The rise and progress of Assyriology / [Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge].

  • Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir, 1857-1934.
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The rise and progress of Assyriology / [Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/412 (page 6)
    Susian and Babylonian cuneiform characters. Pasargadse was probably an ancient city when Cyrus began to build there; but its power and glory diminished quickly as the wealth of Persepolis increased. Naksh-i-Rustam 3. Looking across the river Pulvar from the ruins of the palaces of Darius and Xerxes, at a distance of about 3 miles, are to be seen the famous Achaemenian tombs of Naksh-i-Rustam. This name means the “ picture (or likeness) of Rustam,” and was given to the place because the natives thought that the reliefs of the Sassanian kings on the rocks there represented Rustam, the great national hero of Persia. This mighty warrior is said to have been a prince of Sajistan, who flourished in the sixth century b.c. He fought many battles against Isfendiar, the famous adherent of Zoroaster, and was victorious in them all. He died when on an expedition to India. Many of the exploits with which tradition credits him were performed by other warriors, some of whom lived centuries before and others centuries after him. The tombs at Naksh-i- Rustam are four in number, and they are cut high up in the face of the rock; it has been thought that Diodorus confused these tombs with those of Takht-i-Jamshid, when he said that the bodies of the dead kings had to be introduced into their tombs by mechanical means. The decorations of the facades of all four are the same; and one of them, the second, contains inscriptions which prove that it was the tomb of Darius I. The chamber is really a sort of rock-hewn cave, and is about 60 feet long and 45 feet wide. In the floor are three rectangular cavities, each rather more than 6 feet in length; and near them are three large slabs of stone which formed