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Show 148 TilE NATIONS OF TilE covcred,-mostly cylindrical seals of lapis-lazuli and hromatite, and some tcrra-cottas-was less artistical than Nineveh. Its statuary was a branch of the Assyrian, not difl:oring in style, but only in perfection. All tho Babylonian monuments, without excel tion, arc evidences of tho more hemitic character of the country; whither art has been imported from Nineveh, without ever becoming thoroughly understood. A nobler spirit prevailed in Arian Persia. Tho royal palaces and tombs of tho Achromenian Fig. 82. Icings yield numerous specimens of Persian art, mostly belonging to tho groat time of Persia under DARIUS IhsTASPES and his son XERXES. Nevertheless, one monument, which shows the origin of art under the Achromenidoo, has likewise escaped tho ravages of time, and is probably tho earliest of all the Persian reliefs. We speak of tho rock-sculpture at Murghab, close to Persopolis, representing a man with four wings, clad in the long Assyrian robe without folds, and bearing on his head the Egyptian crown called "A.tf,"which is the peculiar distinction of the God Olmum. The cuneiform inscription, above tho sculpture, says, with grandeur and simplicity: "I am CYRus, the CYnus.t<~ Icing; the Achromcnian."[32] This monument was evidently, then, erected in honour of Cyrus, but it cannot have been sculptured in tho lifo-time of tho conqueror, inasmuch as his winO'£! (whicl1 are the Assyrian attribntcs of Godhead), and tho crown ~f Ohnum (which is tho EO'yptian symbol of divine power), clearly indicate an apotheosis. Tho peculiarity of tho costume of Cyrus, which ~s pnrel~ Assyrian,. withou~ folds, forbids us to place tho sculpture m tho t1me of Danus or lns descendants; whose monuments, with- 111 VA ux, Nineveh and l'eraepoli~, 4th od., Lonuon, 1855; Plato, pp 802-8. CUNEIFORM WRITING. 149 out exception, are characterized by the Persian folds of tho garm nt. Thus, then, tho relief of Murglulb must be the work of CAMBYSES, who, according to Diodorus Siculus, HZ employed Egyptian artists, and was probably the first to introduce art into Persia. According to the rock-sculpture, however, he did not confine himself to J~gyptians, but transplanted sculptors likewise fwm Babylonia and Assyria to Pasargadro, and dedicated tl1oir first work to the lasting memory of his illustrious father (about 530 n. c.). 'l'hns, we may safely state that Persian art is a daughter of the Assyrian, a little modified by Egyptian influences, but soon emancipating itself from its early traditions by a purely national development, characterized by the very high elegance of tho drapery. Bonomi 143 takes tho I ersian style, wrongly, for a deterioration of Assyrian art; but his mistake is easily explained, since he formed his judgment upon some fragments of a later period, which are now in the British Museum, and upon tho drawings of Kcr Porter aud Gore Ouseloy. Tho Perse of Flandin, and the Armenie of Texier, seem to have escaped his attention. They arc tho ouly ones, notwithstanding, which do full justice to the refined taste and the neat execution of the sculptures of rorsepolis. In comparison with the AsSJl'ian Monuments of SARGON and EssARITADDON, they take the same place, as, in Egypt, docs tho elegant style of PsAMMETICUS contrasted with the grandeur of the statues of tho AMENOPITS and TnUTMOSHS. We must, however, acknowledge that they are inferior to the reliefs of SAIWANAPALUS. Although the head of Cyrus (as shown by the more accurate copy of Fig. 88. Cntus. m Libro 1, capite 46. Texicr144 [33] here presented,) at Murghab, is somewhat damaged about the nose, it is sufficiently characteristic to show its pure Arian typo. The portrait of XERXES, 145 [34] is a fino specimen of the sotermed Greek profile, which wo ought to call pure A.rian. Tho Achromonidan sculptors moreover, were very well acquainted with the peculiar character of tho different na-ua Nineveh and ita Palaces, p. 815. Fig. 84. XERXES. lH L'Armb1ie, la Perse, et Ia l!Usopotamie, II., pl. 84-"Bns-relief i\ Mom·gU.b, Oyrus." H5 Cos·rE and FLANDIN, Perse A ncienne, pl. 154; bnt compare tho more beautiful copy in T!lXLli:lt's Armtfnie. |