It may be remarked that the type of face and head is uniform upon all of them, and offers a remarkable contrast to the type assigned to themselves by the Assyrians, from whom the Arians evidently adopted the general idea of bas-reliefs, as well as their general mode of treating subjects upon them.

The novelty of the physiognomy is a strong argument in favor of its truthfulness; and this is further confirmed by the evidence which we have, that the Persian artists aimed at representing the varieties of the human race, and succeeded fairly in rendering them.

Varieties of, physiognomy are represented upon the bas-reliefs with much care, and sometimes with remarkable success, as the annexed head of a negro, taken from one of the royal tombs, will sufficiently indicate.

[PLATE XXIX., Fig.1.] [Illustration: PLATE XXIX.] According to Herodotus, the skulls of the Persians were extraordinarily thin and weak--a phenomenon for which he accounted by the national habit of always covering the head.

There does not seem to be in reality any ground for supposing that such a practice would at all tend to produce such a result.