Judged by the same rules of criticism which we apply to Classic or Mediæval art, the architecture of the Assyrians must, it is feared, rank very low. But for gorgeous Barbaric splendour of effect it seems difficult to imagine anything that could well have been grander or more imposing than the palaces of Nineveh must have been when entire and filled with the state and magnificence of the monarchs of the Assyrian empire. CHAPTER IV. PERSIA. CHRONOLOGY. DATES. Cyrus founds Pasargadæ B.C. 560 Cambyses’ buildings at ditto 525 Darius builds palace at Persepolis 521 Xerxes builds halls at Persepolis and Susa 485 Artaxerxes Longimanus 465 Darius Nothus 424 Artaxerxes Mnemon repairs buildings at Persepolis and Susa 405 Destruction of Persian Empire by Alexander 331 There still remains a third chapter to write before the survey of the architecture of the central region of Asia is complete—before indeed a great deal which has just been assumed can become capable of proof. By a fortunate accident the Persians used stone where the Assyrians used only wood, and consequently many details of their architecture have come down to our day which would otherwise have passed away had the more perishable materials of their predecessors been made use of.