consider at some length the meaning of the actual words of Scripture in that passage which has been usually termed the Confusion of Tongues. Almost every one imagines that the simple meaning of the words implies that this confusion was an instantaneous effect of the Divine anger, the sudden and immediate punishment of the pride of the Babylonians in erecting the Tower. Yet the words of the Bible do not require any such supposition, nor is the miracle greater by supposing its effect instantaneous.t And the whole Earth,” says Holy Writ, “ was of one language and one speech — Vulg. “ Erat autem terra unius labii, et sermonum eorundem.” “ The earth was of one lip, and of like words.” Again : — “ And they said. Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven ; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. * Friend, vol. i. p. 2. ^ Gen. xi. CHAP. II.] CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 27 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do : and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth : and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel ; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth : and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” Now, as Donaldson, Cratylus, p. 47, has observed, it does not follow from these words that the common language was violently and suddenly broken up into a number of diiferent speeches or dialects. The plain construction is, that as their offence was an attempt at premature centralisation, their punishment would be the dispersion they sought to avoid ; and this dispersion might be, and probably was, a cause of the difference of tongues, but would not necessarily have been an effect of such diversity ; for if any two sets of men had a common object in view, they would not be long in finding a medium of communication. It is in accord- ance with the simplest view of the whole Bible scheme to suppose dis- persion as well as death the consequence of the Fall, just as re-union and life are to be the consequences of the Kedemption. When the first man had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, he not only lost his immortality, but also the place of his abode, and was cast out in the wide world, lest, as it is stated, he should put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live for ever, that is, lest he should obviate one of the consequences of his fall. Death : his descendants attempted to obviate the other con- sequence of his fall, the Dispersion ; they were then still more entirely separated, so much so, perhaps, that large gaps were left between the settlements of different races ; and by the operation of secondary causes the languages of the earth became different. Niebuhr has remarked, that if the language of man were originally one, it is necessary to suppose a miraculous divulsion ; for that on no other supposition could such diversities have existed as are now found between the races of Semitic and Indo- Germanic origin. Had the separation been slow and gradual, the result of over-population, or of want of food for men or cattle, somewhat of one original structure would probably have remained in all ; and certainly a far larger number of individual words, similar alike in form and in signification. Yet the unity of mankind, on which the existence’of so many different languages might, at first sight, appear to throw some doubt, is as clearly proved. And the results of physiological inquiries have shown, as Prichard has remarked, that though in the principles of his internal structure, and in the composition and functions of his parts, man is but an animal, still there is no ground for believing that however great the diversities may be, man is ever organically different from man, or that any one race, however at present sunken and debased, cannot be raised to an equality in moral and intellectual powers with the offspring of that race which dis- plays, in the highest degree, all the attributes of humanity. “How different a being,” says Dr. Prichard, “ is the Esquimaux, who, in his burrow amid northern ices, gorges himself with the blubber of whales, from the 28 NINEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [CHx\P. II. lean and hungry Numidian, who pursues the lion under a vertical sun ! How different When compared with the skin-clad and oily fisher of the icebergs^ or with the naked hunter of the Sahara, are the luxurious inmates of Eastern harems, or the energetic and intellectual inhabitants of the cities of Europe ! ” According to this view, it would seem that nothing is wanted bnt a sufficient period of time; and it is quite possible that the life of the world has already been much longer than our imperfect chronological systems imply. Whatever the form of his features, or the colour of his skin, man is everywhere distinguished from every other animal by the god-like faculty of reason, and the scarcely less god-like faculty of speech, in which all human beings alike participate, from the broad-browed European, who speculates upon the high things of heaven, to his woolly-haired brother, who leads a thoughtless life in the plains of Africa.” What is true of the effects produced by changes of climate, civilisation, and a thousand special, yet secondary, causes, in the case of human races, Ave find to be likewise true in that of languages. Climate, and civilisation, and soil, produce the greatest diversities. Language varies directly wdth the intellectual organisation of a people, and derives its last completeness from the individual himself: for the same dialect will vary considerably with the amount of education which the speaker has acquired, and with the use which he has made of his reflecting powers. If, then, the great multi- tude assembled in the plain of Shinar were so separated that no one could participate to any great extent in the advanced civilisation of the others, and if each subsequently remained under a different climate, we need not doubt that all the changes which we discover at the present time in the world may be sufficiently accounted for by these causes alone. It is not a new supposition that the confusion of tongues is not to be extended to all the inhabitants of the world ; for Kalegh says ‘‘ that those of the race of Shem who came into Chaldea were no partners in the unbe- lieving work of the Tower ; therefore, as many of the Fathers conjecture, did they retain the first and most ancient language, which the fathers of the first age had left to Noah, and Noah to Shem and his issues.” In familia Helper remansit hcec lingua,^’ saith St. Augustine, out of Epi- phanius ; and Bishop Patrick has put forth a peculiar view on this subject. He thinks that Nimrod’s settlement at Babel was not till after the Dispersion, and that as the builders of Babel were descendants of Ham, and the children of Shem were not guilty of the offence, so the latter were not involved in the punishment, and therefore retained unchanged the primeval tongue, which, from the family of Heber, obtained in after times the name, Hebrew. CHAP. III.] HISTORY OF ASSYRIA, CONTINUED. 29 CHAPTER III. History of Assyria, continued — Pul — Tiglath Pileser — Shalmaneser — Senna herib — Descent into Egypt — Revolt of the Medes — Esarhaddon — Nabuchodonosor — War with Arphaxad (Phraortes) — Invasion of Judsea by Holophernes — Fall of Nineveh — Nebuchadnezzar — Chaldees — Sketch of their Ancient and Modern History. To return to the history of Assyria : the next king of whom we have any mention is Pul, who invaded Judsea in the reign of Menahem, about b.c. 769. It has been conjectured that he was the king who with all his people repented at the preaching of Jonah. It appears from the account in Holy Scripture that he was succeeded by Tiglath Pileser ; though we have no means of ascertaining the exact period of the accession of the latter. Tiglath Pileser * is frequently mentioned in the Bible ; and to the quarrel which took place between him and Pekah, king of Israel, is due the first commencement of the Captivity. Pekah had made a treaty with Rezin, king of Syria, the avowed object of which was to expel the family of David from the throne of Judah, and to place upon it a tributary king of another race. They probably engaged in this design to strengthen them- selves against the Assyrians, but in this they failed signally ; for shortly after they had gained a few advantages over Judah, Tiglath Pileser came up from Assyria at the request of Ahaz, w'ho had bribed him with the gold which he had pillaged from the Temple, and subdued Syria, Galilee, and all the territory east of the Jordan, and sent the principal inhabitants of Syria to the banks of the river Kur (Cyrus), which uniting itself with the Aras or Araxes, flows into the Caspian in N. lat. 39^, while those of Galilee were transferred to Assyria. By this overthrow he put an end to the separate existence of the kingdom of Syria, which had lasted through ten generations, from the time of Rezin who had founded it in the reign of Solomon. The assistance of the Assyrian monarch proved in the end as disastrous to the Jews as his enmity could have been ; for though he relieved them of their immediate danger from the arms of the Syrians, the bribe * In Chronicles, xxviii., Tilgath Pilneser, and in iElian, Thilgamus. 80 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap, m, lie had received of the gold from the Temple, demonstrated at once the wealth and the weakness of the Jewish sovereign. Hence it was that on his return from the defeat of Pekah, the king of Assyria marched towards Jerusalem, probably in the hope of obtaining more money, and, hence, too, he did not aid Ahaz in reconquering any of the places w^hich had been taken during the war by the Philistines or the Edomites ; while two lasting evils were perpetuated, first, that instead of two petty princes, Ahaz and his successors had to contend with the whole power of the king of Assyria, and, secondly, that the Jews lost all their traffic with the east, which, as we have mentioned, was the great source of the wealth of Solomon’s kingdom. Since the time of Solomon indeed the trade had somewhat declined, and some changes had been made in the course which it took. At the division of the kingdom, Edom remained as their patrimony in the hands of Judah, and the trade was continued at Ezion Geber till the time of Jehoshaphat, in whose reign the merchant-fleet were lost upon a ridge of rocks, and Ezion Geber was in consequence abandoned for a new port called Elath. After the death of Jehoshaphat, the Edomites revolted, thereby fulfilling the prophecy “ when thou shalt have the dominion, thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck,” and the Jewish trade was stopped till the reign of Uzziah, who recovered Elath and fortified it anew. Finally, in the war with Syria, Pekah, king of Israel, drove out the Jews who were there, and planted it with Syrians, with the intention of engrossing the trade for his own subjects. Tiglath Pileser, on his conquest of Syria, kept Edom and Elath for himself. It is not certain where the Assyrians fixed their mart. In later times the Tyrians managed this trade by the same port, which continued to be the chief one for eastern commodities till the Ptolemies built Berenice, Myos Hormos, and other ports on the west side of the Gulf opposite to Elath, and conveyed their goods direct to Alexandria. Shalmaneser, called in Tobit, Enemessar, succeeded Tiglath Pileser about b.c. 729. In his reign Samaria was taken, and the ten tribes carried captive to Halah and Gabor, on the river of Gozan, and the cities of the Medes. The direct cause of this transplantation was an alliance made by the king of Israel with So, king of Egypt, and the imprisonment of the Assyrian officer who was employed in collecting the revenue. CHAP. III.] SENNACHERIB. -NISROCH. 31 Sennacherib succeeded Shalmaneser, and though we do not know the date of his accession, we have the limit of his reign determined beyond any doubt. It would seem that his reign must have been a short one, for we know that Shalmaneser, his father, was living at the time of the capture of Samaria, in B. c. 7*21, and that he was at that time master of Media. Holy Scripture declares that he was killed while worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god, by his two eldest sons. There has been much ques- tion who the god was, who is here mentioned under the name of Nisroch. Yet there are cer- tain approximations to the know- ledge of this question which shall be here stated. In the first place, all the Semitic languages have retained what would seem to be the root of the name, with slight modifications of meaning. Thus in Hebrew, Syriac, ^thio- pic, and Arabic, the word nisr means either an eagle or a hawk, and appears to be derived from an unused root, meaning, “ to tear in pieces with the teeth — to rend as a bird of prey. ” Gesenius has shown that the word is some- times used in a wider sense, and nearly corresponds with the Greek dterd^, comprehending several kinds of vultures ; thus in Micah, i. 1 6, the bird is said to be bald, and to feed on dead bodies, as in Job, xxxix. 37 ; Proverbs, xxx. 17. In this case it is probably the Vultur harbatus of the naturalists. On the 82 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. III. other hand, to the eagle, which changes its plumage at fixed periods, must be referred the words of Psalm ciii. 5, thy youth is renewed like an eagle’s.” Bochart has discussed at great length, and with much learning, the different meanings which may be assigned to this word, and has come to the con- clusion last stated. Pocock, (Hist. Arab, p. 95), includes Alnaser among the four idols who were worshipped before the Flood, and afterwards adopted by the Arabs ; and Beyer, in his notes to Selden de Dis Syriis, inquires whether there can be any connection between this deity and the beast described, Daniel vii. 4 : “ the first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings ; I beheld till the wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it — and whether the monarchy itself might not be pre- figured under this type. It has been supposed that under this type was represented either the Supreme Deity or one of his principal attributes. Mr. Layard quotes a fragment of the Zoroastrian oracles which has been preserved by Eusebius, in which it is stated that, God is He that has the head of a hawk. He is the first, indestructible, eternal, unbegotten, indivisible, dissimilar ; the dispenser of all good ; incorruptible, the best of the good, the wisest of the wise : he is the father of equity and justice, self-taught, physical, and perfect, and wise, and the only inventor of the Sacred Philosophy.” It is remarkable, that in the earliest Assyrian monuments, one of the most frequently met with is the eagle-headed human figure. Not only is it found in colossal proportions as sculptures upon the walls, or guarding the-^portals of the chambers, but it is also constantly represented among the groups on the embroidered robes. In other cases, the head of the bird occurs united with the body of a lion, under which form it is the same as the Egyptian hieraco-sphinx, the victor in combats with other symbolical figures, and is not unfrequently represented as striking down a gazelle or wild goat. As Mr. Layard has suggested, it closely resembles the gryphon of the Greek mythology, which was avowedly of eastern origin, and connected with Apollo or with the Sun, of which the Assyrian form may have been an emblem. Some have thought that at the death of Sennacherib, the Assyrian empire changed hands, and that Nineveh, or whatever city was at that time its capital, was conquered by another nation. CHAP. HI.] SENNACHERIB’S INVASION OF EGYPT. 33 but the simple narrative in the Bible does not imply any change in the ruling dynasty * on the contrary, it expressly says, that after the escape into Armenia of his two eldest sons who had murdered Sennacherib, the youngest, Esarhaddon, “ ruled in his stead.” The invasion of Judea by Sennacherib is one of the most remarkable stories detailed in Holy Writ and the profane authors. His object appears to have been to reduce Judah to obedience and to subdue Egypt. Having taken Ashdod (Azotus) the key of Egypt, he returned to Jerusalem, thinking probably that it would not be safe to leave so large and hostile a town in his rear. He soon reduced all the other cities except Libnah and Lachish, to which he laid siege, and sent a haughty summons to surrender by his general, Eabshakeh, to Jerusalem. But he was destined to fail in his object : a report was spread that Tirhakah, King of Cush, one of the greatest heroes of antiquity, who not only ruled the Arabian, but also the -Ethiopian territory of that name, and who is said to have extended his conquests over Egypt and along the coast of Africa as far as the pillars of Hercules, was on his march through Arabia to attack the xAssyrian territory ; and not long afterwards one hundred and eighty-five thousand of his troops perished in one night before the walls of Jerusalem. The account Herodotus gives of the jAssyrian invasion of Egypt is very curious. He states that after the reign of Anysis, there succeeded to the throne a priest of Vulcan, named Setho, who imprudently treated the soldier-class with great severity, and insulted them by taking from them the lands which had been granted to them by former kings; so that when Sennacherib advanced against them with his army, the Egyptian soldiers refused to lend their aid against him. The priest was now in great perplexity, so he went into his temple and complained to his idol with tears in his eyes, of the peril in which he was. In the midst of his complaints he was overtaken by sleep, and there appeared to him a vision of the god standing by him and bid- ding him be of good courage, for that no danger sliould befall him from the Arabian army, and that he himself would send him avengers. Confiding in his dream, he took with him such as were willing to accompany him, and pitched his camp at Pelusium, where the descent of the enemy would necessarily take * See note A. at end of chapter. D 84 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. ni. place. None of his warriors followed, but only the merchants, artificers, and populace. When they had arrived there, a multi- tude of field mice spread themselves among the enemy and gnawed in pieces their quivers, the springs of their bows and thongs of their shields, so that on the following morning they were obliged to fly, destitute of arms, and with the loss of many of their troops. In memory of that day a stone statue of the king stands in the temple of Vulcan, with a mouse in his hand. It is clear that this narrative was made up by the priests and by them communicated to Herodotus ; hut, confused as it is, its connexion with the true story is apparent. The deliverance of Egypt from the army of Sennacherib is attributed to the god whom the Greeks called Vulcan, and the Egyptians, Kneph or Ptha, and who is said to have created the world and hence to have borne the title of 6 r;/xtoupyo 9 , or Artificer : as this title is justly attributed to the Hebrew Jehovah, it is likely that the Egyptians should attribute their salvation to the same deity. The visit to the temple and the story of the vision are no less evidently borrowed from the account of Hezekiah’s prayer in Is. xxxvii. 14, 15. Isaiah prophesies the state of Egypt and the consequent disunion among the people. “ I will set the Egyp- tians against the Egyptians and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour ; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom, and the spirit of Egypt shall fall in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof ; and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts.”* Several theories have been started as to the secondary cause which produced the destruction of the army of Sennacherib. The Talmud supposed that it was done by means of light- ning; but it seems more probable tliat it was efiected by a hot wind, such as even to this day at times envelopes and destroys whole caravans. The blast is called by Jeremiah a “ destroying wind,” which the Arabic version renders by words denoting “ a hot pestilential wind,” and the words of Isaiah ♦ Isaiah, xix. 2 — 4. CHAP. Ill,] ESARHADDON. 35 threatening Sennacherib with a blast seem to imply the same thing. Tartan who is mentioned as the conqueror of Ashdod, is perhaps the son and successor of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon. It is probable that the weakness of the state on the over- throw of Sennacherib’s army under the walls of Jerusalem, gave a long wished for opportunity of rebellion to some of the subject states, and that Media took advantage of it in the manner narrated by the classical authors.* After a reign which could not have exceeded nine years, Sennacherib perished in the manner narrated above, and was succeeded by his third son, Esarhaddon, whose early history is fully narrated in the Bible, and is that of a great conqueror. He seems to have succeeded in reuniting his empire, and in adding to it the adjoining lands of Syria and Palestine. He removed the remnant of the people of Samaria who were left after the previous invasion, and planted in the cities of Samaria, new colonies from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, These people mingled with those Israelites who remained in the land, and were subsequently known under the one common name of Samaritans. At first they seem to have been wholly given to the worship of idols, but afterwards an Israelitish Priest was recalled from exile and sent to instruct the people in the worship of Jehovah. He settled at Bethel, where one of the golden calves had formerly been set up, and the Samaritans combined the worship of Jehovah with that of their other gods. Manasseh, King of Judah, was defeated in battle by the general of Esarhaddon, overtaken in his flight, and led captive to Babylon in chains. After two years he was permitted to return, but probably remained tributary to the king of Assyria for the rest of his life. It is not unlikely that his territory was made a barrier between Assyria and Egypt by the conquerors, and that hence Palestine became the constant bone of contention between these two powers, as it was afterwards between the rival families of the Ptolemies and Seleucidae. From the time of Hezekiah to the captivity of Manasseh, it seems to have been in the hands of the Egyptians, but afterwards wholly in the power of the king of Assyria, whose sway extended to the very confines of Egypt. A war ensued between the Egyptians and the Assyrians seven years after the return of Manasseh, when Psammetichus had succeeded in making * See note B. at end of chapter. D 2 36 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. in. himself sole governor of Egypt, which led to the siege of Ashdod by that prince for the long period of twenty-nine years, and induced Manasseh, as lieutenant of the Assyrian monarch, to renew and to increase the fortifications of Jerusalem.* The duration of the reign of Esarhaddon cannot be determined, but it is certain that during some portion, if not the whole of it, he was master of Babylon. The profane historians insert three kings, of whom we know nothing, between Esarhaddon and Saos- duchinus, or Nabuchodonosor, and whom it has been suspected by some were kings of Babylon rather than Assyria. In the year b.c. 650, we find Nabuchodonosor on the throne, a date which is determined by its coincidence with the 48th year of Manasseh, and by the fact that his 17th year was the last of Phraortes, king of Media, b.c. 634. Some curious particulars of his history may be collected from a comparison of the record of Holy Scripture with that of Herodotus. Thus the Book of Judith mentions that “in the 12th year of the reign of Nabuchodo- nosor, who reigned in Nineve, the great city, in the days of Arphaxad, which reigned over the Medes in Ecbatana, even in those days, king Nabuchodonosor made war with King Arphaxad in the great plain on the borders of Ragau. Then he marched in battle array with his power against the king Arphaxad, in the 17th year, and he prevailed in the battle, for he overthrew all the power of Arphaxad. He took also Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragau, and smote him with his darts, and destroyed him utterly that day,” and that “ Nabuchodonosor sent to all that dwelt in Persia, and to all that dwelt westward (of Nineveh) to Cilicia, Damascus, Samaria, &c. But all the inhabitants made light of the commandment of the king of the Assyrians, neither went they with him to the battle, for they were afraid of him.” This account agrees remarkably with that of Herodotus (i. 102), who, speaking of the same war, specially notes that the Assyrians who occupied Nineveh were at this time deprived of many of their former allies owing to a revolt. It is very important to keep clearly in mind this portion of the history, as it furnishes a clue to almost all that followed, for the narrative of Judith (i. 12) explains the course of the subsequent events. “ Therefore,” says the writer, “ Nabuchodonosor was very angry with all this country, and sware by his throne and ♦ 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14. CHAP. III.] NABUCHODONOSOR. 37 by his kingdom that he would surely he avenged upon all those coasts of Cilicia and Damascus, and Syria, and that he would slay with the sword all the inhabitants of the land of Moah, and the children of Ammon, and all Judea and all that were in Egypt, till ye come to the border of the two seas.” The order of events coincides exactly with this statement: first, we have as the remote antecedent of all that followed, the destruction of the army of Sennacherib ; then the revolt of the Medes as its direct consequence ; then a lapse of a considerable period, during which we may presume that the Assyrian kings were gradually in- creasing their strength and preparing for a new struggle, a period interrupted only by one historical event, the descent of Esarhaddon upon Samaria and the taking of Jerusalem by storm, till we come to the 17th year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, B.c. 634, fifty-seven years after the loss of Sennacherib’s army, at which period Nabuchodonosor makes his descent into Media and wins the battle of Kagan or Khages. Previous, however, to his taking the field, we are told, both by the sacred and profane historians, that he solicited the aid of the nations who had been the former allies of his house, and that he received from them in every case a refusal of any assistance. We can hardly doubt that the remembrance of the loss of the great army of Sennacherib and the revolt of the Medes was fresh in their minds, and that they felt sure of the success of Phraortes (Arphaxad), while they had no accurate intelligence of the real strength of the Assyrians. On his return from Ecbatana, the capital of Media, we find Nabuchodonosor preparing to avenge himself on those countries who had refused him their assistance while his success was doubtful, and a series of wars ensuing which for a short time raised Nineveh to a pitch of greatness, which it had attained at no previous period. The author of the book of Judith mentions that the king commemorated his victory over the Medes by a feast at Nineveh which lasted 120 days. The invasion of Judea took place immediately after the banquet, and the same book describes with great minuteness the march, conquests, and ter- mination of the expedition led by Holofernes against Bethulia, with his death and the consequent rout of his army. The duration of the reign of Nabuchodonosor is not known, but the effect of the overthrow of the host of Holofernes seems to S8 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. m. have left an impression upon the empire of Assyria, which it never recovered. Already the neighbouring people were mar- shalling their hosts and preparing to attack the city which had so long ruled imperiously over them. Cyaxares, the son of Phraortes, was longing to avenge his father’s death at Rhages, and nothing but the invasion of a Nomad horde of Scythians, who, according to Herodotus held the chief rule in Asia for twenty-eight years, prevented his setting out at once to execute his designs against Nineveh. At length, having overthrown the Scythians, and having made an alliance with Nabopollassar,^ who had thrown off the Assyrian yoke, and assumed the regal power at Babylon, he attacked and took Nineveh about the year b. c. 606, and from this time Nineveh ceases to occupy any place in the history of the world. The classical historians state that the fall of Nineveh took place in the reign of Saracus (who is sometimes called Chyna- ladanus), and attribute the success of his enemies to the luxurious- ness of his court, and the weakness of his army made boastful by previous success and effeminate by every kind of debauchery. It is probable that Saracus represents the effeminate Sardanapalus of ancient story, -j- though it is not always easy to keep distinct and separate the stories that are recorded of the different kings of that name in classical authors. The actual date of the final destruction of Nineveh admits of very accurate determination, and a comparison of Scripture and Herodotus can leave no reasonable doubt about it. From the age of Tobit it appears that Nineveh was standing in the year b.c. 610, for he became blind in b.c. 710, and survived the loss of his sight one hundred years, yet he died at last before its destruction. Again, it was standing in b. c. 609, for, at the time of the death of Josiah, king of Judah in that year, a king of Assyria is men- tioned. The city was taken by Cyaxares and Nabopollassar (the Ahasuerus of Tobit), and though we cannot tell whether it was before the accession of Nebuchadnezzar, it has been thought that he was present with the army of Nabopollassar : and it would seem, from a prophecy of Jeremiah (xxv. 18, 26), written in the first year of the captivity, in b. c. 605, that at that time it was destroyed. From Scripture, therefore, we may gather that * See Note A. at end of chapter. See Note B. at end of chapter. CHAP. III.] NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 39 Nineveh was standing in b. c. 609, but had fallen in b.c. 605. The story of Herodotus enables us to limit the date yet further. He tells us, as we have mentioned, that Cyaxares was interrupted in his preparations by the Scythian invasion, which lasted twenty- eight years, from date of the battle of Rhagau, b. c. 634, to B. c. 607, and that after their expulsion Cyaxares invaded Assyria : it follows, therefore, that the overthrow of Nineveh could not have occurred before b. c. 606, a date which coincides with the narrative of Holy Scripture. On the fall of Nineveh, Babylon became the chief city and the seat of the imperial power, and we hear no more of Nineveh or of the distinct rule of Assyria. In the same way Media ceases for the present to occupy a conspicuous place, and the course of our narrative leads us to consider the history of Babylon, which became from this time entirely historical. With Nebuchadnezzar, who succeeded his father shortly after the overthrow of Nineveh, commences the grand era of Babylo- nian greatness : most of the great works for which Babylon was so renowned of old are due to him or to his queen, who is probably the same person whom Herodotus calls Nitocris. Hero- dotus tells us that Nitocris was queen after the capture of Nineveh, that she was the wife of Labynitus, the Babylonian, and the mother of Nabonnadius.* Some doubts have been raised by those who have not sufl&ciently studied the connection of events, but a careful consideration of the works attributed to her and the incidental notices in other places will, we think, confirm the accuracy of the attribution. Among other things, it is not a little curious that Philos tratus ascribes to a Median princess one of the works which Herodotus gives to Nitocris. Now, if she was a Median, she would probably be the wife of Nebuchadnezzar. With the name of Nebuchadnezzar and with the eventful story of his reign, we meet with a people who now for the first time appear to take an active part in the world’s history. Much has been written about them, and innumerable theories have been framed to account for their origin. We purpose to consider their history at some length, both from its intrinsic value in the general * Herodotus says that her son Nahonnadius was called Labynitus, after his father. It was against him that Cyrus marched in b.c. 538 ; Labynitus II. there- fore is the Belshazzar of Scripture. 40 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. in. narrative which we have undertaken, and from the many interesting facts which late investigations have shown about them. The account of the conquest of Judea and the captivity which ensued, are attributed in the Bible mainly to the Chaldeans and their leader, Nebuchadnezzar; and a new race, or the same people under a different name, take the place which had been previously occupied by the Assyrians, the Medes, and Babylonians. It becomes a matter of some interest to inquire what is known of this apparently new people, to bring together such scattered notices as occur in the Bible and in other books, and to endeavour to obtain a general view, if possible, of their history. The first thing we must note is a peculiarity in their name. In the Bible they are uniformly called Chasdim in the Hebrew, and Chasdaim in the Chaldee dialect; and the interpreters are all agreed that by these words are meant the people whom the Greeks called ^)(aXbaioL (Chaldeans). But it is to be re- marked, that to make the name identical we must suppose a change of the s into the I, which is very unusual. Gesenius has suggested that the difiiculty will cease if we suppose the name to have been originally Card or Carden^ and we shall see that there seems good reason for supposing that some form like this may have been the original title of the race, and that their primary seats were among the mountains which the Ancients knew by the name of Carduchi, What was, however, their original residence, has been the subject of much dispute, and there are arguments of nearly equal weight which may be adduced in favour of the two theories, which would make them a Northern as well as a Southern people. The earliest notice of them in the Bible is in Genesis (xi. 28), where Haran, the brother of Abraham, is said to have died in the “ land of his nativity, Ur of the Chaldees ;” and in Genesis (xv. 7), where God says to Abraham — “I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees;” in both which cases Lowth (on Isaiah xxxiii. 23,) and other commentators, believe that the description of the position of this Ur has been inserted subse- quently, to distinguish it from other places. In the Bible, these people are not mentioned again till they are described as a mighty nation, many centuries later in the history. So far, however, as these statements can be taken, it implies that the people alluded to dwelt in a district considerably to the north of Babylon. In CHAP. III.] CHALDEANS. 41 some of the classical writers, the name is restricted to a people who lived on the south-western part of the Babylonian empire, bordering upon the Arabian Desert, as Ptolem. Geogr. vi. 20. Strabo speaks of one tribe of them who occupied the district bordering on Arabia and the Persian Gulf; and he evidently refers to the same part of the country, when speaking of the limits of Arabia, he mentions the marshes in the land of the Chaldsei, which the Euphrates causes by its inundations (Strabo, i. 4), with which description the words of Isaiah (xliii. 14) — “ the Chaldeans, whose cry is in their ships,” would seem to agree : in the same view, Pliny, (Hist. Nat. vi. 27) calls the mouths of the Euphrates “the Chaldean Sea.” In Job (i. 17), they are probably an Arabian tribe, who at that time had not been fixed in any settled residences. Some have thought that their name may be derived from Chesed, the son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother; but it is not wise to trust too implicitly to mere etymological resem- blances. Forster (Geography of Arabia, ii., p. 210 ; and i., p. 54) has argued at considerable length in favour of the theory which would make them Arabians, and affirming that the Chaulothsei of Eratosthenes, the Chaulasii of Festus Avienus, the Chablasii of Dionysius Periegetes, and the Chavelsei or Calingii of Pliny, are only idiomatic modifications of the more famous name Chaldsei ; and that the Chaldaei are no other than the well-known Arabian tribe Beni Khaled, in ancient times as well as at the present day a Bedouin horde. He rests his conclusion mainly on the passage in Isaiah (xxiii. 13), where the prophet says — “ Behold the land of the Chaldeans ; this people was not till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the desert.” Yet it does not follow that by “desert” is meant the Arabian Desert ; much of the land north of Babylon might appropriately be termed desert, as compared with the fertility of either the province of Babylon or the land of Judea. All that is intended by the description would seem to be this ; that the Chaldeans were in early times a people of little account; a rude, uncivilised, and barbarous tribe ; and that so they continued till some king arose, who gathered them together and settled them at or near Babylon. Some of the ancients took a similar view ; for Dicasarchus, a Greek historian of the time of Alexander the Great, says — “ that a certain king of Assyria, the fourteenth in succession from Ninus, named as it is said Chaldaeus, having gathered 42 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. m. together and united all the people called Chaldaeans, built the famous city Babylon upon the Euphrates.”* The apparent identity of the names Chaldcea and Beni Chaled, is no sufficient ground for supposing the former was derived from the latter ; for, admitting that the name may have applied to some seafaring tribes on the shores of the Persian and Arabian Gulfs, it is hardly enough for the origin of tribes who, as we shall see here- after, are found inhabiting districts many degrees to the North. It is, indeed, quite true, as Prof. Kobinson has remarked f that in dealing with the geography of Eastern lands, there is a tradition, “ with which monasteries have had nothing to do, and of which they have apparently in every age known little or nothing : I mean the preservation of the ancient names of places among the common people, a truly national and native tradition, not derived in any degree from the influence of foreign convents or masters, but drawn in by the peasant with his mother’s milk, and deeply seated in the genius of the Semitic languages.” It is quite true “ that Hebrew names of places remained current in their Aramaean form long after the times of the New Testament ; and maintained themselves in the mouths of the common people, in spite of the efforts made by the Greeks and Homans to supplant them by others derived frdm their own tongues.” But still such traditions must ever be handled with care, and must not be strained to suit any fanciful theory, or an apparent, but hardly proved analogy. The district of land to which we have alluded bears now the name of Irak al Arab or Irak al Babely. In later times Chaldaea seems to have been used as a general term for the whole of Mesopotamia round Babylon, which bore also the other title of Shinar. According to this view, Chaldsca commences where the rivers Euphrates and Tigris begin to approach one another, and continues southward to the debouchure of the united stream into the Persian Gulf ; its northern boundary would be the Median wall which joined the two rivers, while the Tigris on the east would separate it from Susiana, and the Euphrates wnuld lie betw^een it and Arabia Deserta on the west. Herodotus (vii. c. 63) merely mentions the Chaldaei as serving in the army of Xerxes, and does not say whence they came ; * Dicaearch. ap. Stephan, de Urh., v. Researches in Palestine, i. p. 365. CHAP. III.] CHALD JEANS. 43 and we know they were afterwards used as mercenaries in the army of Artaxerxes Mnemon. But Strabo (xii. c. 23), says that the Tiberani, Chaldaei, Sanni, and Lesser Armenia, are situated along the mountain chain of Skydises above Trapezus. There is no doubt that these are the same people whom Xenophon encoun- tered in the retreat of the Ten Thousand after the battle of Cunaxa, and with whom his Greeks were engaged for seven successive days, while forcing the passes of the Carduchian Mountains. He speaks of them as a brave and free people, armed with spears and protected by long shields of wicker-work. A little to the south of the Carduchi, we find a tribe of the Chaldaeans, mentioned on the Chabor or Khabour, a river which flows into the Euphrates on the northern part of Mesopotamia.* Again, Strabo, speaking of a people near the south-east corner of the Black Sea, says that the Chalybes who founded Pharnacia were anciently called Chaldsei, and a tribe of this name is recognised as having their residence on the northern banks of the Araxes, not very far from Mount Ararat. The general conclusion we draw from the different accounts is, that there were two districts whose people were called Chaldsei ; one near the Arabian and Persian Gulf, extending northwards towards Babylon ; the other in the northern districts of Western Asia, extending from Pontus over the Carduchian Mountains into Mesopotamia ; the latter, we believe, to have been the seats of the race who acquired so much power about the time of Nebuchad- nezzar, and who after the conquest of the Assyrian and Babylonian tribes were known to the Jews by the generic title of Chaldseans. At first, it is probable that their migrations were slow and peace- ful, and that for many years they served first the Assyrian and then the Babylonian empire. At length, either feeling their strength, and unwilling longer to be a subject people, or by one of those rapid changes of power which are peculiarly the character of Oriental dynasties, they were enabled to throw off the yoke, and to become themselves the ruling people. This view seems to be implied by the constant occurrence of the expression that Judea should be invaded and conquered by a people who came from the north, f and to be borne out by what is the received opinion of the position of thatUr which is said to have been a Chaldaean settlement. * Ezek. i. 3. f Cf. Jer. i. 14, iv. 6, vi. 1, x. *22, xiii. 20. 44 NINEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. IH. Many have supposed that the Orchoe of the Greek writers represents this place ; and Strabo (lib. xvi.), has stated that the Orcheni were a tribe of the astronomical Chaldscans, which opinion is also sup- ported by Pliny. It is, however, doubtful whether this identifica- tion can be maintained. The name Ur remained in those countries till a late period; and Bochart (i. cap. 15) thinks that it could not have been far from Corduene where the ark of Noah rested ; while it is possible that the radical part of the name Ararat may refer to or be connected with the same word. Ammianus Mar- cellinus (lib. xxv.), says that the Eomans having crossed the Tigris came in six days to a Persian castle called Ur, whence Bochart infers that it must have been near Nisibis ; and Elmacin (Hist. Arab.) says that Heraclius, the Eoman emperor, ascended the Gordiaean Mountains in order to see the remains of the ark ; and certainly the occurrence of words so similar in their radical por- tions, as Ur, Armenm, Ararsit, and Uarduchi, 6^ordisei, and Cor- duene, seems to imply a similarity of origin, or at least a connec- tion with one common name. If then the northern district be admitted to have been the original seat of the Scriptural Chaldees, an interesting question will arise as to what was their language, and whether it belonged to the Semitic or to the Indo-Germanic stem. About the language of Babylon itself, either before or after their invasion, there can be no doubt, and that the Chaldee of Scrip- ture was a similar dialect is equally certain ; but it is very probable that if this people were of old mountaineers from the north, they were an Indo-Persian tribe, and spoke originally the language of that race. That they should have lost it in great measure in after times is not improbable ; for w^e do not suppose the conquest of Babylon to have been within a short space of time after their original descent from the mountains; they may have lived in constant intercourse with the people of the plain for many centuries before the revolt which gave them in the end the supreme power ; hence their language would have had time to assimilate with that of the greater people of whom they formed hardly more than one small tribe ; and at the time of their conquest of Babylon may have lost almost all its original Indo- Germanic peculiarities. No doubt this is but a theory, for the proof of which it is not possible to advance any convincing evidence ; yet the change of the r into the I, which would convert CHAP. III.] CHALDEANS. 45 chard into chald, is one of every day occurrence in the lan- guages of the Indo- Germanic as well as in those of the Semitic class. Berosus has preserved a curious though fabulous legend of the primitive Chaldees. He says that they derived their first civilisa- tion from a wonderful being, half man, half fish, but possessing a human voice, who came to them from the Erythraean Sea, in which it had its dwelling. He speaks of the great flood, and asserts that Sisythus, the king of the country at that time, took refuge in a ship which was driven upon the Gordiaean Mountains. Then follows a story similar to that of the Tower of Babel. The religion of the Chaldees at the time of Nebuchadnezzar seems to have consisted chiefly of the worship of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, the five planets, and the twelve signs of the zodiac, and that they attributed great importance to the knowledge of the rising and setting of the sun.* It is probable that at this period they had lost much of the faith which they brought with them from their original mountain seats, and had adopted the more impure polytheism of the Babylonians among whom they had settled ; for there is good reason to belie'^ that their ancient faith must have nearly approximated to the theological system subsequently purified and established by Zoroaster. The wise men of the Chaldees were probably those priests and learned men of their tribe who had adopted and worked out the system existing at Babylon. The adoration of the heavenly bodies led to astrono- mical observations, and hence the Chaldees are traditionally said to be the first people who reduced these observations to a regular system; thus the Greeks professed to have received from the Babylonians the division of the day into twelve parts.f They seem to have used a lunar year for ordinary purposes, but in their astronomical studies to have employed a solar year, similar in its monthly division to that of the Egyptians. Of the astronomers, there were several sects, as the Borsippeni, Orcheni, &c. Bertholdt (Ueber das Magier-Institut zu Babylon) has divided the priests into several classes, one of which he calls the Chaldseans. He explains this theory on the supposition that, on their first coming into the plain country they had a holy Priest-caste, which was pre- served, together with the name of the people, when they con- quered Babylon. * Vide Ideler, Abhandl. Uber die Sternkunst derChaldaer. + Herod, ii. 109. 46 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. m. Hardly more than the names have been preserved of the principal deities, hut it is probable that (bli) Bel or Baal was the principal and national god of Babylon, and corresponded with the Greek Zeus. (Meche) Venus, or Fortune, is con- nected by Gesenius with the Armenian Anaitis, the Anahid of the Zend Avesta, and (the Mylitta of the Greeks who presided over birth) is mentioned by Herodotus (i. 199), who describes some peculiarities in his worship. Nebo probably repre- sents the Hermes of the classical writers. The extent of his worship may be inferred from the number of Chaldsean names of which he forms part, as Nebuchadnezzar, Nabuzaradan, &c. (Merodach) is perhaps the planet Mars. It is not certain by whom Saturn was represented, but Gesenius thinks that he must have symbolised the evil principle. The language of Babylon, was called, as has been stated, in the historical era, Chaldee ; it was of a Semitic origin, with a con- siderable admixture of foreign words. What these were it is not perhaps possible now to determine ; but, if the theory of the origin of the Chaldees among the northern mountains be true, or if sub- sequent discoveries should prc^e them to be, as Gesenius has suspected, of Indo- Germanic origin, the words which they intro- duced into the Semitic speech of the country must have been of that class of languages. Some portion of the language of the country during the times of the Captivity has been preserved in the Bible, as in Daniel (ii. 4, vii. 28), and in Ezra (iv. 8, vii. 18, xii. 16), and there exists a paraphrase of the Old Testament in Chaldee. As we have it, the Chaldee is considered to form with the Syriac languages one of the three chief divisions of the Semitic languages, viz., the North Semitic or Aramasan, and was perhaps the common spoken dialect of Mesopotamia for many centuries. In the Old Testament it is generally called Aramcsan (in our version, Syrian,^) and but rarely the language of the Chaldees, as in Dan. (i. 4). Of its early history we know scarcely anything; yet when Jacob and Laban made the treaty recorded in Gen. (xxxi. 47), Jacob called the name of the place Gilead and Laban, Jegar-sahadutha ; both of which mean in Hebrew and Chaldee re- spectively — a heap set up for a witness ; so that what was after- wards called generically Chaldee, must at that early period have been the language of Mesopotamia. From the narrative in * *2 Kings, xviii. 26 ; Isaiah, xxxvi. 11. CHAP. III.] CHALDEANS. 47 2 Kings (xviii. 26), Isaiah (xxxvi. 11), it appears that Chaldee was the medium of communication between the Assyrians and the 4 / Jews, just as in after times the Persians made use of it in their decrees.* In Daniel (i. 4), the Chaldee wise men speak to Nebuchadnezzar in his own language. The Jews during their cap- tivity modified their old Hebrew with a large admixture of Chaldean words, and on their return carried the mixed dialect with them to Jerusalem. On the other hand, the Samaritans profess to have retained the elder tongue, though this too must have been much cor- rupted by the foreign words introduced by the Assyrian and Babylonian colonists. From the time of the return from the captivity, the Chaldee became the spoken language, and flourished for some time along with the original language. The Hebrew however was by degrees superseded, and only retained upon inscriptions and on the coins struck after the captivity, till the fall of the Asmonaean princes. About the year b.c. 200, the Hebrew appears to have ceased altogether, and the Chaldee to have become the ordinary language. On the rise of the Greek dynasty of the Seleucidse, many Greek words found their way into the common language, as in the names of the musical instruments mentioned in Daniel (iv. 5, 7), which we have received from the Septuagint or Alexandrian version. Later still, the Syriac language began to exert much influence over the country, so that at the time of our Saviour, the dialect in use among the people would probably be called Syro-Chaldaic. The Chaldee was written, as far as we can ascertain, nearly as we now write Hebrew; but the character on the early Jewish coins, which must have been struck very shortly after the return from cap- tivity, differs very much from the square character we now call Chaldee, itself probably introduced soon after the Captivity ; and approaches more nearly to the remains which we possess of the Phoenician and Cilician monumental characters. It has been already noticed that the name of one of the gods, Nebo, enters into composition with many other words to form the •names of various princes and rulers among the Chaldees, who are mentioned in the Bible and elsewhere. This name occurs several times in the Bible, as Deut. (xxxii. 49), where it is the top of the mountains of Abarim, and the one from which Moses was * Ezra, iv. 7. 48 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. III. permitted to see the Land of Promise; in Jerem. (xlviii. 1), where it is a district in Moab ; and in Isaiah (xlvi.), where it is the name of a god. It seems to have been the custom of the Assyrians and Chaldees to attribute the same names and virtues to their great men which they had given previously to their gods. Selden and his commentator, Beyer, have remarked on the distinction between the names of the Assyrian and Chaldee divinities, and have given a list of them, taken from Scaliger (Emend. Temp. lib. vi.), assign- ing sixteen to the former and twenty -four to the latter. They have remarked that all the longer names admit of being resolved into the short one- syllable ones of which they are compounded. Thus Nebonassar is compounded of two, Neho and Nassar ; Nabopollassar, of three ; and Mardochempad of four. It appears also that the letters Z, n, r, interchange, so that we find, Letzar, Netzar, and Retzar ; and thus Herodotus calls the same king Lahynitus, whom Berosus commemorates under the name of Nabonadius. Gesenius has added the important remark, that of the Babylonian names which we have on record, the majority cannot be traced to any strictly Semitic root ; while many of them are connected with the Medo-Persian stem of languages, and can be explained by the help of the modern Persian. He instances Nabuschaban, Mardocempad, and possibly even Nebuchadnezzar, which may mean “ Nebo is the first of gods.” Connected as it is with this sketch of the ancient Chaldaeans, it may be well here to give some account of some modern tribes now dwelling in the mountain heights of Kurdistan (the presumed ancient seat of the same people), who have been visited in late years by Mr. Ainsworth, Mr. Layard, Dr. Grant and others, and whose story, as related by those travellers, is as interesting as it is curious. The constant testimony of the best informed travellers shows that the people of these districts consider themselves to be descendants of the ancient Chaldaeans of Assyria, Mesopotamia and Babylonia, who were driven to the mountains by the persecutions of the Muhammedan conquerors. The language they speak is a mixed Chaldaic and Syriac dialect, known historically to have been altered subsequent to their assumption of Christianity, and manifestly a corruption of the original mother tongue. Since their con- version they have uniformly adopted the Syriac letters which were used by the Apostles and the first fathers of the Church, and CHAP. III.] CHALD JEANS. 49 regard the Targum, or Pagan writing, as they call it, with abomina- tion. Mr. Rassam, who, as a native of Mosul, is well acquainted with both the Syriac and Chaldean languages, considers the present language of these tribes is rightly called Syro-Chaldaic. Speaking of the Aramaean, or Syrian language. Dr. Prichard says, “ The Syriac of the versions, and the Chaldee of the late Scriptures of the Old Testament, and of the Targums, are specimens of the language from early times ; and, according to their own testimony, the Chaldees learnt and adopted what they had of Syriac when they became followers of Christ, just as the Chaldseans of the plain, who are Roman Catholics, now speak Arabic.” It has been usual with almost all writers to call the Chaldseans Nesto- rians ; a name which they themselves on all occasions indignantly repudiate, and which has, in point of fact, been fixed upon them as a stigma of reproach by those branches of them who have in modern times adopted the Roman Catholic faith. It was not till the year a. d. 1681, that the then Metropolitan of Diarbekir was consecrated by the Pope, with the title of Patriarch of the Chal- dseans ; while the name of Nestorians was given to those who resisted the importunities of the Romish missionaries, and adhered to their former belief. It is probable that this title of Patriarch of the Chaldseans was intended to magnify the importance of the Romish conversions in the East, and to give the appearance of a national conversion. But the real origin of the Chaldseans was too well known to admit of their proper name being suppressed. It is generally admitted that the Chaldseans of Syria and Mesopo- tamia, who have perhaps been justly denominated Syro-Chaldseans, withdrew from the communion of the Patriarch of Antioch, a.d. 485, shortly after the death of Nestorius, who was himself Archbishop of Constantinople, A. d. 428, and died, a. d. 451. He was born at Germanicia (now Marash), and was educated at the neighbouring and celebrated school of Tarsus, and went from thence as a Pres- byter to Antioch. Though never himself in Assyria, yet in his struggle against his rival, St. Cyril, the Patriarch of Alexandria, he was supported by more than sixty of the Eastern bishops who accompanied John of Antioch to the Third (Ecumenical Council convened at Ephesus, a.d. 431. What may have been his opi- nions, or how far he deserved the name of heretic, need not be discussed in these pages ; but it is quite clear that a large body of the Eastern Christians, who have been called the followers of E 50 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. in. Nestorius, reject the title as a calumny. “ Nestorius,” say they, “ was not our patriarch, but the Patriarch of Constantinople. He was a Greek, but we are Syrians. We do not even understand his language, nor did he ever propagate his doctrines in our terri- tory. Why should we be called by the name of a new doctor ? Our religion is most ancient and apostolic, received from the time of the Apostles, who taught among us. If Nestorius believed as we do, he followed us, not we him.” The presiding bishop of the Chaldseans is the great Patriarch of the East, the successor of the archbishops of Seleucia and Ctesiphon ; he bears the title of Catholicos, and is considered as head of the body wherever dis- persed. Till the fall of the Sassanian dynasty, and the establish- ment of the Muhammedan supremacy in the districts east of the Tigris, the Chaldaeans were alternately persecuted and protected ; and their condition depended mainly on the relative strength of the Persian and Byzantine empires. Still their tenets were recognised as those of the Eastern church, and their chief at an early period received the title of Patriarch of the East. They spread their doctrines over the continent of Asia, and claimed a Persian king as one of their converts. From Persia they extended themselves eastwards ; and, according to Cosmos Indicopleustes, who visited Asia in the sixth century, they had bishops, martyrs, confessors, and priests in India, Socotra, Bactria, among the Huns, Arabians, Medes, and Elamites, and their metropolitans had even penetrated into China. The celebrated inscription at Seganfoo, seen by the Jesuit missionaries in a. d. 1625, and now generally admitted to be true, gives some interesting particulars with regard to the state of the Chaldsean church in China from a. d. 620 to a. d. 781. When the Arabs invaded the territories of the Persians, the Chaldaean church was powerful in the East. Even in Arabia its missionaries had had much success : and there is a tradition that Muhammed himself owed much of his learning to a Nestorian monk named Sergius, which is the more probable, as, at the time of the Arab conquest, the learning of the East was chiefly to be found among the Chaldaeans. Their knowledge and skill gained them favour in the eyes of the khalifs, and they became their treasurers, scribes, and physicians. A bishopric was founded at Cufa, a new Mussulman town, and the seat of the patriarchate was removed from Seleucia and Ctesiphon to Baghdad, where the Catholicos continued CHAP. III.] CHALD.^A]SrS. 51 to reside till a. d. 1258, when the city was sacked by the Tatars. To the Chaldaeans we owe the preservation of many precious fragments of Greek learning. In the celebrated schools of Edessa, Nisibis, Seleucia (or Mahuza), and Dorhena, the early languages of the country, the Syriac and Chaldee, as well as the Greek, were publicly taught ; and there were masters in the various arts and sciences then known, whose works are preserved in public libraries. Aristotle and Galen were translated into Arabic at the command of the khalif A1 Mamun ; and learned Chaldaeans were sent into Egypt, Syria, and Armenia to collect manuscripts, and to obtain the assistance of the most learned men of the day. Among the Tatar tribes, too, the Chaldaeans had extended their missionary labours ; and more than one Tatar king, among them the celebrated Prester John, acknowledged the influence of their missionaries, and accepted the doctrines they preached. The Tatar metropolitan dwelt at Meru, the Alexandria Margiana of the Macedonian conqueror, on the south-western border of the steppes which extend from thence to the wall of China : it was at that time a dependency of the most powerful tribe of the Tatars, the Keraites, whose capital was Karakorum, at the foot of the Altaic range of mountains. After various changes, the Patriarch of the East removed from Baghdad to Mosul, and eventually, for greater security, took up his abode in the convent of St. Hormisdas, near A1 Kosh, where he was residing at the time that Assemani wrote his account ; at that period the Catholicos presided over twenty- five metropolitans and upwards of two hundred bishops. With the fall of the khalifs, the power of the Chaldeean Patriarch in the East fell too. Under the Tatar sovereigns they endured much persecution ; but it is to the merciless Timur that their reduction to a few wanderers in the provinces of Assyria is mainly to be attributed. He seems to have followed them with relentless fury, and to have put to the sword all who were unable to escape to the almost inaccessible fastnesses of the Kurdish mountains. They who at that time sought shelter among the heights and snow- wrapt valleys of Kurdistan were the descendants of the ancient Assyrians, and a remnant of one of the earliest Christian tribes. Since the year a. d. 1413, the ChaldaBan records contain scarcely any mention of their church beyond the confines of Kurdistan. The few who still remained in the plains were exposed to the 52 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. hi. exactions of the Turkish governors, and did not long retain their ancient faith. A few found refuge in the Persian provinces on the shores of the Lake Urumiah; while those who remained in the Kurdistan mountains maintained a rude independence, and boasted, with some truth, that no conqueror had ever penetrated their inaccessible fastnesses. Acknowledging the sultan as their supreme lord, and paying a small annual tribute, till the massacre by Bedr Khan in 1843, no Turk exercised any real authority in their villages. Of this once wide-spread race few remain now except in these mountains, though some few, claiming to be the disciples of St. Thomas, occupied, during the last century, the coast of Malabar in India. To this day the people of the moun- tain districts retain their old forms and ceremonies, their festivals, their chronology, and their ancient language in their prayers and holy books. They are now engaged in an internecine contest with their brethren who have adopted the Komish faith, for the main- tenance of these last relics of their race and faith. Mr. Ainsworth, writing in 1842, says that the true Patriarch of the East has now only one metropolitan, who is placed at Berrawij with a small number of bishops under him, whose number is not exactly known. The name which they give themselves is “ Ghaldani,” except when designating any particular tribe ; and the Muhamme- dans apply to them the common epithet of “Nasara.” The patriarch styles himself, in his letters and official documents, the “Patriarch of the Chaldseans or the Christians in the East,” using the same titles which are found upon the tombs of his predecessors at the convent of Babban Hormazd. Such is a brief outline of the history of this remarkable people, as given by Mr. Ainsworth and Mr. Layard, the two travellers who in modern times have visited their native seats, with the most information, and with the best means of making use of the accounts which they heard. Both agree in thinking them descendants of the ancient Assyrians who occupied the plains, and both have given a long and interesting account of the peculiarities of their religious opinions, and of the customs which now, after the lapse of many centuries, are preserved among them. To enter into such disquisitions would, however, be foreign to the purpose of this book ; yet, as a totally different theory of their origin has been put forth by Dr. Grant, himself personally acquainted with these tribes, and as he has shown CHAP. III.] DE. GRANT’S THEORY. 53 much ingenuity in his attempt to establish it, his statement shall be laid concisely before the reader. We are bound, however, to confess, that the reasons which Mr. Ainsworth has advanced render it untenable, at least to the extent that Dr. Grant would desire. The theory which Dr. Grant has proposed is, that the present Chaldaean tribes (or as he calls them everywhere, Nestorians,) are the descendants of the Ten Tribes who were carried away in the first captivity. He asserts that the tradition is general and universally believed by the Nestorians throughout Assyria and Media, and that the enmity existing between them and the Jews forbids the idea of the tradition having been fabricated. He adds, that the Jews who are among them acknowledge the relationship, and that the Chief Rabbi of the Jews asserted that the Nestorians had apostatised from the Jewish faith in the days of Christ and his Apostles. He argues that Tiglath Pileser carried them away to Halah, Habor, Hara, and Gozan ; and Shalmaneser, to the same places and the “ cities of the Medes; ” and, that, though removed by different conquerors, they were planted as colonies in the same localities, and not left to wander at large over the lands where they were settled ; and as Media was in a state of revolt at the time of the captivity of the Ten Tribes, he thinks that it is not likely that the king of Assyria would have planted the people he carried away far into Media. Hence that we ought to look for the settlement of the captives on the borders of Assyria, and hence the probability that Halah is the Calah of Genesis (x. 11, I’J), the Uegio Chalacene of the classical writers, or Hatareh, which is a day’s journey NNW. of Nineveh. The central portion of Assyria was formerly called Adiabene (or the country round the River Zab). In Adiabene Proper there are at this day (1840) nearly a hundred thousand Nestorians, while only a small remnant of Jews can be found among them. On the opposite bank of the Habor nearly the whole country from Adiabene and Halah is settled by Nestorians, while the nominal Jews of Media and Assyria do not exceed twenty thousand souls. No one will suppose that these twenty thousand are all that remain of the Ten Tribes. Again, if it be admitted that the Ten Tribes were carried to Assyria, we have no evidence in after times that they w^ere ever removed from their original seats. As a body, though some individuals may have come back, they did not return from the captivity like the remnants of the tribe of Judah, as w^e are told 54 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. III. expressly that the fifty thousand who did return were of those whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried to Babylon.* The Ten Tribes were in the land of their captivity in the first century of the Christian era. Josephus (Ant. x. xi. c. 5.) says “ that there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans ; while the Ten Tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude and not to be estimated by numbers;” and the speech of Agrippa reported by the same historian, which was intended to prevent the Jews going to war with the Romans, shows the same thing. Again, they were in the same country in the fifth century of our era. For Jerome, who had an intercourse of twenty years with the Jews of Palestine, says in his Commentary on Hoshea, “ Unto this day the Ten Tribes are subject unto the king of the Persians, nor has their captivity ever been loosed. ”f From that time to the present we hear no more of them, but it is hardly conceivable that any great migra- tion could have taken place without some notice having been taken of it in the many histories we have of the period that has intervened. The genuine language of the present people, Jews as well as Nestorians, is Syriac, which it is probable that they knew even before the captivity. It is true that other Christians besides the Nestorians make use of a Syriac liturgy, but it is only among them and the nominal Jews of Assyria and Media that the Syriac is at this day a living language. It must be remembered that most of those who use this language in their church services live within the bounds of Syria, and that the famous school of Edessa introduced it into the churches in its immediate vicinitv. With the Christians of the Malabar coast it is the language of books only ; even in Syria and throughout the greater part of Mesopotamia, Arabic is the ordinary spoken tongue of the Syrian Christians, while at Orfa, the ancient Edessa, where the Syriac literature was once most cultivated, the Syrian Christians speak only Turkish. Lastly, Dr. Grant pleads the constant observance of similar customs, as pointing to their Jewish extraction ; thus, the con- tinued offering of the Atoning Sacrifice or sin-offering of the Levitical code, the gifts of first fruits or tithes, their peculiar regard for the sanctuary, and the distinction between meats. * Ezra, ii. 1, *1* Hieron. in Hos. vi. CHAP, in.] MR. AINSWORTH’S REPLY TO DR. GRANT. 55 imply, in his opinion, a connection from early times between the Jews and the Nestorians, and the descent of the latter from the former. Such, briefly stated, are the principal arguments which have been put forward by Dr. Grant in support of his theory, that the present Chaldeans are lineal descendants of the Ten Tribes. On the other hand, it has been urged by Mr. Ainsworth, and, we think irresistibly, that allowing all these facts to be as Dr. Grant has asserted, there is not so strong a claim for the Nestorians as for the families of Jews which he admits still inhabit the plain country along the Tigris and Upper Euphrates ; while at the same time many of the facts on which Dr. Grant has relied, lose much of their apparent force when more closely and care- fully investigated. With regard to Dr. Grant's statement, that the Jews agree with the Nestorians in admitting a common ancestry, Mr. Ainsworth says, that this is wholly at variance with his experience, and with the tradition which is said to exist among the Chaldaeans to that effect. It is quite true that it is not neces- sary to suppose that the Ten Tribes have been absorbed in the nations among whom they settled, but it is another question whether, without the most conclusive evidence, we are to destroy one nation to make room for another, for if the Chaldseans of the present day are Jews, what has become of the ancient Chaldaeans. They were as powerful and much more numerous than the Jews who were led captive ; their name is preserved to the present day in the country ; yet, to support this theory, we must deprive the more ancient inhabitants of their nationality and existence to make way for a population of prisoners, who have not only acquired their lands but their names and their language. Again, in the geogra- phical part of his argument. Dr. Grant seems hardly more happy; for, to establish his view, he is compelled to assume that Assyria and Kurdistan, are one and the same. Again, Dr. Grant identifies Halah with the Calah of Genesis and the modern Hatareh ; yet Rennell has shown that Holwan more probably represents it, and not Hatareh, a poor village of the Izedis(or Yezidis), which has not a single ruin, or a hewn stone showing any vestige of antiquity. The Habor or Chebar is agreed by every one else but Dr. Grant to be as the Greeks and Romans determined long ago, the modern Khabur or Chaboras of Xenophon. It is attested by Jewish history that part of the captive tribes resided many centuries in Adiabene, which, as a Roman province, had always 56 NINEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. III. reference to the plain of Gaugamela and Arbela, but never en- croached on Zabdicene, still less upon the mountains, or the interior fastnesses of Gordyene. But even supposing the popu- lation of the Yezidis, which on the east and west of the Tigris is very considerable, and equally so near the Halah of the Scriptures, is not sufficient to represent the Ten Tribes, there is still a population of 20,000 persons professing Judaism, scattered around Adiabene. The names of Beni Israel and of Nazaraeans do not necessarily favour the idea of their Jewish origin. The first, Dr. Grant admits, is not unfrequently used by the Nestorians ; the second, Mr. Southgate shows, is used in Mosul to designate all the Christians in that vicinity, and seems to have somewhat of the same general sense which the word Gentile has. The observance by the Chaldseans of rites which have been supposed to be peculiar to the Jews, is urged as a proof of their lineage; yet to show this, it must be shown that none of them are of heathen origin, or at present exist in other countries and nations which are neither Muhammedan nor Christian. Thus it is sufficient with regard to sacrifices to observe that they are in use among the Pagan and even Christian Armenians who have no connexion by race with the Jews. The presentation of first fruits is common throughout the East, and the sanctuary of the temple if not as great as among the Chal- daeans, is still highly venerated and preserved from defilement in other Eastern churches. The rules for observances with regard to clean and unclean food are equally held by the Muhammedans. The passover is more or less celebrated, as well as many other Israelitish fasts and festivals, in an indirect manner by most of the Christian churches ; while if the admission of any statute, rite, or law enacted by the Old Testament, and not repealed by the New, is an argument whereby to trace the Hebrew origin of any people, it is clear that such peculiarities might be found in almost any institutions which, though strictly Christian in their character, admit the authority of the Old Testament. Nor is it strange that the Chaldseans who came of old from the land of Terah and Abraham, should be characterised by names which recall to them their great antiquity, and circumstances in which they take at once a pride of ancestry and of religion We should naturally expect to find among them such names as CHAP, til] CYAXARES AXD NABOPOLLASSAR. 57 Melchizedek, Solomon, David, or Joseph : they would be endeared to them as the descendants of Abraham. What, however, is most of all surprisiug in Dr. Grant’s theory is, that if these Chaldaeans were ever Jews, they should now be found to be almost universally, and, apparently too from very early times, Christians. For admitting that this event is pre- dicted, such a partial conversion is alike contrary to all antecedents, and without any existing parallel. The Jews of the captivity wnre for the most part in countries far away from the land when our Saviour preached and died : the tribes of Adiahene, Assyria, Parthia, and Armenia, who were the objects of the labours of the apostles and fathers of the church, St. Thomas, St. Matthew, St. Thaddeus and others, were the natives of those countries : had it been the object of their mission to convert the Jews who dwelt there, we may presume that there would have been some record of their labours there : on the other hand we know that St. Thomas did preach to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, and Indians ; and there is only the authority of Eusebius for supposing that amid all these nations the Jews only were at first converted ; on these grounds it would seem that the hypothesis which Dr. Grant has put forward cannot be maintained with even a shadow of logical proof. With this discussion we terminate what we have thought it necessary to say about the Chaldaeans. The interest attaching to these people, the little that has till lately been known about them, and the able narratives of the travellers who have within the last ten years surveyed their country, must be our excuse if we have been led to consider their history at too great a length. Note A, ALLIANCE OF CYAXARES AND NABOPOLLASSAR. Hekodotus mentions the overthrow of the Scythians, and the alliance between the Median king and the governor of Babylon. The battle between Cyaxares and the remnant of this horde, who had retreated into Asia Minor, is memorable for the eclipse predicted by Thales, which sepa- rated the combatants. The truth of this prediction has been admitted by modern astronomers; and Mr. Baily’s calculation, that it took place in E. 0. 610, coincides very well with the period that the history would seem to require. The Labynitus mentioned in this part of his history by 58 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. in. Herodotus as King of Babylon, was probably Nabopollassar. The occurrence of the eclipse caused the separation of the contending armies, from fear of the vengeance of the gods ; and a peace was made, Syennesis the king of Cicilia and Labynitus king of Babylon acting as mediators between the Lydians and the Medes. To make this the more binding, Herodotus adds that it was agreed that Alyattes king of the Lydians should give his daughter Argenis to Astyages, the eldest son of Cyaxares ; and the con- tracting parties made incisions in their arms, and licked each other’s blood, the most indissoluble form of treaty which could be devised. Note B. ESARHADDON— SARDANAPALTJS. There are great difficulties in the chronology of the latter part of the first Assyrian empire ; nor is it likely that we shall be able to understand the order of the chronology till the inscriptions shall have been deciphered. At present, however, that given by Clinton (Fast. Hell., vol. i. p. 280), seems, on the whole, to be the clearest. TJssher and Prideaux placed the revolt of the Medes, and the termination of the first Assyrian empire under Arbaces, at B. c. 747 ; but it is manifest from Tobit (c. 1), that at that period the Medes were still dependent upon Nineveh. Jackson (vol. i. p. 303) rightly estimates the account of Ctesias to refer to the revolt of the Medes b. c. 711 ; and it is not improbable that the revolt itself was mainly induced by the destruction of the army of Sennacherib before the walls of Jerusalem, which must have greatly enfeebled the empire. The date of b. c. 711 agrees with the accounts of Herodotus and Berosus. A distinction is pointed out in Clinton between the Assyrian empire and the Assyrian monarchy. The first terminated in b. o. 711 ; the second was continued, under six kings, to b. c. 606, the date of the final destruction of Nineveh. The Sennacherib of Polyhistor and Abydenus does not correspond with the Sennacherib of Scripture, as he is placed too late by them, and many of the acts of his son Esarhaddon are ascribed to him. A similar error occurs in the profane authors with regard to Sardanapalus. Thus Esarhaddon, under the name of Sardanapalus, is made to lose the Median empire, and is commemorated by the Greeks as the founder of Tarsus and Anchiale*. A curious coin has been lately procured, of which we give a representa- tion, which has been supposed to represent the tomb of Sardanapalus. There was a tradition that this monument existed at Tarsus, of which he was considered to have been the founder, and the type of the reverse of this coin may have represented the rogus, or funeral pyre of that monarch. It must be remembered that, in stating this, we are only following the classical tradition. It is, however, very probable that the interpretations of the inscriptions, in which Major Rawlinson is understood to have made great progress, may lead to a conclusion totally at variance with the tradi- * Schol. in Aristoph. Av. 1022 ; Phot. Suidas. Athen. xii. CHAP. III.] SARDANAPALUS. 59 tion. The coin is itself a tetradrachm of Antiochus YIIL, king of Syria, and was doubtless struck at Tyre. It is very rare, and was discovered in a small hoard in the autumn of 1848. The type is not new, but occurs on smaller silver coins of the same place, and on some large brass ones, during the period of the Roman Empire, and as late as the time of Gordian. We have therefore evidence that the tradition had maintained its hold upon the popular mind as late as the third century of our era. It is not clear what the animal is on which the figure is standing ; but on most of the coins we have seen, it appears to be a fabulous composition of a lynx or a lion with goat’s horns. We are indebted to Major-General Fox for per- mission to engrave the above specimen, which is in his cabinet. Another, nearly the same, is in the Collection of the British Museum. The combined testimony of Hellanicus, Callisthenes, and Clitarchus enables us to distinguish at least two kings bearing the name of Sardana- palus. The warlike one, who survived the loss of his empire on the revolt of the Medes, has been supposed to be the Esarhaddon of Holy Scripture. The story of this revolt is given with some difference of detail in the clas- sical authors. According to them, Arbaces, the governor of Media, and Belesis, the ruler at Babylon, determine to dethrone the king of Assyria. For this purpose, they seek and obtain the assistance of the king of the Arabians. A long war ensues, in which they are at first unsuccessful. Sardanapalus defeats them in three battles ; but at length, on the arrival of the Bactrians, he is driven within his walls, and Nineveh is besieged for two years. The city is then taken, and the king and his chief followers perish on a funeral pyre erected in the principal palace. It is to this Sardanapalus that the Greeks have attributed (as we have already men- tioned) the foundation of Tarsus and Anchiale. The Sardanapalus of Ctesias is probably the Saracus of Abydenus, as the same particulars are narrated of both, and may be called the effeminate one. There is no doubt that a confusion has been made between the fate of Nineveh after the revolt of the Medes, and after its final siege and destruc- tion, and that events which took place on the latter occasion have been transferred to the earlier war. We cannot infer from Holy Scripture or the classical authors that Nineveh was besieged on the revolt of the Medes, or 60 NINEVEH AND PEKSEPOLIS. [chap. m. that any general war took place. The Bible narrative simply mentions the fate of Sennacherib after the destruction of his army, and apparently leaves Nineveh and Assyria under the undisputed rule of Esarhaddon, his third son. It has been suspected that the ruins of Khorsabad, which was destroyed by fire, may represent the palace in which the elder Sardanapalus perished by fire ; but this is a conjecture upon which nothing but a perfect trans- lation of the inscriptions found there by M. Botta will throw any light. As far as we have any evidence at present, the conjecture would apply as well to the ruins of Koyunjik, which are believed to be contemporary with those of Khorsabad, and which have likewise suffered from fire. Chronologists differ considerably in the era which they assign to the commencement of the Median independence, and the dates of Herodotus have been unscrupulously altered to suit their different theories ; yet the literal interpretation of his text seems, after all, to be the simplest and the truest. We may gather from Scripture that the Medes did not become independent till after the death of Sennacherib, which was certainly in B.c. 711; for we know that in the time of Shalmaneser, Media must have been a dependent state, as he removed many of the Israelites to ^Hhe cities of the Medes.” And Josephus (x. 2) confirms this view in saying, that after the recovery of Hezekiah, eu rovrcfj (rwe^r) r)]v roi>v ^Acrcrvpiav apx^v virh KaTaXvQi^vai. Phraortes is called Aphraartes by Eusebius.* He has been sometimes confounded with Deioces, because the Book of Judith says of him, “ that he built a very strong city, and called it Ecbatana but the Greek text in the LXX. only implies that he added new buildings to those already existing.^ From the account in Herodotus, it would seem that his attack on the Assyrians was the result of his previous success in other quarters, as he states that Phraortes had previously subdued the Persians, and made himself master of Upper Asia from the Taurus to the Halys. Some unnecessary doubts have been raised as to the time and the king who fought with Arphaxad in the plains of Ragau ; but there can be no real ground for doubt if the course of the history be attentively considered. From such historical remains as we have at present, it is clear that this event must have taken place while Nineveh was still a chief town of the Assyrian Empire ; J while the Persians, Syrians, Phoenicians, Cilicians, and Egyptians were subject to them ; while the Median Empire was in existence, and not long after the building of Ecbatana ; none of which facts would suit any time after the Captivity at which period some have been inclined to place this history. Long before that period, Nineveh had been destroyed, and both Assyria and Media as separate empires extinguished ; and the Persians instead of being the servants of the Assyrians, had made themselves lords over them, and over all the other nations of the East from the Hellespont to the Indus. * Chron. Gr£ec. and G. Syncellus. ■f* iircpKO^Sfir^o’e iirl *E/cj3aTa^'ots. LXX. in loco. J Judith, i. 1. CHAP. IV.] NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 61 CHAPTER IV. Nebucliadnezzar — Battle of Megiddo — Herodotus’s Account of it — Final Destruc- tion of Jerusalem — Nebuchadnezzar lays Siege to Tyre — Conquest — Egypt — : Remarkable fulfilment of Prophecies there — Works of Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon — Magnitude of that City — Belshazzar — Accounts of the Taking of Babylon by Cyrus, in Holy Scripture — Herodotus — Xenophon — Darius the Mede. The history of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar himself is pretty ■well ascertained from the harmony of the sacred and profane historians ; and the order of events is just that which we might antecedently expect. On the overthrow of the Assyrian monarchy by the united armies of the Babylonians and Medes, the great city of Babylon became the mistress of the East, and the power which it possessed caused, not unnaturally, the jealousy of the surrounding nations. Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, alarmed at the overwhelming power of Babylon, invaded Palestine wdth the intention of at once advancing into Mesopotamia, and of laying siege to the capital. On his way, however, he met with an interruption he did not anticipate from the refusal of the king of Jerusalem, Josiah, who was then at peace with Babylon, to allow a hostile force to march through his dominions to attack a friendly power, and a battle ensued at Megiddo between the hosts of Israel and Egypt, which terminated in the death of the king of Jerusalem. The attack which Pharaoh Necho made at this time upon the king of Babylon, is memorable for the many events which are linked together in its history, and from the fragmentary account which Herodotus has preserved of his expedition. From the Bible, it appears that Necho, king of Egypt, in the thirty-first year of the reign of Josiah, marched with a great army towards the Euphrates, as Josephus (Ant., x., cap. G) says, “ to make war upon the Medes and Babylonians, who had dissolved the Assyrian Empire,” and that on his taking his way through Judea, Josiah, then in alliance, if not the tributary of the Baby- lonian monarch, posted his forces in the valley of Megiddo, to dispute the passage. On this Necho sent ambassadors to Josiah to inform him that he had no intention of molesting the 62 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. rv. Jews, and that he had better not interfere. Josiah, however, unheeding his request, joined battle with the Egyptians, and was completely overthrown, and himself received a mortal wound, of which he died subsequently at Jerusalem. Megiddo, where the hatle was fought, was a city in the tribe of Manasseh, on this side Jordan, near to the town of Hadad-Rimmon, which was afterwards called Marcianopolis ; hence the lamentation for the death of Josiah was called “ the lamentation of Hadad-Rimmon in the valley of Megiddo,” which was so great and so long continued, that the lamentation of Hadad continued to he long afterwards a proverbial phrase to express any great and extraordinary sorrow. Herodotus mentions the expedition of Necho, whom he calls the son of Psammetichus, and the battle at Megiddo, which he calls Magdolum ; and adds that he took Cadytis with his victorious troops, a city in the mountains of Palestine, of the size of Sardes in Lydia, in his time the chief city of Lesser Asia. There can be no question that by Cadytis, Herodotus means Jerusalem, which we know that Necho took after the battle ; for there could have been no city in those parts, except Jerusalem, which could have been compared with Sardes in size, while its position among the mountains answers to the description. Besides which, Cadytis is nothing more than a grsecised form of the Hebrew and Arabic words which express the Holy : its modern form Al Kuds, as we know from many travellers, (Sandys, hi. p. 155). In the sacred writings of the Old Testament, it is called Eer Halwdesh, or the City of Holiness ; * and the inscriptien on the Jewish coins struck on the return from the Captivity, reads Jerusalem Ha- kodeshah, or Jerusalem the Holy. In Syriac the name was slightly changed, and became Kadatha ; while the Arabs usually called it Beit Almokdes^ or Beit Alkuds, the Holy Buildings. Herodotus probably received his account from the Egyptian priests in this as in other cases ; for he mentions Necho ’s victory over the Jews, but not his defeat at Carchemish (or Carcesium), which explains his subsequent retreat. Herodotus, too, has noted the fact that Pharaoh Necho made two expeditions against Assyria, and that his first was confined to the invasion of Pales- tine, and the subjugation of Phoenicia, which was the immediate result of the defeat of Josiah’s army at Megiddo. In the short interval which elapsed after that battle, the death of Josiah took * Nehem. xi. 1, 18 ; Is. xlviii. 2, lii. 1 ; Dan. ix. 24. CHAP. IV.] INVASION AND CAPTIVITY OF JUD^A. 63 place, and the people raised his youngest son, Jehoahaz, to the throne ; three months later Necho returned from the conquest of the sea coast, removed Jehoahaz, whom he carried with him to Egypt, placed Eliakim, the elder son, on the throne in his place, and with a heavy contribution which he had exacted, returned to Egypt. His previous successes seem, to have made him ambitious, and led him to suppose that his success against the Babylonians would be equal to that which he had had in his war against the Jews. For in the third year after his first expedition he com- menced a second one, and with a numerous army, drawn from Western Africa, Lybia, and Ethiopia, he again invaded the territory of the king of Babylon, and advanced as far as the Euphrates. Nabopollasar was at this time, says Berosus, old and infirm ; so he gave up the command of his army to Nebuchadnezzar, who at once attacked the Egyptians, defeated them at Carchemish (the Circesium of Herodotus), and drove them out of Asia. The victorious prince marched immediately to Jerusalem, then under the sovereignty of the king who had been placed there three years before by Necho. After a short siege, Jehoiakim surrendered, and was reinstated in his power as the viceroy of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar took parts of the ornaments of the temple for his booty, and sent away to Babylon some of the sacred vessels, and a large number of the nobles and chief men in Jerusalem. Among the prisoners was Daniel, and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, whose names were subsequently changed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The king of Jerusalem was made a tributary, and the whole land placed under the vassalage of the Babylonians. Then it was that the famous era of the Jewish Captivity com- menced, shortly after the overthrow of Nineveh. It is not easy to keep the order of the events quite distinct, and there are some variations between the accounts in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. It would seem that Nebuchad- nezzar, after his departure from Jerusalem on his first invasion of Palestine, was occupied during the whole of that year in carrying on the war against the Egyptians, in which he was so successful that before the ensuing winter he had brought into subjection to him all the country which had been previously conquered by the king of Egypt, from the Euphrates to the small stream at the southern extremity of Palestine, which was called the river of 64 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IV. Egypt, and that he had just accomplished this conquest, when the news of his father’s death recalled him in person to Babjdon. He seems to have gone there at once, with a small party of fol- lowers, leaving the main bulk of his army, with his prisoners, to follow him more slowly, under the command of his generals. Three years afterwards (or at all events in the third year), Jehoi- akim rebelled against him, and, refusing to pay him any more tribute, renewed his alliance wdth Pharaoh Necho, and prepared to resist the anticipated invasion of his country. In the Book of Kings it is stated that Jehovah sent the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites against Judah, that Jehoiakim died, and that Jehoiachin, his son, succeeded him. In the Chronicles the rebellion is not mentioned, but merely that Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jehoiakim, bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon. Some error has therefore crept into the text, through the carelessness of the transcribers. It is probable that Jehoiakim held out till the eleventh year of his reign ; that he then died, and, while yet unburied, his son Jehoiachin, who had acted as chief governor during his sickness, surrendered; that the Chaldeans dragged the dead body of the perjured Jehoiakim before the city^ and suffered it to lie there unburied, as Jeremiah had predicted. Jehoiachin (or Jeconiah, as he is sometimes called) retained the throne, which he had ascended, only three months, during which period he defended the city against the generals of Nebuchadnezzar, till he came up in person, took the city, and sent the king in chains to Babylon, where he remained in prison thirty-seven years, till the death of Nebuchadnezzar himself. At this siege the money of the Royal Treasury, the golden utensils of the Temple, and a large number of captives of all classes, were carried away and placed on the bank of the Chebar, a river of Mesopotamia. Among them was the prophet Ezekiel. The king of Babylon placed upon the vacant throne, Mattaniah, a brother of Jehoiakim, and changed his name to Zedekiah. Thus terminated the second war which Nebuchad- nezzar made with the Jews, to be renewed again shortly, with a vengeance even more terrible and overwhelming than any that had yet visited the land ; for Zedekiah was no sooner established on his throne than ambassadors came from the kings of the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Zidonians, and Syrians, to con- gratulate him on his elevation to the kingdom, and to persuade CHAP. IV.] FINAL CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM. 65 him to join in a common league to throw off the yoke of the king of Babylon, and to keep him within the bounds of his own king- dom. At the same time, it appears that the captives were buoyed up by the hopes of a speedy return, and encouraged by the false prophecies of many of their own people. In vain did Ezekiel reprove the folly of the conspirators, and Jeremiah point out the fallacy of their hopes. Neither of them were believed. At length Zedekiah was induced, in the ninth year of his reign, to make an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra (the Apries of Herodotus), who was now on the Egyptian throne, and to renounce his allegiance to the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar in a short space of time collected a powerful army, and for the third and last time invaded Judaea, and took all the cities of it, excepting Lachish, Azehah, and Jerusalem. The Egyptians came up to the relief of the Jews, according to the treaty; but when they heard that Nebuchadnezzar had entered the land they retreated again, without fighting, into their own country. The great king then surrounded Jerusalem, and a siege ensued which lasted till the second year, or the eleventh of the reign of Zedekiah. At length, when it appeared hopeless to hold out any longer, Zedekiah made his escape by night, but being taken, was carried before Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, who ordered his eyes to be put out, and himself to be transported in chains to Babylon ; thus ful- filling the prophecy of Ezekiel.* Not long afterward Nebuzaradan, the general of the king, came to Jerusalem, and having stripped the Temple of all that remained in it that was valuable, set fire to it and the city, and demolished its fortifications. The chief instigators of the rebellion were also taken, and slain at Riblah. Gedaliah was left as governor of the few who still remained in Jerusalem, and of the peasantry who were permitted to cultivate the land. Not long after, he was slain in a revolt, and the chief conspirators succeeded in escaping to Egypt, and in carrying with them the prophet Jere- miah, who had in vain attempted to persuade them peaceably to submit to the overwhelming power of their Chaldsean masters. In the twenty-first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, and the fourth of the destruction of Jerusalem, his armies laid siege to Tyre, at that time the greatest sea port in the world. The siege was long and painful ; the besieging army suffered the greatest hardships ; “ every head was made bald, and every shoulder was * Ezek. xvii. 13 — 15; xij. 13. 66 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IV. peeled,” * but at length, after thirteen years, it was compelled to submit to the arms of the Babylonians, who razed it to the ground. The people of Tyre afterwards returned, and built a new city, to which they also gave the name of New Tyre, on an island about four stadia from the ancient town. Having been founded originally by the Zidonians, it is commonly called in the Holy Scriptures, “the daughter of Zidon.” The siege is described in Ezek. xxvi. and it is clear from the narrative that it was against Old Tyre, which was on the land, and not against New Tyre, which was in the sea, that Nebuchadnezzar brought his army. The capture of Tyre was followed, not long after, by a descent into Egypt, which was equally successful. The history of the times is very clear from the narratives of Ezekiel and Herodotus, and their story agrees in all essential points. The king of Egypt, in the Bible called Pharaoh Hophra, and in Herodotus, Apries, was a man of haughty and insolent demeanour; his early successes against Cyprus, Sidon, and Phoenicia had turned his head, and Herodotus mentions his usual boast, “ that none of the gods were able to dethrone him singularly confirming his character in Ezek. xxix. 3, “ My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.” He had now undertaken the protection of Israel, and the treaty he made with Zedekiah, and his declaration that he would deliver Israel from the tyranny of Nebuchadnezzar, probably hastened his destruction, even if it did not suggest the attack of the Baby- lonian king. Yet it is not impossible, that the known weakness of the kingdom of Egypt at that time may have been the more immediate inducement to Nebuchadnezzar to continue his march after the destruction of Tyre. The good fortune which had attended the early part of the reign of Pharaoh Hophra had ceased, and rebellion had begun to raise its red hand in his provinces, and to threaten the continued existence of his empire. The Cyrenians, a Greek colony who had settled in Africa, had seized and divided among themselves a considerable extent of country, which properly belonged to the Libyans, so that the people who inhabited the country bad been obliged to call in the aid of the King of Egypt to afford them protection and to avenge their losses. Pharaoh Hophra was not deaf to the entreaties of the Lybians, but immediately sent a large armj% which, however, was so entirely destroyed by the Cyrenians, that the Egyptians * Ezek. xxix. 18. CHAP. IV.] INVASION OF EGYPT. 67 imagined that their king had sent it into the deserts in order that it might be destroyed, and that so he might be better able to con- trol his subjects without the check of the military class. On this they determined to throw off the yoke, and when Pharaoh Hophra sent another army, commanded by Amasis, against the people who had revolted, the rebels placed a helmet on the head of the general, in token of the dignity with which they would invest him if he would join them, and oppose with them his former master. Amasis accepted their offer, stayed with the revolted subjects, and confirmed them in their rebellion. The king being, at this act of treachery, more exasperated than before, sent an- other of his officers, to put Amasis under arrest, which, however, he was unsuccessful in doing, as he was surrounded by the rebel army. On his return, the unsuccessful officer was treated by the king in the most inhuman manner; an outrage which only increased the enmity of his subjects, so that the insurrection be- came general. Pharaoh Hophra was compelled to retire to Upper Egypt, where he supported himself for some years, while Amasis remained master of the rest of his dominions. The expedition of Nebuchadnezzar was completely success- ful : he subdued all Egypt from Magdolum to Syene, dethroned Apries and returned to Babylon, leaving Amasis as his viceroy. “Thus did Nebuchadnezzar,” to use the words of Jerem. xlii. 12, “ array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment.” Herodotus states that the Babylonian monarch made himself master of the country without any difficulty, and transferred many Egyptians, as he had previously done with the Jews, Phoenicians, and Syrians to his own country. Megasthenes, as quoted by Josephus, says that he laid waste great part of Africa, penetrated into Spain, and in the greatness of his exploits exceeded even Hercules himself; Strabo adds, that Sesostris, king of Egypt, and Tearcon (Taracos or Tirhaka), king of the Ethiopians, extended their expeditions as far as Europe ; but Nebuchadnezzar, who is venerated by the Chaldees even more than Hercules by the Greeks, is said to have advanced not only to the pillars of Hercules (for so far, according to Megasthenes, had Tearcon penetrated), but marched through Spain to Thrace and Pontus. The course of the history of Egypt from this period is well worth noticing from the remarkable coincidence which exists 68 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IV. between the language of the prophetical writings, and what we know from profane history. — Thus in Ezek. xxix. 3, Jehovah says, “ Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great Dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said my river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in thy jaws and I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers and all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they took hold of thee by the hand thou didst break and rend all their shoulder .... There- fore, thus saith the Lord, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee, and the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste.” — Again the prophet adds, “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus : every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled; yet had he no wages nor his army for Tyrus, for the service he has served against it. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall take her multitude and take her spoil and take her prey, and it shall be wages for his army and again, “ I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste, shall be desolate forty years and at the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered and I will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation ; and they shall be there a base kingdom. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms : neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations ; for I will diminish them that they shall no more rule over the nations.”* And again, “There shall be no more a prince in the land of Egypt.”! The subsequent history of the country is a direct fulfilment of these prophecies. Amasis, who succeeded Pharaoh Hophra, was, as we have mentioned, himself a rebel and had no claim whatever to the throne. After forty years Egypt became a province of the Persian empire, to which its kings, though native, paid an annual tribute, and on the decay of the Persian monarchy, the Macedonian, the Roman, the Saracen, the Mamlouk, and the * Ezek. xxir. 12. f Ezek. XXX. 13. CHAP. IV.] NEBUCHADNEZZAR AT BABYLON. 69 Turk have in their turn appointed rulers for the country, so that Egypt since the days of Pharaoh Hophra, has never been governed by an independent monarch of its own. On his return to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar appears to have been occupied during the remainder of his reign in the improving and beautifying his city, and the classical authors make much mention of the great works which he did there. The eastern quarter of the city was the portion most indebted to him for its magnificence, as it was more especially the city of the Chaldseans. Josephus, following Berosus, ascribes to Nebuchadnezzar the adorning of the temple of Bel with the spoils he had taken in war, the embellish- ment of the ancient city, the triple wall of burnt brick that surrounded it, a new palace of extraordinary size and splendour, stone terraces which had the appearance of mountains planted with various kinds of trees, and the celebrated suspended paradise which was erected to gratify his Median consort, who was desirous of having scenery at Babylon resembling that of her native country. The story of the Hanging Gardens is confirmed by Diodorus, who states that they were the w^ork of a Syrian (i. e. Assyrian) and erected to please his queen : he gives some curious details of the manner of their construction, which he probably borrowed from Megasthenes, who, according to Josephus, described the works of Nebuchadnezzar. Arrian in his Journal of the last days of Alexander the Great, shows that in his time the most ancient palace of the kings of Babylon was still standing. It is clear from his narrative that Alexander was taken ill while he was on the west side of the river, and probably in the oldest of the two palaces. From this place he was borne in a palanquin to the river, and thence across to the paradise or hanging gardens. He seems in the two subsequent days to have grown gradually worse, and to have been at last removed into Nebuchadnezzar’s new palace, near the hanging gardens, and on the same side of the river where he died. Ctesias mentions that in the oldest palace, which was attributed to Semiramis, there were on the walls large pictorial representations of the hunting of wild beasts, probably similar to the sculptures of a later date, still remaining in rock grottoes at Nakshi Rustam, near Kermanshah. Of the other incidents in the life of Nebuchadnezzar which 70 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. rv. are mentioned in the Bible, it would be foreign to the purpose of this book to speak, enough has been said to show how illustrious a prince he must have been. It has been justly remarked by Heeren that almost all the real glory of Babylon seems to have been due to her Chaldaean ruler, and that Nebu- chadnezzar had good grounds for his proud remark, “ Is not this great Babylon that I have built?” The ancient town from the nature of the materials of which it was built, would naturally not leave any monuments behind, such as those still existing at Persepolis. Yet the vast mounds still remaining near Hillah, which traditionally mark the site of the great city, may yet reveal sculptures of the highest interest, should they ever have the good fortune to be thoroughly examined by such excavators as Mr. Layard or M. Botta. The Chaldo-Babylonian empire, comprehending almost all western Asia as far as the Mediterranean, never exceeded the limits it attained under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar. On the death of its founder, with the usual fate of Asiatic dynasties, it immediately declined. Three or four feeble kings succeeded him, till at length Cyrus put an end to the existence of Babylon as an independent power, and made it one of the residences of his court. There was no city in Asia of whose possession the Persians were so proud and so jealous, and the repeated attempts of the Babylonians to throw off the yoke of the foreigner, show that they could not easily forget their former greatness, nor stifle their repugnance to a foreign yo-ke. Before we proceed to narrate the subsequent history, it may be well to pause over the description which has been left to us of the vast magnitude of Babylon. It has been argued repeatedly that the description of its size given by Herodotus and other ancient writers must be greatly exaggerated, and that no city could ever have existed similar to that which they describe. Now it must be borne in mind (as Heeren has remarked), that the great cities of Asia were constituted in a manner wholly different from those of Europe. They generally grew up from the camps of Nomad chieftains, who fixed their abode in the countries they conquered, and gradually exchanged their warlike camps for peaceful abodes. The encampment of a chieftain near an existing city soon became itself a new city, which eclipsed the splendour of the old one. CHAP. IV.] SIZE OF BABYLON. 71 The plan of the camp was regularly followed out, and its square form and regular intersection of streets was generally preserved. The close streets of our continental towns afford a striking contrast to the scattered mansions of many eastern capitals surrounded by exten- sive gardens, which occupy more than a half the whole area. Quintus Curtius says of Babylon “that the buildings of the city do not reach the walls, but are at the distance of an acre from them, neither is the whole city covered with houses, but only ninety stadia ; nor do the houses stand in rows by themselves but the intervals that separate them are sown and cultivated that they may furnish subsistence in a case of siege;” and Marco Polo describes a city within the confines of China which he calls Taidu, and which was built by Kublai Khan the successor of Genghiz Khan in a manner somewhat similar. This city was twenty-four miles in circumference, no one side being longer than the other, but each six miles. The streets w^ere all built in exact lines, so that a person standing at one gate of the wall could see the opposite. The sections of the building were also square, and in every part were large palaces surrounded by spacious courts and gardens. The ancient city of Moscow in like manner contained within its walls a large extent of garden ground, and Mr. Franklin has noticed that the Puranas assign to the cele- brated Indian city of Palibothra an extent of not less than seventy-five or eighty miles. The era of Nebuchadnezzar is a very important one in the his- tory of these times, as it is the point at which the sacred and profane histories come most directly into connexion. A careful consideration of the authorities seems to show that Clinton is right in his supposition that the reign of this prince was about forty-four years in duration, and that he was succeeded, after a short interval, by Belshazzar. Between the death, however, of Nebuchadnezzar and the accession of Nabonadius, or Belshazzar, we have the mention of three rulers ; Evil Merodach, Neriglissar, Laborosoarchad. It is not easy to assign to them, with any cer- tainty, the exact length of time during which they respectively reigned : Josephus, however, gives to the first, two years ; to the second, four years ; and to the third, nine months. On this scheme , Belshazzar must have reigned about seventeen years at the time of the overthrow of his empire by the united forces of the Medes and Persians. With him the separate existence of 72 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IV. the Babylonian empire terminated, and Babylon became, as we have already stated, an appanage of the Persian Empire. It may be interesting to mention in wbat way the different accounts which remain to us speak of the taking of Babylon. That in Scripture is the shortest: we are simply told* that Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, was engaged in giving a feast to a thousand of his lords, when he was alarmed by observing a hand writing on the plaster wall of his palace, in characters which he could not decipher. His wise men were called in, but equally failed ; and at length Daniel, having been sent for at the sug- gestion of the queen, interpreted the meaning of the unknown writing, and prophesied the immediate destruction and division of the empire by the Medes and Persians f. The narrative adds, that “ In that night was Belshazzar the King of the Chaldaeans slain, and Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about three score and two years old.”| Herodotus (I. 177,) in his account of the proceedings of Cyrus, gives some additional details He states that Cyrus, after the conquest of Upper Asia and Asia Minor, turned his arms against the Assyrians, and invested Baby- lon, the residence of the kings of that country subsequent to the destruction of Nineveh. He describes at length the size and peculiar structure of that city, and the great works to which we have alluded, which he attributed to Semiramis and Nitocris, at an interval of five generations from one to the other, and adds, that it was against the son of the latter, whom he calls Labynitus, that Cyrus was now marching. He mentions his arrival, with his army, on the banks of the River Gyndes, and the drowning of one of the sacred white horses, which induced him to delay his ad- vance during the whole summer, till, by drawing off the waters, he could make the stream fordable even for women. • Having crossed the Gyndes, he tells us that Cyrus advanced upon Babylon at the commencement of the following spring, and engaging the Babylonians near their city, beat them and drove them within their walls. Having in vain attempted to take the city by a regu- lar siege, he changed his operations into a blockade, placed one division of his army at each end of the town, where the Euphrates enters and where it flows out of it ; and, leaving orders with his best troops that they should force their way into the city as soon as the river should become sufficiently shallow, he employed the ♦ Dan. V. 2 — 11. f Dan. v. 28. J Dan. v. 30, 31. CHAP. IV.] CAPTURE OF BABYLOK 73 remainder, and least effective part of his force, in draining the river, by means of a canal which led into the great lake above the town. By this means, the Persians entered and took the city, the inhabitants being the more careless of their defences, as the day on which they entered happened to be one of their festivals. The account of Xenophon (Cyrop. vii.) is almost coincident with that of Herodotus. He mentions the march from Asia Minor, the conquest of the intervening tribes, the arrival of the army before Babylon, the astonishment of Cyrus at its magnitude, and his doubt whether it could be reduced by any other means than famine. He records a debate in the Council of War on the best means to be adopted, the determination to make an immense ditch to draw off the waters of the rivers, and the derision of the Babylonians who had within their walls provision for twenty years. He adds, that Cyrus having heard that there was to be a great festival on a particular day, and that the citizens would spend the whole night in feasting, ordered the sluices to be opened from the river into the canal, and having drawn off the waters so that the river became fordable, he entered and took the city. Xenophon describes minutely the method of the attack upon the palace by Gobryas and Gadates the lieutenants of Cyrus, the drunkenness of the royal guards, and the death of the king on the palace being forced. He adds, that at day-break the guards in the citadel perceiving the town in the hands of the Persians, surrendered their posts without further bloodshed. The coincidence of these three narratives is in itself not a little remarkable, and in their general outline must be true, for the witnesses are clearly independent of one another. There seems no reason to doubt the general accuracy of both Herodotus and Xenophon, though it has been the fashion to consider Xenophon’s history of Cyrus as nothing more than a model of what a govern- ment should be. It must not be forgotten that Xenophon served for a long time in the army of Cyrus the younger, that he had an opportunity, which few other men could have had, of intercourse with the Persian noblemen in that army, and that from them it must have been easy for him to obtain a multitude of anecdotes of the personal history of the great founder of their empire. The time that had elapsed (about 140 years) was not so great but that much of the private history of Cyrus must have been in the memories of his countrymen. Xenophon tells us distinctly in the 74 NI^^-EVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. iy. beginning of the Cyropsedia, that having always looked upon Cyrus as a man worthy of renown, he took a pleasure in making •inquiries about the race from whom he sprung, his natural dis- position, and the manner in which he had been brought up, that he might know by what means he so surpassed other rulers in the administration of his government, and in the authority which he exercised over his people ; and that the object of his history was to relate the results of such inquiries. We see no reason why this, the deliberate avowal of the historian, should be called in question, or why men should find any thing Utopian in his story, or any deep philosophy in the opinion of Cicero, on which the prevailing view has mainly been founded. Even if the object of Xenophon had been to give his idea of what a perfect prince or government should be, there seems no reason why, in taking Cyrus for his model, he should have altered or distorted such facts of his life and history which he found recorded of him. The facts may remain perfectly true and intelligible, even though the portrait of the hero of the tale be a beautiful allegory or a poetical exaggeration. Some difficulties have been made about Darius the Mede, who is mentioned in the Bible as having been the actual taker of Babylon, and an inference has been drawn somewhat hastily, that as he is not mentioned by Herodotus or Xenophon, therefore their united accounts must not be considered as literallv true. Yet there seems little doubt that a Median ruler did interfere between the last of the Babylonian kings and the rule of Cyrus the Persian, but great variance exists among the chronologists as to the exact period in which he ruled. According to Jackson and Hales, the Babylonian monarchy terminated in the 53rd year of the Captivity, and Darius the Mede ruled the remaining seventeen years ; but this is at variance with the conclusions we may naturally draw from the Scripture narrative : for it appears, in the first place, that Darius is directly connected with Cyrus by Daniel ; while on the other hand he is much more likely to have reigned towards the close of the Captivity than at an earlier period. Daniel ix. 1, 2, states that in the first year of his reign he “ understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desola- tion of Jerusalem;” an address which would be natural enough a year or two before the Kestoration of the Jews, but would be out of CHAP. IV.] DARIUS THE MEDE. 75 place seventeen or twenty-two years before that event ; lastly, the 120 provinces of Darius correspond to the 120 provinces of Ahasuerus and to the enlarged empire of Cyrus, but would be too great a number for any previous period of the history. In fact the difference of opinion which has occurred about Darius the Mede seems to have arisen from the different accounts extracted from Megasthenes and preserved by Euseb.(Prsepar. Evang. ix. 4l), and fromBerosus, quoted by Josephus (c. Apion. 1). The main question is, whether it is consonant with sacred and profane history that Darius the Mede should precede Nabonadius ; to which view it would seem to be a radical objection, that if this theory be true, a Median king must be supposed, as stated above, to have reigned at Babylon the long period of seventeen years before its conquest by Cyrus. Who “ Darius the Mede ” was, we have now no means of ascertain- ing ; but the most probable conjecture is, that he was the leader of the Median contingent that, with Cyrus, attacked and took Baby- lon ; and that he was subsequently left there as the viceroy of Cyrus. As such, he would naturally be mentioned in Scripture with the title of king. Of Median history we know but little, nor is it at all necessary to detain our readers with any lengthened speculations about it. The account of the Medes in Herodotus shows that they considered themselves (as the Persians did also) the first people in the world, and that they valued other nations in propor- tion as they were situated near them or at a remote distance. They appear to have been a wealthy and civilised race long previous to the Persian conquest, and to have had a government which was strictly despotic, with an etiquette of remarkable strictness at their courts. After the death of Cyaxares, the conqueror of Nineveh, we are told that Asdahages (or Astyages) succeeded to the throne of Media, and that he was eventually defeated and conquered on the spot where Pasargadae was subsequently built by Cyrus. The constant testimony of ancient history, from Herodotus to Ctesias, is, that the acquisition of Media by Cyrus was a forcible seizure. Herodotus places this conquest early in the history of Cyrus ; and the date was probably about b.c. 559, as the career of Cyrus in Asia Minor and Assyria was subsequent to that event. 76 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. CHAPTER V. Persia — Traditions and early legendary History — Jemshid-Kai-Khosru (Cyrus)— Comparison of the rise of Cyrus and Jenghiz-Khan — Account of Herodotus — Death of Cyrus — Camhyses — Pseudo-Smerdis — Invasion of Scythia by Darius — Story of Aristagoras and Cleomenes — Zoroaster — Particular account of his system of Religion — Xerxes — Darius Codomannus — Invasion and Conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great — Successors of Alexander — Seleucus and Seleucidse — Antiochus Epiphanes — First contact between the Romans and the East — Popillius in Africa — Acilius Glabrio in jEtolia — Rise of the Parthian Empire — The Parthians the greatest opponents Rome ever had — Rise of the Sassanians — Ardeschir I. — Shahpur I. — Khosru Purviz — Con- quest of Persia by the Muhammedans — Ismail-ben-Leith — Samanians — Mahmud of Ghazna — Turcomans — Alp- Arslan — Malek Shah — Hulagu and the Moghuls — Timur — Sketch of his Life and Conquests — Sefide Dynasty. Having now discussed at some length the early history of Assyria and Babylonia, down to the historical period of the overthrow of Babylon by the army of the Persian Cyrus ; and having men- tioned such points in the history of the surrounding nations, the Jews, Egyptians, and Phoenicians, as seemed to be intimately connected with the story of those empires ; we come to the his- tory of Persia, which from this time occupies the place of those elder empires, and which mainly owed the supremacy it so long maintained to the military genius of its founder, Cyrus. Though the Persians have taken more pains than any other people to preserve the relics of their early history, the critical student will find comparatively little to reward the labour of perusing their annals, and but little that can be framed into a connected story ; together with an almost entire absence of any means of determin- ing the chronology of its earlier period. Almost all the original documents have perished, and the inscriptions at Persepolis and Behistun, with the slight notices in Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Herodotus, are almost all that remains of the cotemporary history of the people themselves. Of the later writers, Xenophon, Ctesias, and Arrian, we know that the last borrowed his materials almost word for word from the accounts of Aristobulus and Pto- lemy Lagos, the generals of Alexander the Great, and may there- fore, in some degree, be considered as a co temporary writer and eye-witness of the downfall of the Persian Empire. His work is CHAP. V.] PERSIA. 77 distinguished by much critical judgment, and is therefore a valu- able source of information. The account of the retreat of the Ten Thousand has man}^ details of the interior of the Persian Empire ; while the Life of Cyrus is, as Heeren remarks, the only Greek composition which breathes an Oriental spirit. Ctesias was a phy- sician at the court of Artaxerxes, the brother of Cyrus the Younger. During his residence there he obtained an access to the royal archives, from which, with the assistance of some oral information, he compiled his Persian History in Twenty-three Books. Of this work we unfortunately possess but a few fragments, with some extracts made from it by the diligence of Photius. In the earliest times the Persians had not, so far as we know, any historical poet ; still less, any one who had devoted himself to the composition of a grave and learned history. What they had of history was such as the despotic nature of their government natur- ally produced ; whatever the king said or did was deemed worthy of record : hence scribes and secretaries (like the modern Mirzas) attended continually at his side, and registered his words and his actions. They were present with the monarch at festivals, reviews, and even in the field of battle,* and noted down the words which fell from him on such occasions. Nor was this institution peculiar to the Persians, but prevailed, more or less, among all the nations of Asia. The king’s scribes are mentioned in the earliest records of the Moghul Conquerors ; and, in modem times, Hyder Ali used to appear in public surrounded by forty such secretaries. Such were the originals of the chronicles which were deposited at Susa, Babylon, and Ecbatana. The histories compiled from them would naturally be the annals of the court, rather than an account of the people: to these Herodotus probably owed the many private conversations and personal anecdotes f which he mentions of the different kings. When we come to the later times of Persia as a Muhammedan country, we discover, not only innumerable contradictions, but a completely different history. Among the later writers, the most eminent are, the historical poet Firdusi, and Mirkhond and his son Khondemir. The information which they have given in their writings is derived partly from written records, and partly from traditions which have lived from all time in the East. Such records have their importance, in so far as they * Esther, iii. 12 ; viii. 8, 9 ; Ezra, vi. 1 ; Herod, vii. 1 00 ; viii. 90. Esther, vi. 1,2; Herod, vii. 100; vi. 98. 