CHAPTER Lx. 
PERSIAN CYLINDERS: MYTHOLOGICAL AND HERALDIC. 
The remains of the Achezmenian period are numerous enough to make it easy 
to recognize most of the cylinders that belong to it. In the archaic period the art 
of Elam was precisely the same as that of Chaldea; but we know nothing of the art 
of Northern Persia of that date. But at the time of the Achzmenian kings the seals 
became numerous and characteristic. Especially peculiar is the dress, with the 
= garment covering the lower 
= ee part of the body closed and 
= os drawn up in front almost to 
Gia me represent trousers, such as 
we find worn ieaee in the 
period of the Sassanian 
kings. [he crown was a 
specially Persian headdress, 
and is worn by the gods and 
kings. The figures of ani- 
mals, and to some extent of 
Tioa men, are stout and lack the 
agile slenderness of the Babylonian art. ‘The designs are also meager. Very few 
gods are represented. The chief design is that of a god or hero, the Assyrian cross 
between a Gilgamesh and a Marduk, fighting a lion or other naturalistic or myth- 
ological animal; but the lion was the favorite. 
In the forefront of any. account of Persian seals must always be placed fig. 1104, 
from the seal of Darius in the British Museum. It is a unique design and shows 
us the king with his crown, in his hunting chariot with his charioteer driving. Before 
him is a rampant lion under a palm-tree, at which the king aims an arrow, while 
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another lion lies under the horse’s feet. Above, protecting the king, is Ashur, or, 
to give the Persian name, Ahura-mazda, with the human bust. ‘The inscription 
reads, in Persian and Babylonian cuneiform: “I am Darius, the great king.” The 
stoutness of the horse and the lion is to be observed. 
But the usual Persian design is much simpler. It may be nothing but the crowned 
hero, with his short sword and some accessory objects, perhaps. In fig. 1105 the lion 
is rampant and under the winged disk is a wheel. But in fig. 1106 the hero, or god, 
lifts the lion by its hind leg. Fig. 1107 1s interesting for the peculiar tree. In fig. 1108 
the hero attacks two lions rampant (cf. Lajard, “Mithra,” plate xrx, g) and in fig. 
336 
