-AICY ICE 1 Holl TINA ENTHEIDH 245-1771 NITI SMITIRANA BALTUN VIENE を​し​ない ​ensuring 970suren TVOJA V/1-107а нартрит MUIL FIJLKOTEA VHS AUDITIVE SEMulles VLAYAL VEVUTOS カヤクザコット​と​リード​17.7EVEEE VISIT W41DA2 JUUW7udHinOITEE 119 AvZ Wisler (cov 9311 Tuinea PIA SUENEANLV 235VATE 40437 The five great monarchies of the ancient eastern world George Rawlinson THE NEW VK. *** . ARY : ΤΟ ', Ι, ΝΟΣ . : !.) Ύ ι . )ΑΙ Ν PU- TILDili - - - THE NEVI VK SONIC mias Serdosa RABU Autok Bagdac Rawalpija } Hindilover Gurukhan Mydan RUL M rhite Jelalabadon halp sha-Mahonied foZoorganshah PESHAWOR: Morogh stelhabad Snitsisuk o be GHUZNI Rahmuk Yaghutte Oorghoone A N -Kila bagli e thels Hans of Babylon Natistih NI S Therad N o ochlan? Bermula Mookar Borman Esakley saliel Arnelabai i Me Truetak .. Pavera ay Khankail Abistada Shahpoor au Wanneh Chena barmee who Tekreeab Krborum Barakaila kurvendadaguerde Riba-i-Ghilje Nadaut achtyi PUNJAB salinan Alamu KANDAHAR ESA Meerch Koh Shah Muksuod Ihmadpoort l act-i-Ghiljadustom Wanjumal B al Buzšomkhail Khan Arges Khadros Kabur Tekuruk s ebe des del Chummam quch Toba Borre Sau wall Smalan QurftahSE WESTAN Dena ᎩᏚ ᏚᏂaw , Tull Teereeo Golakes Valles Shirani Pusheen MOOLTAN 30 Khán She R. Ghoryko Suthen Mundui Moostang Sebee Kahun Parpur Nousiki w SAN Dator. Karso Geral Ahmedpool Raw Bhoong KELATO OBHAWUL POOR Returnuks Johan Misjeel Kuhar Badho Baug Sungsa Mittar Kecikoter. сні? R к KEAT * Shahpoor GANDAVA Khanpoor Pahduran GANDAVA . Ghosgurh kandote Zehrgkotree Sahibgwrth Bikupoor Bukkur 62 Vastakkhozdar . Nalo Mundha Chahin SIFA Kharan khozdni. Cand ChiedeKlyer poor JESSULMEER Jaraillah Lerima Wud Nowsharra Shaqirrh ygoor Shehri Mührdar a r huri Ibrahimo Kanari Dont Mahometa chwan Veebile ng BELAH Jamie Foondrooo Jhow oriu_s n car Bele Bay N D E OR LUSSA) Vleed Koond Lhare Somogene DRABAD Sariaba kotrec "HYDRAB Karrit AD Soomecanee kurrachee Bay Y a rrah Fatta htola Shakappor M leone lan An Sarmen Serial comment Islamkote data (. Monze RU Mouths of the lidus 72 Edw.Weller, Red Lion Squa Rawlinsen * c '','1'COIS! TIDAY THE NETKI Pui d...Y A* TILD 0.?. ! THE FIVE GREAT MONARCHIES OF THE ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD; OR THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDÆA, ASSYRIA, BABYLON, MEDIA, AND PERSIA. COLLECTED AND ILLUSTRATED FROM ANCIENT AND MODERN SOURCES. BY GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A., CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF EXETER COLLEGE. FOURTH EDITION. IN THREE VOLUMES.– Vol. II I. WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. NEW YORK: SCRIBNER AND WELFORD. 1880. MHA F THE it rai PUBLIC LIBRARY 023167 ASTOR LLNOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATION 19:8 CONTENTS OF VOL. III. THE FOURTH MONARCHY (CONCLUDED.) BABYLONIA. . CHAPTER VI. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Page 1 CHAPTER VII. RELIGION Religion .. .. .. .. .. .. . . .. 25 CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY .. .. .. APPENDIX.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. APPENDIX. . 77 THE FIFTH MONARCHY. PERSIA. CHAPTER 1. EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE .. .. .. .. . .. CHAPTER II. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS .. . . . 134 CONTENTS OF VOL. III. CHAPTER III Page CHARACTER, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, DRESS, ETC., OF THE PEOPLE 364 CHAPTER IV. LANGUAGE AND WRITING .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 248 CHAPTER V. ARCHITECTURE AND OTHER Arts.. .. .. .. .. CHAPTER VI. .. .. .. .. RELIGION .. .. .. CHAPTER VII. .. .. .. .. 364 CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY Index' .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. INDEX TO SCRIPTURE REFERENCE» .. .. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Map of Persian Empire in time of Darius Hystaspis Map of Modern Persia and adjacent Regions .. . .. To face title. At the end. Page 1. Babylonian of the lower ranks, presenting an offering, from a cylinder (after Lajard) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2. Babylonian of the upper class in the ordinary costume, from a cylinder (ditto) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3. Babylonian wearing a long under-garment, from a cylinder (ditto) .. 4. Babylonian soldier conducting prisoners, from a cylinder (after Layard) 5. Patterned tunic, from a cylinder (after Lajard) .. .. .. .. 3 6. Babylonian wearing a short open coat, from a cylinder (ditto).. .. 7. Costume of a Susianian chief, Koyunjik (drawn by the author from a bas-relief in the British Museum) .. .. .. .. .. 8. Costumes of the Babylonian priests, from the cylinders (after Lajard).. 9. Priest wearing a peculiar mitre .. 10. Priest-vizier presenting captives to a king (drawn by Sir H. Rawlinson from a rock-tablet near Sir-i-Zohab) .. .. .. .. 11. Babylonian bow, from a black stone in the British Museum .. 12. Babylonian quiver and dagger . .. 13. Lion attacked with spear and axe, from a cylinder (after Lajard) 14. Axes, Chaldæan and Babylonian, from the monuments .. . 15. Babylonian four-horse chariot, from a cylinder (after Lajard) .. 16. Men ploughing, from a cylinder (ditto) .. .. 17. Milking the goat, from a cylinder (ditto) .. .. .. .. 18. Babylonian harp and harper, from a cylinder (ditto) .. .. 19. Babylonian women making an offering to a goddess, from a cylinder (ditto) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 20. Babylonian women gathering dates in a garden, from a cylinder (ditto) 23 21. Babylonian saw and hatchet, from the cylinders .. .. .. .. 24 22. Religious emblems of the Babylonians, from the cylinders .. .. 23. View in the mountain pass between Bushire and Shiraz (after Plandin) 24. Chart of the country between Pasargada (Murgab) and Persepolis (from Pergusson) 25. Ancient shadoof (after Wilkinson) .. .. .. .. 26. View of Mount Demavend, in the Elburz (after Morier) 27. Gecko, and feet of Gecko magnified 152 28. The Egyptian asp, or Coluber haje .. 29. The Cerastes, or horned snake .. .. 18 .. 20 32 00 92 117 :::::: 135 :::::: ::: ::: LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. vii 286 287 :::::: 296 300 304 ::::: ::::: 206 307 314 Page 76. Parapet wall of the same (restored); exterior view (from Flandin) .. 280 77. East stairs of Palace of Xerxes (from Pergusson).. .. .. . 283 78. Staircase of Artaxerxes, Persepolis ; existing condition (after Flandin) 284 79. Façade of the Palace of Darius, Persepolis (from Fergusson) .. .. 80. Ground-plan of the same (ditto) .. .. .. .. 81. King and attendants, Persepolis (after Plandin).. .. .. .. 288 82. South front of the Palace of Darius, Persepolis, restored (ditto) 289 83. Great Propylæa of Xerxes, Persepolis (from a photograph) .. 84. Ornament over windows, Persepolis (after Plandin) .. .. 85. Gateway to Hall of a Hundred Columns, Persepolis (from a photo- graph) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 301 86. Double griffin capital, Persepolis (after Flandin) .. 87. Double bull capital, Persepolis (ditto) .. .. . .. .. .. 305 88. Single volute capital, Persepolis (after Ker Porter) .. 305 89. Base of pillars forming central clusters .. .. 90. Complex capital and base of pillars in Great Hall of Xerxes, Persep (after Plandin) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 306 91. Another pillar-base in the same (after Ker Porter) .. 306 92. Ground-plan of the Hall of Xerxes (after Fergusson) .. .. .. 93. Plan of palace, Pasargadæ (after Flandin) .. .. 94. Pillar-base, Pasargadæ (ditto) .. .. .. .. 314 95. Masonry of great platform, Pasargadæ (from Fergusson) 315 96. General view of platform (after Plandin).. .. 315 97. Plan of palace, Istakr (ditto) .. .. .. .. 316 98. Tomb of Cyrus, Pasargadæ (from Fergusson) .. .. 99. Moulding and cornice of tomb (after Plandin) .. 100. External appearance of tomb of Darius Hystaspis, Nakhsh-i-Rustam (from Fergusson) .. .. .. 320 101. Section and ground-plan of tomb, Persepolis (after Flandin) .. 102. Ground-plan of tomb of Darius, Nakhsh-i-Rustam (ditto) 322 103. Ground-plan of another royal tomb (ditto) 322 104. Entrance to a royal tomb, Persepolis (ditto) .. .. 323 105. Section and roof of tower, Nakhsh-i-Rustam (ditto) .. 324 106. Front view of the same tower, showing excavations (ditto) .. 325 107. Massive gateway, Istakr (ditto) .. .. .. .. .. 108. King killing a monster, Persepolis (from a photograph).. 334 109. Attendant bringing a kid to the palace, Persepolis (after Plandin) 336 110. Persian subjects bringing tribute to the king, Persepolis (from a photo- graph) .. .. .. .. 336 111. Wild ass, Persepolis (after Ker Porter) .. .. 337 112. Horned sheep, Persepolis (after Plandin).. .. 113. Lion devouring a bull, Persepolis (from a photograph) .. 339 114. Fragment of a sitting lion, Persepolis (after Flandin) .. 115. Persian cylinders (after Lajard) .. .. .. 341 116. Palm-tree, from the cylinder of Darius Hystaspis (ditto) 342 117. Persian portrait, from a gem (after King). 342 118. Persian coins (after Mionnet and Lajard).. 343 119. Incense vessel, Persepolis (after Flandin).. 344 120. Covered dishes, from the sculptures, Persepolis (after Ker Porter) 344 :::::::::: 318 319 322 ::::::::: 326 337 340 :::::::::: ::::::::::: viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 345 Page 121. Bowls or basons, from the same (after Ker Porter) 122. Altar, from a rock-sculpture, Nakhsh-i-Rustam (after Plandin) 350 123. Portable altar, from a gem (after Lajard).. .. 350 124. Symbols of Ormazd (after Ker Porter and Lajard) .. 351 125. Figure of a good genius, Pasargadæ (after Texier) 353 126. Egyptian figure, with curious head-dress (after Wilkinson) 127. Persian cylinders (after Layard) .. .. .. .. 128. King contending with a lion, Persepolis (after Plandin) .. 355 129. King contending with a monster, Persepolis (ditto) .. 355 130. Monsters, probably representing evil spirits, from Persian gems or cyiin. ders (after Lajard) 131. Plan of Canal of Athos (after Capt. Spratt's survey) .. .. .. 451 132. Plan of Thermopylæ and the adjacent country (after Leake). .. 457 :::::: 354 354 . . .. 356 THE FOURTH MONARCHY. BABYLONIA; CHAPTER VI. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. “Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Baby- lonians of Chaldæa, the land of their nativity.”—EZEK, xxiii. 15. The manners and customs of the Babylonians, though not admitting of that copious illustration from ancient monuments which was found possible in the case of Assyria, are yet suffi- ciently known to us, either from the extant remains or from the accounts of ancient writers of authority, to furnish materials for a short chapter. Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus, and Nicolas of Damascus, present us with many interesting traits of this somewhat singular people; the sacred writers contemporary with the acme of the nation add numerous touches; while the remains, though scanty, put distinctly and vividly before our eyes a certain number of curious details. Herodotus describes with some elaboration the costume of the Babylonians in his day. He tells us that they wore a long linen gown reaching down to their feet, a woollen gown or tunic above this, a short cloak or cape of a white colour, and shoes like those of the Boeotians. Their hair they allowed to grow long, but confined it by a head-band or a turban ;? and i Herod. i. 195. | correct. Neither in the Assyrian nor * Ibid. The uitpa of Herodotus in in the Babylonian remains is there any this passage is generally regarded as a representation of a turban. But the turban, but the monuments make it head-band or fillet is common. The almost certain that this view is in- ordinary meaning of uitpa is “a fillet.” VOL. III. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. CHAP. VI. they always carried a walking-stick with a carving of some kind on the handle. This portraiture, it is probable, applies to the richer inhabitants of the capital, and represents the Babylonian gentleman of the fifth century before our era, as he made his appearance in the streets of the metropolis. The cylinders seem to show that the ordinary Babylonian dress was less complicated. The wor- shipper who brings an offering to a god is frequently represented with a bare head, and wears apparently but one garment, a tunic generally ornamented with a diagonal fringe, and reaching from the shoulder to a little above the knee. The tunic is confined round the Babylonian of the lower ranks waist by a belt. Richer worshippers, presenting an offering. who commonly present a goat, have a fillet or head-band, not a turban, round the head. They wear generally the same sort of tunic as the others; but over it they have a long robe, shaped like a modern dressing-gown, except that it has no sleeves, and does not cover the right shoulder. In a few instances only we see underneath this open gown a long inner dress or robe, such as that described by Herodotus. A cape or tippet of the kind which he describes is worn sometimes by a god, Babylonian of the upper class but is never seen, it is believed, in any representation of a mortal. The short tunic, worn by the poorer worshippers, is seen also in a representation (hereafter to be given) 4 of hunters attacking a lion. A similar garment is worn by the man- probably a slave—who accompanies the dog, supposed to repre- costume. : Unless the figure represented above (vol. ii. p. 501, No. 1) is that of a mortal, which is somewhat doubtful. * Infra, p. 9. CHAP. VI. 3 ORDINARY BABYLONIAN COSTUMES. sent an Indian hound ;5 and also by a warrior, who appears on one of the cylinders conducting six foreign captives. There is consequently much reason to believe that such a tunic formed the ordinary costume of the common people, as it does at present of the com- mon Arab inhabitants of the country. It left the arms and right shoulder bare, covering only the left. Below the belt it was not made like a frock, but lapped over in front, being in fact not so much Babylonian wearing a long a garment as a piece of cloth wrapped under garment. round the body. Occasionally it is represented as patterned ;? but this is somewhat unusual. TITTITUL lo Babylonian soldier conducting captives (from a cylinder). In lieu of the long robe reaching to the feet, which seems to have been the ordinary costume of the higher classes, we observe sometimes a shorter, but still a similar garment—a sort of coat without sleeves, fringed down both sides, and reaching only a little below the knee. The worshippers who wear this robe have in most cases the head adorned with a Patterned tunic, from a fillet (see overleaf). cylinder. TOOOO s See Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 527 ; Birch, Ancient Pottery, vol. i. p. 147. * This cylinder is represented in full by Mr. Layard (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 538). Other examples of the simple tunic will be found, infra, p. 18 ; Cul- limore, Pl. vii. No. 36 ; Pl. viii. No. 39 ; Pl. xii. No. 64 ; Pl. xix. No. 98, &c. ? Lajard, Pl. lii. fig. 1. Compare Cul- limore, Pl. viii. No. 39. Lajard, Pl. xxxvi. fig. 13; Pl. xl. B 2 THE FOURTH MONARCHY, CHAP. VI. mu It is unusual to find any trace of boots or shoes in the repre- sentations of Babylonians. A shoe pat- terned with a sort of check work was worn by the king ;' and soldiers seem to have worn a low boot in their expe- ditions.10 But with rare exceptions the Babylonians are represented with bare feet on the monuments; and if they commonly wore shoes in the time of Herodotus, we may conjecture that they had adopted the practice from the ex- ample of the Medes and Persians.11 A Babylonian wearing a short open coat. low boot, laced in front, was worn by the chiefs of the Susianians. Perhaps the “peculiar shoe” of the Babylonians 12 was not very different. The girdle was an essential feature of Babylonian costume,13 common to high and low, to the king and to the peasant. It was a broad belt, probably of leather, and encircled the waist rather high up. The warrior carried his daggers in it; to the common man it served the purpose of keeping in place the cloth which he wore round his body. According to He- rodotus,14 it was also universal in Baby- lonia to carry a seal and a walking-stick. Special costumes, differing considerably from those hitherto described, distin- Costume of a Susianian chief guished the king and the priests. The (Koyunjik). king wore a long gown, somewhat scan- tily made, but reaching down to the ankles, elaborately patterned See the representation of a king, | 13 See Ezek. xxiii. 15. (Quoted at vol. ï. p. 560. the beginning of the chapter.) Girdles 10 Such a boot appears to be worn by are worn in almost every representation the soldier represented above, p. 3. of a Babylonian upon the monuments. 11 Compare above, vol. ii. p. 316. 14 Herod. i. 195. The seals of the 12 Herod. i. 195. "Ttródnua é mixuplov. | Babylonians have been already described CHAP. VI. COSTUME OF THE KINGS. and fringed. Over this, apparently, he had a close-fitting sleeved vest, which came down to the knees, and terminated in a set of heavy tassels. The girdle was worn outside the outer vest, and in war the monarch carried also two cross- belts, which perhaps supported his quiver. The upper vest was, like the under one, richly adorned with embroidery. From it, or from the girdle, depended in front a single heavy tassel attached by a cord, similar to that worn by the early kings of Assyria. The tiara of the monarch was very remarkable. It was of great height, nearly cylindrical, but with a slight tendency to swell out toward the crown, which was ornamented with a row of feathers round its entire circumference. The space below was patterned with rosettes, sacred trees, and mytho- logical figures. From the centre of the crown there rose above the feathers a projection resembling in some degree the pro- jection which distinguishes the tiara of the Assyrian kings, but rounded, and not squared, at top. This head-dress, which has a heavy appearance, was worn low on the brow, and covered nearly all the back of the head. It can scarcely have been composed of a heavier material than cloth or felt. Pro- bably it was brilliantly coloured.4 The monarch wore bracelets, but (apparently) neither neck- lacesó nor earrings. These last are assigned by Nicolas of Damascus to a Babylonian governor;e and they were so com- monly used by the Assyrians, that we can scarcely suppose them unknown to their kindred and neighbours. The Baby- at some length. (Supra, vol. ii. p. 566.) | that worn by the winged bulls and lions They were probably worn on a string at Khorsabad and Koyunjik, adopted round the wrist. (Compare vol. i. p. 107.) | afterwards by the Persians at Persepolis No clear trace has been found of Baby- (Flandin, tom. i. Pls. Ixxxi. lxxxii. &e.), lonian walking-sticks; but it is obsery. \ is remarkable. able that the court officers at Persepolis As was the tiara of the Assyrians. are universally represented with sticks (Supra, vol. i. p. 486.) in their hands. SA necklace is worn by the king See above, vol. i. p. 491. represented on the Sir-i-Zohab tablet 2 The artist has not represented this (infra, p. 7), but he is thought to be tendency sufficiently. It is nearly as one of the Proto-Chaldæan monarchs. marked on the Black Stone as on the Fr. 10. See the Fragm. Hist. Gr. frieze represented above, vol. ii. p. 552. vol. iii. p. 360. 3 The similarity of this head-dress to THE FOURTH MONARCHY. CHAP. VI. lonian monuments, however, contain no traces of earrings as worn by men, and only a few doubtful ones of collars or neck- laces ;7 whence we may at any rate conclude that neither were worn at all generally. The bracelets which encircle the royal wrist, resemble the most common bracelet of the Assyrians, consisting of a plain band, probably of metal, with a rosette in the centre. The dress of the priests was a long robe or gown, flounced and striped, over which they seem to have worn an open jacket Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Priest wearing a Costumes of the priests. peculiar mitre. of a similar character. A long scarf or ribbon depended from behind down their backs. They carried on their heads an elaborate crown or mitre, which is assigned also to many of the gods.10 In lieu of this mitre, we find sometimes, though rarely, a horned cap; and, in one or two instances, a mitre of a different kind." In all sacrificial and ceremonial acts the priests seem to have worn their heads covered. ? A sort of collar or necklace is often found in Lajard, Pl. xii. fig. 16; Pl. worn by a god. (Lajard, Culte de Mithra, xviii. fig. 6; Pl. xxxviii. figs. 3 and 4; Pl. xxxvii. fig. 1 ; Pl. xxxvii, figs. 2 and | &c. 3 ; &c.) But there are only a very few 10 Fig. 3, which follows the repre- doubtful cases where the worshipper sentation of Lajard, Pl. lvi. fig. 8, gives seems to wear one. (See Lajard, Pl. probably the most correct representation xxxv. fig. 4 ; xxxvii. fig. 7 ; &c.) of the head-dress. A similar mitre is * See above, vol. i. p. 490. represented on the head of the priest in % This scarf is only an occasional | the Sir-i-Zohab tablet. (See next page.) appendage. Instances of it will be " See Lajard, Pl. xxxvii. fig. 7. CHAP. VI. MILITARY COSTUME. On the subject of the Babylonian military costume our infor- mation is scanty and imperfect. In the time of Herodotus the Chaldæans seem to have had the same armature as the Assy- rians 12—namely, bronze helmets, linen breastplates, shields, spears, daggers, and maces or clubs; and, at a considerably TWITTER AVAB CANCENE ! ZAL TKFASHI INIALLEAE PE Faro2LASTNI Furu. la ALUNNEET MAPACNS Sail AEM FAER luisd EXIGAセレブン ​S IL Svar ELS Via LAV N Muu 1 Mulia OHSIUNAUDATTE L VDzAAW1717A HAUT EVOVOD 14 OTETIT JB37EE10 35 nirla EAE raid FAALAAM 5.11, Irish SPONZOR N177FAFESTSTEINLAND Yerusi SPIDEN, I 2.1333 N ALLIFIN MINU HIIHIINAST EEMA HIIVIVU GHISHALASSIC SCIENU esan : Herod. i. 181. OL XaldałoÉbvTES a caste (see the author's Herodotus, vol. ιρέες τούτου του θεού (sc. του Βήλου). i. p. 212, note 5, 2nd edition), though 31 Strab. xvi. 1, § 6. Tois ériXw the Greeks unanimously teach other- ρίοις φιλοσόφους τους Χαλδαίοις προσ wise. (See Plat. Tim. p. 11, A, ed. Stall- αγορευομένους, οι περί αστρονομίαν εισι baum ; Diod. Sic. i. 29; Strab. xvii. 1, το πλέον. 83; &c.) "Dan. i. 4 ; ii. 48. Compare Strab. 2 The' library of Asshur-bani-pal xvi. 1, $ 6. The Greek writers were apt already described (supra, vol. ii. p. 212) to see castes where no real caste existed. was mainly composed of treatises in the Sir G. Wilkinson has shown that the early (Turanian) dialect. 14 CHAP. VI. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. grammar, law, and natural science most likely occupied some part of their attention. Conducting everywhere the worship of the gods, they were of course scattered far and wide through the country; but they had certain special seats of learning, corresponding perhaps in some sort to our universities, the most famous of which were Erech or Orchoë (Warka), and Bor- sippa," the town represented by the modern Birs-i-Nimrud. They were diligent students, not wanting in ingenuity, and not content merely to hand down the wisdom of their ancestors. Schools arose among them; and a boldness of speculation de- veloped itself akin to that which we find among the Greeks. Astronomy, in particular, was cultivated with a good deal of success; and stores were accumulated of which the Greeks in later times understood and acknowledged the value. In social position the priest class stood high. They had access to the monarch ; they were feared and respected by the people; the offerings of the faithful made them wealthy; their position as interpreters of the divine will secured them influ- ence. Being regarded as capable of civil employment, they naturally enough obtained frequently important offices, which added to their wealth and consideration. The mass of the people in Babylonia were employed in the two pursuits of commerce and agriculture. The commerce was both foreign and domestic. Great numbers of the Babylonians were engaged in the manufacture of those textile fabrics, par- ticularly carpets and muslins, which Babylonia produced not only for her own use, but also for the consumption of foreign countries. Many more must have been employed as lapidaries in the execution of those delicate engravings on hard stone, wherewith the seal, which every Babylonian carried, was as a 3 The tablet literature in the early | the kingdom for Nebuchadnezzar during Turanian tongue is believed to embrace the interval between his father's death all these subjects. and his own arrival at Babylon. He * Strab. 1. &. C. EOTC 8è kal twv must have been a sort of Regent of Χαλδαίων των αστρονομικών γένη πλείω the Empire. Daniel held not only high και γάρ Ορχηνοί τινες προσαγορεύονται ecclesiastical but also high civil office και Βορσιππηνοί. (Dan. ii. 48). • Dan. i. 20; ü. 2; iv. 7 ; &c. ? Supra, vol. ï. p. 570. 6 Berosus speaks of the “chief of the Herod. i. 195. Chaldæans” (tov BEATLOTOV) as keeping | CHAP. VI. 15 BABYLONIAN COMMERCE. matter of course adorned. The ordinary trades and handicrafts practised in the East no doubt flourished in the country. A brisk import and export trade was constantly kept up, and pro- moted a healthful activity throughout the entire body politic. Babylonia is called “ a land of traffic" by Ezekiel, and Babylon "a city of merchants.”9 Isaiah says that “the cry of the Chaldæans” was “in their ships.” 10 The monuments show that from very early times the people of the low country on the borders of the Persian Gulf were addicted to maritime pursuits, and navigated the gulf freely, if they did not even venture on the open ocean.11 And Æschylus is a witness that the nautical character still attached to the people after their conquest by the Persians; for he calls the Babylonians in the army of Xerxes “navigators of ships.” 12 The Babylonian import trade, so far as it was carried on by themselves, seems to have been chiefly with Arabia, with the islands in the Persian Gulf, and directly or indirectly with India. From Arabia they must have imported the frankin- cense which they used largely in their religious ceremonies ;13 from the Persian Gulf they appear to have derived pearls, cotton, and wood for walking-sticks ; 14 from India they obtained dogs 15 and several kinds of gems.16 If we may believe Strabo, they had a colony called Gerrha, most favourably situated on the Arabian coast of the gulf, which was a great emporium, and conducted not only the trade between Babylonia and the regions to the south, but also that which passed through Babylonia into the more northern districts.17 The products of the various . Ezek, xvii. 4. sticks," which were grown in the island 19 Is. xliii. 14. This prophet speaks of Tylos (Theophrast. Hist. Plant. iv. 9; also of the “merchants” of Babylon V. 6), supplied the Babylonian market (xlvü. 15). (Heeren, As. Nat. vol. ii. pp. 237, 238). 11 See above, vol. i. p. 102. The pearl fishery of the Persian Gulf 12 Æschyl. Pers. 11. 52-55. BaBuiwy is first mentioned by Nearchus (Arr. δ' ή πολύχρυσος πάμμικτον όχλον πέμ Indica, xxxviii. 3). It was probably πει σύρδην, ναών τ’ επόχους, και τοξ known to the Babylonians from a ουλκω λήματι πιστούς. very early date. (See above, vol. i. p. 13 Herod. i. 183. Compare the report 559.) of Nearchus in Arrian's Indica (xxxii. 15 Herod. i. 192 ; Ctes. Indic. $ 5. 7) with respect to the spice trade be- 16 Ibid. tween Arabia and Assyria. 17 Strab. xvi. 3, § 3. Ilapan devoavte 14 It is a reasonable conjecture that tñs 'Apaßlas els glo x ious kal tetpa- the cotton and the “wood for walking- koolous otadlovs ev Babei kólTW keita. 16 | CHAP. VI. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. countries of Western Asia flowed into Babylonia down the courses of the rivers. From Armenia, or rather Upper Meso- potamia, came wine,18 gems, emery, and perhaps stone for building;19 from Phænicia, by way of Palmyra and Thapsacus, came tin,20 perhaps copper, probably musical instruments, 21 and other objects of luxury; from Media and the countries towards the east” came fine wool, lapis-lazuli, perhaps silk, and probably gold and ivory. But these imports seem to have been brought to Babylonia by foreign merchants rather than imported by the exertions of native traders. The Armenians, the Phænicians, and perhaps the Greeks,23 used for the conveyance of their goods the route of the Euphrates. The Assyrians, the Pareta- ceni, and the Medes probably floated theirs down the Tigris and its tributaries. 24 A large-probably the largest—portion of the people must have been engaged in the occupations of agriculture. Baby- lonia was, before all things, a grain-producing country-noted for a fertility unexampled elsewhere, and to moderns almost incredible. The soil was a deep and rich alluvium,25 and was cultivated with the utmost care. It grew chiefly wheat, barley, millet, and sesame,26 which all flourished with wonderful luxuri- ance. By a skilful management of the natural water supply, the indispensable fluid was utilised to the utmost, and con- veyed to every part of the country.27 Date-groves spread móds réppa, Xaldalwy ovyáow, ek Ba- | musical instruments (Dan. iii. 5) point Bulôvos ...IIešéuttopol 89 elolv oi to an early commerce between Babylonia Teppalot od alfov Twv 'Apaßiw pop- and Greece, which would naturally Ti'wv kal åpwudrwy. 'Aplótólovlos de follow this line. (Compare Herod. i. 1.) Toủvartlov onol TOUS Teppalovs Tà The instruments imported brought their πολλά σχεδίαις εις την Βαβυλωνίαν | names with them. (See Pusey's Daniel, εμπορεύεσθαι, εκείθεν δε τα Ευφράτη p. 26.) τα φορτία αναπλείν εις θάψακον, είτα 22 For the existence of this trade see TESŰ Koulçerdal i dyty. Compare Strab. Diod. Sic. ii. 11, $1. For its probable xvi. 4, § 18, and Agathemer. De Mar. objects see Heeren's As. Nat. vol. ii. pp. Erythr. $ 87. 204-213, E. T. is Herod. i. 194. 2 Herod. i. 185. 19 Diodorus relates that Semiramis 24 Diod. Sic. l. 8. C. brought a stone obelisk from Armenia | 25 Strab. xvi. 1, 8 9. Bacia vào down the Euphrates to Babylon (ü. in yh kal malak) kal evévôotos. 11, SS 4, 5). 20 Herod. i. 193; Strab. xvi. 1, $ 14. 20 See above, vol. i. p. 556. | 27 Xen. Anab. ii. 4, § 13; Herod. 2 The Greek names of Babylonian | 1. 8. C. CHAP. VI. 17 BABYLONIAN AGRICULTURE. widely over the land,28 and produced abundance of an excellent fruit.29 For the cultivation of the date nothing was needed but a proper water supply, and a little attention at the time of fructi- fication. The male and female palm are distinct trees, and the female cannot produce fruit unless the pollen from the male comes in contact with its blossoms. If the male and the female trees are grown in proper proximity, natural causes will always produce a certain amount of impregnation. But to obtain a good crop, art may be serviceably applied. According to Herodotus, the Babylonians were accustomed to tie the branches of the male to those of the female palm.? This was doubtless done at the blossoming time, when it would have the effect he mentions, preventing the fruit of the female, or date-producing palms, from falling off. The date palm was multiplied in Babylonia by artificial means. It was commonly grown from seed, several stones being planted together for greater security ;? but occasionally it was raised from suckers or cuttings. It was important to plant the seeds and cuttings in a sandy soil; and if nature had not sufficiently impregnated the ground with saline particles, salt had to be applied artificially to the soil around as a dressing. The young plants needed a good deal of attention. Plentiful watering was required; and transplantation was desirable at the end of both the first and second year. The Babylonians are said to have transplanted their young trees in the height of summer; other nations preferred the spring time. 4 For the cultivation of grain the Babylonians broke up their land with the plough; to draw which they seem to have em- ployed two oxen, placed one before the other, in the mode still common in many parts of England. The plough had two > Herod. 1. . C.; Amm. Marc. xxiv. | his testimony as to the fact. Theo- 3; Zosim. iii. pp. 173-179. phrastus corrects his error. (Hist. Plant. > On the excellence of one kind of ii. 9, ad fin.) Babylonian date see Theophrast. Hist. Theophrast. Hist. Plant. ü. 8. Plant. ii. 8, p. 35, ed. Heinsius. 3 See above, vol. i. p. 36, notes "Herod. i. 193. That Herodotus mis. conceives the means whereby the fructi- Theophrast. 1. 8. C. fication was effected does not invalidate VOL. III. and 18 CHAP. VI. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. handles, which the ploughman guided with his two hands. It was apparently of somewhat slight construction. The tail rose from the lower part of one of the handles, and was of unusual length. montana) Men ploughing, from a cylinder. It is certain that dates formed the main food of the inhabit- ants. The dried fruit, being to them the staff of life, was re- - garded by the Greeks as their “ bread.” 6 It was perhaps pressed into cakes, as is the common practice in the country at the present day. On this and goat's milk, which we know to have been in use, the poorer class, it is probable, almost entirely subsisted. Palm-wine, Milking the goat, from a the fermented sap of the tree, was an cylinder. esteemed, but no doubt only an occasional beverage. It was pleasant to the taste, but apt to leave a headache behind it.10 Such vegetables as gourds, melons, and cucumbers, must have been cheap, and may have entered into Win syrian implement, viven above (vol. i. 5 The plough here represented, which & Milking the goat is represented on is from a cylinder figured by M. Felix a cylinder figured by M. Lajard, from Lajard (Culte de Mithra, Pl. xxxiv. fig. which the above woodcut is taken. 15), may be contrasted with the As (Culte de Mithra, Pl. xli. fig. 5.) syrian implement, of which a represen 9 By palm-wine, which is mentioned tation has been given above (vol. i. both by Herodotus and Strabo (ll. s. c.) p. 567). It is of very much lighter among the products of Babylonia, is structure, but is inferior to the Assyrian (I think) to be understood the fermented in having no apparatus for drilling the sap of the tree, not the spirit which seed. may be distilled from the fruit. (See • Herod. i. 193; Strab. xvi. 1, $ 14. above, vol. i. p. 35.) ? Rich, First Memoir on Babylon, p. 59, 10 Xen. Anab, ü. 3, § 55. note. (See above, vol. i. p. 35, note :) ) 20 CHAP. VI. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. are shown to have possessed numerous instruments, and to have organised large bands of performers. The Prophet Daniel 21 and the historian Ctesias 22 similarly witness to the musical taste of the Babylonians, which had much the same character. Ctesias said that Annarus (or Nannarus), a Babylonian noble, enter- tained his guests at a banquet with music performed by a com- pany of 150 women. Of these a part sang, while the rest played upon instruments, some using the pipe, others the harp, and a certain number the psaltery.23 These same instruments 24 are assigned to the Babylonians by the prophet Daniel, who, how- ever, adds to them three more — viz. the horn, the sambuca, and an instrument called the sumphonia, or “symphony." It is uncertain whether the horn intended was straight, like the As- syrian, or curved, like the Roman cornu and lituus.25 The pipe was probably the double instrument, played at the end, which was familiar to the Susianians and As- syrians.26 The harp would seem to have resembled the later harp of the Assyrians; Babylonian harp, from a cylinder. but it had fewer strings, if we may judge from a representation upon a cylinder. 27 Like the Assyrian, it was carried under one arm,28 and was played by both hands, one on either side of the strings. The character of the remaining instruments is more doubtful. The sambuca seems to have been a large harp, which rested on 21 Dan. iii. 5, 7, 10, 15. Compare piece of the aúlós. (See Liddell and Ps. cxxxvii. 3 ; and Is. xiv. 11. Scott's Lexicon, 8. v. aŭlós.) 22 Ctes. ap. Athen. Deipn. xii. p. 530 23 The Hebrew is generally re- B. garded as the curved horn, in contra- 23 Compare Nic. Dam. Fr. 10, p. 362, distinction to the 1970 or straight with the fragment of Ctesias in Athe- næus. Nicolas says of the women-ai trumpet. But as the Assyrians seem to have employed the straight horn, and MÈVÉKLOápisov, ai ô nulovy, al oè Eyal. not (so far as we know) the curved one lov. Ctesias says—Eyallov dėl kai joov. (see vol. i. p. 539), perhaps the nonp 21 Compare the Septuagint version, of Daniel may represent the straight instrument. The LXX. render it by oát vyš, which was straight, not curved. by oúpırg, the orng by Kidápa, and 26 Supra, vol. i. p. 534. the nDD by ψαλτήριον. Σύριγξ is 27 Lajard, Culte de Mithra, Pl. xxxix. probably used loosely for aúlós. It | fig. 8. was the technical name for the mouth- 28 See above, vol. i. p. 530. משרוקיתא which translates the Hebrew CHAP. VI. 21 MUSIC USED IN RELIGION. the ground,29 like the harps of the Egyptians. The psaltery was also a stringed instrument, and, if its legitimate descendant is the modern santour,30 we may presume that it is represented in the hands of a Susianian musician on the monument which is our chief authority for the Oriental music of the period. The sumphonia is thought by some to be the bag-pipe,31 which is called sampogna by the modern Italians: by others it is regarded as a sort of organ.32 The Babylonians used music, not merely in their private entertainments, but also in their religious ceremonies. Daniel's account of their instruments occurs casually in his mention of Nebuchadnezzar's dedication of a colossal idol of gold. The worshippers were to prostrate themselves before the idol as soon as they heard the music commence,33 and were probably to continue in the attitude of worship until the sound ceased. The seclusion of women seems scarcely to have been practised in Babylonia with as much strictness as in most Oriental countries. The two peculiar customs on which Herodotus descants at length-the public auction of the marriageable virgins in all the towns of the empire, and the religious prosti- tution authorised in the worship of Beltis 2—were wholly in- compatible with the restraints to which the sex has commonly submitted in the Eastern world. Much modesty can scarcely offered in the public market to the best bidder, and who were required by their religion, at least once in their lives, openly to submit to the embraces of a man other than their husband. It would certainly seem that the sex had in Babylonia a freedom- 2 “Sackbut" is certainly a wrong | been already noticed. (See above, vol. rendering of sabka or sambuca, for the i. p. 537 ; and compare Pusey's Daniel, sackbut was a wind instrument, whereas p. 33.) the sambuca was certainly a kind of 31 Gesenius, ad voc. TAD91D; Joel harp. (Compare Athen. Deipn. iv. p. Brill, Comment. in Daniel, &c. 175 D; xiv. pp. 633-637 ; Vitruv. vi. 1; 32 Ibn Yahia, Comment. in Dan. iii. 5. Suidas, ad voc. &c.) Compare Jerome on Luke xv., where * Gesenius regards santour as a cor 1 tbe view is mentioned but combated. ruption of pesanterin, the Chaldee repre 33 Dan. ii. 5, 7, &c. sentation of the yasthplov of the Greeks. Herod. i. 196. Compare Nic. Dam. The resemblance of a (Susianian) instru Fr. 131, and Ælian. Var. Hist. iv. 1. ment, represented on the monuments of ? Herod. i. 199. Compare Baruch, Assyria, to the modern santour, has vi. 43. 22 CHAP. 1. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. and not only a freedom, but also a consideration unusual in the ancient world, and especially rare in Asia. The stories of Semi- ramis and Nitocris may have in them no great amount of truth; but they sufficiently indicate the belief of the Greeks as to the comparative publicity allowed to their women by the Baby- lonians.3 The monuments accord with the view of Babylonian manners thus opened to us. The female form is not eschewed by the Chaldæan artists. Besides images of a goddess (Beltis or Ishtar) suckling a child, which are frequent,' we find on the cylinders numerous representations of women, engaged in various employ- ments. Sometimes they are represented in a procession, visiting mm Babylonian women making an offering to a goddess. the shrine of a goddess, to whom they offer their petitions, by the mouth of one of their number, or to whom they bring their children for the purpose, probably, of placing them under her protection : 6 sometimes they may be seen amusing themselves among birds and flowers in a garden, plucking the fruit from dwarf palms, and politely handing it one to another. Their attire is in every case nearly the same; they wear a long but scanty robe, reaching to the ankles, ornamented at the bottom with a fringe and apparently opening in front. The upper part of the dress passes over only one shoulder. It is trimmed round 3 See also Dan. v. 10-12, where the queen enters the banqueting-house and gives her advice openly before the lords. * See above, vol. i. p. 140. 5 Lajard, Culte de Mithra, Pl. xxvü. fig. 12. Ibid. Pl. xl. fig. 6. ? Ibid. Pl. xxvii. fig. 7. CHAP, FI, 23 BABYLONIAN WOMEN. the top with a fringe which runs diagonally across the chest, and a similar fringe edges the dress down the front where it opens. Babylonian women gathering dates in a garden. A band or fillet is worn round the head, confining the hair, which is turned back behind the head, and tied by a riband, or else held up by the fillet. Female ornaments are not perceptible on the small figures of the cylinders; but from the modelled image in clay, of which a representation has been already given, we learn that bracelets and earrings of a simple character were worn by Babylonian women, if they were not by the men. On the whole, however, female dress seems to have been plain and wanting in variety, though we may perhaps suspect that the artists do not trouble themselves to represent very accurately such diversities of apparel as actually existed. From a single representation of a priestess 10 it would seem that women of that class wore nothing but a petticoat, thus exposing not only the arms, but the whole of the body as far as the waist. The monuments throw a little further light on the daily life of the Babylonians. A few of their implements, as saws and hatchets, are represented; and from the stools, the chairs, the * Supra, vol. ii. p. 559. See above, p. 6. 10 Lajard, Pl. xl. fig. 6. 24 CHAP. VI. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. tables, and the stands for holding water-jars 11 which occur occa- sionally on the cylinders, we may gather that the fashion of their furniture much resembled that of their northern neigh- bours, the Assyrians. It is reedless to dwell on this subject, which presents no novel features, and has been anticipated by the discussion on Assyrian furniture in the first volume.12 The only touch that can be added to what was there said is, that in Babylonia, the chief, almost the sole-material employed for furni- ture was the wood of the palm-tree, Babylonian sawand hatchet a soft and light fabric which could be (from the cylinders). • easily worked, and which had consider- able strength, but did not admit of a high finish.14 | 11 Supra, vol. ii, p. 569. Stools will 1 ¢ot (KP ... Tò này cáp7tuov, Tò đề be seen in the illustrations, vol. ii. p. åkartové oi tepi Baßuwva más 563, and above, p. 18. τε κλίνας και τα άλλα σκεύη ποιούνται. 12 Pp. 391-6. 14 Ibid. v. 4 and 7. 13 Theophrast. Hist. Plant. ii. 8. Tav 1 CHAP. VII. RELIGION OF THE BABYLONIANS. CHAPTER VII. RELIGION. "Ηνεσαν τους θεούς τους χρυσούς και αργυρους και χαλκους και olônpoüs kal AcOivous kai gulivous.-Dan. v. 4. THE Religion of the later Babylonians differed in so few re- spects from that of the early Chaldæans, their predecessors in the same country, that it will be unnecessary to detain the reader with many observations on the subject. The same gods were worshipped in the same temples and with the same rites? — the same cosmogony' was taught and held—the same symbols were objects of religious regard—even the very dress of the priests was maintained unaltered ;; and, could Urukh or Chedor- laomer have risen from the grave and revisited the shrines wherein they sacrificed fourteen centuries earlier, they would have found but little to distinguish the ceremonies of their own day from those in vogue under the successors of Nabopo- lassar. Some additional splendour in the buildings, the idols, and perhaps the offerings, some increased use of music as a part of the ceremonial,some advance of corruption with respect to priestly impostures and popular religious customs might probably have been noticed ; but otherwise the religion of Nabonidus and Belshazzar was that of Urukh and Ilgi, alike in the objects and the mode of worship, in the theological notions entertained and the ceremonial observances taught and practised The identity of the gods worshipped during the entire period is sufficiently proved by the repair and restoration of the ancient Compare vol. i. pp. 114-142. 1 cylinder (supra, vol. i. p. 194) with · Ibid. pp. 142-145. | those represented in the preceding • Compare the priest on Urukh's | chapter (p. 6). * Supra, p. 21. 26 CHAP. VII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY, temples under Nebuchadnezzar, and their re-dedication (as a general rule) to the same deities. It appears also from the names of the later kings and nobles, which embrace among their elements the old divine appellations. Still, together with this general uniformity, we seem to see a certain amount of fluctuation—a sort of fashion in the religion, whereby particular gods were at different times exalted to a higher rank in the Pantheon, and were sometimes even confounded with other deities commonly regarded as wholly distinct from them. Thus Nebuchadnezzar devoted himself in an especial way to Merodach, and not only assigned him titles of honour which implied his supremacy over all the remaining gods, but even identified him with the great Bel, the ancient tutelary god of the capital. Nabonidus, on the other hand, seems to have restored Bel to his old position, re-establishing the distinction between him and Merodach, and preferring to devote himself to the former. A similar confusion occurs between the goddesses Beltis and Nana or Ishtar, though this is not peculiar to the later kingdom. It may perhaps be suspected from such instances of connection and quasi-convertibility, that an esoteric doctrine, known to the priests and communicated by them to the kings, taught the real identity of the several gods and goddesses, who may have been understood by the better instructed to represent, not distinct and separate beings, but the several phases of the Divine Nature. Ancient polytheism had, it may be surmised, to a great extent this origin, the various names and titles of the Supreme, which designated His different attributes or the dif- ferent spheres of His operation, coming by degrees to be mis- understood, and to pass, first with the vulgar, and at last with all but the most enlightened, for the appellations of a number of gods. 5 Among the titles given by Nebu as the temple of Belus. It receives some chadnezzar to Merodach are the fol confirmation from the further fact that lowing :-“The great lord,” “ the first | Nabonidus gave his eldest son a name born of the gods," "the most ancient," (Belshazzar) which placed him under “the supporter of sovereignty," "the Bel's protection. king of the heavens and the earth.” ? See above, vol. i. p. 139, and com. . This may be concluded from the pare the author's Herodotus, vol. i. pp. fact that in the time of Cyrus the great | 496, 497, 2nd edition. temple at Babylon was known uniformly | CHAP. VIL 27 PRINCIPAL GODS WORSHIPPED. The chief objects of Babylonian worship were Bel, Merodach, and Nebo.8 Nebo, the special deity of Borsippa, seems to have been regarded as a sort of powerful patron-saint under whose protection it was important to place individuals. During the period of the later kingdom, no divine element is so common in names. Of the seven kings who form the entire list, three certainly,º four probably,º had appellations composed with it. The usage extended from the royal house to the courtiers; and such names as Nebu-zar-adan, Samgar-Nebo, and Nebu- shazban," show the respect which the upper class of citizens paid to this god. It may even be suspected that when Nebu- chadnezzar's Master of the Eunuchs had to give Babylonian names to the young Jewish princes whom he was educating, he designed to secure for one of them this powerful patron, and consequently called him Abed-Nebo,12_“the servant of Nebo” -a name which the later Jews, either disdaining13 or not understanding, have corrupted into the Abed-nego of the existing text. . Another god held in peculiar honour by the Babylonians was Nergal. Worshipped at Cutha as the tutelary divinity of the town,14 he was also held in repute by the people generally. No name is more common on the cylinder seals. It is sometimes, though not often, an element in the names of men, as in "Nergal-shar-ezer, the Rab-mag,"15 and (if he be a different person) in Neriglissar, the king. * This is sufficiently apparent from / naga in Achæmenian Persian, but of the native monuments. It is confirmed | which there is no trace in either Baby- by the Jewish writers. (See Isaiah lonian or Assyrian. xlvi. 1 ; Jerem. 1. 2; li. 44.) 13 The Jews seem often to have 9 Nabo-polassar, Nebu-chadnezzar, and played with the names of the heathen Nabo-nidus. gods in a spirit of scorn and contumely. 19 Labo rosoarchod, which stands per. Thus Zir-banit becomes Succoth-benoth, haps for Nabo-rosoarchod, as Laby-netus “tents of daughters” (2 K. xvii. 30); for Nabo-nahid or Nabonidus. Nebo becomes in one place Nibhaz, “the 11 See 2 Kings xxv. 8; Jerem. xxxix. barker” (ibid. verse 31); Anunit be- 3 and 13. comes Anammelech, to chime with 12 Abed-nego is a name which admits Adrammelech (ibid.), &c. Similarly of no Semitic derivation. It has indeed Tartak may be suspected to be a derisive been explained as equivalent to Ebed corruption of Tir, and Nisroch of Ner- melech (Arab. Abdulmalik), which gal, who was sometimes called simply means “the servant of the king;" but Nis or Nir. the only ground for this is the Abys " Supra, vol. i. p. 136. sinian negus, “king," which became | 15 Jerem. xxxix, 3. 28 CAAP. VII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. Altogether, there was a strong local element in the religion of the Babylonians. Bel and Merodach were in a peculiar way the gods of Babylon, Nebo of Borsippa, Nergal of Cutha, the Moon of Ur or Hur, Beltis of Niffer, Hea or Hoa of Hit, Ana of Erech, the Sun of Sippara. Without being exclusively honoured at a single site, the deities in question held the foremost place each in his own town. There especially was worship offered to them; there was the most magnificent of their shrines. Out of his own city a god was not greatly respected, unless by those who regarded him as their special personal protector. The Babylonians worshipped their gods indirectly, through images. Each shrine had at least one idol, which was held in the most pious reverence, and was in the minds of the vulgar identified with the god. It seems to have been believed by some that the actual idol ate and drank the offerings. Others distinguished between the idol and the god, regarding the latter as only occasionally visiting the shrine where he was worshipped.? Even these last, however, held gross anthropomorphic views, since they considered the god to descend from heaven in order to hold commerce with the chief priestess. Such notions were encouraged by the priests, who furnished the inner shrine in the temple of Bel with a magnificent couch and a golden table, and inade the principal priestess pass the night in the shrine on certain occasions. The images of the gods were of various materials. Some were of wood, others of stone, others again of metal; and these last were either solid or plated. The metals employed were gold, silver, brass, or rather bronze, and iron. Occasionally the metal was laid over a clay model. Sometimes images of The narrative in the Apocryphal | 3 Herod. i. 181. Daniel, which forms the first part of See the passage of Daniel quoted at our Book of “ Bel and the Dragon," the commencement of this chapter. though probably not historical, seems to "This appears to have been the case be written by one well acquainted with from the description of the image of Babylonian notions. The king in the Bel in the Apocryphal Daniel. (Ditos narrative evidently regards the idol as έσωθεν μέν έστι πηλός, έξωθεν δε χαλ. the eater of the victuals. kós. Apoc. Dan. xiv. 6.) Bronze ham- ? Daoi dè oi aitol OÛT OL [oi Xal. mered work, laid over a model made of δαιοι] τον θεόν αυτόν φοιταν ες τον | clay mixed with bitumen, has been found vnov, K..A. (Herod. i. 182.) Į in Assyria. (See above, vol. i. p. 368.) CHAP. VII. 29 POSITION OF THE PRIESTS. one metal were overlaid with plates of another, as was the case with one of the great images of Bel, which was originally of silver but was coated with gold by Nebuchadnezzar. The worship of the Babylonians appears to have been con- ducted with much pomp and magnificence. A description has been already given of their temples.? Attached to these im- posing structures was, in every case, a body of priests; 8 to whom the conduct of the ceremonies and the custody of the treasures were entrusted. The priests were married, and lived with their wives and children, either in the sacred structure itself, or in its immediate neighbourhood. They were supported either by lands belonging to the temple,10 or by the offerings of the faithful. These consisted in general of animals, chiefly oxen and goats ; " but other valuables were no doubt received when tendered. The priest always intervened between the worshipper and the deities, presenting him to them and inter- ceding with uplifted hands on his behalf.12 In the temple of Bel at Babylon, and probably in most of the other temples both there and elsewhere throughout the country, a great festival was celebrated once in the course of each year. 18 We know little of the ceremonies with which these festivals were accompanied; but we may presume from the analogy of other nations that there were magnificent processions on these occasions, accompanied probably with music and dancing. The images of the gods were perhaps exhibited either on frames or on sacred vehicles.14 Numerous victims were sacrificed; and at Babylon it was customary to burn on the great altar in the Sir H. Rawlinson in the author's sionally we see an ox following the Herodotus (vol. i. p. 517, 2nd edition). worshipper. (See Cullimore, Pl. xi. No. ? Supra, vol. ii. pp. 542-550. 60.) & According to the Apocryphal Daniel 13 See the figures of priests on page seventy priests were attached to the 6. great Temple of Bel at Babylon. (Apoc. 13 Herod. i. 183. Dan, xiv. 9.) 14 See above, page 10. Compare Ibid. verses 14, 19, and 20. The Macrob. Sat. i. 23. “Vehitur enim fact is implied in Diodorus's statement simulachrum dei Heliopolitani ferculo, that the priests were a caste. (Diod. uti vehuntur in pompa ludorum Circen- Sic. ii. 29, 4.) sium deorum simulachra." The“ deus 10 Arrian, Esp. Alex, vii. 16. Heliopolitanus" is the Sun-God of 1 The goat is the ordinary sacrificial Sippara. animal on the cylinders ; but occa- | CHAP. VII. 31 SYMBOLISM IN RELIGION. ugly, have to stay a long time before they can fulfil the law. Some have even waited three or four years in the precinct.” 18 The demoralising tendency of this religious prostitution can scarcely be overrated.19 Notions of legal cleanness and uncleanness, akin to those prevalent among the Jews, are found to some extent in the religious system of the Babylonians. The consummation of the marriage rite made both the man and the woman impure, as did every subsequent act of the same kind. The impurity was communicated to any vessel that either might touch. To remove it, the pair were required first to sit down before a censer of burning incense, and then to wash themselves thoroughly. Thus only could they re-enter into the state of legal cleanness. 20 A similar impurity attached to those who came into contact with a human corpse. The Babylonians are remarkable for the extent to which they affected symbolism in religion. In the first place they attached to each god a special mystic number, which is used as his emblem and may even stand for his name in an inscription. To the gods of the First Triad— Anu, Bel, and Hea or Hoa- were assigned respectively the numbers 60, 50, and 40; to those of the Second Triad—the Moon, the Sun, and the Atmosphere -were given the other integers, 30, 20, and 10 (or perhaps six).? To Beltis was attached the number 15, to Nergal 12,4 to Bar or Nin (apparently) 40, as to Hoa; but this is perhaps doubtful. It is probable that every god, or at any rate all the principal deities, had in a similar way some numerical emblem. Many of these are, however, as yet undiscovered. Further, each god seems to have had one or more emblem- atic signs by which he could be pictorially symbolised. The cylinders are full of such forms, which are often crowded into is Herod. i. 199. Compare Baruch | 20 Herod. i. 198. Strab. 1. s. c. vi. 43, and Strabo xvi. 1, $ 20. 2 The Babylonians had a double 19 The statement of Herodotus, that system of notation, decimal and sexa- “from that time forth no gift, however gintal. They wrote in series either 3, great, will prevail with a Babylonian 4, 5, 6, or 3, 4, 5, 10. (Sir H. Rawlin- woman,” is not repeated by Strabo, and son in the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. is flatly contradicted by Q. Curtius. (See | 500, 2nd edition.) 3 Ibid. p. 497. above, vol. ii. p. 504, note 18.) * Ibid. p. 521. • Ibid. p. 514. 32 CHAP. VII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. every vacant space where room could be found for them. A certain number can be assigned definitely to particular divinities. Thus a circle, plain or crossed, designates the Sun-god, San or Shamas;? a six-rayed or eight-rayed star the Sun-goddess, Gula or Anunit; 8 a double or triple thunderbolt the Atmo- spheric god, Vul ; ' a serpent probably Hoa ; 10 a naked female form Nana or Ishtar ; 11 a fish Bar or Nin-ip.12 But besides these assignable symbols, there are a vast number with regard to which we are still wholly in the dark. Among these may be mentioned a sort of double ten repeated three times, a jar or bottle,13 an altar, I a double lozenge, one or more birds, an animal between a monkey and a jerboa, a dog, a sort of double horn, 04 a sacred tree, an ox, a bee, a spearhead.14 A study of the inscribed cylinders shows these emblems to have no reference to the god or goddess named in the inscription upon them. Each, apparently, repre- sents a distinct deity; and the object of placing them upon a cylinder is to imply the devotion of the man whose seal it is, to other deities besides those whose special servant he considers himself. A single cylinder sometimes contains as many as eight or ten such emblems. The principal temples of the gods had special sacred appel- lations. The great temple of Bel at Babylon was known as Bit-Saggath, that of the same god at Niffer as Kharris-Nipra, that of Beltis at Warka (Erech) as Bit-Ana, that of the Sun at Sippara as Bit-Parra, that of Anunit at the same place as Bit- Ulmis, that of Nebo at Borsippa as Bit-Tsida, &c. It is seldom See Cullimore's Cylinders, Pl. xviii. Ibid. p. 130. 10 Ibid. p. 122. Nos. 92 to 95; Pl. xxii. Nos. 113 and 11 Ibid. p. 139. 2 Ibid. p. 133. 115. Compare Lajard, Culte de Mithra, 13 See the engraving of a cylinder on Pls. xxxv. fig. 3 ; liv. A, fig. 12; liv, B, p. 18. fig. 15. 14 The two last-named emblems are ? See vol. i. p. 128, where the same uncommon. For the bee see Cullimore, usage is assigned to the early Chal Pl. xxii. No. 117, and Pl. xxiv. No. 129. dæans. For the spearhead, Cullimore, Pl. xxvii. 8 Ibid. p. 129. I No. 147. CHAP. VII. 33 NAMES OF THE TEMPLES. that these names admit of explanation.15 They had come down apparently from the old Chaldean times, and belonged to the ancient (Turanian) form of speech ; which is still almost unin- telligible. The Babylonians themselves probably in few cases understood their meaning. They used the words simply as proper names, without regarding them as significative. 15 Bit-Ana is certainly “the house or “the Sun." (Sir H. Rawlinson in of the god Anu or Ana," who was wor. the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 501, shipped at Erech in conjunction with note 3, 2nd edition.) The meaning of Beltis. (See above, vol. i. p. 116.) Bit the other terms has not even (so far as Parra may be “the house of Ph' Ra," | I am aware) been conjectured. VOL. III. 34 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY. Tas od Bapulôvos . . Tolol Mév kov . . dytvovto Baoilées . . o tà te'xcá TE KEKógumoav kai td ipd.- HEROD. i. 184. The history of the Babylonian Empire commences with Nabo- polassar, who appears to have mounted the throne in the year B.C. 625; but to understand the true character of the kingdom which he set up, its traditions and its national spirit, we must begin at a far earlier date. We must examine, in however in- complete and cursory a manner, the middle period of Babylonian history, the time of obscurity and comparative insignificance, when the country was, as a general rule, subject to Assyria, or at any rate played but a secondary part in the affairs of the East. We shall thus prepare the way for our proper subject, while at the same time we shall link on the history of the Fourth to that of the First Monarchy, and obtain a second line of continuous narrative, connecting the brilliant era of Cyaxares and Nebuchadnezzar with the obscure period of the first Cushite kings. It has been observed that the original Chaldean monarchy lasted under various dynasties from about B.C. 2400 to B.C. 1300, when it was destroyed by the Assyrians, who became masters of Babylonia under the first Tiglathi-Nin, and governed it for a short time from their own capital. Unable, however, to maintain this unity very long, they appear to have set up in the country an Assyrian dynasty, over which they claimed and sometimes exercised a kind of suzerainty, but which was practically independent and managed both the external and internal affairs of the kingdom at its pleasure. The first king Supra, vol. i. pp. 152, 153. ? Compare above, vol. ii. p. 58. Chap. VIII. 35 EARLY WARS WITH ASSYRIA. of this dynasty concerning whom we have any information is a Nebuchadnezzar, who was contemporary with the Assyrian monarch Asshur-ris-ilim, and made two attacks upon his terri- tories. The first of these was by the way of the Diyaleh and the outlying Zagros hills, the line taken by the great Persian military road in later times. The second was directly across the plain. If we are to believe the Assyrian historian who gives an account of the campaigns, both attacks were repulsed, and after his second failure the Babylonian monarch fled away into his own country hastily. We may perhaps suspect that a Babylonian writer would have told a different story. At any rate Asshur-ris-ilim was content to defend his own territories and did not attempt to retaliate upon his assailant. It was not till late in the reign of his son and successor, Tiglath-Pileser I., that any attempt was made to punish the Babylonians for their audacity. Then, however, that monarch invaded the southern kingdom,” which had passed into the hands of a king named Merodach-iddin-akhi, probably a son of Nebuchadnezzar. After two years of fighting, in which he took Kurri-Galzu (Akkerkuf), the two Sipparas, Opis, and even Babylon itself, Tiglath-Pileser retired, satisfied apparently with his victories; but the Baby- lonian monarch was neither subdued nor daunted. Hanging on the rear of the retreating force, he harassed it by cutting off its baggage, and in this way he became possessed of certain Assyrian idols, which he carried away as trophies to Babylon. War continued between the two countries during the ensuing reigns of Merodach-shapik-ziri in Babylon and Asshur-bil-kala in Assyria, but with no important successes, so far as appears, on either side. The century during which there wars took place between Assyria and Babylonia, which corresponds with the period of the later Judges in Israel, is followed by an obscure interval, during which but little is known of either country. Assyria seems to have been at this time in a state of great depression. 3 An account of these wars has been already given in the History of Assyria. See vol. ii. pp. 61, 62.) · Herod. v. 52. 5 Compare vol. ii. pp. 77, 78. © Compare vol. ii. p. 79. D 36 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. Babylonia, it may be suspected, was flourishing; but as our knowledge of its condition comes to us almost entirely through the records of the sister country, which here fail us, we can only obtain a dim and indistinct vision of the greatness now achieved by the southern kingdom. A notice of Asshur-izir-pal's seems to imply that Babylon, during the period in question, enlarged her territories at the expense of Assyria, and another in Macrobius makes it probable that she held communications with Egypt. Perhaps these two powers, feåring the growing strength of Assyria, united against her, and so checked for a while that development of her resources which they justly dreaded. However, after two centuries of comparative depression, Assyria once more started forward, and Babylonia was among the first of her neighbours whom she proceeded to chastise and despoil. About the year B.C. 880, Asshur-izir-pal led an expedi- tion to the south-east and recovered the territory which had been occupied by the Babylonians during the period of weak- ness. Thirty years later, his son, the Black-Obelisk king, made the power of Assyria still more sensibly felt. Taking advantage of the circumstance that a civil war was raging in Babylonia between the legitimate monarch, Merodach-sum-adin, and his younger brother, he marched into the country, took a number of the towns, and having defeated and slain the pre- tender, was admitted into Babylon itself. From thence he proceeded to overrun Chaldæa, or the district upon the coast, which appears at this time to have been independent of Babylon, ? Asshur-izir-pal tells us that, about / regnante apud Ægyptios Senemure, seu the year B.C. 880, he recovered and idem Senepos nomine fuit, perlatumque rebuilt a city on the Diyaleh, which est primum in eam per Opiam legatum a Babylonian king named Tsibir bad Deleboris regis Assyriorum sacerdo- destroyed at a remote period. (See tesque Ægyptios, quorum princeps fuit above, vol. ii. p. 86.) Partimetis, diuque habitum apud As- The passage in Macrobius is curious, syrios postea Heliopolin commigravit.” and seems worth giving at length. (Sat. i. 23.) It is suspected that the “Assyrii quoque," says this writer, Deleboras (or Deboras) here mentioned “Solem sub nomine Jovis, quem Dia is identical with the Tsibir who took Heliopoliten cognominant, "maximis territory from the Assyrians. (See cæremoniis celebrant in civitate quæ above, vol. ü. p. 81, note 14.) Heliopolis nuncupatur. Ejus dei simu. Supra, vol. i. p. 86. lacrum sumptum est de oppido Ægypti, Ibid. p. 102. quod et ipsum Heliopolis appellatur, CHAP. VIII. 37 ACCESSION OF NABONASSAR. and governed by a number of petty kings. The Babylonian monarch probably admitted the suzerainty of the invader, but was not put to any tribute. The Chaldæan chiefs, however, had to submit to this indignity. The Assyrian monarch returned to his capital, having "struck terror as far as the sea.” Thus Assyrian influence was once more extended over the whole of the southern country, and Babylonia resumed her position of a secondary power, dependent on the great monarchy of the north. But she was not long allowed to retain even the shadow of an autonomous rule. In or about the year B.C. 821, the son and successor of the Black-Obelisk king, apparently without any pretext, made a fresh invasion of the country.? Merodach- belatzu-ikbi, the Babylonian monarch, boldly met him in the field, but was defeated in two pitched battles in the latter of which he had the assistance of powerful allies), and was forced to submit to his antagonist. Babylon, it is probable, became at once an Assyrian tributary, and in this condition she re- mained till the troubles which came upon Assyria towards the middle of the eighth century B.C. gave an opportunity for shaking off the hated yoke. Perhaps the first successes were obtained by Pul,4 who, taking advantage of Assyria's weakness under Asshur-dayan IIL (ab. BC. 770) seems to have esta- blished a dominion over the Euphrates valley and Western Meso- potamia, from which he proceeded to carry his arms into Syria and Palestine. Or perhaps Pul's efforts merely, by still further weakening Assyria, paved the way for Babylon torevolt, and Nabo- nassar, who became king of Babylon in B.C. 747, is to be regarded as the re-establisher of her independence. In either case it is apparent that the recovery of independence was accompanied, or rapidly followed, by a disintegration of the country, which ? Supra, vol. ii. pp. 114, 115. | represented as “Chaldæorum rex.” It * The Zimri of Mount Zagros, the 1 is possible that he was one of the rebel Aramæans of the middle Euphrates, chiefs against whom Asshur-dayan III. and the Chaldæans of the south. had to contend, that his authority was It must be allowed to be still doubt established in Western Mesopotamia, ful whether Pul was a king of Babylon and that he took the title of a king of or so. The Jewish writers call him Assyria." “ king of Assyria." In Berosus he was 38 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. was of evil omen for its future greatness. While Nabonassar established himself at the head of affairs in Babylon, a certain Yakin, the father of Merodach-Baladan, became master of the tract upon the coast; and various princes, Nadina, Zakiru, and others, at the same time obtained governments, which they administered in their own name, towards the north. The old Babylonian kingdom was broken up; and the way was pre- pared for that final subjugation, which was ultimately effected by the Sargonids. Still, the Babylonians seemed to have looked with compla- cency on this period, and they certainly made it an era from which to date their later history. Perhaps, however, they had not much choice in this matter. Nabonassar was a man of energy and determination. Bent probably on obliterating the memory of the preceding period of subjugation, he “ destroyed the acts of the kings who had preceded him;"5 and the result was that the year of his accession became almost necessarily the era from which subsequent events had to be dated. Nabonassar appears to have lived on friendly terms with Tiglath-Pileser, the contemporary monarch of Assyria, who early in his reign invaded the southern country, reduced several princes of the districts about Babylon to subjection, and forced Merodach-Baladan, who had succeeded his father, Yakin, in the low region, to become his tributary. No war seems to have been waged between Tiglath-Pileser and Nabonassar. The king of Babylon may have seen with satisfaction the humiliation of his immediate neighbours and rivals, and may have felt that their subjugation rather improved than weakened his own position. At any rate it tended to place him before the nation as their only hope and champion—the sole barrier which pro- tected their country from a return of the old servitude. Nabonassar held the throne of Babylon for fourteen years, from B.C. 747 to B.C. 733. It has generally been supposed that this period is the same with that regarded by Herodotus 5 Berosus, Fr. 11a. Napováo apos ouvayayùv tds a páfels TWV pò attoll Barthéwr ηφάνισεν. • See the “Canon of Ptolemy." CHAP. VIII. 39 SUCCESSORS OF NABONASSAR. as constituting the reign of Semiramis.? As the wife or as the mother of Nabonassar, that lady (according to many directed the affairs of the Babylonian state on behalf of her husband or her son. The theory is not devoid of a certain plausi- bility, and it is no doubt possible that it may be true; but at present it is a mere conjecture, wholly unconfirmed by the native records; and we may question whether on the whole it is not more probable that the Semiramis of Herodotus is mis- placed. In a former volume it was shown that a Semiramis flourished in Assyria towards the end of the ninth and the beginning of the eighth centuries B.C.8_during the period, that is, of Babylonian subjection to Assyria. She may have been a Babylonian princess, and have exercised an authority in the southern capital.' It would seem therefore to be more probable that she is the individual whom Herodotus intends, though he has placed her about half a century too late, than that there were two persons of the same name within so short a time, both queens, and both ruling in Mesopotamia. Nabonassar was succeeded in the year B.C. 733 by a certain Nadius, who is suspected to have been among the independent princes reduced to subjection by Tiglath-Pileser in his Baby- lonian expedition.10 Nadius reigned only two years—from B.C. 733 to B.C. 731—when he was succeeded by Chinzinus and Porus, two princes whose joint rule lasted from B.C. 731 to B.C. 726. They were followed by an Elulæus, who has been identified with the king of that name called by Menander 12 king of Tyre—the Luliya of the cuneiform inscriptions ; 13 but it is in the highest degree improbable that one and the same monarch should have borne sway both in Phænicia and Chaldæa ? Herod. i. 184. Among those who | lating to Assyria, pp. 66, 67). identify the reigns of Semiramis and 8 See above, vol. ii. p. 120. Nabonassar, and suppose a close tie of . Ibid. p. 121. relationship to have existed between 10 One of these princes bears the thern, are Larcher (Hérodote, tom. i. p. name of Nadina, which may have been 468), Clinton (P. H. vol. i. p. 279, corrupted into Nadius. (See above, p. note 1), Volney (Recherches sur l'Histoire 38). ancienne, part iii. p. 79), Bosanquet il Bosanquet, Fall of Nineveh, p. 40. (Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. p. 12 Ap. Joseph. Ant. Jud. ix. 14, § 2. 230), and Vance Smith (Prophecies re- | 13 See above, vol. ii. p. 158. 40 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. at a time when Assyria was paramount over the whole of the intervening country. Elulæus therefore must be assigned to the same class of utterly obscure monarchs with his prede- cessors, Porus, Chinzinus, and Nadius; and it is only with Merodach-Baladan, his successor, that the darkness becomes a little dispelled, and we once more see the Babylonian throne occupied by a prince of some reputation and indeed celebrity. Merodach-Baladan was the son of a monarch, who in the troublous times that preceded, or closely followed, the era of Nabonassar appears to have made himself master of the lower Babylonian territory 14—the true Chaldæa—and to have there founded a capital city, which he called after his own name, Bit-Yakin. On the death of his father Merodach-Baladan inherited this dominion; and it is here that we first find him, when, during the reign of Nabonassar, the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser II. invade the country. Forced to accept the position of Assyrian tributary under this monarch, to whom he probably looked for protection against the Babylonian king, Nabonassar, Merodach-Baladan patiently bided his time, re- maining in comparative obscurity during the two reigns of Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser his successor, and only emerg- ing contemporaneously with the troubles which ushered in the dynasty of the Sargonids. In B.C. 721—the year in which Sargon made himself master of Nineveh – Merodach-Baladan extended his authority over the upper country, and was recog- nised as king of Babylon. Here he maintained himself for twelve years; and it was probably at some point of time within this space that he sent ambassadors to Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with orders to enquire into the particulars of the curious astro- nomical marvel, or miracle, which had accompanied the sick- ness and recovery of that monarch. It is not unlikely that the embassy, whereof this was the pretext, had a further political 14 Supra, p. 38. back of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz * Supra, vol. ii. p. 141 ; compare p. (Jour. of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. pp. 286- 156, note 295) is probably known to most readers. 22 K. xx. 12 ; Is. xxxix. 1. A way is clearly shown in which the 3 The ingenious explanation which shadow may have gone back without any Mr. Bosanquet has given of the going | interference with the course of nature. CHAP. VIII. REIGN OF MERODACH-BALADAN. object. Merodach-Baladan, aware of his inability to withstand singly the forces of Assyria, was probably anxious to form a powerful league against the conquering state, which threatened to absorb the whole of Western Asia into its dominion. Heze- kiah received his advances favourably, as appears by the fact that he exhibited to him all his treasures. Egypt, we may presume, was cognisant of the proceedings, and gave them her support. An alliance, defensive if not also offensive, was pro- bably concluded between Egypt and Judæa on the one hand, Babylon, Susiana, and the Aramæan tribes of the middle Euphrates on the other. The league would have been for- midable but for one circumstance-Assyria lay midway between the allied states, and could attack either moiety of the confe- derates separately at her pleasure. And the Assyrian king was not slow to take advantage of his situation. In two successive years Sargon marched his troops against Egypt and against Babylonia, and in both directions carried all before him. In Egypt he forced Sabaco to sue for peace. In Babylonia (B.C. 710) he gained a great victory over Merodach-Baladan and his allies, the Aramæáns and Susianians, took Bit-Yakin, into which the defeated monarch had thrown himself, and gained possession of his treasures and his person. Upon this the whole country sub- mitted; Merodach-Baladan was carried away captive into Assyria; and Sargon himself, mounting the throne, assumed the title- rarely taken by an Assyrian monarch-of “King of Babylon.” But this state of things did not continue long. Sargon died in the year B.C. 704, and coincident with his death we find a renewal of troubles in Babylonia. Assyria's yoke was shaken off; various pretenders started up; a son of Sargon and brother of Sennacherib re-established Assyrian influence for a brief space ;' but fresh revolts followed. A certain Hagisa became * Isaiah xxxix, 2, 4. | αβασίλευτα) necessarily implies a season 5 The dependence of Judæa on Egypt of trouble and disorder. It does not during Hezekiah's reign is indicated by show that there was no king, but only the expressions in 2 K. xviii. 21, 24; that no king reigned a full year. Is. xxxvi. 6, 9. ' Polyhist. ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 6 Supra, vol. ii. p. 147. 5,9 1. (See the passage quoted at length * Ibid. p. 148. in the second volume of this work, p. * An interregnum in the canon (ETY | 156, note S.) THE FOURTH MONARCHY. CHAP. VIII. king of Babylon for a month. Finally, Merodach-Baladan again appeared upon the scene, having escaped from his Assyrian prison, murdered Hagisa, and remounted the throne from which he had been deposed seven years previously.10 But the brave effort to recover independence failed. Sennacherib in his second year, B.C. 703, descended upon Babylonia, defeated the army which Merodach-Baladan brought against him, drove that monarch himself into exile, after a reign of six months, and re-attached his country to the Assyrian crown. From this time to the revolt of Nabopolassar-a period of above three quarters of a century–Babylonia, with few and brief intervals of revolt, continued an Assyrian fief. The Assyrian kings governed her either by means of viceroys, such as Belibus, Regibelus, Mesesimordachus, and Saos-duchinus, or directly in their own persons, as was the case during the reign of Esar- haddon,12 and during the later years of Asshur-bani-pal.13 The revolts of Babylon during this period have been described at length in the history of Assyria.14 Two fall into the reign of Sennacherib, one into that of Asshur-bani-pal, his grandson. In the former, Merodach-Baladan, who had not yet given up his pretensions to the lower country, and a certain Susub, who was acknowledged as king at Babylon, were the leaders. In the latter, Saos-duchinus, the Assyrian viceroy, and brother of Asshur-bani-pal, the Assyrian king, seduced from his allegiance by the hope of making himself independent, headed the insurrection. In each case the struggle was brief, being begun and ended within the year.15 The power of Assyria at this time so vastly preponde- rated over that of her ancient rival that a single campaign sufficed on each occasion of revolt to crush the nascent insurrection. 16 10 See vol. p. 156, note 8. 11 Supra, vol. ii. p. 157. 12 Ibid. pp. 195 and 201. 13 Ibid. p. 219, note 14 See above, vol. ii. pp. 157, 173-175, and p. 206. 15 As Susub does not appear in Pto- lemy's Canon, it is tolerably certain that neither his first nor his second reign lasted a year. The revolt of Saül- mugina (Saos-duchinus) seems to have | been put down within a few months. (See vol. ii. p. 207.) 16 This remark' is true of all the known cases of revolt. It might, how. ever, require some qualification, if the history of the eight years from B.C. 688 to B.C. 680 were recovered. The inter- regnum of Ptolemy in this place implies either revolt or a rapid succession of viceroys-probably the former. CHAP. VIII. CHRONOLOGY OF BABYLON. 43 A tabular view of the chronology of this period is ap- pended. CHRONOLOGY OF BABYLON FROM THE ARAB CONQUEST TO NABOPOLASSAR. N.B.-—Babylonian dates fall one year below Assyrian, from the practice established at Babylon of recording a king's accession on the Thoth of the ensuing year. B.C. Kings. Contemporary kings of Assyria. Remarkable events. Ab. 1300 | Dynasty of Assyrians. Tiglathi-Nin I.. Babylon conquered by the As- syrians. Bel-kudur-uzur. Nin-pala-zira, Asshur-dayan I. Mutaggil-Nebo. Asshur-ris-ilim Tiglath-Pileser I Asshur-bil-kala Shamas-Vul I. Ab, 1150 , 1130 » 1110 Nebuchadnezzar I, .. Merodach-iddin-akhi. Merodach-shapik-ziri. · · . Wars between Assyria and Babylon. Tsibir (Deboras) 752 731 726 721 713 (?) 709 704 703 702 699 696 (?) Asshur-Mazur Babylon in Alliance with Egypt. Takes territory from Assyria. Asshur-dayan II, Vul-lush II. Tiglathi-Nin II. Asshur-izir-pal .. Assyria recovers her lost ter- 12 ritory. ( Civil war in Babylon, Assyria Merodach-sum-adin . . Shalmaneser II., B helps the legitimate king, Merodach-belatzu-ikbi . Shamas-Vul II. . Babylon conquered. Passes Vul-lush III. under Assyria, Shalmaneser III, Asshur-dayan III. Pul(?). Asshur-lush. | Babylon re-establishes her in- Nabonassar... 12 dependence Tiglath-Pileser II. Nadius. Chinzinus and Porus, Elulæus. . Shalmaneser IV. Merodach-Baladan .. Sargon. ( Embassy of Merodach-Baladan to Hezekiah, Arceanus (Sargon) .. Babylon conquered by Sargon. Interregnum ::: Sennacherib ... Babylon revolts. (Hagisa . Sennacherib conquers Babylon, Merodach-Baladan : Belibus (viceroy). Assaranadius (viceroy). Susub. .....: |Babylon revolts. Revolt put 17 down. | Ditto. Regibelus (viceroy). Mesesimordachus viceroy) (Troubles in Babylon. Inter- regnum of eight years, coin- Interregnum ....! . . ciding with last eight years of Sennacherib. Babylon recovered by Esar- Esarhaddon, .... Esarhaddon ...B Babylon revolts and again re- Saos-duchinus (viceroy). | Asshur-bani-pal . .| 17 turns to allegiance. Cinneladanus (or Asshur bani-pal). Nebo-sum-iskun ) Asshur-emid-ilin. Nabopolassar, Assyrian empire destroyed. 692 667 647 626 44 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY, Having thus briefly sketched the history of the kingdom of Babylon from its conquest by Tiglathi-Nin to the close of the long period of Assyrian predominance in Western Asia, we may proceed to the consideration of the “Empire.” And first, as to the circumstances of its foundation. When the Medes first assumed an aggressive attitude towards Assyria, and threatened the capital with a siege, Babylonia apparently remained unshaken in her allegiance. When the Scythian hordes spread themselves over Upper Mesopotamia and wasted with fire and sword the fairest regions under Assyrian rule, there was still no defection in this quarter. It was not till the Scythic ravages were over, and the Medes for the second time poured across Zagros into Adiabêné, resuming the enterprise from which they had desisted at the time of the Scythic invasion, that the fidelity of the Southern people wavered. Simultaneously with the advance of the Medes against the Assyrian capital from the east, we hear of a force threatening it from the south, a force which can only have consisted of Susianians, of Babylonians, or of both combined. 3 It is probable that the emissaries of Cyaxares had been busy in this region for some time before his second attack took place, and that by a concerted plan while the Medes debouched from the Zagros passes, the south rose in revolt and sent its hasty levies along the valley of the Tigris. In this strait the Assyrian king deemed it necessary to divide his forces and to send a portion against the enemy which was advancing from the south, while with the remainder he himself awaited the coming of the Medes. The troops detached for Supra, vol. ii. p. 228. belonging to the reign of Asshur-emid- 2 Abden. ad Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 9. | ilin, the last Assyrian king, seems to “ Saracus ... certior factus tur speak of his taking possession of the marum vulgi collecticiarum quæ à mari Babylonian throne. adversus se adventarent, continud Busa It has been conjectured that the lussorum militiæ ducem Babylonem “turmæ vulgi collecticiæ" were a rem. mittebat." The sea here mentioned can nant of the Scythic hordes which had only be the Persian Gulf. recently overrun Western Asia. But There is some reason to think that we cannot well imagine them advancing Bel-sum-iskun, the father of Neriglissar from the sea, or acting in concert with (infra, p. 63), assumed the title of king their special enemies, the Medes, of Babylon at this time. A fragment CHAP. VIII. 45 REVOLT OF NABOPOLASSAR. the former service he placed under the command of a certain Nabopolassar * (Nabu-pal-uzur), who was probably an Assyrian nobleman of high rank and known capacity. Nabopolassar had orders to proceed to Babylon, of which he was probably made viceroy, and to defend the southern capital against the rebels. We may conclude that he obeyed these orders so far as to enter Babylon and install himself in office; but shortly afterwards he seems to have madeup his mind to break faith with his sovereign, and aim at obtaining for himself an independent kingdom out of the ruins of the Assyrian power. Having formed this resolve, his first step was to send an embassy to Cyaxares, and to pro- pose terms of alliance, while at the same time he arranged a marriage between his own son, Nebuchadnezzar, and Amuhia, or Amyitis (for the name is written both ways), the daughter of the Median monarch.Cyaxares gladly accepted the terms offered; the young persons were betrothed; and Nabopolassar immediately led, or sent, a contingent of troops to join the Medes, who took an active part in the great siege which resulted in the capture and destruction of the Assyrian capital? A division of the Assyrian Empire between the allied monarchs followed. While Cyaxares claimed for his own share + Syncell. Chronograph. p. 210 B. 1 $ 3. Xaldalwv éßaollevoev NaBotoléga- Ούτος [ο Ναβοπολάσαρος] στρατηγός Τρος έτη κά, ο πατήρ του Ναβουχοδονόσορ. υπό Σαράκου του Χαλδαίων βασιλέως | Τούτον ο πολυίστωρ Αλέξανδρος Σαρ- σταλείς, κατά του αυτού Σαράκου εις | δανάπαλον καλεί, πέμψαντα προς 'Ασ- Nivoy ÉTUOTPATEVEL, Compare Abyden. τυάγην σατράπην Μηδίας, και την θυ- ap. Euseb. 1. 8. c., where Nabopolassar γατέρα αυτού 'Αρωΐτην λαβόντα νύμ- is called Busalussor (leg. Bupalussor) φην εις τον υιόν αυτού Ναβουχοδονόσορ. by the same sort of abbreviation by Syncell. Chronograph. p. 210, A. The which Nebuchadnezzar has become marriage of Nebuchadnezzar with a Bokht-i-nazar among the modern Arabs. Median princess was attested by Berosus. It is unlikely that any one who (Fr. 14.) was not an Assyrian would have re ? That the Medes and Babylonians ceived so high an appointment. both took part in the siege is witnessed 6" Sed enim hic, capto rebellandi by Polyhistor (1. B. c.), Josephus (Ant. consilio, Amuhiam Asdahagis Medorum Jud. x. 5, § 1), and the author of the principis filiam nato suo Nabucodros Book of Tobit (xiv. 15). It was also soro despondebat." Abyden. I. 6. c. the view of Ctesias (Diod. Sic. ii. 24- " Is (Sardanapallus) ad Asdahagem, qui 28). Herodotus in his extant work erat Medicæ gentis præses et satrapa, speaks only of the Medes (i. 106), while copias auxiliares misit, videlicet ut filio in our fragments of Abydenus the suo Nabucodrossoro desponderet Amu Babylonians alone are distinctly men- 'hiam e filiabus Asdahagis unam.” Alex, tioned. Polyhist. ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 5, ! There is further considerable dis- 46 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. Assyria Proper and the various countries dependent on Assyria towards the north and the north-west, Nabopolassar was re- warded by his timely defection, not merely by independence but by the transfer to his government of Susiana on the one hand and of the valley of the Euphrates, Syria, and Palestine on the other. The transfer appears to have been effected quietly, the Babylonian yoke being peacefully accepted in lieu of the Assyrian without the necessity arising for any application of force. Probably it appeared to the subjects of Assyria, who had been accustomed to a monarch holding his court alternately at Nineveh and at Babylon, that the new power was merely a continuation of the old, the new monarch a legitimate successor of the old line of Ninevite kings. Of the reign of Nabopolassar the information which has come down to us is scanty. It appears by the canon of Ptolemy that he dated his accession to the throne from the year B.C. 625, and that his reign lasted twenty-one years, from B.C. 625 to B.C. 604. During the greater portion of this period the history of Babylon is a blank. Apparently the "golden city” 10 enjoyed her new position at the head of an empire too much to endanger it by aggression; and, her peaceful attitude provoking no hos- tility, she was for a while left unmolested by her neighbours. Media, bound to her by formal treaty as well as by dynastic interests, could be relied upon as a firm friend; Persia was too weak, Lydia too remote, to be formidable; in Egypt alone was there a combination of hostile feeling with military strength such as might have been expected to lead speedily to a trial of strength; but Egypt was under the rule of an aged and wary prince, one trained in the school of adversity," whose years forbade his engaging in any distant enterprise, and whose pru- dence led him to think more of defending his own country than crepancy as to the leaders engaged in what seems to me the balance of au- the siege. Abydenus and Polyhistor thority. make the Median commander Astyages; 8 Supra, vol. i. p. 194. the author of Tobit calls him Assuerus 9 So also Berosus (Fr. 14), and Poly- (Xerxes.) The same writer makes histór (ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 5, 3). the Babylonian commander Nebuchad 10 Isaiah xiv. 4. nezzar. 'I have followed in the text | Herod. ï. 151, 152. CHAP. VIII. 47 NABOPOLASSAR ASSISTS CYAXARES. of attacking others. 12 Thus, while Psammetichus lived, Babylon had little to fear from any quarter, and could afford to “give herself to pleasures and dwell carelessly."13 The only exertion which she seems to have been called upon to make during her first eighteen years of empire, resulted from the close connection which had been established between herself and Media. Cyaxares, as already remarked, proceeded from the capture of Nineveh to a long series of wars and conquests. In some, if not in all, of these he appears to have been assisted by the Babylonians, who were perhaps bound by treaty to furnish a contingent as often as he required it. Either Nabopolassar himself, or his son Nebuchadnezzar, would lead out the troops on such occasions; and thus the military spirit of both prince and people would be pretty constantly exercised. It was as the leader of such a contingent that Nabopolassar was able on one occasion to play the important part of peace- maker in one of the bloodiest of all Cyaxares' wars. After five years' desperate fighting the Medes and Lydians were once more engaged in conflict when an eclipse of the sun took place. Filled with superstitious dread the two armies ceased to contend, and showed a disposition for reconciliation, of which the Babylonian monarch was not slow to take advantage. Having consulted with Syennesis of Cilicia, the foremost man of the allies on the other side, and found him well disposed to second his efforts, he proposed that the sword should be returned to the scabbard, and that a conference should be held to arrange terms of peace. This timely interference proved effectual. A peace was con- cluded between the Lydians and the Medes, which was cemented by a royal intermarriage; and the result was to give to Western Asia, where war and ravage had long been almost perpetual, nearly half a century of tranquillity.” Successful in his mediation, almost beyond his hopes, Nabo- 12 The only even apparent exception quarter. is the siege and capture of Ashdod Isaiah xlvii. 8. (Herod. ii. 157), which may have had See Herod. i. 74, and compare above, à defensive object. Egypt needed for vul. ii. pp. 410-412. her protection a strong fortress in this ! ? Supra, vol, ü, pp. 412, 413. 48 CHAP. VIIL THE FOURTH MONARCHY. polassar returned from Asia Minor to Babylon. He was now advanced in years, and would no doubt gladly have spent the remainder of his days in the enjoyment of that repose, which is so dear to those who feel the infirmities of age creeping upon them. But Providence had ordained otherwise. In B.C. 610– probably the very year of the eclipse—Psammetichus died, and was succeeded by his son Neco, who was in the prime of life, and who in disposition was bold and enterprising. This monarch very shortly after his accession cast a covetous eye upon Syria, and in the year B.C. 608, having made vast preparations, he crossed his frontier and invaded the territories of Nabopolassar. Marching along the usual route, by the Shephêlah and the plain of Esdraelon," he learned, when he neared Megiddo, that a body of troops was drawn up at that place to oppose him. Josiah, the Jewish king, regarding himself as bound to resist the pas- sage through his territories of an army hostile to the monarch of whom he held his crown, had collected his forces, and, having placed them across the line of the invader's march, was calmly awaiting in this position the approach of his master's enemy. Neco hereupon sent ambassadors to persuade Josiah to let him pass, representing that he had no quarrel with the Jews, and claiming a divine sanction to his undertaking. But nothing could shake the Jewish monarch's sense of duty; and Neco was consequently forced to engage with him, and to drive his troops from their position. Josiah, defeated and mortally wounded, returned to Jerusalem, where he died. Neco pressed forward through Syria to the Euphrates;' and, carrying all before him, established his dominion over the whole tract lying between Egypt on the one hand, and the “Great River” upon the other. On his return three months later he visited Jeru- The last year of Josiah was (I dolum (Magdala) instead of Megiddo. think) B.C. 608—not B.C. 609, as Clinton · 2 Chr. XXXV. 29; Jer. xlvi. 2. makes it (P. H. vol. i. p. 328), nor B.C. & This is evident from what is said 610, as given in the margin of our of the recovery of this tract by the Bibles. Babylonians (2 K. xxiv. 17), and from * See above, vol. ii. p. 450, note. the position of Neco's army in B.C. 605. 5 2 Chron. xxxv. 21. (Jer. 1. s. c.) It agrees also with the 6 2 K. xxi. 29, 30; 2 Chr. xxxv. statements of Berosus (Fr. 14), except 23, 24. Compare Herod. ii. 159, where that Neco is there represented as a the battle is erroneously placed at Mag. | Babylonian satrap. CHAP. VIII. 49 ACCESSION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. salem," deposed Jehoahaz, a younger son of Josiah, whom the people had made king, and gave the crown to Jehoiakim, his elder brother. It was probably about this time that he besieged and took Gaza, the most important of the Philistine towns next to Ashdod. The loss of this large and valuable territory did not at once arouse the Babylonian monarch from his inaction or induce him to make any effort for its recovery. Neco enjoyed his conquests in quiet for the space of at least three full years." At length, in the year B.C. 605, Nabopolassar, who felt himself unequal to the fatigues of a campaign,12 resolved to entrust his forces to Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and to send him to contend with the Egyptians. The key of Syria at this time was Carchemish, a city situated on the right bank of the Euphrates, probably near the site which was afterwards occupied by Hierapolis. Here the forces of Neco were drawn up to protect his conquests, and here Nebuchadnezzar proceeded boldly to attack them. A great battle was fought in the vicinity of the river, which was utterly disastrous to the Egyptians, who "fled away” in confusion,13 and seem not to have ventured on making a second stand. Nebu- chadnezzar rapidly recovered the lost territory, received the submission of Jehoiakim, King of Judah,14 restored the old frontier line, and probably pressed on into Egypt itself,15 hoping to cripple or even to crush his presumptuous adversary. But at this point he was compelled to pause. News arrived from Babylon that Nabopolassar was dead; and the Babylonian prince, who feared a disputed succession, having first concluded a hasty arrangement with Neco, returned at his best speed to his capital.16 *2 K xxi. 33, 34. 1 χοδονόσορος των αποστάτη και παρατα- 18 Herod. ii. 159; Jer. xlvii. 1. ξάμενος αυτού τε εκράτησε και την !! The great battle of Carchemish, in xópavėx Taúrns tñs åpxñs Únd the which Nebuchadnezzar defeated Neco, aútou Baollelay dr OLMOato. (Fr. 14.) was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim 14 2 K. xxiv. 1. (Jer. xlvi. 2), whom Neco made king 15 Berosus speaks of Nebuchadnezzar's after his first successes. arranging the affairs of Egypt at this *204 ouvámevos ČTL KAKOnaDelv. (Be time (1. 8. c.). ros. Fr. 14.) 16 On this occasion Nebuchadnezzar, 13 Jer. xlvi. 5. Compare the narra to save time, traversed the desert with tive of Berosus. vuulgas oè Napovo | a small body of followers. The troops, VOL. III. 50 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. Arriving probably before he was expected, he discovered that his fears were groundless. The priests had taken the direction of affairs during his absence, and the throne had been kept vacant for him by the Chief Priest, or Head of the Order.17 No pretender had started up to dispute his claims. Doubtless his military prestige, and the probability that the soldiers would adopt his cause, had helped to keep back aspirants; but perhaps it was the promptness of his return, as much as any- thing, that caused the crisis to pass off without difficulty. Nebuchadnezzar is the great monarch of the Babylonian Empire, which, lasting only 88 years—from B.C. 625 to B.C. 538 —was for nearly half the time under his sway. Its military glory is due chiefly to him, while the constructive energy, which constitutes its especial characteristic, belongs to it still more markedly through his character and genius. It is scarcely too much to say that, but for Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians would have had no place in history. At any rate, their actual place is owing almost entirely to this prince, who to the military talents of an able general added a grandeur of artistic concep- tion and a skill in construction which place him on a par with the greatest builders of antiquity. We have no complete, or even general, account of Nebuchad- nezzar's wars. Our chief, our almost sole, information con- cerning them is derived from the Jewish writers. Conse- quently, those wars only which interested these writers, in other words those whose scene is Palestine or its immediate vicinity, admit of being placed before the reader. If Nebuchadnezzar had quarrels with the Persians, or the Arabians, or the Medes, the baggage, and the provisions returned | nezzar in his father's lifetime. (See by the usual route through Upper Syria. above (Beros. I. 8. c.) ? A phrase in Berosus seems to imply 17 Berosus, 1. s. C. IIapalaßw oè tàthat Nebuchadnezzar not only had a πράγματα διοικούμενα υπό των Χαλδαίων, war with the Arabs, but that he con- και διατηρουμένην την βασιλείαν υπό quered a portion of their country. του βελτίστου αυτών, κ.τ.λ. (K parno al 7è pnoir [ó Bnpwoods] Toy 1 As Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the authors | Βαβυλώνιον Αιγύπτου, Συρίας, Φοινίκης, of Kings and Chronicles, and Josephus. 'Apaßias. Fr. 14.) Is this the con. In the valuable fragment which Jose- quest of the Moabites and Ammonites phus has preserved from Berosus (Contr. of which Josephus speaks ? (Ant. Jud. Ap. i. 19), we have an account of only x. 9, 7.) one war-that waged by Nebuchad. CHAP. VIII. NEBUCHADNEZZAR ATTACKS JEHOIAKIM. or the tribes in Mount Zagros, as is not improbable, nothing is now known of their course or issue. Until some historical document belonging to his time shall be discovered, we must be content with a very partial knowledge of the external his- tory of Babylon during his reign. We have a tolerably full account of his campaigns against the Jews, and some informa- tion as to the general course of the wars which he carried on with Egypt and Phænicia; but beyond these narrow limits we know nothing It appears to have been only a few years after Nebuchad- nezzar's triumphant campaign against Neco, that renewed troubles broke out in Syria. Phænicia revolted under the leadership of Tyre ;3 and about the same time Jehoiakim, the Jewish king, having obtained a promise of aid from the Egyp- tians, renounced his allegiance. Upon this, in his seventh year (B.C. 598), Nebuchadnezzar proceeded' once more into Palestine at the head of a vast army, composed partly of his allies, the Medes, partly of his own subjects. He first invested Tyre ;8 but, finding that city too strong to be taken by assault, he left a portion of his army to continue the siege, while he himself pressed forward against Jerusalem.? On his near approach, Jehoiakim, seeing that the Egyptians did not care to come to his aid, made his submission ; but Nebuchadnezzar punished his rebellion with death, and, departing from the common Oriental practice, had his dead body treated with indignity. At first * Joseph. Contr. Ap. i. 21; Ant. Jud. / in the author's Herodotus (vol. i. p. 422, 1. 11, $1. Compare Jer, xxvii. 3. note 6, 2nd edition). *2 K. xxiv. 1. The expectation of 2 Chr. xxxvi. 6; Joseph. Ant. Jud. help from Egypt, which Josephus ex- | x. 6, $ 3. pressly asserts (Ant. Jud. x. 6, § 2), is 8 Josephus (1. s. c.) accuses Nebu. implied in 2 K. xxiv. 7. We may sus chadnezzar of a breach of faith on this pect that the embassy sent ostensibly to occasion : but it is most likely that claim Urijah (Jer. xxvi. 22) had really Jehoiakim surrendered without condi- for its object to conclude an arrangement tions. with Neco. Joseph. 1. 8. C. Compare Jer, 5 Alex. Polyhist. Fr. 24. (See above, xxii. 19, “He shall be buried with the vol. ii. p. 414.) According to this writer, burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth Nebuchadnezzar's army on this oc beyond the gates of Jerusalem,” and casion numbered 10,000 chariots (!), Xxxvi. 30, “His dead body shall be 120,000 horse, and 180,000 foot. cast out in the day to the heat and in The grounds for believing that Tyre the night to the frost." was invested before Jerusalem are given E 2 52 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. he placed upon the throne Jehoiachin, the son of the late monarch,10 a youth of eighteen;" but three months later, becoming suspicious (probably not without reason) of this prince's fidelity, he deposed him and had him brought a captive to Babylon, substituting in his place his uncle, Zedekiah, a Tyre was pressed, but with little effect. A blockade is always tedious; and the blockade of an island city, strong in its navy, by an enemy unaccustomed to the sea, and therefore forced to depend mainly upon the assistance of reluctant allies, must have been a task of such extreme difficulty that one is sur- prised it was not given up in despair. According to the Tyrian historians their city resisted all the power of Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years.13 If this statement is to be relied on, Tyre must have been still uncaptured, when the time came for its sister capital to make that last effort for freedom in which it perished. After receiving his crown from Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah continued for eight years to play the part of a faithful vassal. At length, however, in the ninth year, 14 he fancied he saw a way to independence. A young and enterprising monarch, Uaphris—the Apries of Herodotus——had recently mounted the Egyptian throne.25 If the alliance of this prince could be secured, there was, Zedekiah thought, a reasonable hope that the yoke of Babylon might be thrown off and Hebrew autonomy re-established. The infatuated monarch did not see that, do what he would, his country had no more than a choice of masters, that by the laws of political attraction Judæa must gravitate to one or other of the two great states between which it had the misfortune of lying. Hoping to free his country, he sent ambassadors to Uaphris, who were to conclude a treaty and 10 Jer. xxvii. 1; Joseph. x. 71, § 1. 12 2 K. xxiv. 10-15; 2 Chr. xxxvi. 10. 112 K. xxiv. 8. The number eight 18 Joseph. contr. Ap. i. 21. Compare in the parallel passage of Chronicles Philostr. ap. Joseph. Ant. Jud. x. 11, $ 1. Nebuchadnezzar would not have placed 142 K. xxv. 1; Jer, xxxix. 1 ; lii. 4. a boy of eight on the throne. Jehoia 15 The ninth year of Zedekiah was chin, moreover, had several wives (2 K. | B.C. 588. Uaphris began to reign the xxiv. 15.) same year. CHAP. VIII. CAMPAIGN AGAINST APRIES AND ZEDEKIAH. 53 demand the assistance of a powerful contingent, composed of both foot and horse.16 Uaphris received the overture favour- ably; and Zedekiah at once revolted from Babylon, and made preparations to defend himself with vigour. It was not long before the Babylonians arrived. Determined to crush the daring state, which, weak as it was, had yet ventured to revolt against him now for the fourth time,? Nebuchadnezzar came in person," he and all his host,"18 against Jerusalem, and after overcoming and pillaging the open country,19 “ built forts” and besieged the city.20. Uaphris, upon this, learning the danger of his ally, marched out of Egypt to his relief; 21 and the Baby- lonian army, receiving intelligence of his approach, raised the siege and proceeded in quest of their new enemy. According to Josephusa2 a battle was fought, in which the Egyptians were defeated; but it is perhaps more probable that they avoided an engagement by a precipitate retreat into their own country.23 At any rate the attempt effectually to relieve Jerusalem failed. After a brief interval the siege was renewed; a complete blockade was established; and in a year and a half from the time of the second investment,24 the city fell. Nebuchadnezzar had not waited to witness this success of his arms. The siege of Tyre was still being pressed at the date of the second investment of Jerusalem, and the Chaldæan monarch had perhaps thought that his presence on the borders of Phænicia was necessary to animate his troops in that quarter. If this was his motive in withdrawing from the Jewish capital, the event would seem to have shown that he judged wisely. Tyre, if it fell at the end of its thirteen years' siege, must have 16 Ezek. vii. 15. “He rebelled | 19 Joseph. Ant. Jud. x. 7, § 3. Thy against him in sending his ambassadors χώραν κακώσας αυτού και τα φρούρια into Egypt, that they might give him Aapur. Compare Jer. xxxiv. 7. horses and much people." Compare 20 2 K. 1. 8. C.; Jer. lii. 4. Joseph. Ant. Jud. x. 7, § 3. 21 Jer. xxxvii. 5. 17 Jehoiakim seems to have revolted 22 Ant. Jud. l. 8. c. 'Anavrhoas se twice-in his 8th and in his 11th year ; | Tols Alyurtlouskal ovußalwv atrois Jehoiachin either had revolted or was τη μάχη νικα. on the point of revolting when he was 3 See Jer. xxxvii. 7. deposed. Thus Zedekiah's revolt was 24 Joseph. Ant. Jud. x. 7, $ 4. II poo- the fourth within the space of thirteen καθίσας αυτη μήνας οκτωκαίδεκα επο- years (B.C. 601-588). λιόρκει. 15 2 K. xxv. 1. It has been questioned whether the 54 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH. MONARCHY. been taken in the very year which followed the capture of Jerusalem, B.C. 585. We may suppose that Nebuchadnezzar, when he quitted Jerusalem and took up his abode at Riblah in the Coele-Syrian valley, turned his main attention to the great Phænician city, and made arrangements which caused its cap- ture in the ensuing year. The recovery of these two important cities secured to the Babylonian monarch the quiet possession thenceforth of Syria and Palestine. But still he had not as yet inflicted any chastise- ment upon Egypt; though policy, no less than honour, required that the aggressions of this audacious power should be punished. If we may believe Josephus, however, the day of vengeance was not very long delayed. Within four years of the fall of Tyre, B.C. 581, Nebuchadnezzar, he tells us, invaded Egypt, put Uaphris, the monarch who had succoured Zedekiah, to death, and placed a creature of his own upon the throne. Egyptian history, it is true, forbids our accepting this state- ment as correct in all its particulars. Uaphris appears cer- tainly to have reigned at least as late as B.C. 569," and according to Herodotus, he was put to death, not by a foreign invader, but by a rebellious subject. Perhaps we may best harmonize the conflicting statements on the subject by supposing that Josephus has confounded two distinct invasions of Egypt, one made by Nebuchadnezzar in his twenty-third year, B.C. 581, which had no very important consequences, and the other real Tyre, the island city, actually fell | Contr. Ap. i. 21.) on this occasion (Heeren, A8. Nat. vol. 32 K. xxv. 6, 20, 21 ; Jer, xxxix. 5; ii. p. 11, E. T.; Kenrick, Phænicia, p. lii. 9. Riblah seems to have been an 390), chiefly because Ezekiel says, about important fortress at this time (2 K. B.C. 570, that Nebuchadnezzar had "re xxiii. 33). Apparently it had taken the ceived no wages for the service that he place of Hamath. served against it.” (Ezek. xxix. 18.) Joseph. Ant. Jud. x. 9, § 7. But this passage may be understood to o Cambyses conquered Egypt B.c. 525. mean that he had had no sufficient wages. (See the author's Ferodotus, vol. ii. p. 1, Berosus expressly stated that Nebuchad. note ?.) Psammenitus (Psammatik III.) nezzar reduced all Phoenicia-ότι και had then been on the throne a few την Συρίαν και την Φοινίκην άπασαν months. Amasis, his father, who suc- Keivos KateOtpéYato. (Ap. Joseph. ceeded Apries, had reigned 44 years. Contr. Ap. i. 20.) (Herod. ii. 10. Manetho, as repre- 2 The siege commenced in the 7th sented by Africanus, and the monu- year of Nebuchadnezzar, and lasted 13 ments agree.) This would bring the years, terminating consequently in his close of the reign of Apries (Uaphris) 20th year, which was B.c. 585. (Joseph. I to B.c. 569. 6 Herod. ü. 169. Caap. VIII. RESULTS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S VICTORIES. 55 eleven years later, B.C. 570, which terminated in the deposition of Uaphris, and the establishment on the throne of a new king, Amasis, who received a nominal royalty from the Chaldæan monarch.? Such-so far as they are known—were the military exploits of this great king. He defeated Neco, recovered Syria, crushed rebellion in Judæa, took Tyre, and humiliated Egypt. According to some writers his successes did not stop here. Megasthenes made him subdue most of Africa, and thence pass over into Spain and conquer the Iberians. He even went further, and declared that, on his return from these regions, he settled his Iberian captives on the shores of the Euxine in the country between Armenia and the Caucasus ! Thus Nebuchadnezzar was made to reign over an empire extending from the Atlantic to the Caspian, and from the Caucasus to the Great Sahara. The victories of Nebuchadnezzar were not without an effect on his home administration and on the construction of the vast works with which his name is inseparably associated. It was through them that he obtained that enormous command of “naked human strength” which enabled him, without undue oppression of his own people, to carry out on the grandest scale his schemes for at once beautifying and benefiting his kingdom. From the time when he first took the field at the head of an army he adopted the Assyrian system of forcibly removing almost the whole population of a conquered country,and planting it in a distant part of his dominions. Crowds of captives—the produce of his various wars—Jews, Egyptians, Phænicians, * The prophecies of Jeremiah (xlvi. / remarks of Sir G. Wilkinson in the 13-26) and Ezekiel (xxix. 8-20 ; xxx. author's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 325, 2nd 4-26), especially the latter, are very dif. edition.) ficult to reconcile with the historical | It is never to be forgotten that Be- accounts that have come down to us of rosus distinctly witnessed to the conquest the condition of Egypt in the reigns of of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. (Ap. Apries and Amasis. (Herod. ii. 161 Joseph. Contr. Ap. i. 19. Kpatîo ai 182; Diod. Sic. i. 68.) Ezekiel's 40 δέ φησι τον Βαβυλώνιον Αιγύπτου years' desolation of Egypt must (I think) K.7.A.) be taken as figurative, marking a time 8 Ap. Euseb. Præp. Ev. ix. 41. Com- of degradation, when independence was pare Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 10, $ 3, and lost. Of course such political degrada Mos. Chor. Hist. Armen. ii. 7. tion would be quite consistent with See above, vol. ii. pp. 238, 239. great material prosperity. (See the 1 56 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. Syrians, Ammonites, Moabites, were settled in various parts of Mesopotamia,10 more especially about Babylon. From these unfortunates forced labour was as a matter of course required ;11 and it seems to have been chiefly, if not solely, by their exer- tions that the magnificent series of great works was accomplished, which formed the special glory of the Fourth Monarchy. The chief works expressly ascribed to Nebuchadnezzar by the ancient writers are the following :-He built the great wall of Babylon,12 which, according to the lowest estimate, 18 must have contained more than 500,000,000 square feet of solid masonry, and must have required three or four times that number of bricks.14 He constructed a new and magnificent palace in the neighbourhood of the ancient residence of the kings.15 He made the celebrated “ Hanging Garden ” for the gratification of his wife, Amyitis.16 He repaired and beautified the great temple of Belus at Babylon. He dug the huge reservoir near Sippara, said to have been 140 miles in circumference, and 180 feet deep, furnishing it with flood-gates, through which its water could be drawn off for purposes of irrigation.18 He constructed a number of canals, among them the Nahr Malcha or“ Royal River,” a broad and deep channel which connected the Euphrates with the Tigris. 19 He built quays and breakwaters along the shores of the Persian Gulf, and he at the same time founded the city of Diridotis or Teredon in the vicinity of that sea.20 To these constructions may be added, on the authority either of Nebuchadnezzar's own inscriptions or of the existing remains, 10 Beros. Fr. 14; 2 K. xxiv. 14-16; / square and from 3 to 4 inches thick. xxv. 11 ; 2 Chr. xxxvi. 20 ; Ezek. i. 1 ; *15 Berosus, Fr. 14. Dan. i. 3 ; &c. "Polyhist. Fr. 24. 16 Ibid. Compare Diod. Sic. ii. 10, 12 Abyden, ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. i. $1; Q. Curt. i. 5. 10, $ 2; ap. eund. Præp. Ev. ix. 41. 17 Beros. I. 8. c. Compare the Standard Nebuchadnezzar, however, in the Stan- dard Inscription, only claims to have hitherto discovered in the Babil mound repaired the wall. bear Nebuchadnezzar's legend. 13 Taking the height of the wall, that 18 Abyden. ap. Euseb. Præp. Ev. ix. is, at 75 feet, its width at 32 feet, and 41. its circumference at 365 stades. The 19 Ibid. This is perhaps the Chebar measurements of Herodotus would raise of Ezekiel. In Pliny's time it was the cubical contents to more than called the work of a certain Gobar, a 5,400,000,000 feet. provincial governor. (H. N. vi. 26.) 14 Babylonian bricks are about a foot 20 Abyden. I. 8. C. CHAP. VIII. 57 GREAT WORKS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. the Birs-i-Nimrud, or great Temple of Nebo at Borsippa ; 21 a vast reservoir in Babylon itself, called the Yapur-Shapu ; 22 an extensive embankment along the course of the Tigris, near Baghdad ;23 and almost innumerable temples, walls, and other public buildings at Cutha, Sippara, Borsippa, Babylon, Chilmad, Bit-Digla, &c. The indefatigable monarch seems to have either rebuilt, or at least repaired, almost every city and temple throughout the entire country. There are said to be at least a hundred sites in the tract immediately about Babylon, which give evidence, by inscribed bricks bearing his legend, of the marvellous activity and energy of this king. 24 We may suspect that among the constructions of Nebuchad- nezzar was another great work, a work second in utility to none of those above mentioned, and requiring for its completion an enormous amount of labour. This is the canal called by the Arabs the Kerek Saïdeh, or canal of Saideh, which they ascribe to a wife of Nebuchadnezzar, a cutting 400 miles in length, which commenced at Hit on the Euphrates, and was carried along the extreme western edge of the alluvium close to the Arabian frontier, finally falling into the sea at the head of the Bubian creek, about twenty miles to the west of the Shat-el- Arab. The traces of this canal which still remain indicate a work of such magnitude and difficulty that we can scarcely ascribe it with probability to any monarch who has held the country since Nebuchadnezzar. The Pallacopas," or canal of Opa (Palga Opa”), which left the Euphrates at Sippara (Mosaib) and ran into a great lake in the neighbourhood of Borsippa, whence the lands in the neighbourhood were irrigated, may also have been one of Nebuchadnezzar's constructions. It was an old canal, much 21 See the inscription on the Birs i. | Commentary, p. 77, note.) Nimrud cylinders. (Journal of As. 24 Ibid. p. 76. Society, vol. xviii. pp. 27-32.) 1 Sir H. Rawlinson in the author's - See above, vol. ii. p. 538 ; and com Herodotus, vol. i. p. 469, note ?, 2nd pare the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. edition. 486, 2nd edition. ? Arrian, Exp. Alex. vii. 21. Compare 23 This embankment is entirely com- Strab. xvi. 1, $ 11. posed of bricks which have never been 3 Compare the Hebrew age, "rivus.” disturbed, and which bear Nebuchad. í. ad Opa would seem to be a proper name. nezzar's name. (Sir H. Rawlinson's 58 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. out of repair, in the time of Alexander, and was certainly the work, not of the Persian conquerors, but of some native monarch anterior to Cyrus. The Arabs, who call it the Nahr Abba, regard it as the oldest canal in the country. Some glimpses into the private life and personal character of Nebuchadnezzar are afforded us by certain of the Old Testament writers. We see him in the Book of Daniel at the head of a magnificent Court, surrounded by “princes, governors, and cap- tains, judges, treasurers, councillors, and sheriffs ;" 5 waited on by eunuchs selected with the greatest care, “well-favoured” and carefully educated ;º attended, whenever he requires it, by a multitude of astrologers and other “wise men,” who seek to interpret to him the will of Heaven.” He is an absolute monarch, disposing with a word of the lives and properties of his subjects, even the highest. All offices are in his gift. He can raise a foreigner to the second place in the kingdom, and even set him over the entire priestly order. His wealth is enormous, for he makes of pure gold an image, or obelisk, ninety feet high and nine feet broad. 10 He is religious after a sort, but wavers in his faith, sometimes acknowledging the God of the Jews as the only real deity,' sometimes relapsing into an idolatrous worship,12 and forcing all his subjects to follow his example.13 Even then, however, his polytheism is of a kind which admits of a special devotion to a particular deity, who is called emphatically “his god.”14 In temper he is hasty and violent, but not obstinate; his fierce resolves are taken suddenly and as suddenly repented of;15 he is moreover capable of bursts of gratitude and devotion, 16 no less than of accesses of fury; like most Orientals, he is vain- glorious ;17 but he can humble himself before the chastening hand of the Almighty; in his better moods he shows a spirit astonishing in one of his country and time—a spirit of real piety, + Sir H. Rawlinson, 1. 8. c. Dan. iii. 2. Ibid, i. 3, 4. ? Ibid. ii. 2; iv. 6, 7. 8 Ibid. i. 10 ; ï. 12. . Ibid. ii. 48, 49. 0 Ibid. iii. 1. " Ibid. ii. 47 ; iii. 26-29; iv. 2, 34, 12 Ibid. üi. 14 ; iv. 8. 13 Dan. iii. 4-20. 4 Ibid. i. 2 ; iv. 8. Nebuchadnezzar's inscriptions sufficiently show that this favourite god was Bel-Merodach. 15 Ibid. ii. 12, 48 ; iii. 20, 26. 16 Ibid. ii. 46-49; iii. 28-30; iv. 2, 34-37. 17 Ibid. iv. 30. 