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 Achæmenid, 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 7½ 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 Achæmenid. 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 façade 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 façade does not seem to have been an entrance; but now the lower part of it is opened, and leads behind the façade 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 façade 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 façade 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 Achæmenid, 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-Sacæ, Sacæ with pointed caps, Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, Armenia, Cappadocia, the inhabitants of Sardis, the Ionians, the Sacæ beyond the sea, the Çkudra (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 Sacæ 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 façade, 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 "Açpachana (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 naïve 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 Achæmenids 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 £3,000,000); 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 Achæmenids, 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]