a landing, where stand as sentinels two colossal figures sculptured from great blocks of marble.  The one horn in the forehead seems to Heeren to indicate the Unicorn; the mighty limbs, whose muscles are carved with the precision of the Grecian chisel, induced Sir Robert Porter to believe that they represented the sacred bulls of the Magian religion; while the solemn, half-human repose of the features suggests some symbolic and supernatural meaning.  Passing these sentinels, who have kept their solitary watch for centuries, you ascend by other flights of steps to the top of the terrace.  There stand, lonely and beautiful, a few gigantic columns, whose lofty fluted shafts and elegantly carved capitals belong to an unknown order of architecture.  Fifty or sixty feet high, twelve or fifteen feet in circumference, they, with a multitude of others, once supported the roof of cedar, now fallen, whose beams stretched from capital to capital, and which protected the assembled multitudes from the hot sun of Southern Asia.  Along the noble upper stairway are carved rows of figures, which seem to be ascending by your side.  They represent warriors, courtiers, captives, men of every nation, among whom may be easily distinguished the negro from the centre of Africa.  Inscriptions abound, in that strange arrow-headed or wedge-shaped character,—­one of the most ancient and difficult of all,—­which, after long baffling the learning of Europe, has at last begun yielded to the science and acuteness of the present century.  One of the inscriptions copied from these walls was read by Grotefend as follows:—­

   “Darius the King, King of Kings, son of Hystaspes, successor of the
   Ruler of the World, Djemchid.”

Another:—­

   “Xerxes the King, King of Kings, son of Darius the King, successor of
   the Ruler of the World.”

More recently, other inscriptions have been deciphered, one of which is thus given by another German Orientalist, Benfey:—­[107]

“Ahura-Mazda (Ormazd) is a mighty God; who has created the earth, the heaven, and men; who has given glory to men; who has made Xerxes king, the ruler of many.  I, Xerxes, King of Kings, king of the earth near and far, son of Darius, an Achaemenid.  What I have done here, and what I have done elsewhere, I have done by the grace of Ahura-Mazda.”

In another place:—­

   “Artaxerxes the King has declared that this great work is done by me. 
   May Ahura-Mazda and Mithra protect me, my building, and my
   people[108].”

Here, then, was the palace of Darius and his successors, Xerxes and Artaxerxes, famous for their conquests,—­some of which are recorded on these walls,—­who carried their victorious arms into India on the east, Syria and Asia Minor on the west, but even more famous for being defeated at Marathon and Thermopylae.  By the side of these columns sat the great kings of Persia, giving audience to ambassadors from distant