Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/162

 Decoration. 151 the pomp and circumstance in the reign of Camb) ses, Darius, and Xerxes reached a very higli pitch of magnificence and majesty. Report says that the king had his residence at Susa or Ecbatana, behind walls that hid him from the vulgar gaze, within a palace where the glitter of gold, of electrum. and ivory was seen every- where. Around his palaces were pylons and numerous vestibules, several stadia from each other, whilst brazen gates and lofty walls forbad access thereto." ' Such details as these were not prompted by pure fancy ; on the contrary, they are in accord with the data furnished by the remains of ancient edifices both at Susa and Persepolis. Hence there is no reason to discard the mention of ivory, as if thrown out hap- hazard and void of truth. Enormous quantities of it were recovered, we know, at Nineveh.* If but rare specimens have been encountered among the ruins of Persia and Susiana, it is because they were placed in conditions utterly at variance from those that in Assyria served to preserve for our curiosity so many tenuous and fragile fri^^ments of her culture. The sovereigns of Persia were even better situated than those of Mesopotamia for procuring as much ivory as they required. Through the channel of their Egyptian vassal, it found its way from the interior of Africa to the ports of the Mediterranean. If we are to trust tho testimony of Herodotus, the tribute paid by Egypt to Persia, besides ebon and gold, comprised twenty large elephant tusks ; ^ and in one of the bas-reliefs of the royal houses at Persepolis, where people are depicted bringing gifts to the king, appear elephant tusks.* On the other hand, their empire extended further east than that of the Sargonidx, and in rinded within its boundaries the valley of the Indus, so that ivory was brought to Persia by ships which held the Persian Gulf, whilst prodigious quantities found their way orient et audoritate commfttlalio, Berlin, 185.}, 8vo) is inclineci to believe, from various indications, that the author of the llcpi Koayjav Uved hefore Eratosthenes (p. 99), who datetfrom 37610 196 b.c. iEscHVLUS {Fersai^ 159) described the palace of the great king as having its trails coated all over with gdd, for such is the mean- ing of xp^'iTocrroXiiot hoftou A tastc fof metal-plating has survived to this day in Persia. Thus, the entrance gale of the mosque at Ispahan, openinp; on to the great square, is covered wiih laminae of silver, and adorned with arabesques and inscriptions picked out with gold (T£xier, Description itfArminieet dela Ikrse, lorn. ii. p. 136). Digitized by Google
 * Pseudo-Aristotle, !!«/»» tma-ftav, vi. Valentin Rose (D^ Arisloiclisi Hhrorum
 * Hist, of Art ^ torn. ii. pp. 313-315, 729-731. ' Herodotus, iiL 97.
 * Flandin and Coste, P«r$( ancicnnt^ Plate CXXX. (palace No. 4).