SPLENDID RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS. 



have been a favourite fashion among the ancient Persians. Their 

 wings are worked with great art and labour, and extend from their 

 shoulders to the very summit of the wall. The intention of the 

 sculptor is evidently, that these figures (emblematical perhaps of 

 power and strength) should appear to bear on their backs the mass 

 of the portico, including not only the block immediately above 

 each, but the covering also, which, though now lost, certainly in 

 the original state of the palace, connected the two sides and roofed 

 the entrance. In these, as in the first portals, the faces of the 

 animals form the fronts, and the bulk of their bodies, (called forth 

 to a certain extent by the basso-relievo on the sides) is supposed 

 to constitute the substance of the walls. 



Under the staircase of the first sphinx on the right, are 

 carved, scratched, and painted the names of many travellers ; and 

 amongst others we discovered those of Le Brun, Mandelsloe, and 

 Niebuhr. Niebuhr's name is written in red chalk, and seems to 

 have been done but yesterday. 



A square reservoir of water, broken in many places, yet 

 still appearing to have been of one single block, was in the space 

 between the portals and the staircase which led to the grand hall 

 of columns. The breadth of that staircase is fifteen feet four 

 inches. It has two corresponding flights, the front of which, 

 though now much mutilated, was originally highly carved and or. 

 namentt'd with figures in bass-relief. The stones which support 

 the terrace of the columns are all carved in the same style, and 

 are as perfect us when Le Brun made his drawings. On compar. 

 ing, indeed, his designs with the originals, I found that he had given 

 to some of the figures a mutilation which does not exist ; for 1 dis. 

 covered on a close inspection many interesting details of dress, 

 posture, and character, which are omitted in his plates. One 

 great defect pervades this part of his collection ; in order to eluci- 

 date by the human form the comparative dimensions of the build, 

 ings, he has introduced figures so small, that, measured by them 

 as a standard, the actual size of the objects represented would be 

 three times their real magnitude. In fact, a man who stands close 

 to the sculptured wall touches the summit with his chin, though 

 the figures in the drawings of Le Brun would not reach half way. 



Immediately on ascending this staircase, stands a single 

 column, but on closer observation 1 counted the bases (or spots at 

 la&t where once bases were) of eleven more columns of two rows ; 



