584 
PERSEPOLIS. 
of area (U U). The third and most elevated (V), has been 
entirely covered with buildings, and certainly the most magni¬ 
ficent of the whole. Along the edge of the lowest terrace, 
larger masses of stone remain in different spots, which appear 
fragments of a parapet wall: they are worked with the same 
colossal strength, and gigantic proportions, as the rest of the 
edifice. On the edge of the third, or highest terrace, to the 
south, are decided marks where a strong range of railing or 
palisadoes have been. These marks cease at the top of the 
flight of steps which connect this terrace with the one beneath, 
(N). At the top of the steps we find two large holes, cut deeply 
in the stone, which received the pivots of the gates that anciently 
closed this ingress. I have thus given a general idea of the 
ground on which the great citadel-palace, “ the glory of the 
East,” stood in “ the day of its beauty and its power.” I shall 
now, in detail, describe the ruins that remain. 
There is but one way by which the summit of the platform is 
attained, and that consists of an ascent by steps, situated in its 
western face. This approach is so stupendous, and on a scale 
so magnificent, that it fully prepares the mind for the correspond¬ 
ing forms of vastness and grandeur it is to meet above. A 
double flight of stairs on a very gentle ascent, rise north and 
south, emerging from a flat place, which is gained from the face 
of the valley, over a considerable slope of accumulated ruins and 
rubbish. This space occupies 45 feet by 22, the latter measure¬ 
ment forming the width of the steps; each step is three inches and 
a half in height, and in all they number fifty-five. The masons 
had not required many blocks of marble for their structure, each 
block being so large as to allow ten or fourteen steps to be cut 
into its solid mass. The size of the base these cover is 67 feet 
