THE COURT OF DARIUS.
Along with the new arrangement of the administration of the empire
Darius had transferred the centre of it into a province, which had
thrice rebelled against him, to Susa,[433] the ancient metropolis of
Elam, which Assurbanipal had conquered, plundered, and destroyed 130
years previously. Since that time the city had risen from its ruins. We
have seen what motives determined Darius to take this step. The position
of the city, which was not far removed from his native territory, and at
the same time brought the stubborn resistance of the Babylonians under
the close pressure of the royal residence, offered the requisite
security. Out of Media, from the southern foot of the Mount Elvend
(Orontes), the Kerkha, or Choaspes, flows down the heights which bound
Iran on the west, towards the south-west; and then breaks through them
in order to fall into the Tigris. Further to the east is the Dizful.
Rising more to the south than the Kerkha it reaches the plains of Elam
in a course parallel to that stream and then falls also into the Tigris.
Between these two rivers there rises in the mountain edge the Shapur, a
river of a short and narrow course, but with a deep channel. For a time
it flows in the same direction with the others, then it turns to the
east, and falls into the Dizful, or rather into the Karun, as the Dizful
is now called in its lower course, after the affluent which falls into
it from the east. At the point where the Kerkha and Dizful approach
within two or three leagues of each other,--though lower down they
separate more and more widely,--about half a league from the east bank
of the Kerkha, and on the eastern side of the Shapur, is the city of
Susa. The approach from the west was barred by the Kerkha, and from the
east by the Dizful and its affluents. If an enemy came from the west or
the east, he had to cross considerable rivers. The great road which ran
from the west from Sardis to Susa, came to an end opposite Susa on the
west bank of the Kerkha. According to Herodotus the city could only be
reached by a ferry across the river. This was no doubt an arrangement
for security. An approaching enemy was not to find bridges either on the
Kerkha or the Dizful.[434] Thus irrigated by three rivers, the land
round the city was extraordinarily fruitful and blooming.
The Greeks were right in calling Susa "the ancient great city." Though
it was not, as they imagined, at one time the abode of Memnon, the son
of the morning, who had come to the help of the Trojans, we have made
acquaintance with the ancient kingdom of Elam, the beginnings of which
we had to place about the year 2500 B.C. We saw that the princes of this
kingdom could make war upon Babylonia, and reduce it to dependence in
the last centuries of the third millennium B.C., and that its armies
must have reached Syria. Then Elam had withstood the Assyrians for a
long time with very great stubbornness, until at length after brave
struggles it succumbed to the arms of Assurbanipal. A relief in the
palace of Assurbanipal exhibited Susa before its capture, in the year
645 B.C., stretching along between two rivers (the Shapur and the
Dizful), and surrounded by high walls and numerous towers. The new Susa
also, the Susa of Darius and his successors, extended, according to the
evidence of Strabo, between the two rivers; according to his statement
the city had a circuit of 120 stades, and according to Diodorus of 200
stades, _i.e._ of 15 or 20 miles--an extent which does not leave it far
behind the fallen cities of the Assyrians, and Babylon.[435] But Susa,
which in spite of its numerous population was inhabited only to a small
extent by Persians, required to be fortified even less than Ecbatana.
The royal citadel must keep the city in check, and afford the most
complete security to the palace. We are expressly told that this
citadel was protected by strong works, which would indeed be necessary
for the position of affairs and the object of Darius.[436] According to
the statement of Pliny, the citadel was surrounded by the Eulaeus, the
name which he gives to the Choaspes; the Book of Daniel also represents
the Ulai as flowing round the castle of Susa.[437] The ruins prove that
the palace lay on the Shapur. Within the protecting walls of the
fortress was the "golden dwelling," "the gold-adorned chambers of
Darius" as Aeschylus calls them,[438] the "far-famed palace" in the
language of Diodorus. According to Aelian Darius took a pride in the
buildings which he had erected at Susa; it was he who had erected the
famous works there.[439]
The ruins of Susa are now surrounded by a wilderness, inhabited only by
lions and hyaenas. The soil is still productive of grass, and the remains
of numerous canals attest the ancient cultivation. Steep mounds of
debris and heaps of ruins rise thickly on the left bank of the Shapur,
in appearance closely resembling the remains of Babylon and Nineveh. The
highest mound is nearest the river; it rises 120 feet above the level of
the water, is 3000 feet in circumference, and appears to have supported
a part of the citadel; the mound abutting on the north only rises 80 or
90 feet, and forms a square, the sides of which measure 1000 or 1200
feet. On this the remains of a large building have been discovered.
Further to the east is an extensive platform, the circumference of which
far surpasses that of the two first put together; the height on the
south side reaches 70 feet and on the east and north about 50 feet. On
the east of these three heaps are mounds of a smaller size. These may be
remains of the city, while the others represent the citadel. The entire
circuit of the ruins is about 7-1/2 miles. They confirm the statement of
Strabo that Susa was built of brick, inasmuch as they present masses of
bricks, partly burnt, partly dried in the sun. But even the palaces in
the citadels were built of bricks in the outer walls only; they did not
contain those narrow long porticoes, which formed the royal palaces of
Nineveh, but were rather large square halls, resting on huge terraces.
