Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/51

 36 History of Art in Antiquity. The capital of the Median empire was Hagmatana, or Hag- matan, as the BehistQn inscription has it, a form the Greeks scarcely changed when they turned it into Agbata, more commonly Ecbatana. It is generally admitted that its situation was nearly on the site occupied by the modem town of Hamadan, whose name is but slightly modified from the old designation.* Hag- matan rose at the foot of the Elwend» the Orontes of the Greek geographers. The spot was well chosen, in a temperate zone, with a plentiful supply of water from the near mountains. The palace built by the Median princes» who first introduced the popu- lations of Iran to the stir and life of the Asiatic worid, was famous in antiquity, and tradition ascribed it to Dejoces, the legendary founder of the monarchy. After the collapse of the Median empire, it served as residence to the kings of Persia ; an<i though greatly damaged in the wars between the Seleucidae and the Parthians, it continued to be inhabited by the kings of the latter. No excavations have been made on the site of Ecbatana, and the ruinous mass supposed to represent the ancient capital has been very inadequately described and traced ; yet we are not left entirely to our own devices, since in the descriptions of Herodotus and Polybius will be found data of inestimable value and accuracy.' 8vo^ published by the same firm), if a great irork, whidi noUiing smce it saw the light has displaced from its high position, and well deserves to be consulted. More aid mij^ht have boon expected out of the collection of 150 photographs, published by Ascher, of Berlin, under the title : J'crstjioiis, die Achtzmenidischen und Sassanidischen DenkmaeUr und Inschriften von PersepoUs^ Jstakhr^ Pasargada^ SMAfAr^ nm ente/i Maie ^ho^raphisA mt/gmffmmem von F. So^u, im Anseklusse an die fpigraphisek arekaalegiseMe Expedition in Persien von F. C* jinims, heraus- gegeben auf Veranhssung drr filnften intcmationahn Orietitalisimcotigrcsses zu Berlin, mil einer Besprechung der Inscht i/ten von Th. Notideke, 1882, fol. These photo- graphs axe often indistinct, and not a few diMs are much injured, and several plates utterly obliterated. The latest work dealing with the period which alone concerns us is L'Art antique de la Perse — Acheminides, Perses, Sassanides, 5 parts, 4t0, Paris, 1884-1S89, 103 plates, out of which a certain number do not relate to Persia, but to monuments the author compares with those of Persia. The fact that our drawings are chiefly taken from Coste will came no surprise when it is added that, in company with Flandin, he spent forty days making tracings and drawings of the ruins at Persepolis, whilst Tdxier remained ten days in the place, and Diculafoy only four (Jan£ Dieulafov, Im Perse, la Chaldie et la Susiant, pp. 383 and 414). Flamdin and Costk's Pent aneumu. Plates XXIV.-XXVI. See abo Ker Porter, Tran-b, torn. it. p. 115; and Morier, A Second Journey through Persia, p. 268. Tdxier's illustrations of Hamadan are purely picturesque views. ' Herodotus, i. 98; Polybius, x. 27. Digitized by Google
 * The halMosen or so of cuneiform inscriptions and antiquities are figured in