600 
ZINGIR KALA. 
Tiridates king of Armenia, the fine province of Atropatia (Azer- 
bijan) was also extorted from Narsi as a compensation to the 
Armenian monarch, for that part of his original inheritance 
which had been ceded to the emperor, and which he chose to 
hold as his own. I should therefore suppose that the two 
groups in this sculpture may refer to these separate cessions. 
The leading two persons, the man on foot, and the regal person¬ 
age without the Sassanian or Asiatic curls, may designate the 
Emperor Galerius mounted on horseback, receiving from the 
Prince of Armenia (who being on foot shews his inferior dignity,) 
a cession of all right on his part to the five districts surrendered 
by the king of Persia; and the group of two that follows, may 
represent Narsi of Persia, also mounted, in honour of his su¬ 
perior rank as the Great King, presenting the Armenian prince 
(who is still on foot) with the investiture of the province of 
Atropatia; extorted, indeed, from the Persian, for the reason 
above assigned. 
On my return from the sculpture to our quarters, the peasant 
conducted me two miles beyond the village of Tamar, up the 
valley, on the western side of which rises a solitary hill of a 
pyramidal shape, called by the natives Zingir Kala. It appears 
about 400 feet in height, and is extremely difficult of access on 
which ever side it may be attempted ; we ascended it from the 
north, actually climbing the steep as the boys do a wall, by the 
aid of our hands. Having accomplished about three parts of the 
height, we reached an extensive platform, now in a very ruinous 
state, formed of large rough pieces of rock, but put together 
with great care, and in regular lines. Its expanse might be 
from 70 to 80 feet. In some places the face of this constructed 
mass is still ten feet high, in others it is lowered by dilapi- 