The bases and remains of the northern hill allow us to trace three
magnificent porticoes. The interior of the building was formed by a
large hall with pillars, the roof of which was supported by 36 pillars
ranged in six rows; the pillars were of stone, slight and tall, the
capitals were formed by the fore-quarters of kneeling horses. Round
three sides of this hall, the north, east, and west, were placed
porticoes, 50 feet in breadth, the roofs of which were supported by 12
pillars in two rows. Four pillars of the chief hall bear the same
inscription in cuneiform letters, and, as always, in the Persian,
Babylonian, and Turanian languages. In this Artaxerxes Mnemon (405-359
B.C.) relates that his great-great-grandfather (_apanyaka_) Darius had
erected this building and that he had restored it. He entreats
Auramazda, Anahita, and Mithra, to protect him and his work. On some
pillars we find the inscription: "I, Artaxerxes, the great king, the
king of kings, son of the king Darius" (_i.e._ Darius Ochus).[440]
Though Darius elevated Susa to be his chief residence, the native land
of the empire, and the nucleus of it, his own home, was to receive a
proper share of the splendour and glory of the court. After the
conquests on the Indus Darius built a new residence in the land of the
Persians, to the north-west of Pasargadae, which Cyrus had made a
fortified city, and where he had erected his palace and deposited the
spoil of his previous victories. At the confluence of the Pulwar and the
Kum-i-Firuz the mountains retire on either side, and leave a space for
the most delightful plain in Persia, which is still covered with
villages,--the plain of Merdasht. Four thousand feet above the sea,
surrounded on every side by lofty mountains, which on the west are
covered with snow, the climate is mild and salubrious. Curtius considers
it the most healthy district in Asia.[441] From the mountain-range on
the west, a block of mountains now called Kuh Istachr advances into the
plain, and gradually falls away to the Pulwar; opposite to this, the
eastern range also advances with a mighty summit, called Rachmed, a spur
of which, at no great height, forms a broad terrace commanding the
plain. On both sides the heights extend a little further to the river,
so that the terrace forms the retiring level of a natural semicircle.
This terrace was chosen by Darius for the site of his new palace, by the
walls of which a city was to rise. The Greeks call this city of Darius,
Persepolis; _i.e._ city of the Persians. Diodorus tells us: "The citadel
of Persepolis was surrounded by three walls, of which the first was 16
cubits in height and surrounded by turrets, adorned with costly
ornamentation. The second wall had similar ornaments, but was twice as
high. The third wall formed a square, and was 60 cubits in height; it
consisted of hard stones, well fitted together, so as to last for ever.
On each side was a gate of brass, and near it poles of brass, 20 cubits
in height; the first for security, the second to strike terror. In the
citadel were several richly-adorned buildings for the reception of the
king and the generals, and treasuries built for the reception of
revenues. To the east of the citadel, at a distance of four plethra,
lies a mountain, called the "royal mountain," in which are the tombs of
the kings. The rock was excavated, and had several chambers in the
middle, which served to receive the corpses. But they were without any
means of access; the corpses were raised by machines and lowered into
the tombs.[442]"
The remains of Persepolis show that the terrace was surrounded on the
west, north, and south by a wall; and that by removing the earth or
filling it in it was changed into a surface measuring about 1800 feet in
length from north to south, and about 500 feet in breadth from west to
east, towards the heights of Rachmed. On the edge of the terrace rose a
wall, the third wall of Diodorus, which surrounded it on the north,
west, and south. According to the description of Diodorus, the eastern
side, towards Rachmed, was also surrounded by this wall. At the present
day we only find remains of the three sides mentioned, consisting of
blocks of marble from four to six feet in thickness, which in some
places rise to a height of 40 feet above the level of the terrace. If we
reckon in the height of the terrace, those walls had certainly the
elevation of 60 cubits which Diodorus gives them. The two other walls
were on the plain, and barred the approach to the palace; of these there
are no remains. Within the third wall, on the terrace, rise the
buildings of the palace. An inscription on the wall of the terrace in
the Turanian language tells us: "Darius the king says: On this place a
fortress is founded; previously there was no fortress. By the grace of
Auramazda I have founded this fortress, strong, beautiful, and complete.
May Auramazda and all the gods protect me and this fortress and all that
is in it."[443] On the western side of the terrace towards the northern
edge, two flights of steps, receding into the terrace, and joining at
the top, lead up to the surface and the gate of the palace. They consist
of 200 broad steps of large blocks of marble, ten or fifteen steps being
sometimes formed out of one block. Ten horsemen could easily ride up
together on each side. On the top of the terrace behind the landing of
the steps, there was a gate in the wall, the place of which can be found
by a break in the ruins; through this was the entrance into the citadel.
Not far from the western edge of the terrace, about equally removed from
the northern and southern walls, on an elevated platform, rose a
structure, 170 feet in length, and 90 feet in breadth; only a few
fragments of the walls, door-posts, and window-cases remain, with the
bases of the pillars in the hall (24 in number) which formed the centre
of the building. On the window-ledges of the building is an inscription
in three languages, in which we read: "Darius (Darayavus), the great
king, the king of kings, the king of the lands, the son of Hystaspes, an
Achaemenid, has erected this house."[444] On a pilaster in the south-west
corner we find an inscription of Xerxes which tells us: "Under the
protection of Auramazda, Darius, my father, erected this house." The
relief of one of the two posts of the door, which forms the entrance to
the central hall on the north, exhibits Darius himself. The figure is
7-1/2 feet high. The king is dressed in a garment which falls down to
the ancles; the sleeves are very wide; he has high shoes, and wears the
tiara; in his left hand he holds a long sceptre, and in the right a
cup-shaped vessel. The beard is long, the hair comes out in strong locks
under the tiara; the face is so injured that little more can be
recognized beyond the long profile, the straight outline of the nose,
and the quiet dignity of expression. Both the lines of the face and the
expression correspond to the head of the king preserved on the memorial
stone of the canal (p. 358). Over the king in a winged circle hovers
Auramazda, whose figure from the knees upward projects from the circle
beneath which the long robe of the god runs out in feathers. He wears a
tiara like the king and in the left hand bears a ring. The countenance
is aged and solemn; the hair and beard are like those of the king. The
figure of the deity is obviously copied from the Asshur which hovers
over the kings of Assyria. Behind the king, in similar clothing, but
with much smaller and lower tiaras on the head, are the bearer of the
royal parasol, which he holds over the head of the king, and the bearer
of the fan.
