Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-04-13
RUINS OF PEIsSEPOLIs.
The summer Palace of the Great X Ing
now the Haunt Of Panthcrs itsId vi.

The summer Palace of the Great X I'm
now the Haunt OF Panthcrs is.id VI
pcrs.
Little more than stones throw fror
the telegraph wires which convey com
mands from Downing street to the Vice
roy OF India (says the Saturday RcricW
stand the ruins of Persepolis, the Sum
lner Palace OF the Great King. In thes
days of archaeological surveys and scen
tliic expeditions, despatched to the fou
quarters of the globe at the expense o
enlightened governments and learned So
cletles, 1t Is certainly astonishing that n,
systematic investigation has ever vet beer
undertaken OF the great artificial platform
on which stood the halls and palaces o
Darius and his successors. Great SUM
nave Mt various times been wastefully ex
pended on PEI sepolis.
A molety of what was disbursel by tl,
french government in the production OF
the Injurious fOlios of Messre. Fla.dril
and Coste's Voyage en- Perse," if judi
ciously expended on the spot, might have
enabled those artists to get the earth and
rubbish cleared off the platform under
thelr personal superintendent and. To
cite but one point, the curious system of
drains ramifying through this Cyclopean
masonry, and of which no outlet has even
yet been found, might then have been
thoroughly explored. Judging from the
immense quantities of archaeological and
artistic treasures which the mud of the
Cloaca Maxima has preserved to us intact
from the times of the Tarquins, we might
well hope that in the silt of the drain
which pierces the foundations Of the Hall
OF Aerxes there might vet be found per-
sonal ornaments and household utensils
which had belonged to those who attend
ed the court of the Great King. In the
plans of Persepolis hitherto published
these drains have always been very incor-
rectly marked.
Their number is very considerable, and
tley ramliy through the whole structure
OF the platform i'll almost every dlrec-
ton; and, but that they are now for the
most part choked up with debris, thev
would seem to allowo underground com
munication between the various palaces.
Such was probably the intention of the
builder, for the passage of the drain was
originally high enough to enable man
to pass through without STOPPING at
present, however, the inqusitive travel.
Ter has to crawl about on hands and
knees; and, to say nothing of the dis
comfort and the dirt, runs grave risk of
disturbing the siesta of some stray pan
ther, or, perchince, even n lion -whelp.
THESE cool retreats being favorite lair
WIN the Wild beasts from the neiglbor-
ing hills. There is particularly large
species OF viper, too, which infests the
dark holes and corners i'll the masonry ::
Its body attains the thickness OF a mans
arm, and its bite is said by the natives to
cause instant death.
1t is perhaps curious that nothing
should be positively known of the man
ner IN which the ruin of Persepolis was
brought about. The Greek historians
relate how Alexander the Great. in n mo-
ment of drunken frenzy, and instigated,
1t is said, by That's, fired with his own
hand the palace Of the Persian monarch.
Subsequent writers, however, have alto
gether disbelieyed the story, and have re-
ierred the ruin Of Pcrsepolis to the epoch
OF the Mohammedan conquest. Against
tins last view it may be urged that no ac-
count Is to be found in the Moslem his
torlans OF any destruction of these palaces
having taken place at the time of the
conquest and, bearing in mind that
many OF the early annalists and geograph-
ers IN Islam were converted Persians, we
should certainly have had some account
oil the matter had the devastation of what
they held to be the throne of Jamshil
been an event of the days of their grand
fathers, and the work of the iconoclastic
Arab.
As tending to confirm the Greek tradi-
tlon OF the destruction having been caused
ny nre, the traveller may still observe the
mark OF ilanes on the doorways and
broken pillars of the editice known as the
Hall OF Hundred Columns. A curious
indication of the material used for the
ROOT OF TINS hall is TO be obtained from
the pieces Of charcoal and charred wood
whlch form layer extending apparently
over the whole floor of the building. At
the present day the area of the hall is
covered to the depth of some ten feet by
hardened mud and rubbish, mostly de-
tritus brought down Ly the winter rains
from the hill at the foot of which the
palace stands but digging, which has
been underneath to ascertain the position
and number of the columns, has every-
where brought to light IL stratum of mud
containing bits of charcoal, this stratum
being some twelve inches in thickness
and lying within an inch or so of the
marble blocks forming the floor of the
hall. This charcoal we may take to be
the remains Of beams and interior fittings
brought down at the falling in of the
roof.
Examination under the microscope
shows that the wood of which we have
here the churred remains came from n
tree OF the pine family, and from the
murkInng Df tin -, a
charcoal even aftera lapse of 2000 years,
the species may be identified as that of
the cedar. Now conifers do not grow in
any oi the regions round Persepolis the
nearest cedars are those of the Lebanon
ana though there is no documentary eyi.
dence on the subject, we may with some
PROBABILITY regard this IA the spot whence
came the beams for roofing the Hall of
Hundred Columns if we call to mind the
analogous circumstances Mt Nineveh,
where cedar charcoal has also been found,
and where clay tablets are extant, bear
ing edicts III cuneiform writing relating
to the transport of this timber from the
coast OF the Mediterranean overland to
the valley of the Tlgr:s.
The RUNS of the Persepolitan palaces
have strange skeleton-like appearance,
very striking on coming for the first time
up the gigantic stairway from the plain
on to the platform. OF each edi6ce the
framework, so to speak, still stands, but
OF walls nothing remains The buildings
were but one story high. Doorways and
windows, with here and there columns
crowned by the quaint double-griilin cap
itals, stand out sharp against the blue
sky, appearing in many cases almost us