78 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. acquaint us with the opinions entertained by existing nations, respecting the history of their forefathers, and in so far as they give us the view which is taken by the Orientals themselves. The amount of historical value may often be small, as we have no means of determining the value of the documents on which the annalists have themselves relied ; while the character of all tra- dition is, that it is liable to be distorted and altered in a ratio which continually increases with the lapse of years since the events commemorated took place. Yet, though the value may really be small, even such traditions ought not to be wholly discarded. In the earliest history of the Persians, we find them repre- sented as a highland people, subject to the Medes, dwelling in a mountainous district, or wandering, as a nomad tribe, over the vast plains of Asia southward of the Oxus. Connected directly with the Medes, as the inter-marriages of their sovereigns and the story of the mother of Cyrus demonstrate, they must be looked upon as off-shoots of one common race, whose original parent stock inhabited the north-eastern portion of the country we now include under the one general name of Persia. We have good authority for saying that the term Medes was not restricted to the inhabitants of Media proper, but was applied also to the Arii or Persians * In like manner we know that the word Arii did not mean only those who dwelt in Ariana. Heeren has supposed that the subjugation of the Medes was the amalgamation of two races of common origin, whose religion and manners had innumerable points of resemblance, and whose languages differed only dialecti- cally. If this be so, the parent stock, comprehending under it all the inferior races, might not improperly be called Medo-Persian. At an early period of their history, we find the Persian people divided into Ten Tribes, of which the Pasargadae became, in after times, the ruling one, with a government in its character patriarchal, traces of which long continued ; but which at the same time admitted a permanent distinction between the tribes in refer- ence to their mode of life : three being those of the nobles or warriors, three of husbandmen, and four of shepherds. Their traditions preserve many important particulars respecting their descent, their ancient abodes, and their gradual dissemination through the land of Iran ; and the early chapters of the Zend Avesta, entituled the Fargaris, while the traditions which they * Herod, vii. 62. CHAP. V.] LEGENDARY HISTORY OF PERSIA. 79 contain are probably of greater antiquity than any known histo- rical memorials, except the Mosaical Scriptures and the Sanscrit Vedas, are at the same time so clear in their description as to require, in the opinion of Heeren, little more than the application of geographical knowledge to appropriate them to their respective localities. These legends, which the poetic temperament of the Persian people has expanded in all the luxu- riance of Oriental diction, describe the original seat of the race as in a delicious country called Eriene-Veedjo, in a climate singularly mild, having seven months of summer to five of winter. Such was the beneficent creation of Ormuzd, the author of all good ; but the author of evil, the death-dealing Ahriman, smote it with cold, and changed its smiling climate into one whose winter was ten months and its summer only two. What was the exact locality to which these legends point, it is not possible to determine, yet there can be little doubt that these stories contain the outline of the history of a continued, though gradual, migra- tion from east to west, the result of a change of climate or of an increasing population. The sixteen different places which Ormuzd successively created to counteract or modify the evil influence of Ahriman, have been considered by Heeren to represent a suc- cessive chain of abodes following the great highway of nations as it was afterwards that of commerce, and extending from Sogdiana and Balkh, across the Oxus to the west, into Ears and Persia- Proper, and to the boundaries of Media and India. The original country of Eriene might on this theory be supposed to lie east- w’ard of Sogd, along the mountain tracts of Bohkara and the Paropamisan range of the Hindu-Cush, a country enjoying but short summer, and liable to rapid and sudden extremes of intense heat and cold. The testimony of ancient writers no less than of modern travellers has shown that Iran or Persia is by no means generally fertile, and comprehended a wide extent of Desert, with few and occasional oases, capable of a successful cultivation by constant irrigation. Hence the abodes which Ormuzd successively created for his people are described as single and separate, and at con- siderable intervals one from the other, while the intervening wastes and deserts are passed over without notice. Such is the explana- tory theory of Heeren. It is hardly necessary to add that he does not attempt to identify the whole of the sixteen places mentioned ; 80 NINEVEH AND PEKSEPOLIS. [chap. V. it is sufficient to indicate the direction of the migrations, which the legends appear to shadow forth. The people when they left their original abodes were, according to their records, a race of shepherds and herdsmen, with little or no property but their camels, horses, oxen, and sheep ; and since the nature of the country did not admit of all following the same pursuits, a smaller portion, like the Medes and Bactrians, devoted themselves to agriculture, and acquired settled habitations, while the others adhered to their former habits, were shepherds and herdsmen, and became a hardy warlike race, occupying, as the Persians did even in classical times, the steppes and mountainous districts, and preserving much of their original freedom and independence of character. This interpretation of the meaning of their early legends is confirmed by the accounts of Herodotus and Xenophon. The former * tells us that the Persians originally occupied a small and rugged country (the mountain districts of Pars), and that it was proposed in the time of Cyrus that they should exchange this for a more fertile territory ; a plan which Cyrus discouraged as likely to extinguish their hardy and warlike habits. Arrian gives a similar account of the soldiers of Cyrus’ army, and Plato who Tvas contemporary with their monarchy, speaks nearly to the same effect. Interesting as it would be to trace through the monuments of Eastern history the records of Persia before the time of the monarchy established by Cyrus, the limits we have prescribed to us will hardly admit of our doing so at any length : yet some slight sketch there must be of what has been, and is still, the belief of the Persian chroniclers of the original state of the country before the coming of Cyrus. According to all Muhammedan writers, with the exception of the author of the Dabistan(or School of Manners), the first monarch of Persia was Kaiomurs, the son of Yessan Ajeem, the grandson of Noah, and the founder of the Peisdadian dynasty. He was long subject to the Divs, or Magicians, but at length overcame all resistance by the aid of the lions, the panthers, and the tigers. He then retired to his capital, Balkh, and was succeeded by his son Ploshung. The enemies whom Kaiomurs subdued appear to have been only partially subjected, and the son of Hoshung, Taha- murs, derives his name of Divbund, or the Magician Binder, from * Herod, ix. 122. CHAP. V.] LEGENDARY HISTORY OE PERSIA. 81 his success in vanquishing these supernatural powers. His nephew and successor was the famous Jemshid, to whom his countrymen attribute the introduction of the use of the Solar Year, the insti- tution of the festival of Nourouz, the division of the people into castes, and the foundation of Persepolis. The early part of his reign was singularly prosperous; but prosperity made him vain and impious. He forgot to temper justice with mercy ; and his government became an insupportable tyranny. Hence, Divine Justice inflicted on him the loss of his dominions, which were taken from him by the Assyrian tyrant Zohauk. Jemshid fled before the conqueror ; and Seistan, India, and China bore testimony to the wanderings of the exiled monarch, who was at length taken and sawn asunder by the conqueror. At length Zohauk, whom some have supposed to be the Nimrod of Scripture, was slain by Kawah, a blacksmith of Ispahan, who raised the standard of revolt to save his sons from being murdered ; and Feridoon, a de- scendant of Tahamurs, was placed on the throne. To comme- morate this signal victory, the blacksmith’s apron, richly adorned with jewels, became the Royal Standard of Persia, under the name of “ Durufsh-i-kawani,” (the blacksmith’s standard,) till the time of the Muhammedan invasion, when it was taken, and sent in tri- umph to the Khalif Omar. Several princes, of less note, followed in succession ; till at last, in the reign of Nouzer, Afrasiab, the King of Turan, invaded and reduced Persia, which remained subject to Turan till the time of Kaikobad, the founder of the Kaianian dynasty, in whose days Rustum, the Cid of Persian History, defeated Afrasiab, and drove him beyond the Oxus ; which became, and continued, the boundary of the kingdoms of Turan and Persia. Kaikoos succeeded him ; and, lastly, Kai Khosru (Cyrus), his grandson, finally crushed Afrasiab, and annexed the cities of Samarkand and Bokhara to the Persian Empire. Such are the fabled annals of the people. It would be an un- grateful task, were we to attempt to reduce them to real history : better that they should remain a beautiful epic, than that they should be marred by the rude hand of logic-loving critics. Very early in the history of the Bible we find mention of Arioch, King of Ellasar, and Chedorlaomer, King of Elam.-^^ There is little doubt that Elam comprehended the modern Kour- distan and Khuzistan, and that the supremacy of its rulers at that * Gen. xiv. 1. G 82 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. time extended over part of Syria and Arabia. The date of the reign of these monarchs is nearly cotemporary with the commencement of the Babylonian and xlssyrian empires. Persia was then, probably, what it has since in all ages remained, a debateable ground, on which the different families of man have fought for ascendancy. The nature of the country, the mountains of Elam, the sandy plains of Eastern Persia, and the fertile banks of the Elwend, suggests the probability that this country would be occupied by tribes of different habits and characters from a very early period of history. The capital of Kaiomurs, the founder of the Peishdadian dynasty, is said, as we have stated, to have been Balkh, the ancient Bactra, a city so old, in the estimation of all Asiatics, that it is popularly called Om-ul Beldd — the Mother of Cities.* It could never have been the capital of Persia Proper ; but the story of Eustum, the hero of Firdusi, and the grandson of the King of Kabul, points to a northern monarchy as the seat of his chief actions. Jemshid was as evidently the ruler of a totally dis- tinct territory, and the chief of a different dynasty; and the attribution to him of the foundation of Persepolis seems to imply that he was an early monarch of the south-western part of Persia, antecedent to the later conquest of the same district by an Assy- rian army. Perhaps the king of Persepolis retreated before the Assyrian invasion into Seistan ; and, wEile Ears (or Persia Proper) remained subject to the invaders, a Persian dynasty was main- tained on the banks of the Elwend. Zohauk has been identified by some (as we have stated) with Nimrod, because one legend gives him an Assyrian ancestry. From the reign of Jemshid to that of Cyrus, Persian history has left behind it no record ; yet there can be no doubt that it must have been the seat of a powerful and flourishing empire. Elam was, as we have seen, a powerful kingdom in the time of Abraham. Isaiah (xxii. 6) speaks of the Elamites as a warlike nation “ bearing the quiver,” which answers to Strabo’s account of the mountaineers of Elymais. Jeremiah (xlix. 34, 39) has a distinct prophecy concerning the overthrow of Elam and its subsequent restoration, which proves that in the time of Zedekiah it had still its “ king and its princes.” The author of the book of Judith, in enumerating the allies of the king of Nineveh, * Elphinstone. Kabul, p. 220. CHAP. V.] LEGENDAEY HISTORY OF PERSIA. 83 mentions those who came from “ the plain of Arioch, the king of the Elymseans,” distinguishing them from the inhabitants of Ears (or Persia Proper) who wdth the Syrians and others refused to send their contingent. If, as some have thought, Elam w^as the kingdom of Cambyses, we should have an explanation of the statement, that the king of Elam was the ally or tributary of the Assyrian monarch while the Persians were subject to the rule of Ecbatana, the capital of Media. The prophecy of Jeremiah describes Elam as scattered by the “four winds from the four quarters of heaven,” and its situation exposed it to the separate invasions of the Assyrian, the Mede, the Persian, and the Arabian, and so it probably suffered from each in succession till Elam was finally merged in tho Persian empire, of which Shustan its chief city became the metropolis ; remarkably fulfilling the subsequent prediction of the same prophet, “ and I will set my throne in Elam, and I will destroy from thence the king and princes,” Sir John Malcolm, the learned historian of Persia, has devoted much attention to the legends, and has attempted to identify the Kai Khosru of Eirdusi’s great poem the Shah Nameh, with the Cyrus of Greek history ; and there is some probability in the theory which he has eliminated. It is curious, if for nothing more, as showing how fragments of true history may have been embalmed in a precious robe of poetry. According to his view, it is necessary, as he observes, to suppose that the scene of the principal transactions of the life of Cyrus must have been either ignorantly or designedly changed, and that the scenes of the great drama were transferred from the court of Ectabana to the capital of Afrasiab. Eirdusi composed his history under the auspices of Mahmud of Ghazna, at that time the capital of Eastern Persia and Persian India, and he would naturally be induced to frame his story to suit the taste or vanity of his royal patron. Few if any of his readers were acquainted with the countries of the west; yet, though they knew nothing of the kings of Assyria, Babylon, or Egypt, they w^ould be familiar with the names and exploits of those of Touran, India, and China ; and these lands were, there- fore, naturally the theatre of the achievements ascribed to the heroes of Persian story. The fragments from which the Shah Nameh was compiled g2 84 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. were in Pelilvi, the language, according to Firdusi, of the court in the time of the Kaianian dynasty, and the poem is well known to contain many ancient words not understood by the modern people without the assistance of a glossary. The Zend or sacred language of the Parsis approaches nearly to the Sanscrit, while the Dabistan, a work professedly compiled in Kashmir from the records of the ancient Guebers or fire-worshippers, shows a remarkable connection, whether intentional or not, with the Hindoo system of religion. Such may perhaps pass as a brief narration of the stories which Persian writers have preserved of the early greatness and origin of their empire. No stress must be laid upon them, and they must not be taken for more than they profess to be. It is at best but an ingenious theory, which recognises in the Kai Khosru of the Annals the hero of Xenophon and the restorer of the Jews. In Holy Scripture we hear of him only as the destroyer of Babylon and the rebuilder of the Jewish temple ; but in profane authors, his name is always mentioned, as Sir John Malcolm remarks, as that of “ a king who was alike eminent for wisdom and virtue.”* The Persian writers do not allude to any western conquests of their hero, and the title of Kai Khosru has been common to many sovereigns of Persia. The dynasty of the Sassanians, from the third to the seventh century after Christ, were constantly known in Homan story by the names of the Khosrus or Chosroes of Persia. The name of Cyrus is supposed to be derived from a Persian word signifying the Sun, and in the Hebrew Scriptures he is called Koreish, by which name he has been celebrated bv Muhammedan writers as the successor of Belshazzar in the lieutenancy of Babylon. A fable has also been preserved, that his mother was of Jewish extraction, whereby his singular lenity towards that people is accounted for. We have been induced to make this digression, with the object of stating as briefly as possible the traditional story of Persia. We could hardly do less. The interest of the subject and the extraordinary remains of the former glory of Persia, of which we shall have to describe hereafter, require an outline of the real or supposed history of the people themselves. “ No man,” as Sir Robert Ker Porter has remarked, “can enter Persia w ithout rememberiug that he is about to tread a land which a long * Malcolm, i. p. 220, &c. chap. V.] PERSIA. 85 line of native princes covered with cities and towns, and fertility — a country which even its Grecian conquerors embellished with the noblest structures, and the Roman invaders adorned with bridges, aqueducts, and castles.” Of these little now remains, compared with what once existed, hut these show how mighty were the people who erected such trophies of their great- ness. What once were cities and hamlets, and cultivated fields, are now vast solitudes without house, hut, or tree for many miles. Yet though presenting to the eye a surface singularly inhospitable, full of vast deserts without a shrub or a blade of grass, with hundreds of miles of rugged and uncultivated mountains, and so various in her climate that the younger Cyrus is reported to have said to Xenophon, “ My father’s kingdom is so large that people perish with cold at one extremity, while they are suffocated with heat at the other,” Persia has continued through all ages the favourite country of the imagination ; and in her poets, Zami, Hafiz, Saadi, and Firdusi, may well challenge the admiration of the world. The scene where many of the grandest achieve- ments in history have been accomplished, it were strange if she did not, even now, excite an interest in all well educated minds. Across her territories, Alexander marched his mighty host, not as some have thought from a wild dream that he was imitating the career of Achilles ; still less, as was once imagined, from a weak and foolish spirit of revenge for the invasion of Greece by former Persian monarchs. The greatest pupil of the greatest philosopher the world has known, Alexander could not have been a mere con- queror; he had wider views and grander aims: to carry the energy of the Greek into the distant East, and to rouse, to stimulate, to civilise, the decaying kingdoms of Asia. How well he fulfilled this mission, memorials which have lasted to our own times attest. The distant waters of the Jihon (Oxus) still wash the walls of Herat (Alexandria ad Caucasum), one of the most distant of the many towns which claim him as their founder ; and tribes still exist who claim a descent from the mighty conqueror of the east. Across the same plains came the hordes of Gengiz-Klian and Timur-lengh, each in their turn destined to found dynasties whose families still occupy thrones and principalities in different parts of the east. Hence it is that Persia, as has been well remarked in one of the most valuable of the smaller treatises which have been written on her history, “ once the mistress of the eastern world. 86 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. the sub verier of Babylon and Egypt, the restorer of Jerusalem, the invader first and then victim of Greece, and at a later period the haughty and unconquered antagonist of Borne — has claims upon our attention and study which few other nations can prefer.”* In her manners and present habits, too, Persia still preserves the type of all that makes the Oriental nations so remarkable, the unchanging and almost unchangeable character stamped upon her people, the pomp of costume and the illusions of romance in which she is beyond all countries rich : — shorn though it be of its brightest beams, the Persian monarchy in outward show and circumstance still recalls the days of its former glory, and the splendid courts of Cyrus, Darius, and Shah Abbas. The living inhabitants are at this day much what the ancient people were before them, and their pastoral tribes and mountain hordes as when Alexander conquered, and Xenophon wrote. The contrast between Persia and Egypt has been well remarked by the writer from whom we have quoted. “ In Egypt,” says he, “the intrusive Turk or Mamlouk, the degraded Copt or the miserable fellah are dwarfed beside the gigantic monuments of the past, and hardly appear to belong to a scene where xArt and Nature seem alike eternal and Man is nothing ; in Persia it is the living scene, the faded yet still imposing pageantry, the various tribes, and the diversified traits of human character, that chiefly occupy atten- tion, and by these faithful transcripts of the former ages it is that the imagination is transported far back into the past.” To return to the historical portion of our subject which the interest of the fabled history of Persia has perhaps led us too long to forget, it would seem that the revolt of the Persians against the Medes is the critical period of her history, and the time from which we must historically date the first real com- mencement of her empire. Such a revolt would be the natural result of the tribute imposed upon them, and at the same time entirely in unison with their national character. The early his- tory of Cyrus, like that of the people whose empire he founded, is enveloped in a drapery of stories, which, though undoubtedly in part fabulous, have nothing in them unnatural or unlikely to happen in an eastern land. Herodotus tells us that having assembled the different tribes, Cyrus exhibited a fictitious written order, as if from the Median king, enjoining on them obedience * Condor’s Modern Traveller. Persia. CHAP. V.] CYRUS. 87 to him as their general. That, on their recognising him as such, he ordered them to attend him on the following day in a field overgrown with thistles, each armed with a reaping hook, and that when they had come together, he occupied them during the whole day in clearing the field. Having executed this task they were ordered to attend on the next day, to feast and to make merry. When they were well satisfied with their feast, he aslied them which day’s fare pleased them most. On their reply that the contrast was too great, since on the first day they had had nothing hut what was bad, while on the second day every thing that was good, he is reported to have said : — “ Men of Persia, thus it is with you : those who are willing to obey me, a thousand good things await, bearing in their train no toil befitting slaves : those who are not willing to obey me, innumerable labours worse than those of yesterday will attend. Freedom follows where I lead, and Providence has designed me to bring these good things into your hands.”* The account of the elevation of Jenghiz-Khan to be chief of the Mogols hears a striking similarity to this story in Herodotus, and is equally characteristic of a rude state of society when men can only be influenced by a direct appeal to their senses. The conquests of Cyrus, at least in the earlier period of his career, when divested of the Oriental drapery which Hero- dotus has so well preserved, resemble what we know of other nomad inroads : his host was chiefly cavalry, then, as now, the peculiar arm of the Persian, and his course from East to West. Accident may (as suggested by Heeren) not improbably have been at the bottom of the insurrection ; a slight and an occasional cause might easily set in motion those armed and warlike hordes who, accumulating like a mass of snow in a short time, formed an avalanche, crushing kingdoms and empires in their irresistible descent. His army at first little more than the armed contingent of one tribe, increased as he marched on bv the constant addition of fresh recruits from each country he conquered, till at length his host resembled in some sense the migration of an entire people. To such an army walled cities would present the chief difficulty and almost the only check on its advance. Besiegers had but one way of attacking a walled town of any height and strength, by throwing up a mound equal to the height of the wall, and from this assailing the ramparts of the city. * Herod, i. 126. 88 NINEVEH AND PEKSEPOLIS. [chap. V. The scanty accounts which we have of the institutions of Cyrus are agreeable to what we might have anticipated from the analogy of the history of other chieftains, w^ho have been similarly situated, and who have led similar forces under similar circum- stances. The simple institutions of the early Persian are the type of the late Mongolian of Jenghiz-Khan. Armies of occu- pation were left in the conquered provinces, under the command of different generals, to maintain due subordination and the right of conquest : with them were associated the receivers of the king s tribute, whose ofl&ce it was to transmit it to the royal exchequer, while the commanders of the garrison in the cities remained independent of both. The arrangement for the govern- ment of the province of Lydia, where Mazacus was left as commander-in-chief, Tatalus as governor of Sardes, and Pactyas as receiver-general, was no doubt the plan usually practised in the case of these provinces. In fact, despotism has in all countries pursued one of two courses ; either it maintains a large standing army, at first formed from the conquering hordes, and subsequently by mercenary troops, and a military government is established in the country at the cost of its inhabitants ; or, it sweeps off by a drag-net of soldiers the refractory population of one district, and transplants them to another, perhaps far distant.^ The former is the more enlightened system, and may (as often in Roman times) be productive of good to the conquered people ; the latter is a plan peculiarly suited to the genius of Eastern nations. The Jewish Captivity, the colony of six thousand Egyptians, removed to Susa on the overthrow of Egypt by Cambyses ; and probably, too, the celebrated Egyptian colony visited by Herodotus in Colchis, and the transportation of the Pceonians by the general of Darius, are so many instances of the practice, whereby whole tribes were taken from one continent and placed in another : it is not improbable, that some difficulties which have arisen with regard to the origin and local habitations of some tribes, may admit of explanation upon some such principle. The army of the conquerors having deployed into a line extending over a wide area, drove before it every thing which bore a human form, and left a desert behind. “It is the characteristic of despotism,” says Montesquieu, “ to cut down the tree in order to get at the fruit.” f Such were some of the habits which characterised the Persian • Herod, vi. 31. f Montesquieu. Esprit des Lois, vi. 9. CHAP. V.] CYRUS. 89 empire at the time of itsfirst establishment; and its progress was not otherwise than such as historical analogies would lead us to expect. Superior to the people they conquered, in that they possessed at first a great measure of good conduct and courage, they were early trained to a life of discipline in a school which Herodotus has well described as befitting a nation of mountaineers and conquerors : “ they teach their children,” says he, “ from the age of five years to twenty, these three things only, — to ride, to shoot with the bow, and to speak the truth.”* Yet we find the Persians, not long after this conquest, changing their earlier manners, and acquiring a polish they had not originally possessed. Their modes of life, their religion, even their language, became assimilated to those of the countries they invaded ; and the luxury and effeminacy of the vanquished were surpassed in the end by the corruptions of the conquerors. Thus the Persians became the pupils of the Medes, the Babylonians, and the Lydians, as in later times the Mongols adopted the manners of the Chinese, and the Goths the profligate habits of the degenerate Italians they overthrew. It has been observed that nomad tribes have been in all ages peculiarly liable to such changes ; their unsettled habits, and the desire of sensual gratifications having been their chief inducements to conquest in a hardly less ratio than the necessities of a superabundant population. The Persians, we know, showed a peculiar aptitude in this respect. Herodotus remarks that no nation was ever so ready to adopt foreign customs, and even as early as the time of Cyrus, we find that that conqueror was obliged to bind his people to their native land by national institutions, which might give greater stability to their national character. What was the fate of the founder of the Persian Empire himself is one of the most perplexing points in ancient history, as almost every account differs from the preceding and subsequent ones. Xenophon tells us that he died like a good man, quietly upon his bed, after delivering a discourse to his sons, rich in years and in honour. Herodotus states that among the various stories which he had heard, the one that he was most disposed to believe was, that Cyrus was slain in an expedition against the Massagetse : a story which corresponds in some degree with the representations of the Oriental writers, who pretend that Khosru after conquering * Herod, i. 136. 90 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. Turan determined to spend the remainder of his life in religious retirement, that he proceeded to the spot he had fixed upon, where he disappeared ; and that his train perished in a dreadful tempest. Ctesias says that he perished by the javelin of an Indian, while engaged in a war with the Dervishes of India; Diodorus Siculus, that he was taken in an engagement and hanged; Justin that he was taken prisoner and put to death by the Queen of the Massage tse ; while Lucian asserts that there is an inscription on some columns that mark the boundary of Media which implies that Cyrus, at the age of one hundred years, died of grief on hearing of the cruelties committed by his son. It is not easy to reconcile accounts so different ; yet we feel little doubt, that the simple narrative of Xenophon may be taken, without fear that we are treading on the insecure foundation of a beautiful romance Two centuries later Alexander the Great visited the tomb at Pasargadae, where all the historians agree that Cyrus was buried. We are told that the Persian inscription on the tomb, bidding the traveller not to envy the mighty Conqueror his small portion of dust, was translated into Greek, and engraved in that language under the original inscription. If this be so, the story of his death among the Scythians must be attributed to some other Khosroes and not to Cyrus the Great. The plains of Murghab contain a building called the Mesjid-i-Madri- Suleiman (the Mosque of the Mother of Solomon) which has been visited in modern times by Mr. Morier and Sir E. Ker Porter. It is at present in a ruinous state, but apparently of the same date as many of the Persepolitan remains, while a pilaster stands near it bearing cuneiform inscriptions in the same character which are found at Persepolis. If, as we shall hereafter show good reason for believing, the legend on this pilaster has been correctly interpreted, “ I am Cyrus the Achsemenian,” we need have no doubt that the Mesjid, to whatever use it was afterwards appropriated, once contained the remains of the founder of the Persian Empire. We shall, however, have abundant opportunity to examine this point more fully when we come to the description of the monu- mental remains which travellers have visited in modern times. The successor of Cyrus is commonly said to have been Cam- byses, but it has been doubted whether he ever occupied the throne of Persia. It has been thought that his long absence of four years in Egypt is incompatible with such a position, and that CHAP. V.] DARIUS HYSTASPES. 91 it is more likely that he held one of the chief Satrapies or inde- pendent governments, and was entrusted with the office of subduing Egypt. There is no doubt, however, that Cambyses was followed by an usurper who has been called Pseudo-Smerdis, who contrived by means of a trick to hold the government for seven months. Supported by a faction of the Magi, he personated Smerdis, the brother of the deceased monarch, and was by them raised to the throne. Herodotus has given an interesting account of the manner in which the impostor was eventually discovered. There was in the haram, Phsedyma, the daughter of Otanes, a Persian nobleman of high rank, who had been the wife of the late king. Otanes, suspecting the deceit, obtained certain information from his daughter, and having called a council of six other chieftains, the usurper was slain, and the confederates agreed to re-establish the monarchy. In order to determine who of the seven should possess the government, they agreed to meet on the following day at sunrise, and that he should be king whose horse should neigh first. QEbares, the groom of Darius, contrived that this should happen to his master’s horse, and Darius was in consequence saluted king : to which honour, indeed it would seem he had, inde- pendently, the best claim, as he alone of the seven nobles was of the Achaemenian or Koyal Tribe. The reign of Darius was long and successful, and marked by events which have exercised a powerful influence over the destinies of his country. Not less a legislator than a conqueror, be divided his empire into nineteen Satrapies, and imposed on each a fixed tribute. This appears to have been the first attempt to institute a regular system, and to divide the empire into regular provinces. It has been supposed by some that the division recorded by Herodotus was simply financial, and, as such, distinct from the territorial one ; yet this idea is unquestionably erroneous. No traces of any such distinction are observable in the whole course of Persian history, on the contrary, it is at variance with the spirit of their institutions. The financial arrangements kept pace with their territorial divisions. At the same time it appears that this first outline is inapplicable to the state of the empire in suc- ceeding ages ; and the document in Herodotus bears manifest traces of being a first essay ; hence we must not expect to find in it a complete geographical division of the different provinces but merely a rude classification of the different nations who were 92 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. subject to the king, with the amount of tribute imposed upon each. Even those nations are not always enumerated according to their geographical position, but for reasons we cannot divine, remote tribes, as Herodotus himself remarks,* have been classed together. The duty of the Satraps at first seems to have been chiefly to collect the revenue, and that it was an abuse of their earlier authority which erected the Satrapies into separate military govern- ments. An efficient check was imposed upon these officers; periodical visits were made to each district by royal commissioners ; and couriers, performing the duties of a regular post, transmitted the royal edicts to every part of the empire. The maintenance and organisation of his army were no less the care of the king ; troops were cantoned in the field, or stationed in garrison; the grandees and Satraps entertained a military household : and in later times, Greek mercenaries were taken into pay, and when the necessities of a long war required it, a general conscription was practised. Unlike his predecessors, Darius did not confine his conquests to Asia and Africa, but crossing the Thracian Bosphorus invaded Europe with a vast army, the number of which, however, has doubtless been greatly exaggerated, as Herodotus and Justin have estimated it at not less than three quarters of a million. He seems to have been checked in his advance, as the Bomans were in after times, by the impenetrable nature of the country *, but, on his return, he overran Thrace and Macedon, and established for the first time the Persian influence in Europe. The history of the Scythian invasion is involved in much obscurity, and we know little more for certain than that it was made by Darius in person, and that it was unsuccessful. Yet some of the incidental facts mentioned by Herodotus throw a curious light on the pro- gress of science and knowledge at that time. When Darius came to the bridge he had mad6 over the Danube, he entrusted the defence of it to the Greeks, but as it was possible that he might not return by the same road he went, he fixed a term of * Herod, iii. 89. CHAP. Y.] DARIUS HYSTASPES. 93 sixty days, after which the Greeks were no longer to maintain their post. In order to keep this time he gave them a leathern thong on which were sixty knots, desiring them to unfasten one every day till the prescribed interval had elapsed : a method of counting time which seems surprisingly rude. A few years later, at the commencement of the Greek war of Independence, the first map of which we have any record was brought to Cleomenes king of Sparta by a Greek who had been governor of Miletus, in order that he might comprehend the position of the Greeks of Asia Minor and of the Persian Empire. The map itself was probably the work of Hecatseus the historian of that city, and in the form of a bronze tablet, on which was engraved an outline of the earth, with the limits of the seas and the courses of the rivers. The story of the interview between the king and the wily Greek is very characteristic. xAristagoras, the envoy, pointed out on his map the position of the different countries of which the e:?ftent of the Persian Empire was shown to be far the largest, and exhibiting to the wondering king the situa- tion of the provinces between the jEgean and Susa, he extolled the wealth and fertility of Persia, and the immense treasures laid up in its capital. He told how the lonians had become slaves instead of freemen, owing to the oppression of the Persians, and that this was a peculiar disgrace to Sparta as at that time the foremost power in Greece. He appealed to Cleomenes by their common ancestry to assist them in the recovery of their freedom, and demonstrated that the conquest of Asia, while it was very easy, would at the same time fill the Spartan coffers with a vast amount of gold and silver. The cautious Cleomenes took three days to consider of the matter ; on the third day, he received the envoy again and questioned him as to the distance between Susa and Sparta. The Ionian, in other respects so able an advocate, was thrown off his guard, and admitted that the distance was a march of three months. Cleomenes, on this astonished and alarmed, broke off the conference and commanded the dangerous stranger to quit Sparta before the sun was down. The tale adds that Aristagoras had yet one more engine of persuasion ; in the garb of a supplicant he sought the royal residence, and found Cleomenes alone with his little daughter, a child of nine years old. As he tendered to the king the price of his assistance, his offers gradually increasing with his difficulty of persuasion, the child 94 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. stood by unheeding, till at length when his proffer had amounted to fifty talents, she perceived that her father was tempted to something wrong, and exclaimed, “ O father, the stranger will do thee injury if thou dost not go away that, on this, Cleomenes retired to another room, and Aristagoras soon after quitted Sparta.* During the reign of Darius commenced the extraordinary voyage, known as the Periplus of Scylax the Carian. A fleet was equipped at Caspatyra on the Indus, and the hardy Greek launched his vessels in that river with directions to proceed to the west till he should come to Persia. Scylax crossed the Gulf and coasting the shores of Arabia to the straits of Bab-el- Mandeb, reached Egypt in thirty months. Information was by these means obtained, which led to the subsequent invasion of India and the annexation of the Punjaub (words now so familiar to the ears of Englishmen) as the twentieth satrapy of the empire. But though the result of the campaign in Scythia was not such as Darius had intended, the subsequent conquests of Otanes over Byzantium, Chalcedon, Imbros, and Lemnos more than com- pensated for the check the king himself had received upon the northern side of the Danube. The Persian Empire had never been before so outwardly great or so inwardly prosperous. From the rising to the setting of the sun there appeared no power that could rival its majesty ; none from which, if worth the effort, it could not enforce submission. Towards the close of the sixth century before Christ, all nations from the banks of the Indus to the borders of Thessaly rested under the shade of that monarchy, and enjoyed, as Bp. Thirlwall has remarked in his History of Greece, one of those short intervals of profound calm, which in history as in the world of nature, often precedes the gathering of a storm. A contest between two factions in the little island of Naxos, at length broke the calm, and led to the memorable war between the Grecian republics and the hosts of the Persians, the result of which is so well known that it need not be detailed here. Suffice it to say, that the good fortune which had attended the earlier years of the reign of Darius did not attend him now : the revolt of Egypt and the burning of Sardes long checked the advance of his troops, and his last days were darkened by the defeat of Marathon on Sept. 29, b.c. 490, while the Greeks ♦ Heiod. V. 49. CHAP. V.] ZOKOASTER. 95 erected a statue to the Nemesis of Ehamnus from the Parian marble which the Persians had brought with them, as materials for the trophy of their anticipated victory. ^ Death overtook Darius as he was preparing to avenge these losses in person, and he bequeathed to his son Xerxes the task of leading against the victorious Greeks an army even more numerous than that which he had himself commanded. But the reign of Darius has been rendered far more memorable by the change of religion, which has been by many attributed to his personal influence, than by the great conquests and the ex- tensive wars in which he engaged. The almost universal opinion, first put forth by Hyde,f and supported in modern times by Kleuker, is, that in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, the celebrated lawgiver Zerdusht, or Zoroaster, promulgated his religious code, and that his laws were made public under the empire of the Persians ; on the other hand, Tychsen | has attributed them to the dynasty of the Medes and the reign of Cyaxares, about seventy years before Cyrus ; and Ehode § has endeavoured to prove that their date is considerably earlier even than this. The question is one of great interest, embracing as it does the sources of a religion which, like the Muhammedan, has been disseminated over a large portion of the world, and which for centuries retained its predominance. Neither the power of persecution nor of civil and religious revolutions have been able effectually to eradicate this creed : its adherents have preferred exile to apostacy, and have sought in the deserts of Kerman and Hindustan places of refuge for themselves and their sacred books. Was, then, the system of Zoroaster the established religion at the time he lived ; and did he appear as the religious reformer of a system already existing ? Did he promulgate his laws at the time of the Median or Persian empire, or in times antecedent to both ? Or was the faith he taught only adopted by the Persians, and not indigenous ? These are questions which have been repeatedly asked, and zea lously canvassed by different learned men. We shall endeavour to give the substance of what has been collected of the history of this remarkable man. It will be admitted that the faith which he introduced or purified was not the first declension which had been made from * Paus. i. 33. f Relig. vet. Pers. J Comment. Soc. Getting, Vol. xi. p. 112. § Die Heilige Sage des Zend-volks. 96 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. the earliest and purest worship of the One Supreme Being. The worship of the Host of Heaven would naturally he the earliest deviation from true Beligion, the first step towards adopting a visible and outward object for the unseen and the inscrutable ; and such was, doubtless, the Sabasan ritual, the first religion of the Magi. The substitution of fire, the essence of light in a form that might be continually present, for the celestial bodies, would be the next, and almost insensible, deviation in the direc- tion of idolatry. The worship of fire superseded the Sabasan faith, whose relics may, however, be traced through every sub- sequent change, in the fondness for astrology, which, from the days of Nebuchadnezzar until now, pervades the Eastern mind. The doctrines of the Magi were simply the belief in one God, the all-powerful, the all-good, whose vicegerents were the planets ; a fraternal affection for the whole race of man, and a compassionate tenderness for even the brute creation. With regard to the date of Zoroaster there are great difficul- ties ; yet the hypothesis which Heeren has suggested seems on the whole best connected, and shall therefore be stated here. He shows that the idea of his being cotemporary with Darius has been somewhat hastily derived from the similarity of the names Gustasp and Hystaspes ; while, on the other hand, what Zoroaster has recorded of himself in the Zend A vesta points apparently to lands over which the authority of Darius hardly ever extended, and to a period earlier than his era. He shows, from the places mentioned in the Zend Avesta, that the native land of Zoroaster was Northern Media, Azerbaijan, the country between the river Kur and Araxes; that he first appeared as legislator and reformer ; and that, quitting this district, he passed into lands eastward of the Caspian, and came to Bactra, the residence of King Gustasp, his disciple and admirer. From Bactra, his reforma- tion was disseminated through the adjacent provinces of Iran. Again, in the commencement of the Vendidad, there is a catalogue of the provinces and chief cities of Gustasp ’s kingdom : which, from their oriental names, are easily recognisable. We learn from this that all the countries east of the Caspian, as far as Hin- dustan, were subject to that king. Khorassan, Bactriana, Sogdiana, Aria, Kabul, and even Lahore occur in the list ; while no mention is made of Persia or Susiana ; nor of the capitals, Persepolis, Susa, or Babylon. Yet these were the usual residences of Darius CHAP. V.] ZOROASTER. 97 Hjstaspes, and could hardly have been omitted, were he the Gustasp who patronised Zoroaster Nor, again, do any of the authors who were nearly contemporary with Darius ever allude to Zoroaster ; his name does not occur in the writings of Herodotus, Ctesias, or Xenophon ; who, nevertheless, frequently speak of the Magi. Even Plato, the earliest Grecian writer who mentions him, evi- dently regarded him as a sage of remote antiquity ; a view which is confirmed by the testimonies of Hermippus and Eudoxus, which Pliny has preserved. Nor can it be shown that he had any more direct connexion with Media than with Persia; for the king- dom in which Zoroaster says that Gustasp was reigning, was not Media, properly so called, but Bactriana. The very names of Modes and Persians, as distinct nations, do not occur ; the nation is simply called the people of Ormuzd. Again, in estimating the character of the religion Zoroaster introduced, we must not, as Heeren has observed, forget that we are Europeans ; and that, if we are more advanced in knowledge, we likewise are not without our prejudices. We must judge him as an Asiatic, living, as he tells us, under an Asiatic despotism ; and hence, as one who would picture to himself, and enforce in his doctrines, just such a system, as an Asiatic under such cir- cumstances would consider the most beneficial to his people. Thus he would imagine the idea of a despotic government in the hands, not of a tyrant, but a father, under which every class of men, and every individual, might find his appropriate sphere of action ; he would therefore attempt to create such a sovereign as Xenophon has delineated in the Cyropaedia, or such a king as the oriental legends describe Jemshid to have been. His phi- losophy commenced and ended with the attempt to find a solution for that phenomenon which must at once engage the attention of the careful observer, the separate existence of good and evil in the world. The simple doctrine of a Good and Evil principle, the sources of existing good and evil, seemed to embrace everything, and was therefore the corner-stone of the structure of his religious and political philosophy. He maintained the existence of a Kingdom of Light, in which Ormuzd, the author and giver of all good, resided; and a Kingdom of Darkness, in which Ahriman, the source of all evil, moral as well as physical, had his dwelling. All things, whether rational or irrational, animate or inanimate, belonged, according to his view, to one of these two H 98 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. kingdoms. There were pure men, pure animals, and pure vege- tables, the creation of Ormuzd ; and there were impure men, impure animals, and impure vegetables, subject to the dominion of the Divs or Genii, and appertaining to the kingdom of Ahriman.’ The conservation of his ordinances was entrusted to the Magi, or priestly caste, who under the Medes formed one of their original tribes, and who are expressly mentioned as such by Herodotus.* According to his own statement, he was but the restorer of the doctrine, which Ormuzd had himself set forth in the days of Jem- shid ; a doctrine which had been misrepresented by a false and delusive system ; he must therefore he only considered as the reformer of the caste of the Magi. If, indeed, it were true that Zoroaster flourished under a Median dynasty, we should be pre- pared to expect that, on the downfall of its monarchy, its heredit- ary religion would be adopted by the conquerors ; though such adoption would probably be slow. As the religion of the state, its progress would be still more gradual; for, though strongly marked by the principles of intolerance, it appears never, like that of Muhammed, to have been propagated by fire and sword ; and its author, we know, was neither a warrior nor a conqueror. It seems much nearer the truth to suppose that the reception of the religion of Zoroaster was at first confined to the Court ; for not only do Herodotus and Ctesias describe the Magi as an order of priests under the first Persian princes, hut the express testimony of Xenophon, in the Cyropaedia, leaves no further question, possess- ing as it does historical value from an observation appended by the author. Having described the etiquette of the Persian Court as copied from, that of the Medes, he adds, “ Cyrus also first appointed the Magi to chaunt the sacred hymns at the rising of the Sun, and to offer daily sacrifices to the deities to whom it was enjoined by their law. This state of things continues to be maintained by each successive monarch, and the rest of the Persian nation fol- lowed the example of their prince, conceiving that they should in the same way be more likely to prosper, if they worshipped their gods as their monarch did.”f The Persians, as a body, probably did not change the manners and customs of their fore- fathers, but a mixture of ancient and newly-adopted customs took place : hence the laws of the Persians came to be cited in connexion with the Medes; but their national deities {Oeol Trarpwot) * Herod, i. 101. Xeii. Cyrop. viii. CHAP. V.] ZOROASTEE. 99 it is clear from Herodotus, were still reverenced as before. We must not, therefore, expect a complete correspondence between the precepts of the Zend Avesta and the customs of the Persians ; while the differences we observe may confirm the remark, that Zoroaster was not himself cotemporary with the Persian monarchy, or the teacher of Darius Hystaspes. The Zend Avesta itself was first made known to the European world about eighty years ago, by the indefatigable exertions of Anquetil du Perron. According to the Parsees, it was originally dictated by inspiration, and consisted at first of twenty-one books, only one of which, theYendidad, now remains entire. It is com- posed in a language called the Zend, of which there are now no other specimens ; and in structure closely resembles the Sanscrit. It consists, chiefly, of a series of interrogatories proposed by Zoroaster to Ormuzd, with the corresponding replies, and comprehends a series of liturgical services for various occa- sions, rather than an original work on religion. The Abbe Foucher remarks, that it “bears exactly the same reference to the books of Zoroaster that our missals and breviaries do to the Bible ; ” and the Abbe and Mr. Erskine* agree in considering it long posterior to the original works of Zoroaster, and attribute it to the time of the restoration of the Persian Religion under Ar- deschir Babegan, the first prince of the family of the Sassanians. Mr. Frazer states, that there are extant in Pehlvi translations of four of the books of Zoroaster, the Vendidad, the Vespered, the Yesht, and the Khundavesta. Besides these, there are three more works in the same language ; the Yiraf-nameh, a description of the Parsee Paradise and Hell, ascribed to the reign of Ar- deschir ; the Bundehesh, an account of the Creation, according to the ideas of the same sect ; and the Ak-hez Jadoo, with the Destur Gush Perian, a still later production. Two other works have, in modern times, been published on the same subject — the Dabistan (or School of Manners), of "which we have already spoken, and the Dessatir. Neither of these are, however, held to have much authority, and the compiler of the former shows a strong disposition to connect the ancient history of the Persians with that of the Hindus. In the system of cosmogony which is detailed at great length in the Zend Avesta, mention is made of the creation of some * Bombay Literary Trans., vols. i. and ii. H 2 100 NINEVEH AND PEBSEPOLIS. [chap. V. objects called Ferohers, representations of Tvhich occur on many of the Persian monuments at Persepolis and Kermanshah, and also upon some of the marbles lately brought from Nimrud. They are considered to have been the spiritual prototypes, or unembodied angels (as Mr. Frazer terms them), of every reason- able being which was destined to appear upon earth. The Ferohers of the Law, of Iran, and of Zoroaster were deemed the most precious ; for the Law, as the expression of the Divine Will, and Iran, which was to be its theatre, were held to Feroher, from the Nimroud Marbles. rank high in the scale of intelligences. Six other principal angels were subsequently created by Ormuzd : Bahman, to whose charge was entrusted the animal creation ; Ardibehesht, the Genius of Fire and Light ; Shahriwah, the Spirit of the Metal and the Mine ; Espendermad, the Female Guardian of the Earth ; Khour- dad, who diffuses the blessings of running streams ; and Amerdad, who watches over the growth of plants and trees. Mr. Frazer thinks that Zoroaster has drawn largely from the systems of the Jews and of the Hindus, and that he has engrafted what he culled from each on a Chaldsean stem. The intricate ritual, and the multiplication of ceremonies, betray a Hebrew extraction ; the my- thology and many of the superstitions, and especially the Sanscrit origin of the Zend itself, indicate an Indian relationship ; while the high rank assigned to the celestial bodies and the planetary system attests a Chaldsean lineage. The doctrines of the Guebres, a persecuted sect of Fire-wor- shippers in Persia, and of the Parsees in India, differ but little CHAP. V.] ZOKOASTER. 101 from the code of the Zend Avesta. Both adore Ormuzd, as the author of all good, and inculcate purity in thought, word, and action. Both reverence the angels, subordinate spirits and agents of the Good Principle ; while the visible objects of their veneration are the elements, and especially that of fire. They have no temples or images, nor paintings of Ormuzd or his angels. The Atish-Khudahs (or Fire-Temples) are merely edifices for guarding the sacred fire from pollution or extinction : in these the flame is kept continually burning ; and the buildings are so constructed, that the rays of the sun never fall upon the fire. The Parsees maintain that actual annihilation forms no part of the system of Zoroaster ; that, at death, the materials of the body rejoin their respective elements ; earth to earth, water to water, fire to fire, and life to the viewless air. Hence the last hour is stript of its terrors to the Parsee, by the conviction that no being is reduced to nonentity. For three days after dissolution the soul is supposed to flit round its tenement of clay, in hopes of reunion ; on the fourth the Angel Seroch appears, and conducts it to the Bridge of Chinevad. On this structure, which, they assert, connects Heaven and Earth, sits the Angel of Justice, to weigh the actions of mortals : when the good deeds prevail, the soul is met on the bridge by a dazzling figure, which says, “ I am thy good angel; I was pure originally, but thy good deeds have ren- dered me purer ; ” and, passing its hand over the neck of the blessed soul, leads it to Paradise. If iniquities preponderate, the soul is met by a hideous spectre, which howls out, “ I am thy evil genius; I was impure from the first, but thy misdeeds have made me fouler ; through thee we shall remain miserable until the resurrection ; ” the sinning soul is then dragged away to Hell, where Ahriman sits to taunt it with its crimes. The Resurrection is the triumph of Ormuzd and his worshippers, and an essential article of their belief. The judgment of men is to occupy a space of fifty-seven years ; then will the Genii of the elements render up their trust, the soul re-enter its former earthly dwelling-place, and the juice of the Herb Horn, and the milk of the Bull Heziosk, restore life to man, and render him im- mortal. Then at length takes place the final separation of the good from the evil. Such may perhaps serve for a brief outline of the system of Zoroaster. We proceed now with our sketch of the Persian history under 102 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. the immediate successors of Darius Hystaspes, and the sub- sequent dynasties ; deferring, till we come to the description of the discoveries of Major Hawlinson, the confirmation of the classical history of that prince which Major Eawlinson’s inter- pretation of the cuneiform inscriptions has made known to us. The reign of Xerxes, which followed that of his father, Darius, is more memorable in Grecian than in Persian history ; and the illustrious defence of Thermopylae, and the battles of Salamis, Platsea, and Mycale, are events the memory of which will survive so long as the world endures. For the collection of the vast army of Xerxes the whole East had been engaged for several years ; and when at length he had set out for his expedition, he must have felt that he commanded a host which no power could resist, or gallantry defeat. Seven days, and as many nights, the uninterrupted tide of men were crossing the “sacred” Helles- pont, and the plains of Doriscus found encampment ground for a force such as never before or since has invaded any country. ** Not such their numbers, or their host so dread. By Northern Brenn or Scythian Timur led.” Never was army composed of so many different people assembled in one spot, each in their appropriate dresses and national cos- tumes. Herodotus distinguishes no less than fifty-six different nations, some of whom served on foot and some on horseback, while others manned the fleet. Here were to be seen the cotton garments of India, and lions’ hides and leopard skins of the Ethiopians of Lower Egypt, Belouchees from Gedrosia, and nomad hordes from the steppes of Bucharia, wild huntsmen, like the Sagartians, who caught their enemies, like animals of the chase, with leathern lassos, and despatched them with a short dagger ; Medes and Bactrians in their rich and luxurious dresses, Libyans in chariots drawn by four horses, Arabs on their camels, and the chosen band of the Immortals in golden armour. Here, too, were to be seen the fleets of the Phoenicians and the Greeks of Asia Minor compelled to serve against their kindred.* Yet the straits of Thermopylae, as Heeren has remarked, presented to these Asiatics a scene for which they were wholly unprepared ; it was to no purpose that their countless hordes were driven by the scourge against a handful of Spartans ; * Herod, viii. 60—98. CHAP. V.] XERXES. 103 and although treachery at last conducted them over the lifeless bodies of those heroes, the names of Salamis and Platsea remain as everlasting monuments of Grecian valour. “ Stranger! ” said the simple inscription to the memory of the three hundred Spartans, “tell the Lacedaemonians that we repose here, having obeyed their behest.” And so it befel as Daniel had already predicted : “ Behold there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia : and the fourth shall be far richer than they all : and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Graecia.”* Of the last years of the life of Xerxes little is known, but it is believed that he perished in one of the intrigues of the seraglio. It is curious that no trace of the name of this monarch is recorded in Persian history. As, however, the long reign of sixty years is attributed by them to his father Gustasp, it is not impossible that the period of his government may have been confounded with that of his father. If so, he must be represented in the Persian annals by the name of Isfundeer, who is the father of Bahman, or Artaxerxes Longimanus. There can be no doubt that the latter is the same as the Dirazdust of the Persians, as both names imply the same thing (viz.. Long Arms). He is stated to have received his surname because, when he stood upright, like the Rob Roy of Highland story, the ends of his fingers reached below his knees. Different etymologies have been given for the two names Bahman and Ardeshir (Artaxerxes). Sir John Malcolm f says, that Bahman is a Sanscrit compound, which signifies “ possessing arms;” Khondemir, that the name was given to imply his good disposition, the signification of that word in Syriac. Oordoo-sheer in Persian means the “lion of the camp,” but Sir J. Malcolm prefers deriving it from the Sanscrit Urddha-siras “of exalted head;” Arta or Ard in Pehlvi and Kurdish is the “ earth;” hence the com- pound may perhaps be the same as the Persian Gil -shah, “ the Prince of the Earth.” His reign is extended in the Persian annals to one hundred and twenty, but is limited by the Greek historians to forty years. He was succeeded by his daughter Homai, and she by Darab II., the Darius Nothus of the Greeks, who again was succeeded by Artaxerxes Mnemon. In Ptolemy’s Canon, Darius Nothus appears as the immediate successor of Artaxerxes Longimanus. Homai is supposed to be the Greek Parysatis, and • Dan. xi. 2. f Vol. i. p. 67, note. 104 NIVEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. V. she is said to have made Persepolis her capital, and to have built the celebrated hall of Chehel Minar or Forty Pillars. The reign of Mnemon is celebrated for the retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks who accompanied the mad expedition of Cyrus the Younger to depose his brother from his throne. This is the darkest period of the native annals. Neither the name of the Younger Cyrus nor of the celebrated commander of the Grecian forces, have been noticed by any of the Oriental writers. In the reign of Darius Codomannus, who succeeded to the empire after the insignificant reign of Ochus, the Persian Monarchy, which had been founded by Cyrus, was finally extinguished by the arms of Alexander of Macedon ; and the time had arrived when the harvest of victories, which had been so long in preparation for the Greeks, was to be reaped in the fields of Asia. The weakness of Persia and the strength of Greece, the iron discipline of Sparta and the careless enthusiasm of Athens, the Socratic training of Xenophon and the military genius of Epami- nondas, were each to exert their appropriate influence, and to produce their fitting effects. Under the practised eye of Epaminondas, the greatest commander whom the states of Greece had yet raised up, was trained that shrewd and able prince, Philip of Macedon, who, from the chieftain of a semh barbarous horde, raised himself in no long time to the chief place among the Greeks. Already was he chosen generalissimo of all the Greeks (except the Spartans, who had refused to aid in the undertaking,) for a general war against the Persians, when his assassination bequeathed the execution of his designs to his still more celebrated son. In Alexander, as has been well remarked, all the energy which peculiarly distinguished the Greek character was united to a power such as no Greek had ever possessed before, while the youthful energies of his mind had been fed and fostered by the intellectual training of a Philosopher who has established an empire far more enduring than that of his pupil. From Aristotle, Alexander acquired that ardent love of knowledge, and those enlarged views, which raised him so far above all ordinary conquerors, and which made his conquests and his empire such important engines in the advancement of civilisa- tion. In his early youth it is said that Lysimachus, his favourite instructor, won his heart by giving him the name of the hero of CHAP. V.] CONQUEST OF PERSIA BY ALEXANDER. 105 the Iliad; and when his father’s court was visited by some envoys from Persia, his inquiries respecting the civil and military state of the East showed the great schemes that already occupied his mind. And now came the time, that “ a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.” ^ Crossing the Hellespont in b.c. 334, he won the battles of Graneicus and Issus, besieged and took Tyre, overran Phoenicia and Egypt; and in the decisive battle of Arbela, determined the fate of the Eastern empire. The unfortunate Darius, after seeing his best troops cut down, fled first to Ecbatana, and thence towards Bactriana, where he was murdered by his own nobles ; and the Persians showed that they had as little chance against the compact and serried phalanx of the Macedonians, as the Jacquerie or Burghers of Ghent at Bese- hecque had, in later times, against the steel-clad chivalry of France. It is an instructive lesson of the historv of this celebrated war, that the only troops who appear to have fought with gallantry, and who to the last remained faithful to their king, was a small band of about four thousand Greek mercenaries, the descendants, probably, of the men wFo had retreated under Xenophon to the Euxine Sea. The traditions of Alexander’s conquest, preserved by Eastern writers, are very imperfect. Their accounts agree with the Greek writers in the chief events, and though overloaded with extravagant fables, it is probable that what they do mention has been obtained from Greek writers. They describe the invasion of Persia, the defeat of Darius, whom they erroneously consider to have been slain in the battle-field, the generosity of the conqueror, and his humanity to the captive family of the king. They allude to the alliance which Alexander established with Taxila, his battle with Porus, and his invasion of Scythia ; and, with characteristic vanity, they attempt to prove that Alexander himself was the son of their first Darius. The great name of Alexander has been considered sufficient, as Sir John Malcolm remarks, to obtain credit for every story the imagination could invent ; and the Sekunder of the Persian page is a model of every virtue and of every great quality that can elevate a human being above his species. The Zeenat-al Tuarick has preserved a curious record of the supposed reason of the war between ^Alexander and Persia, wdiich bears a striking resemblance to the tradition of * Dan. xi. 3. 106 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. Henry the Fifth and the French king, recorded by Shakspeare, Hen. V., act i. sc. 2 : — When we have matched our rackets to these halls, We will, in France, by God’s grace, play a set Shall strike his father’s crown into the hazard.” According to the Persian legend, Alexander refused to pay the tribute of a thousand golden eggs, which his father had been accustomed to send to the Persian court, replying to the envoys who came to fetch it, “ that the bird who laid these eggs had flown into another world.” On this another ambassador was sent from the king of Persia, charged to deliver to the king of Macedon a bat and ball, and a bag of very small seed : the first to throw ridicule on the youth of the king, the second to symbolise the countless multitude of the Persian army. “I accept the presents,” said the young monarch, taking in his hand the bat ; “ with this shall I strike the ball of your master’s dominion while having sent for a fowl, which immediately devoured the grain, he exclaimed, “ This bird will show you what a morsel your numerous army will prove to mine.” In return he gave the envoy a wild melon, and bade him tell his master to judge from its taste the bitterness of the lot which awaited him. “ Messages of this character,” says Sir John Malcolm, “are not uncommon among Asiatic Monarchs ;” and Herodotus has recorded a some- what similar anecdote in the message which the Scythians sent to Darius Hystaspes, when he was about to invade their country. According to him, a herald was sent with the presents of a mouse, a bird, a frog, and five arrows. Darius, says the tale, at first imagined, that they meant to imply by the presents, that they surrendered to him their land, their water, and their military prowess. But Gobryas and his chiefs replied, that the real meaning of them was, “that unless as birds ye can fly up to heaven, or as mice burrow in the earth, or as frogs can leap into the waters, ye shall not make good your retreat, but shall perish by such arrows as these.” Having conquered Darius, Alexander pursued his way through Bactriana, and, advancing as far as the deserts of Scythia, turned southward to achieve the yet greater conquest of India. Having taken the rock Aornos, which, as the name implies, was so high as to be above the flight of birds, he crossed the Indus, CHAP. V.] THE SELEUCID^. 107 near Attock. On the bank of the Hjphasis (the Yipasa or Beyah of the modern maps) his Macedonian soldiers mutinied and re- fused to accompany him further from their native west. Alex- ander wept that his plans for conquest were bounded, but imme- diately turning towards other plans which his vast mind had conceived, he prepared a fleet, which, under the command of Nearchus sailed down the Indus and explored the shores of Persia to the mouth of the Euphrates. Alexander himself returned at once to Babylon, but in the midst of the festivities which cele- brated his return, the hand of death was upon him, and an inter- mittent fever of eleven days arrested the conqueror of Asia in the midst of his vast projects in the year b. c. 323. On the death of Alexander, his empire was divided among his generals, who strove with various fortune for the vacant inhe- ritance. At length the battle of Ipsus led to the establishment of four separate kingdoms ; of Macedon under Cassander, of Thrace and Asia Minor under Lysimachus, of Ptolemy in Egypt, and of Seleucus and his successors in the East. With the details of the history of the three first we have nothing to do ; we shall, however, pause for a while over the remarkable history of the fourth kingdom. To Seleucus had been assigned, as his share of the empire, the province of Babylon. A war almost imme- diately broke out, and for a time the power of Antigonus, another of the generals, appeared to be on the ascendant. But Seleucus soon won back what he had lost ; Media, Susiana, and the neighbouring provinces fell into his hands, and as his justice and clemency were equal to his power, he became ere long the greatest of Alexander’s successors. He was the first Greek who seems really to have had any extensive influence over India, and his alliance with Chandragupta, king of Dehli, the Sandracottus of the Greeks, shows that his power was^ recognised by the princes of India. The celebrated era of Seleucidse which was used by the Greeks, Jews, Orientals, and Christians, down to the establishment of the era of Hegira, nine centuries after- wards by the Muhammedans, commences with the year b.c. 312, in which Seleucus took Babylon. Seleucus survived all the other successors of Alexander, and fell at last by the hand of an assassin in b.c. 280, when more than eighty years of age. He is generally known in history from others of his family by the name of Seleucus Nicator. We do not propose to give a full 108 NINEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. V. history of the princes of his family, but shall mention such facts only as are important in linking together the different dynasties and in settling the chronology. In the reign of Antiochus Theus, the third of the Seleucidae, in B. c. 250, Askh or Arsaces slew the viceroy of Parthia, and, raising the standard of revolt, set up the famous dynasty known in his history by the name of Arsacidae. The native writers assert that he was a descendant of their ancient kings, but in such statements we cannot put much confidence. Spreading to the breeze the sacred banner of the Durufsh-i-kawani, which his uncle had saved when Darius was defeated, he marched to Dhev, where he fixed his abode and invited the other chieftains of his people to join him in a war against the Persians. About the same time, or perhaps a few years earlier, Diodotus the governor of Bactria threw off his allegiance, and erected for himself an independent kingdom. Thus were withdrawn two large portions of the Eastern world from their intercourse with the West, and the Syrian portion of Alexander’s empire was weakened so as to make less resistance to new assailants. In Greece, at the same time, two independent powers had arisen, the once barbarous -^tolians under Pyrrhus and his descendants, and the band of free cities known in history by the name of the Achaean League. In the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes a new people appear on the stage of Oriental history, who were destined soon to conquer everything before them, and to erect upon the overthrow of thrones and princes the most unbending tyranny which the world had yet seen. But a few years earlier, Antiochus the Great had been driven back from Greece into Asia Minor by the arms of the Komans, and the victorious career of Antiochus Epiphanes was to receive from the same people a yet more humiliating check. At that time, says Daniel, “ the ships of Chittim (i.e., Europe) shall come against him ; therefore he shall be grieved, and shall return.”* On the shore of the Mediter- ranean, not far from Alexandria, as he was advancing to the almost certain conquest of Egypt, Antiochus met the ambassador of Borne, who had just landed from his ships. The king who had himself been at Borne, recognised him and held out his hand, but Popillius, giving him the tablets, bade him first read what was * Dan. xi. 30. CHAP. V.] EOMAN EEPUBLIC. 109 written on them. Having done so, the king replied that he would consider with his friends what answer he should return. The Roman, drawing a circle round the king in the sand with his staff, replied, “ Before you quit this circle you shall give me my answer to the Roman senate ! ” Antiochus acquiesced in the demand, and retired from Egypt.* Such were the Romans who now began to take an active part in Oriental affairs ; a people differing alike both from the Greeks and the Asiatics, and for a long time deriving their strength from qualities and virtues which were rarely found either in Greece or Asia. The ascendancy of the Romans arose not only from their extraordinary reverence for the natural principles of right, but also from a patriotism, which, unlike the forced education of Sparta, grew up spontaneously, the natural product of their domestic virtues. Thus when the defeat of Cannae had well nigh destroyed the flower of the Roman chivalry, the Senate of Rome gave public thanks to the Consul, Varro, who returned almost alone, “because he had not despaired of the Republic : ” and when' Hannibal was encamped before the walls of the city, the very ground was sold under his feet at an auction within the city walls. Even Polybius, himself a Greek, observes, that “ among the Greeks though a man be bound by ten bonds, and twice as many witnesses, he cannot be induced to keep faith, if he be trusted with a single talent of public money ; whereas the Romans, when, during office or embassy, they have a large sum in their hands, are held to their duty by the mere sanction of an oath. So that whereas among others you can scarcely find a man who abstains from plundering the public, among the Romans such a crime is rarely heard of.”f And this purity he rightly attributes to their ancient habits of piety and respect for an unwritten law. The early rise of the Romans had been very slow; and the contest with Carthage had been of doubtful or inconsiderable success. But, this enemy once crushed, the Roman arms spread over the world like a whirlwind : in ten years the order of the plan of the coming campaign was sketched in outline on the map of the world, and the most distant nations heard the voice of that “ fourth monster ” which was to rule over the earth. It was at Cyno-cephale, in Thessaly, four years after * Liv. xlv. 12. f Polyb. vi. 56. 110 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. the battle of Zama, that the Eomans matched themselves for the first time against the hitherto invincible phalanx of Macedon. Then for the first time were the Macedonians defeated in the open field ; the consul Flamininus discovered the weakness of fhe phalanx when opposed by a rapid movement on the flank, afid the Macedonians learnt the lesson which Sparta had been taught at Leuctra, that the best systems lose their practical effect when they have survived the spirit that animatedTheir founders. The progress, and still more so the result, of the Macedonian war, enabled the leaders of the Eepublic to read in clear characters their future destiny. When the consul Acilius Glabrio was about to drive the forces of Antiochus from that pass which, as Words- worth has observed, “ was never stormed, and whose only con- queror has been Nature,” he made an oration to his soldiers that clearly demonstrates the views of the ambitious Eomans. “What,” said he, “ shall hinder, but that from Gades to the Eed Sea we should have but one boundary, the Ocean, who holds the whole circuit of the earth in his embraces, and that the whole race of men should venerate the Eoman name as second only to the Gods ! ” The Eomans became from this time the arbiters of all events in Europe and in Asia. Spain, Syria, and Egypt, were too weak long to resist the Eepublican arms ; and Latin, “ the voice of empire and of war, the true language of history, instinct with the spirit of nations, and not with the passions of individuals,” bade fair to become what its half sister, the Greek, had been, the universal language of the civilised world. To the iron rule of Eome every nation was compelled to yield. There had been republics in Europe and monarchies in Asia : the East had had her cavalry, the West her foot soldiers. But now all was frozen up in the cold uniformity of this iron empire. “The mistress of the world,” says Wilberforce, “sent forth her praetors and proconsuls to rule instead of kings ; vast roads, uni- form and unbending, were the tracks she made for herself through the world, that so the most inaccessible countries might be laid open to her armies ; and in making them she hewed through mountains and filled up valleys as though the earth was as subject to her as its inhabitants.”* One country alone succeeded in maintaining its ground, and was never wholly conquered by the Eomans even in the zenith of Wilberforce ’s Five Empires, p. 136. CHAP. V.] AESACIDiE— SASSANIDiE. Ill their power. Free as they who led their conquering legions against them, the Parthians possessed a method of tactics against which the heavy accoutred infantry of Kome could never fight on equal terms ; hence, though often beaten in the open plain, the fastnesses of their native mountains remained their own. “ The war was made,” as Sir John Malcolm has well described it, “ not against the army but against the supplies by which it was sup- ported; and the mode in which the Parthian warrior took his unerring aim while his horse was carrying hin^ from the enemy, may be view^ed as a personification of the system of warfare, hy which his nation, during the era of its history, maintained its independence. The system w'as suited to the soil, to the man, and to the fleet and robust animal on which he was mounted; and its success was so certain, that the bravest veterans of Kome murmured when their leaders talked of a Parthian war.” The Parthian empire is generally held to have attained its greatest limits under Mithridates the Great, who carried his arms as far as Alexander himself, extending his sway from the Euphrates to the Indus, reducing Syria and making captive its king, Demetrius Nicator. An embassy from Pacorus the king of Parthia, in b.c. 60. to Sylla, at that time Praetor in Cappadocia, is the first instance of direct communication between the Par- thians and the Romans. Thirty-seven years later in the reign of Orodes, the army of Licinius Crassus was cut to pieces and the Roman standards captured in the plains of Mesopotamia ; and, still later, Antony, only by the interposition of the friendly river Aras, across which the Parthians did not pursue him, escaped a similar fate on nearly the same ground. For nearly two hundred years, the history of the two nations shows a series of disputes, reconciliations, and treaties, till at length Artabanus, the thirtieth and last of the princes of the House of Arsaces, sustained so much loss from the Romans under the emperor Macrinus, that he was unable to suppress the rebellion of a new chieftain, Ardeshir Babegan, who, profiting by the hereditary hatred of his Persian countryman to the Parthians, succeeded in founding a new empire, which was named from Sassan, one of his ancestors, the Sassanidae, and in putting an end to the renowned dynasty which had filled the throne of Darius for 480 years. The period occupied by the Arsacidae is an almost entire blank in the native historians of Persia, and little more is re- 112 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. corded than the account of their first rise which we have men- tioned. The Baron St. Martin has put together all that is known of their history ; and though he has sometimes indulged too much in theory, has extracted and compiled from various sources a very curious and interesting account of their polity. Some portions of this we shall therefore state here : according to him the empire of the Arsacidae bore a striking resemblance to the feudal systems of Europe, a remark in which Gibbon appears to coincide. Their form of government was in fact a feudal monarchy, consisting of four principal kingdoms, all ruled by members of the same family, the elder branch of which was seated on the Persian throne, which formed the centre of a vast political system, maintaining relations with the Komans in the West and the Chinese in the East. The next in rank was the monarch of Armenia ; then the prince of Bactria; and then the ruler of the Scythian Massagetac, whose dominions were the steppes of Russia, and his people the nomades of the Don and the Volga. The fall of the Imperial House did not necessarily involve that of the other princes ; the kings of Bactria and Scythia for a while held out against the Persians, and the Armenian kingdom whose monarch had embraced Christianity thirty years before Constantine, and who has therefore rightly the title of the first Christian king, if we omit the doubtful story of Abgarus of Edessa, lasted till a.d. 428. The descendants of the Armenian rulers in after times obtained great power in Persia, and maintained as Sassanians and Muhammedans the power which they had lost as Christians. The rise of the Sassanian dynasty in a.d. 226 is an important era in Persian history ; from this period its annals become more full and less obscure, and admit of easier reconcilement with the records of the western historians. We shall state concisely some of the most important historical events which occurred during the continuance of their empire. The reign of Ardeshir Babegan, or Artaxerxes I., appears to have been brilliant and successful. He was able to bring toge- ther, to unite, and to consolidate the fragments of the empire ; to contend, with various success, against the Romans under Alexander Severus ; and to re-establish in its purity the Magian religion, as reformed by Zoroaster. The coins of the Sassanian dynasty, of which we have abundant remains, confirm the testimony of history. On all of them we find the symbols of the fire-worship, CHAP. V.] ARSACID^— SASSANID^. 113 the altar and its attendant priests ; their legends are no longer in Greek, as in the case of the Arsacidas, but in the Pehlvi, or Persian character. Ardeshir was succeeded by his son Shahpur I., who worthily carried out his father’s plans. Attacking the Roman pro- vinces of Western Asia, he soon reduced them to submission, and, after many important victories, succeeded in capturing the Roman emperor Valerian. Pursuing his conquests, he reached Antioch, at that time the capital of the Eastern Roman empire, which was taken and sacked. But a day of retribution was at hand. Odenathus, prince of Palmyra, whose offered support Shahpur had rejected in his hour of victory, collected the scattered remnants of the Roman army in Syria, and attack- ing the Persian army on its return, laden with booty, routed it in several engagements, and followed it to the walls of Ctesi- phon. The victory of the Persian king over Valerian is generally believed to be the subject of several pieces of sculpture still existing in Persia, and especially of those at Shahpur, near Kazerun, and at Naksh-i-Rustam : in all of them the same events are pourtrayed, and the victorious king is represented before a fallen and suppliant enemy. Many cities remain which popularly claim Shahpur as their founder, the two principal of which are Nishapur in Khorassan, and Shahpur in Ears, near Kazerun. The immediate successors of Shahpur were not distinguished for their abilities; and nothing memorable occurs in the Persian history till the reign of Narses, who defeated the emperor Galerian almost on the same ground which had before proved so fatal to the legions of Crassus. Shahpur II., Zoulactaf, a minor, suc- ceeded Narses, after the short reign of Hormisdas VI. His empire was immediately, on his accession, invaded by the Greeks, the Tatars, and the Arabs. But the young emperor offered a firm resistance to the invader. Collecting his forces, he marched against the Arabs, drove them out of his country, and, chasing them across the Arabian desert to Yathreb, massacred every Arab he met with. From Hedjaz Shahpur continued his march into Syria, and turning northward, swept it to the gates of Aleppo ere he returned to Ctesiphon. During a reign of seventy years, he succeeded in maintaining his empire in prosperity ; and, although his career at last was checked by the genius or the fame of Con- stantine, the armies of Constantins were often compelled to retreat H4 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. "before his generals. Even the results of the victory of Zingara, A. D. 350, were lost to the Eomans, owing to the vigilance of their untiring enemy : the celebrated Julian fled before the archers of Shahpur, and lost his life in his imprudent march into the Desert ; and his successor, Jovian, was content to purchase an ignominious peace, with the loss of the Roman provinces east of the Tigris. Four princes succeeded Shahpur II., the events of whose reigns are of no historical importance, till at length, in a.d. 534, KhosruNushir wan surnamed the Just, the cotemporary and rival of the emperor Justinian, ascended the throne. Nushirwan is still the synonym in the mouth of every Persian for wisdom, justice, or munificence. He found the empire groaning under a variety of abuses, among which was the prevalence of a sect, whose leader was named Mazdac, who taught doctrines peculiarly agreeable to the needy and the dissolute. From the evil result of the doctrines propounded by this impostor, Nushirwan gradually relieved his subjects, and at length put an end to the delusion by destroying the prophet and his followers. Nushirwan restored the bridges, rebuilt towns and villages which had fallen into decay, founded schools and colleges, and held out such encouragement to learned men, that even the philosophers of Greece flocked to his court. A disciple of Plato, it w’as said, was seated on the Persian throne. The literature of Greece and Rome and the East were collected by his diligence, and preserved at his court. Aristotle and Plato were translated into Persian ; the fables of Pilpay were brought from the Ganges, and, though their original and its translation have alike disappeared, they have still been preserved to us by the Arabian and Persian versions ; and the game of chess is, traditionally, said to have been invented for the amusement of this monarch. In his war with Justinian, Nushirwan maintained his superiority, and extorted from the humbled emperor of the Greeks eleven thousand pounds of gold as the price of a perpetual peace. The reduction of Antioch and Syria, and the extension of the Persian territories from the banks of the Phasis to the Mediterranean, and from the Red Sea to the laxartus and Oxus, bear testimony to his military genius. In the West, one great general, the last who remained to uphold the dignity of the Roman arms, checked his further progress ; the veteran Belisarius, old and infirm with the weight of more than eighty years, led the armies of the empire against Justin and CHAP. V.] ARSACID^— SASSANIDiE. 115 Tiberius, and reaped the reward of his valour and perseverance in the conquest of Dara and the plunder of Syria. But the glory of the Sassanidae was already on the wane ; already the small cloud as big as a man’s hand had arisen on the sea of the desert : Muham- med, whose writings and whose followers were destined to exercise such an extraordinary influence upon the nations of the East, was born in the reign of Nushirwan. One more great emperor, however, followed Nushirwan, and in the courage and ability of Khosm Purviz men seemed to see a second Cyrus and another Ardeshir. To support his claim to the throne against the conspirators who had murdered his father, the singular spectacle was beheld of an united army of Persians and Romans pursuing together a common object ; Narses, the general of Maurice the Roman emperor, defeating Bahram in Tatary, and restoring the legitimate sovereign to his throne. Khosru was not unmindful of the generosity of Maurice, to whom he owed his throne, and declared the emperor his adopted father. Dara and other strong places on the frontier were surrendered to the Romans, all who had aided in the restoration of Khosru to the throne w^ere treated with munificence, and the friendship formed with Maurice was never checked or broken. When Khosru heard of that emperor’s murder, he instantly declared war to avenge the death of his benefactor, and the Persian, accompanied by a pretended son of Maurice, invaded the Roman provinces. The spirited pen of Gibbon has well traced the outline of this celebrated war : — “ The fortifications of Dara, Amida, and Edessa were succes- sively besieged, reduced, and destroyed by the Persian monarch ; he passed the Euphrates, occupied the Syrian cities, Hierapolis, Chalcis, and Berrhoea, or Aleppo, and soon encompassed the walls of Antioch with his irresistible arms The first intelligence from the East, which Heraclius received, w^as that of the loss of Antioch ; but the aged metropolis, so often overturned by earth- quakes and pillaged by the enemy, could supply but a small and languid stream of treasure and blood. The Persians were equally successful and more fortunate in the sack of Caesarea, the capital of Cappadocia ; and as they advanced beyond the ramparts of the frontiers, the boundary of ancient war, they found a less obstinate resistance and a more plentiful harvest. The pleasant vale of Damascus has been adorned in every age with a royal city ; her i2 116 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. obscure felicity bad hitherto escaped the historian of the Roman empire ; hut Chosroes reposed bis troops in the paradise of Damascus before he ascended the hills of Libanus, or invaded the cities of the Phoenician coast. The conquest of Jerusalem, which had been meditated by Nushirwan, was achieved by the zeal of his grandson. . . . The sepulchre of Christ and the stately churches of Helena and Constantine were consumed, or at least damaged by the flames : the devout offerings of three hundred years were rifled in one sacrilegious day. Egypt itself, the only province which had been exempt since the time of Diocletian from foreign and domestic war, was again subdued by the successors of Cyrus. Pelusium, the key of that impervious country, was surprised by the cavalry of the Persians ; they passed with impunity the innu- merable channels of the Delta, and explored the long valley of the Nile from the Pyramids of Memphis to the confines of Ethiopia. Alexandria might have been relieved by a naval force ; but the archbishop and the prefect embarked for Cyprus, and Chosroes entered the second city of the empire, which still pre- served a wealthy remnant of industry and commerce. His western trophy was erected under the walls of Carthage, but in the neigh- hourhood of Tripoli ; the Greek colonies of Cyrene were finally extirpated ; and the conqueror, treading in the footsteps of Alex- ander, returned in triumph through the sands of the Libyan desert. In the first campaign another army advanced from the Euphrates to the Thracian Bosphorus ; Chalcedon surrendered after a long siege, and a Persian camp was maintained for above ten years in the presence of Constantinople. The sea-coast of Pontus, the city of Ancyra, and the island of Rhodes are enume- rated among the latest conquests of the great king; and, if Chosroes had possessed any maritime power, his boundless ambi- tion would have spread slavery and desolation over the provinces of Europe.”* But the sun of the Sassanians had now well nigh set. The war that had found Heraclius the slaye of sloth and pleasure aroused the spirit of a hero : “ the Arcadius of the palace arose the Csesar of the camp.” A campaign of unequalled bril- liancy restored the provinces of Asia Minor, and the hard-fought battle of Issus retrieved the losses of many previous years. The events of that day proved that the Persians were not invincible, * Gibbon, ch. xlvi. CHAP. V.] HERACLIUS. IIT and that a hero was now invested with the purple. Pursuing his march, Heraclius crossed the heights of Taurus, and, descending into the plains of Cappadocia, established his winter quarters on the peaceful banks of the Haljs. Permitting the Persians to ravage and oppress for a while the provinces of the plain, the fol- lowing year saw this second Hannibal exploring his perilous way through the mountains of Armenia, and recalling the armies of the great king to the defence of their bleeding country ; and Heraclius, following the footsteps of Antony, advanced against Ganzaca, the ancient capital of northern or Media Atropatene, and the ruin of Ooroomia, the traditional birthplace of Zoroaster, and one of the chief seats of the Magian worship, atoned for the spoil of the Holy Sepulchre. Another campaign carried the victorious arms of the Roman generals as far as the royal cities of Cashan and Isfahan, which had never before been approached by a Roman conqueror. Alarmed at the success of the Roman arms, and by the danger of his kingdom, the forces of Khosru were recalled from the Nile and Bosphorus, and three formidable armies surrounded the camp of the emperor. But the difiiculty found a general equal to the danger. ** Be not dismayed,” exclaimed the intrepid Heraclius. With th*e aid of Heaven, one Roman may triumph over a host of barbarians. If we devote our lives for the salvation of our brethren, we shall obtain the crown of martyrdom, and our immortal reward will be liberally paid by God and posterity.” The Persians were driven from the field, and fled for shelter to the fortified cities of Assyria and Media. A third spring was at hand, and the emperor tra- versed in seven days the mountains of Kurdistan, and crossed the rapid stream of the Tigris. The bridges of the Euphrates were destroyed by the Persians. On the banks of the Sarus another bloody battle was fought, and the enemies of the Romans were overthrown and dispersed. Heraclius pursued his march to Sebaste in Cappadocia, and returned in triumph to Constantinople, after a three years’ campaign of continued victory, with the recovery of three hundred Roman standards, and the deliverance of innumer- able captives from the prisons of Edessa and Alexandria. But a new era was about to commence for the Eastern nations, and a revolution to take place, which impressed a new and last- ing character on nearly one half of the world. Muhammed, whose birth we have mentioned in the reign of Nushirwan, had 118 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. been zealously preaching his new reformation ; and his flight from Mecca and reception at Yathreb, (now to be called Medina, or the City^ increased his popularity, and armed a willing host to combat in his behalf ; while the successive battles of Beder and Ohud and the defence of Medina established his power on a firm basis. Already the surrounding nations had heard the rumours of coming war; and on the banks of the Karasu, the emperor Khosru received a letter from the “ camel-driver of Mecca,” bid- ding him to abjure the faith of his ancestors, and to embrace the religion of the one true God, of whom Muhammed professed him- self the prophet. The indignant monarch spurned the insulting demand, and tearing the letter in pieces, cast the fragments into the river. “ The stream,” says the author of the Zeenut al Tuarick, “ shrunk in horror into their present deep channel, and ceasing to irrigate a wide and fertile country, has remained ever since useless and accursed.” The first attacks of the Arabs were indeed successfully repelled ; but the battle of Cadesia (Khudseah) repaired their earlier disasters ; and the glories of Persia sunk for ever when the standard of the Darufsh-i-Kawani, so long the symbol of their power, was captured by the Muhammedans. The sack of Madain (Ctesiphon) and the carnage of Nehawend followed, and the empire of the Sassanidse, now committed to the feeble hands of Yezdigird II., and with it the religion of the Magi as a national faith, was terminated by the successful conquest of the Muhammedans. Thus ended, a. i>. 641, a dynasty which had ruled Persia for 415 years, and which had, under the empire of Ardeshir, Shahpur, Nushirwan, and Khosru Purviz, extended the glories of its arms from the sands of Libya to the waters of the Indus, The Arab con- quest was one of remarkable rapidity ; colonies from the burning deserts of Arabia were spread over the cold plains of Khorassan and Balkh ; in no long time a great empire reposed under the rule of the Khalifs at Baghdad ; and in less than three centuries three different Khalifs were seated on thrones at Cordovas, Cairowan, and Baghdad ; and Spain, Africa, and Western Asia acknowledged the rule of the Muhammedan conquerors. Learning and the study of the sciences returned to civilise the now peaceful Arabs. The princes of the House of Abbas, the Fatemites in Egypt, and the Ommiades in Spain, were rivals in the noble cultivation of the arts ; and their emulation extended the civilising hand of learning RISE OF MUHAMMEDANISM. 119 CHAP. V.] from Samarcand and Bokhara to Fez and Grenada. Colleges were founded at Baghdad, and public libraries opened in Anda- lusia ; and Arabian munificence preserved and perpetuated the golden treasures of Grecian and Roman knowledge, till the in- vasion of the Turkish hordes destroyed the wisdom and the civilisation of the East. In the plains of Cufa, the mathematicians of the Khalif Al-Mamun measured the length of the degree, and determined the circumference of the earth with considerable accuracy ; and the astronomical tables of Ulugh Beg, which have been illustrated by the labours of Dr. Hyde, demonstrate that the knowledge of the physical sciences had reached even the domains of the Tatars. But success and constant peace produced their usual effects ; the luxury of the court enervated its possessors, and the power of the Khalifs declined, when the fervour of the religious zeal, which had animated the early conquerors was abated by the successful growth of the arts of civilisation. The conquered people groaned under the exactions of petty chieftains, now too little restrained by the vigorous arm of the central government ; the more distant provinces began, by little and little, to shake off the government which had so long oppressed them ; and new chieftains arose, and new dynasties began to flourish, which in the end successfully destroyed the mighty fabric of the Khalafat itself. Yet for more than 200 years Persia remained a province of Bagh- dad. Exhausted by its long wars, the sceptre had fallen from the nerveless hands of the last Sassanians, and a long period of rest was required ere its people were again enabled to contend against the iron despotism of the new conquerors. But the time came at last. Yakub ibn Leith, the son of Leith al Safaur (the brazier), raised the standard of rebellion in Seistan, against the family of Taher, who under the Khalifs governed that province, and, taking Herat, led his troop of adventurers against Nishapur. Muhammed, the last of the Taherites, demanded whether Yakub was proceeding with the Khalif ’s sign manual; “This,’* said the son of Leith, laying his hand on his sword, “ is my war- rant and my authority.” In a very short time Yakub conquered Balkh and Tokharestan, and bequeathed to his brother the first independent Muhammedan sceptre, which had ruled in Persia. The reign of Yakub was of short duration ; another chief was found in Ismail ibn Saman, to contest the eastern government with him ; and a short war ensued, in which the latter was completely success- 120 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. ful. The Oriental narrative relates that, as the unfortunate chief was in the tent of his conqueror, a soldier was preparing for him something to eat, and, for want of a better utensil, placed the meat in a brass cover used for ablutions, and kindled a fire under it. When he went in search of something to season it therewith, a dog entered and thrust his nose into the savoury broth. Having scalded his mouth, and being unable to withdraw his head, he ran away with the vessel suspended round his neck. Amused by this accident, Omar Leith burst into a loud fit of laughter, and, on one of his guards demanding what, in such a situation, could afford him subject for mirth, he replied, on that very morning the purveyor of his kitchen had complained that 300 camels would not carry his cooking furniture ; “ And now I perceive,” said he, “ that a single cur can remove it with all the ease in the world.”* As a reward for his services, the Khalif Motadhed invested Ismail ibn Saman with the government of the provinces lately held by the family of Leith, including those of Seistan, Khorassan, Mazan- deran, Ehey, and Isfahan. The founder of the house of the Samanidse is said to have exhibited to the world a noble example of justice and moderation. When urged by his generals to supply the wants of his army by a forced contribution from the people of Herat, he replied that “ that Being, who, with the scourge of his destiny, impelled the horse of Ibn Leith to place his rider at my disposal, is able to supply the wants and to repair the equip- ments of my soldiers, without the guilt, on my part, of a breach of faith with any of his creatures.” From this period the government of the Khalafat was for two centuries practically in the hands of two ruling families ; the Samanians, who occupied the northern and eastern territories ; and the Bouides (of Dilem, in Mazanderan), who, as vizirs of the Khalif at Baghdad, ruled over the southern lands of Iran, Ears, Kerman, Khuzistan, and Laristan, History records little more than the petty wars between these two families, till the rise of the celebrated Mahmud of Ghazna absorbed the attention of the eastern world. Mahmud was the son of Sabaktagin, who had been the confidential soldier of Aleptigin, the first founder of the empire of Ghazna. Aleptigin had, under the rule of Abd al Malek ben Nub, the fifth of the Samanian dynasty, been the ruler of Khorassan, and had on the accession of Mansur, the sixth prince, * Kholasat-al-Akbar. CHAP. V.] MAHMUD. 121 to the throne in Bokhara, in a.h. 350, (a.d. 961,) retired -with a small force to Ghazna, of which he took possession sword in hand. Aleptigin, on his death, left his slave Sabaktigin in possession of Ghazna. Sabaktigin soon spread the terror of his arms round all the neighbouring country, and, proclaiming a holy war against the infidels, invaded Northern India, took Kabul, and overran the fine province of the Five Waters. A little later, he acquired the province of Khorassan, as the price of sending his son Mahmud to assist Amir Nuh, the Samanian, against his subjects, who had revolted. Sabaktigin died in a.d. 997, and was succeeded by his well known son. The first care of Mahmud was to secure from the Khalif Al-Kader, the Khelat, or dress of honour, and the titles of Yemin Al-Dulat, the Right Hand of the State : and Amir al Millat, the Protector of Religion. Armed with these insignia, the highest proof a prince could then obtain that he was under the immediate protec- tion of the God of Muhammed, he made treaties with the govern- ments of Khorassan and Rhey, and secured the present friendship of Tatary by marrying the daughter of Ilij Khan, its prince. Then commenced that celebrated religious war which, at intervals, occu- pied so large a portion of his life. In his first two expeditions Mahmud was completely successful, and established his government over the whole of the Panjab. In a later year, he encountered a host of Tatar Cavalry, amounting to more than 50,000, and routed them completely. A second and third invasion of India followed ; he destroyed the celebrated seat of Hindu worship, Tenassee, and sent the idol to Ghazna, to be converted into steps for the princi- pal mosque. The conquest of Kashmir and the hilly districts adjacent, followed ; and India obtained the short respite of a year, while the indefatigable conqueror was employed in settling the distant country of Kharizm. In the next year Mahmud descended from Kashmir upon Kanouj, and destroyed Meerut, and Muttra on the Jumna, which is still deemed by the natives, as it was then, a city of peculiar holiness, and returned to Delhi with an immense amount of booty. Three years of repose followed, and then another war ensued. Marching to the West with great rapidity, Mahmud entered Mazanderan ; and, detaching part of his army to take possession of Rhey, and to seize the person of the Buide ruler, Moaz-al-Daulat, this pusillanimous prince at once surrendered himself without striking a blow : Mahmud is 122 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. said to have held the following conversation with him, when he was brought to him as a prisoner. The conqueror asked him first, whether he had ever read the Shah-Nameh, or the History of Sovereign Princes; Moaz-al-Daulat having replied in the affirma- tive, Mahmud demanded of him, again, whether he had ever played at chess ; having received a similar answer, he further asked him whether in that history there was any instance of two monarchs reigning in the same dominions ; or whether on the same chess-board he had ever seen two kings on the same square. “Not that I am aware of,” answered Moaz-al Daulat. “Then,” said Mahmud, “ what insanity could have impelled thee, without an effort, to unite thyself to my troops, and thus tamely to abandon thy person and liberty to the discretion of a stranger ?” Mahmud’s last expedition was the celebrated one which he undertook against the idol Somnath, in Guzerat. Leaving Mul- tan in October, a.d. 1024, he descended upon Ajmir, the ancient capital of Guzerat. Mahmud is said to have smitten the idol on the nose with his mace, and to have refused an immense ransom, which was offered to him by the priests if he would but spare it, saying, that he “ preferred the name Mahmud the Idol-breaker so that of Mahmud the Idol-broker.” The castle in which the temple stood was on a lofty eminence, inaccessible on three sides ; and in the attack it was long doubtful whether the Muhammedans would succeed in winning it. A Hindu army arrived while the assault was going on, and Mahmud was compelled to withdraw his attacking squadrons to meet the new danger ; but his personal courage surmounted every difficulty, and overcame every danger. Springing from his horse, he prostrated himself on the ground, and implored the aid of God in an enterprise whose only object was to advance the glory of His own Holy Name. Instantly remounting, he seized one of the bravest of his generals by the hand, and invited him to join in a charge which should secure for them the crowm of martyrdom or a glori- ous victory. The Muhammedans were roused to new efforts by the energy of their prince, and in a second charge bore all before them. Mahmud ordered the image to be broken in pieces, and directed two fragments to be sent to Ghazna ; one to be thrown at tlie threshold of the great mosque, the other in the court of his palace : and two more to be transmitted to Mecca and Medinah, to remain at those sacred cities as trophies of his pious valour. CHAP. V.] MAHMUD. 123 In the year a.d. 1027, he engaged in a war with the Seljuk Turks, who were beginning to become formidable, and who suc- ceeded, a few years later, in breaking up the vast empire which the genius of Mahmud had founded. Though successful himself in driving the Turkomans out of his Persian dominions, a con- versation, which took place between him and one of their envoys, a few years before, led him to anticipate the probable fate of his empire. “ How many of your tribe might I rely on to assist me in case of need ? ” said the sultan one day, to Israel the son of Seljuk, as he stood in his presence, armed with his native weapons, the bow and quiver. “ Send this arrow to my tribe,” said Israel, laying one shaft at the king’s feet, “ and 50,000 horsemen will attend the summons.” “ Is that all your force ? ” inquired the sultan. “ Send this,” said the chief, presenting him with another arrow, “ and a like number will follow.” “ But were I in extreme distress,” continued Mahmud, “ and required your utmost exertions ? ” “ Then send my bow,” replied the un- daunted Turkoman, “ and 200,000 horsemen will obey the signal.” Mahmud died in a. d. 1030, leaving a name, as a conqueror and ruler, which has seldom been equalled ; and an empire whose western provinces included Georgia and Baghdad, and whose northern and eastern limits were Bokhara, Kashgar, and the Deccan. He had already, when at Balkh, on his return from Som- nath, received a flattering letter from the Khalif A1 Kader, and four standards, to denote his supremacy over Hindustan, Khorassan, Kharizm, and Neimruz. Yet, as Sir J. Malcolm has remarked, the popular tale of his vizir, who, pretending to a knowledge of the language of birds, interpreted the speech of an old owl, which wished Mahmud a long life, and offered him a hundred ruined villages as the dowry of his daughter, presents, under Oriental imagery, the picture of a reign more marked by desolation than by improvement. Mahmud has been considered to have been the munificent patron of the arts and of literature, but the story of his treatment of the celebrated poet Abul Kasim Mansur, or Firdusi, has been as constantly quoted as an instance of his avarice and ingrati- tude. It is said that the poet, after having spent fifty years at his native place, Shahab, a village in Khorassan, was attracted to the court of the sultan by the fc-spread report of his munificence. It is averred, that the monarch was so delighted with his poetry that 124 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. lie bade him proceed with his great poem, and that for every couplet he wrote a thousand pieces of gold should be his. Firdusi proceeded with his w^ork : and when thirty years had passed away, and 60,000 couplets were accomplished, the poet demanded the promised reward. Mahmud was surprised at the length of the poem, and the exorbit- ance of the demand, and ordered 60,000 dirrhems (small pieces of silver) to be sent, instead of the gold which the poet had expected. It is said that Firdusi was at the bath, when the money arrived, and that his rage and amazement knew no bounds, when he found himself thus insulted. “ What ! ” said he, “ does the sultan sup- pose that thirty years’ labour and study can be rewarded with dirrhems ? ” So he distributed at once the paltry sum to the attendants of the bath and the messenger who brought it. Such is indeed the tale ; yet it would seem that, though the work was of such unequalled magnitude, and though the length of years em- ployed upon it might have deserved an immense reward, the poet’s expectations were, to say the least, equally unreasonable. There is abundant evidence to show that a number of men of genius and learning, poets and warriors, subsisted on the bounty of Mahmud, such as has rarely fallen to the lot of any monarch of any age ; and that a sum amounting to 400,000 dirrhems (rather more than 9,000L sterling) was annually applied to the patronage of learning and learned men. A new race was now coming down from the wilds of the north to plant their barbarous hordes in what had been for nearly four centuries the centre of Eastern civilisation. Within ten years after the death of Mahmud, a host of that tribe whose chieftain held the conversation, we have mentioned, with the sultan, the Seljukian Turkomans, crossed the river Jihon (Oxus) and settled in Khorassan. Masaud, the son of Mahmud, in vain attempted to check their advance ; his troops were defeated in every engage- ment by Togrul Bek and his brother, till at length in a. h. 429 (a.d. 1037) Togrul publicly assumed the chief power in Mshapur, the ancient capital of Khorassan, and introduced his name and titles upon the coinage of the country; in another year, all Persian Irak had submitted to him, and the weakness of the Khalif was so great that the name of Togrul was inserted even on the coins of the metropolis of Islam. In his seventeenth year Togrul Bek married the daughter of the reigning Khalif, but died shortly afterwards and was succeeded by his nephew Alp Arslan. CHAP. V.] ALP ARSLAK 125 Memorable for the many great qualities with which his charac- ter was adorned, brave and generous as the lion, whose name he bore ; * it has been well remarked, that if his errors were those of his age and of his religion, his virtues at least were his own. He is celebrated for the war which he made with the emperor of Constantinople, Komanus Diogenes, and for the singular nobility of soul with which he treated the unfortunate emperor when he fell into his hands. The army of the emperor, composed of a mixed force of Macedonians, Bulgarians, and Moldavians, with French and Norman mercenaries under Baliol, the ancestor of the Scottish kings, and a disorderly crowd from Phrygia and Cappadocia, had advanced into Phrygia under the command of Diogenes, and had at first succeeded in driving back the forces of Alp Arslan; at length near the village of Kanongo, in Adherbaijan, Alp Arslan met Dio- genes in person with an army, however, so inferior in numbers, that the Turcoman offered liberal terms for accommodation to the Koman emperor. But the Eoman emperor felt sure of victory, the proposed terms were scornfully rejected, and a dreadful battle ensued. The Eomans were confident of victory, and Alp Arslan equally determined not to survive a defeat. At length after performing prodigies of personal valour, the ardent tempera- ment of the emperor carried him too far in advance, and Alp Arslan taking advantage of this error, drew round him a fatal crescent of cavalry, and, charging at once with all his forces, achieved an unexpected victory. Diogenes was taken prisoner and led before the Turcoman, who treated with equal kindness and respect an emperor, whose courage and military abilities had won his admiration. At their first meeting, Alp Arslan asked what treat- ment he expected at his hands. The fallen emperor replied with a firmness, which marked the calm indifference of his mind, — “ If you are cruel,” said he, “you will put me to death ; if vain- glorious, you will load me with chains and drag me in triumph to thy capital ; if generous, you will grant me my liberty.” And “what,” asked the Turk again, “would have been your behaviour had fortune smiled upon your arms ? ” “I would have given thee many a stripe,” was the ill-judged answer of the emperor. Alp Arslan inflicted a heavy ransom on him in gold, demanded his daughter in marriage for his son Malek Shah, and the liberation of all the Muhammedans who were in the power of the Greeks : * Alp Arslan means “ valiant lion.” 126 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. and, when subsequently he heard that the emperor s own subjects had revolted, he prepared an army to aid him in reducing them to obedience, an expedition which was prevented by the early death of Romanus. The fate of Alp Arslan was, as his life had been, that of a hero : a chieftain in Kharizm had provoked his indignation by holding a petty fortress in the mountains for a long time against him : when the rebel was at length brought before him, Alp Arslan taunted him with his folly in persevering so long in the fruitless effort to hold a fortress, which he must, in the end, have been compelled to yield. The Kharizmian exasperated at the insulting tone of the conqueror, and anticipating a cruel death, suddenly burst from the guards and sprung upon the sultan, dagger in hand. The guards would have seized him, but Alp Arslan, himself an unerring archer, waved them off, and, bending his bow, aimed an arrow at the heart of the Kharizmian. But alas ! this time his usual skill failed him ; his foot slipped, and ere he had time to recover himself, he fell to the ground with the dagger plunged in his breast. “In my youth,” said the Sultan, as he was borne into another tent to die, “ I was advised by a sage to humble myself before God, to distrust my own strength, and never to despise the most contemptible foe. I have neglected these lessons, and my neglect has been severely punished. Yesterday, as from an eminence I beheld the numbers, the discipline, and the spirit of my armies, the earth seemed to tremble under my feet, and I said in my heart, ‘ Surely thou art the king of the world, the greatest and most invincible of warriors.’ These armies are no longer mine; and, in the con- fidence of my personal strength, I now fall by the hand of an assassin.” On his tomb at Meru, in Khorassan, the passenger might read and meditate over the simple inscription : — “ 0 ye who have seen the glory of Alp Arslan exalted to the heavens, repair to Meru, and you will behold it buried in the dust.” Malek Shah, the son and successor of Alp Arslan, was, if pos- sible, a greater ruler than his father ; both were conquerors such as rarely are met with in history ; both have reputations greater than any that mere conquest can afford, in the unanimous testimony of history to the enlarged views with which their vast territories were governed. Both, too, were fortunate in possessing a minister, Nizam al Mulk, of a character still more rarely found CHAP. V.] MALEK SHAH. 127 in the courts of the East, whose virtue and honesty were never marred by acts of indiscretion or idle oppression. The only stain on the memory of Malek Shah is, that he should ever have mistrusted a servant who had shown himself so good and so wise, and that he should have deserted him at the advanced age of ninety- three years to the false accusation of his enemies and the dagger of Hasan Sabah. Like another Trajan, Malek Shah was in the habit of constantly visiting the provinces under his rule, and he is said twice to have surveyed the whole extent of his vast dominions from Antioch in Pisidia to Azkund near the sources of the Oxus, comprising about twelve degrees of latitude and thirty-four of longitude. Once when he was crossing the Oxus, it is said, that the boatmen at the ferry were paid by an order on the collections at Antioch ; and that, when the people complained of what appeared to them so gross an invasion of their rights, the minister, in reply, stated that his object was nothing more than to make known to future generations that his master’s power extended from the Oxus to the Orontes. At the early age of thirty-eight, after a reign of twenty splendid and prosperous years, Malek Shah expired ; leaving behind him a memory for imiform love of justice, and for unabated zeal and diligence in the promotion of the prosperity and the security of his dominions ; which is abundantly attested by the numerous charitable institu- tions, the plantations, gardens, and fortresses, which covered and adorned every province of his empire. During his reign Persia flourished ; canals and water-courses were constructed ; mosques and colleges and caravanserais built ; and the Jellalaean Era, calculated by an assembly of sage astronomers, remains a splendid proof of the attention which Malek Shah paid to science. His descen- dants did not share either his abilities or his good fortune. Tribes of wild Turkomans began to infest the northern provinces: while, for nearly a century, a class of petty princes, known in history by the names of the Atabeks, arose upon the decay of the falling empire and usurped its fairest provinces. At the commencement of the thirteenth century of our era, a new race became prominent in the eastern world, and by the rude barbarity of their earlier conquests, almost extinguished the last sparks of that civilisation, which, in spite of so many disadvan- tageous circumstances, had ever been kept alight in the chief cities of the Muhammedan empire. About this time the ruthless 128 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. Jenghiz-Khan descended from the central steppes of Asia, and swept the nations before him with the rapidity and the vengeance of a destroying angel. For a while, his conquests seemed to have been chiefly over the Turkish tribes of his own more immediate neighbourhood, but the rash defiance of Muhammed, Sultan of Kharizm, led the invaders southward, and 700,000 Moghuls swept the rich valley of the Sogd, burning, destroying, and all but obliterating the cities of Bokhara, Samarcand, Khojend, Otrar, Meru, and Balkh. Khorassan was ravaged ; Nishapur, its capital, was levelled with the ground ; and the provinces of Persia, from the Caspian to the Southern Gulf, from the Tedjin to the Tigris, were overrun, plundered, and desolated. His son, Hulaku-Khan, completed the subjugation of Persia, and on the assault and capture of Baghdad, the empire of the Khalifs finally ceased and passed into the hands of the Barbarians. Hulaku and several of his descendants deserve the name of the patrons of science. In the reign of Hulaku, the celebrated astro- nomer Nazir-al-din constructed astronomical tables which are still preserved, and at Maragha, his usual residence near the Lake Urumiah, an observatory was erected, the foundations of which still remain. His son Abaka-Khan appears to have been an enlightened Prince, and to have devoted his abilities to repair in some measure the disasters occasioned by the frightful inroads of the wild hordes under his grandfather. In his reign commenced the invasions of the Zagatai Tatars, who were afterwards under the rule of Timur to produce such a prodigious effect upon the Asiatic nations. Though for a while repelled, wave after wave continually rolled on, till, ultimately, dynasties of Tatar origin swayed nearly the whole of Asia. In the reign of Abaka’s successor, Ahmed- Khan, the southern nations of Asia witnessed the novel spectacle of an emperor of Tatary dictating the fashion in which their people should be governed. On a dispute that arose between the Muhammedans and the Moghul nobles, Kublai-Khan, the great-grandson of Jenghiz, was acknowledged the head of the family, and Arghun-Khan was enabled to deprive his uncle Ahmed of the sovereign power, and received from the emperor of Tatary a formal investiture of royalty as the sovereign of Persia, Arabia, and Syria. The successor of Arghun-Khan, after two reigns of no importance, was Ghazan-Khan, one of the best and ablest rulers of the Moghul dynasty of Persia. Elected by a solemn assembly of his nobles, CHAP. V.] TIMUE. 