Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/478

 454 History of Art in Antiquity. The analogy with the BehistQn bas-relief is most remarkable (Fig. 189). The prisoners,, if fewer in number, are grouped exactly as those of the rock-cut tomb, but the arrangement of the chief figures is somewhat different The rebel is not prostrated in the dust— he only kneeb ; and his lord does not spurn him with his foot, but despatches him with his spear. The theme, however, is very similar. There is no doubt as to the equipment and the costume of the conqueror being those of the Achaemenids. We recognize in him the invincible archer of the sculptures and of the coins ; he wears the long robe with ample sleeves, caught up in front to recall the previous combat, exactly as in the pictures which at PersepoHs represent the struggle of the king with monsters (Figs. 71, 72). This, perhaps, is also the reason why he has neither the high smooth tiara, nor the fluted cap of Darius, but a head-dress which bring^s to mind the ribbed specimen (Fig. 203) worn by common Persian soldiers. The head covering of the rebel, with raised borders, out of which issue feather-like appendages, is most peculiar, and lias given rise to the conjecture that he is no other than the Magi Gaumata. In order to give weight to the hypothesis, it would be well, in the first place, to prove that such was the usual head-dress of the Magi; but in that case it would scarcely agree with the ocular testimony of Strabo, who describes it as " a felt tiara, with lappets that fall on the sides of the face, veiling the mouth,"' like the exemplar exhibited on the tomb at Serpul (Fig. 113); whilst the cap of the cylinder is quite different, leaving as it does face and mouth exposed. What it most approaches is the profusely ornamented, tall, horned tiara of the Chaldxan cylinders.' If then the tiara theory be persisted in for the sake of connecting it with history, it would be more natural perhaps to identify its wearer with one or other of the Babylonian chiefs, who instigated their countrymen to frequent rebellions during the reign of the first Achaemenidae, and which the latter were obliged to quell with might and main. Be that as it may, we can say with certainty that whoever engraved the cylinder, intended to per- petuate the remembrance of a recent victory of the monarch, ' Strabo, XV. iii. 15. 60, 63-65, 67, 74, «4. «c Digitized by Google
 * Hist, of Artf torn. iL FigSL 397, 33J ; J. MAmant, Xakmka, torn. i. Figs. 59,