les are carved with the precision of
the Grecian chisel, induced Sir Robert Porter to believe that they
represented the sacred bulls of the Magian religion; while the solemn,
half-human repose of the features suggests some symbolic and supernatural
meaning. Passing these sentinels, who have kept their solitary watch for
centuries, you ascend by other flights of steps to the top of the terrace.
There stand, lonely and beautiful, a few gigantic columns, whose lofty
fluted shafts and elegantly carved capitals belong to an unknown order of
architecture. Fifty or sixty feet high, twelve or fifteen feet in
circumference, they, with a multitude of others, once supported the roof
of cedar, now fallen, whose beams stretched from capital to capital, and
which protected the assembled multitudes from the hot sun of Southern
Asia. Along the noble upper stairway are carved rows of figures, which
seem to be ascending by your side. They represent warriors, courtiers,
captives, men of every nation, among whom may be easily distinguished the
negro from the centre of Africa. Inscriptions abound, in that strange
arrow-headed or wedge-shaped character,--one of the most ancient and
difficult of all,--which, after long baffling the learning of Europe, has
at last begun yielded to the science and acuteness of the present century.
One of the inscriptions copied from these walls was read by Grotefend as
follows:--

"Darius the King, King of Kings, son of Hystaspes, successor of the
Ruler of the World, Djemchid."

Another:--

"Xerxes the King, King of Kings, son of Darius the King, successor of
the Ruler of the World."

More recently, other inscriptions have been deciphered, one of which is
thus given by another German Orientalist, Benfey:--[107]

"Ahura-Mazda (Ormazd) is a mighty God; who has created the earth, the
heaven, and men; who has given glory to men; who has made Xerxes king,
the ruler of many. I, Xerxes, King of Kings, king of the earth near and
far, son of Darius, an Achaemenid. What I have done here, and what I
have done elsewhere, I have done by the grace of Ahura-Mazda."

In another place:--

"Artaxerxes the King has declared that this great work is done by me.
May Ahura-Mazda and Mithra protect me, my building, and my
people[108]."

Here, then, was the palace of Darius and his successors, Xerxes and
Artaxerxes, famous for their conquests,--some of which are recorded on
these wa