129 he devoted himself to the revival of the institutes of his ancestor Jenghiz, and to a strict reform of the judicial and fiscal admi- nistration of his country. The laws of Ghazan-Khan seem admirably adapted to the people they were intended to govern, and well fitted to promote the general prosperity of the country. On his accession to the throne, Ghazan, who had been previously a Christian, adopted the Muhammedan faith, and directed that the name Khakan should be no longer inscribed upon the coins of Persia, a step, which implying the renunciation of his allegiance to the Emperor of Tatary, led to an invasion of Persia by the Tatars of Khorassan, which was however repelled. With the reign of his son Khodabendeh, the glory of the house of Jenghiz expired, and though several descendants of the monarch, from time to time, enjoyed the chief power, no one of them deserves a higher rank than that of being the successful ruler of a petty dynasty. But all thrones and powers were now to bend before him, who came out from the deserts of Scythia to conquer the whole world. Of the same race as his great predecessor Jenghiz- Khan, and the son of one of the small and petty chiefs who owned allegiance to the Emperor of Tatary, Timur [or as he is often called Tamer- lane, i.e., Timur-lengh ; Timur the lame] was born at Kesch, a city of Mauer-al-Nahar (Transoxiana), about 130 miles N.E. of Bokhara, in the year a.d. 1336. His birth took place in one of those periods of anarchy which often precede the rise of some great master spirit. The extinction of the last of the direct descendants of Zagatai had thrown the country into confusion, and his native province was repeatedly invaded and at length conquered by Tughlak Timur-Khan, the chief of Budukshan and Kashgar, who claimed Transoxiana as his inheritance, on the ground of his connection with the former ruling family. The governor of Kesch, the uncle of Timur, fled to Khorassan, and for a while the power of the new ruler was generally acknowledged. From his earliest youth, Timur had been trained to arms, and had exercised, as he himself mentions in his Memoirs, a military dis- cipline among the boys at the school to which his father sent him ; and he was surrounded by Mullas, holy men, and seers who were ever telling him that he was destined to be the founder of a mighty empire. “ Eat a mouthful of each of these,” said the famous Saint Amir Kelal to him, while yet a boy, presenting him with seven cakes, “ for in consequence of this, the seven regions of the K 130 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. world shall become subject to you and a distinct promise was given him, “ That seventy of Timur’s sons, grandsons, and descendants shall reign for three hundred years, provided they make no change of religion, but give currency to the Faith of Islam.” In his 20th year, a.h. 756, (a. d. 1355,) his father made over to him his small patrimony, which, in common with almost all the lands of Mauer-al-Nahar, became subject to the oppression of Kashgar Tatars. Perceiving resistance was for the present hopeless, he joined himself to the forces of one of the principal chiefs, Amir Kurgen, and for four years served him with wonderful success, giving every day proofs that he was born to command and to conquer. In his 24th year his friend Amir Kurgen was basely murdered, and Timur, at once raising a small force, attacked the chieftain who had assassinated his friend, conquered Mauer-al-Nahar, and fixed his residence at Samarcand. When not long after came the invasion of Tughlak, Timur, finding that it was impossible to maintain an independent power, dis- sembled, and joined his camp, and for a time succeeded in obtain- ing his good will. But his enemies were numerous, and they at length prevailed against him, so that Tughlak issued an order that he should be put to death, an edict the execution of which he saved by rapid flight. During many years he led a wandering and perilous life, and learnt to distinguish the friends of his person and the associates of his fortune, and to find for each man the employment and the occupation best befitting his genius. His own account of himself is extremely curious. “ At that time my fortune was reduced low, and the foundation of my power was broken asunder, so that my associates were ten only, (and seven of them were on horses and three were footmen,) and none other remained with me. In those days, the sister of Amir Husein, who was my honoured wife, I placed behind me on my horse, and I wandered to and fro in the desert of Kharizm, till on a certain night I alighted at a well. And, even on that night, the three faithless Khorasanis seized on three horses, and mounted them and fled ; and four horses only remained for seven people, and my distresses were very great; but I was strong of heart, and I lamented over my misfortunes. And I departed from the well ; and at this time Ali Bek Khan Garbani came upon me, and he carried me away, and confined me in a habitation filled with vermin, and placed a guard over me, and imprisoned me for sixty CHAP. V.] TIMUE. 131 and two days. And I deliberated with myself, and, aided by the assistance of Almighty God, and with the strength of the arm of vigour, I wrested a sword from my guards, and I rushed upon them ; and the guards turned their faces to flight, and I went and stood before Ali Bek. And he was ashamed and confounded at his evil conduct that he had thrown me into prison, and he made excuses. And he ordered my horses and my arms to be brought forth, and he gave me a horse that was lean, and a camel that was past service as a present. But he thirsted after the gifts his brother Mohammed Bek had sent to me, and he kept back a part thereof ; and he suffered me to depart.” Gradually, however, Timur was able to draw around him the chiefs of his nation, his superiority always showing itself, whenever he had an opportunity of exerting his powers. Till the age of thirty-four, his life was one continued scene of enterprise, danger, distress, or triumph ; but, in his worst diffi- culties, his spirit never sunk, and, though living the vagrant life of an outlaw on the borders of Mauer-al-Nahar, his fame shone brighter in adversity. “ I once,” says he in his Institutes, “ was forced to take shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone for many hours. To divert my mind from my hopeless condition, I fixed my observation upon an ant that was carrying a grain of corn larger than itself up a high wall. I num- bered the efforts it made to accomplish this object: the grain fell sixty-nine times to the ground, but the insect persevered, and the seventieth time it reached the top of the wall. The sight gave me courage at the moment, and I never forgot the lesson it conveyed.” The resemblance of this anecdote with that of Bruce and the spider will strike every one. At the age of thirty-four he was invested with the imperial command in the general diet, or Couroultai, of his nation, a. d. 1370, and from that time dates the real commencement of his empire. Yet, even then, he did not at once commence his career of conquest, but spent the first eleven years of his reign in settling his own kingdom, and in reducing under his com- mand Kashgar and Kharizm, wffiich properly formed part of his empire, but which had for many years been independent. He then commenced a series of conquests, which continued till his death, and which, but for the details with which they are narrated, would seem to be incredible. His first campaign 132 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. overthrew Persia. That country had been left for some time without any lawful sovereign, and the death of Abu Said, the last of the descendants of Hulagu, had, as we have already mentioned, left the country a prey to numerous petty chiefs. Hence it was that there was none to oppose the advance of the conqueror, who came on with the fury of the advancing, and retreated with the celerity of the retiring tide. Ibrahim, prince of Shirwan, purchased his mercy and forbearance with the most costly presents ; Shah Mansur, prince of Shiraz, lost his life and his armv; and the richness or weakness of Ormuzd, in the Persian Gulf, was shown in an annual tribute of six hundred thousand dinars of gold. Having taken Baghdad and Sultaniah, the residence and capital of the Mogul chiefs, he crossed the Araxes, and in three expedi- tions subdued the inhabitants of the mountains of Georgia, and the native Christians who had till now braved the fury of the law and sword of Muhammed. He then overthrew the royal city of Isfahan, the capital of Persia, and passing on towards Tatary, left three thousand of his troops as a garrison. Suddenly the people rose; his guards were massacred; and the conqueror retraced his steps, and avenged their murder by the heads of seventy thousand of its inhabitants, which were built up m pyra- mids. His next conquest was over Turkestan, or Eastern Tatary, which he invaded and reduced, fixing his most distant camp, tw’o months’ journey, or four hundred and eighty leagues to the north-east of Samarcand, while his emirs crossed the Irtish, and traversing the forest of Siberia, engraved there a rude memo- rial of their exploits. The conquest of Kapchak, which followed, was caused in no small degree by the ingratitude of Toktamish, its ruler, who, after having been placed on the throne of the Said of Timur, had revolted against him, and carried fire and sword into his Persian dominions. At first it would seem that Timur did not mean to make war upon him; and he gently expostulated with him on the ungenerous character of his behaviour. Finding, however, that words were of no avail, he at length resolved on revenge ; and by the east and west of the Caspian, and along the hanks of the Volga, he invaded that unfortunate country with such mighty numbers, that thirteen miles were measured from his right to his left wing. In a march of nearly five months, they CHAP. V.] TIMUR. 133 rarely beheld the footsteps of man ; and their daily subsistence, it is said, was often entrusted to the fortune of the chase. His success was complete : he won a great victory. “ The standard of Toktamish-Khan was inverted ; and Toktamish, dismayed and confounded, gave the tribe of Jouji to the wind of desolation, and turned his back upon the field of slaughter, and fled.”* The pursuit of the flying enemy carried him into the territories of Auruss-Khan, or the Lord of Eussia ; and he marched as far as Moscow, which he took and plundered in a.d. 1396. The army were enriched with a vast amount of spoil ; “ cloth woven in Eussia with a great deal of skill and nicety ; skins of condoz full of points, of which each soldier had whole mule loads ; vast numbers of sables black as jet, and ermines, with which every person in the army was sufficiently furnished, for his own and children’s lives. ”f On his return he overran Hungary and Little Eussia, and entering the Crimea, destroyed Baghti-Serai, the capital of the Arabian princes of Kapchak. On the banks of the Tanais (or Don) he received a humble deputation from the consuls and merchants of Egypt, Venice, Catalonia, and Biscay, who occupied the commerce and city of Azov at its mouth. In the year a.d. 1398, Timur determined to add the subju- gation of India to his many other conquests ; and the Institutes give a lively picture of the preparations which were necessary for so distant an expedition. They show, that, however great the individual power of any one of the Tatar monarchs might be at the time he was in the field at the head of his army, yet, that, at home, he was little more than the head chief, to whom the nation had entrusted the command of its armies, and that he was unable of his own will, and against the general consent, to carry out any expedition to which he felt inclined. ‘‘ My design,” says he, in his Institutes, “for reducing the empire of Hindustan was this : First, to discover the thoughts of my sons and amirs, I demanded a counsel of them. The Prince Pir Muhammed Jehangir said, ‘ Behold, when we shall subdue the empire of Hind, we shall become the conquerors of the world.’ And the Prince Muhammed Sultan spoke, saying, ‘We may subdue Hind ; yet Hindustan has many ramparts : first, the rivers ; and secondly, the wildernesses and the forests ; and thirdly, the soldiers clad in armour ; and fourthly, the elephants, destroyers of men.’ And the amirs * Institutes, p. 125. ■f Petit de la Croix, iii. c. 55, 134 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. spoke, and said, ‘ Although we may subdue Hind, yet if we tarry in that land, our posterity will he lost ; and our chil- dren and our grandchildren will degenerate from the vigour of their forefathers, and become speakers of the language of Hind.’ And I had resolved on the conquest of Hindustan, and I was loth to desist from my resolution ; and I answered them, saying, ‘ I will turn to Almighty God, and I will seek the sign of war in the Koran, that whatever he the will of God I may do and they all consented thereto. And when I sought an omen in the Holy Book, this sacred verse came forth, ‘ 0, Prophet, fight with the infidels and the unbelievers ! ’ And when the Doctors of the Law explained the meaning of the verse to the amirs, they hung down their heads and were silent. And my heart was grieved at their silence.”* Again, he says, in another place, “ And the conquest of that empire (Dehli) appeared easy in my sight ; hut in the eyes of my soldiers it was an undertaking of diflBculty.”f Having, at length, overcome the scruples of his nobles, he set out from Samarcand, ascended the Paropamisus, or Hindu Kush, as the Arabian geographer calls them, “ the stony girdles of the Earth,” above the line of perpetual snow, and encountered dangers and difficulties which would have appalled any heart hut that of Timur, and with which Hannibal’s passage of the Alps sinks into insignificance in the comparison. “ Opposuit natura Alpesque nivesque : ” yet Timur surmounted them all ; and the Mogul eagles stooped over the rich plains of Hindustan, and all before them was laid waste with fire and sword. “ In crossing the mountain range,” says the historian of Timur, “though the sun was in Gemini, the snow lay in so great abundance, that the feet of most part of the horses which the emirs would have carried up, failed them ; yet some of them were spurred on so much during the night and the frost, that they were constrained to get up ; but day being come, and the snow turned into ice, they kept these horses under felts until evening, when they continued to ascend the mountain, so that at length they arrived at the top, and then sent for the rest of their horses ; and as the infidels dwelt in narrow passages and preci- pices, and there was no road to get at them, besides what was covered with snow, some of the emirs and soldiers descended by * Institutes, p. 1 39. i* Institutes, p. 353. CHAP. V.] TIMUR. 135 cords, while others being on the snow, slid down to the bottom. They made a sort of raft for Timur to which they fastened rings that they might tie cords to it of 150 cubits in length; he sat upon it, while many persons let him down from top to the bottom of the mountain, as far as the cords would reach; others dug with pickaxes into the snow, a place where he might stand firm. They who were on the top having gently descended ; they let down Timur again in the machine. The place also was marked out where he should stay next, and so on till the fifth time, when he arrived at the foot of the mountain.” On the eastern banks of the Hyphasis, the Macedonian hero had halted, and wept that his plans for conquest were bounded by the hesitation of his Europsean soldiers; the greater conqueror entered the desert, reduced the fortress of Batnir, and took the capital of India, a great and flourishing city, after it had subsisted for three centuries under the dominion of the Muhammedan kings. He then advanced about a hundred miles north-east of Dehli, crossed the Ganges, fought several battles by land and water, and penetrated to a famous rock called Coupele in the distant moun- tains of Tibet. On the banks of the Ganges Timur heard of the disturbances which had arisen in Georgia and Anatolia, of the revolt of the Christians and of the ambitious projects of Bajazid. He resolved at once to chastise the rebellion of the former, and to humble the arrogance of the latter. “ Between two jealous and haughty neighbours,” says Gibbon, “ the motives of quarrel will seldom be wanting. The Mogul and Ottoman empire now touched each other in the neighbourhood of Erzerum and the Euphrates ; nor had the doubtful limit been ascertained by time or treaty. Each of these ambitious princes might accuse his rival of violating his territory, of threatening his vassals and protecting his rebels : and by the name of rebels each under- stood the fugitive princes, whose kingdoms he had usurped, and whose life or liberty he implacably pursued. The resemblance of character was still more dangerous than the opposition of interest, and in their victorious career, Timur was impatient of an equal, and Bajazid was ignorant of a superior.” After a short repose of seven months at Samarcand, Timur drew his forces together again and led them against the mightiest foe with whom he had yet contended. To the soldiers who had served in his Indian war, he offered the choice of remaining at 136 NINEVEH AND PEKSEPOLIS. [chap. V. home or serving again ; to all the other troops of the provinces of Persia it was enjoined that they should assemble at Isfahan, and await the arrival of the imperial standard. At the time of these preparations Bajazid was engaged in a blockade of Constantinople ; and Timur seems, as a good Mussulman, to have respected the true Son of the Faith so long as he was engaged against the enemies of the True Keligion : he was at first content with the destruction of Siwas (Sebaste), and turned aside his vast army to overthrow Syria and Egypt. The Syrian emirs put their trust in the fame of their Mamluks, in the temper of their swords and the steel of Damascus, and instead of sustaining a siege met the invader under the walls of Aleppo with their forces arrayed on the plain. The issue was not long doubtful ; Timur’s front was covered by a line of Indian elephants, whose turrets were filled with archers and Greek fire ; the evolutions of his cavalry were more rapid than those of the Syrians ; the crowds fell back broken, routed, paralysed, and the Moguls entered Aleppo with the fugi- tives from the battle field. From Aleppo Timur went on to Damascus, where a hard fought battle nearly turned in favour of the Egyptians, and then returned to Tatary, renouncing for the present the conquest of Palestine and Egypt. In the year a.d. 1403, after two years of preparation, Timur returned to prosecute his quarrel with Bajazid ; he advanced from the Araxes through the countries of Armenia and Anatolia ; his boldness was secured by the wisest precautions, and his flying squadrons and light companies explored the woods, the mountains and the rivers. Deceiving the Turkish sultan, who had encamped near Siwas, he still pressed onward, occupied Caesarea, and crossing the Salt Desert and the Halys, invested Angora. Bajazid soon learned how he had been deceived by the wily Tatar, and return- ing with forced marches, fought the memorable battle which has immortalised the glory of Timur and the shame of Bajazid. It took place on the 28th of July, 1403, in the plains round the city. “For this great victory,” says Gibbon, “the Mogul emperor was indebted to himself, to the genius of the moment, and the discipline of thirty years. He had improved the tactics without violating the manners of his nation, whose force still consisted in the missile weapons and rapid evolutions of a numerous cavalry.” The treatment of the conquered sultan by Timur has been vari- ously told, and Gibbon has examined at considerable length the CHAP. V.] TIMUR. 137 probability of the famous story of the iron cage in which he is said to have enclosed his unfortunate captive. The general conclusion appears to be, that the story is a fabrication of later times, though Ibn Arabshah speaks of having seen the cage itself, and the real truth to have been that Timur displayed a generous feeling of sympathy for his fallen though illustrious foe. The results of the victory are less uncertain. On the defeat of the Ottoman army, Anatolia at once submitted, and all the great cities of Asia Minor yielded in their turn to the invin- cible impetuosity of the Tatars, The grandson of Timur, Mirza Mohammed Sultan, was despatched to Broussa with thirty thousand horse, and accomplished in five days a march of two hundred and thirty miles. From Broussa he advanced to Nicsea, still a populous and flourishing city, and the fore- most squadrons of the Moguls were checked by Propontis alone. Similar success attended other emirs and generals, and Smyrna alone was defended with sufficient spirit, by the Knights of Ehodes, to demand the presence of Timur himself, who, attack- ing the place with his accustomed vigour, reduced in fourteen days a fortress, which had sustained for seven years a siege by the Turkish sultan Bajazid. From the Irtish and the Volga to the Persian Gulf, from the Grecian Archipelago to the Ganges, all had now submitted to Timur : and it is probable that, had means of transport been afforded him, the invasion of Europe would have followed the conquest of Asia. But “ the lord of so many myriads of horse had not a single galley ; ” the passage of the Hellespont was defended by the Turks and by the Christians respectively; who wisely forgot, in a moment of such extreme danger, the enmities of many years, in a generous rivalry to preserve Europe from the common foe. Embassies were sent, and presents offered, to arrest the inroads of the conqueror; Sulieman, the son of Bajazid, accepted from him the investiture of the kingdom of Romania; and the Greek emperor submitted to pay the same tribute which he had agreed to give the Turkish sultan. Timur slowly retraced his steps to his own capital. On his way, he conquered Georgia, appeased the troubles in Persia, and passed his winter on the Araxes ; and arrived in triumph at Samarcand in July, 1404, after an absence of four years and a half. For a brief period Timur enjoyed an unusual repose, and, listening to the complaints of his subjects, published new edicts 138 NIiTEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. V. for the regulation of justice, built magnificent palaces and temples, and celebrated with extraordinary pomp the marriages of six of his grandsons. On his throne at Samarcand, he gave audience to ambassadors from Arabia, India, Tatary, and Russia ; Henry III. of Castile presented him with a suit of tapestry which eclipsed the pencil of the oriental artists, and the rare gift of a giraffe and nine ostriches attested the submission of the African princes ; while some correspondence appears to have taken place between the Mogul emperor and the Court of Charles YII. of France. But his period of repose was very short; already, ere he had left the plains of Anatolia, Timur had meditated the con- quest of China, and a numerous army of his old and new sub- jects had been despatched to open the road, to subdue the Calmucs of Eastern Asia, and to found cities and magazines in the desert. The diligence of his generals seconded the ambition of their master, and Timur soon received a perfect map and descrip- tion of the unknown regions which extend from the Irtish to the Wall of China. In the commencement of a. d, 1405, he unfurled his standard for the invasion of China ; his emirs made their report, that 200,000 veterans were ready for the march, and that the troops must prepare for a long absence, since six months were required for the transit of a peaceful caravan from Samarcand to Pekin. Neither age nor the depth of winter could retard the im- patience of Timur ; he mounted on horseback, crossed the Jihon on the ice, and marched 300 miles, from his capital to Otrar ; but the hand of death was upon him ; fatigue and the imprudent use of iced water brought on and accelerated a fever, and the con- queror of Asia expired on April 1, 1405, after a short illness, in the seventieth year of his age, thirty-five years after he had ascended the throne of Zagatai ; China was spared an invasion and a conquest, and, fourteen years after his decease, his son sent an embassy of friendship and commerce to the Court of Pekin. It is not easy to estimate the character of such a man as Timur, and the details of his private life are hardly numerous enough for us to form an accurate judgment of his real character; yet, what we do know of his private life raises him above the mere conqueror, and shows that, if he was indifferent to the sacrifice of human life, he was not more so than the great majority of the oriental rulers have ever shown themselves ; and, especially, those monarchs who havq CHAP. V.] SUFIDE DYNASTY OF PEKSIA. 139 been the most zealous advocates of the doctrines and religion of Muhammed. His rules of morality were founded on what he deemed to be best for the public interest, and in the enforcement of public order and the necessary subordination of ranks he did not consider the life of men a matter of any importance. To maintain the harmony of authority and obedience, to chastise the proud and to protect the weak, to banish vice and idleness, and to preserve the husbandman and the merchant from the inroads of robbers, was the immediate end and aim which he proposed to himself. “ Timur might boast,” says Gibbon, “ that at his acces- sion to the throne Asia was the prey of anarchy and rapine, while, under his prosperous monarchy, a child, fearless and unhurt, might carry a purse of gold from the East to the West. Such was his confidence and his merit, that from this reformation he derived excuse for his victories and a title to universal dominion.” For his personal history, we have his lately recovered Memoirs, origin- ally written by himself in the Turki language, which will well repay the attention of any one who will read them ; while the “ noble simplicity of diction, the plain and unadorned egotism that runs through the whole of the Institutes and History of Timur, are peculiarities which mark their originality and their antiquity also.”* In them the reader will find much, that has never been submitted to the public in the many sketches that have appeared of the life of the Mogul emperor, and will discern many springs and motives for his actions which could have been communicated by no one but him who had enacted them. From the death of Timur to the rise of Ismail and the Sufide dynasty, Persia remained the prey of numerous chiefs, who exercised a brief and tyrannical rule over her different provinces. Ismail, the sixth descendant of Saffa-al-din, succeeded in con- solidating his power by a series of brilliant victories over the Turcoman tribes of the White Sheep, and the provinces of Irak. The Uzbeks were driven from Khorassan, and Balkh acknowledged his authority. He was followed by his son Tahmash, a great and prosperous ruler, whose reign is memorable for his munificent reception of Humayun, the fugitive sovereign of Hindustan, and for the embassy from our own queen Elizabeth to his court. Anthony Jenkinson was the first accredited envoy * Letter from Major Davy to Dr. White, in Major Stewart’s Autobiographical Memoirs of Timur. London. 4to. 1830. 140 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. V. from England to any oriental court, and was furnished by the queen with a letter in Latin and in English^ the object of which was to facilitate the opening of a commercial intercourse between the two countries. Tahmash, however, declined receiving the letter on finding that the ambassador was Giaour or Infidel. In the year a. d. 1585, Abbas, the greatest monarch of the Sufide dynasty, ascended the throne, and commenced a career of singular felicity and success. Towards the end of the same century, his court was visited by two English gentlemen. Sir Eobert and Sir Anthony Shirley, who had been induced by the Earl of Essex to make the journey, and who, in the end, contri- buted greatly to the good fortune which attended the wars of Shah Abbas. To Sir Eobert Shirley the Persians owe the introduction of European cannon and European discipline into their armies, and the decisive battle near Eriwan, on August 24, 1605, proved how well the Persians had learnt to make use of their new weapons. The Turks, who, since the conquest of Sultan Selim, had overrun a wide extent of the Persian territory, were by this battle hopelessly routed, and were driven from the shores of the Caspian, from Adherbaijan, Georgia, Kurdistan, and the lands of Baghdad, Mosul, and Diarbekir : and were unable during the reign of Abbas to recover any of the ground they had lost. Purchas in his Pilgrim, written in A. D. 1612, quaintly remarks that “ the mighty Ottoman, terror of the Christian world, quaketh of a Shirley fever, and gives hopes of approaching fates. The prevailing Persian has learned Shirleian arts of war, and he which before knew not the use of ordnance hath now five hundred pieces of brass and sixty thousand musqueteers : so that they which at hand with the sword were before dreadful to the Turks, now also in remoter blows and sulfurian arts are grown terrible.” Sir Anthony Shirley, under the title of Meerza Antonia, was sent on a diplomatic mission to the courts of Europe, the object of which was to secure their co-operation against the Turks, and Abbas issued a firman, in which he promised to all Christian merchants who might trade with Persia, the fullest protection to their persons and property, and the free exercise of their religion. In the monarch’s own palace, the English gentlemen were treated with an extraordinary degree of familiarity, and one of the royal • Haclduyt’s Voyages. CHAP. V.] SHAH ABBAS. 141 letters speaking of Sir Robert Shirley, says, “ Since he has been with me, we have daily eaten out of one dish and drank of one cup like two brothers.” A few years later the English envoy induced Abbas with the assistance of the English East India Company to attack and destroy the famous Portuguese settlement at Ormuz, on the Persian Gulf, yet, without realising any of the advantages which the Persian monarch anticipated from its over- throw. The name of Bender Abbas (the town of Abbas) alone remained to mark the ruin he had caused, and the trade once taken from its original promoters, did not return to enrich the coffers of the spoiler. A few years later an ambassador was sent by James I. in the person of Sir Dodmore Colton to increase the commercial intercourse between England and Persia; but the jealousy of the native ministers interfered with the nobler plans of their sovereign, and Sir Thomas Herbert, who has written an account of the embassy, ascribes its failure to the influence of the favourite vizier, whom he calls “ a most pragmatical pagan.” From the time of Shah Abbas, the history of Persia is suffi- ciently well known, and the country has been repeatedly visited and described by a host of able and intelligent travellers. We shall, therefore, terminate here the historical sketch we proposed, and with some account of the earlier and less known travellers, shall devote our remaining pages to the illustration of the antiqui- ties still remaining in Assyria and Persia, derived from the inquiries of the travellers themselves. 142 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VI. CHAPTER VI. Early Travellers — Chiefly to the Holy Land — Itinerary of Bourdeaux — Bishop Arculf — Willibald, the Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Eichstadt — The Monk Fidelis — Bernard the Wise — Pope Sylvester II. — Peter the Hermit — Crusades — The A nglo-Saxon Saewulf — Sigurd the Crusader — Benjamin of Tudela — His Travels — Account of the Khalifate — Sect of the Assassins — Marco Polo. The commencement of travels in the East may be traced, and was indeed mainly due, to the natural wish of Christians to visit scenes which had been consecrated by the sufferings and death of their Lord ; and, hence it was, that Pilgrimages were among the duties most regularly enjoined by the ancient Roman church, whether for the purpose of penance or simply as an exercise of Christian courage, and as a proof of the enthusiasm which ani- mated the true believer. The results of these travels, and the intercourse, whether friendly or hostile, into which the travellers were forced with nations of manners wholly different, and in many respects more civilised than those who left their native northern lands, a rude and semi-barbarous people, were very important in the subsequent history of the world. To such intercouse were often due the first sparks of real education, and the first germs of that civilisation which, never wholly extinguished among the oriental people, was by them conveyed to their northern visitors. In this point of view, as has been observed by the editor of the Early Travels in Palestine, lately published by Mr. Bohn, the story of these pilgrimages possesses a peculiar interest, and it becomes at once a pleasing and instructive task to follow the steps of the pilgrims as they have themselves described them, to watch their feelings, and to hear their opinions. As might have been expected, almost all the earliest narratives relate to Palestine only, or to the countries which the pilgrims traversed in their way to the Holy Land ; and the comparison of the numerous accounts of their adventures, places before our eyes a very distinct view of the various changes, which have affected the land of Palestine, since it was torn from the power of the Roman emperors. The oldest narratives are naturally the most valuable to the archaeological student, as they bear witness to the remains of many monuments of times still more ancient, which CHAP. VI.] EARLY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAST. 143 the hand of the spoiler has how blotted out, and which were entirely lost before the first modern traveller visited those lands ; and because the early Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem had preserved many authentic traditions of the localities of the Gospel history, which, under the succession of hostile tribes who have since over-run and ravaged the Holy Land, have now entirely perished. The first document, which has been preserved, is the Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem, which was made by a French Christian in the year a. D. 333. This curious monument has preserved to us some of the local traditions of the Syrian Christians under the Komans. The course of the traveller was over the Alps, through Italy, Pomerania, Illyria, Dacia, and Thrace, to Constantinople, and, thence, across the Bosphorus, through Asia Minor to Syria. On his arrival at Jerusalem, he gives a full description of the Holy City : from thence he returned to Constantinople, and retraced his steps through Macedonia to Italy. Shortly after him several others followed, portions of whose narratives still remain, till, in the latter part of the seventh century, a more celebrated pilgrim visited the same lands, Arculf, who was a bishop in France, though we do not know to which See he was attached. The narrative of Arculf was written down from his mouth by Adamnanus, who mentions that, on his return from the East, he visited the north of England, and was entertained at Iona. From the incidental statement of Bede, who states that Adamnanus came to the Court of Aldfrid, king of Northumbria, it appears that the travels of the bishop, whose account he has written down, must have been at the end of the seventh century, shortly after the Holy Land had fallen into the hands of the Arabs. Jerusalem had been taken in a.d. 637 ; and the terms of the capitulation allowed to the inhabitants the free use of their existing churches on payment of a tribute, though the erection of new ones was strictly forbidden. The Muhammedans were well aware, that the assisting numerous pilgrims to visit the holy places was entirely for their own interest ; and, hence, no inter- diction was placed on the visits of travellers in the earlier period of their rule. We know, that, for two or three centuries, large numbers of pilgrims flocked annually to the Holy Sepulchre, and that beyond the payment of the regular tax, and occasional insults 144 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vi. from the troops of the conquerors, the pilgrims were not hindered in the pursuit of their object. In the course of his travels, Arculf mentions “Majuvias, king of the Saracens,” who, as Mr. Wright has remarked, is undoubtedly Moawiyah, the first Khalif of the dynasty of the Ommiades. Arculf followed the steps of other travellers : his visit to Egypt, and his voyage up the Nile, were probably undertaken with the view of paying a visit to the Coptic monks of the Desert. The chief interest of his visit is, that he w^as in Palestine while many Roman monuments were still un- destroyed. A few years later, the Anglo-Saxon, Willibald, a relation of the great Boniface, and a native of Wessex, performed a similar pilgrimage, and is the first Englishman of any note whose travels have been recorded. He passed, as was usual at that period, through Italy, and was in Syria and Palestine during the perse- cution of the Christians by the Khalif Yezid II. ; and he gives some curious details of the buildings he found remaining in Jerusalem. On his return to Europe, he was consecrated Bishop of Eichstadt, in a.d. 740 or 741. His adventures were written down from his mouth, by one of his relations, a nun of Heiden- Jieim. In the course of his travels, Willibald speaks of the “ King of the Saracens, whose name was Emir al Mumenin,” which, as we shall show hereafter, was the second title of honour adopted by the early Arab chieftains, who succeeded to the empire of Muhammed. An early geographer, Dicuil, who wrote a treatise, De memwta orbis term, speaks of the journey of a monk named Eidelis, who went with a party of pilgrims to the mouth of the Nile, and who, proceeding up the river, was struck with astonishment at the sight of the seven barns in which Joseph had stored his corn, in preparation for the years of famine. His account of these buildings, which were of course the Pyramids, is very curious. He describes them as square at the bottom, in the upper part round, and at the summit twisted like a spire, and built of stone throughout ; a peculiarity of appearance which may perhaps be accounted for by the decayed state of the surface and upper part of many of the Pyramids. From the Nile, the pilgrims navigated direct to the Red Sea, by a channel which Mr. Wright supposes, with much probability, to be that of Hadrian’s ancient canal. It is said, that it had a short time before been re-opened CHAP. VI.] BERNAKD THE WISE. 145 by the Arab rulers of Egypt, and we know that it was finally stopped up, by the Khalif Abu Giafar Almansur, to hinder the sending provisions to his rebellious subjects at Mecca and Medina. The next traveller of importance is a monk of Bretagne, who is generally known by the name of Bernard the Wise, who left Europe about the year a.d. 867, The time at which Bernard set out was not favourable to the travels of pilgrims; the long wars which had taken place between the Christians and Saracens had embittered both parties ; and hence the advantages which had been secured by Charlemagne for European pilgrims were not any longer obtainable by them. Bernard, like Fidelis, went by the way of Egypt, and proceeded thence into Palestine by land, and at Jerusalem was lodged in the hostel which had been founded by Charlemagne, and which was still appropriated to its original objects. In the course of his journey, he mentions obtaining letters of safe conduct to the princes of Alexandria and Babylonia, from the Saracenic prince of Benevento, whom he calls the sultan. He states, that these princes are subject to the Emir A1 Mumenin (Prince of the Faithful), who resides at Bagada (Bagh- dad). Like his predecessor, the bishop of Eichstadt, he describes with considerable minuteness the sacred buildings at Jerusalem : and mentions the sacred fire which yearly shone forth on the Eve of Easter Day. Not long after the last of these travellers, a great revolution took place in the habits and manners of the East, and the sterner and more intolerant principles of the Kuran were put in practice by the fanatics of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries. Among the most furious persecutors of the Christian tribes was Hakem, the third of the Fatemite rulers of Egypt, who threw his whole kingdom into confusion by the severity of his despotism. Everywhere were the Christians oppressed and massacred, and their churches taken from them, profaned, and destroyed. Pilgrims, who had made their way to Jerusalem, brought back terrible accounts of the persecutions they had endured, and of the misery to which their brethren were subjected by the hostility of the Muhammedans. Among the most celebrated of these was Her- bert, afterwards Pope Sylvester II., who had made a pilgrimage during the persecution of Hakem. During the whole of the eleventh century these persecutions continued, till at length the cry of the Eastern Christians made itself heard in Europe, and L 146 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VI. Peter the Hermit, at the Council of Clermont, in a.d. 1095, succeeded in rousing the spirit of Europe, and induced Urban II. to proclaim the First Crusade. With the Crusades commenced a new race of travellers, with better means of acquiring information ; and the mysteries of the East became gradually more clearly unfolded to the wondering eyes of Western Europe. The first pilgrim who followed in the steps of the Crusaders, and who has left any account of his journey, was an Anglo-Saxon, named Saewulf. Of his personal history we know but little, and that is derived from William of Malmesbury ; but he appears to have been originally a merchant at Worcester. It may be gathered from his own narration that he left Europe in the middle of a.d. 1102, and that he spent a period somewhat short of a year in the East. Mr. Wright remarks on the change of route which was now adopted by the pilgrims from Europe. In the earlier centuries it had been usual to travel by Egypt to the Holy Land, because it was safer for pilgrims to entrust themselves to the Saracenic merchant- ships, than to enter Syria with the chance of being mistaken for Greeks. Now, however, they were able either to traverse the Christian states on the northern shores of the Mediterranean, and to visit Constantinople on their way, or to sail along the coast of Greece, and onward through the islands of the Archipelago. The latter was the course chosen by Saewulf, who crossed from Italy to the Ionian Islands, proceeded thence overland to Negropont, the ancient Euboea, and, having coasted along the shore of Asia Minor, arrived at Jaffa, whence he went on directly to Jerusalem. Saewulf travelled over a considerable portion of Palestine, and then returned by the islands of the Archipelago to Constantinople. Nearly about the same period we have the record of a traveller of a very different class, which has been preserved in the Heeimskringla, or Chronicle of the Kings of Norway. This man was Sigurd the Crusader, whose presence at the capture of Beyrut in a.d. 1100 is mentioned by William of Tyre. It is probable that the expedition of Sigurd was that of a free- booter, and that there is little reason to consider him a pilgrim. Mr. Wright has published the Saga of Sigurd the Crusader from Mr. Laing’s translation of the Heeimskringla. It is a very curious production, and throws much light on the manners of the people, and on their habits and modes of warfare. Sigurd was absent from home some years, and, having given his ships to the Greek CHAP. VI.] BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. 14T emperor at Constantinople, returned to Norway overland, througb. Hungary, Pannonia, Swabia, and Bavaria. The Saga of Sigurd is one of the more curious documents which has remained to these times, and is corroborated by Snorro of Sturleson even in the minutest details. The travellers whom we have had occasion to mention hitherto, may all, with the exception, perhaps, of Sigurd, be considered pilgrims, whose motives for wandering so far from their native shores were religious. We now come to one of a different character, who is known by the name of Benjamin of Tudela, and who was a Jew of considerable distinction among his Spanish fellow-countrymen. It is clear that the object of his narrative was chiefly to make his own nation better known, to preserve an account of the different places in which they were settled, and to cheer them in their Captivity. Much doubt has been thrown at different times on the authenticity of his Travels ; but a careful study of them will, we think, convince the most sceptical that they belong to the period to which they have been ascribed. The simplicity and the absence of all ornament in their composition mark their antiquity, and give a favourable impression of them to the reader. A very complete and excellent edition of the Travels of Benjamin of Tudela has lately been published by M. Asher, of Berlin, with an English translation of the Hebrew text, and a rich collection of valuable notes. The reader will find in this edition all that is known about the author, and a careful and accurate collection of the various editions of it which have hitherto appeared. We consider that the learned and the public at large are greatly indebted to the zeal of the editor for the very inte- resting and valuable volume which he has given to the world. Appended to the Travels are learned essays on the literature of the Jews, and the geography of Palestine by Dr. Zunz, and on the state of the Khalafat of Baghdad during the latter half of the twelfth century, by Mr. Lebrecht, which would well repay the separate perusal of any one who is interested in these subjects.* There is considerable analogy between the mode which Hero- dotus has adopted and the course which Benjamin of Tudela has pursued in the narratives which they have respectively given of different countries. Both were great travellers, and peculiarly * Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela; translated and edited by H. Asher. London and Berlin, 1841. 8vo. 2 vols. 148 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VI. deserving of honourable mention at the period when their journies were undertaken. In both alike we may easily distinguish between what the travellers themselves saw, and what they heard from other persons. This distinction seems more strictly adhered to by the latter than by the former traveller; but every careful student may discover from the language of Herodotus where his information arises from personal observation, and where he has gleaned from the labours of others. There seems good reason for believing that the personal adventures of Benjamin of Tudela did not extend eastward beyond Baghdad ; but he shows in many instances that he was familiar with the history of Central Asia to China, and of India as far south as Ceylon : it is probable that he acquired his knowledge of the more distant countries from the numerous Jewish pilgrims who congregated at Baghdad, then the residence of the Prince of the Captivity. About the general authenticity of the volume we feel not the slightest doubt. In the first place, it was early known both to Christians and to Jews. It is quoted by Samuel Zarka as early as a.d. 1368, and was never doubted till the seventeenth century. The style proves that the author was without any pretensions to learning, and his tale is that of a simple Jewish merchant, who probably preferred the idiom in which he wrote (Rabbinical Hebrew), because he understood still less of any other. Mr. Marsden^^^ has insisted that the least equivocal proofs of its being an honest, however incomplete, account of what he actually saw or learned on the spot, are to be drawn from the narrative itself. Numerous instances present themselves of minute peculiarities, and of incidental notices, geographical, historical, and biographical, reported by him, and confirmed by the testimony of ancient and modern authors and travellers, and which he could not have borrowed from others nor invented. It is the evidence of such unintended coincidences which, rather than any force of argument, are likely to produce conviction on the minds of those who are unwilling to be thought credulous. The story is, as Mr. Asher has said, of real value, as giving the best account of the state and number of the Jews in the twelfth century, and as furnishing the best mate- rials for the history of the commerce of Europe, Asia, and Africa * Introduction to Marco Polo, p. xxxv. CHAP. VI.] BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. 149 at the time of the Crusades ; while it is curious as the relation of the first European, who notices with accuracy the sect of the Assassins in Syria and Persia, the trade with India, and the dangers of the sea voyage between China and Ceylon. Benjamin of Tudela started on his journey from Barcelona in the year a.d. 1160; traversed the south of France, through the towns of Narbonne, Montpellier, and Marseilles; from thence went on to Genoa, Lucca, Pisa, and Eome ; through Middle and Southern Italy to Otranto ; and through Greece, to Constanti- nople. From Constantinople he visited many of the Greek Islands ; and finally, taking ship at Cyprus, landed on the opposite coast of Syria, at a place called Corycus, which still retains its ancient name, slightly changed to Korghos. Thence he went along the coast to Tarsus and Antioch, the latter of which he describes at some length, and, as would seem from the investiga- tions of later travellers, with great fidelity; incidentally mention- ing, as we have stated above, for the first time, the celebrated sect of the Assassins, better known to English readers under the name of the followers of the Old Man of the Mountain. From Antioch he went on, by Tripoli, Beirut, New Tyre, and Acre, to Jerusalem. His description of the latter is, as might be expected, very full and curious. From Jerusalem, Benjamin of Tudela traversed great part of the Holy Land, through Askalon and Tiberias, to Damascus, at that time one of the seats of the great Nur al- din, and, from the exquisite beauty of its position, known among the Orientals as the “ City of Joy,” and the “ Queen of Syria.” “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the rivers of this land ? ” w^as the beautiful and natural expres- sion of one, who was well acquainted with the riches and the scenery of this lovely oasis of the desert. From Damascus, he crossed the Desert to Baalbec and Tadmor, or Palmyra, the remains of the magnificent works of Solomon. Thence he went on, through Aleppo, Nisibin, Jezireh ibn Omar, to Mosul on the Tigris. He states, that “ this city is situated on the confines of Persia, is of great extent and very ancient, and is combined, by a bridge, with Nineveh. Although the latter lies in ruins, there are numerous inhabited villages and small townships on the site. Nineveh is distant one parasang from the town of Arbil, and stands on the Tigris.” Thence, he proceeded directly to Baghdad, the most important 150 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VI. place which he visited, and the residence of the Prince of the Captivity, of whom he gives some curious and interesting details. With Baghdad, as has been stated, terminates the personal journey of Eabbi Benjamin ; but he mentions, perhaps also as an eye-witness, several places in its vicinity: of these, the most remarkable is Babylon : he states that this is the ancient Babel, and that though now in ruins, traces of its streets still extend thirty miles. “ Of the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar the ruins are still to be seen, but the people are afraid to enter it on account of the serpents and scorpions by which it is infested.” The modern village of Hillah, is, he adds, at a distance from it of five miles. “ The tower built by the dispersed generation is four miles from thence ; it is constructed of bricks called El Ajur ; the base measures two miles, the breadth two hundred and forty yards, and the height about one hundred canna. A spiral passage, built into the tower (from ten to fifteen yards), leads up to the summit, from which there is a prospect of twenty miles, the country being one wide plain, and quite level. The Heavenly fire which struck the tower split it to its very foundation.” Such is a concise outline of the course which Benjamin of Tu- dela took in his travels : for the reasons we have stated, we need not be surprised that he has not given a more full and elaborate account of the many interesting places which he visited. His object was rather mercantile than antiquarian, and the informa- tion he possessed little more than might have been expected from a Jewish merchant of that period. The time at which Benjamin travelled is one which is very interesting to all Oriental students, and the incidental notices which he has given of the state of the Khalafat, in his description of Baghdad, are so correct, that it is worth while to give some fuller consideration than we have yet had an opportunity of doing to the rise of the Khalafat itself, and to the remarkable position which it occupied in the affairs of the world. W'e are induced to do this the more readily, as the popular notion of the Arabian dynasties is almost wholly taken from what we have read in our youth, in the beautiful tales of the Thousand and One Nights ; from which has arisen a general impression of the Khalafat, which, if true at all, is true only of the short and brilliant period of the reign of Harun A1 Rashid. Benjamin’s description of the East refers to a time when Baghdad was indeed the centre of CHAP. VI.] STATE OP THE KHALAFAT. 151 the Khalafat, but when that office had long ceased to exhibit the power, the magnificence, and the splendour with which it was invested at an earlier period. The tales of the Thousand and One Nights, on the other hand, refer chiefly to the court of Harun, or that of his immediate successors. But between the eighth century and the twelfth, when these travels were made, so great a change had taken place, that a student transplanted sud- denly from the one to the other would hardly believe that he was in the same city and at the Court of the Khalif. Even two centuries earlier, there had been a great alteration in the govern- ment of the Khalafat, and a system of regents had been adopted by the Khalif Eadhi (under the title of Amir al Omra), which led almost directly to the decline of the independent power of the khalif himself. Since the commencement of the Muhammedan system, three different appellations had been usually given to its chiefs, which have been too often carelessly confounded by European authors, who were not sufficiently acquainted either with the real history of these people, or with the language which they spoke. It is neces- sary to discriminate carefully between them, and not to confound together titles which, though constantly borne by the same leader, were at all times considered to denote distinct offices and duties. The first, and most universally known, is that of khalif, which, in its simplest meaning, may be rendered in English by the words successor, or vicar. Under this signification of representative, it is met with in the earliest times ; Muhammed himself, during his absence, nominated a khalif (who should be his vicar, and exercise his authority) for the town of Medina ; and, during his last sick- ness, transferred to his father-in-law, Abubeker, his power, and the maintenance of the government he had established, by naming him his khalif. Abubeker himself accepted the office under th^ same understanding, that he was to act for, and in the same spirit as, the deceased prophet ; and, refusing the higher title of God’s Messenger, which had been given to Muhammed, accepted only the more modest one of Khalif Eesul Allah (the Vicar of the Messenger of God). Abubeker is said to have replied to some who addressed him as the Khalif of God, that he considered himself to have no claim to that title, but simply to be the successor of the prophet. Under this general signification, this title remained to all Abubeker’s successors, and was considered holy, even by the princes 152 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VI. who had made themselves independent of the rulers of Baghdad ; and none of them dared to assume it, and to style themselves by this title in their official decrees. So strong was this feeling, that even the Ommiad princes of Spain, who were the inveterate enemies of the Ahbasides (to whose house the real khalif then belonged), were unwilling to take the lower title of Amir al Mumenin (or Prince of the Believers), till the time of the great Abd-al- Rahman III. ; and it is probable that, had any prince claimed for himself the distinguished designation of Khalif, he would have been considered by his own subjects as an usurper and a rebel. Abd-al-Rahman III. assumed at length the form of that power of which he had long held the substance; and he appears to have been the more justified in this act, as at this period it was that Radhi, the Khalif at Baghdad, first established those regents who, like the Maires du Palais of early French history,* in the end destroyed the power they were appointed to vindicate. At the most flourishing period of their empire the Khalifs bore a singular resemblance to the Popes of the Middle Ages ; possessing estates of their own, which they swayed wdth spiritual and temporal power ; and using, on their decrees, their letters, and their coins, almost the same title as that of the Successors of St. Peter. The khalifs who succeeded Radhi were, with few exceptions, divested of any temporal power, and exercised only a spiritual supremacy, analogous to that of the Popes before the territorial donation of King Pepin. The second title, which was usually applied to the leader of the Muhammedans was that of Amir al Mumenin (Prince of the Believers). It was first given to Omar, the third descendant of the prophet, who had declined, like his predecessor, Abubeker, the more presumptuous title of khalif. Since his time, this title has been taken by all those princes, who were recognised as the successors of the Prophet, or who, in their own opinion, had claims upon that distinction. Yet, though in the course of time many princes were dignified by this honour, the prerogative seems to have been rarely claimed by any other than such persons who, as lineal descendants of the Prophet, were generally consid- ered real and legal khalifs. The Moravide chieftains called them- selves Amir al Masalmin, and the Fatemites of Egypt, Amir al Mumenin ; but few, except such princes as Malek Shah, the * Frankische Hause-meier^ of Pertz. CHAP. VI.] STATE OF THE KHALAFAT. 153 Sel-Ajukian, dared to add the sacred name of khalif to the usurped power. The third title which was usually attached to the name of the khalif was that of Imam at Masalmin, The word Imam, in its strictest sense, means the spiritual leader of the congregation while in the mosque. The Imam was the priest, whose peculiar duty it was to recite aloud the public prayer. Muhammed was himself the first Imam, performing personally the public acts of worship, and addressing the people from the pulpit. In process of time every mosque had its Imam, as each congregation required a spiritual leader; and their ofiice, therefore, corresponded in most points with the Eabbi of the Synagogue, and the Clergyman of the Christian Church. As the khalifs at first officiated them- selves in the principal mosque of the residence, the title of Imam was naturally at once given to them, with this distinction, however, that the Imam, considered generally, is only the minister of the congregation to which he happens to be attached, while the Imam al Masalmin^ as the khalif ’s title, was a far more exalted one, and implied the functions and duties of the chief of the whole religious community. Hence it was that the legitimate successors of Muhammed became not only secular chiefs, but were invested also with the prerogatives of the supreme clerical power. Those khalifs who, in virtue of their descent from the Prophet, might be called his legitimate successors, called themselves Imams of the Believers ; and pious Muhammedans conceded that title to the house of Ali exclusively. Neither Moavia, who was on the throne with Ali, and admitted the claims of Hasan, the son of Ali, to be the Imam, nor any of the Oriental Ommiades ever usurped this title. Their successors, the Abbassides, who were indeed connected with the family of the Koreishites, were the first to call themselves Imam al Masalmin. The khalif, in his capacity of Imam al Masalmin, was in fact the Chief Priest of all the Muhammedans, and was looked up to by them with the same feelings of reverence as were awarded to the Homan Bishops prior to the eighth century. Generally, it may be stated with regard to the three titles, that Amir and Imam are not so much titles and dignities combined with that of Khalif, as two of his principal attributes. The khalif is the Eepresentative of the Prophet in all affairs spiritual and temporal, and comprising the characters of Amir and Imam, is at 154 NINEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. VI. once Emperor and Pope in one person. There could hardly be a khalif who would not be at the same time chief Amir and chief Imam, though there might be, as there were, in fact, many princes who, not venturing to take the superior title of khalif, were content with one or other, or both of the other titles. The history of the empire of the khalifs admits, as Mr. Lebrecht has suggested, of being considered under three different periods. The first, an epoch of power without splendour ; the second, one of equal splendour and power ; the third, one alike devoid of both. The first comprehends the first successors of Muhammed and the house of Moavia at Damascus, during which period, notwithstanding the bloody contentions in the interior of the country, their empire was bounded by the Ganges and the waters of the Loire, and comprehended the richest provinces of Asia and Africa, and some of the fairest lands of Europe. Clothed in the humble garb, and conforming to the simple manners of a Beduin, the khalif could issue a word of command which would be respected in three quarters of the globe. As the interpreter and defender of the sacred dogmas of the Faith, he could dispense with outward show and glittering splendour, the necessary, though adventitious accidents of a doubtful power or failing title. His government was cherished because it was mild ; it was beloved, because on the whole it promoted the happiness of the people. Compared with ' the Christianity which those countries then exhibited, with the mean and debased treachery of the Greeks, and the rude ferocity of the Goths and Franks, it is impossible not to admire the superior excellence of the discipline of Islam, and the merit of that forbearance which generally characterised the conduct of the Muhammedans towards their vanquished foes. The second period, of power united with splendour, commences with the rise of the x\bbassides, and may be considered to extend to the twentieth khalif of that family, through a period of one hundred and eighty-six years (a.d. 750-934). Valuing them- selves on their near descent from the Prophet himself, the Abbas- sides played a part not unlike that which the restored Bourbons in France have done in our present century. Finding themselves masters of an immense empire, which the courage and valour of their predecessors had won for them, they cared little to extend it further, or ennoble their history by deeds of arms. The legiti- mate Abbassides, like the legitimate Bourbons, cared for little CHAP. VI.] STATE OF THE KHALAFAT. 155 more than the creation of a voluptuous court, with an indolent administration ; and courtiers were more easily found than the able generals and ministers of the earlier khalifs. Harun Al-Eashid, the Louis XIV. of his race, that wonderful hero of truth and fiction, whose name has been in all time the symbol of Eastern grandeur and magnificence, and in whose court were assembled from all nations the most illustrious scholars and the ablest artists, was compelled himself to submit to the loss of Africa, not many years after his family had lost the fairest jewel in their crown — the province of Spain. With the reign of Eadhi Billah commences the direct decline of the Khalafat, and its third period of neither splendour nor power. Idle and careless and weary of the labours of the government, he adopted the suicidal plan of appointing a new officer called Amir al Omra, by whose powerful hand the revolt of the provinces might be restrained and the ruin of the empire averted. The scheme, as might be anticipated, wholly failed. As in the case of the Major Lomus of the early French kings, the chieftain, who was appointed, in the end, secured for himself the power he was to preserve for the khalif. Eadhi Billah was the last of the khalifs who had the command of the army and of the treasure, the means of making presents, and servants and household which he could call his own. The majority of his successors resemble the fabulous Grand Electeur of the rejected^ constitution of 1799, who, according to the plan of its projector, the Abbe Sieyes, was to have been assisted by two consuls responsible for the acts of the government, and to reside him- self in the royal palace at Versailles with a body guard of 3000 men and an income of 6,000,000 francs. It was under one of these last princes that Benjamin of Tudela saw Baghdad, the outward magnificence of which was no doubt as great as he describes it to have been ; the weakness of the empire or the evil of the system under which the Khalafat then languished, would not necessarily attract the attention of such a traveller. Towards the close of the third period there rose, indeed, two or three princes who in some measure retrieved the earlier glory of the khalifs, and produced an effect the more remarkable when we consider the fatal results of the system of giving the command of the armies and the whole effective government of the state into other hands than they who would most legitimately have 156 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VI. wielded it. The whole life of the Abbasside dynasty may be considered as one continued struggle with different rebellious subjects, who, owing to the weakness or the carelessness of these princes, wrested successfully from their rightful masters different important portions of the once great and almost universal empire of the early khalifs. Hardly had these princes been invested with the mantle, staff and seal of the Prophet, when several portions of this colossal empire began to loosen their bonds. Spain, imme- diately, and, soon after, Africa, set the example of defection, but more pernicious than either was the emancipation of the Asiatic provinces in the immediate neighbourhood of Babylon. Three principal nations entered the lists, the Arabians, the Persians, and the Turks. The first, the inheritors of the institution of Muham- med, were independent, and great so long as they retained their simplicity and the orthodoxy of the faith they had received. Against them, rose the Persian Shiites, and these were in their turn supplanted by the Turkish Sunnis. Yet in spite of the decay of the empire, and of the numerous revolts, and the low degree to which the authority of the Abbassides had sunk, Baghdad during the whole period from the time of its first foundation by one of this house, preserved the distinction of being the principal seat of science and art in the East; the Christian West possessed no city which could bear any comparison with it. JThere was however a Muhammedan City, which was not only its equal, but in many respects surpassed even the City of Peace. Cordova, in Spain, from the ninth to the twelfth century, was the ornament of Western Europe, the source of science, and the seat where best were cultivated all the arts of civilisation ; superior alike to Seville and to Granada, great as was the glory of the latter city from the magnificent palace of the Alhambra, Cordova had early won and late preserved the title of chief city of the Western Arabian dynasties. The events which we behold upon the theatre of Western Asia in the middle of the twelfth century offer a remarkable contrast with those of the preceding age. The Crusades had roused anew the spirit of the Muhammedans, and in the Saracens of that period was awakened the enthusiasm of the earlier years of Islam. Hence the recovery by some of the later khalifs of much of the land their predecessors had igno- miniously lost, and the glory of that short period, when Benjamin CHAP. VI.] STATE OF THE KHALAFAT. 157 was himself at Baghdad. About the middle of the eleventh century Asia had been overran by various Turkish hordes, the mightiest of whom, the Seljuks, under their chieftain Togrul Bek, subdued within an incredibly short time all the possessions of the khalifs. Embracing Islamism they were for a time in- vincible, but, following, the fatal custom of leaving their young princes to the care of foreign governors, their power was in the end destroyed by these governors themselves who erected several independent dynasties under the name of Atabeks. The Seljukian princes had not been content with the simple title of Amir al Omra, but ruled the khalif and his empire with the title of Sultans, while by matrimonial connections, they had also obtained an alliance with the sacred blood of the Prophet. But the Sultans after subduing western and central Asia fell into the lethargy, peculiarly characteristic of uncivilised monarchs ; skilful in war, and living almost wholly in the field, they knew not the arts of administration. Hence, the khalifs watching their opportunity, and construing the weakness of their jailors into a hint from Providence, were able to seize the favourable moment, and to employ their ability in regaining their original power. Mostarshed was the first to avail himself of the weakness of the Sultans, and to revive the almost obsolete custom of leading his own armies into the field. The warriors under Zenki beheld with astonishment in the camp of the enemy the black tent of the Abbassides, and when the courageous khalif advanced, their usual bravery gave way before deeply rooted veneration, and they deserted their standard and fled. Mostarshed was followed by Moktafi Mostanjed and Mostadhi, all able princes, especially the first, who succeeded in completely emancipating the Khalafat from the numer- ous enemies whereby it had been surrounded. There can be little doubt that Mostanjed is the khalif to whom Benjamin alludes: it is indeed possible that he might have reached Baghdad in a. d. 1159, in which case he would have been there during part of the last year of Moktafi^ and that he may have staid there as late as A.D. 1170, which is the first year of Mostadhi; but his account of Baghdad and the khalif himself render it much more likely that he is describing Mostanjed than any of the others. Mostanjed is admitted on all hands to have been a ruler of great ability and judgment, and to have been possessed of qualities which endeared him to his subjects. 158 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VI. We have already mentioned that Benjamin of Tudela is the first traveller who speaks of the celebrated sect of the Assassins. His words are as follows : — “ In this vicinity ” (near Jebilee, the Baal Gad of Scripture, under Mount Lebanon) “ resides the nation which are called Assassins, who do not believe in the tenets of Muhammedanism, but in those of one whom they consider like unto the prophet Kharmath. They fulfil whatever he commands them to do, whether it he a matter of life or death. He goes by the name of Sheikh al Chashishim, or their Old Man, by whose commands all the acts of these mountaineers are regu- lated. His seat is in the city of Kadmus, the Kedemoth of Scripture, in the land of Sichon. The Assassins are faithful to one another by the command of their Old Man, and make them- selves the dread of every one, because their devotion goes far enough for them gladly to risk their lives, and to kill even kings, if commanded to do so. The extent of their country is eight days’ journey. They are at war with the Christians called Franks, and with the Count of Tripoli, which is Tarahlous el Sham.”* An account of this curious sect has been written at some length by the celebrated orientalist, the Baron Von Hammer Purgstal, who has investigated their history with great care and learning. We will give a short abstract of it here, because we believe that it is not generally known to the English reader. The Assassins were a branch of the Ismaelians, who derived their appellation from Ismail the son of Jaffier, the sixth Imam, and professed many doctrines hateful to the orthodox Islamites, proving that they were the remains of the ancient Karmathians, who dis- turbed the faith in the reign of Harun Al-Rashid, and who have been since known under various other mystical names. They sup- ported the claims of Ali’s posterity to the Khalafat, and succeeded in placing on the throne of Egypt a pretended descendant of this Ismail, whose name was Obeid-allah-Mahdi, from whom descended the Fatimite dynasty in that country, who took their name from Fatima, the daughter of Muhammed. Under the protection of Obeid-allah-Mahdi, a lodge of secret doctrines was established at Cairo, whose members spread over great part of Asia. Hasan ben Sabah, the most celebrated of their chieftains, was the son of an Arab of the race of Sabah the Homerite, and the college com- panion of the celebrated Nizam-al-mulk, and of the poet Omar * Itin., p. 59, 60. CHAP, vl] sect of the assassins. 159 Keyomi at Nishapur. Mr. Frazer says, that Hasan was of a gloomy and morose disposition, and that the character of his studies fostered the visionary tendency of his mind. After travel- ling for many years, he came to court, and reminded the vizier Nizam of an agreement, which had been made between them, when yet students, that he, who should first attain to power, should assist the fortunes of the less successful. Nizam gave him an appointment which did not satisfy his expectations ; and, having failed to supplant the friend who had assisted him, he fled the court, the implacable enemy of the virtuous vizier. In process of time, with the help of a few determined men, Hasan seized the fortress of Alamuth, in the province of Eudbar, and established an independent monarchy there a. d. 1090 , of which he constituted himself the head, with the title of Sheikh al Gehel, or Sheikh of the Mountain. To govern his followers, he drew up a system, or catechism of seven heads, among which were, implicit obedience to their chief, secrecy, and the principle of seeking allegorical meanings, and not the plain sense of the Kuran, whereby the text could be distorted into anything which the interpreter might wish to establish. Thus, he effectually did away with all fixed rules of morality and faith ; and, by enthralling the souls of men, succeeded in establishing a despotism more absolute and terrible than that of the mightiest monarchs of his time. Superstition, or a blind devoted faith, was the instrument whereby he wrought; and such was the influence he acquired, that the greatest princes trembled at his name. The Assassins, either by force or treachery, obtained pos- session of many castles or hill-forts in Persia, and spread into Syria, where they acquired the strongholds in the mountains near Tripoli, where Benjamin found them. To accomplish their objects, they never scrupled to resort to assassination ; and the fourth sheikh of the sect taught openly, and without reserve, the contempt and violation of all Muhammedan laws. The united voice of Asia,” says Mr. Frazer, “ called on Sultan Sanjar to root out this detestable sect from his empire ; but a warning note, pinned by a dagger to his pillow, struck such a degree of terror into the heart of that undaunted warrior, which no danger in the field could have inspired, that he desisted from his enterprise. Khalifs, princes, and nobles fell victims to the 160 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vt. secret arms of the Ismaelians; the Imams and Mollahs who preached against such murderous doctrines were poniarded, pen- sioned, or silenced ; and for some years the followers of Sheikh al Gebel increased in number and insolence.” But the system of these ruffians did not, fortunately for humanity, long survive the death of its founder. The Persian branch was subdued at the request of the khalif by Manku Khan, who sent his brother, the celebrated Hulaku, in a. d. 1256, to extirpate the murderous sect ; and the stronghold of the Syrian Assassins, was destroyed by Bibars, the Mamluk sultan, in a. d. 1270. Some few of them found refuge among the mountains of Syria, and were mixed with the Kurds ; and their tenets were long supposed to have remained, and to have been professed in modern times by the hated sect of the Yezidis, a supposition which Mr. Layard’s visit to that inte- resting people will, we hope, finally set at rest. The account which Rabbi Benjamin gives of Mosul and Nineveh is agreeable with that which has been universally received, down to the period of Mr. Layard’s excavations. Nineveh was con- sidered to have been situated, as described by Benjamin of Tudela, directly opposite to Mosul, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and the villages of Ninive, Nunia or Nebbi Yunus, to represent, in their ruins, all that time has preserved of the once celebrated metropolis of Assyria. In the vicinity of Mosul, Benjamin mentions the village of Elkhosh, to which Mr. Rich states that the Jews still are in the habit of coming on a pilgrimage to the supposed tomb of Nahum the prophet, who is called in Scripture, the Elkoshite. In his account of Babel (or Babylon) and of Hillah, Benjamin of Tudela, has preserved traditions which have remained to the present day, though it seems that the name of Babel has undergone some change of locality since his time, as the mounds of the Mujellibe, in which the palaces and hanging gardens were probably (and which Rennel and Mignan suppose to be the Tower of Belus described by Rabbi Benjamin), is the only part of the whole terri- tory which is now called Babel. “ The tower of the dispersed generation, is what is at present called Birs Nimrud by the Turks, Arabs, and Jews of the vicinity,” and it is, as Benjamin has correctly stated, about five miles from Hillah. He mentions the fine view from the summit, which is confirmed by Rich, who says, “ that there is a very fine view from the face of the tower and CHAP. VL] MARCO POLO. 161 the summit of the mound. We saw Kesel, or the Tomb of Ezekiel, and were informed that Meshed Ali, which is ten hours off, is visible early in the morning.”* We shall consider the account of Babylon and its remains more fully, when we come to the later travels of Ker Porter and Rich. We have been induced to devote some time to the description of some early travellers, who had not extended their journies beyond the Holy Land, chiefly because they are comparatively little known, and because there are so few records of those early times. With the same view, we propose to give a brief account of the travels of a far more celebrated man, Marco Polo, the Venetian, the accuracy of whose memoirs, long deemed doubtful or exag- gerated, have now been proved, beyond any reasonable doubt, by the careful study and sound learning of Mr. Marsden. We propose, therefore, shortly to state the course and the extent of the journeys of Marco Polo, as, from the period at which he travelled, his travels are, we think, a fitting introduction to the more important labours of the modern travellers. Marco Polo was the grandson of Andrea Polo da S. Felice, a patrician of Venice, but of Dalmatian extraction. His father and two uncles had been long engaged in trade ; and on one occasion, after having disposed of their merchandize at Constantinople, they were induced to purchase a new stock, and to make a journey across the Euxine, to a port in the Crimea. Continuing their long journey, they reached the camp of Barkah, the grandson of Jenghiz Khan, whose usual places of residence were Baghti-Serai and Bulghar. As they were making preparations for their return, war broke out between Barkah and his cousin, Hulaku, in which the former was defeated ; they were, therefore, compelled to alter their course, so that they, eventually, arrived in Bokhara. While they were there, a Tatar nobleman came to that city, on his way from Hulaku to his brother Kublai. From motives of curiosity, he sent for the Italians, and, on promising them a favourable reception and ample compensation for their labours, he persuaded them to accompany him. After travelling for twelve months, they arrived at the imperial residence, and were received by the Grand Khan in a gracious and encouraging manner. He made many inquiries respecting the Western World ; and, finding the * Rich, Babylon, &c. M 162 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VI. travellers were discreet and well informed men, he determined on sending them back to Italy, accompanied by one of his officers, as his ambassadors to the See of Home. They accordingly set out on their return, and, by the aid of the imperial passport, they succeeded in reaching Giazza, or Ayas, in Lesser Armenia, at the expiration of three years, and Acre in the month of April, a.d. 1269. After considerable delay, they obtained the requisite papers and letters from Gregory X., and set out on their return to the Tatar capital towards the end of the year a.d. 1271, taking with them Marco, their nephew, to whose pen we are indebted for a curious description of the Tatar empire. Their course must have been through Greater Armenia, Persia, Irak, Khorasan, and by the city of Balkh into the country of Badakh- shan, near the sources of the Oxus, where they remained twelve months. They here acquired a knowledge of Kashmir and other countries on the borders of India, and thence they went on to Kashgar, which was a principal resort of caravans. From thence they travelled through Chinese Tartary, to Kan-cheu, whence, after a long delay, they were summoned to the imperial residence at Tai-guan-tra. Their reception by the emperor was as favourable as they could have wished; and Marco was received into the imperial house- hold, and treated with peculiar regard. In this position he soon became distinguished by his talents. Becoming a great favourite with the emperor, he was employed on services of importance in different parts of the empire, even to the distance of a six months’ journey. On these missions he availed himself of every oppor- tunity of obtaining information on all subjects, of which the Grand Khan was insatiable. The substance of the notes, which he then made, form the most interesting part of this work. That his father and uncle were partakers in the regard shown by the emperor to the younger Marco, is evident from the emperor’s constant unwillingness to be deprived of their services. After a residence of seventeen years at the court of the Grand Khan, the Venetians began to be impatient of their return ; but found it quite impossible to persuade their aged host and benefactor to permit their absence. At length an embassy arrived at the court of Kublai, from the Mogul Tatar, Arghun, the grandson of Hulaku, to solicit a wife of his own lineage. On the request of the ambassadors having been granted, a difficulty arose as to the CHAP. VI.] MARCO POLO. 163 manner in which the princess and her retinue should be trans- ported to Persia, the residence of her intended husband ; and on the commencement of their journey proving unfortunate, the princess returned to the capital. While they were debating what to do, Marco Polo, who had been on a voyage to some of the East Indian islands, returned, and laid before the Grand Khan the observations which he had made respecting the safe navigation of those seas. The result was, that though Kublai was still very unwilling to part with his Venetian friends, an expedition was fitted out, to convey the princess to the court of Arghun, consisting of fourteen large ships, which were placed under the charge and command of the family of the Polos* The details which are furnished of this remarkable voyage are extremely curious. It appears that the expedition started from the Peho river, and kept along the coast of China, till they came to Allan or Kochin China, which Marco Polo mentions that he had previously visited in a.d. 1280. Thence they proceeded to Java, and the island of Bintan, near the eastern entrance of the Straits of Malacca. In the ports of Sumatra, they were detained five months for a favourable season, in w^hich to cross the Bay of Bengal. Having accomplished this difficulty, they reached Ceylon, whose celebrated peak is specially mentioned. From thence they coasted the shores of Hindustan; and Marco Polo mentions, though it is probable he did not actually visit, several places in the ancient kingdom of Narsingha, as Masulipatarn and the diamond mines of Golconda, Guzerat, Cambaia, Sumenat, and Mekran, which he terms the last, as the most western division of India. At Ormazd, on the Persian Gulf, the expedition disem- barked, after a voyage which there is reason to suppose lasted about eighteen months. On their arrival they received intelligence that Arghun, the chief whom the princess was to have married, was already dead ; and she was, in consequence, transmitted to his son Ghazan, at that time preparing to mount the throne. Of her subsequent fate nothing is known. The object of their mission being accomplished, the travellers went on to Tauris (Tabriz), where the regent of the empire at that time resided ; and, having rested from their long and arduous journey, they proceeded homewards, by way of the Lake of Van, Erzerum, Baiburi, and Trebizonde ; and passing through Constantinople and Negropont, eventually reached their 164 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap, vi, native city, Venice, in a.d. 1295, after an absence of twenty-four years. Such is a very brief outline of the course of the most memorable travels which have ever been performed. “ Upon their first arrival,” says Mr. Marsden, “ they experienced the reception that attended Ulysses when he returned to Ithaca, — they were not recognised even by their nearest relations, espe- cially as rumours of their death had been current, and were con- fidently believed. By the length of time they had been absent, the fatigues they had undergone in journies of such extent, and the anxieties of mind they had suffered, their appearance was quite changed, and they appeared to have acquired something of the Tatar, both in countenance and speech, their native language being mixed with foreign idioms and barbarous terms. In their garments, too, which were of mean and coarse texture, there was nothing that resembled those of Italians.” It may be interesting to add, that the notes of Marco Polo’s travels, which remain to us, were taken down from his mouth, by a gentleman named Eustighello or Piustigielo, (who, according to Ramusio, was a Genoese gentleman, with whom he had formed an intimacy), while Marco Polo was confined in the prison at Genoa, about the year a.d. 1298. As might have been expected, the information which his manu- script gave of countries till that time unheard of, and of manners incompatible with every idea that had been hitherto entertained of the barbarians of Tatary, w^as treated with levity or ridicule by the generality of his countrymen, and was read with sus- picion by the best instructed persons in every part of Europe. It w^as thought by them a paradox, that w^hile the western world was overrun by tribes, whom terror painted as more savage than they really were, other tribes of the same nomadic race, and professing submission to one common head, should be found to live, not only under a regular government, but to have become the constituent part of a splendid and highly-civilised empire, filled with magnificent cities, and the scene of a commercial greatness, with wdiich that of Venice was trifling in comparison. CHAP. YII.] HISTOEY OF BABYLOK 165 CHAPTEE YII. Babylon — Intermediate History from the capture by Cyrus to the commencement of Modern Travels — Early Travellers — Eldred, Rauwulf, Boeventing, Della Valle — Niebuhr — Abbd Beauchamp — Rich — Remains at Babylon — Kasr — Mujelibe — Birs Nimrud — Major Rennell’s Controversy with Mr. Rich — Buckingham — Researches of Sir Robert Ker Porter — Ruins of Akerk6f — A1 Hheimer. Having now given some account of the history of the ancient empires of Assyria and Persia, with such portions of that of the nations with whom they were brought into immediate contact as we have deemed necessary for the clear development of our subject ; and, having mentioned briefly the names and works of the more celebrated of the early European travellers, we shall proceed to describe the monumental remains still exist- ing in those countries, for the elucidation of which we have been indebted, mainly, to recent travellers. We shall commence with the ruins of Babylon, because universal tradition has up to this time ascribed to her the greatest antiquity, though the late discoveries at Nimroud have shown, that the sculptures which Mr. Layard has excavated there are older than anything, which has been yet discovered at Babylon. We shall then describe the Assyrian monuments of Khorsabad and Nimroud, and the remains of the Achaemenian Dynasty in Persia ; lastly, we shall give a concise account of the cuneiform inscriptions, and of the successful results of Major Eawlinson’s interpretation of one branch of that character. We have already said as much about Babylon as falls within the historical portion of our narrative, and have mentioned the high place which deservedly belongs to that city in the history of the early civilisation of the world, and some of the peculiar reasons which contributed to make her, from very early times, the most important city of Western Asia. We come now to the considera- tion of what may be called her present state, and to a more parti- cular examination of the remains, which still exist on the banks of the Euphrates below Baghdad, and which traditionally have been held to represent the once mighty “ Queen of the Nations.” As might have been expected, few sites have been so much visited 166 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vir. by travellers, or so often described. Yet few excavations have been made there as yet ; and the best accounts we have are but of the superficial view of the mounds, with a description of gems, cylinders, bricks, and fragments of inscriptions which have been picked up on the spot, or gathered from the Arab peasantry of the surrounding villages. It is hardly too much to hope, that, ere long, a brighter light may be thrown upon the obscurity, which now veils these ancient ruins, and that extensive researches may be conducted on the same principle, which has been pursued so suc- cessfully by M. Botta and Mr. Layard. The mounds, which occupy different parts of the great plain, admit of excavation no less than those of Nimroud ; and, we can hardly doubt, that the results of similar excavations, even if not so interesting as those obtained by Mr. Layard, will set before us records of the days of Babylonian greatness hardly less curious and valuable. The traveller, who, in modern days, has devoted most time and patience to the illustration of Babylon and its ruins, and to whom we are indebted for the best exertions, and the most connected narrative of them, is Mr. Rich, who, during many years which he passed at Baghdad, as British resident, had great facilities and opportunities for the task he undertook. A very complete account of his labours was published about ten years ago by his widow It contains an account of his journey to Babylon; two memoirs which he wrote on the ruins, the first of which was published at Vienna in the Fundgruben des Orients, in the }^ear 1811 ; and a paper on the topography of Babylon, by Major Rennell, origin- ally read before the Society of Antiquaries, and printed in the Archseologia. Before, however, we proceed to a description of the existing remains, it may be not uninteresting, to trace the history of Babylon from the time of Darius Hystaspes to the commencement of the visits of modern travellers. Of the period between the taking of the city by Cyrus and the reign of Darius we know nothing ; but it appears that Darius Hystaspes broke down its walls after a revolt, which, as we shall see, is recorded on the monument at Behistun. Ctesias mentions a subsequent revolt and capture of Babylon in the reign of Xerxes, and attributes the outbreak of the Babylonians to their indignation at the robbery of the statue of Belus, and the assassination of the priest who guarded it ; but there seems some ground for supposing that Ctesias has confounded the revolt against CHAP. VII.] HISTORY OF BABYLON. 16T Darius with that against Xerxes. Whether, however, this be so or not, it is certain that Xerxes finally destroyed the magnificent temple of Belus. Alexander the Great intended to rebuild it ; but the ruins of it were so vast, that, after employing ten thousand men* for two months to clear them away, he gave up his plan, though aided by a vast concourse of people, no one refusing to join in the work, except the Jews.f At the epoch of the death of Alexander Babylon began to be deserted. Of the three hundred and sixty-five stadia which formed the original circumference of its walls, it is said that only ninety were inhabited. | Alexander was himself the first, unconscious that he was fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah, to break down the walls of Babylon, a portion of which he removed to raise the funeral pyre of Hephaestion. The breach in the inner wall soon spread, and Babylon was completely dismantled when Demetrius Poliorcetes took the city. At this time it is said that only two fortresses remained of its once magnificent fortifica- tions. Even before the arrival of Alexander, Patroclus, his general, had expelled its inhabitants from Babylon, who, we are told, re- treated from the Euphrates, and fled into the desert, or took refuge on the further shores of the Tigris, and southwards in Persia. Seleucus Nicator abandoned the ancient city altogether, and trans- ferred the seat of his power and his royal residence to Seleucia, a city he had built not far distant from Babylon, on the banks of the Tigris, and to which he had given his name ; and Pausanias, who states that the Babylonians were compelled to come and live there, adds, that, in his time, the walls and temple of Belus scarcely any longer existed, though there were still a few Chal- daeans, who continued to dwell around the latter edifice. Strabo states, that Seleucia increased as Babylon decayed, and that, in his days, it was much larger than the old town, which was in a great measure deserted. From this time its decay was rapid. In b.c. V27, a Par- thian army reduced many Babylonian children to slavery and transported them to Media to be sold. In the reign of Augustus, Diodorus Siculus states that a very small portion was inhabited and the rest under cultivation. In the reign of Caligula, reli- gious intolerance gave rise to a war, occasioned by the constancy of the Jew^s to their religion, and a large number of this people * Strabo, xv. f Hecat. ap. Joseph, c. Ap. 1. X Q. Curtius, lib. v. c. 1 ; Diod. ii. 5 — 7. 168 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VII. took refuge in Babylon, and perished in the persecution which ensued. Six years later a plague ravaged Babylon and drained her of her few remaining inhabitants. From this time the city seems to have been completely forgotten, and it is hardly men- tioned in the expeditions of Trajan and Severus into Mesopo- tamia. Lucian of Samosata and Maximus Tyrius, in the reigns of Aurelius and Commodus respectively, speak of its entire destruction, and Libauius Sophistes states, that Ctesiphon, (the city which had been founded by the Parthians), occupied the place of Babylon, and was the glory of the land of the Babylonians. In the seventh century of our era, Isidore of Seville, while making a list of the great cities of the world, omits all notice of Babylon, though he speaks of Carrhse, Edessa and Ctesiphon : the ecclesiastical writers of the previous centuries, Origen, Eusebius and S. Chrysostom confirm the common report, and S. Jerome adds that he had heard from an Elamite priest, that the ancient walls had been repaired, and a park made within them for the wild animals of the chase which the kings of Persia loved to hunt: S. Cyril of Alexandria, about b.c. 412, declares that all the country round had become one great marsh, owing to the filling up of the canals of the Euphrates. Theodoret, who died in A.B. 460, adds that the place was wholly deserted by its ancient inhabitants, that no one lived there except a few Jews, that the Euphrates had changed its course and no longer flowed through the city except by a small canal, while Procopius of Gaza, in the sixth century, speaks of the city as already long since destroyed. When the Arabs commenced their empire they first built the town of Bassora in a.d. 625 in order to keep open the commu- nication between El Madain (the ancient Ctesiphon) and the sea, and a few years later, the more celebrated town of Cufah on the Euphrates, a short time after the taking of Ctesiphon from the Persians, which was the result of their defeat at Cadesia. The road from A1 Madain to Cufah passed through the city of Babylon, yet this latter name is never mentioned in any of the long wars of which this country became the theatre. Nor do we hear anything of Babylon, when in the year a. b. 763, Al-Mansur, indignant at the conduct of the people of Cufah, trans- ferred the seat of the khalafat from that city to the newly founded one of Baghdad. The ruins of Ctesiphon were used abundantly in the construction of the new town, which was about 15 miles CHAP. VII.] HISTORY OF BABYLOK 169 from it, and 44 from Babylon, The name of Babylon, never mentioned up to this period, is equally omitted in the tables of Naser-al-din and Ulug-Bek. Ibn Haukal, who, however, lived in A.H. 305 (a.d. 917) speaks of it in the following words : — “ Babel is a little village, the most ancient construction in Irak, — it gives its name to this province.” The remains are a house of the time of Abraham, and two mounds, one called Kondi Tarik, the other, Kond Derbar. Edrisi, three centuries later, appears to have no knowledge of it, and Abu-al-feda has merely preserved the name of Babel to designate the remains of Babylon. We will now mention some of the accounts of Babylon which have been given by the travellers, who visited that part of Asia, soon after the Revival of Learning in the West. One of the earliest was an English merchant named Eldred, who left England in 1583 for Tripoli, whence he proceeded to Aleppo, and in three days to Bir on the Euphrates. From this town he took a boat, and descended the river to New Babylon (Baghdad.) On his way thither, he passed the “ mighty old city of Babylon, many old ruins whereof are easily to be seen by daylight, which I, John Eldred, have often beheld.” He mentions, particularly, what he calls the Tower of Babel, describing it as a quarter of a mile in circuit, and about the height of S. Paul’s (the old cathedral which was burnt in the fire of London,) “ but it showeth much bigger.” He states that it was built of very large sun-dried bricks, cemented by courses of “ mattes made of canes, though they had been laid within one yeere.” Rauwolff, a German, who visited the ruins in the 16th century, speaks of the remains of an ancient bridge and fortifications, and of the Temple of Belus. “ This tower, ” says he, “is so much ruined and so full of venomous animals that it can only be approached during two months in the winter, when they don’t leave their holes.” Boeventing distinguishes this tower from another square building 125 paces in circumference, which he considers to be the Tower of Belus ; and Texeira agrees with other travellers in saying, that there are but few remains of this once famous city, and that there is no spot in all the country so little visited, as that on which once stood Babylon. In 1616, Pietro della Valle visited these ruins, and has given a fuller account of them than any previous traveller: yet his 170 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vn. description is little more than the assertion, that they consisted of heaps and mounds, more like hills than the remains of build- ings. In 1657, a Carmelite monk, named Vincenzo Maria di S. Caterina di Sienna, on his return overland from India, sailed up the Euphrates from Bassorah. He describes various places which he passed, but with geographical errors so numerous as to make his account almost unintelligible. “ The heat,” says he, “ was intolerable, and for many hours of the day quite stupified us. Though the night tempered the burning heat, yet we were then greatly molested by musquitoes which are much larger than those we have in Italy On the 27th we found ourselves surrounded by the open desert, and the weather intensely hot. We heard lions, tormented by the heat, roaring on all sides, there being great numbers of them in these woods. Having posted our guards at the coming on of night, we gathered together a good provision of wood, in order to keep up a brisk fire through the night. But, towards midnight, our guards having fallen asleep, and the fire having become fainter, one of these wild beasts came so near that there was not twenty paces between us and him, when, by Divine Providence, a Turk awakened, who, as soon as he became aware of the danger, commenced crying as loud as he could, and such were his screams that every one was quickly up, and the noise of the fire-arms, which at the same time were dis- charged on all sides, so alarmed the lion that he quickly took to flight.” On the 1 6th of September, he arrived at Hillah, after passing along beautiful banks, covered with palm and other fruit trees, and abounding in the necessaries of life. “It is a very general opinion,” says he, “ that this place was the ancient Baby- lon, which is proved by the site being on the banks of the Euphrates, by the fertility of the adjoining lands, and by the ruins of magnificent buildings, which abounded for many miles round ; but, above all, by the remains of the Tower of Babel, which is, to this day, called Nimrod’s Tower (Birs-i-Nimrud). We were curious to see these buildings, but finding that no one would accompany us, for fear of robbers, we were compelled to give it up.” The day after leaving Hillah he arrived in the neighbour- hood of Baghdad, and passed “ the remains of several remarkable buildings.” A few years later, another Roman Catholic missionary, Pere Emanuel de S. Albert, visited the solitary city, and describes the CHAP, vil] TRAVELLERS— EMANUEL DE S. ALBERT. 171 mass of ruins which had been seen by Pietro della Valle ; men- tioning also remains of w^alls, built of brick and cemented with bitumen, some of which were still standing in bis time. He states that, “before reaching Hillab a bill is visible which has been formed by the ruins of some great building. It may be two or three miles in circumference. I brought away from it some square bricks, on which was writing in certain unknown charac- ters. Opposite this bill, and distant two leagues, another similar bill is visible, between two reaches of the river at equal distance.” After speaking of Hillab and the lake into which the Euphrates enters near that town, he continues : “We went to the opposite hill which I have already mentioned. This one is in Arabia, about an hour’s distance from the Euphrates, and both exactly opposite to each other. I found it very like the other, and I brought away some square bricks, which had the same impressions as the first-mentioned ones. I remarked, upon this hill, a frag- ment of a thick w^all still standing on the summit, which, from the distance, looked like a large tower. A similar mass was lying overturned beside it, and the cement was so solid that it was quite impossible to detach one brick whole. Both masses seemed as if they had been vitrefied, which made me conclude that these ruins w^ere of the highest antiquity. Many people insist that this latter hill is the remains of the real Babylon, but I know not what they will make of the other, which is opposite and exactly like this one. The people of the country related to me a thousand foolish stories about these two mounds ; and the Jews call the latter the Prison of Nebuchadnezzar.” Niebuhr, w^ho visited the spot in 1765, seems to have had no doubt that Babylon once stood here, and mentions that it was still called Ard Babel, adding that hereabouts were evident traces of a once great city. On both sides the Euphrates, according to him, were mounds, or little hills, which were discovered to be full of bricks. Between 1780 and 1790, M. de Beauchamp, who resided some years at Baghdad as the Pope’s vicar-general, examined the ruins of Babylon, He says, that these ruins are in the territory of Hillah, eighteen leagues south-west of Baghdad, on the banks of the Euphrates, and that they consist chiefly of bricks scattered about, with one principal tower, which Europeans take to be the Tower of Babel. He states that they are very conspicuous from Hillah, about one league north of the town, and that there is one 172 ND^EVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. VII. of especial note, flat at the top, of irregular form, about thirty toises high, and much cut by furrows on the sides. The regular layers of bricks which are still visible prove that it is not a natural hill, but the work of man. Beyond this mound are immense masses of building, near the river, and a mound called the Tower of Babel, or more generally by the Arabs, Mujellibe, which means “overturned.” M. Beauchamp states, that he made a careful survey of the site, and drew up on the spot the memoir on Babylonian antiquities, which was read before the Academie des Belles Lettres, and printed in their Journal, December, 1790; and that the result of this examination is, that he had no doubt that the real site of the city is just above Hillah, and that Dr. Anville is wrong in supposing, that the Euphrates divided it into two portions. He says, that the Arabs told him that no bricks were ever found on the other side the river, though at a league’s distance from the river there are ruins on that side, which are called Brouss. He adds, that he was told on the spot that the ruins of Babylon extended three leagues to the north of Mohawill, and as far below Hillah. Some years later, another celebrated traveller, Olivier, visited the same localities, and speaks of the difficulty of finding the real ruins, the whole country having been dug over by the Arabs, in search of bricks, during more than twelve centuries ; from which bricks Cufa, Baghdad, Mesjid Ali, Mesjid Husein, Hillah, and other towns have been constructed. M. Beauchamp remarks on the peculiar facility, with which such buildings as those of Babylon would disappear when no longer kept up ; the bricks being only sun-baked would soon be destroyed, and leave few traces of their existence in the soil. He then mentions the supposed remains of the Temple of Belus, which he places at one league north of Hillah, like the previous travellers, and a quarter of a league from the eastern bank of the Euphrates ; and states, that it is chiefly from this ruin that the large bricks with inscriptions in unknown characters are obtained. He adds, that he sought in vain for any traces of the palace of the kings, and could not discover in any direction the ramparts or walls of a city. Mr. Rich started on his first visit to Babylon in December, 1811. He states, that soon after passing Mohawill, the whole country assumes the appearance of a morass, and that, although at that time dry, he was told that it was occasionally covered with water. Several great mounds appeared in sight, especially the CHAP. VII.] EICH. 173 grand mound commonly supposed to be the Tower of Belus. This is what is called by Beauchamp Makloube, but by the present inhabitants generally Mukelibe, or according to the vulgar Arab pronunciation, Mujelibe. From its great extent of base and per- fectly level outline, it appears its height is very deceiving. Great furrows are visible on its sides ; and its whole surface, which is of earth, is covered with broken pans and bricks, some of which have writing upon them. Several deep holes or caverns are visible on its sides near the top, and the angles present an appearance something like towers or bastions. After tracking a little way up the river, he landed, and rode along the river side through a village called Jumjuma, and on the opposite side of the river observed some artificial banks called Anana ; and, still further to the East, a great range of mounds, on which was a small mosque called Amran Ibn Ali. Mr. Bich purchased here a very curious black basaltic stone, covered with cuneiform characters, which is now in the British Museum. The mounds were composed of loose earth, in which the horse’s feet sunk sometimes knee deep ; and the surface, which exhibited a great deal of nitre, was covered with potsherds and pieces of brick. A little further on, Mr. Bich found evident vestiges of walls, composed of large bricks, which had all bitumen on the backs of them, and were placed on layers of mortar; but he observed no unburnt bricks or reeds. Mr. Bich found many inscribed bricks ; and it is his opinion, that the written bricks must have been laid with the faces outwards, as he never saw any with the smallest vestige of bitumen or cement of any kind on the side where the writing was. On the same mounds were deep ravines or hollow ways more than twenty feet deep. Mr. Bich then visited what is called the Kasr or Palace : on the north as he went along he observed an old tree of greater apparent girth than any that are now found in this country, and of which only the external surface remains upon one side. The people told him that they believed it had been there ever since the time of the ancient Babylon. It appeared to be a kind of Salix, of which there were a great many on the other side of the river. The sides of the Kasr remain quite perfect. It corresponds exactly with the four points of the compass, and is filled in the inside nearly up to the top ; around it are walls which appear as if they had been overthrown by an earthquake. There are 174 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VII. several hollows in it, called by the natives Serdaubs or cellars. One which the governor pointed out to him was partially explored by an English servant of Mr. Hich’s, who found it high enough for a man to stand up in it ; it was walled on each side, and the roof was covered by a large thick white stone of a soft nature, and some parts of the wall were cemented by bitumen. Having explored the Kasr, Mr. Rich next visited the Mujelibe, which is by far the greatest mound of them all, and stands detached. This mound nearly faces the four cardinal points, the west side being the most perfect : near the top there is a wall which runs all round it, interrupted only by deep ravines or furrows, some of which lead almost into the heart of the building. The whole of the buildings here are composed of unburnt bricks, which are mixed with reeds or straw, with a layer of reeds between each brick. The whole extent of the top consists of a confusion of similar mounds and heaps, in- tersected by furrows worn by the rains. The corners of the mound appear to have been crowned with turrets. The opposite side of the river is quite flat, without the smallest appearance of ruins. Musseib was visible in the horizon, as was the Towareij, a mound to the north-west, and Birs Nimrud to the south-west. At the foot of this mound between 70 and 100 yards from it, on the north and east, are vestiges of buildings. The mound itself is exactly 550 yards by measurement from the river; but many places were observed where the river had altered its original bed several hundred feet. On some subsequent days, Mr. Rich visited the ruins again, and found his first opinion of the way in which the bricks were laid was completely confirmed ; the face which had the inscription on it was always placed out- wards; the cement on the right hand or southern side was bitumen. He found the height of the north part of the Mujelibe was 132 feet to the top of the parapet, and that the S.E. angle was still higher. Mr. Rich made several excavations in different parts of the Kasr, but did not find any thing of value. There were, how- ever, abundant traces of the ruins having been used at different times for a burying ground, and there were many cells and narrow passages in different parts of them, the object and intention of wdiich was not determinable. The general con- clusion to which Mr. Rich came was, that, whatever was the form CHAP. VIL] RICH. 175 of the ancient Babylon, there was nothing now remaining from which you could infer that there had ever been a city on the west side of the river, — the whole of the banks for many miles being a perfectly level, unbroken plain. On the 9th of December, Mr. Eich made an expedition to the Birs Nimrud. He found vestiges of mounds all round it to a Birs Nimrud. considerable extent, and the country traversed by canals in every direction. The soil round it is sandy. Close to the Birs, or at about a hundred yards from it, and parallel with its southern front, is a high mound, almost equal in size to that of the Kasr. “ The Birs,” says he, “ is an enormous mound. At the north end it rises, and there is an immense brick wall thirty- seven feet high, and twenty-eight in breadth, upon it. This wall is not in the centre of the north summit of the mound, but appears to have formed the southern face of it. The other parts of the summit are covered by huge fragments of brickwork, tumbled confusedly together ; and, what is most extraordinary, is, that they are partly converted into a solid vitrefied mass. The layers ax’e in many parts perfectly distinguishable ; but the whole of these lumps seem to have undergone the action of fire. Several lumps of the same matter have rolled down, and remain partly on the side of the mound, and partly in the plain. The large wall on the southern face of the summit is built of burnt bricks, with writing on them, and so close together, that no cement is discoverable between the layers. Small square apertures are left, which go 176 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VII. quite through the building, and are arranged in a kind of quincunx form. Down the face of the wall the bricks have been separated, leaving a large crack. On the side towards the mound of Ibrahim Khalil, the mound slopes gradually down, and up nearly half its height is a flat road running round this part of it, twenty of my paces broad. From this, the mound slopes more gradually to the plain or valley between it and the mound of Ibrahim Khalil, and is worn into deep ravines or furrows, like the Mujelibe. On the other, or north face of this pile, it slopes down more abruptly at once into the plain, with only hollows or paths round it, the road before mentioned, which from that part appears to surround the building, losing itself before it reaches this. On the north-west face, where it also slopes down into the plain, are vestiges of building in the side, exactly similar in appearance and construc- tion to the wall on the top, with the holes or apertures which are mentioned in the description of that. At the foot of all, is, seem- ingly, a flat base of greater extent, but very little raised above the level of the plain. The whole sides of the mound are covered with pieces of brick, both burnt and unburnt, bitumen, pebbles, spar, black stone ; the same sand, or limestone, which covers the canal at the Kasr, and even fragments of white marble. No reeds were to be seen in any part of the^ building, though I saw one or two specimens of burnt bricks, which evidently had reeds in their composition, and some had the impression of reeds on their cement. I saw also several bricks which were thickly coated with bitumen on their lower face. In the lowest part of the mound, opposite Ibrahim Khalil, the mounds are most evidently composed of unburnt bricks, the layers being in great measure visible. This would lead one to suppose that it was not originally part of the great pile, were not specimens of this kind of bricks found in it also.” “ The circumference of the base — not the low one — is 762 yards. The whole height of it from this measured base to the summit of the tower or wall is 2S5 feet ; but there can be no doubt that it was much higher. The form is more oblong than square. I found the longest side to be 248 of my paces.” Fortunately for the preservation of the ruin, it is too far from the Euphrates for the Arabs to think it worth their while to excavate for bricks ; while they are so closely joined together, that it is impossible to procure them quite unbroken. Mr. Eich will not admit this tower to be that of Belus, because, according CHAP. VII.] RICH. 177 to his view, it is on the wrong side of the river. On Mr. Rich’s return, he found that his workmen had succeeded in excavating at the Kasr, a colossal lion, cut out of coarse grey granite. It was standing on a pedestal, but had evidently fallen from its original position. One of Mr. Rich’s companions remarked, that it was similar in workmanship to some which have been found at Shahpur in Persia, though never of so large a size. Mr. Rich himself afterwards concluded that this must be the idol mentioned by M. Beauchamp. Appended to this sketch of his journey, Mr. Rich has published a “ Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon,” which was, as we have already stated, first printed in the “Fundgruben des Orients,” at the request of M. Von Hammer, by whose sug- gestion it was drawn up. The Memoir is an enlarged account of what the reader will find in the briefer narrative of his visit. There are few facts mentioned in it which are not in the first ; and it is chiefly interesting as giving a more full discussion of the respective claims of the Birs Nimrud and the Mujelibe* to repre- sent the Temple of Belus or Tower of Babel. It is curious that, vast as the structure of the Birs Nimrud is, no previous travellers, except Pere Emanuel and Niebuhr appear to have noticed it at all ; the former speaks of it so carelessly, and with so scanty an observation, that for any purpose of identification he might as well have never seen it ; and the latter was prevented from taking that full and careful examination, which he would, without doubt, have otherwise given to it, by the disturbed state of the country, which interfered with his travelling. There is a remarkable resemblance between the Birs Nimrud and the Mujelibe in respect of size, the circumference of the former being about 2286 feet, and that of the latter 2111 feet. The esti- mate of the size of the tower of Belus from the ancient authors is 2000 feet. Mr. Rich argues in favour of the Mujelibe representing the ancient building, though he thinks the present elevation is hardly sufficient to represent the ancient work, as its present height is only 140 feet. As ruins, those of A1 Hymer and Akerkuf resemble it very much ; while we have every reason to believe that there never was a castle in Babylon except the forti- fied palace. The opinion of the modern Turks, who call it the Kalat, or citadel, is not worth noticing. Of the enclosure of two miles and a half, which once surrounded the temple and the tower. * MujeliMp properly MulcelibL N 178 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vn. and which was probably the boundary of the sanctuary, or holy ground, there are now no traces. With regard to the Birs, Mr. Rich admits that, previous to his visiting it, he had not the slightest idea of the possibility of its being the tower of Belus, and that when he did see it he could not help exclaiming, “ Had this been on the other side of the river, and nearer the great mass of ruins, no one could have doubted that it was the remains of the tower and he adds, that it is nowhere positively stated that the tower of Belus stood in the eastern quarter of Babylon. Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, and Curtius do not affirm this, though it is the commonly received opinion. Major Rennell has based his opinion on the words of Diodorus ; but Mr. Rich thinks a very strong objection against the Birs Nimrud is its distance from the extensive remains on the Eastern bank of the Euphrates, which, for its accommodation within the area of Babylon, would oblige us to extend the measurement of each side to nine miles, or to adopt a plan which would totally exclude the Mujelibe, and all the ruins above it, and most of those below it. Even, in the former case, the Mujelibe and the Birs would be at opposite extremities of the town, close to the wall; while we should rather expect that the tower of Belus occupied a central position. If, however, the Birs be the real representation of the temple of Belus, we must not leave out of view the smaller mound which lies close to it. Mr. Rich suggests an analogy between the greater and lesser mound at the Birs, and the system which prevailed in Egypt of placing a small and dependent temple by the side of the greater one. With regard to the much-mooted question as to the antiquity of the arch, there is at present no reason to suppose that the Babylonians were acquainted with its use : it has not been hitherto, found in any of the subterranean ruins, either at the Kasr or in the passages of the Mujelibe. The place of the column, too, seems to have been supplied by thick piers, buttresses, and pilasters. Strabo says, that, on account of the scarcity of proper timber, the wood work of the houses is made of the date-tree, and that round the posts they twist reeds, to which they apply a coat of paint. Major Rennell, in an able essay read before the Society of Antiquaries, suggests the strong probability that the Euphrates has changed its course, and that it once flowed through the present ruins, instead of passing to the westward of them; otherwise, CHAP. VIL] BIRS NIMRUD. 179 says he, “ the ancients who have left accounts of the arrange- ments and distribution of the principal structures in Babylon have only been amusing us with fairy tales!’’ He thinks, in common with Mr. Rich, that the Mujelibe appears still such a mass as the temple of Belus might have become in the process of years of continual ruin. Its loss of size may be easily accounted for, when we remember that it was a ruin even in the time of Alexander the Great. It must be borne in mind that Herodotus describes only one palace, Diodorus two ; that is, the principal one on one side of the river, and the lesser one on the other side, the two cctomunicating with each other by a bridge above, and by a tunnel under the river’s bed. Now, on the sup- position, that the river originally ran through the present ruins, the facts given by these ancient authors tally very well with modern observations, though the Kasr and the Mujelibe are not, strictly speaking, opposite one to the other. Diodorus places the temple in the centre, but is silent respecting the exact position of the palaces. He only says that the bridge was built over the narrowest part of the river, and that the palaces were at each end of it. Major Rennell rejects, altogether, the idea that the Birs Nimrud was the temple of Belus, and mainly on the same ground which Mr. Rich had already taken, that its distance was too great from the river and the rest of the ruins, to have been by any means included in the circuit of the ancient city. He seems also to think that it could not have been entirely an artificial work, but rather a tower on a natural conical hill, and that the cone itself is too solid to have been formed of sun-dried bricks. A short time subsequent to the publication of these remarks by Major Rennell, Mr. Rich was induced to write another memoir on the ruins of Babylon, in which he controverts many arguments which had been adduced by the geographer. In the first place, with regard to the change in the course of the river which Major Rennell has suggested, Mr. Rich states that there are mounds which interfere with any such presumed ancient course of the stream, while there are not the slightest traces on the spot of any such change. On further examination, Mr. Rich does not think that the Mujelibe will represent the tower of Belus, and that Major Rennell’s chief error is, that he has adopted that ruin as the centre to which everything else was, if possible, to be reduced ; nor does he think that the character of the Euphrates N 2 180 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VII. is the ordinary one of a river running through alluvial lands, and therefore constantly liable to change its bed. On the contrary, the lowness of the banks of the Euphrates affords a facility for its dis- charging its superabundant waters by means of the numerous canals with which the whole country is intersected. In its inun- dations, its waters constantly cover the whole country up to the walls of Baghdad. Still less does Mr. Kich admit another assump- tion of Major Rennell’s, that any of the mounds now visible at Babylon are referable to a date a little previous to the Muhammedan conquest. All the mounds are alike, and in their external contour, at least, belong, apparently, to the same^^ period ; while it is not likely that a second town should have been actually built upon the heaps of rubbish and ruins of the former city. In his further examination of the Birs Nimrud Mr. Rich modifies his previous opinion. He thinks that the remarkable correspondence between the ancient accounts of the Tower of Belus and the existing structure, must strike the most careless observer, and adds, that in his opinion, this ruin alone is of a nature to fix of itself the locality of Babylon, even to the exclusion of the ruins on the eastern side of the river; indeed, that if the ancients had actually assigned a position to the tower irreconcileable with the Birs, it would be more reasonable to suppose that some error had crept into their accounts, than to reject this the most remarkable of all the ruins. None of the ancients have fixed the spot where the tower of Belus stood, and if we receive the dimensions of Babylon assigned by the last of the ancient historians, both the Birs and the eastern ruins will fairly come within its limits, while, at the same time, against receiving such testimony we have only our own notions of probability. The whole height of the Birs Nimrud above the plain to the summit of the brick wall is 235 feet. The brick wall itself, which stands on the edge of the summit and was undoubtedly the face of another stage, is 37 feet high. In the side of the pile, a little below its summit, is very clearly to be seen part of another brick wall precisely resembling the fragment which crowns the summit, and still encasing and supporting its part of the mound. This is clearly indicative of another stage of greater extent. Without forming any conjecture, as to what might have been its original construction, the impression made by the sight of it is, that it was a solid pile, composed in the interior of unburnt CHAP. VII.] BIES NIMRUD. 