n of a correct taste, nor any very advanced skill in
design or metallurgy.

Of purely aesthetic art--art, that is, into which the idea of the useful
does not enter at all--the Parthians appear scarcely to have had an
idea. During the five centuries of their sway, they seem to have set
up no more than some half dozen bas-reliefs. There is, indeed, only
one such work which can be positively identified as belonging to the
Parthian period by the inscription which accompanies it. The other
presumedly Parthian reliefs are adjudged to the people by art critics
merely from their style and their locality, occurring as they do within
the limits of the Parthian kingdom, and lacking the characteristics
which attach to the art of those who preceded and of those who followed
the Parthians in these countries.

[Illustration: PLATE 7.]

The one certainly Parthian bas-relief is that which still exists on the
great rock of Behistun, at the foot of the mountain, raised but slightly
above the plain. It seems to have contained a series of tall figures,
looking towards the right, and apparently engaged in a march or
procession, while above and between them were smaller figures on
horseback, armed with lances, and galloping in the same direction. One
of these was attended by a figure of Fame or Victory, flying in the air,
and about to place a diadem around his brow. The present condition of
the sculpture is extremely bad. Atmospheric influences have worn away
the larger figures to such an extent that they are discerned with
difficulty; and a recent Governor of Kirmanshah has barbarously inserted
into the middle of the relief an arched niche, in which he has placed
a worthless Arabic inscription. It is with difficulty that we form any
judgment of the original artistic merit of a work which presents itself
to us in such a worn and mutilated form; but, on the whole, we are
perhaps justified in pronouncing that it must at its best have been
one of inferior quality, even when compared only with the similar
productions of Asiatics. The general character is rather that of the
Sassanian than of the Assyrian or Persian period. The human figures have
a heavy clumsiness about them that is unpleasant to contemplate; the
horses are rudely outlined, and are too small for the men; the figure
of Fame is out of all proportion to the hero whom she crowns, and the
diadem which she places on his head is ridiculous, being nearly as large
as herself! On the