37. CHAP. VIII. 59 CHARACTER OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. self-condemnation, and self-abasement, which renders him one of the most remarkable characters in Scripture.18 A few touches of a darker hue must be added to this portrait of the great Babylonian king from the statements of another contemporary, the prophet Jeremiah. The execution of Jehoi- akim, and the putting out of Zedekiah's eyes, though acts of considerable severity, may perhaps be regarded as justified by the general practice of the age, and therefore as not indicating in Nebuchadnezzar any special ferocity of disposition. But the ill-treatment of Jehoiakim's dead body,19 the barbarity of mur- dering Zedekiah's sons before his eyes,20 and the prolonged im- prisonment both of Zedekiah?1 and of Jehoiachin,22 though the latter had only contemplated rebellion, cannot be thus excused. They were unusual and unnecessary acts, which tell against the monarch who authorised them, and must be considered to imply a real cruelty of disposition, such as is observable in Sargon and Asshur-bani-pal.23 Nebuchadnezzar, it is plain, was not content with such a measure of severity as was needed to secure his own interests, but took a pleasure in the wanton infliction of suffering on those who had provoked his resentment. On the other hand, we obtain from the native writer, Berosus, one amiable trait which deserves a cursory mention. Nebu- chadnezzar was fondly attached to the Median princess who had been chosen for him as a wife by his father from political motives.24 Not content with ordinary tokens of affection, he erected, solely for her gratification, the remarkable structure which the Greeks called the “Hanging Garden."25 A native 18 See particularly ch. iv. 34, 35, 37. / and his ways judgment: and those that “I blessed the Most High, and I praised walk in pride he is able to abase." and honoured him that liveth for ever, 19 Supra, page 51, note". whose dominion is an everlasting do 20 Jer. lii. 10. Compare 2 K. xxv. 7. minion, and his kingdom is from genera 21 Jer. lii. 11. tion to generation : and all the inhabi 22 Ibid. lii. 31. tants of the earth are reputed as 23 Supra, vol. i. p. 292, note ? ; vol. ii nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among 24 See above, p. 45. the inhabitants of the earth; and none 25 Beros. Fr. 14. Karaokeváo as adv can stay his hand, or say unto him, καλούμενον κρεμαστον παράδεισον, διά What doest thou ? Now İ, Nebuchad. το την γυναίκα αυτου επιθυμεϊν της nezzar, praise and extol and honour the ορείας διαθέσεως, τεθραμμένης εν τοις king of heaven, whose works are truth, I Karà tņu Mnolay TTOS. p. 219. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. CHAP. VIII of a mountainous country, Amyitis disliked the tiresome uni- formity of the level alluvium, and pined for the woods and hills of Media. It was to satisfy this longing by the best substitute which circumstances allowed that the celebrated Garden was made. Art strove to emulate nature with a certain measure of success, and the lofty rocks 26 and various trees 27 of this won- derful Paradise, if they were not a very close imitation of Median mountain scenery, were at any rate a pleasant change from the natural monotony of the Babylonian plain, and must have formed a grateful retreat for the Babylonian queen, whom they reminded at once of her husband's love and of the beauty of her native country. The most remarkable circumstance in Nebuchadnezzar's life remains to be noticed. Towards the close of his reign, when his conquests and probably most of his great works were com- pleted,28 in the midst of complete tranquillity and prosperity, a sudden warning was sent him. He dreamt a strange dream ; 29 and when he sought to know its meaning, the Prophet Daniel was inspired to tell him that it portended his removal from the kingly office for the space of seven years, in consequence of a curious and very unusual kind of madness.30 This malady, which is not unknown to physicians, has been termed “ Lycan- thropy."! It consists in the belief that one is not a man but a beast, in the disuse of language, the rejection of all ordinary human food, and sometimes in the loss of the erect posture and a preference for walking on all fours. Within a year of the time that he received the warning,” Nebuchadnezzar was smitten. The great king became a wretched maniac. Allowed to indulge in his distempered fancy, he eschewed human habi- tations, lived in the open air night and day, fed on herbs, disused clothing, and became covered with a rough coat of hair. His 26 'Avadhupata Nowa vyná. Beros. | pp. 425-430, and compare the treatise 1. s. C. of Welcker entitled Die Lycanthropie 27 Aévopea mavrodaná. Ibid. ein Aberglaube und eine Krankheit, in the 28 Compare Dan. iv. 22 and 30. 3rd volume of his Kleine Schriften, pp. 23 Ibid. verses 10-17. 157 et seq. 30 Ibid. verses 20-26. ? Dan. iv, 29. See Dr. Pusey's Lectures on Daniel, 1 Ibid. verse 33. CHAP. VIII. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S LYCANTHROPY. subjects generally, it is probable, were not allowed to know of his condition, although they could not but be aware that he was suffering from some terrible malady. The queen most likely held the reins of power, and carried on the government in his name. The dream had been interpreted to mean that the lycanthropy would not be permanent; and even the date of recovery had been announced, only with a certain ambiguity.” The Babylonians were thereby encouraged to await events, without taking any steps that would have involved them in difficulties if the malady ceased. And their faith and patience met with a reward. After suffering obscuration for the space of seven years, suddenly the king's intellect returned to him. His recovery was received with joy by his Court. Lords and councillors gathered about him. He once more took the government into his own hands, issued his proclamations, and performed the other functions of royalty. He was now an old man, and his reign does not seem to have been much pro- longed; but “the glory of his kingdom,” his “honour and brightness" returned ; his last days were as brilliant as his first : his sun set in an unclouded sky, shorn of none of the rays that had given splendour to its noonday. Nebuchadnezzar ex- pired at Babylon in the forty-fourth year of his reign, B.C. 561, after an illness of no long duration. 10 He was probably little short of eighty years old at his death.11 4 We must not suppose that the afflicted monarch was allowed to range freely through the country. He was no doubt strictly confined to the private gardens attached to the palace. Dan. iv. 25. The “seven times" of this passage would probably, but not necessarily, mean seven years. • Ibid. verse 34. It has been thought that there is a reference to Nebuchad- nezzar's malady in the Standard Inscrip- tion. But this is now doubted. Perhaps we ought scarcely to expect that a king would formally record such an afflic- tion. · Ibid. verse 36. “My counsellors and my lords sought unto me.". * Ch. iv. of Daniel is Nebuchad. ! nezzar's proclamation on his recovery. Abyden. Fr. 8. 10 Berosus, Fr. 14. 'EuTeow eis åppworlav metnlláčato Tov Blov. This sober account of the Chaldæan historian contrasts favourably with the marvel- lous narrative of Abydenus, who makes Nebuchadnezzar first prophesy the de- struction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians, and then vanish away out of the sight of men. (Ap. Euseb. Præp. Ev. ix. 41 ; p. 456, D.) "If we suppose him 15 when he was contracted to the daughter of Cyaxares (B.C. 625), he would have been 36 at his accession and 79 at his death, in B.C. 561. 62 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY The successor of Nebuchadnezzar was his son Evil-Merodach,12 who reigned only two years, 13 and of whom very little is known. We may suspect that the marvellous events of his father's life, which are recorded in the Book of Daniel, had made a deep impression upon him, and that he was thence inclined to favour the persons, and perhaps the religion, of the Jews. One of his first acts14 was to release the unfortunate Jehoiachin from the imprisonment in which he had languished for thirty-five years, and to treat him with kindness and respect. He not only recognised his royal rank, but gave him precedence over all the captive kings resident at Babylon.15 Josephus says that he even admitted Jehoiachin into the number of his most intimate friends. 6 Perhaps he may have designed him some further advancement, and may in other respects have entertained pro- jects which seemed strange and alarming to his subjects. At any rate he had been but two years upon the throne when a conspiracy was formed against him; he was accused of lawlessness and intemperance; 17 his own brother-in-law, Neri- glissar, the husband of a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, headed the malcontents; and Evil-Merodach lost his life with his crown. Neriglissar, the successful conspirator, was at once acknow- ledged king. He is probably identical with the "Nergal-shar- ezer, Rab-Mag,” of Jeremiah, 18 who occupied a prominent position among the Babylonian nobles left to press the siege of Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar retired to Riblah. The title of “Rab-Mag” is one that he bears upon his bricks. It is doubtful what exactly this office was; for we have no reason to believe that 10. 12 Beros. Fr. 14; Polyhist. ap. Euseb. elxe. (Ant. Jud. l. 8. c.) Chron. Can. i. 5; Abyden. ap. eund. i. | 17 Πρoστας των πραγμάτων ανόμως kal åreny@s. (Beros. Fr. 14.) 18 So the Astronomical Canon and 18 Jer. xxxix. 3 and 13. The real Berosus (1. 6. c.). Polyhistor (l. 8. c.) name of this king, as it appears upon gave him 12 years, and Josephus (Ant. his bricks, was Nergal-sar-uzur, with Jud. x. 11, $ 2) 18 years. which the Hebrew Nergal-shar-ezer is 14 “ In the year that he began to clearly identical. This fact, added to reign.” (2 K. xxv. 27. Compare Jer. the circumstance that the king bore the lii. 31.) office of Rab-Mag, makes it almost cer- 15 2 K. XXV. 28; Jer. lii. 32. tain that he is the person mentioned by 16 'Ey rois dvaykalotáTOLS Ollous | Jeremiah. CHAP. VIII. REIGN OF NERIGLISSAR. there were at this time any Magi at Babylon ; 19 but it was cer- tainly an ancient and very high dignity of which even kings might be proud. It is remarkable that Neriglissar calls himself the son of Bel-sum-iskun,“ king of Babylon ”—a monarch whose name does not appearin Ptolemy's list, but whois probably to be identi- fied with a chieftain so called, who assumed the royal title in the troubles which preceded the fall of the Assyrian Empire.20 During his short reign of four years, or rather three years and a few months,21 Neriglissar had not time to distinguish himself by many exploits. So far as appears, he was at peace with all his neighbours, and employed his time principally in the construction of the Western Palace at Babylon, which was a large building placed at one corner of a fortified enclosure, directly opposite the ancient royal residence, and abutting on the Euphrates. If the account which Diodorus gives of this palace 23 be not a gross exaggeration of the truth, it must have been a magnificent erection, elaborately ornamented with paint- ing and sculpture in the best style of Babylonian art, though in size it may have been inferior to the old residence of the kings on the other side of the river. Neriglissar reigned from B.C. 559 to B.C. 556, and dying a natural death in the last-named year, left his throne to his son, Laborosoarchod, or Labossoracus.24 This prince, who was a mere boy, 25 and therefore quite unequal to the task of govern- ing a great empire in critical times, was not allowed to retain the crown many months. Accused by those about him--whether 19 There is no ground for regarding | we have to deduct them from the ad- the Babylonian priests as magi. By joining reigns, those of Neriglissar and none of the old classical writers are Nabonadius. they given the name. None of the 22 See above, vol. ii. p. 532. terms applied to the “wise men” in 23 Diod. Sic. ii. 8, § 7. Compare Daniel resemble it. There is certainly above, vol. ii. p. 552.” a remarkable resemblance between the 24 Laborosoarchod is the form which mag af Rab-Mag and magus. But the has most authority, since it occurs both resemblance is less in the native lan in the Canon of Ptolemy and in Be- guage, where Rab-Mag is Rabu-emga; rosus (Fr. 14). Labossoracus or La- and the term cmga is not used in Baby besoracus is the form given in the Ar- lonian when a Magus is certainly in. menian Eusebius. Josephus has Labo tended. (See Behist. Ins. col. i. par. 13, sordacus in one place (Ant. Jud. x. 11, &c.) 20 See above, p. 44, note ? $ 2); Abydenus (ap. Euseb. Prop. Ev. As the nine months of Laboroso ix. 41) Labassoarascus. archod are not counted in the Canon, 1 25 Iſais óv. Berosus, 1. s. C. 64 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. justly or unjustly we cannot say—of giving many indications of a bad disposition,28 he was deposed and put to death by torture.27 With him power passed from the House of Nabo- polassar, which had held the throne for just seventy years.28 On the death of Laborosoarchod the conspirators selected one of their number, a certain Nabonadius or Nabannidochus,29 and invested him with the sovereignty. He was in no way related to the late monarch, and his claim to succeed must have been derived mainly from the part which he had played in the con- spiracy. But still he was a personage of some rank, for his father had, like Neriglissar, held the important office of Rab- Mag? It is probable that one of his first steps on ascending the throne was to connect himself by marriage with the royal house which had preceded him in the kingdom. Either the mother of the late king Laborosoarchod, and widow of Neriglissar, or possibly some other daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, was found willing to unite her fortunes with those of the new sove- reign, and share the dangers and the dignity of his position. Such a union strengthened the hold of the reigning monarch on the allegiance of his subjects, and tended still more to add stability to his dynasty. For as the issue of such a marriage would join in one the claims of both royal houses, he would be sure to receive the support of all parties in the state. Very shortly after the accession of Nabonadius (B.C. 555) he 28 Διά το πολλά εμφαίνειν κακοήθη. | bonadius Ναβόννηδόν τινα των εκ (Beros. Fr. 14.) Βαβυλώνος. 27 'ATETVpravioon. Ibid. The word 2 On his bricks and cylinders Nabo- mcans literally “was beaten to death." nidus calls himself the son of Nabu-**. 28 From the commencement of B.C. dirba, the Rab-Mag. (See British Museum 625 to the close of B.C. 556. Series, vol. i. Pl. 68.) 29 The name is read as Nabu-nahid % This has been at all times the usual in Assyrian and Nabu-induk in Hamitic practice of usurpers in the East. (See Babylonian. The former is the ground Herod. üi. 68, 88 ; Josephus, Ant. Jud. work of Nabonnedus (Berosus), Na xiv. 12, $ 1 ; Wilkinson in the author's bonadius (Astr. Can.), and Labynetus Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 325 ; &c.) That it (Herod.); the latter of Nabannidochus was adopted by Nabonadius seems to (Abyden. andNaboandelus, which should follow, 1. from Belshazzar, his son, being probably be Naboandechus (Josephus). regarded in Daniel as a son (descendant) Toutou (sc. Aaßaoroapáo kou) åmo. of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. v. 2, 11, 13, θανόντος βιαίω μόρω, Ναβαννίδoχoν 18, 22), and 2. from his having a son to αποδεικνύσι βασιλέα, προσήκοντα whom he gave the name of Nebuchad. oi ou dév. (Abyden. Fr. 9.) Com. nezzar. (See Behist. Inscr. col. i. par. pare Berosus, Fr. 14, who calls Na- | 16, § 10; col. iii. par. 13, $ 6.) CHAP. VIII. 65 REIGN OF NABONADIUS. received an embassy from the far north-west. An important revolution had occurred on the eastern frontier of Babylonia three years before, in the reign of Neriglissar ;6 but its effects only now began to make themselves felt among the neighbouring nations. Had Cyrus, on taking the crown, adopted the policy of Astyages, the substitution of Persia for Media as the ruling Arian nation would have been a matter of small account. But there can be little doubt that he really entered at once on a career of conquest. Lydia, at any rate, felt herself menaced by the new power, and seeing the danger which threatened the other monarchies of the time, if they allowed the great Arian kingdom to attack them severally with her full force, proposed a league whereby the common enemy might, she thought, be resisted with success. Ambassadors seem to have been sent from Sardis to Babylon in the very year in which Nabonadius became king.? He therefore had at once to decide whether he would embrace the offer made him, and uniting with Lydia and Egypt in a league against Persia, make that power his enemy, or refuse the prof- ferred alliance and trust to the gratitude of Cyrus for the future security of his kingdom. It would be easy to imagine the argu- ments pro and contra which presented themselves to his mind at this conjuncture; but as they would be destitute of a histori- cal foundation, it is perhaps best to state simply the decision at which he is known to have arrived. This was an acceptance of the Lydian offer. Nabonadius consented to join the proposed league; and a treaty was probably soon afterwards concluded between the three powers whereby they united in an alliance offensive and defensive against the Persians. Knowing that he had provoked a powerful enemy by this bold. act, and ignorant how soon he might be called upon to defend • Herod. i. 77. The author's reasons | is probable that he was so formally for placing the fall of Sardis in B.C. rather than really. Cyrus's attempt to 554, and consequently the embassy sent detach the Greeks from Lydia (Herod. by Croesus to Nabonadius in B.C. 555, | i. 76), and his presence in full force in have been fully given in his Herodotus, Cappadocia as soon as Crcesus invades vol. i. pp. 286, 287, 2nd edition. his territory, are sufficient proof that * See above, vol. ii. p. 427. he was about to attack Croesus. (See the Herodotus represents Croesus as the chapter on the “ History of Persia.") aggressor in his war with Cyrus; but it See above, note 8 Herod. i. 77. VOL. III. 66 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. his kingdom from the entire force of his foe, which might be suddenly hurled against him almost at any moment, Nabonadius seems to have turned his attention at once to providing means of defence. The works ascribed by Herodotus to a queen, Nitocris, whom he makes the mother of Nabonadius (Laby- netus)' must be regarded as in reality constructions of that monarch himself,10 undertaken with the object of protecting Babylon from Cyrus. They consisted in part of defences within the city, designed apparently to secure it against an enemy who should enter by the river, in part of hydraulic works intended to obstruct the advances of an army by the usual route. The river had hitherto flowed in its natural bed through the middle of the town. Nabonadius confined the stream by a brick em- bankment carried the whole way along both banks, after which he built on the top of the embankment a wall of a considerable height, pierced at intervals by gateways, in which were set gates of bronze." He likewise made certain cuttings, reservoirs, and sluices at some distance from Babylon towards the north, which were to be hindrances to an enemy's march, 12 though in what way is not very apparent. Some have supposed that besides 9 The Nitocris of Herodotus still re- | regarded as in some sense reigning con. mains one of the dark personages of jointly with him. My own impression history. She is unknown to the monu is that she was a daughter of Nebu- ments. No other independent author chadnezzar, born of an Egyptian mother, mentions her. Her very name is sus and married successively to Neriglissar picious, being Egyptian, not Babylonian. and Nabonadius, who each ruled partly Yet still it is hard to imagine her a in her right. I regard her as the mother mere myth. Herodotus heard of her at of Belshazzar, whom Herodotus con- Babylon, within little more than a cen. founds with his father, Nabonadius ; tury of the time when she was said to and I suspect that she is the queen who have lived. He heard of her in con “came into the banqueting-house" at junction with another older queen, Se Belshazzar's impious feast, and recom- miramis, who is found to be a historical mended him to send for Daniel. (Dan. personage, only a little misplaced. v. 10-12.) (Supra, p. 39.) Again, Nitocris, though 10 The river walls, which Herodotus not known otherwise as a Babylonian ascribes to Nitocris (i. 186), were de- name, was an Egyptian royal name in clared expressly by Berosus to have use at this period. (Wilkinson in the been the work of this king (érì TOÚTOV author's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 325, 2nd τα περί τον ποταμόν τείχη της Βαβυ- edition.) Under these circumstances λωνίας πόλεως εξ όπτης πλίνθου και it is perhaps allowable to conjecture, dopáltov Katekoguñon. Fr. 14). The 1. that there was such a person ; 2. that bricks of the embankment are found to she was an Egyptian princess, or at any bear his name. rate of Egyptian extraction ; 3. that "Herod. i. 180. The river walls can she was the wife, or mother, of one of scarcely have been built until the em. the later Babylonian kings, and was | bankment was made. 12 Ibid. 185. CHAP. VIII. NABONADIUS STRENGTHENS BABYLON. these works there was further built at the same time a great wall which extended entirely across the tract between the two rivers 13_a huge barrier a hundred feet high and twenty thick 14 -meant, like the Roman walls in Britain and the great wall of China, to be insurmountable by an unskilful foe; but there is ground for suspecting that this belief is ill-founded, having for its sole basis a misconception of Xenophon's.15 Nabonadius appears to have been allowed ample time to carry out to the full his system of defences, and to complete all his preparations. The precipitancy of Croesus, who plunged into a war with Persia single-handed, asking no aid from his allies, 16 and the promptitude of Cyrus, who allowed him no opportunity of recovering from his first false step, had prevented Nabonadius from coming into actual collision with Persia in the early part of his reign. The defeat of Crasus in the battle of Pteria, the siege of Sardis, and its capture, followed so rapidly on the first commencement of hostilities, that, whatever his wishes may have been, Nabonadius had it not in his power to give any help to his rash ally. Actual war was thus avoided at this time; and no collision having occurred, Cyrus could defer an attack on the great kingdom of the south until he had consolidated his power in the north and the north-east,18 which he rightly regarded as of the last importance. Thus fourteen years intervened between the capture of Sardis by the Persian arms and the commence- ment of the expedition against Babylon. When at last it was rumoured that the Persian king had quitted Ecbatana (B.C. 539) and commenced his march to the south-west, Nabonadius received the tidings with indifference. His defences were completed; his city was amply provisioned ;) 13 Grote, History of Greece, vol. iii. read by Sir H. Rawlinson before the p. 180, 2nd edition. Geographical Society in 1851.) ' " Xen, Anab. ii. 4, § 12. 16 Herod. i. 71. 15 The “Median Wall” rests wholly 17 Ibid. 79-86. on Xenophon's authority. It is quite 18 Ibid. 153 and 177. See the His. unknown to Herodotus, Strabo, Arrian, 1 torical Chapter in the account of the and the other historians of Alexander. “Fifth Monarchy." Excellent reasons have been given for Προσεσάξαντο σιτία ετέων κάρτα believing that the barrier within which tollv. Herod. i. 190. "Exortes' tà the Ten Thousand penetrated was the | επιτήδεια πλέον και είκοσιν ετών. Χen. old wall of Babylon itself. (See a paper Cyrop. vii. 5, $ 13. F 2 68 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. if the enemy should defeat him in the open field, he might retire behind his walls, and laugh to scorn all attempts to reduce his capital either by blockade or storm. It does not appear to have occurred to him that it was possible to protect his territory. With a broad, deep, and rapid river directly interposed between him and his foe, with a network of canals spread far and wide over his country, with an almost inexhaustible supply of human labour at his command for the construction of such dykes, walls, or cuttings as he should deem advisable, Nabonadius might, one would have thought, have aspired to save his land from invasion, or have disputed inch by inch his enemy's advance towards the capital. But such considerations have seldom had much force with Orientals, whose notions of war and strategy are even now of the rudest and most primitive description. To measure one's strength as quickly as possible with that of one's foe, to fight one great pitched battle in order to decide the question of superiority in the field, and then, if defeated, either to surrender or to retire behind walls, has been the ordinary conception of a commander's duties in the East from the time of the Ramesside kings to our own day. No special blame therefore attaches to Nabonadius for his neglect. He followed the traditional policy of Oriental monarchs in the course which he took. And his subjects had less reason to complain of his resolution than most others, since the many strongholds in Babylonia must have afforded them a ready refuge, and the great fortified district within which Babylon itself stood ? must have been capable of accommodating with ease the whole native population of the country. If we may trust Herodotus, the invader, having made all his preparations and commenced his march, came to a sudden pause midway between Ecbatana and Babylon. One of the sacred white horses, which drew the chariot of Ormazd, had been drowned in crossing a river; and Cyrus had thereupon desisted from his march, and, declaring that he would revenge himself on the insolent stream, had set his soldiers to disperse its waters into 360 channels. This work employed him during the whole ? Supra, vol. i. p. 512. Herod, i. 189. Ibid. vii. 40. CHAP. VIII. ATTACK OF CYRUS. summer and autumn; nor was it till another spring had come that he resumed his expedition. To the Babylonians such a pause must have appeared like irresolution. They must have suspected that the invader had changed his mind and would not venture across the Tigris. If the particulars of the story reached them, they probably laughed at the monarch who vented his rage on inanimate nature, while he let his enemies escape scot free. Cyrus, however, had a motive for his proceedings which will appear in the sequel. Having wintered on the banks of the Gyndes in a mild climate, where tents would have been quite a sufficient protection to his army, he put his troops in motion at the commencement of spring, crossed the Tigris apparently unopposed, and soon came in sight of the capital. Here he found the Babylonian army drawn out to meet him under the command of Nabonadius himself, who had resolved to try the chance of a battle. An engagement ensued, of which we possess no details; our informants simply tell us that the Babylonian monarch was completely defeated, and that, while most of his army sought safety within the walls of the capital, he himself with a small body of troops threw himself into Borsippa,? an important town lying at a short distance from Babylon towards the south-west. It is not easy to see the exact object of this movement. Perhaps Nabonadius thought that the enemy would thereby be obliged to divide his army, which might then more easily be defeated : perhaps he imagined that by remaining without the walls he might be able to collect such a force among his subjects and allies as would compel the beleaguering army to withdraw. Or, possibly, he merely followed an instinct of self-preservation, and fearing that the soldiers of Cyrus might enter Babylon with his own, if he fled thither, sought refuge in another city. 'Os .::; . το δεύτερον έαρ υπέ- | παραταξάμενος, ηττηθείς τη μάχη, κ.τ.λ. Laune. Herod. i. 190. The two years Compare Polyhistor ap. Euseb. Chron. seem alluded to in Jer, li. 46. Can. i. 5, $ 3. Herodotus does not say • Beroaus, Fr. 14. Aiolóuevos Ná. who commanded the army. Bóvrnôos thu pooov autoll (sc. Kúpou), 1 Beros. l. 8. C. Purwy olyootos, αταντήσας μετά της δυνάμεως και η σμνεκλείσθη εις την Βορσιππηνών πόλιν. 70 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. It might have been supposed that his absence would have produced anarchy and confusion in the capital; but a step which he had recently taken with the object of giving stability to his throne rendered the preservation of order tolerably easy. At the earliest possible moment probably when he was about fourteen—he had associated with him in the government his son, Belshazzar, or Bel-shar-uzur, the grandson of the great Nebuchadnezzar. This step, taken most likely with a view to none but internal dangers, was now found exceedingly convenient for the purposes of the war. In his father's absence Belshazzar took the direction of affairs within the city, and met and foiled for a considerable time all the assaults of the Persians. He was young and inexperienced, but he had the counsels of the queen- mother to guide and support him, as well as those of the various lords and officers of the court. So well did he manage the defence that after a while Cyrus despaired,1° and as a last resource ventured on a stratagem in which it was clear that he must either succeed or perish. Withdrawing the greater part of his army from the vicinity of the city, and leaving behind him only certain corps of ob- servation," Cyrus marched away up the course of the Euphrates for a certain distance, and there proceeded to make a vigorous use of the spade. His soldiers could now appreciate the value of the experience which they had gained by dispersing the Gyndes, and perceive that the summer and autumn of the pre- ceding year had not been wasted. They dug a channel or channels from the Euphrates, 12 by means of which a great portion 8 The proof of this association is contained in the cylinders of Nabo nadius found at Mugheir, where the protection of the gods is asked for Nabu-nadid and his son Bel-shar-uzur, who are coupled together in a way that implies the co-sovereignty of the latter. (British Museum Series, vol. i. Pl. 68, No. 1.) The date of the association was at the latest B.C. 540, Nabonadius's fifteenth year, since the third year of Belsbazzar is mentioned in Daniel (viji. 1). If Belshazzar was (as I have sup- posed) a son of a daughter of Nebu- chadoezzar married to Nabonadius after he became king, he could not be more t han fourteen in his father's fifteenth year. 9 « The Queen," who “came into the banqueting-house,” where Belsbazzar and his wives were already seated (Dan. v. 2, 10), can only be the wife of Na- bonadius and mother of Belshazzar. The tone of her address suits well with this view. (Compare Dr. Pusey's Lec- tures on Daniel, p. 449, which I first read after this note was written.) 10 Herod. i. 190. Ibid. 191. | 12 According to Herodotus (1. a. c.), Cyrus cut a canal from the Euphrates to CHAP. VIII. 71 BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST. of its water would be drawn off, and hoped in this way to render the natural course of the river fordable. When all was prepared, Cyrus determined to wait for the arrival of a certain festival,13 during which the whole population were wont to engage in drinking and revelling, and then silently in the dead of night to turn the water of the river and make his attack. All fell out as he hoped and wished. The festival was held with even greater pomp and splendour than usual; for Belshazzar, with the natural insolence of youth, to mark his contempt of the besieging army, abandoned himself wholly to the delights of the season, and himself entertained a thousand lords in his palace.14 Elsewhere the rest of the population was occupied in feasting and dancing 15 Drunken riot and mad excitement held possession of the town; the siege was forgotten; ordinary precautions were neglected. 16 Following the example of their king, the Babylonians gave themselves up for the night to orgies in which religious frenzy and drunken excess formed a strange and revolting medley.? Meanwhile, outside the city, in silence and darkness,18 the Persians watched at the two points where the Euphrates entered and left the walls. Anxiously they noted the gradual sinking of the water in the river-bed; still more anxiously they watched to see if those within the walls would observe the suspicious cir- cumstance and sound an alarm through the town. Should such an alarm be given, all their labours would be lost. If, when they entered the river-bed, they found the river-walls manned and the river-gates fast-locked, they would be indeed “caught the reservoir of Nitocris, which hel 16 The non-closing of the river gates found nearly empty. According to must have been a neglect of this kind. Xenophon (Cyrop. vii. 5, § 10), he cut Had the sentries even kept proper two canals from a point on the Eu watch, the enemy's approach must have phrates above Babylon to another below been perceived. the town. 17 Dan. v. 4; Xen. Cyrop. I. s. C. 13 Xen. Cyrop. vii. 5, § 15. This is Xenophon appropriately calls these re- far more probable than the statement ligious revellers κωμαστάς. of Herodotus that "it happened to be 18 It is curious that Herodotus does a festival” (Tuxeîv yap ol collo av not notice the fact of the attack being óptív, i. 191, sub. fin.). by night, which is strongly put by 14 Dan. v. 1. Xenophon (Cyrop. vii. 5, ss 15-33). 15 Χορεύειν τούτον τον χρόνον και εν Compare Dan. v. 30 : “In that night EÜTaDeinoi elva.. Herod. 1. 8. C. Com- | was Belshazzar slain,” pale Jer, li, 39. 72 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. in a trap.”19 Enfiladed on both sides by an enemy whom they could neither see nor reach, they would be overwhelmed and destroyed by his missiles before they could succeed in making their escape. But, as they watched, no sounds of alarm reached them-only a confused noise of revel and riot, which showed that the unhappy townsmen were quite unconscious of the approach of danger. At last shadowy forms began to emerge from the obscurity of the deep river-bed, and on the landing-places opposite the river- gates scattered clusters of men grew into solid columns--the unde- fended gateways wereseized—a war-shout was raised—the alarm was taken and spread—andswift runners started off to “show the King of Babylon that his city was taken at one end." In the darkness and confusion of the night a terrible massacre ensued.? The drunken revellers could make no resistance. The king, paralyzed with fear at the awful handwriting upon the wall, which too late had warned him of his peril,“ could do nothing even to check the progress of the assailants, who carried all before them everywhere. Bursting into the palace, a band of Persians made their way to the presence of the monarch, and slew him on the scene of his impious revelry. Other bands carried fire® and sword through the town. When morning came, Cyrus found himself undisputed master of the city, which, if it had not despised his efforts, might with the greatest ease have baffled them. The war, however, was not even yet at an end. Nabonadius still held Borsippa, and, if allowed to remain unmolested, might have gradually gathered strength and become once more a for- midable foe. Cyrus, therefore, having first issued his orders that the outer fortifications of Babylon should be dismantled," 19 'Ns év kúptn. Herod. i. 191. Jer. li. 31. ? Xen. Cyrop. vii. 5, SS 26-31 ; Jer. 1. 30; ii. 4. : Jer. 1. 43. Dan. v. 5-28. 5 Xen. Cyrop. vii. 5, 88 27-30. The picture is graphic, and may well be true. 6 Jer. 1. 32; li. 30, 32, 58. Berosus, Fr. 14. Kúpos de Baßu- γώνα καταλαβόμενος, και συνταξας τα έξω της πόλεως τείχη κατασκάψαι, K.7.1. Compare Jer. 1. 15; li. 44, 58. I have replaced karaoká you by “ dis- mantled," because, whatever the orders of Cyrus may have been, the enormous labour of demolishing the wall was cer. tainly not undertaken. The battlements CHAP. VIII. 73 END OF BABYLONIAN EMPIRE. proceeded to complete his conquest by laying siege to the town where he knew that Nabonadius had taken refuge. That monarch, however, perceiving that resistance would be vain, did not wait till Borsippa was invested, but on the approach of his enemy surrendered himself. Cyrus rewarded his submis- sion by kind and liberal treatment. Not only did he spare his life, but (if we may trust Abydenus) he conferred on him the government of the important province of Carmania. 10 Thus perished the Babylonian empire. If we seek the causes of its fall, we shall find them partly in its essential military inferiority to the kingdom that had recently grown up upon its borders, partly in the accidental circumstance that its ruler at the time of the Persian attack was a man of no great capacity. Had Nebuchadnezzar himself, or a prince of his mental calibre, been the contemporary of Cyrus, the issue of the contest might have been doubtful. Babylonia possessed naturally vast powers of resistance-powers which, had they been made use of to the utmost, might have tired out the patience of the Persians. That lively, active, but not over- persevering people would scarcely have maintained a siege with the pertinacity of the Babylonians themselves or of the Egyptians.12 If the stratagem of Cyrus had failed—and its success depended wholly on the Babylonians exercising no vigilance-the capture of the town would have been almost impossible. Babylon was too large to be blockaded; its walls were too lofty to be scaled, and too massive to be battered down by the means possessed by the ancients. Mining in the soft alluvial soil would have been dangerous work, especially as the town ditch was deep and supplied with abundant water from the Euphrates.13 Cyrus, had he failed in his night attack, may have been thrown down, and | 9. Berosus, as reported by Josephus breaches broken in it; but the wall (Contr. Ap. i. 21), only says that Cyrus itself existed till the time of Alexander. assigned Carmania to Nabonadįus as (Abyden. Fr. 9.) his place of abode (δούς οικητήριον 'S'AVÉSEVEEVé ml Bépocit Tov, KTO αυτώ Καρμανίαν). Alopknown Tov Napóvindov. Beros. I. 8. c. | " See above, p. 53. • Ibid. 12 Herod. ü. 157. 10 Kapuavins irreuovinu owpéetal. Fr. 13 Ibid, i. 178. 74 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. would probably have at once raised the siege ; and Babylonian independence might perhaps in that case have been maintained down to the time of Alexander. Even thus, however, the “ Empire” would not have con- tinued. So soon as it became evident that the Babylonians were no match for the Persians in the field, their authority over the subject nations was at an end. The Susianians, the tribes of the middle Euphrates, the Syrians, the Phænicians, the Jews, the Idumæans, the Ammonites and Moabites, would have gravitated to the stronger power, even if the attack of Cyrus on Babylon itself had been repulsed. For the conquests of Cyrus in Asia Minor, the Oxus region, and Affghanistan, had completely destroyed the balance of power in Western Asia, and given to Persia a preponderance both in men and in resources? against which the cleverest and most energetic of Babylonian princes would have struggled in vain. Persia must in any case have absorbed all the tract between Mount Zagros and the Mediterranean, except Babylonia Proper; and thus the successful defence of Babylon would merely have deprived the Persian Empire of a province. In its general character the Babylonian Empire was little more than a reproduction of the Assyrian. The same loose organization of the provinces under native kings rather than satraps almost universally prevailed, with the same duties on the part of suzerain and subjects, and the same results of ever-recurring revolt and re-conquest. Similar means were employed under both empires to check and discourage rebel- lion-mutilations and executions of chiefs, pillage of the rebel- 1 Judging by the taxation of Darius, 2 See the description of the Assyrian the resources of the Persians at this Empire in vol. ä. pp. 235-239. time were nearly five times as great as 3 This may be concluded from such those of the Babylonians. The Persian expressions as “ Thou, o king, art a Empire included the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, king of kings ” (Dan. ii. 37). «Thou" half the 9th, the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, (ie. Babylon) “shalt no more be called 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th The lady of kingdoms" (Is. xlvii. 5). It satrapies ; while the Babylonian Em is confirmed by the history of the Jews pire consisted of the 5th, the 8th, and (2 K. xxiv. 1.17), and by the list of half the 9th. The joint revenue fur Tyrian kings contemporary with the nished to Darius by the satrapies of the | Babylonian Empire preserved in Jose- first list was 5660 talents ; that fur phus. (Contr. Āp. i. 21.) nished by the second list was 1150. * See above, pp. 50-55. CHAP. VIII. 75 BABYLONIAN CIVILISATION. lious region, and wholesale deportation of its population. Babylon, equally with Assyria, failed to win the affections of the subject nations, and, as a natural result, received no help from them in her hour of need. Her system was to exhaust and oppress the conquered races for the supposed benefit of the conquerors, and to impoverish the provinces for the adornment and enrichment of the capital. The wisest of her monarchs thought it enough to construct works of public utility in Baby- lonia Proper, leaving the dependent countries to themselves, and doing nothing to develop their resources. This selfish system was, like most selfishness, short-sighted; it alienated those whom it would have been true policy to conciliate and win. When the time of peril came, the subject nations were no source of strength to the menaced empire. On the contrary, it would seem that some even turned against her and made common cause with the assailants. Babylonian civilization differed in many respects from Assyrian, to which however it approached more nearly than to any other known type. Its advantages over Assyrian were in its greater originality, its superior literary character, and its comparative width and flexibility. Babylonia seems to have been the source from which Assyria drew her learning, such as it was, her architecture, the main ideas of her mimetic art, her religious notions, her legal forms, and a vast number of her customs and usages. But Babylonia herself, so far as we know, drew her stores from no foreign country. Hers was apparently the genius which excogitated an alphabet—worked out the simpler problems of arithmetic—invented implements for measuring the lapse of time-conceived the idea of raising enormous structures with the poorest of all materials, clay- discovered the art of polishing, boring, and engraving gems reproduced with truthfulness the outlines of human and animal forms—attained to high perfection in textile fabrics—studied with success the motions of the heavenly bodies-conceived of 5 Abyden. Fr. 8. | the conclusion of the siege and joined 6 It may be suspected that the Cyrus. (See Isaiah xxi. 2; xxii. 6.) Susianians revolted from Babylon before 76 CHAP. VIII. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. grammar as a science—elaborated a system of law-saw the value of an exact chronology--in almost every branch of science made a beginning, thus rendering it comparatively easy for other nations to proceed with the superstructure. To Babylonia, far more than to Egypt, we owe the art and learning of the Greeks. It was from the East, not from Egypt, that Greece derived her architecture, her sculpture, her science, her phi- losophy, her mathematical knowledge—in a word, her intel- lectual life. And Babylon was the source to which the entire stream of Eastern civilisation may be traced. It is scarcely too much to say that, but for Babylon, real civilisation might not even yet have dawned upon the earth. Mankind might never have advanced beyond that spurious and false form of it which in Egypt, India, China, Japan, Mexico, and Peru, contented the aspirations of the species. ( 77 ) APPENDIX. STANDARD INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. THE Inscription begins with the various titles of Nebuchadnezzar. It then contains prayers and invocations to the Gods, Merodach and Nebo. The extent of N.'s power is spoken of—it reaches from one sea to the other. An account is then given of the wonders of Babylon, viz. :- 1. The great temple of Merodach. (The mound of Babil is the tower or ziggurat of this.) 2. The Borsippa temple (or Birs). 3. Various other temples in Babylon and Borsippa. The subjoined description of the city follows:- The double enclosure which Nabopolassar my father had made but not completed, I finished. Nabopolassar made its ditch. With two long embankments of brick and mortar he bound its bed. He made the embankment of the Arakha. He lined the other side of the Euphrates with brick. He made a bridge (?) over the Euphrates, but did not finish its buttresses (?). From * * * (the name of a place) he made with bricks burnt as hard as stones, by the help of the great Lord Merodach, a way (for) a branch of the Shimat to the waters of the Yapur-Shapu, the great reservoir of Babylon, opposite to the gate of Nin. “ The Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel—the great double wall of Babylon-I finished. With two long embankments of brick and mortar I built the sides of its ditch. I joined it on with that which my father bad made. I strengthened the city. Across the river to the west I built the wall of Babylon with brick. The Yapur-Shapu- the reservoir of Babylon—by the grace of Merodach I filled completely full of water. With bricks burnt as hard as stones, and with bricks in huge masses like mountains (?), the Yapur-Shapu, from the gate of 78 APPENDIX A. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. which my hess of her votaries. Babylon, at the time ºf cainst the Mula as far as Nana, who is the protectress of her votaries, by the grace of his godship (i.e. Merodach) I strengthened. With that which my father had made I joined it. I made the way of Nana, the protectress of her votaries. The great gates of the Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel—the reservoir of Babylon, at the time of the flood (lit. of fulness), inundated them. These gates I raised. Against the waters their foundations with briek and mortar I built. [Here follows a description of the gates, with various architectural details, and an account of the decorations, hangings, &c.] For the delight of mankind I filled the reservoir. Behold! besides the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable fortification of Babylon, I constructed inside Babylon on the eastern side of the river a fortification such as no king had ever made before me, viz. a long rampart, 4000 ammas square, as a extra defence. I excavated the ditch : with brick and mortar I bound its bed; a long rampart at its head (?) I strongly built. I adorned its gates. The folding doors and the pillars I plated with copper. Against presump- tuous enemies, who were hostile to the men of Babylon, great waters, like the waters of the ocean, I made use of abundantly. Their depths were like the depths of the vast ocean. I did not allow the waters to overflow, but the fulness of their floods I caused to flow on, restraining them with a brick embankment. ... Thus I completely made strong the defences of Babylon. May it last for ever! (Here follows a similar account of works at Borsippa.] “In Babylon—the city which is the delight of my eyes, and which I have glorified—when the waters were in flood, they inundated the foundations of the great palace called Taprati-nisi, or the Wonder of Mankind;' (a palace) with many chambers and lofty towers ; the high- place of Royalty ; (situated) in the land of Babylon, and in the middle of Babylon; stretching from the Ingur-Bel to the bed of the Shebil, the eastern canal, (and) from the bank of the Sippara river, to the water of the Yapur-Shapu; which Nabopolassar my father built with brick and raised up ; when the reservoir of Babylon was full, the gates of this palace were flooded. I raised the mound of brick on which it was built, and made smooth its platform. I cut off the floods of the water, and the foundations (of the palace) I protected against the water with bricks and mortar; and I finished it completely. Long beams I set up to support it: with pillars and beams plated with copper and strengthened with iron I built up its gates. Silver and gold, and precious stones whose names were almost unknown [here follow several unknown names of objects, treasures of the palace], I stored up inside, and placed there the treasure-house of my kingdom. APPENDIX B. 79 MEANINGS OF BABYLONIAN NAMES. Four years (?), the seat of my kingdom in the city. . . . ., which ..... did not rejoice (my) heart. In all my dominiors I did not build a high-place of power ; the precious treasures of my kingdom I did not lay up. In Babylon, buildings for myself and the honour of my kingdom I did not lay out. In the worship of Merodach my lord, the joy of my heart (?), in Babylon, the city of his sovereignty and the seat of my empire, I did not sing his praises (?), and I did not farnish his altars (i.e. with victims), nor did I clear out the canals. [Here follow further negative clauses.] “As a further defence in war, at the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable outer wall, the rampart of the Babylonians—with two strong lines of brick and mortar I made a strong fort, 400 ammas square inside the Nimiti-Bel, the inner defence of the Babylonians. Masonry of brick within them (the lines) I constructed. With the palace of my father I connected it. In a happy month and on an auspicious day its foundations I laid in the earth like ***. I completely finished its top. In fifteen days I completed it, and made it the high-place of my kingdom. (Here follows a description of the ornamentation of the palace.] A strong fort of brick and mortar in strength I constructed. Inside the brick fortification another great fortification of long stones, of the size of great mountains, I made. Like Shedim I raised up its heal. And this building I raised for a wonder; for the defence of the people I constructed it." B. ON THE MEANINGS OF BABYLONIAN NAMES. The names of the Babylonians, like those of the Assyrians, were significant. Generally, if not always, they were composed of at least two elements. These might be a noun in the nominative case with a verb following it, a noun in the nominative with a participle in appo- sition, or a word meaning "servant" followed by the name of a god. Under the first class came such names as Bel-ipni –“Bel has made See Appendix A to Second Monarchy, , other combinations in use besides these ; (vol. ii. Pp. 245-249). but no others have been as yet dis- ? Such names as Pul, Porus, Nadius, tinctly recognised. can scarcely contain more than one Supra, vol. ii. p. 157. Another element. name of exactly the same type is Sha- • Of course there may have been mas-ipni. (See vol. ii. p. 189, note 5.) 80 APPENDIX B. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. (me)”—from Bel, the name of the god, and bana (Heb. ma), “ to make;" Nabo-nassar—"Nebo protects (me)”—from Nebo and nazar (Heb. 89), “ to guard, protect ;" and Nebo-sallim " Nebo makes perfect "-from Nebo and a verb cognate with the Hebrew ost, which in the Piel has the meaning of “complete, make perfect.” Names compounded with a noun and participle are such as Nebo-nahid and Nahid-Merodach. Here nahid is the participle active of a verb, nahad, cognate with the Arabic igie and the Hebrew uin, meaning “ to make prosperous” or “ bless." A specimen of a name compounded with a word meaning “servant” and the appellation of a god seems to exist in Abed-nego—more properly Abed-Nebo ?from abed (Heb. 778), “a slave,” and Nebo, the well-known and favourite god. More usually a Babylonian name consists of three elements, a noun in the nominative, a verb or participle, and a noun in the accusative following the verb. To this class belong the following :-Nabo- polassar, Nebuchadnezzar, Neriglissar, Belshazzar, Merodach-baladan, Merodach -iddin - akhi, Merodach - sum - adin, Merodach-shapik - ziri, Nebo-bil-sumi, and Nebuzaradan. Nabopolassar, or more properly Nabu-pal-uzur, means “ Nebo protects (my) son,” being formed from the roots Nabu, “ Nebo,” pal, "son," and nazar, " to protect." Nebuchadnezzar, or Nebuchadrezzarº (in the original, Nabu-kudurri-uzur), means either “ Nebo is the pro- tector of landmarks,” or “Nebo protects the youth.” The first and last elements are the san.e as in Nabopolassar: the middle element kudur is a word of very doubtful meaning. It has been connected by some with the Persian kidapıs, “ crown.” M. Oppert explains it from the Arabic , which means "& young man.”lo Sir H. Rawlinson regards it as meaning "a landmark." Neriglissar and Belshazzar are names of exactly the same kind. The former, correctly written, is Nergal-sar-uzur; the latter, Bel-sar- uzur. The one means “ Nergal protects the king;" the other, “ Bel protects the king." The only new element here is the middle one, sar, “king ” (Heb. 16), which is found in Sargon, and perhaps in Shar-ezer. In Merodach-bal-adan (or Marduk-bal-iddin) we have bal, a variant See vol. ii. p. 189, notes. p. 258.) 6 Oppert, Expédition Scientifique, tom. I This is decidedly the more correct ü. p. 259. Supra, p. 27. | form, and indeed is probably not far 5 Or, according to M. Oppert, “Nebo, from the Babylonian articulation. protect my son." (Expédition, tom. ii. 10 Expédition, tom. ii. p. 259. APPENDIX B. 81 MEANINGS OF BABYLONIAN NAMES. of pal, “a son,” and iddin, the 3rd person singular of nadan, “to give" (comp. Heb. pa). The name consequently means “ Merodach has given a son." Similarly, in Marduk-iddin-akhi we have iddin from nadan, together with akhi, the plural of akhu, “ a brother;" and the meaning of the name is thus “Merodach has given brothers.” The two roots Merodach and iddin appear also in Merodach-sum-adan (or Marduk-sum-iddin) in conjunction with a new root, sum, “a name" (comp. Heb. Og) ; and there results the meaning “Merodach has given a name"—or perhaps “ Merodach is the giver of fame ;' since the Hebrew or has likewise that signification. Merodach-shapik-ziri 11 may be translated “Merodach produces off- spring," the root shapik being connected with ab, “to pour out,” derivatives from which have a genitive sense, as now and ziri being the plural of zir, a root meaning "seed, race, offspring” (comp. Heb. 3). In Nabu-bil-sumi,bil is used in its original sense of " lord” (comp. Heb. Sea), while sumi is the plural of sum, “ a name.” The meaning is thus “ Nebo presides over names,” or “ Nebo is the lord of names.” Nebu-zar-adan" is probably a Hebrew corruption of Nebu-zir- iddin, which means “ Nebo has given offspring," from roots already explained. The bulk of the Babylonian names preserved to us in Ptolemy's Canon do not admit of any certain explanation, from the corrupt shape in which they have come down to us. Occasionally we may recognise with some confidence the name of a god in them, as Merodach in Mesesimordachus and Bel in Regibelus; but attempts to give the full actual etymology can only be the merest conjectures,14 with which it would not be worth while to trouble the reader. A few pro- bable explanations of some Babylonian names preserved by the Hebrews, and probably very little changed, will alone be attempted before bringing these remarks on Babylonian nomenclature to a con- clusion. The Samgar-Nebol of Jeremiah probably signifies “ one who is de- voted to Nebo,” Samgar being a shaphel form from the root migir, 1 Supra, p. 35. published by M. Oppert. (Expédition 12 See vol. ii. p. 207 scientifique, tom. i. pp. 355-357.) 13 2 K xxv. 8; Jer. xxxix. 9. Jer. xxxix. 3. 1 Several such conjectures have been ! VOL. III. 82 APPENDIX B. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. which means “ honouring” or “obeying.": Sarsechim, in the same writer, is perhaps “the king consents,” from sar and the Chaldee od, which becomes in the aphel caps, and has that meaning. Belteshazzar, the name given by the prince of the eunuchs to Daniel, would have appeared, from the obvious analogy of Belshazzar, to be a contracted form of Bilta-sar-uzur, and therefore to signify “Beltis protects the king.” But it is an objection to this that Nebuchadnezzar connects the name with that of " his god," who must (it would seem) be Bel, and not Beltis. If then we are obliged to seek another deri- vation, we may perhaps find it in Bel, the god, tisha (Heb. Amon), “a secret,” 5 and uzur, from nazar, “to guard, protect.” Belteshazzar would then mean “Bel is the keeper of secrets," an appropriate sense, since "secrets” were what Daniel was considered especially to know. It will be observed that almost every Babylonian name, the etymo- logy of which is known to us, has a religious character. Among the elements is almost universally to be recognised the name of a god. The gods especially favoured are Nebo and Merodach, after whom comes Bel, and then Nergal and Shamas. In the kind of religious sentiment which they express the names closely resemble those of the Assyrians. First, there are names announcing facts of the mythology; as Nebuchadrezzar, “Nebo protects landmarks,” Belteshazzar, “ Bel guards secrets." Next, there are those in which a glorification of the deity is made, as Nabu-bil-sumi, “Nebo is the lord of names ;” Nabu- sallim, “Nebo makes perfect," and the like. Thirdly, a number of names contain the idea of thankfulness to the god who has granted the child in answer to prayer, as Merodach-bal-adan, “ Merodach has given a son ;” Bel-ipni, “Bel has made (him);" Nebu-zar-adan, “ Nebo has given the offspring,” &c. And, finally, there are those which im- ply special devotion of the individual to a particular deity, either directly, as Samgar-Nebo, “the devotee of Nebo ;" Abed-Nebo, “the slave of Nebo;" or indirectly, as Nabo-nassar, “ Nebo protects (me);" Nabopolassar, “Nebo protects (my) son ;" Belshazzar, “Bel protects the king;" Nabo-nahid, “ Nebo (is) protecting (me)," and the like. In the comparatively rare case of names which contain no divine ? Sir H. Rawlinson in the Journal of , came in before me, whose name was the Asiatic Society, vol. xviii. p. 28, Belteshazzar, after the name of my god." note ? * See the Targum on Prov. xxi. 14. : Jer. 1. 8. C. & Dan. iv. 9. - Dan. iv. 8. “At the last Daniel ? See above, vol. ii. pp. 248, 249. APPENDIX B. 83 MEANINGS OF BABYLONIAN NAMES. element, the honour of the king seems to have been sometimes, but not very often, considered. In Yakin, Nadina, Zakiru, Balazu, Hagisa, Susub, names which seem to be of a purely secular character, there is contained no flattery of the monarch. Thus far then the Babylonians would appear to have been of a more independent spirit than the As- syrians, with whom this species of adulation was not infrequent. See the explanation above given of Sarsecbim. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. PERSIA. CHAPTER I. EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE. Thu 'Avinu kai tà ÈVOLKÉOvTa kövea OIKELEŪVTAL ol IIépoal.—HEROD. i. 4. The geographical extent of the Fifth Monarchy was far greater tending in its greatest length only some seven or eight degrees (less than 500 miles), the dominions of the Persian kings covered a space fifty-six degrees long, and in places more than twenty degrees wide. The boundaries of their empire were the desert of Thibet, the Sutlej, and the Indus, on the east; the Indian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian and Nubian deserts, on the south ; on the west, the Greater Syrtis, the Mediterranean, the Egean, and the Strymon river; on the north, the Danube, the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Caspian, and the Jaxartes. Within these limits lay a territory, the extent of which from east to west was little less than 3000 miles, while its width varied between 500 and 1500 miles. Its entire area was probably not less than two millions of square miles—or more than half that of modern Europe. It was thus at least eight times as large as the Babylonian Empire at its greatest The boundaries here given belong | B.C. 479. The Strymon and the Danube to the Empire only at the height of its ceased to be boundaries at least as early CAAP. I. EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE. extent, and was probably more than four times as large as the Assyrian. The provinces included within the Empire may be conve- niently divided into the Central, the Western, and the Eastern. The Central are Persia Proper, Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria, Media, the coast tract of the Caspian, and Sagartia, or the Great Desert. The Western are Pæonia, Thrace, Asia Minor, Armenia, Iberia, Syria and Phænicia, Palestine, Egypt, and the Cyrenaica. The Eastern are Hyrcania, Parthia, Aria, Choras- mia, Sogdiana, Bactria, Scythia, Gandaria, Sattagydia, India, Paricania, the Eastern Æthiopia, and Mycia. Of these countries a considerable number have been already described in these volumes. Susiana,“ Babylonia," Assyria, Media,' the Caspian coast, Armenia, Syria,10 Phoenicia,11 and Palestine, 12 belong to this class; and it may be assumed that the reader is sufficiently acquainted with their general features. It would therefore seem to be enough in the present place to give an account of the regions which have not yet occupied our attention, more especially of Persia Proper—the home of the dominant race. Persia Proper seems to have corresponded nearly to that province of the modern Tran, which still bears the ancient name slightly modified,13 being called Farsistan or Fars. The chief important difference between the two is, that whereas in modern times the tract called Kerman is regarded as a distinct and separate region,14 Carmania anciently was included within 2 See above, vol. ii. p. 453. * It is difficult to measure exactly the dimensions of the Assyrian Empire, from the uncertainty of its boundaries eastward and northward. If we regard it as comprising the whole of the Baby- lonian Empire, Assyria Proper, one- half of Media, and some districts of Armenia, Cappadocia, and Cilicia, we may perhaps allow it an area of from 400,000 to 500,000 square miles. * See vol. ii. pp. 438, 439. * See vol. i. pp. 3-5; vol. ii. p. 436. . See vol. i. pp. 181-193, * See vol. ü. pp. 251-256. $ Ibid. pp. 278-280. See vol. i. pp. 207, 208 ; vol. ii. pp. 280-281. See vol. ii. pp. 440-443. 11 Ibid. pp. 443-445. 12 Ibid. pp. 446-450. 13 The name of the country is given as Parsa in the cuneiform inscriptions of Darius Hystaspis, which is no doubt the true native orthography. The Hebrews called it Paras (op), the Greeks IIépons, the Romans Persis or Persia. The modern Fars is the ancient Parsa softened and abbreviated. Far- sistan is "the land of the Farsis” or Persians. 1 Kinneir, Persian Empire, pp. 194- 201 ; Pottinger, Travels, p. 219; &c. 86 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. the limits of Persia..5 Persia Proper lay upon the gulf to which it has given name, extending from the mouth of the Tab (Oroatis) to the point where the gulf joins the Indian Ocean. It was bounded on the west by Susiana, on the north by Media Magna, on the east by Mycia, and on the south by the sea. Its length seems to have been about 450, and its average width about 250 miles. It thus contained an area of rather more than 100,000 square miles. In modern times it is customary to divide the province of Fars into the ghermsir, or “warm district," and the serdsir, or “cold region "16—and the physical character of the country must have made such a division thoroughly appropriate at every period. The "warm district " is a tract of sandy plain, often impregnated with salt, which extends between the moun- tains and the sea the whole length of the province, being a continuation of the flat region of Susiana, but falling very much short of that region in all the qualities which constitute physical excellence. The soil is poor, consisting of alternate sand and clay 18—it is ill-watered, the entire tract possessing scarcely a single stream worthy of the name of river 19—and, lying only just without the northern Tropic, the district is by its very situation among the hottest of western Asia.20 It forms, however, rio very large portion of the ancient Persia, being in general a mere strip of land, from ten to fifty miles wide, and thus not constituting more than an eighth part of the territory in question. The remaining seven-eighths belong to the serdsir, or “cold region.” The mountain-range which under various names skirts on the east the Mesopotamian lowland, separating off that 15 Herod. i. 125. The later geo- 1 19 Kinneir speaks of crossing “four graphers, however, distinguish between rivers” between Bushire and the Tab the two. (Strab. xv. 3, § 1; Arrian, (p. 57), but of these four two were arms E.cp. Alex. vi. 28 ; &c.) of the Khisht, which is the only stream to Kinneir, pp. 54 and 200. Pot in the district that has the least real tinger, p. 221 ; Geograph. Journal, vol. pretension to the name of river. xxvii. p. 184. 20 Malcolm says of this tract, that it 17 See vol. . p. 438. “bears a greater resemblance in soil 19 Pottinger, p. 54 ; Fraser, Khorasan, and climate to Arabia than to Persia" p. 71 ; Malcolm, History of Persia, p. 3; (p. 2). Kinneir, pp. 54, 70, 81, 201. CHAP. L. PERSIA PROPER-RIVERS. depressed and generally fertile region from the bare high plateau of Iran, and running continuously in a direction parallel to the course of the Mesopotamian streams—i.e. from the north- west to the south-east 21—changes its course as it approaches the sea, sweeping gradually round between long. 50° and 55°. and becoming parallel to the coast-line, while at the same time it broadens out, till it covers a space of nearly three degrees, or above two hundred miles. Along the high tract thus created lay the bulk of the ancient Persia, consisting of alternate mountain, plain, and narrow valley, curiously intermixed, and as yet very incompletely mapped. This region is of varied character. In places richly fertile, picturesque, and romantic almost beyond imagination, with lovely wooded dells, green mountain-sides, and broad plains suited for the production of almost any crops, it has yet on the whole a predominant cha- racter of sterility and barrenness, especially towards its more northern and eastern portions. The supply of water is every- where scanty. Scarcely any of the streams are strong enough to reach the sea. After short courses they are either absorbed by the sand or end in small salt lakes, from which the super- fluous water is evaporated. Much of the country is absolutely without streams, and would be uninhabitable were it not for the kanats, or karizes, subterranean channels of spring-water, described at length in a former volume. The only rivers of the district which deserve any attention are the Tab (or Oroatis), whereof a description has been already a Compare vol. ii. p. 252. 3 See especially the descriptions in i Valuable contributions towards a Fraser, Khorasan, pp. 75-79 ; Chesney, map have been made by Mr. Consul Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. p. 208 ; Abbott, Lieut.-Gen. Monteith, and the Geograph. Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 174 ; Baron de Bode, which will be found in vol. xxxi. pp. 63, 64. the thirteenth, twenty-fifth, and twenty | Compare Kinneir, pp. 55, 195-200; seventh volumes of the Journal of the Ker Porter, vol. i. pp. 459, 472, &c.; Geographical Society. But much still Morier, First Journey, pp. 92, 147, 148; remains to be done, more especially Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. pp. 29-78; towards the east and the south-east. vol. xxvii. pp. 149-184. ? Ker Porter, vol. i. pp. 469, 501, • Geograph. Journal, vol. xiii. p. 84 ; 709 ; Pottinger, pp. 234, 237; Kiuneir, vol. XXV. pp. 59, 60; Ker Porter, vol. i. pp. 55, 59; Geograph. Journal, vol. xii. p. 685; Pottinger, pp. 206, 220; Fraser, pp. 79, 80, 85 ; vol. xxv. pp. 33, 47, 76; | Khorasan, p. 79; Morier, First Journey, vol. xxvii. pp. 116, 158, 159, &c. 1 p. 150. • Vol. ii. pp. 291, 292. 88 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. given, the Kur or Bendamir (called anciently Araxes), with its tributary, the Pulwar (or Cyrus), and the Khoonazaberni or river of Khisht. The Bendamir rises in the mountains of the Bakhtiyari chain, in lat. 30° 35', long. 51° 50' nearly, and runs with a course which is generally south-east, past the ruins of Persepolis, to the salt lake of Neyriz or Kheir,19 which it enters in long. 53° 30'. It receives, where it approaches nearest to Persepolis, the Pulwar or Kur-ab, a small stream coming from the north- east and flowing by the ruins of both Pasargadæll and Per- sepolis. A little below its junction with this stream the Bend- amir is crossed by a bridge of five arches,12 and further down, on the route between Shiraz and Kerman, by another of twelve. 13 Here its waters are to a great extent drawn off by means of canals, and are made to fertilise a large tract of rich flat country on either bank,14 after which the stream pursues its course with greatly diminished volume to the salt lake in which it ends. The entire course, including only main windings, may be esti- mated at 140 or 150 miles. The Khoonazaberni or river of Khisht rises near the ruins of Shapur, at a short distance from Kazerun, on the route between Bushire and Shiraz, and flows in a broad valleyls be- tween lofty mountains towards the south-west, entering the 7 Vol. ii. p. 454. 8 Strab. xv. 3, § 6; Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. v. 5. 9 The names, Pulwar and Khoona- zaberni, are given as the present names on the authority of a recent traveller, Captain Claude Clerk (see Geograph. Journal, vol. xxxi. pp. 60 and 64). Our earlier travellers generally represent the former river as known by the name of the Kuror Kur-ab (Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 512 ; Chesney, vol. i. p. 208). Kinneir, however, calls it the Shamier (Persian Empire, p. 59), Morier the Sewund (First Journey, p. 142). Rivers have often half-a-dozen names in the East, each name really attaching to a certain portion only of the course. 10 Till recently our travellers and map-makers have called this lake Lake Bakhtigan ; but Mr. Consul Abbott assures us that that name is not now Laown on the spot. (Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. p. 71.) "Strictly speaking the Murg-ab, which flows by Pasargadże, is a tribu- tary of the Pulwar, and not the main river. 12 So Morier (First Journey, p. 124). Ker Porter speaks of the arches as three only (Travels, vol. i. p. 685), while Lieut. Pottinger multiplies them into nine ! (Travels, p. 242). 18 Pottinger, p. 239. M. Flandin has an engraving of this bridge, which represents it with 13 arches ( Voyage en Perse, “ Planches modernes," pl. xciv.). So also Morier, Second Journey, opp. p. 74. " Pottinger, I. s. C. ; Kinneir, p. 59. 5 Fraser, p. 82. CHAP. I. 89 PERSIA PROPER—LAKES. Persian Gulf by three mouths,16 the chief of which is at Rohilla, twenty miles north of Bushire, where the stream has a breadth of sixty yards, and a depth of about four feet. 17 Above Khisht the river is already thirty yards wide.18 Its chief tributary is the Dalaki stream, which enters it from the east, nearly in long. 51°. The entire course of the Khisht river may be about 95 or 100 miles. Its water is brackish except near the source.19 The principal lakes are the Lake of Neyriz and the Deriah-i- Nemek. The Deriah-i-Nemek is a small basin distant about ten miles from Shiraz, which receives the waters of the streams that supply that town. It has a length of about fifteen and a breadth of about three or three and a half miles.20 The lake of Neyriz or Kheir is of far larger size, being from fifty to sixty miles long and from three to six broad, though in the summer season it is almost entirely dried up.22 Salt is then obtained from the lake in large quantities, and forms an important fea- ture in the commerce of the district. Smaller lakes, also salt or brackish, exist in other parts of the country, as Lake Famur, near Kazerun, which is about six miles in length, and from half a mile to a mile across.23 The most remarkable feature of the country consists in the extraordinary gorges which pierce the great mountain-chain,24 and render possible the establishment of routes across that tremendous barrier. Scarped rocks rise almost perpendicularly on either side of the mountain-streams, which descend rapidly with frequent cascades and falls. Along the slight irregulari- 16 Geograph. Journal, vol. xxvii. Map 23 Abbott, in Geograph. Journal, vol. opposite p. 109. xxvii. p. 183. *Is Kinneir, p. 57. 24 Of these the most striking are those 15 Clerk, in Geograph. Journal, vol. on the route between Bushire and Shiraz, xxxi. p. 64. which have been described by many 19 Morier, First Journey, p. 92; Second travellers. (Morier, First Journey, pp. Journey, p. 49. 49-54; Fraser, Khorasan, pp. 75-79; *Abbott, in Geograph. Journal, vol. | Monteith, in Geograph. Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 151. Comp. Ouseley, Travels, xxvii. pp. 115-117 ; Clerk, in the same, vol. ii. pp. 69, 70. vol. xxxi. pp. 62-64.) Others of nearly A See the description of Mr. Consul equal grandeur were traversed by Mr. Abbott (Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. Abbott in the more eastern part of the pp. 72-75). mountain region. (Geograph. Journal, *Z Kinneir, p. 60. | vol. xxvii. pp. 174, 175.) 90 CHAP. L THE FIFTH MONARCHY. SA 01 DUNG 1P 1 BRUT SAS TA View in the mountain pass between Bushire and Shiraz. CHAP. I. 91 PERSIA PROPER-GORGES. ties of these rocks the roads are carried in zig-zags, often crossing the streams from side to side by bridges of a single arch, which are thrown over profound chasms where the waters chafe and roar many hundred feet below.25 The roads have for the most part been artificially cut in the sides of the preci- pices, which rise from the streams sometimes to the height of 2000 feet.26 In order to cross from the Persian Gulf to the high plateau of Iran, no fewer than three or four of these kotuls, or strange gorge-passes, have to be traversed successively. Thus the country towards the edge of the plateau is peculiarly safe from attack, being defended on the north and east by vast deserts, and on the south by a mountain-barrier of unusual strength and difficulty. It is in these regions, which combine facility of defence with pleasantness of climate, that the principal cities of the district have at all times been placed. The earliest known capital of the region was Pasargada, 27 or Persagadæ, as the name is sometimes written,28 of which the ruins still exist near Murgab, in lat. 30° 15', long. 53° 17'. Here is the famous tomb of Cyrus,29 whereof a description will be given hereafter; and here are also other interesting remains of the old Persian archi- tecture. Neither the shape nor the extent of the town can be traced. The situation was a plain amid mountains, watered by small streams which found their way to a river of some size (the Pulwar) flowing at a little distance to the west. At the distance of thirty miles from Pasargadæ, or of more than forty by the ordinary road,3° grew up the second capital, 25 See the plates in Flandin (Voyage 1 bably the true original form of the name en Perse, “Planches modernes,” pls. xcvi. was Parsa-gherd, “ the castle of the Per- and xcix.), from one of which the accom sians" (as Stephen of Byzantium ex- panying woodcut is taken. plains the name). For the root gherd * * Monteith, in Geograph. Journal, vol. compare the modern Darabgherd, Las- xxvii. p. 115. jird, Burujird, &c., and the certa of the * Pasargadæ was mentioned as the old Parthian cities, Tigrano-certa, Car- capital of Cyrus by Anaximenes (ap. cathio-certa, &c. Steph. Byz. ad voc. IIaooapyddai) and 2 It is this tomb, placed at Pasar. Ctesias (Pers. Exc. $ 9). Either Ctesias gada by Strabo (xv. 3, § 7), Arrian or Dino represented it as the capital city (Exp. Alex. vi. 29), and others, which of Atradates, the father of the great alone certainly fixes the site. Cyrus. (See Nic. Dam. Fr. 66.) 80 Clerk, in Geograph. Journal, vol. * Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. v. 6; x. 1. Pro- | xxxi. pp. 60, 61. 92 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Persepolis, occupying a more southern position than the primi- tive seat of power, but still situated towards the edge of the plateau, having the mountain-barrier to the south-west and the desert at no great distance to the north-east. Like its predecessor, Persepolis was situated in a plain, but in a plain of much larger dimensions and of far greater fertility. The plain of Merdasht is one of the most productive in Persia, being watered by the two streams of the Bendamir and the Pulwar, which unite a few miles below the site of the ancient city. LAIN ROUSTA MERVDASHT PERSE RAHMET Chart of the country between Pasargadæ (Murgab) and Persepolis. From these two copious and unfailing rivers a plentiful supply of the precious fluid can at all times be obtained ; and in Persia such a supply will always create the loveliest verdure, the most abundant crops, and the richest and thickest foliage. The site of Persepolis is naturally far superior to that in which the modern provincial capital, Shiraz, has grown up, at about the same distance from Persepolis as that is from Pasargadæ, and in the same—i.e. in a south-west—direction. Besides Persepolis and Pasargadæ, Persia Proper contained but few cities of any note or name. If we include Carmania in Persia, Carmana, the capital of that country, may indeed be mentioned as a third Persian town of some consequence; but Kinneir, p. 59 ; Morier, Second | Shiraz plain are rills rather than Journey, p. 83. | rivers. The best known is the Rock- 2 The streams which fertilise the nabad, celebrated by Hafiz. CHAP. I. 93 PERSIA PROPER-CITIES. otherwise the names which occur in ancient authors are insig- nificant, and designate villages rather than towns of any size. Carmana, however, which is mentioned by Ptolemy3 and Ammianus* as the capital of those parts, seems to have been a place of considerable importance. It may be identified with the modern Kerman, which lies in lat. 29° 55', long. 56° 13', and is still one of the chief cities of Persia. Situated, like Pasargadæ and Persepolis, in a capacious plain surrounded by mountains, which furnish sufficient water for cultivation to be carried on by means of kanats in most parts of the tract enclosed by them, and occupying a site through which the trade of the country almost of necessity passes, Kerman must always be a town of no little consequence. Its inland and remote position, however, caused it to be little known to the Greeks; and, ap- parently, the great Alexandrian geographer was the first who made them acquainted with its existence and locality. The Persian towns or villages upon the coast of the Gulf were chiefly Armuza? (which gave name to the district of Armuzia), opposite the modern island of Ormuz; Sisidona,' which must have been near Cape Jerd ; Apostana, probably about Shewar; Gogana," no doubt the modern Kongoon; and Taöcé on the Granis,12 famous as having in its neighbourhood a royal palace,13 which we may perhaps place near Dalaki, Taöcé itself occupying the position of Rohilla, at the mouth of the Khisht river. Of the inland towns the most remarkable. after Persepolis, Pasar- gadæ, and Carmana, were Gabæ, near Pasargadæ, 14 also the site of a palace;15 Uxia,16 or the Uxian city, which may have • Geograph. vi. 8. Kapuavn untpó- | Arrian (Hist. Ind. xxxiii. 1). Tols. 9 Arrian, Hist. Ind. xxxvii. 8. * Amm. Marc. xxiï. 6. “Inter civi 10 Ibid. xxxviii. 5. This name, per- tates nitet Carmana omnium mater." haps, remains in the Mount Asban of Pottinger, pp. 221-227 ; Abbott in these parts. (Vincent, Periplus, p. 381.) Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. pp. 29, 30. " Arrian, xxxviii. 7. Pottinger, p. 206. 12 Ibid. xxxix. 3 ; Ptol. vi. 4. * Ptol. Geograph. vi. 8. This name is 13 Arrian, I. s. c. ; Strab. xv. 3, $ 3. evidently the original of the modern 14 Ptol. Geograph. 1. 8. C. Ormuz or Hormuz, The Hormuzians 15 Strab. 1. s.c. Gabiané, a district were forced to migrate early in the 13th of Elymais (according to Strabo), pro- century. (D'Anville, in the Mémoires de bably took its name from this city. l'Académie des Sciences, tom. xxx. p. 141.) (Strab. xvi. 1, § 18.) • Armuzia or Harmazia appears as á 16 Ptol. Geograph. 1. 8. C. “region " in Pliny (H. N. vi. 27), and " So Q. Curtius, Hist. Alex. iii. 5. 94 CHAP. L. THE FIFTH MONARCHY, occupied the position of Mal-Amir,18 Obroatis, Tragonicé, Ardea, Portospana,19 Hyrba,20 &c., which it is impossible to locate unless by the merest conjecture. The chief districts into which the territory was divided were Parætacêné, a portion of the Bakhtiyari mountain-chain, which some, however, reckoned to Media ; 21 Mardyêné, or the country of the Mardi, also one of the hill tracts;22 Taocêné, the district about Taöcé, part of the low sandy coast region ; 23 Ciribo, the more northern portion of the same region ; 24 and Carmania, the entire eastern territory.25 These districts were not divided from one another by any marked natural features, the only division of the country to which such a character attached being the triple one into the high sandy plains north of the moun- tains, the mountain region, and the Deshtistan, or low hot tract along the coast. From this account it will be easy to understand how Persia Proper acquired and maintained the character of “a scant land and a rugged," which we find attaching to it in ancient authors.26 The entire area, as has been already observed, was about 100,000 square miles ?7_little more than half that of Spain, and about one-fifth of the area of modern Persia. Even of this space nearly one-half was uninhabitable, consisting either of barren stony mountain or of scorching sandy plain, ill supplied with water, and often impregnated with salt. The habitable portion 18 As the Baron de Bode conjectures. | 66; Strab. xv. 3, $ 1. (Geograph. Journal, vol. xiii. pp. 108 23 Compare Strab. xv. 3, $ 3; Arrian, 112.) Hist. Ind. xxxix. 3 ; Ptol. Geograph. 19 These four places are mentioned vi. 4. both by Ptolemy (Geograph. vi. 4) and 24 Plin. H. N. vi. 26. by Ammianus (xxiii. 6). The latter 25 Most of the ancient geographers places Portospana in Carmania. regard Carmania as a distinct country, 20 Hyrba appears as a Persian town lying east of Persia (Strab. xv. 3, § 1; on the borders of Media in a fragment Plin. H. N. vi. 24 ; Ptol. Geograph, vi. of Nicolas of Damascus. (Fr. 66.) 4, 6; Arrian. Hist. Ind. xxxvii. 1). 21 See above, vol. ii. p. 277. Ptolemy, But it appears from Herodotus that in however, assigns Parætacêné to Persia the early times the Carmanians were (Geograph. vi. 4). considered to be simply a tribe of Per- 22 Ptôl. 1. 8. c. This writer's Mar | sians. (Herod. i. 120. Compare Strab. dyêné seems to be the mountain region xv. 2, § 14, ad fin.) extending from Bebahan to Kazerun. % Herod. ix. 122 ; Plat. Leg. ii. That the Mardi were mountaineers ap 695 A ; Arrian, Exp. Alex. v. 27 See above, p. 86. CHAP. I. 95 GENERAL CHARACTER OF PERSIA PROPER. consisted of the valleys and plains among the mountains and along their skirts, together with certain favoured spots upon the banks of streams in the flat regions. These flat regions them- selves were traversed in many places by rocky ridges of a singularly forbidding aspect. The whole appearance of the country was dry, stony, sterile. As a modern writer observes, "the livery of the land is constantly brown or grey ; water is scanty ; plains and mountains are equally destitute of wood. When the traveller, after toiling over the rocky mountains that separate the plains, looks down from the pass he has won with toil and difficulty upon the country below, his eye wanders unchecked and unrested over an uniform brown expanse losing itself in distance.”28 Still this character, though predominant, is not universal. Wherever there is water, vegetation springs up. The whole of the mountain region is intersected by valleys and plains which are more or less fertile. The line of country between Bebahan and Shiraz is for above sixty miles “covered with wood and verdure."29 East of Shiraz, on the route between that city and Kerman, the country is said to be in parts “picturesque and romantic,” consisting of “low luxuriant valleys or plains separated by ranges of low mountains, green to their very summits with beautiful turf.”30 The plains of Khubbes, Merdasht, Ujan, Shiraz, Kazerun, and others, 81 produce abun- dantly under a very inefficient system of cultivation. Even in the most arid tracts there is generally a time of greenness immediately after the spring rains, when the whole country smiles with verdure. It has been already remarked that the Empire, which, com- mencing from Persia Proper, spread itself, towards the close of the sixth century before Christ, over the surrounding tracts, >Fraser, Khorasan, pp. 163, 164. - Kinneir, Persian Empire, p. 55. Compare Geograph. Journal, vol. xiii. Pp. 79-84. *** Pottinger, Travels, p. 237. * Compare Pottinger, pp. 229, 239 ; Abbott, in Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. pp. 34, 74 ; vol. xxvii. pp. 150, 158, 165, | 184 ; Monteith, in the same, vol. xxvii. p. 116 ; Morier, First Journey, p. 92 ; Second Journey, pp. 83, 122, &c. ; Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. pp. 469, 473, 685, 709; Fraser, Khorasan, pp. 79, 114, &c. Fraser, Khorasan, p. 163; Abbott, in Geographical Journal, vol. xxv. p. 50. 96 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. included a number of countries not yet described in these volumes, since they formed no part of any of the four Empires which preceded the Persian.? To complete, therefore, the geo- graphical survey proper to our subject, it will be necessary to give a sketch of the tracts in question. They will fall naturally into three groups, an eastern, a north-western, and a south- western—the eastern extending from the skirts of Mount Zagros to the Indian Desert, the north-western from the Caspian to the Propontis, and the south-western from the borders of Palestine to the shores of the Greater Syrtis. Inside the Zagros and Elburz ranges, bounded on the north and west by those mountain-lines, on the east by the ranges of Suliman and Hala, and on the south by the coast-chain which runs from Persia Proper nearly to the Indus, lies a vast table- land, from 3000 to 5000 feet above the sea level, known to modern geographers as the Great Plateau of Iran. Its shape is an irregular rectangle, or trapezium, extending in its greatest length, which is from west to east, no less than twenty degrees, or above 1100 miles, while the breadth from north to south varies from seven degrees, or 480 miles (which is its measure along the line of Zagros), to ten degrees, or 690 miles, where it abuts upon the Indus valley. The area of the tract is probably from 500,000 to 600,000 square miles. It is calculated that two-thirds of this elevated region are absolutely and entirely desert.* The rivers which flow from the mountains surrounding it are, with a single exception—that of the Etymandrus or Helmend—insignificant, and their waters almost always lose themselves, after a course proportioned to their volume, in the sands of the interior. Only two, the Helmend and the river of Ghuzni, have even the strength to form lakes; the others are absorbed by irrigation, or sucked up ? See above, p. 85. | the truth. * Fraser, p. 162. This writer's ob Chesney, vol. i. p. 78. This para- servations gave for the height of dif. graph and the next are repeated from ferent parts of the plateau a minimum the author's Herodotus, where they of 2500 and a maximum of 4500 feet. formed a part of one of the “Essays " Col. Chesney calls the average elevation appended to the first volume. (See 5000 feet (Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. pages 440, 441 of the second edition.) p. 65); but this estimate is in excess of CHAP. I. 97 EASTERN PROVINCES OF THE EMPIRE. by the desert. Occasionally a river, rising within the mountains, forces its way through the barrier, and so contrives to reach the sea. This is the case, especially, on the south, where the coast chain is pierced by a number of streams, some of which have their sources at a considerable distance inland. On the north the Heri-rud, or River of Herat, makes its escape in a similar way from the plateau, but only to be absorbed, after passing through two mountain chains, in the sands of the Kharesm. Thus by far the greater portion of this region is desert throughout the year, while, as the summer advances, large tracts, which in the spring were green, are burnt up—the rivers shrink back towards their sources—the whole plateau becomes dry and parched—and the traveller wonders that any portion of it should be inhabited. It must not be supposed that the entire plateau of which we have been speaking is to the eye a single level and unbroken plain. In the western portion of the region the plains are con- stantly intersected by “ brown, irregular, rocky ridges,” ? rising to no great height, but serving to condense the vapours held in the air, and furnishing thereby springs and wells of inestimable value to the inhabitants. In the southern and eastern districts "immense” ranges of mountains are said to occur ;8 and the south-eastern as well as the north-eastern corners of the plateau are little else than confused masses of giant elevations. Vast flats, however, are found. In the Great Salt Desert, which extends from Kashan and Koum to the Deriah or “Sea” in which the Helmend terminates, and in the sandy desert of from near Furrah to the Mekran mountains, plains of above a * Especially the Dusee or Punjgur | are so parched and burnt before mid- river, which rises near Nushki in lat. summer, that, if it were not for the 29° 40', long. 65° 5', and falls into the heaps of corn in the villages near them, sea near Grattur, in lat. 25° 10', long. | a passing stranger might conclude that 61° 30. harvest was unknown in that apparently “A monotonous reddish - brown barren region.” (Euphrates Expedition, colour," says Col. Chesney, “is pre | vol. i. p. 79.) sented by everything in Iran, including ? Chesney, 1. s.c. equally the mountains, plains, hills, 8 Kinneir, Persian Empire, p. 210. rocks, animals, and reptiles. For even 9 Chesney, vol. i. ch. viii.; Kinneir, in the more favoured districts, the fields | p. 211; Ferrier, Caravan Journeys, p. which have yielded an abundant crop | 238. VOL. III. н 98 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. hundred miles in extent appear to occur,10 sometimes formed of loose sand, which the wind raises into waves like those of the sea, sometimes hard and gravelly,12 or of baked and indurated clay.18 The tract in question, which at the present day is divided between Affghanistan, Beloochistan, and Iran, contained, at the time when the Persian Empire arose, the following nations :- the Sagartians, the Cossæans, the Parthians, the Hariva or Arians, the Gandarians, the Sattagydians, the Arachotians, the Thamanæans, the Sarangæ, and the Paricanians. The Sagar- tians and Cossæans dwelt in the western portion of the tract, the latter probably about the Siah-Koh mountains,14 the former scattered over the whole region from the borders of Persia Proper to the Caspian Gates and the Elburz range.15 Along its northern edge, east of the Sagartians, were the Parthians, the Arians, and the Gandarians, occurring in that order as we proceed from west to east. The Parthians held the country known now as the the Elburz from about Shahrud to Khaff, together with a portion of the mountain region adjoining. This is a rich and valuable territory, well watered by a number of small streams, which, issuing from the ravines and valleys of the Elburz, spread fertility around, 17 but lose themselves after a short course in the Salt Desert. Adjoining the Parthians upon the east were 10 Pottinger, Travels, pp. 132-138; L 13 Chesney, vol. i. p. 79; Ferrier, Geograph. Journal, vol. xi. pp. 136-156; Caravan Journeys, p. 403. vol, xiv. pp. 145-179. 14 See above, vol. ü. p. 282. 11 Kinneir says: “The sand of the 15 Herod. i. 125; ü. 93 ; Justin, xli. 1; desert is of a reddish colour, and so Ptol. Geogr. vi. 2; Behist. Inscr. col. ii. light that when taken into the hand the par. 15. particles are scarcely palpable. It is * 16 The term Atak is applied to both raised by the wind into longitudinal sides of the range. Mr. Fraser applies waves, which present on the side towards | it especially to the strip which skirts the point from which the wind blows a the mountains along their northern base. gradual slope from the base, but on the (Khorasan, pp. 245, 251, &c.) On the other side rise perpendicularly to the true country of the Parthians, see the height of 10 or 20 feet, and at a dis author's Herodotus, vol. iv. p. 162 ; and compare Herod. iii. 93, 117; vii. 66; brick wall.” (Persian Empire, p. 222. Isid. Char. Mans. Parth. p. 7; Pliny, Compare Fraser, Khorasan, p. 252, and H. N. vi. 25. Abbott in Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. 17 Fraser, Khorasan, pp. 335, 351, p. 37.) 358, &c. . 12 Kinneir, p. 217; Fraser, l. 8. c. i CHAP. I. 99 NATIONS OF THE PLATEAU. the Haroyu, Hariva, or Arians, an Iranic race of great antiquity.18 who held the country along the southern skirts of the mountains from the neighbourhood of Khaff to the point where the Heri- rud (Arius) issues from the Paropamisan mountains. The character of this country closely resembles that of Parthia, whereof it is a continuation ; but the copious stream of the Heri-rud renders it even more productive, The Gandarians held Kabul, and the mountain tract on both sides of the Kabul river as far as the upper course of the Indus? thus occupying the extreme north-eastern corner of the plateau, the region where its elevation is the greatest. Lofty mountain- ridges, ramifying in various directions but tending generally to run east and west, deep gorges, narrow and tremendous passes, like the Khyber, characterize this district. Its soil is generally rocky and barren; but many of the valleys are fertile, abounding with enchanting scenery and enjoying a delightful climate.4 More especially is this the case in the neighbourhood of the city of Kabul, which is perhaps the Caspatyrus of Hero- dotus," where Darius built the fleet which descended the Indus. South of Aria and Gandaria, in the tract between the Great Desert and the Indus valley, the plateau was occupied by four nations—the Thamanæans, the Sarangians, the Sattagydians, and the Arachotians. The Thamanæan country appears to have been that which lies south and south-east of Aria (Herat), reaching from the Haroot-rud or river of Subzawar to the banks of the Helmend about Ghirisk. This is a varied region, con- sisting on the north and the north-east of several high moun- 15 This people appears as Haroyu in Chi, a Tâtar race, in the fifth or sixth the Zendavesta (supra, vol. ii. p. 433, century of our era, they migrated to the 89). In the inscriptions of Darius they south-west, occupying the valley of the are called Hariva (Behist. Inscr. col. i. Urghand-ab (ancient Arachotus), and par. 6). Herat and the Heri-rud are impressing on the tract the name which clearly continuations of the old name. it still bears, of Kandahar. The Greek "Aplou or "A pelou very imper : Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. fectly renders the native appellation. i pp. 160-173; Elphinstone, Kabul, pp. Fraser, Khorasan, Appendix, p. 30; 86 et seqq. Vámbéry, Travels, pp. 269, 270 ; Poto 4 Chesney, vol. i. p. 171. tinger, I'ravels, p. 416. 5 Herod. iii. 102; iv. 44. Compare > On the position of the Gandarians Hecatæus, Fr. 179. in the time of the Persian Empire, see | 6 From the accounts which Herodotus the author's Herodotus, vol. iv. p. 175, 1 gives of the Thamanæans, we could only 2nd edition. Pressed upon by the Yue gather that they dwelt in the neighbour 823107 100 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. tain chains which ramify from a common centre, having be- tween them large tracts of hills and downs, while towards the south and the south-west the country is comparatively low and flat, descending to the level of the desert about the thirty-second parallel. Here the Thamanæans were adjoined upon by the Sarangians, who held the land about the lake in which the Helmend terminates 8—the Seistan of Modern Persia. Seistan is mainly desert. “One-third of the surface of the soil is com- posed of moving sands, and the other two-thirds of a compact sand, mixed with a little clay, but very rich in vegetable matter."' It is traversed by a number of streams, as the Haroot- . rud, the river of Furrah, the river of Khash, the Helmend, and others, and is very productive along their banks, which are fertilised by annual inundations ;10 but the country between the streams is for the most part an arid desert. The Sattagydians and Arachotians divided between them the remainder of Affghanistan, the former probably occupying south-eastern Kabul, from the Ghuzni river and its tributaries to the valley of the Indus," while the latter were located in the modern Candahar, upon the Urghand-ab and Turnuk rivers. 12 The character of these tracts is similar to that of north-western Kabul, but somewhat less rugged and mountainous. Hills and downs alternate with rocky ranges and fairly fertile vales.13 There is a scantiness of water, but still a certain number of moderate-sized rivers, tolerably well supplied with affluents. 193. p. 174. hood of the Sarangians, Parthians, and vi. 23), Arrian (Exp. Alex. iii. 25; vi. 17), Hyrcanians (iii. 93, 117). The ground and Ptolemy (Geograph, vi. 19). for locating them in the tract lying · Ferrier, p. 426. Compare Christie between the Haroot-rud and Ghirisk, is in Pottinger's Travels, Appendix, p. 407, to be found in Isidore of Charax, if we and Kinneir, Persian Empire, pp. 189- are allowed to read εντεύθεν θαμαναίων 10 Ferrier, p. 427. xúpa for évTEDOEV 'Ava'wv xópa, the 11 See the author's Herodotus, vol. iv. Anaui being a people otherwise wholly unknown. (See the author's Herodotus, 12 This position is plain from Ptolemy vol. iv. p. 173, notes and 6.) (Geograph. vi. 18) and Isidore (Mans. · Ferrier, Caravan Journeys, pp. 238. Parth. § 19). There can be little doubt 255. that in the word Urghand-ab we have The Sarangians (or Zarangians) of a corruption of the name Arachot-us, Herodotus, are undoubtedly the Dran which was applied to the chief stream gians of later writers. Their position of the district. (Isid. Char. I. s. c.) is pretty certainly fixed by the notices | 13 Chesney, vol. i. pp. 166-170; El- in Strabo (xv. 2, 88 5-10), Pliny (H. N. | phinstone, Kabul, p. 452. CHAP. I. IOI THE NORTH-EASTERN LOWLAND. The soil, however, is either rocky or sandy; and without a careful system of irrigation great portions of the country remain of necessity barren and unproductive. The south-eastern corner of the plateau, below the countries of the Sarangians and the Arachotians, was occupied by a people, called Paricanians by Herodotus,14 perhaps identical with the Gedrosians of later writers. This district, the modern Beloochistan, is still very imperfectly known, but appears to be generally mountainous, to have a singularly barren soil, and to be deficient in rivers.15 The nomadic life is a necessity in the greater part of the region, which is in few places suitable for cultivation, but has good pastures in the mountains or the plains according to the season of the year. The rivers of the country are for the most part mere torrents, which carry a heavy body of water after rains, but are often absolutely dry for several months in succession.16 Water, however, is generally obtainable by digging wells in their beds;7 and the liquid procured in this way suffices, not only for the wants of man and beast, but also for a limited irrigation. The Great Plateau which has been here described is bor- dered everywhere, except at its north-eastern and north-western corners, by low regions. On the north the lowland is at first a mere narrow strip intervening between the Elburz range and the Caspian, a strip which has been already described in the account given of the Third Monarchy.18 Where, however, the Caspian ends, its shore trending away to the northward, there succeeds to this mere strip of territory a broad and ample tract of sandy plain, extending from about the 54th to the 68th degree of east longitude-a distance of 760 miles—and reach- ing from the 36th to the 50th parallel of north latitude—a distance not much short of a thousand miles! This tract, which comprises the modern Khanats of Khiva and Bokhara, together with a considerable piece of Southern Asiatic Russia, " Herod. iii. 94; vii. 68. The term / 15 Pottinger, Travels, pp. 24-184, and “Paricanians” is perhaps not ethnic. pp. 249-262.. Probably it means simply “moun. ** 16 Ibid. p. 259. 17 Ibid. p. 261. taineers." 18 See above, vol. ü. pp. 278, 279. 102 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. is for the most part a huge trackless desert, composed of loose sand, black or red,19 which the wind heaps up into hills. Scarcely any region on the earth's surface is more desolate. 20 The boundless plain lies stretched before the traveller like an interminable sea, but dead, dull, and motionless. Vegetation, even the most dry and sapless, scarcely exists. For three or four hundred miles together he sees no running stream. Water, salt, slimy, and discoloured, lies occasionally in pools, or is drawn from wells, which yield however only a scanty supply.21 For anything like a drinkable beverage the traveller has to trust to the skies," which give or withhold their stores with a caprice that is truly tantalizing. Occasionally, but only at long intervals, out of the low sandy region there rises a rocky range, or a plateau of moderate eminence, where the soil is firm, the ground smooth, and vegetation tolerably abundant. The most important of the ranges are the Great and Little Balkan, near the Caspian Sea, between the 39th and 40th parallels, the Khalata and Urta Tagh, north-west of Bokhara, and the Kukutli, still further to the north-west, in latitude 42° nearly. The chief plateau is that of Ust-Urt, between the Caspian and the Sea of Aral, which is perhaps not more than three or four hundred feet above the sandy plain, but is entirely different in character. This desolate region of low sandy plain would be wholly uninhabitable, were it not for the rivers. Two great streams, the Amoo or Jyhun (anciently the Oxus), and the Sir or Syhun (ancienty the Jaxartes), carry their waters across the desert, and pour them into the basin of the Aral. Several others of less volume, as the Murg-ab, or river of Merv, the Abi Meshed • Hence the names “Desert of Kizil | the sight, except here and there at long Koum” (or Red Sand) and “ Desert of intervals some spots on which there Kara Koum" (or Black Sand). grow a few stunted shrubs." See also 20 See M. Vámbéry's Travels, p. 107. | Burnes in Geograph. Journal, vol. iv. Compare Mouravieff as quoted by Depp. 305-311. Hell, Travels in the Steppes, p. 326. | 2 Vámbéry, pp. 102, 107, 111, 112, &c. “ This country exhibits the image of Ibid. pp. 113, 114, 157, &c. death, or rather of the desolation left ? Ibid. pp. 114-116. The Kaflankir behind by a great convulsion of nature. crossed by M. Vámbéry seems to have Neither birds nor quadrupeds are found been an outlying peninsula belonging in it; no verdure nor vegetation cheers to the Ust-Urt tract. CHAP. I. 103 THE NORTH-EASTERN LOWLAND. or Tejend, the Heri-rud, the river of Maymene, the river of Balkh, the river of Khulm, the Shehri-Sebz, the Ak Su or river of Bokhara, the Kizil Deria, &c., flow down from the high ground into the plain, where their waters either become lost in the sands, or terminate in small salt pools. Along the banks of these streams the soil is fertile, and where irrigation is em- ployed the crops are abundant. In the vicinity of Khiva,“ at Kermineh on the Bokhara river, at Samarcand,' at Balkh,' and in a few other places, the vegetation is even luxuriant; gar- dens, meadows, orchards, and cornfields fringe the river-bank; and the natives see in such favoured spots resemblances of Paradise !8 Often, however, even the river-banks themselves are uncultivated, and the desert creeps up to their very edge;9 but this is in default, not in spite, of human exertion. A well managed system of irrigation could, in almost every instance, spread on either side of the streams a broad strip of verdure. In the time of the Fifth Monarchy, the tract which has been here described was divided among three nations. The region immediately to the east of the Caspian, bounded on the north by the old course of the Oxus and extending eastward to the neighbourhood of Merv, though probably not including that city,1° was Chorasmia," the country of the Chorasmians. Across the Oxus 12 to the north-east was Sogdiana (or Sugd), reaching thence to the Jaxartes, which was the Persian boundary in this direction 13 South of Sogdiana, divided from it by the Middle * This is the case with the Bokhara º Ibid. pp. 152-156. river, which terminates in Lake Dengiz, | 10 Margiana, the tract about Merv, is and with the Shehri-Sebz river, which reckoned by Darius to Bactria. (Beh. is evaporated by the Kul Mohi. The Inscr. col. iii. par. 4.) Murg-ab also ends in a swamp. The "Chorasmia appears as Qairizem in rivers of Balkh and Khulm are con the Zendavesta (supra, vol. ii. p. 371, sumed in irrigation. The Maymene note ), as Uvarazmiya in the Persian river and the Kizil Deria lose them. cuneiform inscriptions. (Beh. Inscr. selves in the sands. col. i. par. 6.) The capital city was * Vámbéry, p. 121. still called Kharesm in the time of Gen- 5 Ibid. p. 199. Ibid. p. 214. ghis Khan, and hence its name was · Ferrier, Caravan Journeys, pp. 197- | given to the great Kharesmian Empire. 230; Burnes, Bokhara, vol. i. p. 245. Kharezm is still the political name of Compare Q. Curt. vi. 4, 8 26. Khiva. (Vámbéry, p. 126.) * A native proverb says: "Samarkand 12 Eratosth. ap. Strab. xi. 8, § 8. firdousi manend”—Samarkand resembles 13 Arrian, Exp. Alex. ïï. 30; iv. 3; Paradise." (See Vámbéry, p. 204.) 1 Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. vii. 7; Strab. l. s.c. still called in the capital city was 104 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. and Upper Oxus, was Bactria, the country of the Bakhtars or Bactrians. The territory of this people reached southward to the foot of the Paropamisus, adjoining Chorasmia and Aria on the west, and on the south Sattagydia and Gandaria. East of the table-land lies the valley of the Indus and its tributaries, at first a broad tract, 350 miles from west to east, but narrowing as it descends, and in places not exceeding sixty or seventy miles across. The length of the valley is not less than 800 miles. Its area is probably about a hundred thousand square miles. We may best regard it as composed of two very distinct tracts—one the broad triangular plain towards the north, to which, from the fact of its being watered by five main streams, the natives have given the name of Punj-ab,14 the other the long and comparatively narrow valley of the single Indus river, which, deriving its appellation from that noble stream, is known in modern geography as Sinde.15 The Punjab, which contains an area of above fifty thousand square miles, is mountainous to- wards the north, where it adjoins on Kashmeer and Thibet, but soon sinks down into a vast plain, with a soil which is chieflyeither Sand or clay, immensely productive under irrigation, but tending to become jungle or desert if left without human care, 16 Sinde, or the Indus valley below the Punjab, is a region of even greater fertility. It is watered, not only by the main stream of the Indus, but by a number of branch channels which the river begins to throw off from about the 28th parallel. It includes, on the right bank of the stream, the important tract called Cutchi Gandava, a triangular plain at the foot of the Suliman and Hala ranges, containing about 7000 square miles of land which is all capable of being made into a garden. The soil is here for the most part rich, black, and loamy;17 water is 14 Punj-ab—"Five Rivers," punj | (supra, vol. ii. p. 434, § 19). The being the modern form of the Sanscrit Greeks and Romans sometimes called pancha, “five," and ab (or au) being an the river Sindus instead of Indus. (Plin. old word for "water" in most Indo H. N. vi. 20.) European languages. 16 Great portions of the doabs or tracts 15 Sinde, India, and Hindu-stan, are between the streams are in this con- various representatives of the same dition. In the most western of them native word. Hindu is the oldest known there is a large desert of loose sand. form, since it occurs in one of the (Elphinstone, Caubul, vol. i. pp. 32, 33.) most ancient portions of the Zendavesta | 17 Kinneir, Persian Empire, p. 213. CHAP. I. 105 THE SOUTHERN LOWLAND. abundant; and the climate suitable for the growth of all kinds of grain. 18 Below Cutchi Gandava the valley of the Indus is narrow for about a hundred miles, but about Tatta it expands and a vast delta is formed. This is a third triangle, containing above a thousand square miles of the richest alluvium, which is liable however to floods and to vast changes in the river beds, whereby often whole fields are swept away. Much of this tract is moreover low and swampy; the climate is trying; and rice is almost the only product that can be advantageously cultivated.19 The low region lying south of the Great Plateau is neither extensive nor valuable.. It consists of a mere strip of land along the coast of the Indian Ocean, extending a distance of about nine degrees (550 miles) from the mouth of the Persian Gulf to Cape Monze, near Kurrachee, but in width not exceed- ing ten or, at the most, twenty miles. This tract was occupied in ancient times mainly by a race which Herodotus called Ethiopians 20 and the historians of Alexander Ichthyophagi (Fish-Eaters).21 It is an arid, sultry, and unpleasant region, scarcely possessing a perennial stream, and depending for its harvests entirely upon the winter rains, 22 and for its water during the summer on wells which are chiefly brackish.23 Tolerable pasturage is, however, obtainable in places even during the hottest part of the year, and between Cape Jask and Gwattur the crops produced are far from contemptible.24 A small tract of coast, a continuation of the territory just described, intervening between it and Kerman, was occupied in the early Persian times by a race known to the Persians as Maka, and to the Greeks as Mycians (Múkol). This district, reaching from about Cape Jask to Gombroon, is one of greater fertility than is usual in these regions, being particularly pro- * Pottinger, Travels, pp. 308-311 ; | xxix. 9-16; Strab. xv. 2 881 and 13; Plin. Geograph. Journal, vol. xiv. p. 198. H. N. vi. 23 ; Solinus, Polyhist, g 57. 19 See Wood's Memoir on the Indus, 22 Kinneir, p. 203. and compare the Geograph. Journal, vol. 23 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, iii. pp. 113-115; vol. viii. art. 25; and vol. i. p. 178; Geograph. Journal, vol. vol. X. B. 530. xxxiii. Pr. 183, 187, 195; Arrian, Hist. * Herod. jj. 94; vii. 70. Ind. xxvi. 5. a Nearchus ap. Arr. Hist. Ind. xxvi. 2; 1 24 Kinneir, pp. 203, 204. 106 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. ductive in dates and grain.25 This fertility seems, however, to be confined to the vicinity of the sea-shore. To complete the description of the Eastern provinces two other tracts must be mentioned. The mountain-chain which skirts the Great Plateau on the north, distinguished in these pages by the name of Elburz, broadens out after it passes the south-eastern corner of the Caspian Sea till it covers a space of nearly three degrees (more than 200 miles). Instead of the single lofty ridge which separates the Salt Desert from the low Caspian region, we find between the fifty-fourth and fifty-ninth degrees of east longitude three or four distinct ranges, all nearly parallel to one another, having a general direction of east and west. Broad and rich valleys are enclosed between these lati- tudinal ranges, which are watered by rivers of a considerable size, as more especially the Ettrek and the Gurgan. Thus a territory is formed capable of supporting a largish population, a territory which possesses a natural unity, being shut in on three sides by mountains, and on the fourth by the Caspian. Here in Persian times was settled a people called Hyrcani; and from them the tract derived the name of Hyrcania (Vehrkana), while the lake on which it adjoined came to be known as “the Hyrcanian Sea." The fertility of the region, its broad plains, shady woods, and lofty mountains were celebrated by the ancient writers. Further to the east, beyond the low sandy plain, and beyond the mountains in which its great rivers have their source on the other side of the “Roof of the World,” as the natives name this elevated region Zlay a tract unimportant in itself, but 23 Arrian, Hist. Ind. xxxii. 3, 4; Kin- . . . . to mèv Opeow doelpretai daotsi kai neir, pp. 194, 201. υψηλοίς, τη δέ πεδίον αυτής καθήκει έστε i Vehrkana appears in the Zendavesta επί την μεγάλην την ταύτη θάλασσαν. as the “ninth best of regions and coun See also Q. Curt. vi. 4, and compare the tries" (supra, vol. ii. p. 433, § 12). accounts of the moderns (Fraser, Khora. The name is given as Varkana in the san, pp. 599-602; Vámbéry, Travels, Behistun Inscription (col. ii. par. 16). ? Arrian, E.cp. Alex. iii. 29, 30; *** The Pamir Steppe, which is a con- Strab. xi. 6, 81; 7, $1; Q. Curt. Hist. tinuation of the Bolor range, is called Alex. vi. 4. by the natives Bami-duniya, or “the Strab. vi. 7, 52; 'H'Tpkavla opóspa Roof of the World.” (Geograph. Journal, ευδαίμων και πολλή και το πλέον πεδίας. vol. x. p. 535.) Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 23; 'H 'Tpkavia pp. 47-56). CHAP. L 107 PROVINCES OF THE NORTH-WEST. valuable to the Persians as the home of a people from whom they obtained excellent soldiers. The plain of Chinese Tartary, the district about Kashgar and Yarkand, seems to have been in possession of certain Sacans or Scythians," who in the flourish- ing times of the empire acknowledged subjection to the Persian crown. These Sacans, who called themselves Humavarga or Amyrgians, furnished some of the best and bravest of the Persian troops.? Westward they bordered on Sogdiana and Bactria ; northward they extended probably to the great moun- tain-chain of the Tien-chan; on the east they were shut in by the vast desert of Gobi or Shamoo; while southward they must have touched Gandaria and perhaps India. A portion of this country—that towards the north and west-was well watered and fairly productive ;' but the southern and eastern part of it must have been arid and desert. From this consideration of the Eastern provinces of the Empire, we pass on naturally to those which lay towards the North-West. The Caspian Sea alone intervened between these two groups, which thus approached each other within a dis- tance of some 250 or 260 miles. Almost immediately to the west of the Caspian there rises a high table-land diversified by mountains, which stretches eastward for more than eighteen degrees between the 37th and 41st parallels. This highland may properly be regarded as a continuation of the great Iranean plateau, with which it is connected at its south-eastern corner. It comprises a portion of the modern Persia, the whole of Armenia, and most of Asia Minor. Its principal mountain-ranges are latitudi nal or from west to east, only the minor ones taking the opposite or longitudinal direction.10 Of the latitudinal chains the most * The somewhat doubtful question of L & Darius unites the Sacæ, at Behistun, the habitat of these Persian Scythians is with the Gandarians and Sattagydians discussed at more length in the author's -at Persepolis with the Gandarians Herodotus, vol. iv. pp. 168, 169, 2nd and Mycians—at Nakhsh-i-Rustam with edition. the Gandarians and Indians. See the Nakhsh-i-Rustam Inscrip Fraser, Khorasan, Appendix, pp. tion, par. 3 (ibid. p. 207). Compare 110-112. Herod. vii. 64, and Hecatæus, Fr. 171. 10 These longitudinal chains are 'Herod. vi. 113; vü. 184; viü. 113; | chiefly towards the east. The prin- Art. Exp. Alex. üi. 13. | cipal are Mount Massula near the Cas- 108 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. important is the Taurús, which, commencing at the south- .. western corner of Asia Minor in longitude 29° nearly, bounds the great table-land upon the south, running parallel with the shore at the distance of sixty or seventy miles as far as the Pylæ Ciliciæ, near Tarsus, and then proceeding in a direction decidedly north of east, to the neighbourhood of Lake Van, where it unites with the line of Zagros. The elevation of this range, though not equal to that of some in Asia, is considerable. In Asia Minor the loftiest of the Taurus peaks seem to attain a height of about 9000 or 10,000 feet. Further to the east the elevation appears to be even greater, the peaks of Ala Dagh, Saran, Nimrud, and Mut Khan in the tract about Lake Van being all of them considerably above the line of perpetual snow,12 and therefore probably 11,000 or 12,000 feet. At the opposite side of the table-land, bounding it towards the north, there runs under various names a second continuous range of inferior elevation, which begins near Brusa, in the Keshish Dagh or Mysian Olympus, and proceeds in a line nesily parallel with the nortkern coast to the vicinity of Kars. Between this and Taurus are two other important ridges, which run westward from the neighbourhood of Ararat to about the 34th degree of east longitude, after which they subside into the plain. The heart of the mountain-region, the tract extending from the district of Erivan on the east to the upper course of the Kizil-Irmak river and the vicinity of Sivas upon the west, was, as it still is, Armenia. Amidst these natural fastnesses, in a country of lofty ridges, deep and narrow valleys, numerous and copious streams, and occasional broad plains—a country of rich pasture grounds, productive orchards, and abundant harvests 13 — pian, Mounts 'Kibleh and Sehend be- | Hamilton, Asia Minor, val. i. p. 305. Eween the Urumiyeh lake and the basin The last-named writer saw many peaks of the Kizil Uzen, and Mount Zagros or covered with snow in August, which in the great Kurdish range, which runs this latitude would imply a height of between Urumiyeh and Van, separating at least 10,000 feet. those two lake basins. 12 Chesney, vol. i. p. 69. " Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, 13 Ibid. p. 97. Comp. Strab. xi. 14, vol. i. p. 68. Compare Beaufort, Kara- | $ 4; Hamilton, vol. i. pp. 164-255, and mania, p. 57; Leake, Asia Minor, p. 104; Ker Porter, vol. i. pp. 171-215. CHAP. I. 109 ARMENIA, CAPPADOCIA, AND PHRYGIA. this interesting people has maintained itself almost unchanged from the time of the early Persian kings to the present day. Armenia was one of the most valuable portions of the Persian Empire, furnishing, as it did, besides stone and timber, and several most important minerals,14 an annual supply of 20,000 excellent horses to the stud of the Persian king 15 The highland west of Armenia, the plateau of Asia Minor, from the longitude of Siwas (37° E.) to the sources of the Meander and the Hermus, was occupied by the two nations of the Cappadocians and Phrygians, whose territories were sepa- rated by the Kizil-Irmak or Halys river. This tract, though diversified by some considerable ranges, and possessing one really lofty mountain, that of Argæus,le was, compared with Armenia, champaign and level. Its broad plains afforded the best possible pasturage for sheep, while at the same time they bore excellent crops of wheat.17 The entire region was well- watered; it enjoyed a delightful climate; and besides corn and cattle, furnished many products of value. 18 Outside the plateau on the north, on the north-east, on the west, and on the south, lie territories which, in comparison with the high region whereon they adjoined, may be called lowlands. The north-eastern lowland, the broad and rich valley of the Kur, which corresponds closely with the modern Russian province of Georgia, was in the possession of a people called by Herodotus Saspeires or Sapeires, whom we may identify with the Iberians of later writers.? Adjoining upon them towards the south, probably in the country about Erivan, and so in the neighbourhood of Ararat, were the Alarodians, whose name 14 See below, ch. i. pp. 158-163. is Strab. xi. 14, $ 9. Compare Ezek. uvi. 14. 16 The height of Mount Argæus, as obtained from the mean of three ob- servations taken by Mr. Hamilton, was 13.017 feet. (Researches in Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 279.) 17 Herodotus calls the Phrygians πολυπροβατωτάτους απάντων και πολυ- KAPOTÁTOUS (v. 49). Strabo says of Cappadocia, that it was αγαθή και καρ- ποις, μάλιστα δε σίτα και βοσκήμασι Tartodanois (xii. 2, § 10). 18 See the next chapter. 1 Herod. ii. 94; iv. 37; vii. 79. ? Strab. xi. 3, SS 1-6; Plin. H, N. vi 10; Ptol. v. 12; Dionys. Perieg. 695-699; Eustath. ad Dionys. 19; Pomp. Mel. i. 2, &c. For intermediate forms of the name, see Steph. Byz. ad voc. Sátelpes; Menand. Protect. Frs. 5, 41, 42, &c.; and Etym. Magn, ad voc. Béxelp. 110 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. must be connected with that of the great mountain. On the other side of the Sapeirian country, in the tracts now known as Mingrelia and Imeritia, regions of a wonderful beauty and fertility,“ were the Colchians—dependants, but not exactly subjects, of Persia. The northern lowland, which consisted of a somewhat narrow strip of land between the plateau and the Euxine, was a rich and well-wooded region, 650 miles in length, and in breadth from forty to a hundred. It was inhabited by a large number of rude and barbarous tribes, each of whom possessed a small portion of the sea-board. These tribes, enumerated in the order of their occurrence from east to west, were the following: - the Moschi, the Macrones (or Tzani)," the Mosynceci, the Mares, the Tibareni, the Chalybes, the Paphlagones, the Mariandyni, the Bithyni, and the Thyni. The Moschi, Macrones, Mosynæci, Mares, and Tibareni dwelt towards the east, occupying the coast from Batoum to Ordou.8 The Chalybes inhabited the tract immediately adjoining on Sinôpé. The Paphlagonians held the rest of the coast from the mouth of the Kizil-Irmak to Cape Baba, where they were succeeded by the Mariandyni, who owned the small tract between Cape Baba and the mouth of the Sakkariyeh (Sangarius).10 From the Sangarius to the canal of Constantinople dwelt the Thynians and Bithynians intermixed, the former however affecting the coast and the latter the inte- rior of the country." The entire tract was of a nearly uniform character, consisting of wooded spurs from the northern moun- tain-chain, with valleys of greater or less width between them, 12 3 The l and r are scarcely distinguish- ' ? On this identity, see Hecatæus, able in the Old Persian, and the Persian Fr. 191; Strab. xii. 3, § 18; Eustath. form of Ararat would naturally be ad Dionys. 766 ; Steph. Byz. ad voc. Alarud or Alalud. The Assyrian re Μάκρωνες. presentation of the word is Urard or 8 The exact position of each of these Urarda. (See Sir H. Rawlinson “On tribes is considered in the author's the Alarodians of Herodotus” in the Herodotus, vol. iv. pp. 179-184. author's Herodotus, vol. iv. pp. 203 9 Herod. i. 28; Ephorus, Fr. 80; 206, 2nd edition.) Pomp. Mel. i. 21; Scymn. Ch. 938. Geographical Journal, vol. üi. pp. 34, 10 Strab. xii. 2, 84; Scylax, Peripl. 35. Compare Strabo, xi. 2, § 17. § 91. 6 Herod. iï. 97; vii. 79. 11 Plin. H. N. v. 32. Except, perhaps, the Mosch. (See 12 See Hamilton, Asia Minor, vol. i. the author's Herodotus, vol. iv. p. 179, pp. 158-167; Chesney, Euphrates Expe- note, 2nd edition.) | dition, vol. i. pp. 321-332. CHAP. I. III COAST TRACTS. Streams were numerous, and vegetation was consequently rich; but it may be doubted whether the climate was healthy. The western lowland comprised the inland regions of Mysia, Lydia, and Caria, together with the coast-tracts which had been occupied by immigrant Greeks, and which were known as Æolis, Doris, and Ionia. The broad and rich plains, the open valleys, the fair grassy mountains, the noble trees, the numerous and copious rivers of this district are too well known to need de- scription here. The western portion of Asia Minor is a terres- trial paradise, well deserving the praises which Herodotus with patriotic enthusiasm bestowed upon it.13 The climate is de- lightful, only that it is somewhat too luxurious; the soil is rich and varied in quality; the vegetable productions are abundant; and the mountains, at any rate anciently, 14 possessed mineral treasures of great value. The lowland upon the south is narrower and more moun- tainous than either of the others. It comprised three countries only-Lycia, Pamphylia, and Cilicia. The tract is chiefly occupied by spurs from Taurus, between which lie warm and richly wooded valleys. In Lycia, however, the mountain-ridges embrace some extensive uplands,25 on a level not much inferior to that of the central plateau itself, while in Pamphylia and Cilicia are two or three low alluvial plains of tolerable extent and of great fertility. Of these the most remarkable is that near Tarsus, formed by the three streams of the Cydnus, the Sarus, and the Pyramus, which extends along the coast a distance of forty miles and reaches inland above thirty, 16 the region which gave to the tract where it occurs the name of Cilicia Campestris or Pedias. 17 The Persian dominion in this quarter was not bounded by the sea. Opposite to Cilicia lay the large and important island of " Herod. i. 142. OL sė "I wves ... | 393; Strab. xiii. 4, § 5. του μεν ουρανού και των ορέων εν τω 15 Fellows, Lycia, pp. 249-251; 256. καλλίστη ετύγχανον ίδρυσάμενοι πόλιας | 260. πάντων ανθρώπων των ημείς ιδμεν ούτε 16 Strab. xiv. 5, $8 12-17; Beaufort, yap Ta dyw atthis wpla TøUTÓ TOLÉEL TÔ Karamania, pp. 285-288; Chesney, Eu- Ipin, oẾT: Tà Kard, oÚTe Tà Tobs The 1 phrates Expedition, vol. i p. 352. τώ, ούτε τα προς την εσπέρην. 17 Strab. xiv. 5, § 1; Ptol. Geograph. * See Herod. v. 101 ; Soph. Philoct. 1 v. 8. 112 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Cyprus, which was included in the territories of the Great King from the time of Cambyses to the close of the Empire. Further to the west, Rhodes, Cos, Samos, Chios, Lesbos, Tenedos, Lemnus, Imbrus, Samothrace, Thasos, and most of the islands of the Egean were for a time Persian, but were never grasped with such firmness as to be a source of real strength to their conquerors. The same may be said of Thrace and Pæonia, subjugated under Darius, and held for some twenty or thirty years, but not assimilated, not brought into the condition of provinces, and therefore rather a drain upon the Empire than an addition to its resources. It seems unnecessary to lengthen out this description of the Persian territories by giving an account of countries and islands, whose connection with the Empire was at once so slight and so temporary. A few words must, however, be said respecting Cyprus. This island, which is 140 miles long from Bafa (Paphos) to Cape Andrea, with an average width for two-thirds of its length of thirty-five, and for the remaining third of about six or seven miles, is a mountainous tract, picturesque and varied, contain- ing numerous slopes, and a few plains, well fitted for cultiva- tion.18 According to Eratosthenes it was in the more ancient times richly wooded, but was gradually cleared by human labour.19 Its soil was productive, and particularly well suited for the vine and the olive. It grew also sufficient corn for its own use. 20 But its special value arose from its mineral products. The copper-mines near Tamasus were enormously productive, 20 and the ore thence derived so preponderated over all other supplies, that the later Romans came to use the word cyprium for the metal generally-whence the names by which it is even now known in most of the languages of modern Europe. On the whole Cyprus was considered inferior to no known island. 23 18 Chesney, 'pp. 456-460. Compare | per, the Spanish cobre, the Dutch koper, Ross, Reisen nach Kos, &c. pp. 83-209. and the French cuivre, are all derived 19 Ap. Strab. xiv. 6, $ 5. from the Latin Cyprium. 20 Strab. l. 8. c. Écowbs ĉoti kal 23 Κατ' αρετήν ουδεμίας των νήσων ευέλαιος, σίτω τε αυτάρκει χρήται. Aelmetal. Strab. l. 8. C. 'OXBLÚTATOL 2 Ibid. See also Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 1. | vnouwtwv oi KÚ PLOL. Eustath. ad 22 The German Kupfer, our own cop- | Dionys. 508. CHAP. I. 113 SOUTH-WESTERN PROVINCES—EGYPT. Besides its vegetable and mineral products, it furnished a large number of excellent sailors to the Persian fleet. 24 It remains to notice briefly those provinces of the south-west, which had not been included within any of the preceding monarchies, and which are therefore as yet undescribed in these volumes. These provinces are the African, and may be best considered under the three heads of Egypt, Libya, and the Cyrenaica. Egypt, if we include under the name not merely the Nile valley and the Delta, but the entire tract interposed between the Libyan Desert on the one side and the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea on the other, is a country of nearly the size of Italy. It measures 520 miles from Elephantine to the Mediterranean, and has an average width of 150 or 160 miles. It must thus contain an area of about 80,000 square miles. Of this space, however, at least three-fourths is valueless, consisting of bare rocky mountain or dry sandy plain. It is only along the course of the narrow valley in which the Nile flows from the Cataracts to beyond Cairo,in the tract known as the Faioum, and in the broad region of the Delta, that cultivation is possible. Even in the Delta itself there are large spaces which are arid, and others which are permanent marshes, so that considerable portions of its surface are unfitted for husbandry. But if the quantity of cultivable land is thus limited in Egypt, the quality is so excellent, in consequence of the alluvial character of the soil, that the country was always in ancient times a sort of granary of the world. The noble river, bringing annually a fresh deposit of the richest soil, and furnishing a supply of 24 Herod, üi. 19; vi. 6; vii. 90. Scylax even compares its shape to that 'Heeren (Manual of Ancient History, of a double-headed axe (Peripl. § 106). i p. 47, E.T.) reckons Egypt as “equal But in reality the valley only varies in in its superficial contents to two-thirds width from about seven miles to fifteen of Germany." But this is an enor during its entire course from the Cata- mous over-estimate. Germany contains racts to the head of the Delta. (Wilkin- 250,000 square miles, Egypt certainly | son in the author's Herodotus, vol. ii. not more than 80,000. Italy, without p. 9, note, 2nd edition.) the islands, contains about 90,000 square s Herod. č. 7, 92, 137, 140; Thucyd. miles. i. 110; Diod. Sic. i. 31, $ 5; 34, $ 3. ? The Greeks had a notion that the Compare Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, valley expanded at some little distance vol. iv. p. 115. above Cairo (Herod. ii. 8, ad fin.), and VOL. III. 114 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. water, which is sufficient, if carefully husbanded, to produce a succession of luxuriant crops throughout the year, makes Egypt —what it is even at the present day-one of the most fertile portions of the earth's surface-a land of varied products, all excellent—but especially a land of corn, to which the principal nations of the world looked for their supplies, either regularly, or at any rate in times of difficulty. West of Egypt was a dry and sandy tract, dotted with oases, but otherwise only habitable along the shore, which in the time of the Persian Empire was occupied by a number of wild tribes who were mostly in the lowest condition to which savage man is capable of sinking. The geographical extent of this tract was large, exceeding considerably that of Egypt; but its value was slight. Naturally, it produced nothing but dates and hides. The inhumanity of the inhabitants made it, however, further productive of a commodity, which, until the world is chris- tianized, will probably always be regarded as one of high value -the commodity of negro slaves, which were procured in the Sahara by slave-hunts, and perhaps by purchase in Nigritia. Still further to the west, and forming the boundary of the Empire in this direction, lay the district of the Cyrenaica, a tract of singular fertility and beauty. Between Benghazi, in east longitude 20°, and the Ras al Tynn (long. 23° 15'), there rises above the level of the adjacent regions an extensive table- land, which, attracting the vapours that float over the Medi- terranean, condenses them, and so abounds with springs and rills. A general freshness and greenness, with rich vegetation in places, is the consequence. Olives, figs, carobs, junipers, oleanders, cypresses, cedars, myrtles, arbutus-trees, cover the flanks of the plateau and the hollows which break its surface, * See Gen. xii. 10; xlii. 57; Herod. | Herodotus mentions still continues. üi. 91; Tac. Hist. ii. 8, 48; Ann. ii. (Hamilton, Wanderings in N. Africa, 59; Plin. Paneg. $31; &c. The depend- p. 196). ence of the Romans on Egypt for their s The elevation of the upper plateau corn supplies is a well-known fact. is estimated at from 1800 to 2000 feet. B Herod. ii. 32; iv. 181. (Beechy, Expedition to N. Coast of Africa, • See the description of Herodotus (iv. pp. 434, 435.) 168-172). **, Hamilton, pp. 31, 75, 76, 79, 80, &c. ? Ibid. iv. 183. The practice which GREAT RIVERS F THE EMPIRE. CHAP. I. GREAT RIVERS OF THE EMPIRE. 115 while the remainder is suitable alike for the cultivation of cereals and for pasturage.10 Nature has also made the region a special gift in the laserpitium or silphium, which was re- garded by the ancients as at once a delicacy and a plant of great medicinal power," and which added largely to the value of the country. Such was the geographical extent of the Persian Empire, and such were the chief provinces which it contained besides those previously comprised in the empires of Media or Babylon. Territorially, the great mass of the Empire lay towards the east, between long. 50° and 75°, or between the Zagros range and the Indian Desert. But its most important provinces were the western ones. East of Persepolis, the only regions of much value were the valleys of the Indus and the Oxus. Westward lay Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria, Media, Armenia, Iberia, Cap- padocia, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, the Cyrenaica-all countries of great, or at least considerable, productiveness. The two richest grain tracts of the ancient world, the best pasture regions, the districts which produced the most valuable horses, the most abundant of known gold, fields, were included within the limits of the Empire, which may be looked upon as self-sufficing, containing within it all that man in those days required, not only for his necessities, but even for his most cherished luxuries. The productiveness of the Empire was the natural result of its possessing so many and such large rivers. Six streams of the first class,12 having courses exceeding a thousand miles in length, helped to fertilise the lands which owned the sway of the Great King. These were the Nile, the Indus, the Euphrates, the Jaxartes, the Oxus, and the Tigris. Two of the six have been already described in these volumes, 18 and therefore will not need to detain us here ; but a few words must be said 1 Beechy, pp. 434-437. the Wolga, the Danube, the Dniepr, 1 See Herod. iv. 169; Scyl. Peripl.) and the Don. $ 108; Plin. H. N. xxii. 23; Theophrast. 13 The Euphrates and the Tigris. Hist. Pl. vi. 3; &c. (See above, vol. i. pp. 6-14.) 12 Europe has only four such rivers : | I 2 116 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. with respect to each of the remaining four, if our sketch of the geography of the Empire is to make any approach to completeness. The Nile was only in the latter part of its course a Persian stream. Flowing, as we now know that it does,14 from within a short distance of the equator, it had accomplished more than three-fourths of its course before it entered a Persian province. It ran, however, through Persian territory a distance of about six hundred miles,15 and conferred on the tract through which it passed, immeasurable benefits. The Greeks sometimes main- tained that “ Egypt was the gift of the river;"16 and, though this was very far from being a correct statement in the sense intended, there is a meaning of the words in which we may accept them as expressing a fact. Egypt is only what she is through her river. The Nile gives her all that makes her valuable. This broad, ample, and unfailing stream not only by its annual inundation enriches the soil and prepares it for tillage in a manner that renders only the lightest further labour neces- sary, but serves as a reservoir from which inexhaustible supplies of the precious fluid can be obtained throughout the whole of the year. The water, which rises towards the end of June, begins to subside early in October, and for half the year—from December till June—Egypt is only cultivable through irriga- tion. She produces, however, during this period, excellent crops -even at the present day, when there are few canals—from the facility with which water is obtained, by means of a very simple engine,” out of the channel of the Nile. This unfailing supply enabled the cultivator to obtain a second, a third, and 14 The labours of Speke, Grant, and tance of the old apex of the Delta from Baker, have not perhaps solved the en- | the sea by the Sebennytic branch at 110 tire mystery of the Nile sources—for a miles—from that to Thebes by the river chain of lakes may communicate with at 421 miles from Thebes to Elephan- the south-western extremity of the tiné at 124 miles—Total, 655 miles. Albert Nyanza, or a great stream, the (See the author's Herodotus, vol. ü. pp. 8 true infant Nile, may enter that lake and 10, notes 6 and , 2nd edition.) from the west-but they have traced 16 Herod, ii. 5; Hecatæus, Fr. 279. the river at any rate southward almost 1 Herod. ü. 14. Compare Wilkinson, to the equator, and shown that it has a Ancient Egyptians, vol. iv. pp. 39-41. course of at least 3000 miles. 2 Theshadoof of the modern Egyptians 15 Sir G. Wilkinson estimates the dis- | has a near represenattive upon the monu. CHAP. I. 117 THE NILE even sometimes a fourth crop from the same land within the space of a year. The course of the Nile from Elephantine, where it entered Egypt, to Cercasorus, near Heliopolis, where it bifurcated, was in general north, with, however, a certain tendency westward. It entered Egypt nearly in long. 33°, and at Neapolis (more than two degrees further north) it was still within 15' of the same meridian; then, however, it took a westerly bend, crossed the 32nd and 31st meridians, and in lat. 28° 23' reached west as far as long. 30° 45'. After this it returned a little east- ward, recrossed the 31st meridian, and having reached long. 31° 22' near Aphroditopolis (lat. 29° 25'), it proceeded almost due north to Cercasorus in lat. 30° 7'. The course of the river up to this point was, from its entry into the country, about 540 miles. At Cercasorus the Delta began. The river threw out two branches, which flowed respectively to the north-east and the north-west, while between them was a third channel, a con- tinuation of the previous course of the stream, which pierced the Delta through its centre, flowing almost due north. Lower down, further branch channels were thrown out, some natural, some ments. It consists of a long pole workI 9 Wilkinson, vol. iv. pp. 96, 97. ing over a cross-bar, with a rope and 1 - Herod. i. 15, 17, and 97; Strab. bucket at one end, and a weight to '| xvii, 1, $ 30; Pomp. Mel. i. 9. balance them at the other. Ancient Shadoof. 118 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. artificial, and the triangular tract between the two outer arms by fourteen large streams. The right and left arms appear to have been of about equal length, and may be estimated at 150 or 160 miles; the central arm had a shorter course, not exceed- ing 110 miles. The volume of water which the Nile pours into the Mediterranean during a day and night is estimated at from 150,000 millions to 700,000 millions of cubic métres. It was by far the largest of all the rivers of the Empire. The Indus, which was the next largest of the Persian rivers to the Nile, rose (like the Nile) outside the Persian territory. Its source is in the region north of the Himalaya range, about lat. 31°, long. 82° 30'S It begins by flowing to the north-west, in a direction parallel to that of the Western Himalayas, along the northern flank of which it continues in this line a distance of about 700 miles, past Ladak, to long. 75º nearly. Here it is met by the Bolor chain, which prevents its further progress in this direction and causes it to turn suddenly nearly at a right angle to the south-west. Entering a transverse valley, it finds a way (which is still' very imperfectly knownº) through the numerous ridges of the Himalaya to the plain at its southern. base, on which it debouches about thirty miles above Attock. It is difficult to say at what exact point it crossed the Persian frontier, but probably at least the first 700 miles of its course were through territory not Persian. From Attock to the sea the Indus is a noble river. It runs for 900 miles in a general direction of S.S.W. through the plain in one main stream (which (ii. 17), who calls the three main branches the Canobic, the Sebennytic, and the Pelusiac. From the Sebennytic, or central stream, there branched out (according to him) two others, which he calls the Saitic (Sanitic ?) and the Men- desian. Both these seem to have inter- vened between the Sebennytic and the Pelusiac mouths. There were also two artificial channels—the Bucolic and the Bolbitine-the former between the Se. bennytic and the Mendesian, the latter a brauch from the Canobic. Scylax have also seven mouths : the Canobie, Bolbitine, Sebennytic, Phatnitic, Men- desian, Tanitic, and Pelusiac. 6 Plin. H. N. v.10. ? Horner, in Transactions of the Royal Sociсty, vol. cxlv. pp. 101-138. & See Capt. Strachey's paper in the Geographical Journal, vol. xxiii. pp. 1-69. 9 See Capt. Strachey's Map, and com- the second volume of Elphinstone's Caubul, pp. 415, 416. CHAP. I. 119 THE INDUS—THE OXUS. is several hundred yards in width),10 while on its way it throws off also from time to time small side streamlets, which are either consumed in irrigation or rejoin the main channel. A little below Tatta its Delta begins—a Delta, however, much inferior in size to that of the Nile. The distance from the apex to the sea is not more than sixty miles, and the breadth of the tract embraced between the two arms does not exceed seventy miles. The entire course of the Indus is reckoned at 1960 miles,12 of which probably 1260 were through Persian terri- tory. The volume of the stream is always considerable, while in the rainy season it is very great. The Indus is said then to discharge into the Indian Ocean 446,000 cubic feet per second, 13 or 4280 millions of cubic yards in the twenty. four hours. The Oxus rises from an Alpine lake,14 lying on the western side of the Bolor chain in lat. 37° 40', long. 73° 50'. After a rapid descent from the high elevation of the lake, during which it pursues a somewhat serpentine course, it debouches from the hills upon the plain about long. 69° 20', after receiving the river of Fyzabad, and then proceeds, first west and afterwards north- west, across the Great Kharesmian Desert to the Sea of Aral. During the first 450 miles of its course, while it runs among the hills, it receives from both sides numerous and important tribu- taries; but from the meridian of Balkh these fail entirely, and for above 800 miles the Oxus pursues its solitary way, unaug- 18 At Mittun Kote, after receiving the great stream of the Chenab, which brings with it the waters of all the other Punjab rivers, the Indus is more than a mile wide, and never less than 15 feet deep. This width continues till Bukker the annual inundation, the size of it will be greatly enlarged. It must then be said to extend along the coast for 125 miles, and inland for above 100. Its area, according to this latter view of its limits, has been estimated at 7000 (lat. 26° 25') the average width is about graph. Journal, vol. iii. pp. 115-123, and three-quarters of a mile. At Hyderabad compare the third volume of his Bo- (lat. 25° 23') it is 830 yards, while at khara, pp. 228-240.) Tatta it is not more than 700 yards. 12 Keith Johnston, Physical Atlas, (Geograph. Journal, vol. iii. pp. 125-135.) “Hydrology," No. 5, p. 14. The estimate The true Delta, which lies between of Major Cunningahm is 1977 miles. the Buggaur and Sata arms, is here (Ladak, p. 90.) spoken of. If we take the Delta in the 13 Wood's Memoir on the Indus, p. 306. widest sense of the term, extending it 14 Geograph. Journal, vol. x. p. 536. southward to the Koree mouth, which The elevation of this lake is estimated only conveys water during the time of ' at 15,600 feet. 120 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. mented by a single affluent, across the waste of Tartary, rolling through the desert a wealth of waters, which must diminish, but which does not seem very sensibly to diminish, by evaporation. At Kilef, sixty miles north-west of Balkh, the width of the river is 350 yards ;15 at Khodja Salih, thirty miles lower down, it is 823 yards with a depth of twenty feet; 18 at Kerki, seventy miles below Khodja Salih, it is “twice the width of the Danube at Buda-Pesth,”?7 or about 940 yards ;18 at Betik, on the route between Bokhara and Merv, its width has diminished to 650 yards, but its depth has increased to twenty-nine feet.19 Finally, at Görlen Hezaresp near Khiva, “ the breadth of the Oxus is so great, that both banks are hardly distinguishable at the same time ;20 but the stream is here comparatively shallow, ceasing to be navigable at about this point. The present course of the Oxus from its rise in Lake Sir-i-Kol to its termination in the Sea of Aral is estimated at 1400 miles.? Anciently its course must have been still longer. The Oxus, in the time of the Achæmenian kings, fell into the Caspian : by a channel which can even now be traced. Its length was thus increased by at least 450 miles, and, exceeding that of the Jaxartes, fell but little short of the length of the Indus. The Oxus, like the Nile and the Indus, has a periodical swell, which lasts from May to October. It does not, however, overflow its banks. Under a scientific system of irrigation it is probable that a considerable belt of land on either side of its course might be brought under cultivation. But at present the extreme limit to which culture is carried, except in the immediate vicinity of Khiva, seems to be four miles ;? 15 Burnes, Bokhara, vol. ii. p. 190. | Strab. xi. 7, 83; Patrocles ap. eund. 16 Ibid. Compare vol. i. p. 249. xi. 11, $ 5; Eratosth. ap. eund. xi. 6, 17 Vámbéry, Travels, p. 228. 81; Plin. H. N. vi. 17; Arrian, Exp. 18 The famous bridge of boats, which Alex. üi. 29; Dionys. Perieg. l. 748; unites Buda with Pesth, is said to mea Mela, iii. 5; Ptol. Geograph. vi. 14. sure 1408 feet. (Murray, Handbook for + See Meyendorf, Voyage à Bokhara, S. Germany, p. 435, 3rd edition.) pp. 239-241; Vámbéry, Travels, pp. 106, 19 Burnes, Bokhara, vol, ii. p. 190. 115. 20 Vámbéry, p. 147. 5 Burnes, Bokhara, vol. ii. p. 192. i Burnes, Bokhara, vol. ii. p. 189. 6 On the cultivation here, see Vám. ? Keith Johnston, Physical Atlas, béry, pp. 120, 121, and 141. “Hydrology,” No. 5, p. 14. Burnes, 1. 8. C. 3 Herod. i. 02; Aristobulus ap. / Chap. I. 121 THE JAXARTES, while often, in the absence of human care, the desert creeps up to the very brink of the river. The Jaxartes, or Sir-Deria, rises from two sources in the Thian-chan mountain chain, the more remote of which is in long. 799 nearly. The two streams both flow to the westward in almost parallel valleys, uniting about long. 71°. After their junction the course of the stream is still to the westward for two degrees; but between Khokand and Tashkend the river sweeps round in a semicircle and proceeds to run first due north and then north-west, skirting the Kizil Koum desert to Otrar, where it resumes its original westerly direction and flows with continually diminishing volume across the desert to the Sea of Aral. The Jaxartes is a smaller stream than the Oxus. At Otrar, after receiving its last tributary, it is no more than 250 yards wide. Below this point it continually dwindles, partly from evaporation, partly from the branch streams which it throws off right and left, of which the chief are the Cazala and the Kuvan Deria. On its way through the desert it spreads but little fertility along its banks, which are in places high and arid, in others depressed and swampy. The branch streams are of some service for irrigation ; 10 and it is possible that a scientific system might turn the water of the & For the true source of the Jaxartes, | the plain; in the intermediate portions and the real course of its upper branches, alone, where the banks admit the river see the Map accompanying Mr. J. over the adjacent lands at the time of Michell's paper in vol. xxxi. of the Geo- flood, but cut off the supply of water graphical Journal, opp. p. 356. at other seasons, is there much culti- On the course of the lower Jasartes, vation or pasturage. In such positions see an article in the Quarterly Review the lands are said to be exceedingly for October, 1865, pp. 553, 554: fertile, the irrigating waters overlaying “Watering with its numerous affluents the surface with a rich alluvial loam, in the upper part of its basin,” says the which, in combination with the saline writer, “one of the most fertile and soil, is found to be peculiarly favourable delightful countries in the world, and | to agriculture. Whether Russian en- fringed throughout its course with the | gineering science, by a skilful manage- richest cultivation, it debouches below ment of the waters of the river, will be the town of Turkistan upon a saline able to conquer the general sterility of steppe, and its character becomes en the adjoining steppe to any appreciable tirely altered. Where the banks are extent, remains to be seen ; but it is high, a thin belt of jungle alone sepa certain that in all history the lower rates the river from the desert; where basin of the river has been regarded as they are low, inundations, forming reedy an irreclaimable desert." lagoons and impassable morasses, spread 10 Butakoff, in Geographical Journal, for hundreds of miles over the face of l vol. xxiii. p. 99. 122 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. main channel to good account, and by its means redeem from the desert large tracts which have never yet been cultivated. But no such system has hitherto been applied to the Sir, and it is doubtful whether success would attend it. The Sir, where it falls into the Sea of Aral, is very shallow, seldom even in the flood season exceeding four feet. The length of the stream was till recently estimated at more than 1208 miles ; 12 but the latest explorations seem to require an enlargement of this estimate by at least 200 or 250 miles. In rivers of the second class the Persian Empire was so rich that it will be impossible, within the limits prescribed for the present work, to do more than briefly enumerate them. The principal were, in Asia Minor, the Hermus (Ghiediz Chai), and the Mæander (Mendere) on the west, the Sangarius (Sakkariyeh), the Halys (Kizil Irmak), and the Iris (Yechil Irmak) on the north, the Cydnus (Tersoos Chai), Sarus (Cili- cian Syhun), and Pyramus (Cilician Jyhun) on the south ;-in Armenia and the adjacent regions, the Araxes (Aras), Cyrus (Kur), and Phasis (Rion) ;-on the Iranic plateau, the Sefid-rud, the Zenderud or river of Isfahan, the Etymandrus (Helmend), and the Arius (Heri-rud) ;-in the low country east of the Caspian, the Gurgan and Ettrek, rivers of Hyrcania, the Margus (Murghab or river of Merv), the Dehas or river of Balkh, the Ak Su or Bokhara river, and the Kizil Deria, a stream in the Khanat of Kokand ;-in Affghanistan and India, the Kabul river, the Hydaspes (Jelum), the Acesines (Chenab), the Hydraotes (Ravee), and the Hyphasis (Sutlej or Gharra);-in Persia Proper, the Oroatis (Hindyan or Tab), and the Bendamir ;-in Susiana, the Pasitigris (Kuran), the Hedypnus (Jerahi), the Choaspes (Kerkhah), and the Eulæus (a branch of the same);—in the Upper Zagros region, the Gyndes (Diyaleh), and the Greater and Lesser Zabs ;-in Meso- potamia, the Cha boras (Khabour), and Bilichus (Belik);- finally, in Syria and Palestine, the Orontes or river of Antioch (Nahr-el-Asy), the Jordan, and the Barada or river of Da- 11 Butakoff, in Geographical Journal, vol. xxiii. p. 99. 12 Keith Johnston, Physical Atlas, “Hydrology," No. 5, p. 14. CHAP. I. 123 LAKES. mascus. Thus, besides the six great rivers of the Empire, forty other considerable streams 18 fertilised and enriched the territories of the Persian monarch, which, though they em- braced many arid tracts, where cultivation was difficult, must be pronounced upon the whole well-watered, considering their extent and the latitude in which they lay. The Empire possessed, besides its rivers, a number of im- portant lakes. Omitting the Caspian and the Aral, which lay upon its borders, there were contained within the Persian terri- tories the following important basins :—the Urumiyeh, Lake Van, and Lake Goutcha or Sivan in Armenia ; Lakes Touz- Ghieul, Egerdir, Bey-Shehr, Chardak, Soghla, Buldur, Ghieul- Hissar, Iznik, Abullionte, Maniyas, and many others in Asia Minor; the Sabakhah, the Bahr-el-Melak, and the Lake of Antioch in Northern Syria; the Lake of Hems in the Cole- Syrian valley ; the Damascus lakes, the Lake of Merom, the Sea of Tiberias, and the Dead Sea in Southern Syria and Palestine ; Lake Moris and the Natron lakes 14 in Egypt; the Bahr-i-Nedjif in Babylonia; Lake Neyriz in Persia Proper; the Lake of Seistan in the Iranic Desert; and Lake Manchur in the Indus valley. Several of these have been already described in these volumes.15 Of the remainder the most important were the Lake of Van, the Touz-Ghieul, the great lake of Seistan, and Lake Mæris. These cannot be dismissed without a brief description. Lake Van is situated at a very unusual elevation, being 13 Of these forty streams, no fewer | Herodotus, vol. i. pp. 315-317, 447, 448, than seventeen have been already de 459-461, 2nd edition. scribed in these volumes—the two Zabs, 14 On these lakes, see a paper by Sir the Diyaleh, the Belik, and the Kha G. Wilkinson, in the Journal of the bour in vol. i. (pp. 183-188); most of Geographical Society, vol. xiii. pp. 113- the remainder in vol. ii., as the Aras 118. (pp. 257, 258); the Sefid-rud (p. 258); 15 See vol. i. p. 14, for a description the Zenderud (p. 259); the Hindyan or of the Bahr-i-Nedjif ; vol. ii. pp. 260, Tab (p. 454); the Jerahi, (pp. 454, 455); | 261, for an account of the Urumiyeh, the Kuran (pp. 455-457); the Kerkhah and pp. 466-472, for descriptions of the with its two branches (pp. 457, 458); Sabakhah, the Bahr-el-Melak, the Da- the Orontes (pp. 459-461); the Barada / mascus lakes, the Dead Sea, the Sea of (pp. 462, 463), and the Jordan (pp. 463, Tiberias, Lake Merom, the Lake of 464). For a description of the Benda Hems, and the Sea of Antioch. Finally, mir, see above, p. 88. For some account see p. 89 of the present volume for a of the other streams, see the author's description of Lake Neyriz. 124 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. more than 5400 feet above the sea level.16 It is a triangular basin, of which the three sides front respectively S.S.E., N.N.E., and N.W. by W. The sides are all irregular, being broken by rocky promontories; but the chief projection lies to the east of the lake, where a tract is thrown out which suddenly nar- rows the expanse from about fifty miles to less than five. The greatest length of the basin is from N.E. to S.W., where it ex- tends a distance of eighty miles between Arnis and Tadvan; its greatest width is between Aklat and Van, where it mea- sures across somewhat more than fifty miles. The scenery which surrounds it is remarkable for its beauty? The lake is embosomed amid high mountains, picturesque in outline, and all reaching in places the level of perpetual snow. Its waters, generally placid, but sometimes lashed into high waves, are of the deepest blue ; while its banks exhibit a succession of orchards, meadows, and gardens which have scarcely their equals in Asia. The lake is fed by a number of small streams flowing down from the lofty ridges which surround it, and having no outlet, is of course salt, though far less so than the neighbouring lake of Urumiyeh. Gulls and cormorants float upon its surface ;4 fish can live in it; and it is not distasteful to cattle. Set in the expanse of waters are a few small islets, whose vivid green contrasts well with the deep azure which surrounds them. The Touz-Ghieul is a basin of a very different character. Situated on the upland of Phrygia, in lat. 39°, long. 33° 30', its elevation is not more than 2500 feet. Low hills of sand- stone and conglomerate encircle it, but generally at some distance, so that a tract of plain, six or seven miles in width, 16 Mr. Brant's observations, made in ? Shiel in Geograph. Journal, vol, vüi. 1838, showed the elevation of Lake Van p. 63; Brant, in the same, vol. X. p. to be 5467 feet. (Geograph. Journal, 391; Layard, Ninereh and Babylon, pp. vol. x. p. 410.) | 22-34 and 387-412. i Lake Van was first correctly laid 3 Layard, p. 415. down by Lieut Glascott, in the year Ibid. 1. s. c. 1838. The results of his survey were 5 Brant in Geograph, Journal, vol. x. embodied in maps published by the p. 403. Compare vol. ii. p. 50. Royal Geographical Society in 1840. Geograph. Journal, vol. x. p. 299. (See Geograph. Journal, vol. x. Maps | Hamilton, Asia Minor, vol. č. p. opp. pp. 1 and 530.) 235. CHAP. I. 125 THE TOUZ-GHIEUL--SEA OF SEISTAN. intervenies between their base and the shore. The shape of the lake is an irregular oval, with the greater axis running nearly due north and south. Its greatest length is estimated at forty-five miles ; 8 its width varies, but is generally from ten to sixteen miles. At one point, however, nearly opposite to Kodj Hissar, the lake narrows to a distance of no more than five miles; and here à causeway has been constructed from shore to shore, which, though ruined, still affords a dry path- way in the summer.10 The water of the Touz-Ghieul is intensely salt, containing at some seasons of the year no less than thirty-two per cent. of saline matter,11 which is con- siderably more than the amount of such matter in the water of the Dead Sea. The surrounding plain is barren, in places marshy, and often covered with an incrustation of salt. The whole scene is one of desolation. The acrid waters support no animal organisation ; 14 birds shun them; the plain grows nothing but a few stunted and sapless shrubs.15 The only signs of life which greet the traveller are the carts of the natives, which pass him laden with the salt that is obtained with ease from the saturated water. 16 The Zerreh, or Sea of Seistan-called sometimes the Hamûn, or “expanse ” 17—is situated in the Seistan Desert on the Great Iranic plateau, and consequently at an elevation of (probably) 3000 feet.18 It is formed by the accumulation of the waters brought down by the Helmend, the Haroot-rud, the river of 8 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. | tremely salt that no fish or other animals i. p. 346. Mr. Hamilton estimated the can live in it; birds dare not even touch circumference at 30 leagues. (Geograph. the water; their wings become instantly Journal, vol. viii. p. 147.) stiff with a thick crust of salt." Mr. * Chesney, vol. i. p. 347. Ainsworth (Geograph. Journal, vol. x. 19 Hamilton, Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. p. 299) regards what is here said of the 237. Mr. Ainsworth speaks of the birds as a myth, but agrees that neither whole lake as "almost entirely dry in fish, mollusc, nor shell is to be found in summer." (Geograph Journal, vol. x. the lake, and that no birds were seen p. 298.) But this is an exaggeration of by his party to float on it. the truth, °15 Hamilton, Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 235. 11 Hamilton, vol. ü. Appendix, p. 388. 16 Ibid. pp. 237, 238. 12 See above, vol. ii. p. 469, note 19. 17 See Ferrier's Cararan Journeys, p. 13 Hamilton, vol. ü. pp. 235-237. 429, with the editor's note. Hamilton, in Geograph. Journal, 18 The entire plateau is supposed to vol. vii. p. 147. “The water of the have, at least, this elevation. (See lake," says this traveller, “is so ex. | Fraser, Khorasan, p. 162.) 126 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Khash, the Furrah-rud, and other streams, which flow from the mountains of Affghanistan, with converging courses to the south-west. It is an extensive basin, composed of two arms, an eastern and a western.19 The western arm, which is the larger of the two, has its greatest length from N.N.E. to S.S.W., and extends in this direction about ninety miles.20 Its greatest width is about twenty-five miles. The eastern arm is rather more than forty miles long, and from ten to twenty broad. It is shaped much like a fish's tail. The two arms are connected by a strait seven or eight miles in width, which joins them near their northern extremities. The water of the lake, though not salt, is black and has a bad taste. Fish support life in it with difficulty, and never grow to any great size. The lake is shal- low, not much exceeding a depth of three or four feet. It contracts greatly in the summer, at which time the strait con- necting the two arms is often absolutely dry.21 The edges of the lake are clothed with tamarisk and other trees; and where the rivers enter it, sometimes by several branches, the soil is rich and cultivation productive: 22 but elsewhere the sand of the desert creeps up almost to the margin of the water, clothed only with some sickly grass and a few scattered shrubs.23 The Birket-el-Keroun,or Lake Maris of the classical writers, 4 is a natural basin, not, as Herodotus imagined,25 an artificial one-situated on the western side of the Nile valley, in a curious depression which nature has made among the Libyan hills. This depression—the modern district of the Faioom-is a circular plain, which sinks gradually towards the north-west, descending till it is more than 100 feet below the surface of the Nile at low water.26 The northern and north-western portion 19 Gen. Ferrier, the only European I 21 Ferrier, p. 430. who has recently visited the Lake of 22 Ibid. pp. 413, 414, 423, &c. Seistan, calls its shape "a kind of trefoil 23 Ibid. p. 420. without a stalk, having the head very 24 Herod. ii. 149; Strab. xvii. 1, 837; long" (Caravan Journeys, p. 430); but Diod. Sic. i. 52, § 3; Plin. H. N. xxvi the map attached to his work scarcely bears out this description. 2 Herod. 1. 8. c. So Diodorus (i. 51). 20 Gen. Ferrier (1. 8. c.) calls the Strabo, on the other hand, seems to have length “25 parasangs" (i.é. farsakhs). regarded the basin as natural. Reckoning the farsakh at 3 miles, this % This district was first explored by would give a length of 87} miles, | M. Linant de Bellefonds. A good de- 12. CHAP I. 127 PRINCIPAL CITIES OF THE EMPIRE. of the depression is occupied by the lake, a sheet of brackish water shaped like a horn (whence the modern name?), mea- suring about thirty-five or thirty-six miles from end to end, and attaining in the middle a width of between five and six miles. The area of the lake is estimated roughly at 150 square miles,28 its circumference at about ninety miles.29 It has a depth varying from twelve to twenty-four feet.30 Though the water is somewhat brackish, yet the Birket contains several species of fresh-water fish ;31 and in ancient times its fisheries are said to have been exceedingly productive. 32 The principal cities of the Empire were, besides Pasargadæ and Persepolis, Susa?—the chief city of Susiana—which be- came the capital ; Babylon, Ecbatana, Rhages, Zadracarta, Bactra (now Balkh), Maracanda (now Samarcand), Aria, or Artacoana' (Herat), Caspatyrus on the Upper Indus,4 Taxila (Attock ?), Pura® (perhaps Bunpoor), Carmana? (Kerman), Ar- bela, Nisibis, Amida (now Diarbekr); Mazaca in Cappadocia ;8 scription of it is given by Mr. Blakesley | the Arians by Arrian (Exp. Alex. iii. in his edition of Herodotus (vol. i. pp. 25). It is mentioned by Pliny (H, N. 303-308). vi. 23), Isidore (Mans. Parth. § 15), 27 Keren, or Korn, is one of the roots Strabo (xi. 10, 81), and Ptolemy (Geo- which the Semitic and Indo-European graph. vi. 17). Its identity with Herat languages possess in common. It ap- | is uncertain, but probable. pears in Hebrew as ro in Arabic as ^ Herod. iii. 102; iv. 44. keroun or qorn, in Greek as képas, Lat. 5 Arrian, Exp. Alex. v. 8. Táxida cornu, Germ. and English horn, &c. ... abu Meyalnu kai cúdaluova, rinu * Blakesley, p. 304. μεγίστην των μεταξύ Ινδού τε ποταμού > Ibid. p. 307, note. kal Toáorov. Strab. xv. 1, $ 28. Táčila *Sir Gardner Wilkinson calls the ... mis jelaan kai eúvouwrárn. The depth 24 feet. (See the author's Hero identification of Taxila with Attock is dotus, p. 196, note, 2nd edition.) M. generally agreed upon. Linant's calculations imply a depth of 6 Heeren, from the resemblance of the only 12 feet. name (As. Nat. vol. i. p. 270, note), * Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, vol. identifies Pura (IIoûpa, Art. Exp. Al. vi. iii. p. 66. 24) with the modern Puhra, a small Herod. iü. 90; Diod. Sic. i. 52, village about 15 miles N. E. of Bunpoor. $ 5,6. But the argument drawn from the name For a description of Susa, see vol. | is weak, since poor or pore means simply j. p. 474. “a fortified place." And Puhra has no * Zadracarta was the capital of Hyr- | signs of antiquity about it, while Bun- cania (Arrian, Exp. Alex. ii. 25.) 'It poor possesses a most remarkable- contained a palace (Barleca), no doubt probably a very ancient-citadel. (Pot the residence of the satrap. Heeren tinger, Travels, pp. 169 and 176.) locates Zadracarta in the neighbourhood See above, p. 92. of Nishapoor (A8. Nat. vol. i. p. 287, 8 On the importance of Mazaca, see note E. T.): but Hyrcania scarcely ex- Strab. xii. 2, $$ 7-9; Plin. H. N. vi. 3; tended so far to the east. Solin. Polyhist. & 47: “Mazacam Cap- * Artacoana is called the chief city of padoces matrem urbium nominant." 128 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Trapezus (Trebizond), Sinopé, Daşcyleium,9 Sardis, Ephesus, Miletus, Gordium,10 Perga, and Tarsus in Asia Minor; Damas- cus, Jerusalem, Sidon, Tyre, Azotus or Ashdod, and Gaza in Syria ; Memphis and Thebes in Egypt; Cyrêné and Barca in the Cyrenaica. Of these, while Susa had from the time of Darius Hystaspis a decided pre-eminence as the main residence of the Court, and consequently as the usual seat of government, there were three others which could boast the distinction of being royal abodes from time to time, either regularly at certain seasons, or occasionally at the caprice of the monarch. These were Babylon, Ecbatana, and Persepolis, the capitals respect- ively of Chaldæa, Media, and Persia Proper, all great and an- cient cities, accustomed to the presence of Courts, and all occu- pying positions sufficiently central to render them not ill-suited for the business of administration. Next to these in order of dignity may be classed the satrapial residences, often the chief cities of old monarchies, such as Sardis, the capital city of Lydia, Dascyleium of Bithynia, Memphis of Egypt, Bactra of Bactria, and the like; while the third rank was held by the towns, where there was no Court, either royal or satrapial. Before this chapter is concluded, a few words must be said with respect to the countries which bordered upon the Persian Empire. The Empire was surrounded, for the most part, either by seas or deserts. The Mediterranean, the Egean, the Pro- pontis, the Euxine, the Caspian, the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea washed its shores, bounding almost all its western, and much of its northern and southern sides; while the sands of the Sahara, the deserts of Arabia and Syria, of India and Thibet, filled up the greater part of the intervening spaces. The only countries of import- ance which can be viewed as in any sense neighbours of Persia are European and Asiatic Scythia, Hindustan, Arabia, Ethiopia, and Greece. Where the Black Sea, curving round to the north, ceased • Herod. iii. 120; Xen. Hell. ii. 1, 10 On the importance of Gordium, see 8 10; 2, $ 1; iv. 1, § 15; Strab. xii. 8, Arrian, Exp. Al. i 29; Strab. xii. 5, $ 10; Arr. Exp. Al. i. 12; &c. 1 $ 3. CHAP. I. 129 COUNTRIES BORDERING THE EMPIRE. to furnish to the Empire the advantage of a water barrier, a protection of almost equal strength was afforded to it by the mountain-chain of the Caucasus. Excepting on the extreme east, where it slopes gently to the Caspian," this range is one of great elevation, possessing but few passes, and very difficult to traverse. Its fastnesses have always been inhabited by wild tribes, jealous of their freedom; and these tribes may have caused annoyance, but they could at no time have been a serious danger to the Empire. They were weak in numbers, divided in nationality 12 and in interests, and quite incapable of conducting any distant expedition. Like their modern suc- cessors, the Circassians, Abassians, and Lesghians, their one and only desire was to maintain themselves in possession of their beloved mountains; and this desire would cause them to resist all attempts that might be made to traverse their country, whether proceeding from the north or from the south, from the inhabitants of Europe or from those of Asia. Persia was thus strongly protected in this quarter; but still she could not feel herself altogether safe. Once at least within historic memory the barrier of the Caucasus had proved to be sur- mountable. From the vast Steppe which stretches northwards from its base, in part salt, in part grassy, had crossed into Asia —through its passes or round its eastern flank—a countless host, which had swept all before it, and brought ruin upon flourishing empires. 13 The Scythian and Sarmartian 14 hordes of the steppe- country between the Wolga and the Dnieper were to the monarchies of Western Asia a permanent, if a somewhat dis- tant, peril. It could not be forgotten that they had proved themselves capable of penetrating the rocky barrier which would otherwise have seemed so sure a protection, or that when they swarmed across it in the seventh century before our "The modern Daghistan, compared / 13 For an account of the great inva. with the rest of the Caucasus, is a low sion of the Scyths, see above, vol. ii. region. The route along the shores of pp. 221-227. the Caspian, by Derbend and Baku, 14 According to Herodotus (iv. 21), presents but few difficulties. the steppe between the Don and the 12 On the ethnology of the Caucasus | Wolga was in the possession of the region, see Professor Max Müller's Lan- | Sauromatæ (or Sarmatæ), as early as guages of the Seat of War, pp. 114-121. | the reign of Darius Hystaspis. VOL. III. 130 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. era, their strength was at first irresistible. The Persians knew, what the great nations of the earth afterwards forgot, that along the northern horizon there lay a black cloud, which might at any time burst, carrying desolation to their homes and bringing ruin upon their civilisation. We shall find the course of their history importantly affected by a sense of this danger, and we shall have reason to admire the wisdom of their measures of precaution against it. It was not only to the west of the Caspian that the danger threatened. East of that sea also was a vast steppe-region- rolling plains of sand or grass—the home of nomadic hordes similar in character to those who drank the waters of the Don and Wolga. The Sacæ, Massagetæ, and Dahæ of this country, who dwelt about the Caspian, the Aral, and the Lower Jaxartes, 25 were an enemy scarcely less formidable than the Sarmatians and the Scyths of the West. As the modern Iran now suffers from the perpetual incursions of Uzbegs and Turcomans, so the north-eastern provinces of the ancient Persia were exposed to the raids of the Asiatic Scythians and the Massagetæ, 16 who were confined by no such barrier as the Caucasus, having merely to cross a river, probably often fordable during the summer, in order to be in Persia. Hyrcania and Parthia had indeed a cer- tain amount of protection from the Kharesmian Desert; but the upper valleys of the great streams—the satrapies of Sogdiana and Bactria-must have suffered considerable annoyance from such attacks. On the side of India, the Empire enjoyed a twofold security. From the shores of the Indian Ocean in the vicinity of the Runn of Cutch to the 31st parallel of north latitude—a distance of above 600 miles—there extends a desert, from one to two hundred miles across, which effectually shuts off the valley of 15 See especially Strabo, xi. 8, § 2. Compare Herod. i. 201-216. 16 Strab. xi. 8, § 4. The Persians seem to have guarded against this danger by establishing along the line of the Jaxartes a number of fortified posts. We hear of seven (Arrian, Ecp. Alex. iv. 2), the principal being Cyropolis or Cyreschata, a town founded by Cyrus. Similarly at the present day, only with | an inversion of the geographical posi- tion, Russia guards her frontier against the wild tribes of Turkestan by a line of forts along the Sir Daria. (Quarterly Review, No. 236, p. 553.) CHAP. I. 131 INDIA-ARABIA. the Indus from the rest of Hindustan. It is only along the skirts of the mountains, by Lahore, Umritsir, and Loodiana, that the march of armies is possible-by this line alone can the Punjabis threaten Central India, or the inhabitants of Central India attack the Punjab. Hence in this quarter there was but a very narrow tract to guard; and the task of defence was still further lightened by the political condition of the people. The Gangetic Indians, though brave and powerful,' were poli- tically weak, from their separation into a number of distinct states under petty Rajahs, who could never hope to contend successfully against the forces of a mighty Empire. Persia, consequently, was safe upon this side, in the division of her adversaries. Nor had she neglected the further security which was obtainable by an interposition between her own actual frontier and her enemies' dominions of a number of half-subject dependencies. Native princes were allowed to bear sway in the Punjab region, who acknowledged the suzerainty of Persia, and probably paid her a fixed tribute, but whose best service was that they prevented a collision between the Power of whom they held their crowns and the great mass of their own nation. The Great Arabian Peninsula, which lay due south of the most central part of the Empire, and bordered it on this side for about thirteen degrees, or (if we follow the line of the boundary) for above a thousand miles, might seem to have been the most important of all the adjacent countries, since it con- tains an area of a million of square miles," and is a nursery of brave and hardy races. Politically, however, Arabia is weak, as has been shown in a former volume;' while geographically she presents to the north her most arid and untraversable regions, so that it is rarely, and only under very exceptional Arrian, Exp. Alex. v. 25. Tevvalou | bearing rule in these parts (1. s. c.); τα πολέμια .... μεγέθει μέγιστοί τε but, if such existed at all, we may at kal ávöpela. Heeren considers that it least be sure that regal rule was more was fear of the military prowess of common. these Indians, rather than mere weari. 8 As Taxilas, Porus, and others. nesa, which made Alexander's soldiers (Arrian, iv. 22; v. 3, 8, 21, &c.) refuse to follow him to the Ganges. (As. * Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. Nat. vol. i. p. 320.) ii. p. 448. ? Arrian speaks of aristocracies as 5 Vol. ï. pp. 476, 477. K 2 132 CHAP. I. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. circumstances, that she menaces seriously her northern neigh- bours. Persia seems never to have experienced any alarm of an Arab invasion; her relations with the tribes that came into closest contact with her were friendly;6 and she left the bulk of the nation in unmolested enjoyment of their independence. Another country adjoining the Persian Empire on the south, and one which might have been expected to cause some trouble, was Ethiopia. To Egypt Ethiopia had always proved an un- quiet, and sometimes even a dangerous, neighbour; she was fertile, rich, populous ;' her inhabitants were tall, strong, and brave ;8 she had a ready means of marching into Egypt down the fertile valley of the Nile; and her hosts had frequently ravaged, and even held for considerable terms of years, that easily subjected country. It is remarkable that during the whole time of the Persian dominion Ethiopia seems to have abstained from any invasion of the Egyptian territory. Ap- parently, she feared to provoke the power which had seated itself on the throne of the Pharaohs, and preferred the quiet enjoyment of her own wealth and resources to the doubtful issues of a combat with the mistress of Asia. On her western horizon, clearly discernible from the capes and headlands of the Asiatic coast, but separated from her, except in one or two places, by a tolerably broad expanse of sea, and so—as it might have seemed—less liable to come in contact with her than her neighbours upon the land, lay the shores and isles of Greece-lovely and delightful regions, in possession of a brave and hardy race, as yet uncorrupted by luxury, though in the enjoyment of a fair amount of civilisation. As the eye looked across the Egean waters, resting with plea- sure on the varied and graceful forms of Sporades and Cyclades, covetous thoughts might naturally arise in the beholder's heart; and the idea might readily occur of conquering and annexing the fair tracts which lay so temptingly near and pos- Herod. iii. 6-9 and 97 ; vii. 69, 86; 1 Herod. iii. 20, 114; Isaiah xlv. 14. Xen. Anab. i. 5, 81; vii. 8, § 25. Herod. iii, 100, 137 ; Diod. Sic. i. 65; ? Herod. iii. 18, 23; Diod. Sic. ii. 10. Manetho, Frs. 64 and 65. Strabo, xvii. 2, 88 1-3; Pomp. Mel. üü. 10. | CHAP. I. 133 GREECE. sessed such numerous attractions. The entire region, continent and islands included, was one of diminutive size 10—not half so large as an ordinary Persian satrapy; it was well peopled, 11 but its population could not have amounted to that of the Punjab or of Egypt,"2 countries which Persia had overrun in a single campaign ; 13 its inhabitants were warlike, but they were com- paratively poor, and the true sinews of war are money; more- over, they were divided amongst themselves, locally split up by the physical conformation of their country, and politically repugnant to anything like centralisation or union. A Persian king like Cambyses or Darius might be excused if, when his thoughts turned to Greece, he had a complacent feeling that no danger could threaten him from that quarter—that the little territory on his western border was a prey which he might seize at any time that it suited his convenience or seemed good: to his caprice ; 14 so opening without any risk a new world to his ambition. It required a knowledge that the causes of mili- tary success and political advance lie deeper than statistics can reach—that they have their roots in the moral nature of man, in the grandeur of his ideas and the energy of his character- in order to comprehend the fact, that the puny power upon her right flank was the enemy which Persia had most to fear, the foe who would gradually sap her strength, and finally deal her the blow that would lay her prostrate. 10 Clinton, P. H. vol. i. p. 471, 3rd | He estimates the entire population edition. This writer calculates that the roughly at 31 millions. entire area of ancient Greece amounted 12 The present population of the Pun- to no more than 22,231 square miles jab exceeds 4,000,000. That of Egypt (ib. 473). is now only 21 millions ; but anciently u Clinton sees grounds for believ. it must have been at least double that ing that the population was at the number. rate of 165 persons to the square mile, 13 Herod. iii. 11-15; iv. 44. or equal in density to that of Great 14 Compare Herod. iii. 134, and vii. 9. Britain in 1821. (P. H. vol. ii. p. 474.) | 134 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. CHAPTER II. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS. "Έστι αγαθά τοϊσι την ήπειρον εκείνην νεμομένοισι, όσα ουδέ τοισι συναπασι άλλοισι, από χρυσου αρξαμένοισι άργυρος και χαλκός και εσθής ποικίλη και υπούγιά τε και åvopámoda.-HEROD. V. 49. It is evident that an Empire which extended over more than twenty degrees of latitude, touching on the one hand the tropic of Cancer, while it reached upon the other to the parallel of Astrakan, and which at the same time varied in elevation, from 20,000 feet above to 1,300 below the sea-level, must have com- prised within it great differences of climate, and have boasted an immense variety of productions. No general description can be applicable to such a stretch of territory; and it will therefore be necessary to speak of the various parts of the Empire successively in order to convey to the reader a true idea of the climatic influences to which it was subject, and the animals, vegetables, and minerals which it produced. Commencing with Persia Proper, the original seat and home of the race with whose history we are specially concerned at present, we may observe that it was regarded by the ancients as possessing three distinct climates—one along the shore, dry and scorchingly hot; another in the mountain region beyond, temperate and delightful; and a third in the tract further inland, which was thought to be disagreeably cold and wintry. 1 The altitude of Mount Demavend ώρέων ο λόγος κατέχει το μεν αυτής in the Elburz range south of the Cas προς τη Ερυθη θαλάσση οικεόμενον pian exceeds 20,000 feet. (See above, | αμμώδές τε είναι και άκαρπον υπό καύ- vol. ii. p. 252, note. The lower Jordan | ματος: το δε επί τήδε ως προς άρκτον valley and the shores of the Dead Sea τε και βορέην άνεμον ιόντων καλώς are 1300 feet below the Mediterranean | Kexpâobal Tŵr wpéw . . . THE Gè a pó- (Ibid. p. 469, note 16.) σο έτι επ' άρκτον ιόντων χειμερίην τε 2 Nearchus, ap. Arr. Hist. Ind. § 40 : kal viderhoea. Compare Strab. xv. 3, Την Περσίδα γην τριχή νενεμήσθαι των Ι8 1. CHAP. II. 135 CLIMATE OF PERSIA PROPER. Moderns, on the contrary, find two climates only in Fars 3_one that of the Deshtistan or “low country,” extremely hot and dry, with frequent scorching and oppressive winds from the south and the south-east ;4 the other, that of the highlands, which is cold in winter, but in summer pleasant and enjoyable.” NE LE COLE View of Mount Demavend in the Elburz. In the Deshtistan snow never falls, and there is but little rain ; heavy dews, however, occur at night, so that the mornings are often fresh and cool; but the middle of the day is almost always • Kinneir, Persian Empire, p. 54; | Ker Porter says “it is generally es- Morier, Second Journey, p. 120; Abbott, teemed the most moderate climate in the in Geographical Journal, vol. xxvii. p. southern division of the empire ; its 184. summer noons may be warmer than is On the character of this climate, pleasant, but the mornings and evenings which is called the Ghermsir (“ warm are delightful; when September com. climate"), see Fraser, Khorasan, p. 75, mences the weather becomes heavenly, and Appendix, p. 133; Morier, Second and continues until the end of November, Journey, p. 43; Geograph. Journal, vol. with a perfectly serene atmosphere, of xxvii. p. 109. a most balmy and serene temperature.” Kinneir calls the climate of Shiraz | (Travels, vol. i. p. 709.) "one of the finest in the world” (p. 64). | Fraser, Khorasan, p. 55. 136 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. hot, and from March to November the temperature at noon ranges from 90° to 100° of Fahrenheit. Occasionally it reaches 125°, and is then fearfully oppressive. Fierce gusts laden with sand sweep over the plain, causing vegetation to droop or disappear, and the animal world to hide itself. Man with diffi- culty retains life at these trying times, feeling a languor and a depression of spirits which are barely supportable.10 All who can do so quit the plains and betake themselves to the upland region till the great heats are past, and the advance of autumn brings at any rate cool nights and mornings. The climate of the uplands is severe in winter. Much snow falls, and the thermometer often marks from ten to fifteen degrees of frost.12 From time to time there are furious gales, 13 and, as the spring advances, a good deal of wet falls;14 but the summer and autumn are almost rainless. The heat towards midday is often considerable,16 but it is tempered by cool winds, and even at the worst is not relaxing. "7 The variations of temperature are great in the twenty-four hours, and the climate is, so far, trying; but, on the whole, it seems to be neither disagreeable nor unhealthy. A climate resembling that of the Deshtistan prevailed along the entire southern coast of the Empire, from the mouth of the Tigris to that of the Indus. 18 It was exchanged in the lower valleys of the great streams for a damp close heat, intolerably stilling and oppressive. 19 The upper valleys of these streams and the plains into which they expanded were at once less hot and less moist,20 but were subject to violent storms, owing to | . Fraser, p. 75; and Appendix, p. 133. 8 Morier, Second Journey, p. 98; Mon- teith, in Geograph. Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 115. The highest temperature noted by Mr. Fraser during his stay at Bu- shire in the year 1821 was 109° Morier, p. 43; Monteith, in Geo- graph. Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 109. The first-named writer remarks :-“The sam wind is hurtful to vegetation; about six years ago there was a sam during the summer months, which totally burnt up all the corn." 10 Fraser, pp. 56, 57. " Morier, Second Journey, p. 54; Ki neir, p. 78. 12 Fraser, Appendix, p. 134. 13 Morier, First Journey, p. 148. Abbott, in Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. p. 53. 15 Fraser, 1. s. C. 16 See above, note", and compare Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 708 ; Morier, Second Journey, p. 113; Fraser, Appendix, p. 134. The highest temperature recorded is 110° 17 Morier, Second Journey, p. 97. 18 On the coast of Beloochistan the thermometer in the month of December ranges from 64" to 80° in the daytime. (Geograph. Journal, vol. xxxiii. p. 183.) 19 See above, vol. i. p. 28. 20 Ibid. p. 211. CHAP. II. 137 CLIMATE OF THE PROVINCES. the near vicinity of the mountains. 21 In the mountains them- selves, in Armenia and Zagros, and again in the Elburz, the climate was of a more rigorous character-intensely cold in winter, but pleasant in the summer-time. Asia Minor enjoyed generally a warmer climate than the high mountain regions ; and its western and southern coasts, being fanned by fresh breezes from the sea, or from the hills of the interior, and cooled during the whole of the summer by frequent showers, were especially charming 22 In Syria and Egypt the heats of summer were somewhat trying, more especially in the Ghor or depressed Jordan valley, 23 and in the parts of Egypt adjoining on Ethiopia;24 but the winters were mild, and the springs and autumns delight- ful. The rarity of rain in Egypt was remarkable, and drew the attention of foreigners, who recorded, in somewhat exaggerated terms, the curious meteorological phenomenon. In the Cyre- naica there was a delicious summer climate—an entire absence of rain, with cool breezes from the sea, cloudy skies, and heavy dews at night, these last supplying the moisture which through the whole of summer covered the ground with the freshest and loveliest verdure.26 The autumn and winter rains were, however, violent; and terrific storms were at that time of no unusual occurrence.27 The natives regarded it as a blessing, that over this part of Africa the sky was “pierced,” 28 and allowed moisture to fall from the great reservoir of “waters above the firmament;” but the blessing must have seemed one of questionable value at the time of the November monsoon, when the country is deluged with rain for several weeks in succession. 9 See above, vol. i. p. 211. 2 Herod. i. 142. Sir C. Fellows says of the climate at the present day :- “During the summer the heat becomes intense as the morning advances, but before noon a land breeze is drawn down from the cold mountain country, which brings a refreshing coolness, with the shade of clouds, and not unfrequently Aying showers. In the early part of the evening the heat again becomes op- pressive; the dews are very heavy." (Asia Minor, p. 301.) 23 See above, vol. ii. p. 481, note 20. 24 Herod. ii. 22. 25 Ibid. iii. 10; Diod. Sic. i. 10, $ 4; Pomp. Mel. i. 9: “Terra expers im- brium.” (On the occurrence of rain in Egypt see the remarks of Sir G. Wil- kinson in the author's Herodotus, vol. ü. p. 338, note , 2nd edition.) 46 Hamilton, Wanderings in N. Africa, pp. 93, 94. ** 27 Ibid. pp. 92, 145, &c. 28 Herod. iv. 159 : 'Ev0aura o oủpavds | TÉTpntal. 138 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. On the opposite side of the Empire, towards the north and the north-east, in Azerbijan, on the Iranian plateau, in the Affghan plains, in the high flat region east of the Bolor, and again in the low plain about the Aral lake and the Caspian, a severe climate prevailed during the winter,29 while the summer combined intense heat during the day with extraordinary cold -the result of radiation-at night.30 Still more bitter weather was experienced in the mountain regions of these parts—in the Bolor, the Thian Chan, the Himalaya, and the Paropamisus or Hindu Kush 31—where the winters lasted more than half the year, deep snow covering the ground almost the whole of the time, and locomotion being rendered almost impossible; while the summers were only moderately hot. On the other hand, there was in this quarter, at the very extreme east of the Em- pire, one of the most sultry and disagreeable of all climates— namely, that of the Indus valley, which is either intolerably hot and dry, with fierce tornadoes of dust that are unspeakably oppressive,' or close and moist, swept by heavy storms, which, while they somewhat lower the temperature, increase the un- healthiness of the region. The worst portion of the valley is its southern extremity, where the climate is only tolerable during three months of the year. From March to November the heat is excessive; dust-storms prevail; there are dangerous dews at night;3 and with the inundation, which commences in April, a sickly time sets in, which causes all the wealthier classes to 2 Burnes, Travels into Bokhara, vol. 1 of all movement in the atmosphere." ü. pp. 3, 193, 194 ; Butakoff, in Geo- (Aspects of Nature, vol. i. pp. 117, 118, graph. Journal, vol. xxiii. p. 98; Hum. E. I.) boldt, Aspects of Nature, vol. i. p. 84. 31 Burnes, vol. i. p. 176, 181, 182, 30 On the coldness of the nights in | &c.; vol. ii. p. 241 ; Strachey, in Geo- these regions, see Morier, Second Journey, graph. Journal, vol. xxii. pp. 58-62; pp. 55, 97; Fraser, Khorasan, p. 114; | Ferrier, Caravan Journeys, pp. 217, 222, Burnes, Travels into Bokhara, vol. i. p. &c. ; Humboldt, vol. i. pp. 85-99, &c. 253 ; vol. ü. p. 2. Humboldt observes (Compare Q. Curt. Hist. Al. Magn. ii. 3.) on this point :-" The high temperature Burnes, Journey to Bokhara, vol. iii. of the air, which makes the day's pp. 119, 135; Geograph. Journal, vol. march so oppressive, renders the cold viii. p. 125. ness of the nights . . . . so much the ? Burnes. p. 135. more striking. Melloni ascribes this * Ibid. p. 254; Geograph. Journal, l.8.c. cold, produced doubtless- by the radia - The swell commences in April, con- tion from the ground, less to the great tinues to increase till July, and termi- purity and serenity of the sky than to nates in September. (Geograph. Journal, the profound calm, the nightly absence | vol. viii. p. 123.) CHAP. II. 139 VEGETABLES OF PERSIA PROPER. withdraw from the country till the stagnant water, which the swell always leaves behind it, has dried up." Upon the whole, the climate of the Empire belonged to the warmer, class of the climates which are called temperate. In a few parts only, indeed, as in the Indus valley, along the coast from the mouth of the Indus to that of the Tigris, in Lower Babylonia and the adjoining portion of Susiana, in Southern Palestine, and in Egypt, was frost absolutely unknown; while in many places, especially in the high mountainous regions, the winters were bitterly severe; and in all the more elevated portions of the Empire, as in Phrygia and Cappadocia, in Azer- bijan, on the great Iranian plateau, and again in the district about Kashgar and Yarkand, there was a prolonged period of sharp and bracing weather. But the summer warmth of almost the whole Empire was great, the thermometer probably ranging in most places from 90° to 120° during the months of June, July, August, and September. The springs and autumns were, except in the high mountain tracts, mild and enjoyable; the Empire had few very unhealthy districts; while the range of the thermometer was in most of the provinces considerable, and the variations in the course of a single day and night were unusually great, there was in the climate, speaking generally, nothing destructive of human vigour-nothing even inimical to longevity.? The vegetable productions of Persia Proper in ancient times (so far as we have direct testimony on the subject) were neither numerous nor very remarkable. The low coast tract supplied dates in tolerable plenty, and bore in a few favoured spots corn, vines, and different kinds of fruit-trees ;' but its general cha- 5 Geograph. Journal, vol. viii. p. 360. | If any exception is to be made to the statement in the text, it must be to modern times. (See above, vol. i. pp. exempt from it some of the damp hot 28,211,212 ; vol. ii. pp. 286, 480.) There regions, as Mazanderan, and perhaps is no reason to believe that it was either Balkh. more or less anciently. (See vol. ii. pp. & Arrian, Hist. Ind. xxxviii. 86; Strab. 483, 484.) xv. 3, § 1: 'Haapalla . . . Otaviotn Morier, First Journey, p. 61) notes / kapros anu pouvikwv. the longevity of the natives inhabiting Arrian, H. I. xxxii. SS 4, 5 ; xxxiii. the Deshtistan, one of the hottest and | $ 2 ; xxxviii. § 6 ; xxxix. & 2. most unhealthy parts of the Empire. 140 CHAP. II. THE FIFTA MONARCHY. racter was one of extreme barrenness. In the mountain region there was an abundance of rich pasture,10 excellent grapes were grown, and fruit-trees of almost every sort, except the olive, 12 flourished. One fruit-tree, regarded as indigenous in the country, acquired a special celebrity, and was known to the Romans as the persica,13 whence the German Pfirsche, the French pêche, and our "peach.” Citrons, which grew in few places, were also a Persian fruit.14 Further, Persia produced a coarse kind of silphium or assafoetida ;15 it was famous for its walnuts, which were distinguished by the epithet of “royal”;16 and it supplied to the pharmacopeia of Greece and Rome a certain number of herbs. 17 The account of Persian vegetable products which we derive from antiquity is no doubt very incomplete; and it is necessary to supplement it from the observations of modern travellers. These persons tell us that, while Fars and Kerman are ill- supplied with forest-trees, they yet produce in places oaks, planes, chenars or sycamores, poplars, willows, pinasters, cy- presses, acacias, fan-palms, konars, and junipers.18 Among shrubs, they bear the wild fig, the wild almond, the tamarisk, the myrtle, the box, the rhododendron, the camel's thorn, the gum tragacanth, the caper plant, the benneh, the blackberry, 10 Arr. H. I. xl. 83: Xúpny TOÁDeá TE είναι και λειμώνας υδρηλούς. " Ib. l. 8. c. Strabo says that in Carmania the bunches of grapes were often a yard long. (Geograph. xv. Ü. § 14: 'H Kapuavia ... danXuv & XEL Trolákis TOY Bótpuv.) Ker Porter ob. serves of the vines grown near Shiraz : “ The grapes grow to a size and fulness hardly to be matched in other climates." (Travels, vol. i. p. 706.) 12 Arrian more than once pointedly notes this exception. (Hist. Ind. xxxiii. § 2 ; xl. $ 3.) 13 Plin. H. N. xv. 13, 14. The Italians still call the peach “persica," and the Russians have a very similar name for it-" persikie." 14 Plin. H. N. xii. 3. 15 Ibid. xix. 3. Assafoetida is still a product of Carmania. (Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. p. 32.) 16 Plin. H. N. xv. p. 22. 17 As hestiatoris (Plin. H. N. xxiv. 27), napy (ib. xxvii. 13), theobrotion (ib. xxiv. 17), and others. 18 Oaks, generally dwarf, grow in the Bakhtiyari mountains (Morier, First Journey, p. 93 ; Geograph. Journal, vol. xiii. pp. 77,84; vol. xxvii.p. 117); planes, chenars, cypresses, poplars, willows, and konar-trees, are common in all the upper country (Morier, First Journey, pp. 81, 92; Second Journey, pp. 74, 122 ; Ouseley, vol. ii. p. 88; Geograph. Journal, vol. xiii. p. 84; vol. xxv. pp. 32, 74; vol. xxvii. pp. 151, 157, &c.) The pinaster was observed by Mr. Morier near Ekleed (Second Journey, p. 122). Mr. Abbott noticed the acacia, the fan- palm, and the juniper in the district between Kerman and Lake Neyriz. Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. pp. 52, 54, 59). CHAP. II. 141 INDIGENOUS ANIMALS. and the liquorice-plant.19 They boast a great abundance of fruit-trees—as date-bearing palms, lemons, oranges, pome- granates, vines, peaches, nectarines, apricots, quinces, pears, apples, plums, figs, cherries, mulberries, barberries, walnuts, almonds, and pistachio-nuts.20 The kinds of grain chiefly cul- tivated are wheat, barley, millet, rice, and Indian corn or maize,21 which has been imported into the country from America. Pulse, beans, sesame, madder, henna, cotton, opium, tobacco, and indigo, are also grown in some places.22 The three last-named, and maize or Indian corn, are of compara- tively recent introduction ; but of the remainder it may be doubted whether there is a single one which was unknown to the ancient inhabitants. Among Persian indigenous animals may be enumerated the lion, the bear, the wild ass, the stag, the antelope, the ibex or wild goat, the wild boar, the hyæna, the jackal, the wolf, the fox, the hare, the porcupine, the otter, the jerboa, the ichneu- mon, and the marmot.23 The lion appears to be rare, occurring only in some parts of the mountains. The ichneumon is con- fined to the Deshtistan. The antelope, the wild boar, the wolf, 19 Thickets of box abound near Fai- | graph. Journal, vol. xxv. pp. 32, 59; lyun (Geograph. Journal, vol. xii. p. 79); vol. xxvii. pp. 165, 184, &c. Compare the tamarisk occurs in Kerman, near Ker Porter, p. 709. Khubbes (ib. vol. xxv. p. 33), and in the 2 Geograph. Journal, vol. xiii. p. 80; low country near Dalaki (Morier, First vol. xxv. p. 74; vol. xxvii. pp. 115, 150, Journey, p. 76; Fraser, p. 71); rhodo &c. dendrons grow in the mountains between 22 Pulse and beans are cultivated in Dalaki and Karezun (ib. pp. 82, 92); Kerman (Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. p. wild myrtle is common near Shiraz 47), as are also indigo, henna, and mad- (Geograph. Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 150); der (ib. pp. 34, 51, 64). Cotton, indigo, the camel's thorn and the liquorice-plant and opium, are grown in the vicinity of are found on the plateau north of Shi Shiraz (ib. vol. xxvii. p. 150). Sesame raz (Morier, Second Journey, p. 115); is grown near Failyun (îb. vol. xiï. p. 80), the gum tragacanth plant is a product at Fessa (ib. vol. xxvii. p. 154), and of the region about Fessa (Geograph. elsewhere. Journal, vol. xxvii. pp. 152, 157); the 3 Morier, First Journey, p. 64; Ker caper-bush grows in the Deshtistan Porter, vol. i. pp. 461, 462, 468, 509; (Fraser, p. 71); the benneh is common vol. ü. pp. 6, 19; Ouseley, vol. ii. pp. in the Fessa and Darab districts (Geo- | 67,179, 215; Geograph. Journal, vol. xiii. graph. Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 159); the p. 79; vol. xxv. pp. 28, 41, 47, 62, 68, blackberry was seen by Mr. Abbott near &c. The Baron de Bode heard also of Khubbes (ib. vol. xxv. p. 32). Wild figs wild buffaloes (Geograph. Journal, vol. and wild almonds are common in all the xiii. p. 82). upper country. 24 Morier, First Journey, p. 64; Geo- ** Pottinger, Travels, p. 234; Geo. | graph. Journal, vol. xiii. pp. 77, 78. 142 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. the fox, the jackal, the porcupine, and the jerboa are common. Wild asses are found only on the northern side of the moun- tains, towards the salt desert. In this tract they are frequently seen, both singly and in herds,25 and are hunted by the natives, who regard their flesh as a great delicacy.26 The most remarkable of the Persian birds are the eagle, the vulture,27 the cormorant, the falcon, the bustard,28 the pheasant, the heath-cock,29 the red-legged partridge, the small grey partridge, the pin-tailed grouse, the sand-grouse, the fran- colin,30 the wild swan, the flamingo, the stork, the bittern, the oyster-catcher,31 the raven,32 the hooded crow, and the cuckoo.33 Besides these, the lakes boast all the usual kinds of water- fowl, as herons, ducks, snipe, teal, &c.; the gardens and groves abound with blackbirds, thrushes, and nightingales; curlews and peewits are seen occasionally; while pigeons, starlings, crows, magpies, larks, sparrows, and swallows are common. The francolin is hunted by men on foot in the country between Shiraz and Kerman, and is taken by the hand after a few flights.34 The oyster-catcher, which is a somewhat rare bird, has been observed only on Lake Neyriz,35 The bustard occurs both in the low plain along the coast, and on the high plateau, where it is captured by means of hawks. The pheasant and the heath-cock (the latter a black species spotted with white) are found in the woods near Failyun. The sand-grouse and the pin-tailed grouse belong to the eastern portion of the country," the portion known anciently as Carmania or “the hot region.”5 The other kinds are diffused pretty generally. 23 Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 461; Geog. 30 Ibid. vol. xxv. pp. 32, 54, 59; vol. Journal, vol. xxv. p. 68. xxvii. p. 162. 26 Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 460. Compare 21 Ibid. vol. xxv. p. 73 ; vol. xxvii. p. Ferrier, Caravan Journeys, p. 138, and 150; Morier, First Journey, p. 142. Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 270. 32 Morier, p. 77. 1 Eagles were seen frequently in the | 33 Geograph. Journal, vol. xxvii, I. s. c. mountains between Bushire and Shiraz 34 Abbott, in Geographical Journal, by Sir W. Ouseley (Travels, vol. i. p. 305). vol. xxv. p. 60. A vulture was shot near Darab by one 95 Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. p. 73. of his party (ib. vol. ii. p. 153). I Morier, First Journey, pp. 61, 64. 28 Cormorants, falcons, bustards, and I ? Ker Porter, vol. ii. p. 19. partridges of more than one kind were 3 Geograph. Journal, vol. xiii. p. 79. noticed by Mr. Morier in the Deshtistan * Ibid. vol. xxv. p. 54; vol. xxvii. (First Journey, p. 64). 29 Geograph. Journal, vol. xiii. p. 79. The root of Carm-ania (or Ger. I p. 162. CHAP. II. 143 VARIETIES OF FISH. . The shores and rivers of Persia Proper supplied the people very plentifully with fish. The ancient writers tell us that the inhabitants of the coast tract lived almost wholly on a fish diet. The Indian Sea appears in those days to have abounded with whales,' which were not unfrequently cast upon the shores, affording a mine of wealth to the natives. The great ribs were used as beams in the formation of huts, while the jaws served as doors and the smaller bones as planking Dolphins also abounded in the Persian waters; 10 together with many other fish of less bulk, which were more easy to capture.11 On these smaller fish, which they caught in nets, the maritime inhabi- tants subsisted principally.12 They had also an unfailing re- source in the abundance of oysters,13 and other shell-fish along their coast—the former of excellent quality.14 In the interior, though the lakes, being salt or brackish, had no piscatory stores, the rivers were, for the most part, it would seem, well provided ; at least, good fish are still found in many of the streams, both small and large ; and in some they are exceedingly plentiful.15 Modem travellers fail to distinguish the different kinds; but we may presume that they are not very unlike those of the adjoining Media, which appear to be trout, carp, barbel, dace, bleak, and gudgeon, 26 The reptiles of Persia Proper are not numerous. They are chiefly tortoises, lizards, frogs, land-snakes, and water-snakes. mania, Herod. i. 125) would seem to be 8 Arr. H. 1. xxix. 15; xxx. 8; xxxix. the ancient Persian garma (found in the month Garmapada), which is represented 9 Ibid. xxix. 16; xxx. 9. by the modern Persian gherm-both 10 Nearchus ap. Arr. H. 1. xxxix. 5. words being identical with our own " Ibid. xxix. 11. Chardin says of "warm." the Persian Gulf—“ Il n'y a point au 6 Though the name of Ichthyophagi monde, comme je crois, de mer si pois- is restricted by the ancient writers to sonneuse que le Golfe de Perse." (Voy. the inhabitants of the coast tract outside ages, tom. iii. p. 44.) See also Ouseley, the Gulf (Arrian, Hist. Ind. xxix.-xxxii.; Travels, vol. i. p. 227. Strab. xv. 2, SS 1, 2, &c.), yet the fact 12 Arrian, H. I. xxix. 12. of dependence on the sea for food had 19 Ibid. 14; xxxvii. 3; xxxix. 5. evidently no such limitation. (See 1 On the excellent quality of the Arrian, Hist. Ind. xxxvii. 8; xxxviii. 4.) Gulf oysters, see Morier, First Journey, * Nearchus, ap. Arr. H. I. xxx. 1-9. p. 55. Compare Strab. xv. 2,8 2. Whales have * 15 As in the Khist river (Ouseley, been observed by moderns in the Per- Travels, vol. i. p. 261), in the small sian Gulf, near Busrah (Vincent, Peri- stream which flows by Ekleed (ib.p. 446), plus, p. 392, 2nd edition, Ouseley, Tra- and elsewhere. vels, vol. i. p. 230). 16 See above, vol. ii. p. 298. 144 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. The land-snakes are venomous, but their poison is not of a very deadly character ; 17 and persons who have been bitten by them, if properly treated, generally recover. The lizards are of various sizes, some quite small, others more than three feet long, and covered with a coarse rough skin like that of a toad. They bave the character of being venomous, and even dangerous to life ; 18 but it may be doubted whether they are not, like our toads and newts, in reality perfectly harmless. The traveller in Persia suffers less from reptiles than from insects. Scorpions abound in all parts of the country, and, infesting houses, furniture, and clothes, cause perpetual annoy- ance.19 Mosquitoes swarm in certain places and seasons, 20 preventing sleep and irritating the traveller almost beyond endurance. A poisonous spider, a sort of tarantula, is said to occur in some localities ; 21 and Chardin further mentions a kind of centipede, the bite of which, according to him, is fatal.22 To the sufferings which these creatures cause, must be added a constant annoyance from those more vulgar forms of insect life which detract from the delights of travel even in Europe. Persia, moreover, suffers no less than Babylonia and Media,23 from the ravages of locusts. Constantly, when the wind is from the south-east, there cross from the Arabian coast clouds of these destructive insects, whose numbers darken the air as they move, in flight after flight, across the desert to the spots where nature or cultivation has clothed the earth with verdure.24 The Deshtistan, or low country, is, of course, most exposed to their attacks, but they are far from being confined to that region. The interior, as far as Shiraz itself, suffers terribly from this scourge, which produces scarcity, or even famine, when (as often happens) it is repeated year after year.25 The natives at such 17 Kinneir, p. 43;Ouseley, vol. .p. 216. | dangereuse, et même mortelle, quand il 18 Chardin, tom. üi. p. 38. “On dit | entrent dans les oreilles." qu'ils attaquent quelquefois les hommes, Compare above, vol. ii. pp. 299, 300, et qu'ils les tuent." and 493. 19 Ouseley, vol. ii. pp. 176, 216; Char 24 Chardin, I. 8. c.; Ouseley, vol. i. p. din, 1. 8. c.; Kinneir, 1. 8. C. 195; vol. ü. p. 213; Morier, Second 20 Chardin, l. 8. c.; Ouseley, vol. ii. Journey, pp. 43, 44; Geograph. Journal, p. 227. vol. xxvii. p. 158, &c. 21 Ouseley, vol. ii. p. 215. 25 Geograph. Journal, vol. xxvii. pp. 2 Tom. iii. p. 38: “Sa morsure est | 118, 159. CHAP. II. 145 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. times are reduced to feeding on the locusts themselves ; a diet which they do not relish, but to which necessity compels them.26 The locusts of Persia Proper are said to be of two kinds. One, which is regarded as bred in the country, bears the name of missri, being identified with the locust of Egypt.27 The other, which is thought to be blown over from Arabia, and thus to cross the sea, is known as the melekh deriai, or “sea- locust.” 28 The former is regarded as especially destructive to the crops, the latter to the shrubs and trees. The domestic animals in use at the present day within the provinces of Fars and Kerman are identical with those em- ployed in the neighbouring country of Media,29 and will need only a very few words of notice here. The ordinary horse of the country is the Turcoman, a large, strong, but somewhat clumsy animal, possessed of remarkable powers of endurance; but in the Deshtistan the Arabian breed prevails, and travellers tell us that in this region horses are produced which fall but little short of the most admired coursers of Nejd.30 Cows and oxen are somewhat rare, beef being little eaten, and such cattle being only kept for the supply of the dairy, and for purposes of agriculture.31 Sheep and goats are abundant, and constitute the chief wealth of the inhabitants 182 the goat is, on the whole, preferred,33 and both goats and sheep are generally of a black or brown colour. 34 The sheep of Kerman are small and short- legged; they produce a wool of great softness and delicacy.85 It is probable that in ancient times the domestic animals of the country were nearly the same as at the present day. % Ouseley observes that the Arab | cat, and the buffalo. (See above, vol. population seems to relish the locust, but ii. p. 300.) not so the Persian (Travels, vol. i. p. 196). $ Kinneir, p. 41; Fraser, Khorasan, He himself tried the dish, and found p. 72. it "by no means unpalatable," being *Kinneir, pp. 41, 42; Chardin, tom. " in flavour like lobsters or shrimps." üi. p. 37. 23 Abbott, in Geograph. Journal, vol. 82 See, besides the authorities quoted xxvii. p. 154. in the last note, Geograph. Journal, vol. » Ibid. Compare Ouseley, vol. i. p. xxvii. p. 152; Pottinger, Travels, p. 238; 196, note. and Fraser, l. 8. C. 29 That is to say, they consist of the 23 Abbott, in Geograph. Journal, vol. camel, the horse, the mule, the ass, the xxvii. p. 159. Ibid. p. 152. cow, the goat, the sheep, the dog, the 35 Pottinger, p. 225. VOL. III. 146 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. The statement of Xenophon, that anciently a horse was a rarity in Persia Proper,36 is contradicted by the great bulk of the early writers, who tell us that the Persians were from the first expert riders, and that their country was peculiarly well fitted for the breeding of horses.37 Their camels, sheep, goats, asses, and oxen, are also expressly mentioned by the Greeks,38 who even indicate a knowledge of the fact that goats were preferred to sheep by the herdsmen of the country.39 The mineral treasures of the country appear to have been considerable, though to what extent they were known and made use of in ancient times is open to some question. Mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, red lead, and orpiment are said to have been actually worked under the Persian kings;' and some of the other minerals were so patent and obvious, that we can scarcely suppose them to have been neglected. Salt abounded in the region in several shapes. It appeared in some places as rock salt, showing itself in masses of vast size and various colours. In other places it covered the surface of the ground for miles together with a thick incrustation, and could be gathered at all seasons with little labour. It was deposited by the waters of several lakes within the territory, and could be collected round their edges at certain times of the year. Finally, it was held in solution, both in the lakes and in many of the streams ;5 from whose waters it might have been obtained by evaporation. Bitumen and naphtha were yielded by sources 36 Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, § 3. 'Ev IIépo ais yap, the first place to the goats (tá te altó. διά το χαλεπόν είναι και τρέφειν ίππους | λια, και τας ποίμνας, και τα βουκόλια, και ιππεύειν, εν ορεινή ούση τη χώρα i. 126). και ιδείν ίππον πάνυ σπάνιον ήν. Strab. xv. 2, § 14; Plin. H. N. vi. 37 Herod. i. 136; Nic. Dam. Fr. 66, 23. These mines were in Carmania, p. 403, sub. fin. ; Strab. xv. 3, § 18; where there was also a river (the Hyc- Arrian, Hist. Ind. xl. § 4, &c. tanis) whose sands contained gold. 3$ Camels (Herod. i. 80); sheep and 2 Strabo (1. 8. c.) speaks of a "moun- goats (ib. i. 126; Arr. H. I. xxxvii. 11); tain of salt" (alds Opos) in Carmania. asses (Strab. xv. 2, $ 14); oxen (Herod. Abbott (Geograph. Journal, vol. xxvii. i. 126; Nic. Dam. Fr. 66, p. 403). p. 157) uses almost exactly the same 39 In Nicolas's fragment concerning expression. He and Ouseley (Travels, the early life of Cyrus (Fr. 66), the Per. vol. i. p. 155) note that the salt is of sians, including Cyrus himself, are different colours. throughout represented as "goat-herds” Pottinger, Travels, p. 229; Abbott (aitóloi). So Herodotus, when he men in Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. pp. 34, tions the various flocks and herds of 66. • See above, p. 89. Cambyses, the father of Cyrus, assigns | Pottinger, p. 237. Chap. II. 147 PRODUCTS OF THE EMPIRE IN GENERAL. near Dalaki,º which were certainly known to the ancients.? Sulphur was deposited upon the surface of the ground in places. Some of the mountains contained ordinary lead;9 but it is not unlikely that this metal escaped notice. Ancient Persia produced a certain number of gems. The pearls of the Gulf, which have still so great a reputation, had attracted the attention of adventurers before the time of Alexander, whose naval captains found a regular fishery esta- blished in one of the islands.20 The Orientals have always set a high value on this commodity; and it appears that in ancient times the Gulf pearls were more highly esteemed than any others. Of hard stones the only kinds that can be distinctly assigned to Persia Proper are the iritis,12 a species of rock- crystal ; the atizoë, a white stone which had a pleasant odour ;18 the mithrax, a gem of many hues ; 14 the nipparéné, which re- sembled ivory ;15 and the thelycardios or mulc, which was in special favour among the natives of the country.16 From this account of the products of Persia Proper we have now to pass to those of the Empire in general—a wide subject, which it will be impossible to treat here with any completeness, owing to the limits to which the present work is necessarily confined. In order to bring the matter within reasonable com- pass, the reader may be referred in the first instance to the account which was given in a former volume of the products of the empire of Babylon ; 17 and the enquiry may then be con- 6 Ouseley, vol. i. p. 258; Morier, ' * Plin. H. N. 1. s. c. First Journey, p.78; Chesney, Euphrates 15 Pliny compares it to the teeth of Expedition, vol. i. p. 75. the hippopotamus (H. N. 1. 8. c.), which See Plin. H. N. vi. 23 : “Flumen are a little more transparent and less Granis modicarum navium per Susianem white than ivory. fiuit; dextra ejus adcolunt Deximontani, 16 "Thelycardios. . Persas, apud qui bitumen perficiunt.” quos gignitur, magnopere delectat: mulc & Ouseley, vol. i. p. 258 ; Geograph. appellant.” (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 10, sub Journal, vol xxvii. p. 152. fin.) The turquoise, which is now the • Lead is found in Fars, near Neyriz favourite gem of the Persians, and (Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. p. 71), and which is found in Kerman (Geograph. also in the vicinity of Murgab (Morier, Journal, vol. XXV. pp. 30, 63) as well as Second Journey, p. 120). at Nishapur, may have been known in 10 Arrian, Hist. Ind. xxxviii. 3. the time of the Empire ; but there is n Plin. H. N. ix. 25. no evidence that it was so. 12 Ibid. xxxvii. 9, sub. fin. 17 See vol. ii. pp. 483-496. 13 Ib. xxxvü. 10. L 2 148 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. fined to those regions which were subject to Persia, but not contained within the limits of the Fourth Monarchy. Among the animals belonging to these regions, the following are especially noticeable :—The tiger, the elephant, the hippo- potamus, the crocodile, the monitor, the two-humped camel, the Angora goat, the elk, the monkey, and the spotted hyæna, or Felis chaus. The tiger, which is entirely absent from Meso- potamia, and unknown upon the plateau of Iran, abounds in the low tract between the Elburz and the Caspian,18 in the flat region about the Sea of Aral,19 and in the Indus valley.20 The elephant was, perhaps, anciently an inhabitant of Upper Egypt, where the island of Elephantiné remained an evidence of the fact.21 It was also in Persian times a denizen of the Indus valley, though perhaps only in a domesticated state.22 The hippopotamus, unknown in India, was confined to the single province of Egypt, where it was included among the animals which were the objects of popular worship.23 The crocodile- likewise a sacred animal to the Egyptians 24_frequented both the Nile and the Indus.25 Monitors,26 which are a sort of dimi- nutive crocodiles, were of two kinds : one, the Lacerta Nilotica, was a water animal, and was probably found only in Egypt; the other, Lacerta scincus, frequented dry and sandy spots, and abounded in North Africa 27 and Syria,28 as well as in the Nile valley. The two-humped camel belonged to Bactria,29 where he was probably indigenous, but was widely spread over the 18 Kinneir, Persian Empire, p. 42. | Hist. Ind. xiii. and xiv.) probably de- 19 Butakoff in Geograph. Journal, vol. rived their accounts of the mode in xxiii. p. 95. which wild elephants were taken from 20 Burnes, Journey to Bokhara, vol. hearsay. iii. p. 139. Tigers are also said to 23 Herod. ii. 71. Compare Wilkin- exist in the high country about Kash son, Ancient Egyptians, vol. v. pp. 177- gar and Yarkand, east of the Bolor 181. mountain-range. 24 Herod. ii. 68, 69; Diod. Sic. i. 89. 21 See Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, 23 Herod. iv. 44; Burnes, Bokhara, vol. v. pp. 176, 177; and Stuart Poole vol. iii. p. 303. in Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. viii. p. 26 Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, vol. 432. V. p. 123. Compare his note in the 22 Arrian, Exp. Alex. iv. 22; v. 3, 9, author's Herodotus, vol. iü. p. 141, &c. The native country of the elephant note 5, 2nd edition. is the peninsula of Hindustan. Nearchus 27 Herod. iv. 192. (ap. Strab. xv. 1, § 43) and even Megas 28 Ainsworth, Researches, p. 46. thenes (ap. eund. xv. 1, § 42, and Arr. 1 29 See above, vol. ii. p. 301. CHAP. II. 149 ANIMALS—BIRDS. Empire, on account of his great strength and powers of en- durance. The Angora goat is, perhaps, scarcely a distinct species.s0 If not identical with the ordinary wild goat of Persia and Meso- potamia (Capra ægagrus), he is at any rate closely allied to it; and it is possible that all his peculiar characteristics may be the effect of climate. He has a soft, white, silky fleece, very long divided down the back by a strong line of separation, and falling on either side in beautiful spiral ringlets; his fleece weighs from two to four pounds. It is of nearly uniform length, and averages from five to five and a half inches. The elk is said to inhabit Armenia, Affghanistan, and the lower part of the valley of the Indus;4 but it is perhaps not certain that he is really to be found in the two latter regions." Monkeys abound in Eastern Cabul and the adjoining parts of India. They may have also existed formerly in Upper Egypt.? The spotted hyæna, Felis chaus (Canis crocuta of Linnæus), is an Egyptian animal, inhabiting principally the hills on the western side of the Nile. In appearance it is like a large cat, with a tuft of long black hair at the extremities of its ears—a feature which it has in common with the lynx.8 Among the rarer birds of the Empire may be mentioned the ostrich, which occurred in Mesopotamia ;' parrots, which were found in Cabul and the Punjab;10 ibises, which abounded in Egypt," and in the Delta of the Indus ;12 the great vulture (Vultur cinereus), which inhabited the Taurus ; 13 the Indian 30 Encyd. Britannica, ad voc. MAM- | pp. 128-130.) But it was perhaps only MALIA, vol. xiv. p. 211. imported into Egypt from Ethiopia. 1 Ibid. vol. xxi. p. 906. (See Plin. H. N. viii. 54.) ? Chesney, vol. i. p. 142. & Wilkinson, vol. v. p. 174. * Elphinstone, Caubul, vol. i. p. 188. 9 Xen. Anab. i. 5, § 2. Supra, vol. i. 4 Carless in Geograph. Journal, vol. p. 228. viii. p. 362. * 10 Elphinstone, Caubul, vol. i. p. 192. 5 Naturalists seem now to doubt The green parrot is found also in Syria. whether the elk can live much below (Chesney, vol. i. pp. 443, 537.) the 45th parallel. (Encycl. Britannica, " Herod. ii. 75, 76; Diod. Sic. i. 87, vol. xiv. p. 206). $ 6; Strab. xvii. 2, 8 4. & Elphinstone, 1. 8. c. 12 Geograph. Journal, vol. viii. p. 362. Mummies of the cynocephalus are 13 Ainsworth, in Chesney's Euphrates common in the Egyptian tombs, and Expedition, vol. i. Appendix, p. 730. the same ape is frequently represented This bird is “equal in size to the on the sculptures, (Wilkinson, vol. v. condor.” 150 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. owl (Athena Indica),14 the spoonbill 15 (Platalea nudifrons); the benno (Ardea bubulcus), and the sicsac (Charadrius mela- nocephalus). 16 The most valuable of the fish belonging to the Persian seas and rivers were the pearl oyster of the Gulf, and the murex of the Mediterranean, which furnished the famous purple dye of Tyre. After these may be placed the sturgeon and sterlet of the Caspian,7 the silurus 18 of the Sea of Aral, the Aleppo eel,19 and the palla, a small but excellent fish, which is captured in the Indus during the flood season.20 The Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, as we have seen, 21 were visited by whales : dolphins, porpoises, cod, and mullet abounded in the same seas ; 22 the large rivers generally contained barbel and carp;23 while some of them, together with many of the smaller streams, supplied trout of a good flavour. The Nile had some curious fish peculiar to itself, as the oxyrinchus, the lepidotus, the Perca Nilotica, the Silurus Schilbe Niloticus, the Silurus carmuth and others. Great numbers of fish, mostly of the same species with those of the Nile,” were also furnished by the Lake Maris ; and from these a considerable revenue was derived by the Great King 14 Ainsworth, 1. 8. C. | modern Egypt. (Wilkinson, Ancient 15 The spoonbill occurs in the Egyp-| Egyptians, vol. v. p. 249; Description de tian sculptures. (Wilkinson, vol. ii. l'Egypte, “Hist. Nat." vol. i. p. 270, and p. 51.) pl. 6, fig. 1). The lepidotus is spoken of 16 The benno and the sicsac are found by Herodotus (ü. 72) and Strabo (1. 8. c). only in Egypt. The latter is probably It is thought to have been the modern the trochilus of Herodotus. (Wilkinson, Cyprinus lepidotus, or Cyprinus benni. vol. v. p. 226.) (Description, p. 284; Wilkinson, p. 252. 17 Chesney, Euphrates Exp.vol.i. p. 82. Compare the latter writer's note in the 18 Butakoff in Geograph. Journal, vol. author's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 101, 2nd xxiii. p. 99. edition). Strabo mentions as fish of 19 Chesney, vol. i. p. 412. the Nile having peculiar characteristics 20 Burnes, Bokhara, vol. iii. p. 39. (χαρακτήρα έχοντες ίδιον και επιχώ- 21 Supra, p. 143. prov) — besides these two — the latus, 22 Arrian, Hist. Ind. xxxix. 5; Burnes, the alabes, the coracinus, the chærus, the vol. iii. p. 65; Geograph. Journal, vol. phagrorius or phagrus, the silurus, the ci. viii. pp. 332, 362, &c. tharus, the thrissa, the cestreus, thelychnus, Supra, vol. i. pp. 41, 231 ; vol. ü. the physa, and the bus (Bous). On the p. 298. whole subject of the fish of the Nile, see The Oxyrinchus is mentioned by the Description de l'Egypte, “Hist. Nat." Strabo (xvii. 2, § 4), Plutarch (De Is. vol. i. pp. 1-52, and pp. 265-340. § 2, &c.), Ælian (Nat. An. X. 46), and ? Wilkinson, Ancient Eygptians, vol. others. It has been recognised in the iii. p. 66. Mormyrus oxyrinchus, or mizdeh, of Herod. iii. 91; Diod. Sic. i. 52. CHAP. II. 151 REPTILES. Among the more remarkable of the reptiles which the Empire comprised within its limits may be noticed—besides the great saurians already mentioned among the larger animals 4—the Nile and Euphrates turtles (Trionyx Ægypticus and Trionyx Euphraticus), iguanas (Stellio vulgaris and Stellio spinipes), geckos, especially the Egyptian house gecko (G. lobatus), snakes, such as the asp (Coluber haje) and the horned snake (Coluber cerastes), and the chameleon. The Egyptian turtle is a large species, sometimes exceeding three feet in length. It is said to feed on the young of the crocodile. Both it and the Euphrates turtle are of the soft kind, i.e., of the kind which has not the shell complete, but unites the upper and under portions by a coriaceous membrane. The turtle of the Euphrates is of mode- rate size, not exceeding a length of two feet. It lives in the river, and on warm days suns itself on the sandbanks with which the stream abounds. It is active, strong, violent, and pas- sionate. When laid on its back, it easily recovers itself. If provoked, it will snap at sticks and other objects, and endeavour to tear them to pieces. It is of an olive-green colour, with large irregular greenish black spots. Iguanas are found in Egypt, in Syria, and elsewhere. The most common kind (Stellio vulgaris) does not exceed a foot in length, and is of an olive colour, shaded with black. It is per- secuted and killed by the Mahometans, because they regard its favourite attitude as a derisive imitation of their own attitude of prayer. There is another species, also Egyptian, which is of a much larger size, and of a grass-green colour. This is called Stellios pinipes : it has a length of from two to three feet. The geckoº is a kind of nocturnal lizard. Its eyes are large, and the pupil is extremely contractile. It hides itself during * The crocodile, and the two monitors. | pp. 733, 734. (Compare Ollivier, Voyage Lacerta Nilotica, and Lacerta scincus. en Perse, tom. iii. 453.) s St. Hilaire in the Description de Encycl. Britannica, vol. xix. p. 31. ľ Egypte, “ Hist. Nat.” tom. i. pp. 115. & Description de l'Egypte, “Hist. Nat." | tom. i. pp. 125, 126. . For an exact description of the 'On the gecko see Description de Euphrates turtle see the Appendix to | l'Egypte, pp. 130-134, and compare Enc. vol. i. of Chesney's Euphrates Expedition, | Britannica, vol. xix. p. 35. 120. 152 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. the day, and is lively only at nights. It haunts rooms, especi- ally kitchens, in Egypt, where it finds the insects which form its ordinary food. Its feet constitute its most marked characteristic. The five toes are enlarged and furnished with an ap- paratus of folds, which, by some peculiar action, en- able it to adhere to per- fectly smooth surfaces, to ascend perpendicular walls, cross ceilings, or hang sus- pended for hours on the under side of leaves. The Egyptians call it the abu burs,10 or “father of lep- rosy," and there is a wide- spread belief in its poison- ous character; but modern naturalists incline to regard Gecko, and feet of Gecko magnified. the belief as unfounded, and to place the gecko among reptiles which are absolutely harmless." The asp of Egypt (Coluber haje) is a species of cobra. It is a large snake, varying from three to six feet in length,12 and is extremely venomous. It haunts gardens, where it is of great use, feeding on mice, frogs, and various small reptiles. It has the power of greatly dilating the skin of the neck, and this it does when angered in a way that is very remarkable. Though naturally irritable, it is easily tamed; and the serpent-charmers of the East make it the object of their art more often than any aloqu yo rosy," and there is a wide- 10 Foskral, Descript. Anim. 13. Dictionary (Appendix to vol. i. p. xvii.). 11 See Mr. Houghton's remarks in Dr. ! The accompanying representation is Smith's Biblical Dictionary, vol. ii. p. from the last-named work. 127. 13 Sir G. Wilkinson had an asp six 12 The asp of Egypt has been well feet long, which was the largest that he described by St. Hilaire in the Descrip- | saw in Egypt. (Ancient Egyptians, vol. tion de l'Egypte ("Hist. Nat." tom. i. pp. v. p. 241 ; Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 105, 157-160); by Wilkinson, in his Ancient | note ?.) He discredits the account of Egyptians (vol. v. pp. 241, 242); and Ælian (Nat. An. vi. 38), that some by Mr. Houghton, in Smith's Biblical specimens measured five cubits (7 feet). CHAP. II. 153 THE EGYPTIAN ASP—THE “CERASTES." G other species. After extracting the fangs or burning out the poison-bag with a red-hot iron, the charmer trains the animal by the shrill sounds of a small flute, and it is soon perfectly docile. The cerastes 14 is also em- ployed occasionally by the snake-charmers. It has two long and thin excrescences above the eyes, whereto the name of “horns” has been given: they stand erect, lean- ing a little backwards. no The Egyptian Asp, or Coluber haje. naturalist has as yet discovered their use. The cerastes is of a very pale brown colour, and is spotted with large, unequal, and irregularly placed spots. Its bite is exceed- ingly dangerous, since it possesses a virulent poi- son ;15 and, being in the habit of nearly burying itself in the sand, which is of the same colour with itself, it is the more diffi- cult of avoidance. Its size The “ Cerastes." also favours its escaping notice, since in length it rarely much exceeds a foot. The chameleon has in all ages attracted the attention of mankind.16 It is found in Egypt, and in many other parts 14 This snake is described by Wilc | 13), and others. kinson (vol. v. pp. 245-247), by St. | 15 On the error of Herodotus in this Hilaire (in the Description de l'Égypte, respect (ii. 74; Oples åvo púrwv oủðauws “ Hist. Nat.” tom. i. pp. 155, 156), and ona nuoves), see Wilkinson, in the au- by Mr. Houghton (Biblical Dictionary, thor's Herodotus, note ad loc. vol. i. Appendix, p. iv.) It was known 16 The chameleon is perhaps not the to Herodotus (ii. 74), Aristotle (Hist. animal intended in Lev. xi. 30, though Anim. i. 1), Diodorus (i. 87), Pliny the LXX. so understood the passage. (H. N. viii, 23), Ælian (Nat. Anim. xv. | The attention of the Greeks seems to 154 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. of Africa, in Georgia, and in India. The power of changing colour which it possesses is not really its most remarkable cha- racteristic. Far more worthy of notice are its slow pace, extra- ordinary form, awkward movements, vivacity, and control of eye, and marvellous rapidity of tongue. It is the most gro- tesque of reptiles. With protruding and telescopic eyes, that move at will in the most opposite directions, with an ungainly head, a cold, dry, strange-looking skin, and a prehensile tail, the creature slowly steals along a branch or twig, scarcely dis- The Chameleon. tinguishable from the substance along which it moves, and scarcely seeming to move at all, until it has come within reach of its prey. Then suddenly, with a motion rapid as that of the most agile bird, the long cylindrical and readily extensile tongue is darted forth with unerring aim, and the prey is seized and swallowed in a single moment of time. The ordinary colour of have been first called to it by Demo. $ 43), and Leo Africanus (Descrip. Afric. critus, who wrote a special book on the ix. p. 298), treat of the animal, all with subject. (Plin. H. N. xxviii. 8.) By much exaggeration. Aristotle's time the creature was so well 17 St. Hilaire well observes of these known as to have become a proverb for reptiles :—“Ce qui les rend véritable- changefulness (Eth. Nic. i. 10, § 8). ment bien remarquables, c'est la forme Aristotle himself gave a good descrip bizarre de leur tête, la disposition non tion of it in his “History of Animals," moins singulière de leurs yeux presque (ii. 11, $ 1). Later writers among the | entièrement recouverts par la peau, et Greeks, as Alexander the Myndian (ap. dont l'un peut se mouvoir en sens in- Æl. De Nat. Anim. iv. 33), indulged | verse de l'autre; la structure de leur their fancies on the subject, and in langue charnue, cylindrique et très-ex- vented a number of absurd tales in tensible ; leur queue prenante; enfin connection with it. The first Latin leurs doigts divisés en deux paquets writer who speaks of the chameleon is opposables l'un à l'autre.” (Description Ovid (Metaph. xv. 411). After him de l'Egypte, “Hist. Nat." vol. i. p. 134.) Pliny (H. Ñ. 1. s. c.), Solinus (Polyhist. | CHAP. II. 155 VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. the chameleon is a pale olive-green. This sometimes fades to a sort of ashen-grey, while sometimes it warms to a yel- lowish-brown, on which are seen faint spots of red.8 Modern naturalists, for the most part, attribute the changes to the action of the lungs, which is itself affected chiefly by the emotions of anger, desire, and fear. The great extent of the Empire caused its vegetable pro- ductions to include almost all the forms known to the ancient world. On the one hand, the more northern and more elevated regions bore pines, firs, larches, oaks, birch, beech, ash, ilex, and junipers, together with the shrubs and flowers of the cooler temperate regions; on the other hand, the southern tracts grew palms of various kinds,19 mangoes, tamarind-trees, lemons, oranges, jujubes, mimosas, and sensitive plants. Between these extremes of tropical and cold-temperate products, the Empire embraced an almost infinite variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers. The walnut and the Oriental plane grew to a vast size in many places.20 Poplars, willows, fig-mulberries, konars, cedars, cypresses, acacias, were common. Bananas, egg-plants, locust- trees, banyans, terebinths, the gum-styrax, the yum-tragacanth, the assafoetida plant, the arbor vitæ, the castor-oil plant, the Judas-tree, and other somewhat rare forms, sprang up side by side with the pomegranate, the oleander, the pistachio-nut, the myrtle, the bay, the laurel, the mulberry, the rhododendron, and the arbutus. The Empire grew all the known sorts of grain, and almost all the known fruits. Among its various productions of this class, it is only possible to select for notice a few which were especially remarkable either for their rarity or for their excellent quality. The ancients celebrated the wheat of Æolis, the dates of 1 Encycl. Britann. vol. xix. p. 37. / scription de l'Egypte, vol. ii. p. 145.) The author had in his house for some 20* See Herod. vii. 31; Fellows, Asia time a specimen lent him by Mr. Frank Minor, pp. 36, 42; Pottinger, Travels, p. Buckland. Its colour only varied be 238; Ker Porter, vol. i. pp. 409, 712; tween ashy grey and yellowish olive. | Ouseley, vol. ii. p. 165; &c. * As the common unproductive palm, 21 The banyan is a native of the the date-bearing palm, the fan-palm Punjab. (Elphinstone's Caubul, vol. i. (supra, p. 141), and the branching palm p. 108.) (Palina Thebaica) of Upper Egypt. (De Strab. xv. 3, $ 22. Punis. 37. 3,8 22. 156 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Babylon, the citrons of Media, the Persian peach, the grapes of Carmania," the Hyrcanian fig, the plum of Damascus, the cherries of Pontus, the mulberries of Egypt and of Cyprus, the silphium of Cyrêné,1° the wine of Helbon, the wild-grape oil of Syria.12 It is not unlikely that to these might have been added as many other vegetable products of first-rate excellence, had the ancients possessed as good a knowledge of the countries included within the Empire as the moderns. At present, the mulberries of Khiva,13 the apricots of Bokhara, 14 the roses of Mezar,15 the quinces and melons of Isfahan,18 the grapes of Kasvin and Shiraz, the pears of Natunz,18 the dates of Dalaki, 19 have a wide-spread reputation, which appears in most cases to be well deserved. On the whole, it is certain that for variety and excellence the vegetable products of the Persian Empire will bear comparison with those of any other state or com- munity that has as yet existed, either in the ancient or the modern world. Two only of these products seem to deserve a longer descrip- tion. The Cyrenaic silphium, of which we hear so much, as constituting the main wealth of that province,20 was valued chiefly for its medicinal qualities. A decoction from its leaves was used to hasten the worst kind of labours; its root and Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. i. 7; 1 11 Ezek. xxvii. 18; Strab. xv. 3, § 22. p. 67. 12 Plin. H. N. xxiii. proëm. & 5. * 3 Plin. H. N. xii. 3; Theophrastus, 13 Vámbéry, Travels, p. 146. H. P. iv. 4; Dioscorid. De Mat. Med. 14 Ibid. p. 419. i. $ 166; Virg. Georg. ii. 126-135. 15 lbid. p. 233. * See above, p. 140, note 13 16 Ner Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 451; 5 Strab. xv. 2, § 14. Kinneir, Persian Empire, pp. 38 and 6 Onesicritus ap. Plin. H. N. xv. 18; 110. Strab. xi. 7, 8 2. 17 Morier, Second Journey, p. 203; ? Plin. H. N. xv. 13. The name “Da Kinneir, p. 38. mascene plum" has been contracted into 18 Kinneir, p. 115. our “ damson." 19 Fraser, Khorasan, p. 75. 8 Plin. H. N. xv. 25. Here again 20 Το βάττου σίλφιον had become the language is a record of facts in natural subject of a proverb as early as the history. The word “cherry” repre time of Aristophanes (Plut. 621). It sents the Latin cerasus (Gk. Kepaoós), was assumed as the special emblem of which was the special fruit of Cerasus, | Cyrêné upon coins. From the posses- one of the Greek cities on the north sion of the treasure the city derived its coast of Asia Minor. epithet of laserpicifera (Catull. vii. 4). Ibid. xxiii. 7, $ 70, ed. Sillig. On the qualities of the drug, see Theo- 10 Herod. iv. 169; Scylax. Peripl. phrast. Hist. Pl. vi. 3; ix. 2; Plin. $ 108; Plin. H. N. xix. 3. H. N. xix. 3. CHAP. II. 157 THE SILPHIUM—THE PAPYRUS. a juice which flowed from it were employed in a variety of maladies. The plant, which is elaborately described by Theo- phrastus, appears to have been successfully identified by modern travellers in the Cyrenaica, 21 who see it in the drias or derias of the Arabs, an umbelliferous plant, which grows to a height of about three feet, has a deleterious effect on the camels that browse on it, and bears a striking resemblance to the repre- sentations of the ancient silphium upon coins and medals. This plant grows only in the tract between Merj and Derna—the very heart of the old silphium country, while that it has medicinal properties is certain from its effects upon animals; there can thus be little doubt that it is the silphium of the ancients, somewhat degenerated, owing to want of cultivation. The Egyptian by blus or papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) was perhaps the most valuable of all the vegetables of the Empire. The plant was a tall smooth reed of a triangular shape. 22 It grew to the height of ten or fifteen feet, and terminated in a tuft or plume of leaves and flowers. Though indigenous in the country, it was the subject of careful cultivation, and was grown in irrigated ground, or in such lands as were naturally marshy. The root of the plant was eaten,23 while from its stem was made the famous Egyptian paper. The manufacture of the papyrus was as follows:- The outer rind having been removed, there was exposed a laminated interior, consisting of a number of successive layers of inner cuticle, generally about twenty. These were carefully separated from one another by the point of a needle,24 and thus were obtained a number of strips of the raw material, which were then arranged in rows, covered with a paste, 25 and crossed at right angles by another set of strips placed over them, after which the whole was converted into 21 Della Cella, Narrative, pp. 126, 127; | Cowan, the writer of the article on Pacho, Voyage dans la Marmarique, ch. “Paper,” in the Encyclopædia Britan- xviii.; Beechey, Expedition to Ñ. C. of nica (vol. xvii. pp. 246-248). Africa, pp. 409-420; Hamilton, Wan 23 Herod. ii. 92. Theophrastus (H.P. derings in N. Africa, p. 27. iv. 9) says that the root was used as 2 On the subject of the Egyptian firewood, and that many articles were papyrus the reader may be referred to made from it. Sir G. Wilkinson (in the author's He 24 Plin. H. N. xii. 12. rodotus, vol. i. pp. 128, 129,) and Mr. | 25 Ibid. 158 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. paper by means of a strong pressure. A papyrus roll was made by uniting together a greater or less number of such sheets. The best paper was made from the inmost layers of cuticle. The outer rind of the papyrus was converted into ropes; and this fabric was found to be peculiarly adapted for immersion in water. The mineral treasures of the Empire were various and abundant. It has been noticed already that Persia Proper, if we include in it Carmania, possessed mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, red lead, orpiment, and salt, yielding also bitumen, naphtha, sulphur, and most probably common lead.26 We are further informed by ancient writers that Drangiana, or Sarangia, furnished the rare and valuable mineral tin,27 without which copper could not be hardened into bronze; that Armenia yielded emery,28 so necessary for the working and polishing of gems; that the mountains and mines of the Empire supplied almost all the varieties of useful and precious stones; and that thus there was scarcely a mineral known to and required by the ancients for the purposes of their life which the Great King could not command without having recourse to others than his own subjects. It may be likewise noticed that the more im- portant were very abundant, being found in many places and in large quantities. Gold was furnished from the mountains and deserts of Thibet and India,29 from the rivers of Lydia,30 and probably from other places where it is still found, as Armenia, Cabul, and the neighbourhood of Meshed." Silver, which was the general medium of exchange in Persia, must have been especially plentiful. It was probably yielded, not only by the Kerman mines, but also by those of Armenia, Asia Minor, and 26 Supra, p. 146. 30 Herod. v. 101; Soph. Philoct. 393; 27 Strab. xv. 2, $ 10. Strab. xii. 4, 85. 2 Theophrast. De Lapid. 8 44; Plin. See Ainsworth's Researches, p. 278; H. N. xxxvi. 7, 22. On the identity of Elphinstone's Caubul, vol. i. p. 194; and the Greek outp:s and Roman Naxium Ferrier's Caravan Journeys, p. 116. Ar- with our “emery," see King's Antique menian gold mines are mentioned by Gems, p. 473. Strabo (xi. 14, $ 9). 23 Herod. iii. 95, 104-106; Megasth. ? Herod. iii. 90-96. Silver Darics Fr. 39; Arrian. Hist. Ind. xv. 5. The have been found in considerable num. fabulous account of the ants does not invalidate the fact that gold was pro- | Strab. xv. 2, $ 14. cured from these quarters. bers. CHAP. II. 159 MINERALS-SALT. the Elburz. Copper was obtained in great abundance from Cyprus, as well as from Carmania;& and it may have been also derived, as it is now in very large quantities, from Armenia.? Iron, really the most precious of all metals, existed within the Persian territory in the shape of huge boulders, as well as in nodules and in the form of iron-stone.' Lead was procurable from Bactria, Armenia, Kerman, and many parts of Affghanis- tan ;10 orpiment from Bactria, Kerman, and the Hazareh coun- try;11 antimony from Armenia, Affghanistan, and Media ;12 hornblende, quartz, talc, and asbestos, from various places in the Taurus.13 Of all necessary minerals probably none was so plentiful and 80 widely diffused as salt. It was not only in Persia Proper that nature had bestowed this commodity with a lavish hand —there was scarcely a province of the Empire which did not possess it in superfluous abundance. Large tracts were covered by it in North Africa, in Media, in Carmania, and in Lower Babylonia. In Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, Palestine, and other places, it could be obtained from lakes. In Kerman, and again in Palestine, it showed itself in the shape of large masses, not inappropriately termed "mountains."3 Finally, in India it was the chief material of a long mountain-range, 4 which is capable of supplying the whole world with salt for many ages. Silver is yielded in considerable 12 Ainsworth, Researches, p. 279; El- quantities by the mines at Kapan Maden | phinstone, p. 194; Morier, First Journey, near Kharput (Ainsworth's Researches, pp. 283, 284. pp. 279-281) and of Denek Maden on **13 Ainsworth, pp. 274, 275, 285, 336, the right bank of the Halys between &c. Kaiseriyeh and Angora (Travels in Asia Hamilton, Wanderings, pp. 183,193, Minor, vol. i. p. 153). It is also found | &c.; Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 385; in the Elburz (Ferrier, l. 8. c.) Abbott, in Geographical Journal, vol. 5 Strab. xiv. 6, & 5; Plin. H. N. XXV. pp. 34, 66; Pottinger, Travels, p. xxxiv. 