Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/594

 578 PERSEPOLIS. FEHSETOLIS (TlepaiiroAn, Diod. xvii. 70; Ptol. vi. 4. § 4; Curt. v. 4. G; Bepaa'iTroXis, Stnib. XV. 729: Eth. neptreTroXiTrjs), the capital of Persis at the time of the invasion of Alexander, and the seat of the chief palaces of the kings of Persia. It ^Tas situated at the openina; of an extensive plain (now called Mardiisht), and near the junction of two streams, the Araxes {Dendamir) and the Modus {Pulwdii). The ruins, which are still very exten- sive, bear the local name of the Chel Minar, or Forty Columns. According to Diodonis the city was originally surrounded by a triple wall of great strength and 'beauty (xvii. 71). Strabo states that it was, after Susa, the richest city of the Persians, anil that it contained a palace of great beauty (xv. p. 729), and adds that Alexander burnt this building to avenge the Greeks for the similar injuries which had been inflicted on them by the Persians (xv. p. 730). Arrian simply states that Alexander burnt the royal palace, contrary to the entreaty of Par- nienion, who wished him to spare this magnificent building, but does not mention the name of Perse- ])olis. '{Aiiab. iii. 18.) Curtius, who probably drew his account from the many extant notices of Alexander's expedition by different officers who had accompanied him, has fully described the disgraceful burning of the city and palace at Persepolis by the Greek monarch and his dranken companions. He adds that, as it was chiefly built of cedar, the fire spread rapidly far and wide. Great light has been thrown upon the monuments whicii still remain at Persepolis by the researches of Niebuhr and Ker Porter, and still more so by the interpretation of the cuneiform inscriptions by Colonel Ravvlinson and Prof. Lassen. From the result of their inquiries, it seems doubtful whether any portion of the present ruins ascend to so high a period as that of the founder of the Persian mo- narchy, Cyrus. The principal buildings are doubt- less due to Dareius the son of Hystaspes, and to Xerxes. The palace and city of Cyrus was at Pasargada, while that of the later moiiarchs was at Persepolis. (Rawlinson, Journ. of Roy. As. Soc. Tol. x; Lassen, in Ersch and Gruber's Enqjcl. s.v. Fergusson, Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Res- tored, Lond. 1851.) It has been a matter of some doubt how far Persepolis itself ever was the ancient site of the capital; and many writers have supposed that it was only tlie high place of the Persian monarchy where the great palaces and temples were grouped together. On the whole, it seems most probable that the rock on which the ruins are now seen was the place where the palaces and temples were placed, and that the city was extended at its feet along the circumjacent plain. Subsequent to the time of Alexander, Persepolis is not mentioned in history except in the second book of the JIaccabees, where it is stated that Antiochus Epiphanes made a fruitless attempt to plunder the temples. (2 Maccah. ix. 1.) In the later times of the JIuhammedan rule, the fortress of Istakhr, which was about 4 miles from the ruins, seems to have occupied the pl.ice of I'ersepolis ; hence the opinion of some writers, that Istakhr itself was part of the ancient city. (Niebuhr, ii. p. 121 ; Chardin, Voyages, viii. p. 245; Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 576; Ouseley, Travels, ii. p. 222.) [v.] PE'RSICUS SINUS (6 TlepixtKhs kSKttos, Strab. ii.p. 78, XV. p. 727; Ptol. vi. 3. § 1, 4. § 1, /J-vxds, Ptol. vi. 19. § 1 ; ^ Kara. Ufpcras ^dXaaaa, Strab. xvi. p. 765 ; 7/ XleptTtK^ ^dAaffffa, Agathem. i. 3; PERSIS. Mare Persicum, Plin. vi. 13. s. 16), the great gulf which, extending in a direction nearly NW. and SE., separated the provinces of Susiana and Persis, and the western portion of Carmania from the opposite shoi'es of Arabia Felix. There are great differences and great errors in the accounts which the ancients have left of this gulf; nor indeed are the statements of the same author always consistent the one with the other. Thus some writers gave to it the shape of the human head, of which the narrow opening towards the SE. formed the neck (Mela, iii. 8; Plin. vi. 24. s. 28.) Strabo in one place states that, at the entrance, it was only a day's sail across (xv. p. 727), and in another (xvi. p. 765) that from Har- muza the opposite Arabian shore of Mace was visible, in which Ammianus (xxiii. 6) agrees with him. He appears to have thought that the Persian Gulf was little inferior in size to the Euxine sea (l. c), and reckons that it was about 20,000 stadia in length. (Cf. Agathem. i. 3.) He placed it also, according to a certain system of parallelism, due S. of the Caspian (ii. p. 121, cf. also xi. p. 519). The earliest mention of the Persian Gulf would appear to be that of Hecataeus (Steph. B. s. v. Ki^p?j); but a doubt has been thrown upon this passage, as some MSS. read TTovros instead of koAttos. [V-] PERSIS {ri n^pcris, Aeschyl. Pers. 60; Herod, iii. 19; Plin. vi. 23. s. 25; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6,&e.; 7] TlepaiKri, Herod, iv. 39: Etk.n4par)s, Persa), the province of Persis, which must be considered as the centre of the ancient realm of Persia, and the district from which the arms of the Persians spread over all the neighbouring nations, was bounded on the N. by Jledia and part of the chain of the Parachoathras M. ; on the W. by Susiana, which is separated from Persis by the small stream Arosis or Oroatis ; on the S. by the Persian Gulf, and on the E. by the desert waste of Carmania. In the earlier periods of history this province was altogether unknown, and it was not till the wars of Alexander and of his successors that the Greeks formed any real conception of the position and character of the land, from which tlieir ancient and most formidable enemies took their name. The whole province was very mountainous, with few extended plains; it possessed, however,, several valleys of great beauty and fertility, as those for instance in the neighbourhood of Persepolis (Strab. XV. p. 727; Arrian, hid. c. 40; Amm.]Iarc. xxiii. 6; Chardin, Vol/, iii. p. 255); the coast-line appears to have been, as it is now, sandy and hot, and uninhabitable, owing to the poison-bearing winds. (Plin. xii. 20.) The principal mountain chains bore the names of Parachoathras (^Ehcend) and Ochus (perhaps Nakhibi), and were, in fact, prolongations to the sea of the still higher ranges of Media. It was watered by no great river, but a number of smaller streams are mentioned, some of them doubt- less little more than mountain torrents. The chief of these were the Araxes (Bend-amh;') the Medus (^Pulwdn), and the Cyrus (A'ur), in the more inland part of the country; and along the coast, the Bagrada, Padargus, Heratemis, Rhogonis, Oroatis, Sec. (Plin. vi. 23. s. 26; Arrian, Ind. c. 39; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6; Strab. xvi. p. 727, &c.) The principal cities of Persis were, Pasai!G.da, its earliest capital, and the site of the tomb of its first monarch, Cyrus; Pehsepolis, the far-famed seat of the palaces and temples of Dareius the son of Hystaspes, and his successors; Gabae, one of the residences of the Persian kings; Taoce, and Aspadana. The Persae were properly tlie native inhabitants