could not bring himself to dismiss. Instead of
donning the armor which befitted one who was struggling for his crown,
he wore to the last the silken robes, the jewelled belt, the rings and
bracelets that were only suited for the quiet inmate of a palace, and by
this incongruous and misplaced splendor he provoked, and, perhaps we may
say, deserved his fate. A monarch who loses his crown for the most
part awakens interest and sympathy; but no historian has a word of
commiseration for the last of the Sassanidae, who is reproached with
feebleness, cowardice, and effeminacy. It must certainly be allowed that
he was no hero; but considering his extreme youth when his perils began,
the efforts which he made to meet them, and the impossibility of an
effective resistance in the effete and exhausted condition of the
Persian nation, history is scarcely justified in passing upon the
unfortunate prince a severe judgment.

The coins assigned to Isdigerd III. are neither numerous nor very
remarkable. The head is in general very similar to that of Artaxerxes
III. The pearl bordering around it is single, and in the margin are
the usual stars and crescents of the later Sassanian kings. The margin,
however, shows also in some instances a peculiar device behind the
crown, and also a legend, which has been read, but very doubtfully,
as "Ormazd." The king's name is given as Iskart or Iskarti. Among
the regnal years marked on the reverse have been found the numbers
"nineteen" and "twenty." Among the mint-marks are Azer-bijan, Abiverd,
and Merv. [PLATE XXIV., Fig. 4]

CHAPTER XXVII.

_Architecture of the Sassanians. Its Origin. Its Peculiarities. Oblong
Square Plan. Arched Entrance Halls. Domes resting on Pendentives.
Suites of Apartments. Ornamentation: Exterior, by Pilasters, Cornices,
String-courses, and shallow arched Recesses, with Pilasters between
them; Interior, by Pillars supporting Transverse Bibs,or by Door-ways
and False Windows, like the Persopolitan. Specimen Palaces at Serbistan,
at Firuzbad, at Ctesiphon, at Mashita. Elaborate Decoration at the
last-named Palace. Decoration Elsewhere. Arch of Takht-i-Bostan.
Sassanian Statuary. Sassanian Bas-reliefs. Estimate of their Artistic
Value. Question of the Employment by the Sassanians of Byzantine
Artists. General Summary._

"With the accession of the Sassanians, Persia regained much of that
power and stability to which she had been so long a stranger....
The improveme