36 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Febbvaby, 



£olis was destroyed by Alexander the Great, after the defeat of 

 •ariiis (331 B.C.) 



It would appear singular, at the first glance, that while Egypt 

 and India abound in ruins of sacred buildings, a great and wealthy 

 nation lil<e Persia should possess so few: to account for this pecu- 

 liarity, we must take into consideration the ancient faith of the 

 peo|)le. Hoth Herodotus and Strabo assert that the Persians had 

 neither temples, images, nor altars, but that tliey offered up their 

 sacrifices on mountains or high places: this must be understood to 

 allude to a very remote period, when the Pernians were still wor- 

 shippers of Mithra, the sun, as the type of the one supreme Deity. 

 This simple form of faith continued until the time of Zerdusht, 

 or Zoroaster, who introduced fire-worship. After his time, small 

 shrines or tabernacles were built, for the ])reservation of the sacred 

 flame; and altars were cut out of the rock, on which to offer sacri- 

 fice. 



Two ancient altars remain near Nakshi Roustam; both standing 

 on the same platform of rock, 12 or 14 feet from the ground; a 

 flight of steps, hewn out of the solid, ascends from the south to the 

 foot of them; each altar is a square of -tft. 6 in. gradually tapering 

 to 3 feet; a heavy and rudely-shaped column runs up each corner, 

 and rests on a square plinth; the capital is formed by a kind of 

 torus, and a semicircular arch, in relief, e.xtends from pillar to 

 pillar. In the square top of the altar is a hollow, excavated to 

 tlie dejith of 8 inches, probal)ly for the reception of the sacred 

 fire. A fire tabernacle still exists in the same neighbourhood: this 

 small building is much choked up with earth, but its present height 

 is about 35 feet; it is built of marble, and curiously ornamented 

 with projecting blocks along each course. The chamber is a square 

 of twelve feet, the walls of which are completely blackened with 

 smoke. When temples were first erected in Persia, they were 

 still on high places, and open to the sky, the worship of Alithra 

 forbidding the attempt to confine the Deify under a covered roof 

 as impious. 



In the reign of Darius Hystaspes, some alterations in religious 

 forms were made, when the temples were roofed-in, the better to 

 preserve the holy fire from the accidents of the weather; but the 

 old belief in the superior sanctity of the canopy of the heavens 

 never became extinct. The comparatively short period that elapsed 

 between the reign of Darius Hystaspes (485 b.c), and the annihi- 

 lation of the Persian kingdom under Alexander the Great (331 

 B.C.), sufficiently accounts for the scanty remains which are found 

 of these temples. 



A few miles from Persepolis is the Nakshi Roustam, or moun- 

 tain of sepulchres, showing by its extensive and numerous excava- 

 tions that the adorers of the sacred fire were no less anxious for 

 the preservation of their mortal remains than the worshippers of 

 Osiris. This mountain is composed of a wliitish marble, and rises 

 almost perpendicularly to the height of about 900 ieet. In the 

 face of it numerous tombs have been cut, evidently of a date 

 coeval with the prosperous days of the neighbouring city of Pei-se- 

 polis. The earliest and most elaborate sepulchres are the four 

 highest in the rock; they are all similar — a description of one will 

 tlierefore suffice. The facade of the tomb is divided into three 

 compartments; the upper one is richly sculptured with figures in 

 relief; beneath this is the entrance; four attaclied columns sup- 

 port an architrave, simply ornamented by dentils near its upper 

 ledge. The bases of the columns consist of a torus and plinth, 

 projecting 1 ft. 6 in. from the face of the tomb. The capitals 

 are composed of the bead, breast, and bent fore-legs of two 

 unicorn-bulls, richly adorned with collars and tra))pings, united 

 just beliind the shoulders, leaving a cavity for the insertion of a 

 block of stone to support the connecting architrave. Between the 

 two centre columns is the doorway, having for its cornice the 

 Egyptian bead-and-cavetto moulding; the greater part of the ap- 

 parent door is only panelled, the entrance being confined to a 

 square sjjace of t ft. a in. high in the lower part of it. The third 

 and lowest compartment has a smooth surface, ternnnating below 

 in a deep hollow cut in the rock. The whole front is about 53 feet 

 high. The chand)er of the tomb is vaulted, and is 34- feet in length 

 and y feet in heiglit, the breadth of it being occupied by three 

 arched recesses at its farthest extremity; each of these contains a 

 trough-like cavity, hollowed out of the rock, 8 ft. 3 in. in length 

 by 5 ft. in breadth, which no doubt contained the sarcophagus or 

 the bodies; and they were covered by a stone of corresponding 

 dimensions. The only mode of reaching tliese tombs is by means 

 of _a rope, the face of the rock affording no footing. 



The tomb somewhat lower in the rock, on which is seen an 

 inscription in tlie cuneiform character, is sujiposed to be that of 

 Darius Hystaspes. It was on this spot, uj)wards of two thousand 



years ago, that the fcdlowing catastrophe happened, as related by 

 ('tesius: — An elaborately decorated tomb bad lieen prepared by the 

 orders of Darius Hystaspes, that his body might repose in due 

 hontmr after deatli; but when intending to inspect it on its com- 

 pletion, he was forbidden to do so by the Chaldean soothsayers, 

 who pro]]liesied that some fearful accident would follow such an 

 attenijit. Darius submitted; but some young princes of his family, 

 more courageous or less superstitious, determined, in spite of 

 warnings, to view the interior of the tomb. The officiating priests 

 agreed to draw them up to the entrance; but while they were yet 

 sus])ended in the air, several serpents suddenly appeared on the 

 rock, and so startled the priests that they at once let go the rope, 

 and the princes were dashed to pieces in the fall. 



- ^ii^*iSi]^^>~j.'^7<- :'?^'i\> .55JF-- .ijij^il'-,- '-:, ,.,^.-:^ 



Nakshi Roustam. 



The Mithratic worship, though apparently at some remote era 

 extending over almost all the then known world, lost its simplicity, 

 and gave place to idolatry much sooner in some countries than in 

 others; thus, while in Persia it was retained for many centuries, in 

 Egypt and India it was soon confounded amongst other creeds, 

 though never wholly disappearing: in India, therefore, temjiles 

 exist from as early a period as in Egypt. It has been a sulycct of 

 frequent discussion, which country can lay claim to tlie greatest 

 antiquity, and whether (some resemblance being found in the arts 

 and architecture of tlie two countries) one was derived from the 

 other, or whether both may be esteemed coeval and original. I 

 incline to the latter opinion. It does not appear that any resem- 

 blance exists tliat may not be accounted for by similarity of clim- 

 ate, and a common Asiatic origin. The palm and lotus are repre- 

 sented in the ornaments of both countries, because the palm and 

 lotus fiourisli on the banks and in the waters of the Ganges, as well 

 as of the Nile. The same gigantic proportions were aspired to l)y 

 all the nations of antiquity; and we are equally struck with ihe 

 magnitude of the ruins at Persepolis and in Central America, as 

 with tlie temples of Egypt and the pagodas of India. 



