CHAPTER V.

INDIA, PERSIA, ASSYRIA, AND BABYLON.

The Aryans on this and the other side of the Himâlâyan Mountains--Science and art the offsprings of religion-- Endeavours to express abstract phenomena in concrete signs--The symbolic, dialectic, and mythological periods-- The Indian trinity--The principal divinities of India, and their analogy with the Egyptian, Persian, and Greek gods-- Indian epic poetry--The rock-hewn temples and Buddha-- Stucco ornamentation--Causes of the gorgeousness of Indian art--Persia and the Persians--Their five cosmical elements--Historical development--The Zend-Avesta-- Persepolis and its oldest monuments--Zoroaster--The Persian trinity--Light and darkness--Why no temples were constructed--The Babylonians and Ninivites--Their principles of ornamentation--Their wall decorations 60