[681]Le Bruyn. They are likewise taken notice of by
[682]Thevenot, and Herbert. In respect to the grottos I am persuaded, that
they were temples, and not tombs. Nothing was more common among the
Persians than to have their temples formed out of rocks. Mithras e
[683]Petra was in a manner a proverb. Porphyry assures us, that the Deity
had always a rock or cavern for his temple: that people, in all places,
where the name of Mithras was known, paid their worship at a [684]cavern.
Justin Martyr speaks to the same [685]purpose: and Lutatius Placidus
mentions that this mode of worship began among the Persians, [686]Persae in
spelaeis coli solem primi invenisse dicuntur. There is therefore no reason
to think that these grottos were tombs; or that the Persians ever made use
of such places for the sepulture of their kings. The tombs of [687]Cyrus,
[688]Nitocris, and other oriental princes, were within the precincts of
their cities: from whence, as well as from the devices upon the
entablatures of these grottos, we may be assured that they were designed
for temples. Le Bruyn indeed supposes them to have been places of burial;
which is very natural for a person to imagine, who was not acquainted with
the antient worship of the people. Thevenot also says, that he [689]went
into the caverns, and saw several stone coffins. But this merely
conjectural: for the things, to which he alludes, were not in the shape of
coffins, and had undoubtedly been placed there as cisterns for water, which
the Persians used in their nocturnal lustrations. This we may, in great
measure, learn from his own words: for he says, that these reservoirs were
square, and had a near resemblance to the basons of a fountain. The hills,
where these grottos have been formed, are probably the same, which were of
old famous for the strange echoes, and noises heard upon them. The
circumstance is mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus[690], who quotes it from
the writers, who treated of the Persic history. It seems that there were
some sacred hills in Persis, where, as people passed by, there were heard
shouts, as of a multitude of people: also hymns and exultations, and other
uncommon noises. These sounds undoubtedly proceeded from the priests at
their midnight worship: whose voices at that season were reverberated by
the mountains, and were accompanied with a reverential awe in those who
heard them. The country below was called [Greek: Chora ton Magon], the
region of the Magi.