2. 229; Ainsworth, Researches, p. 118. 6 Strab. xv. 2, $ 14. 2 See vol. ii. pp. 294, 487, &c. Com- * See Ainsworth's Researches, pp. 273. pare Herod. vii. 30; and see above, 275. p. 125. 8 Ibid. p. 285. * Robinson, Researches in Palestine, * Ibid. pp. 57, 276, 285, &c. vol. ii. p. 482; Abbott, in Geographical 10 Fraser, Khorasan, p. 367; Ains Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 157. Compare worth, Researches, p. 279; Abbott, in Strabo, xv. 2, $ 14. Geograph. Journal, vol. xxv. p. 64; El- On the “Salt Range" of North- phinstone, Caubul, vol. i. p. 194. western India, see Elphinstone's Caubul, 11 Elphinstone, p. 195; Strab. I. &. C. I vol. i. pp. 48, 49, and 137. 160 CHAP II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Bitumen and naphtha were also very widely diffused. At the eastern foot of the Caucasus, where it subsides into the Caspian Sea, at various points in the great Mesopotamian plain, in the Deshtistan or low country of Persia Proper," in the Bakhtiyari mountains, and again in the distant Jordan valley,º these two inseparable products are to be found, gene- rally united with indications of volcanic action, present or recent. The bitumen is of excellent quality, and was largely employed by the ancients.10 The naphtha is of two kinds, black naphtha or petroleum, and white naphtha, which is much preferred to the other. The bitumen-pits also, in some places, yielded salt. 11 Another useful mineral with which the Persians were very plentifully supplied, was sulphur. Sulphur is found in Persia Proper, in Carmania, on the coast of Mekran,12 in Azerbijan, in the Elburz, on the Iranian plateau, in the vicinity of the Dead Sea,1and in very large quantities near Mosul.14 Here it is quarried in great blocks, which are conveyed to considerable distances. Excellent stone for building purposes was obtainable in most parts of the Empire. Egypt furnished an inexhaustible supply of the best possible granite; marbles of various kinds, compact sandstone, limestone, and other useful sorts were widely diffused; and basalt was procurable from some of the outlying ranges of Taurus. In the neighbourhood of Nineveh, and in much of the Mesopotamian region, there was abundance of grey alabaster,15 and a better kind was quarried near 5 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. 10 Herod. i. 179; vi. 119; Plin. H. N. i. p. 132. Xxxv. 15. ö As at Nimrud (Journal of the Asiatic | 1 Herod. vi. 119. Society, vol. xv. p. 371), at Kerkuk (Ker 12 Geographical Journal, vol. xxxii. Porter, vol. ii. pp. 440-442), at Kifri p. 203. (Rich, Kurdistan, vol. i. p. 29), and at 13 Ouseley, vol. i. p. 258; Geographical Hit (Herod. i. 179; Rich, First Memoir Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 152; Kinneir, p. on Babylon, pp. 63, 64). 40; Morier, First Journey, p. 284; ? On the naphtha pits near Dalaki, Second Journey, p.355; Rich, Kurdistan, see Ouseley, vol. i. p. 258; Clerk, in | vol. i. p. 374; Lynch, Official Report, Geographical Journal, vol. xxxi. p. 64. pp. 176, 180, 187, &c. 8 Geographical Journal, vol. ix. p. 94. 14 On the sulphur mines of Mosul, see Compare Herod. vi. 119. Ainsworth, Researches, pp. 259, 260. o See above, vol. i. p. 487. 15 See above, vol. i. p. 219. CHAP. II. 161 GEMS. Damascus. 16 A gritty silicious rock on the banks of the Euphrates, a little above Hit, was suitable for mill-stones.?? The gems furnished by the various provinces of the Empire are too numerous for mention. They included, it must be re- among the mineral products of the earlier Monarchies.18 Among them, a principal place must, one would think, have been occupied by the turquoise—the gem, par excellence, of modern Persia—although, strange to say, there is no certain mention of it among the literary remains of antiquity. This lovely stone is produced largely by the mines at Nishapur in the Elburz,19 and is furnished also in less abundance and less beauty by a mine in Kerman,20 and another near Khojend. 21 It is noticed by an Arabian author as early as the twelfth century of our era.22 A modern writer on gems supposes that it is mentioned, though not named, by Theophrastus; but this Among the gems of most value which the Empire certainly produced were the emerald, the green ruby, the red ruby, the opal, the sapphire, the amethyst, the carbuncle, the jasper, the lapis lazuli, the sard, the agate, and the topaz. Emeralds were found in Egypt, Media, and Cyprus; 24 green rubies in Bactria ;25 16 Plin. H. N. xxxvii, 10. 17 Xen. Anab. i. 5, $ 5. Compare Ains- worth, Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousand, p. 82. 18 See above, vol. ii. pp. 304, 305, and 488. 19 A good account of these mines is given in Fraser's Khorasan, pp. 410-420. Compare Ferrier, Caravan Journeys, p. 106. 2 Ouseley, Travels, vol. i. p. 211; Geographical Journal, vol. xxv. pp. 30 and 63. 21 Fraser, Khorasan, Appendix, p. 105. * Mines de l' Orient, tom. vi. pp. 112- 142. 23 See King's Antique Gems, pp. 4, 5. The passage of Theophrastus runs as follows:- Kal èv Kumpu Ý Epápaydos και ή Ίασπις· οίς δε εις τα λιθόκολλα xoûvrai Éx Tîs Baktplavînsciol tpos VOL. IIJ. τη ερήμω συλλέγουσι δε αυτούς υπό τους 'Ετησίους ιππείς εξίοντος: τότε γάρ εμφανείς γίνονται, κινουμένης της άμμου διά το μέγεθος των πνευμάτων. Είσι δε μικροί και ου μεγάλοι. (De Lapid. p. 396.) Mr. King argues that these Bactrian gems must be turquoises, 1. On account of the turquoise having been so much used by the Persians of all ages (?) for setting in their arms and ornaments; and 2. On account of their small size. But a passage of Pliny makes it clear that he at least under- stood Theophrastus to mean emeralds. “Proximam laudem habent, sicut et sedem Bactriani (smaragdi): in commis- suris saxorum colligere eos dicuntur etesiis flantibus; tunc enim tellure deo. perta nitent, et quia iis ventis harenæ maxime moventur” (H. N. xxxvii. 5). 24. Plin. l. 8. c. ; Theophrastus, 1. s. C. 25 Mr. King has shown grounds for м 162 CHAP. II. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. common or red rubies in Caria;26 opals in Egypt, Cyprus, and Asia Minor ;27 sapphires in Cyprus ; 28 amethysts also in Cyprus, and moreover in Egypt, Galatia, and Armenia ; 29 car- buncles in Caria ; 30 jaspers in Cyprus, Asia Minor, and Persia Proper ;31 the lapis lazuli in Cyprus, Egypt, and Media ; 3' the sard in Babylonia ; 33 the agate in Carmania, Susiana, and Armenia ; 34 and the topaz or chrysoprase in Upper Egypt. 35 The tales which are told of enormous emeralds ? are un- doubtedly fictions, the material which passed for that precious substance being really in these cases either green jasper or (more probably) glass. But lapis lazuli and agate seem to have existed within the Empire in huge masses. Whole cliffs of the former overhang the river Kashkar in Kaferistan ;3 and the myrrhine vases of antiquity which were (it is probable“) of agate, and came mainly from Carmania,“ seem to have been of a great size. We may conclude this review by noticing, among stones regarding the “Smaragdi Bactriani” of (King, Antique Gems, p. 45. It was Pliny, which were dark-coloured, free brought from Scythia, Cyprus, and from flaws and extremely hard, as green | Egypt. rubies (Antique Gems, p. 29). * Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 7. (See above, 26 The lychnis of Pliny (H. N. xxxvii. vol. ii. p. 488.) 7) is identified by Mr. King with the 34 Dionys. Perieg. 1073-1077; Plin. common ruby (Antique Gems, p. 53). This H. N. xxxvii. 6. The “sardonyx" of stone was found near Orthosia in Caria. the latter is a species of agate. (King, It is yielded now in great abundance by pp. 8-13.) mines in Badakshan (Elphinstone, vol. i. 35 H, N. xxxvii. 8. p. 164 ; Fraser, Appendix, p. 105). Herodotus speaks of an emerald pil. * 27 Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 6 and 9. lar in the temple of Hercules at Tyre 23 The “Cyprian diamond" of Pliny (ii. 44). So too Theophrastus (De Lapid. (H. N. xxvii. 4), which had a bluish pp. 396, 396) and Pliny (H. N. xxxvii. tinge and could be bored by means of a 5). The former of these two writers true diamond, was most probably a sap tells us further of an emerald presented phire. (See King, Antique Gems, p. 67.) | to a king of Egypt by a king of Baby- 2 Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 9. lon which was four cubits long and three 30 Ib. 7. broad, and of an obelisk made of four 51 Ib. 8. Jaspers are now found near emeralds, each of which was forty cubits Zenovia on the Euphrates. (Ainsworth, in length! Researches, p. 71.) 2 King, p. 32; Wilkinson, in the 32 The “sapphirus" of Pliny seems | author's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 69, notes, to be the common lapis lazuli. (See 2nd edition. above, vol. ii. p. 304.) The best sort Elphinstone, Caubul, vol. i. p. 194. came, he says, from Media. (H. N. * King, pp. 85-87. xxxvii. 9.) His “cyanos” is perhaps Plin. H. N. xxxvii, 2. the clear variety of the same stone. CHAP. II. GEMS. 163 of less consequence produced within the Empire, jet, which was so called from being found at the mouth of the river Gagis in Lycia, garnets, which are common in Armenia,' and beryl, which is a product of the same country. 6" Jet" is a corription of "gagates lapis," a name formed from Gagis. (Plin, H. N. xxxvi. 19.) 'Ainsworth, Researches, pp. 55 and 289. 8 Ibid. p. 285. M 2 THE FIFTH MONARCHY. CHAP. III. CHAPTER III. CHARACTER, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, DRESS, ETC., OF THE PEOPLE. “I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns : and the two horns were high ; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last."-DAN, viü. 3. THE ethnic identity of the Persian people with the Medes, and the inclusion of both nations in that remarkable division of the human race which is known to ethnologers as the Iranic or Arian, have been maintained in a former volume. To the arguments there adduced it seems unnecessary to add anything in this place, since at the present day neither of the two posi- tions appears to be controverted. It is admitted generally, not only that the Persians were of the same stock with the Medes, but that they formed, together with the Medes and a few other tribes and peoples of less celebrity, a special branch of the Indo- European family—a branch to which the name of Arian may be assigned, not merely for convenience sake, but on grounds of actual tradition and history.? Undistinguished in the earlier See vol. ii. pp. 306, 307. | son of a Persian, an Arian of Arian ? In the Zendavesta, “the first best descent." (Nakhsh-i-Rustam Inscription, of regions and countries" the original par. 2.) Eudemus, the disciple of Ari. home of Ahura-mazda's peculiar people | stotle, called the people who had the is Aryanem vaejo-"the source of the magi for their priests, "the Arian na- Arians." According to Herodotus (vii. tion." (Ap. Damasc. De Princip. sub 62), the Medes of his day were known init.) Strabo introduced the term as “Arians” by all the surrounding “ Ariana " into geography, and gave it nations. The sculptor whom Darius | a sense nearly corresponding to the Hystaspis employed at Behistun, ex modern Iran. The Sassanian monarchs plained to the Scythic aborigines of divided the world into Airan and Ani. Zagros, in a note of his own, that Ahura. ran and claimed to be kings both of the mazda, of whom so much was said in Arian and the un-Arian races. Finally, the inscription, was “the God of the the term Iran remains to the present Arians.” (Beh. Inscr. col. iv. par. 12.) day the only designation by which the Darius himself, in another inscription, modern Persian knows his country. boasted that he was “a Persian, the I have already noticed the remark. CHAP. III. 165 PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE PERSIANS. annals of their race, the Medes and Persians became towards the eighth or seventh century before our era, its leading and most important tribes. Closely united together," with the superiority now inclining to one, now to the other, they claimed and exercised a lordship over all the other members of the stock, and not only over them, but over various alien races also. They had qualities which raised them above their fellows, and a civilisation, which was not, perhaps, very advanced, but was still not wholly contemptible. Such details as could be collected, either from ancient authors, or from the extant remains, of the character, mode of life, customs, &c., of the Medes, have already found a place in this work. The greater part of what was there said will apply also to the Persians. The information, however, which we possess, with respect to this latter people, is so much more copious than that which has come down to us with regard to the Medes, that, without repeating anything from the former place, our materials will probably enable us to give to the present chapter considerable dimensions. The woodcuts of the preceding volume will have made the reader sufficiently familiar with the physiognomy of the Per- sians, or, at any rate, with the representation of it which has come down to us upon the Persian monuments. 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 favour 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 able fact that the Medes are unmen- / tioned in the Zendavesta (supra, vol. ii. p. 371). There is the same absolute silence with regard to the Persians. See above, vol. ii. p. 306, note!. 5 See vol. ii. p. 306-321. . See pp. 308, 313, 315, 316, and 317. 166 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. 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. Ethiopian (Persepolis). According to Herodotus, the skulls of the Persians were extraordinarily thin and weak 8-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. If, therefore, we regard the fact of thinness as established, we can only view it as an original feature in the physical type of the race. Such a feature would imply, on the supposition that the heads were of the ordinary size, a large brain-cavity, and so an unusual volume of brain, which is generally a concomitant of high intellectual power. The Persians seem, certainly, to have been quick and lively, keen-witted, capable of repartee, ingenious, and, for Orientals, far-sighted. They had fancy and imagination, a relish for poetry and art, and they were not without a certain power of political combination. But we cannot justly ascribe to them any high degree of intellectual excellence. The religious ideas which they held in common with the Medes were, indeed, of a more elevated character than is usual with races not enlightened by special revelation ;' but these ideas were the common stock Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 670; Flandin, Voyage en Perse, “Planches Antiques," tom. iii. Pl. 156. 8 Herod. iii. 12. Supra, vol. ii. pp. 323-340. CHAP. III. 167 CHARACTER OF THE PERSIAN INTELLECT. of the Iranic peoples, and were inherited by the Persians from a remote ancestry, not excogitated by themselves. Their taste for art, though marked, was neither pure nor high. We shall have to consider, in a future chapter, the architecture and mimetic art of the people ;10 to weigh their merits in these respects, and, at the same time, to note their deficiencies. Without anticipating the exact verdict then to be pronounce,d we may say at once that there is nothing in the remains of the Persian architecture and sculpture that have come down to us indicative of any remarkable artistic genius; nothing that even places them on a par with the best works of the kind produced by Orientals. Again, if the great work of Firdausi represents to us, as it probably does, the true spirit of the ancient poetry of the Persians, we must conclude that, in the highest depart- ment of art, their efforts were but of moderate merit. A tone of exaggeration, an imagination exuberant and unrestrained, a preference for glitter over solid excellence, a love of far-fetched conceits, characterize the Shahnameh; and, though we may fairly ascribe something of this to the idiosyncracy of the poet, still, after we have made all due allowance upon this score, the conviction presses upon us that there was a childish and grotesque character in the great mass of the old Persian poetry, which marks it as the creation of moderate rather than of high intel- lectual power, and prevents us from regarding it with the respect with which we view the labours of the Greeks and Romans, or, again, of the Hebrews, in this department. A want of seriousness, a want of reality, and, again, a want of depth, characterize the poetry of Iran, whose bards do not touch the chords which rouse what is noblest and highest in our nature. They give us sparkle, prettiness, quaint and ingenious fancies, grotesque marvels, an inflated kind of human heroism ; but they have none of the higher excellencies of the poetic art, none of the divine fire which renders the true poet, and the true prophet, one. Among moral qualities, we must assign to the Persians as 10 See below, ch. v. · Compare above, vol. ii. pp. 342-344. 168 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. their most marked characteristics, at any rate in the earlier times, courage, energy, and a regard for truth. The valour of their troops in the great combats of Platæa and Thermopylæ extorted the admiration of their enemies, who have left on record their belief that, “in boldness and warlike spirit, the Persians were not a whit behind the Greeks,” and that their defeat was wholly owing to the inferiority of their equipment and training. Without proper shields, with little defensive armour, wielding only short swords and lances that were scarcely more than javelins, they dashed themselves upon the serried ranks of the Spartans, seizing the huge spear-shafts of these latter with their hands, striving to break them, and to force a way in. No conduct could have been braver than this, which the modern historian well compares with brilliant actions of the Romans and the Swiss. The Persians thoroughly deserved to be termed (as they are termed by Æschylus), a “valiant- minded people;" 4 they had boldness, élan, dash, and con- siderable tenacity and stubbornness; no nation of Asia or Africa was able to stand against them; if they found their masters in the Greeks, it was owing, as the Greeks themselves tell us, to the superiority of Hellenic arms, equipment, and, above all, of Hellenic discipline, which together rendered the most desperate valour unavailing, when it lacked the support of scientific organisation and united simultaneous movement. The energy of the Persians during the earlier years of their ascendancy is no less remarkable than their courage. Æschylus speaks of a mysterious fate which forced them to engage con- tinually in a long series of wars, to take delight in combats of horse, and in the siege and overthrow of cities. Herodotus, 2 Herod. vii. 211, ix. 62. Note espe- , 'Alxlopwv laós. Æschyl. Pers. 94. cially the passage-Anuati uév vuv kal Compare Heraclid. Pont. ap. Athen. ρώμη ουχ εσσονες έσαν οι Πέρσαι, άνο Deipn. xii. p. 512, A. πλα δε εόντες και προς ανεπιστήμονες 5 Æsch. Pers. 104-110. ήσαν, και ούχ ομοίοι τοϊσι εναντίοισι θεόθεν γάρ κατά μοίρ σοφίην προσεξαΐσσοντες δε κατ' ένα και έκράτησεν το παλαι- δέκα και πλευνές τε και ελάσσονες ον, επέσκηψε δε Πέρσαις συστρεφόμενοι, έσέπιπτον ές τους Σπαρ- πολέμους πυργοδαίκτους τιήτας, και διεφθείροντο. ÔLÉTTELV, it- 3 Grote, History of Greece, vol. üi. p. πιοχάρμας τε κλόνους, 513, note, edition of 1862. πολέων τ' αναστάσεις. Chap. III. ENERGY AND TRUTHFULNESS OF THE PERSIANS. 169 in a tone that is not very different, makes Xerxes, soon after his accession, represent himself as bound by the examples of his forefathers to engage his country in some great enterprise, and not suffer the military spirit of his people to decay through want of employment. We shall find, when we come to consider the history of the Empire, that, for eighty years, under four sovereigns, the course indicated by these two writers was, in fact, pursued—that war followed on war, expedition on expedi- tion—the active energy of sovereign and people carrying them on, without rest or pause, in a career of conquest that has few parallels in the history of Oriental nations. In the subsequent period, this spirit is less marked ; but, at all times, a certain vigour and activity has characterized the race, distinguishing it in a very marked way from the dreamy and listless Hindus upon the one hand, and the apathetic Turks upon the other. The Persian love of truth was a favourite theme with the Greeks,” who were, perhaps, the warmer in their praises from a latent consciousness of their own deficiency in the virtue. According to Herodotus, the attention of educators was specially directed to the point, and each young Persian was taught by his preceptors three main things :—-" To ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth.” 8 We find that, in the Zendavesta, and more especially in its earliest and purest portions, truth is strenuously inculcated. Ahura-Mazda himself is “true,"" the father of all truth,”! and his worshippers are bound to conform themselves to his image. Darius, in his inscriptions, protests frequently against “lies,” which he seems to regard as the embodiment of all evil.10 A love of finesse and intrigue is con- genital to Orientals; and, in the later period of their sway, the Persians appear to have yielded to this natural inclination, and to have used freely in their struggle with the Greeks the weapons of cunning and deception; but, in the earlier period, a & Herod. vii. 8. * See, besides the passage of Herodo. tus quoted in the next note, Nic. Dam. Fr. 132; Strab. xv. 3, § 18; Xen. Cyrop. i. 6, § 33; and Plat. Alcib. i. 122, A. * Herod. i. 136. Ilaldeúovot TOUS παϊδας τρία μούνα, ιππεύειν και τοξεύειν και αληθίζεσθαι, See above, vol. i. p. 324. Con- versely, “ lying" was a leading charac- teristic of the devas or evil spirits (ibid. p. 331). * 10 Beh. Inscr. col. iv. pars. 4, 5, 6, 13. 170 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. different spirit prevailed ; lying was then regarded as the most disgraceful act of which a man could possibly be guilty ; truth was both admired and practised; Persian kings, entrapped into a promise, stood to it firmly, however much they might wish it recalled ; 12 foreign powers had never to complain that the terms of a treaty were departed from ; 18 the Persians thus form an honourable exception to the ordinary Asiatic character, and for general truthfulness and a faithful performance of their engagements compare favourably with the Greeks and Romans. The Persian, if we may trust Herodotus, was careful to avoid debt. He had a keen sense of the difficulty with which a debtor escapes subterfuge and equivocation-forms, slightly disguised, of lying. To buy and sell wares in a market-place, to chaffer and haggle over prices, was distasteful to him, as apt to involve falsity and unfairness. He was free and open in speech, bold in act, generous, warm-hearted, hospitable. His chief faults were an addiction to self-indulgence and luxury. a passionate abandon to the feeling of the hour, whatever that might happen to be ; and a tameness and subservience in all his relations towards his prince, which seem to moderns almost incompatible with real self-respect and manliness. The luxury of the Persians will be considered when we treat of their manners. In illustration of the two other weak points of their character, it may be observed that, in joy and in sorrow, they were alike immoderate; in the one transported beyond all reasonable bounds, and exhibiting their transports with entire unreserve and openness; in the other proportionately depressed, and quite unrestrained in the expression of their anxiety or misery3 Æschylus' tragedy of the ‘Persæ,' is, in this respect, true to nature, and represents with accuracy the real habits of the nation. The Persian was.a stranger to the dignified reserve " Herod. i. 138. AloxLOTOV autolol , the treaty. 14 Herod. i. 138. το ψεύδεσθαι νενόμισται. Herod. i. 153. Compare Xen. Cyrop. 13 Ibid. ix. 109. i. 2, $ 3. 13 The only charge of treachery made ? Herod. viii. 99. against the Persians in the earlier times 3 Ibid. and ix. 24; Æschyl. Pers. is their treatment of the Barcæans / 258-285, 547-585, 893-1055. (Herod. iv. 201). But even there we Mr. Grote observes with much force observe an effort to keep the letter of ! and truth, that the exaggerated demon- CHAP. III. 171 LOYALTY OF THE PERSIANS. which has commonly been affected by the more civilised among Western nations. He laughed and wept, shouted and shrieked, with the unrestraint of a child, who is not ashamed to lay bare his inmost feelings to the eyes of those about him. Lively and excitable, he loved to give vent to every passion that stirred his heart, and cared not how many witnessed his lamentations or his rejoicings. The feeling of the Persian towards his king is one of which moderns can with difficulty form a conception. In Persia the monarch was so much the State, that patriotism itself was, as it were, swallowed up in loyalty; and an absolute unquestioning submission, not only to the deliberate will, but to the merest caprice of the sovereign, was, by habit and education, so engrained into the nature of the people that a contrary spirit scarcely ever manifested itself. In war the safety of the sove- reign was the first thought, and the principal care of all. The tales told of the self-devotion of individuals to secure the pre- servation of the monarchº may not be true, but they indicate faithfully the actual tone of men's sentiments about the value of the royal person. If the king suffered, all was lost; if the king escaped, the greatest calamities seemed light, and could be endured with patience. Uncomplaining acquiescence in all the decisions of the monarch—cheerful submission to his will, whatever it might chance to be—characterised the conduct of the Persians in time of peace. It was here that their loyalty degenerated into parasitical tameness, and became a defect instead of a virtue. The voice of remonstrance, of rebuke, of warning, was unheard at the Court; and tyranny was allowed to indulge unchecked in the wildest caprices and extravagances. The father, whose innocent son was shot before his eyes by the strations of grief, ascribed to Xerxes | author's comment on the passage in his and Atossa, in the Persæ of Æschylus, Herodotus, vol. iv. p. 292, note 5, 2nd have been wrongly blamed by critics, edition. since they are quite “in the manner of ? Compare the sentiment of Arte. Orientals of that day.” (History of | misia--"Hy tà evavria tñs Mapôovlov Greece, vol. iii. p. 501, note", edition of γνώμης γένηται, ουδεμία συμφορή με- 1862.) γάλη έσται, σέο τε περιεόντος και εκεί- Herod. vii. 8; viii. 99, 102. νων των πραγμάτων περί οίκον τον σόν. - • See Herod. viii. 118, 119, and the \ Herod. viii. 102 172 CHAP. HII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. king in pure wantonness, instead of raising an indignant protest against the crime, felicitated him on the excellence of his archery. Unfortunates, bastinadoed by the royal orders, de- clared themselves delighted, because his majesty had con- descended to recollect them.' A tone of sycophancy and servility was thus engendered, which, sapping self-respect, tended fatally to lower and corrupt the entire character of the people. In considering the manners and customs of the Persians, it will be convenient to follow the order already observed in treating of Assyria and Media—that is to say, to treat, in the first instance, of their warlike, and subsequently of their peaceful usages. On the latter the monuments throw considerable light; on the former, the information which they supply is comparatively scanty. The Persians, like the Medes, 10 re- garded chariots with disfavour, and com- posed their armies almost entirely of foot and horse. The ordinary dress of the foot-man was, in the earlier times, a tunic with long sleeves," made of leather,12 and fitting rather tightly to the frame, which it covered from the neck to the knee.13 Persian Foot-soldier in the Under this was worn a pair of trousers, 14 ordinary costume(Persepolis) also of leather, and tolerably tight-fitting, especially at the ankles, where they met a sort of high shoe, or low boot. The head was protected by a loose round cap, 15 & Herod. iii. 35. he adds that the tunics were “em- Nic. Dam. Fr. 132. 'Eày dé tiva broidered,” or “of many colours" (TOLKÍ- at pootáčy Ó Baoideus Martiywral, eŮxa- | Lovs). The predominant hue, according ριστεί, ως αγαθού τυχών ότι αυτού εμ- Ι to Xenophon, was scarlet (Cyrop. vii. 1, νήσθη ο βασιλεύς. $ 2). 10 See above, vol. ii. p. 312, note ?. 13 See the above woodcut, and compare " Eixov nepi to owua kubwvas xelple | the Persepolitan sculptures, passim. OwTous.--Herod. vii. 61. 16 Avačvplôes.—Herod. i. 71 ; v. 49; Ibid. i. 71. In the description of vii. 61. the Persian equipment which Herodotus . 15 IIepi nou kebal nou eixov mllous gives in his seventh book (ch. 61), | drayéas.-Herod. vii. 61. CHAP. III. 173 OFFENSIVE ARMS. apparently of felt, which projected a little in front, and rose considerably above the top of the head. Round the waist was worn a double girdle or belt,16 from which depended a short sword. The offensive arms of the foot-man were, a sword, a spear, and a bow. The sword, which was called by the Persians akinaces,? appears to have been a short, straight weapon, 18 Persian stabbing a Bull. suited for stabbing rather than for cutting, and, in fact, not very much better than a dagger. It was carried in a sheath,19 and was worn suspended from the girdle on the right side. 20 From the Persepolitan sculptures it would seem not to have hung freely, but to have been attached to the right thigh by a thong which passed round the knee. The handle was short, and generally unprotected by a guard; but, in some 16 Závn.--Herod. vii. 61. 17 So Herodotus (vii. 54). Compare Josephus, Ant. Jud. xx. 8, 8 10. Polemo (Epitaph. in Callimach.), and Horace (Od. i. 27, 5) call the weapon-perhaps not incorrectly-Median. 18 On the shortness of the Persian sword see Josephus (1. s. c.), who calls it Elpidiov. Note also that Herodotus in one place (vii. 61) terms it a dagger (éyxelpidlov). The sculptures give it a length of about 15 or 16 inches. 19 Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. ii. 3. The sculptures also prove this. 20 Herod. vii. 61. 174 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. specimens, we see a simple cross-bar between the hilt and the blade. The spear carried by the Persian foot-man was also short, 21 Persian Foot-soldiers (Persepolis). or, at any rate, much shorter than the Greek. To judge by the representations of guardsmen on the Persepolitan sculp- tures, it was from six to six and a half or seven feet in length. The Grecian spear was sometimes as much as twenty-one feet.22 The Persian weapon had a short head, which appears to have been flattish, and which was strengthened by a bar or ridge down the middle. 23 The shaft, which was of cornel wood,24 tapered gradually from bottom to top, and was orna- mented at its lower extremity with a ball,25 sometimes carved into the shape of an apple or a pome- granate.26 Persian Guardsman, carrying a bow The Persian bow, according to and quiver (Persepolis). ? Aixun Bpaxta. Herod. v. 49. Comp. | common. vii. 61. 3 Compare the representation in vol. » See Polybius, xviii. 12; Ælian, ü. p. 314. Tact. § 14. This length, which was 2 Xen. Cyrop. vii. 1, $ 2. that of the Sarissa, or Macedonian spear, | 25 See the Persian sculptures, passim. was no doubt extraordinary, but a length 26 Herod. vii. 41; Heraclid. Cum. of 10 or 12 feet would seem to have been | Fr. 1. CHAP. III. 175 SPEARS, ARROWS. AND BOWS. Herodotus and Xenophon," was of unusual size. According to the sculptures, it was rather short, certainly not exceeding four feet. It seems to have been carried strung, either on the left shoulder, with the arm passed through it, or in a bow-case slung at the left side. It was considerably bent in the middle, and had the ends slightly turned back. The arrows, which were of reed,“ tipped with metal, and feathered,' were carried in a Persian Spear-head and Arrow-heads. quiver, which hung at the back near the left shoulder. To judge from the sculptures, their length must have been about two feet and a half. The arrow-heads, which were either of bronze or iron, seem to have been of various shapes, the most common closely resembling the arrow-heads of the Assyrians.? Other offensive weapons carried occasionally by the Persian foot-men were, a battle-axe, a sling, and a knife. The battle- axe, which appears in the sculptures only in one or two instances, is declared to have been a common Persian weapon Herod. vii. 61; Xen. Anab. iii. 4, | ends of the arrows protrude from the $ 17. The latter passage is important, quiver, which is borne by one of Da- and shows at any rate that the bows rius's attendants. (A8. Soc. Journal, of the Persians were larger and more vol. x. pl. 2; infra, p. 210.) powerful than those used by the Cretans. 6 The above representation of Per- . See the preceding page; and com sian arrow-heads is taken from Morier, pare vol. ü. p. 313. who thus figures the specimens which he * See the upper woodcut, p. 174. obtained in the neighbourhood of Per. * Herod. vii. 61. 'OÏSTOUS eixov sepolis. (See Morier, Second Journey, καλαμίνους. pp. 87, 88.) • The feathering is seen very clearly Compare vol. i. pp. 454, 455. in the Behistun tablet, where the notched ! 176 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. by Xenophon, who, upon such a point, would seem to be trustworthy. The use of the sling by the Persian light-armed is quite certain. It is mentioned by Curtius and Strabo, no less than by Xenophon; and the last-named writer speaks with full know- ledge on the subject, for he witnessed the effect of the weapon in the hands of Persian slingers during his return with the Ten Thousand.10 The only missiles which the Persian slingers threw were stones; they did not, like the Rhodians, make use of small lumps of lead." The knife (κοπίς οι μάχαιρα) seems also to have been a Persian weapon. Its blade appears to have been slightly curved, like that Persian Soldier with of a pruning-hook.12 It was worn in a sheath,13 battle-axe. and was probably thrust into the belt or girdle like the similar weapon, half knife, half dagger, of a modern Persian. The ordinary defence of the Persian against the weapons of his enemy was a shield of wicker-work,14 which covered him almost from head to foot,15 and which probably differed little from the wattled shield of the Assyrians.16 This he commonly planted on the ground, supporting it, perhaps, with a crutch, while he shot his arrows from behind it.17 Occasionally, he added to this defence the protection of a coat of mail,18 com- 9 Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, § 23. | dios leniter curvatos, falcibus similes." 9 Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. iv. 14 ; Strab. Hist. Alex. viii. 14.) xv. 3, $ 18. 18 Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, § 9. 10 Xen. Anab. iii, 3, $ 6; 4, $ 16. 14 réppov. See Herod. vii. 61; ix. 61; 11 Ibid. 3, $ 17. Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, § 23; Anab. i. 8, 12 Compare Xen. Cyrop. I. s. c. ; Anab. $ 9; Strab. xv. 3, $ 19, &c. i. 8. $ 7; Strab. xv. 3, § 19; Arr. Exp. 15 Suidas defines the yéppov as gudion Alex. i. 15. There is some doubt, how kai toonons dotis (ad voc. yeppooópou). ever, as to the true character of the At Persepolis some of the Royal guards Kotis. Mr. Grote regards it as a “scimi are represented with shields of this cha- tar” (Hist. of Greece, vol. viii. p. 315, racter. (See the woodcut on p. 177.) ed. of 1862). Drs. Scott and Liddell 16 Compare vol. i. pp. 432 and 445. consider it to have been "a broad curved 17 Herod. ix. 61. A crutch was cer- knife, similar to our bill." (Lexicon, ad tainly used in Egypt. (Sir G. Wilkin. voc.) This latter view seems prefer- son, in the author's Herodotus, vol. iv. able, since it agrees with the definition p. 65, note, 2nd edition.) of Q. Curtius. (“Copidas vocant gla- 1.18 Herod. vii. 61. This protection CHAP. III. 177 ARMS OF THE CAVALRY. posed either of scale armour,19 or of quilted linen, 20 like the corselets of the Egyptians. Armour of the former kind was almost impenetrable, since the scales were of metal-iron, bronze, or some- times gold—andoverlapped one another like those of a fish.21 The Persian cavalry was armed, in the early times of the monarchy, almost exactly in the same manner as their infantry.22 Afterwards, however, a con- siderable change seems to have been made. In the time of the younger Cyrus cavalry soldiers were very fully protected. They wore helmets on their heads, coats of mail about their bodies, and greaves on their legs.23 Their chief offensive arms seem, then, to have been the short sword, the javelin, and the knife. It is probable that they were Shield (Persepolis). without shields,25 being sufficiently de- fended by their armour, which (as we have seen) was almost complete. The javelin of the horseman, which was his special weapon, was a short strong spear or pike, with a shaft of cornel-wood,26 and an iron point. It was common for him to carry two such « Geri icker was worn sometimes inside, sometimes | 23 Xen. Anab. i. 8, 8 6. outside the tunic. (Compare Herod. ix. 24 Ibid. Cyrop. viii. 8, § 22; Anab. i. 22 with Xen. Anab. i. 8, $ 3.) It was 8, $S 3, 7, 28. Compare Arrian's ac- not universal in the Persian army even count of the battle of the Granicus in the time of Xerxes. (Herod. viii. (Exp. Alex. i. 15), where the javelin 113.) (Tałtóv) and the knife (Komis) are still 1 Herod. vii. 61; Strab. 1. s.c. the main weapons. 20 Herod. i. 135. Compare ii. 182, 25 They cannot have used the yéppov, and iï. 47. which is the only Persian shield men- Aeridos 64. XQvoeldéos.—Herod. tioned by ancient writers. The Par- i. 61. The common material was iron thian cavalry seem occasionally to have (ibid.) or bronze (Xen. Cyrop. vii. 1, worn a round shield. (Ker Porter, $ 2). Gold was of rare occurrence Travels, vol. ii. pl. 62.) It is unfor- (Herod, ix. 22). tunate that no representation of a * Herod. vii. 84. The only difference Persian cavalry soldier has come down was that the horsèmen wore sometimes to us. bronze or iron helmets. 25 Xen. Cyrop. vii. i. & 2. VOL. IIL 178 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. weapons, 27 one of which he used as a missile, while he retained the other in order to employ it in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.28 It was a stout manageable weapon, and though no match for the longer and equally strong spear of the Macedonian cavalry,29 was preferred by Xenophon to the long weak reed-lance commonly carried by horse-soldiers in his day.30 It was the practice of the later Persians to protect with armour, not only the horseman, but the horse. They selected for the service large and powerful animals, chiefly of the Nisæan breed,' and cased them almost wholly in mail. The head was guarded by a frontlet, and the neck and chest by a breast- piece; the sides and flanks had their own special covering (ra- patlevpídia), and cuisses defended the thighs. These defences were not merely, like those of the later Assyrian heavy cavalry, of felt or leather, but consisted, like the cuirasses worn by the riders, of some such material covered with metal scales. The weight which the horse had to sustain was thus very great, and the movements of the cavalry force were, in consequence, slow and hesitating. Flight was difficult; and, in a retreat, the weaker animals were apt to sink under their burthens, and to be trampled to death by the stronger ones. There can be no doubt that, besides these heavy horsemen, the Persians employed, even in the latest times, and much more in the earlier, a light and agile cavalry force. Such were the troops which, under Tissaphernes, harassed the Ten Thousand during their retreat; and such, it may be conjectured, was 27 Compare Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 3- 1 30 Xen. Equestr. 1. 8. c. Kopos . . . Td maltà eis xeipas Herod. vi. 40; Strab. xi. 13, $ 7; faße-with Xen. Equestr. xii. 12-18 Arr. Exp. Alex. vii. 13. κρανέϊνα δύο παλτά μάλλον έπαινου ? Xen. Cyrop. vii. 1, § 2; viï. 8, 8 22; Mev. Note in both cases the use of the Anab. i. 8, 86; Q. Curt. ii. 11, p. 43; article as indicative of the ordinary Heliodor. Ethiop. ix. pp. 431-433. practice. * See above, vol. i. p. 427. * That this was the object of having • Q. Curt. 1. 8. c. “Equi pariter two is evident from Xen. Öyrop. i. 2, 8 9; | equitesque Persarum serie laminarum Equestr. 1. 8. c.; Arr. Exp. Alex. i. 15, &c. graves." Compare iv. 9, p. 79. 29 Arrian, 1. 8. c. 'ET NEOVÉKTOUV 78n 5“ Agmen begre moliebantur."-Q. οι συν 'Αλεξάνδρα τη τε άλλη ρώμη και Curt. iii. 11. εμπειρία, και ότι ξυστούς κρανείνοις προς • Arrian, Exp. Alex, ü. 11. παλτά εμάχοντο. CHAP. III. 179 PERSIAN WAR-CHARIOTS. really at all times the great body of their cavalry. The educa- tion of the Persian, as we shall see hereafter," was directed to the formation of those habits of quickness and agility in the mounting and managing of horses, which have a military value only as furnishing a good training for the light-cavalry service; and the tendency of the race has at all times been, not to those forms of military organization which are efficient by means of solidity and strength, but to those lighter, more varied, and more elastic branches which compensate for a want of solidity by increased activity, readiness, and ease of movement. Though the Persians did not set any great store by chariots, as an arm of the military service, they nevertheless made occasional use of them. Not only were their kings and princes, when they commanded their troops in person, accustomed to direct their movements, both on the march and even in action, from the elevation of a war-chariot, but now and then, in great battles, a considerable force of them was brought into the field, and important consequences were expected from their employment. The wheels of the war-chariots were armed with scythes ; 12 and these, when the chariot was set in motion, were regarded as calculated to inflict great damage on the ranks of opponents. Such hopes seem, however, to have been generally disappointed.18 As every chariot was drawn by at least two horses, and contained at least two persons—the ? Infra, ch. v. L " Arrian, iii. 13; Q. Curt. iv. 9 (p. 79), 9 No chariots were brought against | 14 (p. 97). the Greeks, either by Darius or by 12 Different accounts are given of the Xerxes. None fought at the Granicus, mode of arming (Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 10; none at Issus. The only occasions upon Q. Curt. iv. 9; Diod. Sic. xvii. 53); and which we hear of their use by the of course it is not unlikely that the Persians are the two great battles of mode varied at different periods. The Cunaxa and Arbela. scythes seem to have been attached, in 9 Æschyl. Pers. 86; Herod. vii. 40, the earlier times, to the axles, in the 100; Xen. Anab. i. 2, § 16; 8, 8 3; Arrian, later to both the axles and the yoke. Exp. Alex. ï. 11; iii. 15; Diod. Sic. xvii. None, however, of the accounts given 34; Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. ii. 11; iv. 14 ad is quite clear. fin.--"Patrio more curru vehor." i Neither at Cunaxa nor at Arbela 10 The number of chariots at Cunaxa did the chariots do any important ser- is not stated. At Arbela they amounted vice. (See Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 20, and to 200, according to Diodorus (xvii. 53), Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 13.) Q. Curtius (iv. 12), and Arrian (iii. 11). N 2 180 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. the missiles of the light troops who were commonly stationed to receive them; and, as practically it was found that a single wound to either horse or man threw the whole equipage into confusion, the charge of a scythed chariot was commonly checked before it reached the line of battle of the enemy. Where this was not the case, the danger was escaped by opening the ranks and letting the chariots pass through them to the DUTOS Persian Chariot (from Persepolis). rear, a good account being speedily given of any adventurer who thus isolated himself from the support of his own party. The Persian war-chariot was, probably, somewhat loftier than the Assyrian. The wheels appear to have been from three to four feet in diameter ; and the body rose above them to a height from the ground of nearly five feet. The person of the warrior was thus protected up to his middle ? by the curved board which enclosed the chariot on three sides. The axle- tree is said to have been broad, since breadth afforded a security That is to say, it is loftier than the loxypwv úlww• Ovos od TOÚTwv doti early Assyrian chariot. It must have uéxpl twv dykurwV. been about the same height as the chariot 3 The back of the chariot was some- used by the later Assyrian kings. (See times, it would seem, closed with doors. above, vol. i. pp. 411-413.) (Xen. Cyrop. vi. 4, § 10.) But it may ? Xen. Cyrop. vi. 1, § 29. Tov Oløpov be doubted if this was a common ar. tois nucóxous étrolnoev, őOTEP Tüpyov, | rangement. CHAP. III. 181 PERSIAN WAR-CHARIOTS. against being overturned,and the whole construction to have been strong and solid. The wheels had twelve spokes, which radiated from a nave of unusual size. The felloes were narrower than the Assyrian, but were still composed, like them, of two or three distinct layers of wood. The tires were probably of metal, and were indented like the edge of a saw. No great ornamentation of the chariot appears to have been attempted. The body was occasionally patterned with a chequer-work, which may be compared with a style common in Assyria,” and the spokes of the wheels were sometimes of great elegance, but the general character of the workmanship was massive and plain. The pole was short, and terminated with a simple curve. From the evidence of the monuments it would seem that chariots were drawn by two horses only;' but the classical writers assure us that the ordinary practice was to have teams of four.10 The harness used was exceedingly simple, consisting of a yoke, a belly-band, a narrow collar, a headstall, a bit, and reins. When the charioteer left his seat, the reins could be attached to a loop or bar which projected from the front of the chariot-board. Chariots were constructed to contain two, or perhaps, in some instances, three persons. These consisted of the warrior, his charioteer, who stood beside him, and an attendant, whose place was behind, and whose business it was to open and shut the chariot doors." The charioteer wore a visor and a coat of mail, exposing nothing to the enemy but his eyes. "2 • Xen. Crop. vi. 1, 8 29. each of the four examples at Persepolis, 5 The Persepolitan sculptures give It is also the common number on coins, four examples of chariots, each of which where, however, we see three in a few has wheels with twelve spokes, according instances. (Lajard, Culte de Mithra, pl. to the representations of M. Flandin. lxii. figs. 11 and 12; Minonnet, Descrip- (Voyage en Perse, “Planches Anciennes," tion des Médailles, supplément, tom. viii. tom. ii. pls. 95, 105, and 110.) Ker p. 427; Gesenius, Monumenta Phoniciæ, Porter, who is followed in the woodcut tab. xxvi. fig. G.) on p. 180, gives a wheel with eleven | 10 Xen. Cyrop. vi. 1, § 28; Q. Curt. spokes only (Travels, vol. i. pl. 41); but iv. 9; Diod. Sic. xvii. 53, 8 2. it may be suspected that he has mis " Xen. Cyrop. vi. 4, § 10. An As- copied his original. syrian chariot very commonly contains Flandin, tom. ii. pl. 110. a third person. (See above, vol. i. p. ? See above, vol. i. pp. 294 and 413. 411.) & See the woodcut, p. 180. 12 Tous nvióxous cowpakuoe [Küpos] 9 Two is the number represented in Távta, al no twv 000aluwv. Xen, 182 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. The later Persians made use also of elephants in battle, but to a very small extent,12 and without any results worth men- tioning The chief points of Persian tactics were the following. The army was organized into three distinct services—those of the chariots, the horse, and the foot. In drawing up the line of battle, it was usual, where chariots were employed, to place them in the front rank, in front of the rest of the army. 14 Behind the chariots were stationed the horse and the foot; the former generally massed upon the wings ;15 the latter placed in the middle, drawn up according to nations,16 in a number of oblong squares,? which touched, or nearly touched, one another. The bravest and best armed troops were placed in front; the ranks towards the rear being occupied by those of inferior quality.18 The depth of the ranks was usually very great,19 since Oriental troops cannot be trusted to maintain a firm front unless they are strongly supported from behind. No attempt, however, seems to have been made at forming a second line of battle in the rear of the first, nor does there even seem to have been any organized system of reserves. When the battle began, the chariots were first launched against the enemy,20 whose ranks it was hoped they would confuse, or, at any rate, disturb. After this the main line advanced to the attack, but without any inclination to come at once to close quarters. Cyrop. vi. 1, § 29.) A Parthian thus! 17 'Ey Alaiola tyhpet å v púrwR protected is represented in one of the EKGOTOV TÒ fovos ĖTOPEÚETO. Xen, Anab sculptures of the Arsacidæ. (Flandin, 1. 8. C. “ Planches Anciennes," tom. i. pl. 8.) 18 Arr. Exp. Alex. ï. 9; Xen. Cyrop. 13 Fifteen elephants are mentioned vi. 3, & 24. among the forces of the last Persian 18 Mr. Grote calculates that the depth king at Arbela. (Arr. Exp. Alex. iii. 8). of the Persian phalanx at Issus was Nothing, however, is heard of them in from 16 to 26. " (Hist. of Greece, vol. the battle. viii. p. 346, noto. The depth at 14 Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 10; Arr. Exp. Marathon must have been about 16. Alex. iii. 11; Diod. Sic. xvii. 58, 82; Q. (See the author's Herodotus, vol. iii. p. Curt. iv. 15. 430, 2nd ed.) 15 Xen. Anab. i. 8, 8 9; Arr. Exp. Alex. 20 Xen. Anab. i. 8, $$ 19, 20; Q. Curt. ii. 8, sub fin.; üi. 11. Hist. Alex. iv. 15. The remarks of Mr. 16 Herod. vii. 81; ix. 31; Xen. Anab. Grote on this point (Hist. of Greece, i. 8, 8 9; Arr. Exp. Alex. iii. 11; Q. Curt. vol. viii. p. 382, note) are deserving of Hist. Alex. iv. 12. attention. CHAP. III. 183 PERSIAN TACTICS. Planting their shields firmly on the ground in front of them, 21 the Persian heavy-armed shot flight after flight of arrows against their foe, while the slingers and other light-armed in the rear sent clouds of missiles over the heads of their friends into the adverse ranks beyond them. It was usually the enemy which brought this phase of the battle to an end, by pressing onward and closing with the Persian main line in a hand-to- hand combat. Here the struggle was commonly brief-a very few minutes often decided the engagement. If the Persian line of battle was forced or broken, all was immediately regarded as lost-flight and rout followed. The cavalry, from its position on the wings, might attempt, by desperate charges on the flanks of the advancing foe, to stay his progress, and restore the fortune of the day, but such efforts were usually unavailing. Its line of battle once broken, a Persian army lost heart; its commander commonly set the example of flight, and there was a general rush of all arms from the battle-field. For success the Persians trusted mainly to their numbers, which enabled them, in some cases, to renew an attack time after time with fresh troops,23 in others to outflank and surround their adversary.24 Their best troops were undoubtedly their cavalry, both heavy and light. The heavy, armed in the old times with bows,25 and in the later with the javelin 26 (maltóv), highly distinguished itself on many important occasions. 27 The weight of its charge must have been great; its offensive weapons were good ;28 and its armour made it almost invulner- able to ordinary weapons. The light cavalry was celebrated for the quickness and dexterity of its manquvres.29 It had the 21 Herod. ix. 61. This probably marks the usual practice, though it is not elsewhere noticed. The unwillingness of the Persians, however, to come to close quarters is very apparent in the accounts which we have of almost all their engagements. (See Xen. Anab. iii. 4, 88 14, 25; Cyrop. viii. 8. § 22; Arr. Exp. Alex. ii. 10, sub. init. &c.) 22 Grote, Hist of Greece, vol. viii. pp. 348 and 384. 2 As at Thermopylæ (Herod. vii. 210-218). 24 As at Cunaxa (Xen. Anab. i. 8, S 23). 23 Herod. vii. 84; Æsch. Pers. 26– Togodáuavtés t'ho in Toßátai. 3* See above, p. 177, note 24. 27 Herod. ix. 20; Art. Exp. Alex. i. 15; ii. 11; iii. 15. 2 Xenophon regarded the javelin (maltov) and the bill (uáxaipa or Komis) as the best weapons for cavalry (Equestr. $S 11, 12). 29 Εξέλιγμούς των ίππων έχρώντο. Arrian. E.cp. Alex. ii. 15. 'Itmeis malà 184 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. loose organization of modern Bashi-Bazouks or Cossacks; it hung in clouds on the enemy-assailed, retreated, rallied, re-advanced-fled, and even in flight was formidable, since each rider was trained to discharge his arrows backwards with a sure aim against the pursuing foe. The famous skill of the Parthians in their horse-combatsol was inherited from their Persian predecessors, who seem to have invented the practice which the later people carried to perfection. Though mainly depending for success on their numbers, the Persians did not wholly despise the use of con- trivance and stratagem. At Arbela, Darius Codo- mannus had spiked balls strewn over the ground where he expected the Greek cavalry to make its attacks;' and, at Sardis, Cyrus obtained his vic- tory over the Lydian horse by frightening them “Tribulus," or Spiked Ball (after Caylus). with the grotesque and unfamiliar camel. Other instances will readily occur to the reader, whereby it appears that the art of war was studied, and ingenuity allowed its due place in military matters, by this people, who showed a fair share of Oriental subtlety in the devices which they employed against their enemies. It is doubtful whether we are to include among these devices the use of military engines. On the one hand, we have several distinct statements by the author of the “Cyropædia," to the effect that engines were well known to the Persians ;* on the elaopol kai eŰSWVOL. Xen. Anab. iii. 3, ! See Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. iv. 13. Com $ 6.'. Compare Æschyl. Pers. 109. pare Polyæn. Strat. iv. 3, 17. 30 Xen. Anab. iii. 3, $ 10. ? Herod. i. 80. 31 See Virg. Georg. iii. 31; Hor. Od. Compare Herod. i. 191, 211; iii. 156. i. 19, 11; ii. 13, 16; Plut. Vit. Crass. 158; iv. 135, &c. c. 24; Justin. xli. 2; Tac. Ann. vi. Xen. Curop. vi, 1, ss 53, 54; 3, 8 8; 35, &c. vii, 1, $ 39, &c. CHAP. III. 185 RARE USE OF MILITARY ENGINES. other, we remark an entire absence from the works of other ancient writers of any notice that they actually employed them, either in their battles or their sieges. The silence of Scripture, 5 of Herodotus, of the Inscriptions, of Quintus Curtius, of Arrian, may fairly be regarded as outweighing the unsupported authority of the romance-writer, Xenophon; and though it would be rash to decide that such things as siege-towers, battering-rams, and balistæ—all of which are found to have been in constant use under the Assyrian and Babylonian monarchies 6—were wholly discarded by, or unknown to, their successors in the government of Asia, yet a wise criticism will conclude that they were, at any rate, unfamiliar to the Persians, rarely and sparingly (if at all) employed by them, other methods of accomplishing the ends whereto they served having more approved themselves to this ingenious people. In ordinary sieges it would seem that they trusted to the bank or mound," while sometimes they drove mines under the walls, and sought in this way to effect a breach.8 Where the place attacked was of great strength, they had recourse in general either to stratagem or to blockade. Occa- sionally they employed the destructive force of fire, 10 and no doubt they often succeeded by the common method of escalade. On the whole, it must certainly be said that they were successful in their sieges, exhibiting in their conduct of them courage, activity, and considerable fertility of resource. A Persian army was usually, though not always,"1 placed under a single commander. This commander was the monarch, if he was present; if not, it was a Persian, or a Mede,12 nominated * Considering the frequent references / xona o l. which there are to the use of siege *** Ibid. iv. 200. 'Opúo covTES Opuy- towers and rams by the Assyrians and ματα υπόγεια φέροντα ες το τείχος. Babylonians (Is. xxix. 3 ; 2 K. xxv. 1 ; Compare vi. 18. Jer. lii. 4; Ezek. iv. 2 ; xxi. 22 ; xxvi. ' Ibid. i. 191; ii. 13, 151; Xen. 8, 9), it is most remarkable that we have Cyrop. vii. 5. nothing in Scripture to connect these 70 As at Athens (Herod. viii. 52). contrivances with the Medes or Per 11 Two commanders are found (Herod. sians. Note particularly the absence v. 123, and vi. 94). of any reference to them from the long !Instances of Median commanders- prophecies concerning the fall of Baby in-chief under the Persian rule are lon in Jer. 1. and li. Mazares (Herod. i. 156), Harpagus (ib. 6 See vol. i. pp. 470-473; and above, | 162), Tachamaspates (Beh. Inscr. col. ii. par. 14), Intaphres (ib. col. iii. par. * See Herod. i. 162. Aipee Tàs módels 14), and Datis (Herod. vi. 94). p. 11. 186 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. by him. Under the commander-in-chief were a number of general officers, heads of corps or divisions, of whom we find, in one instance, as many as nine.13 Next in rank to these were the chiefs of the various ethnic contingents composing the army, who were, probably, in general the satraps of the different pro- vinces.14 Thus far appointments were held directly from the crown; but beyond this the system was changed. The ethnic or satrapial commanders appointed the officers next below them- selves, the captains over a thousand, and (if their contingent was large enough to admit it) the captains over ten thousand; who, again, nominated their subordinates, commanders of a hundred, and commanders of ten.13 Thus, in the main, a decimal scale prevailed. The lowest rank of officers com- manded each ten men, the next lowest a hundred, the next to that a thousand, the next ten thousand. The officer over ten thousand was sometimes a divisional chief ;16 sometimes he was subject to the commander of an ethnic contingent, who was himself under the orders of the head of a division. Altogether there were six ranks of officers, exclusive of the commander-in- chief. The proper position of the commander-in-chief was considered to be the centre of the line of battle." He was regarded as safer there than he would have been on either wing; and it was seen that, from such a position, his orders would be most rapidly con- veved to all parts of the battle-field.18 It was not, however, thought to be honourable that he should keep aloof from the fight, or avoid risking his own person."' On the contrary, he was expected to take an active part in the combat; and there- fore, though his place was not exactly in the very foremost ranks, it was towards the front, and the result followed that he was often exposed to imminent danger. The consequences of this arrangement were frequently disastrous in the extreme,20 the 13 Herod. vii. 82, 83, 88. | Xerxes. (Herod. vii. 83.) 14 Compare Herod. vii. 8, § 4, and 7 Xen. Anab. i. 8, &$ 21-23; Arrian, vii. 19, with Arr. Exp. Alex. ii. 8. Exp. Alex. ii. 8, ad. fin. ; iii. 11. 15 Herod. vii. 81. īs Xen. Anab. 1. s. c. 16 As Hydarnes, the commander of 19 Plutarch, Vit. Artax. c. 8. the “Immortals” in the army of | 20 The cases of Mardonius at Platzea CHAP. III. 187 MOTLEY APPEARANCE OF A PERSIAN ARMY. death or flight of the commander producing universal panic, stopping the further issue of any general order, and thus para- lyzing the whole army. The numbers of a Persian army, though no doubt exaggerated by the Greeks, must have been very great, amounting, probably, on occasions, to more than a million of combatants.21 Troops were drawn from the entire empire, and were marshalled in the field according to nations, 22 each tribe accoutred in its own fashion. Here were seen the gilded breastplates 23 and scarlet kilts 24 of the Persians and Medes; there the woollen shirt of the Arab,25 the leathern jerkin of the Berber,28 or the cotton dress of the native of Hindustan.27 Swart savage Ethiops from the Upper Nile, adorned with a war-paint of white and red, and scantily clad with the skins of leopards or lions, fought in one place with huge clubs, arrows tipped with stone, and spears terminating in the horn of an antelope. 28 In another, Scyths, with their loose spangled trousers 29 and their tall pointed caps, 30 dealt death around from their unerring blows; while near them Assyrians, helmeted, and wearing corslets of quilted linen, wielded the tough spear, or the still more formidable iron mace. 31 Rude weapons, like cane bows, unfeathered arrows, and stakes hardened at one end in the fire,32 were seen side by side with keen swords and daggers of the best steel, the finished productions of the workshops of Phænicia and Greece. Here the bronze helmet was surmounted with the ears and horns of an ox :33 there it was superseded by a fox-skin,34 a leathern or wooden skull-cap,35 or a head-dress fashioned out of a horse's scalp.36 helmet was supe head-dr (Herod. ix. 63), of the younger Cyrus at Cunaxa (Xen. Anab. i. 9, § 31), and of Darius Codomannus, first at Issus (Arr. Exp. Alex. ii. 11) and then at Arbela (ib. ii. 14), may be cited as instances. a See Herod. vii. 186, with the au- thor's note on the passage (Herodotus, vol. iv. pp. 127-129, 2nd edition), and compare Arrian, Exp. Alex. ii. 8. 2 Herod. vii. 61-81; Xen. Anab. i. 8, f9; Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 11; Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. iv. 12, &c. 23 Xen. Cyrop. vii. 1, § 2. Tà la +KéXPLOTo Tụ xo ở Q6 6 xe ô A &T . | 24 Ibid. Xltwol Polylkois. Compare Herod. ix. 22. 25 Herod. vii. 69, 26 Ibid. 71. 27 Ibid. 65. 28 Ibid. 79. 29 See above, vol. i. p. 224. Com. pare the author's Herodotus, vol. iii. pp. 34, 35. 30 Herod. vii. 64.. 31 Ibid. ch. 63. 32 Ibid. chs. 65, 67, 71, 74, &c. 83 Ibid. ch. 76. 24 Ibid. ch. 75. 35 Ibid. chs. 72, 78, 79; Xen. Anab. v. 4, § 13. 6 Herod. vi. 70. 188 CHAP. III. · THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Besides horses and mules, elephants,37 camels,38 and wild asses,39 diversified the scene, and rendered it still more strange and wonderful to the eye of a European. One large body of cavalry was accustomed to enter the field apparently unai med; besides the dagger, which the Oriental never lays aside, they had nothing but a long leathern thong. They used this, however, just as the lasso is used by the natives of Brazil, and the wretch at whom they aimed their deadly noose had small chance of escape. The Persians, like the Assyrians,” usually avoided fighting during the winter, and marched out their armies against the enemy in early spring. With the great hosts which they moved a fixed order of march was most necessary; and we find evidence of so much attention being paid to this point that con- fusion and disorder seem scarcely ever to have arisen. When the march lay within their own country, it was usual to send on the baggage and the sumpter-beasts in advance,* after which came about half the troops, moving slowly in a long and con- tinuous column along the appointed line of route. At this point a considerable break occurred, in order that all might be clear for the most important part of the army, which was now to follow. A guard, consisting of a thousand horse and a thousand foot, picked men of the Persian people, prepared the way for what was most holy in the eyes of the nation—the emblems of their religion, and their king. The former consisted of sacred horses and cars; perhaps, in the later times, of silver altars also, bearing the perpetual and heaven-kindled fire, which was a special object of Persian religious regard, and which the superstition of the people viewed as a sort of palla- dium, sure to bring the blessings of heaven upon their arms. Behind the sacred emblems followed the Great King himself, mounted on a car drawn by Nisæan steeds, and perhaps pro- 37 Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 8. | count, which is followed through nearly 38 Herod. i. 80; vii. 83, 87 ; Q. Curt. 1 all the remainder of the paragraph, as iii. 3. indicating the usual Persian practice. 39 Herod. vii. 86. Ibid. 85. Of course there would be numerous ? See above, vol. i. p. 463. small differences between one expedition | **Aua Tụ bao. Herod. vi. 43 ; vi. | and another. 37. Compare Herod. i. 190. See Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. iii. 3, pp. * Herod. vii. 40. I regard this ac. | 26, 27. 6 Herod. vi. 40. CHAP. III. 189 ORDER OF MARCH. tected on either side by a select band of his relatives.? Behind the royal chariot came a second guard, consisting, like the first, of a thousand foot and a thousand horse. Then followed ten thousand picked foot, probably the famous “Immortals ;”then came a body of ten thousand picked Persian horsemen. After these a space of four hundred yards (nearly a quarter of a mile) was left vacant; then marched, in a second continuous column, the remainder of the host. On entering an enemy's country, or drawing near a hostile force in their own, certain alterations in these dispositions be- came necessary, and were speedily effected. The baggage-train was withdrawn, and instead of moving before the army, followed at some little distance in the rear Horsemen were thrown out in front, to feel for the enemy and notify his arrival.10 Sometimes, if the host was large, a division of the troops was made, and several corps d'armée advanced against the foe simul- taneously by distinct routes. 11 When this took place, the com- mander-in-chief was careful to accompany the central force, 12 so as to find himself in his proper position if he was suddenly compelled to give battle. Night movements were seldom attempted by the Persians. They marched from sunrise 13 to sunset,14 halting, probably, during the midday heat. In their most rapid marches they seldom accomplished more than from twenty to twenty-five miles in the day ; 15 and when this rate was attempted for any continuance, it was necessary to rest the men at intervals for as much as three days at a time. The great drag upon rapi- "Q. Curt. 1. &. C. “Dextra lævaque Persian army possessed is best seen by regem ducenti ferme nobilissimi pro the account which Xenophon gives of pinquorum comitabantur." the proceedings of the younger Cyrus, • Compare Herod. vii. 41 with 83. from the time that he finally threw off Q. Curt. iii. 3, p. 28. the mask to that when he had reason ** Xen. Anab. i. 7, § 11; Arrian, to suspect the near presence of his Erp. Alz. ii. 8. enemy-in other words, from Thapsacus i Herud. vii. 121. to Pylæ. During this period, when it 12 Ibid. Compare ch. 124. was his object to advance as rapidly as 13 Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. iii. 3. “Patrio | possible, the rate of journeying averaged more Persarum traditum est, orto sole six and a half parasangs (about 22} demum procedere." miles) a day. See Xen. Anab. i. 4, 19 * Xen. Anab. ii. 4, 8 34. 5, SS 1 and 5.) 15 The power of movement which al 16 On the journey from Thapsacus to 190 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. dity of movement was the baggage-train, which consisted ordi- narily of a vast multitude of camels, horses, asses, mules, oxen, etc., in part carrying burthens upon their backs, in part har- nessed to carts laden with provisions, tents, and other necessa- ries.17 The train also frequently comprised a number of litters, 18 in which the wives or female companions of the chief men were luxuriously conveyed, amid a crowd of eunuchs 19 and attendants, and with all the cumbrous paraphernalia of female wardrobes.20 Roads, it must be remembered, did not exist; rivers were not bridged, except occasionally by boats ; 21 the army marched on the natural ground along an established line of route which no art had prepared for the passage of man or beast. Portions of the route would often be soft and muddy; the carts and litters would become immovable, their wheels sinking into the mire up to the axles; all the efforts of the teams would be unavailing; it must have been imperative to halt the main line, and employ the soldiers in the release of the vehicles, which had to be lifted and carried forward till the ground was sufficiently firm to bear them. 22 When a river crossed the line of route, a ford had to be sought, boats procured, or rafts extemporised. The Persians were skilful in the passage of streams, to which they became accustomed in their first cam- paigns under Cyrus ; 23 but the march was necessarily retarded by these and similar obstacles, and we cannot be surprised that the average rate of movement was slow. As evening approached the Persians sought a suitable place for their camp. An open plain was preferred for the purpose, and the vicinity of water was a necessity.24 If an enemy was Pylæ, performed in twenty-seven march- 1 19 Herod. vii. 187; Q. Curt. ii. 12, ing days, Cyrus was compelled to halt p. 45. his army twice-each time for three * 20 Πλήθος πολυδαπάνου παρασκευής days. (Anab. i. 4, § 19; 5, $ 4.) kal yuvaikelou koouov. Diod. Sic. xvii. iz Herod. i. 80-Ectopópou te kal 35, $ 4. OKEVOPÓpot káunnot. iii. 153 - OITO 21 Xen. Anab. i. 2, $ 5. gopol Mucovou. iv. 129—8vol kal nucbvot. 22 See the graphic description of vii. 83—oita .... kdunloi te kal] ÚTO- Xenophon (Anab. i. 5, $$ 7, 8). túyla prov. On the use of carts, see the 23 Herod. i. 190, 208. passage of Xenophon quoted in note 22. 24 Xen. Anab. i. 5, 87. The vicinity * 12 Herod. vii. 83 ; Q. Curt. ü. 3, of fodder for the horses was also greatly desired. p. 28. CHAP. III. 191 MANNER OF ENCAMPING. thought to be at hand, a ditch was rapidly dug, and the earth thrown up inside ; 25 or if the soil was sandy, sacks were filled with it, and the camp was protected with sand-bags.26 Imme- diately within the rampart were placed the gerrhophori, or Persians armed with large wicker shields. The rest of the soldiers had severally their appointed places, the position as- signed to the commander-in-chief being the centre. 28 All the army had tents,29 which were pitched so as to face the east.30 The horses of the cavalry were tethered and hobbled in front of the tents of their owners. 31 The Persians disliked encamping near to their enemy.32 They preferred an interval of seven or eight miles, which they regarded as a considerable security against a surprise. As their most important arm was the cavalry, and as it was impossible for the cavalry to unfasten and unhobble their steeds, to equip them properly, to arm themselves, and then to mount in a short space of time, when darkness and confusion reigned around, a night attack on the part of an enterprising enemy would have been most perilous to a Persian army. Hence the precaution which they observed against its occurrence- a precaution which was seldom or never omitted' where they felt any respect for their foe, and which seems to have been effective, since we do not hear of their suffering any disaster of the kind which they so greatly feared. The Persians do not seem to have possessed any special corps of pioneers. When the nature of the country was such as to require the felling of timber or the removal of brushwood, the army was halted, and the work was assigned to a certain number of the regular soldiers. For the construction of bridges, however, in important places, and for other works on * Xen. Cyrop. iii. 3, § 26. Some- 1 be accepted on the mere authority of times the Persians defended their camp | the Cyropædia. not only with a ditch and mound, but 28 Ibid. & 8. also with a stockade. (See Herod. ix. Ibid. § 2. 30 Ibid. & 3. 15, 65.) To such a rampart they gave 91 Xen. Anab. iii. 4, 8 35 ; Cyrop. iii. the further protection of towers (ib. ix. | 3, $ 27. 82 Xen. Anab. iii. 4, 8 34. 70). Xen. Anab. I. s. c. 00 TOTE nelov * Vegetius, üi. 10. απεστρατοπεδεύοντο οι βάρβαροι του - Xen. Cyrop. vii. 5, § 11. This 'EXXTVLKOÙ EENKOVTA staðiwy. arrangement is so probable that it may 1 ? Herod. vii. 131. 192 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. a grand scale intended to facilitate an expedition, preparations were made beforehand, the tasks being entrusted either to skilled workmen, or to the crews of ships,“ if they were toler- ably easy of performance. Commissariat arrangements were generally made by the Persians on a large scale, and with the best possible results. An ample baggage-train conveyed corn sufficient to supply the host during some months; 5 and in cases where scarcity was apprehended, further precautions were taken. Ships laden with corn accompanied the expedition as closely as possible, and supplemented any deficiency that might arise from a failure on the part of the land transport department. Sometimes, too, magazines? were established at convenient points along the intended line of march previously to the setting forth of the army, and stores were thus accumulated at places where it was probable they would be found of most service. Requisitions for supplies were also made upon the inha- bitants of the towns and villages through which lay the route of the army. Whenever the host rested for a night at a place of any consequence, the inhabitants seem to have been required to furnish sufficient bread for a meal to each man, and, in addition, to provide a banquet for the king (or general) and his suite, which was always very numerous. Such requisitions, often intolerably burthensome to those upon whom they were laid, must have tended greatly to relieve the strain upon their own resources, which the sustentation of such enormous hosts as the Persian kings were in the habit of moving, cannot have failed to produce in many cases. The effectiveness of these various arrangements for the pro- visioning of troops upon a march was such that Persian armies were rarely, if ever, in any difficulty with respect to their sub- 3 Herod. iv. 83, 85, 89 ; vii. 24, 36. | vice for the table, including much gold * Ibid. 21, 23. and silver plate, which was all carried 5 See above, p. 190, note 7, away by the guests at the end of the 6 Herod. iv. 97 ; vi. 44 ; vii. 186, 191, meal. 7 Ibid. 25. Ibid. 119. 10 The cost of a banquet is said to 9 Ibid. chs. 118-120. The provision have been 400 silver talents, or nearly included, besides meats of various kinds, 100,0001. ! (Herod. vii, 118.) poultry and water-fowl, a complete ser- | Chap. III. 193 TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. sistence. Once only in the entire course of their history do we hear of the Persian forces suffering to any considerable extent from a want of supplies. According to Herodotus, Cambyses, when he invaded Ethiopia, neglected the ordinary precautions, and brought his army into such straits that his men began to eat each other.11 This caused the total failure of his expedition, and the loss of a great proportion of the troops employed in it. There is, however, reason to suspect that, even in this case, the loss and difficulty which occurred have been much exagge- rated. 12 The Persians readily gave quarter to the enemy who asked it, and generally treated their prisoners of war with much kindness. Personages of importance, as monarchs or princes, either preserved their titles and their liberty, with even a certain nominal authority, or received appanages in other parts of the Persian territory, 14 or, finally, were retained about the Court as friends and table-companions of the Great King 15 Those of less rank were commonly given lands and houses in some province remote from their own country, and thenceforth held the same position as the great mass of the subject races. 16 Exchanges of prisoners do not seem to have been thought of. In a few cases, persons, whom we should regard as prisoners of war, experienced some severities, but probably only when they were viewed by the Persians, not as fair enemies, but as rebels. 17 Rebels were, of course, liable to any punishment which the king might think it right to inflict upon them, and there were occasions after a revolt when sentences of extreme rigour were passed upon the persons considered to have been most in fault 11 Herod. iii. 25. 17 As the Thebads taken prisoners at 12 See the chapter on the “ History" Thermopylæ (Herod. vii. 233). The of the Persian Empire. Persiaps would regard these persons as 13 See Herod. ñ. 13. Compare Thu. rebels, since Thebes had formally sub- cyd. i. 128-130. mitted itself to the Persian yoke by * Beros, ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 11, giving “ earth and water." (İbid. vii. $5; Abyden. ap. eund. i. 10,8 3; Ctes. 132.) The Greek captives who met Ex. Pers. $ 4, ad fin. Alexander after Arbela, some of whoni As Crcesus. (Herod. i. 153, 207; had been branded and others mutilated fi. 36.) (Diod. Sic. xvii. 69, SS 3 and 4; Q. Curt * Herod. v. 17 ; vi. 119 ; Strab. xvi. ! v. 5, p. 123), may have been Greeks of 25; Q. Curt. iv, 12, p. 89. Asia convicted of some act of rebellion VOL. III. 194 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. According to Herodotus, three thousand Babylonians were crucified by order of Darius, to punish their revolt from him ;18 and, though this is probably an exaggeration, it is certain that sometimes, where an example was thought to be required, the Persians put to death, not only the leader of a rebellion, but a number of his chief adherents. 19 Crucifixion, or, at any rate, impalement of some sort, was in such cases the ordinary punish- ment.20 Sometimes, before a rebel was executed, he was kept for a while chained at the king's door, in order that there might be no doubt of his capture 21 Among the minor punishments of rebellion were branding,92 and removal of the rebels en masse from their own country to some remote locality 23 In this latter case, they were merely treated in the same way as ordinary prisoners of war. In the former, they probably became royal slaves attached to the household of the monarch. Though the Persians were not themselves a nautical people, they were quite aware of the great importance of a navy, and spared no pains to provide themselves with an efficient one. The conquests of Phænicia, Cyprus, Egypt, and the Greek islands were undertaken, it is probable, mainly with this object; and these parts of the Empire were always valued chiefly as possessing skilled seamen, vessels, and dockyards, from which the Great King could draw an almost inexhaustible supply of war-ships and transports. Persia at times had the complete command of the Mediterranean Sea,24 and bore undisputed sway in the Levant during almost the whole period of her existence as an empire.25 The war-ship preferred by the best naval powers during 18 Herod. iii. 159. 19 See the Behistun Inscription, col. ii. par. 13, S 8; col. iii. par. 8, $ 2; par. 11, $ 5; par. 14, § 10. Compare Herod. iii. 15 with iï. 28, ad fin. ; and see also iv. 202. 20 Behist. Inscrip. col. ii. par. 13, $ 7; par. 14, $ 16; col. iii. par. 8, § 2; par. 14, 21 Ibid. col. ii. par. 13, $ 5; par. 14, $14. * 22 Herod. vii. 233. 23 Ibid. iv. 204; vi. 20; Ctes. Exc. Pers. & 9; Arr. Exp. Alex. ii. 48. 24 As from B.c. 525 to B.C. 480 ; and again from B.c. 354 to B.C. 332. 25 From the battle of the Eurymedon (B.C. 466) to the peace of Callias" (B.C. 449) the Levant or Eastern Medi- terranean was in the power of Athens. By the "peace of Callias" Persia re- covered possession of it. 10. CHAP. III. 195 PERSIAN FLEETS—THE TRIREME, the whole period of the Persian rule was the trireme, or decked galley impelled by rowers sitting in three tiers, or banks, one above another. This vessel, the invention of the Corinthians, had been generally adopted by the nations bordering on the Mediterranean ? in the interval between B.C. 700 and B.C. 525, when, by the reduction of Phænicia, Cyprus, and Egypt, the Persians obtained the command of the sea. Notwithstanding the invention of quadriremes by the Carthaginians before B.C. 400, and of quinqueremes by Dionysius the Elder soon after, the trireme stood its ground, and from first to last the Persian fleets were mainly composed of this class of vessels. The trireme was a vessel of a considerable size, and was capable of accommodating two hundred and thirty persons.* Of these, two hundred constituted the crew, while the remaining thirty were men-at-arms, corresponding to our own “marines.” By far the greater number of the crew consisted of the rowers, who probably formed at least nine-tenths of the whole, or one hundred and eighty out of the two hundred. The rowers sat, not on benches running right across the vessel, but on small seats attached to its side. They were arranged, as before stated, in three tiers, not, however, directly one over the head of another, but obliquely, each at once above and behind his fellow. Each rower had the sole management of a single oar, which he worked through a hole pierced in the side of the vessel. To prevent his oar from slipping he had a leather strap,' which he twisted round it, and fastened to the thole, probably by "Thucyd. i. 13. • Herod. vii. 184. 3 The Corcyræans and the Sicilian 5 The exact proportion of the rowers Greeks made the trireme their chief to the rest of the crew is uncertain. It ship of war about B.C. 490. (Thucyd. i. seems, however, probable that both the 14.) The Egyptians had fleets of them bireme and the trireme grew out of considerably earlier. (Herod. ii. 159.) the triaconter—the bireme being twice The Ionian Greeks had adopted them the triaconter's length and height, and before B.C. 500. (Herod. vi. 8.) When thus employing 120 rowers, while the Xerxes collected his naval force against trireme, keeping the length of the bi- Greece, the trireme was the ordinary reme, added a tier to the height, the war-ship, not only of the Egyptians and rowers being thus raised to 180. the Asiatic Greeks, but also of the Phoe 6 Böckh, Urkunden über das Seewesen nicians, the Cyprians, the Cilicians, the des Attischen Staates, pp. 103, et seqq. Pamphylians, the Lycians, and the ? Tpotos or TPOTWTp. Thucyd. ii. Carians. (Herod. vii. 89-93.) 93. Compare Æschyl. Pers. 377 : vav. * Herod. vi. 95; vii. 89, 97; Arr. βάτης τ' ανήρ ετροπούτο κώπην σκαλμών Exp. Alex. ii. 2. αμφ' ευηρετμον. 0 % 196 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. means of a button. The remainder of the crew comprised the captain, the steersman, the petty officers, and the sailors proper, or those whose office it was to trim the sails and look to the rigging. The Trireme of Persian times had, in all cases, a mast, and at least one sail, which was of a square shape, hung across the mast by means of a yard or spar, like the “square-sail” of a modern vessel. The rudder was composed of two broad- bladed oars, one on either side of the stern, united however by a cross-bar, and managed by a single steersman. The central part of a trireme was always decked, and on this deck, which was generally level with the bulwarks, stood and fought the men-at-arms, whose business it was to engage the similar force of the enemy. The weapon of the trireme, with which she was intended chiefly to attack her foe, was the čußoros, or beak. This consisted of a projection from the prow of the ship, either above or below the water-line, strongly shod with a casting of iron, and terminating either in the head of an animal, or in one or more sharp points. A trireme was expected, like a modern "ram," Beak of Persian War-galley to use this implement against the (enlarged from a coin). sides of her adversary's vessel, so as to crush them in and cause the vessels to sink. Driven by the full force of her oars, which impelled her almost at the rate of a modern steainer, she was nearly certain, if she struck her adversary full, to send ship and men to the bottom. She might also, it is true, greatly damage herself; but, to preclude this, it was customary to make the whole prow of a trireme exceedingly strong, and, more particularly, to support it with beams at the side (ÉTWTides), which tended to prevent the timbers from starting. The representation of Phænician | tures generally represented as closely vessels in the Assyrian sculptures agree | reefed. (See above, vol. i. p. 550.) in this respect with those of their own Schmitz, in Dr. Smith's Dictionary triremes left us by the Greeks. The I of Greek and Roman Antiquities, p. 785, sails are, however, in the Assyrian sculp- | 2nd edition. CHAP. III. 197 TRIACONTERS AND PENTECONTERS. on Besides triremes, which constituted the bulk of the Persian navy, there were contained in their fleet various other classes of vessels, as triaconters, penteconters, cercuri, and others. 1° Triaconters were long, sharp-keeled ships, shaped very much like a trireme, rowed by thirty L AHAN rowers, who sat all upon a level, like the rowers in modern boats, fifteen on Greek Triaconter, after Montfaucon. either side of the vessel. Penteconters were very similar, the only difference being in the number of the oars and oarsmen. Both these classes of vessels seem to have been fre- quently without sails." Cercuri, were light boats, very long and swift. They are said to have been invented by the Cyprians,12 and were al- Persian Penteconter (enlarged from a coin). ways peculiar to Asia. 3. The transports of the Persians were either for the convey- ance of horses or of food. Horse-transports (inmaywyà aloia) were large clumsy vessels, constructed expressly for the service whereon they were used,14 possessing probably a special ap- paratus for the embarkation and disembarkation of the animals which they were built to carry. Corn-transports (aloia oita- ywyá) seem to have been of a somewhat lighter character. Probably, they varied very considerably in their size and burthen, including huge and heavy merchantmen (vaīs otpoy- yúlal) on the one hand, and a much lighter and smaller craft (akatoi) on the other. 15 QOS O 100G 10 Herod. vii. 97. 1 This appears especially from such representations as those given in the text. 12 Plin. H. N. vii. 56. 13 “Cercurus navis est Asiana præ- grandis." (Non. Marc. p. 533.) " Herod. vi. 48. 15 In one place (vii. 16), Herodotus calls the corn-ships in the feet of Xerxes oita ywyol ăK QT 01. 198 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. The Persians used their ships of war, not only for naval engagements, but also for the conveyance of troops and the construction of bridges. Accustomed to pass the great streams which intersect Western Asia by bridges of boats, which were permanently established wherever an unfordable river crossed any of the regular routes connecting the provinces with the capital,16 the Persians, when they proceeded to carry their arms from Asia into Europe, conceived the idea of bridging the interval between the continents, which did not much exceed the width of one of the Mesopotamian streams,17 by construc- tions similar in principle and general character to those where- with long use had made them familiar in their own country. Ranging a number of vessels side by side, at no great distance one from another, parallel with the course of the stream, which ran down the straits, anchoring each vessel stem and stern to keep it in place, and then laying upon these supports a long wooden platform, they made a floating bridge of considerable strength, reaching from the Asiatic to the European coast, on which not only men, but horses, camels, chariots, and laden carts passed over safely from the one continent to the other. 18 Only, as the water which they had to cross was not a river, but an arm of the real salt sea, and might, therefore, in case of a storm, show a might and fury far beyond a river's power, they thought it necessary to employ, in lieu of boats, the strongest ships which they possessed, namely, triremes and penteconters," as best capable of withstanding the force of an angry sea. Bridges of this kind were intended sometimes for temporary, sometimes for permanent constructions. In the latter case, great care and much engineering skill was lavished on their erection. The shore cables, which united the ships 16 Xen. Anab. i. 2,8 5; 4,8 18; ii. 4, 87, 88 ; and see also Æschyl. Pers. 65. SS 13 and 24. 73. Herod. vii. 36. 17 The width of the Dardanelles is ? The bridge of Darius over the Bos- about a mile. That of the Bosphorus is phorus was broken up as soon as his less-probably under three-quarters of a troops had crossed it (Herod. iv. 89). mile. "The width of the Euphrates is That of Xerxes over the Hellespont was sometimes as much as 700 yards, or left standing, in order that the army uearly half a mile. might return into Asia by it (ibid. viii. 18 See Herol. vii. 36. Compare iv. | 108, 117). CHAP. III. MANNING OF THE FLEET. 199 together, and sustained the actual bridge or platform, were made of most carefully selected materials, and must have been of enormous strength ;the ships were placed in close proximity one to another; and by the substitution of a double for a single line—of two bridges, in fact, for one—the solidity of the work was very largely augmented. Yet, rare as was the skill shown, solid and compact as were the causeways thus thrown by human art over the sea, they were found inadequate to the end de- sired. The great work of Xerxes, far the most elaborate of its class, failed to withstand the fury of the elements even for a single year; the bridge, constructed in one autumn, was utterly swept away in the next ;* and the army which had crossed into Europe by its aid had to embark as it best could, and return on board ship to Asia. As the furnishing of the Persian fleet was left wholly to the subject nations of the Empire, so was its manning intrusted to them almost entirely. Phoenicians, Syrians, Egyptians, Cypriots, Cilicians, Lycians, Pamphylians, Carians, Greeks, equipped in the several costumes of their countries, served side by side in their respective contingents of ships, thereby giving the fleet nearly the same motley appearance which was pre- sented by the army. In one respect alone did the navy ex- hibit superior uniformity to the sister service—the epibutie, or “marines,” who formed the whole fighting force of the feet while it kept the sea, was a nearly homogeneous body, consisting of three races only (two of which were closely allied), namely, Persians, Medes, and Sacæ.? Every ship had thirty such men on board; all, it is probable, uniformly armed, and all animated by one and the same spirit. To this force the Persians must have owed it mainly that their great fleets were not mere con- geries of mutually repellant atoms, but were capable of acting against an enemy with a fair amount of combination and singleness of purpose. 3 Herod. vii. 36. Ibid. viii. 117. * Ibid. vii. 89-95. • On this appearance, see above, pp. 187, 188. · Herod. vii. 184. On the quasi- identity of the Medes and Persians, 'set above, p. 164, and compare vol. ii. pp. 306, 307. 200 Chap. IIL THE FIFTH MONARCHY. When a fleet accompanied a land army upon an expedition, it was usually placed under the same commander. This com- mander, however, was not expected to adventure himself on board, much less to take the direction of a sea-fight. He in- trusted the fleet to an officer, or officers, whom he nominated, and was content himself with the conduct of operations ashore. Occasionally the land and sea forces were assigned to distinct commanders of co-ordinate authority—an arrangement which led, naturally, to misunderstanding and quarrel.10 The tactics of a Persian fleet seem to have been of the simplest kind. Confident in their numbers, until experience had taught them the fallaciousness of such a ground of hope, they were chiefly anxious that their enemy should not escape. To prevent this, they endeavoured to surround the ships opposed to them, advancing their line in a crescent form, so as to enclose their adversary's wings," or even detaching squadrons to cut off his retreat."? They formed their line several ships deep,13 and, when the hour of battle came, advanced directly at their best speed against the enemy, endeavouring to run down his vessels by sheer force,14 and never showing any acquaintance with or pre- dilection for maneuvres. Met by a skilful antagonist, who avoided or successfully withstood this first onset, they were apt through their very numbers to be thrown into disorder : the first line would become entangled with the second, the second with the third, and inextricable confusion would be the result.15 Confusion placed them at the mercy of their antagonist, who, retaining complete command over his own vessels, was able to strike theirs in vulnerable parts, and, in a short time, to cover the sea with shattered and sinking wrecks. The loss to the Persians in men, as well as in material, was then sure to be very · Herod. iii. 13; iv, 89; vi. 43, &c. 1 13 Herod. viii. 89. Æschylus saya • Xerxes was the real commander of the line was three ships deep at Salamis the fleet which accompanied his expe. (Pers. 368). dition against Greece ; but he gave the 14 See the graphic descriptions of actual direction of it to four officers. | Herodotus (viii. 15 and 84-90). Com- (Herod. vii. 97.) pare Æschyl. Pers. 410-415. 10 See Herod. iv. 167 and 203. 15 Herod. viii. 16, 89 ; Eschyl. Per's. 11 Ibid. vii. 16. 415-418. 12 Ibid. 7; Asch. Pers. 370. CHAP. III. 201 NATIONS WHICH FURNISHED THE FLEET. great; for their sailors seldom knew how to swim,16 and were consequently drowned, even when the shore was but a few yards distant. When, from deficiency in their numbers, or distrust of their own nautical skill in comparison with that of their enemy, the commanders of a Persian fleet wished to avoid an engagement, a plan sometimes adopted was to run the ships ashore upon a smooth soft beach, and, after drawing them together, to surround them with such a rampart as could be hastily made, and defend this rampart with the sailors. The crews of the Persian vessels were always more or less completely armed,18 in order that, if occasion arose, they might act as soldiers ashore, and were thus quite capable of fighting effectively behind a rampart. They might count, too, under such circumstances, upon assistance from such of their own land forces as might happen to be in the neighbourhood, who would be sure to come with all speed to their aid, and might be expected to prove a sure protection. The subject nations who furnished the Persians with their fleet were, in the earlier times, the Phænicians, the Egyptians, the Cypriots, the Cilicians, the Syrians of Palestine, the Pam- phylians, the Lycians, the Carians, and the Greeks of Asia Minor and the islands. 19 The Greeks seem to have furnished the largest number of ships; the Phoenicians the next largest; then the Egyptians; after them the Cypriots; then the Cilicians; then the Carians; next the Lycians; while the Pamphylians furnished the least.20 The best ships and the best sailors were the Phænicians, especially those of Sidon. 21 In later times, ships were drawn either from Phoenicia alone, or from Phoenicia, Cilicia, and Cyprus.22 The limits assigned to the present work forbid the further 16 Herod. vi. 44, sub fin. ; viii. 89. 1: Ibid. ix. 97. Is Ibid. vii. 89-95. 19 Ibid. loc. cit. * In the fleet of Xerxes the united Greek contingents made up a grand total of 307 ships. The Phænicians, together with the Syrians of Palestine, furnished 300, the Egyptians 200, the Cypriots 150, the Cilicians 100, the Carians 70, the Lycians 50, and the Pamphylians 30. (Herod, loc. cit.) 21 Ibid. vii. 96. Compare chs. 44 and 100. 22 Phoenicians only are mentioned in Thucyd. i. 110; viii. 46, 81, 87, 109; Xen. Hell, . 4; Arrian, Exp. Al. ü. 2; Phoenicians and Cilicians in Thucyd. i. 112; Phænicians, Cilicians, and Cy. priots in Diod. Sic. xi. 60, $ 5. 202 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. prosecution of this branch of our inquiry, and require us now to pass on from the consideration of the Persian usages in war, to that of their manners and customs, their habits and proceedings, in time of peace. And here it will once more be convenient to follow a division of the subject with which the reader is familiar, and to treat first of the public life of the King and Court, and next of the private life of the people. The Persian king held the same rank and position in the eyes of his subjects which the great monarch of Western Asia, whoever he might be, had always occupied from time imme- morial.” He was their lord and master, absolute disposer of their lives, liberties, and property; the sole fountain of law and right, incapable himself of doing wrong, irresponsible, irresistible -a sort of God upon earth; one whose favour was happiness, at whose frown men trembled, before whom all bowed them- selves down with the lowest and humblest obeisance. To a personage so exalted, a state and pomp of the utmost magnificence was befitting. The king's crdinary dress in time of peace was the long flowing “Median garment,” or candys, — made in his case (it is probable) of richest silk, 4—which, with its ample folds, its wide hanging sleeves, and its close fit about the neck and chest, gave dignity to almost any figure, and excellently set off the noble presence of an Achæmenian prince. The royal robe was either of purple throughout, or sometimes of purple embroidered with gold. It descended below the ankles, See above, vol. i. pp. 484-589 ; vol. 1 C. Compare above, vol. ii. p. 316, ii. pp. 312-321. notes and '. 2 Compare above, vol. i. p. 484. 5 Xenophon says of Cyrus : Stoli * The identity of the candys with the είλετο την Μηδικήν ... αύτη γάρ αυτώ “Median robe" is not universally ad. συγκρύπτεν εδοκεί, εί τίς τι εν τω mitted (Brisson, De Regno Persico, i. σώματι ενδεές έχοι, και καλλίστους και pp. 46-50); but it seems to be almost μεγίστους επιδεικνύναι τους φορούντας. certain. The candys was the usual outer Cyrop. viii, 1, $40. garment, both in peace and war (Xen. Olotópoupov. Xen. Cyrop. viii. 3, Anab. i. 5, § 8; Cyrop. viii. 3, § 10), $ 13. and is assigned by Xenophon to all the * 1 Χλαϊναν άλoυργή τε και χρυσοπα. horse immediately after he has men OTOV. Themist. Orat. xxiv. p. 306. tioned the general adoption by the Per “ Vestem auream purpureamque." Jus- sian nobles of the στολή Μηδική. That tin. xii. 3. “Pallam auro distinctam." it was the ordinary Median outer gar Q. Curt. iii. 3, p. 27. According to the ment in the opinion of Xenophon ap- last, the robe of Darius Codomannus had pears from Cyrop. i. 3, 8 2. a golden embroidery representing hawks * Procop. De Bell. Pers. i. 20, p. 106, ! fighting one another with their bills. Chap. III. 203 PERSIAN CUSTOMS IN PEACE. resting on the foot even when the monarch was seated. A broad girdle confined it at the waist. Under it was worn a tunic or shirt, which reached from the neck to the knee,10 and had tight- 2000 UDOVOU cum King seated on his Throne (Persepolis). . fitting sleeves that covered the arm to the wrist. 11 The tunic was purple in colour, like the candys, or robe, but striped or mixed with white.12 The lower limbs were encased in trousers Philostratus (Imag. ii. 32) makes the not this tunic. 10 Strab. I. 8. c. embroidery consist of the forms of mon. "XiTwv xelpowtós. Strab. l. 8. c. sters. According to Plutarch (Vit. In one figure at Persepolis the sleeve Artaxercis, c. 24, the entire dress of a appears below that of the candys, tightly Persian king was worth 12,000 talents fitting the wrist. (See Ker Porter, vol. (2,925,0001.). i. pl. 37.) * See the above woodcut. 12 Χιτώνα πορφυρούν μεσόλευκον. On this tunic, see Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, Xen. Cyrop. viii. 3, § 13. Xcwva ocá- $ 2; viii. 3, § 13; Anab. i. 5, 8 8; Diod. Levkov. Plutarch, Vit. Alex. c. 51 ; Sic. xvii. 77, 8 5; Strab. xv. 3, § 19. Diod. Sic. l. 8. c. Compare Q. Curt. iii. The passage of Diodorus is important, 3: “Purpureæ tunicæ medium album as clearly showing that the candys was | intextum erat." 204 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. of a crimson hue.13 On his feet the king wore shoes like those of the Medes,14 long and taper at the toe, buttoned in front, and reaching very high up the instep: their colour was deep yellow or saffron.15 Thus far the monarch's costume, though richer in material than the dress of the Persian nobles, and in some points different in colour, was on the whole remarkably like that of the upper class of his subjects. It was, however, most important that his dress should possess some distinguishing feature, and that that feature should be one of very marked prominency. In an absolute monarchy the king must be unmistakable, at almost any distance, and in almost any light. Con- sequences of the gravest kind may follow from any mistake of the royal identity; and it is therefore essential to the comfort both of prince and subject that some very conspicuous ersian King badge shall mark and notify the monarch's (Persepolis). presence. Accordingly, it appears that the Persian ruler was to be known by his head-dress, which was pecu- liar alike in shape and in colour, and was calculated to catch the eye in both respects. It bore the name of kitaris or kidaris, 16 and was a tall stiff cap,7 slightly swelling as it ascended, flat at Head of P 13 'Avatupides ügylvopapeis. Xen. | the Inscriptions—whence khshatrapa, Cyrop. 1. 8. C. “ satrap," literally “crown-protector.”' ** See the woodcut, p. 203, and com. 1 See the above woodcut, which re- pare vol. ii. p. 315. presents the head-dress always assigned 15 Æsch. Pers. 661. K pokoßantos to the Persian kings at Persepolis. The εύμαρις. same type may be traced on some of the 16 Kιδαρις is the form used by Philo (Vit. Moys. iii. p. 155), Arrian (Exp. Alex. iv. 7), Curtius (Hist. Alex. iii. 3, p. 27), Hesychius (ad voc.), and others. Kitapıs is preferred by Plutarch (l'it. Artax. c. 28). Strabo (xi. 12, $ 9) and Pollux (vii. $ 58) give both forms. The word was probably taken by the Greeks from the Semitic form no (used Esth. i. 11 ; ii. 17), which seems to have been Head of Persian King (from a daric). intended to represent the Persian khshat. ram, "corona, imperium"—the common Darics, where the fillet, or “diadem " word for “ crown” or “kingdom” in proper, is occasionally very conspicuous CHAP. III. 205 COSTUME OF THE KING. top, and terminating in a ring or circle which projected beyond the lines of the sides. Round it, probably near the bottom, was worn a fillet or band—the diadem proper—which was blue, spotted with white.18 As the other Persians wore either simple fillets round their heads, or soft, rounded, and comparatively low caps, with no band round them,19 the king's head-dress, which would tower above theirs and attract attention by its colour, could readily be distinguished even in the most crowded Court. It has been asserted that the kidaris, or tiara of the Persian kings, was “commonly adorned with gold and jewellery ;” 20 and this may possibly have been the case, but there is so evidence leven in the ention by its" which woul. and it was always of a bright colour,28 though not (apparently) always of the same colour. Its distinguishing features were its height, its stiffness, and the blue and white fillet which encircled it.24 Among other certain indications of the royal presence may be mentioned the golden sceptre,25 and the parasol. The sceptre, 18 Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. ii. 3. “Cærulea , Apoc. Esdras, book i. ch. ii. ; Joseph. fascia albo distincta.” On the relation | Ant. Jud. xi. 4.) of the “diadem" to the kidaris, or royal 23 Themist. Orat. xxiv. p. 306. tiara, see Xen. Cyrop. viii. 3, § 13, and 24 On the Persian cylinders the mo. Dion Cass. xxxvi. 35. narch is frequently represented as wear- 19 See the representations, supra, pp. 172, 173, and infra, pp. 224, 233. On (supra, vol. ii. pp. 316, 317). See the the marked difference between the kida woodcut, No. 1. There is also some- ris and the ordinary tiara of the Per-| times assigned him a crown, not very sians, see Xen. Cyrop. viii. 3, § 13 ; unlike a modern one. See the woodcut, Anab. ii. 5, § 23 ; Aristoph. Av. 461, No. 2. 462, &c. Yates, in Dr. Smith's Dict. of Gk. 2 and Rom. Antiquities, p. 1130 (2nd. edit.), ad voc. TIARA. 21 The only authority quoted by Mr. Yates is Æsch. Pers. 668, where the Persian kidaris is termed βασιλείου τιά- pas pálapov. But, whatever may be here the exact meaning of φάλαρον, I am at a loss to see how either gold or jewels can be implied in it. Heads of Persian Kings (from cylinders). 22 The kidaris is called a milos by Pollux (vii. 13), Hesychius (ad voc.), 25 The curious custom connected with and Suidas (ad voc.) and a milos was the golden sceptre, which is mentioned properly of felt. Some writers of low in Esth. iv. 11, v. 2, and viii. 4, will be authority speak of a linen kidaris. | referred to later in this chapter, 206 CHAP. IIL. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. which is seen frequently in the king's hands,26 was a plain rod, about five feet in length, ornamented with a ball, or apple, at its upper end, and at its lower tapering nearly to a point. The king held it in his right hand, grasping it near, but not at, the thick end, and rested the thin end on the ground in his front. When he walked, he planted it upright before him, as a spear- man would plant his spear. When he sate, he sloped it out- wards, still, however, touching the ground with its point. The parasol, which has always been in the East a mark of dig. nity, seems in Persia, as in Assyria, 27 to have been confined, either by law or usage, to the king. The Persian im- plement resembled the later Assyrian, except that it was not tasseled, and had no curtain or flap. It had the same tent-like shape, the same long thick stem, and the same ornament at the top. It only differed in being somewhat shal- lower, and in having the supports, which kept it open, curved instead of Royal Parasol (Persepolis). straight. It was held over the king's head on state occasions by an attendant who walked immediately behind him. The throne of the monarch was an elevated seat, with a high 26 See the woodcut (p. 203), and com- | the golden sceptre (Cyrop. viii. 7, § 13), pare Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. pls. 48, but gives no description of it. 49, 50; and Flandin, Voyage en Perse, 27 See above, vol. i. p. 495. “Planches Anciennes," tom. üi. pls. 146, | 22 Ker Porter, Trarels, vol. i. pl. 48. 151, 155, and 156. Xenophon mentions | Compare Plutarch, Vit. Them. c. 16. CRAP. III. 207 THE THRONE. back, but without arms, cushioned, and ornamented with a fringe, and with mouldings or carvings along the back and legs. The ornamentation consisted chiefly of balls and broad rings, and contained little that was artistic or elaborate. The legs, however, terminated in lions' feet, resting upon half balls, which were ribbed or fluted. The sides of the chair below the seat appear to have been panelled, like the thrones of the Assyrians,99 but were not adorned with any carving. The seat of the throne was very high from the ground, and without a rest the legs would have dangled.30 A footstool consequently was provided, which was plain, like the throne, but was supported on legs terminating in the feet of bulls. Thus the lion and the bull, so frequent in the symbolism of the East, were here again brought together, being represented as the supports of the throne.” With respect to the material whereof the throne was com- posed, there can be no doubt that it was something splendid and costly. Late writers describe it as made of pure gold ;3 but, as we hear of its having silver feet,4 we may presume that parts at least were of the less precious metal. Ivory is not said to have been used in its composition. We may, perhaps, conjecture, that the frame of the throne was wood, and that whole of the woodwork was concealed from view, and an appearance of solid metal presented. The person of the king was adorned with golden ornaments. He had earrings of gold in his ears, often inlaid with jewels ; 6 24 Supra, vol. i. pp. 393, 394. 3 Athen. Deipn. p. 514, C.; Philostrat. 80 This feature, which was inherited Imag. ii. 32 ; Tzetz. Chiliad. i. 32. from Assyria, supra, vol. i. p. 395), is Deinosth. Adv. Timocr. 741, 7; Sui. noticed by some of the ancient writers. das ad voc. apyvpótous. (Diod. Sic. xvii. 66, § 3; Q. Curt. v. 2, 5 The throne of Cyrus the younger, p. 115.) which was probably an imitation of the See above, vol. i. pp. 288, 289; vol. royal throne, is expressly said to have i. pp. 21-24. Compare 1 Kings, been in part gold, and in part silver. vü. 29, for the Hebrew, and the author's (åpyupoûv kai xpvooûv. Xen. Hell. i. Herodotus (vol. i. pp. 566,567, 2nd edit.) | 5, $ 3.) for the Lydian use of the same imagery. O Golden earrings, with precious ? Solomon's throne was supported on stones set in them (evutia xpvooû te kai either side by the complete figure of a wiowy kol1n7d), were found in the tomb lion. (1 K. X. 19.) I of Cyrus at Pasargadæ (Arr. Exp. Alex. 208 Chap. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. he wore golden bracelets upon his wrists ;, and he had a chain or collar of gold about his neck. In his girdle, which was also of gold, he carried a short sword, the sheath of which was formed of a single precious stone. The monuments, unfortunately, throw little light on the character or work- manship of these portions of the royal cos- tume. Wc may gather from them, per- haps, that the bracelets had a large jewel King wearing a Bracelet set in their centre, and that the collars and Earrings were of twisted work, worn loosely around (Nakhsh-i-Rustam.) the neck.11 The sword seems to have differed little from that of the ordinary Persians. It had a short straight blade, a mere cross-bar for a guard, and a handle almost devoid of ornament. This plainness was compensated, if we may trust Curtius, by the Royal Sword (Persepolis). magnificence of the sheath, which was, perhaps, of jasper, agate, or lapis lazuli.12 The officers in most close attendance on the monarch's person were, in war, his charioteer, his stool-bearer, his bow- bearer, and his quiver-bearer ; in peace, his parasol-bearer, and his fan-bearer, who was also privileged to carry what has been termed “the royal pocket-handkerchief.” 13 vi. 29), where they no doubt represented ture. (Ker Porter, vol. ii. pl. 60; a part of the royal costume. The sculp- Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. I. tured representations of the Persian pl. 2). kings have seldom any earrings visible. In the sculptures the king wears no Where they have the ornament is of the collar. Collars, however, of the sort simplest character. (See the above wood above described, are common on the cut.) necks of the courtiers. (Ker Porter, Vélca (Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, & 2; Herod. vol. i. pls. 37 to 43.) An example has ii. 20). These are frequently to be seen been given in a former volume. (See in the sculptures. (Ker Porter, vol. i. above, vol. ii. p. 317.) pl. 17; vol. ii. pl. 60; Flandin, Voyage 12 On the large size of these stones en Perse, “Planches Anciennes," pls. in ancient Persia, see above, ch. ii. p. 164, 167, 178.) 162. SETPETTO (Xen. Cyrop. 1. s.c. ; Herod. 13 Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 656. The 1. s. c.; Art. Exp. Alex. I. 8. c.). cloth, however, which this attendant ' Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. iii. 3, p. 27. carried, was probably rather a napkin ** This appears by the Behistun sculp. I or a towel than a handkerchief. CHAP. III. OFFICERS IN ATTENDANCE ON THE KING. 209 The royal charioteer is seemingly unarmed.14 His head is protected merely by a fillet. He sits in front of his master and both his hands are fully occupied with the management of the reins. He has no whip, and seems to urge his horses forward simply by leaning forward himself, and slackening or shaking the reins over them. He was, no doubt, in every case a Persian of the highest rank,15 such near proximity to the Royal person being a privilege to which none but Per ca privilere to which one hut Persian King in his Chariot (from a daric). the very noblest could aspire. The office of the stool-bearer 16 was to assist the king as he mounted his chariot or dismounted from it. He carried a golden stool, and followed the royal chariot closely, in order that he might be at hand whenever his master felt disposed to his travelling, exchanging, when the inclination took him, his chariot for a litter, and riding in that more luxurious vehicle till he was tired of it, after which he returned to his chariot for a space.17 The services of the stool-bearer were thus in constant requisition, since it was deemed quite impossible that his Majesty could ascend or descend his somewhat lofty war-car without such aid. The rank of the bow-bearer was probably nearly as great as that of the driver of the chariot.18 He was privileged to stand immediately behind the monarch on grand occasions, 19 carrying in his left hand the weapon from which he derived his appel- 14 Our representations of the royal 1 17 Herod. vii. 41. charioteer are unsatisfactory on account | 18 The bow-bearer of Darius was “Godbryas the Patischorian,"as we learn caused the artist to omit details for from an inscription in his honour on want of room. They occur only ou that monarch's tomb (Journal of the cylinders and coins. Asiatic Society, vol. xii., Appendix, p. 15 The charioteer of Xerxes was “Pa xix). There is no reason to doubt his tiramphes, the son of Otanes" (Herod. identity with the conspirator, the father vii. 40,- perhaps the son of that Otanes of the famous Mardonius. who was one of the chief conspirators 19 This is the position both at Nakhsh- against the Pseudo-Smerdis. i-Rustam and at Behistun. (See Ker p. 514, A. VOL. III, 210 CRAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. lation. The quiver-bearer had the next place.20 Both wore the Median costume—the candys, or flowing robe, the girdle, the high shoe, and the stiff fluted cap, or, per- haps, occasionally the simple fillet. Sometimes the two offices would seem to have been held by the same person, unless we are to attribute this appearance, where it occurs," to the economy of the artist, who may have wished to save himself the trouble of drawing two separate figures. The parasol-bearer22 was attired as the bow and quiver bearers, except that he was wholly unarmed, and had the fillet for his proper head-dress. Though not a military officer, he ac- companied the monarch in his expe- ditions,23 since in the midst of war The Royal Bow and Quiver there might be occasions of state Bearer (Behistun). when his presence would be conve- nient. The officer who bore the royal fan and handkerchief had generally the same costume; but sometimes his head was enveloped in a curious kind of cowl or muffler, which covered the whole of it except the forehead, the eyes, the nose, the mouth, and the upper portion of the cheeks. The fan, or fly-chaser, had a long Head-dress of an Attendant straight handle, ornamented with a (Persepolis). 20 The quiver-bearer of Darius, As-1 21 1.e. at Behistun. (See the above pachana by name, has a special inscrip woodcut.) tion in his honour at Nakhsh-i-Rustam. 22 The parasol-bearer is represented He is represented by Herodotus as like frequently at Persepolis, and uniformly wise one of the conspirators (Herod. iii. | in the same costume. 70); but this seems to have been a mis 2 Plutarch, Vit. Themistocl. c. 16. take. CHAP. III. 211 2II OFFICERS IN ATTENDANCE ON THE KING. sort of beading, which held a brush of some springy fibrous matter. The bearer, whose place was directly behind the monarch, held his implement, which bent forward grace- fully, nearly at arm's length over his master's head.24 It would seem that occasionally the bearer of the handkerchief laid aside his fly-chaser, and assumed in lieu of it a small bottle containing perfumery. In a sculptured tablet at Persepolis, given by Ker Porter,25 an attendant in the Median robe, with a fillet upon his head, who bears the handkerchief in the usual way in his left hand, carries in the palm of his right what seems to be a bottle, not unlike the scent-bottle of a modern lady. It has always been an Oriental custom to wash the hands before meals, and the rich Persian Fan or Fly-chaser commonly mix some perfumery or (Persepolis). other with the water. We may pre- sume that this was the practice at the Persian Court, and that the Great King therefore took care to have an ready to provide his guests, or himself, with the scent which was most rare or most fashionable. Royal Scent-bottle (Persepolis). The Persians seem to have been connoisseurs in scents. We are told that, when the royal tiara was not in wear, it was laid up carefully with a mixture of myrrh and labyzus, to give it an agreeable odour.26 Unguents were thought to have been a Persian invention, and at any rate were most abundantly used I 24 See the woodcut, supra, p. 203. % Trarels, vol. i. pl. 47. * Athenæus, Deipn. xii. p. 514, A. 27 Plin. H. N. xii. 1 (S 2). “Un. guentum Persarum gentis esse debet." P 2 212 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. by the upper classes of the nation.28 The monarch applied to his own person an ointment composed of the fat of lions, palm wine, saffron, and the herb helianthes, which was considered to increase the beauty of the complexion.29 He carried with him, even when he went to the wars, a case of choice unguents; and such a treasure fell into the hands of Alexander, with the rest of Darius's camp equipage, at Arbela. It may be suspected that the “royal ointment” of the Parthian kings, composed of cinnamon, spikenard, myrrh, cassia, gum styrax, saffron, cardamum, wine, honey, and sixteen other ingredients, was adopted from the Persians, who were far more likely than the rude Parthians to have invented so recon- dite a mixture. Nor were scents used only in this form by the ingenious people of whom we are speaking. Arabia was required to furnish annually to the Persian crown a thou- sand talents' weight of frankincense; 1 and there is reason to believe that this rare spice was largely employed about the Court, since the walls of Persepolis have several repre- sentations of censers, which are sometimes Censers (Persepolis). normi • carried in the hands of an attendant," while sometimes they stand on the ground, immediately in front of the Great King The box or vase in which the Persians commonly kept their unguents was of alabaster. This stone, which abounded in the country," was regarded as peculiarly suited for holding oint- 28 Plin. l. s. C. ; Plut. Vit. Alex. c. 20; 1 nace, croco, cypiro, amaraco, loto, melle, Plat. Alcix. i. p. 122. Compare Esther, | vino." ii. 12; Herod. üi. 20, 22; and Parmen. Herod. iii. 97, ad fin. ap, Athen. Deipn. xiii. p. 608, A. ? See above, vol. č. p. 315. * *29 Plin. H. Ñ. xxiv. 17 (8 165). * Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. pl. 49 ; 30 Ibid. xiii. 1, $ 2. Flandin, Voyage en Perse,“ Planches 81 Ibid. 2, § 18. “Constat myroba Anciennes," tom. iii. pl. 154. On the lano, costo, amomo, cinnamo, comaco, actual use of frankincense at the Court, cardamomo, nardi spica, maro, murra, see Philostr. Imag. ii. 32 casia, styrace, ladano, opobalsamo, cala * This may be concluded from Herod. mo juncoque Syriis, ænanthe, malo | üi. 20. bathro, serichato, cypro, aspalatho, pa- | 5 Supra, p. 160. CHAP. III. 213 OTHER OFFICERS OF THE COURT. НКір ments, not only by the Persians, but also by the Egyptians, the Greeks,” and (probably) the Assyrians. The Egyptian variety of the stone seems to have been especially valued; and vases appear to have been manufactured in that country for the use of the Persian monarchs, which were transmitted to the Court, and became part of the toilet furniture of the palace. Among the officers of the Court, less closely attached to the person of the monarch than those above enumerated, may be mentioned the steward of the household ; 10 the groom or master of the horse ; 11 the chief eunuch, or keeper of the women ; 12 the king's “eyes” and "ears,"13 persons whose business it was to keep him informed on all matters of importance; his scribes or secretaries, 14 Vase of Caylus. who wrote his letters and his edicts ; 15 his messengers,16 who went his errands; his ushers,17 who intro- duced strangers to him; his “tasters,” who tried the various dishes set before him lest they should be poisoned ; 18 his cup- Sir G. Wilkinson, in the author's | mentioned by the Greeks, whose sense Herodotus, vol. i. p. 348, note 3, 2nd of the ridiculous was provoked by them. edition. See Aristoph. Acharn. 92; Herod. i. 114; ? Athen. Deipn. xv. p. 686, C; Alexis Xen. Cyrop, viii. 2, § 10; Æschyl. Pers. ap. eund. xv. p. 691, E; Aristoph. Ly-| 960; Anon. De Mundo, c. 6; &c. sistr. 882 ; Schol. ad Aristoph. Acharn. " Tpaupateis or ypaumatiotal. Herod. 986, &c. vii. 100; viii. 90. * It is a reasonable conjecture that 15 Esther, iii. 12; viii. 9. The “Royal the alabaster vases found at Nimrud, Scribes” were also, it is probable, the inscribed with the name of Sargon, || writers of the “ book of records.” (Ib. Vere“ used for holding some ointment vi. 1.) of cosmetic” (Layard, Nineveh and 16 'áyyella popos. (Anon. De Mundo, Babylon, p. 197). c. 6; Zon. iv. 2, p. 172, A.) Compare See Mr. Birch's paper in Mr. New Herod. iii. 34, 77. ton's Halicarnassus, pp. 667-670; and 17 'Erayyedeis. Herod. iii. 84. The compare the woodcut above. chief of these officers seems to have borne Mecowvòs Twv oikiwv. Herod. ïïi. a title which the Greeks rendered by Chiliarch. (Ælian, Hist. Var. i. 21.) "'ITTokouos. Ib. iii. 85, 88. 