It
is, however, a curious fact, that in Abyssinia, the ancient Ethiopia,
which was also called "Kush," the ancient Christian churches are
not unlike those of Kashmir, and that they were originally built in
imitation of the temple, by the Israelites who followed the Queen
of Sheba, whose son took possession of the throne of Kush, where his
descendants are at this moment Kings of Abyssinia.
Without being able to boast, either in extent or magnificence,
of an approach to equality with the temple of the sun at Palmyra,
or the ruins of the palace at Persepolis, Marttand is not without
pretensions to a locality of scarcely inferior interest, and deserves
to be ranked with them as the leading specimen of a gigantic style
of architecture that has decayed with the religion it was intended
to cherish, and the prosperity of a country it could not but adorn.
In situation it is far superior to either. Palmyra is surrounded by
an ocean of sand, and Persepolis overlooks a marsh; but the temple
of the sun in Marttand is built upon a natural platform at the foot
of some of the noblest mountains, and beneath its ken lies what is
undoubtedly the finest and the most PRONONCE valley in the known world.
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