The largest structure lies to the east, near the height of Rachmed. It
forms a regular square of more than 200 (227) feet on each side, on
which, on the north side, abutted a portico formed of two rows of
pillars. The outer walls of the square consist of blocks of marble
neatly fitted together, and more than ten feet in thickness. Eight
gates, two towards each quarter, on the posts of which stand two
lance-bearers face to face, led into a large hall the roof of which was
supported by 100 pillars, ten in ten rows.[445] At the north entrance to
the portico, in the two western doors of the hall, the king is
represented in conflict with monsters. In these reliefs he is shown with
only a narrow band round the brow, or he wears a low cap; his robe is
short, his arms are bare. He raises a lion with his right hand and
presses the throat, while in his left he holds a dagger; he seizes a
winged one-horned monster with the jaws of a wolf and the legs of a bird
by the horn, and rips up the belly;[446] the third monster has the head
and the claws of an eagle; the fourth is a four-footed animal standing
up, with a horn in the forehead, which the king seizes, while with his
left hand he has already thrust the sword into the body. These pictures
are, no doubt, like the human-headed bulls which Xerxes subsequently set
up at Persepolis, imitations of Semitic symbols. The overpowering or
slaughter of the lion was, among the Assyrians, Cilicians, and Lydians,
an ancient mode of representing the greatest achievement of
Melkart-Sandon--the conquest of the fierce heat. This victory over evil
was easily and naturally transferred to the office of the ruler, and
could be accepted, even among the Iranians, as the religion of the
Avesta rests in its principles on the resistance to the evil spirits of
Angromainyu and the contest with his savage and harmful creatures, and
requires this contest. The great hall of 100 pillars was, as the
sculptures of the walls and posts show, the royal hall of audience. The
throne was between the two central rows of pillars, opposite the two
doors of the north, on the southern wall of the hall. Here, on days of
reception and festivity, the whole splendour of the Persian empire was
displayed. Then, as the book of Esther says; "golden and silver cushions
were laid on the floor of marble and alabaster, of pearls and
tortoise-shell"; and "between the pillars hung white and purple
curtains, on rings of silver, and linen and purple strings," and "wine
was poured in abundance from golden vessels."[447] The walls of this
room, and the beams of the roof, would not be without that ornamentation
of gold and silver plates, which covered the walls, pillars, and beams
of the chambers of the palace of Ecbatana (V. 309). The metal bolts
which are found here and there on the inner side of the walls, can
hardly have had any other purpose than to support plates of this kind.
In both the northern gates two reliefs exhibit Darius sitting on the
throne, on a lofty chair with a still higher back. The feet of the king
rest on a stool; he wears the tiara, and has the sceptre in his right
hand, a goblet in his left. Behind him is the bearer of the fan with a
covered mouth, that his impure breath might not touch the king, then the
bow-bearer without the Paitidana (V. 190), and at a greater distance one
of the body-guard. A foreign emissary approaches the throne, clad in a
tight coat with sleeves, and trousers joined to it, with a rounded cap.
He holds his hand before his mouth while speaking to the king; behind
him stands another figure with veiled mouth. This group of figures rests
on a pediment which is formed by four rows of ten guards placed one over
the other. These are armed partly with bows and lances, and partly with
shields and lances. Their clothing exhibits two types; which often recur
on the monuments of Persepolis. In the three lower rows one half of the
men have wide coats reaching down to the ancles, with large sleeves, and
high angular tiaras; the other half have coats with tight sleeves,
reaching to the knee only, trowsers joined to them, and a low round
covering for the head. This appears to be the Persian dress, the other
is the dress of the Medes. Over the throne of the king a canopy with
hanging fringes encloses the whole picture; except that in the middle,
two winged circles are seen; beside the lower rows of figures on each
side are four dogs (the animals of Auramazda); and beside the upper four
bulls may be seen on each side. This picture of the enthroned king is
repeated on the pilasters of the two southern gates; but on the third
relief we find only Darius on the throne, with the fan-bearer behind;
and the throne is not supported by the rows of guards, but on fourteen
figures of another shape which are arranged in three rows; in the
highest row are four figures, in the two lower five; in the last figure
on the lowest row towards the west, there is an unmistakable negro. They
bear the throne of the king with raised arms; above the two winged rings
is the picture of Auramazda. On the fourth relief is some dignitary of
the empire, or a prince of the house, behind the throne of the king,
which is here supported in the same way by twenty-nine figures arranged
in three rows. Here also Auramazda hovers over the two winged circles.
These figures are intended to present a picture of the government of
Darius as resting in the one case on the fidelity and bravery of the
army, and in the other, on the obedience of the subject nations. The
supporting figures of the southern doors are all clothed differently, in
the various dresses of the empire. Between these doors we find the
following inscription: "The great Auramazda, who is the greatest of
gods, has made Darius king. He has given him the kingdom; by the grace
of Auramazda Darius is king. Darius the king speaks: 'This land of
Persia, which Auramazda has given to me, which is beautiful, rich in
horses and men, fears no enemy by the protection of Auramazda, and of
me, King Darius. May Auramazda stand beside me with the gods of the
land, and protect this region against war, blight, and the lie. May no
enemy come to this region, no army, no blight, no lie. For this favour I
entreat Auramazda, and all the gods. May Auramazda grant me this with
all the gods.'" On the same wall we are told: "I am Darius, the great
king, the king of kings, the king of these numerous lands, the son of
Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. Darius the king says: 'By the grace of
Auramazda these are the lands which I rule over with this Persian army,
which are in fear of me, and bring me tribute: the Susians, the Medes,
the Babylonians, the Arabs, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Armenians,
the Cappadocians, the inhabitants of Sardis, the Ionians of the
mainland, and those of the sea. And in the east the Sagartians, the
Parthians, the Sarangians, the Areians, the Bactrians, the Sogdiani, the
Chorasmians, the Gedrosians, the Arachoti, the Indians, the Gandarians,
the Sacae, the Macians. If thou thinkest: May I tremble before no enemy,
then protect this Persian army; if the Persian army is protected,
prosperity will remain unbroken to the most distant days.'"[448]
The successors of Darius extended the palace of Persepolis. Directly
behind the gate to which the great staircase on the terrace leads, King
Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius, erected a portico. From the two
front pilasters which form the entrance to this court from the west, two
horses are hewn out in high relief; their heads and fore-feet project in
front, their bodies and hinder quarters stand out from the pilasters in