18 'Egéatpou. Phylarch. Fr. 43; Sui. 12 Esther, ü. 3. das ad voc. ** These quaint titles are frequently 61. 214 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. bearers,19 who handed him his wine, and tasted it; his chamber- lains,20 who assisted him to bed; and his musicians, 21 who amused him with song and harp. Besides these, the Court comprised various classes of guards, and also doorkeepers, huntsmen, grooms, cooks, and other domestic servants in great abundance, 22 together with a vast multitude of visitors and guests, princes, nobles, captives of rank, foreign refugees, ambassadors, travellers. We are assured that the king fed daily within the precincts of his palace as many as fifteen thousand persons,23 and that the cost of each day's food was four hundred talents.24 A thousand beasts were slaughtered for each repast, besides abundance of feathered game and poultry.25 The beasts included not only sheep, goats, and oxen, but also stags, asses, horses, and camels.26 Among the feathered deli- cacies were poultry, geese, and ostriches.27 The monarch himself rarely dined with his guests. For the most part he was served alone. Sometimes he admitted to his table the queen and two or three of his children.2 Some- times, at a “banquet of wine,”29 a certain number of privileged boon-companions were received, who drank in the royal presence, not, however, of the same wine, nor on the same terms. The monarch reclined on a couch with golden feet, and sipped the rich wine of Helbon; the guests drank an inferior beverage, 19 Olvoxbol. Herod. Üï. 34; Xen. | 400 talents was the estimated value of Hdll. vii. 1, 8 38; Nehem. i. 11. the banquet given to Xerxes by the 20 Karakolmo Tal or KaTevvaoral. Thasians (vii. 118). It must be an Diod. Sic. xi. 69, $1; Plut. Apophthegm. enormous over-estimate of the cost, or p. 173, D; De Luc. Ignorant. p. 780, C. even of the value, of a day's consump- * 21 Moto ovpyou. Parmen. ap. Athen. tion of food at the Persian court, since Deipn. xiii. p. 608, A ; Suidas ad voc. it would make that item of expense 22 Xen. Hell. I. 8. c. 'Arriyede ÓTL alone exceed thirty-five millions of our βασιλεύς αρτοκόπους μεν και οψοποιούς money annually. kal oivoxóovs kal Oupwpous trajandeis > Heraclid. Cum, ap. Athen. Deipr. xol. Compare the picture drawn in the | iv. p. 145, F. eighth book of the Cyropædia, which, 26 Ibid. With this list of animals though we can place smaīl dependence eaten by the Persians, compare Herod. i. on its details, is probably correct enough 133. in its general features. See also Parmen. 27 Athen. Deipn. iv. p. 145, A. ap. Athen. Deipn. 1. 8. C. 23 Ibid. The Queen-Mother also * > Ctesias ap. Athen. Deipn. iv. p. 146, shared these private repasts (Plut. Vit. C; Dino ap. eund. Artaxerxis, c. 5); and some monarchs 24 This is probably a mere reproduc. admitted to them their brothers (ibid.). tion of the statement of Herodotus, that ! Esther, v. 6. CHAP. III. 215 FURNITURE OF THE PALACE. seated upon the floor.30 At a great banquet, it was usual to divide the guests into two classes. Those of lower degree were entertained in an outer court or chamber to which the public had access, while such as were of higher rank entered the private apartments, and drew near to the King. Here they were feasted in a chamber opposite to the king's chamber, which had a curtain drawn across the door, concealing him from their gaze, but not so thick as to hide them from their entertainer. Occasionally, on some very special occasion, as, perhaps, on the Royal birthday,' or other great festival, the king presided openly at the banquet, drinking and discoursing with his lords, and allowing the light of his countenance to shine freely upon a large number of guests, whom, on these occasions, he treated as if they were of the same flesh and blood with himself. Couches of gold and silver were spread for all,4 and “ royal wine in abundance” was served to them in golden goblets.5 On these, and, indeed, on all occasions, the guests, if they liked, carried away any portion of the food set before them which they did not consume at the time, conveying it to their homes, where it served to support their families. The architecture of the royal palace will be discussed in another chapter; but a few words may be said in this place with respect to its furniture and general appearance. The pillared courts and halls of the vast edifices which the Achæ- menian monarchs raised at Susa and Persepolis would have had a somewhat bare and cold aspect, if it had not been for their internal fittings. The floors were paved with stones of various hues, blue, white, black, and red,' arranged doubtless into patterns, and besides were covered in places with carpeting. The spaces between the pillars were filled with magnificent hangings, white, green, and violet, which were fastened with cords of fine linen (?) and purple to silver rings and pillars of s0 Athenæus, l. s. C. Ibid. 1. s. c. 1 ? Esther, i. 6. ? On this festival, see Herod. ix. 110, 8 Athenæus tells us that carpets from and compare i. 133. the looms of Sardis (ylloranides Sap- * Athenæus, l. 8. c.; Esther, i. 5-21. Slavol) were spread in some of the courts • Esther, i. 6. Ibid. ver. 7. for the king to walk on. (Deipn, xii. p. • Athenæus, I. s. c. | 514, C.) 216 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. marble,"9 screening the guests from sight, while they did not too much exclude the balmy summer breeze. The walls of the apartments were covered with plates of gold.20 All the furni- ture was rich and costly. The golden throne of the monarch stood under an embroidered canopy or awning supported by four pillars of gold inlaid with precious stones. 11 Couches resplendent with silver and gold filled the rooms.12 The private chamber of the monarch was adorned with a number of objects, not only rich and splendid, but valuable as productions of high art. Here, impending over the royal bed, was the golden vine, the work of Theodore of Samos, where the grapes were imitated by means of precious stones, each of enormous value. Here, probably, was the golden plane-tree, a worthy companion to the vine,14 though an uncourtly Greek declared it was too small to shade a grasshopper.16 Here, finally, was a bowl of solid gold, another work of the great Samian metallurgist, more precious for its artistic workmanship than even for its material.16 Nothing has hitherto been said of the Royal harem or seraglio, which, however, as a feature of the Court always important, and ultimately preponderating over all others, claims a share of our attention. In the early times, it would appear that the Persian kings were content with three or four wives 1 and a moderate number of concubines. Of the wives there was always one who held the most exalted place, to whom alone appertained the title of “Queen,” and who was regarded as “wife” in a different sense from the others. Such was Atossa to Darius Hystaspis, Amestris to Xerxes, Statira to Darius 9 Esther, i. 7. | by Himerius (Eccl. xxxi. 8). 10 Æschyl. Pers. 161 ; Philostrat. 14 They are generally mentioned to I mag. ii. 32. gether (Herod. 1. s. c. ; Phylarch. ap. 11 Chares Mytilen. ap. Athen. Deipn. Athen. I. 8. c.; Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 10; 1. 8. c.; Plut. Vit. Alex. c. 37. Tzetz. Chiliad. i. 32 ; &c.). 12 Esther, i. 6. 15 Antioch. ap. Xen. Hell. vii. 1, § 38. 18 A description of the golden vine 16 Amyntas ap. Athen. Deipn. xii. p. was given by Amyntas (Athen. Deipn. 515, A. xii. p. 514, F), and another, still more Four is the number of wives as. minute, by Phylarchus (ibid. p. 539, D). signed to Darius Hystaspis by Herodotus The vine itself is mentioned by Hero (iii, 88). Three wives only of Cambyses dotus (vii. 27) as a present from Pythius are mentioned (ib. 31, ad fin., and 68). the Lydian to Darius Hystaspis. It is He may, however, have had more. said to have been the work of Theodore ! CHAP. IIL 217 CANOPY OF THRONE. CA xoxox XxxxXXXXXXXXXSCOXWMWMVAAVAA UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCHEIUUD Canopy of Perslan Throne (Persepolis). 218 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Codomannus. Such, too, were Vashti and Esther to the prince, whoever he was, whose deeds are recorded in Scripture under the name of Ahasuerus.? The chief wife, or Queen-Consort, was privileged to wear on her head a royal tiara or crown. She was the acknowledged head of the female apartments or Gynæceum, and the concubines recognised her dignity by actual prostration. On great occasions, when the king enter- tained the male part of the Court, she feasted all the females in her own part of the palace. She had a large revenue of her own, assigned her, not so much by the will of her husband, as by an established law or custom. Her dress was splendid,' and she was able to indulge freely that love of ornament of which few Oriental women are devoid. Though legally subject to her husband as much as the meanest of his slaves, she could venture on liberties which would have been fatal to almost any one else, and often, by her influence over the monarch, possessed a very considerable share of power.20 The status of the other wives was very inferior to this; and it is difficult to see how such persons were really in a position much superior to that of the concubines. As daughters of the chief nobles—for the king could only choose a wife within a narrow circle_they had, of course, a rank and dignity inde- pendent of that acquired by marriage; but otherwise they must have been almost on a par with those fair inmates of the Gynæceum who had no claim even to the name of consort. Each wife had probably a suite of apartments to herself, and a certain number of attendants—eunuchs, and tirewomen—at her ? Esther, i. 11 ; ii. 17. inflict punishments (Herod. ix. 112), * Ibid. Compare Plut. Vit. Lucull. &c. c. 18. 10 Herodotus says of one Queen-Con: * Dino ap. Athen. Deipn. xiii. p. sort: gàp "Atooda eixe To Târ 556, B. 5 Esther, i. 9. kpáros (vii. 3, ad fin.). On the actual • Herod. ii. 98 ; Plat. Alcib. i. 123, B; influence of such persons, see Herod. ix. Athen. Deipn. i. p. 33, F. 111 ; Ctes. Exc. Pers. SS 5, 49, 50, 53. ? Ælian. Hist. "Var. xii. 1 ; Art. Exp. u Herod. iii. 84. By law the king Alex. ii. 12. could only marry into six families be- 8 Athen. xiii. p. 556, B; Esther, iv. sides his own. He could of course break 16. through this law if he pleased. But 9 As intruding on him when not sum. generally the kings seem to have ob- moned (Esther, v. 1), inviting him to a served it. banquet (ib. v. 4), using his guards to / CHAP. III. 219 ROYAL HAREM OR SERAGLIO. disposal; but the inferior wives saw little of the king, being only summoned each in their turn to share his apartment, and had none of the privileges which made the position of chief wife so important. The concubines seem to have occupied a distinct part of the Gynæceum, called “the second house of the women.”13 They were in the special charge of one of the eunuchs,14 and were no doubt kept under strict surveillance. The Empire was con- tinually searched for beautiful damsels to fill the harem,15 a constant succession being required, as none shared the royal couch more than once, unless she attracted the monarch's regard very particularly. In the later times of the Empire, the number of the concubines became enormous, amounting (according to one authority ??) to three hundred and twenty- nine, (according to another 18) to three hundred and sixty. They accompanied the king both in his wars 19 and in his hunting expeditions.20 It was a part of their duty to sing and play for the royal delectation; and this task, according to one author, 21 they had to perform during the whole of each night. It is a more probable statement that they entertained the king and queen with music while they dined, one of them leading, and the others singing and playing in concert.22 The Gynæceum–in the Susa palace, at any rate—was a building distinct from the general edifice, separated from the “king's house” by a court.23 It was itself composed of at least three sets of apartments—viz. apartments for the virgins who had not yet gone in to the king, apartments for the concubines, 12 Herod. iii. 69. 19 See the passages above quoted from 13 Esther, ii. 14. The first house" Q. Curtius and Athenæus. The state. must have been that where the virgins | ment of Curtius might be thought a were kept before admission to the king's mere rhetorical flourish ; but the letter presence. (See Esther, ii. 9.) of Parmenio has the air of a dry statis- " Ibid. ii. 8. tical document. 15 Ibid. ii. 2-4; Herod, vi. 32; Max. 20 Athen. Deipn. xii. p. 514, C. Tyr. Serm. xxxiv. 4; Ælian. Var. Hist. 21 Ibid. xii. 1, p. 148. 22 Heraclid. Cum. ap. eund. iv. p. 16 Esther, ii. 14. | 145, E. 17 Parmen. ap. Ath. Deipn. xiii. p. 23 Esther, v.1. Compare the position 608, A. of the harem at Khorsabad. (Supra, 220 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. These different portions were under the supervision of different persons. Two eunuchs of distinction had the charge respec- tively of the "first” and of the "second house of the women.” 24 The Queen-Consort was, at any rate nominally, paramount in the third,25 her authority extending over all its inmates, male and female. Sometimes there was in the Gynæceum a personage even The mother of the reigning prince, if she outlived his father, held a position at the Court of her son beyond that even of his Chief Wife. She kept the ensigns of royalty which she had worn during the reign of her husband ;28 and wielded, as Queen- Mother, a far weightier and more domineering authority than she had ever exercised as Queen-Consort.27 The habits of reve- commonly their power over the man; and the monarch who in public ruled despotically over millions of men, succumbed, within the walls of the seraglio, to the yoke of a woman, whose influence he was too weak to throw off. The Queen-Mother had her seat at the royal table whenever the king dined with his wife ; and, while the wife sate below, she sate above the monarch.28 She had a suite of eunuchs distinct from those of her son,29 Ample revenues were secured to her, and were com- pletely at her disposal.30 She practically exercised—though she could not perhaps legally claim—a power of life and death.al She screened offenders from punishment, procuring for them the royal pardon,32 or sheltering them in her own apartments ;33 24 See Esther, ch. ii. Compare verses | see Herod. vii. 114; Ctes. Exc. Pers. 8 and 14. SS 8, 42, 43, &c.; Plut. Vit, Artax. c. 14, 25 This seems to be the meaning of | 17, 19, &c. Plato's statement (Alcib. i. p. 121, c), 2 Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 5. that the Queen of the Persians was "un. 29 Ibid. c. 17. watched.” The eunuchs were under, 50 Plutarch argues that Cyrus the not over, her. (Compare Esther, iv. 5.) | younger could not have wanted for 26 This seems distinctly implied in money when he commenced his re Alexander's message to Statira and Sysi bellion, since Parysatis would have sup. gambis (Arr. Exp. Alex. ii. 12): Thu plied him amply from her own resources. θεράπειαν αυταίς ξυγχωρεί την βασι (Ibid. c. 4.) λικήν, και τον άλλον κόσμον, και καλεί 31 Herod. 1. s. C.; Plut. Artax. c. 14, σθαι βασιλισσας. 52 Xen. Anab. i. 1, $ 3; Ctes. Exc. 27 On the power of the Queen-Mother Pers. § 40. 33 Plut. Artax, c. 19. CHAP. III. 221 EMPLOYMENT OF EUNUCHS. and she poisoned, or openly executed, those who provoked her jealousy or resentment.34 The service of the harem, so far as it could not be fitly per- formed by women, was committed to eunuchs. Each legitimate wife—as well as the Queen-Mother—had a number of these unfortunates among her attendants; and the king intrusted the house of the concubines, and also that of the virgins,35 to the same class of persons. His own attendants seem likewise to have been chiefly eunuchs.36 In the later times, the eunuchs acquired a vast political authority, and appear to have then filled all the chief offices of state. They were the king's advisers in the palace, 37 and his generals in the field.38 They superintended the education of the young princes, 39 and found it easy to make them their tools. The plots and conspiracies, the executions and assassinations, which disfigure the later portion of the Persian annals, may be traced chiefly to their intrigues and ambition. But the early Persian annals are free from these horrors; and it is clear that the power of the eunuchs was, during this period, kept within narrow bounds. We hear little of them in authentic history till the reign of Xerxes. It is remarkable that the Persepolitan sculptures, abounding as they do in representations of Court life, of the officers and attendants who approached at all closely to the person of the monarch, contain not a single figure of a eunuch in their entire range. We may gather from this that there was at any rate a marked difference between the Assyrian and the early Persian Court in the position which eunuchs occupied at them respec- tively: we should not, however, be justified in going further 34 Ctes. Exc. Pers. SS 42, 43, 59, 61 ; | which place all the Persian kings upon Plut. Artax. c. 14, 17, 19, &c. a par, and extend to the times of Cyrus 35 The word translated “chamber and Cambyses the disorders prevalent lain" in our version of Esther (i. 10, in the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon. 12; ii. 3, 14, &c.) is ong, which pro- The silence of Herodotus outweighs perly means “ a eunuch." with me the assertion of the later * *°Esther, i. 10; ii. 21 ; vi. 14 ; vii. writer. 9; Ctes. Pers. § 14; &c. 2 The Assyrian sculptures, it will be 's? Ibid. 88 20, 29, 39, 45, 49, &c. remembered, abound with representa- * Ibid. SS 27, 50. tions of eunuchs, who evidently fill * Plat. Alcib. i. p. 121, D. many of the highest positions about the "I cannot accept as authentic the ac- Court. (Supra, vol. i. pp. 493, 496-499, counts of Ctesias (Exc. Pers. SS 5-13), ! 222 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. and questioning altogether the employment of eunuchs by the Persian monarchs during the early period, since their absence from the sculptures may be accounted for on other grounds. It is peculiarly noticeable in the Persian sculptures and inscriptions that they carry to excess that reserve which Orientals have always maintained with regard to women. The inscriptions are wholly devoid of all reference to the softer sex, and the sculptures give us no representation of a female. In Persia, at the present day, it is regarded as a gross inde- corum to ask a man after his wife; and anciently it would seem that the whole sex fell under a law of taboo, which required that, whatever the real power and influence of women, all public mention of them, as well as all representations of the female form, should be avoided. If this were so, it must of course still more have been the rule that the women—or, at any rate, those of the upper classes-should not be publicly seen. Hence the indignant refusal of Vashti to obey the command of King Ahasuerus to show herself to his Court. Hence, too, the law which made it a capital offence to address or touch one of the royal concubines, or even to pass their litters upon the road." The litters of women were always curtained; and when the Queen Statira rode in hers with the curtains drawn, it was a novelty which attracted general attention, as a relaxation of the ordinary etiquette, though only females were allowed to come near her. Married women might not even see their nearest male relatives, as their fathers and brothers :& the unmarried had, it is probable, a little more liberty. As the employment of eunuchs at the Persian Court was mainly in the harem, and in offices connected therewith, it is no wonder that they shared, to some extent, in the law of taboo, 3 Esther, i. 12. | had to be transacted by messengers. * Plutarch, Vit. Artax. c. 27. Com- | Mordecai's personal communication with pare Diod. Sic. xi. 56, 87. Esther (Esther, ü, 11, 32; viii. 7) is to be Plut. Artax. 0. 5. accounted for by the fact of his being 6 This is evident from the story of a eunuch. (See Dr. Smith's Biblical Phædima's communications with her Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 420.) father Otanes (Herod. Üï. 68, 69), which CHAP. III. 223 PRIVILEGED FAMILIES. which forbade the representation of wome. Their proper place was in the female courts and apartments, or in close attendance upon the litters, when members of the seraglio travelled, or took the air—not in the throne-room, or the antechambers, or the outer courts of the palace, which alone furnished the scenes regarded as suitable for representation. Of right, the position at the Persian Court immediately below that of the king belonged to the members of certain privileged families. Besides the royal family itself—or clan of the Achæ- menidæ—there were six great houses which had a rank superior to that of all the other grandees. According to Herodotus these houses derived their special dignity from the accident that their heads had been fellow-conspirators with Darius Hystaspis ;' but there is reason to suspect that the rank of the families was pre- cedent to the conspiracy in question, certain families conspiring because they were great, and not becoming great because they conspired. At any rate, from the time of Darius I., there seem to have been seven great families, including that of the Achæ- menidæ, whose chiefs had the privilege of free communication with the monarch, and from which he was legally bound to choose his legitimate wives. The chiefs appear to have been known as “the Seven Princes,” or “the Seven Counsellors," of the king. They sate next to him at public festivals ;' they were privileged to tender him their advice, whenever they pleased ;10 they recommended important measures of state, and were, in part, responsible for them ; 11 they could demand ad- mission to the monarch's presence at any time, unless he were in the female apartments; they had precedence on all great occasions of ceremony, and enjoyed a rank altogether inde- pendent of office. Sometimes—perhaps most commonly—they held office; but they rather conferred a lustre on the position which they consented to fill, than derived any additional splen- dour from it. It does not appear that the chiefs of the seven great families ? Herod. iii. 84. * Esther, i. 14 : “ The seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face.” Ezra, vii. 14: “The king, and his seven counsellors." 9 Esther, 1. 8. C. 10 Herod. iii. 84, 118. Ezra, 1. 8. c.; Esther, i. 16-21. 224 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. had any peculiar insignia. Officers of the Court, on the con- trary, seem to have always carried, as badges marking their position, either wands about three feet in length, or an orna- ment resembling a lotus blossom,12 which is sometimes seen in the hands of the monarch himself.13. Such officers wore, at Persian Sleeved Cloak Front view of the same, showing Strings (Persepolis). (ibid). their pleasure, either the long Median robe and the fluted cap, or the close-fitting Persian tunic and trousers, with the loose felt κυρβασία Or πίλος. All had girdles, in which sometimes a dagger was placed ; and all had collars of gold about their necks, and earrings of gold in their ears.14 The Median robes were of various colours-scarlet, purple, crimson, dark grey, 12 See the representations of Kerterial of the earrings and collars is Porter. (Travels, vol. i. pls. 38-43.) derived from the accounts given by the 18 Ibid. pls. 48-50. Compare the Greeks of the ordinary Persian orna. woodcut, supra, p. 203. ments. (Herod. ix. 80; Xen. Anab. i. 2, 14 These particulars are gathered $ 27; Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6; &c.) mainly from the sculptures. The ma- { Chap. III. 225 ETIQUETTE OF THE COURT. &c.15 Over the Persian tunic a sleeved cloak, or great coat, reaching to the ankles, was sometimes worn ; 16 this garment was fastened by strings in front, and descended loosely from the shoulders, no use being commonly made of the sleeves, which hung empty at the wearer's side. An elaborate Court ceremonial was the natural accompani- ment of the ideas with respect to royalty embodied in the Persian system. Excepting the “Seven Princes," no one could approach the royal person unless introduced by a Court usher. Prostration—the attitude of worship—was required of all as they entered the presence. The hands of the persons introduced had to be hidden in their sleeves, so long as their audience lasted? In crossing the Palace Courts it was neces- sary to abstain carefully from touching the carpet which was laid for the king to walk on. Coming into the king's pre- sence unsummoned was a capital crime, punished by the attendants with instant death, unless the monarch himself, as a sign that he pardoned the intrusion, held out towards the culprit the golden sceptre which he bore in his hands. It was also a capital offence to sit down, even unknowingly, upon the royal throne;5 and it was a grave misdemeanour to wear one of the king's cast-off dresses. Etiquette was almost as severe on the monarch himself as on his subjects. He was required to live chiefly in seclusion;? to eat his meals, for the most part, alone ;8 never to go on foot beyond the palace walls ; 9 never to revoke an order once given, however much he might regret it; 10 never to draw back from a promise, whatever ill 15 Xen. Cyrop. viii. 3, $ 3. 1 8 Athen. Deipn. xii. p. 514, C. 16 See Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. pl. “Esther, iv. 11; Joseph. Ant. Jud. 37. xi. 6. 17 Herod. ij. 77, 84, 118. 5 Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. viï. 4, § 17; Herod. vii. 136 ; Justin, vi. 2 ; Plut. | Val. Max. v. 1; Frontin. Strateg. iv. 6, Vit. Artax. c. 22; Ælian, Var. Hist. i. $ 3. Compare Herod. vii. 16, $ 1. 6 This is implied in the story of ? This was probably the real custom Tiribazus, as told by Plutarch. (Vit. which Xenophon represents as a law Artax. c. 5.) requiring all persons to keep their hands ? Justin, i. 9 ; Anon. De Mundo, c. 6 covered by their sleeves in the king's (p. 637). presence (Cyrop. viii. 3, § 10). It is 1 8 Heraclid. Cum. ap. Ath. Deipn. iv. king's ordinary attendants were not 9 Athen. Deipn. xii. p. 514, C. required to keep their hands covered. I 10 Dan. vi. 15; Esther, viü. 11. VOL. III. 226 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. results he might anticipate from its performance.11 To main- tain the quasi-divine character which attached to him it was necessary that he should seem infallible, immutable, and wholly free from the weakness of repentance. As some compensation for the restrictions laid upon him, the Persian king had the sole enjoyment of certain luxuries. The wheat of Assos was sent to the Court to furnish him with bread, and the vines of Helbon were cultivated for the special purpose of supplying him with wine. Water was conveyed to Susa for his use from distant streams regarded as specially sweet and pure ; 13 and in his expeditions he was accompanied by a train of waggons, which were laden with silver flasks, filled from the clear stream of the Choaspes.14 The oasis of Ammon contributed the salt with which he seasoned his food.15 All the delicacies that the Empire anywhere produced were accumu- lated on his board, for the supply of which each province was proud to send its best and choicest products. The chief amusements in which the Great King indulged were hunting and playing at dice. Darius Hystaspis, who followed the chase with such ardour as on one occasion to dis- locate his ankle in the pursuit of a wild beast,16 had himself represented on his signet-cylinder as engaged in a lion-hunt." From this representation, we learn that the Persian monarchs, like the Assyrian, pursued the king of beasts in their chariots, and generally despatched him by means of arrows. Seated in a light car, and attended by a single unarmed charioteer, they invaded the haunts of these fiercest of brutes, rousing them from their lairs-probably with Indian hounds 18—and chasing them at full speed if they fled, or, if they faced the danger, attacking them with arrows or with the javelin. Occasionally 11 Herod. is. 109. being a first-rate hunter in the epitaph 12 Stráb. xv. 3, $ 22. which he had inscribed upon his tomb 13 As from the Nile (Plut. Vit. Alex. (xv. 3, § 8): but the epitaph itself does c. 37 ; Athen. Deipn. ii. p. 67, B) and not bear out the statement. the Danube (Plut. 1. 8. c.) 17 This signet cylinder, the chief part 14 Hérod. i. 188; Ctes. Pers. Fr. 49. of which is represented on the next page, 15 Dino ap. Athen. Deipn. ii. p. 67, B. | has a trilingual inscription upon it, 16 Herod. ii. 129. According to which reads "Darius, the Great King." Strabo, Darius claimed the merit of 18 See Herod. i. 192; Ctes. Ind. $ 5. CHAP. III. 227 AMUSEMENTS OF THE KING. the monarch might indulge in this sport alone; but generally he was (it seems) accompanied by some of his courtiers,19 who shared the pleasures of the chase with him on the condition that they never ventured to let fly their weapons before he had discharged his. 20 If they disregarded this rule they were liable to capital punishment, and might esteem themselves fortunate if they escaped with exile. 21 Persian King hunting the Lion (from the signet-cylinder of Darius Hystaspis). Besides lions, the Persian monarch chased, it is probable, stags, antelopes, wild asses, wild boars, bears, wild sheep, and leopards. These animals all abounded in the neighbourhood of the royal palaces, and they are enumerated by Xenophon among the beasts hunted by Cyrus.” The mode of chasing the wild ass was for the horsemen to scatter themselves over the plain, and to pursue the animal in turns, one taking up the chase when the horse of another was exhausted.23 The speed Persian King killing of the creature is so great that no horse an Antelope (from a cylinder). with a rider on his back can long keep pace with him; and thus relays were necessary to tire him 19 Ctes. Exc. Pers. $ 40; Xen. Cyrop. , servance of this law. (Plut. Apophth. i. 2, $ 9. p. 173, D.) * Ctes. 1. 6. c. Artaxerxes Longi 91 As Megabyzus did. (Ctes. I. 8. c.) manus is said to have allowed his com * Xen. Cyrop. i. 4, 8 7. panions in the chase to neglect the ob- 23 Xen. Anab. i. 5, $ 2. Q2 228 Chap. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. out, and enable the hunters to bring him within the range of · their weapons. When game was scarce in the open country, or when the kings were too indolent to seek it in its native haunts, they indulged their inclination for sport by chasing the animals which they kept in their own “paradises." 24 These were walled enclosures of a large size, well wooded, and watered with sparkling streams, in which were bred or kept wild beasts of various kinds, chiefly of the more harmless sorts, as stags, antelopes, and wild sheep. These the kings pursued, and shot with arrows, or brought down with the javelin ; 25 but the sport was regarded as tame, and not to be compared with hunting in the open field. Within the palace the Persian monarchs are said to have amused themselves with dice. They played, it is probable, chiefly with their near relatives, as their wives, or the Queen- Mother. The stakes, as was to be expected, ran high, as much as a thousand darics (nearly 11002.) being sometimes set on a single throw. Occasionally they played for the persons of their slaves, eunuchs, and others, who, when lost, became the absolute property of the winner.26 Another favourite royal amusement was carving or planing wood. According to Ælian, the Persian king, when he took a journey, always employed himself, as he sat in his carriage, in this way ; 27 and Ctesias speaks of the occupation as pursued also within the walls of the palace.28 Manual work of this kind has often been the refuge of those rulers who, sated with pleasure and devoid of literary tastes, have found time hang heavy upon their hands. In literature a Persian king seems rarely to have taken any pleasure at all.29 Occasionally, to beguile the weary hours, a monarch may have had the “Book of the Chronicles of the 24 On these “paradises" see Xen. / 26 Plutarch, Vit. Artax. c. 17. Cyrop. i. 3, § 14; 4, SS 5, 11; Anab. i. 27 Ælian, Var. Hist. xiv. 12. 2, § 7 ; Hellen. i. 4, § 15; Econom. iv. 28 Ctes. Exc. Pers. & 12, ad fin. 13, 21. 29 Seneca calls the Persian kings 23 The javelin seems to have been the "barbaros, quos nulla eruditio, nullus favourite weapon (Xen. Cyrop. i. 4, SS 8. | literarum cultus, instruxerat." (De Ira, 10, 15). | iii. 7.) CHAP. III. 229 SERIOUS OCCUPATIONS OF THE KING. Kings of Persia and Media” read before him ;' but the kings themselves never opened a book," or studied any branch of science or learning. The letters, edicts, and probably even the inscriptions, of the monarch were the composition of the Court scribes, who took their orders from the king or his ministers, and clothed them in their own language. They did not even call upon their master to sign his name to a parch- ment; his seal, on which his name was engraved,sufficiently authenticated all proclamations and edicts. Among the more serious occupations of the monarch were the holding of councils, the reviewing of troops," the hearing of complaints, and the granting or refusing of redress, the assign- ment of rewards, perhaps, in some cases, the trying of causes, 10 and, above all, the general direction of the civil administration and government of the Empire." An energetic king probably took care to hear all the reports which were sent up to the Court by the various officials employed in the actual government of the numerous provinces, as well as those sent in by the persons who from time to time inspected, on the part of the Crown, the condition of this or that satrapy. Having heard and considered these reports, and perhaps taken advice upon them, such a monarch would give clear directions as to the answers to be sent, which would be embodied in despatches by his secretaries, and then read over to him, before he affixed his seal to them. The concerns of an empire so vast as that of Persia would have given ample employment for the greater part of the day to any monarch who was determined not only to reign, but to govern. Among the Persian sovereigns there seem to have been a few I Esther, vi. 1. 2 It is open to doubt whether a Per- sian monarch could ordinarily either read or write. Neither Plato (Alcib. i. pp. 121, 122) nor Xenophon (Cyrop. i. 3, 4) mention letters in the accounts which they give of the education of a Persian prince. 3 Esther, iï. 12; viij. 9. * This appears from the signet-cylinder of Darius, of which mention has been already made. (Supra, p. 226.) 5 See Esther, viïi. 8; Herod. iii. 128. * Herod. vii.' 8-11, 13. * Xen. Econom. iv. 6. & Herod. v. 25 ; vii. 194. 9 Ibid. iii. 140; Xen. Econ. iv. 15; Esther, vi. 3-11. 10 Joseph. Ant. Jud. xi. 3. Usually, no doubt, the hearing of causes was delegated to the "Royal Judges” (Bari- deioi Olkao tał). See the passages quoted in note 8. 1 Xen. Econom. iv. 4-12. 230 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. who had sufficient energy and self-denial to devote themselves habitually to the serious duties of their office. Generally, how- cver, the cares of government were devolved upon some favour- ite adviser, a relative, or a eunuch, who was entrusted by the monarch with the entire conduct of affairs, in order that he might give himself up to sensual pleasures, to the sports of the field, or to light and frivolous amusements. The passion for building, which we have found so strong in Assyria and Babylonia, possessed, but in a minor degree, a certain number of the Persian monarchs. The simplicity of their worship giving little scope for architectural grandeur in the buildings devoted to religion,12 they concentrated their main efforts upon the construction of palaces and tombs. The archi- tectural character of these works will be considered in a later chapter.13 It is sufficient to note here that a good deal of the time and attention of many monarchs was directed to these objects; and particularly it is interesting to remark, that, not- withstanding their worldly greatness, and the flattering voices of their subjects, which were continually bidding them “live for ever,"14 the Persian kings were quite aware of the frail tenure by which man holds his life, and, while they were still in vigorous health, constructed their own tombs.15 It was an important principle of the Magian religion, that the body should not after death be allowed to mingle with, and so pollute, any one of the four elements.18 Either from a regard for this superstition, or from the mere instinctive desire to preserve the lifeless clay as long as possible, the Persians entombed their kings in the following way. The body was placed in a golden coffin, which was covered with a close-fitting lid,"? and deposited either in a massive building erected to serve 12 Herodotus denies that the Persians | while his father and mother were still had any temples at all (Herod. i. 131); living (Ctes. Exc. Pers. $ 15). but reasons will hereafter be shown for 16 See above, vol. ii. pp. 349, 350. rejecting this statement. (See below, 17 Arrian, Eap. Alex. vi. 29; Strab. ch. vi.) xv. 3, 87. We only know that this was 13 Infra, ch. v. the mode of entombient practised in 1 Nehem, ii. 3 ; Ælian, Var. Hist.i. 32. the case of Cyrus. But it seems pro- 15 We are expressly told that Darius bable that the later kings would be Hystaspis constructed his own sepulchre | entombed with at least equal magnifi. CHAP. III. ROYAL TOMBS AND MODES OF ENTOMBMENT. 231 at once as a tomb and a monument,18 or in a chamber cut out of some great mass of solid rock, at a considerable elevation above its base.19 In either case, the entrance into the tomb was carefully closed, after the body had been deposited in it, by a block or blocks of stone.20 Inside the tomb were placed, together Tomb of a Persian King (from a photograph). with the coffin, a number of objects, designed apparently for the king's use in the other world, as rich cloaks and tunics, trousers, purplc robes, collars of gold, earrings of gold, set with gems, daggers, carpets, goblets, and hangings.21 Generally the tomb cence. And coffins of the kind described might easily have rested in the stone niches, or cells, which are found in the rock-tombs. (See Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 523.) 18 See the description of the tomb of Cyrus, infra, ch. v. 19 This fashion seems to have been observed by all the kings later than Cyrus. *39 This was evidently the case with the rock-tombs, where the holes which received the fastenings of the blocks are still visible. (Ker Porter, l. 8. c.) It may be suspected that it was also the case with the tomb of Cyrus, and that when Aristobulus blocked up the door- way of that tomb with stone and plaster (Arrian, 1. 8. c.), he was but restoring it to its primitive condition. 21 Aristobul. ap. Arrian. 1. s. c. ; Strab. xv. 3, $ 7. 232 СНАР. ІІІ. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. was ornamented with sculptures, and sometimes, though rarely, 22 it had an inscription (or inscriptions) upon it, containing the name and titles of the monarch whose remains reposed within. If the tomb were a building, and not rock-hewn, the ground in the vicinity was formed into a park or garden, which was planteil with all manner of trees.23 Within the park, at some little distance from the tomb, was a house, which formed the resi- dence of a body of priests, who watched over the safety of the sepulchre.24 The Greeks seem to have believed that divine honours were sometimes paid to a monarch after his decease ; 25 but the spirit of the Persian religion was so entirely opposed to any such observance, that it is most probable the Greeks were mistaken. Observing that sacrifices were offered once a month in the vicinity of some of the royal tombs, they assumed that the object of the cult was the monarch himself, whereas it was no doubt really addressed either to Ormazd or to Mithras. The Persians cannot rightly be accused of the worship of deal men, a superstition from which both the Zoroastrian and the Magian systems were entirely free. From this account of the Persian monarchs and their Court, we may now turn to a subject which moderns regard as one of much greater interest—the general condition, manners, and customs of the Persian people. Our information on these points is unfortunately far less full than on the subject which we have been recently discussing, but still it is perhaps sufficient to give us a tolerably complete notion of the real character of the nation. The Persians, according to Herodotus,26 were divided into ten 22 Out of eight royal tombs which tions have as yet been found inside have been discovered, only one has at a tomb. present any inscription. This is the tomb | 23 Aristobul. ap. Arrian. I. s. c. of Darius Hystaspis, which has a long 24 Ibid. Even the rock-tombs, though inscription, and two shorter ones, en so difficult of access, were guarded, as graved on the external face of the rock. appears from Ctesias. Exc. Pers. $ 19.) According to the historians of Alexander, ** Aristobulus stated that the Magi the tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadæ had an at Pasargadie sacrificed a horse once it inscription, when first seen by the month to Cyrus. (Arrian, 1. s. c.) Strabo, Greeks (Plut. Vit. Alex. c. 69 ; Arr. Erp. | better acquainted with Magian customs, Alex. vi. 29; Strab. I. s. c.); but of this avoids a repetition of the statement. no traces exist at present. No inscrip- | 26 Herod. i. 125. CAAP. III. 233 CUSTOMS OF THE PERSIAN PEOPLE. tribes, of which four were nomadic and three agricultural. The nomadic were the Dai, the Mardi, the Dropici, and the Sagartii; the agricultural were the Panthialæi, the Derusiæi, and the Germanii, or Carmanians. What the occupation of the other three tribes was Herodotus does not state; but, as one of them —the Pasargadæ—was evidently the ruling class, consisting, therefore it is probable), of land-owners, who did not themselves till the soil, we may perhaps assume that all three occupied this position, standing in Persia somewhat as the three tribes of Dorians stood to the other Greeks in the Peloponnese. If this were the case, the population would have been really divided broadly into the two classes of settled and nomade, whereof the former class was subdivided into those who were the lords of the soil, and those who cultivated it, either as farmers or as labourers, under them. The ordinary dress of the poorer class, whether agricultural or no- made, was probably the tunic and trousers of leather which have been already mentioned as the true na- tional costume of the people. The costume was completed by a loose felt cap upon the head, a strap or belt round the waist, and a pair of high shoes upon the feet, tied in front with a string. In later times a linen or muslin rag replaced the Ordinary Persian Costume. felt cap, and the tunic was length- ened so as to reach half way between the knee and the ankle.4 The richer classes seem generally to have adopted the Median costume which was so prevalent at the Court. They wore long Great part of Persia is only suited ? See above, p. 172, and compare for nomades; and the Ilyat population | Herod. i. 71. of the present day holds the same posi- Strab. xv. 3, & 19. 'Pákos olôóvióv tion in the country which belonged in ancient times to the Mardi, Dropici, &c. * Ibid. Xltwy ćws Medokunulov, 234 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. purple or flowered robes with loose hanging sleeves, flowered tunics reaching to the knee, also sleeved, embroidered trousers, tiaras, and shoes of a more elegant shape than the ordinary Persian. Nor was this the whole of their dress. Under their trousers they wore drawers, under their tunics shirts, on their hands gloves, 10 and under their shoes socks or stockings 11_ FEB Fragment of Two-horse Chariot (from Persepolis). luxuries these, one and all, little known in the ancient world. The Persians were also, like most Orientals, extremely fond of ornaments. Men of rank carried, almost as a matter of course, massive chains or collars of gold about their necks, and bracelets of gold upon their arms.12 The sheaths and handles of their 5 Strab. I. s. c. 'Iuátlov topovpollv | this seemed the extreme of effeminacy; ☆ àvolóv. Compare the topovpolls kávous but we can well imagine that such pro- of Xenophon (Anab. i. 5, $ 8). tection was necessary in the intensely 6 Strab. I. s. C. cold winters of the high plains and 7-Xen. I. 8. c. Ioklaas åvašupldas. mountains. (Supra, p. 136.) 8 Τιάραι παραπλήσιαι ταϊς των Μά " Drawers (two pairs), shirts, and ywv. The tiara intended is probably | socks are probably intended by Strabo the high fluted cap which accompanies where he speaks of dragupis TPLAN the Median robe at Persepolis. (Supra, 1... XLTW dia do ûs, ó ÚTEVSÚTns p. 174.) See vol. ii. p. 316. deukós . . . . and bonua kollov oir- * 10 Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, $ 18. Xelplöas Aoûv (xv. 3, $ 19). dagelas kal Oaktuaño pas-"thick gloves 12 Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, $2; Anab. i. 5, and finger-sheaths." To the Greeks $ 8; 8, § 29. CHAP. III. 235 FOOD OF THE PEOPLE. ? had somet necklaces, braand strung, swords and daggers were generally of gold,18 sometimes, perhaps, studded with gems. Many of them wore earrings.14 Great ex- pense was lavished on the trappings of the horses which they rode or drove; the bridle, or at least the bit, was often of solid gold,15 and the rest of the equipment was costly. Among the gems which were especially affected, the pearl held the first place. Besides being set in the ordinary way, it was bored and strung, in order that it might be used for necklaces, bracelets, and anklets.16 Even children had sometimes golden ornaments, which were preferred when the gold was of a reddish colour.17 Very costly and rich too was the furniture of the better class of houses. The tables were plated or inlaid with silver and gold. Splendid couches,18 spread with gorgeous coverlets, invited the inmates to repose at their ease; and, the better to ensure their comfort, the legs of the couches were made to rest upon carpets, which were sufficiently elastic to act as a sort of spring, render- ing the couches softer and more luxurious than they would otherwise have been.19 Gold and silver plate, especially in the shape of drinking-cups,20 was largely displayed in all the wealthy mansions, each household priding itself on the show which it could make of the precious metals. In respect of cating and drinking, the Persians, even of the better sort, were in the earlier times noted for their temperance and sobriety. Their ordinary food was wheaten bread, barley- cakes, and meat simply roasted or boiled, which they seasoned with salt and with bruised cress-seed, a substitute for mustard.21 13 Herod. ix. 80; Xen. Anab. i. 8, | again of kl. Xpuotas kal åpyupéas eŮ $ 29. ¢otpwuévas, and tparésas xpuoéas kai " The common use of earrings among åpyupéas, as found among the plunder the officers of the Persian Court is proved of the Persian camp at Platea. These, by the Persepolitau sculptures. as being the mere camp equipage, would Is Hervd. ix. 80 ; Dionys. Perieg. 1, certainly not be more splendid than the 1060; Q. Curt. ii. 13. From the wood furniture left at home. cut (p. 294), we may see how other 19 Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, $ 16. parts of the bridle might have been 20 'Extwuata. See Xen. Cyrop. viii. of gold. The twisted portions have all 8, $ 18; Herod. ix. 80 ; Strab. xv. 3, the appearance of metal. $ 19. * Chares Mytil. ap. Athen. Deipn. ii. 21 Compare Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, 8S 8, 11, p. 93, D. with Strab. xv. 3, § 18. The romance- "Strab. xv. 3, & 18. writer has omitted the meat and the 1$ Herodotus (ix. 80, 81) speaks of salt. kalvas ¿TiXPÚO Ous kai étaprúpous, and 236 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. The sole drink in which they indulged was water.22 Moreover, it was their habit to take one meal only each day.23 The poorer kind of people were contented with even a simpler diet, sup- porting themselves, to a great extent, on the natural products of the soil, as dates, figs, wild pears, acorns, and the fruit of the terebinth-tree.24 But these abstemious habits were soon laid aside, and replaced by luxury and self-indulgence, when the success of their arms had put it in their power to have the full and free gratification of all their desires and propensities. Then, although the custom of having but one meal in the day was kept up, the character of the custom was entirely altered by beginning the meal early and making it last till night.95 occasion was a grand one; but course after course of the lighter kinds of food flowed on in an almost endless succession, intervals of some length being allowed between the courses to enable the guests to recover their appetites.26 Instead of water, wine became the usual beverage ;27 each man prided himself on the quantity he could drink; and the natural result fol- lowed, that most banquets terminated in general intoxication. Drunkenness even came to be a sort of institution. Once a year, at the feast of Mithras, the King of Persia, according to Duris, was bound to be drunk.28 A general practice arose of deliberating on all important affairs under the influence of wine, so that, in every household, when a family crisis impended, intoxication was a duty: 29 The Persians ate, not only the meats which we are in the habit of consuming, but also the flesh of goats, horses, asses, 22 Herod. i. 80; Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, § 8; ' coronation of a cake of figs, some of Strab. l. 8. c. the fruit of the terebinth-tree, and a 23 Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, § 9. cup of acidulated milk (Plut. Vit. Artar, 24 Nicolas of Damascus makes the c. 3), was probably a memorial of the Medes call the Persians in contempt time when these things formed the food Tepulvboodyovs (Fr. 66; p. 404). Strabo of the nation. (1. 8. c.) mentions acorns and wild pears 25 Xen. Cyrop. 1. 8. C. among the articles of food on which 26 Herod. i. 133. boys were brought up. Ælian (Var. Hist. 27 Ibid. ; Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, § 10. i. 31) says the poorer class lived on 28 Fr. 13. milk, dates, cheese, and wild fruits. The 29 Herod, i. 133, ad fin. ; Strab. xv. custom of a king's partaking at his | 3. $ 20. CHAP. III. 237 ETIQUETTE. and camels.30 The hump of the last-named animal is con- sidered, even at the present day, a delicacy in many parts of the East; but in ancient Persia it would seem that the entire animal was regarded as fairly palatable. The horse and ass, which no one would touch in modern Persia, were thought, apparently, quite as good eating as the ox; and goats, which were far commoner than sheep, appeared, it is probable, oftener at table. The dietary of a grand house was further varied by the admission into it of poultry and game—the game including wild boars,31 stags, 32 antelopes,33 bustards, and probably part- ridges; the poultry consisting of geese and chickens.34 Oysters and other fish were used largely as food by the inhabitants of the coast-region. 35 Grades of society were strongly marked among the Persians; and the etiquette of the Court travelled down to the lowest ranks of the people. Well-known rules determined how each man was to salute his equal, his inferior, or his superior; and the observance of these rules was universal. Inferiors on meeting a decided superior prostrated themselves on the ground; equals kissed each other on the lips; persons nearly but not quite equal kissed each other's cheeks. The usual Oriental rules prevailed as to the intercourse of the sexes. Wives lived in strict seclusion within the walls of the Gynæ- ceum, or went abroad in litters, seeing no males except their sons, their husbands, and their husbands' eunuchs. Concu- bines had somewhat more freedom, appearing sometimes at banquets, when they danced, sang, and played to amuse the guests of their master.3 » Herod. 1. 8. c. ; Heraclid. Cum. ap. / rior kissed it. Athen. Deipn. iv. p. 145, F. 2 The passage in Herodotus which 31 Strab. xv. 3, § 18. seems to contradict this (v. 18) is not 32 Heraclid. Cum.ap. Ath. Deipn. 1. s.c. his own statement, but one which he * Xen. Anab. i. 5, $ 3. puts into the mouths of certain Per- 24 Heraelid. Cum, 1. 8. c. sians, who had a motive for wishing it 85 Arrian, Hist. Ind. xxix. 14; to be believed that Persian wives had Xxxviii. 3 ; xxxix. 5. greater liberty. On the real seclusion Herod. i. 134. Strabo's account in which such persons lived, see Brisson (xv. 3, § 20) is slightly different. Ac | De Regno Pers. ii. pp. 273-276. cording to him, when the two who met * Heracl. Cum. ap. Athen. Deipn. iv. were nearly but not quite equal, the p. 145 ; Plut. Sympos. i. 1 ; Joseph. inferior offered his cheek and the supe- | Ant. Jud. xi. 6. 238 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. The Persian was allowed to marry several wives, and might maintain in addition as many concubines as he thought proper. Most of the richer class had a multitude of each, since every Persian prided himself on the number of his sons, and it is even said that an annual prize was given by the monarch to the Persian who could show most sons living. The concubines were not unfrequently Greeks, if we may judge by the case of the younger Cyrus, who took two Greek concubines with him when he made his expedition against his brother. It would seem that wives did not ordinarily accompany their husbands, when these went on military expeditions, but that concubines were taken to the wars by most Persians of consideration.8 Every such person had a litter at her disposal, and a number of female attendants," whose business it was to wait upon her and execute her orders. All the best authorities are agreed that great pains were taken by the Persians—or, at any rate, by those of the leading clans—in the education of their sons. During the first five years of his life the boy remained wholly with the women, and was scarcely, if at all, seen by his father. After that time his training commenced. He was expected to rise before dawn, and to appear at a certain spot, where he was exercised with other boys of his age in running, slinging stones, shooting with the bow, and throwing the javelin.18 At seven he was taught to ride, and soon afterwards he was allowed to begin to hunt.14 * Herod. i. 135 ; Strab. xv. 3, & 17. Tyr. Serm. xiv. sub fin.; Athen. Deipn. 5 Herod. i. 136. On the continuance xii. p. 608, A.; &c. Wives accompanied of this feeling in modern times, see the the army in the later period of the author's Herodotus, vol. i. note ad loc. monarchy. (See Q. Curt. ii. 3 and 13.) 6 Herod. 1. 6. c.; Strab. 1. s. c. • Herod. vii. 86; Diod. Sic. xvii. 35, 7 Xen. Anab. i. 10, SS 2, 3 ; Ath. $5. 10 Herod. ix. 76. Deipn. xiii. p. 576, D. Compare Herod. 1 Herodotus, Plato, and Strabo agree, ix. 76, where another Persian has a l as to the main facts, with Xenophon. Greek concubine ; and see also Ælian In the account of the education given in (Var. Hist. xii. 1), where four Greek the text, a small part only rests upon concubines of the younger Cyrus are the unsupported authority of the Athe- mentioned. nian romancer. 8 That wives were left at home-at 12 Herod. i. 136. Strabo fixes the any rate in the earlier times--appears limit at four years instead of five (sv. from the Persæ of Æschylus (11. 63, 125, 3, § 17). 135-141, &c.). That concubines were is Herod. 1. s. C. ; Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, taken to the wars is certain from Herod. $ 8; Strab. xv. 3, § 18. vii. 83; ix. 76; Xen. Anab.l. s. C. ; Max. l " Plat. Alcib. i. p. 121, E. CHAP. III. 239 EDUCATION OF BOYS. The riding included, not only the ordinary management of the horse, but the power of jumping on and off his back when he was at speed, and of shooting with the bow and throwing the javelin with unerring aim, while the horse was still at full gallop. The hunting was conducted by state-officers, who aimed at forming by its means in the youths committed to their charge all the qualities needed in war.15 The boys were made to bear extremes of heat and cold, to perform long marches, to cross rivers without wetting their weapons, to sleep in the open air at night, to be content with a single meal in two days, and to support themselves occasionally on the wild products of the country, acorns, wild pears, and the fruit of the terebinth-tree.16 On days when there was no hunting they passed their mornings in athletic exercises, and contests with the bow or the javelin, after which they dined simply on the plain food mentioned above as that of the men in the early times, and then employed themselves during the afternoon in occupations regarded as not illiberal—for instance, in the pur- suits of agriculture, planting, digging for roots, and the like, or in the construction of arms and hunting implements, such as nets and springes.17 Hardy and temperate habits being secured by this training, the point of morals on which their preceptors mainly insisted was the rigid observance of truth.18 Of intel- lectual education they had but little. It seems to have been no part of the regular training of a Persian youth that he should learn to read. He was given religious notions and a certain amount of moral knowledge by means of legendary poems, in which the deeds of gods and heroes were set before him by his teachers, who recited or sung them in his presence, and afterwards required him to repeat what he had heard, or, at any rate, to give some account of it.19 This education continued for fifteen years, commencing when 1 Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, § 10; viii. 8, $ 12. 14 Strab. 1. s. c.; Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, " Strab. I. s. c. Compare Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, § 14. $11. 18 Herod. I. s. c. and i. 138; Plat. Alcib. i. p. 122, A.; Strab. I. s. c. Com. pare Xen. Cyrop. i. 6, 8 33. 19 Strab. I. s. c. Compare Dino ap. Ath. Deipn. xiv. p. 633, D. 240 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. the boy was five, and terminating when he reached the age of twenty.20 The effect of this training was to render the Persian an excel- lent soldier and a most accomplished horseman. Accustomed Persian chasing the Antelope (from a gem). from early boyhood to pass the greater part of every day in the saddle, he never felt so much at home as when mounted upon a prancing steed. On horseback he pursued the stag, the boar, the antelope, even occa- sionally the bear or the lion, and shot his arrows, or slung his stones, or hurled his javelin at them with deadly aim, never Persian killing a Wild Boar (from a cylinder). pausing for a moment in his career. Only when the brute turned on his pursuers, and stood at bay, or charged them in its furious despair, they would sometimes descend 20 Herod. i. 136. Strabo prolongs | fig. 1, and pl. liii. fig. 8); that of the the period of education to the 24th, and boar is also mentioned by Strabo. For Xenophon to the 26th year. the chase of the bear and the lion, see 21 I'he chase of the stag, wild-boar, Xen. Anab. i. 9, § 6, and Ctes. Exc. and antelope are represented on cylin- | Pers. § 40. ders (Lajard, Culte de Mithra, pl. xlii. | Chap. III. 241 SERIOUS OCCUPATIONS OF THE PERSIANS. from their coursers, and receive the attack, or deal the coup de grâce on foot, using for the purpose a short but strong hunting-spear. The chase was the principal delight of the upper class of Persians, so long as the ancient manners were kept up, and continued an occupation in which the bolder spirits loved to indulge 22 long after decline had set in, and the advance of luxury had changed, to a great extent, the character of the nation. At fifteen years of age the Persian was considered to have attained to manhood, and was enrolled in the ranks of the army, continuing liable to military service from that time till he reached the age of fifty.23 Those of the highest rank became the body-guard of the king, and chese formed the garrison of the capital. They were a force of not less than fourteen or fifteen thousand men.24 Others, though liable to military ser- vice, did not adopt arms as their profession, but attached them- selves to the Court and looked to civil employment, as satraps, secretaries, attendants, ushers, judges, inspectors, messengers. A portion, no doubt, remained in the country districts, and there followed those agricultural pursuits which the Zoroastrian reli- gion regarded as in the highest degree honourable.25 But the bulk of the nation must, from the time of the great conquests, have passed their lives mainly, like the Roman legionaries under the Empire, in garrison duty in the provinces. The entire population of Persia Proper can scarcely have exceeded two millions.26 Not more than one-fourth of this number would be males between the ages of fifteen and fifty. This body of 500,000 men, besides supplying the official class at the Court and throughout the provinces, and also furnishing to Persia Proper those who did the work of its cultivation, had to supply to the whole Empire those large and numerous garrisons on whose presence depended the maintenance of the Persian do- 22 Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, § 12 ; Anab. | 26 This is allowing a population of 1. s. c. ; Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 5. 20 to the square mile, which, consider. 3 Strab. xv. 3, $ 19. ing the large amount of desert in the 24 Herod. vii. 40, 41, 83. region, is as much as is at all probable. 25 Supra, vol. ii. pp. 327, 337, 338. | The population of modern Persia is said Compare Élian, Var. Hist. i. 31. to be 18 to the square mile. VOL. III. 242 CHAP. IIL THE FIFTH MONARCHY. minion in every province that had been conquered. According to Herodotus, the single country of Egypt contained, in his day, a standing army of 120,000 Persians; and, although this was no doubt an exceptional case, Egypt being more prone to revolt than any other satrapy, yet there is abundant evidence that elsewhere, in almost every part of the Empire, large bodies of troops were regularly maintained; troops which are always characterized as “Persians." 3 We may suspect that under the name were included the kindred nation of the Medes, and perhaps some other Arian races, as the Hyrcanians 4 and the Bactrians, for it is difficult to conceive that such a country as Persia Proper could alone have kept up the military force which the Empire required for its preservation; but to whatever extent the standing army was supplemented from these sources, Persia must still have furnished the bulk of it; and the demands of this service must have absorbed, at the very least, one-third, if not one-half, of the adult male population. For trade and commerce the Persians were wont to express extreme contempt. The richer classes made it their boast that they neither bought nor sold, being supplied (we must suppose) from their estates, and by their slaves and dependents, with all that they needed for the common purposes of life. Persians of the middle rank would condescend to buy, but considered it beneath them to sell; while only the very lowest and poorest were actual artisans and traders. Shops were banished from the more public parts of the towns; and thus such commercial transactions as took place were veiled in what was regarded as a decent obscurity. The reason assigned for this low estimation of trade was, that shopping and bargaining involved the neces- sity of falsehood. i Herod. iii. 91. apparent from Xen. Cyrop. iv. 2, § 8:- 2 Ibid. vii. 1,7; Thucyd. i. 104, 109, || Και νύν έτι ιδείν έστιν Υρκανίους και 110; Diod. Sic. xv. 9,83; 42-44; 90-93; πιστευομενους και αρχάς έχοντας, ώστερ xvi. 40 ; &c. και Περσών και Μήδων οι αν δοκώσουν See particularly Herod. v. 101, 102, GELOL elvai. Herod. i. 153 ; i. 167. 108, 116-123; ix. 96; Diod. Sic. xi. 61, Strab. xv. 3, § 19. OÚTe Twovou $1; and Xen. Hell. i. 2, $ 6. oőr' úvoûvtal. The close connection of the Hyr ? Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, $ 3. canians with the Medes and Persians is 8 Herod. i. 153. CHAP. III. 243 GENERAL ADVANCE OF LUXURY. According to Quintus Curtius, the Persian ladies had the same objection to soil their hands with work that the men had to dirty theirs with commerce. The labours of the loom, which no Grecian princess regarded as unbecoming her rank, were despised by all Persian women except the lowest ; 10 and we may conclude that the same idle and frivolous gossip which resounds all day in the harems of modern Iran formed the main occupation of the Persian ladies in the time of the Empire. With the general advance of luxury under Xerxes and his successors, of which something has been already said," there were introduced into the Empire a number of customs of an effeminate and demoralising character. From the earliest times the Persians seem to have been very careful of their beards and hair, arranging the latter in a vast number of short crisp curls, and partly curling the former, partly training it to hang straight from the chin. After a while, not content with this degree of care for their personal appearance, they proceeded to improve it by wearing false hair in addition to the locks which nature had given them,2 by the use of cosmetics to increase the delicacy of their complexions,13 and by the appli- cation of a colouring matter to the upper and lower eyelids, for the purpose of giving to the eye an appearance of greater size and beauty.14 They employed a special class of servants to perform these operations of the toilet, whom the Greeks called “adorners” (koguntác).15 Their furniture increased, not merely in splendour, but in softness; their floors were covered with carpets, their beds with numerous and delicate coverlets;16 they could not sit upon the ground unless a cloth was first spread upon it ;17 Q. Curt. Vit. Alex. iii. On the other hand, the Persian women sometimes affected manly amuse- ments. Roxane, the daughter of Ider- nes, and half-sister of Terituchmes, is noted as thoroughly well skilled in the use of the bow and the javelin. (Τοξεύειν και ακοντίζειν έμπειροτάτη. Ctes. Exe. Pers. & 54.) 1 Supra, pp. 236, 237. 12 Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, & 2. False beards and mustachios were also known to the Persians, and were assumed by eunuchs who wished to conceal their condition. (Ctes. Exc. Pers. $ 53.) 13 Xen. I. s. c. and viii. 8, $ 20. Com. pare also Plin. H. N. xxiv. 17 ($ 165). 14 Xen. i. 3, $ 2. 15 Ibid. viii. &, $ 20. 16 Ibid. & 16; Æsch. Pers. 545. Elvás àßpoxtwvas. iz Šen. Hellen. iv. 1, $ 30. R 2 244 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. they would not mount a horse until he was so capa- risoned that the seat on his back was softer even than their couches.18 At the same time they largely augmented the num- ber and variety of their viands and of their sauces,'' always seeking after novel delicacies, and offering rewards to the in- ventors of “new pleasures.” 20 A useless multitude of lazy menials was maintained in all rich households, each servant confining himself rigidly to a single duty, and porters, bread- makers, cooks, cup-bearers, water-bearers, waiters at table, chamberlains, “awakers,” “adorners," all distinct from one another, crowded each noble mansion, helping forward the general demoralisation.21 It was probably at this comparatively late period that certain foreign customs of a sadly lowering character were adopted by this plastic and impressible people, who learnt the vice of pæderasty from the Greeks,22 and adopted from the Assyrians the worship of Beltis, with its accompaniment of religious prostitution.23 On the whole the Persians may seem to have enjoyed an existence free from care, and only too prosperous to result in the formation of a high and noble character. They were the foremost Asiatic people of their time, and were fully conscious of their pre-eminency. A small ruling class in a vast Empire, they enjoyed almost a monopoly of office, and were able gradu- ally to draw to themselves much of the wealth of the provinces. Allowed the use of arms, and accustomed to lord it over the provincials, they themselves maintained their self-respect, and showed, even towards the close of their Empire, a spirit and an energy seldom exhibited by any but a free people. But there was nevertheless a dark side to the picture-a lurking danger which must have thrown a shadow over the lives of all the nobler and richer of the nation, unless they were utterly thoughtless. The irresponsible authority and cruel dispositions of the kings, joined to the recklessness with which they dele- 18 Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, § 19. 19 Ibid. & 16. τιθέντας, αναιρούντας, κατάκοιμίζοντας, 20 Athen. Deipn. iv. p. 144, F. åviorávras, and koguntás. 21 Xen. Cyrop. viii. i, § 26. Xeno-|| 22 Herod. i. 136. phon enumerates Ovpwpows, OLTOTOLOUS, 23 Ibid. 131. Compare 199, CHAP. III. 245 UNCERTAIN TENURE OF HAPPINESS. gated the power of life and death to their favourites, made it impossible for any person of eminence in the whole Empire to feel sure that he might not any day be seized and accused of a crime, or even without the form of an accusation be taken and put to death, after suffering the most excruciating tortures. To produce this result, it was enough to have failed through any cause whatever in the performance of a set task,' or to have offended, even by doing him too great a service,” the monarch or one of his favourites. Nay, it was enough to have provoked, through a relation or a connection, the anger or jealousy of one in favour at Court; for the caprice of an Oriental would sometimes pass over the real culprit and exact vengeance from one quite guiltless—even, it may be, uncon- scious—of the offence given. Theoretically, the Persian was never to be put to death for a single crime ;4 or at least he was not to suffer until the king had formally considered the whole tenor of his life, and struck a balance between his good and his evil deeds to see which outweighed the other. Practi- cally, the monarch slew with his own hand any one whom he chose, or, if he preferred it, ordered him to instant execution, without trial or inquiry." His wife and his mother indulged themselves in the same pleasing liberty of slaughter, sometimes obtaining his tacit consent to their proceedings, sometimes with- no time be very many in number, and that therefore no very wide-spread alarm can have been commonly felt; but the horrible nature of many of the punishments, and the impossi- bility of conjecturing on whom they might next fall, must be set against their infrequency; and it must be remembered that an awful horror, from which no precautions can save a man, though it happen to few, is more terrible than a score of minor perils, against which it is possible to guard. Noble Persians " See Herod. vii. 35. Ctes. Exc. Pers. & 59 ; Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 14, 15. 3 Herod. ix. 108-112. ^ Ib. i. 137. * Ib. loc. cit. and vii. 194. 6 Ib. iii. 35. ? Ib. iv. 84 ; vii. 90 ; ix. 113 ; Ctes. Exc. Pers. SS 46, 51, 52, &c. 8 Herod. ix. 111, 112; Ctes. $$ 51, 59, &c. Plut. Vit. Artaxerxis, c. 14 and | c. 16. 246 CHAP. III. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. were liable to be beheaded, to be stoned to death,10 to be suffocated with ashes, 11 to have their tongues torn out by the roots,12 to be buried alive,13 to be shot in mere wantonness, 14 to be flayed and then crucified, 15 to be buried all but the head;16 and to perish by the lingering agony of “ the boat.” 17 If they escaped these modes of execution, they might be secretly poisoned, 18 or they might be exiled, or transported for life.19 Their wives and daughters might be seized and horribly muti- lated,20 or buried alive, 21 or cut into a number of fragments. With these perils constantly impending over their heads, the happiness of the nobles can scarcely have been more real than that of Damocles upon the throne of Dionysius. In conclusion, we may notice as a blot upon the Persian character and system, the cruelty and barbarity which was exhibited, not only in these abnormal acts of tyranny and vio- lence, but also in the regular and legal punishments which were assigned to crimes and offences. The criminal code, which -rightly enough—made death the penalty of murder, rape, treason, and rebellion, instead of stopping at this point, pro- ceeded to visit with a like severity even such offences as de- ciding a cause wrongfully on account of a bribe,23 intruding without permission on the king's privacy, 24 approaching near to one of his concubines,25 seating oneself, even accidentally, on the throne,26 and the like. The modes of execution were also, for the most part, unnecessarily cruel. Poisoners were punished by having their heads placed upon a broad stone, and then 10 Ctes. Exc. Pers. &S 46, 51, &c. 11 Ib. 88 48, 52; Val. Max. ix. 2, $ 7. 12 Ctes. Exc. Pers. & 57. 13 Herod. vii. 114. 14 Ib. iii. 35. 15 Ctes. Exc. Pers. § 59. Compare Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 17. 16 Herod. l. 8. C. 17 This punishment is almost too horrible to set before the reader. It consisted in placing the sufferer's body between two boats in such a way that only his head and hands projected at one end and his feet at the other, and keeping him in this position till he died miserably from the loathsome effects of the confinement. Persons might linger on under this punishment as much as seventeen days. (See Plut. Vit. Artar. c. 16, where all the details are given with quite revolting minuteness.) 18 Ctes. Exc. Pers. SS 57, 61. Com- pare Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 19. On the prevalence of poisoning in Persia in the time of Artaxerxes Mnemon, see Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, § 14 19 Ctes. $ 40. 20 Herod. ix. 112. 21 Ctes. $ 55. 22 Ibid. l. 8. c. 23 Herod. v. 25 ; vii. 194. 24 Ibid. iii. 118, 119; Esther, iv. 11. 25 Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 27. 26 Val. Max. xxvi. 16; Frontin. Sirat. iv. 6. CHAP. III. 247 SEVERITY OF LEGAL PUNISHMENTS. having their faces crushed; and their brains beaten out by repeated blows with another stone.27 Ravishers and rebels were put to death by crucifixion.28 The horrible punishment of “the boat" seems to have been no individual tyrant's cruel conception, but a recognised and legal form of execution.29 The same may be said also of burying alive.30 Again, the Per- sian secondary punishments were for the most part exceedingly barbarous. Xenophon tells us, as a proof of the good govern- ment maintained by the younger Cyrus in his satrapy, that under his sway it was common to see along all the most fre- quented roads numbers of persons who had had their hands or feet cut off, or their eyes put out, as a punishment for thieving and rascality:31 And other writers relate that similar mutila- tions were inflicted on rebels,32 and even on prisoners of war. 33 It would seem, indeed, that mutilation and scourging 84 were the ordinary forms of secondary punishment used by the Per- sians, who employed imprisonment solely for the safe custody of an accused person between his arrest and his execution,35 while they had recourse to transportation and exile only in the case of political offenders. 36 27 Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 19. xvii. 69, $ 3. » Herod, üïi. 159 ; iv. 43 ; Beh. Ins. 34 Nic. Dam. Fr. 132. col. ii. par. 14 ; col. iii. par. 8. * Herod. iii. 119; Ctes. Exc. Pers. * See Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 16. SS 42, 60; Beh. Ins. col. i. pars. 13 * Herod. vii. 114. IIePolkdo to f@v- and 14. τας κατορύσσειν. 36 Ctes. Bxc. Pers. & 40. The small # Xen. Anab. i. 9, $ 13. islands in the Persian Gulf were the 32 Beh. Ins. col. ii. pars. 13 and 14. Persian penal settlements. (Ctes. I. 8. c.; ** Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. v.5; Diod. Sic. | Herod. iü. 93.) 248 CHAP. IV. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. CHAPTER IV. LANGUAGE AND WRITING. This Ilepoloos glo ons ooa hồúvato.—THUCYD. i. 38. It has been intimated in the account of the Median Empire which was given in a former volume, that the language of the Persians, which was identical, or almost identical, with that of the Medes, belonged to the form of speech known to moderns as Indo-European. The characteristics of that form of speech are a certain number of common, or at least widely spread, roots, a peculiar mode of inflecting, together with a resemblance in the inflections, and a similarity of syntax or construction. Of the old Persian language the known roots are, almost with- out exception, kindred forms to roots already familiar to the philologist through the Sanscrit, or the Zend, or both; while many are of that more general type of which we have spoken —forms common to all, or most of the varieties of the Indo- European stock. To instance in a few very frequently recur- ring words—“father” is in old Persian (as in Sanscrit) pitar, which differs only in the vocalisation from the Zendic patar, the Greek Tarúp, and the Latin pater, and of which cognate forms are the Gothic fadar, the German vater, the English father, and the Erse athair. “Name” is in old Persian (as in both Zend and Sanscrit) náma, for which we have in Greek, övoua, in Latin nomen, in German nahme or name, in English name. “Man” is martiya, for which we have in Greek Bpóroc, in Latin mortalis, in English mortal, in modern Persian, merd. “ Horse” is açpa, the same as in Zend, with which may be compared the Sanscrit açva, the modern Persian asp, the Greek 77-os, the Welsh osw, and even the Latin equus.? I See vol, ü. pp. 356-361. The dialectic form ľkkos connects equus with iTros. CHAP. IV. 249 INFLECTIONS OF SUBSTANTIVES. The following table (pp. 250, 251) exhibits a number of similar instances. With respect to inflections, we may observe first, that the original masculine nominatival ending (as was long ago observed by Herodotus) was sh or 8—the same as in Latin and Greek ;4 and this ending is found whenever the final vowel of the root is i or u; as in Kurush, Daryavush, Fravartish, and the like. When, however, the final root-vowel happened to be d, the s was dropped, first, perhaps, passing into a breathing, and then becoming absorbed in the vowel. Thus we have Auramazda, Artakhshatrâ, khshatrapà (satrap), &c. Where the root ended in a consonant, the final consonant was sometimes dropped, and the preceding vowel sound elongated—as brâtar, nom. brátâ, “ brother;" pitar, nom. pitä, “father;" jatar, nom. jatá, “enemy;" napat, nom. napá, “ grandson;" while at other times the consonant was retained, either with or without the light a; e.g. açpa, “a horse,” martiya, “a man,” kauf, “a mountain,” daraug,“ a lie,” &c. Feminine nominatives usually ended in - long; a few had -i as their final vowel ; and these seem to have taken the masculine nominatival sign -sh; e.g. shiyatish,“ happiness.”6 Neuters appear to have ended only in -am, a form analogous to the Latin -um and Greek -ov; examples are avahanam, “dwelling;" hamaranam,“ battle ;" vardanam,“ city, state.” Besides the nominative, the ancient Persians recognised five other cases. These were the genitive, the accusative, the vocative, the ablative, and the locative. The dative was wanting, and its force was expressed through the genitive. * Herod. i. 139. Herodotus confines his remark on this subject to the Per- sian names. But it is only true of them in the same sense that it is true of all Persian nouns. + The termination s has the same force in Sanscrit, Gothic, and Lithuanian (see Bopp's Comparative Grammar, vol. i. | masculine roots in -d is suggested by Spiegel (Altpersische Keilinschriften, p. 153) and seems worthy of acceptance. 6 Api, “water,” is perhaps an ex- ception, since we find api-shim parábara, “ the water destroyed them," in the Behistun Inscription (col. i. par. 19); pronoun of the third person singular masculine, sa, “he," "this.” 5 This mode of accounting for the omission of the sibilant in the case of shim is an abbreviation of the fuller form apish-shim. (Sir H. Rawlinson in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. x. p. 214.) Some writers, as Spiegel, regard the 250 CHAP. VI. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Old Persian. Sanscrit. Zond. Greck. Latin German. English. Mod. Persian, bu ........ ... stand Aj (to drive) .... .... aj .......... az ......... ay-el........ ag-ere ..... to act. Api (water).. aqua (?) ...... aue . ... av (in Av-on) ab. Amiya (I am) ..... asmi ........ ahmi ...... ciui.. .. sum ....... am .......... am.. Arika (hostile) .. &pus.......... rixa (?). Bad (to bind) .......... bandh ...... band ....... binden ........ bind ........ bas-tan (band). Bar (to carry).... .. bhri ........ bere ...... pépelv........ ferre ........ fuhren .. bur-dan. Bu (to be) ....... bhu ........ bin ............ be .......... bu-dan. Bumi (earth) .......... bhumi ...... bumi ....... humus ..... bumi. Bråtar (brother)........ bhratar ...... brâtar .... frater ........ bruder ........ brother ...... birader. Cha (and) ........ .... ka .......... ka ........ kai .......... que. Cta (to stand)..... ... sthân ........ çta ........ ionnue........ sto .......... stehen .. ista-dan. Då (to give)....... dhân ........ då ........ didwut ...... da-re ......... da-dan. Då (to know) ..... ..... da, dô ...... dao........ ........ doc-eo (?) .... . dan-istan. Darsh (to dare) ... dars ...... Qapo-eîv ...... au-dere ...... dürfen ........ dare. Duvara (door).... .. dvara ........ dvara ...... Oúpa ........ (fores) (?) .... thüre .......... door Duvitiya (second) ...... dvitiya ...... bitya ... ... OcÚTepos ...... duo ........ zweite ........ two ........ du. Fratama (first) ........ prathamân .... frathema .. pôros ...... primus ...... frum's (Goth.) .. first. Garma (warm) .. .. .gharemo .. Depuós (?) .... .. warm .......... warm ........ gherm. Garb (to take) .. ...... grilh, grabh .. gerev ...... ápr-ášW...... rapio ........ greifen ........ gripe ........ girif-tan. Gausha (the ear) ....... .. gaosha .... ous .......... auris, ausculto ohr .......... ear .......... gush. Gub (to speak) gup .. jubeo (?) .... .. gab, gabble .. guf-tan. Had-ish (a seat).. hadhis .... Sos k. 7... .. sed-es........ sitz seat. Hama (together) hama ...... dud ........ cum ham I (to go) ......... .. i ........... léval ........ i-re. Jan (to strike, kill)...... han ........ zan, jan .... Oév-w .. zan. Jiv (to live)............ jiv .......... jiv, jvo .... sáfw ... zis-tan. Ka (who).......... quis ........ hva (O. G.) .... who ........ ki. Khshanas (to know) .... puur-KW .... gnos-co ...... kennen ........ know ........ shinâs. . dar. ... i vivo CHAP. IV. 251 INDO-EUROPEAN CHARACTER OF THE ROOTS. ou Persian. Zend. Sanscrit. Greek Latin. German. English. Mod. Persian. Mâm (me) ............ mam ........ manm .... èué, ue ...... me .......... mich .......... me .......... man. Man (to think) ........ man ........ man ...... Mévos ........ mens ........ meinen ........ mean. Man (to wait).... mann ...... dévw ........ maneo ...... man-dan. Mar (to die) .... ..... mri.......... mere ...... (Bpótos) ...... morior ....... mur-dan. Matar ................ matar........ matar...... Mýtnp........ mater........ mutter ........ mother ...... mader. mazista ... Jueltwv ......) Mathista (greatest) .... mightiest, most. MéloTOS .... " Maha (month).... .. mas maoſha .... uhu.......... mensis ...... monat ........ month ...... mah. Naha (nose)............ nâså ........ naogha .... nasus ........ nase .......... nose. Napat (grandson) ...... napât ......... napô ...... (åveyros) .... nepos ........ neffe .......... nephew ...... nava. Navama (ninth) ........ navamâ ...... nâuma .... &vveta ...... novem ...... neun .......... nine ........ navam. Nâvi (ship) ............ naus ........ naviya .... valls ........ navis ........ nacho (O. G.) .. nau. Niya (not) ............ na, nih ...... naedha .... mn. .......... ne- .......... ni-cht ........ nay, not...... na. Pad (foot, footstep) .... pâda ........ padha .... Tóð-a ......... ped-em ...... fuss .......... foot ........ pá. Paça (after)...... .. paç-kat .... post ...... Pathi (path) .......... panthan....... pâtha ...... TÚTOS ...... pons (!) ...... pfad Raçta (right) .......... raj .......... raz ........ rectus ...... richtig ........ right ........ rast. Shim (him)...... hîm ...... 8v. ihn............ him ........ ash. Tars (to fear) .......... tras ........ tereç ...... Tpé-w ........ tre-mo ...... tremble ...... tars. Tigra (an arrow, sharp).. tigma........ tighra .... degen () ...... dagger (1) .... tir. Tauma (family) ........ tokma ...... taokhma .. (TÉKw) ...... stemnia .. ... stamm ........ stem ........ tukhm. Thah (to say) .......... ças ........ çağh ...... .. sagen ........... say .......... sukhn (speech) Tritiya (third) ........ tritiya ...... thritya .... tpltos ........ tertius ....... dritte ........ third. Tuvam (thou)........... twam ........ tum ...... Tú, sú........ tu .......... du ............ thou ........ tu. Vaj (to bring).. ... vah ........ vaz ........ veho. Va (or, enclit.) ........ và ........…, vũ •••••••• ve .... va. Vayam (we)...... ...... vayam ....... vaém ...... U (good) ............... su .......... hu ........ Eů · euge ...... Utà (and) ............ utà .......... utâ ........ et .......... und (?) ........ and (!). pas. raz.. OS : : khub. 252 CHAP. IV. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. The genitive singular of nouns masculine in was formed ordinarily by the addition of hya, with which we may compare the Sanscrit -sya and the Greek -010.8 Other masculine nouns formed the genitive by adding to the root -a," which probably stood for -ah, the Old Persian equivalent of the Sanscrit geni- tival -as. Masculines in -ish and -ush made the genitive in -aish and caush, as Kur-ush, Kur-aush; Fravart-ish, Fravart- aish. Feminines in a formed the genitive by adding -yd, as tauma, “a family,” gen. taumáyâ; those in -ish changed -ish into -iya, as bumish, “the earth,” gen. bumiya. The genitive of neuter nouns does not occur in the inscriptions. The universal sign of the accusative singular was -m.10 Nouns whose nominative ended in -sh made the accusative by changing -sh into -m. Nouns in - å or -, took -m in addition. The closest analogy to this is furnished by the Latin; but we may compare also the Greek -v, the German -n (" den, ihn"), and our own -m in “ him," and “whom." The vocative seems to have ended, as in Sanscrit, with the root-vowel of the word, which, if not already long, was elon- gated; e.g. martiyd, “man,” voc. martiyâ, “O man.” The ablative is thought to have terminated originally in -at ; 11 but the t fell away, and the regular sign of the case became the long -&. (Compare the Latin ablative of nouns in -a and -as.) The ordinary sign of the locative (which in Sanscrit and Zend is -ė) was in the Old Persian -ya or -iya. Masculine nouns in -ă took the full form -iya,as Armina, loc. Armina-iya. Feminines in - â took -yâ, as Athurâ, loc. Athurâyâ ; Arbird, loc. Arbirâyâ. Feminines in -i took sometimes simply -yâ, as api,“ water,” loc. apiya ; sometimes they changed -i into -aiyá, cases as seven rather than six, adding | $ 189.) Masculines in - formed the to those named above an “instru genitive by adding -ha, as Aurumaz- mental" case. But there is really no da, gen. Auramazdăha. such distinct case in Old Persian, where 9 As pitar, “father,” gen. pitra. sometimes the genitive, sometimes the 10 So also in Zend and Sanscrit. In ablative has an instrumental meaning. Lithuanian the m is replaced by f, in 8 Or -Lo, since Bopp is probably right Gothic by -na. (See Bopp, $ 149.) in regarding the first o of olo as belong. " Spiegel, Altpersische Kcilinschriften, ing to the root. (Grammar, vol. i. 1 p. 154. CHAP. IV. 253 INFLECTIONS OF SUBSTANTIVES. as Bakhtri, loc. Bakhtraiya ; Harauvati, loc. Harauvataiya. Themes in -u took v as the characteristic of the locative instead of y, the masculines changing -u into -auva (with a short final ă), and the feminines changing -u or -au into -auvå (with the long đ). Examples of masculines are Babiru, loc. Babi- rauva ; Margu, loc. Margauva; of feminines, dahyâu, “a pro- vince," loc. dahyauvâ ; Ufratu, “the Euphrates,” loc. Ufra- tauva. The nominative plural of roots in -ě seem to have been originally formed by changing å into åha—the proper Persian equivalent of the Vedic -âsas—and this ending is found in the plural of one word, viz. baga,“ God,” which makes nom. pl. bagdha. The termination -âha was, however, in most instances contracted into -&;1 e.g. martiya, “men ;” khshayathiya, “kings," and the like. The nominative plural of roots in -â, -i, and -u is unknown, the inscriptions furnishing no examples. The sign of the genitive plural was the suffix -nám(compare the Latin -rum), which was preceded by -d, -; (?) or -U, accord- ing to the characteristic vowel of the theme; e.g. baga, gen. pl. bagâ nám; khshayathiya, gen. pl. khshayathiyânâm ; dahyâu, gen. pl. dahyunám. The accusative plural of roots in -a and -am was the same as the nominative plural, e.g. martiya, “a man,” acc. pl. martiya, “men;" hamaranam, “a battle,” acc. pl. hamaraná,“ battles.” No vocatives plural have been found. The ablative plural was formed by the addition of -bish or -ibish (compare the 12 So, in Sanscrit, themes in -1 and 4 form the locative in-au. The Old Per- nian, in each form of the locative, strengthened the case vowel with its cognate consonant (i with y, and u with r). 'Compare the ordinary Sanscrit ter- mination -ds, the Zendic -ão, -6, the Greek -al (-01), the Latin - (-1), &c. 2 Spiegel regards the n here as "eu. phonic," like the n in the Sanscrit geni. tive plural (Altpersische Keilinschriften, p. 156); but, as no genitive plural in the Old Persian has been found without the n, it would seem to be an essential part of the inflection. Probably the Old Persian -nám is the equivalent of the Zendic -añm, rather than of the Sanscrit -n-am. 3 The original sign of the accusative plural seems to have been -ns. Bopp, § 236.) Of this complex form, which appears in the Gothic (e.g. vulfans, gas- tins, sununs) and in the Zend occasion. ally, Sanscrit retained only the n, while Greek, Latin, and Lithuanian kept only the 8. The Zend (generally) and the Old Persian evaporated both the con- sonants, and replaced them by a vowel, which in Zend was - 0, in Old Persian -á. 254 Chap. IV. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Latin -ibus“) to the root of the word, as baga, bagaibish; vith, vithibish; rauca, raucabish, &c. The sign of the locative plural was the suffix -shuva," which in themes with the light -ě became -ishuva, as Mada,“ a Mede," Madaishuva, “among the Medes.” The following are examples of the declensions so far as they are known to us :- Declension of Nouns ending in .. Sing. Plural. N. Mada ............ a Mede. Mada ............... Medes. G. Madahya ...... of a Mede. Madânâm............ of Medes. Ac. Madam ......... a Mede. Madå ................ Medes. V. Mada ............ O Mede. Madà (?) ............ O Medes. Abl. Mada ............ by a Mede. Madaibish ......... by Medes. Loc. Madaiya........, with a Mede. Madaishuva ........ with the Medes. Declension of Nouns masculine ending in â. Sing. Plural. N. Auramazdâ. Wanting. G. Auramazdaha. Ac. Auramazdâm. V. Auramazda. All, Auramazdå. Loc. Auramazdâyâ (?). Declension of Nouns feminine ending in a. Sing. Plural. N. Tauma ........ a family. Unknown. G. Taumâyâ ... ... of a family. Ac. Taumâm (?) ... a family. V. Tauma ......... O family. Abl. Taumâyâ ...... by a family. Loc. Taumâyâ ...... in a family. Declension of Nouns ending in i and ish. Sing. Plural. N. Apish............... water. Unknown. G. Apâish ............ of water. Ac. Apim ............... water. V. Unknown, prob. Api. Al. Unknown. Loc. Apiya ............... in water. Sing. Declension of Nouns ending in ush. Plural. N. Dahyâ-ush......... a province. Dahyâ-va ............ provinces. G. Dahyâ-âush (?).. of a province. Dahy-unâm ......... of provinces Ac. Dahyâ-um ......... a province. Dahyâ-va ............ provinces. V. Unknown. Unknown. All. Unknown. Unknown. Loc. Dahya-uva......... in a province. Dahy-ushuva......... in provinces. 4 The Latin -ibus is of course a cognatel 5 Compare the Sanscrit -su or -sku, form to the Sanscrit -bhyas and the which is replaced in Zend by-hra or Zendic -byo. The Greek -01 (-0w) is -shra. The Greek locative ending -PL probably the same inflection. | (e.g. 'ADývnou) is also cognate. CHAP. IV. 255 ADJECTIVES. Declension of Nouns neuter ending in am. Sing. Plural. N. Hamaranam......... a battle. Hamaranâ. G. Unknown. Unknown. Ac. Hamaranam......... a battle. Hamaranâ. ............ battles. V. Unknown. Unknown Abl. Unknown. Unknown. Loc. Unknown. Unknown. ADJECTIVES. Adjectives appear to have followed in all respects the in- flections of nouns. They ended generally in the weak -a; but one theme in -u has been found (paru, “much ”), and there may also have been themes in -i. The following is an example of an ordinary adjective in -a. (Forms of the adjective not actually found are printed in italics.) Sing. F. N. M. N. vazark-a. G. vazark-ahya. Ac. vazark-am. V. vazark-a. Abl. vazark-a. Loc. vazark-aiya. vazark-a. vazark-aya, vazark-am. (unknown). vazark-aya. vazark-aya. vazark-an. (unknown). vazark-am. (unknown). (unknown). (unknown). Plural. M . N. vazark-å. G. vazark-anám, A c. vasark-å. V. razark-d (?). Abl. vazark-aibish. Loc. vazark-aishuva. F. vazark-å. vazark-ânâm. vazark-å. (unknown). (unknown). vazark-auva. N. vazark-a. (unknown). vazark-a. (unknown). (unknown). (unknown). As in Sanscrit, the comparative degree of adjectives seems to have been formed by adding -tara to the positive, e.g. apa, " distant,” apa-tara, “the more distant;" the superlative by adding -tama, e.g. fra, fra-tama," the first.” There was also a superlative in -ista (compare the Greek -LOTOS), which would See Bopp, § 291. In Zend, the inflections were respectively -tara and tema. The comparative form -tara is represented in Greek by -Tepov, and in Latin by -terus (e.g. posterus); the superlative -tama (-tema) may be traced in the Gothic -tuma and the Latin -timus (e.g. optimus, ultimus, intimus, &c.). 256 CHAP. IV. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. seem to imply a comparative in -iyas. The only known example of this superlative is mathista, “ greatest." NUMERALS. The numerals are but little known to us, owing to the practice which prevailed of writing them by the means of signs. A single wedge, placed perpendicularly, marked one (); two such signs marked two, and so on up to nine; the sign of ten was the double wedge, or arrow-head ((), and this was used for the tens up to ninety. To mark a hundred the horizontal wedge was probably used (~). A few numerals only, and those, in every case, ordinals, have reached us through the inscriptions. They are fratama,“ the first,” duvitiya,“ the second,” tritiya," the third,” and navama, “the ninth.”3 Fratama, for which the Zend has fratema, com- bines the formative letters which we find separately in apw- tos and pri-mus. Its root fra is cognate with apó. Duvitiya corresponds closely with δεύτερος, as tritiya does with τρίτος and tertius. Navama, “ninth,” implies a cardinal number, very closely resembling novem. PRONOUNS. The personal pronouns in Old Persian, as in most Indo- European tongues, were declined very irregularly—the different cases really belonging to completely distinct roots. The roots themselves are without exception such as occur in other cognate languages," and approach very closely indeed to the forms used in the Zend, as will appear by the subjoined declensions. 2 The Sanscrit has a superlative in / ordinals in the chief varieties of Indo- -ishtha, which comes from a comparative European speech, as given by Bopp in in -iyas. (Bopp, $ 298.) his Comparative Grammar (323) = 3 The following are the forms of these Sanscrit. Zend. Dor. Greek. Latin. Gothic. Lithuanian. Old Sclavonic. prathamâ frathéma Tapúra prima fruma pirmà perva-ya dvitiya bitya DEUTépa altera anthara antrà vtora-ya tritiya thritya Tputa tertia thridivô tréchid treti-ya navama nauma évvára nona niundô dewintà devyata-ya · Adam, “I,” which has its nearest | doubtedly cognate with the Sanscrit equivalent in the Zendic azem, is un- | aham, and thus with the Greek Gyú CHAP. IV. 257 PRONOUNS. Sing. Declension of adam, “I.” Plural. Old Persian. Zend. Old Pervian. Zend, N. adam .................. vayam........................ vaem. G. mana .................. mana. amakham ............... ahmäkem. mâm .. ............... mâm. Ac. (unknown). 1 -maiya (encl.). Abl. -ma (encl.). (unknown). The pronoun of the second person is known to us only in the singular, in which it is declined as follows = Nom. Tuvam............ “thou” (comp. Sans. tvam and Zend tum). Gen. -taiya or -taya (encl.). Acc. Thuvâm (compare Sans. tvám and Zend thwanm). Voc. Tuvam. The ordinary pronoun of the third person is hauva, which is declined as follows:- Sing. M. N, Hauva. Hauva. Ava. G. Avahya. (Unknown). (Unknown). Avam. (Unknown). Ac. Ava. t -shim (enclitic). Abl. -shaiya (encl.). (Unknown). (Unknown). Plural. M. N. Avaiya. Avâ. (Unknown). Avaisbâm. (Unknown). (Unknown). 1-shâm (encl.). Avaiya. (Unknown). (Unknown). AC. 1 -shim, -shish (encl.). -shim (encl.). Abl. -shâm (end.). -shâm (encl.). N. Strictly speaking, hauva is the more remote demonstrative, equivalent to our “ that;” but practically its use is personal. There appear to have been originally three such demonstratives in the Old Persian, hauva, ava, and shi or shish, from the sur- viving cases of which the above declension is made up. Hauva is probably identical with the Sanscrit sas (sa, 80) (dyúr), the Latin ego, the German ich, | in Sanscrit (vayam), Zend (vaem), and and so with our “l.” Mand, mám, Gothic (veis). Amâkham differs but maiya, and ma are modifications of a slightly from the Zendic ahmákem and root which is common to Sanscrit, Zend, Sanscrit asmakam, which have the same Greek, Latin, German, Lithuanian, and meaning. It implies a root asma, ahma, Sclavonic, and which appears in English or ama, which has given birth to the as “me." The plural vayam is a rarer | Greek dujes (nueis), and perhaps to uns form, having near correspondents only 1 and unser. VOL. III. 258 CHAP. IV. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. and the Zend hau (hó). Ava has no exact equivalent in Sanscrit or Zend; but its inflections have mostly their Zendic representatives—the gen. avahyâ corresponding to avaghé, the acc. avam to aom, the nom. masc. pl. avaiya to avá, the nom. fem. pl. avd to avão, and the gen. pl. avaishâm to avaéshám. The third element, shi, which has furnished the pronominal suffixes shish, shim, shâm, and shaiya, corresponds to the Zend hoi, hé, and shé, which are used for the genitive and dative singular of the third person in all genders.? The nearer demonstrative, “this,” is expressed by iyam, which is declined as follows :- Sing. M. N. N. Iyam. G. (Unknown). Ac. Imam. Iyam. Ahyâya. Imâm. (Unknown). Ima. (Unknown). Ima. (Unknown). Abl. or) Ana Instr. 3 Plural. M N. N. Imaiya. G. (Unknown). Ac. Imaiya. Abl. or unknown). Ima. (Unknown). Ima. (Unknown). (Unknown). (Unknown). Imå. (Unknown). Instr. (Unknown). Here again the agreement with the Zend, and also with the Sanscrit, is very complete.3 The relative, “who," "which," is rendered by hya. Its declension, so far as we can trace it out, is the following :- 1 The original form of the cuneiform hauva was probably hau, which appears in haushaiya (Persep. Inscr. H, line 3). This hau is identical with the Zend ho, which is itself the exact equivalent of the Sanscrit Ft, 8ô. Så itself seems to be a corruption of the original nomi- natival sas, being for sa-u, where the u was a softened form of the case-ending s. (Bopp, § 347 ; Rawlinson, Vocabulary, p. 51, note!.) 2 Bopp, $ 341. The Greek and Latin reflexives (opć, &, se) are forms of the same base. 3 The Sanscrit has identically the same forms in the acc. masc. and the nom. and acc. fem. of the singular. The nom. masc. is ayam (compare iyam), the gen. fem. is asyds (compare ahyâya), and the instrumental masc. is anena (compare ana). Only in the neuter is there a radical difference, the Sanscrit using idam in the place of ima. Here, however, the old Persian accorded closely with the Zend, which had ima for the nom, and imat for the accusative neuter. CHAP. IV. 259 VERBS. Sing. Туа. M. N. Hya. Hyâ. G. (Unknown). (Unknown). (Unknown). Ac. Tyam. Туа. Voc. Hyâ. (Unknown). (Unknown.) Abl. Tyani. (Unknown). (Unknown.) Plural. n. N. Tyaiya. Tya. Tyå. G. Tyaisâm. Tyaisam. (Unknown). Ac. Tyaiya. Tya. Tyâ. Abl. (Unknown). (Unknown). (Unknown). Other pronouns are ka, “who" (interrog.);4 aita, “it;" aniya, “another;" uvá, “self," "own" (compare Lat. suus), which is found only in composition ; kashchiya, “any one" (compare Lat. quisque); hama, “all ” (comp. Lat. omnis); haruva, “all,” &c. VERBS. The verb in Old Persian had three voices, Active, Middle, and Passive; but of these the middle differed in form very slightly from the Passive. The moods recognised were the Indicative, the Imperative, the Subjunctive or Potential, and the Infinitive. The tenses seem to have been the present, the imperfect, the aorist, and the perfect. There was no future, the deficiency being supplied by the present subjunctive, which had a future force. Of the verb substantive amiya (=sum), the conjugation, so far as we know it, is the following: - INDICATIVE. Present. Amiya ................... “I am." Amahya ................... "we are." Ahya .................. “ Thou art." (Unknown). Astiya ..... “ He is." Hatiya 5 .................. “they are." + The form is the same both in Zend | rogative kós, Kh, kb, of which traces and Sanscrit. (Bopp, & 387.) We may exist in kolos, kboos, Kóte, kws, and the compare with it the Latin quis, quce, | like. quid, and the Gothic hvas, kvó, hva. The Greek had probably once an inter- of forms :- Zend. Sanscrit. Dor. Greek. Latin Lithuanian. Old Sclavonic. ahmi asmi έμμι sum esmi yesme ahi cool es asi essi asti έστι est esti hmabi 'smas sumus esmi yesmo stha έστε estis este yeste henti santi ¿VTL sunt somte asti yesi yesto 'stha esti S 2 260 CHAP. IV. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Aham (Unknown). Aha .... “I was." “He was.” Imperfect. (Unknown), (Unknown). ........ Aha ....... " they were." Imperfect Middle. Ahata or Abata............. "they became." CONJUNCTIVE. Present. Ahatiya ................... "He may be." It is impossible to give anything like a complete example of the conjugation of a regular verb. The inscriptions are so similar in their character, and run so much in the same groove, that, while we have abundant examples of certain forms, the great majority of the forms are wanting. Suffice it to notice a few points in which the conjugation resembled the Greek or the Latin, or both, such as the following. Past time was usually marked by prefixing an augment, the augment used being the long d, which was regularly attached to the imperfect and aorist tenses, as jan, imperf. &janam; thah, imperf. åthaham; da, imperf. adadâ; aor, add. The perfect tense, which occurs but rarely, seems to have had, instead of the augment, a reduplication; as kar, chakhriya. The ordinary sign of the first person singular was -mi or-m (compare Greek, čiul, rionue; Latin sum, eran, sim, essem, &c.); of the first person plural, -mahya or må (Latin, -mus; Æol. Greek, Mes); of the third person singular, -sh (Greek, ríonoi; English, “has," " is "); but this sign was commonly dropped; of the third person plural, -tiya or (according to Spiegel) -îtiy (compare Greek, TÚTrovta; Latin, “sunt'). The past participle ended in -ta, as karta, neut. kartam, "done;" data, “ given,” from dâ ; pâta, “protected,” from på ; basta, “ bound” from bad, &c. (Compare the Sanscrit and Latin past participles.) ADVERBS. Of adverbs, the most important are those of time and place. Among adverbs of time the old Persian had the following :- yatha,“ when;" thakata, “then;" pasáva, “afterwards;" aparam, CHAP. IV. PREPOSITIONS. “hereafter;" paruvam,“ before;" daragam, “long;" duvaistam, “long ago;" and duvitatâranam,“for a length of time.” Among those of place were idâ, “ here ;” avada,“ there ;" apataram, “elsewhere ;” and amutha, “ thence." The ordinary negative was niya, “ not ;" but besides this there was a negative of prohibition, mà, corresponding exactly to the Greek uń and the Latin ne, in such phrases as un yévoito, ne facias, and the like.? Among adverbs of quality may be mentioned vasiya, “much," "greatly,” “ often;" and darsham, “wholly," “ entirely;” the former of which occurs very frequently in the inscriptions. PREPOSITIONS. Among prepositions the following have been satisfactorily identified :-hacha, “from ;” abiya, patiya, “ to;" abish, “ by;' ni, “in;" hadd, “with;" upa,“ near;" ayasta,“ near” or “by;" patish,“ before" (=Latin coram); paså,“ behind,” “after ;”. pariya, “concerning;" atara, “among ;” anúva, “along;” atiya, “ across ;” upariya, “over," "above;" and athiya, “over against.” Of these, abiya may be compared with the Greek επί, η with ενί, ραγα with περί, ωραίμα with Greek υπέρ, Latin super, athiya with ảvri, upa with Latin apud, pasa with post, ayasta with juxta, and atara with inter. Hacha, hadá, patiya, and anuva, have close correspondents in the Zend, but none in languages with which the ordinary reader is familiar. Two or three other prepositions, which are not found sepa- rately, are indicated by compound words, in which they occur as an element. Thus hama ? seems to have had the sense of the Greek auá or óuoī, and tara that of the Latin trans, with • Niya may be compared with the Sanscrit sam, the Zendic hañm, the Sanscrit nih, the Latin ne (in nefandum, Greek dúv, the Lithuanian san, and nego and the like), the Greek vn (in | perhaps even the Latin cum. (See Bopp, onueptńs, K.T.A.), the Gothic, Lithuanian, 1 § 1016.) Tara corresponds to tirâs in and Old Sclavonic ni, &c. Sanscrit, tarô in Zend, trans in Latin, ? Ma has exactly the same force both thairh in Gothic, durch in Mod. German, in Sanscrit and in Zend. and to our own "through.” (Ibid. "Namely, hacha, hadha, paiti, anu. $ 1018.) 2 Hama is to be connected with the 262 CHAP. IV. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. which they are etymologically connected. Pará had also appa- rently the sense of “ from ” or “away." 3 CONJUNCTIONS. Of conjunctions the most common were uta and -cha (en- clitic), “and ;” which corresponded respectively to the Latin et and que; va, “or” (compare Latin ve); avatha, “thus,” “SO" (compare Greek oőtw); yatha, “as,” its correlative; tya, “that;" aivam,“ both-and” (used like the Latin tum-tum); avá, “ SO long ”-yava, “as;" chitâ, “all the while”-yåtå, “until ;" yadiya, “if;" and matiya, “lest” (compare the Greek uhri). SYNTAX. The ordinary rules of Indo-European syntax were (as might be supposed) observed in the old Persian. Adjectives agreed with their substantives in gender, number, and case. Thus we have kara Parsa “the Persian people,” in the nominative, but karam Parsam uta Madam, “the Persian and Median people," in the accusative ; imôm bumim, “ this earth” (accus.); ahyâya bumiya vazarkâyá,“ of this great earth” (gen.); Baga vazarka, "a great God” (nom.); hadå vithaibish Bagaibish, “with the tutelary Gods” (abl.), &c. Relative pronouns agreed with their antecedents in number, gender, and person, but their case de- pended on the verb accompanying them; as iyam dahyavush, tyâm mand Auramazdå frábara, " this province which Ormazd has given me "_imå dahyáva, tyâ adam adarshiya, “ these provinces which I have possessed ”—avam kâram, hya mand niya gaubatiya, “ that people which is not called mine," &c. The latter of two substantives was placed in the genitive case; as, khshayathiya khshayathiyânâm, “king of kings ” — Vishstáspanya putra, “son of Hystaspes," and the like. The genitive case also followed the superlative; as, mathishta Bagânám, “the greatest of the Gods." Verbs commonly governed the accusative, as mám khshå- yathiyam akunaush, "he made me king;” khshatram hauva * Compare the Sanscrit párd, which has exactly this meaning. (Bopp, $ 1011.) The Greek trapá and even the Latin per are probably the same word. CHAP. IV. 263 SYNTAX. agarbâyatâ, “ he seized the empire," &c. When the force of the verb passed on to a second object, that object was expressed by the genitive-dative case; as Auramazdå khshatram mana frdbara, “Ormazd granted me the empire;” mana bajim abaratâ, " they brought me tribute.” Occasionally a verb governed a double accusative, as khshatramshim adinam, “I took the empire from him." Prepositions generally governed the accusative or the ab- lative. The accusative followed abiya, “ to,” “after;" athiya, "over,” “ against,” “ near;" atara, “among;” pariya, “concern- ing;” patiya,“ to,” “for;" patish,“ in face of;" upa,“ near;" and upariya, “over,"“above.” Hadd,"with,” and hachd,“from,"took the ablative. The locative followed anuva, “along,” and perhaps sometimes patiya and abish. Pasd, “after,” took a genitive. Among the peculiarities of old Persian syntax may be men- tioned the following :-(1.) The pronouns had in certain cases an enclitic form, wherein they could be attached to almost any kind of word:5 e. g. Auramazdá-maiya upastam abara, "Oromasdes mihi opem tulit”-adamshim avajanam, “Ego eum occidi ”-hachâma, “a me”--mám Auramazda patuva, utámaiya khshatram, utå tyamaiya kartam, “Me Oromazdes protegat, et mihi imperium, et quod a me factum.” (2.) Adjec- tives, instead of simply accompanying their substantives, were often joined to them by the relative pronoun hya, the relative being in such cases attracted into the case of the noun, e.g. kåra hya hamitriya, kâram tyam Madam, pathim tyam raçtam, &c. (3.) The genitive of the personal pronoun was usually employed in the place of a possessive pronoun : e.g. manâ badaka,“ meus servus” (lit.“mei servus"); amâkham tauma,“ nostra familia " (lit.“ nostrúm familia ”), &c. Sometimes a redundant relative accompanied these expressions; as, hyâ amâkham tauma, “quæ nostrûm familia,” i.e. “familia nostra.” (4.) The substantive verb was most commonly omitted from a sentence, as Adam Kurush, “ Ego Cyrus ”-i.e. “Ego sum Cyrus." See the remarks of Spiegel (Altper. | pronominal suffix. sische Keilinschriften, pp. 172, 173.) Compare the Sanscrit. (Williams, 5 The exceptions are verbs and ad. | Sanscrit Grammar, $ 839.) jectives, which seem never to take a 264 CHAP. IV. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. In conclusion, a passage is subjoined, accompanied by an interlinear Latin translation, whereby the close similarity of the syntactical construction, and order of the words, in the Latin and the Old Persian will be apparent. Baga vazarka Auramazda, kya imâm bumim add, hya avam Deus magnus Oromasdes, qui hanc terram dedit, qui istud asmânam ada, hya martiyam add, hya shiyatim add martiyahya, coelum dedit, qui hominem dedit, qui felicitatem dedit homini, hya Daryavum khshayathiyam akunaush, aivam paruvanam qui Darium regem fecit, tum multorum khshayathiyam, aivam paruvanam framåtaram. Adam Daryavush, regem, tum multorum dominum. Ego (sum) Darius, khshayathiya · vazarka, khshayathiya khshayathiyânâm, khshayathiya rex magnus, rex regum, rex dahyunám vizpazandnám, khshåyathiya ahyâya bumiya provinciarum a-multis-gentibus. rex hujus terræ habitatarum, vazarkaya duriapiya, Vishtåspahya putra, Hakhamanishiya ; Pârsa, magnæ latè-patentis, Hystaspis filius, Achæmenius; Persa, Pårsahya putra, Ariya, Ariya chitra Thâtiya Daryarush Persæ filius, Arius, ex Aria stirpe. Dicit Darius khshayathiya: Vashna Auramazdana ima dahyâra tya adam rex : Gratiâ Oromazdis hæ (sunt) provinciæ quas ego agarbâyam apataram hacha Pårsd. Adamsham patiyakhshaiya. Mand obtinui longiùs a Perside. Ego illas rexi. bajin abara ... ha. Tyasham hachama athahya, tributum tulerunt ... Quod illis à me dictum est, illud akunava. mand, aita adâri. fecerunt. Jussum quod à me, id servatum este Mihi ava WRITING. The ordinary Persian writing was identical with that which has been described in the second volume of this work as Median. A cuneiform alphabet, consisting of some thirty-six or thirty- seven forms, expressive of twenty-three distinct sounds, sufficed for the wants of the people, whose language was simple and devoid of phonetic luxuriance. Writing was from left to right, CHAP. IV. 265 PERSIAN WRITING. as with the Arian nations generally. Words were separated from one another by an oblique wedge Y ; and were divided at any point at which the writer happened to reach the end of a line. Enclitics were joined without any break to the words which they accompanied. The Persian writing which has come down to us is almost entirely upon stone. It comprises various rock tablets, a number of inscriptions upon buildings, and a few short legends upon vases, and cylinders. It is in every case incised or cut into the material. The letters are of various sizes, some (as those at Elwend) reaching a length of about two inches, others Far the most important of these is | edited by Lassen, by Sir H. Rawlinson, the great rock-inscription at Behistun, and by Spiegel. 3. Two legends of first published by Sir H. Rawlinson in Artaxerxes Mnemon at Susa, discovered the year 1846 (Journal of the Asiatic by Mr. Loftus in 1851-2, and edited by Society, vol. x. part. i.), and since edited Mr. Norris in the Journal of the Asiatic 2-45). Next to this may be placed the inscriptions on the tomb of Darius at Nakhsh-i-Rustam, edited by Sir H. Rawlinson in the Asiatic Society's Journal (vol. xi. pp. 291-313 ; vol. xii. App. pp. xix-xxi), one of which had been pre- viously published by Lassen (Zeitschrift des Morgenlandes, vol. vi. pp. 81 et seqq.). In the third rank come the two inscrip- foot of Mount Elwend, in the vicinity of the town of Hamadan. These in- scriptions were first edited by Burnouf (Mémoire sur deux Inscriptions cunéi- formes trouvées près d'Hamadan, Juin, 1836). They are given very incorrectly by M. Flandin (Voyage en Perse, "Planches Anciennes," tom. i. pls. 26 and 27), Lastly may be named the short rock inscription of Xerxes at Van (Lassen, in the Zeitschrift, vol. vi. pp. 145 et seqq.; Rawlinson, in As. Soc. Journ. vol. xi. pp. 334-336). The most important of these are 1. A short legend of Cyrus, several times repeated, at Murghab (Pasargadæ). This was first copied by Sir W. Ouseley (Travels, vol. ii. pl. xlix. fig. 5). It was recognised as containing the name of Cyrus by Grotefend. (See Heeren's Asiatic Nations, vol. ü. p. 362, E. T.) 2. Numerous legends of Darius and Xerxes, together with one of Artaxerxes Ochus, at Persepolis. These have been tilated legend of Darius on a stone near Suez, first copied by M. De Rozière, and published in the Description de l'Egypte (vol. i. pp. 265-275 ; Planches, vol. v. pl. 29, figs. 1 to 4). This legend has been corrected and restored by Sir H. Rawlinson (Journal of As. Society, vol. xi. p. 313). 3 The vase inscriptions are the fol- lowing :-1. One of Xerxes on the vase of Caylus, which is accompanied by transcripts in the Scythic, Babylonian, and Egyptian languages. (See Caylus, Recueil d'Antiquités, tom. v. pl. xxx. ; and compare Ās. Soc. Journal, vol. xi. p. 339.) 2. A duplicate of this on a vase discovered at Halicarnassus by Mr. Newton. (See Birch in Newton's Hali- carnassus, vol. ii. pp. 667-670.) 3. A legend of Xerxes on several fragments of vases discovered at Susa by Mr. Loftus (Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, p. 409). And 4. An inscription of an Artaxerxes (Ochus ?) on a porphyry vase in the treasury of St. Mark's at Venice (Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xi. p. 347). This inscription is accom- panied by an Egyptian transcript. * There are two legends on cylinders. One is on the signet-cylinder of Darius (figured above, p. 227). The other is on the seal of a certain Arsaces, the son of Athiyabusanes. See Lajard's Culte de Mithra, pl. xxxi, fig. 1.) 266 CHAP. IV. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. (those, for instance, on the vases) not exceeding the sixth of an inch. The inscriptions cover a space of at least a hundred and eighty years, commencing with Cyrus, and terminating with Artaxerxes Ochus, the successor of Mnemon. The style of the writing is, on the whole, remarkably uniform, the latter inscrip- tions containing only two characters unknown to the earlier times. Orthography, however, and grammar are in these later inscriptions greatly changed, the character of the changes being indicative of corruption and decline, unless, indeed, we are to ascribe them to mere ignorance on the part of the engravers. There can be little doubt that, besides the cuneiform character, which was only suited for inscriptions, the Persians employed a cursive writing for common literary purposes.? Ctesias informs us that the royal archives were written on parchment;8 and there is abundant evidence that writing was an art perfectly familiar to the educated Persian. It might have been supposed that the Pehlevi, as the lineal descendant of the Old Persian language, would have, furnished valuable assistance towards solving the question of what character the Persians employed commonly: but the alphabetic type of the Pehlevi inscriptions is evidently Semitic; and it would thus seem that the old national modes of writing had been completely lost before the establishment by Ardeshir, son of Babek, of the new Persian Empire.10 5 Caylus, Recueil d'Antiquités, tom. v. 1 . Ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 32, § 4. Compare p. 81. Nic. Dam. Fr. 10. o See the remarks of Sir H. Rawlin | Herod. ii. 128, 136 ; v. 14; vü. son in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, | 100; Thucyd. i. 129; &c. vol. xi. pp. 342-346. 10 Sir H. Rawlinson in the Journal of ? Compare above, vol. ii. p. 370. the Asiatic Society, vol. x. p. 51. CHAP. V. 267 PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE. . 267 CHAPTER V. ARCHITECTURE AND OTHER ARTS. Ιδρυτο [ο μέγας βασιλεύς] εν Σούσοις η Εκβατάνους .... θαυμαστόν επέχων βασίλειον οίκον, και περίβολον, χρυσό και ηλέκτρω και ελέφαντι αστράπτοντα: πυλώνες τε πολλοί και συνεχείς, πρόθυρα τε συχνούς είργόμενα σταδίοις απ' αλλήλων, θύραις Te Xahkais kal Telxeol meyalois úxúpwto. -De Mundo, vi. p. 637. IF in the old world the fame of the Persians, as builders and artists, fell on the whole below that of the Assyrians and Baby- lonians—their instructors in art, no less than in letters and science—it was not so much that they had not produced works worthy of comparison with those which adorned Babylon and Nineveh, as that, boasting less antiquity and less originality than those primitive races, they did not strike in the same way the imagination of the lively Greeks, who moreover could not but feel a certain jealousy of artistic successes, which had re- warded the efforts of a living and rival people. It happened, moreover, that the Persian masterpieces were less accessible to the Greeks than the Babylonian, and hence there was actually less knowledge of their real character in the time when Greek literature was at its best. Herodotus and Xenophon, who im- pressed on their countrymen true ideas of the grandeur and magnificence of the Mesopotamian structures," never penetrated to Persia Proper, and perhaps never beheld a real Persian building. Ctesias, it is true, as a resident at the Achæmenian Court for seventeen years,' must certainly have seen Susa and See Herod. i. 93, 178-187 ; Xen. | Susiana, pp. 364-378). But it may well Anab. iii. 4, 88 6-10. be questioned whether his travels ex- ? If Herodotus visited Susa (as is tended so far. generally supposed), he must have seen & Diod. Sic. ii. 32, § 4; Tzetz. Chiliad. the palace which was there erected by | i. 82-85. Darius Hystaspis (Loftus, Chaldæa and | 268 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Ecbatana, if not even Persepolis, and he therefore must have been well acquainted with the character of Persian palaces; but, so far as appears from the fragments of his work which have come down to us, he said but little on the subject of these edifices. It was not until Alexander led his cohorts across the chain of Zagros to the high plateau beyond, that a proper esti- mate of the great Persian buildings could be made; and then the most magnificent of them all was scarcely seen before it was laid in ruins. The barbarous act of the great Macedonian con- queror, in committing the palace of Persepolis to the flames, tended to prevent a full recognition of the real greatness of Persian art even after the Greeks had occupied the country; but we find from this time a certain amount of acknowledgment of its merits—a certain number of passages, which, like that which forms the heading to this chapter, admit alike its grandeur and its magnificence. If, however, the ancients did less than justice to the efforts of the Persians in architecture, sculpture, and the kindred arts, moderns have, on the contrary, given them rather an undue prominence. From the middle of the seventeenth century, when Europeans first began freely to penetrate the East, the Persian ruins, especially those of Persepolis, drew the marked attention of travellers; and in times when the site of Babylon had attracted but scanty notice, and that of Nineveh and the other great Assyrian cities was almost unknown, English, French, and German savans measured, described, and figured the Persian remains with a copiousness and exactness that left little to desire. Chardin, the elder Niebuhr, Le Brun, Ouseley, Ker Porter, exerted themselves with the most praiseworthy zeal to represent fully and faithfully the marvels of the “Chehl Minar;" and these persevering efforts were followed within no very lengthy period by the splendid and exhaustivo works of the • Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 18; Strab. | Brun's (Voyage au Levant) in 1704, the xv. 3, 8 6. elder Niebuhr's (Reise nach Arabien, 2 5 See especially Polyb. x. 27; and vols.) in 1765, Ouseley's (Travels, 3 vols. Strab. xv. 3, $$ 3, 6. 