Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

HISTORY OF PERSIA. 107
out of the same block. It is a remarkable peculiarity
in the construction, that the staircase does not project
from the retaining wall, but is, as it were, taken out
of it.
On ascending the first
flight, an oblong landing-
place presents itself, whence springs a second flight
of forty-eight steps ; while a couple of corresponding
staircases form a landing-place on the grand level of
the platform. Well may Fergusson exclaim that this
is "the noblest example of a flight of stairs to be
found in any part of the world 1 ." Several other sets
of smaller staircases occur in different parts of the
platform, each one exhibiting some point of difference
worthy of attention in a detailed history
of the site. It
is enough here to notice particularly the one ascending
from the level of the northern platform to the central
or upper terrace. This staircase consists of four single
flights of steps, two in the centre facing each other and
leading to a projecting landing-place, and two others
on either side of the central flights
at a distance of
about twenty-one yards. These steps are sixteen feet
wide ; the whole of the upright sides are covered with
sculptures, whereas the great outer one from the plain
is unsculptured. These sculptures consist of, first,
on the spandrils, a lion devouring a bull ; and secondly,
in the compartment between the spandrils, eight colossal
Persian guards, armed with a spear, sword or shield.
Beyond the spandril, where it slopes
so as to form
a parapet for the steps, a row of cypress trees have
been carved, and at the end of the parapet, and along
the whole ot the inner face, is a set of small figures,
1
Fergusson, Palaces of Nineveh and Penepolis, pp. 102, 103.