181 brick and perhaps earth or rubbish ; that it was constructed in receding stages and faced with kiln burnt bricks having inscrip- tions on them, laid in a very thin layer of lime cement ; and that it was reduced by violence to its present ruinous condition. The upper stones have been forcibly broken down, and fire has been employed, as an implement of destruction, though it is not easy to say how or why. The facing of fine bricks has been partly removed and partly covered by the falling down of the mass which it supported and kept together. A still later traveller, Mr. Buckingham, is of opinion that the traces of four stages are clearly discernible. The tower of Belus is said to have been a stadium in height (in round numbers about 500 feet,) if, then, there were eight stages, which is Major Kennell’s opinion, we ought to find traces of four of them in the fragment which remains, and whose elevation is 235 feet. The Birs Nimrud is, apparently, as we have stated, the tower of Belus mentioned by Benjamin of Tudela, who, stating, that it was destroyed by fire from Heaven, had probably himself observed the vitrified masses at the summit. Niebuhr (as we have mentioned) was only able to take a very hasty view of it, but he gives the opinion that this ruin is the tower of Belus. As to Major Eenn ell’s doubt whether the ruin was artificial, Mr. Rich observes “ that so indisputably evident is the fact of the whole mass being from top to bottom artificial, that he should as soon have thought of writing a dissertation to prove that the Pyramids are the work of human hands as of dwelling upon this point.” “The Birs Nimrud,” he adds, “is, in all likelihood, at present, nearly in the state in w^hich Alexander saw it ; if we give any credit to the report that ten thousand men could only remove the rubbish preparatory to repairing it, in two months. If, indeed, it required one half of that number to disencumber it, the state of dilapidation must have been complete. The immense masses of vitrified brick which are seen on the top of the mount, appear to have marked its summit since the time of its destruction. The rubbish about its base was probably in much greater quanti-^ ties, the weather having dissipated much of it in the course of so many revolving ages : and possibly portions of the interior facing of fine brick may have disappeared at different periods.” In the end of the year 1818, the ruins were visited by Sir R. K. Porter, who was accompanied by Mr. Rich’s armed household, 182 NIITEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VII. and aided in his researches by Mr. Bellino, Mr. Rich’s oriental secretary. At a place now called Boursa Shishara, Sir R. Porter fancied that he recognised the Borsippa of the ancients — the place to which Alexander the Great retired when warned by the Soothsayer not to enter Babylon by its eastern side. Certainly its position would seem to suit very well for the purposes of identifi- cation : for we know that as Alexander was marching from Ecbatana to Babylon, he would, therefore, be on his way from the east, while the ancient authors are all agreed, that the place to which Alexander retired, was not far from the great city. Sir R. K. Porter first visited the Birs Nimrud. His remarks on it coincide in general very well with those of Mr. Rich in his second journey ; he states that the materials of the masonry are furnace burnt bricks of a much thinner fabric than most of those whicli are found east of the river, on the spot to which it has been usual to confine the remains of Babylon ; and he confirms the opinion of Mr. Rich, that the marks on the bricks, wherever they are found, are invariably on that side which faces downwards. Why they are so placed we may not be able to guess, but so it is in all the primitive remains of ancient Babylonia ; in the more modern structures of Baghdad, Hillah, and in the places erected out of their spoils, these inscribed bricks are placed without any regard to order or regularity. The brick- work of the Birs Nimrud is held together by very thin layers of fine lime not more than a quarter of an inch in thickness, and no bitumen is found there. The heat of the fire, which has consumed it, has been in many places so intense, that many of the parts exhibit the dark varie- gated hue which is found on the slag from glass manufactories, and many parts of the mass are so hardened, that when struck they ring like glass. Near the base of the monument, Sir R. K. Porter found that the bricks had been cemented by bitumen, and some of the cakes of this substance which he picked up, were more than ten inches long, and three in thickness. These were, per- haps, used for the casing of some work, perhaps the lining of a water course. The description which Herodotus has given of the temple of Belus, as he saw it about thirty years after its devastation by Xerxes, is very curious, and appears to be borne out by the observations of Mr. Rich and Sir R. K. Porter. “ A sacred enclosure,” says Herodotus, “ was dedicated to Jupiter Belus, CHAP. VII.] BIRS NIMRUD. 183 consisting of a regular square of two stadia (about 1000 feet) on each side, and adorned with gates of brass.” He adds, “that in the midst of this area rose a massive tower whose length and breadth (he does not notice its height) was one stadium : upon this tower rose another and another, until the whole had numbered eight. On the outside, steps were formed winding up each tower; and in the middle of every flight a resting place was provided with seats.” Strabo alone mentions its height, and says, as we have already stated, that it was one stadium in height. The great additional mound which Mr. Rich mentions as adjoining the Birs itself, though not touching it. Sir R. K. Porter thinks might perhaps have included and sustained the habitations of the chief ministers, sacerdotal or otherwise, required to officiate in the sacred rites or to take charge of the sacred property. From the elevation of the mound itself he traced without difficulty the lines of embankment, which had once compassed what he believes to have been the sacred area. Their extent agrees very nearly with that mentioned by Herodotus as enclosing the ground of the temple of Belus ; a quadrangular space measuring each way about 1000 feet. Extending his view beyond that boundary, to the south, all appeared flat, arid desert;* to the westward, the same trackless waste presented itself ; but, towards the north-east, very considerable marks of buried ruins were visible to a vast distance. Having visited the Birs Nimrud, Sir R. K. Porter then pro- ceeded to examine the ruins on the east bank of the river, com- monly called the ruins of Babylon. He thinks, with regard to the Mujelibe, that no one who had ever seen the Birs Nimrud would have supposed the Mujelibe to represent the town of Belus ; and, even from its present ruined and flat-topped state, he does not suppose that it could ever have been much higher. Its peculiar shape, points it out, he thinks, for a fortified citadel ; and, it may have been one of the two old fortresses, which, previous to the founding of Seleucia, resisted all the efforts of the besiegers under Demetrius Poliorcetes. Sir R. K. Porter, with Mr. Rich, discovers no traces of any change in the course of the Euphrates, and thinks that the space between the ruins, as they at present exist, could not admit so majestic a stream. The construction of the second mass of buildings, which is now called the Kasr, he considers to be different from that of the Birs Nimrud or Mujelibe ; in the quantity of bitumen, which was used as cement, 184 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VII. and in the arrangement of the courses of the bricks, the inscribed faces of which are, as Mr. Eich had already pointed out, in all cases turned downwards. Eeeds appear to have been spread or laid in regular matting upon the bitumen, and upon these reeds the inscribed faces of the succeeding course of bricks was laid. Hence the fresh appearance of the inscriptions on the surfaces, and the perfect state in which they are generally preserved. The description by Herodotus of the method used by the ancient Babylonians in their buildings tallies well with what has been observed of the ruins. He observes, that the bricks intended for the walls, were formed of the clay dug from the great ditch that surrounded them ; that they were baked in large furnaces, and in order to join them together in building, warm bitumen was used ; and, between each course of thirty bricks, beds of reeds were laid interwoven together. The bitumen is drawn from certain pits in the neighbourhood of Is, a town on the Euphrates. This town is now called Hit, and the bituminous pits still exist and are similarly used. Sir E. K. Porter thinks that the Kasr and the vast mounds adjoining it probably represent the substructure of the hanging gardens, and imagines that much of the brickwork w^hich he saw there, may have served for buttresses and supports to the greater mass above. It would seem, however, that this is a point which can only be determined (if then) by long and systematic excavations, and that at present we have hardly even conjectural evidence to determine such niceties. The extreme boundary of embankments to the east side was found still to extend as far as seven miles. Having explored the ruins of Babylon on the east side of the river, Sir E. K. Porter bearing in mind the assertion of Diodorus, that there were origi- nally two palaces, and also the notice in the diary of Aristobulus, which states, that Alexander, having been taken ill in the old palace on the west side, was removed to the new palace (of Nebu- chadnezzar) on the east side, where he died, resolved to sub- ject the western bank and the adjoining plain to a critical examination. For this purpose he left Hillah and rode three miles N W. along the west bank of the river to a little vil- lage called Anana. About fifty yards to the N.W. of this village, he found a rather considerable ridge of mounded earth, fourteen feet high, running due north for 300 yards, and then, forming a right angle, continued on, till it met the river. On the face of CHAP. VII.] KER PORTER’S SURVEY. 185 tliis ridge, terminating at the water side, the courses of sun-dried bricks are still distinctly visible, though the level of the land is now so equal with the river that no traces are visible of any corresponding embankment on the other side. Some trifling mounded hillocks may, however, be observed a little south of the village. After riding about a mile S.W. in the direction of the Birs Nimrud, Sir R. K. Porter found the vegetation suddenly cease, and the whole surface of the plain to bear evident marks of its having once been covered with buildings. These indi- cations continued to increase till, after another mile, he came to another and more conspicuous range of mounds, the most con- siderable of which was about thirty-five feet high. From the top of this, he observed that the face of the country for more than a mile either way bore the same hillocky appearance, besides being thickly scattered with those fragments of habitations, which in all the Babylonian ruins, so distinctly mark their character. “ Here,” says Sir R. K. Porter, “ I think it is possible that I may have found the site of the older or lesser palace ; which pro- bably was the temporary abode of Alexander during his inspection of his workmen, while clearing away the ruins of its fallen superstructures from the base of the Temple of Belus.” Here it was, that Alexander caught the fever, which terminated fatally in the more stately and later palace, which is ascribed to Nebuchadnezzar. Beyond this first and more important mass of mounds, which for distinction sake Sir R. K. Porter has termed the lesser palace, and in the same direction to the S.W., a tract of a mile extends covered with high weeds and rank grass, then again the plain becomes arid, and a multitude of mounds are discovered of inferior elevation, but covered with the usual exterior fragments of ruin and spreading in a circular direction for better than half a mile in width. Then follows a mile of cultivated land to the banks of a canal, the bed of which he crossed, and, after another half mile, appears an extensive wood of date-trees in which the village of Tahmassia is embosomed. For two miles, the trees and cultivation continue, and at the end of this, a vast tract opened before him covered with every minor vestige of former buildings, which appearance continued all the way to the Birs Nimrud, distant about one mile and three quarters. These remains seem 186 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. to. — » to establish the fact, that the plain west of the Euphrates sustained its portion of the ancient city of Babylon as well as the eastern bank, and that the Birs Nimrud did really stand in one quarter of the city. Sir B. K, Porter paid two visits to the Birs Nimrud, and, the second time he was there, encountered some objects which he had not expected. “ On this my second visit to Birs Nimrud,” says he, “ while passing rapidly over the last tracks of the ruin-spread ground, at some little distance from the outer bank of its quadrangular boundary, my party suddenly halted ; having descried several dark objects moving along the summit of the hill, which they construed into dismounted Arabs on the look out, while their armed brethren must be lying concealed under the southern brow of the mound. Thinking this very probable, I took out my glass to examine, and soon distinguished that the causes of our alarm were two or three majestic lions, taking air upon the heights of the pyramid. Perhaps I never had beheld so sublime a picture to the mind, as well as to the eye. These were a species of enemy which my party were accustomed to dread without any panic fear ; and while we continued to advance, though slowly, the hallooing of the people made the noble beasts gradually change their position, till in the course of twenty minutes they totally disappeared.” “ Wild beasts of the desert,” says Isaiah, speaking of the utter fall of Babylon, and the abandonment of the place, “ shall lie there; and the houses shall be full of doleful creatures; owls shall dwell there; and dragons shall cry in the pleasant places.” Two other very remarkable ruins still remain in the province of Babylonia, both of which are undoubtedly referrible to the period of the Assyrian monarchs, though it is not possible to fix their exact period in comparison with Babylon or the lately disin- terred remains of ancient Nineveh. These ruins are Akerkuf and A1 Hymer; both have been visited by many travellers. The first is mentioned by Purchas, in his Pilgrimage, as “ a ruinous slope of a shapelesse heape and building, in circuit less than a mile, about the height of the stonework of Paule’s steeple in London, the bricks being six inches thicke, eight broad, and a foot long, (as Master Allen measured,) with mats of canes laid betwixt them ; yet remaining as sound as if they had been laid within a yeere’s space.” Mr. Ives seems to have examined it AKERKUF. 187 CHAP, vn.] with more care, and to have taken measurements of its height, length, and diameter. He considers it to he the remains of the ancient Seleucia ; but it is evidently of a period long preceding the Greek conquest. Sir R. K. Porter, who, among others, visited it, has described it at great length, and given drawings of it. The modern name which it has received from the Arabs is Tel Nimrud, and from the Turks Nimroud Tepesse, both of which appellations mean the hill, and not the tower of Nimroud. It is distant about seven miles west of Baghdad. Its own name, Akerkuf, has no distinct meaning, but may, perhaps, be the real ancient name, just as Tadmor, changed to Palmyra during the classical times, has now resumed its earlier title. “ On arriving at the huge pyramidal mass,” says Sir R. K. Porter, “which appeared the centre of this tract, we found it standing upon a gently gradual elevation, ascending from the perfect level upwards of sixty yards. This apparently foundation hill, though in fact only a collection of rubbish round the pile itself, consists of loose sandy earth intermixed with fragments of burnt brick, pottery, and a kind of hard clay partially vitrified From the gentle elevation just described, rises an enormous solidly-built mass, covering it like a rock, and composed entirely of sun-dried brick. Its present irregular shape worn away by time and furrowed by the rain of ages, leaving no possibility of doing more than conjecturing its original form. Neither mounds nor any rubbish of ancient decay track its more distant vicinity in any direction except to the east, where, not many paces from the foot of the Tepesse, a couple of extensive and high heaps of ruins, composed of the same materials with those of their more gigantic neighbour, vary the perfect flat of the plain. The height of the Tepesse from the summit to the gradual slope, from which the more ponderous fabric shoots upwards, to the towering irregular top of the whole, may be about one hundred and twenty-five or thirty feet ; and its circumference at the bottom of this upper structure is three hundred feet ; which huge pile, at about ten feet in a perpendicular line from its base, measures one hundred feet in the breadth of its face. From its foundation, and the whole way up to its summit, the different layers of sun-dried brick or clay of which it is composed, may be traced with great precision. But the several courses vary so much in height that some are twelve, others eighteen or twenty feet ; 188 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VII. while every brick in each layer of the course is united to its neighbour by a thin lining of pure slime ; no other cement what- ever being visible, though each horizontal division, between these courses, is marked by a stratum of reeds similar to those which at present grow all over the marshy parts of the plain. They bed every fifth or sixth layer of bricks to a thickness of two inches, lying regularly one on the other, unmixed with any other sub- stance; and as the adjacent substance of the bricks gradually crumbled away, these strata project from the surface, and are very distinguishable at a considerable distance The whole of this curious pile appears to be solid, excepting where certain square perforations going directly through must intersect each other in the heart of the building, and were probably intended to pre- serve it from damp, by the constant succession of free air. There is also in the northern face, which is nearly perpendicular and at a considerable elevation from the base, an opening of an oval form, rather larger than a common-sized window ; but it does not pene- trate farther into the pile than six or eight feet.” There can be little doubt that this deserted and desolate structure, which now stands alone in the desert, was once part, perhaps the citadel, of a city, which has left no traces, except a few low mounds near it : its neighbourhood to Baghdad would fully account for the relics of brick and the mounds being so few ; for both, doubtless, have afforded abundant stores for the erection of the Arabian town. Immense pyramidal piles, like this of Akerkuf, seem the peculiar marks by which we may discover the sites, at least, of the earliest settlements of mankind ; but, to what different purposes they were severally applied must, with most of them, always remain a subject of pure conjecture. Sir B. K. Porter gives an animated description of the other great ruin which we have mentioned, A1 Hymer, which is about eight miles and a half to the east of Hillah and the Euphrates. After riding over a country, which is now a complete desert, intersected by beds of numerous deep and broad canals, he arrived within one mile of the ruins, and found the whole of the intervening space was covered with broken bricks, pottery, glass, and all the other usual relics of Babylonian ruins. When he reached the great mound itself, which had long been a conspicuous object above the horizon, he found that it was pyramidal, with numerous smaller dependencies. Its base was nearly circular, its CHAP. VII.] AL HYMER. 189 circumference two hundred and seventy-six yards, and its height about sixty. One third of its elevation consists of unburnt, the remainder of burnt brick. A large and solid mass of the latter surmounts the whole, standing clear from any of the loose rubbish which so abundantly encumbers its base. The whole of the mass of building, as it stands on its rounded foundation, presents four straight, but unequal and mutilated faces, looking towards the cardinal points. The southern measures thirty-nine feet, the northern thirty-seven, the eastern forty-eight, and the western fifty- one. Through them all, the usual air channels traverse one another. Sir E. K. Porter mentions that the courses of the bricks in this building differ from any that he had previously noticed, as a layer of clay seems to be their only cement ; though, at the unequal distances of four, five, six, and even seven bricks, a bright w^hite substance (proved subsequently, by chemical analysis, to consist chiefly of common earthy matter) appears in some places an inch thick, as if spread between them. The bricks themselves are larger in surface than those which have been found in other ruins, and one of them contained an inscription, in ten lines of cuneiform writing in an upright column, differing from any which had been met with before. This, in common with all the varieties found by him at Babylon and other ruins, has been published by Sir B. K. Porter, from a careful transcript prepared by M. Bellino, and collated from several specimens. From the mound of A1 Hymer numerous groups of other mounds were visible, scattered at inter- vals over the vast plain. One of them, which the travellers ascended, was not inferior in height to A1 Hymer itself. The distance of the great ruin from the Euphrates, being close upon eight miles, precludes it, in the opinion of Sir R. K. Porter, from having ever formed part of Babylon itself : while the observations made of the ground between the river and the Birs Nimrud, in the west, leads to the probability that the greater part of the town and the most ancient buildings were on that side, though the east side, in the Mujelibe, Kasr, and the hill of Amram, have preserved the most apparent relics of its former greatness. Mr. Buckingham had visited the ruins of A1 Hymer, in company with M. Bellino (who, however, owing to the intense heat at that time prevalent, did not go quite so far), a short time previous to Sir R. K. Porter. The description which he gives, the result of 190 NINEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. vn. a necessarily hasty observation, coincides in almost every particular with that of the later traveller. Mr. Buckingham, indeed, calls the ruin “ a pyramidal cone, the outline of which formed a nearly equilateral triangle ; ” but this slight discrepancy from the more minute results of Sir B. K. Porter’s investigation, and the result probably, of the very short time Mr. Buckingham was able to spend at the ruins, is not a matter of any importance CHl-P. VIII.] M. BOTTA. 191 CHAPTER VIII. M. Botta’s Discoveries at Khorsabad — Mr. Layard’s Discoveries at Nimroud — Koyunjik — Mr. Ross’s Discoveries — Kalah Sherghat — A1 Hathr — Mr. Ains- worth’s Account of a Visit to these Ruins — Rock Sculptures at Bavian — Malthaiyah — General Sketch of the Results of Mr. Layard’s Discoveries in the History, Arts, and Religion of Ancient Assyria. It was reserved, to the discoveries of the last ten years, to unfold and to make known the results of the most curious excavations which have ever yet been made, and to throw a light upon the ancient history of Assyria alike unexpected and improbable. These discoveries have been due mainly to the labours of two gentlemen : one, the French consul in Mosul, M. Botta ; and the other, an English traveller, Mr. Layard. To the untiring exer- tions, which have been made by these two gentlemen, under difficulties, arising often from want of adequate assistance, and, almost always, from the intense heat to which they were constantly exposed, and which would have deterred and checked the zeal of less enterprising men, the world owes almost all that it knows of the monumental history of ancient. Assyria. M. Botta left France to take the office of French consul at Mosul in the spring of 1843, and immediately determined to spend what time he might be able to spare from the more serious labours of the consulate, in investigating the great mounds which were on the Eastern and opposite side of the Tigris from Mosul, and which were traditionally supposed to contain the ruins of the ancient Nineveh. Several travellers had noticed, as Mr. Layard observes, the great mounds of earth opposite that modern town; and when the inhabitants pointed out the tomb of Jonah on the summit of one of them, it was of course natural to conclude at once that it marked the site of Nineveh. The existence of this tradition is, indeed, no proof that Jonah was really buried in what is now called the Nebbi Yumis, and while there is no passage in Scrip- ture which throws any light upon the fate of Jonah after the delivery of his famous sermon, it still seems very probable that there would be in the early times of the Christian Church, a Church or Convent at Nineveh, dedicated to that Prophet. The building 192 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vni. ■wliicli now stands upon the mound, and which is supposed to cover the tomb, is very much venerated, and Muhammedans alone are permitted to enter it. In the time of S. Jerome the Jews pointed out Gathhepher, in the tribe of Zabulon, as the traditional place of the burial of Jonah. Mr. Macdonald Kinneir imagined, that these mounds marked the site of one of Hadrian’s camps, which, however, a slight observation would have shown that they could not he. M. Botta’s first operations were confined to excavations in that part of the mound which approaches the river side, which had been supposed to be the ancient earth- work originally surrounding the city of Nineveh, hut which was more probably the ruins of one of the many palaces of the kings of Assyria. One objection to this place for commencing his excavations was that, as the mound was so near the town of Mosul, it was probable that even if it had contained sculptured stones, these would in process of time have been removed, and the ancient remains of the palace employed as a quarry to build the modem city. The result of these labours was the acquisition of a few bricks with cuneiform inscriptions upon them, and a few similar inscriptions on stone. While they were, however, in process, Mr. Layard wrote to M. Botta, and encouraged him to proceed notwithstanding the apparent paucity of results, and particularly called his atten- tion to the mound of Nimroud some miles further down the river, which, however, the French consul declined to investigate owing to its distance from Mosul and its inconvenient position. But, though he declined undertaking the more distant expedition, M. Botta determined to proceed with excavations nearer to Mosul, in the mound of Koyunjik ; and to him is due, as Mr. Layard has remarked, the honour of having found the first Assyrian monument. His perseverance was soon rewarded most remarkably. While he was still at work near Mosul, the peasants from the neighbourhood were constantly in the habit of bringing fragments of bricks and alabaster, when they perceived that every fragment which contained characters upon them was carefully put aside and preserved. One of them, on observing this to them strange proceeding, inquired why M. Botta so carefully preserved each fragment, and on hearing that he was in search of sculptures, the peasant advised him to try the mound on which his village was built, asserting that many such things had been discovered -CHAP. VIII.] KHORSABAD. 193 on digging the foundations of new houses. On further inquiry it was discovered that the village was named Khorsabad, and that it was situated on a little hill near the river Khauser, about five hours by caravan north east of Mosul. M. Botta statea that a little hill extended from east to west, and that at the east end it terminated in a cone, which the people said was a modern work, though he was led to suspect the accuracy of this statement. Its western extremity was divided into two smaller projections. It was on the most northern of these two that M. Botta commenced his excavations. His first operation was to sink a well into the mound ; at a small distance from the surface, they came upon the top of a wall, which, on digging deeper, they found to have been built of gypsum ; a wider trench was then formed and carried aloDg in the direction of the wall. M. Botta then discovered that they had entered a chamber, connected with others, and surrounded by slabs of gypsum covered with sculptured representations of battles, sieges, and similar events. M. Botta’s letters to M. Mohl, which were published by the care of this gentleman in the Journal Asiatique for 1843, give a minute description of the progress of his discoveries, which we need not follow, as such details would not prove generally interesting ; we shall, however, give a brief outline of the order of the discoveries, for which we are indebted to M. Botta’s own letters. The first connected subject, which he succeeded in disin- terring, was a scene representing an attack upon a fortress, containing several figures in bas-relief about three feet high, depicted with great spirit and in the most natural manner. The scene was surmounted with a line of cuneiform inscriptions, so much injured, however, that it was hardly possible to copy them. It was at first conjectured that there had been several other lines above the one which was found. This idea proved, subsequently, incorrect. Continuing his excavations to the southward, M. Botta found a slab containing five figures, one of them apparently winged, and soon after he met with some others which he con- sidered were probably captives, and connected with the attacking scene which he had first discovered. The galleries between the slabs were generally paved with flag stones, but in the narrow passage between the two walls, there was one large stone covered with inscriptions but so cracked that M. Botta had great difficulty in copying it. Almost all the slabs which he at first succeeded in o 194 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vin. bringing to light were imperfect, and had suffered more or less from fracture ; some of the figures had lost their heads, others were only half entire. On making a trench in another direction, however, he was more fortunate, and disinterred two colossal figures eight feet and a half high, and quite perfect except in the fissures which extended across them. Both these figures when first taken out of the earth bore traces of having been coloured in some parts of their dresses, and in their hair. M. Botta states that the con- struction of the monument was very simple and at the same time very durable. It was built on a floor formed simply of baked bricks, with inscriptions on them ; underneath this floor was a bed of sand, six inches thick, which was spread over a third floor of hricks strongly cemented together by bitumen. This system was repeated more than once. The walls are formed of large plates of gypsum-marble similar to that which is found near Mosul ; between the plates, on either side, is simply earth, so that the whole mass is clothed externally by sculptured slabs, while in the interior- there is nothing but a bank of argillaceous earth. There is no reason to suppose, that this earth is due to the decom- position of sun-baked bricks ; while, on the other hand, the work- men found lime mixed with it in some places to give it greater durability, just as is still done by the builders at Mosul. The pressure of this earth, from behind, had, in many instances, forced down the sculptured slabs from their original places, and the whole would have fallen, as fast as M. Botta continued to clear the chambers, had he not carefully propped up the walls, as he went on with his excavations. As might have been anticipated, the news of this curious dis- covery, communicated to the world by M. Botta’s first letter, bearing the date of April 5, 1843, produced a most lively sensa- tion of interest in France, and active steps were immediately taken by the Government to enable him to pursue his excavations on a larger scale. M. Duchatel, Minister of the Interior, forwarded money to him to enable him to procure a larger num- ber of workmen, and M. Villemain, Minister of Public Instruction, immediately sent out M. Flandin, who had distinguished himself as a draughtsman in Persia, to make careful copies of such monu- ments as were in too fragile a state to admit the hope that they could be successfully removed to Europe. M. Botta was thus in CHAP. VIII.] KHORSABAD. 195 the end enabled to carry out his plans with spirit and energy, and excellent designs were procured of the most shattered specimens. M. Botta, in the meanwhile, continued his exertions, and every day’s work rewarded him with some new discovery. He found a second and third passage, paved like the first one with large slabs covered with inscriptions, one of which, though cracked across, he procured entire, and found that it contained forty-six lines of inscription quite perfect, with the exception of a few individual characters. The characters in each appeared to have been covered with copper, or with what he calls a “ copper cement” which has coloured the whole stone green. On one of the side walls he found a horseman in has relief, too much injured to be removed, hut which had had its eyes painted in black with kohl, after the usual fashion of the East ; and, in some bas-reliefs, which he discovered subsequently, the animals and the men still bore traces of having been coloured. The next monument of importance which was discovered, was a bas-relief representing a chariot drawn by two horses and containing three persons. The chief of the party was a bearded man, with his right hand raised and a how in his left. Behind him, was an unbearded attendant, carrying a fringed parasol, and, on his right side, w^as a charioteer with the whip and reins. The whole was designed with great truth and spirit. The wheels of the chariot were formed with eight small spokes covered with ornament, with a curious bar, extending from the chariot and attached to it by a double band, and resting, at the further end, on the pole of the chariot. It is not easy to see what was its object, or of what material it was in the original; but M. Botta has supposed that it was a thin piece of metal, the object of which was to give greater solidity to the whole vehicle. Similar bas-reliefs to this one occurred, very frequently, upon the slabs subsequently discovered by Mr. Layard ; and we may infer, from the universality of their adoption, that they were the usual adjunct of the chariots of the ancient Assyrian chieftains. M. Botta considered that the horses exhibited the peculiarities of the pure Arab blood ; a very interesting fact, did it admit of proof. Their harness was richly decorated, and had once been painted ; two colours, however, only, have stood the test of time, the red and the blue ; but it is probable, that there had been others, which have become black from age. The blue is generally 196 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS, [chap. VIII. extremely bright. The heads of the horses are ornamented by a plume formed in the shape of three hoops, and their foreheads are covered with a thick bandeau ; on their necks, is a broad plate (probably of leather), painted blue, and attached to a broad band of red, which descends behind their heads. On their chests is an ornament formed of four plates, alternately red and blue, suspended to a red thong of leather, decorated with similar ornaments. The reins are attached to the bit by a single strap, but are divided into three separate thongs of red, one of which is fastened to the chariot itself. Behind the chariot was a horseman, with his sword at his girdle and his quiver over his shoulder ; his horse was ornamented in the same rich manner.* All the orna- ments which M. Botta discovered, had, or had had inscriptions upon the band, which surmounted them, but, in most cases, the writing had perished. The inscriptions are, indeed, as M. Botta has observed, liable to two principal causes of decay, according as they have been, ever since the time of the destruction of the edihce, covered completely with earth and debris, or as they have been ex- posed for centuries to the action of the weather. In the first case, the slabs are generally covered with calcareous granulations, which have in process of time completely filled up the inscriptions, and have rendered them illegible ; in the second instance, the surface of the slabs has been so corroded by the action of the elements that there remain scarcely any traces of the writing. Among the ruins were found considerable remains of copper, and great quantities of charcoal; from this M. Botta infers that, as there are no remains, which indicate the kind of roof which once covered the building, the edifice, whatever it was, has been destroyed by fire ; and, that the portions of copper are remains of the nails whereby a wooden roof had been held together. M. Botta continued his researches, till he was at length stopped by arriving at the houses of the village, which was built on the top of the little hilh The inhabitants demurred to his proceeding any further, and were not, at first, willing to sell the ground on which their habitations were built. After a while, however, this difficulty was overcome, and slab after slab appeared, to reward him for his exertions. One of the most curious, that he found, was a large piece of marble con- taining the representation of the assault of a fortress. The building is constructed with a fortified circuit, defended by towers^ * Botta, PI. xxvii. CHAP, vni.] KHORSABAD. 19T and has a fosse, or river, flowing at its base. Within this circuit stands a fortress, from the top of which there proceed three objects resembling the leaves that surround a pine-apple, and coloured a bright red ; probably to represent flames. At one end of the building are three warriors armed with pikes, ascending the towers by means of a ladder, with their shields held over their heads : other warriors appear to have already reached the top, while, in the intervals between the towers, others again are seen ascending. A similar scene appears to be taking place at the other end, and the ladder, which is placed against the outer tower, is still visible ; but the rest of the sculpture has been effaced. A man, pierced by an arrow, is falling from the summit at this end, while, in the centre of the building, there are other persons raising their hands to Heaven in token of despair. At the base of the outer circuit, on the edge of the fosse, or river, is a row of persons, who have been impaled by the victors. The building appears to have been built on the edge of a mountain, and bears traces of characters which probably described the scene of the assault. Over this bas-relief was another inscription, which M. Botta was able to copy. Behind this bas-relief is another one, containing the chariot with the king and his charioteer. It is urged towards the fortress at full speed, and the horses are trampling under their feet a warrior who is stretched upon the ground. Under this slab, also, there is an inscription, but it was so much injured, that only a small portion could be copied. Another slab, which was soon after discovered, has a character still more remarkable : it represents two conical mounds ; the one, on the right hand, covered with trees on its sides, and surmounted by a tower ; the other, exhibiting a row of similar trees about half way up its height : behind the second mound, is a row of tall towers. From the middle of the first hill, descended a series of curved lines, which terminated near the middle of the base of the second cone. M. Botta conjectures that the artist intended to represent by the two cones two moun- tains, and that the curved lines denote a stream of water which flowed from the middle of the first hill, and supplied the town beside the other mountain, which is marked by the towers seen behind it. M. Botta, in his letters, enters into considerable details on 198 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vni. the manner in which the building which contained these sculp- tures must have been built, and enquires into the probable use to which it had been applied. He remarks, that the stone of which it is composed, is in all cases what is called Mosul gypsum, and that the blocks are generally from ten to twelve square feet over, and about one foot in thickness. In no case do the slabs rest on any prepared substructure, either of bricks or of flags, but on the simple ground of the mountain. In many instances, they have been forced below their original level, but they always lean against the side of the excavated hill, and never against any previously prepared wall. He is led to conclude, from the narrow- ness of the passages between the lines of bas-reliefs, that the original structure was a crypt, which had been excavated under the surface of the mountain, and that its sides had been lined with bas-reliefs just as they have been subsequently discovered. The figures of the sculptures are generally in low relief ; not so spirited, indeed, as the workmanship of the Greeks, but much more so than that of the Egyptians. Though retaining much of the rigour of early design, they are extremely well drawn, the idea of motion is well conveyed, and the muscles are well developed. The hands and the feet are as carefully worked as the other portions of the sculpture. Further excavations left no doubt on the mind of M. Botta, that fire had been the cause of the destruc- tion of the monument. In the lower part of it, a great quantity of charcoal still remained, and even portions of burnt beams ; while, in many instances, the surface of the gypsum had been converted into lime, and was quite friable. Another evidence of fire appeared in the fact, that, on the floor of one of the chambers, several little balls of glazed earth were found, bearing on them rude impressions of the figure of a man stabbing a lion which was standing on its hind legs ; they had all been pierced like the Babylonian beads and cylinders ; and in one of the holes M. Botta found the remains of some half-burnt thread, suggesting the pro- bability that they had been suspended from some part of the slabs. Of the antiquity of what M. Botta had as yet discovered, he felt no doubt ; for though some portions of the dress and beard of the figures resemble what we know of the costume of the Sassanians, the inscriptions were always in the cuneiform character, and resembled those found previously in the excavations opposite to Mosul, just as the fragments of sculpture from Old CHAP, vm.] KHORSABAD. 199 Nineveh (Koyunjik) resemble those of KhorsabM. Almost all the mythological emblems were of a Babylonian character. No trace of iron was found, though there were innumerable remains of copper objects, whether nails, rings, or bands of that metal. The bricks were of the same material as those from Mosul, and had been cemented together by a similar bituminous substance. These facts prove, that this edifice must be of great antiquity; at the same time, it was also evident that it was not the oldest monument, for M. Botta discovered several stones, which must have been used in the construction of a still earlier one. Several slabs were found with inscriptions on their reversed sides, almost entirely ruined by the length of time they had been immured. The writing, however, appeared to be the same, as that of the better preserved inscriptions on the face of the slabs. Such had been M. Botta’s labours, and such their results up to the 2nd June, 1843, when he wrote his third letter to M. Mohl, giving the details from which we have condensed the previous account. Shortly after this period, he received intelli- gence that the French government were willing to second, as much as possible, his exertions ; and he continued his labours, in conse- quence, with redoubled energy. The climate, however, was too much for the strength of his constitution, and he was carried back in a delirious and, apparently, dying state to Mosul, on the second day, after one of his visits to the ruins. The intense summer heat had brought on an attack of a species of cholera, and he complains, in his fourth letter written from Mosul tow'ards the end of the month of July, that his workmen as well as himself had suffered from the badness of the air at Khorsabad, so that he had been repeatedly compelled to employ fresh gangs of men : he mentions that their chief, a man of peculiar intelligence and probity, was, at the time he wrote, dangerously ill. Owing to this, his work was interrupted for more than two months, and much that might have been preserved, at least by drawings, had M. Flandin arrived, perished irrecoverably. The walls of the buildings being no longer supported, fell in of themselves ; in some cases the peasants stole the beams he had used to prop up his tunnels, and the action of the sun soon reduced the surface to dust. M. Botta repeats his regret, that his ignorance of drawing did not enable him to preserve artistic re- presentations of what was thus lost. Yet those who have seen 200 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. the engravings in the French Asiatic Journal, which were made from his outlines before any artist had arrived from Europe, will bear willing testimony to the genius and perseverance which has in his case, and even still more remarkably in that of Mr. Layard, supplied the want of an artist’s education. If, indeed, every line has not been drawn with professional minuteness, there is enough to show great fidelity of intention and much accuracy of eye. Before, however, he was compelled to give up his labours owing to the heat, he succeeded in uncovering some more bas-reliefs of great beauty and excellence ; and, generally, he found, as might have been expected, that the further his excavations extended under the mountains, and away from the surface where he had first commenced, the better preserved were the slabs which he procured. His new discoveries proved to be a continuation of the battle-scene, which we have mentioned, before the walls of the captured fortress. The first chariot, which we have described, was followed by four others similar to it, turned towards the fortress, and drawn by two horses each, and containing four persons. The chief personage wears a pointed helmet, and is bending the bow ; by his side is the charioteer, and behind him two warriors, armed with darts and wearing bucklers. Under the feet of the horses there is always a fallen warrior, and above a wounded one, falling downwards head foremost. It is probable, that this may be nothing more than a defective perspective, and that the warrior, who seems to be falling, may really represent a dead man lying on the distant field of battle. On most of the bas-reliefs, the horses of the chariots are placing their fore-feet upon the crupper of a horse that has fallen, with another wounded and falling warrior on his back ; and, though each of the slabs so discovered represents the same scene, there is considerable variety in the execution and details of the work. There is a marked difference between the dresses of the victors and the vanquished. The latter are almost always clothed in a cloak, which looks as if it was made of feathers ; appended to it is, generally, another dress, perhaps the skin of some animal, represented by lozenge- work. M. Mohl, in a note to these letters, confirms this suppo- sition, and remarks that the wool on the sheep in the sculptures at Persepolis is denoted in a similar manner. Not long afterwards, M. Botta came upon a sculpture of a totally different kind, the remains of a gigantic human-headed bull. CHAP. VIII.] KHORSABAD. 201 In the position in which it was first discovered, it had the appear- ance of springing forth from the wall, and the lower part was still well preserved. The legs and feet were drawn truely to nature ; but the shoulders and chest were not only much decayed, but were also designed, M. Botta imagines, in a conventional manner. The occurrence of scales, regularly striated, gave indications of wings ; on the head was a well-dressed beard, and the dewlap was repre- sented by a series of horizontal striations. The head had fallen, or had been broken off, and was much defaced, but the face was evidently human. The entire figure must have been from fifteen to sixteen feet high, and was cut out of one solid block of gypsum. The discovery of this enormous block, naturally, led M. Botta to fresh speculations, as to the possible origin of the building in which it was found, and intention of the position in which it stood. It was quite clear that it could never have been conveyed into its present place through the narrow passages which he had previously thought might have served as a crypt ; but it might have been placed at one of the outward gateways, in which case the wall against which it stood must have been the outward one on that side of the building itself. This might, perhaps, account for the state of its preservation, and that of the other sculptures which were found near it; for this portion of the monument appears to have entirely escaped the fire, whereby other parts had been destroyed. On the other hand, some portions were found equally calcined where there were no remains of charcoal. About the same time, was found the symbolical figure of a winged man, with the head of a bird of prey, which we have already mentioned under the name of Nisroch, and of which we shall have to speak hereafter more fully, when we come to the labours of Mr. Layard. M. Botta states that the beak was rather longer than would be natural, that the hair has been carefully dressed, and that the head is surmounted by a crest, which descends in the form of a hoop upon the shoulders. The neck wears a necklace, the arms and wrists armlets and bracelets, the right hand is raised, and the left holds an object resembling a small basket. The figure is draped in a short and fringed tunic. At the conclusion of his fourth letter, M. Botta states that, thanks to the exertions of the French minister, who had sup- plied him with adequate funds, he would now be able to conduct his researches on a much larger scale ; that he had succeeded ^02 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vm. in buying out the inhabitants of the village, and in inducing them to take up their abodes in the plain, and to cede to him the whole of the mountain, which he had hitherto only partially inves- tigated ; and that his work would now only be delayed by the two hot months of August and September, when it would have been fatal to his workmen and to himself to have remained in the pes- tilential air of Khorsabad. M. Mohl adds in a note, that the public can form no adequate idea of the difficulties the consul had had to contend with from what he states in his published letters. Even from the first commencement of his diggings, the nature of the ground was such that he had been compelled to prop up each wall as he advanced ; these, owing to the long interruptions to which he had been exposed, from the ill will of the Pasha of Mosul, had, in many instances, as we have mentioned, been stolen by the people of the neighbourhood, and in consequence many of the slabs had fallen in, and had been destroyed. At other times, the cupidity of the Pasha prevented the continuance of the exca- vations, by refusing leave to the inhabitants of the village to sell their houses ; and by casting M. Botta’s workmen into prison, and subjecting them to torture till they should discover the treasures "which, according to his belief, the French consul had found ; and by writing to Constantinople that M. Botta, under pretence of finding ancient remains, was really digging foundations for the erection of a future fortress. On the 31st of October, 1843, M. Botta announces, in his fifth published letter, that he had been able to resume his excavations, and that he had discovered another bull similar to the first one, and separated from it by about seven feet, and that he had now no doubt that they were placed upon the outer wall and guarded one of the portals of the edifice. On this supposition, it will appear that their position must have been like those at the portals of Persepolis. Like the first, the second, too, was accompanied by the human winged figure with the bird’s head on the wall imme- diately adjoining. Another row of slabs was also discovered similar to those we have mentioned with this difference, however, that, in the first series, the figures are all moving towards the fortress, while, in the second, their course is in the opposite direc- tion ; the result was, that the other side of the figure was shown with a repetition of the same ornaments differently arranged. On one of them which was perfectly preserved, the chief person in the CHAP. VIII.] KHORSABAD. 203 chariot wears a Phrygian cap, and has a long sword suspended by a broad red sash ; he is bending a bow also painted red, the top of which terminates in a bird’s head. By his side is the charioteer, and behind him, probably, as on other slabs, two warriors, but their figures have been destroyed. M. Botta notices in these figures the peculiarity which we always find on the similar ones which Mr. Layard has discovered, in the way in which the chief is represented as drawing his bow. The posture, at first sight, appears false, for from the position in which the arrow and the string of the bow is placed, it would seem that they were drawing it from behind their backs. As however this repre- sentation is universal, and as there can be no good reason for supposing that the artists could not, had they wished it, have represented the action of the bowmen in their natural state, we must presume, that the representation was intentional, and has not arisen from any mistake. Perhaps, it was to avoid cutting the faces of their chieftains by the angular lines of the bow-string, that they adopted this peculiar and unnatural representation. Above these war scenes, there was another line of sculptures representing several persons seated upon chairs, perhaps, as M. Botta imagines, denoting some festival. Each of the seated figures has a table before him, and on one of them M. Botta thought he could discern traces of a table cloth. There are other figures standing near, who are either bringing the dishes, or standing by with the fan to fan the seated figures. From the direction, which the figures on the last slabs were taking, M. Botta suspected that he should find another representation of the attack of a fortress, and so indeed it proved. This new slab con- tained the outline of a mountain, on the top of which is placed the building which is besieged. Several warriors are visible in the act of scaling it, armed with bows and darts. In a triangular space underneath the mountain, apparently made by the meeting of two causeways cut on its side, a tree is growing, and behind it is a naked man, who is extended at full length, and appears to be either hiding himself br to be throwing himself into a river which washes the base of the mountain. On the sides of the causeways are two machines, which later discoveries have proved beyond a doubt, to be some - form of battering ram. M. Botta concludes his letter by some further speculations, as to the original construc- tion of the building, derived from his more perfect survey. He 204 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. says that the hulls are the only solid masses of gypsum which had been found, and the only ones which in consequence had been able to stand exposure to the weather. He thinks, that, as the slabs were not so high as to fill the entire height of each cham- ber, they must have been surmounted by several rows of bricks, of which a great number strewed the chambers and filled the narrow passages. These bricks had not the durability of those which formed the floors, and were without inscriptions. They were, however, in general painted ; one of their sides was white or yellow, and contained portions of regular ornaments ; which were completed on the remaining bricks which were in the same line. Occasionally, a few cuneiform characters occurred, painted in yellow, on a dull greenish back ground ; but the characters were never stamped upon them, or cut into them as in the marble slabs. The object of the monument was still involved in mystery. It could hardly have been a palace, as there was no trace of any means whereby light could have been admitted from the external sky, unless, indeed, there were apertures from above, of which it is im- possible to conjecture the character. M. Botta inclines, therefore, to think that it must have served for a tomb. Whatever it was, it is clear that it must have been constructed during the existence of a rich and powerful monarchy. In a subsequent report, which M. Botta sent to the Minister of the Interior, dated March 22, 1844, he gives some fuller details of his discoveries. On further opening the passage beyond the bulls, he found that the rest of their bodies was continued along the wall of the building in low relief ; and that the sculptor had given them the same peculiarity, which is observable at Persepolis, namely five legs. The effect of this was that, when viewed from the front, two legs only are seen, but, if from the sides, four. Under the belly of the bulls and between their legs were found inscriptions in the same character which is found on the other monuments. In the back ground, between the bull and the eagle-headed man, was found a small bronze lion about fifteen inches long. It was attached to the pavement by lead, which had been poured into a groove in the flag stone. On the back of the bronze lion was a ring, and, above it, let into the wall, was a similar one. M. Botta concludes from this that there had been anciently a chain which connected the two together. On continuing the excavations in the same direo CHAP. VIII.] MR. LAYARD.— NIMROUD. ^05 tion two well-preserved statues of eunuchs were discovered, in a state admitting of removal. One of them carried a richly adorned quiver slung over his right shoulder, and had a bow on his left, and in his right hand a species of mace. The other carried a fly-fan in one hand and a staff in the other. As the figures resemble some which had been observed, though in a less perfect state, on the other side of the chamber, M. Botta concluded that a similar piece or scene would be found on this side also. Such is an outline of the history of M. Botta’s interesting dis- coveries, as communicated by him, at the time, to the Asiatic Society at Paris. Since he wrote, all, which it has been possible to remove, have been conveyed to Paris, and form the most ancient, if not the most valuable, of the magnificent collections of antiqui- ties preserved in the Louvre. A noble work has been published at the expense of the French government, containing engravings of all the monuments which have reached France, and of many others which had been too much injured to admit of their removal from the place where they were discovered. We now take, next in order, the discoveries of Mr. Layard in the great mounds a few miles to the southward of the modern town of Mosul, which, from their greater antiquity and extent, are even more valuable than those of M. Botta. Previous, how- ever, to our following this traveller in his interesting researches, it will be well to quote at some length Mr. Layard’s own clear and graphic sketch of the state of the ruins of Assyria and Babylonia, previous to his arrival in the East. “ The ruins,” says he, “ of Assyria and Babylonia, chiefly huge mounds apparently of mere earth and rubbish, had long excited curiosity from their size and evident antiquity. They were the only remains of an unknown period ; a period antecedent to the Macedonian conquest. Conse- quently, they alone could be identified with Nineveh and Babylon, and could afford a clue to the site and nature of those cities. There is, at the same time, a vague mystery attaching to remains like these, which induces travellers to examine them with more than ordinary interest, and even with some degree of awe. A great vitrified mass of brick- work, surrounded by the accumulated rubbish of ages, was believed to represent the identical tower which called down the Divine vengeance, and was overthrown, according to universal tradition, by the fires of Heaven. The mystery and dread which attached to the place were kept up by exaggerated 206 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. Vllli accounts of wild beasts which haunted the subterraneous passages, and of the no less savage tribes who wandered among the ruins. Other mounds, in the vicinity, were identified with the hanging gardens and those marvellous structures which tradition has attri- buted to the two queens, Semiramis and Nitocris.” . . . The first to engage in a serious examination of the ruins, within the limits of ancient Assyria, was Mr. Rich, many years the Political Resident of the East India Company at Baghdad, a man whom enterprise, industry, extensive and various learning, and rare influence over the inhabitants of the country, acquired as much by character as by position, eminently qualified for the task. The remains near Hillah, in the immediate vicinity of Baghdad, first attracted his attention; and he commenced his labours by carefully examining the nature and the extent of the site they occupied, and by opening the trenches into the various mounds. The results of his examination and researches, with an able disser- tation on the topography of ancient Babylon, and the position of its different buildings, appeared at Vienna, in an oriental literary called the “ Mines de L ’Orient.” This memoir was translated and published in England, and was followed by a second memoir, called forth by some remarks by Major Rennell in the “ Archseologia.” The two have been recently re-published by his widow in a work containing a narrative of his journey to “Babylon.” . . . In the year 1820, Mr Rich, having been induced to travel in Kurdistan for the benefit of his health, returned to Baghdad by way of Mosul. “ Remaining some days in that city, his curiosity was naturally excited by the great mounds on the opposite bank of the river, and he entered upon an examination of them. He learnt from the inhabitants of Mosul, that, some time previous to his visit a sculpture, representing various forms of men and animals, had been dug up in the mound forming part of the great enclosure. This strange object had been the cause of general wonder, and the whole population had issued from the walls to gaze upon it. The Ulema having at length pronounced that these figures were the idols of the infidels, the Muhammedans, like obedient disciples, so completely destroyed them that Mr. Rich was unable to obtain even a fragment. His first step was to visit the village containing the tomb of Jonah, built upon the summit of one of the principal mounds. In the houses he met with a few stones bearing inscriptions, which had CHAP, vm.] NIMROUD. 207 probably been discovered in digging the foundations ; and under the mosque containing the tomb he was shown three very narrow and apparently ancient passages, one within the other, with several doors or apertures. He next examined the largest mound of the group, called Koyunjik by the Turks, and Armousheeah by the Arabs ; but he found among the rubbish only a few fragments of pottery, some bricks with cuneiform characters, and some remains of building in the ravines. He ascertained that the circumference of the mound was 7,690 feet, and on a subsequent occasion he made a careful survey of all the ruins, which is published in the collection of his journals edited by his widow. With the exception of a small stone chair, and a few remains of inscriptions, Mr. Eich obtained no other Assyrian relics from the ruins on the site of Nineveh ; and he left Mosul, little suspecting that in these mounds were buried the palaces of the Assyrian kings. As he floated down the Tigris to Baghdad, he landed at Nimroud, and examined the great mound. He was struck by its evident anti- quity; and learnt the tales of the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages connecting the ruins with Nimrod’s own city, and the better-authenticated tradition, that the ruins were those of A1 Athur, or Ashur, from which the whole country anciently derived its name ; and he procured a few specimens of bricks bearing cuneiform characters. The fragments collected by Mr. Eich were subsequently placed in the British Museum, and formed the principal, indeed, almost the only, collection of Assyrian antiqui- ties in Europe. A case scarcely three feet square enclosed all that remained, not only of the great city, Nineveh, but of Babylon itself ! ” Other museums in Europe contained a few gems and cylinders said to have come from the site of the ancient Babylon, but of Assyrian art nothing was known, not even by analogy. What might have been the architecture of these ancient people was a matter of pure speculation. A description of the Temple of Belus by Herodotus, led to an imaginary represent- ation of the Tower of Babel. Such was our acquaintance, four years ago, with Nineveh and Assyria — their history, their site, and their arts. Mr. Layard, then, describes his first visit to the ruins of Assyria. After giving a most vivid account of his tour, with one other friend, through Asia Minor, he arrived at Mosul, where he spent a few days in the spring of 1840. During a short stay in that m NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. viii. town they visited the great mins on the east hank of the river which have been generally believed to he the remains of Nineveh. They rode into the desert and explored the mound of Kalah Sherghat, a vast ruin on the Tigris, about fifty miles below its junction with the Zab. As they journeyed thither they rested for a night at the small Arab village of Hammam Ali, around which are still the vestiges of an ancient city. From the summit of an artificial eminence they looked down on a broad plain, separated from them by the river ; a line of lofty mounds hounded it to the east, and one of a pyramidal form rose high above the rest ; beyond it could faintly be traced the waters of the Zab. The position rendered its identification easy. This was perhaps the pyramid which Xenophon had described, and near which the Ten Thousand had encamped ; the ruins around it were those which the Greek general saw twenty-two centuries before, and which were even then the remains of an ancient city. Kalah Sherghat, like Nimroud, was an Assyrian ruin ; a vast shapeless mass now covered with grass, and scarcely showing any traces of ■work of man, except where the winter rains had formed ravines down its almost per- pendicular sides, and had thus laid open its contents. A few fragments of pottery and inscribed bricks served to prove, that it owed its construction to the people who had founded the city of which Nimroud is the remains. In the middle of April Mr. Layard left Mosul for Baghdad. “ As I descended the Tigris,” says he, “ in a raft, I again saw the ruins of Nimroud, and had a better opportunity of examining them. It was evening when we approached the spot. The spring rains had clothed the mound with the richest verdure, and the fertile meadows, which stretched around it, were covered with flowers of every hue. Amidst this luxuriant vegetation were partly concealed a few fragments of bricks, pottery and alabaster, upon which might be traced the well-defined wedges of the cuneiform character. Did not these remains mark the nature of the ruin, it might have been confounded with a natural eminence. A long line of consecutive narrow mounds, still retaining the appearance of walls or ramparts, stretched from its base, and formed a vast quadrangle. The river flowed at some distance from them ; its waters, swollen by the melting of the snows on the Armenian hills, were broken into a thousand foaming whirlpools by an artificial barrier built across the stream. On the CHAP. YTII.] NIMROUD. 209 eastern bank the soil had been washed away by the current, but a solid mass of masonry still withstood its impetuosity. The Arab who guided my small craft gave himself up to religious ejaculations, as we approached this formidable cataract, over which we w^ere carried with considerable violence. Once safelv through the danger, he explained to me, that this unusual change in the quiet face of the river was caused by a great dam, which had been built by Nimrod, and that, in the autumn before the winter rains, the large stones of which it was constructed, squared and united by clamps of iron, were frequently visible above the surface of the stream. It was, in fact, one of those monuments of a great people, to be found in all the rivers of Mesopotamia, which were undertaken to secure a constant supply of water to the innu- merable canals, spreading like net-work over the surrounding country, and which even in the days of Alexander were looked upon as the works of an ancient nation.” This dam is called by the Arabs of the present time, either Suk el Nimroud, from the tradition, or El Awayee from the noise made by the breaking of the water over the stones. Diodorus Siculus, speaking of the bridge which Semiramis built over the Euphrates, states that the stones were held together by iron clamps, the interstices of which were filled up with molten lead. Similar dams to this one arrested for a while the progress of the fleet of Alexander the Great, and he found that the inhabi- tants had interrupted the course of the Tigris, below the junction with it of the Choaspes, by large masses of stone, which he caused to be removed on his return from India. By Strabo they were believed to have been used to prevent the ascent of the river by hostile fleets, but it is more probable, as Mr. Layard has suggested, that they were used to keep up a constant supply of water in the dry months. Tavernier describes this particular work in his Travels (vol. i. p. 185). “ One day’s journey below Mosul,” says he, “ our bark struck against a dam across the Tigris from one side to the other. It is two hundred feet broad and forms a cascade twenty feet high, being consti'ucted of large stones which in the lapse of time have become as hard as a rock. The Arabians assert that Alexander the Great ordered it to be made to conduct the stream ; others maintain that Darius endeavoured by these means to prevent Alexander from penetrating by the river into his dominions.” 210 IN^INEYEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. viir. In the summer of 1842, Mr. Layard was again at Mosul, but, as he was then hastening to Constantinople, he had no time to make further researches ; he had not however forgotten his former view of Nimroud ; he spoke to several persons of the pro- priety of making excavations there, and especially to M. Coste, an architect who had been with the French embassy to Persia, and to M. Botta, whose first discoveries at Koyunjik, and subsequent more important ones at Khorsahad, we have already described, and which were communicated with a rare and praise-worthy libe- rality to Mr. Layard almost as fast as they were made. The success of M. Botta increased the anxiety of Mr. Layard, that the still greater mounds of Nimroud should be subjected to careful examination, but, for a long time, he received no encouragement from others. At last, in the autumn of 1845, Sir Stratford Canning mentioned to him his readiness to incur for a limited period, the expense of excavations in Assyria, in the hope, that should success attend the attempt, means would be found to carry them on afterwards on an adequate scale. “ I received,” says Mr. Layard, “ with joy the offer of commencing and carrying on these excavations. The means were now at my disposal to prose- cute a work which I had so long desired to undertake. The reader will not, I trust, he disinclined to join with me in feelings of gratitude towards one, who, whilst he has maintained so successfully the honour and interests of England by his high character and eminent abilities, has acquired for his country so many great monuments of ancient civilisation and art. It is to Sir Stratford Canning we are mainly indebted for the collection of Assyrian antiquities with which the British Museum will be enriched ; without his liberality and public spirit, the treasures of Nimroud would have been reserved for the enterprise of those, who have appreciated the value and importance of the discoveries at Khor- sabad.” The spirit and energy with which Sir Stratford Canning laboured, on another occasion, to overcome the obstinacy of the Ottoman government, and his success in procuring for this country the remains of the mausoleum at Halicarnassus, are generally well known and we hope duly appreciated. With these aids and backed by such authority, Mr. Layard left Constantinople, in the middle of October 1845, and, reaching Samsoun by steamer, gallopped from thence to Mosul in twelve days. On his arrival there, he found the government of the CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 211 district in the hands of Mohammed Pasha, commonly called Keritli Oglu, a man of harsh tyrannical nature, whose appear- ance, with one eye and one ear, and a figure short and fat, uncouth in gestures and harsh in voice, did not belie the character of his temper and conduct. At the mercy of a Pasha, whose agents were no less unscrupulous than himself, and with the certainty that the authorities and people of the town of Mosul would be, at all events at first, against him, Mr. Layard was compelled to act in secresy ; having procured, therefore, a few tools and a mason, and a considerable number of warlike implements, he left Mosul, under the pretence of hunting wild boars in the neighbouring country. Arriving at Nimroud at night, he found the Arab village in ruins and deserted, owing to the tyranny of the Mosul Pasha, but however met with an Arab whom he engaged in his service, and whose intimate acquaintance with the ruins would, he knew, be of value to him. The Arab proved zealous and trust-worthy, and soon procured several other men of his own and other tribes, who were willing for a small sum to work for Mr. Layard. Mr. Layard well describes the enthusiasm, which his actual arrival at Nimroud produced upon his mind. “ I had slept but little,” says he, “ during the night. The hovel in which we had taken shelter and its inmates did not invite slumber ; but such scenes and companions were not new to me : they could have been forgotten had my brain been less excited. Hopes long cherished were now to be realised or were to end in disappoint- ment. Visions of palaces under ground, of gigantic monsters of sculptures, figures and endless inscriptions, floated before me. After forming plan after plan for removing the earth and extri- cating these treasures, I fancied myself wandering in a maze of chambers, from which I could find no outlet. Then, again, all was reburied, and I was standing on the grass-covered mound. Exhausted, I was at length sinking into sleep, when hearing the voice of Awad (the Arab) I rose from my carpet and joined him out- side the hovel. . . . The lofty cone and broad mound of Nimroud broke like a distant mountain on the morning sky. But how changed was the scene since my former visit. The ruins were no longer clothed with verdure and many-coloured flowers ; no signs of habitation, not even the black tent of the Arab, was seen upon the plain. The eye wandered over a parched and barren waste, p 2 212 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. cross which occasionally swept the whirlwind, dragging with it a cloud of sand. About a mile from us was the small village of Nimroud, like Naifa, a heap of ruins.” The dry barren surface of the rock was, though unpicturesque, of use to him at that time, as it enabled him to examine the outside of the mounds far better than he could have done, had the surface been covered with the luxuriant vegetation of the Spring. He soon found fragments of pottery and bricks, and ere long, a portion of a bas-relief, which showed, like the gypsum at Khorsabad, the action of fire. Soon after, his Arab lighted upon the comer of a piece of alabaster, which was protruding from the soil. On digging down, the upper part of a large slab was uncovered, and soon after a second and a third rewarded his labours : in the course of the morning, no less than ten were exposed to view, the whole forming a square, with one stone missing at the N.W. corner. It was evident that the top of a chamber had been discovered, and that the gap was its entrance. As they dug down the face of the stones, they lighted on an inscription in the cuneiform character, and similar ones were met with in the centre of all the slabs, which were, with the exception of the writing, quite plain, but well preserved. Leaving a portion of his workmen to continue this excavation, Mr. Layard led the rest of his men to the S.W. side, on which side the mound was so steep, that less labour was thus required in removing the mound. They almost immediately came upon a wall bearing inscriptions in the same characters as those already described. But the slabs had evidently been exposed to intense heat, were cracked in every part, and having been reduced to lime, threatened to fall to pieces as soon as they were uncovered. Such was the result of the first day’s operations, and Mr. Layard had good reason to be satisfied with the result. It was evident, as he says, that buildings of considerable extent existed in the mound, and that, although some had been destroyed by fire, there was good reason to hope that others would be found, which had escaped the conflagration. As there were inscriptions, and as the fragment of a bas-relief had been found, it was natural to conclude that sculptures were still buried under the soil. On the following day, having increased the number of his workmen, the excavations were continued : part of the men being employed in emptying the chambers, which had been discovered on the previous day, and part in following the wall at the S.W. CHAP, vm.] NIMEOUD. 213 corner of the mound. Before evening, the work of the first party was completed, and a room was laid hare built of slabs about eight feet high, and varying from six to four feet in breadth, placed upright, and closely fitted together. On one of the slabs, which had fallen backwards from its place, was rudely engraven the name of a former Pasha ; and it appeared, upon inquiry, that, thirty years before, this portion of the mound had been uncovered, with the object of procuring stone to repair the tomb of Sultan Abdallah, but that the people had fortunately been unable to remove the stones. The bottom of the chamber was paved with smaller slabs than those employed in the construction of the walls. They were covered with inscriptions on both sides, and, on removing one of them, Mr. Layard discovered, that it had been placed on a layer of bitumen which must have been in a liquid state, for it retained with remarkable distinctness and accuracy an impression of the characters carved upon the stone. The inscriptions upon the face of the upright slabs were about twenty lines in length, and were all precisely similar. In the rubbish, near the bottom of the chamber, were found several ivory ornaments, upon which were traces of gilding ; among them, was the figure of a man in long robes, carrying in one hand the Egyptian Crux-Ansata, part of a crouching sphinx, and flowers, designed with equal elegance and skill. On continuing the excavation of the S.W. build- ing, the cause of the decay of its marbles was soon seen in a large quantity of charcoal, which was collected near their base. Further examination showed the points of juncture of numerous walls, jutting out from, or connected with the first which had been opened. In the meanwhile Mr. Layard was not idle ; and as there was a strong probability that other remains might exist in other places of the surrounding country, he inspected personally the ruins of Tel-Kkef, and ordered the mounds of Baasheikha, Baazani, Karamles, Karakush, Yara, and Jerraiah, to be opened. He did not, however, find anything to reward him for his troubles, except a portion of pottery. He resolved, therefore, to confine his attention to the excavations in Nimroud, and each day brought to light something new and curious. Among other slabs, one was found, which was reversed and covered with characters, exceeding in size any which had yet been discovered. On examining this inscription carefully, it was found to corres- pond with those of the chamber at the N.W. corner. “ I could 214 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vm. not,” says Mr. Layard, “ account for its strange position. The edges of this, as well as of all the other slabs hitherto discovered in the S.W. ruins, had been cut away, several letters of the inscriptions being destroyed, in order to make the stones fit into the wall. From these facts it was evident, that materials taken from another building had been used in the construction of the one we were now exploring ; but, as yet, it could not be ascer- tained, whether the face or the back of the slabs had been unco- vered. Neither the plan nor the nature of the edifice could be determined, until the heap of rubbish and earth under which it was buried had been removed. The excavations were now carried on but slowly. The soil, mixed with sun-dried and kiln-burnt bricks, pottery, and fragments of alabaster, offered considerable resistance to the tools of the workmen ; and, when loosened, had to be removed in baskets, and thrown over the edge of the mound. The Chaldaeans from the mountains, strong and hardy men, could alone wield the pick ; the Arabs were employed in carrying away the earth. The spade could not be used ; and there were no other means, than those I had adopted, to clear away the rubbish from the ruins. A person standing on the mound would see no remains of buildings, until he approached the edge of the trenches, into which the workmen descended by steps. Parts of the wall were now exposed to view ; but it was impossible to conjecture which course they took, or whether the slabs were facing the inside or formed the back of the chamber which had probably been discovered.” Shortly afterward, on the 28th of November, were found two bas-reliefs, the first which Mr. Layard had discovered in his excavations. The subject of the first was a battle-scene, con- sisting of two chariots, drawn by horses richly caparisoned, and each containing a group of three warriors. The principal person in both groups was beardless, and evidently an eunuch. The elegance and richness of the ornaments, and the faithful and deli- cate delineation of the limbs and muscles, were remarkable. In all respects, especially in costume, this sculpture appeared to Mr. Layard to differ from, and to surpass, those discovered by M. Botta at Khorsabad. In the character, too, which has been used in the inscription, a marked difference was observed between the two classes of legends. The slab had been much injured by fire, and it was impossible to remove it. The edges had, moreover, been cut away to the injury of some of the figures and the inscription ; CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 215 and, as the next slab was reversed, it was evident that both had been brought from another building. The lower bas-relief repre- sented a siege of a castle or walled city. To the left were two warriors, each holding a circular shield in one hand and a short sword in the other. A tunic, confined at the waist by a girdle, and ornamented with a fringe of tassels, descended to the knee ; a quiver was suspended at the back, and the left arm was passed through the bow, which was thus kept by the side ready for use. Both of these slabs, and another which was a corner-stone much injured, and the greater part of which was cut away to reduce it to convenient dimensions, are now engraven in the “ Monuments of Nineveh, pi. 28, 29, 39,” having been too much injured by the fire to be removed. Hitherto, the excavations had been made without much inter- ruption ; but now the authorities at Mosul began to interfere. The Cadi and the Mufti, probably at the suggestion of other envious persons, who did not venture to appear openly, made their representations to the Pasha, and a pretence was set up that the mounds of Nimroud had been used as graves for the True Believers ; and, in order to substantiate the charge, several men were employed to remove tombstones from the real grave- yards, and to plant them anew in the excavated mound. For a while Mr. Layard remonstrated in vain, and could only obtain a guard to protect the sculptures which had already been dis- covered. After some time he, however, went on quietly excavating from day to day, and reaped a rich reward from his continued labours. Near the Western edge of the mound he found several gigantic figures uninjured by fire. At the foot of the S.E. corner was found a crouching lion, rudely carved in basalt, which appeared to have fallen from above, and to have been exposed for centuries to the atmosphere. In the Centre of the mound a pair of gigantic winged bulls were uncovered, the head and half of the wings of which had been destroyed. Their length was fourteen feet, and their height must have been originally the same. On the backs of the slabs upon which these animals had been carved in high relief were inscriptions in large and well- cut characters. A pair of small winged lions, the heads and upper part destroyed, were also discovered. They appeared to form an entrance into a chamber, and were admirably designed, and very carefully executed. Finally, a bas-relief, representing a human figure, nine feet high, 216 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII; the right hand elevated, and carrying in the left a branch with three flowers resembling the poppy, was found on one of the walls. Mr. Layard now considered that the experiment had been fairly tested, whether or not there was a large quantity of sculpture concealed under the mound. He wrote, therefore, to Sir Stratford Canning, detailing the results at which he had arrived, and urging the necessity of an ample Firman, which would prevent any future interruptions from the inhabitants of the land. His plans were, however, in the meantime, considerably aided by a change which took place in the government of Mosul itself. The Porte, at length convinced of the tyranny of the old Pasha, had superseded him, and a young officer of the new school, named Ismail Pasha, who, while in command of the troops at Diarbekir, had obtained much reputation for justice among the Muhammedans, and for toleration among the Christians, arrived at Mosul, to hold the government till Hafiz Pasha, who had been appointed to succeed Keritli Oglu, should himself come. Mr. Layard took advantage of the change of affairs, and of the state of the country not admitting of further researches at that time, and proceeded to Baghdad, to visit Major Hawlinson, and to make arrangements for the removal of the sculptures at a future period. He left Mosul in company •with Mr. Hector, a gentleman of Baghdad, and reached that city on the 24th of December. In the beginning of January, 1846, Mr. Layard again returned to Mosul, and found that a most beneficial change had been the result of the arrival of the new Pasha. Keceived himself graciously by the governor, no opposition was made to the con- tinuance of his excavations, and he found that, during his absence at Baghdad, his own employes had not been idle, but had opened several trenches in the mound of Baasheikha, bringing to light fragments of sculpture and inscriptions, with pottery and inscribed bricks. At Karamles, a platform of brickwork had been uncovered, and the Assyrian origin of that ruin had been proved by the inscriptions on the bricks, which contained the name of the Khorsabad king. Up to the middle of January, 1846, the dis- coveries that had been made were, chiefly, in what Mr. Layard has called the S.W. palace, because it had been excavated on the S.W. corner of the great mound. These consisted of six slabs found upon one of the walls, two upon another one, and the entrance and part of a third wall In the Centre CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 2ir of the mound had been discovered the remains of two winged bulls, and in the N.W. palace one chamber, and the two small winged lions, which formed the entrance of a second one. The only- additional bas-reliefs were two, one of which was much injured and its subject unintelligible ; the other containing four figures carrying presents, or supplies for a banquet. The slab, on which these sculptures were found, had been reduced in size, to the injury of the sculptures, and had evidently belonged to some other building. The slabs, on either side of it, bore the usual inscription, but the whole had been so much injured by fire that they could not be moved. But, though assured of the good-will of the Pasha, Mr. Layard was still interrupted by the opposition of the Cadi, who persuaded the people that the excavations were made for the purpose of find- ing treasure, and, what was worse, that the inscriptions, which had been found, proved that the Franks had once held the country, and were about immediately to return to it, to the extermination of the True Believers. The Pasha candidly admitted that he did not share the fears of the Cadi and his people ; but, as he was new in office, and wished for awhile to dissemble, he induced Mr. Layard, as a personal favour, to abstain for the present from making any further excavations. Towards the middle of February, Mr. Layard began again, and pursued his digging, with few labourers and quietly, in order to avoid observation. A trench w^as dug at right angles to a wall, which had been previously cleared, and new sculptures were found undamaged by fire, but from long exposure to the atmos- phere, not worth removing. Mr. Layard found that three consecutive slabs were occupied by the same subject ; others were placed without regularity, and portions of a figure were wanting which should have been continued on the adjoining stone. It was evident, from the costume, the ornaments and the nature of the relief, that these sculptures did not belong either to the same building, or to the same period, as those previously discovered. They were in the style of Khorsabad, and in the inscriptions, particular forms in the characters, which are on the monuments from those ruins, occurred here also. Still, the slabs were not “ in situ ; ” they had been brought from some other place. Many more sculptures were found in a similar state of decay, and which had been intentionally defaced. Inscriptions were generally found running across the 218 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. viit. slabs, over the drapery, interrupted when a naked limb occurred, hut resumed beyond it. Such, indeed, was found to be usually the case when, as in the older palace, the inscriptions were engraven over a figure. The result of these experiments proved that the building, which had been explored, was not destroyed, as in the case of the former one, by fire, but had been exposed to gradual decay. As the ruins occurred on the edge of the mound, it was natural, that they should be more exposed than in any other situation, and that they should have, consequently, sustained more injury than other parts of the building. As there was a ravine running far into the mound, apparently formed by the winter rains, Mr. Layard determined to open a trench in the centre of it. This was one of the most fortunate determinations which he made, as it led directly to the discovery of the finest monuments, and enabled him to procure, what he had every reason to believe were the oldest remains. In two days after the workmen had commenced their work, they came upon the top of a slab which appeared to be well preserved, and to be still stand- ing in its original position. On the south side of the opening were two human figures, considerably above the natural size, sculptured in low relief, and exhibiting all the freshness of a recent work. In a few hours, the earth and rubbish were completely removed from the surface of the slab, no part of which had been injured. The ornaments delicately graven on the robes, the tassels and the fringes, the bracelets and armlets, the elaborate curls of the hair and beard, were all entire. The figures were back to back, and furnished with wings. They appeared to represent divinities presiding over the seasons, or over particular religious ceremonies. The one, whose face was turned to the East, carried a fallow deer on his right arm, and in his left hand a branch bearing five flowers. Around his temples was a fillet adorned in front with a rosette.* The other figure held a square vessel or basket in the left hand, and an object resembling a fir-cone in the right ; on his head was a rounded cap, at the base of which was a hornr. The garments of both, consisting of a stole falling from the shoulders to the ancles, and a short tunic underneath descending to the knee, were richly and tastefully decorated with embroideries and fringes, while the hair and beard were arranged with study and art. Although the relief was lower, yet the outline was perhaps more careful and * V. Mon. of Nineveh, pi. 35, Figure witJi fir-cone and "basket. Figure carrying Gazelle. CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 219 true, than that of the Assyrian sculptures of Khorsabad. The limbs were delineated with peculiar accuracy, and the muscles and bones, faithfully though somewhat too strongly, marked. Mr. Layard at once recognised from whence many of the sculptures had been taken, which had been employed in the ‘Construction of the building first opened ; and considered, that he had at length come upon the earliest palace of Nimroud. Shortly after this Mr. Layard discovered the eagle or hawk-headed figure, which, for reasons we have before stated, it has been agreed to call Nisroch, and which, as we have already mentioned, M. Botta found at Khorsabad. The two figures from Khorsabad and Nimroud, respectively, had a great general resemblance, and the points wherein they difiered were very slight. Mr. Layard thus describes the one he found : — “ A human body, clothed in robes similar to the winged men already described, was surmounted by the head of an eagle or of a vulture. The curved beak of con- siderable length was half open and displayed a narrow pointed tongue, which was still coloured with red, paint. On the shoulders fell the usual curled and bushy hair of the Assyrian images, and a comb of feathers rose on the top of the head. Two wings sprang from the back, and in either hand was the square vessel and fir-cone. On all these figures, paint could be faintly distinguished, particularly on the hair, beard, eyes and sandals. The slabs on which they were sculptured had sustained no injury.” But a yet more curious discovery was the almost immediate result of these labours : it is so admirably described by Mr. Layard, that we must again quote his own words. “ On the morning following these discoveries,” says he, “ I rode to the encampment of Sheikh Abd-al-rahman, and was returning to the mount, when I saw two Arabs of his tribe, urging their mares to the top of their speed. On approaching me they stopped. ‘ Hasten, 0 Bey,’ exclaimed one of them, ‘hasten to the diggers, for they have found Nimroud himself. Wallah ! it is wonderful but it is true ! we have seen him with our eyes. There is no God but God,’ and both joining in this pious exclamation, they gallopped off, without farther words, in the direction of their tents. On reaching the ruins, I descended into the new trench and found the workmen, who had already seen me as I approached, standing near a heap of baskets and cloaks. Whilst Awad 220 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vni. advanced, and asked a present to celebrate the occasion, the Arabs withdrew the screen they had hastily constructed, and dis- closed an enormous human head sculptured in full out of the alabaster of the country. They had uncovered the upper part of a figure, the remainder of which was still buried in the earth. I saw, at once, that the head must belong to a winged lion or bull, similar to those at Khorsabad and Persepolis. It was in admirable preservation. The expression was calm yet majestic and the outline of the features showed a freedom and knowledge of art scarcely to be looked for in the works of so remote a period. The cap had three horns, and, unlike that of the human- headed bulls hitherto found in Assyria, was rounded and without ornament at the top.” The surprise of the Arabs may he easily conceived ; one of them a workman, on catching the first glimpse of the monster had thrown down his basket and had run off tow^ards Mosul as fast as his legs could carry him, and, when the Sheikh himself had been with some difficulty prevailed on to descend into the trench, he exclaimed, “ This is not the work of men’s hands, but of those infidel giants of whom the Prophet, peace be with him ! has said that they were higher than the tallest date- tree. This is one of the idols which Noah, peace be with him ! cursed before the Flood ! ” a judgment in which the bystanders concurred. Nor was Mr. Layard unmindful of the means whereby the hearts of a rude people are won and kept : considering with justice, that this day’s work was the best which had yet been done, he ordered that the day’s discovery should be celebrated by a slaughter o^ sheep, of which all the Arabs in the neighbourhood partook, and understanding that there were some wandering musicians at Selamiyah, he sent for them, and kept up the dance during a great part of the night. Towards the end of March, a pair of winged human-headed lions were discovered in the finest style of Assyrian workmanship, and fortunately quite uninjured. They were about twelve feet in height and length, the body and limbs admirably pourtrayed, and the muscles and bones, though strongly developed, yet, at the same time, showing a correct knowledge of the anatomy of the animal. These sculptures, forming an entrance, were partly in full and partly in relief. The head and fore-part facing the chamber were in full, but only one side of the rest of the slab was CHAP. VITI.] NIMROUD. 221 sculptured, the back being placed against the wall of sun-dried bricks. That the spectator might have both a perfect front and side view of the figures, they were furnished with five legs : two were carved on the end of the slab to face the chamber, and three on the side. We have, already, noticed the same practice in M. Botta’s discoveries at Khorsabad. “ I used,” says Mr. Layard, “ to contemplate for hours these mysterious emblems, and to muse over their intent and history. What more noble forms could have ushered the people into the Temple of their Gods ? What more sublime images could have been borrowed from nature, by men who sought, unaided by the light of Eevealed Religion, to embody their conception of the wisdom, power, and ubiquity of a Supreme Being ? They could find no better type of intellect and knowledge, than the head of the man ; of strength, than the body of the lion ; of ubiquity, than the wings of the bird. The winged human- headed lions were not idle creations, the offspring of mere fancy ; their meaning was written upon them. They had awed and in- structed races which had flourished 3000 years ago. Through the portals, which they guarded, kings, priests, and warriors had borne sacrifices to their altars, long before the Wisdom of the East had penetrated to Greece, and had furnished its Mythology with symbols long recognised by the Assyrian votaries. They may have been buried, and their existence may have been unknown, before the foundation of the Eternal City. For twenty-five centuries they had been hidden from the eye of man, and they now stood forth once more in their ancient majesty. But how changed was the scene around them ! The luxury and civilisation of a mighty nation had given place to the wretchedness and ignorance of a few half- barbarous tribes ; the wealth of temples and the riches of great cities had been succeeded by ruins and shapeless heaps of earth. Above the spacious hall in which they stood, the plough had passed and the corn now waved. Egypt had monuments no less ancient and no less wonderful, but they have stood forth for ages to testify her early power and renown, while those before me had, but now, appeared to bear witness, in the words of the Prophet, that once ‘ The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and with a shadowing shroud of an high stature ; and his top was among the thick boughs. . . . His height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied and his branches became long, because of 222 KINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap, viir^ the multitude of the waters which he shot forth. All the fowls of Pleaven made nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations for now is ‘Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness, and flocks lie down in the midst of her ; all the beasts of the nations, both the cormorant and the bittern, lodge in the upper lintels of it ; their voice sings in the windows ; and desolation is in the thresholds.’ ” Such is Mr. Layard’s graphic account of the monuments, which he had the good fortune and the perseverance to bring to light, and such is a fair specimen of the fascinating style and power of description that has given a peculiar interest to a narrative, which, in other hands, might have been dry and uninteresting. If we do not quote more from other parts of his travels, wherein he visited tribes but little known in Europe, as the Nestorian Christians in the mountains of Kurdistan and the Yezidis, it is that such travels, though forming by no means the least valuable portion of his two instructive volumes, and such descrip- tions, however entertaining, do not bear, directly, on the subject matter of this volume ; while, at the same time, we have a great dislike to play the part of some reviewers, who, by extracting the cream of an author’s writings, not unfrequently diminish the real value of the work they are criticising, under the apparently legitimate pretence of giving their readers an idea of the contents of the volumes they are reviewing. In the course, however, of one of his expeditions with the Arabs who had settled near him, Mr. Layard paid a visit to another very remarkable monument of the early inhabitants of the country ; a long tunnel bored through the rock and opening by two arched outlets upon the river. The Arabs call it “ Negoub” or the hole. It is of considerable length, and is continued for about a mile by a deep channel, also cut out of the rock, but open at the top. Mr. Layard at once conjectured, that it was an Assyrian work, and, on examining its interior, he discovered a slab with cuneiform characters, which had fallen from a platform and had been wedged into a crevice of the rock. He succeeded in ascer- taining, that an inscription was also cut on the back of the tablet. His intention was to have removed the stone carefully, but, in the interval, some other persons sent a party of workmen who, finding the slab difficult of removal, wantonly destroyed it. It is a matter of CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 223 deep regret, that the jealousy and competition of rivals should have led them to commit an outrage at once so foolish and paltry, as, from the fragment which Mr. Layard caught sight of, he was able to perceive, that the slab contained an important and genealogical list of kings. The tunnel was probably undertaken during the reign of an Assyrian king of the Second Dynasty, who may have raised the tablet to commemorate this event. The use of the tunnel was more uncertain. It may have been to lead the waters of the Zab into the surrounding country, for the purposes of irri- gation ; or, it may have been the termination of a great canal, which may still be traced by a double range of lofty mounds near the ruins of Nimroud, and which may have united the Tigris with the neighbouring river, and thus have fertilised a large tract of land. In either case, the level of the two rivers as well as the face of the country must have changed considerably, since the period of its construction. At present, the Negoub is above the Zab, except at the time of the highest flood in the spring, and, then, water is only found in the mouth of the tunnel, all other parts having been much choked up with rubbish and river deposits. After a few days’ absence, Mr. Layard returned to Nimroud, and, shortly after, several new objects of interest were discovered. Among other things, behind the fallen lion were many ornaments in copper, two small ducks in baked clay, and tablets in alabaster inscribed on both sides. Among the copper objects were the head of a ram or bull, which may, perhaps, have served for the ter- mination of a chariot pole, or formed some part of a throne, and several hands, the fingers closed and slightly bent, and a few flowers.'!^ The next sculpture of importance, which was found was a winged human-headed bull of yellow limestone, which had fallen against the opposite sculpture and had been much broken in the fall ; under the body were sixteen copper lions admirably designed and forming a regular series, diminishing in size from the largest, which w^as about a foot in length, to the smallest which scarcely exceeded an inch. They resembled those dis- covered by M. Botta, and, like them, they had rings in the backs, and have been, probably, used as weights. Beyond the bull, the sculptures were entire and uninjured. One of them repre- sented a castle on an island in a river or morass : one tower was defended by an armed man, two others were occupied by females. ♦ Monuments of Nineveh, PI. 5, 96, 97 224 NINEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. Three warriors, probably escaping from the enemy, were swimming across the stream ; two of them, on inflated skins, in the mode Siege of a City. practised now, as in the days of Xenophon, by the Arabs inhabiting the banks of the rivers of Mesopotamia and Assyria. The third, pierced by arrows discharged from the bows of two high-capped warriors kneeling on the shore, was struggling without the support of a skin against the current. Three rudely designed trees com- pleted the back ground. On another slab was the Siege of a City with the battering ram and moveable tower. On the third and fourth slabs were two Hunting Scenes, the one of a Lion, and the Lion Hunt. other of a Bull. Mr. Layard considers the lion hunt, from the knowledge of art displayed in the treatment and composition, the correct and effective delineation of the men and the animals, the CHAP, vm.] NIMROUD. 225 spirit of the grouping and its extraordinary preservation, is pro- bably the finest specimen of Assyrian art in existence. Shortly after this, arrived the Firman, for which Mr. Layard had long Bull Hunt waited, giving him the fullest powers to make whatever excava- tions he might think fit. “I was sleeping,” says he, “in the tent of Sheikh Abd-ur-rahman, who had invited me to hunt gazelles with him before dawn on the following morning, when an Arab awoke me. He was the bearer of letters from Mosul, and I read, by the light of a small camel-dung fire, the document which secured to the British nation the records of Nineveh, and a collection of the earliest monuments of Assyrian art.” Mr. Layard was now enabled to carry on his works with greater spirit and effect, and a chamber w^as laid open, through its whole extent, 154 feet in length by 33 in breadth, and containing a large number of slabs. At one end was a slab 14 feet in length, on which were four figures. Two kings stood facing one another, but separated by a symbolical tree, above which was the emblem of the Supreme Deity, a human figure, with the wings and tail of a bird, enclosed in a circle, and holding a ring in one hand, resembling the image so frequently occurring in the early sculp- tures of Persia, and commonly called the “ Feroher,” of which we have already spoken at some length in our account of the worship established by Zoroaster. The resemblance of this figure to the Persian symbol is very remarkable. Subsequent excavations disclosed a large slab of alabaster 10 feet by 8, and about 2 feet thick, which was cut at the western end into steps. It appeared to be a raised place for a throne, Q 226 NIVEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vin. or an altar on which sacrifices might be made. The latter conjec- ture was strengthened by the discovery of a conduit for water or some other fluid, which was carried round the sculpture, and covered on both sides with inscriptions. On raising the slab, Mr. Layard found under it some fragments of gold leaf and bones. “ The Arabs,” says Mr. Layard, “ marvelled at these strange figures. As each head was uncovered, they showed their amaze- ment by extravagant gestures, or by exclamations of surprise. If it was a bearded man, they concluded at once that it was an idol or a Jin, and cursed and spat upon it. If an eunuch, they declared that it was the likeness of a beautiful female, and kissed and patted the cheek. They soon felt as much interest as I did in the objects discovered, and worked with renewed ardour when their curiosity was excited by the appearance of a fresh sculpture. On such occasions, they would strip themselves almost naked, throw the kerchief from their heads, and letting their matted hair stream in the wind, rush like madmen into the trenches, to carry off the baskets of earth, shouting at the same time the war cry of the tribe.” Several more slabs were, from day to day, laid open to view, and Mr. Layard had the satisfaction of finding that, though in some cases cracked across, the sculptures had not suffered from fire or wanton injury : generally, they appeared as fresh as if they had but just issued from the hands of the sculptor. The accumu- lation of earth and rubbish above this part of the ruins was very considerable, and, it is probable, that it is due to this, chiefly, that the sculptures had been so completely guarded from injury. The summer heats were now coming on, and Mr. Layard found his health failing under the combined influence of a tropical sun and the extraordinary mental and bodily labour he had undergone In the trenches, where he daily passed many hours, the thermometer ranged from 112° to 115° in the shade, and on one or two occa- sions reached even 117°. In such a temperature, the labour of superintending the excavations, drawing the sculptures, and copying the inscriptions, was such as no European could long endure. He determined, therefore, to take refuge for awhile in the serdaubs or cellars of Mosul, which, for a time, enabled him to face the climate. In the end, however, he found even this comparative repose insufficient, and he determined for awhile to renounce his excavations, and to make a tour in the CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 227 mountain district of Kurdistan, returning in September to continue bis labours. It falls not within our province to follow him in this, perhaps the most entertaining portion to the general reader, of his two volumes ; we have already noticed some of his views relative to the Chaldacan Christians, who still inhabit those fast- nesses, and have mentioned at some length some of the most interesting subjects of inquiry, to which he refers in his mountain journey. Before, however, Mr. Layard left Nimroud for this excursion, he made arrangements for the removal of several of the monuments which had been discovered, and prepared for their long, and we rejoice to say, ultimately, successful voyage to England ; and he had an opportunity of exhibiting the ruins to the wondering eyes of Tahyar Pasha, the new ruler of Mosul, and his court, who paid him a visit, and were entertained by him for three days in the vicinity of the excavations. The account which he gives of the visit is too entertaining to be omitted. “ While I was moving these sculptures,” says he, “ Tahyar Pasha visited me. He was accompanied, for his better security, by a large body of regular and irregular troops, and three guns. His Diwan-efiendesi (seal-bearer), and all the dignitaries of his household, were also with him. I entertained this large com- pany for two days. The Pasha’s tents were pitched on an island in the river, near my shed. He visited the ruins, and expressed no less wonder at the sculptures than the Arabs ; nor were his conjectures as to their origin, and the nature of the subjects repre- sented, much more rational than those of the sons of the desert. The gigantic human-headed lions terrified as well as amazed his Osmanli followers. ‘ La Illahi il Allah (there is no god but God),’ was echoed from all sides. ‘ These are the idols of the Infidels,’ said one more knowing than the rest. ‘ I saw many such when I was in Italia with Reshid Pasha, the ambassador. Wallah ! they have them in all the churches, and the papas (priests) kneel and burn candles before them.’ ‘ No, my lamb,’ exclaimed a more aged and experienced Turk ; ‘ I have seen the images of the infi- dels in the churches of Beyoglu : they are dressed in many colours, and, although some of them have wings, none have a dog’s body and a tail. These are the works of the Jins, whom the holy Solomon, peace be unto him ! reduced to obedience, and impri- soned under his seal.’ ‘ I have seen something like them in your barbers’ and apothecaries’ shops,’ said I, alluding to the well- Q 2 228 NINEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. known figure, half woman half lion, which is met with so fre- quently in the bazaars at Constantinople. ‘ Istafer Allah ! ’ (God forbid), piously ejaculated the Pasha. ‘ That is the sacred emblem of which True Believers speak with reverence, and not the handi- work of infidels.’ ‘ There is no infidel living,’ exclaimed the engineer, who was looked up to as an authority on these subjects, ‘ either in Frangistan or Yenghi Dunia (America) who could make anything like that. They are the work of the Majus (Magi), and are to be sent to England to form the gateway of the palace of the queen.’ ‘ May God curse all infidels and their works !’ observed the Cadi’s deputy, who accompanied the Pasha. ‘ VV^hat comes of their hands is of Satan. It has pleased the Almighty to let them be more powerful and ingenious than the True Believers in this world, that their punishment and the reward of the faithful may be greater in the next.’ ” On his return to Mosul, after his tour among the Chaldaeans, Mr. Layard found letters from England, announcing that Sir Stratford Canning had presented to the nation the sculptures which had hitherto been excavated at his expense, and that the British Museum had received a small grant of money for the continuation of the researches commenced at Nimroud. The sum voted was small, and unworthy of the nation, which ought to have been but too ready to support the exertions of a traveller so accom- plished as Mr. Layard ; and the generous liberality of the French government in the remuneration of M. Botta, for his diligence in securing for France the sculptures at Khorsabad, and the zeal, with which the literary men of that country joined together to urge on the government the necessity of active measures to remove the precious relics ere weather or accident should have injured them, contrasts ill .with the niggard hand, whereby money was wrung from the public purse in England for what well deserved to he esteemed a great national work. For the expenses of continuing the excavations alone at Khorsabad, the French government voted a sum, which con- siderably exceeded the whole grant to the Museum, which was to include private expenses, those of carriage, and the many extraordinary outlays incident to the East, when works of this nature are to be carried on. To preserve the memory of such monuments as the hand of time had too hardly dealt with, and whose shattered remains it was hopeless to think of transporting CHAP, VIII.] NIMROUD. 229 to Europe, an artist who had distinguished himself by his skill in similar drawings, and whose constitution had been tried under the sun of Persia was sent out by the French Government, and was a most able and zealous assistant to M. Botta. When the sculptures from Khorsabad had been packed and floated down in safety to Busrah, the spirit of France did not think a frigate was ill employed, as a ship of burthen for those glorious remains, nor did the French Navy deem themselves dishonoured, as some of our Captains ventured to think, when, on a former occasion, a man-of-war was employed to bring the Xanthian marbles to England. When, at length, the sculptures reached Europe, the munificence of the French government decreed their publication and description in a volume which has been seldom surpassed, whether for the excellence of the designs it contains, or for the cost at which it was published. What did England do towards assisting the removal of sculptures, even more important and more interesting? Did she offer the assistance she could so easily have given from her unequalled naval resources, to ensure the safe conveyance to this country of these inestimable treasures ? She refused an artist to the wants and necessities of Mr. Layard ; she refused him the assistance, not to say the comfort, he would have had, from the presence on the spot of some scientific Englishman to assist him in his various labours; she left it to him, unaided and unassisted, to superintend the excavations, to draw all the bas-reliefs discovered ; to copy and to compare innumerable inscriptions, to take impressions of many which could not be removed, by pressing damp paper upon them, a most laborious and troublesome occupation, and to preside over the moving and packing of all the sculptures. Since no native could be trusted to overlook the diggers, Mr. Layard had to be continually present and frequently to remove the earth himself from the face of the slabs, as, through the carelessness and inex- perience of the workmen, they were exposed to danger from the pickaxes of the men employed. When, at length, the sculptures were packed and had reached Busrah, months were allowed to elapse before they were shipped in frail and doubtful merchant ships to Bombay, where, in some instances, they were unpacked and left unheeded to the gaze and the petty thefts of the common multitude of that town, while the great bulls and lions, now, after more than two years, remain at Busrah unremoved, a lasting 230 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vm. disgrace to the stinginess and illiberality of Government at home. When Mr. Layard returned to England, no assistance was offered him by the Country in the publication of his interesting discoveries, and it was left to the private munificence of the East India Com- pany to afford him the most effectual assistance in the publication of his large volume of drawings, by giving their subscription for a considerable number of copies. Lastly, for his services the Government thought Mr. Layard sufficiently remunerated by an attache-ship at Constantinople, for some time even an unpaid office. We regret to add that for the second expedi- tion, on which Mr. Layard is now employed, the funds placed at his disposal are equally contemptible : to perform all his duties, to excavate, to pack the monuments, to pay his own private expenses and those of his draughtsman, the country has voted to Mr. Layard the large sum of 1500/., the pay of the Captain of a steamer on the Euphrates. We will only say that if England shall lose the results of Mr. Layard ’s discoveries, it will he only what she ought to expect ; and that, for the loss, she has only to thank her own Governors and Councillors, who have shown their incapacity in this, as in every other department of the public administration. Mr. Layard began his new works by a much larger hand of workmen than he had ever been able to employ before. For this purpose, he obtained about fifty Chaldaeans from the moun- tains, who were employed in the digging and hard labour, as the Arabs were not fit for this sort of work ; united with the Chaldseans was a large body of the Jehour Arabs, who took up their abode round Nimroud with their wives and families, and served as an effectual protection against the wild and roving tribes of the desert. The excavations were recommenced on the first of November, and were almost immediately successful. One of the most remarkable slabs is one which terminates a victorious proces- sion : it represents the castle and the pavilion of the conqueror. The ground plan of the former is represented by a circle divided into four equal compartments, and surrounded by towers and battle- ments. In each compartment there are figures evidently engaged in culinary occupations and preparing the feast ; one is holding a sheep, while the other is cutting it up ; another appears to be making bread or boiling a cauldron. Various bowls and utensils stand upon tables and stools, all of wffiich are remarkable for CHAP. VIII.] ISriMROUD. 231 the elegance of their forms. The pavilion is supported by three posts or columns ; on the summit of one is the fir-cone, the emblem so frequently found in the Assyrian sculptures; on Domestic Scene. the others are figures of the Ibex or mountain goat. They are designed with great spirit and carefully executed. The material, probably silk or woollen stuff, with which the upper part of the pavilion is richly ornamented, is clearly shown, and an edge with a fringe of fir-cones alternating with another ornament, which generally accompanies the fir-cone in the embroidery of dresses and in the decoration of rooms. Beneath the canopy a groom is currycombing one horse, while other horses, picketed by their halters, are feeding at a trough. An eunuch stands at the entrance of the tent to receive four prisoners, who with their hands tied behind them are brought to him by a warrior with a pointed helmet. Above this group, but on the same slab, are two singular figures, uniting the human form with the head of a lion : one holds a whip or thong in his right hand, and grasps his under jaw with his left. The hands of the second are elevated and joined in front. They wear under tunics, descending to their knees, and a skin falls from their heads over their shoulders to their ankles. They are accompanied by a man clothed in a short tunic, and raising a stick with both hands. On four following bas-reliefs there is a representation of a battle and the siege of a walled town. The latter is peculiarly curious : the castle or town is in the centre of the bas-relief, it has three towers and apparently several walls one within the other, all sur- 232 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. mounted by angular battlements; the besiegers have brought a battering ram (attached to a moveable tower, probably constructed of wicker-work,) up to the outer wall, from which many stones have been dislodged and are falling. One of the besieged has succeeded in catching the ram by a chain, and is endeavouring to raise or move it from its place ; while two warriors of the assailing party are holding it down by hooks to which they are hanging. Another is throwing fire (traces of the red paint being still visible in the sculpture) from above upon the engine ; the besiegers endeavour to quench the flame by pouring water upon it from two spouts in the moveable tower. Two figures in full armour are undermining the walls with instruments like blunt spears ; while two others appear to have found a secret passage into the castle. Three of the besieged are falling from the walls, and upon one of the towers are two women, tearing their hair and extending their hands in the act of asking mercy. The enemy are already mounting to the assault, and scaling ladders have been placed against the walls. The king, discharging an arrow and protected by a shield held by a warrior in complete armour, stands on one side of the castle ; he is attended by two eunuchs, one holding the umbrella, the other his quiver and mace. Behind them is a warrior leading away captive three women and a child, and driving three bullocks, a part of the spoil. The women are tearing their hair. As Mr. Layard proceeded with his excavations, many new and Passage of Eiver. interesting discoveries were made; among others, two slabs, representing the passage of a river by boats, which contain war CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 233 chariots, with the king and his attendants standing in them ; by their side are men swimming and supported upon inflated skins, and in the water are represented fish. This mode of swimming is still practised on the rivers of Mesopotamia, and the boats, Mr. Layard states, which are still used by the inhabitants of Mosul are, if possible, ruder than those represented on the sculptures, and are managed just in the same way, by means of an oar with a broad flat end, which is passed through a rope hung round a thick wooden pin at the stem, which serves to guide and to impel it. In one of the chambers there was a large quantity of iron among the rubbish, and Mr. Layard soon recognised in it scales of armour similar to that on some of the figures ; each scale was separate, from two to three inches long, rounded at one end and square at the other, with a raised or embossed line in the centre. The iron was so much decomposed that it was difiicult to detach it from the soil. Under the earth other portions of armour were found, some of copper, others of iron, and others of iron inlaid with copper. A perfect helmet was found, resembling in shape, and in the orna- ments, the pointed helmet of the bas-reliefs ; hut it fell to pieces immediately the earth was removed. The lines which are seen round the lower part of the pointed helmets in the sculptures are thin strips of copper, inlaid in the iron. Other helmets, of dif- ferent shapes, and some with an arched crest, were also uncovered ; but they were too much decayed to be preserved. Under a slab, which had fallen, were found a great many fragments of vases, of white alabaster, too much broken to admit of their being put together ; and, not long after, a perfect alabaster and glass vase were found by Mr. Layard himself. These beautiful objects were stolen when the cases were opened and re-packed at Bombay, but have since been recovered in England, whither they had found their way. They each bear the name and title of the king of Khorsabad, written in two different ways, as in M. Botta’s marbles. But a still more remarkable and valuable discovery awaited Mr. Layard. After digging for some time in the centre of the mound, beyond where the bulls were found, and carrying on a trench for fifty feet, without finding anything of importance to remunerate him for his labour^ Mr. Layard was on the point of stopping the works in that direction, when a portion of black basalt was discovered, lying on the very edge of the trench ; in a 234 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. short time, the whole of it was uncovered, and it proved to be an obelisk about six feet six inches in length. It was lying on its side, and ten feet under the surface. It was sculptured on four sides, and there were in all no less than twenty small bas-reliefs, and above, below, and between them was carved an inscription, 210 lines in length. It was flat at the top, and cut into three gradines. The whole inscription was in excellent preservation ; scarcely a single character was wanting, and the figures were sharp and well defined. The king is twice represented, followed by his attendants, a prisoner at his feet, and his vizir and eunuchs are introducing to him a procession consisting of various animals, and of figures carrying vases and other objects of tribute on their shoulders, or in their hands. The animals are the elephant, the rhinoceros, the Bactrian or two-humped camel, the wild bull, the lion, the stag, and various kinds of monkeys. Among the objects carried by the tribute-bearers may perhaps be distinguished the tusks of the elephant, shawls, vases of the precious metals, fruit and bars of metal, or bundles of wood. From the nature of the bas-reliefs it is natural to suppose that this monument was erected to commemorate the conquest of India, or of some country far east of Assyria, and on the confines of the Indian peninsula. The name of the king is the same that is found upon the bulls from the centre palaces. In the S.W. corner of the mound, sculptures of hardly less interest were discovered nearly about the same time ; among them, two winged lions, dififering in many essential particulars from those in the N.W. palace. These lions had but four legs; the material of which they were sculptured was a coarser limestone, and not alabaster. A sphinx was also discovered, with a beardless head, but whether meant for that of a man or woman Mr. Layard could not determine. The whole entrance was buried in charcoal, and the fire which destroyed the building must have burnt here with great fury, as the sphinxes were nearly reduced to lime. “ The plan and nature of the edifice,” says Mr. Layard, “ in which these discoveries were made was still a mystery to me. All the slabs hitherto uncovered had evidently been brought from another building ; chiefly from that on the N.W. part of the mound. The discovery of the entrance proved this beyond a doubt, as it enabled me to distinguish between the back and front of the walls. I was now convinced that the sculptures hitherto found were not CHAP, vin,] NIMEOUD. 