d, and
remain blank to the present day.

The remaining staircases will not require very lengthy or elaborate
descriptions. They are six in number, and consist, in most instances,
of a double flight of steps, similar to the central portion of the
staircase which has been just described. Two of them (e and f) belonged
to the building marked as the "Palace of Darius" on the plan, and gave
entrance to it from the central platform above which it is elevated
about fourteen or fifteen feet. Two others (c and d) belonged to the
"Palace of Xerxes." These led up to a broad paved space in front of
that building, which formed a terrace, elevated about ten feet above
the general level of the central platform. Their position was at the two
ends of the terrace, opposite to one another; but in other respects
they cannot be said to have matched. The eastern, which consisted of two
double flights, was similar in general arrangement to the staircase by
which the platform was mounted from the plain, excepting that it was not
recessed, but projected its full breadth beyond the line of the terrace.
It was decidedly the more elegant of the two, and evidently formed the
main approach. It was adorned with the usual bull and lion combats, with
figures of guardsmen, and with attendants carrying articles needed for
the table or the toilet. The inscriptions upon it declare it to be
the work of Xerxes. [PLATE XLIV.] The western staircase was composed
merely of two single flights, facing one another, with a narrow
landing-place between them. It was ornamented like the eastern, but
somewhat less elaborately.

[Illustration: PLATE XLIV.]

A staircase, very similar to this last, but still one with certain
peculiarities, was built by Artaxerxes Ochus, at the west side of the
Palace of Darius, in order to give it a second entrance. [PLATE XLV.,
Fig. 1.] There the spandrels have the usual figures of the lion and
bull; but the intermediate space is somewhat unusually arranged. It is
divided vertically and horizontally into eight squared compartments,
three on either side, and two in the middle. The upper of these two
contains nothing but a winged circle, the emblem of Divinity being thus
placed reverently by itself. Below, in a compartment of double size, is
an inscription of Ochus, barbarous in language, but very religious in
tone. The six remaining compartments had each four figures, representing
tribute-bearers introduced to the royal presence by