FIFTH BAS-RELIEF. 
555 
impossible to look for a moment on these two Pagan religions, 
without respecting the pure philosophy of the one, and being 
equally offended with the commonly promulgated doctrines of 
the other. The Supreme Deity of the Persians, sends out a 
Spirit of Good , whose name declares his errand. The Supreme 
Deity of the Greeks, having once pronounced his fiat, appears 
to take no more heed of the matter; while Jupiter, his repre¬ 
sentative, enthroned on Mount Olympus with Venus on one 
side and Ganymede on the other, exhibits all the pomp of a 
god, without his virtues. 
Ormuzd is intended in the bas-relief, under the figure with 
the mural crown. He is there as the Protector of True Be¬ 
lievers, and as the restorer of the Kaianian Princes ; and while 
his horse crushes under its feet the gorgon-headed daemon of 
the Arsacedian idolatry, he presents to Ardashir (whose horse 
tramples on the representative of the fallen Parthian monarchy) 
the Cydaris , or ancient diadem of his ancestors. It consisted of 
a twisted bandeau of intermingled white and purple, and was 
always received as the peculiar mark of royalty by the Persians. 
Xenophon observes, that “ the great Cyrus wore a turban rising 
high above his head, with a vesture of purple, half mixed with 
white; white, thus mixed, no other person is allowed to wear. 
(Doubtless, no other than the sovereign personage; because 
white was sacred to the sun ; and he derived his descent from that 
orb.) The garments round his limbs were of a yellow or golden 
colour ; and about his high turban he bound the diadem, or 
wreath. His hands he kept out of their coverings.” A covering 
over the hand is regarded in most countries of the East, as a 
mark of subjection, Cyrus had then arrived at the full possession 
of the empire, in the united kingdoms of Media and Persia ; and 
4 b 2 
