THE MOUNTAIN OF SEPULCHRES. 
529 
neither man nor water passeth j” and there remain till the birds 
had devoured, or time wasted away the flesh; when the bones 
were to be collected, and thrown into “ a large cavity, in the 
middle of the public sepulchre.” This latter part of the injunc¬ 
tion seems to assign so disgusting a mode of obsequies to the lower 
ranks of people, who would be likely to fill a grave in common ; 
while the ancient tombs, we see so evidently shaped to contain 
separate bodies, must have been prepared for the nobler class, who 
were privileged to carry their limbs whole to their mother earth, 
and wrapped in “ gorgeous cearments.” In the book of the Per¬ 
sian prophet Abad (the first in the jDesatir), verse 154, it is written, 
“ A corpse you may place in a vase of aquafortis, or consign it 
to the fire, or to the ground.” (Vide translation by Moullali 
Firuz, Parse at Bombay.) Certainly a more decent style of sar¬ 
cophagus than the gorge of carnivorous birds ! 
The objects that have just been described, on the upper part 
of the Mountain of Sepulchres, being allowed to belong to the 
early race of Persian monarchs, whose dynasty terminated under 
the sword of Alexander the Great, we next turn to the remains 
which mark the lower line of the rock, and which are attributed 
to kings of the Arsacedian, and Sassanian race. The Arsacedian, 
or Parthian dynasty, took its name from Arsaces, a Parthian 
prince, who recovered Persia from the successors of Alexander, 
within a century after its subjugation by that conqueror. And, 
when we compare the sculpture on the tombs, with these lower 
bas-reliefs, we cannot but think it strange to see the taste of the 
artists degenerated, after they had so long been subjected to the 
Greeks, who were famed as masters in design and execution. 
About four hundred years after this Parthian revolution, another 
took place in favour of the Persian name. A native chief of 
3 Y 
VOL. I. 
