Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/586

 560 P E R P E R recklessness of statement, confounded the tombs behind the palaces with those of Nakshi Rustam ; indeed he appears to imagine that all the royal sepulchres were at the same place. It is possible, however, that the discrepancy ori ginated with Diodorus, who often makes his extracts in a very perfunctory manner. 1 If it should prove that, after all, the terrace is not large enough to have contained the treasure-houses and the barracks of the garrison, in addition to the palaces, or that Alexander could not have set fire to the latter without en dangering the former and the safety of the whole fortress, then we should have to assume that a separate citadel (uK-pa) stood somewhere outside of the terrace with the palaces. There are many positions naturally adapted for defence in the vicinity. But, as far as yet appears, such an assump tion is scarcely required. Of course we need not suppose that the number 3000 represents the actual strength of Alexander s garrison ; and we must consider that, Avhen Darius, in the height of his power, laid out this place in the heart of his empire, he was thinking more of regal magnificence than of security. A high wall and a guard of 200 men would suffice for the protection of the treasures at a time when battering engines were unknown. In 316 B.C. Persepolis is still the capital of Persis as a province of the great Macedonian empire (see Diod., 19, 21 sq., 46 ; probably after Hieronymus of Cardia, who was living about 316). The city must have gradually declined in the course of time ; but the ruins of the Achannemans remained as a witness to its ancient glory. It is probable that the principal town of the country, or at least of the district, was always in this neighbourhood. About 200 A.I). we find there the city Istakhr - as the seat of the local governors. There the foundations of the second great Persian empire were laid, and once more there arose round the tombs of the Achre- menians what was for centuries the theoretical metropolis of a great monarchy whose administrative capitals lay far to the west. Istakhr acquired special importance as the centre of priestly wisdom and orthodoxy. In its most nourishing days it was probably as large as Persepolis had been, whose ruins undoubtedly furnished much of the material for its houses. The peaceable resident, intent on building his house or hut, has too often proved more destructive to ancient buildings than a foreign invader or even the disintegrat ing forces of nature. The Sasanian kings have covered the face of the rocks in this neighbourhood, and in part even the Achfe- menia i ruins, with their sculptures and inscriptions, and must themselves have built largely here, although never on the same scale of magnificence as their ancient predecessors. The Romans knew as little about Istakhr as the Greeks had done about Perse- ]x&amp;gt;lis, and this in spite of the fact that for four hundred years they maintained relations, friendly or hostile, with the empire, while their own sway extended far into the heart of Asia. So remote is Persis ! At the time of the Arabian conquest Istakhr ottered a desperate resistance, which was renewed again and again before the place was finally subdued. Blood flowed like water in these struggles for religion and liberty. Nevertheless the city was still a place of considerable importance in the first century of Islam, although its greatness was speedily eclipsed by the new metropolis Shiraz. In the 10th century Istakhr had become an utterly insignificant place, as may be seen from the descriptions of Istakhri, a. native (c. 950), and of Makdisi (c. 985). At this time the little town occupied approximately the site assigned to it on Flandin s map, near the present village of Haji abad, surrounding the ruined structure of the Achfemenians, and principally on the left side of the stream. During the following centuries Istakhr gradually declined, until, as a city, it ceased to exist. This fruitful region, however, was covered with villages till the frightful devastations of last century ; and even now it is, comparatively speaking, well cultivated. The &quot;castle of Istakhr&quot; played a conspicuous part several times during the Mohammedan period as a strong fortress. It was the middlemost and the highest of the three steep crags which rise from the valley of the Kur, at some distance to the west or north west of Nakshi Rustam. 3 We learn from Oriental writers that one 1 Curtins repeatedly confounds the palace with the metropolis (both being TO. /SacriXaa), and so speaks of the city being set on fire. 2 Properly Stakhr, as written in Pahlavi ; on the coins of the Sasariids &quot;ST&quot; stands as an abbreviation for the name. The Armenians write Stahr. The form with the prosthetic vowel Istakhr is New Persian; the Syrians used at a still earlier time the form Istahr or Istalir. 