The times dispatch. [volume], March 15, 1914, Image 55

About The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914

Image provided by: Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA

                
FEATURE SECTION
Copyright, 1914, by tho
Star Company.
Great Britain Rights Reserved.
Richmond, Ui
Cjrni?, Founder of the Pcnian Empire
De?lroyed by Alexander, Showing
Him Surrounded by All His
"God-Like Attributes." ?3^^
NE of the most humanly Inter
esting discoveries ever made
by archaeology has Just been
reported.
It concerns the ancient palace or the
kings of Persia at Persepolls, which la
wild to have 'been burnt by Alexander
the Great, at the instigation of the wicked
Thais. This is not the Alexandrian
?Thais so picturesquely played by Mary
?Garden, but an earlier one who was a
leadeT of gay life In Greece about 350
years before the Christian era.
Old Plutarch tells us how Alexander
and Thais came to -ourn the palace, but
many historians havo doubted the epi
sode. Now the noted French explorer,
Madame Jano Dieulafoy, and her col
leagues havo found the actual ashes of
the Are that was started over 2.200 years
ago. They are 'buried beneath tho ruins
of tho most magnificent building discov
ered on the site of Persepolis?tho Hall
of a Hundred Columns, built by Xerxos.
Alexander conquered Persia, as we all
know, In the reign of Darius, whono pre
decessor, Xerxe3, had Invaded Greece.
"It was to the Hall of a Hundred Col
umns," say the explorers, "that the story
of Alexander burning the palaces of the
kings of Persia must refer.
"Upon the soil between the columns
we found a thick layer of ashes, and
microscopic analysis ihas proved that
they are composed of carbonized cedar.
The condition in which the pottery in
this place waa found confirms tho the
ory of Are. Nowhere else in the palaco
was auch a pile of debris found."
6o much intrest has been aroused in
this ancient eplBode thai the distin
guished artist Rochegrosse, painted a
very spirited picture of It for the last
Salon.
The aocount of the 'burning In Plu
tarch reads:
"She at first amused Ailexander hy her
conversation, then adroitly flattered him i
and at last, after he had been drinking i
for some time, began to speak In a lofty i
strain of patriotism, which scarcely bo- %
came such a person. She declared that
Bhe -was fully repaid for all the hardship
which she had undergone while travelling
through Asia with the army, now that
she was able to revel in the palace of
the haughty kings of Persia; but that It
would be yet sweeter to her to "burn the
house of Xerxes, who 'burned her native
Athens, and to apply the torch with her
own hand In the presence of Alexander,
that It might be told among men that a
woman who followed Alexander's camp
had taken a more ttobl? rovenge upon
the Persians for the wrongs of Greece
than all the admirals and generals of
former times had been able to do. This
speech of hers was enthusiastically ap
plauded, and all Alexander's friends
pressed him to execute the design.
"Alexander loaped from his seat and
led the way with a garland upon his head
and a torch in his hand. The rest of the
revellers followed and surrounded the
palace, while the remainder of the Mace*
donlans, hearing what was going on,
brought them torches."
{Exploration has shown that Persepolis
was the -most luxurious and "beautiful
place in the ancient world.
Thais and Alexander the Great
Burning Persepolis.
Picture in the Late Paris Salon
by Rochegrosse.
Keconsthiction
by
?Professors
Perrot and Chipiefc
of the
Gorgeously
Colored
and Decorated
Palace
of Xerxes,
the Most Luxurious
Building
of Ancient
Times, Which
Wanton ?
Thais Burned.
Rutns of the Hall of a Hundred
Columns, Where the Ashes
of the Fire Started by Thais Hate
Nqw Been Found,