235 meant to be exposed to view ; they were, in fact, placed against the wall of sun-dried bricks, and the backs of the slabs, smoothed preparatory to being re-sculptured, were turned towards the interior of the chamber.” In the S.E. corner of the mound, the excavations that were made led to a totally different result. After digging some time, the workmen lighted upon an inscription which was the same as that on the bull in the centre of the mound. The slab had been partly destroyed. On raising it with a crow-bar, it appeared to have been used as the lid of an earthen sarcophagus, which with its contents was still entire beneath. The sarcophagus was about five feet in length and very narrow. The skeleton was well preserved, but fell to pieces immediately it was exposed to the air ; by its side were two jars in baked clay of a red colour, and a small alabaster bottle resembling precisely in shape those found in the Egyptian tombs. There was no clue to the date or origin of the sepulchre. The sarcophagus was too small to contain a man of ordinary size when stretched out at full length, and it was evident from the position of the skeleton that the body had been doubled up when forced in. On Christmas Day, 1846, Mr. Layard had the satisfaction of seeing a raft bearing twenty-three cases of sculpture float down the river towards Baghdad on their way to England. It would not be interesting to our readers, were we to extract from Mr. Layard’s admirable volumes a methodical list of all the sculptures which he has found, in the order in which they were found. We believe it to be better to mention a few only of the more remarkable. After Christmas, Mr. Layard returned again to the ruins, and the excavations were carried on with great spirit, and particular attention was paid to that portion of them which has been called from its position on the mound the N.W. palace. It was clear that, unlike the other edifices, this building had never been exposed to the injury of a conflagration, and the sculptures, bas-reliefs, and inscriptions which it contained were still admirably preserved. By the end of the month of April, almost the whole building had been explored, and no less than twenty-eight chambers all cased with alabaster had been uncovered. The best artists had evidently been employed on the carving found in some of these rooms, and the monuments excelled any which had yet been found, in the elegance and finish of their orna- 236 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vni. merits, and in the knowledge of art displayed in the grouping of the figures. Among the sculptures which were found was a figure of the King, one of the most carefully sculptured and best preserved in the palace. The ornaments upon his drapery are most elaborately carved, and the workmanship of the whole figure is admirable. He is represented standing with a staff in his right hand on which he rests, and with his left hand reposing upon the hilt of his sword. The sword itself is richly ornamented, and the end of the scabbard is decorated with a pecu- liar ornament consisting of two lions placed back to back, with another smaller lion below them. It is probable that this orna- ment was in the original of gold or silver. It is found repeated constantly on the scabbards of other warriors, though in no case so carefully sculptured as on that of the king. On other slabs, the winged figures were found repeated, some carrying flowers of various shapes, while others had the usual fir-cone and square basket or utensil. One of the entrances of one of the chambers was formed by two gigantic priests or divinities, with garlands round their heads, holding in one hand an ear of corn, and in the other, an ibex or mountain goat. It is not easy to determine what these figures really represent, but there is a strong presumption, that they are priests carrying in their hands Ornament of Royal Sacrifice. In an adjoining Scabbard. chamber was discovered a number of ivory ornaments of considerable beauty and interest. These ivories, when uncovered, adhered so firmly to the soil, and were in so forward a state of decomposition that Mr. Layard had the greatest difficulty in extracting them even in fragments. He states that he spent hours lying on the ground, separating them with a penknife from the rubbish, by which they were surrounded. “Those who saw^ them,” he adds, “ when they first reached this country will be aware of the diffi- culty of releasing them from the hardened mass in which they were embedded. The ivory separated itself in flakes. Even the falling away of the earth was sufficient to reduce it almost to powder. This will account for the condition of the specimens Figure carrying Q-oaC. CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 237 wliich have been placed in the British Museum. With all the care I could devote to the collection of the fragments, many were lost or remained unperceived in the immense heap of rubbish under which they were buried. Since they have been in England they have been admirably restored and cleaned. The glutinous matter, by which the particles forming the ivory, are kept together, had from the decay of centuries been completely exhausted. By an ingenious process it has been restored, and the ornaments which, on their discovery, fell to pieces, almost upon mere exposure to the air, have regained the appearance of recent ivory, and may be handled without risk of injury.” Mr. Layard, in conjunction with Mr. Birch, who has published in the Translations of the Eoyal Society of Literature an interesting paper on these ivories, has deduced from the character of their workmanship, and from the subjects repre- sented on them, important conclusions as to the date of the destruction of the buildings in which they were discovered. Among the remains were two small tablets, one nearly entire, the other much injured ; upon them are represented two sitting figures, holding in one hand the Egyptian sceptre or symbol of power. Between them is a cartouche, containing a name or words in hieroglyphics, and surmounted by a feather or plume, such as is found in monuments of the eighteenth and subsequent dynasties of Egypt. The forms and style of art have a purely Egyptian character ; although there are certain peculiarities in the execu- tion and mode of treatment, which would seem to mark the work of a foreign, perhaps an Assyrian artist. Mr. Birch adds, that no name is attached to either of these figures, which are probably intended for deities of an inferior rank, such as the Persian Izjeds. As the name in the cartouche itself cannot be satisfactorily deter- mined, Mr. Birch has endeavoured to fix the age of the ivories, from considerations of the style of art, by philological enquiries, and by the political relations between Egypt and Assyria. Now there seems good reason for supposing that the ivories belong to the time of the king of Khorsabad, for vases inscribed with the name of that king were found in the rubbish above the chambers of the same edifice. At the same time, Mr. Birch has well observed, that though the style of these ornaments is Egyptian, it is by no means purely so : the disk and plumes surmounting the cartouche appear to have been used in the time of the eighteenth 238 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. yni. dynasty, and are found above the names of kings as late as the Persian occupation of Egypt, while some other peculiarities of dress, the philological construction, and the employment of certain letters, leads to the belief that the period of the twenty-second dynasty would well suit the general character of the cartouche. From the Statistical Tablet of Karnak, Mr. Birch has inferred a close connection between Egypt and Assyria, from the time of the commencement of the eighteenth dynasty, while the monuments of that period, if correctly interpreted, would seem to show that countries bordering on the Euphrates had, at that period, been subjugated by Egyptian princes. Lastly, Mr. Birch considers that, in the time of the twenty-first dynasty, these relations were fully established, and that, from the name of male and female members of this and the following or Bubastide dynasty, we may infer a Semitic, if not even an Assyrian origin, for many of the kings of these two consecutive dynasties. Thus he identifies the Egyptian, Osorchon, Nimrot, and Takilutha, with the Assyrian names of Sargon, Nimrod, and Tiglath respectively. Supposing these conclusions are satisfactorily deduced, the date of the ivories would be about b.c. 980. The whole of Mr. Birch’s paper will well repay the most attentive perusal ; but, we must caution our readers against supposing, that the evidence adduced by him can be satisfactorily or adequately appreciated by any who have not given a long and careful study to the system, which has been pursued by hieroglyphical scholars, in enucleating and unravelling the mysteries of their difficult science. On the western side of the great mound, there was a consider- able elevation. To examine this place, a trench was opened on a level with the platform. It was some time before Mr. Layard ascertained that he was cutting into a kind of tower, or nest of upper chambers, constructed entirely of unbaked bricks ; the walls being plastered and elaborately painted. Upon the pavement of the entrances was an inscription containing the names and titles of five kings in genealogical succession ; commencing with the father of the founder of the N.W. palace, and ending with the grandson of the builder of the Centre edifice. Mr. Layard was not able to ascertain whether there were any chambers or remains of buildings underneath this upper edifice, or whether this work was a tower constructed upon the solid outer wall. A deep trench was opened on the eastern side of it, and, about twenty CHAP. YIII.] NIMEOUD. 239 feet below the surface, a pavement of brick and several square slabs of alabaster were uncovered; but these remains did not afford any clue to the nature of the building above, nor were they sufficient to show that the N.W. palace had been carried under these upper chambers. To the south of them there were no remains of building ; the platform of unbaked bricks being continued up to the level of the flooring of the chambers. It is probable that this portion of the mound is of more recent date than that to the north of it. In the centre of the mound, to the north of the winged bulls, no traces of building had been met with, nor any sculp- ture, except the obelisk and a few fragments of yellow lime-stone, perhaps portions of one of the bulls or lions. To the south of the centre was found a well-formed tomb, built of bricks, and covered with a slab of alabaster. In this tomb were found por- tions of a skeleton, some beads of glass, agate, carnelian, and amethyst ; a small crouching lion in lapis lazuli, and a cylinder on which was the king in his chariot hunting the wild bull, as in the bas-relief of the N.W. palace. Many of the remains found in this, and in another tomb close to the last, were of an Egyptian character. Several other tombs were subsequently opened. Having removed the tombs, Mr. Layard proceeded to dig deeper, when, to his astonishment, at the depth of five feet beneath them, he came to the remains of a building. Walls of unbaked bricks could still be distinguished ; but the slabs, with which they had been once faced, no longer remained in their places, being scattered about without any order, and lying mostly with their faces on the flooring of baked bricks. Slab succeeded to slab ; and, when Mr. Layard had cleared away about twenty tombs, a very singular appearance presented itself to his view. Above one hundred slabs were exposed to view, packed in rows one against the other, as slabs in a stonecutter s yard, or as the leaves of a gigantic book. Every slab was sculptured ; and, as they were placed in a regular series according to the subjects on them, it was manifest that they had been removed from the posi- tions they originally occupied against the walls of sun-dried bricks, and had been left as he found them, preparatory to their removal to some other place. The subjects were continued on the adjoining slabs, the figures and the chariots being divided in the centre. There were places for the iron brackets, or dovetails : they had 240 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. evidently been once filled, for the marks and stains of the metal were traceable. These sculptures resembled in many respects some of those found in the S.W. palace, in which the sculptured faces of the slabs were found to have been turned towards the walls of unbaked brick. It appeared, therefore, that the centre building had been destroyed to supply materials for the construc- tion of the more southern edifice. The most curious thing was the previous discovery of the tombs, five feet above the remains of this building. The edifice itself must have perished, and in the earth and rubbish accumulating above its remains, a people, whose funereal vases and ornaments were identical in form and materials with those found in the catacombs of Egypt, had buried their dead. “ What race, then,” says Mr. Layard, “ occupied the country after the destruction of the Assyrian palaces ? At what period were these tombs made ? What antiquity did their presence assign to the buildings beneath them ? These are questions which I am yet unable to answer, and which must be left undecided until the origin and age of the contents of the tombs can be satisfactorily decided.” The sculptures differed from those of the N.W. palace materially in their execution, and in the subjects treated on them. They mostly represent battle-scenes ; but new animals are intro- duced which do not occur on the earlier ones. Thus one conquered people are mounted on camels, and may therefore perhaps repre- sent Arabs, or the inhabitants of some part of Babylonia. On two slabs, occupied by one subject, is the representation of the sack of a city, within the walls of which grew the palm and other trees. The place having been taken, the conquerors are seen removing the spoil. Two eunuchs standing near the gate count, as they pass before them, the sheep and cattle driven away by the war- riors, and write down the numbers with a pen on rolls of paper or leather. In the lower part are two carts, drawn by oxen ; two women and a child are in each. The women appear to be carrying away bags containing provisions, or valuable property saved during the sack. Near the gates stand two battering-rams, which, as the city has been taken, are no longer at work.* In every case, the upper part of the slabs was found to be most injured, and some of the bas-reliefs were entirely effaced. Hence it is certain that they were not exposed while in their original * Mem. of Nineveh, pi. 58, CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 241 position, but subsequent to their removal ; while the mass of rub- bish, which had accumulated over them, was probably the slow and gradual result of many ages. On one of the slabs from the S.W. palace were two bas-reliefs of interest. The upper was so much injured, that but little more could be made out, than the outlines of a chariot and warriors on foot. The lower was the siege of a castle ; an eunuch w^as represented discharging his arrows against warriors without helmets, who manned the towers and the walls. The besiegers were leading away prisoners, and carrying off the spoil. One high-capped warrior was cutting a bucket from a rope passed through a pulley, and probably used by the besieged to supply themselves with water from a well without the castle walls. This bas-relief had also been brought from the N.W. palace. On another slab was represented either a procession of gods borne on the shoulders of warriors, or of war- riors returning from the sack of a city, carrying away the idols of a conquered people. Each figure was raised by four men. The first was that of a female, seated on a high-backed arm-chair, the face sculptured in full, a rare occurrence in Assyrian sculpture. In one hand she held a ring, in the other a kind of fan ; on the top of her square-horned cap was a star. The next figure was also that of a female, wearing a similar cap, seated in a chair, and holding in her left hand a ring : she carried something in her right hand, but its form could not be distinguished. The third figure was much smaller in its proportions than the one preceding it, was half concealed in a case or box which was carried on a chair, and had also a ring in her hand. The fourth was that of a man in the act of walking ; in one hand he held the thunderbolt of the Greek Jove, represented as at Malthaiyah, and in the other an axe. A richly-ornamented tunic descended to his knees. The warriors, bearing these figures, were probably pre- ceded and followed by others, also carrying idols ; but no traces of the slabs, forming the rest of the series, could be found among the ruins. On each slab between the bas-reliefs was an inscription, divided into two parts by a perpendicular line. On the eastern face of the mound and its northern extremity, Mr. Layard found the most unequivocal proof that the inhabitants of this ancient city were acquainted with the construction and use of the arch. He had opened a trench from the outer slope with a view of ascertaining the nature of the wall surrounding R 242 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vm. tlie inner buildings. He found no traces of stone or of alabaster slabs ; the wall being built of sun-dried bricks and nearly fifty feet thick. In its centre about fifteen feet below the surface of the platform the workmen came upon a small vaulted chamber built of baked bricks. It was about ten feet high and nearly the same in width. The arch was constructed upon the well-known principle of vaulted roofs, the bricks being placed sideways one against the other, and having been probably sustained by a frame- work until the vault was complete. This chamber was nearly filled with rubbish, the greater part of which was a kind of slag. The sides of the bricks, forming the arched roof, and the walls were almost vitrified, and had evidently been exposed to very intense heat. In fact, the chamber had the appearance of a large furnace for making glass or for fusing metal. Such may be taken for a general outline of Mr. Layard’s dis- coveries at Nimroud; we have thought it best to omit many details, into which he has entered, because the narrative would have seemed too much like a catalogue raisonnee, and the description of every slab in succession, which was disinterred, would, perhaps, have fatigued our readers ; we have, therefore, selected those only, which seemed on the whole the most interesting, and have in most cases given the description of of his labours almost in Mr. Layard’s own words ; feeling sure, that no discoverer could tell his story with greater clearness or precision, or in fewer words. We feel, however, that the tale would be incomplete, were we to omit the history of the removal of some of the greater slabs, and especially of the bull, which Mr. Layard has given in language of peculiar force and excellence. “I formed,” says he, “various plans for lowering the smaller lion and the bull, for dragging them to the river, and placing them on rafts. Each step had its difficulties, and a variety of original suggestions and ideas were supplied by my workmen and by the good people of Mosul. At last I resolved upon construct- ing a cart sufficiently strong to bear any of the masses to be moved. As no wood but poplar could be procured, a carpenter was sent to the mountains with directions to fell the largest mul- berry-tree or any tree of equally compact grain, he could find; and to bring beams from it and thick slices of the trunk to Mosul. By the month of March this wood was ready. I purchased from the drago- man of the French consulate a pair of strong iron axles, formerly CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 243 used by M. Botta in bringing the sculptures from KhorsabM. Each wheel was formed of three solid pieces, nearly a foot thick, from the trunk of the mulberry tree, bound together by iron hoops ; across the axle ’were laid three beams, and above them several cross beams, all of the same wood. A pole was fixed to one axle, to which were also attached iron rings, for ropes to enable men as well as buffaloes to draw the cart : the wheels were provided with moveable hooks for the same purpose. Simple as this cart was it became an object of wonder in the town ; crowds came to look at it as it stood in the yard of the Vice-Consul’s khan ; and the Pacha’s topjis or artillery-men, who, from their acquaintance with the mysteries of gun-carriages, were looked up to as authorities on such matters, daily declaimed on the properties and use of this vehicle, and of carts in general, to a large circle of curious and attentive listeners. But when the news spread that it was about to leave the gates and to be drawn over the bridge, the business of the place was completely suspended. The secretaries and scribes from the palace left their divans ; the guards their posts ; the bazaars were deserted ; and half the population assembled on the banks of the river to witness the manoeuvres of the cart. A pair of buffaloes, with the assistance of a crowd of Chaldseans and shouting Arabs, forced the ponderous wheels over the rotten bridge of boats. The multitude seemed to be fully satisfied with the spectacle. The cart was the topic of general conversation in Mosul, until the arrival from Europe of some children’s toys, barking dogs and moving puppets, which gave rise to fresh excitement and filled even the gravest of the clergy with wonder at the learning and the wisdom of the infidels To enable me to move the bull from the ruins and to place it in the cart in the plain below, a trench was cut nearly two hundred feet long, about fifteen feet wide, and in some places twenty feet deep. A road was thus constructed from the entrance in which stood the bull to the edge of the mound As the bull was to be lowered on its back, the unsculptured side of the slab having to be placed upon rollers, I removed the walls behind it An open space was then' formed large enough to admit of the sculpture when prostrate, and leaving room for the workmen to pass on all sides of it. The principal difficulty was of course to lower the mass : when once on the ground or on rollers, it could be dragged forwards by the united force of a number of men, but B 2 244 NIlSrEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. Yin, during its descent it could only be sustained by ropes. If, not strong enough to bear the weight, they chanced to break, the sculpture would be precipitated to the ground, and would, probably, be broken in its fall. The few ropes I possessed had been ex- pressly sent to me across the desert from Aleppo, but they were small. From Baghdad I had obtained a thick hawser made of the fibres of the palm ; in addition, I had been furnished with two pairs of blocks and a pair of jack screws belonging to the steamers of the Euphrates expedition. These were all the means at my command for moving the bull and lion. The sculptures were wTapped in mats and felts to preserve them as far as possible from injury, in case of a fall, and to prevent the ropes chipping or rubbing the alabaster. The bull was ready to be moved by the 18th of March. The earth had been taken from under it, and it was now only supported by beams resting against the opposite wall. Among the wood obtained from the mountains were several thick rollers. These were placed upon sleepers or half beams, formed out of the trunks of poplar trees, well greased and laid on the ground parallel to the sculpture. The bull was to be lowered upon these rollers; a deep trench had been cut behind the second bull, completely across the wall, and consequently extending from chamber to chamber. A bundle of ropes coiled round this isolated mass of earth served to hold two blocks, two others being attached to ropes wound round the bull to be moved. The ropes by which the sculpture was to be lowered were passed through these blocks, the ends or falls of the tackle, as they are technically called, being led from the blocks above the second bull, and held by the Arabs. The cable having been first passed through the trench and then round the sculpture, the ends were given to two bodies of men. Several of the strongest Chaldseans placed thick beams against the back of the bull, and were directed to withdraw them gradually, supporting the weight of the slab, and checking it in its descent, in ease the ropes should give way. My own people were reinforced by a large number of the Abou Salman. I had invited Sheikh Abd-ur-rahman to be present, and he came attended by a body of horsemen. The inhabitants of Naifa and Nimroud, having volun- teered to assist on the occasion, were distributed among my Arabs. The workmen, except the Chaldseans wFo supported the beams, were divided into four parties, two of which were stationed in front of the bull, and held the ropes passed through the blocks; the CHAP. VIII.] KIMROUD. 245 rest clung to the ends of the cable, and were directed to slack gradually as the sculpture descended. The men being ready and all my preparations complete, I stationed myself on the top of the high bank of earth over the second bull, and ordered the wedges to be struck out from under the sculpture to he moved. Still, however, it remained firmly in its place. A rope having been passed round it, six or seven men easily tilted it over. The thick ill-made cable stretched with the strain, and almost buried itself in the earth round which it was coiled. The ropes held well. The mass descended gradually, the Chaldaeans propping it up with the beams. It was a moment of the greatest anxiety. The drums and shrill pipes of the Kurdish musicians increased the din and confusion caused by the war-cry of the Arabs who who were half-frantic with excitement. They had thrown off nearly all their garments ; their long hair floated on the wind ; and they indulged in the wildest postures and gesticulation as they clung to the ropes. The women had congregated on the sides of the trenches, and by their incessant screams and by the ear-piercing tahlehl, added to the enthusiasm of the men. The bull once in motion, it was no longer possible to obtain a hearing. The loudest cries I could produce were lost in the crash of dis- cordant sounds. Keither the hippopotamus hide whips of the cawasses nor the bricks and clods of earth with which I endeavoured to draw attention from some of the most noisy of the group, were of any avail. Away went the bull steady enough as long as sup- ported by the props behind ; but as it came nearer to the rollers the beams could no longer be used. The cable and ropes stretched more and more. Dry from the climate, as they felt the strain, they creaked and threw out dust. Water was thrown over them, but in vain, for they all broke together, when the sculp- ture was within four or five feet of the rollers. The bull was pre- cipitated to the ground. These who held the ropes thus suddenly relaxed followed its example, and were rolling one over the other in the dust. A sudden silence succeeded to the clamour. I rushed into the trenches prepared to find the bull in many pieces. It would be difficult to describe my satisfaction when I saw it lying precisely where I had wished to place it, uninjured ! The Arabs no sooner got on their legs again than seeing the result of the accident, they darted out of the trenches, and seizing by the hands the women who were looking on, formed a large 246 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. circle, and yelling their war-cry with redoubled energy, com- menced a most mad dance. The musicians exerted themselves to the utmost ; but their music was drowned by the cries of the dancers. Even Abd-ur-rahman shared in the excitement, and throwing his cloak to one of his attendants, insisted on leading off the debkhe. It would have been useless to put any check on these proceedings. I preferred allowing the men to wear them- selves out, a result which, considering the amount of exertion and energy displayed both by the limbs and throat, was not long in taking place. I was now prepared by the aid of Behnan, the Bairakdar, and the Tyari to move the bull into the long trench which led to the edge of the mound. “ The rollers were in good order ; and as soon as the excitement of the Arabs had sufficiently abated to enable them to resume work, the sculpture was dragged out of its place by ropes. Sleepers were laid to the edge of the trench, and fresh rollers were placed under the bull as it was pulled forwards by cables to which were fixed the tackles held by logs buried in the earth on the edge of the mound. The sun was going down as these preparations were completed. I deferred any further labour till the morrow. The Arabs dressed themselves, and, placing the musicians at their head, marched towards the village singing their war-songs, and occa- sionally raising a wild yell, throwing their lances in the air, and flourishing their swords and shields over their heads. . . . The night was of course looked upon as one of rejoicing. Abd-ur-rahman and his brother dined with me ; although had it not been for the honour and distinction conferred by the privilege of using knives and forks, they would rather have exercised their fingers with the crowds gathered round the wooden platters in the court-yai^d. Sheep were as usual killed, and boiled or roasted whole ; they formed the essence of all entertainments and public festivities. They had scarcely been devoured before dancing was commenced. There were fortunately relays of musicians, for no human lungs could have furnished the requisite amount of breath. When some were nearly falling from exhaustion, the ranks were recruited from others, and so the Arabs went on until dawn. It was useless to preach moderation, or to entreat for quiet. Advice and remon- strances were received with deafening shouts of the war-cry, and outrageous antics, as proofs of gratitude for the entertainment and ability to resist fatigue. '/7//7//I Moving the hull (Ruins o£ Nimi’oud). CHAP. VIII.] NIMROUD. 247 “ After passing the night in this fashion, these extraordinary beings still singing and capering, started for the mound. Every- thing had been prepared on the previous day for moving the bull, and the men had now only to haul on the ropes. As the sculpture advanced, the rollers left behind were removed to the front, and thus in a short time it reached the end of the trench. There was little difficulty in dragging it down the precipitous side of the mound. When it arrived within three or four feet of the bottom, sufficient earth was removed from beneath to admit the cart, upon which the bull itself was then lowered by still further digging away the soil. It was soon ready to be dragged to the river. Buffaloes were first harnessed to the yoke ; but although the men pulled with ropes fastened to the rings attached, and to other parts of the cart, the animals feeling the weight behind them, refused to move. We were compelled, therefore, to take them out, and the Tyari, in parties of eight, lifted by turns the pole, while the Arabs, assisted by the people of Naifa dragged the cart. The procession was thus formed, I rode first, with the Bairakdar, to point out the road. Then came the musicians with their drums and fifes, drumming and fifeing with might and main. The cart followed, dragged by about three hundred men, all screeching at the top of their voices, and urged on by the cawasses and superintendants. The procession was closed by the women, who kept up the enthusiasm of the Arabs by their shrill cries. Abd-ur-rahman’s horsemen performed divers feats round the groups, dashing backwards and forwards, and charging with their spears. We advanced well enough, although the ground was heavy, until we reached the ruins of the former village of Nimroud. It is the custom in this part of Turkey for the villagers to dig deep pits to store their corn, barley, and straw, for the autumn and winter. These pits generally surround the villages. Being only covered with a light frame- work of boughs and slates plastered over with mud, they become, particularly when half empty, a snare and a trap to the horsemen, who, unless guided by some one acquainted with the localities, is pretty certain to find the hind- legs of his horse on a level with its ears, and himself suddenly sprawling in front. The corn-pits around Nimroud had long since been emptied of their supplies, and had been concealed by light sand and dust, which blow over the plain during the summer, and soon fill up every hole and crevice. Although I had carefully 248 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap, vhl examined the ground before starting, one of these holes had escaped my notice, and into it two wheels of the cart completely sank. The Arabs pulled and yelled in vain. The ropes broke, but the wheels refused to move. We tried every means to release them, but unsuccessfully. After working till dusk, we were obliged to give up the attempt Next morning, we succeeded in clearing away the earth, and in placing thick planks beneath the buried wheels. After a few efforts the cart moved forward amidst the shouts of the Arabs, who, as was invariably their custom on such occasions, indulged, while pulling at the ropes, in the most outrageous antics. The procession was formed as on the previous day and we dragged the bull triumphantly within a few hundred yards of the river. Here the wheels buried themselves in the sand, and it was night before we con- trived with the aid of planks and increased exertions to place the sculptures on the platform prepared to receive it, and from which it was to slide down on the raft. The tents of the Arabs who encamped near the river were pitched round the bull until its companion, the lion, should be brought down, and the two em- barked together for Baghdad. The night was passed in renewed rejoicings to celebrate the successful termination of our labours. On the following morning I rode to Mosul to enjoy a few days rest after my exertions.” Mr, Layard’s spirited account terminates with the embarkation of the precious sculptures for Busrah, which was at last success- fully accomplished. “I watched the rafts,” says he, “ until they disappeared behind a projecting bank, forming a distant reach of the river. I could not forbear musing upon the strange destiny of their burdens ; which, after adorning the palaces of the Assy- rian kings, the objects of the wonder, and, may be, the worship of thousands, had been buried unknown for centuries, beneath a soil trodden by the Persians under Cyrus, by the Greeks under Alex- ander, and by the Arabs under the first successors of their Prophet. They were now to visit India, to cross the most distant seas of the southern hemisphere, and to be finally placed in the British Museum. Who can venture to tell how their strange career will end ? ” It is not easy to convey to the mind of the general reader a clear idea of the work really effected, without the aid of, and with- out constant reference to, plans and drawings ; a labour which CHAP. NIMROUD. 249 comparatively few will undertake, and generally those only who wish to study such subjects in a scientific manner. Mr. Layard has himself felt this difficulty ; to obviate it, he has given a beau- tiful and picturesque recapitulation of the results of his discoveries, with an outline of the general appearance of the mounds, from which we propose to extract some portions. “ Let us imagine ourselves,” says he, “ issuing from my tent near the village in the plain. On approaching the mound not a trace of building can be perceived, except a small mud hut, covered with reeds, erected for the accommodation of my Chaldaean workmen. We ascend this artificial hill, but see no ruins ; not a stone protruding from the soil. There is only a broad, level platform before us, perhaps covered with a luxuriant crop of barley, or it may be yellow and parched, without a blade of vegetation, except here and there a scanty tuft of camel thorn. Low black heaps, surrounded by brushwood and dried grass, a thin column of smoke issuing from the midst of them, are scattered here and there. These are the tents of the Arabs ; and a few miserable old women are groping about them, picking up camel’s dung or dried twigs. One or two girls, with firm step and erect carriage, are just reaching the top of the mound, with the water-jug upon their shoulders or a bundle of brushwood on their heads. On all sides of us, apparently issuing from underground, are long lines of wild-looking beings with dishevelled hair, their limbs only half concealed by a short loose shirt, some jumping and capering, and all hurrying to and fro, shouting like madmen. Each one carries a basket, and as he reaches the edge of the mound, or some convenient spot near, empties its contents, raising at the same time a cloud of dust. He then returns at the top of his speed, dancing and yelling as before, and flourishing his basket over his head, again he suddenly disappears in the bowels of the earth from whence he emerged. These are the workmen employed in removing the rubbish from, the ruins. We will descend into the principal trench .... about twenty feet, and suddenly find ourselves between a pair of colossal lions, winged and human-headed, forming a portal In the subterranean labyrinth which we have reached all is bustle and confusion. Arabs are running about in different direc- tions : some bearing baskets filled with earth, others carrying the water-jars to their companions. The Chaldmans, or Tyari, in their striped dresses and curious conical caps, are digging with 250 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. vni. picks into the tenacious earth, raising a dense cloud of fine dust at every stroke. The wild strains of Kurdish music may be heard occasionally issuing from some distant part of the ruins, and if they are caught by the parties at work, the Arabs join their voices in chorus, raise the war-cry, and labour with renewed energy. Leaving behind us a small chamber in wKich the sculptures are distinguished by a want of finish in the execu- tion and considerable rudeness in the design of the ornaments, we issue from between the winged lions and enter the remains of the principal hall. On both sides of us are sculptured gigantic winged figures ; some with the heads of eagles, others entirely human, and carrying mysterious symbols in their hands. To the left is another portal also formed by winged lions. One of them has however fallen across the entrance, and there is just room to creep beneath it. Beyond this portal there is a winged figure and two slabs with bas-reliefs, but they have been so much injured that we can scarcely trace the subject upon them. Further on there are no traces of wall, although a deep trench has been opened. The opposite side of the hall has also disappeared, and we see only a high wall of earth. On examining it attentively we can detect the traces of masonry : and we soon find that it is a solid structure built of bricks of unbaked clay, now of the same colour as the surrounding soil, and scarcely to be distinguished from it. . The slabs of alabaster fallen from their original position, have, however, been raised ; and we tread in a maze of small bas- reliefs representing horsemen, battles and sieges. Perhaps the workmen are about to raise a slab for the first time; and we watch with eager curiosity what new event of Assyrian history, or what unknown custom or religious ceremony, may be illustrated by the sculpture beneath. Having walked about a hundred feet among these scattered monuments of ancient history and art, we reach another doorway, formed by gigantic winged bulls in yellow limestone. One is still entire ; but its companion has fallen, and is broken into several pieces — the great human head is at our feet. We pass on without turning into the part of the building to which this portal leads. Beyond it we see another winged figure holding a graceful flower in its hand and apparently pre- senting it as an offering to the winged bull. Adjoining this sculpture w^e find eight fine bas-reliefs. There is the king hunt- ing and trampling over the lion and the wild bull ; and the siege CHAP. VIII.] KOYUNJIK. 251 of the castle with the battering ram. We have now reached the end of the hall and find before us an elaborate and beautiful sculpture representing two kings standing beneath the emblem of the Supreme Deity, and attended by winged figures. Between them is the sacred tree. In front of this bas-relief is the great stone platform upon which in days of old may have been placed the throne of the Assyrian monarch when he received his captive enemies or his courtiers. To the left of us is a fourth outlet from the hall, formed by another pair of lions. We issue from between them, and find ourselves on the edge of a deep ravine, to the north of which rises high above us, the lofty pyramid. Figures of captives bearing objects of tribute, ear-rings, bracelets, and monkeys, may be seen on the wall near this ravine ; and two enormous bulls and two winged figures above fourteen feet high, are lying on its very edge. As the ravine bounds the ruins on this side, we must return to the yellow bulls. Passing through the entrance formed by them, we enter a large chamber surrounded by eagle-headed figures ; at one end of it is a door-way guarded by two priests or divinities and in the centre is another portal with winged bulls. Which ever way we turn, we find ourselves in the midst of a nest of rooms, and without an acquaintance with the intricacies of the place we should soon lose ourselves in the labyrinth. The accumulated rubbish being generally left in the centre of the chambers, the whole excavation consists of a number of narrow passages, panelled on one side with slabs of alabaster ; and shut on the other by a high wall of earth, half buried in which may here and there be seen a broken vase or a brick painted with brilliant colours. We may wander through these galleries for an hour or two, examining the marvellous sculptures, or the numerous inscriptions which surround us. Here we meet long row's of kings, attended by their eunuchs and priests — there lines of winged figures, carrying fir-cones and religious emblems, and seemingly in adoration before the mystic tree. Other entrances formed by lions and bulls, lead us into new chambers. In every one of them there are fresh objects of curiosity and surprise. At length, wearied, we issue from the buried edifice by a trench on the opposite side from that by which we entered, and find our- selves again upon the naked platform. We look around us in vain for any traces of the wonderful remains we have just seen, and are half inclined to believe that we have dreamed a dream or 252 NINEVEH AND PEKSEPOLIS. [chap. vni. have been listening to some tale of eastern romance. Some who may hereafter tread on the spot when the grass grows again over the mins of the Assyrian palaces may indeed suspect that I have been relating a vision.” Having now given an account of Mr. Layard’s operations in the great mounds of Nimroud itself, we shall take a short survey of similar excavations which were made in other mounds in the neighbourhood, and which, like Nimroud, bear testimony to the existence and grandeur of the ancient Assyrian nation. The most important of these is Koyunjik, which had been, as we have already stated, supposed by all previous travellers to contain the real remains of ancient Nineveh. Major Hawlinson, however, considers that the mound of the Nebbi Yunus is the real site of Nineveh, and that Koyunjik was a suburb of the old city. Mr. Layard commenced his operations on this mound immediately after the receipt of the letter from the Grand Vizir, giving him full leave to excavate, and to remove to England whatever sculp- tures he might happen to light upon. He had not done so previously, as, owing to its vicinity to the town of Mosul, he was liable to interruption, from the jealousy of the authorities of that place. The only opposition he met with was from the French Consul, who claimed the ruins as French property, a claim which, however, Mr. Layard did not recognise. In consequence, both gentlemen had working parties at the same time, employed on different sides of the mound, and continued their researches for about a month. A few fragments only of sculpture were at first discovered, which, however, enabled Mr. Layard to assert that the building was contemporary with Khorsabad. The works were then abandoned for the more important ones at Nimroud. A short time subsequent to this, Mr. Layard resumed his operations at Koyunjik, when he had gone to Mosul from Nimroud, to obtain a little temporary repose. But he was not rewarded with much of interest. Fragments of sculptured alabaster were, indeed found ; and, after two or three days’ labour, an entrance was dis- covered, formed of two winged figures, which had been purposely destroyed. The legs and lower parts of the tunic were alone preserved. The proportions were gigantic, and the relief higher than that of any sculpture hitherto discovered in Assyria. All the slabs, subsequently found, were more or less defaced, and bore marks of the chisel. After tracing the walls of one chamber, CHAP. VIII.] KOYUNJIK. 253 Mr. Lajard renounced, for the present, any further examination, as no traces of sculpture were to be found, and the accumulation of rubbish was very considerable. The building appears to have been either a guard-house at one of the entrances to the quadrangle, or a tower defending the walls. From the height of the mound, it would seem that there were originally two or more stories. On his return from Nimroud, in the middle of May, Mr. Layard determined to carry on his excavations there in the same syste- matic manner in which he had conducted them at Nimroud. He knew, that the constant tradition that Koyunjik represented the ancient Nineveh, w^as entitled to much respect, and that, for years, fragments of alabaster, taken from that mound, had been used in the construction of the houses of the modern town. He knew, that under the Nebbi Yunus, a village supposed, as we have stated, to contain the bones of Jonah, remains existed, probably, as entire as those of Nimroud ; but that, there, the prejudices of the inhabitants would forbid any attempt to explore a spot so venerated for its sanctity. Mr. Layard, in his description of the works at Koyunjik, points out the way in which all similar excavations should be carried on. “The Assyrians,” says he, “when about to build a palace or public edifice, appear to have first constructed a platform or solid compact mass of sun-dried bricks, about thirty or forty feet above the level of the plain. Upon it they raised the monument. When the building was destroyed, its ruins, already half buried by the falling in of the upper walls and roof, remained of course on the platform, and were in process of time completely covered up by the dust and sand carried about by the hot winds of summer. Consequently, in digging for remains, the first step is to reach the platform of sun-dried bricks. When this is discovered, the trenches must be opened to the level of it, and not deeper. They should then be continued in opposite directions, care being always taken to keep along the platform. By these means, if there be any ruins, they must necessarily be discovered, supposing the trenches to be long enough; for the chambers of the Assyrian edifices are generally narrow, and their walls, or the slabs which cased them, if fallen, must sooner or later be reached.” In a month, nine chambers had been explored; and it was proved beyond a doubt that the building had been destroyed by fire. In its architecture the ruins of Koyunjik resembled 254 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. Nimroud and Khorsabad. The bas-reliefs were much larger than those found at Nimroud, being about ten feet high, and eight or nine wide. The winged human-headed bulls, forming the entrance, were from fourteen to sixteen feet square. The sculp- tures were inferior in general design to those from the oldest palace at Nimroud ; the finish of the parts was in many cases very careful and minute. The name of the king, which was found on the backs of slabs and bricks, shows that he was the son of the builder of Khorsabad. Hence, an approximate date may be obtained to the age of these ruins. In the earth above the edifice at Koyunjik, a few earthen vases and fragments of pottery w^ere found ; but no tombs or sarcophagi, as at Nimroud and Kalah Sherghat. Foundations, however, of buildings of roughly- hewn stone were discovered above the Assyrian remains ; and one or two glass bottles were taken out of the rubbish, entire. Among the slabs, one was found representing the burning of a castle which stood on a hill ; perhaps the same building which is represented in one of M. Botta’s bas-reliefs. And on others were mountains clothed with forest, and warriors ascending and descend- ing thickly-wooded heights. On one was depicted the interior of a castle, represented as at Nimroud, by a kind of ground plan Without the walls were prisoners, with their hands manacled, within were represented the interiors of several houses and tents. In the tents were seen men apparently engaged in a variety of domestic occupations, and articles of furniture, such as tables, couches, and chairs. To the tent-poles were suspended some utensils, perhaps vases thus hung up, as is still the custom in the east, to cool water. On two other slabs, were vessels filled with warriors and females, leaving a castle built on the sea-shore and on the declivity of a mountain. A man stood at the castle gate, which opened immediately on the water. A woman, who had already embarked in one of the ships, was seen stretching out her arms to receive a child which the man was giving her. The sea was indicated by wavy lines carried across the slab from top to bottom, and by fish, crabs, and turtles. The vessels were of two kinds ; some had masts and sails as well as oars, others were impelled by rowers alone. From the position of the city, the slab probably represented a people embarking and escaping from the Assyrians. Mr. Layard suggests that its subject may be, perhaps, an Assyrian conquest of the Syrians. CHAP. VIII.] KALAH SHEEGHAT. 255 On numerous other slabs, all more or less injured by fire, were discovered other representations of battle scenes and sieges, and on one an eunuch and a bearded scribe are depicted, inscribing on a roll of leather the number of the heads of the enemy, which are being brought in by two warriors, who place their trophies at the foot of the registrar. Another slab had on it the sack of a city, which stood between two rivers, in the midst of groves of palm trees. From the absence of mountains, the nature of the trees, and the two rivers, Mr. Layard conjectures that the sculpture represents the subjugation of some people living in Mesopotamia. The king appears several times in his chariot amidst groves of palm trees, preceded and followed by warriors. The besiegers are seen cutting down the palms to open and clear the approaches to the city.' Subsequently to Mr. Layard’s departure for England, Mr. Pvoss continued the excavations, but in a different part of the mound ; the results of his discoveries show that there was more than one building on the platform. Like that which Mr. Layard opened, these edifices have likewise been destroyed by fire. Among other objects of interest Mr. Boss was successful in find- ing a monument of considerable interest. In shape it resembles a tombstone, being about three feet high and rounded at the top. On it is a figure, probably that of a king, and a long inscription in the cuneiform character. Above the figure are various emblems, among which is the winged divinity in a circle. Such is all that has been done at present at Koyunjik, but Mr. Layard suggests the strong probability of much more extensive remains being found hereafter. At present only two corners have been partially explored, and in both of these have sculptures and inscriptions been found. Both have, indeed, been destroyed by conflagration ; but it is possible that other parts of the buildings may have escaped, as was the case at KhorsabM in ruins of much less extent. The identity of the name of the king who caused them to be executed with that found on the tablets near Beyrout, at the mouth of the Nahr-el-kelb, proves that the Assyrian empire, at the time of the building of the Koyunjik palaces, extended to the borders of the Mediterranean. Mr. Layard next determined to investigate the ruins of Kalah Sherghat in the Desert, which the Arabs had represented as con- taining a great variety of curious remains. On reaching the 256 ISTINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. name of the builder of the most ancient palace at Nimroud. The figure, unlike those of the sculptures at Nimroud, was full and not in relief ; and probably represented the king. Part of the beard was still preserved ; the hands appear to have rested on the knees, and a long robe, edged with tassels, reached to the ankles. The subsequent excavations did not reveal anything of importance; there were many walls, but probably recent ones, about the ruins ; and there were tombs and sarcophagi similar to those at Nimroud ; but the workmen, though they sunk their trenches very deep, did not arrive at the platform of sun-dried brick on which the building CHAP. VIII.] 257 KALAH SHERGHAT. must originall}^ have been placed. Mr. Layard therefore con- sidered this ruin to have been only partially examined. It was not the first time that Mr. Layard had visited this remarkable mound. “ Some years before,” says he, “ I had passed a night on the same spot. We were four strangers (Mr. Ainsworth, Mr. Mitford, Mr. Rassam, and Mr. Layard) in the land, without guide or defence. Our horses were picketted about us ; and, although surrounded by dangers of which we then thought little, and exposed to continual rain, we ate the frugal fare our own guns had obtained for us, and slept in our cloaks undisturbed, round the embers of the small fire we had lighted. I did not think then that I should revisit the place.” The principal ruin atKalah Sherghat, like those of Nimroud, Koyunjik, and other Assyrian sites, is a large square mound, surmounted by a cone or pyramid. Long lines of smaller mounds, or ramparts, enclose a quadrangle, which may, perhaps, have been once occupied by houses or unimportant buildings. At Kalah Sherghat, the high conical mound rises nearly in the centre of the north side of the great platform. Immediately below this cone, and forming a facing to the great mound, is a wall of well hewn stones or slabs, carefully fitted together and bevelled at the edges. The battlements, still existing on the top of this wall, are cut into gradines, resembling, in this respect, the battlements of the castles and towers represented on the Nimroud sculptures. It is probably an Assyrian work, and the four sides of the mound may, originally, have been similarly cased. As it is singularly well placed for a place of defence, some of the upper masonry may be of Arab or Turkish origin. The principal mound at Kalah Sherghat is one of the largest, if not the largest, mounds in Assyria. Mr. Ainsworth made a particular measurement of it during his visit, and found that its circumference was 4,685 yards ; and, comparing it with other great mounds, he states that the Mujellibe, or supposed Tower of Babel, is only 737 yards round ; the great mound at Borsippa, called the Birs Nimrud, 762 yards; the Kasr, or terraced palace of Nebu- chadnezzar at Babylon, 2,100 yards ; and the mound of Koyunjik 2,563 yards. A part of the great mound at Kalah Sherghat is not artificial. Irregularities in the face of the country and natural eminences, have been united into one great platform by layers of sun-dried bricks. It is, nevertheless, a stupendous structure, yielding in magnitude and extent to no other artificial mound in s 258 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. Assyria. Mr. Layard is unwilling, till we have more evidence, to connect Kalah Sherghat with any ancient city whose name occurs in the sacred hooks, or has been preserved by ancient geographers. It is clear, from the inscriptions, that it must be a very ancient city ; but whether it be Chalah, or the Ur of Abraham, Mr. Layard leaves in doubt. Mr. Ainsworth has felt quite sure that it must be the same as the Ur of the Persians, mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus : but Mr. Layard thinks his argument is hardly tenable. Excavations were made, as we have mentioned, in several other mounds as well as that of Baasheikha ; but no result of any import- ance was obtained from them. There were, however, some other places of interest which were visited either by Mr. Layard or by his friends, and which are worth noticing here, though no excavations were made at them. The first and most important are the ruins of A1 Hathr in the Desert, which Mr. Layard saw when making an expe- dition in company with the Pasha of Mosul. His account is singularly picturesque. “ A dark thunder cloud rose behind the time-worn ruins of A1 Hather as we approached them. The sun, still throwing its rays upon the walls and palace, lighted up the yellow stones until they shone like gold. Mr. Boss and myself, accompanied by an Arab, urged our horses onwards, that we might escape the coming storm ; but it burst upon us in its fury ere we reached the palace. The lightning played through the vast buildings, the thunder re-echoed through its deserted halls, and the hail compelled us to rein up our horses, and to turn our backs to the tempest. It w^as a fit moment to enter such ruins as these. They rose in solitary grandeur in the midst of a desert, * in media solitudine positse,’ as they stood fifteen centuries before, when described by the Eoman historian.* On my previous visit, the first view I had of A1 Hather was probably no less striking. We had been wandering for three days in the wilderness without seeing one human habitation : on the fourth morning a thick mist hung over the place : we had given up the search, when the vapours were drawn up like a curtain, and we saw the ruins before us. At that time within the walls were the tents of some Shammar Arabs ; but now, as we crossed the confused heaps of fragments forming a circle round the city, we saw that the place * Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xxv, c. viii. CHAP. VIII.] AL HATHE. 259 was tenaiitless. Flocks on a neighbouring rising ground showed, however, that the Arabs were not far distant.” Mr. Ainsworth, in his Eesearches, has given a very full and interesting account of this curious ruin. These ruins, he states, are the remains of what was once a palace and a temple, and surpasses in the extent and the perfection of its style the ruin known as the Tak-i-Kesra, or Arch of Chosroes, at Ctesi- phon. The building consists of a series of vaulted chambers or halls, of different sizes, all opening to the east, or towards the rising sun and planets, and regularly succeeding one another from north to south, and was divided into two parts by a wall ; while in front there was another row of edifices, guard-houses, &c., at the southern end of which was a great hall, with an ornamented vault and tall columns, similar to what is observed in the chief edifice. The whole of these buildings were enclosed within a wall about 1360 yards square, which left a considerable space open in front, and this open square was in the exact centre of the town, which is nearly a perfect circle, surrounded by a rampart about three miles and one hundred and eighty yards in circumference. Every stone, not only in the chief building, but in the walls and bastions and other public monuments, when not defaced by time, is marked with a character, which is for the most part either a Chaldee letter or numeral. Some of them could not be decyphered by Mr. Eassam or by a Jewish rabbi at Mosul. Some of the letters at A1 Hathr resembled the Eoman A, and others were apparently astronomical signs ; among them was the ancient emblem of Venus, the Mylitta of the Assyrians, the Alitta of the Arabians, according to Herodotus, and the Nani or Nannania of the Syrians. These letters were generally about one or two inches in size, and carefully sculptured, one in the centre of the face of every stone. The sculptures are almost all of the Sassanian period ; and Mr. Layard does not imagine that any of them are as old as the period of the Arsacidse. Almost every stone in the arch has externally, in high relief, the human bust, representing that peculiar form of dressing the hair which is common on the old Persian monuments. While the style of these sculptures is tolerably uniform, there is nevertheless a great difference in the costumes. On the face of the wall of the great hall, besides the signs which we have men- tioned, there are two inscriptions, one in Chaldee and the other s2 260 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLTS. [chap. VIII. in Arabic, both cut in the stones, but which run along from one to another, and are evidently more modern than the building. The first, as translated by a Jewish rabbi, appears to be the lament of some Jews of the Captivity, and is to the following effect : — “ In justice to Thee who art our salvation, I hope from Thee, 0 God, for help against mine enemies.” The other is a memorial of Azz-al-din Masaud-ibn-Maudud, one of the Atabegs of Mosul, who reigned here from a. d. 1180 to 1193. In the rear of the great hall is another apartment, surrounded by a lofty vaulted passage. Over the doorway is the most beautifully sculptured relief in the whole building. It represents griffins supporting heads, human and others, and in the centre is the head of Apollo, or Mithra, supported by eagles with scrolls in their mouths : beneath is some beautifully sculptured foliage. It is evidently of the Roman times. It would appear, as if the Romans had contributed to adorn a temple, consecrated to the worship of a deity in whom they recog- nised their own Apollo, adding the Roman eagles to the insignia of Mithra, who is the same as the Bel of the Chaldseans. As far as we know of the history of this once great city, it would seem that it was ruled in turn by the Armenians, the Persians, the Romans, and modern Arabians. According to Dion Cassius, Trajan, after his descent of the Tigris and Euphrates, tried to reach Atra, but was compelled to retreat from want of water and provisions, and owing to the great heats. In the time of Arsaces (Ardawan), Septimius Severus, who also returned by the Tigris from Ctesiphon, besieged this city, on which occasion his machines were burnt by “ Greek fire,” which appears to have been the bitumen so common in the neighbourhood. After twenty days’ siege, the Roman emperor was compelled to retreat. Subsequent to the Roman period, no sculpture remains to indicate the existence of a Christian community within its walls ; which is the more remark- able, as Nisibin was the seat of a patriarch, and A1 Hathr was the centre of a newly-converted and eminently Christian people. There are no Saracenic memorials there ; and the sway of the Atabegs was probably brief. With regard to the marks found on the stones which Mr. Ainsworth mentions, Mr. Layard observes that they are not the letters of any particular alphabet, but are signs of all kinds. He himself had found similar ones at Bisutun, Isfahan, Shuster, and other places in Persia, where Sassanian buildings appear to have existed. CHAP. VIII.] BAVIAN — MALTHAIYAH. 261 The next monuments, which we shall mention, are the rock sculptures of Bavian, which were visited hy Mr. Boss after Mr. Layard’s departure for England, as he had been prevented from want of time from examining them himself. Mr. Boss has described the result of a visit to them in a letter to Mr. Layard. He states that, immediately opposite the village of Bavian, on the west side of the Gomel, rise the cliffs on which are the bas-reliefs. There are eight small tablets, each containing the portrait of a king, about four feet high ; and one very large tablet with two kings apparently worshipping two priest-like figures standing, the one on a lion, and the other on a griffin. Above this tablet rises a statue on two lions, but the paws only of one lion are now pre- served ; the outline of the head of one can be traced, but the statue is reduced to a square oblong block. Mr. Boss fancies it may have been a sphinx like those of Nimroud. In the river are two masses of rock, with figures of priests or gods standing on the hacks of animals, which must have, originally, been very beautiful. Other large masses of rock are in the water, and may once have borne bas-reliefs. There is also a tablet on which the body of a bull may be traced, but very much defaced. Some of the small tablets are on the perpendicular face of the rock, others may be reached by a narrow ledge. Only one of them bears an inscription, which was so much injured that Mr. Boss was unable to make a copy of it. The large tablet, and that contain- ing the bull, have chambers cut behind them. Mr. Boss thinks the chambers were excavated at the same time, that the portraits were sculptured, that they were tombs, and that the bas-reliefs outside were the portraits of the monarchs who were buried within. The tombs must once have been closed ; now, they have small doors and windows : these, with large tablets, are numerous and give the idea of a church. It would seem most probable that these bas-reliefs covered royal tombs, with concealed entrances, which were, at a later period, broken open and pillaged, and afterwards converted into dwellings, and the windows opened. It is possible, that chambers still unrifled might be found behind the smaller tablets. Mr. Boss suspected, that the inscription had been injured by holes having been bored into it to make an opening, and that the attempt was subsequently abandoned. There are various signs and religious emblems scattered about, chiefly representations of the sun and moon. Mr. Layard at 262 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. present thinks that these tablets probably belong to a period more recent than the Assyrian bas-reliefs, but that they have not yet been sufi&ciently examined to determine even their approxi- mate age, with any certainty. On his return from his visit to the Chaldseans, Mr. Layard went to see some similar rock sculptures, at a place called Mal- thaiyah. “ Four tablets,” says he, “ have been cut into the rock, on each tablet are nine figures. The sculpture is Assyrian, evidently of the later period, contemporary with the edifices of Koyunjik and Khorsabad. The subjects represented on the four bas-reliefs are similar, and appear to be an adoration of the gods. Two figures, the first and the last, are those of kings ; the remainder those of divinities standing upon animals. The first god wears a horned cap, square, not rounded at the top, and surmounted by a point or by a fleur-dedys, I was not able to distinguish which. He holds a ring in one hand, and a thong or snake in the other, and stands on two animals, a bull and a kind of gryphon, or lion with the head of an eagle, but without wings. The second divinity is beardless, holds a ring in one hand, and is seated in a chair, the arms and lower parts of which are supported by human figures with tails somewhat resembling those on the vase discovered at Nimroud, and by birds with human heads. The whole rests upon two animals, a lion and a bull. The third divinity resembles the first, and stands on a winged bull. The four following have stars with six rays resting on the top of the horned cap. The first of them has a ring in one hand and stands on a gryphon without wings ; the second also holds a ring and is raised on a horse caparisoned after the fashion of the horses represented in the sculptures of Khorsabad ; the third wields an object precisely similar to the conventional thunderbolt of the statues and pictures of the Greek Jove, and is supported by a winged lion ; and the fourth is beardless, carries a ring, and stands on a lion without wings. The two kings who are facing the divi- nities, have one hand elevated, and bear a mace or some instrument resembling it in the other. All the tablets have suffered much from long exposure to the atmosphere, and one has been almost destroyed as the entrance into a chamber, which, probably at one time, served for a tomb, cut in the rock behind it. As the sculpture has been sacrificed to this excavation, it would appear to owe its origin to a people differing from those who buried their CHAP. VIII.] MATERIALS FOR ASSYRIA!^ HISTORY. 263 dead there, and occupying the country at an earlier period. It is possible, however, that the door of the tomb was closed with a slab, upon which the bas-relief was continued, and that the whole was carefully united to conceal the entrance The details in these bas-reliefs are, as far as they can he distinguished, precisely similar to those on the later Assyrian monuments. In the head-dress of the kings, in the form of the chair of the sitting divinity, and in the mode of treatment, the sculptures of Mal- thaiyah closely resemble those of Khorsabad.” Mr. Layard has devoted the larger portion of his second volume to an elaborate discussion of the historical and artistic deductions, which may be drawn from the discoveries of himself and M. Botta. It would be impossible and out of place to discuss any of these points, here, at any length ; to do so fully, would be but to transcribe the pages which Mr. Layard has given on these subjects into our own. Some points we shall allude to at some length, in the account of the attempts which have been made to interpret the cuneiform inscriptions, some others we shall notice concisely here ; but we must warn the reader, that whosoever shall be desirous of studying in any fulness the wLole subject must go to Mr. Layard s own volumes, for nowhere can any student find the general result of these curious discoveries so clearly explained and so ably illustrated. We consider, indeed, the latter portion of his second volume as incomparably the most valuable portion of his work, from the light which it throws as well upon the remains of ancient Assyria, as upon many other questions hitherto mooted in the history of the religions, the arts and the sciences of anti- quity. The first portion will doubtless be read with most avidity by those who look on Mr. Layard simply as one of many travellers ; but the latter is that which will be most valued by the sensible antiquary and by the oriental student. Mr. Layard commences the second division of his work with an account of the materials, now at our disposal, for the compi- lation of an ancient Assyrian history. He shows that, even now, our documents are but few, and that the sculptured slabs, in the absence of the paintings which once decorated the walls of the Assyrian buildings, give us but few details of their domestic history, compared with what we know from the paintings on the Egyptian tombs of the former people of Egypt. He then dis- * See note A. at end of chapter. 264 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [char vin. cusses the probable antiquity of the monuments themselves, and shows in what way the genealogical lists, at present disinterred, are available as evidence of their remote origin. The most ancient sculptures, which have been found, are the most correct and severe in form, and show the highest degree of taste in their execution. We know that, at least twenty centuries before Christ, the arts had attained in Egypt a great excellence, and there is no reason to doubt that, at the same period, the Assyrians likewise excelled in them. The first ascertained date in Assyrian history, as we have already shown, is that of the final destruction of Nineveh by the combined forces of the Babylonians and the Medes, which we consider to have taken place in or about the year b.c. 606. As the Scythian tribes overran and held Asia for twenty -eight years previous to that date, the latest Assyrian sculpture, on the site of Nineveh, must be as early as b. c. 684. The genealogies, dis- covered on different inscriptions at Nimroud and elsewhere, point to a long series of kings, who were probably ruling at the time these sculptures were executed and these buildings raised, while there is a fair presumption, that a considerable interval must have occurred between the original construction of the different build- ings at Nimroud itself. The removal of the sculptures from the northern to decorate the southern palace, the slabs found stacked ready for removal in another place, and the discovery of the sculp- tured faces of slabs turned against the wall of sun-dried bricks, with their backs smoothed to receive new bas-reliefs, are indications of a very early antiquity for the sculptures of the northern and most ancient work. It is further presumable, that the use of a two-fold kind of writing, inasmuch as it connects them with the Egyptians, is an analogical evidence of their antiquity ; as in Egypt, there were two forms of writing, the hieroglyphic for monumental records, and the hieratic, or cursive hand, for private documents of a less important character ; so, too, in Assyria, the cuneiform was the monumental writing, while another species has been found which, apparently, answers to the hieratic. It is curious that, in Assyria, the two forms of writing read different ways, the cuneiform, like the Sanscrit and Greek, from left to right, the cursive from right to left. The latter character bears a great resemblance to the remains of similar writing as used by the Phcenicians, Palmyrenes, Baby- lonians, Jews and Cilicians ; — it is the same, which under slight CHAP. VIIl] ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. 265 and unimportant modifications was common to all the nations speaking cognate dialects of that one language, whose most com- prehensive name is Syro-Arabian rather than Semitic. At Nim- roud, this character was found on part of an alabaster vase, and on fragments of pottery taken from the rubbish. On the vase, it accompanies an inscription in the cuneiform character containing the name of the Khorsabad king. It has also been found on Babylonian bricks v/hich bear the name of Nebuchadnezzar. Yet unless better evidence can be adduced, we are inclined to attribute this character to a period more recent than any of the Assyrian modifications of the cuneiform writing. Mr. Layard considers^ from a comparison of the genealogies, that w^e may obtain from the inscriptions hitherto discovered the names of ten, if not twelve, kings ; that the first six are in the gene- alogical series, the seventh stands by itself, and that the three last show a direct descent, but are unconnected with any of the previous ones. If, then, we allow the ordinary time of a generation to each of these kings, we obtain a period of 300 years, a com- putation which alone would carry the date of the first palace up to B. c. 934, while, if, as Mr. Layard suggests, the buildings in which the sculptures have been found were, at one and the same time, temples of the gods and royal residences, we may fairly presume that a considerable period would elapse, before a monarch pulled down the sacred buildings of kings of his own race and faith, to raise out of the materials a new habitation for himself or his divi- nities. If we suppose another race to have intervened between the earliest and the latest dynasties, the monuments of the earliest kings will ascend, proportionately, in the scale. Mr. Layard thinks that there is strong reason for believing, that the palaces at Khor- sabad, Koyunjik, and the latest ruin at Nimroud (the S.W. one,) were built by a later race than that, which built the N.W. palace, and he adduces some curious reasons for believing that the oldest or N.W. palace was actually buried, when the S.W. was com- menced, so that the builders of the latter excavated for the sculptures, which they took from the older monument. We consider, then, that there is fair reason to suppose that the earliest monuments are at least twelve centuries before the Christian era, while, on the other hand, there is the possibility that they ascend to a period more remote, and which even the inter- pretation of the inscriptions may not enable us to assign definitely. 266 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. With regard to the possibility that Ninus may have been the founder of the earliest building, Mr. Layard remarks, that the monuments themselves afford some curious evidence, which it is worth while to state here. It may be presumed that no earlier Assyrian building exists anywhere than the N.W. palace, as all the great ruins, on the site or in the neighbourhood of Nineveh, have been now partially explored. We know also that Castor has recorded that the last Assyrian king of the second dynasty was named Ninus II. Now if it should prove to be true, it is a very curious fact, that the names of the builders of the most ancient and of the most recent palaces appear to be identical in the inscrip- tions ; while it appears that the S.W. or latest palace was destroyed by fire before it had been completed. Again, Diodorus Siculus states, as we have already mentioned, that in the palace of Ninus or Semiramis at Babylon were represented various hunting scenes, in w^hich the queen was seen throwing a javelin at a panther, and Ninus as transfixing a lion with a lance. At Khorsabad and Koyunjik, no such representations have been met with, but they abound in the earliest palace of Nimroud. Ctesias and other writers speak of the Bactrian and Indian expeditions of Ninus and Semiramis, while the black obelisk discovered at Nimroud, which Mr. Layard considers to have been erected by the son of the founder of the N.W. palace, gives representations of the Bactrian camel, the elephant, and the rhinoceros, animals of India or Central Asia ; and, if it does not record the conquests of Eastern Asia, points to a period, when tribes trading with that part of the world were subject to the Assyrians. Mr. Layard, then, devotes a very interesting chapter to the different races which have inhabited this country, and states that there is no question, but that the Assyrians must have been of Semitic origin. “ In the first place,” says he, “ there is the Shemite, whether Hebrew, Arabian, or Syrian, with his brilliant imagination, his ready conception, with his repugnance to any restraint that may affect the liberty of his person or of his intel- lect. He conceives naturally beautiful forms, whether they be embodied in his words or in his works : his poetry is distinguished by them, and they are shown even in the shape of his domestic utensils. This race possesses in the highest degree what we call imagination. The poor and ignorant Arab, whether of the desert CHAP, vm.] ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. 26T or town, moulds with clay the jars for his daily wants in a form which may be traced in the most elegant vases of Greece and Eome, and what is no less remarkable, identical with that repre- sented on monuments raised by his ancestors three thousand years before.” Mr. Layard contrasts, ingeniously, the separate qualities of the Arab or Semitic races with those of the Indo- European and Mongolian, and then discusses the magnitude of Nineveh. We have, already, spoken, at some length, in a former place of the wonderful size of the Eastern cities as compared with the Europaean cities of classical or modern times, yet we confess the theory of the size of Nineveh put forward by Mr. Layard is somewhat startling. “ If,” says he, “ we take the four great mounds of Nimroud, Koyunjik, KhorsabM, and Karamles, as the corners of a square, it will be found to correspond pretty accurately with the 480 stadia, or 60 miles of the geographer, and ‘ the three days’ journey ’ of the Prophet. Within this space there are many large mounds, including the principal ruins in Assyria, such as Karakush, Baasheikha, Baazani, Hussein, Tel Yara, &c., &c , and the face of the country is strewed with the remains of pottery, bricks, and other fragments.” From the northern extremity of Koyunjik to Nimroud is, Mr. Layard states, about eighteen miles ; the distance from Nimroud to Karamles about twelve ; the opposite sides of the square the same ; which measurements correspond accurately with the elongated quadrangle of Diodorus. Twenty miles is a day’s journey in the East ; we have, consequently, the three days’ journey of Jonah for the circumference of the city. The agreements of these measurements is, certainly, very remark- able, but, at the same time, it appears to us, that we have no right to assume that “ the three days’ journey ” of Jonah, implies the circuit of the city. Within this space was fought the great battle between Heraclius and Rhazates, a.d. 627. “The city,” says Gibbon, “ and even the ruins of the city, had long since disap- peared ; the vacant space afforded a spacious field for the opera- tions of the two armies.” * It is more probable that Nimroud and Koyunjik represent different cities, and that the mounds of Koyunjik and Nebbi Yunus were once parts of the same city ; while it is possible that the palace of Koyunjik was built long after the historical Nineveh. The position of Khorsabad, its * Gibbon, c. xlvi. 268 KIN'EVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. distance from the river, and its size, preclude the idea that it alone marks the site of a great city. What, however, it was, or what its ancient name, has not as yet been determined. Mr. Layard gives us a very interesting account of the progress of the architectural arts in Assyria, and shows how they were adapted to the peculiar wants of the people, and to the nature of the country. The alluvial soil of the country provided the people with the mud from which their bricks were made, and the unclouded sunshine of their summer, with the fire which hardened and fitted them for use. The great edifices themselves, which were the last and highest results of their architectural genius, were doubtless national monuments, upon the walls of which were represented in sculpture, or inscribed in alphabetic characters, the Chronicles of their Empire. They served to bring the history, the glory, and the triumphs of the nation, continually to the remembrance of those who assembled within them on festive occasions, or for the celebration of religious ceremonies ; and were the ever living monu- ments of the deeds of their ancestors, and of the power and majesty of their gods. The events recorded on them, so far as present excavations have made them known to us, seem to apply only to the kings who founded the buildings, and no name has yet been read which can be satisfactorily assigned to any of the Scriptural kings. Thus, in the earliest palace of Nimroud, we find one name constantly repeated ; and the same remark applies to Koyunjik and Khorsabad. In some edifices, as at Koyunjik, each chamber seems to have been the record of one historical incident ; thus on the walls of one, we have the conquest of a people residing on the banks of two rivers, clothed with groves of palms, the trees and the rivers being repeated in almost every bas-relief. On a second is represented a country watered by a river, and thickly wooded. On a third we have lofty mountains, with their summits covered with firs, and their sides with oaks and vines. For each chamber there is a different scene. The ancient account of the magnitude of the walls of Nineveh seems to have been less exaggerated, and is, in some measure, confirmed by the records of other cities in Assyria and Mesopo- tamia. According to Diodorus Siculus they were one hundred feet high, and so broad that three chariots might be driven abreast upon them. They w^ere furnished with fifteen hundred towers, each two hundred feet high. The low^er part of the walls of CHAP. VIII.] ASSYRIAN ART. 269 Mespila, according to Xenophon,* was fifty feet high, and as many hroad, and the upper one hundred feet high. The plinth was of polished stone, full of shells, the limestone abounding in the country. There are, indeed, no remains now existing at Koyunjik to show that any part of the walls was of solid stone ; yet, there can be scarcely a doubt, that the Mespila of Xenophon is represented by the ruins, now hearing the name of Koyunjik. The vast magnitude of the walls of Babylon was a common story with the ancients : yet, though these accounts have been pro- bably exaggerated, the enormous mounds still existing demon- strate, that there has been a vast superstructure on the natural plain in that locality. It is fair to remember that, as we have already stated, no complete examination has ever hitherto been made of the mounds in that part of Assyria ; and it may yet be the good fortune of Mr. Layard to disinter, on the site of ancient Babylon, ruins and monuments and sculptured chambers, which, if not so old as those of Nimroud, may be hardly less curious. f Similar stories are told us of Ecbatana, the capital of Northern Media, whose walls are said to have been seventy cubits in height, fifty broad, and as thick as those of Babylon. They were built of hewn stone, six cubits long and three hroad, and the gates “ for the going forth of the mighty armies, and for the setting in array of the footmen,” were seventy cubits high and forty wide. One curious record has been preserved to us by Herodotus with regard to Ecbatana, in his statement that the seven walls, one within another, were painted in as many different colours : the same thing is narrated of the outer walls of the palace of Semiramis at Babylon ; there is fair reason to suppose, that the same was once true of the outer walls of Nineveh, though hitherto no traces have been discovered from which their character and form can he inferred. Mr. Layard then devotes a chapter, which is extremely interesting, to the arts and architecture of the ancient Assyrians, and gives grounds for the belief, that many peculiarities, hitherto considered to he of undoubted Greek origin, are really derivable from the more ancient people. On Asia Minor, there can he little doubt that the Assyrians exercised a direct influence during the dominion of their monarchy, as a large extent of Asia Minor was directly under their empire ; and that after the destruction of * Anab. iii. f See note B. at end of chapter. 270 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. Nineveh, they maintained a similar though indirect influence through Persia. Some of the incidental notices in the Bible bear out remarkably the late discoveries. Thus, Ezekiel (xxiii., 14, 15), in typifying the corruptions, which had crept into the religious system of the Jews, and the idolatrous practices which they had borrowed from the nations with whom they had come in contact, seems almost to describe the very paintings which M. Botta and Mr Layard dis- covered on the walls of the Assyrian buildings. He says, “ She saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldaeans pourtrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldsea, the land of their nativity ; ” and the more literal version, which Mr. Layard has given in a note, but which we do not think it necessary here to repeat, is even more descriptive of the observed figures. It is highly probable that Ezekiel does refer to these particular sculp- tures, as he prophesied on the banks of the Chebar (the modern Khabur), at no great distance from Nimroud, and might, not impossibly, have seen them himself. This prophecy is usually assigned to the year b. c. 593, or thirteen years after the Medo- Babylonian conquest of Assyria. The prevalence of the red colour which we find in such a marked manner upon the remains at Khorsabad and Koyunjik, is clearly indicated. The stone which is used for the sculptured slabs is a kind of alabaster which, wLen fresh from the quarries, is of a greyish white ; on exposure, it becomes somewhat darker, and assumes the deep grey colour of the present slabs. It is still constantly used, and is exported to Baghdad for the pavement of halls, for fountains, and for reservoirs. It is so soft, that the backs of some of the slabs which were first sent to England, retain the marks of the matting, through which water had percolated during their passage. On exposure to fire, it becomes of a milky white, and splits off in thin flakes. Such was the state of the alabaster from Khorsabad, Koyunjik, and the S.W. palace of Nimroud. A bright yellow limestone was also sometimes employed, as in the human-headed bulls from the N.W. palace. Mr. Layard states, that this material must have been brought from some distance, perhaps from the mountains of Kurdistan ; and that he saw a specimen similar to it near Amadiyah. The winged bulls and lions CHA.P, vm.] ASSYRIAN ART. 271 in the S.W. palace were sculptured from a coarse grey limestone, while the outer walls were perhaps constructed of the fossilife- rous stone described by Xenophon in his account of the lower part of the wall of Mespila. The basalt of which the obelisk from Nimroud, and the sitting figure from Kalah Sherghat were made, is procured abundantly from the mountains of Kurdistan, in the neighbourhood of Jezirah; and it is probable that the obelisk which, according to a tradition, Semiramis procured from the Armenian mountains, was of the same material. Several figures and other monuments in the same stone have been found in the Babylonian ruins, and it seems to have been generally employed, whenever alabaster or limestone could not easily be procured. From its exceeding hardness, it was admirably adapted for the preservation of public records. Another chapter, which Mr. Layard has devoted to the arms and dress of the Assyrians, is equally interesting and useful, and forms an admirable index to the varieties of costume which may be Figures standing before the King. found in the published drawings of M. Botta, and in the marbles procured by him and Mr. Layard. It is a very interesting thing to notice how little change there has been in the manners of these oriental people, from the earliest times to the present. To this day, to stand with the hands crossed before you, as on the Assyrian monu- ments, is the usual attitude of respect for a superior ; the eye- brows and eyelashes are now, as then, painted with the kohl to heighten their usual expression ; and the modern Persian rejoices in the possession of hair and beard, which is hardly exaggerated on the monumental representations. In the sieges of the castles 272 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. pourtrayed on the monuments, we find the universal use of the battering rams, which has been supposed by some to be an invention of later times ; yet if the town or castle was built, as was generally the case in the plains of Assyria, on an eminence, Fragment representing the head and heard of the King. either natural or artificial, the first step, which the besiegers would take, would be to raise a similar mound against it, whence they could discharge their darts and arrows. We cannot but believe, that the use of some engines of war, similar to the battering ram, must have suggested itself, very early, to any nation engaged in similar wars, even though there be no early mention of their use in the fragments, which time has spared of the Greek classical WTiters. Holy Scripture has recorded more than one instance of the use of the artificial mound on such occasions. Thus, Isaiah (xxxvii., 33) says, “ Thus saith the Lord, concerning the King of Assyria : He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it ; ” and Ezekiel (xvii., 17), — “ Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounds and building forts, to cut off many persons.” And again, the same prophet says, speaking of Jerusalem, “Lay siege against 273 CHAP, viil] ASSYRIAN ART. it, and build a fort against it, and cast up a mound against it ; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round Fragment witli battering ram. about.” Lastly, Ezekiel’s Prophecy of the destruction of Tyre gives a full illustration of the mode of attack, and the result of the sieges undertaken by the Assyrian warriors. He says, “Thus saith the Lord God : Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus, Nebuchad- nezzar king of Babylon, from the north, with horses and with chariots, and with horsemen and companies and much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field ; and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mound against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust shall cover thee ; thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horse- men, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter thy gates as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets ; he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise ; and they shall break down * Chap. iv. V. 2. T 274 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. viir. thy walls and destroy thy pleasant houses ; and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. On a fragment of a slab, which was found at Khorsabad, is pre- served a portion of a very admirable group, consisting of a Groom leading Two Horses, which may serve for a good specimen of the manner, in which the Assyrians were in the habit of decorating their horses, and of the peculiar furniture which they used for that purpose. The trappings are equally rich and elegant ; plumes * Ezekiel, xxvi. 7 — 12. CHAP, vm.] ASSYRIAN WORSHIP. 275 wave over their heads, and crests, fancifully formed, rise gracefully in an arch over their heads, and descend in front to the nostrils. Another slab, of which a fragment has been preserved and is in the Museum, represents the beardless Head of the Eunuch wEo is usually in attendance on the great king, and who carries the fly- flapper in his hand. Another slab gives a representation of a war Procession of the King in his chariot, with attendant warriors on horseback and on foot; with the royal standard in the chariot, and the ferouher, or symbol of divinity, flying in the air above the horses; while, on another, is a spirited representation of Four Camels, who follow a man holding a pointed-shaped vessel in his hand. Man with Camels. In the castles of the maritime people, who are depicted upon the bas-reliefs from Koyunjik, we notice a number of shields, which are hung round the walls. There is a curious illustration of this passage in Ezekiel, where he is speaking of Tyre. He says, “ The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers ; they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about.”* One of the most curious ornaments which have been found among the Nimroud marbles is that of which we have given two plates, and which, from the figures which are represented near it and connected with it, Mr. Layard has called the Sacred Tree. T 2 * Ezekiel, xxvii. 11. 276 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. Yin. On the first of these slabs the tree is placed in the centre, and on each side stands the figure which has usually been called Nisroch, who is holding towards it, and apparently offering to it, a fir cone. Sacred Tree and Nisroch. On the second, the same tree occurs, between two kneeling winged figures, who wear the horned cap, and hold out their two hands Sacred Tree and Kneeling Figures. extended towards it. It is not easy to determine what is the tree which is here represented, but the probability is that it is a CHAP. VIII.] ASSYRIAN WORSHIP. 277 honeysuckle. It occurs repeated in various ways upon the monu- ments. It is embroidered on the robes of the figures, embossed on their arms and chariots, and painted on their walls. It is worthy of remark that a modification of it appears in the Greek honeysuckle ornaments, and even in India, on a Lath at Allahabad, while, on a slab from the north-west palace, the winged bull and the winged goat are also represented, kneeling before it. We have but few records of the manufactures of the ancient Assyrians, but, we may infer from the draperies which are exhibited on the sculptures, that they were not behind other nations in the manufacture of linen and woollen stuffs, and in the weaving of cloth of divers colours, for which the Asiatic nations have always been celebrated. Among those, who traded in “ blue cloth and embroi- dered work” with Tyre, were the merchants of Ashur, or Assyria.* Garments from Babylon are classed among the precious articles of spoil, and even with gold, in the time of Joshua.f They were, perhaps, the “ dyed attire and embroidered work ” so frequently mentioned as the garments of princes, and had ornaments and figures worked upon them with the needle ; ‘ the prey of divers colours of needle-work, of divers colours of needle-work on both sides.”! On the question of the Religion of the ancient Assyrians, Mr. Layard expresses his belief, that, originally, it was apure Sabseanism, in which the Heavenly bodies were worshipped as mere types of the power and attributes of the Supreme Deity ; and there is a strong probability, that this form of worship had its origin among the inhabitants of the Assyrian plain. The Fire-worship of a later age was, as we have seen, a corruption of the purer form of Sabseanism, and we have no traces of it upon the earliest monu- ments. On the bas-reliefs, however, of Khorsabad and Koyunjik, as well as on a multitude of cylinders, which are probably of the same period, we have abundant evidence of its subsequent preva- lence in that country. The symbols and religious ceremonies represented at KhorsabM and Koyunjik, and on the cylinders, are identical with those of the ancient monuments of Persia ; while, at the same time, the sculptures of Persepolis, in their mythic cha- racter, resemble in every respect those of the Assyrians. The type of the Supreme Being, the figure with the circle, is an * Ezek. xxvii. 24. Josh. vii. 21. ^ Judg. v. 30. 278 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. instance in point. The worship of the Heavenly bodies would, as we have already pointed out, be the natural form, to which religious minds would, in such a country, he turned. “ The Assyrian plains,” says Mr. Layard, “ uninterrupted by a single eminence, and rarely shadowed by a passing cloud, were looked upon as a fit place for the birth of a system, which recognised the Heavenly bodies as types of the Supreme Power, and invested them with supernatural influences. The wonderful regularity of their periodical move- ments, and even their effects upon the physical world, must have been apparent to the Chaldsean shepherd long before they became the study of the philosopher and the priest. V^hilst he watched his sheep by night, he marked the stars as they rose above the horizon, and learned to distinguish one from another, and to invest the most remarkable groups with distinct forms.” In the earliest sculptures from Nimroud, the king is only seen in adora- tion before one symbol of the Deity, the figure with the wings and tail of a bird enclosed in a circle, resembling, as we have pointed out, the Ferouher of the Persian monuments ; and, although there are eagle-headed figures, and other mythic forms, yet, in no case, do they appear to be the direct objects of worship. The king is generally standing or kneeling before this mystical figure, with his hand raised in sign of prayer or adoration ; and this figure is never represented above any person of inferior rank, but appears to watch especially over the monarch. Two other slabs, of w^hich we have given sketches below, serve to illustrate peculiarities of the Assyrian art which are not repre- sented, so far as we remember, on the sculptures of any other nation. The first represents a Chieftain in a Chariot, proceeding at full gallop, and probably, from the representation of a dead lion which occurs under the horses, engaged in hunting that animal. The warrior has his bow full bent, and is about to discharge his arrow. It will be observed that, though the string of the bow is marked up to the point where, if continued, it would cross the face of the warrior, it is there discontinued, and apparently passes behind the head of the archer. This mode of representation is uniformly adopted on the Assyrian sculptures, and has been noticed, as we have already mentioned, by M. Botta among his discoveries at Khorsabad. In no instance is the string of the bow ever permitted to cross the face, from which it results that, in many instances, the figures are made to assume an attitude, CHAP. VIII.] REMARKABLE SUCCESS OF MR. LAYARD. 279 ■which, in nature, would be altogether impossible. The second slab represents, apparently, a Treaty of Peace. The king is on foot, CMeftaim in cliariot at full gallop. with an attendant standing behind him holding the umbrella over his head. The king holds in his right hand two arrow’s, and before him is another figure who is addressing him. Behind the king is his chariot, with a warrior holding the horses’ heads. Treaty of Peace. After some interesting remarks on the Assyrian mode of sepul- ture, Mr. Layard brings his two valuable volumes to a conclusion, with the modest confession, that he will be well satisfied, and his literary labours, as well as those of a more active nature, 280 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. amply rewarded, if he shall have succeeded in an attempt to add a page to the history of mankind, by restoring a part of the lost annals of Assyria. And here, too, we must take our leave of Mr. Layard, with an expression of heartfelt gratitude for the singular disinterestedness, with which he has laboured in the cause of ancient antiquities, and for the admirable zeal and judgment with which he has investi- gated every subject which has come under his notice, and with a hope, which, we feel sure, will be echoed back from every one, who has had the good fortune to follow him, in the path of these curious discoveries, that the second expedition, on which he is now engaged, may prove at least as successful as the former one has been, and the excavations he is now conducting no less fruitful in new discoveries, than those on which he has been occupied in previous years. Though it may yet be long, as the writer of an article in the Quarterly Review has stated, ere these obstinate and sullen inscriptions yield up their secret treasures of knowledge ; though we may be baffled by the recondite language, owning no manifest analogy with any of the known languages, w'hether ancient or modern, of Western Asia ; though we may be doomed for many years to gaze upon them with unintelligent wonder, as men did for many ages on the hieroglyphics of Egypt, till a Young and a Champollion arose to interpret them ; though we may not be able, as Chevalier Bunsen aspires to do for Egypt, to assign the place of Ninevite Assyria in the history of mankind and of civilisation : yet, we cannot but think that this sudden red- integration, as it were, of the half fabulous empire of Assyria is one of the most singular adventures, so to speak, of Antiquarian research. Though we may, even at the last, do no more than make out barren lists of kings, curious indeed if confirmed by chrono- logists, yet even then of limited extent, we shall still have discovered unanswerable evidence of the power of Assyria, of her wealth, her greatness, her luxury, and her skill in the manufactures and the arts ; we shall know somewhat of the extent of her conquests, and, though indistinctly and imperfectly, discern the character of her social life and religion. We shall see, as the reviewer continues to remark, that luxurious Nineveh had already attired herself in rich Babylonian garments, whose splendour of hues and firmness of woof were proverbial from the times of the earliest Hebrew writers to the most sumptuous CHAP, vtil] remarkable SUCCESS OF MR. LAYARD. 281 days of Rome : that their furniture, vases, utensils, exhibit graceful forms, and that their chambers were painted with borders of elegant design and brilliant colouring. We shall behold a school of sculp- ture essentially their own ; their palaces and their temples lined with bas-reliefs, exhibiting high artistic powers, and the treatment of every subject pourtrayed, from the human form to the simplest vegetable existence, wearing an appearance indigenous and original ; a faithful copy, we cannot doubt, of Assyrian life, and representing with truth Assyrian forms, customs, manners and habits. If, indeed, the secret of true majesty and true beauty have been reserved for the later and the finer hands which guided the Grecian chisel — majesty irrespective of magnitude and beauty, which ventured to reveal the whole form of man, — we cannot, therefore, deny that the Assyrian is high art, though still barbaric ; though, sometimes, careless of perspective and sinning against the stricter rules of proportion ; though admitting very strange devices to suggest its own meaning, and adding even whimsical accessories, so its story may thereby be the better told. “Its aim,” adds the reviewer, in a very able summary, “is historic and religious ; addressed to a people who still dwelt on symbolic forms, and were yet far from the beautiful anthropomorphism of Greece, it is not ideal nor in the highest sense imaginative. The impressions which it sought to create, and which it even does create, are awe at its boldness, strength, massiveness, gorgeous- ness. It is by gigantic dimensions that it intimates power ; by a stern sedateness of countenance and splendour of dress, kingly majesty. The lofty tiara adds to the solemn dignity of the human head ; the draperies, hard in outline, mere layers of alabaster instead of folds, are worked into a kind of network of embroidery. It is, at the same time, singularly true and abso- lutely untrue ; it does not, on some of the reliefs, give more than two fore-legs to a pair of horses in a chariot ; there is no grada- tion in size : and, yet, there is a spirit and a freedom in its outline, a force and energy in its forms, a skill in grouping, which ventures on some of the boldest attitudes into which the figure of the warrior can be thrown : it has that, which is to sculpture, what action, according to Demosthenes, was to oratory — life. It is, in its better period, perhaps more real in its animal than in its human forms ; some horses’ heads are extremely fine. It is orientally jealous of revealing the female form ; women are seen 282 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. on the battlements, tearing their hair, or carried away captive, hut with none of that exposure, which, whatever may be its effect as to decency, adds so much to the grace of sculpture. Those, then, who are content with spirit, animation, force, will regard these specimens of art, of such immemorial antiquity, not only with curiosity, but with admiration ; those who will yield them- selves up to the impression produced by colossal forms as sug- gesting great audacity of conception and of execution, will look with eagerness for the arrival of Mr. Layard’s larger cargo : all who feel an interest in the History of Art, will be disposed to study with care and attention this new chapter in that book, unfolded so suddenly and so contrary to expectation.” Note A. — Ante, p. 263. SCULPTURES AT MALTHAIYAH. These sculptures have been since visited and described by M. Rouet, who held for some time the office of French Consul at Mosul, and who was fully alive to the importance of the marbles which his predecessor had untombed, and determined to follow in the steps of M. Botta, and, if possible, to immor- talise his name in a similar manner. With this view, he examined the neighbourhood of the town with great care, and was fortunate enough to find some monuments, which rewarded him for his trouble. Directed by a Chaldaean peasant, who had spoken to him of a wonderful grotto, he ascended some very rugged mountains, which he calls Chenduc, about thirteen leagues north-west of Mosul, and succeeded in finding certain bas-reliefs which he has called, the Sculptures of Maalthai, from a little village of that name, which is at the foot of the mountain. They are so difficult of approach, that not even a mule can scramble up to them. When, near the top, he came to a plateau, at one end of which was a huge monolith, on the face of which were the sculptures in bas-relief. They consisted of four tablets, placed at some yards one from the other, and each containing nine figures, six of whom stand upon different animals. The first figure is on foot ; the third, who appears like a royal personage, is seated on a well-carved throne, supported on the backs of animals. All are sculptured in profile, and appear to form part of a pro- cession. The disposition of each tablet is the same,— the only differences observable are in some of the minor details of costume and animals, as the lions, horses, and stags which support them. The three first tablets are well preserved ; the fourth has suffered much from exposure to the weather. CHAP. VIII.] MAJOR RAWLINSON’S INTERPRETATION. 283 M. Rouet did not find any inscription^ but imagines that they belong to the aera of Khorsabad,, as there is a great resemblance in the monumental style of the two Ruins. On a subsequent visit, M. Rouet was aided by the pencil of M. Ricchi, a medical gentleman, at that time resident at Mosul ; and an engraving of the third of these tablets, taken from his pencil sketch, is published in the Journal Asiatique for March, 1846. M. Rouet considers that the object of the Sculptures is a religious one. The word Maalihai signifies in Chaldee an entrance, or doorway ; and the position of the village on the confines of Kurdistan, and the province of Mosul, favours the idea that it derived its name from this circumstance. It is at this day on the highroad from Kurdistan to Mosul ; and the first place in the Pachalik of the latter town, at which the traveller arrives on going to Mosul. M. Rouet mentions that the Mountain of Chenduc is half-a-league from a place which is still called Dhohec. He suggests the possibility that Dhohec is identical with Zohac or Zohauk, — the celebrated Assyrian tyrant, who plays so important a figure in the legends of the East. “ Can it be,” says he, that in this name is preserved the tradition of the real existence of this king, as a ruler of the countries adjacent 1 ” Note B. — Ante, p. 269. MAJOR RAWLINSON’S INTERPRETATION OF THE ASSYRIAN INSCRIPTIONS. Since the foregoing account was drawn up. Major Rawlinson has arrived in England, and has commenced reading, before the Asiatic Society, the results he has arrived at from the interpretation of the Assyrian Inscrip- tions. As some outline of his views has been already given in the public journals, we may be permitted to state some of the most curious points in his discoveries. The first and most remarkable thing is the determination of the real name of that ancient city, whose ruins are now called Nimroud, and which it had been, at first, very naturally, though, somewhat hastily, assumed, could be no other than Nineveh, — notwithstanding the constant tradition, whicK had placed the great city very near, if not directly opposite, to the modern Mosul. Major Rawlinson considers that Nimroud is the ruins of Halah or Calah, the ancient city mentioned in Genesis x. 11 and 12, in the words, “ Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city of Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah.” This was one of the cities, to which the captive Israelites were removed by the kings of Assyria. The true Nineveh, which may or may not be an older city than Halah, is probably represented, according to the uniform tradition, by the mound which is surmounted by the tomb of the prophet Jonas, and hears in consequence the name of Nebbi Yunus. Koyunjik may not, impossibly, be the Mespila of Xenophon; 284 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. VIII. while Khorsab^d, perhaps, the king who founded it, — bore the name of Sarun or Sarghun. There can be no doubt, that the names of the kings found on the inscrip- tions at Nimroud, represent the most ancient monarchs, of whom any records have been discovered on the Euphrates or Tigris. Six of these kings, who followed in a line of direct descent, are mentioned by name. The third is called Asser-adan-pal, or Sardanapalus ; the fourth, Temenbar. This Sardanapalus must not be confounded with the voluptuary of Greek and Roman fable, but was a prince of great might, and an illustrious warrior. He was probably the same king whose tomb is described by Amyntas, as placed at the gate of the Assyrian capital, and who has been distinguished by Callisthenes from the luxurious monarch of later times. His name has been found repeated more than one hundred times on the monuments of the N. W. palace, in which his inscriptions generally commence with the formula, “ This is the palace of Sardanapalus, the humble worshipper of Asarach.” The name Asarach, which occurs, in after times, under various forms, as Sesorach and Nisroch, represents, perhaps, the Proto-patriarch of the Assy- rian people, and is, possibly, identical with the Eponymus Assur. For the origin and duration of the Assyrian monarchy, the inscriptions have at present yielded nothing positive ; but, there are good grounds for assigning the earlier Nimroud sculptures to a period as early, as the thirteenth century before Christ, — a date which would synchronise with the latter portion of the eighteenth dynasty in Egypt, the Argive colonisation of Greece, and the conquest of Judsea by the Israelites. The most valuable monument, which Major Rawlinson has submitted to his analvsis, is the black obelisk found in the Centre of the mound. He has shown that it is a record of the wars and history of Temenbar II., the founder of the Central palace, the events of whose reign, for thirty-one years, are recorded on the monument, year by year ; and whose name is also found on the large bulls from the same palace, and on the sitting figure from Kalah Sherghat. The inscription on the obelisk commences with an invocation to the Assyrian gods, among whom occur the names of Asarac, Beltis, and Bar, with the genealogy of the king himself, who names his father Sardanapalus, and his grandfather Alti-Bar. The monument itself is mainly the chronicle of the wars of Temenbar in Syria Proper, against the people of Atesh, whom Major Rawlinson thinks represents Hems or Emesa, and of Hamath, who were confederated with the Sheta, — probably a large tribe, holding the country between the Syrian desert and the Mediterranean, and of whom the Scriptural Hittites were, not impossibly, an offshoot; and with the people of Armenia and Naharaina, or Mesopo- tamia. The different expeditions of the king are generally prefaced with the phrase, “ I crossed the Euphrates.” A great many names occur, of countries, tribes, and nations, of most of whom Major Rawlinson has no doubt that he has obtained the correct equivalents, though some it is at present impossible to identify. In the ninth year of this king’s reign, he is stated to have led an expe- dition against the people of the south, to the land of Shinar or Babylonia, to have raised altars to the gods, in the cities of Shinar and Borsippa, and CHAP, vin.] MAJOR RAWLINSON’S INTERPEETATIOK 285 to have subsequently passed into the land of the Chaldees, who dwelt upon the sea coast. In the sixteenth and twenty-fourth years of his reign, the king led his armies to the eastward, crossing the lesser Zab, and ascending the mountain range of the Zagros. He mentions his exploits against the Arians, the Medes, and the Armenians of Karkhar. On two subsequent occasions, he sent his general to wage war on the same people ; and, among the conquests of this chief, is found the land of the Minni, which was pro- bably the same land, which is associated by the prophet Jeremiah with Ararat and Askenaz, in his denunciations against Babylon, namely, that province of which Tan was the capital. Attached to this curious monument are epigraphs, above the rows of figures, which are sculptured on its four sides. Major Rawlinson considers that they represent the tribute brought to the king by five conquered nations ; and, though the names of the animals are not all made out, he is able to recognise horses and camels, — the latter being described as ^‘beasts of the desert with the double back while it appears that the country occu- pied by the tribute-bearers is called Misr, and is, therefore, either the same country, or in immediate connection with, Egypt. Major Rawlinson stated, in conclusion, that it was his belief that an interregnum must have occurred between the last king of the first dynasty, whom he calls Hevenk II., and the king who built Khorsabad ; that, at the same time, it was clear that this interregnum was not of long duration, as the titles, the language, and the mythology of the two periods were not only almost identical, and as the Khorsabad king has recorded his residence at Nimroud, in the palace built by Sardanapalus, “ the fourth in descent from myself but that all the inscriptions found at Nimroud, Khorsabad, and Koyunjik, belonged to that line of kings known in history as the dynasty of Kinus and Semiramis ; while no memorials had, as yet, been found of those kings, who are mentioned in Scripture history, as cotemporary with the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, a fact which suggests the probability, that, during that later period, Assyria itself was in dependence upon the lords paramount of Media. Such is a brief outline of the result of Major Rawlinson’s new discoveries, the full publication and proofs of which we may hope will not be long delayed. The town Calah, which he reads on the inscriptions, was not an unknown name in antiquity. As we have stated, it was one of the four primaeval cities of Assyria, and one of the places where the Jewish captives were located. In classical history, Strabo speaks of it, lib. xi., idos KaXaxdvrjs Kal Adiafiwvs—smd again, at the end of the same book, rrjs KaXaxwvs Kai rrjs k.hia^i]V7]s e^co rfis Adia^r]vr}s tpoov — where Adiabene is probably used for Armenia in Ptolemy. We find Calacine, which is a corruption for Calachene, and which is placed above Adiabene, close to Mons Niphates, where were the seats of the ancient Carduchi or Gordiaei. Pliny speaks of “ Classics populi per quos Lycus ex Armenia fertur,” where Classics is no doubt for Calachitse. The country round seems to have borne the generic name of Regio Calachene. It must be carefully borne in mind that the Regio Calachene is distinct from the Regio Chalo- nitis. The latter derived its name from Calneh, one of the four primaeval cities in the plains of Shinar. The modern name has been supposed by 286 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. viii. some to be Kes-ri-Sberin, — ^by others Holwan. It seems to have been near if not at the same place, that Xerxes planted a colony of Boeotians, who gave it the name of their native village, Celonae. Major Rawlinson himself* once thought that Holwan represented the Calah of Genesis ; but he states at the time, that the etymological identity is, I believe, the best claim which Holwan possesses to be the Calah of Asshur.” On the other hand, Calneh answers to it very well, while Calah does not. ♦ Joum. Roy. Geogr. Soc., vol. iv. CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 287 CHAPTER IX Monumental remains of Persia. — First period of the Achaemenian Dynasty — Persepolis — Ancient and Modern Names — Character of the Buildings — Cyrus and Cambyses. — Darius — Xerxes — What portions may he assigned to each — General Description of the Ruins from Chardin, Le Brun, Niebuhr, Ker Porter and other Travellers — Derivation of Greek Art from the Persians — Remarks of Sir William Ouseley — Tombs behind Persepolis — Ruins of Murghab — Tomb of Cyrus — Pasargada, Ancient and Modern Accounts of — Haram of Jemshid — Persepolitan Temple near Shiraz — Istakhr — Achseme- nian Tombs at Nakshi Rustam. — Second period, — Sassanian Remains at Nakshi Rustam — Bahram V. — Shahpur I. and Valerian — Fire Temple — Fire Altars — Nakshi Rejib — Rhey (Rhages) — Ruins of Shahpur, near Kdzerun — Remains at Behistun^ — Khosru Pur viz and Shirin — Ferhad the Sculptor — Shahpur II. The monuments and remains of ancient Persia, which we now proceed to describe, belong to two classes, those which were executed previous to the period of Alexander the Great, and those which are due to the monarchs of the Sassanian house. Of the former class, no one can at all compare in extent with the ruins of Persepolis, in the plain of Merdusht, about thirty-five miles north- east of Shiraz. The modern name of the ruins is Tacht-i- Jemshid (or the Structure of Jemshid), or Chehel Minar (the Forty Pillars). But little removed from the great highway between Shiraz and Isfahan, they have been visited and described by nearly every traveller who has passed through Persia; and though, even now, it is not possible to assign its own builder to every edifice, late discoveries have enabled us to identify Darius Hystaspes, and Xerxes as the chief builders of them. The obscure tradition in the mouths of the modem inhabitants ascribes them to king Jemshid, and serves to show that, while the modern inhabitants really know but little of their real history, they are willing to assign to them the most venerable antiquity. The approach to Persepolis, as the traveller crosses the vast plain of Merdusht, is described by every one who has had the good fortune to visit it, as magnificent in the extreme. The clearest and most spirited, that we have met with, is that of the author of “Rough Notes of a Rough Ride from the East.” “ We were in our saddles,” says he, “ at the first streak of day, and ere 288 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. the sun’s rays had gilded the few surviving capitals of Chehel Minar, its tall white columns stood before us in naked majesty at the foot of the bare and dreary ridge of mountains which bounds the wide alluvial plain of Merdusht. No other w^ork of man was visible, except a few’ tents of wandering Eelyauts — specks in the distant horizon. There stood in stately solitude the pride of ages, which appear almost fabulous from their distance ; of empires nearer by five centuries to the time of Noah than to ours, and of which no trace remains ; but here are sufficient to verify the narrations of their splendid existence, and to show that in some arts, and those among the noblest, our vaunted march of intellect is but an idle boast ; indeed were it not for the models we imitate — the more servilely the better — this ‘ march’ would most cer- tainly be a countermarch. As it is, w’here is the modern city which will have such a glorious wTeck as this after its ephemeral, though perhaps more utilitarian, existence has passed aw-ay?” Yet, wonderful as are the remains which still exist, it is doubtful whether w’e know with accuracy what was the original name of this celebrated place. We know that after the establishment of the empire by Cyrus, he and his immediate descendants divided their residence between Babylon, Susa, and Ecbatana. Cyrus himself seems, chiefly, to have resided at Babylon and Susa, and, as he did not live more than eight years, after he became master of the whole empire, it is doubtful whether he could have spent much time at Persepolis, or have added much to its splendours. From Strabo and Diodorus we find, that the Greeks usually called the city Persepolis, and Xenophon demonstrates its locality by mentioning, that it was at no great distance from the frontiers of Media. But, whether the Persian monarchs passed much of their time at Persepolis or not, it is certain, that their sepulchral repose was found among the caves of these their native mountains. Here W’e still find tombs, by universal tradition, the Tombs of the Kings ; and the most authentic historians testify that their remains were transported thither. Still less, can we form any certain conjecture respecting the origin of the architectural art still visible in these ruins. Sir R. K. Porter, who has given the fullest description of them, considers that they bear a strong resemblance to the architectural taste of Egypt, and when we recollect the history of Egypt during the Persian times, there is some ground for imagining, that the columns of the CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 289 Nile may be found upon the plains of Persia. Forty years before the conquest of Babylon, we know that Nebuchadnezzar overran the whole of Egypt, and loading his army with the spoil of the country returned in triumph to Babylon. When Cyrus, subsequently, annexed Babylon to his empire, and brought away with him the treasures and artizans of that city, Babylon natur- ally yielded the lessons it had learnt from Egypt to the Persian conqueror. Cambyses, the successor of Cyrus, subdued A masis and Psammenitus, and, following the example of Nebuchadnezzar, transported from Thebes the precious ornaments of the city of the Hundred Gates ; bringing, also, with him six thousand Egyptian captives, who were, probably, employed in the works he was con- structing in his own kingdom.* Future princes pursued a similar course, and adorned their capital with the riches of the countries they conquered, till at length, in the words of Q. Curtius, “ Persepolis became the glory of the East, and no other existing city could be compared to it.” Diodorus Siculus has preserved a description of it, which will be found to tally remarkably with the present position and state of the ruins. “ A triple wall,” says he, “ surrounded the place. The first wall was sixteen cubits in height, defended by parapets, and flanked with towers. The second wall was in form like the first, but twice in elevation. The third wall was a square, and cut in the mountain, being sixty cubits in height. It is defended by palisadoes of copper, and has doors of the same of twenty cubits high. The first wall is to inspire awe, the second for strength, and the last for the defence of the palace. To the east of this, about four hundred feet distant, is the spot called the Koyal Moun- tain, containing the Tombs of the Kings. Here the rock is hollowed out into several chambers, to gain the entrance to which the coffins are hoisted up by machinery ; no other way of ascending to them exists.” At the present time, the ruins stand on an immense artificially-levelled platform, facing the cardinal points, measuring on the south, 802 feet, on the north 926, and on the west 1,425. This platform has evidently been cut down from the rock, and abuts on the hill, which no doubt Diodorus meant to imply by the name of the “ Eoyal Mountain.” On the level of the platform appear several mounds and stony heaps, marking three distinct lines of walls and towers, the situation and direction of * Diod. Sic. i. 1. u 290 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. which can be easily traced. It is over this part, that the fighting was probably most severe, when the Arabs took the city in a.d. 64^^, at the close of the reign of Yezdigird, the last of the Sassanian princes, as innumerable quantities of arrow-heads have been found from time to time along the ruins, at the walls above, and also over the ground below, and on the tops of the remaining walls of what has been called the palace. The irregularity of the shape of the palace is probably due to the nature of the ground. The level, on which the building stands, is now exceedingly uneven, owing to the accumulation of the fallen ruins : on the northward, considerable masses of the native rock show still marks of the original ham- mers and other implements, with which the higher pieces were hewn down to the level required. Beyond the space of the artificial platform, the rock protrudes itself in vast abrupt clifis, bearing traces of the pick-axe : in some, too, of the cavities, the progress of a quarry is still visible : part of the rock remains hewn through, and completed slabs are lying ready for removal. It is probable that the vast pile was never finally completed. “ It was a costly gem,” says Sir H. K. Porter, “ to which every succeeding hand thought it could give an additional polish.” The stone which has been used for this building is dark grey marble ; it is cut into gigantic square blocks, and in many cases exquisitely polished ; and, though unaided by mortar, the sepa- rate stones adhere so closely, that, w^hen first completed, the terraced platform must have appeared as part of the solid moun- tain itself, levelled as a foundation for the columnar edifice erected on it. The apparent height of the platform from the ground is much lower now, than in the time of Diodorus. The encroach- ments of ruins and vegetation have thrown up heaps and hillocks against its sides, making rough slopes where once were smooth per- pendiculars. The present height varies from twenty to thirty feet, but there can be little doubt that, were the bases of the wall cleared out, we should obtain fully twenty feet more in height. The three sides towards the plain are each supported by a similar wall, and on the fourth side, where the rock advances upon the plain, it has been escarped perpendicularly. The levelled plain within tbe wall consists of a series of terraces, one rising beyond the other ; the first or lowest embraces the whole length of the southern face, and is in width one hundred and eighty-three feet. The second contains the whole central area ; the third and CHAP. IX.] PEESEPOLIS. 