Page 258 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

THE ART OF ANCIENT PERSIA
as a true orthostat - the other re-
, (PUB ,M. Da..... ******
dais with Xerxes, tire heir-apparent, standing beside him.- Both arc drawn on a
upon a

placed before the king, presumably at the front corners of tire dais; on either side
arc
(but shown behind it) arc two high Court officials: the Bearer of the Royal Weapons
bow-case and battle-axe) and, perhaps, the Royal Cup Bearer (in the bashhk or muffler-

Figure 117. Sword scabbard of bearer of the royal arms (cf. Plate 1S4A)

cap). The official received in audience is a Medc, perhaps the Chiliarch, the commander
of the king’s bodyguard - that is, the first 1,000 of the 10,000 ‘Immortals’ - and
Commander-in-Chief. He is biown to have given daily reports to the king. Spearmen
of the bodyguard close the scene at either end. The embroidered baldachin, with lions
sun-disks (see Plate i8oa), is lost. The elegance and minute perfection of the
reliefs are shown by figure 117, in which the belt and sheathed dagger of the Bearer of
the Royal Weapons are reproduced on a large scale.89
One religious scene has been rendered hi relief, not hi the palaces but on the facade of
he royal tombs at Naqsh-i-Rustam (Plate 187). On cither side of the door
leading into
me tomb chamber two columns with bull
capitals support an entablature, upon which
n
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