At Persepolis

One of Darius' six chief concubines used to occupy the ancient Persian apartment where Archeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld last week played chess. She may have played the same old game there. Professor Herzfeld, who dug up & restored the place, has made it headquarters for further excavation of other once magnificent buildings of Persepolis.

The place, now called Istakhr, is near Shiraz inland from the Persian Gulf. Darius planed the face of a mountain for grey building stone. Against the mountain base he built a terraced platform, 1,000 ft. wide, a third of a mile long and upon it started to build palaces. His descendants continued construction--Nerxes 485-465 B. C.), Artaxerxes I (465-425 B. C.). . . .

Most magnificent was the square (225 x 225 ft.) "Hall of 100 Columns." Artaxerxes completed this, Dr. Herzfeld discovered six months ago. Atop each fluted column was a pair of carved bulls athwart which lay a huge cedar ceiling beam. Windows and niches broke up the long walls; painted carvings enlivened them. Here came satraps, courtiers and tributaries for homage to the curled & perfumed King of Kings. Here probably lived Esther, Queen of Xerxes whom the Old Testament calls Ahasuerus. Here came all-conquering Alexander the Great who, at the urging of one of his women, it is told, set the palaces afire and saw their grandeur crumble into a dirt heap. Persia also crumbled.

Credit for the extensive excavations of Persepolis goes to Director James Henry Breasted of Chicago's Oriental Institute. He found the money to finance learned Professor Herzfeld and detach him from the University of Berlin. Professor Herzfeld, 53, has dug into ancient Persia for 30 years. The Shah is a personal friend, recently visited him at Persepolis.

Dr. Herzfeld repaid the Oriental Institute last week with the publication of two items which struck an ecstatic cry from Director Breasted: "The discovery at Persepolis is one of the greatest and most important in the history of archeological research."

Item I: Two miles from Persepolis, a stone age village of adobe houses. Standing about on the floors are pottery household utensils, the remains of food in pots, clay fire-dogs on hearths, flint knives. Red paintings still decorate the walls. Dr. Herzfeld figures that the village flourished 4000 B. C. Just four years before and not many miles away, according to Holy Writ, God created Adam & Eve.

Item II: In Persepolis Dr. Herzfeld uncovered a series of wall sculptures which, if set together, would form a vast panel of reliefs five or six feet high, almost a thousand feet long. He also found that Artaxerxes wore scarlet shoes.

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