[ 160 ] 



and baseless conjectures have been formed, but, though generally at- 

 tributed to the remote aera of Cayumeras and Gemshid, of which 

 latter sovereign, in fact, they bear the name, being known to the 

 natives by that ofTAKHTi JEMSHID, or throne of Jemshid, the 

 Sabian mythology, and particularly the solar adoration, every where 

 conspicuous throughout those stupendous ruins, appear indubitably 

 to mark for their adorner, at least, if not for their founder, the im- 

 perial Archimagus. It is possible that Jemshid, who is recorded to 

 have first introduced, among the Persians, the use of the solar year, 

 and instituted, in commemoration of it, the magnificent festival of 

 the NAURUZ, when the sun enters Aries, originally founded that 

 magnificent edifice, the wonder and ornament of Asia, and engraved 

 on its walls the birth-day procession of nobles offering presents, usual 

 on that solemnity, till a very late period, in the courts of the 

 Persian sovereigns, and even of the Indian emperors, with which the 

 massy porticoes and winding staircases are covered ; yet it is more 

 than probable that Chelminar is indebted for no small share of its 

 now-faded grandeur to Hystaspes ; that Hystaspes, who was inferior 

 only to Cyrus in the magnificence of his designs and in the extent 

 of his power; under whose protection the arts and sciences advanced 

 rapidly towards maturity in Persia ; and by whose vigorous intellect 

 the ancient prejudices, both in religion and government, were 

 spumed, as is evidenced not less in his patronizing the reformer 

 Zeratusht, than in his first establishing a formidable marine, explor- 

 ing the shores of the Indus, and navigating the Persian and Arabian 

 Gulphs. Were its ranging columns and the general plan of that 

 immense fabric surveyed with an astronomical eye, I have no 

 doubt but that, like the Stonehenge of our Druids, it would afford 

 us a new insight into the scientific attainments in that line of the 

 ancient Persians, the immediate pupils of the Chaldean school. 

 Whatsoever may be the decision of the reader concerning the dis- 



