[Illustration: PLATE XXVI.]


It is in these regions, which combine facility of defence with
pleasantness of climate, that the principal cities of the district have
at all times been placed. The earliest known capital of the region was
Pasargadae, or Persagadae, as the name is sometimes written, of which
the ruins still exist near Murgab, in lat. 30° 15' long. 53° 17'.
Here is the famous tomb of Cyrus, whereof a description will be given
hereafter; and here are also other interesting remains of the old
Persian architecture. Neither the shape nor the extent of the town can
be traced. The situation was a plain amid mountains, watered by small
streams which found their way to a river of some size (the Pulwar)
flowing at a little distance to the west. [PLATE XXVII Fig. 1.]


[Illustration: PLATE XXVII.]


At the distance of thirty miles from Pasargadae, or of more than forty
by the ordinary road, grew up the second capital, Persepolis, occupying
a more southern position than the primitive seat of power, but still
situated towards the edge of the plateau, having the mountain-barrier
to the south-west and the desert at no great distance to the north-east.
Like its predecessor, Persepolis was situated in a plain, but in a plain
of much larger dimensions and of far greater fertility. The plain of
Merdasht is one of the most productive in Persia, being watered by the
two streams of the Bendamir and the Pulwar, which unite a few miles