'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎297] (406/496)

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been selected than the Rock of Behistan, where this petral record now
exists, in the same state, and in almost the same degree of perfection, as
when first executed. About 300 feet above the debris, at the foot of the
mountain, and overlooking the plain, the face of the rock has been
chiselled so as to expose a smooth surface for the reception of the work.
This surface may be divided into four tablets. The main one, devoted to
the sculptures illustrative of the writing beneath them, is the largest, and
is thirty feet in length and twenty-six feet high. Of this the sculptured
slab, with a pedestal of eleven inches, occupies fourteen feet; the remaining
portion being dedicated to the reception of the archaic legend, written
on four columns in the Persepolitan cuneiform character. Each of these
columns, containing ninety-six lines, are six feet and four inches in
breadth ; and a supplementary half column, now much defaced, appears
to have been subsequently appended. Immediately to the left of these,
as they are viewed, a projecting slab, twenty-one feet in length, exhibits
in three columns a transcript in the more elaborate Median tongue.
Their height is the same, but in breadth they exceed by six inches the
dimensions of the Persepolitan columns. Immediately above the Median
tablet,—with its base, indeed, resting on and slightly projecting over it,—-
is a semi-isolated rock, inclining inwards towards the hill. This has been
scarped on its face and sides, and bears a legend in the still more com
plicated Babylonian cuneiform,—in all probability a translation in that
language of the original text. To the right of the main tablet the hill
has also been smoothened for a further space of six feet, and is covered
with characters, but so much destroyed, either by time or the action of
water, that it is even difficult to distinguish the nature of the character.
I am induced to believe, however, that this portion of the work may be
either a record of a subsequent age, or that the same pains had not been
taken for the preservation of it as was bestowed on Persepolitan and
Median designs. In the latter the rock bears evidence of a careful
preparation, and has undergone the process of varnishing* before the
* The art of varnishing and painting on walls, and preparing slabs for the recep
tion of designs, was well known to the ancients. Yitrivius and Pliny (see Greek
and Roman Antiquities) describe the manner of preparing these slabs, and I have
no doubt the Behistan scarp underwent the same process. They first covered the
wall with a layer of ordinary plaster, over which, when dry, were successively
added three other layers of a finer quality, mixed with sand. On this again three
more layers, made of a composition of chalk and marble-dust, were laid, each sue-
ceeding coat being of a finer quality than the preceding. They excelled, too, in
the art of painting, and encaustic varnishing ; and to this may be attributed the fine
preservation of the Tak-i-Bostan sculptures, (which bear at this time a very high
polish,) and the paintings met with on the walls of Herculaneum and Pompeii, on
the rock-tombs of the Libyan Gyrene, and on the recent discoveries made by M c