Page:Discovery and Decipherment of the Trilingual Cuneiform Inscriptions.djvu/72

Rh At the time Olearus issued his edition (1058) the text^ taken together with the notes, probably resumed all that was then known concerning Persepolis and the cuneiform letters ; and the translator made no independent addi- tions.^ But in the same year (1658) the third volume of Delia Valle's Travels was at length published, in which he gives the account of his visit to the ruins. His ftime soon became well known in England, and a translation of his Travels to India appeared in 1665, along with those of Sir Thomas Roe.

Nearly thirty years had now elapsed since the last edition of Sir Thomas Herbert's book was published (1638). He was still living, and no doubt he became sensible of the deficiency of his own account of Persepolis in comparison with that of Delia Valle. It apjjears also that a Mr. Skinner h.ad recentlv returned from Persia, with whom Herbert had the advantage of conversing. He had, moreover, preserved ' the mixt notes ' he took at the time of his visit, nearly forty years before, and with a memory thus refreshed he sat down to compose a greatly enlarged account of the famous ruins.- He also gave instructions to the engraver Holler to execute an entirely new design of the place, which was accom- plished in 1663. The' view is still characterised by the most surprising inaccuracy. It is upon a nmcli larger scale, and is a far more pretentious work than its predecessor. We now ascend to the platform by a double staircase parallel to the line of the terrace, but it is still erroneously represented projecting i>i'o- minently from beyond it. At the sunnnit we ol)serve the four animals and the two columns of the Porch. There is, however, no trace of the walls the animals

book was not then ])ublished.
 * It will be remarked that Olearus does not mention Delia 'alle, wlio>e

'^ S<yme Years Traceh, by Sir The. Herbert, Hart. (16r)o), i)p. 145-59.