Note 240 — Chapter II
Reading edition
“The Assyrians were probably also the inventors of the parks or paradises which were afterwards maintained with so much sumptuousness by the Persian kings of the Archimedian and Sassanian dynasties. In these spacious preserves various kinds of wild animals were continually kept for the diversion of the king, and for those who were privileged to join with him in the chase. These paradises were stocked, not only with some of every kind, but with various trees, shrubs, and plants; and were watered by numerous artificial streams. The Persian word has passed into various languages, and is used for the first abode of man before his fall, as well as for the state of eternal happiness.”—Layard’s Nineveh, vol. ii. p. 432.