he handkerchief in the usual way in his
left hand, carries in the palm of his right what seems to be a bottle,
not-unlike the scent-bottle of a modern lady. It has always been an
Oriental custom to wash the hands before meals, and the rich commonly
mix some perfumery or other with the water. We may presume that this
was the practice at the Persian Court, and that the Great King therefore
took care to have an officer, who should at all times be ready to
provide his guests, or himself, with the scent which was most rare or
most fashionable.

The Persians seem to have been connoisseurs in scents. We are told that,
when the royal tiara was not in wear, it was laid up carefully with a
mixture of myrrh and _labyzus_, to give it an agreeable odor. Unguents
were thought to have been a Persian invention, and at any rate were most
abundantly used by the upper classes of the nation. The monarch applied
to his own person an ointment composed of the fat of lions, palm wine,
saffron, and the herb helianthes, which was considered to increase the
beauty of the complexion. He carried with him, even when he went to the
wars, a case of choice unguents; and such a treasure fell into the hands
of Alexander, with the rest of Darius's camp equipage, at Arbela. It may
be suspected that the "royal ointment" of the Parthian kings, composed
of cinnamon, spikenard, myrrh, cassia, gum styrax, saffron, cardamum,
wine, honey, and sixteen other ingredients, was adopted from the
Persians, who were far more likely than the rude Parthians to have
invented so recondite a mixture. Nor were scents used only in this form
by the ingenious people of whom we are speaking. Arabia was required
to furnish annually to the Persian crown a thousand talents' weight of
frankincense; and there is reason to believe that this rare spice was
largely employed about the Court, since the walls of Persepolis have
several representations of censers, which are sometimes carried in
the hands of an attendant, while sometimes they stand on the ground
immediately in front of the Great King.321 [PLATE XXXIV., Fig. 2.]

The box or vase in which the Persians commonly kept their unguents was
of alabaster. This stone, which abounded in the country, was regarded as
peculiarly suited for holding ointments, not only by the Persians, but
also by the Egyptians, the Greeks, and (probably) the Assyrians. The
Egyptian variety of stone seems to have been especially valued; and
vases appear to ha