A history of all nations from the earliest times; being a universal historical library . ingprone under the horses feet are Artabanus, with the Parthiannail-stndded crown of pearls, and his brother with a diadem. Theinscriptions, carved on the withers of the horses, are composed in theWest- or Chaldaeo-Pahlavi dialect, in Greek, and in the Easternor Sassanian Pahlavi. They run: This is the pictnre of tiie^[azda-worshipping divine Artakiishati, the King of Kings ol -Viran, 25(3 TIIK EMPIRE OE THE SAXSA MA .\S. of divine descent, son of the divine Papak the king. On thegods horse are the words :
A history of all nations from the earliest times; being a universal historical library . ingprone under the horses feet are Artabanus, with the Parthiannail-stndded crown of pearls, and his brother with a diadem. Theinscriptions, carved on the withers of the horses, are composed in theWest- or Chaldaeo-Pahlavi dialect, in Greek, and in the Easternor Sassanian Pahlavi. They run: This is the pictnre of tiie^[azda-worshipping divine Artakiishati, the King of Kings ol -Viran, 25(3 TIIK EMPIRE OE THE SAXSA MA .\S. of divine descent, son of the divine Papak the king. On thegods horse are the words : This is the picture of the god AhuraMazda. The designation of the monarch as divine corresponds tothe Oriental idea of tlie lofty rank of kings, and is met with notonly in Egypt, but also occasionally on the coins of the Parthians;taking pattern after the Seleucidae, whose kings were called Theosand Theopator. The deification of the Roman Caesars likewiseappealed to the imagination of the Sassanians, as is shown by a fewworks of art of their time, on which is represented the rape of. ?^ Xiii^ ^teJT^ Fig. 64. — Ahura Mazda giving Ardashir the ring of sovereignty. (After Texier.) Ganymede by the eagle, signifying tlie apotheosis of the king orhis elevation to the rank of the immortals. Sometimes the eagleis replaced by the cherub whereon the king rides. A triumphalscene of this character is represented in the ruins of Gur (Firuza-bad). This city was a new creation of Ardashir in a swamj^y regionwhich he caused to be drained. The old city, if the Persians are tobe believed, was destroyed by Alexander. It lay about midwaybetween Perse polls and the Persian Gulf, in a southwesterly direc-tion. Gur, like most Sassanian cities, had four gates at tlie termina-tions of the four principal streets which cut each other at rightangles. They were called the gates of Ormazd, of Älithra, of SASSANIAN SCULPTURE. 257 Verethiaghiia (Heracles), and of Ardashir. In the centre of the cityArdashi
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Keywords: ., bookaut, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectworldhistory
