Page:Discovery and Decipherment of the Trilingual Cuneiform Inscriptions.djvu/71

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CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS

were meant a single flight at each corner of the platform. The four 'walls' of the Porch appear as a series of detached stones placed in a row, one after the other, along the western line of the terrace. The animals are cut out of the front of each stone, but they have no appearance of supporting any portion of the structure. Beyond, at some distance to the east, is a small square building, having on one side the slab with the inscription. There is no indication whatever of the sculptured terrace, which is indeed wholly forgotten in the text. The columns, however, at length appear for the first time in the true direction to the right of the entrance. From them an immense wall extends right across the platform to the east. It is pierced below by one large and three other smaller doors. Above, apparently belonging to a second story, are a series of seven or eight double windows, while still higher we observe several figures of men and animals. This great structure obscures the view of the tombs on the hill, and they are not mentioned in the text. Olearus, in his notes, refers to Barbaro, and, at secondhand, to Don Garcia. But his chief reference is to Herbert, from whom he quotes the whole of the account given in the earlier editions of the Travels.

Mandelslo's book was translated into English by John Davies, and it appeared in 1662, four years after its original publication; but the illustrations were not reproduced.[1]The translator has adopted the very singular method of incorporating with the text the notes that Olearus added from other writers. Mandelslo is thus made to appear as if he had quietly appropriated without acknowlediiment the observations made bv Barl)aro, Don Garcia, and Herbert. The translator is,

however, wholly responsible for this peculiar result.

  1. The Voyage and Travels of J. Albert de Mandelslo, rendered into English by John Davies of Kidwalley, London, 1662.