the entrance. These horses are 18 feet in length. From the four pillars
which support the roof of the portico behind this entrance, two are
still standing, 24 feet in height. Corresponding to the two guards of
the front entrances, we find at the exit of the hall towards the
interior of the citadel, _i.e._ towards the east, two winged bulls with
human heads, projecting from the pilasters. About 20 feet in length,
these bulls are precisely similar to the human-headed bulls of Nineveh,
but the wings of the bulls are not thrown back so far, and the solemn
bearded head is not surmounted here by a round cap, but by the Persian
tiara; these tiaras, like the caps at Nineveh, are surrounded by four
united horns. The horse, the animal of Mithra, which occurs repeatedly
on the ruins of Persepolis, was no doubt the peculiar symbol of the
Persians; the human-headed winged bulls belong, as has been observed, to
Babylon and Assyria. Between this portico and the smaller building of
his father, on the western edge of the terrace, Xerxes constructed a
magnificent building. Three porticoes, of twelve pillars each,
surrounded on the north, west, and south, a hall, formed of 36 pillars
of black marble, 67 feet in height, and placed closely to each other in
six rows; 14 are still standing. The building rose upon a walled
platform, paved with blocks of marble. This appears to have been a kind
of vestibule in which the court, the foreign ambassadors, the
emissaries of the provinces, who brought tribute, assembled. The
inscription calls it a reception-house,[449] and the reliefs with which
the front wall of the platform, ten feet in height, is ornamented,
indicate that it was a vestibule. Two flights of steps lead up to this
platform, and in the middle they form a projecting landing, on the front
of which, on either side of an inscription, stand the seven guardians of
the kingdom, three on one side and four on the other, in Median
garments, with an upright spear in the hand. On the external walls of
the steps we see a lion on either side, which attacks a horned horse
from behind; the horse turns to defend itself. On the wall of the
platform reliefs on either side of the steps exhibit three rows of
figures one above the other. On the west side are the nations bringing
tribute, on the eastern, which is more honourable, the body-guard and
the court of the king. In each row here 22 soldiers of the body-guard
advance to the steps; then the people of the court follow, partly in
Median and partly in Persian dress; most of them have a dagger at the
side; some are in conversation and take each other by the hand; others
have suspended the bow in a belt over the shoulder; others carry cups,
others staves which end in an apple in their hands. On the west side of
the steps the figures are arranged in 20 sections, each containing six
men (with one exception, which contains eight). The first figure always
carries a staff, which marks him out as introducing strangers. The
staff-bearer holds the nearest man by the hand; this second figure and
the four which follow are differently clad in each section; the last
four carry various objects, garments, jars containing different
articles, etc., or lead camels, horses, humped oxen, cattle, rams,
mules, and other animals. These are the 20 satrapies of the kingdom who
are brought before the king by the officers, and present their tribute.
A second building, which Xerxes erected to the south-west of the smaller
structure of Darius, consists of a portico of 12 pillars, and a hall of
36 pillars, on which abut four chambers on the east and west. This seems
to have been his dwelling-house at Persepolis; at any rate we see in the
sculptures of the hall six servants, who are carrying dishes with food,
and a wine-skin. In addition to these, in four other places on the
terrace, there are remains of less extensive buildings, one of which,
lying in the south-west angle, was built by Artaxerxes III. Numerous
ruins before the royal citadel, reaching from the foot of the terrace to
the Pulwar, and the ruins of a wall, which ran along the river, confirm
the statements of the Greeks, that a city of considerable size lay
adjacent to the palace, just as the remains of canals and aqueducts show
that the valley in front of the citadel was carefully cultivated.
Near the new citadel and city, which Darius added to his home a few
years later, he caused the place to be marked out in which his corpse
should rest or be exposed. Two leagues to the north-west from the ruins
of the citadel of Persepolis, on the further shore of the Pulwar, lies a
steep wall of white marble, now called Naksh-i-Rustem, _i.e._ pictures
of Rustem. At an elevation of 60 or 70 feet above the ground this wall
is hewn and wrought. The lowest part of this work is a plain surface,
which forms the basis for a facade of four pillars, which are cut out of
the rock. The capitals, like those in the palaces of Persepolis, are
formed of the fore-quarters of two kneeling horses united at the middle.
Between the two central pillars is the case of a door. The heavy
moulding which these pillars support passes into a toothed plinth, on
which rises a sort of catafalque, where are two rows of men, each
containing fourteen, in different dresses (among them are three
negroes), who support a beam with upraised arms, on which a few steps
lead up to a platform. On this stands Darius before an altar, the fire
on which is flaming. The left hand rests on the bow which is planted on
the platform, the right is raised in prayer. In the centre above the
king hovers Auramazda in a winged circle; to the right the sun's disc is
visible. The door of the facade does not seem to have been an entrance;
but now the lower part of it is opened, and leads behind the facade into
a long chamber, and three smaller ones, which are cut out of the
mountain. Any one who wishes to have a near view of the facade must be
drawn up, as Ctesias says that the parents of Darius were; the corpses
also must have been drawn up, as we are told by Diodorus. On the facade
under the form of the king we find the following inscription: "I,
Darius, the great king, the king of kings, the king of the lands of all
tongues, the king of the great and wide earth, the son of Hystaspes, the
Achaemenid, the Persian, the son of a Persian, Ariya, scion of Ariya (in
the Babylonia text we have only, a Persian, son of a Persian). Darius
the king says: 'By the grace of Auramazda these are the lands which I
governed beyond Persia; I ruled over them: they brought me tribute, they
did what I commanded them: they obeyed my law: the Medes, Susians,
Parthians, Areans, Bactrians, Sogdians, Chorasmians, Sarangians,
Arachoti, Gedrosians, Gandarians, Indians, Amyrgian-Sacae, Sacae with
pointed caps, Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, Armenia, Cappadocia,
the inhabitants of Sardis, the Ionians, the Sacae beyond the sea, the
Ckudra (the Thracians?) the Ionians who wear knots,[450] the Putiya, the
Kushiya, the Machiya, the Karka (p. 307). Auramazda gave me these lands
when he saw them in rebellion, and granted to me the rule over them; by
the grace of Auramazda I have again reduced them to order; what I told
them, that was done, because it was my will. If thou thinkest: How many
were the lands which Darius ruled? look on the picture of those who bear
my throne, in order to know them. Then wilt thou know that the lance of
the Persian penetrated far, that the Persian fought battles far from
Persia. What I have done, I have accomplished by the grace of Auramazda:
Auramazda came to my help, till I accomplished it; may Auramazda protect
me, my house and my land. May Auramazda grant me that for which I pray.
