ClIAP. II.

PERSEPOLITAN AND PERSIAN. 19

the comfort of the inhabitants dining the heat ;
above this a g.ilk'iv with the longing
rooms opening into it ;
and over all the flat terrace fir tlie peojile to sleep on during the
summer." In these observations we fully concur witli the author, believing that climate
and habits influence the arts of all nations.
44. At Nineveh the extraordinary discoveries of Botta and Laj'nrd have made us familiar
with at least the decorations and arrangement of Assyrian architecture. The city, founded,
as supposed, by Ninus or Assur about 2,200 k.c, fell bef )re the rising wealth of Babylon.
Here from the palace of Kouyunjik, Ravi-linson establishes the identity of the king
who built it with the
Sennacherib of Scripture. Its date would therefore be about 7 13 b.'j.
'J he sculptures at this ])lace so much resemble those at Perse])olis, and the arrow-headed
characters also are so similar to them, as well as those of Babylon, that we may fairly con-
jecture
similarity of habits and taste. Indeed, as the Persian empire grew out of the
ruins of tlie Assyrian empire; and Persepolis, as a capital, succeeded to the capitals of
Assyria, we may.
witliout much f^nr of being wrong, judge by its architecture of that of its
predecessors.
Greater almost at its birth tlian ever afterwards, in this part of Asia the art
seems all at once to have risen, ;!S respects nbsulute grandeur, to the higliest state of which
it was there susceptible; and, d. generating successively under ihe hands of other people,
we may reckon by tlie periods of its decay the epochs of its duration.
45. No trace of the arch has been found in the ruins either at the Kasr or in the passages
at the jMujelibe.
Massy pieis, buttresses, and pilasters supplied the place of the colimin.
The timber emjiloycd was that of the date tree, i)osts of which were used in their domestic
architecture, round which, says Strabo, they twist reeds and apply a coat of paint to them,
'i'hickness of wall was obtained by casing rubble work with fine brick, of which two sorts
were made. The one was merely dried in the sun, the other burned in a kiln. The latter
was IS in. square and 3 in. thick, witli varieties for different situati )ns in the walls. Tiiey
are of various colours The sun-drit d is considerably larger tlian the kiln-dried. There
is reason for believing that lime cement was more generally used than bitumen or clay
;
indeed, Niebuhr says that the bricks laid in bitumen were easily separated, but that where
mortar had been employed, no force could detach them from each other without breaking
them in pieces.
Sect. IV.
PERSEPOI ITAN AND PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE.
48. Persepolis was the ancient capital of Persia )>roper. Tlie ruins now remaining
are siluattd (lat. about 30
N., long, about
53
E
)
in the great plain of INIerdasht
or Istakhr, one of the most fertile in ilie world, being watered in all directions by rivulets
and artificial drains, which ullim;itely unite in the Bundemir, the ancient Araxes. The
site would, like IMempliis, have scarcely lett a vestige by which it could have been identi-
fied, but for the celebrated ruins called CUe] -'Minar
(
Jig. 22.), i.e. Forty Pillars, by the
natives, which are believed to be the remains of that palace of tlie masters of Asia
.j.-.c-^>.^l^^=33^~^^-'
to which Alexander set tire in a moment of madness and debauch. The description which
follows is obtained from De Bruvn, who examined the ruins in 1704, with some reference
also to Niebuhr and Sir R. K. Porter. I\Ions. Texicr, one of the latest travellers, has
Hevottd many plates to these antiquities, in his large work. Annenie,
Sfc.
1842; see also
Vaux, Nineveh anil Persepulis,
Sfc, 1855; and Fergusson, Palaces
of
Nineveh and Persepolis
Nettorerl, 8vo., 1851.
47. The ruins are s'tuated at the foot and to tlie west of the mountain KuHrag met.
On three sides the walls are nmaining, the moun'ain to the east forming the other side,
C2