Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

a HISTORY OF PERSIA.
mainly produced by the disintegration of the unburnt
bricks, of which the walls they decorated were com-
posed.
One distinguishing feature, indeed, of Persepolis
is, that the walls have wholly disappeared notwith-
standing their enormous thickness ; hence Mr. Fer-
gusson has conjectured that they were made entirely
of clay, which, in the lapse of centuries, would perish
under the influence of the winter rains and summer
suns. Professor Rawlinson, on the other hand, suggests
that they may have been constructed of small stones,
which the natives of the neighbourhood, would be
able and glad to carry off for their own purposes.
It is not necessary to discuss here the meaning of
the monsters and other mythical animals visible on
Persepolitan sculptures ; but I may remark, that
throughout Pagan mythology,
the lion and the bull
are usual emblems of force and power ; just as in the
Bible, the horns of an animal are symbols of might and
strength, of success and dominion. Thus Daniel says,
" The great horn which is between his eyes, is the first
king." There is also a famous passage in Ezekiel 1
the imagery of which some have thought was suggested
by the Ninevite monuments he might have seen while
yet uncovered. Again, Alexander the Great is called
in Oriental history Zu'l-Karnain, or " he of the two
horns," in allusion, perhaps, to his claim of descent
from Jupiter Ammon, perpetuated as this is also on the
coins, believed to bear his portrait. Daniel also (as
\ve have seen) foretells the establishment of his empire,
under the combination of human and bestial types 2 .
1 Ezek. f. 7, 9-10.
* Daniel vii. 4.
,