Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/389

 Some more Palaces other than at Persefolis. 367 material which appears in the restoration of the fourth century B.a belonged to the primitive structure and was re-used» whilst the entirdy new parts bear the impress of the decay which had descended .upon the empire. This is traceable also in the loose ^ay in which the cuneiform lettering is indsed, and the numerous grammatical inaccuracies ' which occur in the inscriptions of this date. It is probable that the leading lines of die plan were adhered to ; so that the edifice, to judge from its dispositions, pro- portions, and the forms adorning it, would thus travel back to the golden age of Persian architecture, and, as the work of Darius, would naturally be somewhat older than the hypostyle hall of Xerxes. Despite dose resemblances which suggest the idear that the same architect built both palaces, there was at all times a notable difference between them, arising from their respective geographical situation. Edifices at Persepolis rested upon the native lime- stone, and the latter was largely used in the building to the exdusion of brickr which played but a minor part At Susa, the structure is seated upon an artificial mound, some twenty-six miles from the lower slopes of the mountains ; the flat level where it stands is a prolongation of the boundless rolling plains of Chaldxa, and brick occupies the largest possible space. Stone is hardly seen except in pillars and door-frames ; all the rest, staircases and substructures against which they lean, basements, ramparts, and Propylaea, is built of brick burnt or unbumt. From the same material too, now in its natural state, now covered with ' Spikobl, toe, atf p. 136. M. Noiris writes : " The cardess manner in which this inscription was engraved, the abaormal spelling, and the unusual forms of the letters, and inaccumcics, all combine to throw difficulties in the way of a satisfactory explanation of the inscrip- tion. . . These irregularities, he thinks, arise from a desire on the part of the writer to make the translation as literal as posMble, even to the enors of the oi%uial; whilst M. Pinches, in a note kindly forwafded to me, says : " Each base when perfect, contained a threefold inscription, one being ancient Persian, another Median, and the third Semitic Babylonian ; " which he translates as follows : " Says King Artaxerxes, the great king, the king [of kings, the king of countries, the king of] this earth, the son of Darius the king; Darius was the son of Artaxeixes [the lung, Artaxenes was the son of Xerxes the king], Xerxes was the son of Darius the king, Darius was the son of [Hysta5pes] the Achajmenim. Darius, my ancestor, built this oalace [upon this mountain (?) In the time of Artaxerxes fire burnt it]. Under the protection of Ormnsd, Anaitu, and Mitm [I have lebinlt this palace^ May Onnusd, Anaitu, and Mitra protect me firom all evil, and may they not destroy or sp<Ml what I have done]." — Tas. Digitized by Google