965 History of Art in Antiquity. by attentive study of ancient texts — out of the permanent con- ditions of royal existence and the ruins of antique constructions, is the aspect of the state and reception halls. We may tell ourselves, however, for our comfort, that we should have seen no more * if, with some Greek embassy, we had visited Susa or Persepolis in the day of Darius or Artaxerxes. It has been sought to attribute a technical and precise sense to the diflferent terms employed by the Persian scribes in the in- scriptions engraved on the stones of the buildings of the Achae* menidae, be it to denote the whole pile or its various parts. We do not propose engaging in a research of this nature. Despite the reasons put forth, it does not appear to us that the signification of any of the words in question has been established with certainty either from the situation of any single .one, or the elements of which it is composed. Then, too, our mind misgives us as to the word apadand being, as advanced by the same authority, alone applicable to " the great isolated halls where the king of Persia gave audience on solemn occasions." We perceive, it is true, that the word appears on bases that once belonged to apartments of this nature ; but the etymology of apadand as given by that com- petent linguist, M. James Darmcstetcr, means no more than "a building raised upon a height," and is equally applicable to "citadel," "acropolis," " palace ; " from Persian tiie word has passed to the Semitic languages, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic. We question, therefore, whether there is sufficient authority to narrow and determine, as we are invited to do. the signification of the word in question ; whether in the mind of those who used it, it did not comprehend the whole block erected by the sovereign on a raised ground as at Susa, and on an artificial platform as at Persepolis. Besides, the subject has a mediocre importance for the architect. Suppose he admitted all the values proposed for the different terms, would that avail him in his restorations ? Susa certainly had palaces as fine, as vast and grand as Persepolis, but nothing now appears above ground ; what subsists is buried under an enormous accumulation ol earth and rubbish, whence the English and French excavations have only disengaged the frag- ments of one of the buildings. Nor is this all ; M. Dieulafoy, who has completed the exhumation commenced by Loftus, up to the ' DiEfl.AKoY, LA rt antique, toni. ii. j). ii. i.
- J. DARMEbi biEk, Etudts irattientics, lom. ii. ). 133.
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