4to.) between 1814 and 1823, and Ker • Chardin's work (Voyage en Perse, Porter's (Travels in Georgia, Persia, &c. 2 vols. 4to.) was published in 1674, Lé | 2 vols. 4to.) in 1821. CHAP. V. 269 PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE. Baron Texier? and of MM. Flandin and Coste. Persepolis rose again from its ashes in the superb and costly volumes of these latter writers, who represented on the grandest scale, and in the most finished way, not only the actual but the ideal_not only the present but the past-placing before our eyes at once the fullest and completest views of the existing ruins, and also resto- rations of the ancient structures, some of them warm with colour and gilding, which, though to a certain extent imaginary, pro- bably give to a modern the best notion that it is now possible to form of an old Persian edifice. It is impossible within the limits of the present work, and with the resources at the author's command, to attempt a com- plete description of the Persian remains, or to vie with writers who had at their disposal all the modern means of illustration. By the liberality of a well-known authority on architecture,10 he is able to present his readers with certain general views of the most important structures; and he also enjoys the advantage of illustrating some of the most curious of the details with en- gravings from a set of photographs recently taken. These last have, it is believed, an accuracy beyond that of any drawings hitherto made, and will give a better idea, than words could possibly do, of the merit of the sculptures. With these helps, and with the addition of reduced copies from some of MM. Flandin and Coste's plates, the author hopes to be able to make his account fairly intelligible, and to give his readers the oppor- tunity of forming a tolerably correct judgment on the merit of the Persian art in comparison with that of Babylon and Assyria. Persian architectural art displayed itself especially in two * Description del Arménie, de la Perse, | See especially the beautiful plate et de la Mésopotamie, 2 vols. folio, Paris, (No. 112) with which the third volume Didot, 1842-1852. of the Voyage en Perse closes. 8 This magnificent work, the product 10 Mr. James Fergusson, author of of a French Government Commission the History of Architecture, the Palaces under the celebrated Eugene Burnouf, of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored, &c. is entitled simply "Voyage en Perse.". It To Mr. Fergusson's kindness the writer is in six volimes, folio, one volume con of this work was also indebted for taining the"Travels," and the other five several of the illustrations of Assyrian being devoted to plates. It bears no architecture contained in the first date, but was published, I believe, be- / volume. tween 1845 and 1850. 270 Chap. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. forms of building—the palace and the tomb. Temples were not perhaps unknown in Persia, though much of the worship may always have been in the open air; but temples, at least until the time of Artaxerxes Mnemon,? were insignificant, and neither attracted the attention of contemporaries, nor were of such a character as to leave traces of themselves to after times. The palaces of the Persian kings, on the other hand, and the sepulchres which they prepared for themselves, are noticed by many ancient writers as objects of interest; and, notwithstanding certain doubts which have been raised in recent years, it seems tolerably certain that they are to be recognised in the two chief classes of ancient ruins which still exist in the country. The Persian palatial buildings, of which traces remain, are four in number. One was situated at Ecbatana, the Median capital, and was a sort of adjunct to the old residence of the Median kings. Of this only a very few vestiges have been hitherto found; and we can merely say that it appears to have been of the same general character with the edifices which will be hereafter described. Another was built by Darius and his son Xerxes on the great mound of Susa; and of this we have the ground-plan, in a great measure, and various interesting details.? A third stood within the walls of the city of Persepolis, but of this not much more is left than of the construction at Ecbatana. Finally, there was in the neighbourhood of Perse- polis, but completely distinct from the town, the Great Palace, which, as the chief residence, at any rate of the later kings, The statement of Herodotus to this | near Istakr, commonly regarded as the effect (i. 130), echoed by Strabo (xv. 3, | royal palace of the Persian kings, cannot § 13) is rendered, to say the least, very have been the place where they resided, doubtful by the Behistun Inscription, since the buildings there were, he thinks, where Darius (according to the best quite unfit for a residence. He calls cuneiform scholars) states that he “re them “temple-palaces," or "palace-tem- built temples which Gomates had “ de ples," and regards them as little more stroyed.” (Beh. Ins, col. i par. 14, than high altars for the fire-worship. (See his Palaces of Nineveh and Perse- 2 See Berosus, Fr.16. Compare Polyb. polis, pp. 186-196.) X. 27, $ 12. 6 See above, vol. i. pp. 266, 267. • Herod. v. 53 ; Æschyl. Pers. 3, 4, Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, pp. 161 ; Strab. xv. 3, $$ 3, 6, &c. 364-378. + Ctes. Exc. Pers. $ 15 ; Arrian, Exp. 8 Flandin, Voyage en Perse, pp. 69, Alex. iii. 22; Diod. Sic. xvii. 71, § 7. | 70. Compare “Planches Anciennes," 5 Mr. Fergusson holds that the ruins | tom. ii. pls. 58 and 61. $ 5). CHAP. V. 271 GREAT PALACE AT PERSEPOLIS. Alexander burnt, and of which the remains still to be seen are ample, constituting “by far the most remarkable group of buildings now existing in this part of Asia.”9 It is to this last edifice, or group of edifices, that the reader's attention will be specially directed in the following pages. Here the greatest of the Persian monarchs seem to have built the Royal Tombs Nakhsh.i. Rustam SRUINS Pulver Plain of Merdashé Ruhi R. Margo PERSEPOLIS N:1. GENERAL PLAN greatest of their works. Here the ravages of time and bar- barism, sadly injurious as they may have been, have had least effect. Here, moreover, modern research has spent its chief efforts, excavations having been made, measurements effected, and ground-plans laid down with accuracy. In describing the Persepolitan buildings we have aids which mostly fail us else- where-charts, plans, drawings in extraordinary abundance and often of high artistic value, elaborate descriptions, even photo- graphs. If the describer has still a task of some difficulty to • Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture, vol. i. p. 188. 22 --- Ver Direction of Tombs- Canal for for Irrigation WANI SOWE B. Ancient gateway, A. Palace. D. Ancient ellfice. E E Remains of old walls and buildings. WE PU NA Canal for Irriga WWW NOW Direction of Palace PLAN OF THE RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS AFTER FCANDIA)N: 2. CHAP. V. 273 PALACE AT PERSEPOLIS—THE PLATFORM. perform, it is because an overplus of material is apt to cause almost as much embarrassment as too poor and scanty a supply. The buildings at Persepolis are placed upon a vast platform. It was the practice of the Persians, as of the Assyrians and Babylonians, 10 to elevate their palaces in this way. They thus made them at once more striking to the eye, more dignified, and more easy to guard. In Babylonia an elevated habitation was also more healthy and more pleasant, being raised above the reach of many insects, and laid open to the winds of heaven, never too boisterous in that climate. Perhaps the Assyrians and Persians, in their continued use of the custom, to some extent followed a fashion, elevating their royal residences, not so much for security or comfort, as because it had come to be considered that a palace ought to have a lofty site, and to look down on the habitations of meaner men; but, however this may have been, the custom certainly prevailed, and at Perse- polis we have, in an almost perfect condition, this first element of a Persian palace. The platform at Persepolis is built at the foot of a high range of rocky hills, on which it abuts towards the east. It is com- posed of solid masses of hewn stone," which were united by metal clamps, probably of iron or lead.12 The masses were not cut to a uniform size, nor even always to a right angle, but were fitted together with a certain amount of irregularity, which will be the best understood from the woodcut overleaf. Many of the blocks were of enormous size ; 13 and their quarrying, transport, and elevation to their present places, imply very considerable mechanical skill. They were laid so as to form a perfectly 550. 10 Supra, vol. i. p. 279; vol. ü. p. | Babylon (Herod. i. 186; Diod. Sic. ü. 8, $ 2). The shape of the clamps at 11 It is uncertain whether the whole Persepolis was like a solid , consisting platform is artificial, or whether the of two nearly equilateral triangles united natural rock was not levelled and made at the apex. (See the woodcut, p. 279.) use of to some extent. MM. Flandin All the metal has been ruthlessly plun- and Coste are of opinion that the site dered. was chosen on account of its presenting 13 M. Flandin speaks of there being a sort of natural platform, which only many blocks ranging from 15 to 17 required a certain amount of levelling mètres (49 to 55 feet) in length, and and squaring to become what it is. from two to three mètres (61 to 94 feet) 12 Lead and iron were the materials broad. (Voyage en Perse, p. 77.) used for clamping stones together at VOL. III. 274 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. smooth perpendicular wall, the least height of which above the plain below is twenty feet.14 The outline of the platform was somewhat irregular. Speaking roughly, we may call it an oblong square, with a breadth about two-thirds of its length;15 w BRO . Masonry of Great Platform, Persepolis. but this description, unless qualified, will give an idea of far greater uniformity than actually prevails. The most serious irregularity is on the north side, the general line of which is not parallel to the south side, nor at right angles with the western one,16 but forms with the general line of the western an angle of about eighty degrees. The cause of this deviation lay probably in the fact that, on this side, a low rocky spur ran out from the mountain-range in this direction, and that it was 14 The early travellers thought that the original height of the platform was 10 or 20 feet more (Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 585). But MM. Flandin and Coste found reason to think that the height had never been much more than it is now, 16 Ker Porter gives as the length of the platform 1425 feet, and as its greatest breadth 926 feet. M. Flandin makes the measures respectively 1519 and 938 feet (463 and 286 mètres). Mr. Fergusson assumes the length to be 1500, and the greatest breadth 950 feet. 16 Here I follow MM. Flandin and Coste, whose accurate survey corrected the vague impressions of former tra- vellers. 17 This spur was never entirely re- ETES Jet AL 21 sul vahuloh UNT DIN 11111111 11 URBO WITH 3:... EASTERN_PROPYLRA 1311 F ioo COLUMNS SOUTH EAST LUUDVODOVODE FUOOUUUUU JE HEMEN UPPER TERRACE Wilson SW EDIFICE CENTRAL SOUTHERN TERRACE 5920 SUS EDIFICE ALACE OF XERXES UUUUUUUUUUU ICS NORTHERN TERRACE DR lil FLDU SUL BALL CISTERN 1 We FU0UUUUUUUU PROPYLAL COM PALACE XERXES DRAIN XERXES FORUHOU Ce PARTIT OF DARIUS 0.00TL LA FUUU UPLURUHHOFUHUHUHU LEAF Bena ES 0UUTAPOUR UHULHUD OLUNUCU A Great stairs, giving access from plain. B Sculptured staircase to hall of Xerxes. Staircases to palace of Xerxes. ey Staircases to palace of Darius. & Stairs to palace of Artaxerxes Ochus. h Steps cut in rock. i Inscription of Darius, M Great mound. Position for throne. T 2 276 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. thought desirable to accommodate the line of the structure to the natural irregularities of the ground. In addition to the irregularity of general outline thus produced, there is another of such perpetual occurrence that it must be regarded as an essential element of the original design, and therefore probably as approving itself to the artistic notions of the builder. This is the occurrence of frequent angular projections and indenta- tions, which we remark on all three sides of the platform equally, and which would therefore seem to have been regarded in Persia, no less than in Assyria,18 as ornamental.19 The whole of the platform is not of a uniform height. On the contrary, it seems to have been composed, as originally built, of several quite distinct terraces. Three of these still remain, exhibiting towards the west a very marked difference of eleva- tion. The lowest of the three is on the south side, and it may therefore be termed the Southern Terrace. It extends from east to west a distance of about 800 feet, with a width of about 170 or 180, and has an elevation above the plain of froin twenty to twenty-three feet. Opposite to this, on the northern side of the platform, is a second terrace, more than three times the breadth of the southern one, which may be called, by way of distinction, the Northern Terrace. This has an elevation above the plain of thirty-five feet.” Intermediate between these two is the great Central or Upper Terrace, standing forty-five feet above the plain, having a length of 770 feet along the west face of the platform, and a width of about 400. Upon this Upper Terrace were situated almost all the great and important buildings. The erection of a royal residence on a platform composed of moved. Remains of it are still to be ter, Travels, vol. i. pp. 583, 584. seen at the N.W.corner of the platform, 2 Fergusson, I. s. C. both inside and outside the boundary : Mr. Fergusson prefers to speak of wall. (See the plan, Flandin, Voyage en the Central Terrace as extending, like Perse, pl. 67.) the others, the entire width of the plat- 18 See vol. i. p. 280. form (Palaces, p. 97); but he allows that 19 M. Flandin says of the effect pro in reality the high level stops at the duced by these irregularities "Elles eastern edge of the platform on which rompent la monotonie que n'aurait pas stands the Chehl Minar, or “ Forty manqué de produire à l'ail la grande Columns," the great building beyond muraille, si elle eût suivi une ligne (his “Hall of a Hundred Columns ") droite." (Voyage, p. 76.) being on the level of the Northern Ter: · Fergusson, Palaces, p. 97; Ker Por- | race (p. 98). CHAP. V. 277 STAIRCASES AT PERSEPOLIS. several terraces involved the necessity of artificial ascents, which the Persian architects managed by means of broad and solid staircases. These staircases constitute one of the most. remarkable features of the place, and seem to deserve careful and exact description. The first, and grandest in respect of scale, is on the west front of the platform towards its northern end, and leads up from the plain to the summit of the northern terrace, furnishing the only means by which the platform can even now be ascended. It consists of two distinct sets of steps, each composed of two PLATFORM UPPER LANDING PLACE LANDINC-PLACE LANDING-PLACE PLAIN Ground-plan of Great Staircase. Front view of same. flights, with a broad landing-place between them, the steps themselves running at right angles to the platform wall, and the two lower flights diverging, while the two upper ones con- verge to a common landing-place on the top. The slope of the stairs is so gentle that, though each step has a convenient width, the height of a step is in no case more than from three to four inches. It is thus easy to ride horses both up and down the staircase, and travellers are constantly in the habit of ascending and descending it in this way. The width of the staircase is twenty-two feet-space suffi- cient to allow of ten horsemen ascending each flight of steps * In the Assyrian palaces the ascents were sometimes by inclined planes. (See vol. i. p. 299, note ?.) 5 Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 585 ; | Flandin, Voyage en Perse, p. 77. 278 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. abreast. Altogether this ascent, which is on a plan unknown elsewhere, is pronounced to be “the noblest example of a flight of stairs to be found in any part of the world.” It does not project beyond the line of the platform whereto it leads, but is, as it were, taken out of it. The next, and in some respects the most remarkable of all the staircases, conducts from the level of the northern platform to that of the central or upper terrace. This staircase fronts northward, and opens on the view as soon as the first staircase (A on the plan) has been ascended, lying to the right of the spectator at the distance of about fifty or sixty yards. It con- sists of four single flights of steps, two of which are central, facing one another, and leading to a projecting landing-place (B), about twenty feet in width; while the two others are on either side of the central flights, distant from them about twenty-one yards. The entire length of this staircase is 212 feet; its greatest projection in front of the line of the terrace whereon it abuts, is thirty-six feet. The steps, which are sixteen feet wide, rise in the same gentle way as those of the lower or platform staircase. The height of each is under four inches; and thus there are thirty-one steps in an ascent of ten feet. The feature which specially distinguishes this staircase from the lower one already described is its elaborate ornamentation. The platform staircase is perfectly plain. The entire face which this staircase presents to the spectator is covered with sculptures. In the first place, on the central projection, which is divided perpendicularly into three compartments, are represented, in the spandrils on either side, a lion devouring a bull, and in the compartment between the spandrils eight colossal Persian guardsmen,1° armed with spears and either with sword or shield. Further, above the lion and bull, towards the edge of Heeren, A siatic Nations, vol. i. p. and Coste. (Voyage en Perse, p. 85.) 147, E. T. 9 Flandin, p. 86. "Fergusson, Palaces, pp. 102, 103. 10 Flandin, pls. 91, 100, and 101. These measures are taken from Ker Ker Porter makes the number only Porter (Travels, vol. i. p. 594). They | seven. (Travels, p. 595.) agree nearly with those of MM. Flandin CHAP. V. 279 VIEW FROM TOP OF GREAT STAIRS. TE IUC EUR RE NE RISE Propylæa, Chehl Minar, and Palace of Darius, from top of Great Stairs, Persepolis. (From Fergusson). CHAP. V. 281 SCULPTURED STAIRCASE TO CHEHL MINAR. is divided horizontally into three bands, each of which has been ornamented with a continuous row of figures. The highest row of the three is unfortunately mutilated, the upper portion of all the bodies being lost in consequence of their having been sculptured upon a parapet wall built originally to protect the edge of the terrace, but now fallen away. The middle and lowest rows are tolerably perfect, and possess considerable in- terest, as well as some artistic merit. The entire scene repre- sented on the right side seems to be the bringing of tribute or presents to the monarch by the various nations under his sway. On the left-hand side this subject was continued to a certain extent; but the greater part of the space was occupied by representations of guards and officers of the court, the guards being placed towards the centre, and, as it were, keeping the main stairs, while the officers were at a greater distance. The three rows of figures were separated from one another by nar- row bands, thickly set with rosettes. 12 The builder of this magnificent work was not content to leave it to history or tradition to connect his name with his construc- tion, but determined to make the work itself the means of perpetuating his memory. In three conspicuous parts of the staircase, slabs were left clear of sculpture, undoubtedly to receive inscriptions commemorative of the founder. The places selected were the front of the middle staircase, the exact centre of the whole work, and the space adjoining the spandrils to the extreme right and the extreme left. In one instance alone, however, was this part of the work completed. On the right hand, or western extremity of the staircase,13 an inscription of thirty lines in the old Persian language informs us that the con- structor was “ Xerxes, the Great King, the King of Kings, the . son of King Darius, the Achæmenian.” The central and left- hand tablets, intended probably for Babylonian and Scythic 11. Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 604. sculpture on the left-hand side is repre- 12 Representations of the sculptures sented below, p. 336. on this staircase are given by Sir R. Ker 13 Rich, Journey to Persepolis, p. 253; Porter (vol. i. pls. 37 to 43), and by Flandin, pl. 90. (The inscription itself MM. Flandin and Coste (Voyage en is given, pl. 111, but is engraved upside Perse, “Planches Anciennes" tom. ii. | doron!) pls. 91 to 110). A small portion of the ! 282 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. translations of the Persian legend, were never inscribed, and remain blank to the present day. The remaining staircases will not require very lengthy or elaborate descriptions. They are six in number, and consist, in most instances, of a double flight of steps, similar to the central portion of the staircase which has been just described. Two of them (e and f) belonged to the building marked as the “ Palace of Darius” on the plan, and gave entrance to it from the central platform, above which it is elevated about fourteen or fifteen feet. Two others (c and d) belonged to the “ Palace of Xerxes." These led up to a broad paved space in front of that building, which formed a terrace, elevated about ten feet above the general level of the central platform. Their position was at the two ends of the terrace, opposite to one another; but in other respects they cannot be said to have matched. The eastern, which consisted of two double flights," was similar in general arrangement to the staircase by which the platform was mounted from the plain, excepting that it was not recessed, but projected its full breadth beyond the line of the terrace. It was decidedly the more elegant of the two, and evidently formed the main approach. It was adorned with the usual bull and lion combats, with figures of guardsmen, and with attendants carrying articles needed for the table or the toilet. The inscriptions upon it declare it to be the work of Xerxes. The western staircase was composed merely of two single flights, facing one another, with a narrow landing-place between them. It was ornamented like the eastern, but somewhat less elabo- rately. It is thus described by Ker Porter | chiefly at the sides of the staircase, (Travels, vol. i. p. 665), Flandin (Voyage where it projected in front of the ter- en Perse, p. 110), and Mr. Fergusson, race. (Flandin, pls. 132, 133.) (Palaces, p. 101); but one of M. Flan Flandin, pl. 137. In the accom- din's plates represents the flights as panying woodcut these attendants are triple, the landing-place between the incorrectly represented as guards. two main flights being divided into two + There were ten guards, armed with portions by an ascent of three or four spears, quivers, and bows, and three steps placed at right angles to the prin inscriptions on the facade of these stairs, cipal stairs. (“ Planches Anciennes," with the lion and bull combat on either tom. iii. pl. 137.) spandril. The parapet wall bore figures 2 The lion and bull combat was four of attendants. (Flandin, pl. 136.) times repeated. The guardsmen were CHAP. V. 283 EAST STAIRS OF PALACE OF XERXES. EOS OLIE 13 A 1 P T URE HANSA L BESLUIT W NUESTS ITTER GROUBLE PRESGAR UISSE ALTRO LLER RESSE SE RELER RE SA East Stairs of Palace of Xerxes. (From Fergusson) @ SHITESNENIE Sa ER an H 1 CACHILAS plan 284 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. A staircase, very similar to this last, but still one with certain peculiarities, was built by Artaxerxes Ochus, at the west side of the Palace of Darius, in order to give it a second entrance. There the spandrils have the usual figures of the lion and bull; but the intermediate space is somewhat unusually ar- ranged. It is divided vertically and horizontally into eight squared compartments, three on either side, and two in the middle. The upper of these two contains nothing but a winged circle, the emblem of Divinity being thus placed reverently by itself. Below, in a compartment of double size, is an inscription of Ochus, barbarous in language, but very religious in tone. The six remaining compartments had each four figures, repre- senting tribute-bearers introduced to the royal presence by a court officer. 00000000000000000002 TOO 0000 po00000000000 000000 OOOO Staircase of Artaxerxes, Persepolis. Existing condition. The other, and original, staircase to this palace (f on the plan) was towards the north, and led up to the great portico, which was anciently its sole entrance. Two flights of steps, facing each other, conducted to a paved space of equal extent with the portico and projecting in front of it about five feet. On the base of the staircase were sculptures in a single line- the lion and bull in either spandril—and between the spandrils eighteen colossal guardsmen, nine facing either way towards a central inscription, which was repeated in other languages on slabs placed between the guardsmen and the bulls. Above the spandrils, on the parapet which fenced the stairs, was a line of figures representing attendants bringing into the palace mate- 5 Flandin, pl. 120. • Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. x. pp. 341, 342. CHAP. V. 285 STAIRCASE OF ARTAXERXES OCHUS. rials for the banquet. A similar line adorned the inner wall of the staircase.? Opposite to this, at the distance of about thirty-two yards, was another very similar staircase, leading up to the portico of another building, erected (apparently) by Artaxerxes Ochus, which occupied the south-western corner of the upper platform. The sculptures here seem to have been of the usual character, but they are so mutilated that no very decided opinion can be passed upon them. Last of all, a staircase of a very peculiar character (h on the plan) requires notice. This is a flight of steps cut in the solid rock, which leads up from the southern terrace to the upper one, at a point intervening between the south-western edifice, or palace of Artaxerxes, and the palace of Xerxes, or central southern edifice. These steps are singular in facing the terrace to which they lead, instead of being placed sideways to it. They are of rude construction, being without a parapet, and wholly devoid of sculpture or other ornamentation. They furnish the only communication between the southern and central terraces. It is a peculiarity of the Persepolitan ruins that they are not continuous, but present to the modern inquirer the appearance, at any rate, of a number of distinct buildings. Of these the platform altogether contains ten, five of which are of large size, while the remainder are comparatively insignificant. Of the five large buildings four stand upon the central or upper terrace, while one lies east of that terrace, between it and the mountains. The four upon the central terrace comprise three buildings made up of several sets of chambers, together with one great open pillared hall, to which are attached no subordinate apartments. The three complex edifices will be here termed "palaces," and will take the names of their respec- tive founders, Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes Ochus: the fourth Flandin, pls. 115 and 121 bis. See | rectly-in his Voyage (“ Planches An- the woodcut, p. 286. ciennes," tom. iii. pl. 129); where there * An inscription of Artaxerxes Ochus, is a representation also of the scanty taken from this staircase, is given by remains of the staircase. Rich in his Journey to Persepolis (pl. Rich, Journey to Persepolis, p. 255. xxiü.), and by Flandin-very incor. | 286 THE FIFTH MONARCHY. will be called the “Great Hall of Audi- ence.” The building be- tween the upper terrace ESIL ENDE Fergusson.) R NE be termed the “Great Eastern Edifice." The “ Palace of Da- rius,” which is one of the most interesting of the Persepolitan buildings, stands near the western edge of the platform, midway between the É “Great Hall of Audi- ence" and the “ Palace of Artaxerxes Ochus." It is a building about one hundred and thirty- five feet in length, and in breadth a little short of a hundred. Of all the existing buildings on the platform it occu- pies the most exalted a position, being elevated from fourteen to fifteen feet above the general level of the central ter- race, and being thus four PIRRTRAG Façade of the Palace of Darius, Persepolis. (From naldea BI COS 10 Ker Porter made this pa. lace measure 170 feet by 95 (Trarels, vol. i. p. 640); but M. Flandin, who traced out the foundation walls on all sides, found the length to be 417 mètres (135 feet) by 293 (971 feet). (See the Voyage en Perse, p. 102.) HAP. V. 287 PALACE OF DARIUS. or five feet higher than the “ Palace of Xerxes."11 It fronted towards the south, where it was approached by a double staircase of the usual character, which led up to a deep por- tico 12 of eight pillars arranged in two rows. On either side of the portico were guard-rooms, which opened upon it, in length twenty-three feet, and in breadth thirteen. Behind the portico lay the main chamber, which was a square of fifty feet, having a roof supported by sixteen pillars, arranged in four rows of four, in line with the pillars of the portico. The bases oo 0 0 0 Ground-plan of the Plaace of Darius. 50 ft. to 1 inch. (From Fergusson). for the pillars alone remain; and it is thus uncertain whether their material was stone or wood. They were probably light and slender, not greatly interrupting the view. The hall was surrounded on all sides by walls from four to five feet in thick- ness, in which were doors, windows, and recesses, symmetrically arranged. The entrance from the portico was by a door in the 11 Fergusson, Palaces, p. 98. 12 The depth of the portico is 30 feet. (Ker Porter, p. 644; Flandin, p. 102.) The positions of these rooms on either side of the original sole entrance to the palace would sufficiently indicate their purpose. It is, however, further marked by the sculptures on the jambs of the doorways, each of which consists of two gigantic guardsmen armed with spears. (Flandin, Voyage en Perse, p. 106.) ? Flandin makes the dimensions of the guard-rooms 7 mètres 20 centimètres by 4 mètres (Voyage en Perse, pl. 113). Fergusson, Palaces, p. 117. Ker Porter says 48 feet. (Travels, vol. i. p. 643.) M. Flandin gives the breadth as 15 m. 50 centim. (nearly 51 feet), and the depth as 15 m. 15 centim. (49 ft. 8 in.) 288 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. exact centre of the front wall, on either side of which were two windows, looking into the portico. The opposite, or back, wall was pierced by two doors, which faced the intercolumniations of the side rows of pillars, as the front door faced the interco- lumniation of the central rows. Between the two doors which pierced the back wall was a squared recess, and similar recesses ornamented the same wall on either side of the doors. The side walls were each pierced originally by a single doorway,4 between which and the front wall was a squared recess, while beyond, between the doorways and the back wall, were two recesses of the same character. Curiously enough, these side doorways and recesses fronted the pillars, not the intercolumniations. No sculpture, so far as appears, adorned this apartment, excepting in the doorways, which however had in every case this kind of ornamentation. The doorways in the back wall exhibited on their jambs figures of the king followed by two attendants, one holding a cloth, and the other a fly-chaser. These figures had in every case their faces turned towards the apartment. The front doorway showed on its jambs the monarch followed by the parasol- bearer and the bearer of the fly-chaser, with his back turned to the apartment, issuing King and Attendants, forth, as it were, from it. On the jambs of Persepolis. the doors of the side apartments was repre- sented the king in combat with a lion or a monster, the king here in every case facing outwards, and seeming to guard the entrances to the side chambers.? At the back of the hall, and at either side, were chambers of very moderate dimensions. The largest were to the rear of the building, where there seems to have been one about forty feet by twenty-three, and another twenty-eight feet by twenty. The * The corner doorway in the left. hand wall was a later alteration, made made probably by Artaxerxes Ochus. (See below, p. 292.) Flandin, Voyage, pl. 117. 6 Ibid. p. 106. ? Ibid. pp. 107, 108. CHAP. V. PALACE OF DARIUS. 289 (after Flandin). South Front of the Palace of Darius, Persepolis, restored WALLP1201020929996 PUOQ 0.0.0.SLC C a.Q.10.SIG O' 0.0 0 0.0 0.0 0 19.9.1920.GOIO delegere po DIDEO 00:20. GOLOIDIDO DOMIQDLOODlole 2008 da Cocos Pahl Poutor 22 con SOOD DOO HP NOOOOOOOOOOOO 11 0100OD DOO OOO 030000.00 OOO Dropro COD DOGO EGO ST 2 TH M EHMET FH TEEN SELE BEE NEED El AM a A 23 I LES 1998 FB STAT ES TODO O BRODDODDODDOP PRO TODO POPROTERODEDOOD OR GOOOOOOOOOOO0Isis WIDT ETTE 'III '10A 290 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY, indication of its feet. It was a me space of an ord doorways here had sculptures, representing attendants bearing napkins and perfumes. The side chambers, five in number, were considerably smaller than those behind the great hall, the largest not exceeding thirty-four feet by thirteen. It seems probable that this palace was without any second story. There is no vestige in any part of it of a staircase—no indication of its height having ever exceeded from twenty-two to twenty-five feet. It was a modest building, simple and regular, covering less than half the space of an ordinary palace in Assyria. 1 Externally, it must have presented an appearance not very dissimilar to that of the simpler Greek temples; distinguished from them by peculiarities of ornamentation, but by no striking or important feature, excepting the grand and elaborately sculptured staircase. Internally, it was remarkable for the small number of its apartments, which seem not to have been more than twelve or thirteen, and for the moderate size of most of them. Even the grand central hall covered a less area than three out of the five halls in the country palace of Sargon.18 The effect of this room was probably fine, though it must have been somewhat over-crowded with pillars.14 If these were, however, (as is probable 16) light wooden posts, 8 Flandin, Voyage, pp. 108, 109. Com. / anta is worn away. pare pl. 135. 11 The entire area covered by the , Mr. Fergusson supposes that every Palace of Darius, even if we include the pillared hall supported a second story, portico, is little more than 13,000 square and that the pillars were intended for feet. The area covered by the Palace of this purpose. He finds a representation Sargon seems to have been about 20,000 of the second story in the curious struc feet ; that covered by the palace of Sen- ture whereon the kings are represented nacherib at Nineveh was 40,000 square as standing in the sculptures upon their yards, or 360,000 feet. tombs. (Palaces, pp. 124-131.) His 12 M. Flandin, in his restoration of arguments, are, as usual, ingenious, but the ground-plan of this palace, makes they have failed to convince me. I the number of rooms fifteen (pl. 121); think the absence of any trace of stairs, but his plan of the actual ruins (pl. 113) which he admits (p. 119), and the non shows thirteen apartments only. discovery in the ruins of any fragment 13 The area of Darius's hall is about of such a sculptured upper story as he 2500 feet; three halls in the palace of imagines universal, quite outweigh the Sargon exceeded 3000 feet. (See above, supposed analogy drawn from the repre vol. i. pp. 282, 292, and 294.) sentations on the tombs. 14 Rich speaks of this building as 19 The actual height of one of the having an écrasé appearance, which he antce is 22 feet. (Ker Porter, Travels, explains as "stuffed and heavy." (Jour- vol. i. p. 644.) It is evident, from the ney to Persepolis, p. 247.) marks of the place where the architrave 15 The non-discovery of any fragment was inserted, that not very much of the of a pillar after all the researches made CHAP. V. 291 PALACE OF DARIUS. plated with silver or with gold, and if the ceiling consisted (as it most likely did) of beams, crossing each other at right angles, with square spaces between them, all likewise coated with the precious metals 16_if moreover the cold stone walls, excepting where they were broken by a doorway, or a window, were similarly decked"?—if curtains of brilliant hues hung across the entrances 18—if the pavement was of many-coloured stones,19 and in places covered with magnificent carpets 20—if an elevated golden throne, under a canopy of purple, 21 adorned the upper end of the room, standing against the wall midway between the two doors—if this were in truth the arrangement and ornamentation of the apartment, we can well understand that the coup-d'oeil must have been effective, and the impres- sion made on the spectator highly pleasing. A room fifty feet square, and not much more than twenty high, could not be very grand; but elegance of form, combined with richness of material and splendour of colouring, may have more than com- pensated for the want of that grandeur which results from mere size. If it be enquired how a palace of the dimensions described can have sufficed even for one of the early Persian kings, the reply must seemingly be, that the building in question can only have contained the public apartments of the royal resi- dence—the throne-room, banqueting-rooms, guard-rooms, etc., - and that it must have been supplemented by at least one other edifice of a considerable size, the Gynæceum or “House of the Women."22 There is ample room on the platform for such a building, either towards the east, where the ground is now occupied by a high mound of rubbish, or on the west, towards the edge of the platform, where traces of a large is strong evidence that the pillars were | not of stone. That those at Ecbatana were mainly of wood plated with gold and silver, we know from Polybius. (See above, vol. ii. p. 265; and for the large employment of wood in the Perse- politan interiors, see Q. Curt. v. 7. Compare also on the whole subject Fer. gusson, Palaces, pp. 151, 152.) 16 Polyb. x. 27, § 10. 17 Æschyl. Pers. 161; Philostr. Imag. ii. 32. 18 Esther, i. 7. 19 Ibid. ji. 6. 20 Athen. Deipn. xii. p. 514, C. 21 Ibid. 22 The separation of the Gynæceum from the rest of the palace is apparent from Esther, ii, 13 ; v. 1. U 2 292 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. edifice were noted by Niebuhr.23 On the whole, this latter situation seems to be the more probable; and the position of the Gynæceum in this quarter may account for the alteration made by Artaxerxes Ochus in the palace of Darius, which now seriously interferes with its symmetry. Artaxerxes cut a door- way in the outer western wall, and another opposite to it in the western wall of the great hall, adding at the same time a second staircase to the building, which thus became accessible from the west no less than from the south. It has puzzled the learned in architecture to assign a motive for this alteration." May we not find an adequate one in the desire to obtain a ready and comparatively private access to the Gynæceum, which must have been somewhere on the platform, and which may well have lain in this direction ? The minute account, which has been now given, of this palace will render unnecessary a very elaborate description of the remainder. Two grand palatial edifices seem to have been erected on the platform by later kings—one by Xerxes and the other by Artaxerxes Ochus; but the latter of these is in so ruined a condition, and the former is so like the palace of Darius, that but few remarks need be made upon either. The palace of Xerxes is simply that of Darius on a larger scale, the pillars in the portico being increased from two rows of four to two rows of six, and the great hall behind being a square of eighty? instead of a square of fifty feet, with thirty-six instead of sixteen pillars to support its roof. On either side of the hall, and on either side of the portico, were apartments like those already 23 Voyage en Arabie, tom. ii. p. 111. ' Of the staircase to this palace I This is the building marked F on his have already spoken. (Supra, p. 285.) plan (pl. xvii.). M. Flandin also marks The other remains are a few walls and these ruins. (Voyage en Perse, pl. 67, the bases of some nineteen columns, of No. 74.) They have been accidentally which four seem to belong to a portico omitted in the Plan, p. 275. of sixteen pillars in two rows of eight 24 Mr. Fergusson suggests that it was each, directly behind the staircase, while done " to bring the orientation of this the remaining fifteen belonged to a hall building, so far as was possible, into of sixteen columns, arranged in four accordance with that of the other build rows of four each, which lay behind the ings on the platform" (Palaces, p. 116). western part of the portico. (See the But it is difficult to see how a staircase General Plan, and compare Flandin, pl. on the western side of a building could 129.) make it harmonize with edifices whose ? Flandin, Voyage en Perse, tom. i. p. only staircase was towards the north. 113. CHAP. V. 293 PALACE OF XERXES. described as abutting on the same portions of the older palace, differing from them chiefly in being larger and more numerous. The two largest, which were thirty-one feet square,4 had roofs supported on pillars, the numbers of such supports being in each case four. The only striking difference in the plans of the two buildings consisted in the absence from the palace of Xerxes of any apartments to the rear of the great hall. In order to allow space for an ample terrace in front, the whole edifice was thrown back so close to the edge of the upper plat- form that no room was left for any chambers at the back, since the hall itself was here brought almost to the very verge of the sheer descent from the central to the low southern terrace. In ornamentation the palaces also very closely resembled each other, the chief difference being that the combats of the king with lions and mythological monsters, which form the regular ornamentation of the side-chambers in the palace of Darius, occur nowhere in the residence of his son, where they are replaced by figures of attendants bringing articles for the toilet or the table, like those which adorn the main staircase of the older edifice. Figures of the same kind also ornament all the windows in the palace of Xerxes. A tone of mere sensual enjoyment is thus given to the later edifice, which is very far from characterizing the earlier; and the decline of morals at the Court, which history indicates as rapid about this period, is seen to have stamped itself, as such changes usually do, upon the national architecture. • Supra, p. 287. | Representations of this kind occupy the * Flandin, Voyage, “ Planches An. 1 jambs of the three back doors towards ciennes," pl. 131. the southern steps, and those of all the These pillars were placed, as usual, windows in the building. The inner towards the middle of the apartment, doors of the side apartments represent and were arranged in a square. (See servants with towels and perfumes. The the Plan, supra, p. 275.) doors leading from the side apartments Room was left here for just a narrow into the great hall have the king under strip of pavement, on which opened out the parasol. The same representation a door from the great hall, and from occurs on the two front doors leading which two narrow sets of steps led east out into the portico. The side doors ward and westward to the southern ter leading on to the portico have guards. race. On this terrace were probably Numerous inscriptions in various parts placed the apartments of the attendants, of the building ascribe its construction officers of the Court, guards, &c. to Xerxes. * Flandin, Voyage en Perse, p. 113. | 294 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. A small building, at the distance of about twenty or twenty- five yards from the eastern wall of the palace of Xerxes, possesses a peculiar interest, in consequence of its having some claims to be considered the most ancient structure upon the platform. It consists of a hall and portico, in size, propor- tions, and decoration almost exactly resembling the corre- sponding parts of Darius's palace, but unaccompanied by any trace of circumjacent chambers, and totally devoid of inscrip- tions.10 The building is low, on the level of the northern, rather than on that of the central terrace, and is indeed half buried in the rubbish which has accumulated at its base. Its fragments are peculiarly grand and massive, while its sculptures are in strong and bold relief. There can be little doubt but that it was originally, like the hall and portico of Darius, sur- rounded on three sides by chambers. These, however, have entirely disappeared, having probably been pulled down to furnish materials for more recent edifices. Like the palaces of Xerxes and Artaxerxes Ochus, and unlike the palace of Darius, the building faces to the north, which is the direction naturally preferred in such a climate. We may suppose it to have been the royal residence of the earlier times, the erection of Cyrus or Cambyses, and to have been intended especially for summer use, for which its position well fitted it. Darius, wishing for a winter palace at Persepolis, as well as a summer one, took pro- bably this early palace for his model, and built one as nearly as possible resembling it, except that, for the sake of greater warmth, he made his new erection face southwards. Xerxes, dissatisfied with the size of the old summer palace, built a new one at its side of considerably larger dimensions, using perhaps some of the materials of the old palace in his new building. Finally, Artaxerxes Ochus made certain additions to the palace 8 Called the “South-eastern Edifice" | of this ancient edifice, and considered on the Plan. that the extra depth had been given on 9 See the remarks of Mr. Fergusson account of the southern aspect of the (Palaces, pp. 131-133). later building ; but M. Flandin's mea. 10 Rich, Journey to Persepolis, p. 250; surements show that the two porches, Flandin, Voyage, pp. 115, 116. like the two halls, were as nearly as Ir. Fergusson supposed the porch possible of the same size. of Darius's palace to be deeper than that I 11 Mr' Foyage, pp. 115, 116, CHAP. V. 295 PROPYLÆA. of Xerxes on its western side, and at the same time added a staircase and a doorway to the winter residence of Darius. Thus the Persepolitan palace, using the word in its proper sense of royal residence, attained its full dimensions, occupying the southern half of the great central platform, and covering with its various courts and buildings a space 500 feet long by 375 feet wide, or nearly the space covered by the less ambitious of the palaces of Assyria.12 Besides edifices adapted for habitation, the Persepolitan platform sustained two other classes of buildings. These were propylæa, or gateways-places commanding the approach to great buildings, where a guard might be stationed to stop and examine all comers—and halls of a vast size, which were pro- bably throne-rooms, where the monarch held his court on grand occasions, to exhibit himself in full state to his subjects. The propylæa upon the platform appear to have been four in number. One, the largest, was directly opposite the centre of the landing-place at the top of the great stairs which gave access to the platform from the plain. This consisted of a noble apartment, eighty-two feet square,? with a roof supported by four magnificent columns, each between fifty and sixty feet high. The walls of the apartment were from sixteen to seven- teen feet thick. Two grand portals, each twelve feet wide by thirty-six feet high," led into this apartment, one directly facing the head of the stairs, and the other opposite to it, towards the east. Both were flanked with colossal bulls, those towards the staircase being conventional representations of the real animal, while the opposite pair are almost exact reproductions of the winged and human headed bulls, with which the Assyrian dis- 12 The Palace of Sargon (exclusive of | 9 inches. (Palaces, p. 108.) its Temple) was a rectangle of 500 by See the General Plan, p. 275. I 400 feet. (See vol. i. p. 281.) agree with Mr. Fergusson (Palaces, p. See Flandin's Voyage en Perse, pl. 107), that the three doorways of this 73; Fergusson, Palaces, p. 107. | building of which traces remain must ? Ker Porter gives the height as have been connected by walls. The nearly 50 feet (Travels, vol. i. p. 590). rough faces of the great piers on the M. Flandin makes it 16 mètres 58 centi. sides opposite to the doorways prove mètres (Voyage, p. 83), which is a little this. See the woodcut on next page. more than 54 feet. Mr. Fergusson 1 Flandin, p. 78. allows for the height only 46 feet 296 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. coveries have made us so familiar. The accompanying wood- cut, which is taken from a photograph, exhibits this inner pair in their present condition. The back of one of the other pair is also visible. Two of the pillars—which alone are still standing-appear in their places, intervening between the front and the back gateway. ETTE Great Propylæa of Xerxes (from a photograph). The walls which enclosed this chamber, notwithstanding their immense thickness, have almost entirely disappeared. On the southern side alone, where there seems to have been a third doorway, unornamented, are there any traces of them. We must conclude that they were either of burnt brick or of small blocks of stone, which the natives of the country in later times found it convenient to use as material for their own buildings. 5 See above, vol. i. p. 288. 6 This is the case generally with the walls of the Persepolitan buildings, which have vanished, leaving only the great blocks which formed the sides of doorways and windows. Mr. Fergusson conjectures that their entire disappear- ance is due to the fact that their ma- terial was mere sun-dried brick (Palaces, p. 125). But the hypothesis of the text is at least as probable. CHAP. V. 297 PROPYLÆA. An edifice, almost exactly similar to this, but of very inferior dimensions, occupied a position due east of the palace of Darius, and a little to the north of the main staircase leading to the terrace in front of the palace of Xerxes. The bases of two pillars and the jambs of three doorways remain, from which it is easy to reconstruct the main building. Its position seems to mark it as designed to give entrance to the structure, whatever it was, which occupied the site of the great mound (Mon the Plan) east of Darius's palace, and north of the palace of his son. The ornamentation, however, 10 would rather connect it with the more eastern of the two great pillared halls, which will have to be described presently. A third edifice of the same kind stood in front of the great eastern hall, at the distance of about seventy yards from its portico. This building is more utterly ruined than either of the preceding, 11 and its dimensions are open to some doubt. On the whole, it seems probable that it resembled the great propylæa at the head of the stairs leading from the plain rather than the central propylæa just described. Part of its orna- mentation was certainly a colossal bull, though whether human- headed or no cannot be determined. The fourth of the propylæa was on the terrace whereon stood the palace of Xerxes, and directly fronting the landing-place at the head of its principal stairs, just as the propylæa first described fronted the great stairs leading up from the plain. 116). * The chamber here spoken of was, hitherto unexamined. If it is really a 51 feet equare instead of 82 (Flandin, heap of ruins, and not a natural eleva- Voyage, pl. 145). The height of the tion of the soil, it must be well worth doorways was about 20 feet, and the the most careful exploration. width 6 feet 6 inches (ibid. tom. i. p. 10 Two of the gateways of this edi. fice—those facing the north and the The entire structure cannot be re south-bear sculptures of the monarch produced; for there are traces of walls on the throne of state, supported by and colonnades beyond the limits of the figures representative of the nations square chamber, which show that this under his sway, which are almost dupli- edifice had peculiarities distinguishing cates of those on the back doors of the it from the other buildings of the same “Hall of a Hundred Columns.” (Infra, general character upon the platform. p. 301.) 9 This mound has been supposed to • 1 Nothing remains but the founda- mark the site of the banqueting-hall tions of one portal—that facing the burnt by Alexander (Ker Porter, Tra- | south-and the base of a single pillar. vels, vol. i. pp. 646-650). It has been (Flandin, Voyage, pl. 161.) 298 CHAP. V THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Its dimensions were suited to those of the staircase which led to it, and of the terrace on which it was placed. It was less than one-fourth the size of the great propylæa, and about half that of the propylæa which stood the nearest to it. The bases of the four pillars alone remain in situ ; 12 but, from the proportions thus obtained, the position of the walls and door- ways is tolerably certain. 18 We have now to pass to the most magnificent of the Perse- politan buildings—the Great Pillared Halls—which constitute the glory of Arian architecture, and which, even in their ruins, provoke the wonder and admiration of modern Europeans, familiar with all the triumphs of Western art, with Grecian temples, Roman baths and amphitheatres, Moorish palaces, Turkish mosques, and Christian cathedrals.14 Of these pillared halls, the Persepolitan platform supports two, slightly differing in their design, but presenting many points of agreement. They bear the character of an earlier and a later building- a first effort in the direction which circumstances compelled the architecture of the Persians to take, and the final achievement of their best artists in this kind of building. Nearly midway in the platform between its northern and its southern edges, and not very far from the boundary of rocky mountain on which the platform abuts towards the east, is the vast edifice which has been called with good reason the “ Hall of a Hundred Columns,” since its roof was in all probability? 12 Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 655 ; , middle ages that comes up to it is Milan Flandin, Voyage, p. 110. Cathedral, which covers 107,800 feet, 13 In the propylæa, the distance be and (taken all in all) is perhaps the tween the pillars and the outer walls is building that resembles it most both always almost exactly that of the inter in style and the general character of the columniations. The width of the por effect it must have produced on the tals is a little less. spectator." (Palaces, pp. 171, 172. 14 Mr. Fergusson says of the Chehl Compare the same writer's Handbook on Minar, or “Great Hall of Xerxes " Architecture, vol. i. p. 197.) “ We have no cathedral in England that Fergusson, Palaces, p. 175. .at all comes near it in dimensions ; nor ? The evidence on the point is unfor- indeed in France or Germany is there tunately very incomplete, since, out of one that covers so much ground. Co the 116 pillar bases which the hall and logne comes nearest to it ...; but, of porch are supposed to have contained, course, the comparison is hardly fair, eight only-six in the ball, and two in as these buildings had stone roofs, and the porch-have been discovered. Seven were far higher. But in linear horizon. | of the eight, moreover, are in one line. tal dimensions the only edifice of the Still, as the positions of the eight pillar CHAP. V. 299 HALL OF A HUNDRED COLUMNS. supported by that number of pillars. This building consisted of a single magnificent chamber, with a portico, and probably guard-rooms, in front, of dimensions quite unequalled upon the platform. The portico was 183 feet long by 52 feet deep, and was sustained by sixteen pillars, about 35 feet high, arranged in two rows of eight. The great chamber behind was a square of 227 feet," and had therefore an area of about 51,000 feet. Over this vast space were distributed, at equal distances from one another, one hundred columns, each 35 feet high, arranged in ten rows of ten each, every pillar thus standing at a distance of nearly 20 feet from any other. The four walls which enclosed this great hall had a uniform thickness of 10 feet, and were each pierced at equal intervals by two doorways, the doorways being thus exactly opposite to one another, and each looking down an avenue of columns. In the spaces of wall on either side of the doorways, eastward, westward, and southward, were three niches, all square-topped, and bearing the ornamen- tation which is universal in the case of all niches, windows, and doorways in the Persepolitan ruins (see overleaf). In the north- ern, or front, wall, the niches were replaced by windows, looking upon the portico, excepting towards the angles of the building, where niches were retained, owing to a peculiarity in the plan of the edifice which has now to be noticed. The portico, instead of being, as in every other Persian instance, of the same width with the building which it fronted, was 44 feet narrower, its bases discovered are exactly such as M. Flandin, 37 feet. (Voyage, pl. 168 they would have been if the whole of bis.) the hall and portico had been spaced Flandin, Voyage en Perse, pl. 149. out equally with 116 pillars, and as Ker Porter made the dimensions some- all the other large rooms on the plat what less. According to him, the build- form are thus spaced out, it seems best ing is a square of 210 feet. (Travels, to accept the conclusions of M. Flandin vol. i. p. 662.) and Mr. Fergusson with respect to the • So Flandin (pl. 149). Mr. Fer- edifice. gusson says that the front wall was * Not a single one of the pillars is | thicker than the others. (Palaces, p. DOW standing, nor has it been found 176.) possible, though the ground is covered M. Flandin thought (Voyage, p. with fragments, to obtain the height of 121) that the front wall had contained one by actual measurement. The height three windows only (all in the space is therefore calculated from the diameter, between the two doorways) and six which is so small that, according to Mr. niches. But Ker Porter, who visited Fergusson, they could not have exceeded the ruins thirty years earlier, distin- 35 (Palaces, p. 177), or, according to l guished seven windows. (Trarels, 1. s. c.) 300 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. anto projecting from the front wall, not at either extremity, but at the distance of 11 feet from the corner. While the porch was thus contracted, so that the pillars had to be eight in each row instead of ten, space was left on either side for a narrow guard-room opening on to the porch, indications of which are seen in the doorways placed at right angles to the front wall, which are ornamented with the usual figures of sol- M للللللللللللل Ornament over Windows, Persepolis. diers armed with spear and shield. It has been suggested that the hall was, like the smaller pillared chambers upon the plat- form, originally surrounded on three sides by a number of lesser apartments ;8 and this is certainly possible: but no trace remains of any such buildings. The ornamentation which exists seems to show that the building was altogether of a public character. Instead of exhibiting attendants bringing articles for the toilet or the banquet, it shows on its doors the monarch, either engaged in the act of destroying symbolical & Fergusson, Palaces, pp. 177, 178. The writer's main arguments are the | from the other edifices. It must be admitted that the sculptures on the side doorways are identical with those which eastern, western, and southern sides of the building, and the analogy derived Darius. CHAP. V. 301 HALL OF A HUNDRED COLUMNS. monsters, or seated on his throne under a canopy, with the tiara on his head, and the golden sceptre in his right hand. The throne representations are of two kinds. On the jambs of the great doors leading out upon the porch, we see in the top com- partment the monarch seated under the canopy, accompanied by five attendants, while below him are his guards, arranged in JULI Gateway to Hall of a Hundred Columns (from a photograph). five rows of ten each, some armed with spears and shields, others with spears, short swords, bows and quivers.' Thus the two portals together exhibit the figures of 200 Persian guardsmen in attendance on the person of the king. The doors at the back of the building present us with a still more curious sculpture. On these the throne appears elevated on a lofty platform, the stages of which, three in number, are upheld by figures in different costumes, 10 representing apparently the natives of all See Flandin, Voyage en Perse, p. 123, and pl. 154 ; Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. pl. 49. 10 In the woodcut above two rows of figures only are seen. The accumula tion of rubbish at the base of the monu- | ment conceals the figures of the third or lowest row. 302 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. the different provinces of the Empire. It is a reasonable con- jecture that this great hall was intended especially for a throne- room, and that in the representations on these doorways we have figured a structure which actually existed under its roof (probably at t in the plan)—a platform reached by steps, whereon, in the great ceremonies of state, the royal throne was placed, in order that the monarch might be distinctly seen at one and the same time by the whole Court." The question of the lighting of this huge apartment presents some difficulties. On three sides, as already observed, the hall had (so far as appears) no windows—the places where windows might have been expected to occur being occupied by niches. The apparent openings are consequently reduced to some fifteen, viz., the eight doorways, and seven windows, which looked out upon the portico, and were therefore overhung and had a north aspect. It is clear that sufficient light could not have entered the apartment from these—the only visible—aper- tures. We must therefore suppose either that the walls above the niches were pierced with windows, which is quite possible,12 or else that light was in some way or other admitted from the roof. The latter is the supposition of those most competent to decide.13 M. Flandin conjectures that the roof had four aper- tures, placed at the points where the lines drawn from the northern to the southern, and those drawn from the eastern to the western, doors would intersect one another.14 He seems to suppose that these openings were wholly unpro- tected, in which case they would have admitted, in a very inconvenient way, both the sun and the rain. May we not presume that, if such openings existed, they were guarded by louvres such as have been regarded as probably lighting 11 See the representation of M. Flan- 1 13 Mr. Fergusson, as well as M. Flan. din (Voyage, pl. 112). din, brings light into this hall from the 12 It is generally allowed that the roof (Palaces, p. 178); but by a more windows of Solomon's temple (1 K. vi. complicated and (I think) less probable 4) were in the upper part of the wall, arrangement above the point reached by the sur Flandin, Voyage en Perse, pls. 158 rounding chambers (verses 5-10). On and 159. Compare the Plan (supra, p. the high position of windows in the 275), where the spaces on which the buildings represented by the Assyrians, light would have fallen are indicated by see above, vol. i. p. 307. dotted lines. CHAP. V. CHEHL MINAR OR GREAT HALL OF AUDIENCE. 303 the Assyrian halls, and of which a representation has already been given ?15 The portico of the Hall of a Hundred Columns was flanked on either side by a colossal bull,le standing at the inner angle of the antæ, and thus in some degree narrowing the entrance. Its columns were fluted, and had in every case the complex capital, which occurs also in the great propylæa and in the Hall of Xerxes. It was built of the same sort of massive blocks as the south-eastern edifice, or Ancient Palace—blocks often ten feet square by seven feet thick, and may be ascribed pro- bably to the same age as that structure. Like that edifice, it is situated somewhat low; it has no staircase, and no inscrip- tion. We may fairly suppose it to have been the throne-room or great hall of audience of the early king who built the South- eastern Palace. We have now to describe the most remarkable of all the Persepolitan edifices—a building the remains of which stretch nearly 350 feet in one direction, while in the other they extend 246 feet.” Its ruins consist almost entirely of pillars, which are divided into four groups. The largest of these was a square of thirty-six pillars, arranged in six rows of six, all exactly equi- distant from one another, and covering an area of above 20,000 square feet.” On three sides of this square, eastward, north- ward, and westward, were magnificent porches, each consisting of twelve columns, arranged in two rows, in line with the pillars of the central cluster. These porches stood at the distance of seventy feet from the main building, and have the appearance 15 Supra, vol. i. p. 304. 16 Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 662; Flandin, Voyage, p. 120. Compare pls. 148 and 148 bis. The bulls are terribly mutilated, and it is even doubtful whether they were of the human-headed or the purely animal type. M. Flan- din's general views of the ruins favour the former, while his restorations (pls. 151 and 159) adopt the latter, view. ? Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 662 and pl. 51. 2 I follow here the measurements of M. Flandin, who makes the distance from the extreme eastern to the extreme western pillars 105 mètres 98 centi- mètres (Voyage, pl. 90), and that from the extreme northern to the extreme southern ones 75 mètres. 3 The side of the square is said to be 434 mètres (Flandin, p. 100), or about 1424 feet. The area would consequently be 20,3067 square feet. • Ker Porter says 60 feet (Travels, vol. i. p. 636); but M. Flandin made the distance 22 mètres 50 centimètres in the case of the side groups, and 22 mètres 83 centimètres in the case of the 304 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. of having been entirely separate from it. They are 142 feet long, by thirty broad, and thus cover each an area of 4260 feet. The most astonishing feature in the whole building is the height of the pillars. These, according to the measure- ments of M. Flandin, had a uniform altitude throughout the building of sixty-four feet. Even in their ruin, they tower over every other erection upon the platform, retaining often, in spite of the effects of time, an elevation of sixty feet.? The capitals of the pillars were of three kinds. Those of the side colonnades were comparatively simple: they consisted, in O CON Double Griffin Capital, Persepolis. each case, of a single member, formed, in the eastern colonnade, of two half-griffins, with their heads looking in opposite di- rections ;8 and, in the western colonnade, of two half-bulls, arranged in the same manner. The capitals of the pillars in the northern colonnade, which faced the great sculptured stair- case, and constituted the true front of the building, were of a very complex character. They may be best viewed as com- posed of three distinct members—first, a sort of lotus-bud, accompanied by pendant leaves; then, above that, a member, front one. These measurements, how ever, were made from centre to centre of the pillar bases. (See pl. 90.) | 6 Flandin, I. s. c. and pl. 168 bis. ? Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 633. 6 Flandin, Voyage, p. 99. 8 Flandin, Voyage, p. 100. Compare pl. 93. Ibid. pl. 92. 306 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Bell-shaped, and ornamented with a double or triple row of pendant lotus-leaves, some rounded, some narrowed to a point; they are as graceful as they are rare in their forms, and attract the admiration of all beholders. Above them rise the columns, tapering gently as they ascend, but without any swell or entasis. They consist of several masses of Complex Capital and Base of Pillars in the Great Hall of Xerxes (Persepolis). Another Pillar-base in the same. stone, carefully joined together, and secured at the joints by an iron cramp in the direction of the column's axis.13 All are beautifully fluted along their entire length, the number of the incisions or flutings being from forty-eight to fifty-two in each pillar.14 They are arcs of circles smaller than semicircles, thus resembling those of the Doric, rather than those of the Ionic or Corinthian order. The cutting of all is very exact and regular. quently that the area under the centre pillars must have had a raised floor, probably of wood, level with the top of the upper step. (See Fergusson, Palaces, p. 165.) 13 The existence of this cramp now often proves fatal to the columns, which are thrown down by the natives for the sake of it. (See Ker Porter, Travels, vol, i. p. 680.) 14 Flandin, Voyage en Perse, nls. 92 and 93. CAAP. V CHEHL MINAR OR GREAT HALL OF AUDIENCE. 307 There can be little doubt but that both the porches, and the great central pillar-cluster, were roofed in. The double-bull and double-griffin capital are exactly suited to receive the ends of beams, which would stretch from pillar to pillar,15 and sup- Ground-plan of the Hall of Xerxes (after Fergusson). port a roof and an entablature. We may see in the entrances to the royal tombs 16 the true use of pillars in a Persian build- ing, and the character of the entablature which they were intended to sustain.17 Assuming, then, that both the great 15 The distance from pillar to pillar is but, if they had been employed in the not more than 28 feet, considerably less pillared buildings, their remains would than that of the Assyrian halls, which probably have been found. (as has been shown, vol. i. p. 307) were 16 See above, p. 231 ; and compare probably roofed in by beams laid hori. | infra, p. 320. zontally from side to side. Ker Porter 17 The entablature may have been supposes that stone epistylia of this occasionally richer, as in the attempteå length may have been used (Travels, restoration, p. 289, which follows the vol. i. p. 634), and certainly blocks of a pattern of the two tombs immediately length even exceeding this occur in the behind the Great Palace platform. platform (see above, p. 273, note 13); X 2 308 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. central pillar phalanx and the three detached colonnades sup- ported a roof, the question arises, were the colonnades in any way united with the main building, or did they stand completely detached from it? It has been supposed 18 that they were all porticoes in antis, connected with the main building by solid walls - that the great central column-cluster was surrounded on all sides by a wall of a very massive description, from the four corners of which similar barriers were carried down to the edge of the terrace, abutting in front upon the steps of the great sculp- tured staircase, and extending eastward and westward, so as to form the antoe of an eastern and a western portico. In the two corners between the northern antoe of the side porticoes and the anto of the portico in front are supposed to have been large guard-rooms, entirely filling up the two angles. The whole build- ing is thus brought into close conformity with the "Palace of Xerxes," from which it is distinguished only by its superiorsize, its use of stone pillars, and the elongation of the tetrastyle chambers at the sides of that edifice into porticoes of twelve pillars each. The ingenuity of this conception is unquestionable; and one is tempted at first sight to accept a solution which removes so much that is puzzling, and establishes so remarkable a har- mony between works whose outward aspect is so dissimilar. It seems like the inspiration of genius to discern so clearly the like in the unlike, and one inclines at first to believe that what is so clever cannot but be true. But a rigorous examination of the evidence leads to an opposite conclusion, and if it does not absolutely disprove Mr. Fergusson's theory, at any rate shows it to be in the highest degree doubtful. Such walls as he describes, with their antoe and their many doors and windows, should have left very marked traces of their existence in great squared pillars at the sides of porticoes, in huge door-frames and window-frames, or at least in the foundations of walls, or the marks of them, on some part of the paved terrace. Now the 18 This is the theory of Mr. Fergus. / Like that at the south-west corner son (Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis, of Darius's Palace (see woodcut, p. 286), pp. 144-146 ; Handbook of Architecture, or rather four times the size. Chap. V. CHEHL MINAR OR GREAT HALL OF AUDIENCE. 309 entire absence of squared pillars for the ends of anto, of door- frames, and window-frames, or even of such sculptured frag- ments as might indicate their former existence, is palpable and is admitted; nor is there any even supposed trace of the walls, excepting in one of the lines which by the hypothesis they would occupy. In front of the building, midway between the great pillar-cluster and the north colonnade, are the remains of four stone bases, parallel to one another, each seventeen feet long by five feet six inches wide. Mr. Fergusson regards these bases as marking the position of the doors in his front wall ; 3 and they are certainly in places where doors might have been looked for, if the building had a front wall, since the openings are exactly opposite the intercolumniations of the pillars, both in the portico and in the main cluster. But there are several objections to the notion of these bases being the foundations of the jambs of doors. In the first place, they are too wide apart, being at the distance from one another of seven- teen feet, whereas no doorway on the platform exceeds a width of twelve or thir'een feet. In the second place, if these massive stone bases were prepared for the jambs of doors, it could only have been for massive stone jambs like those of the other palaces; but in that case, the jambs could not have disap- peared. Thirdly, if the doorways on this side were thus marked, why were they not similarly marked on the other sides of the building ?5 On the whole, the supposition of M. Flandin, that the bases were pedestals for ornamental statues, perhaps of bulls, seems more probable than that of Mr. Fergusson; though, no doubt, there are objections also to M. Flandin's hypothesis;? and it would be perhaps best to confess that we do not know the ? Flandin, Voyage en Perse, p. 99 ; | tween them. Texier, pl. 93. Compare the General • Mr. Fergusson supposes that the Plan, supra, p. 275. great chamber had five other doors (see Palaces, p. 145. the Plan, p. 307), none of which have * Still, even here there is a suspicious left a trace. circumstance. The positions are not the 6 Voyage en Perse, p. 99. Compare usual ones for doors under porticoes, plate 112, where the idea is carried out. being too near together. It is usual to ? As that isolated statues of bulls, or have three windows between the two indeed of anything else, are not known doors. Here, if there were doors, they to have been in use among the Per- could have had one window only be sians. 310 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. use of these strange foundations, which have nothing that at all resembles them upon the rest of the platform. Another strong objection to Mr. Fergusson's theory, and one of which he, to a certain extent, admits the force, is the existence of drains, running exactly in the line of his side walls, which, if such walls existed, would be a curious pro- vision on the part of the architect for undermining his own work. Mr. Fergusson supposes that they might be intended to drain the walls themselves and keep them dry. But as it is clear that they must have carried off the whole surplus water from the roof of the building, and as there is often much rain and snow at Persepolis,10 their effect on the foundations of such a wall as Mr. Fergusson imagines would evidently be disastrous in the extreme. To these minute and somewhat technical objections may be added the main one, whereof all alike can feel the force -namely, the entire disappearance of such a vast mass of building as Mr. Fergusson's hypothesis supposes. To account for this, Mr. Fergusson is obliged to lay it down, that in this magnificent structure, with its solid stone staircase, its massive pavement of the same material, and its seventy-two stone pillars, each sixty-four feet high, the walls were of mud. Can we believe in this incongruity ? Can we imagine that a prince, who possessed an unbounded command of human labour, and an inexhaustible supply of stone in the rocky mountains close at hand, would have had recourse to the meanest of materials for the walls of an edifice which he evidently intended to eclipse all others upon the platform ? And, especially, can we suppose this, when the very same prince used solid blocks of stone in the walls of the very inferior edifice which he constructed in this same locality ? Mr. Fergusson, in defence of his hypo- thesis, alleges the frequent combination of meanness with magnificence in the East, and softens down the meanness in the present case by clothing his mud walls with enamelled tiles, # See Palaces, pp. 146, 147. • These drains are marked on the General Plan. (Supra, p. 275.) 10 See above, p. 136. CHAP. V. CHEHL MINAR OR GREAT HALL OF AUDIENCE. 311 and painting them with all the colours of the rainbow. But here again the hypothesis is wholly unsupported by fact. Neither at Persepolis, nor at Pasargadæ, nor at any other ancient Persian site," has a single fragment of an enamelled tile or brick been discovered. In Babylonia and Assyria, where the employment of such an ornamentation was common, 12 the traces of it which remain are abundant. Must not the entire absence of such traces from all exclusively Persian ruins be held to indicate that this mode of adorning edifices was not adopted in Persia? If then we resign the notion of this remarkable building having been a walled structure, we must suppose that it was a summer throne-room, open to all the winds of heaven, except so far as it was protected by curtains. For the use of these by the Persians in pillared edifices, we have important historical authority in the statement already quoted from the Book of Esther.13 The Persian palace, to which that passage directly refers, contained a structure almost the exact counterpart of this at Persepolis ; 14 and it is probable that at both places the interstices between the outer pillars of, at any rate, the great central colonnade, were filled with “hangings of white and green and blue, fastened with cords of white 15 and purple to silver rings,” which were attached to the “pillars of marble;" and that by these means an undue supply of light and air, as well as an unseemly publicity, were prevented. A traveller in the country well observes, in allusion to this passage from Esther—"Nothing could be more appropriate than this method at Susa and Persepolis, the spring residences of the Persian 11 It may be objected to this, that building was identical with that of the enamelled bricks were found at Susa, in Persepolitan. Its size, proportions, and near proximity to the palace of Darius. ornamentation were almost exactly the (Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, p. 396.) | same, excepting that (so far as appears) But there was nothing to connect these the Susian hall had no sculptured stair. bricks with Achæmenian times. Pro case. Mr. Loftus made careful search bably they belonged to the old palace at Susa for any indication of walls, but (Dan. viii. 2), whereto Darius merely found no trace of them whatsoever. made additions. (Chaldæa and Susiana, p. 374.) 12 Supra, vol. i. pp. 376-382 ; vol. ü. 15 Buts (yu), translated “fine linen" pp. 564 and 565. in the authorised version, probably * 13 Esther, i. 6. (See above, p. 215.) means simply "white" here, as in 14 The General Plan of the Susian Exod. xxvi. 31. 312 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. monarchs. It must be considered that these columnar balls were the equivalents of the modern throne-rooms, that here all public business was dispatched, and that here the king might sit and enjoy the beauties of the landscape. With the rich plains of Susa and Persepolis before him, he could well, after his winter's residence at Babylon, dispense with massive walls, which would only check the warm fragrant breeze from those verdant prairies adorned with the choicest flowers. A massive roof, covering the whole expanse of columns, would be too cold and dismal, whereas curtains around the central group would serve to admit both light and warmth. Nothing can be con- ceived better adapted to the climate or the season.” 1 If the central cluster of pillars was thus adapted to the purposes of a throne-room, equally well may the isolated colon- nades have served as ante-chambers or posts for guards. Pro- tected, perhaps, with curtains or awnings of their own, of a coarser material than those of the main chamber, or at any rate casting, when the sun was high, a broad and deep shadow, they would give a welcome shelter to those who had to watch over the safety of the monarch, or who were expecting but had not yet received their summons to the royal presence. Except in the very hottest weather, the Oriental does not love to pass his day within doors. Seated on the pavement in groups, under the deep shadows of these colonnades, which commanded a glorious view of the vast fertile plain of the Bendamir, of the undulating mountain-tract beyond, and of the picturesque hills known now as Koh-Istakhr, or Koh-Rhamgherd," the subjects of the Great King, who had business at Court, would wait, agree- ably enough, till their turn came to approach the throne. Our survey of the Persepolitan platform is now complete; but, before we entirely dismiss the subject of Persian palaces, it seems proper to say a few words with respect to the other i Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, p. 375, 2 M. Flandin (Voyage, pl. 112) con- fines the hangings to the main apart- ment; but it is quite possible that the detached colonnades may have been similarly protected. 8 M. Flandin boldly calls them "salles de pas perdus." (Voyage, p. 98.) For a near view of these hills, see Flandin, pl. 62, and for their effect from the platform compare pl. 114. CHAP. V. 313 RUINS AT PASARGADÆ. palatial remains of Achæmenian times, remains which exist in three places—at Murgab or Pasargadæ, at Istakr, and at the great mound of Susa. The Murgab and Istakr ruins were carefully examined by MM. Coste and Flandin : while General Williams and Mr. Loftus diligently explored, and completely made out, the plan of the Susian edifice. The ruins at Murgab, which are probably the most ancient in Persia, comprise, besides the well-known “Tomb of Cyrus," two principal buildings. The largest of these was of an oblong- square shape, about 147 feet long by 116 wide. It seems to have been surrounded by a lofty wall, in which were huge portals, consisting of great blocks of stone, partially hollowed out, to render them portable. There was an inscription on the jambs of each portal, containing the words, “I am Cyrus the King, the Achæmenian.” Within the walled enclosure which may have been skirted internally by a colonnade,' was a pillared building, of much greater height than the surrounding walls, as is evident from the single column which remains. This shaft, which is perfectly plain, and shows no signs of a capital, has an altitude of thirty-six feet, with a diameter of three feet four inches at the base. On the area around, which was carefully paved, 10 are the bases of seven other similar pillars, arranged in lines, and so situated as apparently to indicate an oblong hall, supported by twelve pillars, in three rows of four each." The chief peculiarity of the arrangement on next pag * Flandin, p. 159. Compare the Plan | the circumference 10 ft. 5 in. (First Journey, p. 144), which comes, within & Rich, Journey to Persepolis, p. 240. an inch, to the same. Some of the blocks in the older buildings 10 The blocks were clamped together on the Persepolitan platform are light in exactly the same way as those on ened in a similar way (ibid. p. 248). the great platform. (Supra, p. 273, ? As seems to have been the case at note 12.) Ecbatana. (See above, vol. ii. p. 265.) "Three rows of pillars is no doubt a I suspect that such a colonnade also very strange and unusual arrangement; surrounded the “ Tomb of Cyrus." but M. Flandin's measurements seem (Vide infra, p. 319.) absolutely to preclude a fourth row. & So M. Flandin (Voyage, p. 160). (See the Plan on next page.) It may be Mr. Fergusson, following apparently the remarked, that Solomon's "House of guess of Ker Porter (Travels, vol. i. the forest of Lebanon" seems to have P. 489), calls the height “nearly 50 three rows of pillars only, with fifteen in feet." (Palaces, p. 212.) each. (1 Kings, vii. 3.) • Flandin, l. 8. C. Mr. Morier made 314 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. is, a variety in the width of the intercolumniations, which mea- sure twenty-seven feet ten inches in one direction, but twenty- SJUKWAYAMBAKALAHANNEL ZERLANDEN ELLERADILA U MALAM OD OD KIALAKALAMUALAIKIKLUAN EQUADUHAL TALIKLARI movi!2o upoti!!! wathy lamaran Plan of Palace, Pasargadæ. A, B, C. Pillars with inscriptions. D D. Pillar Bases. E E. Remains of Pavement. one feet only in the other.12 The smaller building, which is situated at only a short distance from the larger one, covers a space of 125 feet by fifty. It consists of twelve pillar bases, arranged in two rows of six each, the pillars being some- what thicker than those of the other building, and placed somewhat closer together. 18 The form of the base is very singular. It exhibits at the side a semi-circular bulge, or- namented with a series of nine flutings, which are carried en- Pillar-base, Pasargadæ. tirely round the base in parallel horizontal circles.14 In front of the pillar bases, at the dis- 12 Flandin, pl. 197. | (Flandin, pl. 197.) 13 The distances here are, respec. 14 See Flandin (l. 8. c.), from whom tively, 25 ft. 10 in, and 18 ft. 4 in. | the accompanying illustration is taken. CHAP. V. 315 RUINS AT PASARGADÆ. tance of about twenty-three feet from the nearest, is a square column, still upright, on which is sculptured a curious mytho- logical figure, 15 together with the same curt legend, which appears on the larger building _“I am Cyrus, the King, the Achæmenian.” There are two other build- ings at Murgab remarkable for their masonry. One is a square tower, with slightly projecting corners, built of hewn blocks of stone, very regularly laid, and carried to a height of forty-two feet.16 The other is a platform, exceedingly massive and hand- some, composed entirely of squared stone, and faced with Masonry of Great Platform, Pasargadæ. blocks often eight or ten feet long, 17 laid in horizontal courses, and rusticated throughout in a manner that is highly orna General view of Platform, Pasargadæ. mental. The style resembles that of the substructions of the Temple of Jerusalem. It occurs occasionally, though somewhat 15 This figure has been noticed by 1 one at Nakhsh-i-Rustam, which will be most travellers. (See Morier, Second fully described presently. Journey, p. 118; Ker Porter, Travels, 17 See the woodcut. Mr. Rich says vol i. p. 492; Rich, Journey to Perse that one block which he measured was polis, p. 241 ; Flandin, Voyage en Perse, 14 feet 2 inches long (Journey to Perse- p. 160, and pl. 198 ; &c.) A representa polis, p. 241). M. Flandin speaks of tion of it is given below, p. 353. there being among the blocks some 15 Flandin, p. 161, and pl. 200. This which are 10 mètres (32 feet 9 inches) building is an almost exact duplicate of ) in length. (Voyage en Perse, p. 162.) 316 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. rarely, in Greece; but there is said to exist nowhere so exten- sive and beautiful a specimen of it as that of the platform at this ancient site.18 The palace at Istakr is in better preservation than either of the two pillared edifices at Murgab; but still, it is not in such a condition as to enable us to lay down with any certainty even its ground-plan. One pillar only remains erect; but the bases of eight others have been found in situ; the walls are partly to be traced, and the jambs of several doorways and niches are still standing 19 These re- mains show that in many respects, as in the character of the pillars, which were fluted and had capitals like those already described, 20 in the massiveness of the door and window jambs, and in Plan of Palace, Istakr. the thickness of the walls, the Istakr Palace resembled closely the buildings on the Persepolitan platform; but at the same time, they indicate that its plan was wholly different, and thus our knowledge of the platform buildings in no degree enables us to complete, or even to carry forward to any appreciable extent, the ground- plan of the edifice derived from actual research. The height of the columns, which is inferior to that of the lowest at the great platform,21 would seem to indicate, either that the building was the first in which stone pillars were attempted, or that it was erected at a time when the Persians no longer possessed the RTRS 18 Fergusson, Palaces, p. 211. 19 Flandin, Voyage, p. 70 and pl. 58. 20 See above, pp. 304-306. 21 The height of the Istakr columns was 25 ft. 7 inches. The shortest of the columns found at Persepolis exceeded 37 feet. (Flandin, pl. 168, bis.) CHAP. V. 317 TOMB OF THE GREAT CYRUS. mechanical skill required to quarry, transport, and raise into place the enormous blocks used in the best days of the nation. The palace at Susa, exhumed by Mr. Loftus and General Williams, consisted of a great Hall or Throne-room, almost exactly a duplicate of the Chehl Minar at Persepolis, and of a few other very inferior buildings. It stood at the summit of the great platform, a quadrilateral mass of unburnt brick, which from a remote antiquity had supported the residence of the old Susian kings. It fronted a little west of north, and commanded a magnificent view over the Susianian plains to the mountains of Luristan. An inscription, repeated on four of its pillar-bases, showed that it was originally built by Darius Hystaspis, and afterwards repaired by Artaxerxes Longi- manus.?? As it was so exactly a reproduction of an edifice already minutely described, no further account of it need be here given. From the palaces of the Persian kings we may now pass to their tombs, remarkable structures which drew the attention of the ancients, and which have been very fully examined and represented in modern times. These tombs are eight in num- ber, but present only two types, so that it will be sufficient to give in this place a detailed account of two tombs—one of each description. The most ancient, and, on the whole, the most remarkable of the tombs, is almost universally allowed to be that of the Great Cyrus. It is unique in design, totally different from all the other royal sepulchres; and, though it has been often described, demands, and must receive, notice in any account that is given of the ancient Persian constructions. The historian Arrian calls it "a house upon a pedestal;”4 and this brief description exactly expresses its general character. On a base, composed of 2 See Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, | Description, tom. ii. pp. 152-156; and pp. 365-376. Flandin, Voyage en Perse, pp. 157-159. Supra, pp. 303-312. On the other tombs of the kings, see ? See above, p. 270, note. Ker Porter, vol. i. pp. 516-524; Rich, : On the tomb of Cyrus, see Morier, pp. 255, 256 ; Flandin, pp. 128-132, and First Journey, pp. 144-146 ; Ker Porter, 140-141. Travels, vol. i. pp. 498-500; Rich, Jour - Arrian, Exp. Alex. vi. 29. Compare ney to Persepolis, pp. 239-244 ; Texier, | Strabo, xv. 3, § 7. 318 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. huge blocks of the most beautiful white marble, which rises pyramidically in seven® steps of different heights," there stands a small“ house" of similar material, crowned with a stone roof, which is formed in front and rear into a pediment resembling that of a Greek temple. The “house” has no window, but one SE ** VU CHILDC Tomb of Cyrus. of the end walls was pierced by a low and narrow doorway, which led into a small chamber or cell, about eleven feet long, seven broad, and seven high. Here, as ancient writers inform us,o the body of the Great Cyrus was deposited in a golden coffin. Internally the chamber is destitute of any inscription, and indeed seems to have been left perfectly plain." Exter- s Ker Porter, p. 499. 6 Most writers speak of six steps only, but MM. Flandin and Coste uncovered a seventh (Voyage, p. 157 ; pls. 195 and 196). Mr. Fergusson suggests that the seven steps represented the seven planets. (Palaces, p. 214.) ? The lowest step or real base of the monument that which was first un- covered by MM. Flandin and Costeis only 13 inches high ; the second is 5 ft. 5 in.; the third and fourth are 3 ft. 5 in. each ; the fifth, sixth, and seventh measure each 1 ft. 10 inches. (See Flandin, Voyage, pl.195.) The measures of Ker Porter (Travels, vol. i. p. 499) and Mr. Rich (Persepolis, p. 243) agree nearly with these, in no case differing more than two inches. & There can really be no doubt of this. (See Ker Porter, vol. i. pl. 14; Flandin, pls. 195 and 196.) Yet Mr. Rich did not see it, but imagined that the roof had been arched ! (Persepolis, p. 242.) * Flandin, pls. 195, 196 ; Rich, p. 10 Arrian, 1. 8. C.; Strab. 1. s. e. There is some Arabic writing and ornamentation in the interior of the 243. CHAP. V. 319 TOMB OF THE GREAT CYRUS. nally, there is a cornice of some elegance below the pediment, a good moulding over the doorway, which is also doubly recessed—and two other very slight mouldings, one at the base of the “house," and the other at the bottom of the second step. Except for these, the whole edifice is perfectly plain. Its present heightabove the ground is thirty-six feet,12 and it may originally have been a foot or eighteen inches higher, for the top of the roof is worn away. It measures at the base forty- seven feet by forty-three feet nine inches. 13 The tomb stands within a rectangular area, marked out 1. 2. 1. Moulding over door. 2. Cornice. by pillars, the bases or broken Tomb of Cyrus, Pasargadæ. shafts of which are still to be seen. They appear to have been twenty-four in number; all of them circular and smooth, not fluted; six pillars occupied each side of the rectangle, and they stood distant from each other about fourteen feet.14 It is probable that they originally supported a colonnade, which skirted internally a small walled court, within which the tomb was placed. The capitals of the pillars, if they had any, have wholly disappeared; and the researches conducted on the spot have failed to discover any trace of them. The remainder of the Persian royal sepulchres are rock-tombs, excavations in the sides of mountains, generally at a considerable tomb (Rich. p. 243; Ker Porter, p. 501), | lers, who, when the lowest step was but nothing of an earlier date than the covered up, necessarily took the dimen- Mahometan conquest. sions of the lowest step but one. 12 Flandin, Voyage, p. 197. Compare " Ker Porter, p. 499 ; Rich, p. 244. pl. 195. The Baron Texier's Plan makes the 13 Ibid. pl. 196. These measures con | pillars on each side eight. (Description siderably exceed those of former travel tom. ii. pl. 82.) CHAP. V. 321 TOMB OF DARIUS HYSTASPIS. it presents itself to the eye of the spectator, resembles a Greek cross.25 This is divided by horizontal lines into three portions, the upper one (corresponding with the topmost limb of the cross) containing a very curious sculptured representation of the monarch worshipping Ormazd; the middle one, which com- prises the two side limbs, together with the space between them, being carved architecturally so as to resemble a portico;16 and the third compartment (corresponding with the lowest limb of the cross) being left perfectly plain. In the centre of the iniddle compartment is sculptured on the face of the rock the similitude of a doorway, closely resembling those which still stand on the great platform; that is to say, doubly recessed, and ornamented at the top with lily-work. The upper portion of this doorway is filled with the solid rock, smoothed to a flat surface and crossed by three horizontal bars. The lower portion, to the height of four or five feet, is cut away; and thus entrance is given to the actual tomb, which is hollowed out in the rock behind. Thus far the rock-tombs are, with scarcely an exception,"? of the same type. The excavations, however, behind their orna- mental fronts, present some curious differences. In the simplest case of all, we find, on entering, an arched chamber, 18 thirteen feet five inches long by seven feet two inches wide, from which there opens out, opposite to the door and at the height of about four feet from the ground, a deep horizontal recess, arched, like the chamber. Near the front of this recess is a further perpen- dicular excavation, in length six feet ten inches, in width three feet three inches, and in depth the same.19 This was the actual 15 See the woodcut on the preceding page, and compare the illustration taken from a photograph, supra, p. 231. 16 It must be understood that the portico is apparent only, not real. The columns are not pillars, but pilasters adhering to the face of the rock. 17 The only important exception is the ruined tomb to the south of the Per- sepolitan platform, which, unlike the others, is situated nearly at the level of VOL. III. the plain, and shews one compartment | only of the three commonly seen. (Flan. din, pls. 162 and 167.) 18 In some of what seem to be the earliest tombs, there is no arch. Both the internal chamber and the recess are squared at top. This is the case in the tomb of Darius Hystaspis. (Flandin, pls. 170 and 171.) * 19 See Flandin, pl. 165. 322 CHAP. V THE FIFTH MONARCHY. sarcophagus, and was covered, or intended to be covered, by a slab of stone. In the deeper part of the recess there is room for two other such sarcophagi; but in this case they have not been excavated, one burial only having, it would seem, taken place in this tomb. Other sepulchres present the same general features, but provide for a much greater number of interments.20 In that of Darius Hystaspis the sepul- chral chamber contains three distinct recesses, in each of which are three sarcophagi, so that the tomb would hold 1. Section of Tomb, Persepolis. nine bodies. It has, appa- 2. Ground-plan of the same. rently, been cut originally for a single recess, on the exact plan of the tomb described above, but has afterwards been elongated towards the left. 1. Ground-plan of Tomb of Darius, Nakhsh-i-Rustam. 2. Ground-plan of another Royal Tomb. Two of the tombs show a still more elaborate ground-plan -one in which curved lines take to some extent the place of straight ones.21 The tombs above the platform of Persepolis are more richly ornamented than the others, the lintels and side- posts of the doorways being covered with rosettes, and the 20 The other tombs contain three, six,/ 21 These tombs are both at Nakhsh- or nine sarcophagi. (Flandin, pls. 163, i-Rustam. Their plans are given by 165, and 169.) Flandin (pls. 170 and 171). CHAP. V. 323 TOWER AT NAKHSH-I-RUSTAM. LIMITETTIIN 1 GO TE OFRECEMOS entablature above the cornice bearing a row of lions, facing on either side towards the centre.22 A curious edifice, belonging probably to the later Achæme- nian times, stands immediately in front of the four royal tombs at Nakhsh-i- Rustam. This is a square tower, com 000000000000 Coo00SODODOC posed of large blocks of marble, cut with great exactness, and joined toge- ther without mortar or cement of any kind. The building is thirty-six feet high; and each side of it measures, as near as possible, twenty-four feet. It is ornamented with pilasters at the cor- ners and with six recessed niches, or false windows, in three ranks, one oversettelsen the other, on three out of its four Entrance to a Royal Tomb, faces. On the fourth face are two Persepolis. niches only, one over the other; and below them is a doorway with a cornice. The surface of the walls between the pilas- ters is also ornamented with a number of rectangular depres- sions, resembling the sunken ends of beams. The doorway, which looks north, towards the tombs, is not at the bottom of the building, but half-way up its side, and must have been reached either by a ladder or by a flight of steps. It leads into a square chamber, twelve feet wide by nearly eighteen high,* extending to the top of the building, and roofed in with four large slabs of stone, which reach entirely across 22 Flandin, pls. 164 and 166. ments (Voyage, p. 142); and Baron Flandin, Voyage en Perse, p. 141. Texier “trous” (Description, tom. ii. p. Ker Porter made the width 22 feet 199). 8 incbes, and guessed the height at 35 3 M. Flandin imagined that he saw feet. (Travels, vol. i. p. 562.) traces of a flight of steps (Voyage, p. There is a curious conflict of testi 141). But perhaps the ruined appear- mony with respect to these markings. ance of the wall below the doorway is Ker Porter speaks of them as “blocks rather the result of an attempt to pene- of marble which project" (Travels, vol. i. trate the building and discover a second p. 563); and Mr. Fergusson, following chamber. him, speaks of "projecting facets" Flandin, 1. 8. c. Ker Porter gueseed (Palaces, p. 206). But Mr. Morier saw | the height at 15 or 16 feet. (I'ravels, “oblong perpendicular incisions" (First p. 562.) Journey, p. 129; M. Flandin “refouille | y 2 324 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. from side to side, being rather more than twenty-four feet long, six feet wide, and from eighteen inches to three feet in thick- 1. Section of Tower, Nakhsh-i-Rustam. 2. Roof of the same. ness. On the top these slabs are so cut that the roof has every way a slight incline;" at their edges they are fashioned between the pilasters, into a dentated cornice, like that which is seen on 5 See the woodcut No. 2. CHAP. V. 325 TOWER AT NAKHSH-I-RUSTAM. the tombs. Externally they were clamped together in the same careful way, which we find to have been in use both at. 20 HIRDA ** hort ni • front view of the Tower, showing excavations. Persepolis and Pasargadæ.? The building seems to have been closed originally by two ponderous stone doors. . Supra, p. 319. ? See above, pp. 273 and 313. Com- pare Flandin, pl. 197. 8 Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 56. “This portal is five feet wide and six 326 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Another remarkable construction, which must belong to a very ancient period in the history of the country, is a gatewaycom- posed of enormous stones, which forms a portion of the ruins of Istakr. It has generally been regarded as one of the old gates of the city ; 10 but its position in the gorge between the town Massive Gateway (Istakr). wall and the opposite mountain, and the fact that it lies directly across the road from Pasargadæ into the plain of Merdasht, seem rather to imply that it was one of those fortified “gates," which we know to have been maintained by the Persians, at narrow points along their great routes," for the purpose of securing high. The grooves for the pivots of its doors are deeply cut, both at the bottom and the top, where they were fastened to the sides of the wall ; so that the ponderous stone divisions must have met in the middle and shut close. The circling marks of their movement are strongly worn in the marble floor. 9 Mr. Fergusson speaks of this gate- way as "a building so monolithic in its character, and so simple and grand in its proportions, that it is impossible to ascribe it to any period subsequent to the days of the Achæmenidæ ; indeed," he says, "so simply graad is it that it might almost be supposed to be older, had we any knowledge of any race capable of executing such a work before their time." (Palaces, p. 205.) 0 Fergusson, 1. 8. c.; Flandin, pp. 70, 71 ; Texier, pl. 137. í Such were the “Pylæ Ciliciæ " (Xen. Anab. i. 2, § 21 ; Arrian, Exp. Alex. ii. 4); the “Pylæ Caspiæ" (Arr. iii. 20); the “Pylæ Syriæ” (Xen. Anab. i. 4, § 4 ; Arr. Exp. Alex. ii. 5); the Pylæ Amanicæ (Polyb. xii. 17, 52); and others. Xenophon (Anab. i. 1. $ 4) is conclusive on the point of there being an actual gateway and gates. CHAP. V. CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE. 327 them, and stopping the advance of an enemy. On either side were walls of vast thickness, on the one hand abutting upon the mountain, on the other probably connected with the wall of the town, while between them were three massive pillars, once, no doubt, the supports of a tower, from which the defenders of the gate would engage its assailants at a great advantage. We have now described (so far as our data have rendered it possible) all the more important of the ancient edifices of the Persians, and may proceed to consider the next branch of the present inquiry, namely, their skill in the mimetic arts. Before, however, the subject of their architecture is wholly dismissed, a few words seem to be required on its general character and chief peculiarities. First, then, the simplicity and regularity of the style are worthy of remark. In the ground-plans of buildings the straight line only is used; all the angles are right angles; all the pillars fall into line; the intervals between pillar and pillar are regular, and generally equal; doorways are commonly placed opposite intercolumniations; where there is but one doorway, it is in the middle of the wall which it pierces; where there are two, they correspond to one another. Correspondence is the general law. Not only does door correspond to door, and pillar to pillar, but room to room, window to window, and even niche to niche. Most of the buildings are so contrived that one half is the exact duplicate of the other; and where this is not the case, the irregularity is generally either slight,13 or the result of an altera- tion,14 made probably for convenience sake. Travellers are impressed with the Grecian character of what they behold, 15 though there is an almost entire absence of Greek forms. The regularity is not confined to single buildings, but extends to the relations of different edifices one to another. The sides of buildings standing on one platform, at whatever distance they may be, are parallel. There is, however, less consideration paid .2 Sir R. K. Porter is the only traveller | the pillared hall in the palace of Darius. who seems to have distinctly recognised | (See the General Plan, p. 275.) the true character of this “Gate." 1 As in the west doorway and stair- Travels, vol. i. p. 515.) case of the same palace. 13 As in the chambers surrounding Rich, Persepolis, p. 244. 332 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. have adopted from Egypt, where the conception of the pillar and its ornamentation were wholly different. We can scarcely doubt that Greece received from this quarter the impulse which led to the substitution of the light and elegant forms which distinguish the architecture of her best period from the rude and clumsy work of the more ancient times.? Of the mimetic art of the Persians we do not possess any great amount, or any great variety, of specimens. The existing remains consist of reliefs, either executed on the natural rock or on large slabs of hewn stone used in building, of impressions upon coins, and of a certain number of intaglios cut upon gems We possess no Persian statues, no modelled figures," no metal castings, no carvings in ivory or in wood, no enamellings, no pottery even. The excavations on Persian sites have been singularly barren of those minor results which flowed so largely from the Mesopotamian excavations, and have yielded no traces of the furniture, domestic implements, or wall-ornamentation of the people; have produced, in fact, no small objects at all, excepting a few cylinders and some spear and arrow heads, thus throwing scarcely any light on the taste or artistic genius of the people. The nearest approach to statuary which we meet with among the Persian remains are the figures of colossal bulls, set to guard portals, or porticoes, which are not indeed sculptures in the round, but are specimens of exceedingly high relief, and which, being carved in front as well as along the side, do not fall very far short of statues. Of such figures, we find two varieties—one representing the real animal, the other a mon- ster with the body and legs of a bull, the head of a man, and the wings of an eagle. There is considerable merit in both 1 The Egyptian pillar represents a | allows that they received the Ionic from stone pier from which the angles bave Asia. (Handbook of Architecture, vol. i. been removed; the Persian is a sub p. 265). stitute for a wooden post. The propor * 3 The clay images of a goddess, found tion of the diameter to the height in by Mr. Loftus at Susa (Chaldæa and Egypt was, at least, double of that Susiana, pp. 378, 379), appear to me not which prevailed in Persia. 80 mueh Persian as primitive Susianian. ? Mr. Fergusson, who derives the They were found at the bottom of a Doric column of the Greeks from Egypt, trench 22 feet deep. Chap. V. 333 MIMETIC ART—FIGURES IN HIGH RELIEF. representations. They are free from the defect of flatness, or want of breadth in comparison with the length, which charac- terises the similar figures of Assyrian artists; and they are alto- gether grand, massive, and imposing. The general proportions of the bulls are good, the limbs are accurately drawn, the mus- cular development is well portrayed, and the pose of the figure is inajestic. Even the monstrous forms of human-headed bulls have a certain air of quiet dignity, which is not without its effect on the beholder;" and, although implying no great artistic merit, since they are little more than reproductions of Assyrian models, indicate an appreciation of some of the best qualities of Assyrian art—the combination of repose with strength, of great size with the most careful finish, and of strangeness with the absence of any approach to grotesqueness or absurdity. The other Persian reliefs may be divided under four beads :- (1) Mythological representations of a man—the king appa- rently 6-engaged in combat with a lion, a bull, or a monster; (2) Processions of guards, courtiers, attendants, or tribute- bearers; (3) Representations of the monarch walking, seated upon his throne, or employed in the act of worship; and (4) Representations of lions and bulls, either singly or engaged in combat. On the jambs of doorways in three of the Persepolitan buildings, a human figure, dressed in the Median robe, but with the sleeve thrown back from the right arm, is represented in the act of killing either a lion, a bull, or a grotesque monster, In every case the animal is rampant, and assails his antagonist with three of his feet, while he stands on the fourth. The lion and bull have nothing about them that is very peculiar; but the monsters present most strange and unusual combinations. * The following is Sir R. K. Porter's estimate of these figures :-“The pro- portions of these animals are admirable; and, though the manner of their execu- tion be sec, yet there is a corresponding grandeur in their forms which perfectly accords with the prodigious scale on which all around them is designed.” (Travels, vol. i. p. 586.) 6 See the woodcut, supra, p. 296. 6 The peculiar mode of dressing the beard observable in these figures is found only in representations of the monarch, and of gods or genii. It occurs in the figures of Oromasdes, in all those cer- tainly representing the king, and in the human-headed bulls, but not elsewhere, 334 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. One of them has the griffin head, which we have already seen in use in the capitals of columns, a feathered crest and neck, a bird's wings, a scorpion's tails and legs terminating in the claws of an eagle. The other has an eagle's head, ears like an ass, King killing a Monster, Persepolis. (From a photograph.) feathers on the neck, the breast, and the back, with the body, legs, and tail of a lion.' Figures of equal grotesqueness, some of which possess certain resemblances to these, are common in the mythology of Assyria, and have been already represented ? Supra, p. 304. & See Flandin, Voyage en Perse, pp. 107, 108, and pl 123. Ker Porter, Travels, pl. 52 ; Flan- din, Voyage, pl. 152. CHAP. V. 335 PROCESSIONAL SUBJECTS. in these volumes ;10 but the Persian specimens are no servile imitations of these earlier forms. The idea of the Assyrian artist has, indeed, been borrowed; but Persian fancy has worked it out in its own way, adding, modifying, and subtracting in such a manner as to give to the form produced a quite peculiar, and (so to speak) native character. Persian gems abound with monstrous forms, of equal, or even superior grotesqueness. As the Gothic architects indulged their imagination in the most wonderful combinations to represent evil spirits or the varieties of vice and sensualism, so the Persian gem-engravers seem to have allowed their fancy to run riot in the creation of monsters, representative of the Powers of Darkness or of different kinds of evil. The stones exhibit the king in conflict with a vast variety of monsters, some nearly resembling the Persepolitan, while others have strange shapes unseen elsewhere. Winged lions, with two tails and with the horns of a ram or an antelope," sphinxes and griffins of half a dozen different kinds, and various other nondescript creatures, appear upon the Persian gems and cylin- ders,12 furnishing abundant evidence of the quaint and prolific fancy of the designers. The processional subjects represented by the Persian artists are of three kinds. In the simplest and least interesting the royal guards, or the officers of the court, are represented in one or more lines of very similar figures, either moving in one direc- tion, 13 or standing in two bodies, one facing the other, in the attitude of quiet expectation.14 In these subjects there is a great sameness, and a very small amount of merit. The pro- portion of the forms is, indeed, fairly good, the heads and hands are well drawn, and there is some grace in certain of the 10 Supra, vol. i. pp. 342, 346 ; vol. ii. | pl. 37.) 14 As in the representations on the I See Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, jambs of the front doors in the “Hall pp. 606, 607. of a Hundred Columns.” (Ker Porter, ** 12 See below, p. 356, and compare pl. 49.) Lajard, Culte de Mithra, pl. xiii. fig. 8; | 15 The only important want of pro- pl xix. fig. 7; pl. xxv. fig. ); pl. li. portion is in the size of the heads, which tigs. 2, 3, 7, &c. is decidedly too great. This is a general 13 As on the great staircase in front | though far from being a universal fault of the Chehl Minar. (Ker Porter, vol. i. 1 in the Persian sculptures. p. 31. 336 CAAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. less, they are sometimes impossible ;' there is a monotonous repetition of identically the same figure, which is tiresome, and If Persia had produced nothing better than this in sculpture, she would have had to be placed not only behind Assyria, but behind Egypt, as far as the sculptor's art is con- cerned. Processional scenes of a more attractive Attendant bringiug a character are, however, tolerably frequent. Kid to the Palace. Some exhibit to us the royal purveyors ar- (Persepolis.) riving at the palace with their train of attend- ants, and bringing with them the provisions required for the table RE 204 Persian Subjects bringing Tribute to the King, Persepolis. (From a photograph). Note particularly the figure on the extreme right in the upper row of Ker Porter's 37th plate (opp. p. 604), the body of which faces the spectator, while the head and legs are in profile, fronting different ways ! 338 CHAP, V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. features, and all finished with the utmost care and delicacy.' The woodcut (page 336), which is taken from a photograph, will give a tolerable idea of the general character of this relief; it shows the greater portion of six groups, whereof two are much injured by the fall of the parapet-wall on which they were represented, while the remaining four are in good preservation. It will be noticed that the animal forms—the Bactrian camel and the humped ox—are superior to the human, and have con- siderable positive merit as works of art. This relative superiority is observable throughout the entire series, which contains, besides several horses (some of which have been already repre- sented in these volumes)," a lioness, an excellent figure of the wild ass, and two tolerably well-drawn sheep The representations of the monarch upon the reliefs are of three kinds. In the simplest, he is on foot, attended by the parasol-bearer and the napkin-bearer, or by the latter only, apparently in the act of proceeding from one part of the palace to another. In the more elaborate he is either seated caryatid figures, or he stands on a platform similarly upheld, in the act of worship before an altar.? This latter is the uni- versal representation upon tombs, while the throne-scenes are reserved for palaces. In both representations the supporting figures are numerous; and it is here chiefly that we notice varieties of physiognomy, which are evidently intended to recall the differences in the physical type of the several races by which the Empire was inhabited. In one case, we have a negro very well portrayed ;' in others we trace the features of Scyths * See Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. pls. 1 used in the decoration of the throne itself. (Supra, vol. i. pp. 393, 394.) In 110. Persia they uphold a sort of platiorm • Supra, vol. ii. p. 302; and p. 180 of on which the throne is placed. (Ker the present volume. Porter, pl. 50; supra, p. 301.) Unlike 5 It must at the same time be ad the Greek caryatids, they support their mitted that the proportion of the animal burthens with the hands as well as with figures to the human is not very well the head. kept. The camel, the horses, and two See above, p. 320. oxen are decidedly too small. 8 A representation of this figure has traceable to Assyria, where we find them Chap. V. 339 ANIMAL REPRESENTATIONS. or Tâtars. It is manifest that the artist has not been content to mark the nationality of the different figures by costume alone, but has aimed at reproducing upon the stone the phy- siognomic peculiarities of each race. The purely animal representations which the bas-reliefs bring before us are few in number, and have little variety of type. The most curious and the most artistic is one which is several times repeated at Persepolis, where it forms the usual orna- DHE Lion devouring a Bull, Persepolis. (From a photograph.) . mentation of the triangular spaces on the façades of stairs. This is a representation of a combat between a lion and a bull, or (perhaps, we should rather say) a representation of a lion seizing and devouring a bull; for the latter animal is evidently powerless to offer any resistance to the fierce beast which has sprung upon him from behind, and has fixed both fangs and elaws in his body. In his agony the bull rears up his fore-parts, and turns his head feebly towards his assailant, whose strong See Flandin, pl. 155; and compare his remarks, tom. i. p. 126. z 2 340 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. . limbs and jaws have too firm a hold to be dislodged by such struggles as his unhappy victim is capable of making. In no Assyrian drawing is the massiveness and strength of the king of beasts more powerfully rendered than in this favourite group, which the Persian sculptors repeated without the slightest change from generation to generation. The contour of the lion, his vast muscular development, and his fierce countenance are really admirable, and the bold presentation of the face in full, instead of in profile, is beyond the ordinary powers of Oriental artists.10 Drawings of bulls and lions in rows, where each animal is the exact counterpart of all the others, are found upon the friezes of some of the tombs, and upon the representations of canopies over the royal throne.11 These drawings are fairly spirited, but have not any extraordinary merit. They reproduce forms well known in Assyria. A figure Fragment of a sitting Lion, Persepolis. of a sitting lion 12 seems also to have been introduced occasionally on the façades of staircases, occurring in the central compartment of the parapet-wall at top. These figures, in no case, remain complete ; but enough is left to show distinctly what the attitude was, and this appears not to have resembled very closely any common Assyrian type.13 The Persian gem-engravings have considerable merit, and need not fear a comparison with those of any other Oriental nation. They occur upon hard stones of many different kinds, as cornelian, onyx, rock-crystal, sapphirine, sardonyx, chalce- dony, &c., and are executed for the most part with great skill 19 Compare, however, the equally bold | Media, where the only representation of drawing of an Assyrian artist, supra, a lion that has been found had exactly vol. i. p. 358. this attitude. (Supra, vol. ii. p. 321.) " Flandin, pls. 154, 155, 156, 164, Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. Ois, 166. Compare above, p. 217. 607; King, Antique Gems, p. 129; 12 In one case (Flandin, pl. 135), Lajard, Culte de Mithra, pp. 1-26, &c. perhaps in more, the sitting lion was A careful examination of the last-named replaced by a sphinx. work will show that the favourite stone 13 The type was, however, known in of the Persian gem-engravers was the CHAP. V. 341 PERSIAN GEM-ENGRAVINGS. and delicacy. The designs which they embody are in general of a mythological character; but sometimes scenes of real life occur upon them, and then the drawing is often good, and almost always spirited. In proof of this, the reader may be referred to the hunting-scenes already given,” which are derived Persian Cylinders. wholly from this source, as well as to the gems figured above, one of which is certainly, and the other almost certainly, of Persian workmanship. In the former we see the king, not struggling with a mythological lion, but engaged apparently in the actual chase of the king of beasts. Two lions have been roused from their lairs, and the monarch hastily places an arrow on the string, anxious to despatch one of his foes before the other can come to close quarters. The eagerness of the hunter chalcedony-a semi-transparent white quartz, the blue variety of which is known as the sapphirine. ? Supra, pp. 227 and 240. 