PERSErOLIS (Persian City), the Greek translation of the lost name of the capital of ancient Persia (Parsa-Karta?), was situated on the river Araxes (Bendemir), to the e. of the river _Modus (Polwat, or river of Murghab), in the plain of Merdusht, about 35 in. to the n.e. of Shiraz, ou the road to Ispahan. A certain number of most remarkable ruins is all that now remains of that city, with which, according to ancient. writers, "no other city could be compared either in beauty or in wealth," and which was generally designated " the glory of the east." Darius Hystaspes, Xerxes, ArtaxeExes, and other Achteinenides, each in his turn contributed towards its aggrandizement. Alexander the great, in his march of conquest, is said to have destroyed Persepolis completely; hut this must probably only be understood to apply to come of the chief palaces. It may also be presumed that after the fall of the Achtemenides, that extension of the original town (afterwards known, and important in history up to within a recent period, as Istakhar), on which were situated the royal edifices and temples used as the royal treas uries up to the time of Epiphanes, gradually fell into decay. The situation of these structures, overlooking the vast luxuriant plain of Merdusht, is described in terms of rapturous enthusiasm by every traveler from Chardin to our own day. Three groups are chiefly distinguishable in the vast ruins existing on the spot. First, the Cliche! Minfir (Forty Pillars), with the Mountain of the Tombs (Rachmed)„ also called Taklit-i Jamshtd or the structure of Jamshtd, after some fabulous ancient king, popularly sup posed to be the founder of Persepolis. The next in order is Naksh-i-Rustam, to the n.w., with its tombs; and the last, the building called the Haram of Jamsbtd. The most important is the first group, situated on a vast terrace of cyclopean masonry at the foot of a lofty mountain-range. The extent of this terrace is about 1500 ft n. by s., and about 800 e. by w., and it was, according to Diodorus Siculus, once surrounded' by a triple wall of 16, 32, and GO cubits respectively in height, for the triple purpose of giving strength, inspiring awe, and defense. The whole internal area is further divided into three terraces—the lowest towards the s. ; the central being 800 ft. square, and rising 45 ft. above the plain; and the third, the northern, about 550 ft. long, and 35 ft. high. No traces of structures are to be found on the lowest platform; on the northern, only the so-called " Propyhea" of Xerxes; but the central platform seems to have been occupied by the foremost structures, which again, however, do not all appear to have stood on the same level. There are distinguished here the so-called "great hall of Xerxes," called (Chehel Miniir, by way of eminence), the palace of Xerxes, and the palace of Darius, towering one above the other in successive elevation from the ground. The stone used for the buildings is dark-gray marble, cut into gigantic square blocks, and in ninny eases exquisitely polished. The ascent from the plain to the great northern platform is formed by two double flights, the steps of which are nearly 22 ft. wide, 3l in. high, and 15 in. in the tread, so that several travelers have been able to ascend them on horseback.,:
What are called the propylaea of Xerxes on this platform are two masses of which probably formed an entrance-gateway for foot-passengers, paved with gigantic slabs of polished marble. Portals, still standing, bear figures of animals 15 ft. high, closely resembling the Assyrian bulls of Nineveh. The building itself, conjectured to have been a hall 82 ft. square, is, according to the cuneiform inscription, as by Rawlinson, the work of Xerxes; the inscription reads as follows: The great god Auramajda, he it is who has given this world, and who has given life to mankind, who has made Xerxes king. both king and law-giver of the people. 1. am Xerxes the king, the great king, the king of kings, the king of the many-peopled countries, the supporter also of the great world, the son of king Darius, the Achreme• Man. .
" Says Xerxes the king, by the grace of Auramajda, I have made this gate of entrance; there is many another nobler work besides this Persepolis which I have exe cuted, and which my father has executed;" etc.
An expanse of 162 ft. divides this platform from the central one, which still bears many of those columns of the ball of Xerxes from which the ruins have taken their name. The staircase leading op to the Chehel Millar, or Forty Pillars, is, if possible, still more mag nificent than the first; and the, walls are more superbly decorated with sculptures, representing colossal warriors with spears, gigantic bulls, combats with wild beasts, processions, and the like; while broken capitals, shafts, pillars, and cotintless fragments of buildings, with cuneiform inscriptions, cover the whole vast space of this platform. 350 ft. from n. to s., and 380 from e. to west. The great hall of Xerxes, perhaps the largest and most magnificent structure the world has ever seen, is computed to have been a rectangle of about 300 to 350 ft-, and to have consequently covered 105,000 sq. ft., or 2,1- acres. The pillars were arranged in four divisions, consisting of a center group six deep every way, and an advanced body of twelve in two ranks, the same number flanking the center. Fifteen columns are all that now remain of the number. Their form is very beautiful. Their height is 60 ft., the circumference of the sha ft 16, thelength from the capi tal to the torus, 44 feet. The shaft is finely fluted in 52 divisions; at its lower extremity begin a cincture and a torus, the first, 2 in. in depth, and the latter, 1 ft., from whence devolves the pedestal, shaped like the cup and leaves of the pendent lotus, the capitals hav ing been surmounted by the double semi•bull. Behind the hall of Xerxes was the so-called hall of hundred columns, to the a. of which are indications of another structure, which Fergusson terms the central edifice. Next along the w. front stood the palace of Darius, and to the s. the palace of measuring about 86 ft. squate, similarly decorated, and of similar grand proportions.—For a more minute description, we refer to the travels of Niebuhr. Tier Porter, Rich, etc.; to Fergusson's Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored, to Vaux's Nineveh and Persepolis, and to Rawlinson's Fire Great Monarchies. See also CYRUS, DARIUS, XERXES, CUNEIFORM, and PERSIAN AlICIIITECTURE.