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 288 History of Art in Antiquity. that this palace displays, like its neighbours, most of its bases along with capitals whose vety existence was questaoned, little remains to be done with regard to the other great royal houses. All that subsists of them, antae and pillars, doorways and windows, has been disengaged down to the substructures ; the latter resting on the rock. The curious who have studied these ruins have cleared here and there the bases of pillars and walls; oearly every- where, whether in the space once occupied by palaces or in their immediate vicinity, the original. ground has been laid bare; but the rest of tht [ latform is covered with earth one metre deep. To the rear of the hypostyle hall of Xerxes, as shown in our plan (Fig. 143), are heaps of dust, of rubbish, and hillocks of stone seven and eight metres in height. What is buried in their depths? It amazes me that nobody should have attempted sounding their flanks. Interesting discoveries might be expected if the whole of the esplanade were uncovered, as has just been done for the Acropolis at Athens, Whatever may be the results of ulterior researches, they will not modify to any great extent our present notion of the general arrangement of the platform and the character of its enceinte. The latter, considered as supporting wall, was admirably fitted for the function it was called upon to fulfil ; from the standing point of a defensive work, however, its value was feeble even in its perfect state, when it was surmounted by a parapet The height was mediocre, and permitted an escalade. The numerous rcsaults it presents on all its faces added, no doubt, to its strength. They were like so many counter-forts that gave it more power of resistance against earthworks ; but they favoured at the same time the movements of the besiegers, in that the re-entering angles afforded convenient places for ladders. There are no towers anywhere to act as batteries and protect the curtain, or any trace of crenelations. I'^inally, the principal stairs-- which it was diflncult to barricade — offered a commodious means of access, both from their width and gentle slope ; their merits, in the h^ potlicsis of a pacific destination, would have turned to serious drawbacks and elemmts of danger, had Persei)olis been a fortress in the ordinary sense of the term. We are thus led to suspect that Diodorus's descrijjtion, the only Greek historian who enters into particulars respecting the construction of the royal city, is substantially correct. " Before going further," he writes, " I think i^iyiu^cd by Google