342 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. MS and the spirit and boldness of the animals are well represented. In the other gem, while there is less of artistic excellence, we have a scene of peculiar interest placed before us. A combat between two Persians and two Scythians seems to be repre- sented. The latter marked by their peaked cap3 and their loose trousers,' fight with the bow and the bat- tle-axe, the former with the bow and the sword. One Scyth is receiving his death-wound, the other is about to let loose a shaft, but seems at the same time half-inclined to fly. The steady confidence of the warriors on the one side con- trasts well with the timidity and hesitancy of their weaker and smaller rivals. The vegetable forms represented on the gems are sometimes graceful and pleasing. This is especially the case with palm-trees, a favourite subject of the artists,” who delineated with remarkable success the feathery leaves, the pendant fruit, and the rough bark of the stem. cylinder of Darius The lion-hunt represented on thesignet-cylinder Hystaspis. of Darius Hystaspis 6 takes place in a palm- grove, and furnishes the accompanying example of this form of vegetable life. One gem, ascribed on somewhat doubtful grounds to the Persians of Achæmenian times, contains what appears to be a portrait. It is thought to be the bust of a satrap of Salamis, in Cyprus, and is very carefully executed. If really of Persian workmanship, it would indi- Persian Portrait. cate a considerable advance in the power of (From a gem.) a representing the human countenance between the time of Darius Hystaspis and that of Alexander. Persian coins are of three principal types. The earliest have * Herod. vii. 64. Compare the illus. | 5 See Lajard, Culte de Mithra, pl. XXV. trations in the author's Herodotus, vol. fig. 6 ; pl. li. fig. 2. ü. p. 58 ; vol. iv. p. 53. Supra, p. 227. See the author's Herodotus, vol. iii. ' ? King, Antique Gems, p. 149, and p. 34. | p. lx. of the “ Introduction," note! CHAP. V. 343 PERSIAN COINS. on the one side the figure of a monarch bearing the diadem, and armed with the bow and javelin, while on the other there is an irregular indentation of the same nature with the quad- ratum incusum of the Greeks. This rude form is replaced in later times by a second design, which is sometimes a horseman, sometimes the fore-part of a ship,' sometimes the king drawing an arrow from his quiver. 10. Another type exhibits on the obverse the monarch in combat with a lion, while the reverse shows a galley, or a towered and battlemented city with two lions standing below it, back to back.11 The third common type has on the obverse the king in his chariot, with his charioteer in front of him, and (generally) an attendant carry- ing a fly-chaser behind. The reverse has either the trireme or the battlemented city. 12 A specimen of each type is subjoined :- ACRONACO m Persian Coins. The artistic merit of these medals is not great. The relief is low, and the drawing generally somewhat rude. The head of $ Lajard, Culte de Mithra, pl. lxij. fig. 1 ; Lajard, pl. lxiü, figs. 4 and 5; figs. 7 and 10; Mionnet, Description des pl. lxiv. fig. 5; Mionnet, pl. xix. fig. 4. Médailles, Supplement, tom. viii. pl. xix. 12 Lajard, pl. lxiii. figs. 11, 12, 14; fig. 6. pl. lxiv, fig. 6, Mionnet, Description, pl. • Mionnet, pl. xix. fig. 3. Ixi. fig. 1; Ker Porter, pl. 79, fig. 2; Ge- 10 Lajard, pl. lxiii. fig. 8. senius, Monumenta Phæniciæ, pl. xxxvi. " Ker Porter, Travels, vol. ü. pl. 79, | fig. G. 344 CHAP. V. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. the monarch in the early coins is greatly too large. The animal forms are, however, much superior to the human, and the horses which draw the royal chariot, the lions placed below the battlemented city, and the bulls which are found occasion- ally in the same position,13 must be pronounced truthful and spirited. Of the Persian taste in furniture, utensils, personal ornaments and the like, we need say but little. The throne and footstool of the monarch are the only pieces of furniture represented in the sculptures, and these, though sufficiently elegant in their forms,14 are not very remarkable. Costliness of material seems to have been more prized than beauty of shape; and variety appears to have been carefully eschewed, one single uniform type of each article occurring in all the repre- sentations. The utensils represented are likewise few in number, and limited to certain constantly repeated forms. The most elaborate is the censer, which has been already given.15 With this is Incense Vessel, usually seen a sort of pail or basket, shaped like polis. a lady's reticule, in which the aromatic gums for burning were probably kept. A covered dish, and a goblet with an inverted saucer over it, are also forms of frequent occurrence in the hands of the royal attendants; and the tribute-bearers frequently carry, among Covered Dishes. (From the their other offerings, bowls or basons,16 sculptures, Persepolis.) e? which, though not of Përsian manufac- ture, were no doubt left at the court, and took their place among the utensils of the palace. In the matter of personal ornaments the taste of the Persians seems to have been peculiarly simple. Earrings were com- monly plain rings of gold; bracelets mere bands of the same metal.? Collars were circlets of gold twisted in a very inarti- Pe 13 Lajard, pl. lxij. fig. 14. 14 See above, p. 203. 15 Supra, p. 212. 16 Ker Porter, vol. i. pls. 38, 41, and 42. 17 A form of bracelet with the ends | fashioned like the head of an animal, which was common in Assyria (supra, vol. i. p. 490), is sometimes seen among | the offerings brought to the Persian CHAP. V. 345 PERSIAN FABRICS. ficial fashion,18 There was nothing artistic in the sheaths or hilts of swords, though spear-shafts were sometimes adorned with the representation of an apple or a pomegranate. 19 Dresses seem not to have been often patterned, but to have depended generally for their effect on make and colour. In all these re- spects we observe a remarkable contrast between the Arian and the Semitic Bowls or Basons. (From the same.) races, extreme simplicity characterising the one, while the most elaborate ornamentation was affected by the other. Persia was not celebrated in antiquity for the production of any special fabrics. The arts of weaving and dyeing were un- doubtedly practised in the dominant country, as well as in most of the subject provinces, and the Persian dyes seem even to have had a certain reputation ;à but none of the productions of their looms acquired a name among foreign nations. Their skill, indeed, in the mechanical arts generally was, it is probable, not more than moderate. It was their boast that they were soldiers, and had won a position by their good swords which gave them the command of all that was most exquisite and admirable, whether in the natural world or among the products of human industry. So long as the carpets of Babylon : and Sardis, the shawls of Kashmir and India, the fine linen of Borsippa and Egypt," the ornamental metal-work of Greece, the coverlets of Damascus, the muslins of Babylonia,10 the multiform manu- factures of the Phænician towns, 1 poured continually into Persia Proper in the way of tribute, gifts, or merchandise, it was court by tributaries. (Ker Porter, pl. 41.) But it never adorns the arms of any figure in the sculptures. Was its use confined to females ? 18 Supra, p. 224. 19 Herod. vii. 41. Compare above, p. 174. See vol. i. pp. 393, 398, 399, 487, 494, 506, 507 ; vol. ii. p. 560. ? See Ctes. Indica, $ 21. • Arrian, Exp. Alex. vi. 29. " Athen. Deipnos. xii. p. 514, C. 5 Ælian, Nat. Anim. iv. 46. Compare the arguments of Heeren. (As. Nat. vol. i. pp. 286, 288, E. T.) & Strabo, xvi. 1, $7. ? Herod. ü. 182 ; iii. 47; Ezekiel, xxvii. 7. s See above, p. 216. 9 Amos, iii. 12. 10 Supra, vol. ü. p. 570. 11 Ezek. xxvii. 16; 2 Chr. ü. 14. 346 TAE FIFTH MONARCHY. needless for the native population to engage largely in indus- trial enterprise. To science the ancient Persians contributed absolutely nothing. The genius of the nation was adverse to that patient study and those laborious investigations from which alone scientific progress ensues. Too light and frivolous, too vivacious, too sensuous for such pursuits, they left them to the patient Babylonians, and the thoughtful, many-sided Greeks. The schools of Orchoë, Borsippa, and Miletus flourished under their sway," but without provoking their emulation, possibly without so much as attracting their attention. From first to last, from the dawn to the final close of their power, they abstained wholly from scientific studies. It would seem that they thought it enough to place before the world, as signs of their intellec- tual vigour, the fabric of their Empire and the buildings of Susa and Persepolis. 12 Thales, Anaximander, and Anaxi. į schools of Orchoë and Borsippa, see meues were Persian subjects. On the | Strabo, xvi. 1, § 8. CHAP, VI. 347 THE PERSIAN RELIGION. CHAPTER VI. RELIGION. "Αγάλματα μεν ουκ εν νόμω ποιευμένους ιδρύεσθαι, αλλά και τoίσι πoιεύσι μωρίην én lepovol.—HEROD. i. 131. The original form of the Persian religion has been already described under the head of the third or Median monarchy. It was identical with the religion of the Medes in its early shape, consisting mainly in the worship of Ahura-Mazda, the acknow- ledgment of a principle of evil-Angro-Mainyus, and obedience to the precepts of Zoroaster. When the Medes, on establishing a wide-spread Empire, chiefly over races by whom Magism had been long professed, allowed the creed of their subjects to cor- rupt their own belief, accepted the Magi for their priests, and formed the mixed religious system of which an account has been given in the second volume of this work, the Persians in their wilder country, less exposed to corrupting influences, main- tained their original faith in undiminished purity, and continued faithful to their primitive traditions. The political dependence of their country upon Media during the period of the Median tolerant, and did not seek to interfere with the creed of their subjects. The simple Zoroastrian belief and worship, overlaid by Magism in the now luxurious Media, found a refuge in the rugged Persian uplands, among the hardy shepherds and culti- vators of that unattractive region, was professed by the early The main feature of the religion during this first period was the acknowledgment and the worship of a single supreme God See vol. ii. pp. 322-344. ? Ibid. pp. 344-355. 348 CHAP. VI. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. “the Lord God of Heaven ”3_"the giver (i.e. maker) of heaven and earth”4—the disposer of thrones, the dispenser of happi- ness. The foremost place in inscriptions and decrees" was assigned, almost universally, to the “great god, Ormazd.” Every king, of whom we have an inscription more than two lines in length, speaks of Ormazd as his upholder; and the early monarchs mention by name no other god. All rule" by the grace of Ormazd.” From Ormazd come victory, conquest, safety, prosperity, blessings of every kind. The “law of Ormazd” is the rule of life. The protection of Ormazd is the one priceless blessing for which prayer is perpetually offered. While, however, Ormazd holds this exalted and unapproach- able position, there is still an acknowledgment made, in a general way, of "other gods.” Ormazd is "the greatest of the gods” (mathista bagânâm'). It is a usual prayer to ask for the protection of Ormazd, together with that of these lesser powers (hada bagaibish). Sometimes the phrase is varied, and the petition is for the special protection of a certain class of Deities -the Dii familiares—or “deities who guard the house."9 The worship of Mithra, or the Sun, does not appear in the inscriptions until the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, the victor of Cunaxa. It is, however, impossible to doubt that it was a Herodotus.10 Probably it belongs, in a certain sense, to primi- tive Zoroastrianism, but was kept in the background during the early period, when a less materialistic worship prevailed than suited the temper of later times. 11 32 Chr. xxxvi. 23; Ezra, i. 2. Com- | vol. xi. p. 310.) pare vi. 10. Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. * See above, p. 264. The same phrase xi. pp. 273 and 319. occurs repeatedly. 8 Ibid. p. 324, 1. 18; 327, 11. 28, 29 ; * Note the opening words of the de- cree of Cyrus ("The Lord God of Heaven * Ibid. p. 275, 11. 14, 22, 24. bath given me all the kingdoms of the 10 See Herod. i. 131, ad fin. earth," Ezra, i. 2), and compare them " Compare vol. ii. p. 328 ; and note with the oft-recurring formula at the that though none of the early kings mention Mithra, yet his emblem appears zarka Auramazda, hya imam bumim ada, on all the known royal tombs, except that hya avam asmânam ada . .. hya Darya- | of Cyrus. (See below, p. 352, note 19.) vum hkshayathiyam akunaush." Note also the occurrence of the name See the inscription on the tomb of | Mithridates, "given to" or "by Mithra," Darius. (Journal of the A siatic Society, | in the reign of Cyrus (Ezra, i. 8). CHAP, VỊ. 349 CHARACTER OF THE WORSHIP. Nor can it be doubted that the Persians held during this early period that Dualistic belief which has been the distin- guishing feature of Zoroastrianism from a time long anterior to the commencement of the Median Empire down to the present day. It was not to be expected that this belief would show itself in the inscriptions, unless in the faintest manner; and it can therefore excite no surprise that they are silent, or all but silent, on the point in question.12 Nor need we wonder that this portion of their creed was not divulged by the Persians to Hero- dotus or to Xenophon, since it is exactly the sort of subject on which reticence was natural and might have been anticipated. Neither the lively Halicarnassian, nor the pleasant but some- what shallow Athenian, had the gift of penetrating very deeply into the inner mind of a foreign people; added to which, it is to be remembered that they were unacquainted with Persia Proper, and drew their knowledge of Persian opinions and customs, either from hearsay or from the creed and practices of the probably mixed garrisons 13 which held Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. Persian worship, in these early times, was doubtless that enjoined by the Zendavesta, comprising prayer and thanksgiving to Ormazd and the good spirits of his creation, the recitation of Gâthâs or hymns, the performance of sacrifice, and participation in the Soma ceremony. Worship seems to have taken place in temples, which are mentioned (according to the belief of most cuneiform scholars) in the Behistun inscription. Of the character of these buildings we can say nothing. It has been thought that those two massive square towers, so similar in con- struction, which exist in a more or less ruined condition at Murgab and Nakhsh-i-Rustam, are Persian temples of the 12 The true reading and interpreta- | See vol. ii. pp. 338, 339. tion of the famous passage of the Behis ? Col. i. par. 14. See the remarks of tun inscription (col. iv. par. 4), where Spiegel on the word ayadaná, (Keilin- some scholars have thought they saw a schriften, p. 83); and note that the cor. mention of “the God of lies," is still responding expression in the Babylonian doubtful. Spiegel's translation (Keilin- | transcript is "biti sa ilui,” “ the houses schriften, pp. 31, 33) is far from satis. of the gods." (A8. Soc. Journal, vol. xiv. p. lxxvi.) 13 Supra, p. 241. * Supra, pp. 315 and 323. factory. 350 CHAP. VI. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. early period, built to contain an altar on which the priests offered victims. But the absence of any trace of an altar from both, the total want of religious emblems, and the extremely small size of the single apartment which each tower contains, make strongly against the temple theory; not to mention that a much more probable use® may be suggested for the buildings. With respect to the altars upon which sacrifice was offered, we are not left wholly without evidence. mm The Persian monarchs of the early period, including Darius Hystaspis, re- presented themselves on their tombs in the act of worship. Before them, at the distance of a few feet, stands an altar, elevated on three steps, and crowned with the sacrificial fire.? Its form is square, and Altar. (From a rock-sculp- its only ornaments are a sunken squared ture, Nakhsh-i-Rustam.) ? recess, and a strongly projecting cornice at top. The height of the altar, including the steps, was appa- rently about four and a half feet. The Persians' favourite victim was the horse;' but they like- wise sacrificed cattle, sheep, and goats. Human sacrifices seem to have been almost, if not altogether, unknown to them, and were certainly alien to the entire spirit of the Zoroastrian • Ker Porter, Trarels, vol. i. pp. 562- | resembling one known to the Assyrians 564 ; Rich, Journey to Persepolis, p. 258. (su pra, vol. ï. pp. 35 and 37), appears. 5 The larger of the two is only 12 feet This is a tall and narrow structure, square by 18 high. (Supra, p. 323.) evidently of a portable character, & I venture to suggest that the build crowned with a globe of fire, like that ings were treasuries, which are known on altars of the more solid type. to have existed both at · Herod. vii. 113; Xen. Cyrop. viii. 3, Pasargadæ and Persepolis. § 24; Ovid, Fasti, i. 385. Compare (Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. Yaça, xliv. 18. 18.) Their solid character, jó Herodotus speaks of two occasions their size, their difficulty on which, within his knowledge, human of access, and the massive sacrifices had been offered by Persians. ness of their stone doors (vii. 114). The facts may have oc- (supra, p. 325) are all ex curred as he has stated them ; but they plained by this hypothesis. are certainly exceptional, and are far Portable Altar. See the woodcuts, PP. from proving that these sacrifices were (From a gem.) 231 and 320. “often resorted to by the Persians" 8 On some of the Persian (Grote, History of Greece, vol. ïïi. p. 395, cylinders a second form of altar, more ed. of 1862). 352 CHAP. VI. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. with one exception. The human figure of the Assyrian original wore the close-fitting tunic, with short sleeves, which was the ordinary costume in Assyria, and had on its head the horned cap which marked a god or a genius. In the Persian counter- part this costume was exchanged for the Median robe, and a tiara, which was sometimes that proper to the king, 16 some- times that worn with the Median robe by court officers.17 Mithra, or the Sun, is represented in Persian sculptures by a disk or orb, which is not four-rayed like the Assyrian,18 but perfectly plain and simple. In sculptures where the emblems of Ormazd and Mithra occur together, the position of the former is central, that of the latter towards the right hand of the tablet. The solar emblem is universal on sculptured tombs, 19 but is otherwise of rare occurrence. Spirits of good and evil, the Ahuras and Devas of the mytho- logy, were represented by the Persians under human, animal, or monstrous forms. There can be little doubt that it is a good genius—perhaps the“well-formed, swift, tall Serosh ” 20—who ap- pears on one of the square pillars set up by Cyrus at Pasargadæ.21 This figure is that of a colossal man, from whose shoulders issue four wings, two of which spread upwards above his head, while the other two droop and reach nearly to his feet. It stands erect, in profile, with both arms raised and the hands open. The cos- tume of the figure is remarkable. It consists of a long fringed robe reaching from the neck to the ankles—apparently of a stiff material, which conceals the form—and of a very singular head-dress. This is a striped cap, closely fitting the head, over- shadowed by an elaborate ornament, of a character purely Egyptian. First there rise from the top of the cap two twisted 16 See fig. 1 in the woodcut, p. 351 ; | 22, 23, 24, 28 ; pl. xxv. fig. 6, &c. and compare Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. 18 See vol. ü. pp. 17, 18. pl. 50 ; Texier, Description, tom. ii. pls. 19 Flandin, Voyage, pls. 164 bis, 166, 111 and 111 bis. 17 For examples of this head-dress, supra, p. 320. see above, p. 174 ; and compare vol. ii. 30 Vendidad, Farg. xix. 30. pp. 313, 316, 317. For instances of its 2 See Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. pl. Ker Porter, Trarels, vol. i. pl. 17 ; La- jard, Culte de Mithra, pl, ü. figs. 18, 19, and Flandin, Voyage, pl. 198. CHAP. VI SPIRITS OF GOOD AND EVIL. Coco 10770 W ANA BURNS TIMIZ WHIS 553 MINIINNITUS Figure of a Good Genius, Pasargadæ. VOL. III. 2 A 334 CHAP. VI. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. horns, which, spreading right and left, become a sort of basis for the other forms to rest upon. These consist of two grotesque human-headed figures, one at either side, and of a complex triple ornament between them, clumsily imitated from a far more elegant Egyptian model. The winged human-headed bulls, which the Persians adopted from the Assyrians, with very slight modifications,22 were also, it is probable, regarded as emblems of some god or good genius. They would scarcely otherwise have been represented on Per- sian cylinders as upholding the emblem of Ormazd in the same way that human- headed bulls uphold the similar emblem Figure with curious Head- of Asshur on Assyrian cylinders. Their dress (Egyptian). position, too, at Persepolis, where they kept watch over the entrance to the palace, 23 accords with the notion that they represented guardian spirits, objects of the od No. 1. No. 2. Persian Cylinders. favourable regard of the Persians. Yet this view is not wholly free from difficulty. The bull appears in the bas-reliefs of Per- sepolis among the evil, or at any rate hostile, powers, which the 22 The chief modification is in the different shape of the wings, which, in the Persian specimens, have a graceful curve that is wanting in the Assyrian. 1 (Compare the woodcut, supra, p. 296, with the Assyrian forms given in vol. i pp. 133 and 288.) 23 Supra, p. 295. CHAP. VI. 355 SPIRITS OF GOOD AND EVIL king combats and slays;24 and though in these representations the animal is not winged or human-headed, yet on some cylin- ders apparently Persian, the monarch contends with bulls of exactly the same type as that which is assigned in other cylinders to the upholders of Ormazd.25 It would seem therefore that in this case the symbolism was less simple than usual, the bull in certain combinations and positions representing a god or a good spirit, while in others he was the type of a deva or evil genius. The most common representatives of the Evil Powers of the mythology were lions, winged or unwinged, and monsters of No. 1. 1. King contending with a Lion. No. 2. 2. King contending with a Monster (Persepolis). several different descriptions. At Persepolis the lions which the king stabs or strangles are of the natural shape, and this type is found also upon gems and cylinders; but on these last the king's antagonist is often a winged, while sometimes he is a winged and horned, lion. The monsters are of two principal types. In both the forms of a bird and a beast are commingled; 24 Supra, p. 334. cuts on p. 354. 25 Compare the cylinders given by See Layard, Nin, and Bib. p. 607 ; Lajard (Culte de Mithra, pl. xiii. fig. 8; Lajard, Culte de Mithra, pl. xxv. fig. 1; pl. 1. fig. 6) with No. 1 of the wood. | pl. li. fig. 2. 2 A 2 356 CHAP. VI. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. but in the one the bird, and in the other the beast predo- minates. Specimens are subjoined, taken from Persian gems and cylinders.? and acho de Monsters, probably representing Evil Spirits, from Persian gems or cylinders. Such seems to have been, in outline, the purer and more ancient form of the Persian religion. During its continuance a fierce iconoclastic spirit animated the princes of the Empire, who took every opportunity of showing their hatred and con- tempt for the idolatries of the neighbouring nations, burning temples, confiscating or destroying images, scourging or slaying idolatrous priests, putting a stop to festivals, disturb- ing tombs,” smiting with the sword animals believed to be divine incarnations. Within their own dominions the fear of stirring up religious wars compelled them to be moderately their mercy; but when they invaded foreign countries, they were wont to exhibit in the most open and striking way their aversion to materialistic religions. In Greece, during the great Egypt, on their first attack, they outraged every religious feeling of the people.20 ? Lajard's great work furnishes nume. | iii. 25, among other places. rous specimens besides those given above. 4 Herod, i. 183; üi. 37. See pl. xix. fig. 8; pl. xlix. fig. 6; 5 Ibid. i. 183 ; iii. 27 and 29. pl. lvi. fig. 5, &c. 6 Ibid. iii. 29. * 3 Herod. vi. 19, 96, 101; viii. 33, 53; ? Ibid. i. 187; üï. 16 and 37; Diod. Cic. De Leg. ii. 10; Strab. xiv. 1, § 5. Sic. x. 13, & 2. Herod. iii. 29. That Greek temples were not excep Strab. I. s. c. ; Pausan. a. 35, $ 2. tionally treated is evident from Herod. 10 Herod. ii. 16, 27-29, and 37. CHAP. VI. RELIGIOUS SYMPATHY OF PERSI NS AND JEWS. Chap. VI. RELIGIOUS SYMPATHY OF PERSIANS AND JEWS. 357 It was during this time of comparative purity, when the anti- idolatrous spirit was in full force, that a religious sympathy seems to have drawn together the two nations of the Persians and the Jews. Cyrus evidently identified Jehovah with Or- mazd," and, accepting as a divine command the prophecy of Isaiah,12 undertook to rebuild their temple for a people who, like his own, allowed no image of God to defile the sanctuary. Darius, similarly, encouraged the completion of the work, 18 after it had been interrupted by the troubles which followed the death of Cambyses. The foundation was thus laid for that friendly intimacy between the two peoples, of which we have abundant evidence in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, a friendly intimacy which caused the Jews to continue faithful to Persia to the last, and to brave the conqueror of Issus 14 rather than desert masters who had shown them kindness and sympathy. The first trace that we have of a corrupting influence being brought to bear on the Persian religion is connected with the history of the pseudo-Smerdis. According to Herodotus, Cam- byses, when he set out on his Egyptian expedition, left a Magus, Patizeithes, at the capital, as comptroller of the royal house- hold. The conferring of an office of such importance on the priest of an alien religion is the earliest indication which we have of a diminution of zeal for their ancestral creed on the part of the Achæmenian kings, and the earliest historical proof of the existence of Magism beyond the limits of Media. Magism was really, it is probable, an older creed than Zoroastrianism in the country where the Persians were settled; but it now, for the first time since the Persian conquest, began to show itself, to thrust itself into high places, and to attract general notice. From being the religion of the old Scythic tribes whom the 11 Ezra, i. 2, 3. Note especially the receive, should the Persians supersede phrase, O HT 1977—“He is the God." the Medes in power (Herod. i. 120 12 Isaiah, xliv, 28. αλλοτριούται η αρχή ες τον παίδα του- 13 Ezra, vi. 1-12. | τον περιϊούσα εόντα Πέρσην, και ήμείς, 14 Joseph. Ant. Jud. xi. 8, $ 3. εόντες Μήδοι, δουλoύμεθα και 18 Herod. üï. 61. Contrast with the λόγου ουδένος γινόμεθα προς favour thus shown to the Magi the Ilepoéww). treatment which they had expected to THE FIFTH MONARCHY. CHAP. VI. Persians had conquered and whom they held in subjection, it had passed into being the religion of great numbers of the Persians themselves. The same causes which had corrupted Zoroastrianism in Media soon after the establishment of the Empire, worked also, though more slowly, in Persia, and a large section of the nation was probably weaned from its own belief, and won over to Magism, before Cambyses went into Egypt.16 His prolonged absence in that country brought matters to a crisis. The Magi took advantage of it to attempt a sub- stitution of Magism for Zoroastrianism as the religion of the state.? When this attempt failed, there was no doubt a reaction for a time, and Zoroastrianism thought itself triumphant. But a foe is generally most dangerous when he is despised. Magism, repulsed in its attempt to oust the rival religion, derived wisdom from the lesson, and thenceforth set itself to sap the fortress which it could not storm. Little by little it crept into favour, mingling itself with the old Arian creed, not displacing it, but only adding to it. In the later Persian system the Dualism of Zoroaster and the Magian elemental worship were jointly pro- fessed—the Magi were accepted as the national priests—the rights and ceremonies of the two religions were united-a syn- cretism not unusual in the ancient world blended into one two creeds originally quite separate and distinct, but in few respects antagonistic18_and the name of Zoroaster being still fondly cherished in the memory of the nation, while in their practical religion Magian rites predominated,19 the mixed religion acquired the name, by which it was known to the later Greeks, of “the Magism of Zoroaster.” 20 The Magian rites have been described in the chapter on the 16 In the Behistun inscription, Darius | conversion before he set out. says:-“When Cambyses had proceeded 17 See the Historical Chapter. to Egypt, then the state became wicked; 18 Supra, vol. ii. p. 354. then the lie" (his name for the Magian 19 See the accounts of the Persian re- heresy) “became abounding in the land." | ligion in Herodotus (i. 131, 132, 140) (Col. i. par. 10.) But it is clear that, I and Strabo (xv. 3, 88 13-16), which are if within three years of Cambyses' de- predominantly—the latter almost ex- parture matters had gone so far that clusively-Magian. an actual change of the state-religion 20 Mayela Zwpodot pov. See the pas- could be thought feasible, a considerable sage of the First Alcibiades quoted at part of the nation must have undergone the head of this chapter. CHAP. VI. 359 MAGISM—HUMAN SACRIFICES. Median Religion.21 Their leading feature was the fire-worship, which is still cherished among those descendants of the ancient Persians who did not submit to the religion of Islam. On lofty spots in the high mountain-chain which traversed both Media and Persia, fire-altars were erected, on which burnt a perpetual flame, watched constantly lest it should expire,22 and believed to have been kindled from heaven.23 Over the altar in most instances a shrine or temple 24 was built; and on these spots day after day the Magi chanted their incantations, dis- played their barsoms or divining-rods, and performed their choicest ceremonies. Victims were not offered on these fire- altars. When a sacrifice took place, a fire was laid hard-by with logs of dry wood, stript of their bark, and this was lighted from the flame which burned on the altar. On the fire thus kindled was consumed a small part of the fat of the victim; but the rest was cut into joints, boiled, and eaten or sold by the worshipper. The true offering, which the god accepted, was, according to the Magi, the soul of the animal. If human victims were ever really offered by the Persians as sacrifices, it is to Magian influence that the introduction of this borrid practice must be attributed, since it is utterly opposed to the whole spirit of Zoroaster's teaching. An instance of the practice is first reported in the reign of Xerxes, when Magism, which had been sternly repressed by Darius Hystaspis, began once more to lift its head, crept into favour at Court,and obtained a status which it never afterwards forfeited. According to Herodotus, the Persians, on their march into Greece, sacrificed, at Ennea Hodoi on the Strymon river, nine youths and nine maidens of the country, by burying them alive. Herodotus seems to have viewed the act as done in propitiation of a god 2 Supra, vol. ii. pp. 345-348. 22 Strab. xv. 3, $ 15. 2 See the authorities quoted in vol. ii. p. 346, note ?. 24 Enkós. (Strab. 1. &. c.) I This seems to be Strabo's meaning (xv. 3, SS 14, 15); but it is expressed with some ambiguity. 2 Herod. i. 132. 3 Strab. xv. 3, § 13. Herod. vii. 19, 113, 191. I do not feel justified in rejecting this testi- mony, though it must be admitted that Æschylus, writing soon after Salamis, seems not aware of any priestly Magians having accompanied the expedition. $ Herod. vii. 114. 360 CHAP. VI. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. resembling the Grecian Pluto; but it is not at all certain that he interpreted it correctly. Possibly he mistook a vengeance for a religious ceremony. The Brygi, who dwelt at this time in the vicinity of Ennea Hodoi, had given Mardonius a severe defeat on a former occasion ; 6 and the Persians were apt to treasure up such wrongs, and visit them, when occasion offered, with extreme severity.? When the Persians had once yielded to the syncretic spirit so far as to unite the Magian tenets and practices with their primi- tive belief, they were naturally led on to adopt into their system such portions of the other religions, with which they were brought into close contact, as possessed an attraction for them. Before the date of Herodotus they had borrowed from the Babylonians the worship of a Nature-Goddess, whom the Greeks identified at one time with Aphrodité, at another with Artemis, at another (probably) with Here, and had thus made a compromise with one of the grossest of the idolatries which, theoretically, they despised and detested. The Babylonian Venus, called in the original dialect of her native country Nana, was taken into the Pantheon of the Persians, under the name of Nanæa, Anæa, Anaitis, or Tanata,10 and became in a little while one of the principal objects of Persian worship. At first idolatry, in the literal sense, was avoided; but Artaxerxes Mnemon, the conqueror of Cunaxa, an ardent devotee of the goddess,"l not content with the mutilated worship which he found established, resolved to show his zeal by introducing into all the chief cities of the Empire the image of his patroness. 6 Herod. vi. 45. The exact position of 2 Maccab. i. 13, 15, and on coins of the the Brygi is uncertain; but they cannot Sassanian monarchs. “Anæa " is used have dwelt very far from the Strymon. | by Strabo (xvi. 1, $ 4); “Anaitis," or (See Herod. vii. 185.) Aneitis, by the same writer (av. 3, 'Compare their conduct towards the $ 15), and also by Pausanias (iii. 16) Naxians (Herod. vi. 96). and Plutarch (Artax. c. 27). Polybius 8 Herod. i. 131. calls the goddess “ Æna" (x. 27, § 12); 9 Ibid. i. 199 ; iii. 8; Diod. Sic. ii. 9, Clemens of Alexandria (Protrept. 5) $ 5; Plutarch, Vit. Artax.c. 23. As the calls her “Tanais." The true Persian Babylonians themselves confused Nana form of the name seems to have been (or Ishtar) with Beltis (supra, vol. i. p. Tanata. (Journal of the Asiatic Society, 139), there was some excuse for the vol. xv. p. 161.) hesitancy of the Greeks. " Plutarch, Vit. Artaz. c. 23. 10 The form “Nanæa" is found in 1 CHAP. VI. 361 THE MITHRAIC WORSHIP. At Susa, at Persepolis, at Babylon, at Ecbatana, at Damascus, at Sardis, at Bactra, 12 images of Anaitis were set up by his authority for the adoration of worshippers. It is to be feared that at this time, if not before, the lascivious rites were also adopted, which throughout the East constituted the chief attraction of the cult of Venus. 13 With the idolatry thus introduced, another came soon to be joined. Mithra, so long an object of reverence, if not of actual worship, to the Zoroastrians, was in the reign of Arta- xerxes Mnemon, honoured, like Anaitis, with a statue, and advanced into the foremost rank of deities.14 The exact form which the image took is uncertain; but probability is in favour of the well-known type of a human figure slaying a prostrate bull,15 which was to the Greeks and Romans the essential symbol of the Mithraic worship. The intention of this oft- repeated group has been well explained by Hyde, who regards it as a representation of the Sun quitting the constellation of Taurus, 16 the time when in the East his fructifying power is the greatest. The specimens which we possess of this group belong to classical art and to times later than Alexander; but we can scarcely suppose the idea to have been Occidental. The Western artists would naturally adopt the symbolism of those from whom they took the rites, merely modifying its expression in accordance with their own ästhetic notions. Towards the close of the Empire two other gods emerged from the obscurity in which the lower deities of the Zoroastrian system were shrouded during the earlier and purer period. Vohu-mano, or Bah-man, and Amerdat, or Amendat, two of the 12 Berosus ap. Clem. Alex. l. s.c. | ample in this respect is followed by The passage of Berosus has received | Ochus. (Journal of the Asiatic Society, important confirmation by recent exca- | vol. x. p. 342.) vations on the site of Susa, where an 15 See the woodcut (supra, p. 173); inscription of Mnemon has been found, and for the connection of the symbol alluding to his erection of the image of with the Mithraitic cult, see Lajard, Tanata in a temple at that place. (Lof Culte de Mithra, pls. lxxv.; lxxviii. tus, Chaldæa and Susiana, p. 372.) fig. 2; lxxx. fig. 1; lxxxii. fig. l; 1a Compare pp. 30, 31, supra. lxxxiii., &c. 14 See Loftus, 1. s. c. Mnemon is the 16 Hyde, De Vet. Persarum Religione, first of the Persian kings who invokes | c. 4, p. 114. Mithra to be his protector. His ex- || 362 CHAP. VÌ. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. councillors of Ormazd,17 became the objects of a worship, which was clearly of an idolatrous character.18 Shrines were built in their honour,19 and were frequented by companies of Magi, who chanted their incantations, and performed their rites of divina- tion in these new edifices as willingly as in the old Fire-temples. The image of Bah-man was of wood, and was borne in pro- cession on certain occasions.20 Thus, as time went on, the Persian religion continually assimilated itself more and more to the forms of belief and worship which prevailed in the neighbouring parts of Asia. Idolatries of several kinds came into vogue, some adopted from abroad, others developed out of their own system. Temples, some of which had a character of extraordinary magnificence, 21 were erected to the honour of various gods; and the degenerate descendants of pure Zoroastrian spiritualists bowed down to images, and entangled themselves in the meshes of a sensual- istic and most debasing Nature-worship. Still, amid what- soever corruptions, the Dualistic faith was maintained. The supremacy of Ormazd was from first to last admitted. Ahriman retained from first to last the same character and position, neither rising into an object of worship, nor sinking into a mere personification of evil. The inquiries which Aristotle caused to be made, towards the very close of the Empire, into the true nature of the Persian Religion, showed him Ormazd 17 See above, vol. üi. pp. 334, 335. of the rites which they performed, to 18 Strab. xv. 3, $ 15. On the identifi- | Ahriman, seeking thereby to avert his cation of the Omanus and Anadatus of anger. (De Isid. et Osir. p. 369, E.) Strabo with Bah-man and Amerdat, see And, if we regard the story told by the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 537, Herodotus of the sacrifice of Amestris 2nd edition. (vii. 114) as deserving of implicit belief, 19 Strab. 1. 8. c. and xi. 8, § 4. we must allow the first beginning of 20 Ξόανον του Ώμάνου πομπεύει this corruption to have been still earlier; (Strabo). for Herodotus calls the sacrifice "a 21 The temple of Anaitis at Ecbatana thank-offering to the god who dwells is described by Polybius (x. 27, 8 12) as underneath the earth"-an, expression having its pillars gilt (keXpvowuévous), that, according to the Persian system, and many of its tiles and bricks of solid must mean Ahriman. But Herodotus silver, while a few of the latter were of is scarcely, I think, to be accepted as a gold. The wealth of the temple of the competent interpreter of the true mo- same goddess at Elymais appears from | tive of an act, of which he can only 1 Mac. vi. 2. have heard by rumour long after he According to Plutarch, the Magi of quitted Asia. his time addressed themselves, in some CHAP. VI. 363 LAST STAGE OF THE PERSIAN RELIGION. and Ahriman still recognised as “Principles," still standing in the same hostile and antithetical attitude, one towards the other,” which they occupied when the first Fargard of the Ven- didad was written, long anterior to the rise of the Persian Power. genes Laertius, and placed as the head. | δαίμονα κακόν, και φώς και σκότος προ ing to the chapter on the Religion of | τούτων, ως ένίους λέγειν ούτοι δε και the Medes (supra, vol. ii. p. 322); and compare with it the following fragment | νομένην ποιούσι την δίττην συστοιχίαν of Eudemus, the favourite disciple of I των κρειττόνων της μεν ηγείσθαι τον Aristotle :-« Μάγοι δε και πάν το Ι 'Ωρομάσδην, της δε τον 'Αρειμάνιον.” *Αρειον γένος, οι μεν τόπον, οι δε χρόνον (Αp. Damasc. De Princip. given in καλούσι το νοητόν άπαν και ηνωμένον, εξI Wolf's Anecdota Grαca, vol. iii. p. 259.) 364 CHAP. VII. 364 THE FIFTH MONARCHY. CHAPTER VII. CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY. “I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward ; so that no beast might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great." -DANIEL viii. 4. Συνέβη τους Πέρσαις ένδοξοτάτοις γενέσθαι των βαρβάρων. STRABO, xv. 3, § 23. The history of the Persian EMPIRE dates from the conquest of Astyages by Cyrus, and therefore commences with the year B.C. 558. But the present inquiry must be carried consider- ably further back, since in this, as in most other cases, the Empire grew up out of a previously existing monarchy. Darius Hystaspis reckons that there had been eight Persian kings of his race previously to himself ;3 and though it is no doubt possible that some of the earlier names may be fictitious, yet we can scarcely suppose that he was deceived, or that he wished to deceive, as to the fact that long anterior to his own reign, or that of his elder contemporary, Cyrus, Persia had been a monarchy, governed by a line of princes of the same clan, or family, with himself. It is our business in this place, before entering upon the brilliant period of the Empire, to cast a retrospective glance over the earlier ages of obscurity, and to collect therefrom such scattered notices as are to be found of the Persians and their princes or kings before they suddenly attracted the general attention of the civilized world by their astonishing achievements under the great Cyrus. The more ancient of the sacred books of the Jews, while distinctly noticing the nation of the Medes,* contain no mention Supra, vol. ii. p. 420. | 34-42. 2 Compare vol. i. pp. 155-161 ; vol. ii. - Behistun Inscription, col. i. par. 4 pp. 54-58, 376-383; and vol. iii. pp.) • Gen. x. 2. CHAP. VII. 365 EARLIEST MENTION OF THE PERSIANS. at all of Persia or the Persians. The Zendavesta, the sacred volume of the people themselves, is equally silent on the subject. The earliest appearance of the Persians in history is in the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings, which begin to notice them about the middle of the ninth century, B.C. At this time Shalmaneser II. found them in south-western Ar- menia, where they were in close contact with the Medes, of whom, however, they seem to have been wholly independent. Like the modern Kurds in this same region, they owned no subjection to a single head, but were under the government of numerous petty chieftains, each the lord of a single town or of a small mountain district. Shaimaneser informs us that he took tribute from twenty-five such chiefs. Similar tokens of submission were paid also to his son and grandson.” After this the Assyrian records are silent as to the Persians for nearly a century, and it is not until the reign of Sennacherib that we once more find them brought into contact with the powerwhich aspired to be mistress of Asia. At the time of their re-appear- ance they are no longer in Armenia, but have descended the line of Zagros and reached the districts which lie north and north-east of Susiana, or that part of the Bakhtiyari chain which, if it is not actually within Persia Proper, at any rate immediately adjoins upon it. Arrived thus far, it was easy for them to occupy the region to which they have given permanent name ;8 for the Bakhtiyari mountains command it and give a ready access to its valleys and plains. The Persians would thus appear not to have completed their migrations till near the close of the Assyrian period, and it is probable that they did not settle into an organized monarchy much before the fall of Nineveh. At any rate we hear of no Persian ruler of note or name in the Assyrian records, and the reign of petty chiefs would seem therefore to have continued s It was usual among our old com- | 5; Dan. v. 28 ; &c.) mentators to identify Elam (Gen. x. 22) 1 6 Supra, vol. ii. p. 112, note ! with Persia ; but Elam is really Elymais, ; Ibid. pp. 114 and 116. or (as it was sometimes called from its & Persia Proper, now called by a capital) Sugiana. (See Dan. viii. 2.) slight corruption Parsistan, or “the Persia (op) is not mentioned till the land of the Persians.” (See above. times of the Captivity. (Ezek. xxxviii. 1 p. 85, note") 366 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. at least to the time of Asshur-bani-pal, up to which date we have ample records. The establishment, however, about the year B.C. 660, or a little later, of a powerful monarchy in the kindred and neighbouring Media, could not fail to attract attention, and might well provoke imitation in Persia; and the native tradition appears to have been that about this time 10 Persian royalty began in the person of a certain Achæmenes (Hakhamanish), from whom all their later monarchs, with one possible exception," were proud to trace their descent. The name Achæmenes cannot fail to arouse some suspi- cion. The Greek genealogies render us so familiar with heroës eponymi—imaginary personages, who owe their origin to the mere fact of the existence of certain tribe or race names, to account for which they were invented—that whenever, even in the history of other nations, we happen upon a name professedly personal, which stands evidently in close connection with a tribal designation, we are apt at once to suspect it of being fictitious. But in the East tribal and even ethnic names were certainly sometimes derived from actual persons ;12 and it may be questioned whether the Persians, or the Iranic stock generally, had the notion of inventing personal eponyms.18 The name Achæmenes, therefore, in spite of its connection with the royal clan name of Achæmenidæ, may stand as perhaps that of a real Persian king, 14 and, if so, as probably that of the • See vol. ii. p. 383. | Persian tradition. The Perses from 10 Darius reckoned eight kings before whom the Greeks derived the nation himself, of whom Cyrus the Great, his (Herod. vii. 61), or their kings (Xen. son Cambyses, and the true Smerdis, Cyrop. i. 2, $ 1; Plat. Alcib. i. p. 120, E.; were probably three. He placed there. | Apollod. ii. 4, $ 5), was no real Persian fore five kings before Cyrus. Allowing hero. Neither the Zendavesta, nor to these average reigns of 20 years each, even the Shahnameh, has a trace of we have B.C. 658 for the traditional him. commencement of the monarchy. " See Behistun Inscription, col. i. p. 1 Darius Codomannus, who, accord- | 2; and Detached Inscriptions, No. l. It ing to some writers, was not a member has been argued that these authorities of the royal clan. (See Strab. xv. 3. are valueless, because Darius, though he $ 24.) might know the names of his father and 12 E.g. the names “Jew," "Is. his grandfather, would not be likely to raelite," “ Midianite,” “Moabite," have any trustworthy knowledge of “ Ammonite,” “Levite," &c. ancestors more remote than these. 13 I think it may be said with truth (Edinburgh Review, No. 255, p. 155.) that there are no heroës eponymi in the But the force of this reasoning resta Zendavesta, and none in any genuine wholly on the assumption that the Per- CHAP. VII. 367 PROBABLE FIRST KING, ACHÆMENES. first king, the original founder of the monarchy, who united the scattered tribes in one, and thus raised Persia into a power of considerable importance. The immediate successor of Achæmenes appears to have been his son, Teispes. Of him and of the next three monarchs, the information that we possess is exceedingly scanty. The very names of one or two in the series are uncertain.? One tradition assigns either to the second or the fourth king of the list the establishment of friendly relations with a certain Phar- naces, King of Cappadocia, by an intermarriage between a Persian princess, Atossa, and the Cappadocian monarch. The existence of communication at this time between petty countries politically unconnected, and placed at such a distance from one another as Cappadocia and Persia, is certainly what we should not have expected; but our knowledge of the general condition of Western Asia at the period is too slight to justify us in a positive rejection of the story, which indicates, if it be true, that even during this time of comparative obscurity, the Persian monarchs were widely known, and that their alliance was thought a matter of importance. The political condition of Persia under these early monarchs is a more interesting question than either the names of the kings or the foreign alliances which they contracted. According to Herodotus, that condition was one of absolute and unqualified subjection to the sway of the Medes, who conquered Persia and imposed their yoke upon the people before the year B.C. 634.4 The native records, however, and the accounts which Xeno- siais had no historical documents be- | himself appears to suppose that the longing to the times before Cyrus. To tradition refers to Carnbyses, the father me it seems probable that the Persians of the Great Cyrus, who was the fourth formed their alphabet soon after they king after Teispes. But the genealogy settled in Zagros, and began at once to which he gives would seem rather to use it for historical purposes. imply an earlier monarch. (See the Behistun Inscription, col. i. par. 2; author's Herodotus, vol. iv. p. 209, 2nd Herod. vii. 11. edition.) ? A gap between Teispes and Cyrus, + Herod. i. 102. the grandfather of Cyrus the Great s In the Behistun Inscription Darius (Herod. i. 111), is filled conjecturally, says—“There are eight of my race who rather than on any sure grounds, by a have been kings before me; I am the supposed Cambyses. ninth. For a length of time we have Diod. Sic. xxxi. 19, $1. Diodorus | been kings;"—words which imply nine 368 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. phon® preferred, represent Persia as being at this time a separate and powerful state, either wholly independent of Media, or, at any rate, held in light bonds of little more than nominal dependence. On the whole, it appears most probable that the true condition of the country was that which this last phrase expresses. It may be doubted whether there had ever been a conquest; but the weaker and less developed of the two kindred states owned the suzerainty of the stronger, and though quite unshackled in her internal administration, and perhaps not very much interfered with in her relations towards foreign countries, was, formally, a sort of Median fief, standing nearly in the position in which Egypt now stands to Turkey. The posi- tion was irksome to the sovereigns rather than unpleasant to the people. It detracted from the dignity of the Persian monarchs, and injured their self-respect; it probably caused them occasional inconvenience, since from time to time they would have to pay their court to their suzerain; and it seems towards the close of the Median period to have involved an obligation which must have been felt, if not as degrading, at any rate as very disagreeable. The monarch appears to have been required to send bis eldest son as a sort of hostage to the Court of his superior, where he was held in a species of honour- able captivity, not being allowed to quit the Court and return home without leave, but being otherwise well treated. The fidelity of the father was probably supposed to be in this way secured, while it might be hoped that the son would be con- ciliated, and made an attached and willing dependant. When Persian history first fairly opens upon us in the pages of Xenophon and of Nicolaus Damascenus, this is the condition of things which we find existing. Cambyses, the father of Cyrus the Great-called Atradates by the Syrian writer-is ruler of Persia,' and resides in his native country, while his son similar, and consequently nine inde- ! ? See above, vol. ii. p. 421, notes 19 pendent, monarchs. Cyrus the Great, and 20. on a brick found at Senkereh, calls him- Nic. Dam. Fr. 66; p. 402. self “the powerful king, son of Cam | He is king, according to Xenophon byses the powerful king." (Cyrop. l. 8. c.) ; satrap, according to • Cyrop. i. 2, § 1. | Nicolaus (pp. 399, 405). CHAP. VII. 369 CYRUS RECOGNISED AS KING. Cyrus is permanently, or, at any rate, usually, resident at the Median Court, where he is in high favour with the reigning monarch, Astyages. According to Xenophon, who has here the support of Herodotus, he is Astyages' grandson, his father, Cambyses, being married to Mandané, that monarch's daughter. 10 According to Nicolaus, who in this agrees with Ctesias," he is in no way related to Astyages, who retains him at his Court because he is personally attached to him. In the narrative of the latter writer, which has already been preferred in these volumes,12 the young prince, while at the Court, conceives the idea of freeing his own country by a revolt, and enters into secret communica- tion with his father for the furtherance of his object. His father somewhat reluctantly assents, and preparations are made, which lead to the escape of Cyrus and the commencement of a war of independence. The details of the struggle, as they are related by Nicolaus, have been already given.13 After repeated defeats, the Persians finally make a stand at Pasargadæ, their capital, where in two great battles they destroy the power of Astyages, who himself remains a prisoner in the hands of his adversary. In the course of the struggle the father of Cyrus had fallen, and its close, therefore, presented Cyrus himself before the eyes of the Western Asiatics as the undisputed lord of the great Arian Empire which had established itself on the ruins of the Semitic. Transfers of sovereignty are easily made in the East, where independence is little valued, and each new conqueror is hailed with acclamations from millions. It mattered nothing to the bulk of Astyages' subjects whether they were ruled from Ecbatana or Pasargadæ, by Median or Persian masters. Fate 14 had settled that a single lord was to bear sway over the tribes and nations dwelling between the Persian Gulf and the Euxine; and the arbitrament of the sword had now decided that this single lord should be Cyrus. We may readily believe the state- ment of Nicolaüs that the nations previously subject to the 10 Cyrop. I. 8. C. " Ctes. Exc. Pers. & 2. 12 See above, vol. ii. p. 422, note 13 Vol. ii. pp. 422-426. VOL. III. 14 See Æschyl. Pers. 758. Tuunn Ζεύς άναξ τήνδ' ώπασεν, έν' άνδρα πάσης 'Ασίδος μηλοτρόφου ταγείν, έχοντα σκήπτρον ευθυντηριον. 2 B 370 CHAP, VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Medes vied with each other in the celerity and zeal with which they made their submission to the Persian conqueror. Cyrus succeeded at once to the full inheritance of which he had dis- possessed Astyages, and was recognised as king by all the tribes between the Halys and the desert of Khorassan.” He was at this time, if we may trust Dino, exactly forty years of age, and was thus at that happy period in life when the bodily powers have not yet begun to decay, while the mental are just reaching their perfection. Though we may not be able to trust implicitly the details of the war of independence which have come down to us, yet there can be no doubt that he had dis- played in its course very remarkable courage and conduct. He had intended, probably, no more than to free his country from the Median yoke; by the force of circumstances he had been led on to the destruction of the Median power, and to the establishment of a Persian Empire in its stead. With empire had come an enormous accession of wealth. The accumulated stores of ages, the riches of the Ninevite kings—the “gold,” the “silver,” and the "pleasant furniture ” of those mighty poten- tates, of which there was “none end”4_together with all the additions made to these stores by the Median monarchs, had fallen into his hands, and from comparative poverty he had come per saltum into the position of one of the wealthiest-if not of the very wealthiest-of princes. An ordinary Oriental would have been content with such a result, and have declined to tempt fortune any more. But Cyrus was no ordinary Oriental. Confident in his own powers, active, not to say restless, and of an ambition that nothing could satiate, he viewed the position which he had won simply as a means of advancing himself to higher eminence. According to Ctesias," he was scarcely seated upon the throne, when he led an expedition to the far north-east against the renowned Bactrians and Sacans; and at any rate, Nic. Dam. Fr. 66, p. 406. OL, submit at once. But Ctesias (Exc. Pers. άνθρωποι αφίσταντο και τα έθνη ... $$ 2, 3) and Herodotus (i. 153) both ώστε σπουδήν είναι εκάστου τον έτερον contradict him. φθήναι θέλοντος. $ Ap. Cic. De Div. i. 23. 2 Nicolaus (l. 8. c.) makes even the 1 Nahum, ii. 9. l'arthians, the Bactrians, and the Sacæ ! $ Exc. Pers. I. 8. C. CHAP. VII. 371 CONTEST BETWEEN CYRUS AND CRESUS. whether this be true or no—and most probably it is an anticipa- tion of later occurrences—it is certain that, instead of folding his hands, Cyrus proceeded with scarcely a pause on a long career of conquest, devoting his whole life to the carrying out of his plans of aggression, and leaving a portion of his schemes, which were too extensive for one life to realize, as a legacy to his suc- cessor. The quarter to which he really first turned his attention seems to have been the north-west. There, in the somewhat narrow but most fertile tract between the river Halys and the Egean Sea, was a state which seemed likely to give him trouble -a state which had successfully resisted all the efforts of the Medes to reduce it, and which recently, under a warlike prince, had shown a remarkable power of expansion. An instinct of danger warned the scarce firmly-settled monarch to fix his eye at once upon Lydia; in the wealthy and successful Croesus, the Lydian king, he saw one whom dynastic interests might naturally lead to espouse the quarrel of the conquered Mede, and whose power and personal qualities rendered him a really formidable rival. The Lydian monarch, on his side, did not scruple to challenge a contest. The long strife which his father had waged with the great Cyaxares had terminated in a close alliance, cemented by a marriage, which made Crosus and Astyages brothers. The friendship of the great power of Western Asia, secured by this union, had set Lydia free to pursue a policy of self-aggrandise- ment in her own immediate neighbourhood. Rapidly, one after another, the kingdoms of Asia Minor had been reduced; and, excepting the mountain districts of Lycia and Cilicia, 10 all Asia within the Halys now owned the sway of the Lydian king. Contented with his successes, and satisfied that the tie of rela- tionship secured him from attack on the part of the only power which he had need to fear, Cræsus had for some years given himself up to the enjoyment of his gains and to an ostentatious display of his magnificence." It was a rude shock to the indo- • Herod. i. 153 : i. 1. Compare vol. ii. pp. 406.411. * Herod, i. 26-28. See above, vol. ii. p. 411. Compare Herod. i. 74. 10 Herod. i. 28. Ibid. i. 29. 372 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. lent and self-complacent dreams of a sanguine optimism, which looked that “to-morrow should be as to-day, only much more abundant,” when tidings came that revolution had raised its head in the far south-east, and that an energetic prince, in the full vigour of life, and untrammelled by dynastic ties, had thrust the aged Astyages from his throne, and girt his own brows with the Imperial diadem. Croesus, according to the story, was still in deep grief on account of the untimely death of his eldest son, 12 when the intelligence reached him. Instantly rousing himself from his despair, he set about his preparations for the struggle, which his sagacity saw to be inevitable. After consultation of the oracles of Greece, he allied himself with the Grecian com- munity, which appeared to him on the whole to be the most powerful.13 At the same time he sent ambassadors to Babylon and Memphis,14 to the courts of Labynetus and Amasis, with proposals for an alliance offensive and defensive between the three secondary powers of the Eastern world against that lead- ing power whose superior strength and resources were felt to constitute a common danger. His representations were effectual. The kings of Babylon and Egypt, alive to their own peril, accepted his proposals; and a joint league was formed between the three monarchs and the republic of Sparta for the purpose of resisting the presumed aggressive spirit of the Medo-Persians. Cyrus, meanwhile, was not idle. Suspecting that a weak point in his adversary's harness would be the disaffection of some of his more recently conquered subjects, he sent emissaries into Asia Minor to sound the dispositions of the natives. These emis- saries particularly addressed themselves to the Asiatic Greeks, 15 who, coming of a freedom-loving stock, and having been only very lately subdued,16 would, it was thought, be likely to catch 12 Herod. i. 46. 13 Ibid. i. 69, 70. | states that these envoys were sent into 14 Ibid. i. 77. The alliance with | Asia Minor, before the army of Cyrus Amasis was made before that with the began its march. Spartans,-probably as early as B.c. 557. 16 Probably within ten or twelve That with Labynetus cannot have been years ; certainly within fourteen, since made till B.C. 555, since it was not till the earliest possible date for their con- that year that he became King of Babylon. quest is the first year of Croesus. 15 Ibid. i. 76. Herodotus distinctly ! (Herod, i. 26.) CHAP. VII. 373 CONTEST BETWEEN CYRUS AND CRESUS. at an opportunity of shaking off the yoke of their conqueror. But, reasonable as such hopes must have seemed, they were in this instance doomed to disappointment. The Ionians, instead of hailing Cyrus as a liberator, received his overtures with suspicion. They probably thought that they were sure not to gain, and that they might possibly lose, by a change of masters. The yoke of Croesus had not, perhaps, been very oppressive; at any rate it seemed to them preferable to “ bear the ills they had,” rather than “fly to others” which might turn out less tolerable. Disappointed in this quarter, the Persian prince directed his efforts to the concentration of a large army, and its rapid advance into a position where it would be excellently placed both for defence and attack. The frontier province of Cappadocia, which was only separated from the dominions of the Lydian monarch by a stream of moderate size, the Halys, was a most defensible country, extremely fertile and productive,' abounding in natural fastnesses, and inhabited by a brave and warlike population. Into this district Cyrus pushed forward his army with all speed, taking, as it would seem, not the short route through Diarbekr, Malatiyah, and Gurun, along which the “Royal Road" after- wards ran, but the more circuitous one by Erzerum, which brought him into Northern Cappadocia, or Pontus, as it was called by the Romans. Here, in a district named Pteria, 4 which cannot have been very far from the coast," he found his adversary, who had crossed the Halys, and taken several Cappadocian towns, among which was the chief city of the Pterians. Per- ceiving that his troops considerably outnumbered those of Croesus, he lost no time in giving him battle. The action was fought in the Pterian country, and was stoutly contested, termi- nating at nightfall without any decisive advantage to either " See above, p. 109. | towards the close of the 5th century ? Hamilton, Asia Minor, vol. i. pp. after Christ. 342-411 ; Herod. v. 52. • Herodotus speaks of Pteria as “near * Herod. I. s. C. to Sinope" (1. B. c.), and Stephen ex- * Ibid. i. 76. Mr. Grote calls Pteria presses himself almost in the same way. a city (History of Greece, vol. iii. p. 164, It must therefore have lain on or nea ed. of 1862); but the only authority for the coast. this is Stephen of Byzantium, who wrote Herod. i. 77. CHÁP. VII. 375 FALL OF SARDIS. had recourse to stratagem, and by forming his camels in front, so frightened the Lydian horses that they fled from the field. 11 The riders dismounted and fought on foot, but their gallantry was unavailing. After a prolonged and bloody combat the Lydian army was defeated, and forced to take refuge behind the walls of the capital. Croesus now in hot haste sent off fresh messengers to his allies, begging them to come at once to his assistance. 12 He had still a good hope of maintaining himself till their arrival, for his city was defended by walls, and was regarded by the natives as impregnable.13 An attempt to storm the defences failed; and the siege must have been turned into a blockade but for an accidental discovery A Persian soldier had approached to reconnoitre the citadel on the side where it was strongest by nature, and therefore guarded with least care,14 when he observed one of the garrison descend the rock after his helmet, which had fallen from his head, pick it up, and return with it. Being an expert climber, he attempted the track thus pointed out to him, and succeeded in reaching the summit. Several of his comrades followed in his steps ; the citadel was surprised, and the town taken and plundered. Thus fell the greatest city of Asia Minor after a siege of fourteen days.15 The Lydian monarch, it is said, narrowly escaped with his life from the confusion of the sack ; 16 but, being fortunately recognised in time, was made prisoner, and brought before Cyrus. Cyrus at first treated him with some harshness,17 but soon relented, and with that clemency which " Herod. i. 80; Xen. Cyrop. vii. ], fences, but gave orders to omit one part, $ 47. The Turks in their wars with where the rock was so steep that he the Servians are said on one occasion to thought the spell superfluous. (Herod. have contemplated having recourse to i. 84.) Here it was that the Persians this same stratagem. (Frontier Lands mounted. of the Christian and the Turk, vol. ii. " Herodotus says that on this side p. 380.) 2 Herod. i. 81. the citadel was "wholly unguarded” 13 Tradition said that one of the con (ousels &TÉTAKTO púlakos); but the very cubines of King Meles gave birth to a fact that a soldier dropped his helmet lion, and the Telmessian soothsayers over the precipice shows that some predicted, that if the monstrous birth of the garrison were located in this were carried round the city, Sardis quarter. would be impregnable. Meles, there 15 Herod. i. 86. Ibid. i. 85. fore, had the lion taken round the de 17 The tale in Herodotus (i. 86, 87), 376 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. was a common characteristic of the earlier Persian kings,18 assigned him a territory for his maintenance,' and gave him an honourable position at Court, where he passed at least thirty years,12 in high favour, first with Cyrus, and then with Cambyses. Lydia itself was absorbed at once into the Persian Empire, together with most of its dependencies, which submitted as soon as the fall of Sardis was known. There still, however, remained a certain amount of subjugation to be effected. The Greeks of the coast, who had offended the Great King by their refusal of his overtures,21 were not to be allowed to pass quietly into the condition of tributaries; and there were certain native races in the south-western corner of Asia Minor which declined to submit without a struggle to the new conqueror. But these matters were not regarded by Cyrus as of sufficient importance to require his own personal superintendence. Having remained at Sardis for a few weeks, during which time he received an insulting message from Sparta, whereto he made a menacing reply, and having arranged for the government of the newly- conquered province and the transmission of its treasures to Ecbatana, he quitted Lydia for the interior, taking Croesus with him, and proceeded towards the Median capital. He was bent on prosecuting without delay his schemes of conquest in other quarters—schemes of a grandeur and a comprehensive- ness unknown to any previous monarch. Scarcely, however, was he departed when Sardis became the amplified by Nicolas of Damascus (Fr. | Egypt with Cambyses at least as late as 68) is rightly rejected by historians on B.C. 523. (Herod, üi. 36.) account of its improbability. (See 2. Supra, p. 373. Thirlwall, History of Greece, vol. ii. Herod. i. 171. p. 167 ; Grote, History of Greece, vol. iii. ? Ibid. i. 152, 153. It is perhaps p. 165.) But, as Ctesias agrees with doubtful whether we ought to believe Herodotus in stating that Cræsus was at this story. As the Spartans had clearly first severely treated (Exc. Pers. & 4), not the slightest intention of interfering we must regard the stories of his ill. by force of arms in Asia, they are not usage as having some foundation. very likely to have made a threat which * See below, p. 394, notes could have no effect but to exasperate 19 Ctes. Exc. Pers. § 4, ad fin.; Jus the conqueror. The anecdotical details tin, i. 9. This statement is so probable of Herodotus have rarely much his- that we may accept it upon somewhat torical value. weak authority. 3 "Η τε Βαβυλών οι ήν εμπόδιος, και 20 The most probable date of the fall To Báktplov Ovos, kai Zákai te, kal of Sardis is B.C. 554. Cræsus was in AiyunTLOL. (Herod. i. 153, ad fin.) CHAP. VII. 377 INSURRECTION IN SARDIS. scene of an insurrection. Pactyas, a Lydian, who had been entrusted with the duty of conveying the treasures of Crosus and his more wealthy subjects to Ecbatana, revolted against Tabalus," the Persian commandant of the town, and being joined by the native population and numerous mercenaries, principally Greeks, whom he hired with the treasure that was in his hands, made himself master of Sardis, and besieged Tabalus in the citadel. The news reached Cyrus while he was upon his march; but, estimating the degree of its importance aright, he did not suffer it to interfere with his plans. He judged it enough to send a general with a strong body of troops to put down the revolt, and continued his own journey eastward. Mazares, a Mede, was the officer selected for the service. On arriving before Sardis, he found that Pactyas had relinquished his enterprise and fled to the coast," and that the revolt was consequently at an end. It only remained to exact vengeance. The rebellious Lydians were disarmed. Pactyas was pursued with unrelenting hostility, and demanded, in suc- cession, of the Cymæans, the Mytilenæans, and the Chians, of whom the last-mentioned surrendered him.' The Greek cities which had furnished Pactyas with auxiliaries were then attacked, and the inhabitants of the first which fell, Priêné, were one and all sold as slaves.10 Yazares soon afterwards died, and was succeeded by Har- pagus, another Mede, who adopted a somewhat milder policy towards the unfortunate Greeks."1 Besieging their cities one by one, and taking them by means of banks or mounds piled up against the walls,12 he, in some instances, connived at the inhabitants escaping in their ships,18 while, in others, he 157. 4 Herod. i. 154. Ibid. i. 161. / Herod. i. 158-160. According to . Ibid. i. 156, 157. Herodotus, the Chians were bribed by * Charon Lampsac. Fr. 1 ; Herod. i. the gift of a tract of land, known as the Atarnean plain, situated on the coast of * This is all that can be regarded as Asia Minor, opposite Lesbos. historical in the story told by Herodotus 10 Ibid. i. 161. Ibid. i. 162. (i. 155, 156) of the advice which Crcesus 12 Alpee Tàs tódias xúuari (ibid). gave to Cyrus on this occasion, and of See above, p. 185. the latter's adoption of it. (See the 13 Herod. i. 164 and 168. The Pho- remarks of Mr. Grote, History of Greece, cæans and the Teians fled respectively vol. iii. p. 171, ed. 1862.) to Alalia and Abdera. 378 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. allowed them to take up the ordinary position of Persian subjects, liable to tribute and military service, but not other- wise molested.14 So little irksome were such terms to the Ionians of this period that even those who dwelt in the islands off the coast, with the single exception of the Samians,—though they ran no risk of subjugation, since the Persians did not possess a fleet, 16-accepted voluntarily the same position, and enrolled themselves among the subjects of Cyrus.16 One Greek continental town alone suffered nothing during this time of trouble. When Cyrus refused the offers of sub- mission, which reached him from the Ionian and Æolian Greeks after his capture of Sardis, he made an exception in favour of Miletus,17 the most important of all the Grecian cities in Asia. Prudence, it is probable, rather than clemency, dictated this course, since to detach from the Grecian cause the most powerful and influential of the states was the readiest way of weakening the resistance they would be able to make. Miletus singly had defied the arms of four successive Lydian kings, 18 and had only succumbed at last to the efforts of the fifth, Croesus. If her submission had been now rejected, and she had been obliged to take counsel of her despair, the struggle between the Greek cities and the Persian generals might have assumed a different character. Still more different might have been the result, if the cities generally had had the wisdom to follow a piece of advice which the great philosopher and statesman of the time, Thales, the Milesian, is said to have given them. Thales suggested that the Ionians should form themselves into a confederation, to be governed by a congress which should meet at Teos, the several cities retaining their own laws and internal independence, 19 but being united for military purposes into a single community. Judged by the light which later events, the great Ionian revolt especially, throw upon it, this advice is seen to have been of 14 Herod. i. 169. Ibid, i. 143. 1 of the somewhat obscure passage of 16 Ibid, i. 169. Herodotus (i. 170) Tàs dè d as Tollas 17 Ibid. i. 141, 143, and 169. οικεομένας μηδέν ήσσον νομίζεσθαι, κατά- 18 Ibid. i. 14, 15, 17-22. περ ει δήμοι είεν, which is so understood 19 This seems to be the true meaning 'both by Schweighäuser and by Dindorf. REDUCTION OF THE CARIANS, CAUNIANS, AND LYCIANS. 379 the greatest importance. It is difficult to say what check, or even reverse, the arms of Persia might not have at this time sustained, if the spirit of Thales had animated his Asiatic countrymen generally; if the loose Ionic Amphictyony, which in reality left each state in the hour of danger to its own resources, had been superseded by a true federal union, and the combined efforts of the thirteen Ionian communities 20 had been directed to a steady resistance of Persian aggression and a determined maintenance of their own independence. Mazares and Harpagus would almost certainly have been baffled, and the Great King himself would probably have been called off from his eastern conquests to undertake in person a task which after all he might have failed to accomplish. The fall of the last Ionian town left Harpagus free to turn his attention to the tribes of the south-west which had not yet made their submission—the Carians, the Dorian Greeks, the Caunians, and the people of Lycia. Impressing the services of the newly-conquered Ionians and Æolians, 21 he marched first against Caria, which offered but a feeble resistance.22 The Dorians of the continent, Myndians, Halicarnassians, and Cnidians, submitted still more tamely, without any struggle at all; but the Caunians 23 and Lycians showed a different spirit. These tribes, which were ethnically allied, 24 and of a very peculiar type,25 had never yet, it would seem, been subdued by any conqueror.26 Prizing highly the liberty they had enjoyed 20 These were Miletus, Myus, Priêné, Ephesus, Coloplion, Lebedus, Teos, Cla- zomena, Phocæa, Samos, Chios, Erythræ, and Smyrna. (Herod. i. 142, 150.) 21 Herod. i. 171. 2. The only Carian people who gave Harpagus any serious trouble were the Pedasians, who defended themselves for soine time in the mountain-range of Lida (ib. i. 175). 23 Ibid. i. 176, ad fin. Mr. Grote is wrong in stating that “neither Carians mor Kaunians offered any serious resist- ance." (History of Greece, vol. iii. p. 178.) 24 This is evident from the researches made in this part of Asia Minor, par- ticularly by Sir C. Fellows, which have shown that “from the ancient Caunus in the west, as far as Cape Caledonia in the east, is to be traced the same art, sculpturing the rocks, building the tombs, inscribing the same language, and using the same mythology." (Fel- lows, Essay on the relative Dates of the Lycian Monuments, p. 5.) 23 The Lycian language remains a puzzle to philologists, who can say little more than that it is Indo-European in its grammar, while in its vocabulary it stands quite by itself, having scarcely any analogies to any known tongue. ž6 Herodotus expressly tells us that the Lycians were not subjected by Cree- 380 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. so long, they defended themselves with desperation. When they were defeated in the field they shut themselves up within the walls of their chief cities, Caunus and Xanthus, where, finding resistance impossible, they set fire to the two places with their own hands, burned their wives, children, slaves, and valuables, and then sallying forth sword in hand, fell on the besiegers' lines, and fought till they were all slain." Meanwhile Cyrus was pursuing a career of conquest in the far east. It was now, according to Herodotus, who is, beyond all question, a better authority than Ctesias for the reign of Cyrus, that the reduction of the Bactrians and the Sacans, the chief nations of what is called by moderns Central Asia, took place.? Bactria was a country which enjoyed the reputation of having been great and glorious at a very early date. In one of the most ancient portions of the Zendavesta it was celebrated as “ Bakhdi eredhwó-drafsha,” or “Bactria with the lofty banner;: and traditions not wholly to be despised made it the native country of Zoroaster. There is good reason to believe that, up to the date of Cyrus, it had maintained its independence, or at any rate that it had been untouched by the great monarchies which for above seven hundred years had borne sway in the western parts of Asia. Its people were of the Iranic stock, and retained in their remote and somewhat savage country the simple and primitive habits of the race. Though their arms were of indifferent character, they were among the best soldiers to be found in the East, and always showed themselves a formidable enemy. According to Ctesias, when Cyrus invaded sus (i. 28). He also omits the Caunians from the list of that monarch's con- quests. i Herod. i. 176. It was probably the remembrance of this desperate deed that nerved the Xanthians of five centuries later to act in almost exactly the same way when besieged by Brutus. (See Plutarch, Vit. Brut. c. 31. Závolo! Mèv ούν διά πολλών χρόνων ώσπερ ειμαρμένην περίοδον διαφθοράς αποδιδόντες, την των προγόνων ανενεώσαντο τη τόλμη τύχην.) 2 Compare Herod. i. 153 and 177. * See above, vol. ii. p. 432, $ 7. "Justin, i. 2; Cephalion, Fr. 1; Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6; Arnob. adr. Gent. i. 52. * See above, vol. ii. pp. 234 and 428. 6 Strab. xi. 11, $ 3; Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. iv. 15, $ 18. 7 The Bactrians in the army of Xerxes carried only bows and spears of no great length. (Herod. vii. 64.) Herod. viii. 113; Arrian, Peripl. Mar. Erythr. p. 27; Diod. Sic. ii. 5, $3. 9 Arrian, Exp. Aler. iii. 13; Strab. xi. 11, $ 1. CHAP. VII. 381 CONQUEST OF BACTRIA AND SACIA. them, they fought a pitched battle with his army, in which the victory was with neither party. They were not, he said, reduced by force of arms at all, but submitted voluntarily when they found that Cyrus had married a Median princess.10 Herodotus, on the contrary, seems to include the Bactrians among the nations which Cyrus subdued, and probability is strongly in favour of this view of the matter. So warlike a nation is not likely to have submitted unless to force; nor is there any ground to believe that a Median marriage, had Cyrus contracted one,12 would have made him any the more acceptable to the Bactrians.13 On the conquest of Bactria followed, we may be tolerably sure, an attack upon the Sacæ. This people, who must certainly have bordered on the Bactrians, 14 dwelt probably either on the Pamir Steppe, or on the high plain of Chinese Tartary, east of the Bolor range—the modern districts of Kashgar and Yarkand.15 They were reckoned excellent soldiers.18 They fought with the bow, the dagger, and the battle-ase, and were equally formid- able on horseback and on foot. 18 In race they were probably Tâtars or Turanians, and their descendants or their congeners are to be seen in the modern inhabitants of these regions. Accord- ing to Ctesias, their women took the field in almost equal num- bers with their men; and the mixed army which resisted Cyrus amounted, including both sexes, to half a million.19 The king who commanded them was a certain Amorges, who was married to a wife called Sparethra. In an engagement with the Persians he fell into the enemy's hands, whereupon Sparethra put herself 10 Ctesias, Exp. Pers. § 2. I believe that Bactria had formed any " Herod. i. 177. part of the Median Empire. 12 The marriage of Cyrus with Amy * 14 See Herod. i. 153 ; vii. 64 ; ix. 113; tis, a daughter of Astyages, which Ctes. Exc. Pers. SS 2, 3 ; Arrian, Exp. Ctesias asserts, has probably no better Alex. iii. 8; Strab. xi. 8, § 4 foundation than that of his father with 15 See above, p. 107. Mandané, another daughter of the same 16 Herod. vi. 113; vii. 184; viii. king, which Ctesias denies. The two 113; Ctes. Exc. Pers. § 3; Arrian, stories are merely two different modes Exp. Alex. iii. 13. of connecting the great Persian con B7 Herod. vii. 64. queror with the line of Median kings, 18 Herod. 1. 8. c.; Arrian, Exp. Alex. composed with the object of soothing iii. 8. the national vanity of the Medes. (See 19 Ctesias makes the men amount to above, vol. i. p. 419.) 300,000, and the women to 200,000. 18 Since there is really no reason to ! (Exc. Pers. I. 8. c.) CHAP. VII. 383 OTHER CONQUESTS OF CYRUS. -sence in the extreme north on the Jaxartes, in the extreme east in Affghanistan, and towards the south as far as Seistan and the Helmend; nor can there be any reasonable doubt that he over- ran and reduced to subjection the whole of that vast tract which lies between the Caspian on the west, the Indus valley and the desert of Tartary towards the east, the Jaxartes or Sir Deria on the north, and towards the south the Great Deserts of Seistan and Khorassan. More uncertainty attaches to the reduction of the tract lying south of these deserts. Tradition said that Cyrus had once penetrated into Gedrosia on an expedition against the Indians, and had lost his entire army in the waterless and trackless desert ; 27 but there is no evidence at all that he reduced the country. It appears to have been a portion of the Empire in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, but whether that monarch, or Cambyses, or the great founder of the Persian power conquered it, cannot at present be determined. The conquest of the vast tract lying between the Caspian and the Indus, inhabited (as it was) by a numerous, valiant, and freedom-loving population, may well have occupied Cyrus for thirteen or fourteen years. Alexander the Great spent in the reduction of this region, after the inhabitants had in a great measure lost their warlike qualities, as much as five years, or half the time occupied by his whole series of conquests. Cyrus could not have ventured on, prosecuting his enterprises, as did the Macedonian prince, continuously and without interruption, marching straight from one country to another without once re- visiting his capital. He must from time to time have returned to Ecbatana or Pasargadæ;? and it is on the whole most probable that, like the Assyrian monarchs, he marched out from home on a fresh expedition almost every year. Thus, it need cause us 2Arrian, Exp. Alex. vi. 24 ; Strab. , quest was included between B.C. 334 xv. 1, § 5. This latter writer regards and B.C. 325. the tradition as worthless. ('Huiv Sè ? The absence of an Oriental monarch τίς αν δικαία γένοιτο πίστις εκ της τοι- ! from his capital for more than one, or aútns otpateias Toù Kúpou ; Ibid. & 6.) at the most two years, produces almost The reduction of the north-eastern certainly a revolution. (See below, provinces occupied Alexander from B.C. p. 397.) 330 to 326. His entire career of con. * See above, vol. i. p. 463. 384 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. no surprise that fourteen years were consumed in the subjugation of the tribes and nations beyond the Iranic desert to the north and the north-east, and that it was not till B.C. 539, when he was nearly sixty years of age, that the Persian monarch felt himself free to turn his attention to the great kingdom of the south. The expedition of Cyrus against Babylon has been described already. Its success added to the Empire the rich and valuable provinces of Babylonia, Susiana, Syria, and Palestine, thus augmenting its size by about 240,000 or 250,000 square miles. Far more important, however, than this geographical increase was the removal of the last formidable rival—the com- plete destruction of a power which represented to the Asiatics the old Semitic civilisation, which with reason claimed to be the heir and the successor of Assyria, and had a history stretching back for a space of nearly two thousand years. So long as Baby- lon—"the glory of kingdoms,”6 " the praise of the whole earth”? -retained her independence, with her vast buildings, her pres- tige of antiquity, her wealth, her learning, her ancient and grand religious system, she could scarcely fail to be, in the eyes of her neighbours, the first power in the world, if not in mere strength, yet in honour, dignity, and reputation. Haughty and contemptuous herself to the very last, she naturally imposed on men's minds, alike by her past history and her present pre- tensions ; nor was it possible for the Persian monarch to feel that he stood before his subjects as indisputably the foremost man upon the earth until he had humbled in the dust the pride and arrogance of Babylon. But, with the fall of the Great City, the whole fabric of Semitic greatness was shattered. Babylon became “an astonishment and a hissing"9—all her prestige vanished—and Persia stepped manifestly into the place, which Assyria had occupied for so many centuries, of absolute and unrivalled mistress of Western Asia. The fall of Babylon was also the fall of an ancient, widely * Vol. ii. pp. 67-73. 6 Is. xiii. 19. 'Jerem. li. 41. 5 Herod. i. 178. Throughout his & Herod. i. 190. Abyou eixo Tips work Herodotus regards the Babylonians | Tocopklas oùdéva. Compare Dan. v. as "Assyrians" (i. 106, 188, 193; ü. 1.4. 155 ; vii. 63). | Jerem. ü. 37. CHAP. VII. 385 CONQUEST OF BABYLON. spread, and deeply venerated religious system. Not, of course, that the religion suddenly disappeared or ceased to have vota- ries, but that, from a dominant system, supported by all the re- sources of the state, and enforced by the civil power over a wide extent of territory,10 it became simply one of many tolerated beliefs, exposed to frequent rebuffs and insults,11 and at all times overshadowed by a new and rival system—the comparatively pure creed of Zoroastrianism. The conquest of Babylon by Persia was, practically, if not a death-blow, at least a severe wound, to that sensuous idol-worship which had for more than twenty centuries been the almost universal religion in the countries between the Mediterranean and the Zagros mountain range. The religion never recovered itself—was never rein- stated. It survived, a longer or a shorter time, in places. To a slight extent it corrupted Zoroastrianism ; 12 but, on the whole, from the date of the fall of Babylon it declined. “Bel bowed down; Nebo stooped ;” 13 “Merodach was broken in pieces.14 Judgment was done upon the Babylonian graven images ; 15 and the system, of which they formed a necessary part, having once fallen from its proud pre-eminence, gradually decayed and vanished. Parallel with the decline of the old Semitic idolatry was the advance of its direct antithesis, pure spiritual Monotheism. The same blow which laid the Babylonian religion in the dust struck off the fetters from Judaism.16 Purified and refined by the precious discipline of adversity, the Jewish system, which Cyrus, feeling towards it a natural sympathy, protected, upheld, and replaced in its proper locality, advanced from this time in influence and importance, leavening little by little the foul mass of superstition and impurity which came in contact with it. Proselytism grew more common. The Jews spread themselves wider. The return from the captivity, which Cyrus authorised almost immediately after the capture of Babylon, is 10 Dan. ii. 1-29. " Herod. i. 183; Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 16. 12 See above, p. 359. VOL. III. 13 Isa. xlvi. 1. 1 Jerem. 1. 2. 15 Ibid. li. 52. 16 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22; Ezra, i. 1-31. | Compare Isa. xliv. 28; xlv. 1-4. 2 c 386 Chap. VII THE FIFTH MONARCHY. the starting-point from which we may tracé a gradual enlight- enment of the heathen world by the dissemination of Jewish beliefs and practices 17—such dissemination being greatly helped by the high estimation in which the Jewish system was held by the civil authority, both while the empire of the Persians lasted, and when power passed to the Macedonians. On the fall of Babylon its dependencies seem to have sub- mitted to the conquerer, with a single exception. Phoenicia, which had never acquiesced contentedly either in Assyrian or in Babylonian rule, saw, apparently, in the fresh convulsion that was now shaking the East, an opportunity for recovering auto- nomy.18 It was nearly half a century since her last struggle to free herself had terminated unsuccessfully.19 A new genera- tion had grown up since that time—a generation which had seen nothing of war, and imperfectly appreciated its perils. Perhaps some reliance was placed on the countenance and support of Eygpt, which, it must have been felt, would view with satisfaction any obstacle to the advance of a power where- with she was sure, sooner or later, to come into collision. At any rate, it was resolved to make the venture. Phænicia, on the destruction of her distant suzerain, quietly resumed her freedom; abstained from making any act of submission to the conqueror; while, however, at the same time, she established friendly relations for commercial purposes with one of the conqueror's vassals, the prince who had been sent into Pales- tine to re-establish the Jews at Jerusalem. It might have been expected that Cyrus, after his conquest of Babylon, would have immediately proceeded towards the 17 Nehem. xiii. 4, 16, 23; Zech. ii. 11 ; vii. 2 ; viï. 22, 23. Compare Döl- linger, Gentile and Jew, vol. ii. pp. 294- 296 (Darnell's translation). 18 Mr. Grote supposes that Phænicia, as well as Judæa, yielded to Cyrus. (History of Greece, vol. iii. p. 184, edit. of 1862.) But the statement which Herodotus (iii. 34) puts into the mouth of Crosus-"that Cambyses excelled his father, since he possessed all his father's territories, and had added to them Egypt and the sea"—is sufficient to show that Herodotus at any rate re- garded the submission of Phænicia as made to Cambyses. (See Dahlmann's Life of Herodotus, p. 113, E. T.) 19 See above, p. 53. | Ezra iii. 3. The expression at the close of this verse—“according to the grant that they had of Cyrus, king of Persia"--refers, not to any grant from Cyrus of Phoenician timber, but to the money grant which enabled the Jews to purchase it. (Compare Ezra vi. 4.) CHAP. VII. 387 LAST WAR AND DEATH OF CYRUS. south-west. The reduction of Egypt had, according to Hero- dotus, been embraced in the designs which he formed fifteen years earlier. The non-submission of Phoenicia must have been regarded as an act of defiance which deserved signal chastisement. It has been suspected that the restoration of the Jews was prompted, at least in part, by political motives, and that Cyrus, when he re-established them in their country, looked to finding them of use to him in the attack which he was meditating upon Egypt. At any rate, it is evident that their presence would have facilitated his march through Pales- tine, and given him a point d'appui, which could not but have been of value. These considerations make it probable that an Egyptian expedition would have been determined on, had not circumstances occurred to prevent it. What the exact circumstances were, it is impossible to deter- mine. According to Herodotus,* a sudden desire seized Cyrus to attack the Massagetæ, who bordered his Empire to the north-east. He led his troops across the Araxes (Jaxartes ?), defeated the Massagetæ by stratagem in a great battle, but was afterwards himself defeated and slain, his body falling into the enemy's hands, who treated it with gross indignity. According to Ctesias, the people against whom he made his expedition were the Derbices, a nation bordering upon India. Assisted by Indian allies, who lent them a number of elephants, this people engaged Cyrus, and defeated him in a battle, wherein he received a mortal wound. Reinforced, however, by a body of Sacæ, the Persians renewed the struggle, and gained a com- plete victory, which was followed by the submission of the nation.? Cyrus, however, died of his wound on the third day after the first battle. This conflict of testimony clouds with uncertainty the entire closing scene of the life of Cyrus. All that we can lay down p. 173. ? Herod. i. 153. 5 Herod, i. 208-214. * Thirlwall, History of Greece, vol. ii. o Ctesias, Exc. Pers. & 6. ? Ibid. 8 7. Herod. i. 201. 'Is tý Kúpw TOÛTO 8 Ibid. & 8. 'EteleÚT noe tplan UOTE- το έθνος κατέργαστο, επεθύμησε 1 ρον από του τραύματος ήμέρα. Μασσαγέτας υπ' έωυτώ ποιήσασθαι. 2 c 2 388 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. as tolerably well established is, that instead of carrying out his designs against Egypt, he engaged in hostilities with one of the nations on his north-eastern frontier, that he conducted the war with less than his usual success, and in the course of it received a wound of which he died (B.C. 529), after he had reigned nine-and-twenty years. That his body did not fall into the enemy's hands appears, however, to be certain from the fact that it was conveyed into Persia Proper, and buried at Pasargadæ. It may be suspected that this expedition, which proved so disastrous to the Persian monarch, was not the mere wanton act which it appears to be in the pages of our authorities. The nations of the north-east were at all times turbulent and irritable, with difficulty held in check by the civilised power that bore rule in the south and west. The expedition of Cyrus, whether directed against the Massagetæ or the Derbices, was probably intended to strike terror into the barbarians of these regions, and was analogous to those invasions which were under- taken under the wisest of the Roman Emperors,'' across the Rhine and Danube, against Germans, Goths, and Sarmatæ. The object of such inroads was not to conquer, but to alarm- it was hoped by an imposing display of organised military force to deter the undisciplined hordes of the prolific North from venturing across the frontier and carrying desolation through large tracts of the Empire. Defensive warfare has often an aggressive look. It may have been solely with the object of protecting his own territories from attack that Cyrus made his last expedition across the Jaxartes, or towards the upper Indus. 11 The character of Cyrus, as represented to us by the Greeks, is the most favourable that we possess of any early Oriental monarch. Active, energetic, brave, fertile in stratagems," he • Arrian, Exp. Alex. vi. 29; Strab. | direct contact with Sacia and India, xv. 3, § 7; Q. Curt. x. 1. Compare must belong to the region between the above, p. 318. Upper Oxus and the Upper Indus. 10 Ás Tiberius (Tacit. Ann. ii. 6-26), 11 Herod. i. 80, 186, 211; Nic. Dam. Probus, Julian the Apostate, and others. Fr. 66, p. 403. " The Derbices of Ctesias, who are in CHAP. VII. 389 CHARACTER OF CYRUS. has all the qualities required to form a successful military chief. He conciliates his people by friendly and familiar treat- ment,13 but declines to spoil them by yielding to their inclina- tions when they are adverse to their true interests.14 He has a ready humour, which shows itself in smart sayings and repartees, 15 that take occasionally the favourite Oriental turn of parable or apologue.16 He is mild in his treatment of the prisoners that fall into his hands, and ready to forgive even the heinous crime of rebellion.18 He has none of the pride of the ordinary eastern despot, but converses on terms of equality with those about him.19 We cannot be surprised that the Persians, contrasting him with their later monarchs, held his memory in the highest veneration,20 and were even led by their affection for his person to make his type of countenance their standard of physical beauty. 21 The genius of Cyrus was essentially that of a conqueror, not of an administrator. There is no trace of his having adopted anything like a uniform system for the government of the provinces which he subdued. In Lydia he set up a Persian governor, but assigned certain important functions to a native;22 in Babylon he gave the entire direction of affairs into the hands of a Mede, to whom he allowed the title and style of king ;23 in Judæa he appointed a native, but made him merely “governor” or “deputy;"1 in Sacia he maintained as tributary king the monarch who had resisted his arms.? Policy may 13 Herod. i. 126 ; ü. 89. I wanted you.'" 14 Ibid. ix. 122. 17 Beros. 14, ad fin. ; Herod. i. 130, 15 Ibid. i. 126, 127, 141, 153, etc. | 208, 213; Ctes. Exc. Pers. & 2. Plut. Apophth. p. 172, E. F.' is Herod. i. 155, 156. 16 The best of the sayings ascribed | 19 Ibid. i. 87-90, 155, 209. to Cyrus is the following: When the 20 Ibid. üi. 89; Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, § 1; Ionian Greeks, who a little before had Arrian, Exp. Alex. vi. 29; etc. refused his overtures, came after the 21 Plut. Apophth. p. 172, E; Polit. fall of Sardis to offer their submission, p. 821, E. Cyrus replied to them :-"A fisherman * 22 Herod, i. 153. (See above, p. 376.) wanted the fish to dance for him, so he 23 Dan. v. 31 ; ix. 1. These passages played a tune on his flute, but the fish clearly imply that “Darius the Mede" kept still. Then he took his net and ruled with a delegated authority. Hence drew them out on the shore, and they he did not occur in the list of Baby- all began to leap and dance. But the lonian kings. fisherman said, 'A truce to your dancing / Ezra v. 14; Haggai i. 1, 14 ; ii. 2. now, since you would not dance when : Ctesias, Exc. Pers. SS 3 and 7. 390 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. have dictated the course pursued in each instance, which may have been suited to the condition of the several provinces; but the variety allowed was fatal to consolidation, and the monarchy, as Cyrus left it, had as little cohesion as any of those by which it was preceded. Though originally a rude mountain-chief, Cyrus, after he succeeded to empire, showed himself quite able to appreciate the dignity and value of art. In his constructions at Pasar- gadæ he combined massiveness with elegance, and manifested a taste at once simple and refined. He ornamented his build- ings with reliefs of an ideal character. It is probably to him that we owe the conception of the light tapering stone shaft, which is the glory of Persian architecture. If the more mas- sive of the Persepolitan buildings are to be ascribed to him, we must regard him as having fixed the whole plan and arrangement which was afterwards followed in all Persian palatial edifices. In his domestic affairs Cyrus appears to have shown the same moderation and simplicity which we observe in his general conduct. He married, as it would seem, one wife only, Cassandané, the daughter of Pharnaspes, who was a member of the royal family. By her he had issue two sons and at least three daughters. The sons were Cambyses and Smerdis ;' the daughters Atossa, Artystoné, and one whose name is unknown to us. Cassandané died before her husband, and was deeply mourned by him. Shortly before his own death he took the precaution formally to settle the succession.10 * See above, pp. 313-319. | the work of Cyrus. These buildings * Supra, p. 353. are the Great Central Propylæa, the Ælian represents Cyrus as the South-Eastern Palace, and the Hall of founder of the Persepolitan palace. a Hundred Columns. (Hist. An. i. 59.) It has been already © Herod. ii. 1; ii. 2. Pharnaspes observed that there are edifices on the was also (according to Herodotus) the platform having the appearance of being | father of Otanes the conspirator (ib. . considerably more ancient than those 68). which the inscriptions prove to have 1 Ibid. iii. 30; Behistun Inscr. col. i. been constructed by Darius Hystaspis. par. 10, $ 5. (Supra, pp. 294, 295 ) The short reign & Herod, iii. 31 and 88. of Cambyses can hardly have sufficed 9 Ibid. ii. 1. for the erection of these antique edifices, L 10 Ibid. i. 208; Ctes. Exc. Pers. $ 8; which are, therefore, in all probability, | Xen. Cyrop. vii. 7, § 11. CHAP. VII. 391 ACCESSION OF CAMBYSES. Leaving the general inheritance of his vast dominions to his elder son, Cambyses, he declared it to be his will that the younger should be entrusted with the actual government of several large and important provinces." He thought by this plan to secure the well-being of both the youths, never sus- · pecting that he was in reality consigning both to untimely ends, and even preparing the way for an extraordinary revolution. The ill effect of the unfortunate arrangement thus made appeared almost immediately. Cambyses was scarcely settled upon the throne before he grew jealous of his brother, and ordered him to be privately put to death. His cruel orders were obeyed, and with so much secrecy that neither the mode of the death, nor even the fact, was known to more than a few. Smerdis was generally believed to be still alive; and thus an opportunity was presented for personation—a form of impos- ture very congenial to Orientals, and one which has often had very disastrous consequences. We shall find in the sequel this opportunity embraced, and results follow of a most stirring and exciting character. It required time, however, to bring to maturity the fruits of the crime so rashly committed. Cambyses, in the mean- while, quite unconscious of danger, turned his attention to military matters, and determined on endeavouring to complete his father's scheme of conquest by the reduction of Egypt. Desirous of obtaining a ground of quarrel less antiquated than the alliance, a quarter of a century earlier, between Amasis and Crosus, he demanded that a daughter of the Egyptian king should be sent to him as a secondary wife. Amasis, too timid to refuse, sent a damsel named Nitetis, who was not his daughter; and she, soon after her arrival, made Cambyses acquainted with the fraud.13 A ground of quarrel was thus 1 So Ctesias and Xenophon, who, 1 13 This is the account of the matter however, differ entirely as to the pro which Herodotus deliberately prefers, vinces assigned to Smerdis. after weighing the different versions of 12 The Behistun inscription shows the story (üi. 1). It is recommended that Smerdis was put to death before by its internal probability no less Cambyses started for Egypt. (See col.than by his authority. To make it i. par. 10.) thoroughly consistent with likelihood, 392 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. secured, which might be put forward when it suited his pur- pose; and meanwhile every nerve was being strained to prepare effectually for the expedition. The difficulty of a war with Egypt lay in her inaccessibility. She was protected on all sides by seas or deserts; and, for a successful advance upon her from the direction of Asia, it was desirable both to obtain a quiet passage for a large army through the desert of El-Tij, and also to have the support of a powerful fleet in the Mediterranean. This latter was the paramount consideration. An army well supplied with camels might carry its provisions and water through the desert, and might intimidate or overpower the few Arab tribes which inhabited it ; 14 but, unless the command of the sea was gained and the navigation of the Nile closed, Memphis might successfully resist attack.15 Cambyses appears to have perceived with sufficient clearness the conditions on which victory depended, and to have applied himself at once to securing them. He made a treaty with the Arab Sheikh who had the chief influence over the tribes of the desert;16 and at the same time he set to work to procure the services of a powerful naval force. By menaces or negotiations he prevailed upon the Phænicians to submit themselves to his yoke,17 and having thus obtained a fleet superior to that of Egypt, he commenced hostilities by robbing her of a dependency 18 which possessed considerable naval strength, in this way still further increasing the disparity between his own fleet and that of his enemy. Against the combined ships of Phænicia, Cyprus, Ionia, and Æolis, Egypt was powerless, and her fleets seem to have quietly yielded the command of the sea. Cambyses was we have only to suppose that Nitetis, the Seleucidæ, the Ptolemies, the Ro- was the granddaughter rather than the | mans, and the Arabs, no less than by daughter of Apries. For other ver the Persians. In modern times it has sions of the story, see Herod. iii. 2, 3; been passed by armies under Napoleon and Dino, Fr. ii. Ctesias, according I. and Ibrahim Pacha. to Athenæus (Deipn. xiii. 10; p. 560, 15 Compare the long resistance to D.), agreed with Herodotus. Artaxerxes (infra, p. 473), when the " The desert has never proved an sea-communication was kept open by obstacle of any importance to an in the Athenian fleet. 16 Herod, iïi. 7. vading army. It was frequently crossed 11 Ibid. iii. 19 and 34. and recrossed by the Egyptians them 18 Cyprus. (Compare Herod. ii. 182 selves, by the Assyrians, the Baby- | with iii. 19.) On the naval strength of lonians, the Greeks under Alexander, Cyprus, see Herod. vi. 6, vii. 90. CHAP. VII. 393 CONQUEST OF EGYPT. roops, 20 and fo 5.C, 525 that he or bis Egyptian thus able to give his army the support of a naval force, as it marched along the coast, from Carmel probably to Pelusium; and when, having defeated the Egyptians at the last-named place, he proceeded against Memphis, he was able to take pos- session of the Nile, 11 and to blockade the Egyptian capital both by land and water. It appears that four years were consumed by the Persian monarch in his preparations for his Egyptian expedition. It was not until B.c. 525 that he entered Egypt at the head of his troops,2° and fought the great battle which decided the fate of the country. The struggle was long and bloody. Psammenitus, 21 who had succeeded his father Amasis, had the services, not only of his Egyptian subjects, but of a large body of mercenaries besides, Greeks and Carians.22 These allies were zealous in his cause, and are said to have given him a horrible proof of their attachment. One of their body had deserted to the Persians some little time before the expedition, and was believed to have given important advice to the invader. He had left his chil- dren behind in Egypt; and these his former comrades now seized, and led out in front of their lines, where they slew them before their father's eyes, and, having so done, mixed their blood in a bowl with water and wine, and drank, one and all, of the mixture.23 The battle followed immediately after; but, in spite of their courage and fanaticism, the Egyptian army was completely defeated.24 According to Ctesias, fifty thousand fell on the vanquished side, while the victors lost no more than seven thousand.' Psammenitus, after his defeat, threw himself into Memphis, but, being blockaded by land and prevented from receiving supplies from the sea, after a stout resistance, he surrendered. The captive monarch received the respectful 19 Herod. iii. 13. | his father. 22 Herod. iii. 11. .. 20 This date depends upon the nearly | 23 Ibid. concurrent testimony of Diodorus (i. 4 Ctes. Exc. Pers. § 9; Herod. 68), Eusebius (Chron. Can. fi. p. 334), 1 1. 8. C. and Manetho (ibid. i. 20; p. 105). i Ctes. Exc. Pers. I. s. C. 21 Manetho called this king Psam- . The occupation of the Nile by the micherites (Fr. 66); Ctesias (Esc. Pers. Persian fleet during the whole period of $ 9) called him Amyrtæus. He was Cambyses' stay in Egypt is indicated probably a Psamatik, who took the sufficiently by Herod. iii. 13 and 25, ad title of Neit-se-“son of Neith”-like fin. 394 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. treatment which Persian clemency usually accorded to fallen sovereigns. Herodotus even goes so far as to intimate that, if he had abstained from conspiracy, he would probably have been allowed to continue ruler of Egypt,* exchanging, of course, his independent sovereignty for a delegated kingship held at the pleasure of the Lord of Asia. The conquest of Egypt was immediately followed by the sub- mission of the neighbouring tribes. The Libyans of the desert tract which borders the Nile valley to the west, and even the Greeks of the more remote Barca and Cyrêné, sentgifts to the con- queror and consented to become his tributaries. But Cambyses placed little value on such petty accessions to his power. Inhe- riting the grandeur of view which had characterised his father, he was no sooner master of Egypt than he conceived the idea of a magnificent series of conquests in this quarter, whereby he hoped to become Lord of Africa no less than of Asia, or at any rate to leave himself without a rival of any importance on the vast continent which his victorious arms had now opened to him. Apart from Egypt, Africa possessed but two powers capa- ble, by their political organisation and their military strength, of offering him serious resistance. These were Ethiopia and Carthage—the one the great power of the South, the equal, if not even the superior, of Egypt?—the other the great power of the West—remote, little known, but looming larger for the obscurity in which she was shrouded, and attractive from her reputed wealth. The views of Cambyses comprised the reduction of both these powers, and also the conquest of the oasis of Ammon. As a good Zoroastrian, he was naturally anxious to exhibit the superiority of Ormazd to all the “gods of the nations;” and, as the temple of Ammon in the oasis had the greatest repute of all the African shrines, this design would be best accomplished by its pillage and destruction. It is probable that he further 8 Herod. iii. 15. Ctesias says he was | x. 14. The latter writer says that both removed to Susa (Exc. Pers. $ 9); but | Libyans and Cyrenæans had previously this is incompatible with his subsequent | fought on the Egyptian side against revolt and execution. Cambyses. 6 Herod iii. 17. * Herod. l. 8. c. ? See above, p. 132, note, 5 Herod. iii. 13; iv. 165; Diod. Sic. & Herod. i. 46. CHAP. VII. 395 GRAND PROJECTS OF CAMBYSES. looked to the subjugation of all the tribes on the north coast between the Nile valley and the Carthaginian territory; for he would undoubtedly have sent an army along the shore to act in concert with his fleet, had he decided ultimately on making the expedition. An unexpected obstacle, however, arose to prevent him. The Phoenicians, who formed the main strength of his navy, declined to take any part in an attack on Carthage, since the Carthaginians were their colonists, and the relations between the two people had always been friendly. Cambyses did not like to force their inclinations, on account of their recent voluntary submission ; and as, without their aid, his navy was manifestly unequal to the proposed service, he felt obliged to desist from the undertaking:10 While the Carthaginian scheme was thus nipped in the bud, the enterprises which Cambyses attempted to carry out led to nothing but disaster. An army, fifty thousand strong, dis- patched from Thebes against Ammon, perished to a man amid the sands of the Libyan desert." A still more numerous force, led by Cambyses himself towards the Ethiopian frontier, found itself short of supplies on its march across Nubia, 12 and was forced to return, without glory, after suffering considerable loss.13 It became evident that the abilities of the Persian monarch were not equal to his ambition—that he insufficiently appre- ciated the difficulties and dangers of enterprises—while a fatal obstinacy prevented him from acknowledging and retrieving an error while retrieval was possible. The Persians, we may be sure, grew dispirited under such a leader; and the Egyptians 3 Herodotus speaks only of the fleet | 22° 44', and rejoins it at Abu Hamed in üi. 19); but Cambyses must have been lat. 19º 10—the route taken by Burck- well aware that a fleet alone could not hardt in 1814, by Bruce in 1772, and reduce such a place as Carthage. by Sir S. Baker in 1861. (See Burck- 10 Herod. 1. 8. C. hardt, Travels in Nubia, part. i. p. 171; 11 Ibid. iii. 25, 26. Compare Diod. Baker, Albert Nyanza, vol. i. p. 4.) Sic. X. 13, $ 3. 13 Πολλούς απολέσας του στρατού 12 It is clear that the disasters which | (Herod, iii, 25). The loss could not have Herodotus relates (üi. 25) took place in been very great, or the revolt, which the passage of the Nubian desert between the Egyptians attempted, would not lat. 23° and 19°, where the Nile makes have been unsuccessful. Nor would a its great bend to the west. Cambyses portion of the Ethiopians have been, as followed the ordinary caravan route, they were, subdued (ib. üi. 97). which quits the Nile at Korosko in lat. 1 396 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. naturally took heart. It seems to have been shortly after the return of Cambyses from his abortive expedition against Ethiopia, that symptoms of an intention to revolt began to manifest themselves in Egypt. The priests declared an incar- nation of Apis, and the whole country burst out into rejoicings.14 It was probably now that Psammenitus, who had hitherto been kindly treated by his captor, was detected in treasonable intrigues, condemned to death, and executed.45 At the same time, the native officers who had been left in charge of the city of Memphis were apprehended and capitally punished.16 Such stringent measures had all the effect that was expected from them; they wholly crushed the nascent rebellion : they left, however, behind them a soreness, felt alike by the conqueror and the conquered, which prevented the establishment of a good understanding between the Great King and his new subjects. Cambyses knew that he had been severe, and that his severity had made him many enemies; he suspected the people, and still more suspected the priests, their natural leaders; he soon per- suaded himself that policy required in Egypt a departure from the principles of toleration which were ordinarily observed to- wards their subjects by the Persians, and a sustained effort on the part of the civil power to bring the religion, and its priests, into contempt. Accordingly, he commenced a series of acts calcu- lated to have this effect. He stabbed the sacred calf, believed to be incarnate Apis; he ordered the body of priests who had the animal in charge to be publicly scourged; he stopped the Apis festival by making participation in it a capital offence ;17 he opened the receptacles of the dead, and curiously examined the bodies contained in them;? he intruded himself into the chief sanctuary at Memphis, and publicly scoffed at the grotesque image of Phtha; finally, not content with outraging in the same way the inviolable temple of the Cabeiri, he wound up his 14 Herod. iii. 27. The priests could 15 Ibid. üi. 15. 16 Ibid. ch. 27. no doubt declare an incarnation of Apis 7 Ibid. ch. 29. Compare Plut. De whenever they pleased, since they were | Is. et Osir., who says that Cambyses the sole judges of the "signs" by which killed the Apis calf and gave it to the the presence of the god was known. dogs. (Ibid. ch. 29.) i Herod. ii. 37. CHAP. VII. 397 REVOLUTION IN PERSIA. insults by ordering that their images should be burnt? These injuries and indignities rankled in the minds of the Egyptians, and probably had a large share in producing that bitter hatred of the Persian yoke which shows itself in the later history on so many occasions; but for the time the policy was successful: crushed beneath the iron heel of the conqueror—their faith in the power of their gods shaken, their spirits cowed, their hopes shattered—the Egyptian subjects of Cambyses made up their minds to submission. The Oriental will generally kiss the hand that smites him, if it only smite hard enough. Egypt became now for a full generation the obsequious slave of Persia, and gave no more trouble to her subjugator than the weakest or the most contented of the provinces. The work of subjection completed, Cambyses, having been absent from his capital longer than was at all prudent, prepared to return home. He had proceeded on his way as far as Syria, when intelligence reached him of a most unexpected nature. A herald suddenly entered his camp and proclaimed, in the hearing of the whole army, that Cambyses, son of Cyrus, had ceased to reign, and that the allegiance of all Persian subjects was henceforth to be paid to Smerdis, son of Cyrus. At first, it is said, Cambyses thought that his instrument had played him false, and that his brother was alive and had actually seized the throne; but the assurances of the suspected person, and a sug- gestion which he made, convinced him of the contrary, and gave him a clue to the real solution of the mystery. Prexaspes, the nobleman inculpated, knew that the so-called Smerdis must be an impostor, and suggested his identity with a certain Magus, whose brother had been intrusted by Cambyses with the general direction of his household and the care of the palace. He was probably led to make the suggestion by his knowledge of the resemblance borne by this person to the murdered prince, which • Herod. iii. 37. 3 Ibid. üi. 62. The particular part of Syria cannot be fixed. Herodotus says it was a town called Ecbatana, which Stephen of Byzantium identifies with Batanea or Bashan ; but this is quite out of the usual route. Pliny | (H. N. v. 19) says that there was a | town on Mount Carmel called Acbatana, which, as far as the situation goes, is suitable; but we have no other evidence of the existence of such a place. 1 - Herodotus regards the idea as sug. gested by the fact that this Magus was 398 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. . was sufficiently close to make personation possible. Cambyses was thus enabled to appreciate the gravity of the crisis, and to consider whether he could successfully contend with it or no. Apparently, he decided in the negative. Believing that he could not triumph over the conspiracy which had decreed his downfall, and unwilling to descend to a private station—perhaps even uncertain whether his enemies would spare his life—he resolved to fly to the last refuge of a dethroned king, and to end all by suicide. Drawing his short sword from its sheath, he gave himself a wound, of which he died in a few days. It is certainly surprising that the king formed this resolution. He was at the head of an army, returning from an expedition, which, if not wholly successful, had at any rate added to the empire an important province. His father's name was a tower of strength; and if he could only have exposed the imposture that had been practised on them, he might have counted confi- dently on rallying the great mass of the Persians to his cause. How was it that he did not advance on the capital, and at least strike one blow for empire? No clear and decided response can be made to this inquiry; but we may indistinctly discern a number of causes which may have combined to produce in the monarch's mind the feeling of despondency whereto he gave way. Although he returned from Egypt a substantial conqueror, his laurel wreath was tarnished by ill-success; his army, weakened by its losses, and dispirited by its failures, was out of heart; it had no trust in his capacity as a commander, and could not be expected to fight with enthusiasm on his behalf. There is also reason to believe that he was generally unpopular on account of his haughty and tyrannical temper, and his contempt of law and really named Smerdis ; but this, which iii. 64-66) in these details, merely in itself would be very unlikely, is dis- | adding the fact stated by Darius in proved by the Behistun Inscription, I the Behistun Inscription, that the self- which tells us (col. i. par. 11, § 2) that inflicted wound was intentional. The his real name was Gomates. account of Ctesias, that Cambyses died Behist. Inscr. col. i. par. 11, $ 10. from a wound which he gave himself The term "uvamarshiyush" seems to be accidentally as he was carving wood for correctly explained by Spiegel as “ von his amusement at Babylon (Ctes, Exc. selbst sterbend." (See his Glossary, Pers. § 12), shows how the event was Keilinschriften, p. 190.) softened down in the later traditions I follow the authority of Herodotus of the Persians. CHAP. VII. 399 CHARACTER OF CAMBYSES. usage, where they interfered with the gratification of his desires. Though we should do wrong to accept as true all the crimes laid to his charge by the Egyptians, who detested his memory, we cannot doubt the fact of his incestuous marriage with his sister, Atossa,' which was wholly repugnant to the religious feelings of his nation. Nor can we well imagine that there was no founda- tion at all for the stories of the escape of Croesus, the murder of the son of Prexaspes, 10 and the execution in Egypt on a trivial charge of twelve noble Persians." His own people called Cam- byses a “despot” or “master," in contrast with Cyrus, whom they regarded as a "father," because, as Herodotus says, he was “harsh and reckless," whereas his father was mild and bene- ficent.12 Further, there was the religious aspect of the revolu- tion, which had taken place, in the background. Cambyses may have known that in the ranks of his army there was much sympathy with Magism, 18 and may have doubted whether, if the whole conspiracy were laid bare, he could count on anything like a general adhesion of his troops to the Zoroastrian cause. These various grounds, taken together, go far towards accounting for a suicide which at first sight strikes us as extraordinary, and is indeed almost unparalleled. 