y of their vassals. Therefore, having no indigenous style to
fall back upon, the artisans who were summoned to build the tomb of
the founder of the monarchy and the palaces of his successors, simply
copied the forms with which they were acquainted. Fortunately, the
sites for the new palaces were in a locality where building stone was
good and abundant, and the presence of this material had a modifying
effect upon the architecture.

[Illustration: FIG. 35.--TOMB OF CYRUS.]

The best known of the remains which date as far back as the earlier
Persian dynasties is the so-called tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae, near
Murghab (Fig. 35). This may be looked upon as a model in white marble
of an old Chaldaean temple, such as the Birs-i-Nimrud. There are the
same platforms diminishing in area as the top is approached, and on
the topmost platform is a small cella or temple with a gabled stone
roof, which probably originally contained the sarcophagus. It is,
however, at Persepolis, the real capital of the later Persian kings,
whose grandeur and wealth were such that Alexander is said to have
found there treasure to the amount of thirty millions of pounds
sterling, that we find the most magnificent series of ruins. These
were carefully measured and drawn by Baron Texier in 1835, and his
work and that of MM. Flandrin and Coste are those from which the best
information on this subject can be obtained.

[Illustration: FIG. 35a.--GENERAL PLAN OF THE BUILDINGS AT
PERSEPOLIS.]

Persepolis is about 35 miles north-east of Shiraz, close to the main
highway to Ispahan, at the foot of the mountain range which bounds the
extensive plain of Nurdusht. The modern inhabitants of the district
call the ruins Takht-i-Jamshid (or the building of Jamshid), but the
inscriptions that have been deciphered prove that Darius and Xerxes
were the chief builders. Just as was the case with the Assyrian ruins,
these stand on an immense platform which rises perpendicularly from
the plain and abuts in the rear against the mountain range. Instead,
however, of this platform being raised artificially, it was cut out of
the rock, and levelled into a series of terraces, on which the
buildings were erected. The platform, whose length from north to south
is about 1582 ft., and breadth from east to west about 938 ft., is
approached from the plain by a magnificent double staircase of black
marble, of very easy rise, not more than 4 in. each step. Its general
heigh