650 P E R S E P O L I S. 
almoft at a lofs how to make a felefiion. Sir Robert Ker 
Porter and Colonel Johnfon have been its lateft vifitants. 
From the Quarterly Review of Sir Robert’s work we copy 
the following animated paffages. “ In the plain of Mer- 
daflit, which is watered on the fouth-weft by the river 
Bend-emir, the ancient Araxes, (lands “ the Throne of 
Jimfheed,” as the natives call thefe immenfe ruins, now 
generally believed to have belonged to the palace of Da¬ 
rius, to which “ the Macedonian madman” fet fire in a 
fit of drunken revelry, and which was beyond doubt one 
of the moft magnificent ftrudlures of the ancient world. 
If there is nothing in the architeilure of the buildings, 
or in the fculptures and reliefs on the rocks, that can be 
compared with the exquifite fpecimens of Grecian art, 
(till it is impoflible to behold the remains of Perfepolis 
■without emotions of rapture and furprife. The wealth 
of an unbounded empire was exhaufted in their conllruc- 
tion; they were adorned with every ornament that the 
art of the old world could fupply, and their hiftory yet 
lives in the imperifhable materials of which they were 
built. 
“ The palace, the face of the mountain at the foot of 
which it is fituated, and many of the rocks in its vicinity, 
are ornamented with a profufion of fculpture, and afford 
ample evidence, as Sir John Malcolm obferves, that the 
Perfians were in the habit of defcribing by the graving- 
tool both their religious ceremonies and the principal 
events of their hiftory. 
“ The impreffion made on Sir Robert Ker Porter by 
the firft fight of thefe celebrated monuments was that, 
both en made and in detail, they bore a ftrong refem- 
blance to the architectural fade of Egypt. The artificial 
plain which fupports the ruins of this immenfe citadel, 
(as he calls it,) is of a very irregular fitape; but nothing 
can tranfcend the ftrength and beauty of its conftruflion. 
Its fteep faces are formed of dark-grey marble, cut into 
gigantic blocks, exquifitely polifhed, and, without the aid 
of mortar, fitted to each other with fuch admirable pre- 
cifion, that, when firft completed, the platform muft have 
appeared as part of the folid mountain itfelf, levelled to 
become a foundation for a ftrudture, many of whole 
proud columns (till remain eredf. 
“ A flight of fteps, fituated in its wejiern face, leads to 
the fummit of the platform, and is fo ftupendous, and 
on a (cale of fuch aftonifliing magnificence, as fully to 
prepare the mind for the correfponding forms of vaftnefs 
and grandeur to be met with above. On reaching the 
platform, the firft objefls that ftrike the eye are the lofty 
(ides of an enormous portal, the interior faces of whofe 
walls are fculptured into the forms of two coloflal qua¬ 
drupeds, that on nearer approach were found to reprefent 
bulls. The lofs of the heads deprived Sir Robert of the 
means of knowing whether they had one or two horns; 
but he thinks, from what he lias feen in other fymbolical 
animals of the fame kind in Perfia, that they were repre- 
fented with only one. Around the necks of thefe buco¬ 
lic fentinels (as fir Robert claflically calls them) are broad 
collars of rofes, executed with the moft critical nicety, 
and, in the very fpirited delineations which he gives of 
them, he has been elaborate, even to a hair, in copying 
the diftinguifliing marks of that proud epoch of Perfian 
fculpture. At the diftance of twenty-four feet, in a di¬ 
rect line from the portal, once flood four magnificent co¬ 
lumns; they were all ere£l in the time of Chardin, but 
two only now remain. At an equal diftance is another 
portal, the innerfides of which are alfo fculptured; but 
the animals reprefented are of very extraordinary forma¬ 
tions, of gigantic proportions, and monftrous appearance. 
