Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

Q2 HISTORY OF PERSIA.
from the unsoundness of the stone,
it was difficult to
have been
give it the necessary polish, other pieces
inlaid, their fittings being so close, that a minute
examination is required
H. C. Rawlinson adds,
to detect this artifice. Sir
" I cannot avoid noticing a
very extraordinary device which has been employed,
apparently to give a finish and durability to the writing
.... that, after the engraving of the rock had been
accomplished, a coating
of silicious varnish has been
laid on, to give a clearness of outline to each individual
letter, and to protect the surface against the action of
the elements. This varnish is of infinitely greater
hardness than the limestone rock beneath it. It has
been washed down in many places by the trickling
water for three-and-twenty centuries, and it lies in
flakes upon the foot ledge, like thin layers of lava. It
adheres, in other portions of the tablet, to the broken
surface, and still shews, with sufficient distinctness, the
forms of the characters, although the rock beneath is
entirely honey-combed and destroyed."
The reliefs on the rock are still but little injured by
time, and represent a row of nine persons tied by the
neck like slaves, approaching another personage of
more majestic stature, who treads on a prostrate body.
Of these presumed captives, three wear the flowing
dress of the monarch, the rest being clad in tight
short tunics. Behind the king stand two warriors,
armed with the bow and spear. The general execution
of -the figures
is inferior to that of the reliefs at
Persepolis; the king and his warriors are the best,
while the conquered rebels are represented as diminu-
tive in size. The Median robe and the Persian tunic