Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎529v] (1071/1814)

82
PERSIA
believed that it was filled with gold and silver, since the Persians had spread that
report abroad ; but beyond the rotten shield of Cyrus, and two Scythian bows,
and a sword, he found nothing. However, he placed a crown of gold upon the
coffin, and covered it with the cloak which he himself was wont to wear, won
dering that a king of such great name, and endowed with such riches, should
have been buried in no more costly fashion than if he had been one of the
populace.
Now without attempting to form a connected narrative from the
above excerpts—the salient features of which are, however, unmistakable
let us see what points there are in them, in which the tomb
fesem- ° f that I have described at Murghab either corresponds with,
blance or differs from, the original Tomb of Cyrus. I will first note
the points of resemblance or identity : (1) The Tomb of Cyrus stood in
an enclosure (Trept/^oXo?), within which was also a small building foi the
accommodation of the guardians. The tomb at Murghab, as I have shown,
was surrounded on three sides by a covered colonnade, that may well have
contained such a building. (2) The Tomb of Cyrus was not large, and
consisted of two parts, an upper and a lower ; the lower massive and
resting upon a squared stone base, the upper resembling a house (oi'/o^a)
roofed over, and containing the coffin. To this there was an dvd/Wis
or ascent. Here the correspondence is minute and exact, the dimensions
of the base, which I have previously given as 47 ft. by 43 ft. 9 ms., being
little short of a square, although the Creek words employed (tit pairehov and
Terpaytovo^implya quadrangular shape rather than one necessarily square.
(3) The Tomb of Cyrus had a conspicuously small and narrow entrance, a
further point of absolute correspondence. (4) Finally, Onesicritus, who
probably saw it (and I am surprised that this statement, which appears
to me of considerable importance, has been so little noticed), says that
the Tomb of Cyrus was in ten storeys or tiers. Now, however un
trustworthy Onesicritus may have been, this is the kind of statement
that he could hardly have invented for no purpose. The discrepancy
between his figure of ten, and the seven terraces (or eight, including the
sepulchre) of the tomb at Murghab is so slight as to count for nothing
compared with the startling resemblance of the two fabrics in this
essential detail of external structure. 1
1 The pyramidal, or terraced, form of structure has, as I have said, been
regarded by some critics as a reminder of Egypt; whilst most writers have seen
in the gabled tomb a legacy from the Greek art of Ionia. It should not, however,
be forgotten that the elevation of buildings on seven terraces was a familiar feature
of Chaldgeo-Assyrian architecture—the number seven having a planetary reference
- and there is in Herodotus (lib. i. 181) a description of the seven-staged Temple of
Bel at Babylon, which suggests a curious parallel: ‘ Upon the last tower stands
a spacious shrine, in which is a large couch with rich coverings, and by it a golden
table.’ Furthermore, a pedimented structure, so far from being necessarily of
Greek origin, already exists on a bas-relief in the Khorsabad palace of Sargon
(Botta, pi. HI).