istic notions of the builder. This is the occurrence of frequent
angular projections and indentations, which we remark on all three sides
of the platform equally, and which would therefore seem to have been
regarded in Persia, no less than in Assyria, as ornamental.

[Illustration: PLATE XL.]

The whole of the platform is not of a uniform height. On the contrary,
it seems to have been composed, as originally built, of several quite
distinct terraces. Three of these still remain, exhibiting towards the
west a very marked difference of elevation. The lowest of the three is
on the south side, and it may therefore be termed the Southern Terrace.
It extends from east to west a distance of about 800 feet, with a width
of about 170 or 180, and has an elevation above the plain of from twenty
to twenty-three feet. Opposite to this, on the northern side of the
platform, is a second terrace, more than three times the breadth of the
southern one, which may be called, by way of distinction, the Northern
Terrace. This has an elevation above the plain of thirty-five feet.
Intermediate between these two is the great Central or Upper Terrace,
standing forty-five feet above the plain, having a length of 770 feet
along the west face of the platform, and a width of about 400. Upon
this Upper Terrace were situated almost all the great and important
buildings.

The erection of a royal residence on a platform composed of several
terraces involved the necessity of artificial ascents, which the
Persian architects managed by means of broad and solid staircases. These
staircases constitute one of the most remarkable features of the place,
and seem to deserve careful and exact description. [PLATE XLI., Fig. 2.]

[Illustration: PLATE XLI.]

The first, and grandest in respect of scale, is on the west front of the
platform towards its northern end, and leads up from the plain to the
summit of the northern terrace, furnishing the only means by which the
platform can even now be ascended. It consists of two distinct sets of
steps, each composed of two flights, with a broad landing-place between
them, the steps themselves running at right angles to the platform wall,
and the two lower flights diverging, while the two upper ones converge
to a common landing-place on the top. The slope of the stairs is so
gentle that, though each step has a convenient width, the height of a
step is in no case more than from three to four inches. It is thus
ea