The
Persians, at least, rendered them a great service: in subjecting all
these peoples to one master they prevented them from fighting among
themselves. Under their domination we do not see a ceaseless burning
of cities, devastation of fields, massacre or wholesale enslavement of
inhabitants. It was a period of peace.
=Susa and Persepolis.=--The kings of the Medes and Persians, following
the example of the lords of Assyria, had palaces built for them. Those
best known to us are the palaces at Susa and Persepolis. The ruins of
Susa have been excavated by a French engineer,[36] who has discovered
sculptures, capitals, and friezes in enameled bricks which give
evidence of an advanced stage of art. The palace of Persepolis has
left ruins of considerable mass. The rock of the hill had been
fashioned into an enormous platform on which the palace was built. The
approach to it was by a gently rising staircase so broad that ten
horsemen could ascend riding side by side.
=Persian Architecture.=--Persian architects had copied the palaces of
the Assyrians. At Persepolis and Susa, as in Assyria, are flat-roofed
edifices with terraces, gates guarded by monsters carved in stone,
bas-reliefs and enameled bricks, representing hunting-scenes and
ceremonies.
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