291 most elevated has been entirely covered with buildings, and was probably the most magnificent of the whole. Along the edge of the lowest terrace, large masses of stone remain in different places, which look like the fragments of a parapet wall : they are worked with the same colossal strength and gigantic proportions with the rest of the edifice. On the edge of the third or highest terrace, are marks apparently showing the former existence of a strong range of railing or palisadoes. They occur at the top of the flight of steps, which connects this terrace with the one beneath, and Niebuhr thinks that the stones, which formed it, have been removed to other buildings and towns, as Shiraz. The ascent from the plain to the great levelled platform is by one vast double flight of steps, the finest perhaps in the world, which rise to the north and south with a very gentle ascent, and emerge from the flat space, which has been gained from the face of the valley, over a slope of accumulated ruins and rubbish. The entire height is forty-five feet, the width of each step twenty-two, its height three inches and a half, and the whole number of them fifty-five. The blocks of marble, which have been used in their construction, are gigantic, and some are so large as to allow of ten or fourteen steps being cut into its solid mass. The size of the base which they cover is sixty-seven feet by twenty-two. On ascending the first flight, an irregular landing-place presents itself of thirty-seven feet by forty-four, from whence springs a second flight formed of forty-eight steps and covering fifty-nine feet by twenty-two. A couple of corresponding staircases ter- minate, on the grand level of the platform, by a landing-place, which occupies sixty-four feet. The ascent of the steps is so gradual, that Sir E. K. Porter and other travellers mention, that they constantly rode up the staircase on horseback. It is curious, that this splendid staircase is not in the centre of any one of the faces, but, so much to the contrary, that, while it is 961 feet from the south face, it is only 208 feet from the north. Having ascended the staircase and reached the platform, the first thing, which meets the eye, are two masses of stone work, which probably formed an entrance gateway for foot-passengers, as its narrowness (only thirteen feet) precludes the idea, that it could have been intended for horses or carriages. The pavement is laid with slabs of polished marble of gigantic size. Beyond the two first portals are two columns, and then again two more 292 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. portals. On the front of the portals are basso-relievo figures of animals (which Mr. Morier calls sphinxes), those on the first facing outwardly, and those on the second inwardly towards the mountain Sir R. K. Porter, who has studied these animals with much care, and whose beautiful and accurate drawings greatly enhance the value of his hook, proves that they represent colossal bulls. Their heads, chests and forelegs occupy nearly the w^hole thick- ness of the walls, the bodies being left in relief. A pedestal, of five feet cut out of two blocks, raises them five feet above the level of the platform. At a considerable height above the animals are three compartments, containing arrow head inscrip- tions. As the upper part of the walls is now wholly ruined, we have no means of judging how the figures were terminated, but, there is enough left of them, for there to be no doubt as to what they were originally. The heads are indeed gone, but the cloven foot, and the strong outline of the form make it quite certain, that the perfect figure represented a bull. Round the necks of these “ bucolic sentinels ” are collars of roses, and over the cheek, neck, shoulders, back, and ribs is a decoration resembling short curly hair, delineated with great skill, and executed with great beauty. Their proportions are excellent, and their colossal size gives them a remarkable air of grandeur. Though much injured, the resemblance between the bulls at Persepolis and those lately found at Khorsabad and Nimroud is very evident, and the inference seems irresistible that, for this portion of the sculpture-art, the early Persians are indebted to the still earlier Assyrians. The breadth of this building, facing the west, is five feet, its length twenty-one, and its height thirty feet. Heeren, probably misled by the inaccurate description of the early travellers, has supposed the colossal animals represent the Monoceros of Ctesias, and that this extraordinary creature existed on the mountainous tract north of India and east of Persia, bordering on the desert. The tail and cloven foot differ entirely from those of the wild ass, and indicate distinctly the animal to which they belong. Nor is it strange, that such an animal should be found occupying so prominent a place among these sculptures, as the bull was in all ages worshipped in the east, in Egypt, in Syria, and in India as a Divinity. The Indians conceived the bull the best represen- Winged Bull (Persepolis) CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 293 tative of creative energy, and described Siva as riding on the bull Nandi. The Apis of the Egyptians received divine honours for a similar reason. In Persia, as the bull was, sometimes and on very solemn occasions, slain as a sacrifice, it is probable that it was not also worshipped as a deity, while Cambyses is said to have slain Apis, for committing this very act of idolatry ; and Sir K. K. Porter remarks that it is probably emblematic, like the allegorical combinations of men and animals, which are found on other Persian remains. Throughout all Pagan mythology, the lion and the bull are the emblems, respectively, of royalty and of power, and these animals are consequently of frequent recur- rence, either singly or in a form compounded of both animals, among almost all the ancient structures of Persia. The horns of an animal are other symbols of strength or force ; hence the numerous expressions in the Scriptures and in the oriental writ- ings, where the horn is used as the symbol of success or dominion : thus Daniel says — “ the great horn which is between his eyes is the first king.” Xenophon remarks that the bull was sacred to Mithra, and gives an account of its being led as a victim in the great triumphal sacrifice of Cyrus. Proceeding onwards to the east, we come to two magnificent columns, twenty -four feet from the entrance portal ; — there were originally four similar pillars on this spot, but two have perished entirely, since the days of Chardin. Their height is forty -five feet, and their diameter at the toruses thirteen feet ten inches. The shaft gradually narrows towards the capital, and is varied by thirty-nine flutings near the top, each of which is four inches in width. The columns stood equidistant from one another twenty feet. As their tops are perfectly smooth. Sir E. K. Porter conjec- tures that, when perfect and united, they may, perhaps, have borne some symbolical sculptured image. The animals, on the inner side of the inner portal, differ considerably from those, which we have mentioned, on the outer side of the outer one. Their size, like that of the others, is gigantic, but their appearance is mon- strous. They have the body and legs of a bull ornamented with similar trappings to those already described, but an enormous pair of wings project from their shoulders, extend high over their backs, and cover the breast, from whence they seem to spring. The heads of the animals look directly to the east, and show the remains of human faces, now however much mutilated, probably by the 294 NINEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. IX. blind zeal of the viziers of the Khalifs, if not by some later hand. The ears are those of a bull, and from them hang large drop ear- rings of very elegant form. On the head is a cylindrical diadem, on both sides of which horns are clearly represented, winding from the brows upwards, towards the front of the crown ; the whole is surmounted by a sort of coronet, formed of a range of leaves resembling the lotus, and bound with a fillet beautifully worked in roses. From the top of the crown to the hoof, the animal measures nineteen feet. Over his head are three compartments of inscriptions. We have seen that similar winged bulls have been found in the older monuments of Khorsabad and Nimroud. There have been many speculations as to the possible origin of a symbolical form so curious, no one of which we consider at all satisfactory. M. Anquetil du Perron imagines, that it represented Noah, the second patriarch of mankind; M. de Sacy, that it was an emblem of Kaiomurs, the first sovereign of the Peisdadian dynasty, and who the Zeenut al Tuarick derives as third in descent from Noah. Ker Porter thinks, that it may refer to Cyrus himself, whose empire in the east had been prophesied by Ezekiel, almost under the same figure, fifty years before. The words of the Prophet are certainly very curious. Speaking of the images of the four great empires, which were to succeed each other, until the coming of Messiah, Ezekiel says, “and their feet were straight feet; the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot, and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. Their wings were joined one to another ; they turned not when they went ; they went every one straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side ; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side ; they four also had the face of an eagle.”* Daniel foretells the empire of the same prince, under a similar union of the human and the bestial form, describing it as the lion with eagle’s wings, and adding, that he gazed on it till “ it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.”f On proceeding east from these portals, an expanse of one hundred and sixty-two feet lies between it and the magnificent terrace, which supports the multitude of columns from which the whole ruins have taken their name. “ On drawing near the Chehel Minar * Ezek. i., V. 9, 10. Dan. vii., v. 4. CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 295 or Palace of Forty Pillars the eye,” says Sir R. K. Porter, “ is rivetted by the grandeur and beautiful decorations of the flights of steps which lead up to them. This superb approach consists of a double staircase, projecting considerably before the northern face of the terrace, the whole length of which is two hundred and twelve feet ; and, at each extremity, east and west, rises another range of steps ; again, about the middle and projecting from it eighteen feet, appear two smaller flights rising from the same points, where the extent of the range including a landing place of twenty feet, amounts to eighty-six feet. The ascent, like that of the great entrance from the plain, is extremely gradual ; each flight containing only thirty-two low steps, none exceeding four inches in height, in breadth fourteen inches, and in length, sixteen feet. The whole front of the advanced range is covered with sculpture. The eye, at first, roves over it, lost in the multi- tude of figures, and bewildered by the thronging ideas instantly associated with the crowd of various interesting objects before it The space immediately under the landing place is divided into three compartments. The centre one has a plain surface as if intended for an inscription ; probably, writing may have been there which is now obliterated. To the left of it are four standing figures, about five feet six inches high, habited in long robes with brogues like buskins on their feet. They each hold a short spear in an upright position in both hands. The fluted flat-topped cap, before described on other bas-reliefs, is on their heads ; and, from the left shoulder, hangs their bow and quiver. . . , . . On the right of the vacant tablet are three figures only. They look towards the opposite four, and differ in no way with respect to their robes and fluted helmet ; but they have neither bows nor quiver, carrying their spear only, with the addition of a large shield on the left arm, something in the shape of a violincello ; or rather, I should say, exactly in the form of a Boeotian buckler As this seems to have been the grand approach to the entrance of the palace above, doubtless the spear- men just described must have been intended to pourtray the royal guards, the fashion of whose dress perfectly accords with the account given of it by Herodotus (v. c. 49) Two angular spaces, on each side of the corresponding groups of spearmen described on the surface of the staircase, are filled with dupli- cate representations of a fight between a lion and a bull, a most 296 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. spirited and admirable performance. . . . From the circumstance of a collar round the neck of the bull, it proves him to be no wild one, and that we are not to understand the combat as accidental : but whether it may be received as a proof that such combats were brought forward before the Persian people, is another question. That wild animals, of the untameable sort, were not merely hunted by the bold spirits of these eastern princes, but preserved near their palaces, is evident from the lions’ den which we find at Babylon after its conquest by Cyrus ; but, by no accounts that I can recollect, does it appear, that beasts so immured were ever used for sport of any kind after their first capture On the inclined planes corresponding with the slope of the stairs runs a kind of frieze, on which is cut a line of figures, one foot nine inches high, answering in number to the steps, each one of which appears to form a pedestal for its relative figure. The figures themselves appear to be a lengthened rank of those already described on each side of the blank tablet : and a similar range runs up the opposite slope.” It is not necessary to follow Sir R. K. Porter in his long, minute, and interesting account of the different bas-reliefs, before you reach the top of the great platform, as it is almost impossible that the reader could realise the character of the works, without accurate plans and drawings of the bas-reliefs themselves. It is enough, perhaps, to state, that he considers that the proces- sion, which he has described, refers to a solemn one, such as that mentioned by Xenophon in the Cyropsedia, (b. viii.), though it is not necessary to suppose, that they were intended to com- memorate the same one, which is mentioned by the historian. Such records of conquest, if referring to Gyrus, would be the not unnatural w^ork of his great successor, Darius Hystaspes ; and the character of the workmanship, the dress, and the style of the sculpture combine to favour such an attribution. The design of the artist does not seem to have been to display a religious pro- cession, as most of the articles, borne by the different groups of the train, certainly denote presents for the king. The whole, perhaps, represents the Feast of the Nourouz, or Vernal Equinox (in ancient times, as now, the most joyous time of Persian life), when the people present their gratuities, and the governors of the provinces, with their delegates, bring in the annually-collected tax from each province, with a due proportion of offerings. CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 297 On ascending the platform, on which the palace of the Chehel Minar once stood, nothing can be more striking than the view of its ruins, so vast and so magnificent, so fallen, mutilated, and silent, the pavilion of Alexander’s triumph, we trust not (as some have thought) the memorial of the wantonness of his power. “ The immense space of the upper platform,” says Sir E. K. Por- ter, “stretches to the north and south three hundred and fifty feet, and from east to west three hundred and eighty; the greater part of which is covered with broken capitals, shafts, and pillars, and count- less fragments of building : some of which are richly ornamented wdth the most exquisite sculpture.” The pillars were arranged in four divisions, consisting of a centre group six deep every way, and an advanced body of twelve, in two ranks, and the same number flanking the centre. The first is to the north : it is composed of two parallel lines of six columns in each, falling twenty feet back from the landing-place of the stairs, and meeting the eye immediately on ascending them. The columns are at equal distances from one another. One only still stands ; the shattered bases of nine others still remain, but the places only are left of the other two, which completed the colonnade. Of the remaining columns, which once decorated these colonnades, nine only now stand, the rest have been totally destroyed or lie buried under masses of ruins, now forming hillocks. The form of the colums is very beautiful ; their total height is sixty feet, the circumference of the shaft sixteen, and its length from the capital to the torus, forty-four feet. The shaft is finely fluted in fifty-two divisions ; at its lower extremity begin a cincture and a torus, the first two inches in depth, and the latter one foot, from whence devolves the pedestal, in the form of the cup and leaves of a pendent lotus. The capitals which remain, though much injured, are sufficient to show, that they were once surmounted by the double demi-bull.” Sir E. K. Porter thinks, that the three distinct colonnades outside the grand centre quadrangle of pillars, covered a piazza, to exclude the direct heat of the sun from the attending nobles or guards, who were near the sovereign ; and, as the fragments, which remain on the ground, are almost wholly parts of fallen columns, he conjectures, that the superstructure must have been of different materials, probably timber, overlaid with a thin coating of stone or metal, to protect it from the weather. 298 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. At a distance of sixty feet from the eastern and western colon- nades, stood the central phalanx of columns to the number of thirty-six ; but five only now remain. These, with the three other groups, leave fifteen, the total remains of this once magnificent structure. The central group is arranged in rows six deep, forming an exact square. The columns, themselves, are not quite as tall as those we have already described, and many of them have, internally, the appearance, as though some heavy body had fallen against them from above, the outward surface remaining perfect and unscarred All their pedestals rise some feet higher than any of those by which they are surrounded, and as the stone-work is rough and unfinished, and projects in large unshapen blocks, it looks very much, as though it had had to sustain an additionally elevated pavement. The probability seems very strong, that the idea of the vernal procession of the Nourouz is to be completely carried out ; and that, as the procession entered by the portals, we first described, so it wound gradually round the colonnades, till at length it reached the centre, where the great king himself w^as seated. Sir E. K. Porter and Heeren both coincide in the belief, that all the bas-reliefs are in close relation with the particular purposes of the several places, to which they are attached ; and, we think with them that, were suiBficient excavations made, there can be little doubt, that abundant evidence would be found to maintain and establish this opinion. Beyond the terrace on which stands the Chehel Minar, rise two other terraces, the nearer one 175 feet by 95, approached, as usual, from the west by a double flight of stairs, wEich are almost a complete ruin ; but fragments, on and near them, show, that they have been decorated with sculptured guards and other figures. The side to the east is completely covered with heaps of fallen remains, and with the earth and ruins of centuries. To the south, the whole face of the terrace, which supports this building, is occupied by another superb flight, the landing-place of which embraces nearly forty-eight feet, its width ten. Its front is divided by a tablet bearing an arrowy-headed inscription ; on each side of which stand spearmen of a gigantic height, their heads and shoulders alone being now visible above the rubbish accu- mulated round the base of the edifice ; but from their large proportions, it is easy to calculate the rest. We have now mentioned the ascent of three terraces from the CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 299 natural ground of the plain. The first is that, which leads to the grand platform, which supports all the rest; the second is the Chehel Minar terrace ; the third, that of the building beyond it. There is yet a fourth, at about ninety feet to the south of the preceding, comprehending a square of ninety-six feet, with the bases of several columns, all covered by heaps of rubbish, and, at the south-west angle, there is another square elevation, along the summit of which are the lower parts of twelve pillars, divided into three rows, of the same diameter and distance from each other as those in the neighbouring colonnade. Beyond this ruined mass r of building, on a comparatively small terrace, rises a fifth, and yet more extensive elevation, which Sir B. K. Porter, from its plan, imagines must have been a royal residence. The ruins of the centre are so complicated, that no mere description would suffice to lay them clearly before our readers. It is sufficient to mention, that Sir R K. Porter fancied that he discovered, in one enormous heap, the site and ruins of the palace, Alexander is said to have set on fire ; that he found some sculptures of men carr 3 ung animals and vessels probably full of choice viands, and one bas-relief, common to so many of Eastern ruins, of a royal personage, followed by two attendants bearing an umbrella and a fly-flapper. In this part of the building, too, was discovered, in various places beneath the pavement, what had been probably a subterraneous aqueduct, passing in a direct line under the centre of the great hall, due east, where it received its supply of water from an immense tank, yet visible at the foot of the rocks, in that quarter. This channel is traceable in many other parts of the building, and has been ruggedly hewn out of the solid rock. Former travellers, not understanding its purpose, have described it, as a secret passage communicating with other mysterious excava- tions in the body of the mountain, and also leading to certain subterraneous entrances into its tombs. There have been several other buildings within the great area, and supported by the platform, besides the Chehel Minar, one of which is so large as to he 210 feet square. This building has left behind it many interesting remains, and, when perfect, could have been little inferior to the Chehel Minar itself. From each side it is entered by doors, those in the north side being on the grandest scale, with the mutilated forms of two colossal bulls in front of them, either guarding the approach, or 300 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. serving, as Sir E. K. Porter thinks, for purposes of decoration. The hulls stand on pedestals, eighteen feet long by five in height. The principal doors are richly adorned with sculpture, and, in the highest compartment of the whole, the royal personage appears on his chair of state, with both feet resting on a footstool. Over his head are the bas-relief remains of a canopy supported by slender pillars, the whole profusely adorned with fretwork fringes and borders of bulls and lions. The chair on which he sits resembles that on the Parthian coins, and is not unlike the old high-backed chair once so common in England. In its ornaments are found the two favourite symbolical animals of the Persians, lions’ feet on the legs of the chair, and bulls’ feet on those of the footstool. The dress of the king is very simple ; he wears neither collar nor bracelets, but, in his right hand, is a long staff or sceptre, and in his left the lotos. Behind him stands the usual attendant with the fan, and another figure follows bearing the royal bow and battle-axe, perhaps the sagaris of the classical writers. Behind the warrior is another standing figure in the long Median robe and fluted tiara, probably representing one of the chief civil ofiicers of state, attendant on the king. Beneath the king, and separated from him by a long border of roses, are five ranges of attendants or guards, each row being separated from the next by a similar border. Sir E. K. Porter imagines that these five ranges of guards, evidently placed in regular rotation over each other to represent their relative sta- tions near the person of the king, indicate the platform, on which the royal chair stood on an elevation of five steps, with the same number of ranks in the guards who stood before it, and who might occasionally leave a space, between the files of leaders, for an approach to the throne. In another building, in the extreme west of the platform. Sir E. K. Porter found several bas-reliefs, representing single combats between a human figure and a variety of animals. It is on the four portals pointing east and west, that these extraordinary encounters are pourtrayed. Their scale is colossal, and the sculpture in a style of answering magnificence. The man, who contends with the animals, apparently, represents the king ; he is a personage of a singularly dignified mien, clad in long robes, but with his arms perfectly bare ; his hair, which is full and curled, is bound by a circlet or low diadem ; and his sweeping pointed beard is curled, Pontiff-Kin^ (Persepolis). CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 801 at different heights, in a style which appears to have been appro- priated to the king alone. In one slab, he is in the act of grasping with his left hand a strong single horn, which grows out of the forehead of his anta- gonist, while he thrusts his short sword or dagger into the animal’s body. This creature is a monstrous combination of a lion in body and limbs, with the head and neck of an eagle ; and is covered with immense plumage, lying like scale armour half- way down its hack ; he is in the attitude, which heralds have termed rampant, with his fore-paws resting upon the arm and chest of the king. The attitude of the king and position of the animal are, in each case, the same, but the animals are different. That, on the second slab, presents an almost equally strange combination. The head seems to be that of a wolf, the fore-legs and body those of a lion ; the hind legs, from their joints, those of an eagle ; the neck is scaled or feathered with a prickly mane, and it has wings which stretch nearly to the tail. The latter appendage is extremely long, and formed of a chain of bones, like the vertebrae of the back, each individual bone being cut with the most correct knowledge of anatomy. A crooked horn projects from the head of this monster, which is clasped as before by the hero, when he strikes his dagger into its body. The other animals are of a more natural shape, being simply a horned lion, and an unicorn bull. It is, of course, all but vain to speculate on the probable meaning of these extraordinary sculptures, and the difficulty of their interpretation has led to the wildest dreams and the most extravagant theories. Sir R. K. Porter considers, that they mean different achievements directed to one common end, representing under the figdre, which he calls the Pontiff King, the ease with which the united powers of Religion and regal authority vanquish the enemies of the true faith, and that this faith, from dateless periods in the Persian annals to the Arab con- quest, was the Mithraic Mystery, an unceasing contest between Ormazd, the Light of the Universe, and Ahriman, the Origin of Darkness. The hero of the conquest, he thinks, may be Darius Hystaspes, or Xerxes ; the beasts he encounters, purely allego- rical. He imagines, that, as the Chehel Minar might have served as the great reception hall of the palace, so this building, in which these colossal sculptures remain, was intended as the place for public duties, and, possibly, one of the temples. 302 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. Such is a brief account of these celebrated ruins, drawn in chief from the latest and fullest description of Sir R. K. Porter, who examined them with great care, and made many drawings of the most important objects still visible. The intense heat, produced by the reflection from the platform and the rocky moun- tain above, at last brought on a fever, which compelled him to abandon his interesting researches, ere he had brought them entirely to a close ; and he expresses the most lively regret that he was unable to pass a few more days in a place and among ruins, which possessed the “loadstone influence over him of inexhaustible interest.” It becomes an important question to determine, as far as pos- sible, the comparative date of the different monuments which remain at Persepolis. We have stated the conjecture of Sir R. K. Porter, that some of the ruins are the work of Egyptian artists, or of persons taught by the Egyptians and familiar with their style of architecture. Now, without laying much stress on this view, one thing seems to be tolerably certain, that the earli- est monuments at Persepolis do not ascend to a period ante- cedent to, or, perhaps, even so early as, the reign of Cyrus ; while we should naturally expect that a large portion is the work of Darius, or of his immediate successors. At the same time, there is nothing which is characteristic of the still later style of the Sassanians, nor any memorials of their dynasty, except a few inscriptions. Mr. Layard considers, and we think rightly, that the earliest remains of Persian art are the buildings of Persepolis, and that these are undoubtedly to be attributed to the Achsemenian dynasty. There can be little doubt that they are derived from the Assyrians ; they exhibit the same mode of treatment, the same forms, the same peculiarities in the arrangement of the bas-reliefs against the walls, the same entrances (formed by gigantic winged animals with human heads), and the same Religious emblems. The style of the Persepolitan is manifestly a descendant of the later Assyrian period ; there is a great similarity of shape in the ornaments, and in the costume of many of the figures. The head-dress of the winged monsters is squared and richly ornamented at the top, and is all but identical with that in the later monuments at Khorsa- bM and Koyunjik, while it differs from the round unomamented cap of the older Assyrian sculpture of Nimroud. The processions of warriors, captives, and tribute-bearers at Persepolis are in every CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 303 respect similar to those on the walls of Nimroud and Khorsabad, with this exception, that the Persian artist has everywhere intro- duced folds on his draperies. By the Persians, as we have stated, Mr. Layard believes, that the arts and the Religion which they had previously learnt from the Assyrians, were conveyed to Asia Minor. He cites, as instances of this derivation, the Harpy Tomb found by Sir Charles Fellows at Xanthus, in Lycia, and a frag- ment representing the contest between the human figure and the lion, procured from the same place. The derivation from the Assyrians of some of the Persian religious emblems is manifest in the case of the Ferouher, or winged figure within the circle, the usual type of the Supreme Being ; while Mr. Layard imagines, that the uncertainty of the birth-place and epoch of Zoroaster tends to confirm the identity between the two people. Niebuhr has also noticed how the Persian architecture preceded, and resembled in many important particulars, the style known in later times by the name of Grecian. At the time Sir R. K. Porter visited Persepolis, little had been done towards the interpretation of the cuneiform writing, beyond the happy conjectures of Grotefend, which paved the way for the later discoveries. Since then, as will be fully described, hereafter, when we come to treat of the cuneiform writing in general, M. Lassen and Major Rawlinson have been able to read, and to determine, satisfactorily, the builders of different portions of the ruins. The inscriptions relative to Darius Hystaspes are the fewest, but it seems certain that during his lifetime the great plat* form, the Chehel Minar, and the building on the third terrace behind the Chehel Minar, had been constructed. On this last monument, the name and titles of Darius are now clearly read, and the building of the third structure is directly attributed to him. Most of these inscriptions have been copied by the earlier travel- lers, but much the most accurately by Mr. Westergaard, to whose MSS. Major Rawlinson has been much indebted. This is the only edifice which can be certainly given to Darius; but Major Rawlinson has conjectured, and we think with much reason, that, as the pillared Hall of Audience would seem to be the work for which the platform was principally designed, this remarkable colonnade is due also to Darius Hystaspes. On the other hand, the magnificent portals, the sculptured staircase, and the palace in the south-western corner of the platform are as certainly due to 304 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. Xerxes ; and, as that king alludes, in one of his inscriptions, to a multitude of similar architectural achievements, it is not improba- ble, that he may have constructed several of the minor edifices, of which the foundations can now be traced. There is an inscription, containing the name and titles of Artaxerxes Ochus> on the western staircase, leading to the elevated terrace, which supports the palace of Darius; but, as far as we are aware, there is no building now remaining, of which he can be proved to have been the builder. The sum of the evidence, therefore, seems to be, that all the most important works, now remaining at Persepolis, are due to Darius Hystaspes and Xerxes. The sculptures of Persepolis are a living witness to the faithful accounts, which many ancient authors, and especially Herodotus, have transmitted to us of the Persian arms and dress. The long array of figures, on the sides of the great staircase, accords, per- fectly, in the dress which they wear, with the statement of Herodotus (v. c. 49), that, “ they were armed with a bow and a short spear, and habited in long robes, with their hair flowing behind.” In his description of the army of Xerxes, Herodotus states that, “ the Persians defend their heads with a small helmet, called a tiara ; their bodies are covered with sleeved tunics, of various colours ; upon these are "plates of steel, like the scales of a fish; their thighs are protected in the same way. They are armed with large bows and arrows, the shafts of which are reeds. They carry a short spear; and, for defence, use a shield denominated gerra; beneath it, is the quiver ; and on their right side, a dagger hung from the belt.” Sir E. K. Porter remarks that, though Xenophon, when speaking of the arms of the Persians, always adds that they carried the sword, yet that, in no instance, does any such weapon occur upon the bas-reliefs ; he hazards, therefore, the conjecture that the Persian sword, thus spoken of, is the Greek and Eoman acinaces, the poniard correctly described by Herodotus, when he states, that it is always worn on the right side. Q. Curtius speaks of another weapon of the same class, which he calls copis; this may, perhaps, be the curved dagger, now in use among certain tribes bordering on the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf. Xenophon gives an interesting account of the change of dress introduced by Cyrus, and of the substitution of the long and flowing Median robe for the closer-fitting dress of the wild and warrior tribes of Persia. This Median dress appears universally upon the bas-reliefs. CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 805 Mandelslo, who visited Persepolis on his way from Isfahan to India, in the year 1638, gives a curious account of it in his time which we will quote, as his travels are not commonly met with. Speaking of the plain of Merdusht, he says — “ This last village is very famous for the antiquities which are to he seen near it, and which obliged us, as they do all that travel that way, to make a particular observation thereof. They are the ruins of an old castle, which the Persians call Tzil-minar, that is to say, “ Forty Pillars,” from a word, compounded of Tzehil, which signifies forty, and Minar, a pillar or tower ; inasmuch as the towers of the Metsched or Mosqueys of the Persians, having neither bells nor steeples, are of the form and bigness of a pillar. They are, no doubt, the ruins of one of the most magnificent structures that ever were; and the Persians say that their king, Szemschid Padschal, grandfather by the mother side to Alexander the Great, was the founder of that castle ; though others say King Solomon built it ; and some would have it done by Darius, the last king of Persia. The religious men of Shiras told me that the learned were clearly of opinion, that the ancient Persepolis had stood hereabouts, and that these were the ruins of Cyrus’ Palace. Whatever they were, they are at this day such as would ravish those, who can ever so meanly judge of the excellency of ancient monuments. The ground- work of it, is twenty- two geometrical feet in height, having at each of the four corners a pair of stairs of white marble, consisting of ninety-five steps, which are very flat and so broad that twelve horses may go up together abreast.” Mandelslo then gives a more particular account of the sculp- tures existing in his time, and which seem to be the same as those now found there, and mentions that there were nineteen pillars then standing, and all the works of marble so smooth and polished that it might serve for a looking-glass as well as that of the Palace Eoyal of Isfahan. “ Near the chambers,” he says, “ there may be seen engraven upon a square pillar certain unknown characters which have nothing in common with either the Greek, Hebrew or Arabian, nor indeed with any other language. There are twelve lines of these characters which as to their figure are triangular, pyramidal, or like obelisques, but so well graven and so proportionate that those who did them can- not be thought barbarians : some believe they are Telesmes, and that they contain some secrets which time will discover.” 306 NIJ^EVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. He adds that “ it is not easie to affirm whether the architecture of this palace he of the Ionic, Doric or Corinthian order, the building is so ruin’d, though there be yet as much left as would find work for a good able painter for six months. ’Tis a thousand pities that nobody hath yet had the curiosity to have it graven, had it been only out of this motive, that the barbarous people thereabouts ruine it daily more and more, and convey away the stones to carry on private buildings.” Thevenot visited Persepolis, on his way to India in a.d. 1665, and gives a description of the ruins similar, but not, we think, so accurate as that of Mandelslo ; he mentions seventeen pillars still standing on the platform, therein agreeing with Ksempfer, who was there in a.d. 1696. He thinks that the columns “ have supported statues or perhaps idols; and at present they serve the storks to build their nests upon,” and describing one of the bas-reliefs, he says, that “ there you see an old man followed by two servants, one of these holding in both his hands, a great staff, with seven branches at the end of it, which uphold an umbrella, just over the head of his master ; and the other holds a manipole in one hand, and in the other a crosier or crooked staff, liker to cricket-sticks than the crosiers carried by bishops ; never- theless by the way of holding it, one may judge, that it is some- thing resembling a Bishop’s crosier, for the crook is carried over the master’s head.” It is hardly necessary to mention that, what Thevenot calls a crook is the fly-flapper, which is held over the royal head. His description of the king with his Ferouher is equally quaint, “ Here you have ” says he “ a man sitting in a chair with a batton in his hand, and under his feet three ranges of little arches made by figures a foot high, laying their arms upon one another’s shoulders : over his head there is an idol that represents a man with wings, his body through a ring and sitting upon an arch ; behind the chair of the man, who sits there, is a servant holding a kind of chalice.” Dr. Fryer, who travelled over Asia to India during the years A, D. 1672 and 1681, came to Persepolis in the year 1677. The account he gives is so graphic and so quaint, that we are tempted to extract the most important parts of it. After passing the Ben- damir, and experiencing some fears of an attack from robbers, he says, “ However, we were the more willing on this account (viz., the fear of being plundered) to get up by the crowing of the cock. CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. SOT to pursue our journey to Persepolis, whose ruins we had reached by break of day ; when, having compassed its marble foundations (being above, an area of large extent, on the plain an high wall, giving some pains to the attollent muscles of the neck, to give the eyes leave to reach its height), we clambered a spacious staircase, united some part of the way up, when on each hand it led to several apartments two different ways ; at the top were the portals and the heads of the columns, worn with age {damnosa enim quid non imminuit dies), which consumes everything ; whose bodies were Corinthian, hut the pedestals and capitals of the Dorick order, as might be gained from what had resisted the corroding jaws of time, hardly lifting up their reverend crowns, though of most durable stone. Being entered the Pomcerium of Cambyses’ Hall (if faith be given to the most learned of these relators), at the hall gates we encountered two horrid shapes both for grandeur and unwontedness, being all in armour, or coat of mail, striking a terror on those about to intrude : their countenances were of the fiercest lions, and might pass for such had not huge wings made them flying gryffons, and their bulk and hinder parts exceeded the largest elephants. In this august place only eighteen pillars of forty remain, about fifty foot high and half an ell in diameter, of the distance of eight paces one from another, though we could count the twenty- two bases ; which agree with the Persian me- moirs, who therefore still call it Chulminor — The Palace of Forty Pillars. These may be seen in the plain a great way, and at present are the residence only of the tyrants of the lakes and fens ; storks only keeping their court here, every pillar having a nest of them. Nutrit ubi implumes peregrina Ciconia foetus Ad nidos abies consita prima fuit. Which may serve to contradict the received opinion of storks abiding only where commonwealths are ; this always having been an empire, and at this time is the most absolute in all the earth. Beyond these, many pieces and scraps of antiquity offer us a view, and great Colosses, supporting vast giants as if they had been yeo- men of the guard in the ante-room to the presence-chamber, which was eighty foot square, whereon the fragments of the walls stand- ing, and over the porticoes especially, were most curiously cut out of white shining marble, men in military habit like the old Grecian Phalanx (if there be room for conjecture), encompassing a monarch 808 KINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. represented sitting on his throne, with a moving canopy such as the eastern kings have carried over them: on other parts Bucepha- lus, or if that please not, some Persian steed priding himself to carry an emperor or some demi-god. Because neither Quintus Curtius, nor after him Plutarch, mention the re-edifying this palace either by Alexander or any of his captains, yet I cannot let it pass without this remark, that they are habited more like the ancient Grecians than Persians now are : besides the hair of their heads is hanging down and not tied up, which is different from the modern fashion of this country. In this apartment eight doors seem to answer each other, two on each side of every square, which conformity is attended with extraordinary elegance and workman- ship : the roof seems never to have had any intervening pillars, and whether the beams were of cedar it is not so fortunate as to have a voucher of its own nation. Many other parts declared cost and pains enough, but nothing more worthy study than the charac- ters, fairly impressed and engraven, which would unfold the truth of the founders of this building were they as intelligible as legible ; for they remain like the handwriting on the wall {mem tekel) till some divine expositor interpret them; yet I must needs say many of the characters may be found in the Greek alphabet.” We should be glad to have known which of the characters the learned physician thinks resemble the Greek, for we have seen no form of monumental writing in any other character, which bears any analogy to the type of the cuneiform inscriptions. The travels of Sir John Chardin afford a melancholy evidence, that much of the destruction, which has befallen these noble ruins, is comparatively of modern date. On comparing his drawings, which, rude as the engravings make tliem, bear every appearance of fidelity, with those given by Sir E. K. Porter, it will be seen that considerable changes have taken place in the last 150 years. For instance, Chardin’s general view represents nineteen columns standing within the platform, and one in the plain without ; and, it would appear, that the heads of the winged lion and bull, which look towards the mountain, had once been much more perfect than they are now. The same remark is true of the fabulous animal with the lion’s body and eagle’s legs and talons. In the drawing, which Sir E. K. Porter gives, it requires a little imagina- tion to determine, whether or not the lower part of this figure is really of the bird formation. In Chardin, poor as the engraving CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 309 is, and in the later sketch of Le Brun, the character of this strange compound is perfectly preserved. The rest of his descrip- tion coincides in great measure with Sir B. K. Porter’s, which tends to establish the accuracy of both travellers. One thing Chardin remarks on, particularly, and that is the gigantic size of the stones which were used in these works. The smallest, he states, which he saw, vary from eight to fifteen feet in height. It seems as if one of the peculiar beauties of this period of art was to construct portions of chambers, stairs, and other parts of edifices, out of one single block of stone. Herodotus confirms this habit in his account of the temple of Latona, in Egypt, which had a chapel attached to it cut out of one stone, the wall of which was forty ells long and broad, and its roof of one single stone four ells thick ; while, in his account of Elephantina, in Egypt, he mentions a house made of one single stone. Chardin relates, that he has seen similar works in India, in some of the pagodas, especially in the celebrated one on the island of Salsette, near Goa. The most curious thing, however, is the extreme care and elaborate, workmanship of the blocks themselves, which is at least as wonderful as their magnitude. They are worked and polished equally on all sides ; and, except where wil- fully destroyed, they remain as fresh and as sharp, as if they had been just cut from the rock. The stone is exceedingly hard and weighty, and it is covered in all directions with the most beautiful work in cornices, flowers, and sculpture. The polish is so perfect, that, after a lapse of twenty five centuries, a person standing in front of them, says Chardin, sees himself reflected as in a mirror. It is not certain, he thinks, whence they procured the black marble : most of the neighbouring rocks are of a whitish grey. Sir John Chardin adds, that the plain of Persepolis is washed by a rapid stream called the Bendemir, which is probably the lesser Araxes of the ancients. It rises in the mountains of the Uxians, who made such a vigorous defence when attacked by Alexander the Great, on his march from Susa to Persepolis. These moun- tains, which lie to the west of Isfahan, are a part of Mount Taurus. The Arabic authors call the river, Kerwan. It has derived its present name, w^hich means the Royal Hyke, from a dyke which was made by Azzet-ahdaulat, a prince of the Dilem- ites, who reigned in the sixth century of the Hejra over this part of Persia, for the purpose of restraining the floods, which were 810 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. liable to take place on the melting of the snow, and which had done much damage in these plains. The stream is very rapid, and there is a fine cascade, at the bridge which Sir R. K. Porter has drawn in his Travels. Chardin describes with much force the beauty of the vast plain, at one end of which the ruins stand, the gayness of the colours of its flowers, its rich vegetation, and the innumerable brooks with which it is intersected. Later travellers have seen it at a hotter period of the year, or subsequent bad government may have driven away the people who tilled and possessed the land. Chardin was there in February, and had paid two previous visits to the same celebrated ruins. He considers the descriptions which Arrian, Quintus Curtius, and Diodorus Siculus have left to us are, on the whole, very faithful ; and he states, that he surveyed the whole country around Persepolis, with these works in his hand. The entrance to the plain on the west is just as the ancients have described it, a valley of mountains, very steep and escarped, about four leagues long and two miles broad. At the two ends are narrow defiles. The mountains have the appearance of having been cut into terraces, so regularly have they been formed by the hand of nature. It was probably on the heights above these defiles that the advanced guard of the Persians was placed, which Alexander had so great a difficulty in forcing. The ruins them- selves are not visible, owing to the heights intercepting the view ; but, on the edges of the mountains, to the right and to the left, are the traces of several edifices which formed, and perhaps defended, the entrance to this gorge, called by the ancient writers the Pylae Persicae, or Persian Gates. Similar defiles, similarly fortified, appear on other sides of the great plain. Five leagues from the opening of the gorge of the mountains, and following the left-hand side of the plains, close under the mountains, the traveller reaches Persepolis, at a distance looking like an amphi- theatre, the mountain wearing the appearance of having been scooped away. Corneille Le Brun, who visited these ruins in November 1704 , and who has given a very full account of these monuments, with a large collection of drawings, says, that the fly-flappers are made of the tails of sea-horses, which persons of rank to the present day use in Persia. Similar ones, he states, the king and his great lords wear attached to the heads of their horses. He speaks also CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 811 of having seen himself nineteen columns standing, and asserts that he found the remains of as many as 205 similar ones, scat- tered about in different parts of the great enclosure ; he thinks there is no question that the whole structure, when complete, was a palace, and not a temple, of which there is no appearance what- ever ; and he appears to have been of the same opinion that we have seen Sir K. K. Porter held, that Persepolis was enriched by the spoils of Egypt, and that, though there was, probably, a palace at Persepolis in the time of Cyrus, all its real glory was due to his successors, a view which, as we have seen, is completely borne out by the late successful discoveries. It is certain, at all events, that neither Herodotus nor Xenophon mention Persepolis among the palaces of Cyrus. Justin, in his epitome of Trogus Pompeius, only mentions Babylon, Ecbatana, and Susa, which Cassiodorus considered as one of the seven wonders of the world. Le Brun shows that, neither Cambyses, who died on the road as he was returning from Egypt, nor Smerdis, who held the throne for only seven months, could have had any hand in perfecting these structures ; and therefore that we should be prepared, from history^ to expect that Darius and Xerxes must have been the monarchs to whom it owed its chief excel- lency. Sir William Ouselev, who made an excursion to the ruins 1/ •' of Persepolis in July 1811, has taken great pains in investigating their history, and determines, beyond a doubt, that the name of TakhtJ-Jemshid, at present most frequently used, rightly represents the place, which the Greeks knew by the name of Persepolis. It is true, he says, that many centuries have elapsed, probably from fourteen to fifteen hundred years, since, according to such memo- rials as we now possess, the Greek name of Persepolis has been applied to any particular spot, with any appearance of geographical precision ; and, that during this interval of time, no European has satisfied himself or others, by indisputable evidence, that he had actually ascertained the site of Persia’s ancient capital, or of the palace which Alexander is said to have set fire to. Yet it is generally agreed by all, who have seen the ruins, that they really do represent, under the name of Takht-i Jemshid, the once cele- brated Persepolis. The word Takht signifies a throne, or seat, and is constantly applied in Persia to rocks and stones in their natural state, and to small fragments of masonry, generally square and level, as Takht-i- Eustam, near Isfahan, Takht-i-Sulieman, near 312 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. Mourghab, and others. Tychsen, indeed, supposed that these ruins were vestiges of an Arsacidan building ; but he stands alone in this opinion. Sir William Ouseley states that only fifteen columns now stand on their pedestals, and that one which stood in the plain, and is represented in one of Le Brun’s views, was pulled down a few years ago by some Hito, to procure whatever iron or lead there might be in the junction of the stones. With regard to the material of which the whole building consists, Sir W. Ouseley adds, that chemical experiments which he caused to be made, demonstrated, beyond a doubt, that it was all of one species of limestone, though exposure and other circumstances have given it various hues, from grey and brown up to a bluish black. Where it is quite black, he thinks, that this is the result of the polish which has been given to it ; and that it was all, whatever may be its present appearance, furnished by the mountain on which it abuts. Sir William Ouseley, from the fact that the inscriptions had not in his day been read, falls into the error of supposing that the restorer or completer of Persepolis must have been Ardeshir or Artaxerxes I. But, as no Sassanian sculptures have been found among the ruins, this seems hardly possible. Two Pahlavi inscrip- tions have, indeed, been copied there ; but these, if correctly read, belong to the late period of Varahran. Sir William Ouseley remarks upon the curious fact, that there is nothing immediately behind the great portals which, from their position, w’ould seem, naturally, to be the entrance to the Hall of Columns, and suggests the possibility of there having once been a magnificent building, in the now vacant space immediately behind them. We have already stated, that the portals in question are now ascertained to belong to Xerxes. There has been much dispute, whether the columns of the Chelminar supported any superstructure. Sir W. Ouseley thinks that if there had been any superstructure, it must have been very light, in which view he coincides with Chardin. In a MS. Persian Dictionary, the lexicographer raises a stupendous edifice on them ; for, explaining the name Chil Minar, which the Takht has borne during many centuries, he says that “ it denoted the throne of Solomon, on whom be the blessing of God ; also, the edifice erected by Jemshid, consisting of 140 columns, on the summit of which was constructed a palace in length 1^0 gaz now a gaz is an English yard and four inches. Zarkub, in his CHAP. IX.] PERSEPOLIS. 313 History of Shir^, after mentioning “the 140 columns erected by king Jemshid on a rising ground, and the kiuskh (generally expressing a villa or summer-house) built upon them,” adds, “and the length of that (kiuskh) was 160 gaz; so that in no region had any monarch ever beheld or constructed such an edifice ; and the vestiges of it which remain at present are called Chehil Minareh, or the ‘ Forty Spires.’ ” Mr. Eich paid a visit to Persepolis in 1821, and devoted a considerable time to the copying the inscriptions, some of which were new, and others had been less carefully copied by previous travellers. He has rendered, thereby, considerable service to those who were to follow, in the labour of deciphering them. Major Eawlinson bears willing testimony to Mr. Eich’s own merits in these researches, but adds, that Plates 24, 25, 26, in his “ Babylon and Persepolis,” had better be expunged from any future edition of his work, owing to the careless transcription of a native, whom Mr. Eich, from illness, was compelled to employ in copying them from the top of the portals. Mr. Eich remarks, that every inscription on the ruins, even the portions on the robes of the figures, are in the three different classes of cuneiform writing, and observes that the Zend always occupies the prominent place. “ If,” says he, “ the inscriptions are one under the other, the Zend one is always in the upper tablet ; if round a door or window, it is on the top ; if, side by side, over a figure, it is the one over the head of the king ; if on his robes, it is on the front fold ; if on the face of a platform, it is in the centre, with the figures on each side facing towards it. Even, when the course of the letters would seem to prescribe otherwise, that is, when the king is on the right hand, the Zend tablet is still over his head, and, con- sequently, the last of the tablets, though the order of the letters of all the inscriptions is from left to right. The other two species always preserve their order; the third, in the place of least consideration.” Such is a brief outline of what is known about these wonderful ruins. *“I have not exaggerated,” concludes Sir W. Ouseley, “ the wonders of Jemshid’s throne.” . . . Not only youthful travellers, glowing with lively imaginations, but those of sober judgment, matured by the experience of many years, seem, as they approach this venerable monument, to be inspired by the genius of Eastern romance, and their respective languages scarcely furnish 314 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. epithets capable of expressing, with an adequate energy, the astonishment and admiration excited by such a stupendous object. “ Grande e antichissima fabrica,” says Della Valle, lett. xv. A “ mervellous structure,” to use the words of Sir Thomas Herbert ; “ the walls in their perfection doubtless expressed an unspeakable majesty, and unparalleled.” “ That incomparable structure,” he adds subsequently, “ which has so far the precedence, that Dom Garcias de Silva Figueroa (Ambassador, a.d. 1619, to Shah Abbas, from Philip III. of Spain), upon his view, not only prefers it before all he saw in Dome, but concludes that it is undoubtedly the only monument in the world at this day without imposture ; yea, far exceeding (says he) all other miracles of the earth, we can either see or hear of at this day. Give me leave therefore to add, that here (where I say, Materiam superabat opus, the materials are rich, but much more estimable the workmanship) nature and art seem to conspire towards the creating amazement and pleasure, both in sense and intellect.” Chardin speaks with rapture of its “ merveilleuses colonnes,” its “ grand et merveilleux choeur,” declaring, “ enfin je n’ ai jamais rien vu ni concu de si grand ni de si magnifique.” And Thevenot says, “ Effectivement sont aujour- d’hui en Perse ce que sont les Pyramides en Egypte, c’est a dire ce qu’il y a de plus beaua voir en son genre et plus digne d’ etre remarque.” While Father Angelo scruples not to call the Per* sepolitan monuments, Homm Collissceo longe prmtantioray Yet all the grandeur and beauty of these works of art have not preserved them from the profane hands of the stranger and the traveller, whose contemptible love of notoriety has permitted them to scribble upon the sacred walls. “ I am sorry to say,” says Sir B. K. Porter, “ T found a cloud of initials, and names, and dates of former visitants to the spot, to the no small injury of the surface of the stone.” And the author of “ Bough Notes of a Bough Bide,” after speaking of the colossal portal, adds : “We found ourselves in a goodly company of ancient and modem autographs of savans, and ushers, and aspiring travellers of low degree, who have smuggled shabby names into contraband immor- tality, under shadow of the Sphinxes’ wings, like those cunning sinners who crowd their worthless carcases round the tomb of Saadi, in the hope that stray blessings poured out for the posthumous uses of the saint, may, sometimes falling short, chance to alight on their unhallowed graves. Some names, however, are here CHAP. IX.] TOMBS AT PERSEPOLIS. 315 which could shine by their own light, and deserved more respect from their owners than such exposure; among these, Niebuhr was conspicuous, broadly daubed with red paint as bright as brick- dust. Sir J. Malcolm’s will last as long as the stone which holds it. He must have brought a sculptor in his suite, armed with chisel and mallet, for the nonce.” Adjoining Persepolis, and forming part of the monuments which every traveller visits, are two remarkable Tombs cut upon the face of the rock, about 500 yards eastward from the Hall of Columns, in a niche 72 feet broad by 130 high, and divided into two com- partments, each highly ornamented with sculpture. In the lower compartment, four pilasters, with capitals of the double-headed unicorn, support upon beams an architrave, frieze, and cornice. Below is the form of a door ; but it seems equally solid with the rock in which it is cut, although, for the gratification of curiosity^ or in the expectation of finding treasure, a small opening has been made. On the entablature above the columns rests an object which Ksempfer describes as resembling the popular representa- tions of the Israelitish “ Ark of the Covenant.” This stage or ark is about twelve feet long and seven or eight high; on it is placed a fire altar, which is about two feet eight inches high. Within a few feet of this blazing altar are three low steps, forming a small platform, and on this stands the king holding up His right hand in sign of adoration, and holding in his left a how. Sir Wm. Ouseley has remarked, that this subject is repeated in seven different places, and always on the front of tombs. Between the king and altar, a Ferouher is seen hovering in the air, the king’s attendant spirit. The front of this stage or ark is orna- mented by two rows of figures standing, fourteen in each rank^ and about the size of life ; they are all armed with the dagger stuck into their waist, and holding their hands raised over their heads ; and its sides are supported by two columns, hearing on their capitals the head, shoulders, and fore-feet of a bull. On each side of the central stage, where the rock has been scarped down, are nine compartments or niches, each holding a single statue in bas-relief. On entering the broken doorway, a chamber was discovered, forty-six feet long and twenty broad (or rather in depth excavated into the rock). At the end of this cavern were three small cells, as if for bodies. They are now quite empty, and are used, Frazer says, by the Hy to who encamp in the neigh- 316 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. bourhood, as magazines for their com and straw. The cavern is now almost entirely dark, whatever may have been its original state. The rough face of the rock, on which the Tomb has been cut, projects forward thirty feet on one side and forty on the other. Careful drawings have been made of this curious monument by Chardin, Le Brun, and Sir W. Ouseley. The last of these tra- vellers states, that the representation of the king appears with the same countenance and dress, and in the same attitude, in all the Tombs which have been found, and that each Tomb contains a receptacle for three bodies. We cannot, therefore, suppose that the royal figure was designed to represent, like a picture, any parti- cular personage, though the Tombs may have been prepared by one great monarch, as the receptacle for the bodies of his descendants. About three quarters of a mile to the south is a third Tomb, which was first described by Niebuhr, and which has never been finished, though apparently the most ancient. “ On inspecting the first projection of the mountain in that direction, my eye,” says Mr. Morier, “was attracted by some square loose stones, evidently cut up for the purposes of masonry, that were strewed on the acclivity ; and on turning the angle of the projection I was surprised to see a Tomb, similar to the two on the mountain, except that it was much more decayed, not so much ornamented, and without any appearance of an entrance. The upper part of the front is built with square stones, similar to those which first caught my eye ; the remainder is cut into the rock. What makes it most remarkable, is a collection of large stones, which seems to have been purposely so placed before it, in intricate avenues, as to form a labyrinth, which there is reason to suppose, from the many fragments in its vicinity, was roofed with stone and then covered over with earth. No other part of the monument, there- fore, was intended to be seen except the square front on which the figures are sculptured ; and we may thence conclude that these Tombs were never entered but in a secret manner, and that the avenues to them were through subterraneous passages, but so constructed that none but the privileged could find their way through them.” We come now to the description of perhaps the most curious and interesting of all the monuments which Persia still preserves, and which has only been deferred to this place, because the extra- ordinary fame of Persepolis seemed to mark it, as the collection of CHAP. IX.] MOURGHAB— TOMB OF CYRUS. 317 ruins, which we ought first to describe. About forty-nine English miles from Persepolis, on the road from Shiraz to Isfahan, is the plain and village of Mourghab. “ Proceeding over the ploughed fields,” says Mr. Morier, “ which nearly overspread the whole of the plain, I came to the bed of a river (lying N. and S.), and, on its banks, a village called Meshehd Omoun About a mile further are situated the collective ruins called by the people MesheJid-i-Madre-i' Suleiman — the Tomb of the Mother of Solomon. The first object is a pillar erect, a plain shaft without a capital, ten feet three inches in circumference. Near it are three pilasters, the fronts of which are excavated in deep niches, and the sides inscribed with cuneiform characters. . . . . . Having sketched these objects, I continued my way, along the plain to the west, towards two buildings which, at a distance, appeared scarcely worthy of notice, but, on nearer inspec- tion, proved full of interest. The first is a ruined building of Muhammedan construction, which is now turned into a caravanserai. Tomb of Cyrus. The door was once arched, and on the architrave are the remains of a fine Arabic inscription. The other is a building of an extra- ordinary form. It rests upon a square base of large blocks of marble, which rise in seven layers pyramidically. It is in form a parallelogram ; the lowest range of the foundation is forty-three 818 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. feet by thirty-seven, and the edifice itself, which crowns the summit, diminishes to twenty-one feet by sixteen feet five inches. It is covered with a shelving roof built of the same massive stone as its base and sides, whith are all fixed together by clamps of iron The key of the door is kept by women, and none but females are permitted to enter. ... - If the position of the place had corresponded to the site of Pasargadae, as well as the form of this structure accords with the description of the Tomb of Cyrus near that city, I should have been tempted to assign to the present building so illustrious an origin. That tomb was raised in a grove ; it was a small edifice covered with an arched roof of stone, and its entrance was so narrow that the slenderest man could scarcely pass through ; it rested on a quadrangular base of a single stone, and contained the celebrated inscription, ‘ O mortals ! I am Cyrus, son of Cambyses, founder of the Persian monarchy, and sovereign of Asia : grudge me not there- fore this monument.’ That the plain around Meshehd-i-Madre-i- Sulieman was the site of a great city, is proved by the ruins, with which it is strewed; and, that this city was of the same general antiquity as Persepolis, may be inferred from the existence of similar characters in the inscriptions on the remains of both ; though this particular edifice does not happen to display that internal evidence of a cotemporaneous date. A grove would naturally have disappeared in Modern Persia; the structures correspond in size ; the triangular roof might be called arched in an age, when the true semi-circular arch was probably unknown ; and, in the lapse of 2400 years, the absence of an inscription would not be decisive evidence against its identity with the tomb of Cyrus.” Sir R. K. Porter visited the plains of Mourghab a few years later, and gives a minute description of this monument. He states that it stands in a wide area, marked outwardly by the broken shafts of twenty-four circular columns which surround the building in the form of a square ; six of these columns complete each face of the square, and are distant from each other fourteen feet ; seventeen still stand erect, but are heaped round with rubbish and barbarously connected with a wall of mud. The great base on which the tomb stands is composed of immense blocks of the most beautiful white marble. A succession of gigantic steps completes, in a beautiful pyramidal shape, the pedestal of this CHAP, IX,] MOURGHAB— TOMB OF CYRUS. 819 royal tomb, majestic alike in its simplicity and its vastness. At the base of the lowest step, a projection or sort of skirting stone runs all round the foundation of the building, almost even with the ground above, and not striking very deep into it below, and resting on what was probably the ancient level of the earth. Sir E. K. Porter, like Mr. Morier, found the building in charge of w^omen, but was successful in persuading its two old guardians to allow him to enter. “ When I entered,” says he, “ I found that the thickness of the walls was one solid single mass of stone, measuring five feet from the outside to within. The extent of the chambers was seven feet wide, ten feet long, and eight in height. The floor was composed of two immense slabs, which joined nearly in the middle of the chamber, crossing it from right to left. But I lament to say, that immediately opposite the door, both the floor and the w^all are much injured by the several invaders of this ancient tomb. The marble surfaces are cruelly broken ; and in the floor, particularly, deep holes are left, which plainly show where large iron fastenings have been forcibly torn away. Doubt- less their corresponding points attached some other mass to this quarter of the building, similar depredation being marked on the marble of the wall.” There appeared to be no trace of any cunei- form inscription on the tomb itself. Several portions of scroll- work remain on the right side of it, as you enter, apparently of Saracenic taste, and the remains of some Arabic characters, which may be what Mandelslo read as ‘ Mader-i-Sulieman ’ — Mother of Solomon. “Not a scratch of any other kind,” adds Sir B. K. Porter, “ save the cruel dents from the hammers of the barbarians interrupted the even polish of the three remaining sides. The roof is flat, and nearly black ; so are all the sides of the chambers, excepting that which faces the door, and that, with the floor, is perfectly white. Man has done all towards the mutilation of this monument, which, from the simplicity of its form and the solidity of its fragment, seemed calculated to withstand the accidents of nature till the last shock, when her existence would be no more.” The evidence, in favour of this curious monument really being the Tomb of Cyrus, seems as complete as we could wish. The only doubt, that could arise, would be, if it could be positively shown that the ruins in the plain of Mourghab do not represent the ancient city of Pasargadse. Arrian, writing from the testimony of Aristobulus, to whom Alexander the Great committed the resto- 320 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. ration of the Tomb, which he had found rifled and much injured when he visited it, says, “ The Tomb of Cyrus was in the Royal Paradise at Pasargadse, round which a grove of various trees was planted. It was supplied with water, and its fields covered with high grass. The Tomb below was of a quadrangular shape, built of freestone : above was a house of stone with a roof. The door that leads into it is so very narrow, that a man not very tall with difficulty can get in. Within is the golden coffin of Cyrus, near which is a seat with feet of gold ; the whole is hung round with coverings of purple and carpets of Babylon. .... In the vicinity was built a small house for the Magi, to whose care the tomb had originally been entrusted, and so continued, since the time of Cambyses, from fathers to sons.” His mentioning “ a house of stone with a roof,” shows, that the peculiarity of the con- struction struck him. The small dimensions of the door corre- spond with the present appearance of the building ; the holes in the floor, and at the upper end of the chamber, are just in the positions to admit the iron fastenings, which secured the golden coffin. Had it been cased in a stone sarcophagus, like the tombs on the rock behind the Chehel Minar and those at Naksh-i- Rustam, it would, doubtless, have remained, as affording no motive to the cupidity which rifled the tomb, to remove it also. Plutarch states, that Polymachus and Alexander’s officers had taken the opportunity of his absence to plunder the tomb; but, that Alexander was so indignant at the sacrilege, that on his return he ordered the perpetrator of it to be put to death, though a man of high rank, and a Macedonian of Pella. It seems very likely that the columns which are standing, or strewed about the ruins, may be the remains of the edifice occupied by the Magi. There is a considerable building still on the spot, now called the Caravanserai. The most certain testimony to the probability of the conjecture, first made by Mr. Morier, that Mourghab is really Pasargadse, is derived from the interpretation of the cuneiform inscriptions found at that place, a result which is due to the labours of M. Grotefend, whose admirable essay the reader will find, at length, in the third Appendix to Heeren’s Historical Researches, but, the outline of which shall be concisely stated here. M. Grotefend states, that the first notice he received of these inscriptions was a transcript, forwarded to him by M. D ’Olenin, the Director of the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg, of an INSCKIPTION ON STATUE OF CYRUS AT MOURGHAUB. [To face page 381.] CHAP. IX.] RUINS AT MOURGHAB. 821 inscription, purporting to have been copied from a pillar at Mourghab by Sir Gore Ouseley, the British Envoy at the Court of Persia. It was in the cuneiform character, and was found to consist of four words in the three known species of that writing ; judging from the analogy of the inscriptions at Persepolis, the second word ought to represent a certain name, and the third and fourth to be the titles of the person to whom the inscription refers. Suspecting that the name might be that of Cyrus, M. Grotefend made further enquiries, and at length succeeded in obtaining, through M. Blumenbach, a French translation of Morier’s Travels, in which he found the same inscription, and a description of the ruins of Mourghab, which convinced him that Morier had been fully justified in attributing them to the ancient Pasargadse. The interpretation of the Inscription, imper- fect in the earlier labours of Grotefend, has been fully confirmed by later investigations, and especially by Lassen, who has devoted some interesting pages in his “ Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes ” to the illustration of it. Professor Lassen reads it thus : “ Adam Qurus Kshajathija Hakhtoanisija — I am Cyrus, the King, an Achaemenian.” It is curious that Onesicratus and Aristus of Salamis have preserved a Greek hexameter, which, it is pretended, was engraven by the side of the Persian legend, and which is almost as simple as the original. Its translation is, “ Here I, Cyrus, King of Kings, rest.” Sir R. K. Porter, in his general survey of the ruins of Mourghab, has given an interesting account of his discovery of a figure, over which was the same inscription, and which must now he considered as a portrait of the monarch himself. After mentioning a visit to the platform of a huge building, whose length is 300 feet, and whose sides, where they touch the hill, are 290 feet, and after giving a particular description of the workmanship and masonry of this once splendid edifice ; and after visiting another square and tower-like building, which Mr. Morier conjectures to have been a fire-altar. Sir R. K. Porter proceeded about a quarter of a mile to the south, to a third object of interest, a square pillar, consisting of only two stones, one over the other ; the lower one twelve feet high, the other seven or eight, and terminating at the top with some broken work, like a ledge. The faces of the stones, he states, were each nearly four feet wide ; but, to the west, deeply concave ; the lower one especially, in more than half its diameter, Y 822 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. and in considerably more than balf its length. The three remain- ing faces are beautifully smooth, and on that to the north side is a short inscription in four lines, in the arrow-head character, perfectly uninjured, and so clear and sharp, that it is scarcely possible to mistake a wedge. Still more to the S.E. was a low mound, bearing evident marks of having formerly been ascended by steps. From its centre arises a perfectly round polished column, with its base totally buried in the surrounding rubbish. The length of the shaft is from forty to fifty feet, and is composed of four pieces of marble. A spacious marble platform supports this immense fragment, the square shape of its area being marked by four pillars, equi-distant 108 feet from one another. Those on the N.W. face of the building still remain, not much dilapidated. The foundations alone remain of the other two. The most northern of the pair is composed of three stones, surmounted by a sort of cornice ; each stone being fifteen feet high, and concave, as the pillar first described. The hollows face the N.E. ; on the opposite side is an inscription, corresponding exactly with the one which was found on the first pillar. This is probably the one, the transcript of which was sent to M. Grotefend. The other column is much shattered, but retains an inscription pre- cisely similar to, and facing that on the last one we have described. Beyond these pillars is another mass of marbles much mutilated, exactly dividing the middle of the face of the square ; a couple of stones are all that remains of this foundation. They bear the same inscription, and face the N.W. S ucceeding with his investigations. Sir K. K. Porter perceived ^ S.E., at the distance of half a mile, another collection of columns. On approaching it, he found an immense single eleva- tion of the kind, belonging to some former edifice, but, now, entirely swept away. The shape of this building was a parallelogram, 100 feet by 81 ; two rows of pedestals divide it, each composed of four stones, nearly the whole being composed of the dark rock of the country. “About six feet distant from the N.E. side of the building,” continues Sir E. K. Porter, “ and standing out in a parallel point to its centre, rises the square pillar which had drawn me hither. It appears perfectly distinct from all others, no trace of a second being found. One single block of marble forms it ; and, as far as 1 could judge, it is full fifteen high. On examining it, I was delightfully surprised at discovering a sculp- statue of Cyrus (Mour ghaut)) CHAP. IX.] MOURGHAB— STATUE OF CYRUS. 323 ture in bas-relief, occupying nearly tbe whole length of the N.W. side of the pillar, surmounted by a compartment containing a repetition of the same inscription. I lost no time in measuring and drawing this invaluable piece of antiquity. It consists of a profile figure of a man, clothed in a garment something like a woman’s shift, fitting rather closely to the body, and reaching from the neck to the ancles. His right arm is put forward, half raised, from the elbow ; and, as far as I could judge from the mutilated state of its extremity, the hand is open and elevated. His head is covered by a cap, close to the skull, sitting low behind, almost to the neck, and showing a small portion of hair beneath it. A circle, of what I could not make out, is just over the ear, and three lines marked down the back of the head, seemed to indicate braidings. The beard is short, bushy, and curled with the neatest regularity; the face is so much broken, only the contour can be traced. From the bend of the -arm to the bottom of the garment runs a border of roses, carved in the most beautiful style, from which flows a wavy fringe, extending round the skirt of the dress ; the whole being executed with the most delicate precision. From his shoulders issue four large wings ; two, spreading on each side, reach high over his head ; the others open downwards, and nearly touch his feet. The chiselling of the features is exquisite, but the most singular part of the sculpture is the projection of two large horns from the crown of his head ; they support a row of three balls, or circles, within which we see smaller ones described. Three vessels, not unlike our European decanters, and regularly fluted, rest upon these balls, being crested again by three smaller circles. On each side of the whole, like supporters to a coat of arms, stand two small creatures, resembling mummies of the Ibis, but having a bent termination to their swathed form. Over all is the inscription. The figure, from head to foot, measures seven feet ; the width of the stone where he stands is five feet ; two feet from that line reach the present level of the ground.” Such is the figure which, on the faith of the inscriptions, we have ventured to call the portrait of Gyrus himself. Sir R. K. Porter, who does not know what to make of it, admits that it differs materially from the winged figures at Naksh-i-Rustam and Persepolis, which have been sup- posed by the learned to mean the good genii of the personages over whom they hover. 824 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. The name of Pasargadae occurs only in Ptolemy and Solinus ; all other writers, with the exception of Q. Curtius, — who in one place (x. 22,) has Persagadum, i. e. Persagadarum urbs, and in an another, Persagadse, — uniformly call it “ Pasargadae,” or ‘‘ Parsargadac.” The modern spelling of it, Pasargada, adopted in the maps, has arisen from the supposition that its site was on the present Fasa, near the river of that name. Arrian evidently distinguishes Pasargada, where Cyrus was buried, from Persepolis, his capital, as he invariably calls the latter Persas. Nor can we look for it at a distance so great from Persepolis as the ruins of Fasa. The Greeks became first acquainted with Persepolis and PasargadsB, in consequence of Alexander’s expedition. According to the unanimous account of all the writers, the Macedonian conqueror in his progress towards the East, arrived first at Persepolis and afterwards at Pasargada, so that the pos- session of the former immediately led to the capture of the latter. Upon this is founded the statement of Pliny* and of Strabo that Pasargadse was situated at the eastern extremity of Persia. In another place Strabo says, that, in the country of Pasargadae, the river Cyrus, a name altered from the original Agradates by Cyrus himself, flowed through Hollow Persis (Coele Persis). The latter appellation evidently denotes the valley extending from Persepolis to Mourghab, along the banks of the Kuh-Khoneh- Siwend. Sir William Ouseley thinks that the original name of Pasargada was probably Parsa-garda, the habitation of the Persians, and he cites many instances of similar terminations, as Darab-gerd (Dariopolis, the City of Darius), Palashgerd, Firuz- gerd, Lasgerd, Eamgerd, Dashgerd. There is a possible con- nection with this word in the names of the cities Karthago and Tigrano-certa. Garda would express houses collectively, or a city — kada, on the other hand, would mean a single house, or a temple: as Mei-kadeh, a house of wine, a tavern ; — Atesh-kadeh, a fire temple. It would be curious if it should ever be proved that the latter is the right interpretation, and that this celebrated place was named Parsagada, from its fire altar, the national centre of the worship of Fars, or Persia. Sir William Ouseley, writing in 1811, considers Pasargada and Persepolis as different names for the same place, and the latter as a translation of the first ; an hypothesis which, in the face of the evidence adduced by * Hist. Nat. vi. 26. CHAP. IX.] harAm of jemshid. 325 Morier and Sir E. K. Porter, it seems impossible to maintain* Both these celebrated places are described as situated near the Araxes or Kour-ab. The plain of Merdusht is watered by that river, and a branch of it named the Polwar or Ferwar, which rises in the valley of Mourghab, passes near the Takht-i- Jemshid. It is curious, that the stream still retains the name of the celebrated founder of the Persian empire, and is called by the natives the Kur or Cyrus. One more important ruin remains of the Achsemenian class, which has been visited by Morier and Ker Porter. On his way to the celebrated Sassanian ruins of Naksh-i-Eustam, which we shall describe hereafter, Ker Porter visited a place called the Haram of Jemshid. “ Close under the rocks which form the right side of the valley,” says he, “ rises a high piece of ground, at the foot of whose northern and wavy slope flows the Kur-ab (or river Cyrus) in a serpentine course for nearly a mile. On one part of this minor hill, we see a magnificent and solitary column, standing pre-eminent over a crowd of ruins, which had evidently belonged to some very spacious and stately edifice. The height of the pillar, judging by its fallen companions, is twenty feet six inches ; the top of the shaft is finished by a capital in the form of the head, breast, and bent fore-legs of a bull, richly ornamented with collars and other trappings ; which bust- like portion of the animal is united at the back to a corresponding bust of another bull, both joining just behind the shoulders, but leaving a cavity between of one foot and eight inches wide, suffi- cient to admit the end of a square beam of wood or stone to cement the colonnade. Seven similar columns, lying in a broken state on the ground near that which still stood erect, afforded me an opportunity to collect the proportions and measurement of the other. They are composed of a very dark grey marble fluted with masterly execution ; and possess a beauty and sharpness as fresh as if the work of only yesterday A few yards to the north-east from this fallen group of columns, we found the remains of thick walls, and the yet unmutilated marble work of several large door-frames. Indeed, the surface of the whole stretch of this immense hilly terrace is covered with mounds of ruins, noble fragments of the finest architectural parts of a building, and several pieces of pillars and capitals of still greater dimensions than the one described. By examination, it 326 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. appears evident that two distinct large edifices have stood here ; apparently a palace and a temple ; and, independently of their appropriate remains, w^e perceive it has been a fortified place. Its local situation admirably adapts it for that post, entirely command- ing the entrance to the great valley ; and the foundations of the embattled walls and towers which surround it, are yet standing. Its northern bank is washed by the Kur-ab ; and at the foot of its southern slope, between it and the mountain, passes the road, which was formerly closed in upon the present fortress of the valley, by an enormous gate ; the architecture and solidity of the walls of which show the antiquity of the sculpture and the importance of its situation.” The sculpture, on the capitals of the columns, seems to be nearly the same as that on pilasters at the Eock Tombs. Proceeding onwards from Persepolis Sir R. K. Porter re- turned to Shiraz, and visited all that was curious or interesting in the neighbourhood of that celebrated town, among others the tomb of Sheikh Saadi, the illustrious poet, now, alas ! sadly neglected by his degenerate countrymen. On the summit of the mountain near the tomb, are the ruins of a fortress called Kala Bendar. Continuing along the same side of the valley to the distance of nearly four miles, “ we arrived,” says he, “ at the jutting points of several lofty rocks, and found the remains of another edifice, but this claimed the age with the classic elegance of those at Per- sepolis. It appears to have been a square of thirty feet with a portal in each face, three of which are standing. Their sides are sculptured with figures similar to those at Persepolis and dressed in Median robes ; some carrying small vessels in one hand and a piece of linen in the other, and the rest bearing little pails of aromatic gums, for the incense-stands. The lintels of the doors are the same as those of Chehel-Minar, charged with lotos leaves, and worked with admirable skill. The whole fabric is of Per- sepolitan stone ; very beautiful fragments of which lay all over the ground, in the broken shapes of architraves and friezes. A little onward, on the same height, the remains of several strong walls and towers stretch a considerable way along the rocks, evi- dently the relics of some old bulwark, though of an age much posterior to the graceful edifice in its neighbourhood.” Many Europeans have asserted that all the finest parts of Shiraz have been built out of the ruins of Persepolis, but Sir E. K. Porter CHAP. IX.] ISTAKHR. 327 states, that after a very extensive search among the ruins, both within and without the new city, he was not able to discover a single fragment either of Persepolitan work or Persepolitan marble. Except the sculptured edifice just mentioned, there does not seem to be anything that can claim so early a date. It is also the opinion of Sir R. K. Porter, that this edifice is too perfect in plan, construction, and finishing, to have been a compilation of old materials, or the erection of any other than the master hands, which raised the palaces of Darius. The people of the neighbour- hood give it the same name which the inhabitants of Mourghab have bestowed upon the tomb of Cyrus, calling it the tomb of Mader-i-Sulieman, though the building has no resemblance what- ever to any of the tombs in that country. It is probably the remains of a small temple; as the figures on the portals are all bearing objects connected with religious oblation, as the chalice, and the vessel of choice gums for the incense. The only ruins which now remain, belonging to the earlier or Achsemenian period of Persian history, are some of the tombs at Naksh-i- Rustam. As, however, we shall have to give a full descrip- tion of the curious sculptures at that place, we propose to defer our notice of that monument till we come to the description of Naksh-i- Rustam itself. Before, however, we quit the monuments more directly connected with Persepolis, it is necessary to give a short account of a remarkable hill in the plains of Merdusht, which has given to the ruins of Persepolis itself one of the names, whereby it was known in the early Mohammedan period of its history, and which is still, occasionally, used in the country, even at the present day. The hill of Istakhr is situated at a distance of about five miles from Persepolis ; on the top of it, and visible to the eye from Persepolis, are the remains of a fortress. Le Brun has given a drawing of this hill of Istakhr, and the original must strike every traveller the moment he enters the plain of Merdusht, as it looks as if it had been fashioned by the hand of man. Mr. Morier, in his second journey through Persia, was able to explore this rock thoroughly. He states, that it rises abruptly, from a steep conical hill, the collected mass of which he calculated might be about 1200 feet high and the perpendicular portion of it about 500. The remains of the castle at the top are part of a gate, the ruins 828 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. of several turrets, four reservoirs, and the wrecks of manj walls. The view from it commands a great extent of country. Sir Wm. Ouseley has devoted many pages and much learning to the determination of the meaning of this name Istakhr, and the position of the place or district which is denoted by it. The name he considers to have been a descriptive signification of a territory of considerable extent, comprehending the Persian metropolis, and, if spelt as it often is, would seem to be of Arabic origin. Accord- ingly, Dr. Hyde and Kaempfer consider that it means “ a palace of rock,” from an Arabic word meaning rock. If we adopt the Persian orthography, Istakhr will signify a pond, a lake, or a reservoir of water, and “ the name of a castle in Fars is so called from an immense cistern which it contains.” Father Angelo, in his Gazophylacium Ling. Persicae under Persepoli, says “ Gli autori Persian! la chiamano Istechr, cioe Lago, laguna,” while a Persian dictionary, cited by Ouseley, says, that it was “ that castle in Fars which was the royal residence of Darai (Darius) the son of Darab.” It would seem that it is not a general diffusion of water that is meant, like a swamp, or marsh, or plain intersected by many rivers, but one castle (of many which guarded the plain), remarkable for an Istakhr or reservoir of peculiar magnitude or capaciousness. It is a matter of some interest to determine, if possible, how early this name was used. Now, Moses of Chorene, in his History of Armenia, written probably in the fifth century of our era, speaks of Istakhr under the name of Stakr, and the British Museum possesses a coin of the Mohammedan conquerors of Persia, struck at this place, A. H. 94, a.d. 712. Ibn Aasim Al-Kufi, in a manuscript chronicle called the “ Book of Victories,” calls Istakhr the capital of Fars, in the middle of the eighth centurv, and Tabari and Ibn Haukal, who both lived in the com- mencement of the tenth century, speak of it as a very ancient city. Lastly, Hamd-allah, in a geographical treatise written in the fourteenth century, after describing sixteen castles, which re- mained at the time he wrote, out of more than seventy which had once contributed to the strength of Fars, adds, “According to the Fars Nameh, or History of Fars, there is not in that countiy a fortress more ancient than the castle of Istakhr, and every pos- sible mode of fortifying a place was there employed. It formerly bore the name of Seh Gumbedan, or the Three Domes, because within its territory were comprised two other castles, named CHAP. IX.] ISTAKHR. 329 Shekesteh and Jangwan ; and, in the castle of Istakhr, was a certain piece of ground resembling a deep valley, into which the rain water flowed from the sides, but at one part ran down towards the plain. Azzud al Doulah, the Dilemi Prince, having raised a band or mound on that declivity by which the water escaped, caused it to be faced on the inside with stone and mortar, thus forming a hauz or reservoir. To this, the descent was by a stair- case of seventeen steps, and the reservoir was made so strong and solid, by means of linen and wax, bitumen and mortar, that the water could not, in any manner, find a passage through.” It is possible that the natural pond may have been termed Istakhr, and have given its name to the fortified rock, many ages before Azzet al Daulat’s great reservoir ; but, had the city in the plain been so denominated in the time of Alexander’s conquest, it is almost certain that his Grecian companions would have hellenised it, or have given it a name equivalent in signification in their own language. On the contrary, the capital is uniformly called Persae or Persepolis. In later times, it is probable, that the fortress and the capital were confounded together. Thus, when Ardeshir Babegan raised the standard of revolt against the Parthian monarch, Istakhr is stated to have been the residence of a king or viceroy named Jauher, who was put to death by order of Ardeshir. The seizure of Istakhr made him master of all Pars, and he was by this conquest enabled to gain possession of Kirmm and Isfahan. On one occasion, having gained a great victory at Maru, he sent the heads of some of his vanquished enemies to be placed over the gate of the fire temple at Istakhr. In the fourth century, twelve thousand families were removed, partly from Istakhr, partly from Isfahan, by Shahpur II., to repeople the deserted city of Nisibin. Yezdigerd, the last of the Sassanian dynasty, is stated to have been concealed at Istakhr, when called to the throne in a.d. 632 ; but, in this notice, the territory of Istakhr is meant, in which the castle of Fahender, the real place of his concealment, might have been included. In the year a.d. 644, Istakhr capitulated to the Mohammedan forces ; but, four years later, the people revolted and slew the Arabian governor. In consequence of this insurrection, the khalif Othman sent troops from Busrah to Istakhr, and great multitudes of the inhabitants were massacred. In the same century Shiraz was founded, and soon became 830 I^INEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. ■what Persepolis had been, the capital of Pars. Frequent mention is made by the Mohammedan writers of the castle of Istakhr, which appears to have been used as a state prison so late as the year a.d. 1501, when the ex-governor of Shiraz was confined in it ; the town which surrounded the hill fortress, after a long decline, was ultimately destroyed by the fanatical Arabs. The Oriental writers have abundant traditions relative to this remarkable rock. According to one, the city round it was founded by Kaiomurs ; according to another, by his son, who was named Istakhr. The name occurs repeatedly in the Shah Nameh of Firdusi, but is not met with in the Zend-Avesta ; though Sir W. Ousel ey suspects it is referred to, under the names Varjem-gerd, Jem-gerd, or Jem Kand, the city, fortress, or mansion of Jem, surnamed Sheid, the luminous. As we have mentioned, it is most likely that, where Istakhr is mentioned by these writers, Persepolis is really referred to, as it is said that KingJemshid held his court there ; and Nizam al Tuarikh, after stating that Kaiomurs founded the two cities of Istakhr and Demavend, adds, that at the former “he constructed an immense edifice, of which the columns and other vestiges remain unto this day, and are called Chehel Minareh.” Tabari, in the ninth century, gravely states that King Solomon, occasionally, left the holy city of Jerusalem, to reside at Istakhr, in Pars, where the vestiges of his palace still remain : Ibn Haukal, that Istakhr was the most ancient and celebrated city in Pars, where the sovereigns of that region always resided, until King Ardeshir removed the seat of his empire to Jur or Gur (Firuzabad). Solomon, the son of David, he tells us, came in, one day, from Taberiah (Tiberias), as tradition relates, to Istakhr, where was a Meshehd, which still bears his name. Among the wonders of Pars, he enumerates several lofty structures, which tradition assigned to Solomon and the Divs, and here, he adds, “ are sculptured figures and columns ; and the forms of three mansions, once occupied by the tribe of Aad, are, even now, pre- sented to our view in this edifice, which resembles, in magnitude, that visible at Baalbec.” Firdusi states, that when Kai Kobad was called to the imperial throne, he set out from his northern residence, near Mount Elborz, and proceeded towards Pars, in which was “ the key to the treasures. Istakhr then became his dwelling-place ; it was the glory of his nobles.” When in the reign of Dara (Darius) CHAP. IX.] NAKSH-I-RUSTAM. 331 the Persian dominions were invaded by Sekunder (Alexander), “ armies so numerous went forth from Istakhr, that their lances obstructed the wind in its progress ; ” but, on these being defeated, the conqueror is described as entering in triumph “ Istakhr of Fars, the royal crown, the glory of that country.” According to the Nizam al Tuarikh, “ when Zerdusht, in the reign of Gustasp, invited mankind to renounce the Sabian, and to adopt the Magian worship, he resided on Nifisht, a moun- tain of Istakhr.” “ In that mountain and its vicinity,” it is added, “are the sculptured figures and tombs of most of the ancient Persian kings. Among the Persians, prior to Islam, there were three kinds of sepulture. Some bodies are interred in natural caverns; some in dakhmahs formed in mountains; and others, the bones being separated, were placed in jars or urns under ground. Then Gustasp, having become a disciple of Zerdusht, went to Istakhr, and established his residence on that mountain.” From another chronicler we learn, that Gustasp, on his return from Balkh to Istakhr, caused a dakhmah (vault) to be made, in which he deposited, with much reverential ceremony, the Zend-Avesta, and appointed a body of persons to guard it. “ This book,” according to Mirkhond, “ consisted of twelve thou- sand ox skins, so tanned as to resemble thin leaves of paper, on which the doctrines of Zoroaster were written in letters of gold and silver.” The place at Istakhr, where these sacred writings were deposited, is called by other historians Dernebisht, or Zerbisht, the library ; and when Sekunder (Alexander) arrived at Istakhr, it is said that he commanded translations of all the books to be made, and sent to Greece, and that they were then deposited in Macedonia, and the Dernebisht was burned. In many parts of the great plain of Istakhr are seen fragments of marble columns, doorways, and other vestiges, of structures similar in style to those of the Takht-i-Jemshid, together with small niches cut in the rock, at such a height, that it is dijficult to imagine how, or for what purpose, they were executed. At length, after proceeding northwards for a mile and a half or two miles, the traveller arrives at what bears the name of Naksh-i- Eejib, and, at about four miles from the Takht, at the still more celebrated remains of Naksh-i-Eustam. These, and other ruins which we shall describe hereafter, belong to the second class, or Sassanian monuments, which we shall now proceed to describe. 332 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. And first, we will take those of Naksh-i-Kustam, which, though containing, as we shall see, some Achaemenian remains, are in other respects the most celebrated monuments of the Sassanian period of Persian history. Naksh-i-Eustam is the name of a mountain, which is an almost perpendicular cliff, continuing to an elevation of scarcely less than three hundred yards, the substance being a whitish kind of marble. In this have been cut the cele- brated sculptures and excavations, so long the subject of discussion with the traveller, the artist, and the antiquary. These singular relics of Persian art are placed very near each other, and are all contained within the space of not quite the height of the mountain. Those highest on the rock are four, evidently intended for tombs, and, as evidently, of a date coeval with the splendour of Persepolis. Those below are inferior in workmanship, and of a later date, and will be described hereafter. The four sepulchres differ in no way exteriorly, and are almost identical in the character of their work- manship with that, which we have already mentioned on the rock behind the Chehel Minar. Le Brun and Sir R. K. Porter have given a minute description of them, with accurate drawings ; and, though the former traveller calls the one he has pourtrayed, the Rock-sepulchre at Persepolis, a minute comparison with Sir R. K. Porter’s drawing of that at Naksh-i-Rustam induces us to believe, that Le Brun’s plate also refers to the latter place. Sir R. K. Porter remarks that the temples of Mithra were on high places, and open above, till the time of Darius Hystaspes, who, on the reformation of the religion of the country by Zerdusht, or Zoroaster, drew a roof over the temples, the better to preserve the sacred fire on the altars from accidents of the weather. He infers, from the character of the pillars on the fa§ade of the tomb, and from the strength of the structure, that it was calculated to support a similar roof, and that the building to which they were attached, was covered in. Sir R. K. Porter gives an animated account of his entrance into one of the tombs. “ There were no other means,” says he, “ by which a stranger to these heights could reach them but by the expedient of tying a rope round his waist, and some strong arms above hauling him upwards. I immediately looked out for assistants. My mehmandar was at his stories and forebodings again, for tempting such demon-wrought places. But the peasantry of this district seemed to know better, than CHAP. IX.] NAKSH-I-RUSTAM. 333 to have fear of either demon or difficulty; and one of them, more active and sinewy than the rest, managed to scramble up the perpendicular cliff, like a rat hanging to a wall, and, gaining the ledge of the platform or vestibule to the tomb, lowered down a rope, by which some of his nimble companions assisted themselves in ascending. I followed their example, by fastening the rope round my waist, and by their united exertions was speedily drawn up to the place of rendezvous. The distance was sufficiently high from the ground to give me time for thought ; and during my ascent, in a manner so totally dependent on the dexterity of others, I could not but recollect the fate of half a dozen kinsmen of Darius Hystaspes, who had all perished at once in the very same expedition. Ctesias relates, that this great Persian monarch caused a tomb to be dug for him, while he lived, in the double mountain ; but, when it was completed, the Chaldean soothsayers forbade him to enter it during his life, under a penalty of some terrible danger. Darius w^as intimidated ; but some princes of his family could not resist a strong curiosity which impelled them to view its interior. They went to the mountain, and by their desire were to be drawn up by the priests who offi- ciated there ; but in the act, while they yet hung between earth and air, the sudden appearance of some serpents on the rock so terrified the people above, that they let go the ropes, and the princes were dashed to pieces To incur the least possible danger to myself and my assistants, I had selected the tomb that was nearest the ground ; but even that was upwards of sixty feet above its level ; and I came off with not a few bruises from hard knocks against the rock in my swinging ascent.” The length of the cave, which forms the whole tomb, is thirty-four feet, and its height nine. Of the three remaining tombs, that which lies farthest to the eastward of the one Sir R. K. Porter explored, is cut in a receding angle of the mountain, and, therefore, faces west. From the result of this fortunate position, its sculptured surface has suffered less from exposure to the burning influence of the sun, and, hence, the delicate chiselling of its figures and their ornaments, with the other exterior parts of the tomb, are in finer preservation than the similar parts of the other tombs. On the second tomb from the last mentioned, there are traces of inscriptions, and on this only. Over the whole tablet of the upper compartment, letters are visible wherever they could be 334 NINEVEH AND PEBSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. introduced ; above the figures, between them and the altar, along the sides, from top to bottom, in short, everywhere, it is covered with arrow-headed characters in good preservation. Sir R. K. Porter thinks that the occurrence of the inscriptions would war- rant the supposition, that this is the very tomb, which was cut by the express orders of Darius Hystaspes to receive his remains ; for Strabo mentions, that there was an inscription on it. Cyrus was the first Persian king who ordered his tomb to be constructed during his life; and we now know, that the story is true, wRich states that his body was buried at Pasar- gadse. Heeren considers, that the tombs at Naksh-i-Rustam indubitably belong to no later period than the early Persian empire. Diodorus states that “there were tombs dedicated to the Persian kings in the mountain behind Persepolis and Ctesias, when mentioning the one which was made by the order of Darius Hystaspes, says that “ it was in the double mountain,” an expression, which admits the inference, that there was another mountain, in like manner devoted to royal sepulture. Quintus Curtius testifies “ that Alexander so respected the esta- blished customs of the country, that when the body of Darius was found, he caused it to be embalmed, and sent it to his mother Sisygambis, that it might be buried after the manner of the kings of Persia, and in the tombs of his ancestors.” We think that while the monuments we have just described, with the rock-tombs behind the Chehel Minar, undoubtedly belong to the Achsemenian era, there can be as little doubt, that their object was for the pre- servation of the bodies of the kings. We now come to the later but hardly less curious monuments, which exist on the same rock, and which are without doubt refer- able to the time of the Sassanians. “ The first presents itself,” says Sir R. K. Porter, “ soon after we pass the tomb in the most eastern direction. Much of it is buried in the earth ; the three figures, which are its subject, being now only visible as high as the upper part of the thighs ; the two principal are engaged in grasping^ wdth outstretched arms, a wreath or twisted bandeau, from which hang a couple of waving ends The first figure, which holds it in his right hand, stands in the right of the sculpture, and appears to be a king. He is crowned with a diadem, of a bonnet- shape, round which runs a range of upward-fluted ornaments, with a balloon-like mass, rising from the middle of the crown. From CHAP. IX.] NAKSH-I-RUSTAM. 335 the imitation of folds in the stone, it is evidently intended to be a decoration of some sort of stuff. A fillet binds the bottom of the head-dress round the forehead, appearing to tie behind, among a redundancy of long flowing hair, whence it streams in two waving ends, resembling those from the wreath he is clasping. These loose riband-like appendages seem badges of the Arsacidan and Sassanian sovereignty, and we find them attached to various parts of the royal dress in all these remains of antiquity. His hair is full, flowing, and curled, having nothing of the stiff wig appearance so remarkable in the bas-reliefs of the Achasmenian period. The beard of this figure is very singularly disposed. On the upper lip it is formed like mustachios, and grows from the front of the ear, down the whole of the jaw, in neat short curls ; but, on the chin, it becomes of great length (which, as I have observed before, seems to be the lasting attribute of royalty in Persia), and is tied together, just at the point of the chin, whence it hangs like a large tassel. At his ear is the fragment of an immense pearl, and a string of the same is round his neck. His outer robe or scarf is fastened on the chest by a double-round clasp, and revolves round his back. His tunic has tight long sleeves, and is bound by a belt which passes over the right hip ; the folds of the tunic at the top of the belt are well expressed in the stone. To the other side of this girdle it is probable the sword is attached, the hilt of which he is grasping with his left hand. But, the whole of the back in this part, over half his figure, and stretching on the right side outline of the opposite personage, is deplorably broken away. On my arrival afterwards at Shiraz, a Persian artist showed me a very old drawing of this bas-relief, when the present mutilated space was filled by the upper part of the figure of a boy, crowned with a diadem, like the personage on the left ; and like the figure of the king, clasping the hilt of his sword with the left hand.” Opposite the king stands a figure, which, from the form, is evidently a woman. She wears on her head a mural crown ; long braids of hair hang over her shoulders, and on her breast ; a narrow band encircles her waist, carefully tied before, with diverging ends. Her dress is exceedingly tight, showing the form of her person, with sleeves which reach to the knuckles of the fingers. The face is much broken, but enough is left to show gigantic feminine features. Her right hand clasps the wreath 836 NESTEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. ■with the king. A third figure, "with a short bushy beard, stands behind the king. He wears a cap, which is bent forward, and erected at the point of the head with what has been once intended for a horse’s head. His left hand grasps the pommel of his sword. The composition of the whole piece seems to represent a royal union ; and as the slab resembles very much a Sassanian coin of Bahram V., it probably refers to him. Bahram was surnamed the Gour, for his fondness for the chase of the gour, or wild ass ; and he met his death in a gour-hunt. Sir John Malcolm gives a curious anecdote of the love of this king towards his queen, and of the circumstances which raised her so highly in his estimation. The tale is rather extravagant, and is a good specimen of the romantic taste of the Persians. “ The ruling passion of Bahram,” says Sir John Malcolm, “ was the chase ; and proud of his excellence as an archer, he wished to exhibit his skill before his favourite wife. She accordingly accompanied him to the plain ; and an antelope was descried at a distance lying asleep. The monarch drew his bow with such precision, that his arrow grazed the animal’s ear.* The antelope had put his hind hoof to the spot, to strike off the fly by which he appeared to conceive he was annoyed. The monarch shot again, and pinned the hoof to the horn. The exulting Bahram turned to the lady, with a look that demanded her opinion of his skill ; but she coolly observed, ‘ Practice makes perfect.’ So indifferent a reply, when he expected such warm praises, stung him to the soul with disappointment and jealousy ; and, in the fury of the moment, he ordered her to be carried to the mountains, and exposed to perish. The minister, who was to obey this cruel command, took her hence, but, mercifully sparing her life, allowed her to retire, under a deep disguise, to an obscure village on the mountain side. She took up her lodgings in the upper chamber of a tower, to which she ascended by twenty steps. On her arrival, she bought a young calf, which she regularly carried up and down the flight every day. This exercise she continued for four years, and the improvement in her strength kept pace with the increasing weight of the animal. Bahram, who had supposed his favourite to have been long dead, happened, after a fatiguing chase, to stop one evening at this village. He saw a young woman carrying a large cow up a flight of steps. He was astonished, and sent to inquire how strength so extra- naksh-i-kustAm. 837 CHAP. IX.] ordinary had been acquired by a woman apparently so truly feminine in form. The young person, who had wrapped herself in her veil, said she would communicate her secret to none but the king, and to him only, on his condescending to come to the tower alone. Bahram instantly obeyed the summons, and on his repeating his admiration of what he had seen, she bid him not lavish praises, as if she had performed a miracle ; for ‘ Practice makes perfect ! ’ said she, in her natural voice, and at the same time lifting her veil. The king recognised and embraced her. Struck with the lesson she had thus given him, and delighted with a proof of love, which had induced her for four years to pursue so arduous a plan of convincing him of his mistake in doubting its existence, he restored her to his affection, and her rank as his favourite wife ; and had a palace built on the spot of their re-union, to commemorate the event.” From this time, she appears to have become the partner of his glory as well as of his pleasures, and he associated her bust with his own on the coins of his empire. The son of their union is also seen on these coins, and was, probably, as we have stated, upon this bas-relief, though now obliterated. The history of this son, as given by the Zeenat al Tuarick, is so interesting, that we are tempted to transcribe the account which exists in that book. “ Bahram,” says the Chronicle, “ had a beloved son, but who was considered an idiot. In vain the best masters endeavoured to instruct him. He appeared incapable of all acquirements, and indifferent to every earthly stimulus. One day his tutor came to the king in despair, and told him that he knew not what to do, as his son had added vice to stupidity, in becoming hopelessly enamoured of a peasant’s daughter, who dwelt near the palace. Bahram ’s countenance beamed with joy. ‘ Thank God,’ exclaimed he, ‘ the clay is kindled ! ’ and sending for the father of the young creature, who had thus awakened his son to existence, he spoke to him in these terms. ‘ I do not seek to trifle with your honour, but I tell you that your daughter may become the instrument of the nation’s happiness. My son loves her, and her power over him may be unbounded. Bid her hold the power, and it will be infinite, but teach her to arouse in him the desire of attaining manly perfection, to obtain her. Infuse into her the virtuous ambition to aim at this end; and she may, without danger to herself, give him z 838 NIKEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. IX. sufficient encouragement to keep hope alive, and love will do the rest.’ The old man engaged to instruct his daughter, and the young woman acted so exactly to what she was enjoined, that the enamoured prince soon became all that his father wished, and the nation hoped. Afterwards making her his wife, when he came to the throne on the death of Bahram, the name of Yezdijird II. was not inferior in renown for wisdom and valour, to any of the greatest of his race. Indeed he was so beloved in the army, as to receive the title of Sipahdest, or the soldier’s friend.” The resemblance of this story to Dryden’s beautiful tale, from Boccaccio, of Cymon and Iphigenia is very striking. The next bas-relief is a few paces from the preceding; it represents a combat between two horsemen, and has been originally designed with great spirit, and executed in a style superior to the former one. The proportions of the figures are very good, hut the whole piece has been sadly mutilated. The most conspicuous figure is in the act of charging his oppo- nent with a spear, and possesses a considerable grace of contour, and a striking harmony of action in every part of his body. He wears a winged helmet. A very large and long quiver hangs down upon the warrior’s thigh; it is suspended by a belt and is empty of arrows. The portion of armour which is still visible represents some kind of metal formed into scales, like that worn by the Knights Templars. Behind him is a figure, almost wholly effaced, who was probably a standard bearer, as the ensign is still quite clear, and consists of a staff surmounted by a large ring under which is a transverse bar, attached at each end to a hanging tassel of an enormous size, in the shape of a fringed pine-apple. His opponent is also mounted on a charger, hut both man and horse are so obliterated, that little remains, except the general contour of the rider and a few traces of the steed ; yet the spirit in both survives the mutilation. A prostrate figure lies under the belly of the principal figure’s horse. The winged helmet, on the head of the principal warrior, resembles that on the head of Bahram, on one of his coins, and it is possible that the bas-relief may be meant to represent that hero. The third bas-relief is found in a perfect state, when com- pared with the others, and consists of four figures. The prin- cipal one is mounted on a horse and is certainly a king. The CHAP. IX.] naksh-i-rustAm. 339 head-dress and the whole character of the figure is entirely Sassanian. In his left hand he holds the hilt of his sword, which hangs by his right side, his right hand is stretched out while he grasps in that hand the clasped hands of a person, who stands, in the posture of submission, before the head of his horse. The trappings of the horse are very simple. Behind the royal figure stands a man holding his right hand up, in the attitude of enjoining silence. The head is unbearded, and the figure pro- bably represents an eunuch. In front of the horse is another figure bending on one knee, with his arms extended in a suppli- catory posture. He wears the undoubted garb of a Roman soldier. Both the figures before the horse have large rings round their ankles, probably intended by the victors for the fixture of chains ; such bracelets never having been a part of the Roman dress. The whole length of this excavation is thirty-seven feet, the horse alone occupying fourteen of it. The great similitude between the Persian king in this group, and the bust on the coins of Shahpur I., leaves little doubt, that he is the figure represented by the king in this sculpture, and, as the subject of the has relief agrees with the great event of Shahpur’s life, the conquest by him of the Emperor Valerian, there is equally little doubt, that this sculpture commemorates that event. The details of Valerian’s fate are darkly and imperfectly represented in history, but, it would seem, that the misfortune of the Roman emperor was deserved by long continued imprudence and error. He had reposed an implicit confidence in Macrianus, his Prsotorian prefect, a worthless minis- ter, who rendered his master formidable only to his oppressed subjects, while he was contemptible to the enemies of Rome. By his weak or wicked counsels, the imperial army was betrayed into a situation, where valour and military skill were equally unavailing. The vigorous attempt of the Romans to cut their way through the Persian host, was repulsed with great slaughter, the licentious legions accused Valerian as the author of all their misfortunes, and an immense sum of gold was offered to purchase the permission of a disgraceful retreat. But the Persian king, conscious of his superiority, refused the money with dis- dain, and, detaining the deputies, advanced, in order of battle, to the foot of the Roman rampart, and insisted on a personal con- ference with the emperor. The emperor was at once made 840 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. prisoner, and his astonished troops laid down their arms. The conqueror put a double disgrace upon his conquered foe, by investing a person of no note, of bad character and an usurper of the imperial throne during the reign of Gallienus, named Cyriades^ with the title of emperor, and the Koman army in chains could not but ratify the election. Sir R. K. Porter thinks that the kneeling figure on the slab represents Valerian, and that the other one to which he is giving his hand must be Cyriades. The overthrow of Valerian happened in A.D. 260, and, soon after, the unhappy monarch was led captive, with hundreds of his people, who were brought from the Roman settlements in the East to assist in building the city of Shahpur, a superb monument, intended by the victor to commemorate his conquest over an emperor of Rome. “ The voice of history,” says Gibbon, “ which is often little more than the organ of hatred or flattery, reproaches Sapor with a proud abuse of the rights of conquest. We are told that Valerian, in chains but invested with the imperial purple, was exposed to the multitude, a constant spectacle of fallen greatness; and that, whenever the Persian monarch mounted on horseback, he placed his foot on the neck of the Roman emperor. Not- withstanding all the remonstrances of his allies, who repeatedly advised him to remember the vicissitudes of fortune, to dread the returning power of Rome, and to make his illustrious captive the pledge of peace, not the object of insult, Sapor still remained inflexible. When Valerian sunk under the weight of shame and grief, his skin, stuffed with straw, and formed into the likeness of a human figure, was preserved for ages in the most celebrated temple of Persia ; a more real monument of triumph than the fancied trophies of brass and marble so often erected by Roman vanity.” The fourth bas-relief is a repetition of the single combat, described in the second has relief, between Bahram Gour and what Sir R. K. Porter imagines to be a Tatar prince. Though much mutilated, it is better preserved than the former one, and is designed with more animation, and executed in a higher style of art. Over the whole of the body of one of the war- riors, may be traced the originally perfect coat of small plate mail. It is interesting to examine closely the dress of these soldiers, as there can be little doubt, that the Persian military CHAP. IX.] NAKSH-I-RUSTlM. 