remaining four are in good
preservation. It will be noticed that the animal forms--the Bactrian
camel and the humped ox--are superior to the human, and have
considerable positive merit as works of art. This relative superiority
is observable throughout the entire series, which contains, besides
several horses (some of which have been already represented in these
volumes), a lioness, an excellent figure of the wild ass, and two
tolerably well-drawn sheep. [PLATE LVI., Fig. 2 and 3.]

[Illustration: PLATE LVI.]

The representations of the monarch upon the reliefs are of three kinds.
In the simplest, he is on foot, attended by the parasol-bearer and
the napkin-bearer, or by the latter only, apparently in the act of
proceeding from one part of the palace to another. In the more elaborate
he is either seated on an elevated throne, which is generally supported
by numerous caryatid figures, or he stands on a platform similarly
upheld, in the act of worship before an altar. This latter is the
universal representation upon tombs, while the throne scenes are
reserved for palaces. In both representations the supporting figures
are numerous; and it is here chiefly that we notice varieties of
physiognomy, which are evidently intended to recall the differences
in the physical type of the several races by which the Empire was
inhabited. In one case, we have a negro very well portrayed; in others
we trace the features of Scyths or Tatars. It is manifest that the
artist has not been content to mark the nationality of the different
figures by costume alone, but has aimed at reproducing upon the stone
the physiognomic peculiarities of each race.

The purely animal representations which the bas-reliefs bring before us
are few in number, and have little variety of type. The most curious and
the most artistic is one which is several times repeated at Persepolis,
where it forms the usual ornamentation of the triangular spaces on the
facades of stairs. This is a representation of a combat between a lion
and a bull, or (perhaps, we should rather say) a representation of a
lion seizing and devouring a bull; for the latter animal is evidently
powerless to offer any resistance to the fierce beast which has sprung
upon him from behind, and has fixed both fangs and claws in his body.
[PLATE LVI., Fig. 4.] In his agony the bull rears up his fore-parts, and
turns his head feebly towards his assailant, whose strong limbs and jaws
have too firm a