ANCIENT SWORDS. 
575 
From this translation, supported by that of the Pehlivi, which 
gives precisely the same meaning, we find that the king here 
represented, is Shapoor the First, at the head of his guards, or 
nobles, in some royal procession. It is fortunate, as a me¬ 
morandum of antiquity, that the swords of these men are in such 
good preservation ; they differ so entirely from every description, 
given by old writers, of the weapon called a sword by the ancient 
Persians. The change from the old form, is said to have been 
introduced by the last Darius, in imitation of the Greeks, in the 
time of Philip; and from which innovation, the Chaldeans pro- 
phecied the downfall of the Persian empire by Grecian arms. 
(Q. Curtius, 1. iii. cap. 3.) But every sword that I have seen 
amongst these remains has been invariably straight. 
About half-a-mile westward on the plain, is a large and high 
square platform, of perfectly smooth white marble, around 
which, at a little distance, are several heaps of ruins, seeming 
to be the remains of some considerable edifice which had 
formerly surrounded an extensive area, of which the superb 
platform, whatever might have been its superstructure, formed 
the center. From the various mounds and scattered fragments, 
lying all the way between this spot and Tackt-i-Jemsheed, and 
again further to the south-east, I cannot doubt that the capital 
stretched along the whole foot of the mountain, even to con¬ 
necting itself with Nakshi-Roustam, and thence extended to 
the north-west upon the plain. At about a farsang’s distance 
from hence, rises a pointed hill, on which is the appearance of a 
considerable building. This, I concluded to be one of the three 
fortresses mentioned by the Asiatic author Hamdoullah, under 
the names of Istaker, Chekesch, and Chekwan, and which of old 
formed the great bulwarks of the plain. But the people of* 
