SIXTH BAS-RELIEF. 
559 
to think they are both females; or, possibly, a woman and a 
boy. There are two other beardless persons, one to the right, 
and the other to the left, of the one I suppose a female. The 
head to the right, is covered with a circular-topped cap, with a 
mark on it not unlike that on the fanning attendant in the last 
sculpture ; he too is smooth-chinned, and appears to be a youth. 
The cap and badge, and beardless face, also occurred in the bas- 
relief of Shapoor; but that person holding the scroll, had the 
rugged visage of age; and, probably, was one of the eunuchs, 
who, in old times, were such favourite attendants with monarchs 
of the East. The last figure in this group, shews nothing more 
than his head and shoulder; he has no covering on the head, 
which fully displays the style of wearing the hair; it is short, 
but waving on the forehead, and very thick and curling behind, 
diverging from the back of the ears, down upon the neck and 
shoulders. The whole of this head is as perfect as if just 
finished by the chisel, and a very beautiful specimen of the art it 
is. The beard is short and square, and the features particularly 
handsome, with an expression, and general appearance, of greater 
nobleness than any of the others along the line. The face 
almost speaks. At one end of the rock, entirely distinct from 
the group, is the outline of an extraordinary figure notched in 
the marble, not unlike the first idle drawings of a school-boy. 
To say which of the Sassanian monarchs is the hero of this 
bas-relief, would be difficult; since it tells no circumstance in 
their history, to which we have a clew. However, the intro¬ 
duction of so many persons has afforded a curious specimen 
of the various costumes of the times. Selden remarks, in his 
“ Titles of Honour,” that “ the Persian royal tiara differed 
from the common sort, because it ascended strait up with a sharp 
