590 
RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS. 
this mythological account of man being the offspring of the 
moon and a bull. This strange fable, if believed by the Persians, 
would certainly increase their reverence for the image of their 
horned ancestor ; but that they had no notion of worshipping 
the animal, either in reality or in effigy, may be corroborated by 
the fact of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, stabbing the Apis of 
Egypt in indignation at so gross an idolatry. Xenophon, who 
remarks that the bull in Persia is held sacred to Mithra, also 
gives an account of its being led as a victim in the great 
triumphal sacrifice by Cyrus. On the chest of the bull, at the 
gate I have been describing, a large radiated orb is sculptured. 
Proceeding onward to the East, (D) at the distance of twenty- 
four feet in a direct line from the portal, once stood four mag¬ 
nificent columns. They were all erect at the time Sir John 
Chardin visited Persepolis. Two only now remain ; but not a 
relic of their companions. They were placed equidistant from 
each other at twenty-two feet. The accumulation of ruins now 
mouldered into earth, has nearly buried the bases of those which 
yet stand. Their capitals are singular and beautiful; (Plate XLV. 
fig. B.) consisting, as it were, of three combined into one. The 
shaft gradually narrows towards the top, varied by thirty-nine 
flutings near the cincture, each of which is four inches in width. 
The tor is thirteen feet ten inches in circumference; and from 
thence to the top of the capital is about forty-five feet. As the 
base on which it rests, seems to differ in no respect from others 
I shall have to describe, to prevent repetition I omit its descrip¬ 
tion here. The surface at the top of the capitals is perfectly 
smooth, without the least vestige of any loose fragment; and I 
should be led to imagine, that when the four stood erect, and 
were united, they might have sustained the plane or pedestal of 
