IN THE PLAIN OF SALMOS. 599 
at Nackshi Roustam ; whereas the other cavalier has his limb 
covered in the style of Shapour, in Plate XXII. * 
This performance, on the whole, is very poorly executed, and 
ought to be called a very low relief, since it scarcely rises four 
inches above the face of the rock, the detailed forms being made 
out upon it by the simple line of the chissel, in the manner an 
engraver draws on copper. Therefore it is surprising to me 
how any part of so slightly elevated a surface should have stood 
the wear of so many centuries, considering the changes of seasons, 
and other inclemencies, which must have passed over it. Great 
mutilation has taken place, yet enough remains, to shew the 
original rude execution of this indeed curious specimen of the 
state of the art of sculpture in Armenia at that day, for I should 
be inclined to suppose its date early in the fourth century of our 
era; and a miserable idea it gives of the then Armenian taste 
in such works; a contempt, indeed, of these imitative branches 
of the fine arts, manifested also in the coins of the country, 
all that I have seen being particularly barbarous. I say con¬ 
tempt, for their artists must have known better models, from the 
constant communication between that country and those of 
Greece and Rome. This is the only relic of antiquity I could 
hear of on the plain; and I would venture to suggest its inter¬ 
pretation from the following notice from history. Narsi, the 
Persian king, after his defeat by the Emperor Galerius, sur¬ 
rendered to his conqueror Mesopotamia, and five districts to the 
east of the Tigris. The last included part of Carduchia. These 
five districts belonged formerly to the dominion of Armenia; 
and as the war had been undertaken by Galerius in defence of 
* Both these plates are in Vol.I. 
