'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎137] (186/748)

PEESEP0L1S, AND OTIIEE RUINS
137
sepulchres of their greater predecessors. These are four in number, and
with the exception of the second from the east, which is the tomb of
2. Tombs Darius son of Hystaspes, their general features, both struc-
^. the ^ turaland decorative, are so identical that one description will
Naksh-i- suffice for them all. 1 The Husein Kuh, which at its highest
Eustam point has attained an elevation of 800 feet above the plain,
sinks towards its western extremity to a height of from 200 to 100
feet, and finally even less ; and in its sheer front to one half or two-
thirds of the total height, and facing the valley were hewn by the
masons of the Great King the hollow rock-vaults that were to contain
the royal corpses. Outwardly, these present the appearance of a
gigantic cross, of somewhat stunted dimensions, which is. cut to a
greater or less depth, according to the slope of the cliff, in the rock.
Each limb of the cross is the same in height, viz. 24 feet, or a total
height of 72 feet; but whereas the upper and lower segments are 35^
feet in breadth, the central or transverse segment is 59^ feet from end
to end. The bottom of the lowermost cutting is as a rule from 25 to
35 feet above the surface of the ground, and is all but inaccessible to
the climber, who requires to be hauled up thither, and still more to the
portal in the transverse limb, by the aid of a rope. It is by these
means, as I shall show, that the royal corpses were originally drawn
up; and that the numerous travellers who in this century have
examined the interiors of the tombs have been enabled to compass
their object.
Externally, the tombs present the following features. The lowest
segment of the cross is a bare cutting, 5 to 6 feet deep at the base,
External vertical at the back, and absolutely unadorned. Next comes
features the main or transverse limb, which contains the entrance to
the sepulchre. This takes the shape of a reproduction in rock-carving
of the fagade of an Achsemenian palace. Eour semi-detached bull-
headed columns rise from a platform, formed by the deeply recessed
incision into the cliff, and support a massive entablature, adorned with
an elegant moulding or cornice. jBetween the two central columns is
the doorway, framed in a case, the decorative treatment of the upper
or projecting part of which is an unmistakable loan from Egypt. The
door is divided outwardly into four compartments, the three uppermost
of which were never pierced, but are of the solid rock. The lowest
compartment, about four feet in height, was pierced for the entrance,
but was originally closed by a stone block hung upon a pivot. This
has in every instance now disappeared, and the aperture, which has
in some cases suffered violent mutilation, yawns blackly in the fagade.
1 For illustrations, vide Texier, vol. ii. pi. 135 ; Flandin and Coste, vol. iv.
pis. 169-73; Stolze, vol. ii. pis. 106, 107, 112.