528 
ANCIENT PERSIAN SEPULTURE. 
place, “ that the tombs near it, indubitably belong to no later a 
time than the early Persian empire ; and, probably, to a period 
much before it .” 
At any rate, by whomever they were originally constructed, 
we have a variety of testimonies to the antiquity of their exist¬ 
ence, and to what purpose they were designed. Diodorus (1. ii.) 
states, that “ there were tombs dedicated to the Persian Kings 
in the mountain behind Persepolis and Ctesias, when men¬ 
tioning that which was made by order of Darius Hystaspes, says, 
“ It was in the double mountain lv tu $i<rcrc*> op si, an expression 
that admits the inference of there being another mountain , in 
like manner devoted to royal sepulture; and that he made his 
election between them. 
Throughout the Persian histories, we find the most scrupulous 
regard paid to bearing the remains of their kings and princes to 
the royal cemetery ; and Q. Curtius (1. v.) records, that “ Alex¬ 
ander so respected the established customs of the country, that when 
the body of Darius was found, he caused it to be embalmed ; 
and sent it to his mother, Sysigambis, that it might be buried 
after the manner of the Kings of Persia , and in the tombs of his 
ancestors .” 
Herodotus gives two accounts of the ancient manner of dis¬ 
posing of their dead. First, that the Magi enclosed the body 
in wax, and then consigned it to the tomb. This, no doubt, 
was the mode of embalming ; and bestowed on the great alone. 
The second process was horrible. The deceased were exposed 
on the tops of buildings to be the prey of birds, and then their 
bones were buried. The same practice is mentioned in the 
Zendavesta, where it is said, that Zerdusht (Zoroaster) ordered 
the dead to be laid on the roofs of certain edifices, K where 
