Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/242

 232 History of Art in Antiquity. merit of telling with marvellous clearness and lucidity its own tale — the glorification of the prince, the pious and dreaded monarch who had fought and Wielded power with the help and by the grace of Ahurft-Mazda. The two lower stages represented — preceded by a guard's room — the fa^e of the palace where he had passed his life, surrounded with the pomp and circumstance of an Oriental court. Even now, behind the closed doorway which appeared between the pillars^ his presence was felt in the same way as of yor^ when, withdrawn in the interior of his palace and concealed by crenelated walls from the multitude, he yet governed his immense empire without showing himself to those millions of men who o¥red him allegiance, amongst whom few, indeed, could boast the privilege of having gazed upon his august face. Above was a scene instinct with religious significance, where the king appeared in a kind of apotheosis, borne on the heads and arms of his subjects, whilst from his exalted position he looked down upon the world stretching at his feet, in the solemn act of accomplishing the highest of his kingly functions, doing homage to the god whom his people held supreme, under the eye and with the concourse of what might be termed his civil and military house, his officers of state and personal attendants. There can be no doubt as to the tomb of Darius being the oldest of those near Persepolis ; it was this prince, too, who commenced those great works which led to the royal houses being constructed one after another on the great artificial platform.^ Out of the scheme selected by sculptor and builder in translating into stone the royal conception, a work was evolved replete with quaintness and originality. The decoration so patiently carved in the living rock was a faithful transcript of the Persian palace, but how are we to account for the fancy which took possession of the founder of the second monarchy to n place the built tomb exemplified at Pasargadae by one hollowed in the flank of the mountain ? Why so great a departure from the example set by Cyprus^ his glorious predecessor ? It has been conjectured, with every appearance of probability, that the innovation was suggested to Darius during the Egyptian campaign, when he served under Cambyses ; ' with that prince he doubtless visited the Valley of the Kings and the tombs at Thebes, which ranked very early among the curiosities shown to strangers. But these were not his models. Quite insig- ' Hist. o/Ar/t torn. v. ch. v. § 3. * Herodotns, ill 139. Digitized by Google