They have the bodies and legs of bulls, (with enormous 
wings,) and the faces of men. The blind zeal of the 
Modems has miferably mutilated the features ; yet enough 
remains to exhibit a fevere and majeftie expreflion of 
countenance, to which a long and carefully-curled beard 
does not a little contribute. Sir Robert aflerts that this 
is the only fpecimen known to exift in Perfia where the 
human and beftial form are conjoined, and he thinks that 
this lingular hieroglyphic may with great probability be 
attributed to Cyrus, whofe empire over the Eaft was pro- 
phefied by Ezekiel, under a fimilarfigure, upwards of fifty 
years before his acceftion. 
“An expanfe of 162 feet lies between this portal and 
the magnificent terrace that fupports the multitude of 
columns, from which the fpot hasrferived its appellation of 
Chchal-minar, or the Palace of Forty Pillars. A fuperb 
approach, confifting of a double ftaircafe, projects confi- 
derably before the northern face of the terrace, the whole 
length of which is 212 feet; at each extremity, eaft and 
weft, rifes another range of fteps ; again, in the middle* 
projedling from it eighteen feet, appear two Imaller flights, 
rifing from the fame points. The whole front of the ad¬ 
vanced range is covered with fculpture, which fir Robert 
examined with great care, diftinguifliing the peculiarities 
of every figure, and copying them as diftin&ly and with 
as much fidelity as he could. 
“ The fpace immediately under the landing-place is 
divided into three compartments; the centre one has a 
plain furface; to the left are four (landing figures, ha¬ 
bited in long robes, holding a (pear in an upright pofition 
in both hands; from the left (houlder hang a bow and 
quiver. The nicety with which the details are executed, 
render thefe fculptures particularly interefting to the hif- 
torian. They mark thecoftume of the time and people; 
their progrefs in the form, variety, and ufe, of arms; and 
indicate with clearnefs the ancient method of ftringing 
the bow, and the manner of attaching the leather cover 
to the quiver, to protedl the feathers of the arrows from 
damage. All thefe peculiarities of archery, fir R. Ker 
Porter, who fays he is an old bowman himfelf, obferved 
and transferred to his portlolio with great attention. 
“ On the right of the vacant tablet are figures only, 
without bows or quivers, but carrying fpears, with large 
(hields refembling Boeotian bucklers: thefe fir Robert 
conliders to have been intended to pourtray the royal 
guard. Two angular (paces on each fide of the fpearmen 
are filled with duplicate reprefentations of a fight be¬ 
tween a lion and a bull, a moft fpirited and admirable per¬ 
formance. Sir Robert, after perplexing himfelf a good 
deal about the import of this combat, inclines to the opi¬ 
nion that it typifies the conqueft of Cyrus over the two 
great empires of Affyriaand Babylon. The beauty, and 
truth, and fire, with which thefe quadrupeds are execu¬ 
ted, are above all praife; and it is remarkable, that, 
wherever any of the brute creation are reprefented 
amongft thefe relics, their limbs, mufcles, and actions, 
are always given in a more perfedt (lyle than when the 
fame fculptor attempts the human form ; an obfervation 
that will be found to hold good with regard alfo to the 
antiquities of Egypt, Syria, and India. This confum- 
mate knowledge of the ancients in one refpedt, and their 
confpicuous ignorance in the other, our author attributes, 
juftly enough perhaps, to the opportunities afforded by 
their daily facrifices of witnefling the minute contortions 
and the diffedlions of the brute creation, and the fuper- 
ftition that univerftdly prevailed againft putting a hand 
on the human body. 
“ The reft of this highly-ornamented ftaircafe is covered 
with figures, that, judging from their numbers, their 
uniform drefles, arms, and pofitions, are probably the re- 
prefentatives of the vaft body-guard, the doryphores, who 
once held an aflual ftation on this (pot. The whole de- 
feription of the proceflion that decorates the flight of 
fteps which ftretches to the eaft, is illuftrated by drawings, 
executed with great fpirit, and, we have no doubt, with 
great exadlnefs.” 
As we cannot attempt to give an.abftradl of this ela¬ 
borate portion of our iubjedt, we muft refer to the work 
for a conception of the marble terraces, (lairs, portals, 
platforms, and colonnades, of Perfepolis; and of the 
fymbolical images and ornaments that enrich its fuperb 
though mutilated remains. The reader will be gratified 
1 and 
