"رحلات في آشور، ميديا، وبلاد فارس، بما في ذلك رحلة من بغداد مروراً بجبل زاغروس وصولاً إلى حمدان، في أكباتانا القديمة، والبحوث في أصفهان وأطلال برسبوليس، ورحلة منها مروراً بشيراز وشابور وصولاً إلى ساحل البحر. وصف البصرة، بوشهر، البحرين، هرمز، ومسقط، وسرد لحملة ضد قراصنة الخليج العربي، مع رسومات توضيحية لرحلة بحرية لنيرتشوس، والمرور ببحر العرب إلى بومباي. [‎٢‎٨‎٥] (٥٨٢/٣١٦)

JOURNEY FROM PERSEPOLIS TO SHIRAZ.
285
Magi, set fire to the temples of Greece, on the principle that the
universe was the Temple of the Gods, who required not to be
confined within walls (De Leg. 1. 2. and 10.) But though this
might have been done in the career of his expedition against a
distant country, the labours of his predecessors might in the
mean time have been untouched at home.
The period between Xerxes and Alexander, being 130 years,
has been thought too short for such a work as the edifices, subter
ranean passages, tombs, &c. of Persepolis; but if these were the
work of the captive Egyptians sent over by Cambyses, the difficulty
vanishes, and there is then ample time for the whole to have been
completed at the time of the Macedonian conquest of Persia. #
The final ruin and desertion of Persepolis is said not to have
happened till so late as the year 982 of the Christian era—or 372
of the Hejira, in the time of Sumeareh ud Dowla, the unworthy
son of a virtuous and victorious father. Its desolation is now
complete.
At noon I quitted the ruins of Persepolis, with mingled feel
ings of satisfaction and regret. We now went south-west over the
plain, on our way to Zenghoor, which was said to be five fursucks
off, intending to reach there to-night, and make a short stage to
Shiraz to-morrow. The constant impediment of canals, and
their dry beds, occasioned us to wander about for a long time, and
El Assr was passed before we gained the village of Kenarry. Here
we found that the usual road had been closed up by culture
extending across it, and the ground was now covered with ver
dure. We turned therefore for Kooshk, and were so impeded
here, that we did not reach it till near sunset, our horses and our
selves being quite knocked up. As neither shelter nor corn was
to be had at this place, we went north-west about a fursuck, and
found both, in a walled village called Dehbid, where we halted.
* See the xMemoires de 1'Academie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres ; Mfemoire
sur Persepolis, par le Comte Caylus ; Dela Croix's Critical Examination of the Life of Alex-
ander; and the Dabistan, translated from the Persian.