Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/125

The Column. nated in timber. To satisfy the need, it was natural they should, at first, apply to the inhabitants of the Tigris valley, who, next after the Medes, were their nearest neighbours. It would appear that before Cyrus, Susiana was already incorporated with Media ; in fact, the demarcation line between it and the equally flat levels of Chaldaea must alwa)s have been as difficult to define as it is now, for no distinct feature, mountain or river, warns the traveller that he has left the possessions of the sultan and entered those of the shah. Moreover, it is probable that long before the spread of Iranian tribes into the lowlands, they had contracted the habit of going to Mesopotamian centres for manufactured goods, which now come to them from Europe tnd Bend-Bushir. Nor is this all Cyrus about the middle of his reign seized upon Babylon. An indigenous art then seemingly existed, that borrowed from Media and Chald.xa whatever it was unable to evolve from its peculiar surroundings or inventive genius. This art was coeval with Cyrus and Cambyses ; it knew of but one of the twin types of the Persian capital, namely, that which we have called the simple type — an hypothesis which is consonant with the comparison we have established between Assyrian and Egyptian forms, from which the builders of the AclKemenidiL- may have taken their hints, perplexed as they were how to effect a junction between wooden lofts and stone pillars. A new artistic period, represented by the great buildings at Perscpolis, was ushered in with Darius, whose empire was not only enlarged, but organized on a footing calculated to increase its resources. The Persians occupied Egypt. Like all the conquerors who have followed each other on her soil down to our own times, they were dazzled by the splendour of her edifices, and a desire was excited in their breast to imitate those marvels. This is attested by Diodorus on the testimony of an older writer whom he does not mention, though internal evidence would point to Ctesias : ••The Persians with Cambyses not only pillaged Egypt, tore off gold, silver, ivory, and precious stones from her temples, but burnt them down. Report says that the famous palaces at Persepolis, Susa, and Media were built after all this wealth had been conveyed to Asia, together with Egyptian artificers." * Study ' Diodoros, I. xlvi 4. I Digitized by Google