3 This height is now called, from its situation, Miydnkala (middle fortress). Older writers and travellers give other names, the nomen clature of all this part of Persia having greatly altered ; but the name &quot; castle &quot; or &quot; hill of Istakhr &quot; appears not to have entirely disappeared. A, of the Buwaihid sultans in the 10th century of the Flight con structed the great cisterns, which may yet be seen, and have been visited, amongst others, by .lames Morier and Flandin. 4 Ouseley, who has extracted a vast amount of information from Persian authors about the ruins of Persepolis and about Istakhr, 5 points out that this castle was still used in the 16th century, at least as a state prison. But when Delia A alle was there in 1621 it was already in ruins. (Til. N.) PERSEUS, a hero of Grecian fable, son of DANAE (&amp;lt;y.v.) and Zeus. When Perseus was grown to manhood Poly- dectes, the wicked king of Seriphus, cast his eye on Danae; and, that he might rid himself of the son, he exacted of him a promise that he would bring him the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Now the dreadful GORGONS ( /.? .) dwelt with their sisters the Grseai (the Gray Women) by the great ocean, far away in the west. Guided by Hermes and Athene, Perseus came to the Grseas. They were three hags, with but one eye and one tooth between them, which they handed one to the other. Perseus stole the eye and tooth, and would not restore them till the Gnva) had guided him to the Nymphs, from whom he received the winged sandals, the wallet (ju)3uris), and the cap of invisi bility. These he put on, and, being armed by Hermes with a scimitar (apTr?/), came upon the Gorgons as they slept and cut off Medusa s head, while with averted eyes he looked at her image on his brazen shield lest he should be turned to stone. Perseus put the Gorgon s head in his wallet and fled. Coming to ./Ethiopia he delivered and married ANDROMEDA (q.v.). With her he returned to Seri phus in time to rescue his mother and Dictys from Poly- dectes, whom he turned to stone along with all his court by showing them the Gorgon s head. The island itself was turned to stone, and was still and lonely ever after; the very frogs of Seriphus (so ran the proverb) were dumb. Perseus then gave the head of Medusa to Athene, who put it on her shield, and, with Danae and Andromeda, he hastened to Argos to see his grandfather, Acrisius,once more. But he, fearing the oracle, had gone to Larissa in Thessaly. Thither his grandson followed him, but at some games given by Teutamias, king of Larissa, he threw a quoit which lighted on his grandfather s foot and caused his death. Ashamed to return to Argos, Perseus gave his kingdom to Megapenthes, and received from him Tiryns in return. There he reigned and founded Midea and the famed Mycenae, and became the ancestor of the Persides, amongst whom were Eurystheus and Heracles. The legend of Perseus was a favourite theme of Greek poetry and art. Sophocles and Euripides had each several dramas on the sub ject, and sculptor and painter vied with each other in depicting the rescue of Andromeda from the sea-monster. The story was localized in various places. Italy claimed that the ark with Danae and Perseus had drifted to the Latin coast (Servius on Virg., -En., vii. 372, and viii. 345). The Persian kings were said to have sprung from a son of Perseus (Apollod., ii. 4, 5 ; Herod., vii. 61) ; and, according to Pausanias Damascenus, Perseus taught the Persians to worship fire, and founded the Magian priesthood. The talc of the rescue of Andromeda by Perseus from the sea-beast is akin to that of Heracles and Hesione. Both have been interpreted of the sun slaying the darkness, Andromeda or Hesione being the moon, whom the darkness is about to devour. According to one version Heracles rescued Hesione from the sea-beast by leaping into its mouth, from which he came forth after three days spent in the belly of the beast. This points to a connexion with the Semitic story of Jonah and the fish. Greek sculptures of Andromeda s monster were the models for Jonah s fish in early Christian art, and on a rock at Joppa they showed the chains which had bound Andromeda, and the bones of the sea-beast (Pliny, //. N., v. 13 ; Mela, i. 11). Tarsus in Cilicia was said to have been founded by Perseus, who appears on coins of the city, as well as on coins of Pontus and Cappadocia. 4 See the plans and sketches in Flamlin, to whom it was stated that the castle-rock was called Kakd sarv, &quot;castle of the cypress,&quot; from a solitary cypress growing there. It is unfortunate that for this particular locality the newest map of Hausknecht (Berlin, 1882) is quite unreliable. 8 These references are still very useful, although we have now the advantage of knowing the extremely valuable Arabian sources of many of his Persian narratives from printed texts.