cient writers as objects of interest; and, notwithstanding certain
doubts which have been raised in recent years, it seems tolerably
certain that they are to be recognized in the two chief classes of
ancient ruins which still exist in the country.

The Persian palatial buildings, of which traces remain, are four in
number. One was situated at Ecbatana, the Median capital, and was a sort
of adjunct to the old residence of the Median kings. Of this only a very
few vestiges have been hitherto found; and we can merely say that it
appears to have been of the same general character with the edifices
which will be hereafter described. Another was built by Darius and
his son Xerxes on the great mound of Susa; and of this we have the
ground-plan, in a great measure, and various interesting details. A
third stood within the walls of the city of Persepolis, but of this not
much more is left than of the construction at Ecbatana. Finally, there
was in the neighborhood of Persepolis, but completely distinct from the
town, the Great Palace, which, as the chief residence, at any rate of
the later kings, Alexander burnt, and of which the remains still to
be seen are ample, constituting by far the most remarkable group of
buildings now existing in this part of Asia.

It is to this last edifice, or group of edifices, that the reader's
attention will be specially directed in the following pages. Here the
greatest of the Persian monarchs seem to have built the greatest of
their works. Here the ravages of time and barbarism, sadly injurious
as they may have been, have had least effect. Here, moreover, modern
research has spent its chief efforts, excavations having been made,
measurements effected, and ground-plans laid down with accuracy. In
describing the Persepolitan buildings we have aids which mostly fail us
elsewhere--charts, plans, drawings in extraordinary abundance and often
of high artistic value, elaborate descriptions, even photographs. [PLATE
XXXVIII., Fig. 3.] If the describer has still a task of some difficulty
to perform, it is because an overplus of material is apt to cause almost
as much embarrassment as too poor and scanty a supply.

[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII.]

The buildings at Persepolis are placed upon a vast platform. It was
the practice of the Persians, as of the Assyrians and Babylonians, to
elevate their palaces in this way. They thus made them at once more
striking to the eye, more dignified, and more easy