O man, resist not the command of Auramazda; leave not the right path;
sin not.'"[451] The mention of the "Knot-bearing" Ionians, and the
Putiya (_i.e._ the Libyans), and the Sacae beyond the sea on this
inscription shows that it was engraved after the campaigns to the Danube
and Barca, the subjection of Lemnos and Miletus, and the Greek cities on
the coast of Thracia, _i.e._ after the year 512 B.C.; it was after this
year that Darius caused his tomb to be constructed.[452] On the frame of
the facade, over the pillared portal, we find on each side three figures
in long robes placed over each other. These are the six princes of the
Persian tribes, the six chiefs of the empire after the king. Above the
highest figure on the left of the king we read: "Gaubaruva (Gobryas) the
Pateischorean, the lance-bearer of King Darius;"[453] over the second
"Acpachana (Aspathines), the bow-bearer of King Darius."[454]
The ruins of Susa and Persepolis, the only remains of ancient west
Iranian architecture which have come down to us, show that it was indeed
founded upon Babylonian and Assyrian patterns, but that it was by no
means mere imitation. Neither in Ecbatana nor in Persepolis was the use
of brick necessary; stone was at hand; and even in Susa, at a distance
of 50 miles from the mountains, stone was used. The ruins give evidence
of a skill in smoothing and fitting the stones, which can only have been
attained by long practice. If the platform, on which the buildings rest,
belongs to the Babylonian and Assyrian style, the ruins of Persepolis
and Susa nevertheless exhibit a perfectly independent style, which seems
to have arisen out of an earlier practice of building in wood, and a
peculiar manner of treating the ornamentation. We have seen that the
plan of the palace at Ecbatana presupposed the use of wood, that the
pillars there were wooden posts covered with precious metals. In
Persepolis stone took the place of wood. The outer walls of the building
are strong, the blocks and mouldings over the windows and doors are high
and massive, but along with this massiveness, strength, and permanence,
the buildings show a tendency to run into great height. The pillars
are slender, reminding us of tent-posts; though of more than 60
feet in height they have a diameter of only four feet, and the
inter-columniations are often more than 30 feet. The socles and capitals
(which are either the fore-quarters of horses or bulls or inverted cups)
are high and delicate. The socles do not project far, the capitals are
slender; the buildings, which were covered by roofs of beams, overlaid
no doubt with plates of gold and silver, thus acquired, along with their
solidity, the impression of imposing elevation and delicate lightness.
The sculptures also are distinguished from those of Babylon and Assyria,
not merely by the fact that they are carried out in harder material, but
they have also greater repose in the expression, the figures are less
compressed, the muscles less prominent, the development of the forms
more noble and free, the fall of the folds simple and natural. Animals
are represented with extraordinary vigour and life. The execution in
detail is careful, but flatter and duller than at Nineveh. The
expression of the heads does not possess the energy and life which the
sculptures of Assyria present; even in the most excited action it is
ceremonious. It is solemn, massive, earnest, dignified, and restrained,
but wanting in character. Beside the sculptures which symbolically
represent the dignity, business, or deeds of the officers of the empire,
the remaining reliefs of Persepolis give no chronicle of the reign of
Darius and Xerxes; we find neither battles nor sieges; they merely
glorify the splendour and greatness of the monarchy; they exhibit the
throne of the king which the subject nations carry, surrounded by the
princes of the kingdom, and protected by the body-guard. We see the
subject nations bringing tribute, and thus we have a picture of
established power, and secure majesty, but not of the individual acts
and victories of the king. The only historical sculpture which is at
present known, is the inscription of Darius at Behistun. The style is
simple and severe, the treatment far less minute than on the reliefs of
Persepolis and Naksh-i-Rustem, but naive and vigorous.
Susa, so Strabo tells us, was adorned more than other cities by the
kings of the Persians; each built a separate dwelling there as a
memorial of his reign; after Susa they honoured the palaces of
Persepolis and Pasargadae; at Gabae also in upper Persia and at Taoke on
the coast they had castles.[455] From Xenophon we learn that "the kings
of Persia, it is said, pass the spring and the summer in Susa and
Ecbatana."[456] We may conclude from these statements, and from the fact
that the Achaemenids not only preserved but multiplied the gold and
silver ornaments of the citadel of Ecbatana, as well as the buildings of
the palace (V. 315), that Susa remained the ordinary residence even
under the successors of Darius, but that in the height of summer--in
order to avoid the heat of the plains of Elam--the court sought the
cooler air of the ancient residence of Phraortes and Cyaxares--a change
advisable on political grounds also. Even a short residence in Ecbatana
showed that Media did not occupy the last place in the kingdom. The
Persian kings also resided at times in Babylon. The Sassanids pursued
the same course. Ardeshir built Shahabad in Elam, his successors resided
in Madain, but during the summer in Hamadan.[457] The palaces in the
mother country were visited by Darius and his successors from time to
time, who like himself caused their sepulchres to be cut either in the
rocks of Naksh-i-Rustem, or on Mount Rachmed, immediately to the east of
the citadel. There are three sepulchres by the side of that of Darius,
and three on Mount Rachmed.
