e them, at the distance of a few feet, stands an
altar, elevated on three steps, and crowned with the sacrificial fire.
Its form is square, and its only ornaments are a sunken squared recess,
and a strongly projecting cornice at top. The height of the altar,
including the steps, was apparently about four and a half feet. [PLATE
LVIII., Fig. 4.]

The Persians' favorite victim was the horse; but they likewise
sacrificed cattle, sheep, and goats. Human sacrifices seem to have been
almost, if not altogether, unknown to them, and were certainly alien to
the entire spirit of the Zoroastrian system. The flesh of the victim was
probably merely shown to the sacred fire, after which it was eaten by
the priests, the sacrificer, and those whom the latter associated with
himself in the ceremony.

The spirit of the Zendavesta is wholly averse to idolatry, and we may
fully accept the statement of Herodotus that images of the gods were
entirely unknown to the Persians. Still, they did not deny themselves a
certain use of symbolic representations of their deities, nor did
they even scruple to adopt from idolatrous nations the forms of their
religious symbolism. The winged circle, with or without the addition of
a human figure, which was in Assyria the emblem of the chief Assyrian
deity, Asshur, became with the Persians the ordinary representation of
the Supreme God, Ormazd, and, as such, was placed in most conspicuous
positions on their rock tombs and on their buildings. [PLATE LVIII.,
Fig. 7.] Nor was the general idea only of the emblem adopted, but all
the details of the Assyrian model were followed, with one exception. The
human figure of the Assyrian original wore the close-fitting tunic, with
short sleeves, which was the ordinary costume in Assyria, and had on
its head the horned cap which marked a god or a genius. In the Persian
counterpart this costume was exchanged for the Median robe, and a tiara,
which was sometimes that proper to the king,23 sometimes that worn with
the Median robe by court officers. [PLATE LVIII., Fig. 7.]

Mithra, or the Sun, is represented in Persian sculptures by a disk or
orb, which is not four-rayed like the Assyrian, but perfectly plain
and simple. In sculptures where the emblems of Ormazd and Mithra occur
together, the position of the former is central, that of the latter
towards the right hand of the tablet. The solar emblem is universal on
sculptured tombs, but is otherwise of rare occurrence.