341 costume, under the Arsacidan and Sassanian dynasties, varied very little from what it had been before the Macedonian conquest. Heliodorus, in his description of the Cataphracti, a heavy armed cavalry, describes, minutely, the plates and scales of the horsemen, and states, that a soldier so accoutred resembled a moving statue of metal. The heavy and long pike, in the hand of these adversaries, is what Heliodorus describes as the ancient Persian weapon, what we see in the sculptures of the Dynasty of Cyrus, and what we read of in other authors, as in the hands of the Grecian invaders of Persia. The fifth sculpture is one of peculiar excellence, and has been drawn by almost every traveller. Its subject is two men on horse- back, meeting each other; the one bestowing, the other receiving the circlet, or badge of sovereignty. The figure on the right, as we stand looking at it, wears a mural crown : the centre being filled with a low semicircular caul. The beard is long, and rather waving, but cut square at the extremity. His right arm is advanced over the neck of his horse, and he holds in his hand a circlet, from which hangs down a broad riband. He appears in the act of presenting it to the opposite horseman, whose right arm and hand are held out to receive it. The left hand of the first figure grasps a short, club-like staff, by the narrow extremity. The right foot of the horse, which is raised, touches the head of a prostrate man, with serpents twisting over a band round his brows, in the place of hair. The eyes are closed, as if he were dead, and the ear formed like the united ears of a rabbit. The opposite figure, who is in the act of receiving the circlet, wears a close skull-cap helmet. From its crest rises an enormous balloon- appearance, full of folds ; from this flow behind the usual royal floating ends. The face has a rather inclined position, with a reverential expression. The bridle of the horse is ornamented with roses, and the strap on his chest has three lions’ heads, in medallions, carved beautifully in relievo. The left foot of this horse, like the other one, is raised, and touches the neck of the second prostrate figure, whose head is covered with a cap, or helmet, with a badge on the side. A rich collar encircles the top of his chest. Behind this last horseman stands a beardless youth, wearing a high, round-topped cap, and holding a fly-flapper, of horse-hair, near the head of the figure before him. On the breast of the horses, just above the shoulders of the animals, are 342 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. inscriptions in Greek and Pehlivi. The length of the excavation is 21 feet; it is in white marble, with a considerable polish, in the most perfect state of preservation. The subject of the bas-relief seems historical, interwoven with allegorical references ; and the sense of the inscriptions, as trans- lated, illustrates the design of the sculptor. Silvestre de Sacy, in his “ Memoir es sur les Antiquites de la Perse,” has devoted many pages to the illustration of this sculpture, and to the inter- pretation of its inscriptions. He gives, as a translation of the Pehlivi portion: “ C est ici la figure du serviteur d’Ormuzd, du Dieu Ardashir, Roi des Rois dTran, de la race des Dieux, fils du Dieu Babec, Roi.” This legend is on the shoulder of the horse of the man who receives the circlet. The Greek expresses nearly the same words. The inscription on the other horse is written three times over, the Greek being between the Pehlivi ones. M. de Sacy restores the Greek, and translates it : “ C’est ici la figure du Dieu Jupiter.” This inscription is valuable, as determining that the sculptures of Naksh-i- Rustam are of the Sassanian, and not, as has been sup- posed by some, of the Arsacidan period. Sir R. K. Porter imagines that this particular bas-relief is an emblematical repre- sentation of the restoration of the ancient Persian Empire, in the person of Ardeshir Babegan, the hereditary successor of the great Cyrus, its founder. Ormazd is probably intended on the bas- relief, by the figure wearing the mural crown. He is there as the supporter of the true believers, and as the protector of the Kaia- nian princes; and, while his horse crushes under his feet the gorgon-headed demon of Arsacidan idolatry, he presents to Ardeshir (whose horse tramples on the representative of the fallen Parthian monarchy) the Cydaris, or ancient diadem of his ances- tors. This diadem consisted of a twisted bandeau of intertwined white and purple, and was always received as a peculiar mark of royalty by the Persians. Xenophon describes the turban of Cyrus as made of the same colours, and states that about his high turban he bound the diadem, or wreath. But for the inscriptions, it would seem that the sculpture might represent the resignation of the imperial power of Ardeshir into the hands of his son Shahpur* after having reigned gloriously over Persia for fourteen years. The sixth sculpture, and the last which is legible, lies to the N. W. of the others, and consists of the king, standing in a CHAP. IX.] NAKSH-I-RUSTAM. 343 niche, or on a rostrum, as if delivering an harangue. His head is covered with the winged helmet, and surmounted by the usual oval mass, reserved for royal heads alone. A thick cluster of curls falls upon his left shoulder. His face, which is almost obliterated, looks over his right shoulder ; his beard is short, and tied in the tassel shape. The figure terminates at the knees, being there met by the front of the rostrum, against which he stands. To the left and right of him appears a row of persons, who are only seen as far as the head and shoulders, being con- cealed by a sort of screen, divided in two by the person of the king. Three of these men are to the left of him ; and two of them wear high caps bending over the forehead. All the figures hold up their right hands in the attitude of commanding attention. The third head in the group wears a round- topped cap, on which is a crescent, with a small circle over it. Those to the right of the king are five in number, and three of them are very much broken. The four nearest him wear caps, all different : the fifth wears no head-dress ; his hair is short waving over the forehead, and very thick and curling behind; and the beard is short and square, and the features peculiarly handsome, and a countenance almost speaking. One of the head-dresses appears to terminate in the heads of dogs or lions. Behind this person, and in the lower relief almost obliterated,is a smaller head, with a similar cap, of only one crested point, representing a dog, or a lion, over the forehead. Sir R. K. Porter thinks, that the two unbearded heads represent females ; but, except this peculiarity, we discern nothing in their dress, or the contour of the figures, to justify this idea. It is impossible to conjecture to which of the Sassanian monarchs this sculpture ought to be attributed, as it tells no circumstance in their history to which we have any clue. On a coin of Bahram Gour, containing profiles of the king, the queen, and the young prince, the two latter wear tiaras, which lean forward, similar to those on this sculpture ; crested at the projecting points with the head of an animal: that over the brow of the female appears to be a bull’s, or a cow’s ; that over the boy’s, a hawk’s. Nearly opposite the third tomb, and about twenty yards distant from the rock, stands a building similar to that already mentioned at Mourghab, and which is commonly called the Fire Temple. This temple differs from the other in being higher and narrower. It has suffered little from time, and is nearly perfect. It is built 844 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. of marble from the adjacent rocks, each block being three feet six inches in width, but varying in length. One single slab forms the cornice of the northern face, which is twenty feet eight inches long, an amazing mass to have been placed where it now is. The height of the building is thirty-five feet : the entrance is on the north front, about eleven feet above the ground ; the portal is five feet wide and six high. The grooves for the pivots of the doors are deeply cut, both at the bottom and the top, where they are fastened to the sides of the wall ; so that the ponderous stone divisions must have met in the middle, and shut close. The circling marks of their movement are strongly worn in the marble floor. The chamber, which is contained within such an immense solidity of wall and doorway, is only a square of twelve feet, and in height does not exceed fifteen or sixteen. There is no trace of writing either within or without the temple, nor any aperture in the room except the door to admit light and air ; but the walls are perfectly black with smoke, showing clearly the purpose for which the building had been anciently used. Sir E. K. Porter thinks that this remarkable building was hardly a temple, but had been used as a sort of sacristy, and as a repository for the sacred element during the suspension of the greater solemnities. The building at Mourghab, which was near the great platform, was probably used in a similar manner. The sacred flame was never allowed to go out, except on the death of a king; and then, it is probable, that only a few of the fires were extinguished, as Strabo and other authors directly imply, that the great fountains of this holy element, in the temples, were never extinguished. Great care was taken of its purity, and to preserve it from any blast of air ; it was fed with wood stripped of its bark, and never blown with bellows; and, that it might not be breathed upon, the priests never approached, except with cloths over their mouths. From the great value of the offerings often deposited in these sacred places, it was cus- tomary to keep a constant watch on the sepulchres of the Persian kings ; and the affectionate care of favourite servants was often devoted to the maintenance of the state ceremonv. Thus, the n/ chief eunuch of Darius Hystaspes passed the last seven years of his life, at the tomb of his master ; and the usage of such gloomy vigils is still to be traced, among the existing followers of that prince’s faith, the Parsees of Yezd and of India always placing a CHAP. IX.] FIRE ALTARS. 345 watch, in the sepulchre of their dead, who never quits the spot, till he is relieved by another, and frequently remains there till he dies. A few paces beyond the last bas-relief the rock terminates to the W., and then, taking an abrupt turn to the N., bends round again in an amphitheatrical sweep towards the W. Sir R. K. Porter, on skirting the mountains, came, after a little dis- tance, to two large projecting masses of rock, close to the plain, out of whose solid substance had been cut two Altars, almost in Contact one wdth the other. The height of their bases from the level of the ground beneath did not exceed twelve or fourteen feet. Both stand on the same platform of rock, which is gained by a flight of steps hewn out of its side, and ascended from the south. The form of each altar is a square of four feet six inches. The corners are blunted, by each one having a heavy and rudely- shaped column running up its side, and resting on a square plinth. A kind of zone terminates the top of these columns, from which springs an arch. The whole is crowned by an architrave orna- mented with a range of cylindrical forms, somewhat resembling battlements. Though not exactly the same as the representations on the Sassanian coins, they correspond sufficiently with them to leave no doubt of the use to which they have been applied ; and 846 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. though Herodotus and Strabo both assert, that the Persians had neither images, altars, nor temples, but performed their sacrifices, on mountains and high places, with extreme simplicity, to the Supreme God, and the Sun and Moon, this must be understood of the earliest period of their history. There is no reason to suppose that these altars belong to the early history of Persia ; but it is probable that they are due, like some of the sculptures, to the time of the revival of the Magian system, under the administra- tion of Ardeshir Babegan. On the rock above the tombs. Sir E. K. Porter discovered a small marble column, without either capital or base, exactly on the perpendicular above the exca- vation of the sepulchres, and probably coeval with them. He observed several large spots of different dimensions cut out of the level of the mountain, as if for the floors of rooms. The one of the greatest space is a square of more than twenty feet ; on its surface were three or four steps elevated above each other, in the manner of a pedestal to a throne or an altar. Eather more than a farsang from the Chehel Minar, and at the foot of a mountain called Naksh-i-Eejib, which, constitutes part of the Persepolitan range. Sir E. K. Porter found a large natural recess, formed by rude masses of rock, receding and projecting in a variety of picturesque shapes. On the faces of three of them, he found many historical has reliefs. The one to the right is the same in subject, but of smaller dimensions than the one at Naksh-i-Eustam, which represents the two colossal horsemen, holding a royal circlet betw^een them. The prostrate bodies are omitted on this sculpture, and the execution is evidently of a later age, and of less skilful workmen. The figures are more clumsy, and the draperies confused. It is greatly mutilated, but not by time ; and the marks of savage violence are scarred over it in a thousand places. Chardin relates, that, soon after the death of the great Shah Abbas, the prime minister of his unworthy successor ordered sixty men to be employed every day for a certain length of time, in destroying the ruins in the plain of Merdusht. Some disgust had been taken at the passion European travellers had shown to visit these remains ; and, thus, a barbarous policy attempted to sweep them from the earth. The length of this excavation is seventeen feet, and it commences six feet above the ground. The next slab occupies the centre of the recess, and is a CHAP. IX.] NAKSH-I-EEJIB. 347 repetition of the former subject, only the actors are on foot. In one hand they hold the wreath firmly between them, while with the other they grasp a couple of strong staves. Two attendants stand behind : one is beardless, and holds a fly- flapper; his companion rests on the pommel of his sword. In the rear of the other great personage stands a long pole, on the top of which is a defaced square mass. Near it are two figures, with faces hideously ugly, but having the contour of women. A couple of very small forms are visible between the principal ones, but almost wholly obliterated. This sculpture appears coeval with the superior works of Naksh-i- Rustam ; its length is only fifteen feet. The third bas-relief is the largest, and has been the most important ; but it has suffered sadly from the hammers of the destroyers. The leading personage is evidently a king ; he is on horseback, and precedes nine followers, the three foremost of whom are leaning on the pommels of their swords, in the attitude of attention. The dress of each of the nine attend- ants is precisely the same, down to the minutest ornaments. It is, therefore, probable that they represent the corps of guards, usually attendant on the monarch, and that the whole slab records some expedition, made by the king, at the head of his troops. The face of the king and the upper part of his dress have been destroyed ; a cestus, however, of jewels or pearls remains visible, similar. Sir R. K. Porter remarks, to the girdle of pearls worn by the Shah Fatha Aly Shah on state occasions. An inscription in Greek and Pehlivi is engraved on the breast of the horse, and is extended along the wall, under the nose of that animal. De Sacy, following Niebuhr’s copy, has translated the Greek portion as follows : — “ C’est ici la figure du serviteur d’Ormuzd, du Dieu Sapor, Roi des Rois de I’lran, et du Touran, de la race des Dieux ; fils du serviteur d’Ormuzd, du Dieu Ardashir, Roi des Rois de riran, de la race des Dieux, petit fils du Dieu Babek, Roi.” The interpretation of the Greek inscription, which coincides with that of the Pehlivi, shows that this inscription refers to Shahpur I., who is here represented at the head of his guards or nobles, in some royal procession. One chief interest in it, is, that the swords, on which the soldiers lean, are different from the old Persian sword, and are quite straight. The change, in the old form of the sword, is said to have been introduced by the last Darius, in imitation of the Macedonians. 348 NINEVEH AND PEKSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. About half-a-mile, westward, on the plain, is a large and high square platform, of perfectly smooth white marble, around which, at a little distance, are several heaps of ruins, probably the remains of some considerable edifice, which had formerly surrounded an extensive area, of which this superb platform, whatever may have been its superstructure, formed the centre. From the various mounds and scattered fragments, lying all the way between this spot and the Takht-i-Jemshid, and again further to the south-east, there can be little doubt, that the great capital stretched itself along the whole foot of the mountain, connecting itself with Naksh-i- Rustam as its farthest limit. Descending into the plain, a little below the small Perse - politan temple, which we have spoken of in the neighbourhood of Shiraz, Sir Robert Porter found, upon the edge of the moun- tains, a range of sculptures cut upon the face of the rock, and evidently the work of the Sassanian period, though much inferior to those at Naksh-i-Rustam. Some of them seem to be hardly more than the commencements of their subjects. The most finished consists of two figures, one, that of a woman of a graceful outline, clothed in drapery of peculiar lightness and delicacy, a large veil, which is held in her left hand, enve- loping her figure, while she stretches out her right towards her companion, who is dressed in the Royal style of the Sassanian bas-reliefs, and presents her with something like a flower. The remainder of the range comprises two more sculptures, both con- taining the effigies of a king, with a profusion of curls, the globular crown, a collar and ear-rings; but they are all care- lessly executed. Sir R. K. Porter also mentions some Sassanian remains at Rhey, (the ancient Rhages), consisting of the side of a rock, which has been smoothed away, so as to present a surface about sixteen feet in height, and twelve in breadth. On this sur- face there is a colossal bas-relief, the execution of which is, however, rude, and apparently unfinished. It represents a horse- man in full charge, couching his spear. Long drapery flows from his thigh, and on his head, which is unfinished, there is the usual balloon-shaped head-dress of the Sassanian sovereigns. The fore- legs of the horse are hewn out only to the knees ; and the hinder legs are chiselled but to the hocks. There is the head of another horse, evidently intended to have borne the antagonist of SHAHPtjR. 349 CHAP. IX.] the royal hero ; but no further outline is visible. The sketch was probably begun by some one of the Sassanian monarchs, perhaps by the hero who founded the Dynasty, on the subversion of the Arsacidan race, and who might, perhaps, have wished thus to engrave a trophy of his great achievements, on the very rock which had upheld the throne of the first prince of the race he had for ever deposed. The ruins of Shahpur near Kazerun have been long considered as among the most celebrated works of the Sassanian princes. Though lying but a few miles out of the road, they have been passed by every traveller from Tavernier and Thevenot to Scott Waring ; and it was not till Mr. Morier visited them in the year 1809, when accompanying Sir Harford Jones Brydges’s mission to Persia, that any full account of them had been published. The sculptures are situated at the distance of about fifteen miles from Kazerun. About seven miles from it, Mr. Morier passed the ruined village of Derses ; and, leaving two tombs, one on the right and the other on the left of the road, came to the bed of a torrent, over which there seems to have been built an aqueduct, for, on each side of its banks there are remains of masonry, and traces of its conduit may be perceived on the southern bank. The extent of the ruins of Shahpur to the south- ward is bounded by a beautiful stream of water. Over the spring, from which it issues, the road is sustained by fragments of archi- tecture, which are part of the entablature of some public building, and, by their dimensions, must have once been magnificent. “ Immediately after passing the spring, we came,” says Mr. Morier, “upon the ruins of Shahpur. When standing on an eminence, we computed the whole to be comprised, on a rough calculation, within a circumference of six miles. This circum- ference enclosed a tract of plain and a hill, on which the remains of the ancient citadel formed a conspicuous and commanding object. Whether by the caprice of nature, or by the labour of man, this hill, or acropolis, is distinctly separated from the great range of mountains forming the most eastern boundary of the plain of Kazerun. Between this and another imposing mass of rock, runs the beautiful river of Shahpur. We reckoned the space between the two rocks at thirty yards, which formed a little plain of verdure and shrubbery, intersected indeed by the stream of the river. The opening between the two grand masses presented a landscape the 350 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. ix. most varied, the most tranquil, the most picturesque, and, at the same time, the most sublime that imagination can form. A black and stupendous rock (the strata of which were thrown into strong and wild positions, and formed an acute angle with the horizon), flanked the right of the picture ; while another still more extraordi- nary rock, as richly illumined as the other was darkened, supported the left. Between both a distant range of mountains, whose rocks were terminated by a plain, filled up the interstice, forming a fine aerial perspective ; whilst the river and rich shrubbery com- pleted a most enlivening foreground. The hill, on which the remains of the citadel stand, is covered by ruins of walls and turrets. On its eastern aspect, the nature of the fortification can be traced easily; for walls fill the chasms from rock to rock, forming altogether a place of defence admirably strong. The first object which arrested our attention, was a mutilated sculpture of two colossal figures on horseback, carved on the superficies of the rock. The figure on the right was the most injured ; the only part indeed which we could ascertain with precision, was one of the front and two of the hinder feet of a horse, standing over the statue of a man, who was extended at his full length, his face turning outwardly, and reposed upon his right hand, and his attire bearing marks of a Roman costume. A figure in the same dress was placed in an attitude of supplication at the horse’s knees, and a head in alto-relievo just appeared between the hinder feet. The equestrian figure on the left is not quite so much mutilated, the horse and parts of the drapery on the thighs being still well pre- served The next piece of sculpture (which, like the former, was carved upon the mountain of the citadel) is perfect in all its parts. It consists of three grand compartments ; the central and most interesting represents a figure on horseback, whose dress announces a royal personage. His head-dress is a crown, on which is placed a globe ; his hair flows in very large and massy curls over both shoulders, whilst a slight mustachio just covers his upper lip, and gives much expression to a countenance strongly indicative of pride and majesty. His body is clothed with a robe, which falls in many folds to his girdle, and then extends itself over his thigh and legs as low as his ancle. A quiver hangs by his side ; in his right hand he holds the hand of a figure behind him, which stands so as to cover the whole hind quarter of his horse, and which is dressed in the Roman tunic and CHAP. IX.] SHAHPtJR. 351 helmet. A figure, habited also in the Roman costume, is on its knees before the head of the horse, with its hands extended, and with a face betraying entreaty. Under the feet of the horse is another figure extended, in the same attire and character as that of the other two Roman figures ; to the right of the tablet stands a figure (behind that in a suppliant attitude) with his hands also extended, but dressed in a different manner, and, as far as we could judge, with features more Egyptian than European. In the angle between the king’s head and the horse’s, is a Victory dis- playing the scroll of fame. A figure (part of which is concealed by the one on its knees) completes the whole of this division. The second grand compartment, which is on the right, is divided again into six sub-compartments, in each of which are carved three figures, the costumes and general physiognomies of which are all different. They appear mostly in postures of supplication, and I should suspect are representations of vanquished people. On the left, in the third grand compartment, are rows of horsemen, divided by one line into two smaller compartments. They have all the same characteristic dress and features as the royal figure in the centre, and certainly represent his forces. The whole of this most interesting monument is sculptured in a very hard rock, which bears the finest polish, and which we pronounced to be a coarse species of jasper. The shortness of our stay did not afford me an opportunity of delineating the detail of many figures which have been so faithfully pourtrayed The figures on foot are in height five feet nine inches ; figures on horseback, from the rider’s cap to the horse’s hoofs, six feet five inches ; the minor tablets are four feet ten inches in length ; the grand tablet eleven feet eleven inches. Having examined these, we next crossed the river to the sculp- tures on the opposite rock. The first is a long tablet, containing a multitude of figures. The principal person (who is certainly the king represented in the former tablet) is placed in the very centre of the piece, alone in a small compartment, and is seated with a sword placed betwixt his legs, on the pummel of which rests his left hand On his right, on the uppermost of two long slips, are many men who seem to be a mixture of Persians and Romans, the former conducting the latter as prisoners. Under these, in the lower step, are others, who by their wigs appear to be Persians. Their leader bears a human head in both hands, 852 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. and extends it towards the central figure. On the left are four small compartments. The first (nearest that figure, and the highest from the ground) incloses a crowd of men, whose arms are placed over one another’s shoulders. Below these are five figures, one of whom leads a horse without any more furniture than a bridle. The other two compartments are filled up with eight figures each. We considered this to represent, in general, a king seated in his room of audience, surrounded by his own people, and by nations tributary to him. The length is eleven yards four inches. On the left of this were two colossal figures on horseback, carved in alto-relievo. The one to the right had all the dress, character, and features of the king above described ; the other on the left appeared also a royal personage, but differing in dress, and in the furniture of his horse. Both had their hands extended, and held a ring, which we conceived to be emblematical of peace “ Walking forwards, we came to a very extensive piece of sculpture, the lower parts of which were entirely destroyed. We saw, however, on the right, a row of camels’ and men’s heads intermixed ; and under them a row of horses’ and men’s heads, which were demolished from the horses’ eyes downwards. In front of these, at the distance of about four feet, was part of the figure of a horse, the king, as before, holding a bow and four arrows in his right hand. We supposed that this might be the commencement of a hunting-piece. Our research termin- ated in a most perfect sculpture This piece con- tained a much greater number of objects than any of the others, and a much greater diversity of characters. The surface of the rock is here divided into a variety of unequal compartments, all of which are occupied by a multitude of figures. In the middle is a rather reduced copy of the second relievo, which I have described, (that of the king and the suppliant,) except that, facing the king, there is an additional personage, with a hand extended holding a ring. In the first row, at the top on the right, are a number of slight figures with their arms folded ; the second is filled with a crowd, of which some carry baskets ; the third is equally covered ; and, in the right corner, there is a man conducting a lion by a chain. In the fourth, and just opposite to the king, is a very remarkable group, whose loose and folded dresses denote Indians. One leads a horse, whose furniture I have drawn with some care. CHAP. IX.] SHAHPUR 353 and behind the horse is an elephant. Under this, and close to the ground, are men in a Roman costume ; amongst them is a chariot, to which two horses are harnessed Jn five compartments on the left (corresponding with those on the right) are placed thick squadrons of Persian cavalry, all in regular and military order, marshalled as it were in echelon. Fourteen yards was the length of the sculpture from point to point. . . . . . After having repassed the river, we walked over the nume- rous mounds of stones and earth which cover the ruined buildings of Shahpour, and, which, if ever explored, would discover innu- merable secrets of antiquity. We were conducted by the peasants who were with us to the remains of a very fine wall, which in the symmetry of its masonry equalled any Grecian work that I have ever seen. Each stone was four feet long, twenty-seven inches thick, and cut to the finest angles. This wall formed the front of a square building, the area of which is fifty-five feet. At the top were placed sphinxes couchant, a circumstance which we ascer- tained from discovering, accidentally, two eyes and a mutilated foot, at the extremity of one of the upper stones. Tn this wall there is a window, which is arched by the formation of its upper stone. Behind this square building we traced most correctly the configu- ration of a theatre, thirty paces in length, and fourteen in breadth. The place resembled, at least, those called theatres which I have seen in Greece. From a comparison of their positions, we were led to suppose that the building still extant must have been con- nected with the other behind it, and may have formed, perhaps, the entrance to it.” The city of Shahpur derived its name from the monarch who founded it, Shahpur, the son of Artaxerxes, the second prince of the Sassanian family. In his reign it was, probably, one of the capitals of Persia, and, for some centuries, remained the chief city of that district of Persia Proper which was connected with its name, and is called by I bn Haukal, Koureh Shahpur. The pro- vince in which it was included had been particularly favoured by Cyrus and the Achasmenian dynasty : it was their native seat, it contained their tombs, their palaces, and their treasures* When their empire was overthrown, this portion was still administered by native princes, who, after an interval of five centuries, re-esta- blished the former glories of their house, under the name of the Sassanians. With the Sassanians came, as we have stated, the A A 354 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. revival of the ancient Fire-worship, which became so general, and lasted so long, that, in the Tenth century, Ibn Haukal expressly states, that “ no towm or district in Fars was without a fire- temple,” and this, two or three hundred years after the dominion of the Muhammedans. It was natural to expect that, in these provinces, we should find the greatest remains of the strictly Persian sovereigns. Imperfectly as these countries have been explored, even at this time, we have shown in our account of Per- sepolis, the tomb of Cyrus, Shahpur, and other places, how thickly studded this comparatively small district is with curious remains of the ancient inhabitants and rulers of Persia. Shahpur itself survived, for a while, the Muhammedan invasion, as Ibn Haukal speaks of a mosque there as well as a fire-temple. Like many other places in the East, it probably suffered less from the first violence of the Arabian invasion, than from the successive wars of subsequent native dynasties, and from the gradual decay, to which the declining population and exhausted wealth of the empire con- signed all the w’orks of its former greatness. As late as the sixteenth century, the name of Shahpur occurs in a table of lati- tudes and longitudes attached to the Ayin Akbari. From that time nothing more was known of it, though its position is indeed marked in a map of Persia, in Buno’s Cluverius, 1672 ; and, on the authority of the oriental geographers, is placed as a district by D’Anville. There can be little doubt, that the subject of the prin- cipal sculptures at Shahpur is the same, as those at Naksh-i- Rustam, namely, the overthrow of the Emperor Valerian by Sapor I. The traditions of that memorable war, and its equally extraor- dinary result, are innumerable among the Orientals ; and though, like every other work of which nothing is known, the sculptures which are believed to commemorate that war are assigned by the modem Persians to the fabulous exploits of their national Hero, Rustam, the internal evidence of their design is suf- ficient to appropriate them to their real and historical subjects. It is true, that De Sacy has considered all the subjects at Naksh-i- Rustam, and, consequently, their duplicates at Shahpur, refer to one event only, the conquest of th-e Parthians by Artaxerxes, and, on this theory, has regarded the suppliant as Artabanus, the last king of the Parthians (or Arsacidse) ; but, there is little doubt that, in this opinion, this illustrious orientalist was misled by the engravings of Chardin, Le Brun, and Niebuhr, which are entirely CHAP. IX.] TAKHT-I-BOSTAN. 355 unworthy of the originals. Had I)e Sacy seen the subsequent drawings of Mr. Morier and Sir R. K. Porter, we believe it is impossible, that he should have had any doubt, as to the events commemorated. There is, also, good probability for supposing, from the excellent workmanship of many of these sculptures, that they were executed by European artists, whom Shahpur may have captured in the train of Valerian ; or, whom he may have carried off, when he invaded Asia Minor. A tradition at Shushter attributes to Valerian the superintendence of the works, destined to represent his own defeat, and the construction of the building, in which he was subsequently confined. Gibbon, as we have men- tioned, doubts the nature of the treatment, to which the conquered Valerian was exposed by his conqueror, Shahpur; yet, these cruelties are mentioned in the speech of Galerius to the Persian ambassadors, from which we may fairly infer that, almost at the time of their execution, the perpetration of these indignities was known to all the Roman world. Having now described the principal monuments which remain in the Southern districts of Persia, we come to the hardly less remarkable ones in the Northern part of that country, reserving the Achsemenian monument of Besutun, the most memorable of all the w^orks of Darius, till we come to the description of the discoveries of Major Rawlinson. We take, first, the celebrated Sassanian remains, in the same neighbourhood, situated on the rock called Takht-i-Bostan, near Kermanshah. The mountain of Takht-i-Bostan, or the Throne of the Garden, is noted for its magnificent sculptures, w^hich, together wdth its delicious fountain and streams, are said, by the natives, to owe their origin to the loves of Khosru Purviz and the beautiful Shirin. This fairest of the fair, they tell us, was first seen by the prince when he was an exile at her father’s court, the renowned Mauricius, Emperor of the Romans. Beholding her, by accident, while bathing in a clear fountain, her celestial beauties so fired his imagination and his heart that, when he afterwards became her husband and the monarch of Persia, he caused her image to be made and placed, as he had first seen her, in the midst of the crystal stream. We have already mentioned some facts in the glorious and brilliant career of Khosru Purviz : the glory, which was shed over the early portion of his reign, and the cloudy night in which his sun set. It was probably, after his first great conquests, A A 2 356 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. he determined, that the capitals and palaces of his kingdom should transcend all which had ever been beheld upon the earth. Uncounted sums were lavished on their erection and embellish- ments, and the pleasures, with which they were filled, exhausted the powers of invention. The invasion of Persia, by Heraclius, awoke Khosru from his dream of sensual happiness; and the illustrious monarch fell a victim to the parricidal hand of his son Shirouch. It is said, that the murderer had conceived a fatal passion for the beautiful Shirin, who, to avoid his shameful attacks, stabbed herself upon her husband’s bleeding body: thus immortal- izing her name, which is, to this day, a proverb in Persia, for all that is beautiful and true. Sir R. K. Porter has surveyed the monuments at Takbt-i*Bostan with particular care ; and, at the same time, that he has made excellent drawings of the chief objects of interest, has published a much fuller account than any other traveller, of these wonderful remains. To him, therefore, we shall be indebted for the notice which we shall give of them here. The rock itself forms part of the chain of Besutun, and, like it, is craggy, barren, and terrific. Its towering heights lower darkly over the blooming Vale of Ker- manshah, and make so striking a contrast with the lovely scenery below them that, “ it might well recall the image of the beautiful queen, in all her perpetual noon of charms, seated smiling at the feet of the aged monarch, hoary with years and the troubles of a wounded spirit.” At the base of the mountain bursts forth a stream of peculiar clearness, which the mindful natives have called Shirin. A little forest extends from the river’s side to a considerable distance over the plain; perhaps, the green descend- ants of the woods, which once overshadowed the gay pavilions of Khosru in his hunting parties. The monuments consist of two lofty and deep arches, excavated, with great labour and skill, on the face of the mountain ; within which are several bas-reliefs, executed with spirit and excellence. Just over the source of the stream is a piece of sculpture, called the Four Calenders ; and a little beyond, where the mountain recedes, a flight of several hundred steps is cut on the edge of the nearly precipitous cliffs, forming a very intricate and dangerous ascent towards its summit, and finishing, abruptly, with an extensive ledge or platform. The Pere Emanuel de St. Albert and the Abbe Beauchamp were the first Europeans who gave the world any details of these CHAP. IX.] TAKHT-I-BOSTAN. 357 sculptures, and one of them mentions having seen a statue standing erect in the river, which was nearly covered from observation by the fulness of the rapid stream. The peasants of the neighbour- hood called it the effigy of Shirin, who had given her name to the fountain. Sir R. K. Porter states that he found a statue, in all probability the same, on the bank of the river ; but he thinks it must have required the most lively imagination to trace, in what remains, the outline of a female form, or the work of an artist enamoured of his subject. It was rudely drawn, and its propor- tions colossal, and was evidently intended to be seen from a great distance. Perhaps it had fallen from a neighbouring height, where he fancied, that he saw a ledge of rock, which might have held it. On this ledge there still remains a row of sculptured feet, broken off at the ankles. The figure itself is mutilated from the knees downwards, but from the waist to that point hang the remains of drapery. One hand is placed upon the breast, and the other rests on something resembling a sword suspended in front of the body. The inhabitants hold this figure in most superstitious awe, and believe its touch capable of healing the most malignant diseases in man or beast ; in gratitude, they hang round its neck a variety of votive offerings in the shape of rags, of every material and colour, to repay the deified Shirin. The people call the ledge of rock, on which the mutilated remains are situated, the musical gallery of Khosm. The largest arch measures, in width twenty-four feet and in depth twenty-one. The face of the rock has been smoothed for a great distance above the sweep of the arch, and on each side. On this surface, to the right and to the left, are two upright entablatuies, containing an exquisitely carved ornament in Grecian taste and of a foliage form. Round the bow of the arch runs a double border, appearing like an untied wreath and terminating in the streamers peculiar to the head-dress of the Sassanians. Above the keystone of the arch is a crescent. At each end of the curve is a gigantic winged figure, represented, exactly as we now delineate angels, hovering in the air ; both extend one hand towards the crescent, and hold a pearl fillet or diadem fastened by a rich clasp. The other hands grasp each a cup filled with berries, or perhaps pearls. The large wings, which spread from the shoulders, are carved with considerable nicety. It is probable that these figures represent female genii, and the 358 ninp:veh and persepolis. [chap. IX. disposition of the lower part of their dress and their attitudes, are like the usual representations of Fame or Victory on the Triumphal Arches of Rome. It is, therefore, likely that the artist was a Greek of the Constantinopolitan empire. The inner face of the excava- tion is divided into two compartments : the upper containing three figures. That on the left is a female, habited in the royal dress and wearing the Sassanian diadem, surmounted by a globe of pearls. The personage, w'ho occupies the centre of the group, is gorgeously dressed, and is no doubt meant for the monarch. He wears a pointed diadem, from each side of which issue wings, whose extremities twist round the horns of a crescent, surmounting the diadem and containing within it a globe: he is dressed in a short embroidered robe, reaching to the knees, over which is a coat of wFat is probably chain mail ; his left hand rests on a sword, which hangs down straight in front of his person : both it and its belt appear to be covered with pearls. The figure to the right wears a diadem resembling that of the female; he has a very long beard, terminating in a point, while from his shoulders devolves a very ample mantle, which is clasped on his breast ; with his right hand he presents a diadem to the monarch. The three figures stand on pedestals, and that of the royal figure is richly- ornamented. The lower compartment is bordered by a frieze of tendrils and vineleaves, and, on each side, stand a couple of fluted pilasters surmounted by capitals resembling the Corinthian order, but much altered to suit the taste of the artist. The wide space within is almost wholly occupied by a colossal equestrian figure carved in alto-relievo, and crowned like the bearded personage above ; a shirt of chain mail covers the whole person from the face to the knees, under it appears a richly embroidered skirt adorned with dragons, crosses, and flowers, and from the hip hangs a large quiver ; on his left shoulder is poised a long lance, and on his right arm is a small round shield, half covering the breast. The horse is evidently caparisoned for war, with a poitrinal formed of small plates of metal. The whole character of the man and horse resembles very much the huge metal- covered knights to be seen in illuminated copies of Froissart’s Chronicles. This sculpture has been considerably damaged by the Arabs and Turks, and there are no intelligible remnants of the Greek and Pehlvi inscriptions, which were once engraven on CHAP. IX.] TAKHT-I-BOSTAN. 359 it. The details of this equestrian figure are beautifully executed, and, with the groups above, afford very accurate and valuable specimens of the royal and military costume of that period. The sides of the arch are covered with representations of the sports of the field, wild boar and stag hunts. Many of the persons engaged in the sport are mounted, some on horses and others on elephants, while boats also appear in the chase. The scene seems to be a watery ground intersected by ponds or small lakes, wdiere the boats may move, and from which the sportsmen discharge their arrows ; while the ponderous elephants with their riders plunge through the marshy bushes in every direction. Two of the boats are filled by women playing upon harps, and in another are men with pipes and other instruments. One boat, larger than the rest, occupies the centre of the bas-relief; and in it stands a personage, in stature gigantically beyond that of the rest of the figures ; he is dressed in a short vest, wrought like that of the bearded chief under the arch ; and directing his arrow towards a herd of boars. A little lower in the line of the hunt is another personage, in an ornamented dress, little inferior in stature to the first; round his head is a large circle not unlike the halo of the moon, or the saintly glory, which occurs on the coins of the Lower Empire. He is receiving an arrow from one of his attendants, and a woman sits near him in the boat, playing on a harp, while other figures paddle it along amid a crowd of fish, ducks, and other aquatic creatures. It is said that, besides the beautiful Shirin, who alone filled his heart, Khosru possessed twelve thousand fair candidates for his favour, each equal to the moon in the splendour of her charms. From these the minstrelsy of his boats w^as probably selected. It is manifest that, at the period when these sculptures and those at Naksh-i-Rustam were executed, the Muhammedan law of seclu- sion had not been enforced against women ; that they were per- mitted liberty, at present unusual in the East, and that some more favoured among them were allowed to share the public sports of men. The bas-relief of the figure under the arch, and of Bahram’s Queen at Naksh-i- Rustam, with the similar figures on the coins, are all represented unveiled. The whole scene, which we have just described, is enclosed in a solid curtained square, supported on poles, from whence cords are attached to the trunks of trees. Near the lower corner, a man 360 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. holds up a part of the drapery, through which the slain game are carried; and adjoining, in an outward and upper compartment, is shown its transportation, still further off, on the backs of elephants. The opposite side of the Arch contains a bas-relief, representing the chase of the deer. The chief person appears, near the top of the sculpture, entering the field in state, under the shade of an umbrella, and mounted on a finely-caparisoned horse. He carries his bow across his neck. Another equestrian figure, mounted on a horse at full speed, and in the same costume, is at the bottom of the field, and is, probably, a representation of the same person, in the full career of the chase. The central colossal figure of this bas-relief may answer to the second personage on the opposite one. Towards the top of the bas-relief there is a raised scaffold, on which rows of musicians are seated, playing on a yariety of instruments, all curious specimens of the art of that period. Among other luxu- ries of Khosru’s court, singers are mentioned, '•* as of sweeter notes than the nightingale’s,” and that no heart could resist the strains of his enchanting musician, Barbud. An upright compart- ment on one side of the chase, is dedicated to a representation of the carrying off of the spoil ; and the division opposite, to that of a range of elephants in pursuit of the deer. The whole scene is surrounded by a similar enclosure to that of the boar-hunt ; and at intervals, men are seen holding up parts of the curtain, to allow the animals to escape when hardly pressed by the hunters. This bas-relief is finished only in a few places, parts are merely begun ; but what has been completed, both in this, and in the one on the opposite side, is executed in a masterly style. We have already mentioned, that the loves of Khosru and Shirin are a favourite subject of the Oriental poets and writers, and the external evidence of the sculptures themselves leaves very little doubt that the legends of Tabari, Nizami, and the other writers, is the true account of their origin. The accounts repeated on the spot, and the notices in the different authors, commemorate Khosru and his celebrated queen, and probably, too, her imperial father also. The tales in the mouths of the peasants are extremely romantic, and hardly fall behind those of the Poets in wild embellishment. Both tell of the “cloudless brilliancy of the monarch’s reign,” of the “ ever bridal beauties of the incompar- able Shirin,” of “ his huntings and his victories,” and of “ Shubdiz, his fine Arabian charger, more powerful than the CHAP. IX.] TAKHT-I-BOSTAK 861 thunderbolt, and fleeter than the wind,” and of Ferhad, the cele- brated sculptor, who alone was able to execute the works which the king had imagined. It is said that when the young artist beheld the face of the queen, “ whose blazing charms confound the light of the sun,” and whose statue it was his first employ- ment to model, he became so frantically enamoured of her, as to demand her favour, as the price of this and all his future labours. When the king heard this he was afflicted, and expressed his trouble to some of the courtiers : one of them said, “ As this man is a stone-cutter, let his life be employed in the exercise of his art.” Ferhad was then brought before the king, who told him, as the path over the mountain was obstructed by great masses of stone, it would be necessary to have them hewn away, and the passage cleared. Ferhad replied, that he would remove the very heart of the rock from the king’s path, but on condition, that the lovely Shirin should be the reward of his labours, adding, that no one else could be found capable of performing such a task. The king consented, and pointed to the mountain of Besutun. “ Then,” says Zakariah ben Muhammed al Kazwini, in the Ajaieb al Maklukat, (Wonders of Creation), “ Ferhad began his work by constructing a recess or chamber in the rock, wherein he carved the figure of Shirin in the front of the recess, surrounded by attendants and guards, and in the centre an equestrian figure of Khosru, clothed in armour, and of such exquisite workmanship, that the nails and buttons of the coat of mail are plainly to be seen ; and whoever looks upon this statue would imagine it to be animated When I visited this spot, and beheld these things, the lines of the poet Nizami occurred to my memory : ‘ From every point came the most expert statuaries and polishers of marble : beholding the w’^orks (of Ferhad), they bit the finger of astonishment ; they were amazed at the effects of his chisel on the marble, and were confounded at the works of that distracted lover.’ And whilst Ferhad still laboured in hollowing the moun- tains, every time he struck with the pick-axe, he struck in the name of Shirin, and while he smoothed away the rock he exclaimed, * Alas ! Shirin ! ’ and then he struck again. It is said that one day Shirin said to Khosru, ‘ I long so passionately to indulge in milk, that without it I cannot be at rest. Now, since on the mountain of Besutun there is a multitude of cows and sheep, I wish some persons would be found who might hollow 862 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. out and dig a channel in that mountain, so that milk being let into that channel, I may drink of it as of a rivulet ; after that I shall reside constantly with you ; but, till my wish be gratified, you shall not approach me.’ “ Ferhad was employed in this work : mountains were pierced, enormous reservoirs were excavated, palaces reared, and streams were brought through the solid rock, to play in fountains in her presence. In short, the lover’s chisel seemed a magician’s wand; and all that he had demanded rose so before the king, that, dreading to be called upon to repay the indefatigable Ferhad with the divinity he himself adored, he determined to get rid of his debts and his fears together with the life of the enamoured workman. To this end, he asked if any person could be found, who would so contrive, by stratagem or fraud, that Ferhad might be destroyed. A certain old woman, experienced in the ways of deceit, came before the king, and said, ‘ I will engage to trample this statuary under foot, so that his life shall quit his body.’ On this Khosru, having made her some presents, encouraged her to hope, saying, ‘ If by any contrivance or stratagem you effect his destruction, I ’ll heap so many favours and gifts upon you, that your old age and infirmities shall be forgotten, and the cord of your poverty shall be cut.’ Then this treacherous old woman proceeded to the mountain of Besutun, where she beheld FerhM, who hewed away at the rock, repeating the name of Shirin, still striking with his pick-axe, and exclaim- ing ‘ Alas, Shirin ! ’ And the old w^oman, coming behind him, said, ‘ 0, Ferhad ! what madness is this, or why do you call on the name of Shirin ? for where is she ? Two weeks have now elapsed, and the third week passes away, since Shirin died ; and Khosru, the king, having put on the sable robes of mourning, will grieve for her till the third week shall have passed away.’ When Ferhad heard this from the deceitful old wretch, he uttered doleful sighs, and flung on the ground the mattock which he held in his hand, and precipitated himself from the mountain of Besu- tun, when, in consequence of falling from the mountain, he gave his soul to God, and as a true lover, died for his beloved. Then, as it is related, the handle of the mattock which he had flung upon the ground, being made of pomegranate wood, took root on that spot, and became a flourishing young tree, and put forth branches. It is said, that this pomegranate tree is very fruitful CHAP. IX.] TAKHT-I-BOSTAN. 363 and productive ; and that if any person being sick should place himself beneath its shade the disease would depart from him. Then when King Khosru heard that Ferhad had unthinkingly sacrificed his sweet life for the sake of Shirin, he was pleased with the news, and liberally rewarded the old woman. But Shirin on hearing it, was much afflicted, wept and lamented.” Some historians indeed of the fair Shirin intimate, that the sighs of the ingenious sculptor had not always been breathed to the rocks; and that she also had heard and echoed them, and when the story was told her of the untimely fate of her lover, ‘ like the rose deserted by the nightingale she drooped her head and withered.’ ” The disconsolate Khosru, the legends add, after so cruel a reverse of all the hopes he had conceived on the death of his rival, became the prey of remorse ; and, determining to make all the reparation in his power, he buried the lovers so near to each other, that the only division between them was the body of the old woman, whose wicked falsehood had occasioned the fatal catastrophe to all three. The people of the valley,” says Sir B. K. Porter, “ told me, that I might see their graves at Kesr-i-Shirin on my way to Baghdad ; and that I should know the spot by observing a couple of rose trees, which grew out of the mould that covered the faithful bosoms of FerhM and Shirin, and that a huge thistle marked the accursed clay of their destroyer.” Graver history, as we have already stated, represents her true to her royal husband in weal and woe, and that it was on his body she expired, thus proving, by her generous fidelity, that she was worthy of having been the daughter of the great emperor, by whose disinterested kindness Khosru had himself been placed upon his throne. “ Historians,” says a MS. account prepared for Dr. Hyde and now preserved in the British Museum, “and those who relate ancient traditions, thus inform us that when Hormazd the king had driven forth his son Khosru Pur viz from the city, the prince became very pensive, and full of melan- choly thoughts. And while he was reflecting on his situation he suddenly fell asleep, and his grandfather Nushirwan (sur- named the Just) appeared before him in a dream, and said, ‘ 0 my son, why art thou thus melancholy and dejected ? Banish all sorrow from thy mind. Four things shall be thy portion, each of which is equal in value to the empire of Iran. 364 NINEVEH AND PEBSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. I now declare to thee these tidings ! In place of the horse which you have lost you will get two, one called Shubdiz (of a dark or blackish colour) the other Gulgoon (rose-coloured). The nails of your favourite harper have been cut off, but you shall find two others unequalled in the world, one called Barbud, the other Nekisa. The third gift that awaits you is a painter more skilful than Mani of Chem ; and the fourth blessing which you are to enjoy, is a female named Shirin, far superior to any woman that has yet existed, at whose transcendant beauty even the sun is confounded.’ ” When Khosru awoke from his dream he was astonished and said to himself, “ This vision of my ancestor may not deceive me; the dream may yet be fulfilled.” It is supposed, that the group of the three figures above the equestrian warrior, commemorates the double gift of the Emperor Maurice to the Persian prince, his hride and his crown. Khosru, in his robes of inauguration, stands between the imperial pair ; the prin- cess on one side holding a diadem, and the emperor on the other, presenting the new king with the crown, to which the Homan arms had restored him. The two winged genii without the arch seem emblematic of the same coronation, and they appear to hold the nuptial wreath over both king and queen. The barbed steed on which he is mounted, is probably the effigy of his famous war-horse Shubdiz. The chase, too, having been one of his favourite amusements, the bas-reliefs on the sides seem equally appropriate to his story. Gibbon’s account of the principal summer palace of the Persian monarch, agrees perfectly with these representations and with the splendid accounts left to us by the native writers. “ Its paradise or park,” continues he, “ was replenished with pheasants, peacocks, ostriches, roebucks, and wild boars, and the noble game of lions and tigers were sometimes turned loose for the holder pleasures of the chase. Nine hundred and sixty elephants were maintained for the use of the great king : (Eastern authors mention his whole stud of these gorgeous animals to the amount of thirteen thousand) : his tents and baggage were carried into the field by twelve thousand great camels, assisted by eight thousand of a smaller size ,* and the royal stables were filled with six thousand mules and fifty thousand horses, among which the names of Shebdiz and Bareed are renowned for their speed or beauty.” CHAP. IX.] TAKHT-I-BOSTAN. 365 The second arch is of less dimensions than the preceding, being in width only nineteen feet, and in depth twelve. Its exterior is without ornament, while the bas-relief within, which faces the opening, appears to have been a piece of very rough workman- ship, and is rendered still more so by its present mutilation. It consists of two figures standing side by side, in full view of the entrance, and almost fac- similes one of the other. Both have bushy hair on their heads, surmounted with the large balloon-like globes, and both hands of each person approach the front of their waists, where they rest on the pummels of their swords, which hang down in a perpendicular line in the style of many of the figures at Naksh-i- Rustam and Naksh-i- Rejib. The bas-relief has an inscription in Pehlvi which Sir R. K. Porter cleaned. The figure attached to the bas-relief is proved by this inscription to be that of Shahpur II., sumamed Zulactaf, who died A.D. 331, after a reign of seventy years. A second inscrip- tion attached to the other figure shows that it represents Shahpur III., the son of the preceding, a brave and liberal prince, who only reigned five years. He was succeeded by his brother Bahram IV., surnamed Kermanshah, to whose filial piety this commemorative sculpture is attributable, and who is said to have acquired the cognomen, from having been viceroy of the province of Kerman, during the reign of his brother. He is said to have built and named the city of Kermanshah to perpetuate its memory. The only remaining sculpture is that, wRich (as we have mentioned) is called the Four Calenders. It consists of four figures ; three erect and one extended on the ground. One of the three standing personages treads on the head of the pros- trate figure. He wears a mural crown, surmounted by the Sassanian spherical crown, which, in this instance, resembles a mass of curls rather than the usual balloon-like surface. A chaplet of pearls binds the forehead, above which, between it and the dia- dem, appears a nicely arranged row of hair. A thin floating robe, tied upon the breast, passes over his shoulders and wavers in fan- tastic folds down his sides. A single band encircles the waist, confining the drapery of the vest, which falls as low as his knees. His right hand is stretched forward, grasping the usual royal sym- bol of the circlet or cydaris with floating ties. The centre figure also takes hold of this symbol with his right hand ; he is richly 366 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. IX. belted, and his neck ornamented by a magnificent collar. The prostrate figure is greatly mutilated, but his pearl-wreath, collar and sword, show that he was not inferior in consequence to the two who trample upon him. The execution of this bas-relief, in comparison with those on the great arch of Khosru Purviz, is wretchedly rude, and so much in the rough taste which comme- morates Shahpur Zulactaf and his son on the lesser arch, that there can be hardly any doubt that it is the work of the same chisel. We have now described at sufficient length all the most impor- tant monuments still remaining in Persia, although there are several other remains of interest existing in different parts of that kingdom. There is a sculptured rock at Selmas, on the north- west shore of the lake Urumiah, and another at Naksh-i- Rustam, near Darab, in which Shahpur is represented, placing his hand, in a compassionate manner, on the head of a captive chief. Not far from this place, Sir W. Ouseley mentions some rude heaps of stones, resembling the Druidical remains of our own country. CHAP. X.] BEHISTUN. 367 CHAPTER X. Discoveries of Major Rawlinson — Sculptures and Insciiptions from Behistun — Other Achsemenian Inscriptions — Of Cyrus at Murghdb — Of Darius at Persepolis — M. El wend — On the Rock Tomb at Naksh-i-Rustam — On the Window at Persepolis — And on a Cylinder at the British Museum — Of Xerxes at Elwend — Persepolis — Van — Vase of the Count de Caylus — Of Artaxerxes Ochus at Persepolis — Vase at St. Mark’s, Venice — On the Inter- pretation of the Cuneiform Inscriptions — Labours of Grotefend — Rask — St. Martin — Bouriiouf — Lassen — Rawlinson. Having now given a description of all the principal monuments of Assyria and Persia, we come to the more particular consideration of the labours of Major Rawlinson in the interpretation of the Cuneiform inscriptions which have been found on a great number of the remains in those countries. The certain determination of the meaning of one branch of this curious writing, which we owe mainly to the indefatigable zeal of Major Rawlinson and Professor Lassen, is a contribution to the history of the East of the utmost importance, and a confirmation of the general truthfulness of Hero- dotus, which could only have been obtained by such a successful interpretation of the inscriptions. In pursuing this portion of our subject, we shall have an opportunity of describing the rock tablets at Behistun, near Kermanshah, which w^e have hitherto purposely omitted. We propose dividing this account into two principal divisions. The first portion will be devoted to the history of the great monument which has been the chief subject of Major Raw- linson ’s studies, and will comprehend such an outline of what is known of it from ancient authors or modern travellers, as may enable the reader to realise its nature in his own mind. In the second portion we shall describe the inscriptions themselves, and shall point out their different kinds, and the method wLereby one portion has at last been decyphered. For the fullest account of both branches of inquiry the world is indebted to the surprising perseverance of the same distinguished officer, and to the Asiatic Society, who have published the results of his disco- veries. From the papers which have been given to the world in the Journal of that Society we shall extract as much as may be 368 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. necessary for our purpose. We shall, however, at the same time refer to other works and other travellers, and show what has been the previous opinion of the world upon these curious monuments. The inscriptions, which are now admitted to record the fame of Darius Hystaspes, are almost always in three forms of the cunei- form writing, which, for the sake of simplicity and brevity, we shall term Assyrian or Babylonian, Median, and Persian, the sym- bolic writing of three distinct languages, and apparently addressed to three different races of his subjects. That branch which has been decyphered by Major Eawlinson is the Persian one. It is found in gi'eat length at a place called by him Behistun, (but on the maps generally Bisutun,) not far from Kermanshah, on the frontiers of Persia. Inscriptions in the Persian Cuneiform are met with also at Pasargadse, Persepolis, Ramadan, and Yan, ■while detached specimens of the same writing occur upon a stone found at Suez, on a vase in the treasury of St. Mark’s at Venice, on the um of the Count de Caylus, and on the legend of Tarki, a place north of the Caucasus. The situation which the Perso- cuneiform inscriptions occupy in the Trilingual tablets, — to the left where the series is horizontal, at the head where the succession is downward, and in the centre when that is the place of honour, and the lateral compartments are thrown out of the field of vision, — has been, as we have already observed, noticed by Mr. Eich, and seems to mark them as the original and vernacular records, of which the Median and Babylonian are the mere translations. At Persepolis, too, the headquarters of the Achaemenian dynasty, an important document has been met with, which is unaccom- panied by the usual transcripts, and asserting most triumphantly the domination of the Persian race, and representing the feudatory provinces of the empire, or the victims of Persian prowess. It may be that the exclusiveness of the record was in this instance the result rather of policy than of accident. “ The position of Behistun,” says Major Eawlinson, “ has in all ages been well known, on the high road from Babylonia to the eastward : it must have always attracted the attention of travellers. Its imposing aspect too, an almost perpendicular rock, rising abruptly from the plain to the height of 1700 feet, and its aptitude for holy purposes, would not be neglected by a race who made Their altars the high places, and the peaks Of Earth o’ergazing mountains” CHAP. X.] BEHISTUN". 369 known to the Greek by tbe name of fiayicrravov oposj a name derived from the old Persian, Baghistan ; it was sacred to Jupiter, whose temple stood on the top of it, or, as Major Eawlinson has Mountain of Behistun. suggested, to Hormazd, as the chief of the Bagas or supreme deity ; and the description which Diodorus Siculus has given us from Ctesias resembles so remarkably the actual existing state of Behistun, that we can have no doubt of its identity. According to his account. Queen Semiramis marched a large army into Baghistan, and encamped near the mountain of Baghistan. On the plain below the hill she laid out a paradise or park, twelve stadia in circuit, which was watered by a copious stream. The lower part of the pre- cipitous rock she scarped, and caused her own image and those of a hundred of her guards to be sculptured on its face, with an in- scription in Syrian characters.* “ The precipitous rock,” says Major Eawlinson, in Journ. of Eoy. Geog. Soc. vol. ix., “ seven- teen stadia high, facing the garden, the large spring gushing out from the foot of the precipice and watering the adjoining plain, and the smoothing of the lower part of the rock, all convey an accurate idea of the present appearance of Bisutun. But what can we say of the sculptures of Semiramis and the inscription in Syrian characters ? There are only two tablets at Bisutun; the one nearly destroyed, which contains a Greek inscription, de- claring it to be the work of Gotarzes, and the other a Persepolitan *Diod. ii. B B 370 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. sculpture which is adorned by nearly a thousand lines of cuneiform character.” It does indeed seem an extraordinary stretch of the imagination which has converted the thirteen figures, which at present exist on the monument into the portraits of Semiramis and her hundred guards ; but it is possible, as Major Rawlinson has suggested, that the statue, and what Isidore of Charax calls the Pillar of Semiramis, did once exist upon some part of the rock, but has been destroyed perhaps at the time of the execution of the later Sassanian works upon the same spot. It is fair to remember, in complaining of the exuberant imagi- nation and careless observation of the ancients, that even modern and well instructed travellers have made blunders hardly less wonderful, or constructed theories hardly less fanciful. In the same sculptures, Sir H. K. Porter, living in an age which imagined that every new Eastern discovery must have some Scripture allu- sion, fancied that he beheld Tiglath Pileser and the ten captive tribes ; combining with a wild imagination a singular ignorance of the Bible history, and assigning to the tribe of Levi, whose re- presentative he dressed in a kind of sacerdotal mitre, a place among the other captive tribes. On the other hand, a still later traveller, Keppel, assuming one of the figures to represent a female, changed the wLole scene of the story, confounded Susa and Ecbatana, and converted the whole train into Esther and her attendants, entreating the king of Persia to have mercy on her countrymen. The discoveries of Major Bawlinson of the true interpretation of the lines of cuneiform character on the face of the mountain, have at last set at rest the question — who the chief figure represents and who are the captives who are approaching him from the front? The sculptured portion of the rock still remains very perfect, and represents a line of nine persons united by a cord tied round their necks, and having their hands bound behind their backs, who are approaching another of more majestic stature, who, holding up his right hand in token of authority, treads on a prostrate body ; his countenance expressing the idea of a great king or conqueror. Of these captives the greater number appear to be middle aged, but the third and last are old men. Three wear the flowing dress of him whom we have called the monarch ; the rest are clad in tight short tunics. Above all floats that winged personage, of CHAP. X.] BEHISTUK 371 whom we have already spoken, the royal Ferouher, or attendant guardian angel. Behind the king stand two warriors, evidently his guard, with long spears in their hands. The execution of the figures is perhaps inferior to that of the bas-reliefs at Persepolis ; hut then it is natural that this should be so, as Behistun was a much earlier trial of the artist’s skill. The figure of the king and his warriors alone preserve that grace of outline and studied finish of detail which may place them at all on equality with the Persian sculptures. The figures of the ten vanquished leaders are of diminutive stature and barbarous execution; it is possible that this may have been in this case intentional, and that inferior workmanship was intended to denote inferiority of station. The Median robe and the short Persian tunic occur alternately on these figures, yet without necessarily proving that this variety depends on the national costume ; it may have been but an artistical device to prevent monotony of effect. The sculptures may be strictly considered as a triumphal memorial, hardly aiming at correct or characteristic delineation, but rather designed as an illustration of the subject of the record, and addressed to the comprehension of those to whom the tablets of the inscriptions would have been unintelligible. That the Persian monarch took extraordinary pains to ensure the permanency of his monument is evident from its very position. Instead of being placed on a level with the spectator, where it might be liable to injury, it has been engraven at an elevation of about 300 feet above the plain, and the ascent is so steep that a scaffolding must have been used for the workmen who executed it. The body of the inscription enjoins the publicity of the state- ments preserved in them, and as such publicity could be attained only by the independent perusal and observation of those who visited it, the Magi and guardians of the spot must have had some artificial means of ascent, either by steps or ladders. At present nothing of the kind remains, and there are no traces how the mountain was ascended. Darius indeed could not have foreseen the iconoclastic habits of Islamism, but the safeguard he has provided for his decrees, by placing them at such a height above the plain, is probably the only reason they have been spared the fate, which has befallen so many other of the ancient monuments of Persia. The amount of labour bestowed upon the whole work must have been enormous ; the mere preparation of the surface of B B 2 372 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. the rock must have occupied many months ; and on examining the tablets minutely, Major Rawlinson observed an elaborateness of workmanship which is not found in other places. Wherever, from the unsoundness of the stone, it was difficult to give the necessary polish to the surface, other fragments were inlaid, embedded in molten lead, and the fittings were so carefully managed, that a very careful scrutiny is required at present to detect the artifice ; holes or fissures, which perforated the rock, have been filled up also with the same material ; and the polish, which has been bestowed on the entire sculpture, could only have been accomplished by mechanical means. The execution of the inscriptions is the most wonderful part of the work; for extent, for beauty, for uniformity and correct- ness, they are perhaps unequalled in the world. Major Eawlinson assigns the palm of merit to the Median writing, and infers that the artist was himself a Mede ; but the Persian portion is, he says, also far superior to any engraving that is met with at Persepolis or Hamadan ; and the Babylonian legends, though less elaborately finished, are hardly below the general standard. “ It would be very hazardous,” he adds, to speculate on the means employed to engrave the work in an age, when steel was supposed to have been unknown ; but I cannot avoid noticing a very extraordinary device which has been employed, apparently to give a finish and durability to the writing. It was evident to myself, and to those who, in company with me, scrutinised the execution of the work, that, after the engraving of the rock had been accomplished, a coating of siliceous varnish had been laid on, to give a clearness of outline to each individual letter, and to protect the surface against the action of the elements. This varnish is of in- finitely greater hardness than the limestone rock beneath it. It has been washed down in several places, by the trickling of water for three-and-twenty centuries, and it lies in flakes upon the foot ledge like thin layers of lava. It adheres in other portions of the tablet to the broken surface, and still shows, with sufficient dis- tinctness, the forms of the characters, although the rock beneath is entirely honeycombed and destroyed. It is only, indeed, in the great fissures caused by the outbursting of the natural springs, and in the lower part of the tablet, where I suspect artificial mutilation, that the varnish has entirely disappeared.” Of the personal history of Darius, and of his reign, and of the Sculpture ofDarius atBehistun. CHAP. X.] BEHISTUN. 373 establishment of the system of Zoroaster, as the national faith, we have already spoken at some length ; hut the interpretation of the great inscription at Behistun has added several important facts, which we did not know before ; and, while it has confirmed all essential points of the history of Herodotus, has rectified also some statements, where he probably misunderstood his informants, or was himself deceived by them. From the inscriptions, as now decyphered. Major Rawlinson has gathered, that while Darius was still occupied in the reformation of the national faith, an insurrection broke out in Susiana; that it was, however, partial, and that it seems to have been suppressed, on the seizure of the chief ringleader, without the employment of any military force. Simultaneously with this emeute, occurred a far more important event, — the first revolt of Babylon. A pretended son of Nabonidus raised the standard of the house of Nabonasser ; and under his guidance the rebellion assumed so formidable a character, that Darius was obliged to march in person from Media. He fought two actions with the rebels, one at the passage of the Tigris, and the other on the Euphrates, and was successful in both ; and Babylon appears to have surrendered without making any resistance. Darius spent a considerable period, perhaps two years, in Babylon, and was called thence to suppress another outbreak, which occurred in Susiana. This he accomplished apparently with little difiiculty, as the inhabitants of that province were well affected to him, and delivered into his hands the rival leader. Soon after, a more formidable rebellion broke out: Assyria and Armenia joined together, and Media combined with them, in an attempt to recover their independence. Electing to the throne a real or supposed descendant of the ancient line of kings, they fought six battles with the generals whom Darius sent against them, and, appa- rently with such success, that the king himself was in the end compelled to repair in person to the scene of conflict. In the third year of his reign, Darius ascended from Babylon to Media ; brought his enemy almost immediately to action, defeated him at Rhages, and taking him prisoner, put him to death at Ecbatana. Major Rawlinson remarks on the similarity of the description of the operations of Nabuchodonosor, as detailed in the book of Judith, with those of Darius, which may be collected from the Behistun inscriptions, and states, that admitting the identity of Phraortes 374 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. and Arphaxad, and substituting the name of Darius for Nabu- cbodonosor, the Chaldsean legend will be singularly applicable. Yet the comparison of the dates, and the general connection of the events show, we think, as has been already pointed out, that the story of Judith refers to the earlier period of Nabuchodonosor, and not to the later times of Darius Hystaspes. The flames of rebellion spread onwards into Sagartia, and from thence even to Parthia and Hyrcania, where Hystaspes, the father of Darius, was at that time governor. This ruler took the field against the rebels, and Darius himself seems to have moved from Rhages to encounter them. The campaign terminated favourably, but the spirit of disaffection having extended itself to Margiana, which was conterminous with Parthia, the Satrap of Bactria was compelled to undertake further operations, to vindicate the royal authority. At the same time the king was compelled to encounter opposition even in the heart of his native province, Persis, for another impostor arose, who personated the missing Smerdis, about whom there was so much mystery ; and the prestige of the name of Cyrus induced many to favour the ambitious views of his suppositious son. Darius did not go himself against this new enemy, but sent one of his lieuten- ants ; but it appears, that he moved to the southward during the progress of the war, in order that he might be ready in case of need. Success was for a time doubtful, and the contest was pro- longed by a diversion which the counterfeit Smerdis made in the direction of xArachosia, in the hope of raising a body of troops to co-operate with him from the eastward. The rebellion was, how- ever, in the end put down. The impostor in Persia, and his lieutenant in Arachosia, were taken and slain, and Darius was left free to turn his attention to Babylonia, where a second insurrec- tion had broken out during his absence in the north. It appears that this war was of short duration, and the resistance made by the rebels slight, as, this time, Darius was able to effect by a lieu- tenant what he had been compelled to do before in person. A period of peace appears now to have succeeded ; and it is pro- bable that he halted at Behistun, on the high road to Babylon, to return thanks to Ormazd, the divinity, to whose tutelary care he ascribed his uninterrupted and, at length, complete success. At this period, then, in the fifth year of his reign, b. c. 516, Major Rawlinson supposes him to have executed the extensive sculptures GHAP. X.] BEHISTUN. 375 of Behistun, exhibiting on a triumphal tablet the figures of the nine chiefs, inclusive of the Magian, whom he had successively over- thrown, appending to each figure its descriptive legend, and com- memorating, in an elaborate but unartificial recital, the ancestral glories of his race, the extent of his dominions, his submission and his gratitude to Ormazd, his religious reform, the valour of his different generals, and, above all, his obedience to that precept, which we know from the Greeks to have been paramount in the education of the earlv Persians, an abhorrence of an untruth. But, in his vast empire, formed of a multitude of nations, who, in religion, language, and manners, acknowledged no one solitary bond of union, Darius was not long destined to enjoy repose. Before the tablet was completed, new troubles had arisen both in Susiana and probably also among the Scythians of Assyria. It became necessary, therefore, to append further records to the ori- ginal tablet, and a supplementary column was added, and the frame of the tablet so extended, that he was enabled to exhibit even the figure of a Scythian rebel, whom he had reduced in person, among the effigies of his royal victims. The inscriptions do not give us any further information of the movements of the king. Wesseling, however, infers that he was on his Thracian expedition in b. c. 508-507 ; and Clinton adds, that the interval between that time and the first agitation of the affair at Naxos, was occupied by the campaigns of Megabyzus and of Otanes in Asia Minor. If this chronology be true, it is probable that Darius was engaged between b c. 515 and b.c. 501 in raising those splendid monuments of his power and genius, which still remain at Perse- polis. There can be little doubt, that the campaign recorded at Behistun, must be intercalated between the taking of Babylon and the operations of Darius beyond the Danube, and that therefore the epoch of the sculpture may be approximately fixed at b.c. 516-515. Such is the sketch which Major Rawlinson has given of the history of Darius, as discovered by him on the rock of Behistun, and of the peculiar character and workmanship of the monument itself. As it may afford some interest to the reader, who has not perused these inscriptions, we subjoin the English translation of the early lines of the great column, which are also repeated over the effigy of the monarch himself : — “‘lam Darius the King, the great King, the King of Kings, the 376 NINEYEH AND PEBSEPOLIS. [chap. X. King of Persia, the King of the (dependent) provinces, the son of Hystaspes, the grandson of Arsames, the Achsemenian.’ Says Darius the King. ‘ My father was Hystaspes ; the father of Hystaspes was Arsames ; the father of Arsames was Ariyaramnes ; the father of Ariyaramnes was Teispes ; the father of Teispes was Achsemenes.’ Says Darius the King, ‘ On that account we have been called Achsemenians, from antiquity we have been unsub- dued (or we have descended), from antiquity our race have been Kings/ Says Darius the King, ‘ There are eight of my race who have been Kings before me; I am the ninth. For a very long time we have been Kings.’ Says Darius the King, ‘ By the grace of Ormazd I am King ; Ormazd has granted to me the empire.’ Says Darius the King, * These are the countries which have fallen into my hands, by the grace of Ormazd I have become King of them, Persia, Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt; those which are of the sea, Sparta and Ionia; Armenia, Cappadocia, Parthia, Zarangia, Asia, Chorasmia, Bactria, Sogdiana, the Sacse, the Sattagydes, Arachosia, and the Mecians, the total amount being twenty-three countries.’ ” It is interesting to observe how true, on the whole, the Behistun inscriptions are to the history as we now have it, and to mark the discrepancies, which are not less curious. We have already mentioned the history of Darius, as given by Herodotus, iv. 67, 68. If that account stood alone, it would seem that Darius had no hereditary claim to the throne, and that he must, at best, be considered as little better than a sovereign, elected by the inde- pendent votes of the leading families of Persia; we should have been led to suppose that Otanes would have been the successful candidate for the vacant throne, had he not in the previous discus- sion adhered too rigidly to his wish for a republic, which was not congenial to the tastes and feelings of his Persian hearers. But on the inscriptions, Darius uniformly represents himself as the hereditary monarch, by regular lineal succession, the true pos- sessor of the throne of the Asiatic world. In other passages of Herodotus we find the house of Hystaspes, tracing itself, in a line parallel with that of Cyrus and Cambyses, to one common ancestor, Acheemenes. Thus Cyrus the Great sees in a vision the eldest son of Hystaspes, the son of Arsames, of the race of Achacmenes, with two wings on his shoulders, one overshadowing Asia, the other Europe. The true interpretation of the vision, says Herodotus, CHAP. X.] BEHISTUN. 377 was, that Darius was to succeed to the throne of Cyrus ; while in another passage, Xerxes appeals to his lineage, and uses the very same formulary, which occurs on the inscriptions. “ Did I not this,” says he, “I should not be the son of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, the son of Arsames, the son of Ariamnes, the son of Teispes, the son of Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, the son of Teispes, the son of Achaemenes.” Over the head of each of the figures, which appear before Darius on the monument, are lines of writing describing them, and giving their names. The first in order is the prostrate figure, on whom the Great King is placing his foot. The writing over him is, “ This Gomates, the Magian, was an impostor. He thus declared, ‘ I am Bartius, the son of Cyrus ; I am the King.’ ” A fuller account of this celebrated rebel is given on the slab underneath him, and is so curious that it shall be extracted in extenso, “ Says Darius, the King, there was not a man, neither Persian, nor Median, nor any one of our family, who would dis- possess of the empire that Gomates, the Magian. The state feared to resist him. He would frequently address the state, which knew the old Bartius ; for that reason he would address the state, saying, ‘ Beware, lest it regard me as if I were not Bartius, the son of Cyrus.’ There was not any one bold enough to oppose him; every one was standing obediently around Gomates, the Magian, until I arrived. Then I abode in the worship of Ormazd; Ormazd brought help to me. On the tenth day of the month, Bagayadish, then it was, with the men who were my well- wishers, I slew that Gomates, the Magian, and the chief men who were his followers. The fort named Siktakhotes, in the district of Media, named Nissea, there I slew him ; I dispossessed him of the empire. By the grace of Ormazd I became king ; Ormazd granted me the sceptre.’ Says Darius, the king : ‘ The crown that had been wrested from our race, that I recovered ; I established it firmly ; as in the days of old, thus I did. The rites which Gomates, the Magian, had introduced, I prohibited. I reinstituted for the state the sacred chants and sacrificial worship, and confided them to the families which Gomates, the Magian, had deprived of those ofl&ces. I firmly established the kingdom, both Persia and Media, and the other provinces, as in the days of old ; thus I restored that which had been taken away. By the grace of Ormazd I did this. I laboured until I had firmly 378 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. established our family, as in the days of old. I laboured, by the grace of Ormazd, in order that Gomates, the Magian, might not supersede our family.’ ” Major Eawlinson thinks that the atti- tude of extreme abjectness has been assigned to this figure, while the other captives are erect, to mark the difference of character between the Magian usurpation, and the partial and temporary disorders of the provinces. The leaders who appeared in Persis, and who personated the son of Cyrus, took the title of The King, while the provincial impostors and rebels were merely designated as kings of the particular countries which they threw into con- fusion. The second figure is clothed in a long tunic, the outline of which is much mutilated. Over him is the inscription — “ This Atrines was an impostor. He thus declared, ‘ I am king of Susiana.’ ” Over the third figure, who is clothed in a short vest, are the words, “ This Natitabirus was an impostor. He thus declared, ‘ I am Nabokhodrossor, the son of Nabonidus ; I am king of Babylon.’ ” The inscription on the fourth figure, which is as follows: “This Phraortes was an impostor. He thus declared, ‘ I am Xathrites, of the race of Cyaxares ; I am king of Media,”’ has been engraven, contrary to the usual practice, upon his dress. Major Eawlinson remarks, that this accident has led to much needless discussion, and that it was simply want of room upon the smoothed part of the rock above the figure which has led the engraver to adopt this plan. Phraortes, though a Median, is clothed in the short vest, instead of the national robe. The fifth figure bears the legend, “ This Martins was an impostor. He thus declared, ‘ I am Omanes, the king of Susiana.’ ” According to the order of time, this figure ought to have preceded the last ; why he is made to follow him. Major Eawlinson professes himself unable to explain. From this place, the inscriptions throughout the remainder of the series follow, over the heads of the figures, in regular succession, and preclude any possibility of mistaking their application. The sixth figure is denoted by the legend, “ This Sitratachmes was an impostor. He thus declared, ‘ I am king of Sagartia, of the race of Cyaxares.’ ” Major Eawlinson has noticed the curious fact, that a descendant of the Median Cyaxares is here mentioned, as claiming the government of the Sagartians : according to Herodotus, this tribe was of Persian extraction. CHAP. X.] BEHISTUK. S7d and might therefore be supposed to be hostile to the Medes. The dress of this figure is the short vest. The seventh figure bears the name of Veisdates, and is thus described: “This Veisdates was an impostor. He thus declared, ‘ I am Bartius, the son of Cyrus ; I am The King.’ ” The standing figure wears the long robe. In this instance, too, the artist has altered the course of the historical succession; for, in the body of the inscriptions, the revolt of Frada in Margiana precedes the rebel- lion of Wahyazdata (Veisdates) in Persis, and the same order is preserved in the recapitulation in the second paragraph of the fourth column. The eighth figure wears the short vest, and is noted thus : “ This Amcus was an impostor. He thus declared, ‘ I am Nabokhodrossor, the son of Nabo nidus ; I am the king of Babylon.’ ” Major Eawlinson remarks on the peculiarity of an Armenian personating the son of Nabonidus, and suggests the query, whether there could have been any connection between the Armenian and Babylonian races ? Frada, the Margian, is the ninth figure, and is thus commemorated : “ This Phraortes was an impostor. He thus declared, ‘ I am the king of Margiana.’ ” According to the dates of the different revolts, the Margian rebel ought (as we have already mentioned) to have been placed in the line of figures before Veisdates and Aracus. The tenth is perhaps the most interesting of the whole series, after the first and prostrate figure. The legend simply records, “ This is Sarocus, the Sacan.” Major Eawlinson observes, that Sarocus, the Sacan, has evidently been added to the line of captives sub- sequently to the original design of the tablet ; for the figure is placed in a sort of recess, as if the rock had been in the first instance prepared for an inscription, and had been afterwards smoothed away to admit of sculpture. It is remarkable that this figure wears the high cap of the Sacan, wFich Herodotus notices as the peculiar head-dress of that tribe. Such is a brief outline of this history of this celebrated monu- ment. Much more might be added, and indeed the whole inscription will well repay attentive perusal. Those who are inclined to pursue the inquiry still further, will find, in the Journal of the Eoyal Asiatic Society, vol. x., full details relative to all these discoveries. A Latin as well as English translation of this monument is appended, together with an able essay on the alphabet, the characters of which have been deciphered, and a 880 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. glossary of every word in the inscription, with a long and inte- resting comparison of the words, and their kindred forms in Sanscrit, Zend, Persian, Greek, Hebrew, and other dialects. Major Eawlinson is at present at work on what may be called a Cuneiform dictionary, a considerable portion of which has already been published. The general coincidence of the inscriptions and the history, as to the religious character of the revolution which placed Darius on the throne, is very curious. The conspiracy, which substituted the false Smerdis for the brother of Cambyses, manifestly compre- hended the transference of the whole civil power to the Sacerdotal Caste ; and it was not the imposture only, and the introduction of new religious rites, but the assumption of all the great offices of the state to the exclusion of the chief hereditary families, and the advancement of a priestly theocracy in the place of the military monarchy, which gave such offence to the Persian nobles. It seems, too, not impossible, that, as the chief seat of the Magi had been Media, the setting up of the Magian worship was considered by the Persians as an attempt to return to the old Median rule. Herodotus himself mentions that the nobles slew all the Magi they could find ; and that a festival was instituted and celebrated in after years under the name of Magiphonia, or murder of the Magi. The Behistun inscription is, as we have stated, by far the largest and most important record which has been preserved, of the great- ness of Darius Hystaspes and of the Persian state and system ; other inscriptions, however, exist in different parts of Persia and Armenia, to which similar principles of interpretation have been successfully applied. M. Lassen in Germany and Major Rawlinson at Baghdad have succeeded in reading all that has been preserved of them; we shall, therefore, proceed now to give a cursory account of these monuments also. Major Rawlinson observes that we must not expect to obtain such information from these as that which is procured from the great inscription at Behistun. “ In the place of varied and historical recital,” says he, “ we must be content for the most part to peruse a certain formula of invocation to Ormazd, and a certain empty parade of royal titles, recurring with a most wearisome and disappointing uniformity. Geographical names, it is true, will be found occasionally to relieve the monotonous CHAP. X.] INSCRIPTION AT MURGHAB. 381 phraseology, and there are a few incidental expressions, scattered among the records, which throw a faint light upon the faith and usages of the early Persians ; but* as a general principle, we may consider the value of these inscriptions to be confined to the aid which they afford, in identifying the respective works of the early monarchs of the house of Achsemenes.” The evidence which these legends afford of the custom of the early Persian kings to invoke the protection of Ormazd in the construction of their buildings, is illustrated by the present practice of Persian builders, who chaunt a prayer over every brick which is laid in a building. The chaunt of the bricklayers is now supposed to secure the edifice they are erecting from the influence of the “ Evil Eye.” The charm impressed on similar bricks by the Chaldseans was probably supposed to have a similar effect. The first smaller monument which we shall notice, is the cele- brated inscription on the ruined pilasters at Murghab or Pasargada which, as we have stated, was first attributed by Grotefend to Cyrus, an attribution which is now confirmed by the sounder and more extensive learning of Major Rawlinson and M. Lassen. Both these scholars agree in reading the legend thus — “ I am Cyrus, the King ; the Achsemenian.” * The extreme simplicity of the memorial has something very noble about it, and is a mark of its great antiquity, no less than of the majesty of him -who erected it. Its archaeological and geographical value must not be overlooked, as it settles the ques- tion, whether or not the modem ruins of Murghab do really represent the site of the ancient Pasargada. We have already had occasion to mention the opinions of some of the travellers, who have visited the spot. The next inscriptions of importance are those of Darius at Per- sepolis, which, as we have stated, are not numerous. Major Eawlinson thinks that during the lifetime of Darius, the platform, the pillared colonnade, and the palace marked G on Niebuhr’s plan * This inscription, which is repeated four different times, in different parts of Murghab, has been already published though uninterpreted in Rich, Babylon and Persepolis, pi. xii. Morier’s Travels v. 1, p. xxx, note 5, and pi. xxix. Ouse- ley’s Travels, vol. ii.,pl. xlix., fig. 5. Ker Porter’s Travels, vol. i., p. 500. There is an able memoir on the inscriptions of Cyrus, in Burnouf ’s Mem. sur deux Inscr. Cun. p. 169. and in Lassen’s Zeitschrift fUr die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 1. vi., p. 152. 382 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. x. were constructed ; but that the other buildings are due to Xerxes and Artaxerxes Ochus, of whom they bear commemorative legends. The inscriptions on the doors of the ruined edifice, adjoining the colonnade and which, for distinctness sake, shall be called the Palace of Darius, are, probably, the most ancient that occur at Persepolis. They in consequence occupy the first place in M. Lassen’s- memoir. The words of the legend, as interpreted by both Major Rawlinson and M. Lassen are “Darius, the great King, King of Kings, the King of nations, the son of Hystaspes, the Acheemenian, he has executed this sculpture.”^' This inscrip- tion has been copied by Niebuhr, a very accurate topographer of the buildings at Persepolis,! and there is also an accurate copy in Le Bmn. It is placed over the figures of the King and his two attendants, which are on the doorways of the central chamber of the building, marked G in Niebuhr’s plan. It is, therefore, of equal value and interest, as giving historical interpretation to the group to which it is attached. The next inscription, we shall mention, is also from Persepolis, and occurs on a huge slab of stone, twenty-six feet long and six. in height, built into its southern wall. It has been copied by most travellers, by Niebuhr and Porter, but, lately, with much greater accuracy by M. Westergaard, who communicated his transcripts to Major Rawlinson and M. Lassen. The interpretation of the first paragraph which the former has given, is as follows — “ The great Ormazd who is the chief of the gods, he established Darius (as) King. He bestowed on him the empire. By the grace of Ormazd (has) Darius (become) king.” M. Lassen and Major Rawlinson differ, in some respects, in the rendering into European language the words of this and of the next inscription. We shall not copy the whole translation, as its contents would not be generally inte- resting ; the third paragraph is, however, important, in showing what we have already had more than one occasion of remarking, the ancient Persian abhorrence of lying. “ Says Darius the King; may Ormazd bring help to me with the deities who guard my house, and may Ormazd protect this province from slavery, from decrepitude, from lying. Let not war, nor slavery, nor decrepi- tude, nor lies obtain power over this province. That I hereby commit to Ormazd with the deities who guard my house. That may Ormazd accomplish for me, with the deities who guard my house.” * Lassen. Zeitschr. v. vi., p. 9. ^ Travels, vol. ii. p. 116. CHAP. X.] IN^SCRIPTIONS AT MOUNT ELWEND, &c. 383 The next inscription, in chronological order, is probably that engraven on the tablet of Darius, at the foot of the mountain of El wend, in the immediate neighbourhood of Hamadan.* It was executed, most likely, in commemoration of some visit paid by this monarch to the Median capital, and its somewhat ostentatious language was adopted on all subsequent occasions. The sculp- tures have been often visited, and have been fully described by M. Burnouf, from copies made by Mr. Steuart, and by M. Vidal, the dragoman of the French consul at Aleppo. They were found by M. Burnouf, among the papers of the murdered Schultz. These inscriptions exist on a huge block of beautiful red granite, in two niches, about ten feet above the ground. Each of these niches, so to speak, contain a cuneiform inscription, in three different characters, the translations being on the side, in parallel lines. The old Persian occupies the first place, or that farthest to the left. The first paragraph is as follows : — “ The great God Ormazd (he it is) who gave this earth, who gave that heaven, who gave mankind, who gave life (?) to man- kind, who made Darius King, as well the King of the people, as the lawgiver of the people.” The second paragraph is a repeti- tion of titles which we have had previously on other legends. The next inscriptions which we shall have to describe are the celebrated records of Naksh-i-Kustam, near Persepolis, which we have already described at some length, and which adorn what is probably the rock-hewn sepulchre of Darius. There is no doubt, that these writings are posterior by many years to those we have already described at Behistun, as many more names of conquered nations occur on these than on those. There is a legend in Ctesias, that Darius was accidentally killed, wFile he was being drawm up by ropes to examine the work after its completion. If this be true, we cannot fix the date of the sculpture till late in his reign. There is so much obscurity in some of the supplemental names which occur in the geographical catalogue, that it would be dangerous to attempt to draw from them any direct chronological inference ; but Major Eawlinson thinks, that we may recognise the Greeks among the Scythians beyond the sea, who are said to have submitted to the Persian arms; if this boast be admitted to be true, we must suppose this monument to have been executed subsequently to the expedition of Mardonius, in a.d. 492, * See note A. at end of chapter. 384 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. which first brought the Persian troops into the neighbourhood of European Greece. There are four inscriptions at Naksh-i- Rustam ; two in the Persian, and two others, which are Median and Babylonian transcripts of the upper and Persian original. The upper Persian one is in about sixty lines, and in tolerable preservation ; the lower is of about the same length, but so mutilated as to be almost illegible. The Median and Babylonian transcripts of the former are sufficiently perfect to be of some use in restoring the Persian original, but the lower Persian tablet is without a translation. It is only of late years, that any attempt has been made to copy these inscriptions, though they have been repeatedly seen and mentioned by travellers. The French artists, MM. Coste and Flandin were the first, who tried to make them generally accessible to Oriental scholars. To the exertions of M. Wester- gaard, we are indebted for the copy which has been, at length, successfully interpreted by Major Rawlinson and by M. Lassen.=?« M. Westergaard, after many unsuccessful attempts to obtain a view of the writing from the interior of the tomb, w'as enabled, in the summer of 1843, by the aid of a powerful telescope, to take a copy from below of the entire upper Persian tablet, of a portion of the lower Persian one, and of the Median and Babylonian transcripts. In the autumn of the same year. Major Rawlinson received from M. Westergaard a copy of his writing, which has been compared with an independent copy, made by M. Westergaard ’s fellow- traveller, M. Dittel. The first paragraph is the same as that on the one from Elwend; the second is curious, as Darius states in it, that he was a “ Persian, the son of a Persian, an Asian, and of Asian extraction.” In the third, he enumerates the different provinces subject to him, which are nearly the same as those we have already quoted from the great inscription of Behistun, though more numerous. As, however, there is much uncertainty about some of the later names, we do not think it necessary to transcribe the paragraph here. In the former, twenty-three is the number of subject provinces; in the latter, thirty-one. There is another Persian inscription at Naksh-i-Rustam, of which M. West- ergaard was able to copy only a few lines. Though it has suffered some slight mutilation, it still remains a desideratum for the * V. Zeitschrift. vol. vi. p. 81. CHAP. X,] INSCRIPTIONS OF XERXES. 385 student of the Cuneiform characters, and is well deserving the attention of future travellers. Three other inscriptions of Darius exist : one on a Baby- lonian cylinder, in the British Museum ; another on a stone found near the embouchure of the ancient canal, leading from the Nile to the Red Sea, on both of which the legend con- tains nothing more than the words “ Darius the great king and the third, on the upper side of the windows in the building marked G. in Niebuhr’s plan of Persepolis. Major Rawlinson observes, that though this legend is so short, and though it is accompanied by a Babylonian and a Median transcript, it is hardly possible to give a certain translation, as there is considerable doubt about the meaning of one or two words. He suggests for it the following translation : — “ Executed by Ardasta, the architect for the palace (or in the palace) of King Darius.” We come now to the inscriptions of Xerxes, which, though numerous, possess but little variety or interest. They are found at Mount Elwend, near Hamadan, Persepolis, and Van ; * and in almost every instance commence with the invocation to Ormazd, and the formal declaration of the royal name and titles which had been adopted in the preceding reign. Their chronological order is a matter of conjecture, as their contents afford no evidence as to the period of his reign in which they were severally engraven. Major Rawlinson has placed the inscription for Elwend first in chronological order, as he states himself, entirely on conjecture ; we will transcribe this here, as a specimen of the style which Xerxes adopted. “ The great God Ormazd, the chief of the gods, (he it is), who has given this world, who has given that heaven, who has given mankind, who has given life (?) to mankind, who has made Xerxes King, both the King of the people, and the law- giver of the people. I am Xerxes the King, the great King, the lung of Kings, the King of the many-peopled countries, the sup- porter also of this great world, the son of King Darius, the Achaemenian.” Major Rawlinson observes, that the object of these inscriptions at Hamadan would appear to be nearly similar to that which induces travellers, at the present day, to cut out their names in places difficult of access. There is no building at Hamadan to be commemorated, as at Persepolis, and no historical c c * See note E. at end of chapter. 386 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. incident to be related, as at Behistun. These legends were pro- bably engraven on the occasion of one of the annual journeys, which the monarchs were in the habit of making between Babylon and Ecbatana respectively, and their chief interest consists in this, that they show that the ancient line of communication crossed Mount Orontes. This road was ascribed by antiquity to the fabled Semiramis. Major Eawlinson states, that he was able to assure himself, by personal inspection, that, throughout the whole extent, from Ganj Nameh to the western base of the mountains, it presents the most unequivocal marks of having been artificially and laboriously constructed. On the western ascent of Mount Orontes, the artificial road is very clearly marked, and on the summit of the mountain the pavement is still in tolerable preser- vation, but in the defile of Ganj Nameh, the greater part of the work has been destroyed by the force of the torrent.* Darius died, leaving the great palace of Persepolis in an un- finished state ; the completion of that pile is due to his successor, Xerxes. The only edifice upon the great platform, which can be determinately assigned to the former monarch, is the elevated building immediately south of the Colonnade. As the pillared Hall of Audience would seem to be the work for which the plat- form was originally designed, Major Eawlinson conjectures, as we have stated, that this may also owe its origin to Darius, though this is by no means certain. The magnificent portals, the sculp- tured staircase, the palace at the south western corner of the platform, are unquestionably to be assigned to Xerxes ; and, as he alludes in one of his inscriptions to a multitude of similar archi- tectural achievements, it is not improbable, that he may have con- structed several of the minor edifices, of which the foundations only are now to be seen. Numerous as are the legends in this building they will be found to consist of only two varieties : the one which, with its Median and Babylonian transcripts, may have been repeated at least twenty times when the building was complete, is still to be traced with more or less distinctness in twelve different places, and is merely an abridged statement of the titles of Xerxes ; the other occurring on two high pilasters in the interior of the edifice, and of more importance, in that it distinctly assigns to the same monarch the construction of * Ctesias. ap. Diod. lib. ii. c. 1 ; Hoeck. Vet. Med. and Pers. Mon., p. 155, and the route of Isidore of Charax, CHAP. X.] INSCRIPTIONS OF XERXES. 38T the palace. There are several other inscriptions, but we do not think that there is sufi&cient independent interest in any of them to make it worth while to transcribe them. We come next to the inscription which was at Van in Armenia, copied by Schultz, and published, after the murder of that lamented traveller, in the Joum. Asiat. III'^^ Ser. tom. ix. No. 53, p. 377. The copy which Major Kawlinson has given in the Asiatic Journal was received from M. Eugene Bore in 1838, on his return fromYan; the inscription itself is nearly identical with others, which we have mentioned already. The only other known inscription of Xerxes is the trilingual Cuneiform writing on the vase of the Comte de Caylus, which is accompanied by a translation in hieroglyphics. When the study of this character was in its infancy, the hierogly- phic inscription was deemed of the highest importance, as it was supposed that thereby it would be possible to find a clue to the true interpretation of the arrow-head writings ; we may now probably reverse the plan, and interpret the hieroglyphic through the Cuneiform. The Persian legend is simply, “ Xerxes the great king.” After the time of Xerxes, the Cuneiform writing appears to have fallen into disuse. Neither Artaxerxes Longimanus nor Artaxerxes Mnemon have left to us any record which has yet been discovered, and the attribution of the cylinder in the British Museum, and of the Suez stone to the intervening reign of Darius No thus, depends on a mere conjecture. The buildings of Persepolis, which may be ascribed with most reason to this period of the Achaemenian dynasty, although elaborately sculptured, are altogether devoid of writing, and the tombs, which must, also, necessarily belong to the same monarchs, present no trace of memorial records. It is pro- bably owing to this, as Major Eawlinson observes,that, when after the lapse of a century, Artaxerxes Ochus, the fourth in descent from Xerxes, resumed this ancient art of composition, barbarisms both of grammar and orthography were permitted to deface his tablets. There are two inscriptions of Ochus at Persepolis, and there is also a brief legend recording his name and title on a relic of the same class as the vase of Caylus. The inscriptions are on the northern face of the platform, and on the western staircase. For the excavation of the first, we are indebted to Mr. Rich, for the transcript of the second to Mr. Westergaard. Their contents are identical, although the lines are differently divided, and they con- tain the usual genealogical series. We have, as we have already CO 2 388 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. shown, clear historical evidence that Persepolis and its neighbour- hood was an usual place of Eoyal sepulture, and that there still remain two complete sepulchres on the hill behind the ruins, and four at Naksh-i-Kustam. Ctesias expressly mentions the interment at this place of Artaxerxes Longimanus and his son Xerxes the Second. It appears from jiElian, Var. Hist. vi. c. 8, that it was intended, that the body of Artaxerxes Ochus should have been deposited in the same spot, and a passage of Arrian leads to the conclusion, that the Eoyal tombs of Persepolis formed a general place of sepulture for the Achsemenian kings. It would be hazardous, however, to attempt to identify the respective monu- ments. The last monument we shall mention is an Egyptian vase of grey porphyry, still preserved in the treasury of St. Mark’s at Venice, and containing a legend in the three species of Cuneiform writing, with the simple inscription, “ Artaxerxes the great King.” The orthography of this name, regardless alto- gether of etymological precision, and following the corrupted pronunciation, whereby the Medes and Babylonians sought to adapt the compound Persian articulations to their peculiar organs of speech, proves, in the opinion of Major Eawlinson, its foreign origin, and suggests the strong probability that this relic must be assigned to an even later date than that of the latest Achaemenian inscriptions at Persepolis. It is of course not pos- sible to affirm with certainty, that the Artaxerxes on the vase is either Longimanus or Mnemon; but, as we may suppose that, if prepared for the use of the monarch, it was made under his inspection, it seems improbable that either of these kings would have allowed an orthographical corruption of his name, which was not admitted in Persia Proper even under the reign of Ochus. It is an interesting fact, that Sir Gardner Wilkinson, without any aid from the Cuneiform translation, has already read the name Artaxerxes from the hieroglyphic inscription, and that the hiero- glyphic name Artasharssha, and the Hebrew Artahshashta, afford additional links in identifying the ancient orthographies. We have now mentioned all the Persian Cuneiform records. It is not too much, as Major Eawlinson says, to expect that exca- vations on the site of Pasargada, or around and within the terraced buildings of Persepolis, may some day supply us with fresh tablets, extending our acquaintance, both with the ancient language CHAP. X.] INTERPEETATION OF INSCRIPTIONS. 389 of Persia, and with the history of the house of Achaemenes. With regard to the general interpretation which he has adopted, Major Eawlinson adds that he does not fear the list of any augmenta- tions of materials, though there are many minor points he would he glad to see verified, and some, whose refutation he would not be surprised to witness. In this hope and in this persuasion he states, writing in April, 1846, that when Professor Lassen shall have perused his translations and the vocabulary he was preparing to publish, he would be quite prepared to bow to his superior oriental knowledge in all cases of disagreement between their respective readings. Such is the general result obtained from the remarkable interpretation of these ancient characters, complete, indeed, in the case of one branch, the Persian, and, we trust, in a state of hopeful research, as regards the other two branches, the Median and the Babylonian. The author of an Article in the Quarterly Eeview for March, 1847, after giving a sketch of these discoveries, resembling that we have already narrated somewhat more fully, well sums up the whole question. “The more,” says he, “in truth, we consider the marvellous character of this discovery, the more we feel some mistrust and misgiving returning to our minds. It is no less, in the first place, than the creation of a regular alphabet of nearly forty letters out of what appears, at first sight, confused and unmeaning lines and angles ; and, secondly, the creation of a language out of the words so formed from this alphabet ; and yet, so completely does the case appear to be made out, that we are not in the least disposed to retract, or even to suspend our adhesion to Professor Lassen and Major Eawlinson. To the latter, especially, an officer rather than a student by profession, almost self-instructed in some of the most important branches of knowledge requisite to the undertaking ; tempted onwards, it is true, by these gradual revelations of knowledge expanding to his view, yet devoting himself with disinterested, but we trust not hereafter to be unrewarded, labour, we would express in the strongest terms our grateful admira- tion. His indefatigable industry in the cause of science can only be appreciated justly by those, who know what it is to labour for hours under the burning sun of Persia ; for in some cases when the inscriptions are placed very high, are unapproachable by ladders, and are, perhaps, weather worn or mutilated by accident, nothing 890 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. less than the full effulgence of Ormazd can accurately reveal the names and deeds of his worshippers. The early travellers as well as Porter, Pdch, and all who have laboured to obtain accurate transcripts of the cuneiform inscriptions, hear testimony to the difficulties and even dangers wffiich are incurred from this and other causes.” Having now given a sketch of the results of the labours of Major Rawlinson and M. Lassen, which, we fear, will appear, at best, very meagre and incomplete, although we have endeavoured, as far as possible, to adhere to the very words and language of the discoverers, we must return to the Second branch of enquiry which we originally proposed to ourselves, namely, the history of the progress of the interpretation itself, with such an account as it seems possible to give, in a popular form, of the different classes of the Cuneiform character, which have been found on the monuments in Persia and Assyria. We have already had occasion to state that the more perfect knowledge at which we have arrived, as to the meaning of one branch of these characters, is mainly due to Professor Lassen and Major Rawlinson, and that though they mainly agree, and differ but in a few and these comparatively unimportant points, still there is sufficient disagreement to show, that beyond a doubt their studies have been wholly independent the one of the other. In a notice, such as this, it w^ould be worse than useless to enter into such minute details ; those, therefore, that wish to study the subject to the bottom, must have recourse to the learned papers of Professor Lassen and M. Westergaard in Lassen’s Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes, and to the incomparable papers of Major Rawlinson in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. As the latter gentleman has prefixed to his interpreta- tion an able essay on the different kinds of writing, we shall abstract from it such portions as admit of being stated in an easy and popular narration. To Professor Grotefend, as we have more than once had occa- sion to state, undoubtedly belongs the honour of having opened the way to the later and more complete discoveries. As early as the year 1802, he had read a paper on Cuneiform inscriptions before the Literary Society of Gottingen, which was not however published ; and, at intervals for the next twelve years, he appears to have devoted himself to the same studies. In the year 1814-15 CHAP. X.] GROTEFEND. 391 he published a series of papers in the Fundgruben des Orients, on the Babylonian writing, and a more complete account of his system was printed in the Appendix to Heeren’s Ideen in 1815. In this essay, he has made some excellent remarks as to the character and meaning of the Cuneiform character, and on the way in which it ought to be read, with some account of the method, whereby he was led to the discoveries which he made. These inscriptions, he states, are to be distinguished from all other modes of writing adopted in the East, by the absence of anything like roundness in them, and their universally angular character: they appear to have been exclusively destined for the purpose of engraving upon stone, or other durable materials, employed in public monuments; on gems, seals, amulets, &c., and not for the ordinary purpose of writing ; though, as we have mentioned, occasional instances of such application appear on some of the bricks discovered by M. Botta and Mr. Layard, where the characters have been painted on, and not engraven into them. The elementary characters of all such writing are composed of wedges and angles, such as might naturally be produced by impressing upon soft clay the angular edges and end of a square piece of wood. The wedge-shaped characters, of whatever size, assume chiefly four directions, but, always, in such a manner, that the principal inclination is from top to bottom, or in other words from left to right. On the Babylonian bricks the initial sign represents an assemblage of wedges crossing one another, and, hence, was compared by Pietro della Valle, two hundred years ago, to a star of eight rays ; but in no one species of Cuneiform writing are all these eight directions found to exist at the same time. The angular shaped character takes only one direction, so that the opening is constantly turned to the right ; there seems, therefore, no doubt that all such inscriptions must be read from left to right. We must place ourselves in such a manner that the points of the vertical wedge letters may look downwards, and those of the oblique ones as well as the openings of the angular letters, may be turned to the right. Again, there is fair probability for the supposition that all Cuneiform writing is composed of letters and not merely of syllabic signs. In all those other species of writing, which rival the Cunei- form in antiquity, as the Egyptian and Chinese, symbolical 392 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. representation was the forerunner or the substitute of a phonetic alphabet, and it has been argued, that in the primitive type of the cursive character employed by the Syro-Arabian nations, as the names of the letters were borrowed from the most common objects in nature, so, too, the forms of the character may have been originally designed, by means of a rude representation of the objects, to convey a more distinct idea of the phonetic power. Whether or not the most ancient Cuneiform alphabet can be included in this curious category, we have at present no means of determining. That it could not have originated in pure ideo- graphy, is indeed self-evident j but whether some form of pictorial representation, rather than the arbitrary assortment of separate signs, may not have led to the formation of the primitive phonetic characters, is a question still open for future investigation. Professor Grotefend gives an interesting account of the way in which he was led to the deciphering, successfully, the names of the kings on the Persian branch of these inscriptions. Among the inscriptions of this kind, there are two which are published by Niebuhr, vol. ii. lib. xxiv. B. and G. Conjecturing with Tycbsen, that we ought to look for the titles of kings in inscriptions placed over the portraits, M. Grotefend felt convinced that the word so often repeated must signify “ king,” and translated the two inscrip- tions, according to the analogy of those, in Pehlvi, which had been previously deciphered by M. de Sacy ; concluding, that as two kings were mentioned, these two must have been father and son, while it also appeared that the king in one inscription was called the son of the king in the other. He next examined the researches of Heeren, and an Essay by M. Munter, to ascertain the age and the Dynasty of Persian kings, to which the bas-reliefs at Persepolis belonged ; and having satisfied himself, from the examination of the contemporary Greek historians, that the two kings must be of the Achsemenian Dynasty, he went through the list, and successively applied the names to the characters of the inscriptions. It appeared from this comparison that they could not refer to Cyrus or Cambyses, because the names occurring in the inscription did not begin with the same letter, while Cyrus and Artaxerxes seemed inapplicable from the respective length of their groups of letters, as the first would be too short, and the second too long. The only names remaining were those of Darius and Xerxes; and these, on further comparison, appeared to agree CHAP. X.] GROTEFEND. 