276 History of Art in Antiquity. This is further proved by the state in which the upper beds of the construction are found. Many of the joints are roughly suggested, and the upper face of not a few stones is only cut round the edges ; the same degree of incompleteness is observable in the upper portions of the facing (Fig. 1 7). Had the work been commenced by Darius, or one of his successors, would the execution have been suspended ? On the contrary, all explains itself if we admit that this monument, like the palaces in the plain, dates from the reign of Cyrus. These, after the conquest of Chaldaea, may have appeared unworthy the power and majesty of the monarch ; he may have wished to own a palace which, like the sumptuous antique residence he had occupied at Babylon, should look down from a great height on the surrounding plain, with this difference, that, as he inhabited a country where stone was plentiful, he substituted a built substructure for the earth-mounds which, in the valley of the Euphrates, constitute the base of edifices. To carr)- out the programme laid before them, architect and masons had but to apply methods with which they were already familiar. The works were interrupted by the death of Cyrus, or else when Cambyses, who had perhaps continued them, perished, leaving the throne to an usurper not likely to feel any responsibility in regard to his predecessors. Nor did they fare better at the hands of the second founder of the empire, in that he transferred the seat of govern- ment to Persepolis. Here were centred all the efforts of sovereigns anxious to perpetuate the memory of their name by means of . spacious and rich buildings. As to Pasargadse, it was now no more than a sacred town, venerated for the associations connected therewith ; it had temples, a treasury, a school of magic, and pilgrims flocked to gaze upon the tomb of Cyrus/ New palaces, however, were no longer built there, just as none have been raised at Ispahan since the present dynasty has transported its seat to Teheran. There is no occasion to regret having tarried in a town whose importance and political role had so brief a duration. We have pointed out the processes resorted to in the construction that we shall meet again at Persepolis ; the palace already offers the outline of dispositions that we shall study elsewhere in specimens ' Pliny, llist. Nat., vi. 26 : " Inde ad Orientem magi obtineiu Pasaigadas, castellum in quo Cyri sepulcruin est." Digitized by Gopgle