The size and splendour of the palaces at Susa, Ecbatana, Persepolis, and
Pasargadae were matched by the numbers and brilliance of the court. The
ceremonies and the arrangement of the service were taken from the
pattern of the Median court, but not without considerable variations,
and the Medes, in turn, had imitated the style of the Assyrian and
Babylonian court. The prominent position of the six tribal princes, the
supreme judges, the "kinsmen and table companions of the king," were
without a parallel among the Medes; it was they who immediately
surrounded the king next to the occupants of the great offices of state
or honour. It was the opinion of Cyrus, Xenophon tells us, that the
ruler should not only be superior to his subjects in valour, but he must
exert a charm over them also. Thus he accustomed both himself and his
officers to give commands with dignity, and for himself and for them he
adopted the Median dress, as being more imposing and majestic. On solemn
occasions the king appeared in a long purple robe, bordered with
white--such as no one but himself might wear,[458] a Kaftan (Kandys) of
brilliant purple was thrown over it.[459] The embroidery exhibited
falcons and hawks, the birds of the good god, which dwell in the pure
air nearest to heaven. This garment was held together by a golden
girdle, in which was a sabre adorned with precious stones. The trowsers
were of purple; the shoes of the colour of saffron.[460] The head was
covered by the upright tiara or kidaris,[461] of a white and blue
colour, or by a band of the same colours, and also by a crown, as we see
from the picture of Darius on a seal at Behistun.[462] Plutarch tells us
that the king's attire was valued at 12,000 talents (nearly L3,000,000);
his ornaments and attire on solemn occasions are no doubt meant.[463] If
the royal court of the Sassanids was arranged after that of the
Achaemenids, the attire of the king was even more extravagant. As the
Greeks inform us, the king of the Persians was a sight seldom seen by
the Persians.[464] Only the six tribal princes could enter without being
announced. The attempt in any other person would be punished with death,
unless the king forgave the offence.[465] It required time and trouble,
and even special favour, to make way through the troops of body-guards,
servants, eunuchs, under-officers, and court nobles; and when this was
done it was necessary to be announced by the officers who introduced
strangers, or by the chief door-keeper. The king sat on a golden throne
when he gave audience. Over this was stretched a baldachino of
vari-coloured purple, supported by four golden pillars adorned with
precious stones.[466] It was the custom among the Persians for the lower
to bow to the earth before the more honourable,[467] no one approached
the king without falling in the dust before him.[468] Any one who spoke
to the king was compelled to keep his hands hidden in the long sleeves
of his upper garment, in order to show that he neither could nor would
use them.[469]
According to Xenophon the king of the Persians at day-break praised the
powers of heaven, sacrificed daily to the gods, whom the Magians
indicated. Plutarch tells us that he was awaked daily by a chamberlain
with the words: "Arise, O king, and think of the things which Auramazda
has given thee to think of."[470] At table the queen-mother and the
queen sat beside him. The first sat above him, the second below, the
king was in the middle of the table.[471] Like all the Persians, he ate
but one meal a day, but this lasted a long time. The princes, the
"kinsmen" and "table companions" of the king, as a rule, ate in an
ante-chamber, but at banquets they were in the same hall with him, in
their proper order, the king on a rich divan with a golden frame, the
companions on pillows or carpets on the floor,[472] so arranged that
those whom the king trusted most were on his left, the others on his
right; "because the king," as Xenophon says, "could in case of need
defend himself better with his right hand."[473] Before it was brought
to the king the food was tested by tasters; and before handing the
goblet to the king, the butler drank a few drops out of it with a spoon,
to prove that it was not poisoned.[474] Many kinds of food were set on
the table, but only a moderate portion of each was placed before every
person. Xenophon praises the abstinence of the well-bred Persians at
table; they regarded it as low and brutish to show desire for food or
drink.[475] Plutarch says: "Not only the friends, and commanders, and
body-guard of the king had portions from his table, but also what the
slaves and dogs ate was put upon the board, so that the kings of the
Persians made all who were in their service the companions of their
table and their hearth."[476] What was left from the table of the king
was carried into the courts and distributed in equal portions among the
body-guard and the servants.[477] If the meal was followed by any
drinking, the queen-mother and the queen retired, before the concubines
entered to play and sing.[478] The table-companions might not look at
the concubines, and the eunuchs, who brought the women into the hall,
took care that they should not. Even at night, when the king retired to
rest, the concubines played and sang by the light of burning lamps.[479]
On the festival of Mithra, the king was allowed to dance in Persian
fashion, and to be intoxicated;[480] on his birthday he gave a great
banquet, which, as Herodotus tells us, was called among the Persians the
perfect banquet. On this day the king gave presents to the Persians
(_i.e._ they received a largess of money), and at the banquet, in which
the women took part, he could not refuse any petition.[481] In
accordance with the doctrine of the Avesta the king celebrated the day
which had called him into life, and, as Plato tells us, all Asia
celebrated with sacrifices and feasts the day which had given them their
ruler.[482]
No one ever saw the king on foot; if he passed through the courts of the
palace carpets of Sardis were spread before him, on which no other foot
might step.[483] Outside the palace the king was sometimes seen on
horseback, but more frequently in his chariot. It was a much-envied
distinction among the princes of Persia to be allowed to assist the king
to his horse.[484] If he descended from his chariot, no one might reach
out his hand to support him; it was the duty of the bearer of the royal
stool to place a golden stool for him to descend. At solemn processions,
the roads on which the royal train passed were cleansed, as in India,
strewn with myrtle and made odorous with frankincense; a string of
guards and whip-bearers were placed along the way to prevent any one
from coming forward to the chariot of the king.[485] The body-guard in
their golden ornaments with crowned tiaras led the way and brought up
the rear. The chariot of Mithra, yoked with eight Nisaean greys, went
before the king; the sacred fire was carried before him by the Magians;
and beside the chariot of the king, which was drawn by six or four
Nisaean horses, marched staff-bearers. The chiefs of the tribes, the
Achaemenids, the great officers of the court, the "kinsmen and table
companions" of the king followed. In the train in the rear no doubt the
royal horses, two or four hundred in number, were, no doubt, led in
splendid trappings.[486]
Darius was married before he ascended the throne of the Magian. His wife
was the daughter of Gobryas, the chief of the Pateischoreans. She had
borne him three sons before he came to the throne: Artabazanes,
Arsamenes, and Ariabignes.[487] When he had acquired the throne, he made
Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, his queen, _i.e._ his legitimate wife;
the younger line of Achaemenes was thus yet more closely united with the
elder. The daughter of Gobryas fell into the rank of the second wives;
Atossa took the place which Cassandane had held beside Cyrus, and which
she herself had previously occupied with Cambyses. The second daughter
of Cyrus, Artystone, and Parmys the only daughter whom Smerdis had left,
passed into the harem of Darius. Atossa bore him four sons: Xerxes,
Hystaspes, Masistes, and Achaemenes; Artystone bore Arsames and Gobryas,
and Parmys Ariomardus. Darius had also sons by other women, as
Phratagune, the daughter of his brother, Artanes; "he had many sons," is
the remark of Justin.[488] The secondary wives of the king ranked above
the concubines. The number of the latter was, at any rate under the
successors of Darius, very considerable; it is given at 300, 350, and
360. After the battle of Issus, 329 concubines of the last Darius were
discovered among the captives.[489] These women, as Diodorus informs us,
were sought out from the most beautiful maidens in Asia; for the
new-comers, according to the book of Esther, a year's preparation was
necessary. This went on in a special department of the seraglio, and
consisted in the use of ointments, spices, and perfumes.[490] They were
so far beneath the queen, that they were compelled to prostrate
themselves before her when she looked at them;[491] at no time, except
at the table of the king, could they be seen by men. If they accompanied
the king on the chase or on journeys, and, as became usual at a later
time, to the field, they were always in closed conveyances. Any one who
touched one of the concubines was put to death, and even any one who
approached their waggons, or passed through the train.[492] The queen
enjoyed greater liberty. We are told of Stateira, the consort of
Artaxerxes II., that she always travelled with her hangings drawn back,
and allowed the women of the people to come up to her car and greet
her.[493]
We have mentioned already how numerous were the persons about the court.
