PALACE OF FORTY PILLARS. 
603 
cyrbasici , originated with Darius Hystaspes, when he, as well as 
his six associates in the death of Smerdis the Magian, bent 
forward their high caps, to distinguish each other by that mark in 
the confusion of the fray. When he mounted the vacant throne, 
he privileged his six coadjutors, with their families and descend¬ 
ants, to wear their caps in that fashion ; thus, in the manner of 
Cyrus, distinguishing by a badge similar to that on his own 
brow, an especial band, attached to his person by the strongest 
motives, affection or self-interest. In the course of time, these 
sorts of particular distinctions became so general, by the multitude 
of real descendants from such privileged families, or pretenders 
to that honour, that they ceased to be badges at all; as we see 
in the green turban of the Islamites, which used to be the mark 
of the Prophet’s race, and is now become as common as the grass 
of the field, by the false pretensions of a multitude of wearers. 
This may very naturally account for the confusing appearance of 
all these respective styles of tiara in the bas-reliefs of the later 
kings, where they are of every form, and apparently dispersed 
amongst all ranks of people. Before I quit this range of guards, 
I must not omit mentioning, that at the extremity of the spears 
of the least mutilated, I observed an ornamented ball, which 
recalled to my mind the Melophoi'es, or thousand guards of 
Xerxes, who bore at the end of their lances, apples or pome¬ 
granates of gold. (Herodotus, vii. c. 61.) 
I now proceed to the objects on the face of the next flight of 
stairs, first taking the left wing, which stretches to the east. 
Here again, in the triangular space formed by the slope of the 
steps, we find a repetition of the contest between the lion and 
the bull, occupying a length of twenty-three feet. It is divided 
by a tablet, on which may be traced an almost obliterated 
4 h 2 
