“The Persian empire,”[207] says Heeren, “owed its origin to one of those great political revolutions which are of such frequent occurrence in Asia, and the rise and progress of which we have already considered in general. A rude mountain tribe of nomad habits rushed with impetuous rapidity from its fastnesses, and overwhelmed all the nations of Southern Asia, (the Arabians excepted), from the Mediterranean to the Indus and Iaxartes. The mighty empires which arose in Asia were not founded in the same manner with the kingdoms of Europe. They were generally erected by mighty conquering nations, and these, for the most part, nomad nations. This important consideration we must never lose sight of, when engaged in the study of their history and institutions.” “Not only is Persia[208] Proper memorable on account of its historical associations, but also for the architectural remains which it continues to present. The ruins of Persepolis are the noblest monuments of the most flourishing era of this empire, which have survived the lapse of ages. As solitary in their situation as peculiar in their character, they rise above the deluge of years, which for centuries has overwhelmed all the records of human grandeur, around them, or near them, and buried all traces of Susa and of Babylon. Their venerable antiquity and majestic proportions do not more command our reverence, than the mystery which involves their construction awakens the curiosity of the most unobservant spectator. Pillars which belong to no known order of architecture; inscriptions in an alphabet which continues an enigma; fabulous animals which stand as guards at the entrance; the multiplicity of allegorical figures which decorate the walls,--all conspire to carry us back to ages of the most remote antiquity, over which the traditions of the East shed a doubtful and wandering light.” “The Persians have taken more pains than almost any other nation to preserve their records in writing; yet it has been their fate, in common with most other nations of antiquity, to be indebted for the stability of their fame to foreign historians. Notwithstanding the pains they took to register the acts of their government, the _original documents of their history_, with a few accidental exceptions, have altogether perished. And the inscriptions of Persepolis, like the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, will, in a manner, have outlived themselves, unless a complete key be discovered to the alphabet in which they are composed.” Now, as a set off to these extracts, it will be necessary to remark that, though true in substance, they are only so as descriptive of a particular epoch. Empire after empire rolled over, in succession, before that which the historian here delineates, and which was but the motley combination of a rugged swarm of mountaineers, who stalked with ferocious insensibility over the consecrated relics of monumental glory.