The Greeks call attention to the splendid attire of the servants, and
remark that the preparation of the king's table and the waiting gave
them a great deal of trouble: in fact half the day was taken up with
this. Each of the great court officers had a large number of
subordinates. The chief door-keeper had at his disposal a number of
eunuchs, who watched over the inner courts of the palace and the harem,
waited on the women and carried messages. The degrading use of
castration was unknown to the nations of the Arians, and contrary to
their religion, which put so high a value on life, and the preservation
of the germs of life. It was from the princes of the Semites, the
Assyrian and Babylonian court, that the use of eunuchs for guarding the
harem, for waiting on the king and his women, and service in the inner
chambers, was borrowed by the Median kings. In addition to other
burdens, Babylonia supplied each year 500 mutilated boys to Darius.
Eunuchs were never employed in the Persian army for commanders, or for
officers of state, as was the case in Assyria and Babylonia; but
personal attendance on the king, which even in the time of Cyrus
devolved on eunuchs, brought some of them into favour and influence
under him, and subsequently under Cambyses.[494] Beside the chief
door-keeper and his eunuchs, was the chief staff-bearer with his
subordinates. It was his duty to introduce strangers and those who came
to ask for assistance; the envoys from countries and cities; to preserve
order in the palaces, to superintend and punish the servants. The chief
butler was at the head of a large number of butlers and waiters. The
chamberlains, the valets of the king with their subordinates, the
spreaders of pillows and carpets, the carvers and table-dressers, the
cooks and bakers, the preparers of ointment, the weavers of crowns, the
lamp-lighters and palace-sweepers formed a considerable body. In
addition there was the chief groom with his subordinates, the master of
the hunt, the hunters and dog-keepers. Physicians also were at hand,
chiefly from Egypt, who had the greatest reputation in the east; then
came the Greeks.[495]
Long caravans, surrounded by the body-guard, conducted the court, when
a change of residence was made, from Susa to the palaces of Persia or
Ecbatana. A large amount of splendid furniture, cattle for slaughter,
food and drink of special quality, were taken with them. Herodotus tells
us that the king of Persia drank only the water of the Choaspes, _i.e._
the Kerkha, which was boiled and carried in silver vessels on
four-wheeled cars both into the field, and on journeys.[496] Beside
numerous waggons the conveyance of the court required 1200 camels.[497]
Along with the military equipage of the last Darius 277 cooks, 29
pastry-cooks, 13 preparers of milk diet, 17 preparers of liquors, 70
cellarmen, 40 preparers of ointment, and 41 chaplet-makers were
captured.[498]
FOOTNOTES:
[433] The name in Hebrew is Shushan, among the Assyrians, Shusan,
_hodie_, Shush.
[434] Loftus, "Travels in Susiana," p. 425 ff. Noeldeke ("Goettingen G.
G." 1874, s. 173 ff.) has treated exhaustively of the various names of
ancient Elam, as Susiana is invariably called among the Assyrians,
Babylonians, and Hebrews. He proves that the name [Greek: Kissie] which
is in use among the older Greeks, Aeschylus, Hecataeus, and Herodotus,
must be derived from the Kossaeans, a tribe who inhabited the northern
and higher part of Susiana, and the mountainous edge towards Iran. Of
later writers Polybius only uses the name Cissians, who also uses the
name Matieni in the sense of Herodotus. Uwaya, the name common among the
Persians for Susiana, is taken from the Uxians, who were the eastern
neighbours of Persia, _i.e._ the tribe in Susiana which dwelt nearest to
Persia; it is retained in the new Persian Chuz and Chusistan. Among the
Greeks the name Elymaeans is first used by the companions of Alexander
as the name for a tribe, and then in the second century B.C. as the name
of a new kingdom which restored the ancient Elam. Yet to this tribe
which inhabited the plain and the hills of Susa and Shuster was due the
foundation and government of the kingdom which once ruled in the valley
of the Euphrates, which so long resisted the Assyrians, but was entirely
unknown to the Greeks. The rivers of Susiana are difficult to fix, as
both Persian and native names are indifferently used. The name Choaspes,
which contains _acpa_, is plainly Persian; it is no doubt the Kerkha. On
the Eulaeus, Koprates, and Pasitigris, see Droysen, "Hellenismus," 1^2,
266 _n._
[435] Aesch. "Pers." 16, 120; Athen. p. 513; Strabo, p. 728, 731, 739;
Diod. 17, 65.
[436] Polyb. 5, 48.
[437] Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 31; Daniel viii. 2, 16.
[438] "Pers." 3, 4, 159, 160.
[439] Ael. "Hist. An." 1, 59.
[440] Menant, "Achaemenides," p. 140, 141; Oppert, "Peuple des Medes,"
p. 229.
[441] Curtius, 5, 4.
