SASSANIAN COINS.--The Museum of the Hermitage has just come into possession of the collection of coins of General Komarof, once governor of Russian Turkistan. It consists of more than two thousand pieces, of which sixty are of gold. The most remarkable coins of this rich collection are: Four Sassanian pieces in gold, unpublished, (one of Hormuzd II and three of Sapor II), a dinar of Nasr I, a dinar of Kharmezi of Tamerlan, a dinar of Abdallah-ben-Khazim, and about fifty unpublished Sassanian silver coins.--Revue Numismatique, 1892, p. 348.

PERSEPOLIS.--CASTS OF SCULPTURES.--The English archæologist Mr. Cecil Smith has lately returned from an expedition to Persia. He had with him two Italian makers of casts, and by their means has obtained a valuable series of casts of the sculptures of Persepolis from moulds of a fibrous Spanish paper. Among the casts are those of a long frieze (perron) which decorated the stairway of the main hall or "apadâna," erected by Xerxes; it represents a procession of figures presenting to the king the reports of his governors and the offerings of his subjects. Another cast is that of the famous monolith of Cyrus. --Chron. des Arts, 1892, No. 31. We understand that the collection of casts of the Metropolitan Museum is to receive a copy of all these casts.

SYRIA.

EDESSA.-- HISTORICAL SKETCH.--M. Rubens Duval, the eminent Syriac scholar, has been publishing in the Journal Asiatique a history of the city of Edessa under the title: "Histoire religieuse et litteraire d'Edesse jusqu' à la première Croisade", (Jour. As. t. 18, No. 1 to t. 19, No. 1). This monograph has been crowned by the French Academy. It includes a considerable amount of information concerning the monuments of the city, especially those belonging to the early Christian period, and some idea can be gained of them by the following abridged note. As Edessa was one of the principal cities of the Christian East, the information is of interest. Edessa was from its position a fortress of the first rank and reputed impregnable. The citadel rose on a peak on the southwest angle of the rampart. At the west end there still remain two columns with Corinthian capitals, one of which bears an inscription with the name of Queen Shalmat, daughter of Ma'nu, probably the wife of King Abgar Ukhama. Within the citadel, on the great square called Beith-Tebhara, King Abgar VII built, after the inundation of 202, a winter palace, safe from the river floods, and the nobles followed his example. In the city itself were the porticoes or forum near the river, the Antiphoros or town-hall, restored by Justinian. In 497, the governor of the city, Alexander, built a covered gallery near the Grotto Gate and Public Baths, near the public storehouse; both the summer and winter baths were surrounded by a double colonnade. To the south, near the Great Gate, were other baths, and near them the theatre. Within the Beth Shemesh Gate was a hospital and outside it a refuge for old men. North of the city, near the wall, was the hippodrome, built by Abgarus IX on his return from Rome. The city had six gates which still exist under different names.

Edessa is one of the few cities that are known to have had a Christian church as early as the second century. This church was destroyed by the inundation of 201, was then rebuilt, being the only church in the city, suffered from the inundation of 303 and was rebuilt from its foundations in 313 by Cona, bishop of Edessa, and his successor Sa'd. It was called the Ancient Church, "the cathedral," also sometimes the Church of St. Thomas, because in 394 it received the relics of the apostle Thomas. The Frankish pilgrim woman who visited it at the close of the fourth century, or later, speaks of its size, beauty and the novelty of its arrangement. Duval believes her words to relate to Justinian's building, believing in a later date than is usually assigned to the above document. In 525 the church was overthrown by an inundation and then rebuilt by Justinian in such splendor as to be regarded as one of the wonders of the world. It was overthrown by earthquakes in 679 and 718.

The other churches were as follows:

370. The Baptistery is built.
379. Church of S. Daniel or S. Domitius, built by Bishop Vologese.
409. Church of S. Barlaha, built by Bishop Diogenes.
412. Church of S. Stephen, formerly a Jewish synagogue, built by
Bishop Rabbula.
435. The New Church, called later the Church of the Holy Apostles,
built by Bishop Hibhas.
" Church of S. John the Baptist and S. Addasus, built by Bishop
Nonnus (died 471), successor of Hibhas.
" Church of S. Mar Cona.
489. Church of the Virgin Mother of God, built on the site of the
School of the Persians after its destruction in 489.
c.505. Martyrium of the Virgin, built by Bishop Peter early in VI
century.

Outside the walls were the following churches:

Towards the N. Chapel of SS. Cosmas and Damian, built by Nonnus
(middle ν century).
E. Church of SS. Sergius and Simeon, which was burned
in 503 by the Persian King Kawad.
W. Church of Confessors, built in 346 by Bishop Abraham,
and burned by Kawad in 503.
Church of the Monks, near the citadel.