Ancient art and its remains, or, A manual of the archaeology of art / By C.O. Müller.

  • Karl Otfried Müller
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ancient art and its remains, or, A manual of the archaeology of art / By C.O. Müller. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    272/664
    2. The tomb of Cyrus in the paradeisos of Pasargadaj, Arrian, vi, 29. Strabo XV, 730. l^Trv^yo; ov /neya,;, Ketrm f^iv arsQio;, oivu hi ariyriv ix^v k»\ ttHMu (rrev^i) riKtug 'ixovrcc ri\v iiaohovJ] A Tn/fyoj; beneath, a basement of square blocks, on it a building of one or more stories, above, a (7>i»oj with a very narrow door; within, a golden coffin with the corpse, a sopha with TTo'Ssf psgfo-o? a(pv^i]7^a,Toi, on it a cover of Babylonian tapestry, garments, ornaments, and weapons. Whether the monument is at Murghab'{ Ousely ii. pi. 53. Porter i. pi. 14. p. 498. Heeren, s. 276. [Lassen has proved in his Zeitschr. St. vi. that the tomb at Murghab belonged to the younger Cyrus.] 3. One of the tombs on Mount Rachmed (400 feet from the palace properly so called) must be that of Darius, according to Diodorus xvii, 71 (comp. Ctesias Pers. 15), with which Grotefend's deciphering of the cuneiform inscriptions of Persepolis perfectly agrees. Chardin, pi. 67. 68.—Nakshi-Rustan, ibid. pi. 74. Ousely ii. pi. 41, Porter, pi. 17. Se- pulchres corresponding pretty well with those of Persepolis have been found in Media, at Bisutun and Hamadan. 2. PLASTIC ART. [245.* Assyrian art will be known in future through the discoveries at Nineveh by Botta, the French consul at Mossul. The principal figure in most of the reliefs is a king or hero, in richly bordered tunic with upper garment and a tiara, who is either fighting, or driving his enemies before him, or receiving captives and suppliants, or sitting at a ban- quet, or in festal procession guiding a chariot with four horses yoked abreast. Near him a beardless man, probably a eu- nuch, frequently with a club. Among the numerous figures of combatants, there is repeatedly seen a shield-bearer, under whose protection another bends his bow, or hurls his javelin. A figure, probably that of a god, holds in his right hand a crooked serpent-formed weapon, and with the left draws a lion towards himself There are no female figures except one holding aloft a child in her arms. Six bulls 16 feet high, with human countenances, were at first discovered, and afterwards 120 more, all in alto rilievo. One sculpture represents four nobles, sitting on chairs, and eunuchs pouring out to them; these draw out of a vase with a rhyton having a lion's head: several represent sieges. The prevailing principle is faithful imitation of nature and life, with a moderate use of symbolic, especially winged figures. The merit of the design in the bodies, especially of the lion and bull, as well as in the fea- tures of the human countenance, and in the execution of the hair, is much praised. The excavations were not made in the circuit of the old city, or as is now supposed, of the official residence of the kings near Mossul beyond