[442] Diod. 17, 71.
[443] Oppert, "Peuple des Medes," 196.
[444] Oppert, _loc. cit._ 19, 148; Spiegel, "Keilinschriften," s. 49;
Schrader, "Assyr. Babyl. Keilinschriften," s. 363.
[445] Texier, "Description," pl. 100.
[446] Impressions of seals which have been discovered in the palace of
Sennacherib at Kuyundshik, represent the king of Assyria in precisely
the same position.--Layard, "Nineveh and Babylon," p. 154, 161.
[447] Esther i. 6, 7.
[448] Inscriptions H. and J. Oppert, "Journal Asiatique," 19, 141;
Spiegel, "Keilinschriften," s. 49. Oppert now translates _aniya_ not by
"enemy" but literally by "the other;" by which Angromainyu would be
meant: "Peuple des Medes," p. 199.
[449] _Vicadahyaus_; Spiegel, _loc. cit._ s. 57; Benfey,
"Keilinschriften," s. 63-65; Schrader, _loc. cit._ s. 364.
[450] Above, p. 272 _n._
[451] Oppert. "Z. D. M. G." 11, 133 ff.; Mordtmann, _loc. cit._ 16, 109
ff.; Spiegel, "Keilinschriften," s. 52; Schrader, _loc. cit._ s. 361.
[452] Above, p. 272 _n._, 307.
[453] So the Babylonian text.
[454] It is merely a guess that _saractibara_ means bow-bearer; Spiegel,
"Keilinschriften," s. 106. Oppert translates: bearer of the commands of
the king; "Peuple des Medes," p. 213.
[455] Strabo, p. 728, 735.
[456] "Anab." 3, 5, 15.
[457] Noeldeke, "Tabari," s. 353. Xenophon's statements about the
residences in the "Anabasis" (_loc. cit._) cannot be outweighed by the
systematized arrangement in the "Cyropaedia" that Cyrus spent three
months at Susa, two at Ecbatana, and seven months at Babylon, which
Plutarch ("De Exilio," c. 12) repeats in the form, that the Persian
kings passed the spring at Susa, the summer in Media, and the winter in
Babylon. With Aeschylus and Herodotus Susa is a fixed residence, and so
also in the treatise "De Mundo," p. 398, and the Hebrews, _e.g._
Nehemiah i. 1. Joseph. "Antiq." 10, 11, 7. Athenaeus, p. 513, thinks
that Persepolis was the residence for the autumn. In the winter of the
year 396-395 Conon finds Artaxerxes II. at Babylon; the same king says
in Plutarch ("Artax." c. 19) to Parysatis, that he will never see
Babylon as long as she lives.
[458] Plut. "Artax." c. 5.
[459] Diod. 17, 77.
[460] Aeschyl. "Pers." 660.
[461] Plut. "Artax." c. 26.
[462] Diod. 17, 77; Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 8, 3, 13.
[463] Plutarch ("Artax." c. 24) maintains, it is true, that this is the
value of the garments which the king habitually wore. Arrian treats of
this subject, "Anab." 4, 7, and Curtius, 3, 3, 17-19; 6, 6, 4. With
respect to the royal colours, cf. Esther i. 6.
[464] Phan. Eres. Fragm. 9, ed. Mueller; Plut. "Artax." c. 20, 23;
Strabo, p. 525.
[465] Esther iv. 11. Cf. Herod. 3, 118, 119.
[466] Heracl. Cum. fragm. 1, ed. Mueller; Esther v. 4.
[467] Herod. 1, 134; Strabo, p. 734.
[468] Arrian, "Anab." 4, 11.
[469] Xenoph. "Hellen." 2, 1; 8.
[470] Herod. 7, 54; Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 8, 1, 23, 24, with the addition
that this was the custom in his day. Plut. "Ad princ. ineruditum," 3.
[471] Plutarch, "Artax." c. 5; "Conjug. praecepta," c. 16; "Quaest.
Conviv." 1, 3, 1.
[472] Heracl. Cum. fragm. 2; Xenoph. "Hellen." 4, 1, 30.
[473] "Cyri Inst." 8, 4, 2, 3.
[474] Suidas, [Greek: Edeatros].
[475] "Cyri Inst." 5, 2, 17.
[476] Plut. "Quaest. Conviv." 7, 4, 5.
[477] Athenaeus, p. 145. Above, p. 352.
[478] Plut. "Quaest. Conviv." 1, 1, 1; "Conjug. praecepta," 16.
[479] Heracl. Cum. fragm. 2; Diod. 17, 77.
[480] Ctesias and Darius, in Athenaeus, p. 434.
[481] Herod. 9, 110, 111; Esther ii. 18.
[482] "Alcib. I." p. 121.
[483] Heracl. Cum. fragm. 1, ed. Mueller.
[484] Xenoph. "Anab." 4, 4, 4.
[485] Herod. 7, 54; Curtius, 5, 1, 20.
[486] Herod. 7, 40, 41; 54, 55; Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 8, 3, 5-10;
Curtius, 3, 3, 21.
[487] Herod. 7, 2, 97; 8, 89. Herodotus (7, 68) calls Arsamenes the son
of Darius, and (7, 69) Arsames the son of Darius and Artystone.
Artabazanes is called by Justin (2, 10) Artamenes.
[488] Herod. 7, 224; Justin, 2, 10.
[489] Diod. 17, 77; Athenaeus, p. 557.
[490] Esther ii. 7-17; v. 2; viii. 4.
[491] Deinon in Athenaeus, p. 557.
[492] Heracl. Cum. fragm. 1, ed. Mueller; Plut. "Artax." c. 27.
[493] Plut. "Artax." 5.
[494] Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 7, 5, 58.
[495] Xenoph. "Cyri Inst." 8, 1, 9; 8, 8, 20; Plut. "Artax." c. 19;
Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66, ed. Mueller. On the physicians, above, p. 134,
313.
[496] Herod. (1, 188) ascribes this custom to Cyrus, though the
reference to Susa which he adds shows that it can only have come into
existence after Susa became a residence.
[497] Demosth. "Symmor." p. 185.
[498] Athenaeus, p. 608.