'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎366r] (736/982)

Ill B. C. 338 and I>arms III, B. C. 330. Beneath the ruins are a large
number of underground passages, which, it is conjectured, were oiigimlly
used as water-channels.
About 2 miles distant from the Takht-i-Jarnshid, near the nerth-
eastern extremity of the plain and close to the post-house of Puzeh-i-Takht-
i-Jamshid, in a small natural recess in the base of the cliff, are situated the
sculptures of the Naksh-i-R ijab. They were mutilated by order of the
Shah Safi I to discourage European visitors. The tablets consists of (1)
and (2) Ormuz and Ardeshir; (3) Shapur and body-guard.
On the opposite side of the Pulvar and at the western extremity of the
Husain Kuh rises a perpendicular wall of rock, called by the Persirns the
Aaksh-i-Rustam. The sculptures can be seen from the post-hous" of
Puzeh, which is about miles distant. There are seven bas-reliefs at the
san a A Verahan and queen; (2) and (3) Equestrian combats,
\r Vt Sha P ur and Valerian, 260 A. D. ; (5) Equestrian combat; (6)
Verahan H and his courtiers ; (7) Orm U z and Ardeshir Hewn out of the
rock of the cliff are four tombs. From the inscription it is known that the
second from the east is that of the Great Darius, B. C. 485. The others are
probably thetombsof Xerxes, B. C. 465. Artaxerxes I, B. C. 424, and
anus II, B. C. 405. Opposite the third and fourth tombs, on a slight
elevation, rises a square building called at various times the Naqqareh
aneh and the Kaa beh-i-Zardusht. Its origin is problematical.
I he surviving ruins of Istakhr, in which were the bazars, etc., fall into two
groups those on the banks of the Pulvar, a little before it em e ges into the
plain of Marvdasht between Persepolis and the Naksh-i-Rustam, and
those of the hill fortress on the central, pointed hill of the Seh Gumbadan,
situated some 7-8 miles north-west of the Takht-i-Jamshid, on the adjoining
p ain^ o Ivhafrak. The former consist of a great gateway, and the
remains of a fire temple at Hajiabad. which was used in later times as a
mosque ; the latter of the ruins of the citadel, a gateway, and three re
servoirs. n the 10th century Istakhr had become an utterly insignificant
place, and during the following centuries it gradually declined until, as a
city, it ceased to exist.
One mile north of Hajiabad the cliff is pierced by several natural
ca_verns. In the entrance of one of these, known as the Tang-i-Shah-Sar-
van, are five tablets, two of which bear inscriptions, containing the cele-
braced bi-hngual epigraph of Shapur I. —( Curzon — Arbuthnot, 19v5.)
PlADEH RAH — Lat. Long. ; Elev. 4,020'.
A pass m the Pusht-nKuh of Luristan, on the road from Deh Bala to
L izful, a short distance south of Khushkadul. The track is very bad and
scarcely practicable for laden animals.— {Burton, 1897.)
PIDANAU— Lat. Long.
Elev.
A range of hills in Ears, rising 2,000 feet above the plain ; they run
from the north-west to the south-east-east of Firuzabad.—(Stac&.)
PILIP OR PELIH— Lat. Long. Elev.
A small Kfmgalu village in Khuzistan, about 45 miles east of Ahwaz
on the road to Rustamabad and Behbehan.—(JTe/fe—Rmhg.)
V