. Persia past and present; a book of travel and research, with more than two hundred illustrations and a map . ven if the authenticity of the version be questioned because theGreek words form a hexameter. A single glance at the fagadeof the tomb shows a large stone over the doorway, which looksas if designed for holding an epitaph, but I could not find a traceof a letter upon it, though I examined it with care, nor do anycharacters appear in the photographs which I took. But theoriginal letters may have been destroyed, or possibly theywere carved on tablets attached to the wall, as seems likel
. Persia past and present; a book of travel and research, with more than two hundred illustrations and a map . ven if the authenticity of the version be questioned because theGreek words form a hexameter. A single glance at the fagadeof the tomb shows a large stone over the doorway, which looksas if designed for holding an epitaph, but I could not find a traceof a letter upon it, though I examined it with care, nor do anycharacters appear in the photographs which I took. But theoriginal letters may have been destroyed, or possibly theywere carved on tablets attached to the wall, as seems likelyif we notice the holes on each side of this slab over theentrance. In fact I see no reason to doubt the existence ofan inscription when Aristobulus and Onesicritus visited thetomb with Alexander, any more than we might now argue thatthe bas-relief of Cyrus never had an inscription, because oneno longer exists, although there was one less than a hundredyears ago. The entrance to the tomb is low and narrow, as the Greekauthorities state. The height of the doorway is only 4 ft. 1 Plutarch, Alexander, 69. THE INTERIOR OF THE SEPULCHRE 291 2 in. and its width 2 ft. 7|^ in.,i and it is necessary tocrouch in order to pass through, as Arrian affirmed. Theoriginal door to the vault was probably a heavy stone swing-ing on pivots, such as may be seen at the supposed tomb ofEsther and Mordecai at Hamadan and also in the square monu-ment at Naksh-i Rustam,^ but I do not recall seeing the socket-holes, as in those cases. Dieulafoys ingenious suggestion oftwo doors, an outer and an inner door, so arranged as to openupon each other, but not both at the same time, seems plaus-ible ^ ; and even if the original means of closure have longsince disappeared, there are actually to be seen two ricketywooden doors which guard the ingress, as the thickness of thewall allows space for two. But the second of these wretchedboard structures was off its hinges, when I visited the tomb,and was lying in o
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