472 



PERSEPOLIS PERSEUS. 



essentially from all the rest of the ruin-;. These are 

 the ruins of the proper palace of Persepolis, called, 

 by the Arabs, C/iilininar, i. e. the forty (u^eil inde- 

 finitely to signify many) columns, with two tombs 

 near it ; four tombs towards the north-east, near 

 Nakshi Rustam, called the tombs of the kings, with 

 the ruins of some other ancient buildings ; und lastly 

 many remains and columns of unfinished tombs be- 

 tween Chilminar and Nakshi Uustam. All these 

 remains are represented in Clumlin's Travels through 

 Persia, and in Niebuhr's Travels to Arabia. The 

 chief monument is Chilminar, undoubtedly the re- 

 mains of a great and magnificent structure, encircled 

 in the rear by rocky mountains, which open in the 

 form of a crescent, and consisting of three divisions, 

 one above the other, and built entirely of the most 

 beautiful gray marble, the immense blocks of which 

 are put together with admirable art, without mortar. 

 Marble stairs, so wide and easy of ascent, that ten 

 horsemen can ride up them abreast, lead from the 

 Jower divisions to the higher. At the entrance of 

 the portico, to which the steps belonging to the first 

 division lead, fabulous animals are seen, wrought in 

 the still remaining pilasters, as if to guard the palace. 

 Similar steps lead to the second division, to a colon- 

 vade, several columns of which still exist, fifty feet 

 high, and of such a circumference that three men 

 can hardly clasp them. This, colonnade leads to 

 several detached buildings, of which the largest 

 stands in the same division ; the others, farther back, 

 form the third division. These houses contain a 

 number of chambers, of different sizes, and seem to 

 have been real dwellings. They are ornamented 

 with a number of images representing processions, 

 people of all ranks, combats of fabulous animals with 

 one another and with men. In the wall of the rock 

 against which the building stands, are two large 

 tombs. At a considerable height from the ground, a 

 facade is hewn in the rock itself, behind which is a 

 chamber that can be entered only by a passage bro- 

 ken through, as no regular entrance has been found. 

 Beneath, the rock is cut perpendicularly, in order to 

 make the monument entirely inaccessible. The best 

 representation of the ruins is to be found in Niebuhr. 

 The result of the most recent investigations, com- 

 pared with the information contained in the ancient 

 writers, is, that the monuments of Persepolis are actu- 

 ally of Persian origin, and the tombs those of Persian 

 kings, belonging to the buildings called Chilminar, 

 with which they are connected by subterranean pas- 

 sages. Though the buildings belong to Persian anti- 

 quities, yet it is probable that the Persians themselves 

 did not construct them, but caused them to be erected 

 by others; and their truly Asiatic character affords 

 foundation for the supposition that they were built in 

 imitation of the architecture of the Medes (to whom 

 the Persians were indebted, in general, for their 

 civilization), under the direction or the priests. The 

 ruins of Persepolis proper are most probably not all 

 of the same age, but the work of several Persian 

 kings. Persepolis was not destined for a temple, for 

 the Persians, professing the religion of the Magians, 

 had no temples ; nor was it a palace of the kings, 

 because, though it may have originated, as most of 

 the capitals of Asia did, from the residence of the 

 kings of the first conquerors, it soon ceased to be 

 their actual abode. But the ideas of country, power, 

 and religion attached to it, made it the receptacle of 

 the royal dead, and the sanctuary of the people. The 

 various images represent the whole private life of the 

 king, as it was strictly prescribed by the Magians. 

 Immediately after their accession to the throne, the 

 Persian kings proceeded to Persepolis to be invested 

 with the garment of Cyrus, and, at certain times, 

 visited this holy place to sacrifice on the summits of 



the mountains. After the death of a king, his appa- 

 rel, utensils, and even his treasures, were preserved 

 here, as the tomb of the king was considered a fit 

 dwelling to be provided with all necessaries. For 

 this reason, not only numerous guards protected the 

 palace, but also the most important officers of thu 

 deceased king, perhaps even his wives, were obliged 

 to remain near the tomb. Alexander, after over- 

 coming Darius, gratified his revenge by the destruc- 

 tion of Persepolis (See Alexander) The mecha- 

 nical execution of these monuments is very perfect, 

 and no country on earth, Egypt only, perhaps, ex- 

 cepted, can show such masonry as these ruins. The 

 character of this architecture, however, is totally 

 opposite to that of the Egyptian monuments. Sur- 

 prising assiduity and minuteness of execution are 

 shown in the ornamental work. The inscriptions on 

 these ruins are in a threefold character comprised 

 under the general name of arrow-headed character 

 and also in three different languages. The oldest 

 character, undoubtedly, consisting of letters, is, ac- 

 cording to the unanimous opinion of critics, in thci 

 Zend language, a sacred idiom of the Magians : tho 

 characters of the second kind seem to belong to the 

 Pehlvi language; and the third are, perhaps, Assy- 

 rian or Babylonian. Grotefend and Lichtenstein 

 have been particularly successful in the explanation 

 of these characters. Drawings, still more exact 

 than those of captain Keppel, and accounts of newly 

 discovered bass-reliefs in Persepolis, have been given 

 by Jam. Edw. Alexander, in his Travels from India 

 to England, through Persia, Asia Minor, &c., 1825 

 1826 (London, 1827, 4to). 



PERSEUS ; son of Danae and Jupiter. Polydec- 

 tes, king of Seriphos, an island in the Archipelago, 

 who had received him with his mother, soon wished 

 to remove from his court the young and daring hero. 

 Under pretence, therefore, of suing for the daughter 

 of GEnomaus, he requested from his friends presents 

 of rarities to make his wedding feast more splendid. 

 Perseus promised him the head of the Gorgon (Me- 

 dusa). Beyond the ocean, just on the borders of 

 eternal night, dwelt the formidable Gorgon race, 

 with serpent-locks and serpent-girdles, of whom 

 Medusa alone was mortal. Conducted by Mercury 

 and Minerva, he first went to the three Grain;, on 

 the western coast of the ocean ; who had but one 

 eye and one tooth, in common. Perseus got posses- 

 sion of these, and promised to restore them on con- 

 dition that they would bring him to the nymphs., who 

 kept the instruments which he needed in this enter- 

 prise, the talaria, or winged shoes, the bag, and 

 the helmet of Pluto, which made its wearer invisible. 

 They agreed to the condition, and Perseus obtained 

 from the nymphs what he desired. Other accounts 

 say, that he was furnished by Mercury and Vulcan. 

 Led by Mercury and Minerva, he reached the slum- 

 bering Gorgons. With his face averted, he ap- 

 proached the monsters, whose look transformed the 

 spectator into stone, saw the head of Medusa by 

 reflection in his brazen shield, and cut it off. From 

 the drops of blood sprang Pegasus and Chrysaor. 

 With the head in his bag, he escaped from the pur- 

 suing sisters, by means of the helmet of Pluto. On 

 the winged sandals of Mercury, he now hovered 

 over various regions, seeking adventures. He went 

 to king Atlas, who had been informed by an oracle, 

 that a son of Jupiter would strip his garden of the 

 golden apples which it bore, and therefore refused to 

 Perseus the rites of hospitality, who, presenting to 

 his eyes the Gorgon's head, changed him into a rock, 

 which was doomed to support the heavens. He then 

 delivered Andromeda (q. v.). By hfr he became 

 the father of Perses, whom he left in the care of his 

 grandfather Cepheus, and returned with Andromeda 