393 SO exactly with the characters, that M. Grotefend did not hesitate at once to adopt them. Having thus found out more than twelve letters, among which were precisely those composing the royal title, the next business was to give these names, hitherto known to us only by their Greek euphonic modification, their original Persian form, in order that by ascertaining the correct value of each character, the Royal title might be deciphered, and the language, in which they were written, determined. From the Zendavesta of Anquetil Du P erron, M. Grotefend found that the Greek form Hystaspes would be represented in Persian by Gustasp, Kishtasp, or Wistasp. The first seven letters of this name were at once discovered in the inscriptions, while a comparison of all the royal titles led him to the conclusion, that the three last formed the inflection of the genitive singular, corresponding to the Latin Hystaspis ; again, he found Reland* quoting a passage from Strabo, lib. xiv., to the effect that the Persians call the Greek Darius, Dariaves. This would be, in strict Persian, Dariaves, or Dariavesh, which is suffi- ciently near the form now determined by Lassen and Rawlinson, namely Daryawash. In attempting to ascertain the real form of Xerxes, M. Grotefend determined to go to the Zend, and in the Mem. de PAcad. Roy. des Inscript, tom. xxxi., he found a paper by Anquetil Du Perron, in which he states that the Greek Araxes was really called Weorokeshe or Warakshe, the lish of the Zend name being rendered by the Greek Following this analogy, he transformed Xerxes in Ksharsha, the only difference between this and the more perfect modern system being, that the latter inserts ay^ and makes the name Kshayarsha. Such was the first commencement of the more successful study of these ancient characters. The ingenuity and perseverance of M. Grotefend, in unravelling and arranging the intricate, and up to his time quite unknown letters, is beyond all praise, while the judg- ment which he formed of the manner in which the inscriptions would eventually be read, is deserving of remark, as it was the result of simple inspection ; and as he did not pretend to that knowledge of the Eastern languages, which has enabled his learned followers to do so much. M. Grotefend fairly deserves the title which a writer in the “ Quarterly Review ” has given to him, of the “ Young of Cuneiform interpretation.” Professor Grotefend was followed by * Dissert, de Vet. Ling. Pers. 894 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. Eask in Denmark, and St. Martin, at Paris, who neither of them, however, contributed much to increase the knowledge of the inscriptions. Eask’s book >5^ is chiefly an inquiry, as its title implies, into the date of the Zendavesta, with a determination of the value of some of the Zend letters, though he, at the same time, was able to determine the Cuneiform characters which represent the letters M and N. St. Martin’s “ Memoire,” which appeared in the “Journal Asiatique” for 1823, professes to oppose the work of Grotefend, without suggesting any better system. But M. Grotefend has every reason to have been content with an adversary, who, so far from refuting his interpretations, really confirms them in all essential points. What St. Martin finds fault with in M. Grotefend^s system, is chiefly his method of deciphering certain characters, which M. St. Martin declares are arbitrary. In other words, St. Martin adopts, himself, the whole system of M. Grotefend, allows him the credit of having first correctly read the names of the kings, which has furnished the clue to the subsequent discoveries ; and in his explanations, with the exception of some points of very secondary importance, comes to the same conclusions as the German scholar. A memoir was published by Burnouf,f in 1836, in which several new modifications and improvements occurred ; and Lassen’s still more important work, which came out simultaneously with Burnouf’s Memoire, and which is entitled “ Die Alt. Persischen Keil Inscriften von Persepolis, Bonn, 1836,” supplied at least twelve new letters, which had been mistaken by all his predeces- sors, and entitled him to contest with M. Grotefend the palm of alphabetical discovery. Major Eawlinson gives a very interesting account of his own progress in discovery, and states how far he himself was indebted to the labours of those who had gone before him. He states that he first undertook the investigation of the Cuneiform character in 1835, being at that time only aware that Professor Grotefend had deciphered the names of the early sovereigns of the house of Achasmenes ; while in his isolated position at Kermanshah, on the western frontier of Persia, he was unable either to obtain a copy of Grotefend ’s alphabet, or to discover what particular inscrip- tions he had examined. The first materials which Major * Uber das Alter und die Echtheit des Zendavesta. f Sur deux Inscript. Cun^iformes. CHAP. X.] EAWLINSON. 395 Rawlinson submitted to analysis, were the sculptured tablets at Hamadan, which he had himself carefully copied on the spot. On comparing and interlining the Persian columns of the inscriptions, he found the characters coincided throughout, with the exception of certain particular groups, which he inferred, at once, were thus individualised and brought out, as representing proper names. There were but three such groups in the two inscriptions ; for the one, which occupied the second place in one inscription, and which, from its position, suggested the idea of its representing the name of the father of the king who was there commemorated, corresponded with the group, which occu- pied the first place in the other inscription, and, thus, not only served determinately to connect the two inscriptions together, but, on assuming the groups to represent proper names, appeared also to indicate a genealogical succession. The natural inference which Major Eawlinson drew, was, that he had obtained the proper names belonging to three consecutive generations of the Persian monarchy, and it so happened, that the first three names of Hystaspes, Darius, and Xerxes, which he applied at hazard to the three groups, according to the succession, proved to answer in all respects satisfactorily, and were in fact the true identifications. The next step was to collate the two first paragraphs on the Behistun inscription with the tablets of Elwend, which sup- plied him, in addition to the first three names, with the native forms of Arsames, Ariaramnes, Teispes, Achasmenes, and Persia, and enabled him to construct an alphabet, of which eighteen cha- racters, which had been then identified, are still retained in the more complete one. In the autumn of 1836, at Teheran, Major Eawlinson first became acquainted with the labours of Grotefend and St. Martin, at which time he had already advanced consider- ably beyond them, owing to the greater quantity of material which he had been able to examine and collate ; and, in the year 1837 he copied himself, at Behistun, the entire first column, the opening paragraph of the second, ten paragraphs of the third, and four of the detached inscriptions : in the winter of the same year, he forwarded to the Asiatic Society his translation of the two first paragraphs of the Behistun inscription, which recorded the titles and genealogy of Darius Hystaspes, being still under the im- pression, that Cuneiform discovery in Europe was still in the imperfect state, in which it had been left, at the time of St.Martin’s S96 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. early and lamented decease in 183^. It was not till the receipt of letters from London, in reply to the communication sent to the Asiatic Society, that Major Rawlinson was informed that the study of the Cuneiform inscriptions had been resumed in Europe, and of the extent, to which the European Orientalists had progressed. In the summer of 1838, he received M. Burnouf ’s Memoire at Teheran, which showed that he had been partially anticipated by the European discoverers, and still later the admirable commen- tary on the Ya 9 na, by M. Burnouf, which has aided more than any other work, in developing the orthographical and grammatical structure of the inscriptions ; for, though Major Rawlinson thinks the language of the Zend A vesta is later than that of the inscrip- tions, upon the debris of which it was probably refined and systema- tised, yet he considers it to approach nearer to the Persian of the Ante- Alexandrian ages, than any other dialect of the family, except the Vedic Sanscrit Previous to the receipt of these books, the materials with which he had worked were far from being complete. The inscriptions which he had copied at Hamadan and Behistun formed his only means of alphabetical analysis, and the researches of Anquetil du Perron, together with a few Zend MSS. obtained by him in Persia, and interpreted for him by an ignorant priest of Yezd, his only guides, in acquiring a knowledge of the ancient language of the country. On his arrival at Baghdad, in 1839, he received a letter from Prof. Lassen, containing a precis of his last improved system of interpretation, which he at once observed was infinitely superior to any, which had yet been published. Major Rawlinson found, that the Professor’s views coincided with his own in all essential particulars, while he could not but admire the skill of an Euro- pean student who, with such very limited materials at his command, had arrived at results so remarkably correct. Major Rawlinson concludes his outline of his studies previous to his removal for three years to Afghanistan, by stating what he is fairly entitled to claim as his own. “ In the present case,” says he, “ I do put forth a claim to originality, as having been the first to present to the world a literal, and, as I believe, a correct gram- matical translation of nearly two hundred lines* of Cuneiform writing, a memorial of the time of Darius Hystaspes, the greater part of which is in so perfect a state as to afford ample and certain * Since augmented to considerably above four hundred. CHAP. X.] RAWLTNSON. 397 grounds for a minute orthographical and etymological analysis, and the purport of which to the historian must, I think, be of fully equal interest, with the peculiarities of its language to the philologist. I do not affect, at the same time, to consider my trans- lations as unimpeachable ; those who expect to see the Cuneiform inscriptions rendered and explained with as much certainty and clearness, as the ancient tablets of Greece and Rome, will be lamentably disappointed. It must be remembered, that the Persian of the Ante- Alexandrian ages has long ceased to be a living language ; that its interpretation depends on the collateral aid of the Sanscrit, the Zend, and the corrupted dialects which, in the forests and mountains of Persia, have survived the wreck of the Old Tongue ; and that, in a few instances, where these cognate and derivative languages have failed to perpetuate the ancient root, or when my limited acquaintance with the different dialects may have failed to discover the connexion, I have then been obliged to assign an arbitrary meaning, obtained by comparative propriety of application, in a very limited field of research. I feel, therefore, that, in a few cases, my translations will be subject to doubt, and that as materials of analysis continue to be accumu- lated, and more experienced Orientalists prosecute the study, it may be found necessary to alter or to modify some of the signi- fications which I have assigned ; but at the same time I do not, and cannot, doubt but that I have accuratelv determined the general application of every paragraph, and that I have been thus enabled to exhibit a correct historical outline, possessing the weight of royal and cotemporaneous recital, of many great events, which preceded the rise and marked the career of one of the most celebrated of the early sovereigns of Persia.” Such is Major Rawlinson’s account of his studies up to the end of the year 1839. In 1840, just as he had recast the whole Memoir into a new form, he was suddenly transferred from his lettered seclusion at Baghdad to fill a responsible and laborious office in Afghanistan. He was compelled for a while to relinquish his inscriptions, and had no alternative but the abandonment of his antiquarian researches. But years rolled on, and in December, 1843, he was again at Baghdad, ready to resume his former pursuits, for the interest with which his original researches had inspired him had, he states, never flagged, and was perhaps indeed sharpened by the accidents, which had so long operated to delay its gratification. F or 398 NINEVEH AND PEESEPOLIS. [chap. X. the continuation of his studies, and their ultimate success, Major Hawlinson expresses himself under great obligations to the Danish Orientalist, M. Westergaard, who had been travelling in Persia in 1843, with the express object of collecting palaeographic and antiquarian materials, and who had most liberally communicated to him several new inscriptions which he had copied at Persepolis, and above all, the gem of his collection, and the most important record of the class existing in Persia, with the exception of the tablets of Behistun, — viz., the long inscription at Naksh-i-Piustam, the presumed sepulchre of Darius. This inscription was not less remarkable for its length, than for the accuracy with which it was delineated. M. Westergaard ’s copy, defective as it could not help being, both from the abrasion of the rock and the difficulty of tracing letters through a telescope at so great a height, still in- dicated, in its superiority over all the specimens of Le Brun, Niebuhr, Porter, and Rich, the immense advantages, which a transcriber, acquainted with the character and language, enjoys over one who can only depend for the fidelity of his copy, on the imitative accuracy of an artist. With these extended materials at his command, and with the fortunate addition which he obtained in the autumn of 1845, when he paid another visit to Behistun, and succeeded in copying the whole of the Persian writing at that place, Major Rawlinson undertook a third revision of his Memoir, which, with a drawing of the rock and sculpture which were carefully made by Lieut. Jones, an accomplished officer of the Indian navy, is now published at length in the Asiatic Journal. We have now traced at sufficient length the progress of the discovery, from the first steps of Prof Grotefend to the later success of Prof. Lassen and Major Rawlinson ; we will leave to those whose object is a scientific study of the inscriptions, to compare the labours of other students which have been published in different European journals, and proceed to give some fuller account of the different classes of the Cuneiform writing, as they have been carefully described in Major Rawlinson’s Memoir in the Journal to which we have so often referred. As w^e have already stated, there are three great leading divi- sions into which this character admits of being divided, and which having been generally known under the names of Babylonian, Median and Persian, it is as well to retain at present ; though it is probable, that a more full acquaintance with them will lead to CHAP. X.] RAWLINSOK 399 considerable modifications of their meaning and to some subsequent modifications. The first, or Babylonian, is, says Major Rawlinson, unques- tionably the most ancient of the three great classes. Legends in this character are found upon the bricks which are excavated from the foundations of all the buildings in Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and Chaldaea; and the first invention of which must be ascribed to the primitive race who settled in the plains of Shinaar. Embracing many varieties and spread over a wide extent of country, Orientalists have been long divided in opinion, as to whether its multitudinous branches can be fairly considered as belonging to one type of alphabet and lan- guage. Those who have, however^ hitherto studied the subject with the most care have arrived at the conviction that all the inscriptions in this complicated form of Cuneiform character, whether on rocks, bricks, slabs, or cylinders, from the Persian mountains to the shores of the Mediterranean, do in reality belong to one single alphabetical system, and that the variations, which are perceptible in the different modes of writing, are analogous in some measure to the varieties of hand and text, which characterise the graphic and glyphic arts of the present day. Major Rawlinson expresses his doubts about an amal- gamation so general and complete ; and, admitting the strong probability that they all represent the language of the one Semitic race, considers that there are modifications of a con- stant and peculiar character constituting, if no more, at least distinct varieties of alphabetical formation between the Babylonian and the Assyrian writing, while the inscriptions of Elymais from the obvious dissimilarity to either one system or the other, are entitled to an independent rank. He leaves untouched one impor- tant question, whether the difference of character indicates a difference of orthographical structure, or whether the varieties of formation are merely analogous to the diversity which exists between the Estrangelo and the Nestorian alphabet, the printed and the cursive Hebrew, or the Cufic and the modern Arabic. Major Rawlinson divides the first or Babylonian into two classes, each presenting a marked variety ; considering the cha- racters on the cylinders as the type of the one, and that of the third column of the Trilingual inscriptions of Persia of the other. The first is probably the most primitive Cuneiform alphabet, and is of 400 OTXEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. very extensive application, being found on the bricks in the ruins of the ancient cities of Shinar, at Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh : while, if the Birs-i-Nimrud be admitted to be the tower of Babel, an identification which is borne out not merely by the character of the monument but by the universal belief of the early Talmudists, it must, in the substructure of that edifice, embody the vernacular dialect of Shinar at the period, when “ the earth w^as of one language and of one speech.” Occasionally, though more rarely, it was used on longer and more important inscriptions than those, which occur on the cylinders and bricks, as on Sir Harford Jones’s slab published by the East India Company in 1803, on a broken obelisk found on the mound of Susa, which exhibits thirty-three lines of this character, on a black stone discovered in the ruins of Nineveh and now in pos- session of the Earl of Aberdeen, which is inscribed with one hundred and four similar lines, on a barrel-shaped stone found lately at Cutha, and on the naked rock at Sheikhan. The second form of this character is the best known : and, as it occurs universally in the third column of the Persian inscriptions. Major Rawlinson terms it Achaemenian-Babylonian. How early it was adopted in its present modified form from the older writing, we know not, but, that it was used till a late period of the Persian empire, is evident from the inscription on the Vase in the Trea- sury of St. Mark’s at Venice, which (as w'e have seen) records the name and titles of Artaxerxes Ochus, in the trilingual characters of the Achaemenians. At Persepolis, Hamadan, Van and Behistun, this writing exhibits no sensible variety ; but it is curious, that no genuine Babylonian writing has been found which is absolutely identical with it ; a fact the more regretted, as we are indebted to the trilingual inscriptions of Persia for our only key to the decipherment of the Babylonian alphabet, and any variation, therefore, from the former type impedes the exten- sion of the enquiry. The Assyrian branch of the Cuneiform character is in like manner divided by Major Rawlinson into two smaller subdivisions; to the first of these he gives the name of Medo- Assyrian, com- prehending under that title the inscriptions found on the rocks at Van and in its neighbourhood, and Dash-tappeh in the plain of Miyandab, on the stone pillar at the pass of Keli-shin, and on a rock inscription on the banks of the Euphrates, between the towns CHAP. X.] RAWLINSOK 401 of Malatieh and Kharput. To the second he gives the name of Assyrian, being that which is strictly peculiar to the plains of Assyria, and with which the ruins of Khorsabad were found by M. Botta to have been covered, occurring also on bricks, &c., from Nimrud, and perhaps on an hexagonal cylinder of clay, in the pos- session of Gen. Taylor, late British resident at Baghdad, which exhibits on each side between seventy and eighty lines of writing in excellent preservation, but so elaborately minute that Major Eawlin- son, after examining them with a magnifying glass, declines saying whether the inscription belongs to the class found at Van or at Khorsabad. The inscriptions of Elymais which have been visited by Mr. Layard and the Baron de Bode, are considered by Major Kawlinson, as we have stated, to hold an independent place peculiar to themselves. Copies of two of these inscriptions were sent by Mr. Layard to Major Rawlinson, each of them extending to twenty -four lines. They contain a considerable number of new characters, for which no conjectural equivalent can be found either in the Babylonian or the Assyrian alphabet. They are found in the vicinity of Mal-amir,* which the Baron de Bode considers to be the ancient city of TJxii : and there seems a good probability for supposing that other inscriptions of the same class may still exist in other parts of that district. The character, which has hitherto been usually called the Median, is peculiar to the trilingual inscriptions of Persia. It is of the highest interest, not so much for the information it em- bodies, since with one single exception it is only employed for the purpose of translation, as in regard to the nation whose language it must be presumed to have been. As it is met wdth wherever there are Achsemenian monuments, at Persepolis, Hamadan, Behistun, and Van, on the stone found at Suez by Gen. Dugua, and on the vase of the Count de Caylus, both relics of the Achaemenian dynasty in Egypt, and at the same time of Egyptian manufacture, the inference may fairly be drawn that the people, to wLose tongue it was appropriated, must have constituted, under the rule of the house of Achsemenes, one of the great divi- sions of the Persian empire. From the position which the Median tablets occupy betw^een vernacular Persian records on the one side, and the Semitic transcripts on the other. Major Rawlin- son argues further, that this great popular division was inferior to * See note F. at end of chapter. D D 402 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. the native and then dominant Persian, hut superior to the con- quered Babylonian, while it is well known that the Medes, under the Achsemenian rule, were admitted to a certain amount of parti- cipation in the political rights of the Persians. There seems little doubt that, ere long, we shall be able to determine from internal evidence, what was the character of the Median speech ; for the tablets of Persepolis and Behistun have furnished above ninety proper names, of which the Persian equivalents are now correctly read. With such facilities for alphabetical identifica- tions, and with the extensive field of grammatical comparison afforded by the Behistun translations, there seems little doubt that this ancient language must be recognised, if it have a living representative, or, if entirely extinct, that it may he in some measure resuscitated. At the same time, as it appears that the alphabet contains above one hundred characters, and as the vowels (except when they commence a syllable) are for the most part inherent in the consonants, the phonetic organisation must he exceedingly elaborate. Such is Major Bawlinson’s account of the Cuneiform characters written in the year 1846, before the discoveries of Mr. Layard in the ruins of Nimrud were made known, Mr. Layard differs from Major Kawlinson in some matters of detail, and has suggested, that it would be better to call wLat Major Bawlinson has named Assyrian and Medo- Assyrian, by the names of Assyrian and Later- Assyrian, considering the three varieties found on the trilingual inscriptions to be of a comparatively recent period, the reigns of the Achsemenian dynasty. The inscriptions in the Babylonian character from the ruins near Hillah can be shown to belong to the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and consequently to a period subsequent to the fall of the Assyrian empire. The complex forms of the Babylonian characters, and their apparent derivation by the elongation of angles and other processes from the simpler Assyrian letters, apparently, point to a more recent inven- tion. There can be no doubt, that the characters discovered in the earliest palace of Nimrud long preceded those of the inscriptions of Khorsabad and Koyunjik. If this be so, it proves that the most simple were the earliest, and that there was a gradual pro- gression towards the more intricate. This progression may be clearly traced in the different Assyrian ruins, and we may, con- sistently, conclude that the Babylonian being the most complex CHAP. X.] RAWLINSOK 403 was the most modem of this branch of Cuneiform writing. The question of prior antiquity lies between the monuments of Assyria and the rock tablets of Armenia. At present, there is no positive evidence to decide their respective claims, but there are strong reasons for believing that the earliest inscriptions of Nimrud are the most ancient. We have the tes.timony of ancient authors, who attribute the invention of letters to the Assyrians, and give the name of Assyrian to the Cuneiform writing even when changed and modified by the Persians. Herodotus himself calls this form of writing Assyrian according to Amyntas, the inscription on the tomb of Sardanapalus was written in Chaldsean letters on a stone column ; and Aristobulus calls the letters Assyrian.! On the earliest inscriptions of Armenia, the royal titles are similar to those on the monuments of Khorsabad and Koyunjik ; and it may therefore be inferred, that these Armenian kings lived between the erection of the earliest and latest monuments of Assyria Proper. Whether there were contemporaneous Assyrian and Armenian dynasties, or whether the names at Van are those of kings who reigned, at the same time, over Armenia and Assyria, and are, consequently, to be included in the Assyrian dynastic lists, are questions which can only be determined when the contents of the inscriptions are known, and the ruins of Assyria more thoroughly examined. But however treacherous may have been the soil upon which enquiry has moved darkly forwards, sur-. rounded by difficulties and fearful of the premature announce- ment of results, so long as it was confined to the attempt at inter- preting either the Assyrian inscriptions of Khorsabad and Nimrud, (and even these we find are now slowly yielding to the magic wand of the interpreter,) it is most satisfactory to feel that in the third case, that of the Persian Cuneiform, we are standing upon firm ground, and have a beaten track before us. The scanty knowledge of the former, compared with the fuller intelli- gence of the latter, presents, as Major Rawlinson has observed, “ the contrast of exploration and description.” The Cuneiform inscriptions in that branch of them which has been denominated the Persian are, as we have already stated, the peculiar records of the house of Achaemenes. The earliest is the inscription of Cyrus at Pasargada or Murghab, the latest is attri^ ♦ Herodotus, iv. c. 87. Athenaeus, lib. xii. DD 2 404 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. bated to the time of Artaxerxes Ochus. The language of these inscriptions is evidently that of the Arian type, resembling San- scrit very closely in its grammatical structure, but approxima- ting still more to the Zend in its orthographical development. Though possessing no pretensions to the refinement of the classical Sanscrit, it is still sufficiently copious in its expression of the phonetic powers, and sufficiently precise in the application of them to show an advanced stage of orthographical develop- ment. It is not, however, altogether free from confusion or irregularity — ^yet its organisation could hardly have been so per- fect as it is, if it had been the first attempt to give a bodily form to the peculiarities of the Arian articulation. It is distinguished from the Sanscrit by that uniform permutation, both of alpha- betical powers and of grammatical inflexions, which points to a period very remote for their common separation from the parent stock. “ How then,” says Major Hawlinson, “ is it possible, that the development of these languages should have proceeded for so many centuries pari passu each in its respective path, if either the one idiom or the other had been alone indebted to an oral medium for the preservation of its tone and purity ? The anti- quity of the Vedas, assailed as it has been of late by the advocates of Buddhist literature, may be now triumphantly vindicated by an appeal to the language of the inscriptions ; and as the San- scrit in its purest form can be thus shown to be the type rather than the refinement of the historic Pali, we may perhaps not unreasonably assume the character of the Maurian dynasty which was appropriated to the latter dialect, and which is the oldest form extant of Indian palaeography, to have been itself a derivation from some earlier alphabet, that was in use among the primitive colonists of Aryavarta, for the transcription of their hymns and sacrificial prayers. If, however, alphabetical writing were known to any branch of the Arian family prior to the age of Cyrus, it can hardly have been concocted from that division which of all others was farthest advanced in Hagiology. Sacerdotal influence and a written character are in the East almost insepa- rable, and whatever may be our opinion of the books of Zoroaster, it seems impossible, therefore, to suppose that the Magi, anterior to the age of Cyrus, were without a sacred literature.” We have undoubted evidence that a character of some kind was in use under the early Achaemenian monarchs ; for we have CHAP. X.] RAWLINSOK 405 distinct mention in Holy Scripture of the decree of Cyrus which was found among the records in the royal house at Ecbatana, of the written edict of Darius, and of the letters of Artaxerxes ; while Herodotus mentions the muster roll of the army of Xerxes, and both he and Ctesias state that the national annals were elaborately written out and preserved among the archives of the state. It seems equally certain that this character must have been of a cursive kind, for the peculiar formation of the Cuneiform character precludes the possibility of its having been employed for common purposes, while the Babylonian cursive character framed upon a Semitic basis would hardly have expressed the peculiarity of Arian vocalisation. A comparison of the orthographies of the proper names in the Persian and Babylonian inscriptions shows the extreme improbability that the two races employed a common alphabet, tvhile it suggests the inference that the Achsemenians must have possessed a cursive alphabet of doubtful origin but adapted to the Arian articulation, and employed synchronously with the lapidary Cuneiform. The very elaborate vocalic organisation of the Zend may perhaps indicate a recent aera for the formation of its alphabet, while the many instances of the disfigurement of authentic history afford an argument against the remote antiquity of the Zend-Avesta ; but there can be no doubt that, in very early times, the Magi pos- sessed writings which were ascribed to a very ancient Zoroaster : these books are quoted by Plato ; they were in the hands of the disciples of Prodicus, who flourished in the fifth century before Christ. They supplied Osthanes, who accompanied Xerxes to Greece, with materials for a work on magic, and they were expounded and indexed by Hermippus. Major Eawlinson considers that, on the whole, there is fair reason to suppose that there did exist a cursive character in Persia, antecedent to the invention or the use of the Cuneiform character ; and that the legends found on the earliest inscrip- tions in India, and on some coins of Asia Minor and the neighbourhood, tend to confirm this view. Captain Cun- ningham has conjectured that the inscriptions which he has deciphered on certain bilingual coins of India may be attributed to a period antecedent to Alexander the Great; in which case, the legends of the rock of Kapur-di-Giri, about a century later, and the edicts of Asoka, will be ^ derivative type 406 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. from these. In Asia Minor, the Cilician Darics may perhaps deserve the precedence in point of antiquity, though the Due de Luynes appears to doubt this; and M. Adrien de Longperier has imagined that certain Cilician coins, usually attributed to Side and Celenderis, may be, from the similarity of some of their emblems to the sculptures at Khorsahad, attributed to Assyria under the rule of the Achsemenians : the Numismatic Bactrian, of which the earliest specimens of the coins of Eucratides are assigned by Prof. Wilson to about b.c. 181 ; the characters found in the Buddhist topes, the Zend, the Parthian — of which there are three varieties at least, and Pehlvi, — lapidary, numismatic, and cursive, follow in direct chronological succession. In all these there is hardly that resemblance between them which should indicate or prove any immediate affiliation ; on the contrary, it is more pro- bable, from their diversity of organisation, that the systems of writing were formed independently of each other ; but, at the same time, it is clearly shown, by the configuration of the letters of each system, that the alphabets were severally adopted from a Semitic source, and the direction of the writing from right to left connects them in a common category. Major Rawlinson adds, “ that there is good evidence for believing in the existence of an Arian character, of an equal if not higher antiquity than any of the preceding alphabets. The oldest specimen extant of Pali writing is, I believe, found upon a gem inscribed with the name Amogha-bhata, which Captain Cunningham assigns to the age of the Nandas. But I have already alluded to the apparent necessity of a written character for the development and retention of the niceties of Sanscrit grammar; and the most authentic annalists of Buddhism, more- over, circumstantially relate that, after the death of Sakja, his doctrines were written out partly in Sanscrit and partly in Sindhu (or Pali); while translations were also made in Tibetan, in Chinese, in Scythic, and Parsic for the inhahitants of the Parsika cou 7 itryy If this Parsic writing was brought by the Arian colonists, in their migration from east to west, it would, in accord- ance with the Palseographic systems of India, be read from left to right, and we should, in this circumstance, at once recognise a possible prototype of the Persian Cuneiform. It may indeed be hazardous to attempt the determination of an alphabetical type from the direction of any one system of writing, and wq CHAP. X.] EAWLINSOK 407 know that the Babylonian inscriptions violate the Semitic rule, while the Greek itself reverses its Phoenician model ; yet the bilingual inscriptions of Captain Cunningham do afford a striking proof that the direction of a writing depends on alphabetic type and not on the language. The inscriptions on the obverse and reverse of these coins are to the same effect, the language is common to both sides, though the character in which they are written is different. On the one side, the Bactrian Pali, which is allied to the Semitic alphabet, follows its natural direction from right to left, while, on the other side, the Indian Pali, which is of the Arian family, reads, as it should do, from left to right. If, therefore, there were an Arian and a Semitic alphabet synchro- nously in use in Persia prior to the age of Cyrus, the direction as well as the organisation of the Persian Cuneiform character would lead us to assign it to the former rather than the latter type. “ The famous trilingual inscription of Cyrus the Great,” says Major Rawlinson, “ which still survives upon a ruined pilaster at Murghab, is the most ancient monument of its class. In the two short lines of Persian writing that are here met with, we have only, it is true, eleven distinct characters ; but it is not to be supposed that the alphabet was formed in a doubtful or in- complete condition. Perhaps excavations among the ruins in the vicinity may some day reveal other tablets, bearing inscriptions of greater length and variety, and the claim of Cyrus may thus be verified to be considered the inventor of a perfect alphabet. No records have yet been discovered of Cambyses and if any works of the class were executed during the short reign of the Magian impostor, they were no doubt destroyed on the recovery of the throne by Darius the son of Hystaspes. To this monarch, insatiable in his thirst of conquest, magnificent in his tastes, and possessed of an unlimited power, we are indebted for all that is most valuable in the Palaeography of Persia. Imbued, as it appears, with an ardent passion for monumental fame, he was not content to inscribe the palaces of his foundation at Persepolis with a legend commemorative of their erection, or with prayers invoking the guardianship of Ormazd and his angels ; but he lavished an elaborate workmanship on historic and geographic records in various quarters of his empire, which evince considerable political forethought, an earnest regard for truth, and an ambition natural and hardly to be quarrelled with, to transmit the glories of his 408 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. reign to future generations, to guide their conduct and invite their emulation. At Persepolis, in the high place of Persian power, he aspired to elevate the moral feelings of his countrymen, and to secure their future dominancy in Asia, by ostentatiously displaying to them their superiority over the feudatory provinces of the Empire ; while upon the sacred rock of Baghistan he addressed himself, in the style of an historian, to collect the genealogical traditions of his race, to describe the extent and power of his kingdom, and to relate, with a perspicuous brevity worthy of imitation, the leading incidents of his reign. We are hardly pre- pared, indeed, in the narrative of an Eastern despot, to meet with the dignified simplicity, the truthfulness, and self-denial which characterise this curious record. His grave relation of the means by which, under the care and favour of a beneficent Providence, the crown of Persia first fell into his hands, and of the maimer in which he subsequently established his authority, by the successive overthrow of the rebels who opposed him, contrasts most strongly, but most favourably, with the usual emptiness of Oriental hyperbole. In addition to these inscriptions at Persepolis and Behistun, we have another record of the royalty of Darius at Hamadan, and the extensive tablets at Naksh-i-Rustam, which have been lately copied, contain further particulars of his descent and territorial acquisitions, together with a last solemn address to the nationality of his countrymen, inscribed by w^ay of epitaph on his rock-hewn sepulchre. The numerous inscriptions of Darius add twenty-five letters of the Persian alphabet to the eleven already obtained from the solitary tablet of Cyrus ; and from their great extent, and the variety of matter wRich they embrace, they enable us also to obtain a very tolerable insight into the orthographical and grammatical structure of the ancient Persian language. “ Cyrus the Great had set the example of appending to his Persian records Babylonian and Median translations ; and Darius adhered to the same method of giving all available publicity to his historic monuments. There is, I believe, only one instance, in the geographical inscription on the southern wall of the great platform of Persepolis, where the Persian wTiting of this monarch appears without its Median and Babylonian adjuncts ; and I have already surmised, that in this particular case the transcript may have been designedly omitted, in order to avoid offensiveness to the subject nations, who are expressly said to have been CHAP. X.] RAWLINSON. 40^ reduced to servitude by the Persians, and who are, perhaps, even stigmatised as enemies. Xerxes, the successor of Darius, in- herited, to a certain extent, his father’s passion for petroglyphy ; but the ambition of perpetuating the victories of the Persian arms, which was the useful and ennobling object of the one, appears to have yielded, in the other, to the mere gratification of personal vanity, redeemed, however, in some degree, by the filial regard which is showm throughout his records to the memory of the monarch who preceded him. His inscriptions at Persepolis, which are sufficiently numerous, are thus devoted almost exclu- sively to the commemoration of the erection of the different edifices which he added to the palace, and at the Medo-Assyrian capital of Van, where there is a legend of somewhat greater length. It is merely to the unsatisfactory purport, that as Darius had failed to leave a memorial of his visit to the city, Xerxes, the son, under similar circumstances, had taken care in his own person to supply the omission. The style of the inscriptions of Xerxes, both in the address to Ormazd, and in the enumeration of the royal titles, is closely imitative of the formula which had been introduced by Darius ; but the thread of independent historic narrative which distinguished the records of the father, appears to have been altogether neglected by the son ; and the preservation, therefore, of the monuments of the latter monarch is almost destitute of general interest “ Posterior to the age of Xerxes, one legend only has been yet discovered. It is found at Persepolis, in duplicate, and is of the highest interest. The tablet, which was first disinterred and copied by Mr. Eich, and for the duplicate of which we are indebted to the researches of Mr. Westergaard, is of the age of Artaxerxes Ochus, and its great value consists in the production which it gives to that monarch of the line of Achaemenian royalty, in a direct descent from Arsames, the grandfather of Darius I have little more to say on the general subject of Cuneiform writing. The Persian character was, no doubt, currently understood at the period of the Greek invasion ; but with the possible exception of the anomalous legend of Tarhi,'^' there is no monument of this class yet known which can be assigned to a later date than the reign of Artaxerxes Ochus. The Parthian monarchs, as it is well known, employed the Greek character on their Western, and the * See note G. at end of chapter. 410 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. Arianian on their Eastern coins, while in the rock inscriptions, which they sparingly executed in the different parts of their dominions, the several varieties of type, adopted either in different ages or by different races, indicate a common and Semitic origin. “We may infer, therefore, that the Persian Cuneiform writing expired with the rule of the Achaemenian kings ; and that the knowledge even of the character was altogether lost before the restoration of Magism, by Ardeshir, the son of Babek. If I could ascertain the precise period of the authorship of the Zendavesta, I might more clearly indicate the era of the final extinction of the ancient writing. Not many centuries could have elapsed between the time of Alexander and the invention of the Zend alphabet, or the language, to which that alphabet was appropriated, would hardly have preserved so much of the structure of the Achseme- nian Persian ; and yet, on the other hand, the compilation of the work of Zoroaster, for which I conclude the alphabet to have been formed, must have taken place apparently at a period when not only the Cuneiform inscriptions were illegible, but when their contents, even, had faded from public memory ; or the priesthood could neither have had the audacity nor the desire to darken authentic history by the distorted and incomplete allusions to Jemshid and the Kayanian monarchs, which are found in the Vendidad Sade, and in the ancient hymns, and which originated those romantic stories regarding Asiatic Empire that have ever since obtained currency in the East.” Such is Major Bawlinson’s account of the results of the dis- covery of the interpretation of one class of Cuneiform writings, viz., that which has been usually and appropriately termed the Persian. For the other classes of the Babylonian, Assyrian, or Median, little had been achieved at the time when he drew his memoir for the Asiatic Society, though many laborious students, such as Mr. Westergaard of Copenhagen, Dr. Hincks of Belfast, and M. Grotefend of Hanover, the son of that distinguished scholar whose early exertions opened the way for the later disco- veries, had been for some time earnestly devoted to the unravelling these complicated characters. As we have already stated, we may now be permitted to believe, that, in this generous race. Major Bawlinson, who has so well proved his patience, ability, and learning, has taken a lead, which no subsequent discoveries will render futile, and that he will show, by his researches CHAP. X.] hamadA:^^. 411 into the more abstruse and difficult characters of ancient Assyria, that he has spoken with the true inspiration of the prophet, when he said, “ that the discoveries that have been already made are but a prelude to others of far greater moment, that will reward the toils of continued investigation.” Note A. — Ante, p. 383. HAMADAN (ECBATANA). M. Bouenouf has published two inscriptions, which were discovered near Hamadan (the ancient Ecbatana). The first was found among the papers of M. St. Martin, after his early and lamented death, having been sent to him for publication some time previously. They are said to have been discovered at a place called Ganj Nam eh, at the foot of Mount Elwend, which overlooks the town of Hamadan. M. Bournouf states, that they were copied by Mr. Steuart, and M. Yidal, the French dragoman at Aleppo, and forwarded by the latter to M. Layard, at Paris. On comparing these inscriptions with those which Dr. Schultz copied at Van, M. Bournouf perceived that the inscriptions from Yan commenced exactly as did these from Mount Elwend, and that both of them related to Xerxes. The inscription copied by Dr. Schultz is larger than the Elwend one ; like it, it is in the three languages ; and the left hand column of both contains the Persepolitan Cuneiform. Dr. Schultz’s inscriptions are named Inscription from Ghourab, in the Castle of Yan,” and “Trilingual inscription of Xerxes, son of Darius, from the south side of the Castle of Yan.” It appears, therefore, that there are, in all, three inscriptions, all but identical, and all evidently referring to the same subject. The inscription of Xerxes, at Persepolis, commences exactly in the same manner as those from Elwend. The inscription at Ganj Nameh has been noticed by many travellers, — by Kinneir, Ker Porter, Morier, and Sir William Ouseley, and the last has copied one of the first lines. It is engraved on an immense block of red granite, of the closest and finest texture, and weighs, according to Sir Kobert Porter, many thousand tons. At full 10 feet from the ground, two square excavations appear on the face of the stone, cut to the depth of a foot, about 5 feet in breadth, and much the same in height. Each of these imperishable tablets contains three columns of engraved arrow-head writing, in the most excellent preservation. Several deep holes appear in the stone, close to the edge of the excavations, showing where iron fastenings have been inserted, to secure crossed bars, or some other shield from outward injury. The natives call these sculptured writings the Ganj Nameh, or. History of the Treasure, which is reserved for him alone by whom it can be deciphered. In these excavations (called niches by M, Yidal and Mr. Steuart) are inscriptions also. The first column of the excavation to the left is the Inscription of Darius ; the second column of that to the right is the one of Xerxes. The inscription of Darius is composed of twenty lines. 412 MNEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. Few places in antiquity have been more celebrated than this Ecbatana, or Hamadan; and many ancient historians have alluded to it in such terms as to show, that it must have been, in its day, one of the greatest cities in the world. Polybius speaks of a royal palace there, and a temple of Anaitis, at the different periods of the visits of Alexander the Great, Seleucus, Antigonus, and Seleucus Nicator ; and describes the city itself as built upon a declivity of the Mount Orontes, or Elwend. He, however, clearly confounds in his narrative what was separately true of the two Ecbatanas, ascribing to the city, now represented by Hamadan, a position in Northern Media, commanding the coasts of the Palus Meeotis and Caspian, which is only true of the northern or Atropatenian capital. Isidore of Charax states that Ecbatana was the treasure city of Media, and speaks of the tombs of the kings and temple of Anaitis. Josephus, Ant. x. 12, attributes the foundation of the royal palace to Daniel, which is not very likely ; but he adds, that it was still, in his time, usual for a Jewish priest to be its guardian, though it is possible that in this notice he is referring to Persepolis. Pliny, vi. 14, attributes the formation of the town to Seleucus ; but where Judith attributes it to Arphaxad, and the Chronicon of Eusebius, who pro- bably followed Herodotus, to Deioces, there can be little doubt that the Ecbatana of Azerbyan must be meant. So, too, where we find notices that under the Parthian rule the palace was transferred from Ecbatana to Rhagae, and in Athenaeus, xii., who states that the Parthian monarchs passed their summer at Rhagae, and the winter at Babylon ; — a remark which is confirmed by Xenophon, Strabo, Plutarch, Eustathius, and others, who affirm, that while Ecbatana was flourishing, the kings of Persia were in the habit of spending their summer there, and their winter at Susa. Mr. Masson, who has surveyed the neighbourhood of modern Hamadan with great care, and who is the latest traveller who has visited that country, has given an interesting account of his visit. “ Before reaching,” says he, the present city of Hamadan, and near the village of Miriam, numerous pillars of very pure white marble are observable, strewed upon the surface of a pasture to the left of the road. The site, of course, merits examination ; for such vestiges can but recall to recollection that we have to look for the remains of the celebrated temple of Diana, for which Ecbatana was so long renowned, and where, as Isidorus has it, Hhey perpetually sacrificed to Anaitis.’ Hamadan is indeed, at present, only a provincial capital, and the glories of Ecbatana have vanished ; yet Mount Orontes still soars above its site, and the memory of its pristine splendour is preserved. Semiramis is asserted by Diodorus to have originated some extraordinary labours for the benefit of Ecbatana, and among them caused a stream of water to be conducted by a channel through Mount Orontes It is known that at a certain spot at Mount Orontes there is a Cuneiform inscription, a record of one of the Achaemenian kings, and at a considerable distance, or five or six miles, from the present city. If the source of the many rivulets of Hamadan be found near this inscription, I should attach credit to the tradition respecting Semiramis, and could understand why the locality, being probably a sacred one, was chosen by a subsequent monarch to engrave his decrees, while otherwise it is difficult to conjecture why a public document should be placed in a situation so remote, that few people CHAP. X.] HAMADA^T. 413 might be supposed to see it, its very object being, that it should be known to all people. The skirts of the hill immediately behind Hamadan are covered with tumuli and the debris of the burial-places of the ancient inhabitants of Ecbatana ; and the irregular surface yields, to the research of the curious and diligent, vast numbers of coins and other reliques. South of the city are also conspicuous mounds, the principal of which, known to the inhabitants as the Treasury of Darab, or Darius, must suggest to the mind of the observer the desire to identify it as the site of the Citadel of Deioces, so vaunted by classical authors. . . . The designation which Isidorus applies to Ecbatana, viz., that of Apobatana, signifies, probably, the parent city, and is expressive of the belief in its high antiquity ; yet as the appellation was a general one, it was also conferred upon other cities ; hence, we have more than one Ecbatana mentioned in classical history. Should Hamadan have a more particular derivation, it may be noticed that Bochart considers Ecbatana as equivalent to the Arabic Aghatha, variously coloured, with reference to the citadel of Deioces encircled with ramparts of various colours ; nor is it improbable that the city may have had different names, being severally called Apobatana, the chief or parent city, and Agbathana (the Greek Ecbatana) the divers-coloured ; but then the genuine Median name remains to be learned, from which the present term, Hamadan, has descended ; and although the Aghatha of Bochart is is not a dissimilar form, yet Agmatha would better suit ; and in cognate dialects with that which we may suppose to have been current in ancient Media, would mean the Fire Temple, or perhaps even the great Temple.” * Major Eawlinson, in his admirable memoir on the Atropatenian Ecbatana, considers the derivation of the name of Ecbatana, suggested by Bochart, to be very fanciful, while he has proved, as we think, to demonstration, that all that is said in ancient authors about the walls of this celebrated place must be referred to the Ecbatana of Azerb jan, and not to that of Greater Media, now called Hamadan. As the determination of the sites of the two Median towns, bearing the same name of Ecbatana, is one of great interest to all students of Oriental geography, we subjoin, in the following note, the sum of Major Kawlinson’s account of the famous town of Northern Media, the more willingly, as the admirable paper, in which his views have been developed, is little known beyond the range of the members of the Eoyal Geographical Society, and the readers of its journal. ♦ Illustration of the route from Seleucia to Apobatana, as given by Isidorus of Charax, by C. Masson, Esq . — Journal of Roy. As. Soc , vol. xii. p. 1. 1849. 414 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. Note B. ECBATANA OF NORTHERN MEDIA, NOW TAKHT-I-SOLEIMAN. The ruins of Takht-i-Soleiman, which have a great celebrity in Persia, were visited by Major Rawlinson in the autumn of 1838. He has given a very full account of them,* which is very interesting. The first view,” says he, of the ruins of Takht-i-Soleiman is certainly striking From a distance they present to view a grey hoary mass of crumbling walls and building encircling a small piece of water of the deepest azure, and bounded by a stony line of wall supported by numerous bastions The hill of Takht-i-Soleiman appears at first as if it were isolated, but this is not strictly the case. On the southern, western, and northern faces, it presents a steep acclivity to the valley ; but, at the north-east and south-east corners, the ground rises gradually ; and, on its eastern face, it is thus very slightly elevated above the country beyond the walls. At the south-west corner I found the height of the hill, by trigonometrical observations, to be 150 feet above the plain, and that of the wall at its summit, where perfect, to be 30 feet, giving a total of 180 feet ; and this may be taken as a general average of height along the three steep faces. The brow of the hill is crowned by a wall, the most perfect part of which is along the southern face, and the most ruinous upon the western. . . . There are the remains of thirty-seven bastions, and the circuit of the wall, measured from point to point of these bastions, is 1330 paces, or a little more than three quarters of a mile. At a few points only, near the gateway on the south-eastern face, is the line of wall perfect ; but where it is perfect, the masonry is shown to be most excellent. The breadth of the wall is 12 feet, the outer facing being composed of hewn blocks of stone, about 14 inches deep, and 2 feet in length, alternating with thin stones laid edgeways and perpendi- cularly between them ; and the whole being fitted with extreme care and nicety. The interior is filled up with huge unhewn blocks imbedded in a lime cement, which is now fully as hard as the stones themselves. The bastions that are now perfect, near the gateway at the south-east corner of the fort, are solid, and taper upwards from the base ; but I cannot think these can be of the same age as the bastion, for they are formed of smaller stones, less accurately fitted ; and, in other parts of the fort, fragments of the old bastions remain, faced with the same huge blocks of hewn stone, which mark the general character of the real ancient building. It appears to me as if the bastions near the gate had been repaired in times comparatively modern. The gateway which faces S. 30° E., is quite perfect. It consists of a single arch 12 feet high and 10 feet wide, and is formed entirely of massive hewn blocks ; a bastion protects it on either side. Above the gateway, and extending from one bastion to the other, is a line of blocks, each carved with a rude representation of an arch, which thus form a sort * Joum. Roy. Geogr. Soc., vol. x. CHAP. X.] TAKHT-I-SOLEIMAlSr. 415 of ornamental frieze to the portal^ and offer the only specimen of ancient sculpture to be found upon the walls. Passing through the gateway, I found myself within the precincts of the deserted city. The first object that attracted my attention was the lake. I found this to be an expanse of water on the highest point of the hill, irregularly shaped, and about 300 paces in circuit. The rocky banks that surround it are formed of a deposit of carbonate of lime, of which the water holds vast quantities in solution; and there can be no doubt that they are daily narrowing, as the calcareous deposit continues. A very short distance from the surface they recede inwards, thus forming a huge incurvated basin for the lake. Sir Robert K. Porter states his belief, that the hill has been formed entirely by deposi- tion from the water ; and this, in very remote antiquity, would seem to have been the case ; for the depth of the water, recently determined by repeated experiments of the Afshar Chief, at 47 Persian yards, agrees, as near as possible, with the height of the hill, ascertained by myself, by the sextant : but still, from the date of the erection of the present wall, the height can have increased but very little ; for so gradual is the slope, from the bank of the lake to the gateway, that the water which flows out of the lake by an artificial outlet, opened within the memory of the old men of the district, can scarcely find its way to the portal, the greater portion lying about in large pools, and adding by its deposit to the great petrified mass. And besides this, the water has long since risen to the highest level which the nature of the fountain will admit. I conclude the lake to be connected by an underground syphon with some other great fountain in the interior of the adjacent mountains, which is precisely of the same level with itself, and which has other means of outlet ; for the great phenomenon of the lake is this, that whatever number of passages may be opened in its rocky edge for the purpose of irrigating the lands below, the lake will be imme- diately filled by a copious discharge of water, which may be kept up for any length of time, without at all affecting the level of the lake ; and if these passages again are closed, so as to prevent the escape of any water, the surface of the lake will still preserve the same level, and the water will never rise enough to overflow the banks. And this same phenomenon was remarked and described by an Oriental writer,* upwards of five hundred years ago. ^^In the traditions of the country it is not believed that there was any outlet for the waters of the lake until about fifty years ago, when the Sh^h Sewend tribe opened two passages, to conduct streams for the irrigation of their lands, at the foot of the hill ; and of course, when the town was inhabited, the people, who could not be ignorant of the petrifying quality of the water, would naturally be careful to prevent its escape. However, after the city was finally ruined, which I believe to have been during the fifteenth or sixteenth century, some great outlets, either by acci- dent or design, must have been opened in its western face ; for, on that side, the whole tract intervening between the lake and the brow of the hill bears evident marks of having been deluged : the surface is one mass of petrifi- * Hamdullah Mostaufi. 416 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. cation ; and the curtain and the bastions, which I conclude to have been already in ruins before the great flow commenced, are entirely covered with the calcareous deposit, lying in huge waves over the prostrate blocks along the crest, and down the slope of the hill, like the hardened surface of a flow of lava from a volcano. The appearance is most singular ; and I can hardly think that the constant flow of water for a century would have been sufficient to produce it. At present, there are two outlets for the water ; the most ancient is at the north-east corner of the lake, where the water pours gently forth through a small aperture in the rocky bank, spreads itself out, and petrifies as it goes along, until it reaches a ruined part of the wall, upon the eastern face of the fort. It here again collects into a narrow bed, flows round one of the bastions upon a high rocky ridge, which it has formed for itself, and then turns ofi* into the country to a little pond, from which it trickles into the plain below. The other outlet is at the point of the lake nearest the gateway. A small portion of the water only, as I have mentioned, reaches the gateway ; and at the time of my visit this portion seemed to be entirely wasted away in a large mass of calcareous rock, a short distance below. Having seen the extraordinary petrifaction upon the western face, I could fancy, that should anything occur to ruin the gateway and adjoining bastions, they might, some centuries hence, present the same appearance ‘^The old opinion was, that this lake was unfathomable. Indeed, an Arabian traveller of the ninth century does not scruple to affirm, that he tried to sound with a line of four thousand yards, and failed in finding any bottom. The assertion is perpetuated in all the geographers, and was believed in the country till last year, when an Afsh^r girl, having thrown herself into the lake, in consequence of disappointment in a love affair, the chief, a very intelligent man, was led to try its depth with a line. The water was so heavy, that the people employed could not tell when they touched the bottom ; but with a line of 60 Persian yards the stone came up covered with mud. They then continued shortening the line with the same result, until at 46 J yards the stone came up clean, having evidently not touched the bottom. The experiment was repeated several times, and the depth of the lake may therefore be considered as ascertained at 47 Persian yards, or about 26 fathoms. The immediate banks of the lake are free from the remains of any buildings ; but, at a short distance from it, a square enclosure of ruins surrounds it on the four sides. The buildings are chiefly of a Mohammedan age, and doubtless belong to the palace erected at this spot by Abekai Kh^n, the Moghul emperor As these ruins are of no interest, and have, moreover, been noticed by Porter, I need not delay with a description. There is one particular mass, however, situated on the northern side of the square, which demands more attention. Porter considered this to be a ruined hamm^m or bath, which scarcely deserved notice ; but after a minute examination I see no reason to doubt its representing the ancient Eire Temple of the province of Adherbijan, which, before the rise of Isl^m, is known to have been one of the most holy places in Persia. Amid the mass of crumbling rubbish, it was not very easy at first to ascertain the original design of the building ; but after some trouble I succeeded. The temple has been a square edifice CHAP. X.] TAKHT-I-SOLEIMAN. 41T of 55 feet. It was built of bricks, admirably baked, and laid in plaster, which seems very much to resemble the Koman cement of the present day. So strong, indeed, is this cement, that in some places where the arch is destroyed, the superincumbent building still remains uninjured, supported merely by the adhesion of the bricks to each other. The outer wall is shown to be 15 feet thick. A high, narrow, vaulted passage within this surrounds the central chamber, and communicates with it by a large, broad arch, upon each of the four faces. This chamber, where the sacred fire was, I conclude, deposited, is supported by massive walls, also 15 feet thick. It is roofed by a circular dome, and measures inside 10 paces square. The central chamber is now filled up with ruin and rubbish to the spring of the arch The interior of the dome in the central chamber is coated with a thick covering of black, which seems to have been caused by the smoke of the sacred fire, burning for centuries upon the altar underneath, ‘^The central chamber is in pretty good preservation, but the outer passage is for the greater part destroyed, and all round the edifice, outside, there are vast heaps of ruins, the debris of buildings attached to the shrine. Above, there, appears to have been a superstructure, to which, in fact, the massive brick walls, below, served as a sort of pediment ; and, that this must have been of great height and solidity, is shown by the foundations of immense hewn blocks of stone that are still seen among the ruins on the top of the domed chamber The only other building within the fortress that appears to have any claim to antiquity, is a small square enclosure of four walls, rudely built of unhewn stone, near the south-western face of the fortifications. Part of the left-hand column of the gateway is still standing, formed of huge blocks of a dark-red stone, which are cut into the shape of an octagon, and are also carved with an ornamental pattern. Two fragments of a shaft are standing erect in front of the gateway ; two others are lying on the ground near it : and within the walls there are also two bases or capitals, for it is not easy to distinguish which, — all formed of the same dark-red stone, that is not to be met with in any other part of the ruins. I looked with interest down the slope of the hill for the remains of other walls besides the one that runs along the crest, but I searched in vain. There are certainly not at present any traces of a wall, except the upper one ; nor do I think that there ever could have been any upon the slope of the hill The common popular tradition regarding the ruins of Takht-i- Soleiman ascribes the foundation of the palace to Solomon the son of David. He is believed to have here held his regal court, and to have invited the Queen of Sheba, whom the Easterns name Balkis, to visit him in the Takht from her palace in the city of Ushnei. A remarkable ruin is shown upon the highest peak of the mountains, bearing N.E. from Takht-i- Soleim§;n, which is named Takht-i-Balkis, and is supposed to have been built by Solomon for the summer residence of the Queen But, perhaps, the most singular of all the natural curiosities in the vicinity is the place named Zind5,n Soleimt,n, or Solomon’s prison. This is a small conical hill, at the distance of a mile and a half from the Takht, in the direction N. 70° W. It rises up very steeply from the plain, and the summit is crowned by a scarped rocky crest, which is rather difficult E E 418 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. to ascend. On scaling this crest, I found myself on the brink of a most terrific basin, into which it made me at first almost giddy to look. The explanation of this singular place was at once apparent. A petrifying spring, similar to that at the Takht, must at one time have here burst from the ground. It must have given birth to the entire hill, rising from the pressure of the great interior fountain, as it gradually formed by its deposit a rocky basin to contain the waters ; and, at last, when the basin had risen to its present enormous height above the plain, some great natural convul- sion must have cut off the supply of water, causing the level of the great fountain to fall at the same time to the height, at which the Lake of the Takht appears to remain in equilibrium. I can only suppose that this great convulsion opened an outlet for the water at the Takht before the formation of that hill or basin ; for otherwise it seems impossible to under- stand, how the waters of the Zind^n could have risen so much higher than the level, at which they remain stationary at the Takht. The summit of the Zind^n is certainly 200 feet, probably more, above the level of the lake upon the Takht. The shape of the basin is nearly circular, and it measures about 40 yards in diameter.” Such is Major Rawlinson’s account of his visit to the remarkable ruin, which, he believes, represents the site of the once famous city of Deioces, the Ecbatana of Atropatene, and the most ancient capital of Media. Major Rawlinson has, in a subsequent essay, examined with great learning the fragments of history bearing upon this curious discovery ; and as we think he has completely made out the fact he wishes to prove, we shall lay before our readers some of the reasons which have led him to assign the Atropatenean Ecbatana to this apparently obscure ruin. In his attempt to identify these ruins. Major Rawlinson commences with the latest authorities, the Oriental writers. From them he proceeds through the Byzantine historians to the period of the Greek and Roman empires, and, thence, upwards to the dark period of early Median history. He shows, from the appearance of the ruins, that the present state of desolation can hardly be of later date than the invasion of Timtir; for it was a flourishing city not long before that time, as is manifest from an account of it in Hamdullah Mostaufi, who wrote shortly subsequent to a.d. 1389. This account mentions the lake or reservoir which was so deep, that divers could not reach its bottom ; and the restoration of the palace, by Abakai Khan, the Moghol king, who died in a.d. 1281. The district in which it was situated is there called Anjerud; its present name is Angurdn, and the two would seem to correspond. Hamdullah calls the Moghul name of the place Satfirik. There can be little doubt that this word has been softened down into the modern pronunciation Sartik, the name of the river at the Takht. As for the modern name of Takht-i-Soleim^n, Major Rawlinson gives reasons for believing that it is due to a king of Kurdistan, in the early part of the thirteenth century, called Soleiman Shah Abuh. Previous to the Moghuls, the city is universally named in all Oriental writers Shiz, and the accounts, which they have preserved, identify it with the present ruins. Thus Zakariya Kasvini, in his Ath^ro-l-beldan, says that Shiz is a city in Azerbijan, between Maraghah and Zenj^n, containing an unfathomable lake, the banks of which are petrified, and a fire-temple, from CHAP. X.] TAKHT-I-SOLEIMAN. 419 which the fire is conveyed to all other places in the world ; and another author, quoted by Zakariya, speaks to the same effect, and states that the temple of Azereksh is attributed to Zeratusht (Zoroaster), the founder of the Magian religion. The account in Hamdullah Mostaufi, from his own personal knowledge, is full, graphic, and correct. He mentions incidentally El-Shiz, which he calls a small town which formerly contained the fire-temple of Azerekhsh. Major Rawlinson next shows that the Shiz of the Orientals is the Can- zaca of the Byzantine authors. The evidence depends on a careful exami- nation of the march of the Roman general Narses with Khosru Purviz against Behram, as detailed by Theophylact, who was defeated and driven across the Oxus. It is too geographical to admit of condensation for a popular work like this ; but we may state that we think Major Raw- linson has satisfactorily shown that the Roman army, marching from the Tigris near Nineveh, pursued the great line of communication by Rowandiz and the pass of Keli-Shin, and finally occupied the capital city of Behram, which the Eastern writers have called Shiz. The identification is rendered still more complete by the comparison of the accounts of the Eastern authors. Most of these state that the final and decisive battle took place in Azer- bij§-n ; and two authors, the most ancient and the most authentic, distinctly mention Shiz, at that time the capital of that district, as the scene of the action between the rival armies. The first, Asmai, (the preceptor of Harun al Reshid,) mentioning the occupation of the capital of Khosru, says, that the king went on till he arrived at the city of Shiz, where there was a very great fire-temple, which remains to this day, and that he remained con- stantly at prayer in this temple, while he ordered his army to form an intrenched camp ; the other, the celebrated Tabari, who mentions the arrival of Khosru with the Roman legions at Shiz, a large city of Azerbijan, containing a great fire-temple of the Magi, which (it is not clear whether he means the city or the temple) is now no longer in existence.” Major Rawlinson adds, that in one MS. of Saban he finds, that Khosru is said after the battle to have moved from G^h to Modain. It seems that G^h here denotes the place which is elsewhere called Shiz, which, on the suppo- sition that one letter has been dropped by the transcriber, would restore the name to Gazeh, for which the word Canzaca is nothing else but an Armenian modification. It is very remarkable that Firdatisi, in speaking of the same battle, called the place where it occurred Ganjak, or Kanjak, (the Z; and the g being undistinguishable in Persian,) a title which is evi- dently identical with the Armenian Kandzag and the Greek Kanzaca, while he gives the name of Azer Geshesp to the famous fire- temple of Kanjag, where Khosru fulfilled his religious vows preparatory to the engagement. Procopius, in his history of the war between Justinian and Ntishirw^n, and Theophanes, in his narrative of the campaigns of Heraclius, both speak of the fire-temples of Azerbijan; and the latter author says definitely, Heraclius took possession of Canzaca, that city of the East which con- tained the fire-temple and the treasuries of Croesus king of Lydia, and the imposture of the burning coals and Cedrenus adds, When the emperor entered the city, he found the abominable image of Chosroes, a figure of the king, enthroned beneath the globular dome of the palace, as though he E E 2 420 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. were seated in the heavens ; around him were emblems of the sun, and moon, and stars, to which, in his superstition, he seemed to offer adoration as if to gods ; while sceptre-bearing angels ministered on every side, and curiously wrought machines distilled drops of water, to represent the falling rain, and uttered roaring sounds in imitation of the peals of thunder. All these things the emperor consumed with fire, and at the same time he reduced to ashes the temple and the entire city.” Major Rawlinson has illustrated the history of the fire- temples of Azerbi- j§/U, of which there were more than one, by an elaborate examination of the records of the Oriental writers themselves. The original foundation of the temple the majority of Eastern authors ascribe to Kai Khosru, or Cyrus; and it is a curious fact that, in Greek history, the Median Ecbatana was the scene of the strange events which marked the childhood of the great Cyrus. Hero- dotus, also, remarks, that he returned to it after his Lydian campaign, and he doubtless did deposit there, in his impregnable citadel, the captured spoils of Croesus, before he set out again on his expedition against Babylon. Ham- dullah repeats the tradition which attributes the foundation of the city to Kai Khosru : and, in another MS., Major Rawlinson finds it mentioned that Ntishirwan embellished the city of Shiz, which had for many years pre- served the jewelled throne of Kai Khosru, and which, on the sack of the city by the Arabs, was thrown for security into the fathomless lake. These are so many points of evidence connecting Ecbatana, Canzaca, and Shiz. The accounts which may be presumed to refer to this city during the Arsacidan period are very scanty ; but, during the Sassanian ages, we have frequent mention of the temple of Azerbijan. Bahram Gfir seems to have especially honoured it; for, on returning from his Turkish wars, he consecrated to it the rich and varied spoils of the enemy, and the captive wife of the Scythian king was attached to the temple as a menial. The place is named indifferently the temple of Azerbijan and the temple of Azergeshesp. In the reign of Nushirwan it was the object of especial reverence ; and Procopius speaks fully on this subject. Firdausi describes with some details the visit of that king to the city, and the muni- ficent offerings which he lavished on the temple and its guardians ; and the Ajaibo’l Makhliikat notices the embellishment by Nushirwan of the throne of Kai Khosru at Shiz, thereby affording additional evidence for the connecting of the original traditions of Cyrus at Ecbatana, the establishment of the court of Chosroes or Nushirwan in the city of Azerbijan, and the Byzantine tales of the treasures of Croesus, which were deposited in the citadel of Canzaca. The inference is, that these various names must neces- sarily refer to the same place. Major Rawlinson devotes many pages to the examination of the march of Narses, to which we have already alluded, and makes remarks of the utmost value on the comparative geography of the country between Van and Shiz. Such investigations, however, though very interesting, are too learned and intricate for a work such as this, and we are there- fore most unwillingly compelled to omit them. Heraclius is said to have entirely destroyed the town and temple ; but this could hardly have been the case, as he states in his own letter that, on his second visit, he pitched his camp on its outskirts, and took possession of the town, which con- CHAP. X.] TAKHT-I-SOLEIMAK 421 tained about three thousand houses. It is probable that the fort on the hill contained only the palace, temple, and surrounding buildings, which were distinct from the city. The town of Canzaca is not mentioned on the subjugation of Azerbijari by the Arabs, and Major Rawlinson is hence led to infer that it retained its metropolitical character during the two first centuries of Islam, and that it at length declined before the rising greatness of Maraghah. The Muhammedan religion gradually superseded the worship of fire in all parts of Persia except Pars, Seistan, and the Caspian provinces ; and the desola- tion of this temple is probably to be assigned to about the early part of the ninth century. Having established beyond all reasonable doubt the identity of Takht-i-Suleiman, Shiz, and Canzaca, Major Eawlinson proceeds to show, in our judgment, equally satisfactorily, that St. Martin’s conjecture that Tabriz was the seat of the great fire-temple is fallacious. He then mentions such notices as he finds of this ancient city before the sixth century a.d., in which, as we have observed, Procopius states that it was still the capital of Azerbijan. Two centuries earlier, at the time of the inva- sion of Julian, Ammianus Marcellinus names Canzaca as one of the most considerable cities of Media. Earlier still, about a. d. 297, Tiridates, the first Christian king of Armenia, was rewarded for his fidelity to the Roman arms by the annexation of the satrapy of Atropatene. Moses of Chorene, who wrote his Armenian history about a. d. 445, states that Tiridates, visit- ing his newly-acquired territory of Azerbijan, repaired the fortifications of the place, which was named the second Ecbatana, or the seven-walled city, and leaving there his own officers, returned to Armenia.” Sixty-five years after this visit, Ammianus calls the same place Gazaca ; while it is evident, from Stephanus Byzantinus, that it possessed this name long before the age of Tiridates; and we have distinct evidence that Ardeshir Babegan, the founder of the Sassanian dynasty, re-edified the city of Canzaca. Major Eawlinson next shows that, during the Parthian empire, Phraates, Praaspa, Yera, Gaza, and Gazaca are names used indifferently for one and the same city, and that the descriptions in the various ancient authors, who speak of Antony’s famous invasion of Media Atropatene, clearly show that they refer to the strong position of Takht-i-Suleiman ; a result of analytical acumen and of geographical investigation, which makes this admirable memoir more remarkable and interesting than any which we have ever hitherto met with. Having now sketched the history of this place to the time of the Par- thians, it remains to be shown that the capital of Media Atropatene was in the most ancient periods really called Ecbatana. ITow, it would appear that the dynasty founded by Arbaces is different from that which owed its origin to Deioces, above a century later ; and that this distinction of the two fami- lies, involving also a distinction of two Median kingdoms, affords probable evidence of there having been two Median capitals of the name of Ecbatana. Arbaces, it is stated by Ctesias, after the capture and destruction of Hineveh, conveyed the treasures of Assyria to Ecbatana, the seat royal of Media ; and the description evidently refers to Hamadan, the royal city of Greater Media. Again, the narrative of Herodotus is peculiarly interesting and curious. He states that the Medes, (by which we must understand the inhabitants of Media Atropatene, as Artaeus was at this time on the throne 422 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLTS. [chap. X. of Greater Media,) after their revolt, finding the evils of living without laws or government, unanimously elected Deioces, a native Median, to be their king ; that he accepted the office imposed on him ; and that his subjects, at his command, then built and fortified a city named Agbatana, with seven circular walls, so contrived, that each inner circle should overtop its outer neighbour by the height of the battlements alone. This was effected partly by the nature of the ground, a conical hill, and partly by the building itself. In the centre was the palace and the treasury. Each circle of battlements had its own colour : the outermost was white, the next black, the third scarlet, the fourth blue, the fifth orange, all brilliantly coloured with different paints, the sixth was gilt with silver, and the seventh with gold. Herodotus adds, that the circumference of the outer wall was almost equal to that of Athens. Many other authors speak of its size. Thus Dion Chrysost. says it was 200 stadia round ; Aristides, a day’s march : Dion Halicarn. compares it to that of Rome; Plutarch, to that of Syracuse, which Strabo says was 180 stadia. The book of Judith gives a particular description of its walls ; and, though Polybius says it was unwalled, he adds that its citadel was wonderfully built for strength. Herodotus shows with equal clearness the position of this city, which, as the capital of Media Atropatene, must have been in Azerbijan. The pastures,” he says, where they kept the royal cattle, were at the foot of the mountains north of Agbatana, towards the Euxine Sea. In this quarter, toward the Sapires, Media is an elevated country, filled with mountains, and covered with forests, while the other parts of the province are open and champaign.” These mountains, north of Agbatana, are frequently mentioned by Hero- dotus, in his episode on the birth and education of Cyrus, as immediately contiguous to the city ; and the indication of the Sapires and the Euxine Sea applying to them, will necessarily fix the position of the capital of Deioces, as far as Herodotus was himself aware of it, in the northern and moun- tainous division of the province of Media Atropatene, distinguished from the champaign country of Media Magna to the south. There seems no other spot in the province which will suit the description of Herodotus so well as this of Takht-i-Suleiman, and the conical hill surrounded by walls is a marked and natural feature, which exists nowhere else in Azerbijan. The story of the seven walls is one of Sabsean origin, and the seven colours are precisely those which are used by the orientals to denote the seven great heavenly bodies, or the seven climates in which they revolve. Thus Nizami describes a seven-bodied palace built by Bahram Gtir nearly in the same terms as Herodotus. The palace dedicated to Saturn, he says, was black ; that of Jupiter, orange, or more strictly, of sandal-wood colour; of Mara scarlet, of the Sun golden, and Yenus white ; of Mercury azure, and of the Moon green, a hue which is applied by the orientals to silver. Major Raw- linson doubts the actual existence of seven concentric walls at any period, or that they were ever painted or gilt, but thinks that it is quite possible that the city may have been dedicated to the seven heavenly bodies, and, perhaps, some particular portion of it assigned to the protection of each, with some coloured device emblematic of the tutelary divinity. So late as the third century of our era we have seen that Ecbatana was still called the seven-walled city. Herodotus may have gathered what he relates from CHAP. X.] TAKHT-I-SOLEIMAN-. 423 Medians whom he met at Babylon : as to the size of the city, he must have been grossly deceived. Major Rawlinson considers that the Airyana Yaedjo of the Zend A vesta may probably be identified with Azerbijan ; and some of the notices in the Yendidad bear a striking similarity with the descriptions we have given of the citadel of Deioces. After mentioning the general character of the climate of Airyana, the severity of its winters, the snowy moun- tains, the beauty and fertility of the plains and valleys on the melting of the snow in the spring, and the universal verdure produced by the rills descending from the circumjacent mountains, the narrative states, that Jemshid (whom Yon Hammer identifies with Deioces) erected at Yar a fortress formed of square blocks of stone, assembling in the place a vast population, and stocking the surrounding country with cattle for their use. He caused the water of the great fortress to flow forth abundantly. The soil was rich, and produced all that could be desired, and the enamelled fields scattered around delightful odours : the country was excellent, and resembled heaven. And within the Yar, or fortress, Jemshid erected a lofty palace encompassed by walls, and laid it out in many separate divi- sions, and there was no high place, either in front or rear, to command and overawe the fortress. The surrounding country he peopled abundantly, and placed in the most flourishing condition ; and he applied himself to perfect Yar-afshavg, or the Yar, abounding in all things.” The natural beauty of the surrounding scenery in the spring and summer, and the intense severity of the winter, are marks peculiar at this day to this part of Azerbijan ; while an incidental notice of the Yendidad, that Ahriman caused to appear in the river which watered that district a great snake, which aiflicted its hitherto genial climate with the severest horrors of winter, is hardly less curious, when we remember the many stories of this nature connected with the Median dynasty, from its bearing the family name of Azdehac, or the Dragon, and when we see that, at the present day, a ridge of rock, formed by the calcareous deposit of the water, retains this very title of The Dragon.” Major Rawlinson thinks these points of identification so remark- able, that he believes that the Yendidad must have been written in the reign of Ar deshir Babegan by Magian priests, who were familiar with the localities, and who had received traditional accounts of the real ancient foundation of the city by the Median king Deioces. The name Vdr is to be applied exclusively to the citadel; its original root is the Sanscrit Yara, signifying ^^encompassing, surrounding and, in all succeeding ages, the name was applied either as a proper title, or in its general signification of a fortress, to this citadel of Ecbatana. Thus we have the Zend Var, the jSdpis of the Greeks, which is always applied to denote the treasury-citadel of Ecbatana ; the Yera of Strabo, applied to the Median fortress attacked by Antony ; the Balaroth, or Yara-rfid (the river of Yara) of Theophylact ; and the /Sapicrjuay, or Keeper of the Baris, which is used by the emperor Heraclius in reference to the governor of this very fortress of Canzaca. The Persian Barfi, a wall of fortification,” is of course referable to the same root ; and it is curious that this root should assimilate so nearly to the words employed in the Semitic languages, Bireh in Hebrew, Birtha in Syriac, and Birentha in Chaldee, also denoting an embattled citadel. 424 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. About the origin of the name Agbatana, there is considerable doubt ; for it does not seem probable that, as has been suggested by some, the name of a city in Azerbijan should be derivable from a Semitic root. Be it, how- ever, what it may, it seems certain that the name was applied exclusively to cities which contained the royal treasures. We have distinct evidence that in both of the Median Agbatanas were deposited the treasures of the king. The Persian Ecbatana of Pliny and Josephus must be the treasure- citadel of Persepolis ; and there are grounds for supposing a treasury to have existed in the strong position of the Syrian Ecbatana upon Mount Carmel ; and if there ever were an Assyrian city of this name, the castle of Amadiyah, which, according to Mr. Rich, retains the local title of Ekba- dan, — a notice confirmed by Mr. Layard, from information he obtained during his late visit to that district, and which is besides the strongest fortress in Kurdistan, — will best suit the indication. If this theory be true, and there seems no reason to doubt it, the change of the name of the town is imme- diately explainable : the exotic Ecbatana was translated under a native dynasty into its vernacular synonym, Gaza, (in modern Persian, Ganj,) and the modification, which the name further experienced, to the Armenian forms of Gazaca, Canzaca, and Kandsag was, as we have seen, perpetuated to the ages of its latest decadence. The Greeks, as we know, uniformly stated that their own word Gaza (meaning a treasure) was of Persian origin. The root is indeed Semitic, but was, probably, very early naturalised in Persia. Major Rawlinson considers that the evidence of the Book of Tobit is equally decisive of the application of the title of Ecbatana to the Atropate- nian city. In the reign of Deioces, it would appear that Tobias was sent by his father from Nineveh to Rhages. Between these two capitals, there must have been in all ages two routes, on each of which stood a Median city called Ecbatana, and which are each marked, at the present day, by many undoubted monuments of the greatest antiquity. On the direct route to the Atropatenian Ecbatana we have, first, the mound at Arbela ; the pillars with Cuneiform inscriptions at Sidek and Keli-Shm ; the village of Haik on the eastern descent of the mountains, preserving the name of the Armenian patriarch ; the very remarkable artificial Teppeh, in the plain of Soldfiz, on which is built the fortress of Nakhodeh ; the tomb and the other remains at Inderkesh, near S6-tij-B61tik ; the ruined bridge at Kiz Kopri ; and, lastly, Takht-i'Suleiman. On the other route we have Arbela ; the naphtha-pits at Kerkuh, mentioned by Strabo, Plutarch, Q. Curtius, and Ptolemy, alluded to in the sacred writings of the Brahmans, and still sometimes visited by devotees from India ; the famous But Khaneh, or idol temple on the skirts of the plains of Shehrizfir ; the ruined city of Hurin ; the sculpture at Sheikhan ; the arch at the gates of Zagros ; Baghistane, or Bisutun ; the temple of Kengavar ; and the Ganjnameh, in the defile leading to Hamadan. A comparison of the stages mentioned in Tobit with the Menzils of the present day can leave no doubt that the Atropatenian is the city which Tobias visited, while, on the other hand, the distances between Nineveh and Hamadan will not in the least correspond. Major Rawlinson then enters into an investigation of the names Arphaxad in Judith, and Phraortes in Herodotus, upon which it is not necessary for us to dwell, though the illustrations which he has given are not less curious than interesting. CHAP. X.] TAKHT-I-SOLEIMAK 425 There seems some difficulty in determining to which of the Ecbatanas the passage in Ezra really applies. Yet, as everything tends to show the attachment of Cyrus to his native city, rather than to the stranger capital of Greater Media, Major Eawlinson is inclined to think that he depo- sited there, in his Y^r, or fortress, the famous decree relating to the Jews, along with the other records and treasures of his empire. It is worth noticing, that in the Hebrew, Syriac, and Greek, the words used to denote this treasure-house, Genzi^, Gezi,, and Gaza, all recall to mind the Gaza of Atropatene ; even though the succeeding verse, And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace, that is, in the province of the Medes,” might seem to point out, in the resemblance to the modern pronunciation of Hamadan, the capital city of Media Magna. The Cuneiform inscriptions found at Ganjnameh leave no doubt that the Southern Ecbatana was the capital in the time of Darius Hystaspes. The Median Agdabata of jEschylus might refer to either, though an epithet, applied to this city by the Scholiast, in the Persae, v. 927, leads to the inference that the Northern City was really intended. The name of the district was derived from Atrapates, the Satrap of this portion of Media under the last Darius, who is always termed by the histo- rians of Alexander’s campaigns, the Satrap of Media, the Governor of Media, the leader of the Medes ; and whose sagacious conduct preserved his own country from being overrun by the invading Greeks, at the time that all central and southern Asia was compelled to submit to the arms of the Conqueror, and enabled him to transmit the peaceful inheritance of it to a long line of illustrious descendants. Though the supporter of the cause of Darius, in the fatal battle of Arbela, and his protector in his flight through Azerbijan into Greater Media, he seems to have remained, unha- rassed, in the security of his native fastnesses. In the time of Antiochus the Great, the kings of Atropatene became, and continued afterwards, tributary to the Seleucidan empire ; and^after his death, on the extension of the Parthian empire, it is probable that Atropatene, like the sister kingdoms of Hyrcania and Elymais, though virtually independent, were still obliged to acknowledge the feudal supremacy of the King of Kings. In the Mithridatic war, the king of Media took no part ; but when Lucullus marched against Tigranes, Darius, the king of Atropatene, brought a powerful contingent to aid the Armenian monarch. The general consent of the historians implies that Pompey, some years later, conquered this province ; and Orosius states that he entered Parthia, and advanced as far as Ecbatana, its capital, which must be the northern, and not the southern city of that name, which Orosius himself supposed. Lastly, Artavasdes, or Artabazus, the son of this Darius, was, at the period of Antony’s invasion, seated on the throne of Northern Media, and holding his court at the capital of Praaspa, a name which, we think. Major Eawlinson has also succeeded in showing must be identical with the Gaza of Persian writers. Major Eawlinson concludes the valuable memoir, from which we have condensed such portions as we conceived might admit of popular statement, but of which every line is deserving of careful perusal and study, in the following words : I have shown that Herodotus describes the capital of Media Atropatene, under the name Ecbatana, with certain traits of descrip- 426 [chap. X NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. tive character, only applicable to the ruins of Takht-i-Siileim^n ; that the same place is called in the book of Tobit Charran, which title I have suc- ceeded in tracing down through various fields of evidence to the time of the Arabs, by whom the city occupying the site of Takht-i-Suleim^n was still named Arran, identical with Charran in its latest stages of existence; that the ancient Persian name of Yar, also attached to the castle of this city of Deioces, was preserved in the Greek Vera, the distinctive epithet of the fortress besieged by Mark Antony at Takht-i-Suleiman ; that Gaza, the- more familiar appellation of the Atropatenian capital, is but the transla- tion of its ancient name, Ecbatana ; that Alexander and his officers, fail- ing to penetrate to this city, failed also to discover its distinction from the Ecbatana of Greater Media; that the confusion of all subsequent geography is to be referred to this source; that later authors preserve notices of Ecbatana, which can only be explained by their application to the Atropatenian capital of that name, — the authors themselves, at the same time, appearing in their ignorance to refer them to the other city ; that this connected series of ambiguous allusions to the Ecbatana of Northern Media continues from the point, where we lose sight of the city, under a distinct and positive form of evidence, up to the period when the capital having changed its name, becomes familiar to the Romans under the title of Gaza ; and here I close the most ancient, and, consequently, the most difficult part of the inquiry. The next stage of the inquiry takes up the argument at the period of Antony’s Median War; it connects all the notices which occur in classic authors, of the Atropatenian capital, between this era and the extinction of the Parthian monarchy ; it assumes, as a natural inference, strengthened by an accumulation of inductive evidence, all tending to the same point, that this capital must necessarily occupy the same position as the one which has been hitherto traced under the name of Ecbatana ; and, in show- ing the application to the site of Takht-i-Suleiman of all the recorded measurements, and all the illustrative evidence of the period, it at the same time verifies the preceding argument, and passes on from the great question of the identification of the Ecbatana of Deioces, to the more tangible epoch of the Sassanian dynasty. In the third stage of the inquiry, the great object is to establish a con- nection between the Byzantine account of the Atropatenian capital and the Oriental notices of the same city ; and this is effected by showing the events assigned by one party to Canzaca, to be described in the annals of the other, as occurring in the great city of Shiz ; and by detailing the evidence, common to both parties, of the famous temple that contained the most sacred fire of the Persians being situated in this city of Canzaca or Shiz, which was the capital of the province of Azerbij^n. There are, besides, several measurements, and other traits of evidence in this period of history, which uniformly accord in their applicability to the site of Takht-i- Suleiman, and thus tend most forcibly to strengthen and to consolidate all the preceding parts of the argument. The inquiry is then brought to a close by the verification of the posi- tion of the Arabian Shiz in modern geography. The detached account of this place, which I have extracted from the work of Zakariya Kazvini, com- CHAP. X.] KELI-SHIN. 427 pared with my own personal observations of the ruins of Takht-i-Suleim^n, cannot leave the shadow of a doubt as to the identity of the two places ; and I believe that, in the connection and in the result of these four points of analysis, a difficulty is thus solved, which, for want of a little attention and correct topographical knowledge, has continued to the present day the great problem of Asiatic comparative geography ; and which, in the obscu- rity which it has hitherto cast over the map of ancient Persia, has presented one of the chief impediments to the spread of this interesting and instruc- tive science.” Note C, PASS AND PILLAR OF KELI-SHfN. In the previous note we have spoken of the pass and cuneiform inscription at Keli-Shin ; and, as the history of this ancient monument is very curious, we subjoin the account which Major Rawlinson has given of it in a visit he paid to it in October and November, 1838, on a journey from Tabriz to Takht-i-Suleiman. With the object of investigating the site of the Atropate- uia.u Ecbatana, he passed some days at Ushnei on the south-west side of the lake Urumiyah. While there he determined to ascend the chain of the Kurdistan mountains, which on the west separate Kurdistan and the plains of Mesopotamia from Azerbijan and the Lake Urumiyah. At the summit of the pass is a famous pillar, called the Keli-Shin, which is highly venerated by the native people, and which, he thought, might probably commemorate the course of some ancient army, or mark the line of communication between the East and West. The place, he states, is exceedingly difficult to reach, as well from the ferocity of the wild tribes of Rowandiz, on the Kurdistan side of the mountains, as from the natural difficulties of the mountain chain itself. " The only times at which it can be ascended, are the first fortnight in October, and the last in March. Major Rawlinson was himself ten days too late ; and the friendly Khan of Ushnei, on the Persian side of the mountain, did all he could to dissuade him from attempting to ascend the mountain. He was, however, deter- mined that nothing should stop him but the absolute impracticability of the ascent. '' This morning, accordingly,” says he, “ when the weather fortu- nately cleared, and the wind, which had been blowing furiously for the two preceding days, appeared to have exhausted itself, I set out, attended by two horsemen well mounted, well wrapped up, and with every defence against the snow-drift, which, I was told, I should certainly encounter at the summit. For five miles I wound slowly up the face of the mountain, pursuing a broad open track, neither steep nor difficult, along the range of a huge shoulder, which juts out of the great range. At this point I entered the snow, and the difficulties commenced. The ravines which indented the shoulder became, as we ascended higher, clothed with snow, and in one of them we narrowly escaped being engulphed. At length, however, alter- nately riding and walking, as the nature of the ground admitted, we reached a more open part of the mountain, and then pushing rapidly on, gained the 428 NINEVEH AND PEBSEPOLIS. [chap. X. summit of the pass, exactly in four hours from leaving the fortress at its foot. The distance I should judge to be about ten miles, and the direction from the town of Ushnei, the fort lying just in the line, was S. 60° W. I here found, upon a little eminence by the side of the road, and nearly at the highest point of the pass, the famous Keli-Shin, the stories of which had long excited my curiosity. I have already alluded to the danger of traversing this pass : it arises not so much from the depth of snow (for an active mountaineer, by threading his way along the most exposed points can generally avoid this difficulty) as from the violent and deadly drifts which keep continually sweeping over the face of the mountains during the greater part of the winter months. These drifts come on so suddenly, and with such terrific fury, that a traveller who is once fairly caught in them, will rarely escape ; and, as at the same time the pass of Keli-Shin is the only line of communication between Persia and Rowandiz, and parties are thus found at all seasons who are bold enough to attempt to traverse it, a winter is never known to elapse without several persons being here lost in the snow. From the frequency of these accidents, an extraordinary degree of dread and mystery is attached to the pass ; and in the supersti- tion of the Kurds this feeling connects itself with the Talisman of Keli- Shin, which is supposed to have been created by some potent magician, to afiford the means of protection against danger, but which, its use being now unknown, only serves to lure fresh victims to destruction. The Keli-Shin is a pillar of dark blue stone, 6 feet in height, 2 feet in breadth, and 1 foot in depth, rounded ofif at the top and at the angles, and let into a pediment, consisting of one solid block of the same sort of stone, 5 feet square, and 2 feet deep. On the broad face of the pillar fronting the east, there is a cuneiform inscription of forty-one lines, but no other trace of sculpture or device to be seen. I had come prepared to take a copy of this inscription ; but, much to my regret, I found this now to be quite impracticable. On breaking away the sheet of icicles with which the surface of the stone was covered, the upper half of the inscription was shown to be irrecoverably obliterated, and the lower half also to be so much destroyed, that except under a very favourable aspect of the sun, (soon after sunrise, when the rays would be projected with a slight obliquity on the writing,) it would be impossible to distinguish half-a-dozen consecutive letters. An impression on moist paper was also, of course, impracticable, when the thermometer stood at twenty degrees below freezing point. So I could do no more than copy a few characters, to determine the class of writings to which the inscription belongs ; and measure the dimensions of the pillar. And even in this I was much hurried by the guide whom I brought with me ; for the wind had been gradually rising, and another half-hour, he assured me, would bring on one of the fatal drifts. I thus only delayed to take a few bearings, and have one glimpse from the point of the pass, of the magnifi- cent mountain scenery in the direction of Rowandiz ; and we turned our horses’ heads, and made the best of our way along the road which we had opened in our ascent. The wind came howling after us ; but the drift had not fairly set in until we were near the verge of the snow, where there was no longer any danger CHAP. X.] KELI-SHIN. 429 At the distance of five hours from the pass which I ascended, there is a precisely similar pillar, denominated also Keli-Shin, (in Kurdish, the blue pillar), upon the summit of the second range which overlooks the town and district of Sidek. This also is engraved with a long cuneiform inscription ; and as it is said to be in far better preservation than the one at TJshnei, it would be very desirable to examine and copy it. But the chief value I attach at present to these two interesting relics of antiquity, is the deter- mination which they afibrd of a great line of communication existing in ancient days across the range of mountains. This line could only have been used to connect two great capitals ; and these capitals must then necessarily have been Kineveh and Ecbatana ; and while we thus derive from the establishment of so curious a point a geographical indication of some consequence, we are also able to verify the line, as well from the evidence of history, as from the experience of modern times. The Christian clergy of the present day, in travelling from M6sul to Urumiyah, always follow this line I cannot doubt, indeed, but that in the frequent intercourse which took place about that period (the thirteenth century) between the churches of Assyria and Azerbijan, the direct route across the mountains of Rowandiz was the one uniformly followed. From Ushnei it conducted by the Keli- Shin to Sidek, from Sidek to Rowandiz, from Rowandiz to Herir, and from Herir it debouched into the plain country of Arbil. During the troubles of modern times, the track has been closed against the transit of merchandise; but Ali Pasha, in his late attack upon this country, found it practicable for artillery, a long way beyond Herir ; and on the Persian side it is known to be open to guns almost to the very fort of Rowandiz. I learnt from the Kurds that the only really difficult part is between Rowandiz and Herir. In the meagre accounts of the Byzantine historians, I believe that I can trace the steps both of Heraclius and Khosrau Perwiz along this route, in their marches between Kineveh and Azerbijan ; and Ptolemy, perhaps, indicates the same line in a series of names which he connects from east to west between the 37th and 38th degrees of latitude. Ascending to a higher antiquity, this must have been the road described to Xenophon, when he was at the foot of the Carduchian mountains, as leading in an easterly direction to Ecbatana, and from thence to Susa ; and it probably was first formed into a great line of communication not many centuries before that period, when the rise of the Median empires followed on the destruction of Hineveh. That the inscriptions of the two Keli-Shins are referable to a Median dynasty, I think there can scarcely be a question ; the writing is in the Median character — the position upon the Median frontier. That the pillars were erected on the occasion of some great triumphal march, may also be reasonably admitted ; but whether by Arbaces, when he was con- veying the captured treasures of Sardanapalus to the Median citadel of Ecbatana, at Hamadan, or by Cyaxares, on his return into Media Atropa- tene, from the second destruction of Nineveh, cannot, of course, be deter- mined, until the Median writing shall be as well illustrated as the Persian, and one of the inscriptions shall have been thus correctly translated.” Major Rawlinson adds, in a note, that ^^the ancient monuments of 430 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. Persia, whether inscriptions, sculptures, ruined palaces, temples, or bridges, only occur, so far as my experience enables me to judge, upon the lines of the great roads of communication conducting from one capital to another. This mountain route was, no doubt, impassable in winter ; and the high road from Nineveh to Rhages was thus obliged to make a circuit to the south as far as Holwan, to cross the mountains into Media by the gates of Zagros, the only pass in the whole range which is not blocked up by the snow.” Note D. TOMB AT FAKRAKAH. Major Rawlinson, in his journey from Tabriz to Takht-i-Suleiman,* speaks of a tomb at Fakrakah, a little way south of the Lake Urumiyali, which he considered to belong to the same class as those at Persepolis. ‘‘ I reached this,” says he, ^^at the distance of a mile from Inderkhsh, and found the excavation, as usual, high up in the face of a precipitous rock. My Mikri guides ascended the face of the rock like cats, and then drew me up with ropes ; the perpendicular height, after climbing up the hill as far as I possibly could, being about 30 feet. The outer chamber of the exca- vation was 8 paces in width and 8 in depth, the height being 12 feet. Here there was a recess raised, one step from the outer chamber, and supported by two massive pillars, with circular bases and capitals, and all cut out of the solid rock. Within this, again, and raised two steps higher, there was a second recess, also supported by two pillars, and containing at its inner extremity three places of deposit for the dead, one 8 feet in length and 5 feet in breadth, and the other two about half that size ; the depth of all three being about 2 feet. The tomb must have been excavated for some ancient sovereign and his two children ; but inscription or sculpture there was none, to indicate even to what dynasty it was to be referred. Among the writings, however, on the walls of the tomb, where visitors are usually in the habit of record- ing their names, I found a set of inscriptions, which I am inclined to regard as very singular. From their being written in ink, or some composition resembling it, I could not at first suppose them of any antiquity ; but when I began to copy the characters, I found that they must have been inscribed when the face of the rock was smooth, and had suffered little from exposure; for their only illegibility arose from the surface of the rock being worn away in many places, which broke the continuity of the writing. If the lines had been written after the smoothness of the rock had been destroyed, traces would have been apparent in the broken part ; but of this there was no appearance. Where the face of the rock was smooth, the writing was quite distinct ; where it was broken, the letters, or parts of them, were effaced. The characters have much resemblance to * * Jour, of Roy. Geog. Soc., vol. x. CHAP. X.] INSCRIPTIOlSrS AT VAK 431 some of the old Pehlivi writing ; but still they are not identical with it : and I do not believe there is any known alphabet to which they can be uniformly assigned. I attribute them to some ancient visitors of the tomb, long anterior to the introduction of Islamism.” Note E. — x\nte, p. 385. INSCRIPTIONS AT TAN. M. Schultz was sent in the summer of 1826, chiefly at the instance of the Baron de Dumas, at that time Minister for Foreign Afiairs, on a literary and scientific journey through Turquey and Persia, having for his chief object the collection of any books or papers, or other remains relative to the ancient languages of Persia and the writings of Zoroaster. The long war i>etween Persia and Russia, and the disturbed state of the western part of Asia, prevented his penetrating into Persia ; and, after several fruitless attempts, he was compelled to confine his attention to Armenia, and more especially to Yan, traditionally an ancient foundation of the queen Semi- ramis, and still in the mouths of the people called Sdiamiramakert, the city of Semiramis. The history of Armenia by Moses Chorenensis, which was written in the fifth century, and which draws much of its story from the writings of Maribas Catina, a Syrian writer, who lived about 140 b. c., has given a detailed account of a visit which Semiramis is said to have paid to Armenia, of her admiration of the situation of the lake of Yan, and of her determination to build a great city on its shores. He describes her labours with considerable minuteness, and speaks of caverns which were excavated, (and which in his time were the resort and shelter of robbers,) of long inscriptions, and of columns which she erected in her memory. A modern Armenian writer, P. Luke Indjidjian, in his Geography of Armenia, printed at Yenice in 1806, confirms some of this description, and speaks particularly of an escarped mountain, of five or six caverns still remaining, and of long inscriptions in a character quite unknown to the modern inhabitants. Indeed, the tradition which attributes Y an to Semiramis is by no means of modern date. An Arabic author of the tenth century speaks of Ninus and his wife Semiram, and of his conquests in Armenia ; and the name of this queen is perpetuated among the Kurds of the present day in the name of a considerable stream, which flows into the lake of Yan, a little way south- west of the town. Being well aware of these statements, and of the general tradition of the people, M. Schultz determined to go at once to Yan, at which place he arrived, after many difficulties and delays, on July 24, 1827. He was at once successful in his researches ; and his first letter from Constan- tinople, dated March 11, 1828, mentions that he had copied no less than forty-two Cuneiform inscriptions, and was engaged in the preparation of a memoir upon them. It appears that nearly all these inscriptions are found upon a vast esplanade, forming the substructure of some very 432 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. x. ancient buildings, and now surmounted by the fortress of Van : the remainder of them were found in the caverns which are mentioned by Moses Chorenensis. Some of them were at a great height, and very difficult of access, and one of them contained no less than eighty-eight lines of writing. One inscription, as we have already stated, occurs in the three classes of Cuneiform character, and resembles those found at Persepolis. It was conjectured by St. Martin that it contained the names of Xerxes, a sup- position which has now been satisfactorily determined. The modern name of the castle of Van is Ohourab. Inscriptions were also obtained from other places in the neighbourhood ; from Korkhor, which appears to be the name of the south-west side of the castle ; and from a rock on the banks of the stream called Schahmiram, &c. Fifteen places are recorded where inscrip- tions have been found, and many of them are in the modern Armenian churches. Twelve years subsequent to M. Schultz’s memoir having been sent to Paris, the papers of this lamented traveller, who was murdered by the Kurds in 1830, were published in the Journal Asiatique, tom. ix. In the mean while, the progress of Cuneiform discovery had been making rapid advances, and the discoveries of Rawlinson and Lassen had demonstrated the general truth of M. Grotefend’s first conjectures, on which St. Martin had mainly relied in his reading of the name of Xerxes in the inscription at Van ; and the value of the meaning of this inscription is now, as we have seen, satisfactorily determined. M. Schultz, in his memoir, gives an interesting account of the town and neighbourhood of Van, which, though not nearly so difficult of access as many other cities which have been often and thoroughly explored, has been little visited by travellers, and is still almost as un- known to Europeans, as it was in the days of the Greeks and Romans. The town itself is a miserable mud-built place, containing some ten or twelve thousand houses, evidently of modern erection, with nothing deserving the name of ancient except a few Armenian churches and Turkish mosques. It is surrounded by a double wall, resting on one side on an extraordinary isolated rock, which stands alone and detached in the plain, and is more than a mile and a half in circumference. This rock is visible from a great distance, embosomed in gardens which surround it on all sides, and is the object of peculiar veneration among the rude inhabitants of Kurdistan, from the character of its inaccessible precipices, its caverns, its supposed treasures, and its talismanic influence. It is held by the rulers as an impregnable fortress, and no one is allowed to approach or enter it without a special letter signed by the hand of the Pasha himself. M. Schultz was so fortunate as to enjoy the friendship and the confidence of the Seraskier Pasha at Erzerum, and to his good offices he was indebted for the kindness which threw open to his free inspection the hitherto sacred precincts of the fortress of Ghourab, and which enabled him to copy the curious inscriptions preserved in it, and to bear willing testimony to the politeness and urbanity which so peculiarly distinguishes the Turkish gentleman. The memoir of M. Schultz gives a detailed account of the position of the different inscriptions, and of the state of preservation in which he found them, which, however, it is not necessary to give here. The one CHAP. X.] INSCEIPTIONS AT VAN. 433 eontaining the name of Xerxes seems to have been by far the most remarkable. M. Schultz states that it is engraven on a large square tablet, escarped on the precipitous face of the rock, about sixty feet above the level of the plain, and that it is divided by perpendicular lines into three columns, the first being as large as the other two put together. The Cuneiform characters are of the greatest beauty, and in the most perfect preservation. Each column consists of twenty-seven lines of writing. The one in the Persian Cuneiform contains the name of Darius seven times repeated. M. Schultz adds, that the result of his researches left in his mind no doubt that there is at present no monument at Van that can ascend to the presumed date of Semiramis ; and that a comparison of the inscriptions he found there with those copied by Mr. Steuart at Hamadan has convinced him that the monuments at Van, as at present known, belong to the Achaemenian dynasty of Persia. No statues or bas-reliefs were discovered either at Van or in the neighbourhood ; and M. Schultz states that, though Armenian writers frequently speak of their existence, none of the present inhabitants have ever seen or heard of them. He found, indeed, two rude representations, — one of the combat between a lion and a bull, and the other of a single lion standing ; but these, from the rudeness and coarseness of their execution, he attributes undoubtedly to the period of the Seljukian princes, whose coins attest the fact, that they were careless of the Mussulman feeling about representations of animal forms, and constantly copied the types of the Greek and Koman money. Generally the Armenian Christians and the Mussulman population would be equally interested in destroying such relics of antiquity, had they been accessi- ble ; for the former would see in these curious remains of a forgotten ancestry, but the practices of the Devil or Antichrist ; the latter would remember the constant injunction of the Koran, and the traditional hostility of their Prophet to all representations which might be used as idols by the ignorant. Major Eawlinson, in an account of his journey from Tabriz to Takht-i- Suleiman,* states that he heard that M. SchuUz had been among the Ktirdistan mountains a few years before, had reached Keli-Shm, and had copied a great part of the inscription : he adds, that this was upon his last journey, and that the copy must have been lost with his other papers at Jfilamerik. Major Eawlinson states that the tragic death of the unfortunate traveller was owing to his not being aware of the feelings existing among the moun- taineers of Ktirdistan, with whom any direct interference on the part of the Turkish or Persian governmeuts in favour of a traveller, is always liable to the utmost suspicion, and attended with extreme danger. When Schultz visited Ushnei, Semed Khan, the governor, offered to send an escort of his Zerza Kurds with him to Jtilamerik, detaining a nephew of the Hekarri chief, who was with him at the time on a visit, as a security for his safe return. Schultz unfortunately declined this offer, and preferred the direct protection of the Persian government, through the Afshar chief of Uru- miyah ; he consequently returned to that place, and took with him as a guide an Afshar soldier, hateful to the Hekarris, as well from being the servant of the Persian government as from belonging to a tribe opposed to p p * Jour. Eoy. Geog. Soc., vol. x. 434 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. them in nation, in language, and in religion, and with whom they were constantly at feud. Schultz was thus regarded by the Hekarris as a govern- ment emissary, and his enquiries about antiquities were explained by his supposed errand to survey the country, and discover the best route for the Persian guns.” Note F. — Ante, p. 401. MAL-AMIR. The ruins at Mai Amir, in the territory of the Bakhtiyari, have been visited by two travellers who have distinguished themselves by their ability and zeal in the investigation of antiquities, Mr. Layard and the Baron de Bode. The first states* that the plain of Mai Amir contains ruins of two descrip- tions, the ancient mound and the Sassanian ruin, and that there are several Cuneiform inscriptions in the neighbouring mountains, and that the Shikaft- i-Suleiman, mentioned by Major Rawlinson,f is to the west of Mal-amir. Adjoining the natural cave are four tablets with sculpture, and there formerly existed extensive Cuneiform inscriptions, one of which only Mr. Layard was able to copy ; the others were completely effaced. Mr. Layard speaks of these inscriptions again in a letter to M. Eugene Bor6, which is published in the Journal Asiatique for 1842, and states that he considers the sculptures of very ancient date, and the character which is used very complicated. Two colossal figures appear to represent priests of the Magi ; between them is a natural recess in the rock, which may have been used for an altar. In the same plain, and on the road to Susan, there are other sculptures, and very extensive inscriptions, which Mr. Layard had not time to copy. The Baron de Bode, who visited the same sculptures, gives a fuller and more interesting account of them. J He states that upon the plain of Mai Amir are several artificial mounds of different sizes, one of which may be com- pared in height with the grand mound at Shfish (Susa), near Dizftil. It lies three quarters of a farsang to the east of some natural caves in the hills, where I found very curious remains of antiquity. The lesser cave to the right has some huge stones cemented together, which may have served for the base of an altar. I shall presently explain the reason which makes me think so. In the more spacious cavern, on the left of this one, are two colossal figures sculptured on the wall, but almost entirely obliterated by the water oozing through the crevices of the rock, and by the consequent damp- ness of the cave. An immense inscription, which takes up nearly the whole space between the figures, has suffered equally from the same causes. One of the figures is represented in profile, and looks towards the smaller cave, where I presume the altar must have stood, with his hands clasped in what seems to be an attitude of adoration. The outlines of the figure are in good proportion, and I thought I could discern some arrow-headed characters on * Jour, of Roy. Geog. Soc., vol. xii. t Ibid. vol. ix. X Ibid. vol. xiii. CHAP. X.] TARKT, OR TARKOU. 435 his short garment. The figure to the left is less graceful, and has its face turned full to the beholder. It has fronting you a long beard ending in two curls, and a lock of hair falling down the shoulders, somewhat in the Hebrew fashion. The inscription I have just alluded to consists of thirty-three lines, from eight to ten feet in length. It is in the arrow-headed character, but so much injured by the oozing of water through the rock, and along the side of the wall, that, though I scrambled up to have a nearer view of it, I was obliged to relinquish the idea of making a copy. On the opposite side, or to the right of the smaller cave, are two more bas-reliefs on the external face of the rock, and these are in a much better state of preservation than the former, owing to the stone on which they are sculptured being harder. The foremost consists of the figures of a man and a woman, with a child between them. Their arms are folded, and their faces, but not their whole bodies, turned in profile towards the altar. The man is broad-shouldered, and has a beard ; he has an angular cap on, and is dressed in a tunic, which does not reach below the knee, with short sleeves, like the felt coats which are worn at this day by the Ilyats. The head of the female figure is carefully and tastefully worked out ; the features are delicate and regular, and the head-dress somewhat resembles the chaste style of the Grecian statues. The next bas-relief has in front the figures of two adult males and two children, and in the rear the figure of a female. They are all turned the same way, pointing, apparently, with their fingers towards the altar. The foremost is dressed nearly in the same fashion as the male figure in the previous group ; the second has a round cap, such as is worn at the present day by some of the BakhtiyM, and made of felt. The head-dress of the female resembles the high turban of the Jewish women. This spot bears the name of Shikoftehi Suleiman, according to the Mussulmans, from a third cave in which are interred the mortal remains of Suleiman, the tutor and friend of Hezreti Ali.” The Baron de Bode has added to his paper, from which we have made the above extracts, an interesting investigation into the site of the city of the Uxii, which was besieged by Alexander the Great on his march from Susa to Persepolis ; and he concludes from the evidence that it is repre- sented by the ruins in the plain of Mal-amir. Note G. — Ante, p. 409. TARKI, OR TARKOU. The inscription of Tarkou is so called from a place so named not far from Derbent. It has been twice or three times copied. The first specimen was published by Witsen,* who mentions that it was copied by a medical man, who gave it to him, and who told him that in the mountains round Derbent * Noord en Ost-Tartarye, Deele ii. p. 563, Amsterdam, 1705. 436 NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS. [chap. X. were many figures of men habited in a strange dress, resembling the ancient Greeks and Komans, together with detached figures and entire scenes, and representations of men engaged in difierent actions. Among other monu- ments, he mentions a chapel built of stone, and much venerated by the Christian Armenians, on the walls of which were many similar characters. Witsen published the inscriptions, because he considered them to be similar to those at Persepolis. Subsequently the same inscription was found among Dr. Schultz’s papers, entitled, The Inscription at Tarkou, from a drawing by Prince Dimitri Cantemir, St. P., Aug. 4, 1807.” This writing was in the handwriting of M. Klaproth, and was probably sent by him either to St. Martin or Dr. Schultz. M. Bournouf thinks there can be no doubt of the identity of the two inscriptions. THE END. LONDON: BBADBURT AND EVANS, FBINTSB8, MTHITEFBIABS.