Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/38

 History and Religion. 23 than the building of palaces which, by their size and gorgeous decoration, should enhance their prestige and make a frame for the heir of Cyrus befitting the dread monarch of nations occupying the countries between the Indus and the ^gean Sea, between the Oxus, the Danube, and the Persian Gulf, on to the Nile cataracts ? In order to satisfy desires and obtain such results as these, where did they go for their models, what artists and craftsmen were invited to carry out the royal fancies ? This they have neglected to tell us, and Greek historians are equally reticent on the subject. The only way in which we may hope to solve the problem is the study of the ruins these imposing constructions have left But the data bearing on this question are about as complicated as any to be found in the history of antique art, making it a difficult and delicate matter to advance an opinion. The Persian empire, owing to the date when it constituted itself and the vastness of dominions that for more than two hundred years obeyed a unique master, was placed in conditions which in many respects differed from those wherein was passed the existence of its predecessors in the East. On the one hand, it was coeval with the best age of Greece — that in which her most ori^nal works were produced ; and its relations with the latter country extended over the space comprised between Cyrus and Darius Codomanus, terminating in the brilliant, if transitory, triumph of Hellenism. On the other hand, it had its centre in regions where the traditions of Oriental art were still in vogue, and if it no longer created new types, it was represented by grand monuments, still almost intact; the l^acy of powerful and glorious nations many thousand years old. Could Susa, Persepolis, and Ecbatana, inasmuch as they were further removed from the west than Memphis and Thebes, Babylon and Nineveh, altogether escape from the fascinating influence of Grecian arts ? In what measure did the spaces to be traversed, long-seated habits, and examples of the past oppose a resistance to their attractiveness? Here again, it will chiefly devolve on the monuments to give an answer that shall setde the contention. In the mean while we shall be in a better position to understand their testimony if, after having interrogated classic literature as to the assistance Persian monarchy derived from Greek handicraft, we define with precision the main characteristics which the Achaemenid dynasty, without notable change, offered from first to last. Digitized by Google