146 
PERSEPOLIS TO ISPAHAN. 
That the plain around Mesjed Madre Suleiman 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 a similar character in the inscriptions on the 
remains of both, though this particular edifice does not happen to 
display that internal evidence of a contemporaneous date. A grove 
would naturally, have disappeared in modern Persia; the structures 
correspond in size; the triangular roof of that which I visited might be 
called arched in an age when the true semi-circular arch was probably 
unknown; the door was so narrow, that, if I had been allowed to 
make the attempt, I could scarcely have forced myself through it; and 
those who kept the key affirmed that the only object within was an 
immense stone, which might be “ the base of a single piece” described 
by Arrian; but as he was repeating the account of another, the 
difference is of little consequence, if it exists. I suspect however, as 
many of the buildings at Persepolis are so put together that they might 
once have seemed one vast block, that the present structure might 
also at one time have possessed a similar appearance. The eternity 
of his monument indeed, which Cyrus contemplated by fixing it on 
one enormous stone, would be equally attained by the construction of 
this fabric, which seems destined to survive the revolutions of ages. 
And in the lapse of two thousand four hundred years, the absence of 
an inscription on Mesjed Madre Suleiman would not be a decisive 
evidence against its identity with the tomb of Cyrus. 
I retraced my steps towards the column and pilasters, and passing to 
the left of them, proceeded to a ruin, probably of one of those buildings 
which we call fire-temples, and corresponding at least exactly in 
dimensions, structure, and ornament with that at Nakski Rustam. Its 
door opened to the north. On an adjacent hill to the east, at the dist¬ 
ance of about three hundred yards, are the remains of a fort erected 
with the same stupendous materials, as the works on the plain. The 
blocks are all of white marble, and bear the finest polish. From this 
