642 
REMARKS ON THE FIGURES. 
the portals of which are bas-reliefs of two guards on each, 
sculptured on the sides of the walls. (Plate XLVI.) They are 
habited in the Median robe, armed with a long spear, and instead 
of the fluted tiara, their heads are bound with a broad band; 
which, from the manner it is worn, I should suppose was metal. 
In front of the foremost guard, appears a long cylindrical form, 
which he seems to grasp behind with his left hand ; it is con¬ 
structed of perpendicular rod-like shapes, each considerably 
thicker than the staff* of his lance, capped at the top with a flat 
surface, which is parallel with the chin of the holder. I could 
never discover the form of the termination at the nether end ; 
for, whenever a repetition of these figures occurred, they have 
always been nearly half-buried in the earth. The two advanced 
guards on each side of the portal, are the only ones with whom 
these things appear. I have heard some persons suppose 
them to represent the leaves of a folding door ; but that is not 
very probable, the general appearance being unlike the usual 
surface of a door; and however low may be the common 
entrances to tombs, or the cells of devotees, it is not credible 
that the ingress to a palace would be so constructed as to oblige 
the sovereign to stoop his head on entering. I must here 
observe, that all the portals which may be considered public 
entrances into hall or chamber, throughout these ruins, are 
invariably guarded by a similar double guard. It seems pos¬ 
sible that this questionable substance they are holding, may 
be intended for the ancient shield, called the gerra, which 
is universally described as formed of the osier, or branches 
of the willow. The guards, where it occurs, usually wear thf 
metal circlet, instead of the fluted tiara ; but when the 
tiara’d soldiers appear with a shield, it is always of the Boeotian 