14 Of the general character of Cambyses little more need be said. He was brave, active, and energetic, like his father; but he lacked his father's strategic genius, his prudence, and his fertility in resources. Born in the purple, he was proud and haughty,15 careless of the feelings of others, and impatient of Compare the remark of Heeren (Manual of Ancient History, ii. & 8; p. 94, E. T.)-“We ought to be par- ticularly on our guard against all the evil that is related of Cambyses, inas- much as our information respecting that prince is derived entirely from his enemies, the Egyptian priests." * Atossa, who survived Salamis (Æschyl. Pers. passim) was actually in part contemporary with Herodotus, who can scarcely be supposed ignorant of the main facts of her history. She married, according to him, first Cambyses, then the Pseudo-Smerdis, and finally Darius. (Herod. iii. 31, 68, and 88.) 9 Herod. iii. 36. 10 Ibid. ch. 35. 1 Ibid. 1. 8, c. 12 Ibid. üi. 89. 13 See above, p. 358. Many of his troops were probably Medes, and there- fore open professors of Magism. 14 Suicides at the last moment, when there was an immediate prospect of falling into the enemy's hands, were not uncommon in the East. (See vol. ii. p. 232, note *; and compare above, p. 380). But suicide when no danger pressed, and the chance of battle bad not even been tried, was, to say the least, exceedingly rare. 15 Oxbywpos. Herod, üi. 89. 'TTEP- hpavos. Diod. Sic. x. 13, $ 1. 400 THE FIFTH MONARCHY. admonition or remonstrance.16 His pride made him obstinate in error ;17 and his contempt of others led on naturally to harsh- ness, and perhaps even to cruelty.18 He is accused of “habitual drunkenness,”1 and was probably not free from the intemperance which was a common Persian failing ;? but there is not sufficient ground for believing that his indulgence was excessive, much The “ madness of Cambyses,” reported to and believed in by Herodotus, was a fiction of the Egyptian priests, who wished it to be thought that their gods had in this way punished his impiety. The Persians had no such tradition, but merely regarded him as unduly severe and selfish. A dispassionate consideration of all the evidence on the subject leads to the con- clusion that Cambyses lived and died in the possession of his reason, having neither destroyed it through inebriety nor lost it by the judgment of Heaven. The death of Cambyses (B.C. 522) left the conspirators, who had possession of the capital, at liberty to develope their pro- jects, and to take such steps as they thought best for the con- solidation and perpetuation of their power. The position which they occupied was one of peculiar delicacy. On the one hand, the impostor had to guard against acting in any way which 16 Herod. ii. 34-36. | vol. ii. p. 177; Niebuhr, Vorträge über 17 Ibid. ch. 25. alte Geschichte, vol. i. p. 153.) 18 The execution of Smerdis may have ? Supra, p. 236. been a political necessity ; but it was, • Herod. ii. 30. Kaußúons , s at any rate, indicative of a stern temper, | λέγουσι Αιγύπτιοι, αυτίκα διά τούτο which did not allow the domestic affec το αδίκημα εμάνη. tions to interfere with strict justice. Ibid. üii. 89; Behist. Inser. col. i. The measures of repression whereby par. 10. revolt was stopped in Egypt were 5 Mr. Grote accepts the madness of severe almost to cruelty. The com | Cambyses as an established fact. (His- mand said to have been given to the tory of Greece, vol. üi. pp. 188, 189.) troops sent against the Ammonians, Bishop Thirlwall, with more judgment, that they should enslave the entire suggests that “the actions ascribed to nation (Herod. iii. 25; Diod. Sic. X. him are not more extravagant than 13, § 3), had nothing to justify it, and those recorded of other despots whose must be pronounced (if it be regarded minds were only disturbed by the pos- as a reality) most barbarous. Cambyses session of arbitrary power." (History was, no doubt, rightly called by the of Greece, l. 8. c.) If “the actions as- Persians χαλεπός-whether he deserves cribed to him " are compatible with the Wuds of Diodorus (l. 8. c.) is, per real sanity, much more may we con- haps, open to question. clude that his actual conduct was that i Herod. iü. 34. Moderns re-echo the of a sane person. (See above, p. 399, CHAP. VII. 401 REIGN OF THE PSEUDO-SMERDIS. would throw suspicion on his being really Smerdis, the son of Cyrus. On the other, he had to satisfy the Magian priests, to whom he was well known, and on whom he mainly depended for support, if his imposture should be detected. These priests must have desired a change of the national religion, and to effect this must have been the true aim and object of the revolution.” But it was necessary to proceed with the utmost caution. An open proclamation that Magism was to supersede Zoroastrianism could scarcely have failed to arouse doubts which might easily terminate in discovery. The Magian brothers shrank from affronting this peril, and resolved, before approaching it, to obtain for the new government an amount of general popularity which would make its overthrow in fair fight difficult. Ac- cordingly the new reign was inaugurated by a general remission of tribute and military service for the space of three years a measure which was certain to give satisfaction to all the tribes was at all times exempt from tribute, and was thus, so far, unaffected by the boon granted, while inilitary service was no doubt popular with the ruling nation, for whose benefit the various conquests were effected.' Still Persia could scarcely take umbrage at an inactivity which was to last only three years, while to the rest of the Empire the twofold grace accorded must have been thoroughly acceptable. Further to confirm his uncertain hold upon the throne, the Pseudo-Smerdis took to wife all the widows of his predecessor. 10 This is a practice common in the East ; 11 and there can be no doubt that it gives a new monarch a certain prestige in the eyes of his people. In the present case, however, it involved a danger. The wives of the late king were likely to be acquainted with the person of the king's brother; Atossa, at any rate, could not fail to know him intimately. If the Magus allowed them to associate together freely, according to the ordinary practice, * Supra, p. 358. * Ibid. ch. 97. 10 Herod. iii. 68. VOL. III. ' Herod. ii. 67. 1 2 Sam. xvi. 22; Herod. ii. 88: See above, p. 241. | Ockley, History of the Saracens, p. 436, &c. 402 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. they would detect his imposture, and probably find a way to divulge it. He therefore introduced a new system into the seraglio. Instead of the free intercourse one with another which the royal consorts had enjoyed previously, he established at once the principle of complete isolation. Each wife was assigned her own portion of the palace; and no visiting of one wife by another was permitted. Access to them from without was altogether forbidden, even to their nearest relations; and the wives were thus cut off wholly from the external world, unless they could manage to communicate with it by means of secret messages. But precautions of this kind, though necessary, were in themselves suspicious; they naturally suggested an inquiry into their cause and object. It was a possible explana- tion of them, that they proceeded from an extreme and morbid jealousy; but the thought could not fail to occur to some, that they might be occasioned by the fear of detection. However, as time went on, and no discovery was actually made, the Magus grew bolder, and ventured to commence that reformation of religion which he and his order had so much at heart. He destroyed the Zoroastrian temples in various places, and seems to have put down the old worship, with its hymns in praise of the Zoroastrian deities.14 He instituted Magian rites in lieu of the old ceremonies, and established his brother Magians as the priest-caste of the Persian nation.15 The changes introduced were no doubt satisfactory to the Medes, and to many of the subject races throughout the Empire. They were even agreeable to a portion of the Persian people, who leant towards a more material worship and a more gorgeous ceremonial than had contented their ancestors. If the faithful worshippers of Ormazd saw them with dismay, they were too timid to resist, and tacitly acquiesced in the religious revo- lution. 16 12 Herod. iii. 68. | doubt. (See Spiegel, Keilinschriften, pp. 13 Ibid. ch. 69. 83, 84.) 14 See Bihist. Inscr. col. i. par. 14, is The vengeance taken on the Magi &S 5 and 6. The destruction of the generally at his death (Herod. üi. 79 teinples is clearly asserted. About the | implies this. prohibition of the worship there is some! To Behist. Inscr. col. i. par. 13. CHAP. VII. 403 DISCOVERY OF THE IMPOSTURE. In one remote province the change gave a fresh impulse to a religious struggle which was there going on, adding strength to the side of intolerance. The Jews had now been engaged for fifteen or sixteen years in the restoration of their temple, according to the permission granted thern by Cyrus. Their enterprise was distasteful to the neighbouring Samaritans,"? who strained every nerve to prevent its being brought to a successful issue, and as each new king mounted the Persian throne, made a fresh effort to have the work stopped by authority. Their representations had had no effect upon Cambyses ; 18 but when they were repeated on the accession of the Pseudo-Smerdis, the result was different. An edict was at authorising the inhabitants of Samaria to interfere forcibly in the matter, and compel the Jews to desist from building. 19 Armed with this decree, the Samaritan authorities hastened to Jerusalem, and “made the Jews to cease by force and power.” 20 These revelations of a leaning towards a creed diverse from that of the Achæmenian princes, combined with the system of seclusion adopted in the palace—a system not limited to the seraglio, but extending also to the person of the monarch, who neither quitted the palace precincts himself, nor allowed any of the Persian nobles to enter them?—must have turned the suspicions previously existing into a general belief and con- viction that the monarch seated on the throne was not Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, but an impostor. Yet still there was for a while no outbreak. It mattered nothing to the provincials who ruled them, provided that order was maintained, and that the boons granted them at the opening of the new reign were not revoked or modified. Their wishes were no doubt in favour of the prince who had remitted their burthens :2 and 17 The Samaritans, it must be ad- | they became the implacable enemies of mitted, had first proposed to unite with the Jews. the Jews in building the temple (Ezra, 18 Ezra iv. 6. 19 Ibid. verses 7-22. iv. 2). It was when this overture 20 Ibid. verse 23. which was thought dangerous to the Herod. iii. 68. purity of religion-was rejected, that ! Ibid. ch. 67. 2 D 2 404 CAAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. in Media a peculiar sympathy would exist towards one who had exalted Magism. Such discontent as was felt would be confinel to Persia, or to Persia and a few provinces of the north-east, where the Zoroastrian faith may have maintained itself.4 At last, among the chief Persians, rumours began to arise. These were sternly repressed at the outset, and a reign of terror was established, during which men remained silent through fear. But at length some of the principal nobles, convinced of the imposture, held secret council together, and stances. Nothing, however, was done until the arrival at the capital? of a personage felt by all to be the proper leader of the nation in the existing crisis. This was Darius, the son of Hystaspes, a prince of the blood royal,” who probably stood in the dirert line of the succession, failing the issue of Cyrus. At the early age of twenty he had attracted the attention of seize the throne. He was now about twenty-eight years10 of 3 This is probably the sole truth con- | borders of Kerman (Behist. Inscr. col. i. tained in the view, suggested by a few | 11, § 3), being everywhere the priest- casual expressions in Herodotus and caste of the pre-Arian inhabitants. The strongly favoured by many modern only peculiarity of their position in historians (Heeren, As. Nat. i. p. 346; | Media was that there they had been E. T.; Niebuhr, Vorträge über alte adopted into the national tribes, and Geschichte, i. p. 157 ; Grote, History of had become the priests of the conquering Greece, iii. p. 192, ed. of 1862), that nation, the reign of the Pseudo-Smerdis had a • Bactria, Sogdiana, Chorasmia, Aris, Median character, and was in fact a Zarangia, Sattagydia, Gandaria, remain recovery of their old political supre faithful to Darius through all the sub- macy by the Medes. Herodotus himself sequent troubles. In this region, the is not consistent in the maintenance of orixinal seat of the religion, a sympathy this view, which is at variance with with the Zoroastrian champion is shown his statements in i. 130. The great in that we look for elsewhere in vain. scription of Darius is quite fatal to it, • Behist. Inscr. col. i. par. 13, SS 3-5. since it shows, first, that Gomates was a 6 Herod, ii. 70. Persian by birth, being a native of Behist. Inscr. col. i. par. 13, 8 6; Pissiachada, near Parga (Pahraj in the Herod. I. s. c. country between Shiraz and Kerman ; * Herod. vii. 11 ; Behist. Inscr. col. i. and second, that Persia took the most par. 1. • Herod. i. 209, 210. prominent part in establishing his rule. 10 Herodotus says he was about The ground of the mistake in moderns twenty (ūdeniny és eľkool kou udalota lies in their supposition that all Magi were Medes, which is a complete mis against the Massagetæ (B.c. 529). This conception. The Magi were spread from would make him about twenty-eight in Cappadocia (Strab. xv. 3, $ 15) to the B.C. 522. Chap. VII. 405 DEATH OF THE MAGUS. age, and therefore ai a time of life suited for vigorous enter- prise ; which was probably the reason why his father, Hys- taspes, who was still alive, sent him to the capital, instead of proceeding thither in person. Youth and vigour were neces- sary qualifications for success in a struggle against the holders of power; and Hystaspes no longer possessed those advantages. He therefore yielded to his son that headship of the movement to which his position would have entitled him; and, with the leadership in danger, he yielded necessarily his claim to the first place, when the time of peril should be past and the rewards of victory should come to be apportioned. Darius, on his arrival at the capital,12 was at once accepted as head of the conspiracy, and with prudent boldness deter- mined on pushing matters to an immediate decision. Over- ruling the timidity of a party among the conspirators, who urged delay, he armed his partisans, and proceeded, without a moment's pause, to the attack. According to the Greek historians, he and his friends entered the palace in a body, and surprised the Magus in his private apartments, where they slew him after a brief struggle.14 But the authority of Darius discredits the Greek accounts, and shows us, though with provoking brevity, that the course of events must have been very different. The Magus was not slain in the privacy of his palace, at Susa or Ecbatana, but met his death in a small and insignificant fort in the part of Media called “the Nisæan plain," 15 or, more briefly, “Nisæa," whither he appears to have fied with a band of followers.16 Whether he was first attacked in the capital, and escaping threw himself into this stronghold, or receiving timely warning of his danger withdrew to it 1 Hero 11 Herod. iii. 70; Ctes. E.cc. Pers. | Pseudo-Smerdis, all held their court $ 15; Behist. Inscr. col. ii. par. 16. . principally or solely at Ecbatana. 12 Í am compelled to use this vague ! phrase from the impossibility of de " Ibid. ü. 77-79 ; Ctes. Exc. Pers. termining what the capital city of the $ 14. The particulars of the struggle Pseudo-Smerdis was. Herodotus ima are related quite differently by the two gines it to be Susa; but the palace there writers. seems to have been founded by Darius. 15 Supra, vol. ii. pp. 261, 262. (Plin. H.N. vi. 27, § 133 ; Loftus, Chal 1 6 Behist. Inscr. col. i. par. 13, $S 9, deea and Susiana, p. 372.) I incline to 10. think that Cyrus, Cambyses, and the CHAP. VII. 407 ACC ESSION OF DARIUS. be placed on the remainder of the narrative. Probably the true account of the matter is, that, having come to a know- ledge of the facts of the case, the heads of the seven great Persian clans or families 23 met together in secret conclave and arranged all their proceedings beforehand. No government but the monarchical could be thought of for a moment, and no one could assert any claim to be king but Darius. Darius went into the conspiracy as a pretender to the throne : the other six were simply his “faithful men,”24 his friends and well-wishers. While, however, the six were far from disputing Darius's right, they required and received for themselves a guarantee of certain privileges, which may either have belonged to them previously, by law or custom, as the heads of the great clans, or may have been now for the first time conceded. The king bound himself to choose his wives from among the families of the conspirators only, and sanctioned their claim to have free access to his person at all times without asking his per- mission. One of their number, Otanes, demanded and obtained even more. He and his house were to remain "free,”? and were to receive yearly a magnificent kaftan, or royal present. Thus, something like a check on unbridled despotism was for- mally and regularly established; an hereditary nobility was acknowledged; the king became to some extent dependent on his grandees; he could not regard himself as the sole fountain of honour; six great nobles stood round the throne as its sup- 23 The supposition of Heeren (As. 1 -eg., Atossa and Pharnaces, an an. Nat. i. p. 348) and Niebuhr (Vorträge cestor of Otanes (Diod. Sic. xxxi. 26, über alte Geschichte, i. p. 348) that the $ 1); Cyrus and Cassandané, a sister of Seven already occupied this position, Otanes (Herod. ü. 1; iii. 68); Cam- though receiving no confirmation from byses and Phædima, a daughter of the inscriptions, is entitled to considera Otanes (ib. iii. 68); Darius and a sister tion. The following are arguments in of Gobryas (ib. vii, 2.) its favour :-1. Herodotus calls the 24 Behist. Inscr. col. i. par. 13, $ 9. Seven ävāpas TOùs IIepréwv mpó | Herod. iii. 84, 118. Tous before the death of the Pseudo ? Ibid. ch. 83. It is uncertain what Smerdis (iii. 77). 2. The inter-mar exactly we are to understand by this ; riage law, supposed by Herodotus to but there can be no doubt that it in- have dated from the accession of Darius, volved some real privileges. appears to have prevailed previously. 3 Ibid. ch. 84. " 'Eg07Tá te MTOLKNY At least, all the known marriages of the ETEOS ékdotov, kai tnv nâoav owpeny, earlier period would have come under it ħ riverat Èv IIépoyou ThWTÁTn. 408 Chap. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. ports; but their position was so near the monarch that they detracted somewhat from his prestige and dignity The guarantee of these privileges was, we may be sure, given, and the choice of Darius as king made, before the attack upon the Magus began. It would have been madness to allow an interval of anarchy. When Darius reached the capital, with the head of the Pseudo-Smerdis in his possession, he no doubt proceeded at once to the palace and took his seat upon the vacant throne. No opposition was offered to him. The Persians gladly saw a scion of their old royal stock installed in power. The provincials were too far off to interfere. Such malcontents as might be present would be cowed by the mas- sacre that was going on in the streets. The friends and inti. mates of the fallen monarch would be only anxious to escape notice. The reign of the new king no doubt commenced aniid those acclamations which are never wanting in the East when a sovereign first shows himself to his subjects. The measures with which the new monarch inaugurated his reign had for their object the re-establishment of the old worship. He rebuilt the Zoroastrian temples which the Magus had destroyed, and probably restored the use of the sacred chants and the other accustomed ceremonies. It may be sus- pected that his religious zeal proceeded often to the length of persecution, and that the Magian priests were not the only persons who, under the orders which he issued, felt the weight of the secular arm. His Zoroastrian zeal was soon known through the provinces; and the Jews forthwith resumed the building of their temple, trusting that their conduct would be consonant with his wishes. This trust was not misplaced: for, when the Samaritans once more interfered and tried to induce the new king to put a stop to the work, the only result was Behist, Inscr. col. i. par. 14, $$ 5,6.1 Ezra v. 2 ; Haggni. i. 14. Accord- * Darics does not say that he perse- | ing to Jewish modes of reckoning, the cuted ; but he exhorts his successors, in “four-and-twentieth day of the sixth the strongest terms, to put to death all month of the second year of Darius " “liars" (Behist. Inscr. col. iv. par. 5, would be September, B.C. 521-eight $ 3; par. 14, SS 2, 3); by which he and a half months after Darius's ac- seems to mean all renegades from the cession. Zoroastrian faith. CHAP. VII. 409 REVOLTS AGAINST DARIUS. a fresh edict, confirming the old decree of Cyrus, forbidding interference, and assigning a further grant of money, cattle, corn, &c., from the royal stores, for the furtherance of the pious undertaking.? Its accomplishment was declared to be for the advantage of the king and his house, since, when the temple was finished, sacrifices would be offered in it to “the God of Heaven,” and prayer would be made “for the life of the king and of his sons."8 Such was the sympathy which still united pure Zyroastrianism with the worship of Jehovah. But the reign, which, so far, might have seemed to be auspiciously begun, was destined ere long to meet opposition, and even to encounter armed hostility, in various quarters. In the loosely organized empires of the early type,' a change of sovereign, especially if accompanied by revolutionary violence, is always regarded as an opportunity for rebellion Doubt as to the condition of the capital paralyzes the imperial authority in the provinces; and bold men, taking advantage of the moment of weakness, start up in various places, asserting in- dependence, and seeking to obtain for themselves kingdoms out of the chaos which they see around them. The more remote provinces are especially liable to be thus affected, and often revolt successfully on such an occasion. It appears that the circumstances under which Darius obtained the throne were more than usually provocative of the spirit of disaffection and rebellion. Not only did the governors of remote countries, like Egypt and Lydia, assume an attitude incompatible with their duty as subjects, but everywhere, even in the very heart of the Empire, insurrection raised its head; and for six long years the new king was constantly employed in reducing one province after another to obedience. Susiana, Babylonia, Persia itself, Media, Assyria, Armenia, Hyrcania, Parthia, Margiana, Sagartia, and Sacia, all revolted during this space, and were successively chastised and recovered. It may be suspected that the religious element entered into some of these struggles, 11 7 Ezra vi. 8, 9. Ezra vi. 10. " See abore, vol. ii. pp. 235 and 236. ** Herod. iii. 126 ; iv. 166. Compare below, p. 415. 11. This seems to be implied in the moral reflections which Darius appends 410 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. and that the unusual number of the revolts and the obstinate character of many of them were connected with the downfall of Magism and the restoration of the pure Zoroastrian faith, which Darius was bent on effecting. But this explanation can only be applied partially.12 We must suppose, besides, a sort of contagion of rebellion-an awakening of hopes, far and wide, among the subject nations, as the rumour that serious troubles had broken out reached them, and a resolution to take advan- tage of the critical state of things, spreading rapidly from one people to another. A brief sketch of these various revolts must now be given. They commenced with a rising in Susiana, where a certain Atrines assumed the name and state of king, and was supported by the people.18 Almost simultaneously a pretender appeared in Babylon, who gave out that he was the son of the late king, Nabonidus, and bore the world-renowned name of Nebuchad- nezzar.14 Darius, regarding this second revolt as the more important of the two, while he dis patched a force to punish the Susianians, proceeded in person against the Babylonian pretender. The rivals met at the river Tigris, which the Baby- lonians held with a naval force, while their army was posted on the right bank, ready to dispute the passage. Darius, however, crossed the river in their despite, and defeating the troops of his antagonist, pressed forward against the capital. He had nearly reached it, when the pretender gave him battle for the second time at a small town on the banks of the Euphrates. Fortune again declared in favour of the Persians, who drove the host of their enemy into the water and destroyed great numbers. The soi-disant Nebuchadnezzar escaped with a few horsemen and threw himself into Babylon; but the city was ill prepared for a siege, and was soon taken, the pretender to his account of the revolts and their suppression, where the crime against which he protests is not rebellion, but “lying"-i.e., false religion. (Behist. Inscr. col. iv. passim.) 12 The two revolts of Babylon, for instance, must have been wholly uncon- nected with Magism. 3 Behist. Inscr. col. i. par. 16, SS 2-7. 14 Ibid. S$ 8-13. I suspect that Na- bonidus had actually a son of this name, borne him by Nitocris, and named after his grandfather, the great Nebuchad- nezzar. (See p. 66, note "; and com- pare below, p. 414.) CHAP. VII. 411 GREAT MEDIAN REVOLT. falling into the hands of his enemy, who caused him to be executed. Meanwhile, in Susiana, Atrines, the original leader of the rebellion, had been made prisoner by the troops sent against him, and, being brought to Darius while he was on his march against Babylon, was put to death. But this severity bad little effect. A fresh leader appeared in the person of a certain Martes, a Persian ;who, taking example from the Babylonian rebel, assumed a name which connected him with the old kings of the country,' and probably claimed to be their descendant. But the hands of Darius were now free by the termination of the Babylonian contest, and he was able to proceed towards Susiana himself. This movement, apparently, was unexpected; for when the Susianians heard of it, they were so alarmed that they laid hands on the pretender and slew him. A more important rebellion followed. Three of the chief provinces of the empire, Media, Armenia, and Assyria, revolted in concert. A Median monarch was set up, who called himself Xatbrites, and claimed descent from the great Cyaxares; and it would seem that the three countries immediately acknow- ledged his sway. Darius, seeing how formidable the revolt was, determined to act with caution. Settling himself at the newly-conquered city of Babylon, he resolved to employ his generals against the rebels, and in this way to gauge the strength of the outbreak, before adventuring his own person into the fray. Hydarnes, one of the Seven conspirators, was sent into Media with an army, while Dadarses, an Armenian, was 1 Behist. Inscr. col. i. par 19; col. ii. 1 of the image of Bel, related by Hero. par. 1. As this was the only siege of dotus in his First Book (chs. 183 and Babylon conducted by Darius in person, 187). it should have been the occasion of the ? Behist. Inscr. col. i. par. 17. romantic incidents related by Herodotus 3 Ibid. col. ii. par. 3. towards the close of his Third Book The name assumed by Martes is (chs. 150-159), if those incidents had expressed in the Persian by Imanish been historical; but there is every (Imanes). This is probably a repre- reason to believe that they belong to sentation of the old Umman, which is Oriental romance. (See the author's found in so many royal Susianian names Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 441, note, 2nd towards the close of the Assyrian Em- edition.) pire. (See above, vol. ii. p. 205, note.) Incidents probably consequent upon • Behist. Inscr. col. ii. par. 4. this siege are the opening of the tomb Herod. iii. 70; Ctes. Exc. Pers. of Nitocris, and the attempted plunder § 14; Behist. Inscr. col. iv. par. 18, \ 7. 412 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. dispatched into Armenia, and Vomises, a Persian, was ordered to march through Assyria into the same country. All three generals were met by the forces of the pretender, and several battles were fought,' with results that seem not to have been very decisive. Darius claims the victory on each occasion for his own generals; but it is evident that his arms made little progress, and that, in spite of several small defeats, the rebellion maintained a bold front, and was thought not unlikely to be successful. So strong was this feeling, that two of the eastern provinces, Hyrcania and Parthia, deserted the Persian cause in the midst of the struggle, and placed themselves under the rule of Xathrites. Either this circumstance, or the general position of affairs, induced Darius at length to take the field in person. Quitting Babylon, he marched into Media, and, being met by the pre- tender near a town called Kadrûs, he defeated him in a great battle.' This is no doubt the engagement of which Herodotus speaks, and which he rightly regards as decisive.10 The battle of Kūdrūs gave Ecbatana into the hands of Darius, and made the Median prince an outcast and a fugitive. He fled towards the East, probably intending to join his partisans in Hyrcania and Parthia, but was overtaken in the district of Rhages and made prisoner by the troops of Darius." The king treated his captive with extreme severity. Having cut off his nose, ears, and tongue, he kept him for some time chained to the door of his palace, in order that there might be no doubt of his capture. When this object had been sufficiently secured, the wretched sufferer was allowed to end his miserable exist- ence. He was crucified in bis capital city, Ecbatana, before the eyes of those who had seen his former glory. 12 The rebellion was thus crushed in its original seat, but it had ? Behist. Inscr. col. ii. par. 6 to par. | torical truth is to be discerned in the 11. Book of Judith, the allusion would be 8 Behist. Inscr. col. ii. par. 16. to this rebellion, its suppression, and 9 Ibid. col. ii. par. 12. its further consequences. Arphaxad, 10 Mņool . .: STÉTTYO &Aa who dwelt at Ecbatana, and was taken ρείου, αποστάντες δε οπίσω κατεστράφ at Rhages, represents Xathrites, whose onoay uáxy viknévteS.-Herod. i. real name was Phraortes ; Nabuchodo- 130. nosor is Darius. The notes of time (iv. 11 Behist. Inscr. col. ii. par. 13. 3 and 6) suit this period. 12 So far as any substratum of his- CHAP. VII. 413 REVOLT OF THE SAGARTIANS. still to be put down in the countries whereto it had extended itself. Parthia and Hyrcania, which had embraced the cause of the pretender, were still maintaining a conflict with their former governor, Hystaspes, Darius's father.13 Darius marched as far as Rhages to his father's assistance, and dispatched from that point a body of Persian troops to reinforce him. With this important aid Hystapses once more gave the rebels battle, and succeeded in defeating them so entirely that they presently made their submission.14 Troubles, meanwhile, had broken out in Sagartia. A native chief, moved probably by the success which had for a while attended the Median rebel who claimed to rule as the de- scendant and representative of Cyaxares, came forward with similar pretensions, and was accepted by the Sagartians as their monarch. This revolt, however, proved unimportant. Darius suppressed it with the utmost facility by means of a mixed army of Persians and Medes, whom he placed under a Median leader, Tachamaspates. The pretender was captured and treated almost exactly in the same way as the Mede whose example he had followed. His nose and ears were cut off; he was chained for a while at the palace door; and finally he was crucified at Arbela.15 Another trifling revolt occurred about the same time in Margiana. The Margians rebelled and set up a certain Phra- ates, a native, to be their king. But the satrap of Bactria, within whose province Margiana lay, quelled the revolt almost immediately. Hitherto, however thickly troubles had come upon him, Darius could have the satisfaction of feeling that he was con- tending with foreigners, and that his own nation at any rate was faithful and true. But now this consolation was to be taken from hiin. During his absence in the provinces of the north-east, Persia itself revolted against his authority, and 19 Behist. Inscr. col. ii. par. 16. 14 Ibid. col. iii, par. 1 and 2. 15 Ibid. col. ii. par. 14. It is curious to find that Arbela, which had been a favourite city for executions under the Assyrian monarchs, retained the same character under the Persians, while under the Parthians it became a place of royal sepulture. (Dio. Cass. lxxvii. 1.) · Behist. Inscr. col. iii. par. 3 and 4. 414 CHAP. VII, THE FIFTH MOXARCHY. acknowledged for king an impostor, who, undeterred by the fate of Gomates, and relying on the obscurity which still hung over the end of the real Smerdis, assumed his name, and claimed to be the legitimate occupant of the throne.” The Persians at home were either deceived a second time, or were willing to try a change of ruler;3 but the army of Darius, composed of Persians and Medes, adhered to the banner under which they had so often marched to victory, and enabled Darius, after a struggle of some duration, to re-establish his sway. The impostor suffered two defeats at the hands of Artabardes, one of Darius's generals, while a force which he had detached to excite rebellion in Arachosia was engaged by the satrap of that province and completely routed. The so- called Smerdis was himself captured, and suffered the usual penalty of unsuccessful revolt, crucifixion. Before, however, these results were accomplished—while the fortune of war still hung in the balance—a fresh danger threatened. Encouraged by the disaffection which appeared to be so general, and which had at length reached the very citadel of the Empire, Babylon revolted for the second time. A man, named Aracus, an Armenian by descent, but settled in Babylonia, headed the insurrection, and, adopting the practice of personation so usual at the time, assumed the name and style of “Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabonidus.” Less alarmed on this occasion than at the time of the first revolt, the king was content to send a Median general against the new pre- tender. This officer, who is called Intaphres, speedily chastised the rebels, capturing Babylon, and taking Aracus prisoner. Crucifixion was again the punishment awarded to the rebel leader.? A season of comparative tranquillity seems now to have set in; and it may have been in this interval that Darius found ? Behist. Inscr. col. iii. par. 5. was distasteful. 3 It is possible that the second Pseudo-| Behist. Inscr. col. iii. par. 6. Smerdis, like the first, favoured Ma Ibid. col. iii. par. 9 to par. 12. gism. There was undoubtedly a party 6 Ibid. par. 8. Compare above, pr. amongst the Persians themselves to 246, 412, 413. wbum the Zoroastrian zeal of Darius i Behist. Inscr. par. 13 and 14. Caap. VII. PUNISHMENT OF REBELLIOUS GOVERNORS. 415 time to chastise the remoter governors, who, without formally declaring themselves independent, or assuming the title of king, had done acts savouring of rebellion. Orætes, the governor of Sardis, who had comported himself strangely even under Cam- byses, having ventured to entrap and put to death an ally of that monarch's, Polycrates of Samos, had from the time of the Magian revolution assumed an attitude quite above that of a subject. Having a quarrel with Mitrobates, the governor of a neighbouring province, he murdered him and annexed his territory. When Darius sent a courier to him with a message the purport of which he disliked, he set men to waylay and assassinate him. It was impossible to overlook such acts; and Darius must have sent an army into Asia Minor, if one of his nobles had not undertaken to remove Orætes in another way. Arming himself with several written orders bearing the king's seal, he went to Sardis, and gradually tried the temper of the guard which the satrap kept round his person. When he found them full of respect for the royal authority, and ready to do whatever the king commanded, he produced an order for the governor's execution, which they carried into effect immediately." The governor of Egypt, Aryandes, had shown a guilty ambi- tion in a more covert way."2 Understanding that Darius had issued a gold coinage of remarkable purity, he, on his own authority and without consulting the king, issued a silver coinage of a similar character.13 There is reason to believe that he even placed his name upon his coins ; 14 an act which to the Oriental mind distinctly implied a claim of independent • Herod. iii. 120-125. For the alliance | 145) after Darius's Scythian expedition, between Cambyses and Polycrates, see which cannot well be placed before B.C. Herod. iii. 44. 510; but the authority of Herodotus Ibid. ii. 126. 10 Ibid. 1. 8. c. for the date of an outlying event in the 1 Ibid. iii. 128. earlier part of the reign of Darius is 12 It is doubtful whether the affair of not very great. Aryandes ought to be placed as early as 13 Herod. iv. 166. this. Probability is in favour of his 14 Persian coins have been found having assumed his quasi-sovereiguty beariug on one side a legend which has during the time of general disturbance; been read as AT9A or AWATIA. (See but his revolt, or at any rate its punish- the author's Herodotus, vol. iv. p. 25, ment, is made to fall by Herodotus (iv. / note!, 2nd edition.) 416 CHAP. VIL sovereignty. Darius taxed him with a design to revolt, and put him to death on the charge, apparently without exciting any disturbance.15 Still, however, the Empire was not wholly tranquilized. A revolt in Susiana, suppressed by the conspirator Gobryas, and another among the Sacæ of the Tigris, quelled by Darius in person, are recorded on the rock of' Behistun, in a supple- mentary portion of the Inscription.16 We cannot date, unless it be by approximation, these various troubles; but there is reason to believe that they were almost all contained within a space not exceeding five or six years. The date of the Behistun Inscription is fixed by internal evidence to about B.C. 516- 515—in other words, to the fifth or sixth year of the reign of Darius."7 Its erection seems to mark the termination of the first period of the reign, or that of disturbance, and the com- mencement of the second period, or that of tranquillity, in- ternal progress, and patronage of the fine arts by the monarch. It was natural that Darius, having with so much effort and difficulty reduced the revolted provinces to obedience, should proceed to consider within himself how the recurrence of such a time of trouble might be prevented. His experience had shown him how weak were the ties which had hitherto been thought sufficient to hold the Empire together, and how slight an obstacle they opposed to the tendency, which all great empires have, to disruption. But, however natural it might be to desire a remedy for the evils which afflicted the State, it was not easy to devise one. Great empires had existed in Western Asia for above seven hundred years,18 and had all suffered more or less from the same inherent weakness; but no one had as yet invented a cure, or even (so far as appears) con- ceived the idea of improving on the rude system of imperial sway which the first conqueror had instituted. It remained for Darius, not only to desire, but to design-not only to design, 15 Herod. iv. 166: | the ancient Persian calender the lapse 16 See col. v. of the Inscription. of some five or six years. (See Journal 17 The evidence is that of the monthly of the Asiatic Society, vol. xi. pp. 189- dates given throughout the Inscription, | 191.) which indicate tv one acquainted with Supra, vol. ii. p. 50. 415 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. which is one and the same everywhere, whereon the unity of the kingdom is dependent. The authority instituted by Darius was that of his satraps. He divided the whole empire into a number of separate governments—a number which must have varied at different times, but which seems never to have fallen short of twenty. Over each government he placed a satrap, or supreme civil governor, charged with the collection and transmission of the revenue, the administration of justice, the maintenance of order, and the general supervision of the terri- tory. These satraps were nominated by the king at his pleasure from any class of his subjects, and held office for no definite term, but simply until recalled, being liable to deprivation or death at any moment, without other formality than the pre- sentation of the royal firman. While, however, they remained in office they were despotic—they represented the Great King, and were clothed with a portion of his majesty—they had palaces (Baoldela), Courts, body-guards, parks or “para- dises,"8 vast trains of eunuchs and attendants, well-filled seraglios. They wielded the power of life and death. They assessed the tribute on the several towns and villages within their jurisdiction at their pleasure, and appointed deputies- called sometimes, like themselves, satraps 11—over cities or districts within their province, whose office was regarded as one of great dignity. They exacted from the provincials, for their own support and that of their Court, over and above the tribute due to the crown, whatever sum they regarded them as capable * Herodotus says the number of sa- | (Herod. ix. 107.) trapies was twenty, including therein . 5 Ibid. ii. 128 ; Thucyd. i. 129; India (iü. 89-94. Darius, in the Be- Xen. Hell, üü. 4, S 25. histun Inscription, makes the provinces Xen. Anab. i. 2, $ 7; Hell. iv. 1, twenty-three, without India, but in- $ 15. cluding Persia. In an inscription at * Herod. ii. 127. Persepolis, where India occurs but Persia 1 • Xen. Hell. iv. 1, § 15; Econ. iv. is omitted, he makes them either twenty 20 ; Cyrop. viï. 6, § 12. three or twenty-four. Finally, in the • Ælian. Var. Hlist. xii. 1; Xen. Eell. legend upon his tomb, which was no üi. 1, § 10. doubt later, he enumerates twenty-nine. 10 Xen. Anab. i. 1,87; Herod. vi. 4. - No doubt they were generally per This, of course, implied the power of sons of high rank, and Persians; but inflicting the minor punishment of the case of Xenagoras, the Halicar- | mutilation (Xen. Anab. i. 9, § 13.) nassian Greek, shows that members of " Xen. Hell, iï, 1, $$ 10-12; Ælian, the subject nations might be appointed. Var. Hist. I. s. C. CHAP. VII. 419 STANDING ARMY-GARRISONS. of furnishing. Favours, and even justice, had to be purchased from them by gifts. They were sometimes guilty of gross outrages on the persons and honour of their subjects.18 Nothing restrained their tyranny but such sense of right as they might happen to possess, and the fear of removal or execution if the voice of complaint reached the monarch. Besides this uniform civil administration, the Empire was pervaded throughout by one and the same military system. The services of the subject nations as soldiers were, as a general rule, declined, unless upon rare and exceptional cases.14 Order was maintained by large and numerous garrisons of foreign troops-Persians and Medes 15-quartered on the inhabitants, who had little sympathy with those among whom they lived, and would be sure to repress sternly any outbreak. All places of much strength were occupied in this way; and special watch was kept upon the great capitals, which were likely to be centres of disaffection. Thus a great standing army, belonging to the conquering race, stood everywhere on guard throughout the Empire, offending the provincials no doubt by their pride, their violence, and their contemptuous bearing, but rendering a native revolt under ordinary circumstances hopeless. Some exceptions to the general uniformity bad almost of necessity to be made in so vast and heterogeneous an empire as the Persian. Occasionally it was thought wise to allow the continuance of a native dynasty in a province: and the satrap had in such a case to share with the native prince a divided authority. This was certainly the case in Cilicia,"? and pro- bably in Paphlagonia 18 and Phoenicia. Tribes also, included within the geographical limits of a satrapy, were sometimes 12 Xen. Anab. i. 9, § 22 ; Hell. l. 8. c. 13 Ibid. Ages. Üï. 83. Ælian (1. 8. c.) speaks of fathers as often compelled by satraps to yield their daughters to be inmates of the satrapial harems (Tupdv- νων βιασαμένων και σατραπών πολ. * Xákis). * On occasion of a great war, offen- sive or defensive, a levy en masse of the subject populations was called for. (Herod. vii. 19, 21, 61 et seqq. ; Æsch. Pers. 12-64 ; Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 8.) 15 Or perhaps Persians, Medes, and Hyrcanians. (See above, p. 242, note”.) 16 As Memphis (Herod. iii. 91), Sara dis (ib. v. 101), and Babylon (ib. i. 1 See Herod. vii. 98 ; Æsch. Pers. 328; Xen. Anab. i. SS 12-27. 18 Xen. Hell, iv. 1, § 1; Theopomp. Fr. 198. 19 Herod. vii. 93. 192). THE FIFTH MONARCHY. CHAP. VII. recognised as independent; and petty wars were carried on between these hordes and their neighbours.20 Robber bands in many places infested the mountains,21 owning no allegiance to any one, and defied alike the satrap and the standing army. The condition of Persia Proper was also purely exceptional. Persia paid no tribute,22 and was not counted as a satrapy. Its inhabitants were, however, bound, when the king passed through their country, to bring him gifts according to their means. This burthen may have been felt sensibly by the rich; but it pressed very lightly on the poor, who, if they could not afford an ox or a sheep, might bring a little milk or cheese, a few dates, or a handful of wild fruit. On the other hand, the king was bound, whenever he visited Pasargadæ, to present to each Persian woman who appeared before him a sum equal to twenty Attic drachmas, or about sixteen shillings of our money? This custom commemorated the service rendered by the sex in the battle wherein Cyrus first repulsed the forces of Astyages. · The substitution of definite burthens on the subject in lieu of variable and uncertain charges was aimed at, rather than effected, by the new arrangement of the revenue which is associated with the name of Darius. This arrangement con- sisted in fixing everywhere the amount of tribute in money and in kind which each satrapy was to furnish to the crown. A definite money payment, varying, in ordinary satrapies, from 170 to 1000 Babylonian silver talents, or from 42,0001. to 250,000l. of our money, and amounting, in the exceptional case of the Indian satrapy, to above a million sterling, was required annually by the sovereign, and had to be remitted by the satrap to the capital. Besides this, a payment, the nature and amount of which was also fixed, had to be made in kind, each 20 As the Pisidians (Xen. Anab. i. 1, 1 “black-mail" upon the Persian mo- $ 11) and the Uxians (Arr. Exp. Alex. narch. (Nearch. ap. eund. l. 8. c.) iii. 17). 22 Herod, iii. 97. 21 Strabo enumerates under this cate Ælian, Var. Hist. i. 31; Herod. - gory the five tribes of the Mardians, the | 1. 8. C. Uxians, the Elymæans, the Cossæans, ? Ælian, 1. 8. C. and the Paretaceni (xi. 13, 8 6). Some : Nic. Dam. Fr. 66 ; p. 406. of them were said even to have levied a Herod. iü. 90-94. SIbid. ch. 95. 422 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. If the taxation of the subject had stopped here, he would have had no just ground of complaint against his rulers. The population of the Empire cannot be estimated at less than forty millions of souls.13 The highest estimate of the value of the entire tribute, both in money and kind, will scarcely place it at more than ten millions sterling 14 Thus far, then, the burthen of taxation would certainly not have exceeded five shillings a head per annum. Perhaps it would not have reached half that amount.15 But, unhappily, neither was the tribute the sole tax which the crown exacted from its subjects, nor had the crown the sole right of exacting taxation. Persian subjects in many parts of the Empire paid, besides their tribute, a water-rate, which is expressly said to have been very pro- ductive.16 The rivers of the Empire were the king's; and when water was required for irrigation, a state officer super- intended the opening of the sluices, and regulated the amount of the precious fluid which might be drawn off by each tribe or township. For the opening of the sluices a large sum was paid to the officer, which found its way into the coffers of the state.17 Further, it appears that such things as fisheries—and if so, probably salt-works, mines, quarries, and forests—were regarded as crown property, and yielded large sums to the revenue. 18 They appear to have been farmed to responsible persons, who undertook to pay at a certain fixed rate, and made what profit they could by the transaction. The price of commodities thus farmed would be greatly enhanced to the consumer. By these means the actual burthen of taxation upon the 13 This is probably about the present the population of the empire at fifty population of the countries included in millions, and the money tribute at about the old Persian Empire. It gives an three and a half millions. I should supe average of twenty to the square mile, pose the value of the tribute in kind to which is less than we now find in any have been somewhat less---say two and country in Europe except Norway. a half millions. This would make the 14 Mr. Grote's estimate of the money average taxation less than two shillings tribute (History of Greece, vol. Üï. p. and fivepence a head. 201) at a little more than four and a l 16 Herod. iii. 117, ad fin. quarter millions sterling (4,254,0001.) 17 Ibid. A similar practice prevails is a high one. No one probably would in modern Persia. (See Chardin, Voy. regard the tribute in kind as exceeding age en Perse, tom. iii. p. 100 ; Chesney, the value of the money tribute. Euphrates Expedition, vol. ü. p. 660.) 15 I should myself incline to estimate ' io Herod. ii. 149; iii. 91. CHAP. VII. 423 TAXATION-SYSTEM OF CHECKS. subject was rerdered to some extent uncertain and indefinite, and the benefits of the fixed tribute system were diminished. But the chief drawback upon it has still to be mentioned. While the claims of the crown upon its subjects were definite and could not be exceeded, the satrap was at liberty to make any exactions that he pleased beyond them. There is every reason to believe that he received no stipend, and that, conse- quently, the burthen of supporting him, his body-guard, and his Court was intended to fall on the province which had the benefit of his superintendence. Like a Roman proconsul, be was to pay himself out of the pockets of his subjects; and, like that class of persons, he took care to pay himself highly. It has been calculated that one satrap of Babylon drew from his province annually in actual coin a sum equal to 100,0001. of our money. We can scarcely doubt that the claims made by the provincial governors were, on the average, at least equal to those of the crown; and they had the disadvantage of being irregular, uncertain, and purely arbitrary. Thus, what was gained by the new system was not so much the relief of the subject from uncertain taxation as the advan- tage to the crown of knowing beforehand what the revenue would be, and being able to regulate its expenditure accor- dingly. Still a certain amount of benefit did undoubtedly accrue to the provincials from the system ; since it gave them the crown for their protector. So long as the payments made to the state were irregular, it was, or at least seemed to be, for the interest of the crown to obtain from each province as much as it could anyhow pay. When the state dues were once fixed, as the crown gained nothing by the rapacity of its officers, but rather lost, since the province became exhausted, it was interested in checking greed, and seeing that the pro- vinces were administered by wise and good satraps. The control of its great officers is always the main difficulty | Heeren, Asiatic Nations, vol. i. p. The monarch is thus interested in the 411, E.T. Compare Herod. i. 192.) exactions of his officers, and is very ? The oppression under which modern unlikely to check or punish them. (See Persia suffers is attributable in a great Chardin, Voyage, tom. ii. pr. 300, 308, measure to the revenue not being fixed. / and 309.) 424 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. of a despotic government, when it is extended over a large space of territory and embraces many millions of men. The system devised by Darius for checking and controlling his satraps was probably the best that has ever yet been brought into operation. His plan was to establish in every province at least three officers holding their authority directly from the crown, and only responsible to it, who would therefore act as checks one upon another. These were the satrap, the military commandant, and the secretary. The satrap was charged with the civil administration, and especially with the department of finance. The commandant was supreme over the troops.3 The office of the secretary is less clearly defined; but it pro- bably consisted mainly in keeping the Court informed by dispatches of all that went on in the province. Thus, if the satrap were inclined to revolt, he had, in the first place, to persuade the commandant, who would naturally think that, if he ran the risk, it might as well be for himself; and, further, he had to escape the lynx eyes of the secretary, whose general right of superintendence gave him entrance everywhere, and whose prospects of advancement would probably depend a good deal upon the diligence and success with which he discharged the office of “King's Eye,” and “Ear.” 6 So, if the command- ant were ambitious of independent sway, he must persuade the satrap, or he would have no money to pay his troops; and he too must blind the secretary, or else bribe him into silence. As for the secretary, having neither men nor money at his command, it was impossible that he should think of rebellion. But the precautions taken against revolt did not end here. Once a year, according to Xenophon. or more probably at * That this was the original idea of ever, seems to doubt if the separation of satrapial government is asserted very | the civil from the military power was positively by Xenophon. (Cyrop. viii. ever carried out in act. (History of 6, $ 3.) A modified continuation of the Greece, vol. ï. pp. 187, 188.) system to his own day is implied in - On the office of secretary, see Herod. Xen. Æcon. iv. 9, 10. The narrative of iii. 128. It has its counterpart in Herodotus is, I think, on the whole, in modern Persia. (Chardin, tom. ii. p. favour of the view that the com- | 302.) 5 Supra, p. 213, note 3. mandants were independent under Da- • Cyrop. viï. 6, § 16. Xenophon rius. (See particularly v. 25, 116-122 ; says the system continued to his day vi. 42, 43, 94.) Bishop Thirlwall, how- | (€T1 kal vûv diajével). CHAP. VII. SATRAPS, COMMANDANTS, AND SECRETARIES. 425 irregular intervals, an officer came suddenly down from the Court with a commission to inspect a province. Such persons were frequently of royal rank, brothers or sons of the king. They were accompanied by an armed force, and were em- powered to correct whatever was amiss in the province, and in case of necessity to report to the crown the insubordination or incompetency of its officers. If this system had been properly maintained, it is evident that it would have acted as a most powerful check upon misgovernment, and would have rendered revolt almost impossible. Another mode by which it was sought to secure the fidelity of the satraps and commandants was by choosing them from among the king's blood relations, or else attaching them to the crown by marriage with one of the princesses. It was thought that the affection of sons and brothers would be a restraint upon their ambition, and that even connections by marriage would feel that they had an interest in upholding the power and dignity of the great house with which they had been thought worthy of alliance. This system, which was exten- sively followed by Darius, had on the whole good results, and was at any rate preferable to that barbarous policy of prudential fratricide which has prevailed widely in Oriental governments. The system of checks, while it was effectual for the object at which it specially aimed, had one great disadvantage. It weakened the hands of authority in times of difficulty. When danger, internal or external, threatened, it was an evil that the powers of government should be divided, and the civil authority lodged in the hands of one officer, the military in those of another. Concentration of power is needed for rapid and de- cisive action, for unity of purpose, and secrecy both of plan and of execution. These considerations led to a modification of the original idea of satrapial government, which was adopted 9 Herod. iii. 70; v. 25; vi. 94 ; vii. 7, / & Herod. v. 116; vi. 43; vii. 73 ; 72, 82 ; ix. 113; Behist. Inscr. col. iii. | Xen. Hell. v. 1, § 28 ; Arrian, Exp. par. 16; Thucyd. i. 115; Ctes. Exc. Alex. i. 16. Compare the proposal of Pers. & 38 ; Xen. Anab. i. 9, 87; Diod. Pausanias (Thucyd, i. 128). Sic. xi. 69, S 2, &c. 426 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. partially at first–in provinces especially exposed to danger, internal or external_but which ultimately became almost universal.10 The offices of satrap, or civil administrator, and commandant, or commander of the troops, were vested in the same person, who came in this way to have that full and com- plete authority which is possessed by Turkish pashas and modern Persian khans or beys—an authority practically uncon- trolled. This system was advantageous for the defence of a province against foes; but it was dangerous to the stability of the Empire, since it led naturally to the occurrence of formid- able rebellions. Two minor points in the scheme of Darius remain to be noticed, before this account of his governmental system can be regarded as complete. These are his institution of posts, and his coinage of money. In Darius's idea of government was included rapidity of communication. Regarding it as of the utmost importance that the orders of the Court should be speedily transmitted to the provincial governors, and that their reports and those of the royal secretaries should be received without needless delay, he established along the lines of route? already existing between the chief cities of the Empire a number of post-houses, placed at regular intervals, according to the estimated capacity of a horse to gallop at his best speed without stopping. At each post-house were maintained, at the cost of the state, a number 9 As in the Lydian and Phrygian | vellers, take their place. No material Batrapies, which were exposed to attacks has been laid down along these routes, from the Greeks, and in Egypt, where nor have even the spade and pickaxe the sullen temper of the natives con been used excepting where the routes tinually threatened rebellion. cross the mountains. 10 See Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 8; and ? This seems to be the meaning of compare Xen. Econ. iv. § 11. the nuepeo in oods of Herodotus (viii. Some writers ascribe to Darius a 98), which is better explained by Xeno- “system of roads" (Grote, History of phon (Cyrop. viii. 6, 8 17). It was not Greece, vol. iii. p. 204), or at any rate the the distance a horse ridden gently could construction of a “high road" between accomplish in the entire day, but the Sardis and Susa (Thirlwall, History of distance that he could bear to be gal. Greece, vol. ii. p. 185) ; out this is a loped once a day. From the account mode of speech very liable to miscon which Herodotus gives of the post-route ception. Roads, in our sense of the between Sardis and Susa (v. 52), we term, are still scarcely existent in may gather that the Persians fixed this Western Asia, where lines of route, distance at about fourteen miles. marked merely by the footprints of tra- CHAP. VII. 427 POSTS—COINAGE. of couriers and several relays of horses. When a dispatch was to be forwarded it was taken to the first post-house along the route, where a courier received it, and immediately mounting on horseback galloped with it to the next station. Here it was delivered to a new courier, who, mounted on a fresh horse, took it the next stage on its journey; and thus it passed from hand to hand till it reached its destination. According to Xenophon, the messengers travelled by night as well as by day; and the conveyance was so rapid that some even com- pared it to the flight of birds. Excellent inns or caravan- serais4 were to be found at every station; bridges or ferries were established upon all the streams; guard-houses occurred here and there, and the whole route was kept secure from the brigands who infested the Empire. Ordinary travellers were glad to pursue so convenient a line of march; it does not appear, however, that they could obtain the use of post-horses even when the government was in no need of them. The coinage of Darius consisted, it is probable, both of a gold and a silver issue. It is not perhaps altogether certain that he was the first king of Persia who coined money;6 but, if the term "daric"is really derived from his name, that alone would be a strong argument in favour of his claim to priority. In any case, it is indisputable that he was the first Persian king who coined on a large scale, and it is further certain that his gold coinage was regarded in later times as of peculiar value on account of its purity. His gold darics appear to have con- tained, on an average, not quite 124 grains of pure metal, which would make their value about twenty-two shillings of our * Cyrop. viii. 7, § 18. with the discovery that the Achæ. • Katalúoles kdotai. (Herod. v. | menian Persians had no such word. 52.) The theory of derivation from an earlier See above, p. 420. Herodotus | Darius has only the weak authority of (1. s. c.) expressly assures his readers a Scholiast to support it. (Schol. ad that the route from Sardis to Susa was Aristoph. Eccles. 598.) “ safe.” 8 How large the scale was may be & Mr. Grote assumes this (History of seen by the story of Pythius, who had Greece, I. 8. c.); but it is not implied in nearly four millions of darics in his Herod. iv. 166. possession shortly after the accession of 7 The derivation from dara, a sup Xerxes. (Herod. vii. 28.) posed old Persian word for "king," falls Herod. iv. 166. 428 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. money. They were of the type usual at the time both in Lydia and in Greece-flattened lumps of metal, very thick in com- parison with the size of their surface, irregular, and rudely stamped.10 The silver darics were similar in general character, but exceeded the gold in size. Their weight was from 224 to 230 grains, and they would thus have been worth not quite three shillings of our money. It does not appear that any other kinds of coin besides these were ever issued from the Persian mint. They must therefore, it would seem, have satis- fied the commercial needs of the people. From this review of the governmental system of Darius we must now return to the actions of his later life. The history of an Oriental monarchy must always be composed mainly of a series of biographies ; for, as the monarch is all in all in such mine, but constitute, the annals of the State. In the second period of his reign, that which followed on the time of trouble and disturbance, Darius (as has been already observed ") appears to have pursued mainly the arts of peace. Bent on settling and consolidating his Empire, he set up everywhere the satrapial form of government, organized and established his posts, issued his coinage, watched over the administration of justice,12 and in various ways exhibited a love of order and method, and a genius for systematic arrangement. At the same time he devoted considerable attention to ornamental and architectural works, to sculpture, and to literary composition. He founded the royal palace at Susa, which was the main residence of the later kings.18 At Persepolis he certainly erected one very important building; and it is on the whole most probable that he designed—if he did not live to execute- the Chehl Minar itself—the chief of the magnificent structures upon the great central platform. 14 The massive platform itself, 10 The only darics that can be as. 1 2 Herod. vii. 194. signed to the reign of Darius Hystaspis 13 Plin. H. N. vi. 27 ; Loftus, Chaldæa are those that have the figure of a king and Susiana, p. 372. with a bow and javelin on one side, and " See the arguments of Sir H. Raw- an irregular depression, or quadratum linson to this effect in the Journal of incusum, on the other. (See above, p. the Asiatic Society, vol. xi. p. 321. 343.) " See above, p. 416. CHAP. VII. SECOND PERIOD OF THE REIGN OF DARIUS. 429 with its grand and stately steps, is certainly of his erection, for it is inscribed with his name.15 He gave his works all the solidity and strength that is derivable from the use of huge blocks of a good hard material. He set the example of orna- menting the stepped approach to a palace with elaborate bas- reliefs.16 He designed and caused to be constructed in his own lifetime, 17 the rock-tomb at Nakhsh-i-Rustam, in which his remains were afterwards laid. The rock-sculpture at Behistun was also his work. In attention to the creation of permanent historical records he excelled all the Persian kings, both before him and after him. The great Inscription of Behistun has no parallel in ancient times for length, finish, and delicacy of execution,18 unless it be in Assyria or in Egypt. The only really historical inscription at Persepolis is one set up by Darius.19 He was the only Persian king, except perhaps one,20 who placed an inscription upon his tomb. The later monarchs in their records do little more than repeat certain religious phrases and certain forms of self-glorification which occur in the least remarkable inscriptions of their great predecessor. He alone oversteps those limits, and presents us with geogra- phical notices and narratives of events profoundly interesting to the historian. During this period of comparative peace, which may have extended from about B.C. 516 to B.C. 508 or 507, the general tranquillity was interrupted by at least one important expedi- tion. The administrational merits of Darius are so great that they have obscured his military glories, and have sent him down to posterity with the character of an unwarlike monarch -if not a mere "peddler," as his subjects said, yet, at any rate, a mere consolidator and arranger. But the son of Hystaspes was no carpet prince. He had not drawn the sword 15 Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. 1 quoted above, p. 232, note. xi. pp. 272, 273. See Clinton, Pasti Hellenici, vol. ü. 10 See the woodcuts, pp. 286 and 289. p. 379. Mr. Grote's date of B.c. 516- 17 Ctesias, Exc. Pers. & 15. 515 for the Scythian expedition, for 18 Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. which he alleges Thucyd. vi. 59, appears xi. p. 193. 19 Ibid. pp. 279-282. to me improbable. 20 1.e. Cyrus. See the authorities I ? Káandos. (Herod. iii. 89.) 430 CHAP. VII, THE FIFTH MONARCHY. against his domestic foes to sheath it finally and for ever when his triumph over them was completed. On the contrary, he regarded it as incumbent on him to carry on the aggressive policy of Cyrus and Cambyses, his great predecessors, and like them to extend in one direction or another the boundaries of the Empire. Perhaps he felt that aggression was the very law of the Empire's being, since if the military spirit was once allowed to become extinct in the conquering nation, they would lose the sole guarantee of their supremacy. At any rate, whatever his motive, we find him, after he had snatched a brief interval of repose, engaging in great wars both towards his eastern and his western frontier-wars which in both instances had results of considerable importance. The first grand expedition was towards the East. Cyrus, as we have seen, had extended the Persian sway over the moun- tains of Affghanistan and the highlands from which flow the tributaries of the Upper Indus. From these eminences the Persian garrisons looked down on a territory possessing every quality that could attract a powerful conqueror. Fertile, well- watered, rich in gold, peopled by an ingenious yet warlike race, which would add strength no less than wealth to its subjugators, the Punjab lay at the foot of the Sufeid Koh and Suliman ranges, inviting the attack of those who could swoop down when they pleased upon the low country. It was against this region that Darius directed his first great aggres- sive effort.? Having explored the course of the Indus from Attock to the sea by means of boats, and obtained, we may • Herod, iii. 134. tun, India does not appear at all. It • An insignificant expedition had was, therefore, not conquered by B.C. been sent against Samos, probably as 516. In the second, that of Persepolis, early as B.C. 517. The island was re India appears, a solitary addition to the duced and barbarously treated. (Herod. earlier list. In the third, that of Nakhsh- iü. 141-149.) i-Rustam, India is mentioned, together 5 Supra, p. 382. with a number of new provinces, among * Herod. iü. 102; viï. 113; Arrian, which is “Scythia beyond the sea, Exp. Alex. iv. 25; v. 17, &c. We see by this that the Indian preceded The approximate date of the Indian the Scythian expedition. If that took expedition is gathered from a compa | place B.C. 508, the Indian must have rison of the three lists of Persian pro fallen between B.c. 515 and B.C. 509. vinces contained in the inscriptions of 8 Herod. iv. 44. This exploration was Darius. In the earliest, that of Behis. I conducted by a certain Scylax, a native CHAP. VII. 431 GRAND EXPEDITIONS. suppose, in this way some knowledge of the country and its inhabitants, he led or sent an expedition into the tract, which in a short time succeeded in completely reducing it. The Punjab, and probably the whole valley of the Indus,9 was annexed, and remained subject till the later times of the Empire. The results of this conquest were the acquisition of a brave race, capable of making excellent soldiers, an enormous increase of the revenue, a sudden and vast influx of gold into Persia, which led probably to the introduction of the gold coinage, 10 and the establishment of commercial relations with the natives, which issued in a regular trade carried on by coasting-vessels between the mouths of the Indus and the Persian Gulf.11 The next important expedition-one probably of still greater magnitude—took exactly the opposite direction. The sea which bounded the Persian dominion to the west and the north-west narrowed in two places to dimensions not much exceeding those of the greater Asiatic rivers. The eye which looked across the Thracian Bosphorus or the Hellespont seemed to itself to be merely contemplating the opposite bank of a pretty wide stream. Darius, consequently, being master of Asia Minor, and separated by what seemed to him so poor a barrier from fertile tracts of vast and indeed indefinite extent, such as were nowhere else to be found on the borders of his empire, naturally turned his thoughts of conquest to this quarter. His immediate desire was, probably, to annex Thrace; but he may have already entertained wider views, and have looked to embracing in his dominions the lovely isles and coasts of Greece also, so making good the former threats of Cyrus.13 The story of the voyage and escape of Democedes, related by Herodotus with such of Caryanda in Caria, who is said to | Indus and the Persian Gulf unless the have written an account of his voyage Indus itself had beer under Persian in Greek. A few fragments of this control ; and the command of such a work, perhaps, remain. river implies the submission of the I regard the conquest and annexa natives along its banks. tion of Scinde as implied in the con. 10 Herod. ii. 94-96. tinued “ use of the sea in those parts" 11 Ibid. iv. 44. Compare note whereof Herodotus speaks (TÛ Baldoon 12 See Herod. vii. 35, and the remark TAÚTO éx paro, iv. 44, sub fin.). A) of Blakesley on the passage. trade could not have been permanently 13 Herod. i. 153; Diod. Sic. ix. 33. established between the mouths of the / See above, p 376. 432 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. amplitude of detail,14 and confirmed to some extent from other sources,15 cannot be a mere myth without historical foundation. Nor is it probable that the expedition was designed merely for the purpose of “indulging the exile with a short visit to his native country,” or of collecting “interesting information.” 16 If by the king's orders a vessel was fitted out at Sidon to explore the coasts of Greece under the guidance of Democedes, which proceeded as far as Crotona in Magna Græcia, we may be tolerably sure that a political object lay at the bottom of the enterprise. It would have exactly the same aim and end as the eastern voyage of Scylax, and would be intended, like that, to pave the way for a conquest. Darius was therefore, it would seem, already contemplating the reduction of Greece Proper, and did not require to have it suggested to him by any special provocation. Mentally, or actually, surveying the map of the world, so far as it was known to him, he saw that in this direc- tion only there was an attractive country readily accessible. Elsewhere his Empire abutted on seas, sandy deserts, or at best barren steppes; here, and here only,18 was there a rich prize close at hand and (as it seemed) only waiting to be grasped. But if the aggressive force of Persia was to be turned in this direction, if the stream of conquest was to set westward along the flanks of Rhodope and Hæmus, it was essential to success, and even to safety, that the line of communication with Asia should remain intact. Now, there lay on the right flank of an army marching into Europe a vast and formidable power, known to be capable of great efforts,19 which, if allowed to feel 14 Herod. iii. 136-138. extreme east. The possession of the 15 As by the story which Athenæus Punjab opens the way to the valley of tells of a Crotoniat custom which grew the Ganges, and thence to the conquest up out of the circumstances of the es of the entire Indian peninsula. Darius cape. (Deipn. xii. p. 522, A.) might conceivably have made the at- ic Thirlwall, History of Greece, vol. tempt which the soldiers of Alexander ii. p. 193. declined and those of Baber effected; 17 Maps appear to have been invented but the Persian possession of the Punjab before this time, by Anaximander (Strab. was too recent for that country to have i. 1, § 11 ; Agathem. i. 1 ; Diog. Laert. been a convenient basis of operations. 19 See above, pp. 129, 130; and com. 18 If this remark requires any quali- pare vol. Ü. pr. 221.227. fication it would be with respect to the ! ii. 1). CHAP. VIL 433 THE SCYTHIAN EXPEDITION. itself secure from attack, might be expected at any time to step in, to break the line of communication between the east and west, and to bring the Persians who should be engaged in con- quering Pæonia, Macedonia, and Greece, into imminent danger, It is greatly to the credit of Darius that he saw this peril-saw it and took effectual measures to guard against it. The Scythian expedition was no insane project of a frantic despot,1 burning for revenge, or ambitious of an impossible conquest. It has all the appearance of being a well-laid plan, conceived by a moderate and wise prince, for the furtherance of a great design, and the permanent advantage of his empire. The lord of South-Western Asia was well aware of the existence beyond his northern frontier of a standing menace to his power. A century had not sufficed to wipe out the recollection of that terrible time when Scythian hordes had carried desolation far and wido over the fairest of the regions that were now under the Persian dominion. What had occurred once might recur. Possibly, as a modern author suggests, “the remembrance of ancient in- juries may have been revived by recent aggressions.” 2 It was at any rate essential to strike terror into the hordes of the Steppe Region in order that Western Asia might attain a sense of security. It was still more essential to do so, if the north-west was to become the scene of war, and the Persians were to make a vigorous effort to establish themselves per- manently in Europe. Scythia, it must be remembered, reached to the banks of the Danube. An invader who aspired to the conquest even of Thrace, was almost forced into collision with her next neighbour. Darius, having determined on his course, prefaced his expe- dition by a raid, the object of which was undoubtedly to procure information. He ordered Ariaramnes, satrap of Cappadocia, to cross the Euxine with a small fleet,and, descending suddenly upon the Scythian coast, to carry off a number of prisoners. 1 As Mr. Grote regards it. (History | ii. pp. 198, 199.) ? Thirlwall, 1. 8. c. of Greece, vol. iii. p. 224.) The sound Ctes. Exc. Pers. § 16. The fleet judgment of Bp. Thirlwall has seen the consisted of thirty penteconters, which matter in a far truer light (History, vol. 1 would convey about 2000 men. VOL. III. 2 F CHAP. VII. 437 DARIUS RETURNS TO SUSA. of a subject kingdom, and owned for her true lord the great monarch of Western Asia. Megabazus, having accomplished the task assigned him, proceeded to Sardis, where Darius had remained almost, if not quite, a full year. His place was taken by Otanes, the son of Sisamnes, a different person from the conspirator, who rounded off the Persian conquests in these parts by reducing, probably in B.C. 505, the cities of Byzantium, Chalcedon, Antandrus, and Lamponium, with the two adjacent islands of Lemnos and Imbrus. The inhabitants of all were, it appears, taxable, either with having failed to give contingents towards the Scythian expedition, or with having molested it on its return—crimes these, which Otanes thought it right to punish by their general enslavement. Darius, meanwhile, had proceeded to the seat of government, which appears at this time to have been Susa.? He had perhaps already built there the great palace, whose remains have been recently disinterred by English enterprise; or he may have wished to superintend the work of construction. Susa, which was certainly from henceforth the main Persian capital, possessed advantages over almost any other site. Its climate was softer than that of Ecbatana and Persepolis, less sultry than that of Babylon. Its position was convenient for communicating both with the East and with the West. Its people were plastic, and probably more yielding and sub- missive than the Medes or the Persians. The king, fatigued with his warlike exertions, was glad for a while to rest and recruit himself at Susa, in the tranquil life of the Court. For some years he appears to have conceived no new aggressive project; and he might perhaps have forgotten his designs upon Greece altogether, had not his memory been stirred by a signal and extraordinary provocation. The immediate circumstances which led to the Ionian Revolt + Herod. v. 23. Ibid. v. 25. • Ibid. chs. 26 and 27. * Ibid. ch. 25. Compare chs. 49 and By Strabo's time Susiana had be- come an actual part of Persia. (Strab. xv. 3, & 2. Exedor de ti kai h Eovels μέρος γεγένηται της Περσίδος.) 52. 438 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. belong to Greek rather than to Persian history, and have been so fully treated of by the historians of the Hellenic race, that a knowledge of them may be assumed as already possessed by the reader. What is chiefly remarkable about them is, that they are so purely private and personal. A chance quarrel between Aristagoras of Miletus and the Persian Megabates, pecuniary difficulties pressing on the former, and the natural desire of Histiæus, father-in-law of Aristagoras, to revisit his native place, were undoubtedly the direct and immediate causes of what became a great national outbreak. That there must have been other and wider predisposing causes can scarcely be doubted. Among them two may be suggested. The presence of Darius in Asia Minor, and his friendliness towards the tyrants who bore sway in most of the Greek cities,10 were calculated to elate those persons in their own esteem, and to encourage in them habits and acts injurious or offensive to their subjects. Their tyranny under these circumstances would become more oppressive and galling. At the same time the popular mind could not fail to associate together the native despot and the foreign lord, who it was clear to all) supported and befriended each other.11 If the Greeks of Asia, like so many of their brethren in Europe, had grown weary of their tyrants and were desirous of rising against them, they would be compelled to contemplate the chances of a successful resistance to the Persians. And here there were circumstances in the recent history calculated to inspirit them and give them hopes. Six hundred Greek ships, manned probably by 120,000 men, had been lately brought together, and had formed a united Heet. The fate of the Persian land-army had depended on Niebuhr, Vorträge, vol. i. pp. 375. | pendently of the Persians (Herod. i. 20; 377 ; Thirlwall, vol. ii. pp. 207-209; ii. 39); and indeed seems to have been Grote, vol. iii. pp. 241-244. the only form of government for which 19 Herod. v. 11, 24 ; Thucyd. vi. 59. they were as yet fitted (ib. iii. 143). 11 Herod. iv. 137; v. 11. Bp. Thirl 12 No such union of their forces had wall seems to me to go too far when he ever taken place before. From it the says that the tyrants had been “forced Greeks themselves may have first learnt upon the Ionians by the Persians" (vol. their own strength, while at the same ii. p. 210). Despotic government grew time they acquired the habit of acting up among the Ionian states quite inde together. CHAP. VII. 439 THE IONIAN REVOLT. their fidelity.13 It is not surprising that a sense of strength should have been developed, and something like a national spirit should have grown up in such a condition of things. If this were the state of feeling among the Greeks, the merit of Aristagoras would be, that he perceived it, and, regardless of all class prejudices, 14 determined to take advan- tage of the chance which it gave him of rising superior to his embarrassments. Throwing himself on the popular feeling, the strength of which he had estimated aright, he by the same act gave freedom to the cities, and plunged his nation into a rebellion against Persia. It was easy for reason to show, when the matter was calmly debated, that the probabilities of success against the might of Darius were small.15 But the arrest of the tyrants by Aristagoras, and his deliverance of them into the hands of their subjects,16 was an appeal to passion against which reason was powerless. No state could resist the temp- tation of getting rid of the tyranny under which it groaned. But the expulsion of the vassal committed those who took part in it to resist in arms the sovereign lord. In the original revolt appear to have been included only the cities of Ionia and Æolis. Aristagoras felt that some further strength was needed, and determined to seek it in European Greece. Repulsed from Sparta, which was disinclined to so distant an expedition,” he applied for aid to cities on which he had a special claim. Miletus counted Athens as her mother state ;3 and Eretria was indebted to her for assistance in her great war with Chalcis. Applying in these quarters Arista- goras succeeded better, but still obtained no very important help. Athens voted him twenty ships, Eretria five ;8 and with the promise of these succours he hastened back to Asia. 13 Herod. iv. 137-142. | able that Aristagoras should really have 14 As son-in-law of Histiæus, Arista proposed to the Spartans a march against goras would naturally sympathise with Susa. He may, however, have suggested the tyrants. an attack on Sardis. 15 Šee Herod. v. 36, where Hecatæus 3 Ibid. ch. 97. Oi MiAMOLOL Tŵv 'Aon- represents pure reason apart from pas valwy cioi đTOLKOL. Compare i. 146 ; sion. Strab. xiv. 1, $ 3. 16 Ibid. v. 37. ' Ibid. v. 37, 38. * Herod. v. 99. 5 Ibid. ch. 97. ? Ibid. ch. 51. It is scarcely conceiv. Ibid. ch. 99. 440 CHAP. VII THE FIFTH MONARCHY. The European contingent soon afterwards arrived; and Aristagoras, anxious to gain some signal success which should attract men to his cause, determined on a most daring enter- prise. This was no less than an attack on Sardis, the chief seat of the Persian power in these parts, and by far the most important city of Asia Minor. Sailing to Ephesus, he marched up the valley of the Cayster, crossed Mount Tmolus, and took the Lydian capital at the first onset. Artaphernes, the satrap, was only able to save the citadel; the invaders began to plunder the town, and in the confusion it caught fire and was burnt. Aristagoras and his troops hastily retreated, but were overtaken before they could reach Ephesus by the Persians quartered in the province, who fell upon them and gave them a severe defeat. The expedition then broke up; the Asiatic Greeks dispersed among their cities; the Athenians and Eretrians took ship and sailed home.? Results followed that could scarcely have been anticipated. The failure of the expedition was swallowed up in the glory of its one achievement. It had taken Sardis—it had burnt one of the chief cities of the Great King. The news spread like wildfire on every side, and was proclaimed aloud in places where the defeat of Ephesus was never even whispered. Everywhere revolt burst out. The Greeks of the Hellespont- not only those of Asia but likewise those of Europe 8_the Carians and Caunians of the south-western coast, —even the distant Cyprians 10 broke into rebellion; the Scythians took heart and made a plundering raid through the Great King's Thracian territories ;"1 vassal monarchs, like Miltiades, assumed independence, and helped themselves to some of the fragments of the Empire that seemed falling to pieces.12 If a great man, Herod. chs. 100-103. | Apollodor. iii. 14, & 3), and with strong 9 As the Perinthians, Selymbrians, Phænician sympathies (Herod. iii. 19). and Byzantines. (Herod. vi. 33.) When Cyprus revolted, the allegiance . Ibid. v. 103. of Phænicia must have hung trembling 10 Ibid. ch. 104. The revolt of Cy. | in the balance. prus was especially important, as imply. 11 The date of this inroad is fixed by ing disaffection on the part of a people | Herod. vi. 40 to B.C. 495 or 496. The mainly Phænician in race_(Scylax, burning of Sardis was in B.C. 499. Peripl. 103; Theopomp. Fr. 111; L 2 Herod. vii. 140. 442 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. the cities punished by the loss of their most beautiful maidens and youths.27 The islands off the coast were swept of their inhabitants.28 The cities on the Hellespont and Sea of Mar- mora were burnt.29 Miltiades barely escaped from the Cher- sonese with the loss of his son and his kingdom.30 The flames of rebellion were everywhere ruthlessly trampled out; and the power of the Great King was once more firmly established over the coasts and islands of the Propontis and the Egean Sea. It remained, however, to take vengeance upon the foreigners who had dared to lend their aid to the king's revolted subjects, and had borne a part in the burning of Sardis. The pride of the Persians felt such interference as an insult of the grossest kind; and the tale may well be true that Darius, from the time that he first heard the news, employed an officer to bid him daily “remember Athens.”31 The schemes which he had formerly entertained with respect to the reduction of Greece recurred with fresh force to his mind; and the task of crush- ing the revolt was no sooner completed, than he proceeded to attempt their execution. Selecting Mardonius, son of Gobryas the conspirator, and one of his own sons-in-law, for general, *2 he gave him the command of a powerful expedition, which was to advance by way of Thrace, Macedonia, and Thessaly, against Eretria and Athens. At the same time, with a wisdom which we should scarcely have expected in an Oriental, he commis- sioned him, ere he quitted Asia, to depose the tyrants who bore rule in the Greek cities, and to allow the establishment of democracies in their stead. Such a measure was excellently calculated to preserve the fidelity of the Hellenic population, and to prevent any renewal of disturbance. It gave ample 27 Herod. ch. 32. Ilaidas TOUS EVEL.EO- | possible invasion of Asia Minor by the TáTOUS ÉTamrov, kai ÉTOLEU dyti | Scythians. * Herod. vi. 41. ενορχίων είναι ευνούχους, και παρ 31 Ibid. v. 105; vi. 94. θένους τάς καλλιστευούσας ανασπασ 32 Ibid. vi. 43. τους παρά βασιλέα. 1 Ibid. Herodotus does not actually 28 Ibid. ch. 31. state that Mardonius was instructed 29 Ibid. ch. 33. This is probably the to act as he did ; but I cannot conceive burning mentioned by Strabo (xiii. 1, that he could have ventured on making $ 22), which some supposed to have such a change without the royal been a measure of precaution against a sanction. CHAP. VII. 443 EXPEDITIONS AGAINST GREECE. employment to unquiet spirits by opening to them a career in their own states,—and it removed the grievance which, more than anything else, had produced the recent rebellion.” Mardonius having effected this change proceeded into Europe. He had a large land force and a powerful navy, and at first was successful both by land and sea. The fleet took Thasos, an island valuable for its mines ;; and the army forced the Mace- donians to exchange their position of semi-independence for that of full Persian subjects, liable to both tribute and military ser- vice. But this fair dawn was soon overcast. As the fleet was rounding Athos a terrible tempest arose, which destroyed 300 triremes and more than 20,000 men, some of whom were devoured by sea-monsters, while the remainder perished by drowning. On shore, a night attack of the Brygi, a Thracian tribe dwelling in the tract between the Strymon and the Axius, brought disaster upon the land force, numbers of which were slain, while Mardonius himself received a wound. This dis- grace, indeed, was retrieved by subsequent operations, which forced the Brygi to make their submission; but the expedition found itself in no condition to advance further, and Mardonius retreated into Asia. Darius, however, did not allow failure to turn him from his purpose. The attack of Mardonius was followed within two years by the well-known expedition under Datis (B.C. 490), which, avoiding the dangers of Athos, sailed direct to its object, crossing the Egean by the line of the Cyclades, and falling upon Eretria and Attica. Eretria's punishment“ warned the Athenians to resist to the uttermost; and the skill of Miltiades, backed by the valour of his countrymen, gave to Athens the great victory of MARATHON. Datis fell back upon Asia, ? See above, p. 438. 'It has been thought unnecessary to 3 Herod. vi. 46, 47; Arrian, Fr. 11 ; 1 give the details of this expedition, Eustath. ad. Dionys. Perieg. 1. 528. which may be found in every history + Herod. vi. 44, 45. of Greece, and are known to most * Ibid. vi. 94, 95. According to persons. For some interesting points Herodotus, this line of attack had been connected with the battle itself, the pointed out to the Persians by Arista. reader is referred to the author's Hero- goras. (Ibid. v. 31.) dotus, vol. iii. pp. 426-436, 2nd edition. 6 Ibid. vi. 101. & Herod. vi, 118. According to Cte- 444 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCEY. having suffered worse disasters than his predecessor, and bore to the king the melancholy tidings that his vast force of from 100,000 to 200,000 men had been met and worsted by 20,000 Athenians and Platæans. Still Darius was not shaken in his resolution. He only issued fresh orders for the collection of men, ships, and materials. For three years Asia resounded with the din of preparation; and it is probable that in the fourth year a fresh expedition would have been led into Greece, had not an important occur- rence prevented it. Egypt, always discontented with its sub- ject position under a race which despised its religion, and per- haps occasionally persecuted it, broke out into open revolt (B.C. 487).10 Darius, it seems, determined to divide his forces, and proceed simultaneously against both enemies;11 he even contemplated leading one of the two expeditions in person ;12 but before his preparations were completed, his vital powers failed. He died in the year following the Egyptian revolt (B.C. 486), in the sixty-third year of his age,13 and the thirty- sixth of his reign, leaving his crown to his eldest son by Atossa, Xerxes. The character of Darius will have revealed itself with toler- able clearness in the sketch which has been here given of the chief events of his reign. But a brief summary of some of its main points may not be superfluous. Darius Hystaspis was, next to Cyrus, the greatest of the Persian kings; and he was even superior to Cyrus in some particulars. His military talent has been underrated.14 Though not equal to the founder of the Empire in this respect, he deserves the credit of energy, vigour, foresight, and judicious management in his military expedi- tions, of promptness in resolving and ability in executing, of sias, Datis was killed at Marathon, and 3 This is implied in the statement the Athenians refused to give up his of Herodotus (i. 209), that Darius was body. (Exc. Pers. & 18.) It seems 20 years of age in the last year of almost impossible that this could have Cyrus, which was B.C. 529. Ctesias, happened without Herodotus becoming however, made Darius live 72 years, aware of it. and reign 31. (Exc. Pers. & 19.) Herod. vii. I. 10 Ibid. " See particularly Mure, Literature 11 Ibid. vii. 2. 2 Ibid, chs. 2-4. of Greece, vol. iv. p. 476. CHAP. VII. 445 ACCESSION OF XERXES. discrimination in the selection of generals,25 and of a power of combination not often found in Oriental commanders.16 He was personally brave, and quite willing to expose himself, even in his old age,"? to dangers and hardships. But he did not unnecessarily thrust himself into peril. He was content to employ generals, where the task to be accomplished did not seem to be beyond their powers; and he appears to have been quite free from an unworthy jealousy of their successes.18 He was a man of kindly and warm feeling,-strongly attached to his friends ; 19 he was clement and even generous towards con- quered foes.20 When he thought the occasion required it, he could be severe ; 21 but his inclination was towards mildness and indulgence. He excelled all the other Persian kings in the arts of peace. To him, and him alone, the Empire owed its organization. He was a skilful administrator, a good financier, and a wise and far-seeing ruler. Of all the Persian princes he is the only one who can be called “many-sided.” He was organizer, general, statesman, administrator, builder, patron of art and literature, all in one. Without him Persia would pro- bably have sunk as rapidly as she rose, and would be known to us only as one of the many meteor powers which have shot athwart the horizon of the East. Xerxes, the eldest son of Darius by Atossa, succeeded his father by virtue of a formal act of choice. It was a Persian custom, that the king, before he went out of his dominions on an expedition, should nominate a successor.22 Darius must have done this before his campaign in Thrace and Scythia; and if Xerxes was then, as is probable, a mere boy, it is impossible that he should have received the appointment.23 15 Such as Megabazus, Otanes, Hy- | (Herod. ii. 119) ; Orcetes (iii. 127, 128); meas (Herod. v. 116, 122), Mardonius, Eobazus (iv. 84); Aryandes (iv. 166); and others. and Sandoces (vii. 194), which last in- 16 See especially the Behistun Inscrip stance illustrates at once the severity tion, col. ii. par. 6 to par. 12. and the clemency of the monarch. 17 Herod. vii. 2, 4. 22 Herod. vii. 2. Compare i. 208. 18 See the anecdotes told of him by 23 One of the main objects of the Herodotus (iii. 160; iv. 143). 19 Ibid. iii. 140 ; v. 11 ; vi. 30. sion to an adult, competent to govern. 20 Ibid. iv. 204; vi. 20, 119. As Darius did not marry Atossa till See the cases of Intaphernes B.C. 521 (Herod. iii. 88), and the Scy. 110 446 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Artobazanes, the eldest of all Darius's sons, whose mother, a daughter of Gobryas, was married to Darius before he became king, 14 was most likely then nominated, and was thenceforth regarded as the heir-apparent. When, however, towards the close of his reign Darius again proposed to head a foreign expedition, an opportunity occurred of disturbing this arrange- ment, of which Atossa, Darius's favourite wife, whose influence over her husband was unbounded, determined to take advan- tage. According to the law, a fresh signification of the sove- reign's will was now requisite; and Atossa persuaded Darius to make it in favour of Xerxes. The pleas put forward were, first, that he was the eldest son of the king, and secondly, that he was descended from Cyrus. The latter argument could not fail to have weight. Backed by the influence of Atossa, it prevailed over all other considerations; and hence Xerxes obtained the throne. If we may trust the informants of Herodotus, it was the wish of Xerxes on his accession to discontinue the preparations against Greece, and confine his efforts to the re-conquest of Egypt. Though not devoid of ambition, he may well have been distrustful of his own powers; and, having been nurtured in luxury, he may have shrunk from the perils of a campaign in unknown regions. But he was surrounded by advisers who had interests opposed to his inclinations, and who worked on his facile temper till they prevailed on him to take that course which seemed best calculated to promote their designs. Mardonius was anxious to retrieve his former failure, and expected, if Greece were conquered, that the rich prize would become his own satrapy. The refugee princes of the family of Pisistratus hoped to be reinstated under Persian in. fluence as dependent despots of Athens. Demaratus of Sparta thian expedition was at latest in B.C. | See above, p. 443. • Herod. vii. 6. 507, Xerxes could not at that time have o Ibid. Herodotus assigns consider. been more than 13 years old. able weight to the influence of Onesi. 24 Herod. vii. 2. critus, an oracle-monger, whom the 1 Η γάρ "Ατοσσα είχε το πάν κρά Pisistratidæ had brought with them to TOS. Herod. vii. 3. Susa ; but it is not likely that Xerses ? 1.e. The eldest son born to Darius would have put much faith in the after he became king. • Herod. vii. 5. | oracles of idolaters. 448 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. road for a conqueror whose land force constituted his real strength was along the shores of the European continent. But if a large army took this long and circuitous route, it must be supported by a powerful fleet; and this involved a new danger. The losses of Mardonius off Athos had shown the perils of Egean navigation, and taught the lesson that the naval force must be at first far more than proportionate to the needs of the army, in order that it might still be sufficient notwithstanding some considerable disasters. At the same time they had indicated one special place of danger, which might be avoided, if proper measures were taken. Xerxes, in the four years which followed on the reduction of Egypt, continued incessantly to make the most gigantic preparations for his intended attack upon Greece, 14 and among them included all the precautions which a wise fore- sight could devise in order to ward off every conceivable peril. A general order was issued to all the satraps throughout the Empire, calling on them to levy the utmost force of their pro- vince for the new war ;15 while, as the equipment of Oriental troops depends greatly on the purchase and distribution of arms by their commander, a rich reward was promised to the satrap whose contingent should appear at the appointed place and time in the most gallant array.16 Orders for ships and transports of different kinds were given to the maritime states,"? with such effect that above 1200 triremes 18 and 3000 vessels of an inferior description 19 were collected together. Magazines of corn were formed at various points along the intended line of route. 20 Above all, it was determined to bridge the Hellespont by a firm and compact structure, which it was thought would secure the communication of the army from interruption by the elements; and at the same time it was resolved to cut through the isthmus which joined Mount Athos to the continent, in order to preserve the fleet from disaster at that most perilous part of the proposed voyage. These remarkable works, which made a deep impression 14 Herod. vii. 20. 'Em Teorepa @tea | 17 Ibid. ch. 21. πλήρεα παραρτέετο στρατιήν τε και τα 18 Æschyl. Pers. 343-345; Herod. vii. πρόσφορα τη στρατίη. 89. 15 Ibid. ch. 4. 19 Herod. vii. 97, ad fin. 18 Ibid. Compare chs. 19 and 26. I 20 Ibid. ch. 25 CHAP. VII. 449 BRIDGE ACROSS THE HELLESPONT. on the minds of the Greeks, have been ascribed to a mere spirit of ostentation on the part of Xerxes; the vain-glorious monarch wished, it is supposed, to parade his power, and made a useless bridge and an absurd cutting merely for the purpose of exhibiting to the world the grandeur of his ideas and the extent of his resources.21 But there is no necessity for travelling beyond the line of ordinary human motive in order to discover a reason for the works in question. The bridge across the Hellespont was a mere repetition of the construction by which Darius had passed into Europe when he made his Scythian expedition,22 and pro- bably seemed to a Persian not a specially dignified or very wonderful way of crossing so narrow a strait, but merely the natural mode of passage. The only respect in which the bridge of Xerxes differed from constructions with which the Persians were thoroughly familiar, was in its superior solidity and strength. The shore-cables were of unusual size and weight, and apparently of unusual materials;the formation of a double line—of two bridges, in fact, instead of one—was almost with- out a parallel ;; and the completion of the work by laying on the ordinary plank-bridge a solid causeway composed of earth and brushwood, with a high bulwark on either side, 4 was probably, if not unprecedented, at any rate very uncommon. Boat- bridges were usually, as they are even now in the East, some- what rickety constructions, which animals unaccustomed to them could with difficulty be induced to cross. The bridge of Xerxes was a high-road—ődloua, as Æschylus calls it — along which men, horses, and vehicles might pass with as much comfort and facility as they could move on shore. The utility of such a work is evident. Without it Xerxes 21 Thirlwall, History of Greece, vol. i. | Darius across the Bosphorus (Herod. iv. pp. 251, 252 ; Herod. vii. 24. 87, 88) and the Danube (ibid. ch. 97). 22 Supra, p. 433; Herod. iv. 88. The only double bridge which I find See above, pp. 198, 199. mentioned beside this across the Helles- ? Papyrus and hemp intermixed, in pont was thrown by Xerxes' orders at the proportion of two strands of the this same time over the Strymon, former to one of the latter. (Herod. (Herod. vii. 24 and 114.) vii. 36.) 4 payuds &vOev kal Évdev. (Herod. 3 The ordinary Persian river-bridges were single. (Xen. Anab. i. 2, 5; 5 Æschyl. Pers. 71. IIolúyoudov ü. 4, Ø 24.) So were the bridges of | 8810 ua. VOL. III. 2 G CHAP. VII. 451 CANAL OF ATHOS. half, the material sand and marl, and the greatest height of the natural ground above the level of the sea about fifty feet.11 The construction of a canal in such a locality was certainly better than the formation of a ship-groove or Diolcus—the YRANOP PAN 4 so Plan of Canal. substitute for it proposed by Herodotus,? not to mention that it is doubtful whether at the time that this cutting was made ship-grooves were known even to the Greeks.13 Xerxes, having brought his preparations into a state of 11 See a paper by Captain Spratt in 13 Tże practice of dragging ships the Journal of the Geographical Society, across isthmuses, with or without an vol. xvii., from which the chart above, | artificial run or groove, became common representing the present state of the | in Greece about 50 or 60 years later canal and the adjacent country, is (Thucyd. iii. 81 ; iv. 8; &c.); but there taken. is no evidence that it had commenced 12 Herod. vii. 24. at this period. 2 G 2 452 CHAP. VIL THE FIFTH MONARCHY. forwardness, having completed his canal and his bridge-after one failure with the latter, for which the constructors and the sea were punished 14—proceeded, in the year B.C. 481, along the "Royal Road” from Susa to Sardis, and wintered at the Lydian capital.15 His army is said to have accompanied him ;16 but more probably it joined him in the spring, flocking in, con- tingent after contingent, from the various provinces of his vast Empire. Forty-nine nations, according to Herodotus, served under his standard ; and their contingents made up a grand 'total of eighteen hundred thousand men.18 Of these, eighty thousand were cavalry, while twenty thousand rode in chariots or on camels; the remainder served on foot. There are no sufficient means of testing these numbers. Figures in the mouth of an Oriental are vague and almost unmeaning; armies are never really counted: there is no such thing as a fixed and definite “strength ” of a division or a battalion, Herodotus tells us that a rough attempt at numbering the infantry of the host was made on this occasion; but it was of so rude and primitive a description that little dependence can be placed on the results obtained by it. Ten thousand men were counted, and were made to stand close together; a line was then drawn round them, and a wall built on the line to the height of a man's waist; within the enclosure thus made all the troops in turn entered, and each time that the enclosure appeared to be full, ten thousand were supposed to be within it.19 Estimated in this way, the infantry was regarded as amounting to 1,700,000. " See Herod. vii. 35 ; and compare | Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, Gan- the remarks of Mr. Grote (History of darians, Dadicæ, Caspians, Sarangians, Greece, vol. iii. pp. 372, 373.) The Pactyes, Utians, Mycians, Paricanians, subject will be recurred to hereafter. Arabs, Ethiopians of Africa, Ethio 15 Herod. vii. 37. pians of Asia, Libyans, Paphlagonians, 16 Ibid. ch. 26. Matienians, Ligyes, Mariandynians, 11 Mr. Grote (iii. p. 387) makes the Cappadocians, Phrygians, Armenians, nations forty-six, and professes to Lydians, Mysians, Asiatic Thracians, enumerate them, but gives only forty | Cabalians, Milyans, Moschians, Tiba- names. Herodotus gave 49, and now renians, Macronians, Mosynæcians, gives 48. One name (vii. 76, ad init.) Mares, Colchians, Alarodians, Sa- is lost; and one (Caspeiri, vii. 86) is peirians, Erythræan Islanders, and Sa- probably corrupt. The remaining 47 gartians. (Herod. vii. 61-80, and 85.) are the following: Persians, Medes, 18 Herod. vii. 184, Cissians, Hyrcanians, Assyrians, Chal. 19 Ibid. ch. 60. dæans, Bactrians, Sacæ, Indians, Arians, CHAP. VII. 453 ARMY OF XERXES. It is clear that such a mode of counting was of the roughest kind, and might lead to gross exaggeration. Each commander would wish his troops to be thought more numerous than they really were, and would cause the enclosure to appear full when several thousands more might still have found room within it. Nevertheless there would be limits beyond which exaggeration could not go; and if Xerxes was made to believe that the land force which he took with him into Europe amounted to nearly two millions of men, it is scarcely doubtful but that it must have exceeded one million. The motley composition of such a host has been described in a former chapter.20 Each nation was armed and equipped after its own fashion, and served in a body, often under a distinct commander.21 The army marched through Asia in a single column, which was not, however,continuous, but was broken into three portions. The first portion consisted of the baggage animals and about half of the contingents of the nations ; the second was composed wholly of native Persians, who preceded and followed the emblems of religion and the king; the third was made up of the remaining national contingents. The king himself rode alternately in a chariot and in a litter. He was preceded immediately by ten sacred horses, and a sacred chariot drawn by eight milk-white steeds. Round him and about him were the choicest troops of the whole army, twelve thousand horse and the same number of foot, all Persians, and those too not taken at random, but selected carefully from the whole mass of the native soldiery. Among them seem to have been the famous “Immortals”—a picked body of 10,000 footmen, always maintained at exactly the same number, and thence deriving their appellation? The line of march from Sardis to Abydos was only partially along the shore. The army probably descended the valley of the Hermus nearly to its mouth, and then struck northward into the Caicus vale, crossing which it held on its way, with 20 Supra, pp. 187, 188. | marshalled in 28 bodies, under 28 com- 21 The 47 nations, who, according to | manders. Herodotus, furnished the foot, were Herod. vii. 40, 41. ? Ibid. ch. 83. 454 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Mount Kara-dagh (Cané) on the left, across the Atarnean plain, and along the coast to Adramyttium (Adramyti) and Antandros, whence it again struck inland, and, crossing the ridge of Ida, descended into the valley of the Scamander. Some losses were incurred from the effects of a violent thunderstorm amid the mountains ;4 but they cannot have been of any great consequence. On reaching the Scamander the army found its first difficulty with respect to water. That stream was probably low, and the vast host of men and animals were unable to obtain from it a supply sufficient for their wants. This pheno- menon, we are told, frequently recurred afterwards ;5 it sur- prises the English reader, but is not really astonishing, since, in hot countries, even considerable streams are often reduced to mere threads of water during the summer. Rounding the hills which skirt the Scamander valley upon the east, the army marched past Rhæteum, Ophrynium, and Dardanus to Abydos.? Here Xerxes, seated upon a marble throne, which the people of Abydos had erected for him on the summit of a hill,' was able to see at one glance his whole arma- ment, and to feast his eyes with the sight. It is not likely that any misgivings occurred to him at such a moment. Before him lay his vast host, covering with its dense masses the entire low ground between the hills and the sea; beyond was the strait, and to his left the open sea, white with the sails of four thousand ships; the green fields of the Chersonese smiled in- vitingly a little further on; while, between him and the oppo- site shore, the long lines of his bridges lay darkling upon the sea, like a yoke placed upon the neck of a captive. Having seen all, the king gave his special attention to the fleet, which he now perhaps beheld in all its magnitude for the first time. Desirous of knowing which of his subjects were the best sailors, : ; Herod. ch. 42. * Ibid. ch. 43. $ Ibid. vii. 58, 108, 127, 196, &c. 6 On the possibility of streams like the Scamander proving insufficient to Bupply the host with drinkable water, see Mr. Grote's History of Greece, vol. iii. p. 384. 7 Herod. vii. 43, ad fin. 8 Ibid. ch. 44. The conversation between Xerxes and Artabanus given by Herodotus (Fü. 46-52) has no claim to be regarded as historical. 10 Æschyl. Pers. 72, 73. Zuzor du. | Balwy aixévu TÓVTOU, 456 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. of troops or ships were also required from all the cities and tribes;” and thus both fleet and army continually swelled as they advanced onward. In crossing the tract between the Strymon and the Axius some damage was suffered by the baggage-train from lions, 18 which came down from the moun- tains during the night and devoured many of the camels ; but otherwise the march was effected without loss, and the fleet and army reached the borders of Thessaly intact, and in good condition. Here it was found that there was work for the pioneers,19 and a reconnaissance of the enemy's country before entering it was probably also thought desirable.20 The army accordingly halted some days in Pieria, 21 while preparations were being made for crossing the Olympic range into the Thessalian lowland. During the halt intelligence arrived which seemed to promise the invader an easy conquest. Xerxes, while he was staying at Sardis, had sent heralds to all the Grecian states, 22 except- ing Athens and Sparta, with a demand for earth and water, the recognised symbols of submission. His envoys now re- turned, and brought him favourable replies from at least one- third of the continental Greeks—from the Perrhæbians, Thessa- lians, Dolopians, Magnetians, Achæans of Phthiotis, Enianians, Malians, Locrians, and from most of the Boeotians. Unless it were the insignificant Phocis, no hostile country seemed to intervene between the place where his army lay and the great object of the expedition, Attica. Xerxes, therefore, having first viewed the pass of Tempé, and seen with his own eyes that no enemy lay encamped beyond,” passed over the Olympic range by a road cut through the woods by his army, and proceeded southwards across Thessaly and Achæa Phthiotis into Malis, 17 Herod. vii. 110, 115, 122, 123, &c. 18 Col. Mure has denied that the animals intended could be really lions, and has suggested that they were some species of lynx or wild-cat." (Literature of Greece, vol. iv. p. 402.) But Ari. stotle, who belonged to this district, and was an excellent naturalist, makes the lion a native of the tract (Hist. An. vi. 31; viii. 28); and Pliny repeats his statement (H. N. viii. 17). 19 Herod. vi. 131. 20 The visit of Xerxes to the pass of Tempé (Herod. vii. 128, 130) was pro- bably connected with a desire to recon- noitre. 21 'Huépas ovxvás. (Herod. vii. 131.) » Herod. vii. 32. Ibid. vii. 132. 2 Ibid. chs. 128-130. Ibid. chs. 196-201. CHAP. VII. 457 PASS OF THERMOPYLÆ. the fertile plain at the mouth of the Spercheius river. Here, having heard that a Greek force was in the neighbourhood, he pitched his camp not far from the small town of Trachis. LWLANET MOUNT OT PART OF NT OTHRYS. PTOMI WANIE LANGENF CAST IRE- KETAN IN YU ANAL: RIC CROUNDS TAN PLAINT MALIAC GULE 81 ROAP MOTYL MIRACLE: PART (GTA) OF ME ETA LTIVATED LOPE about EARS.CAT 2 100% VA. PLAN OF THERMOPYLÆ AND THE ADJACENT COUNTRY. ENLARGED VIEW OF THE PASS. 1 Monument to Leonidas. 2 Turkish Custom-house. 3 Hot Spring. 1 Position of the Greek Army. 2 Position of the Phocians. 3 Summit of Callidromus. Site of the Monument to Leonidas. CHAP. VII. 459 ASSAULT OF THERMOPYLÆ. four days at Trachis, probably in the hope that his fleet would join him 13—proceeded on the fifth day to the assault. First the Medes and Cissians, then the famous "Immortals” were sent into the jaws of the pass against the immovable foe;14 but neither detachment could make any impression. The long spears, 15 large shields,16 and heavy armour of the Greeks, their skilful tactics, and steady array, were far more than a match for the inferior equipments and discipline of the Asiatics. Though the attack was made with great gallantry, both on this day and the next,17 it failed to produce the slightest effect. Very few of the Greeks were either slain or wounded ; and it seemed as if the further advance of a million of men was to be stopped by a force less than a hundredth part of their number. But now information reached Xerxes which completely changed the face of affairs. There was a rough mountain-path leading from Trachis up the gorge of the Asopus and across Callidromus to the rear of the Greek position,18 which had been unknown to the Greeks when they decided on making their first stand at Thermopylæ,19 and which they only dis- covered when their plans no longer admitted of alteration. It was, perhaps, not much more than a goat-track, and apparently they had regarded it as scarcely practicable, since they had thought its defence might be safely entrusted to a thousand Phocians.20 Xerxes, however, on learning the existence of the track, resolved at once to make trial of it. His Persian sol- diers were excellent mountaineers. He ordered Hydarnes to take the “Immortals,” and, guided by a native, to proceed 13 Herodotus represents the delay as 1 17 Herod. vii. 212; Diod. Sic. xi. 8. arising from an expectation on the part 18 Herod. vii. 216. No sufficient data of Xerxes that the Greeks would retreat | exist for laying down the exact line of (vii. 210). But it is more probable that this path. In the accompanying chart he waited for his fleet, which, if it had Col. Leake's views are, generally speak- been present, might either have galled ing, followed. 19 Ibid. ch. 175. the Greeks with missiles on their un 20 Ibid. ch. 217. The chief error of guarded flank, or have landed a force Leonidas at Thermopylæ appears to in their rear. have been the insufficient defence of this " Herod. vii. 210, 211. Diodorus pathway. Two or three thousand men says the first attack was made by Medes, could probably have defended the pass Cissians, and Sauce (xi. 7, $ 2.) below as well as 9000, so that 6000 or 15 Herod. vii. 211. 7000 might have been spared for the 18 Diod. Sic. si. 7, $ 3. heights. 460 CHAP. VIL THE FIFTH MONARCHY. along the path by night, and descend with early dawn into the rear of the Greeks, who would then be placed between two fires. The operation was performed with complete success. The Phocian guard, surprised at the summit, left the path free while they sought a place of safety.21 The Greeks in the pass below, warned during the night of their danger, in part fled, in part resolved on death. When morning came, Leonidas, at the bead of about half his original army, 23 moved forward towards the Malian plain, and there met the advancing Per- sians. A bloody com bat ensued, in which the Persians lost by far the greater number; but the ranks of the Greeks were gra- dually thinned, and they were beaten back step by step into the narrowest part of the pass, where finally they all perished, except the four hundred Thebans, who submitted and were made prisoners.24 So terminated the first struggle on the soil of Greece be- tween the invaders and the invaded. It seemed to promise that, though at vast cost, Persia would be victorious. If her loss in the three days' combat was 20,000 men, as Herodotus states,25 yet, as that of her enemy was 4000, the proportionate advantage was on her side. 26 But, for the conquest of such a country as Greece, it was requisite, not only that the invader should succeed on land, but also that he should be superior at sea. Xerxes had felt this, and had brought with him a fleet, calculated, as he ima- gined, to sweep the Greek navy from the Egean. As far as the Pagasæan Gulf, opposite the northern extremity of Euboea, his fleet had advanced without meeting an enemy. It had encountered one terrible storm off the coast of Magnesia, and had lost 400 vessels ;27 but this loss was scarcely felt in so vast an armament. When from Aphetæ, at the mouth of 2 Herod. vii. 218. 2 Ibid. ch. 219. 2 The number which remained was probably between 4000 and 5000, con- sisting of the Spartans, Lacedæmonians, Helots, Thespians, Thebans, and perhaps the Mycenæans. (See Pausan. I. 8. c.) 21 Herod. vii. 223-225, and 233. 25 Ibid. viii. 24. 26 The entire population of Greece, including the parts already conquered by Persia, is estimated by Clinton at little more than 3} millions. (P. H. vol. ü. p. 524.) That of the Persian empire cannot have been less than forty | millions. 27 Herod. vii, 188-193. CHAP. VII. 463 BATTLE OF SALAMIS. again, as at Artemisium, the only fear felt was lest the Greeks should fly, and in that way escape chastisement. Orders were therefore issued to the Persian fleet to close up at once, and blockade the eastern end of the Salaminian strait,17 while a detachment repeated the attempted maneuvre at Euboea, and sailed round the island to guard the channel at its western outlet.18 These movements were executed late in the day on which the Persian fleet arrived at Phalerum. During the night intelli- gence reached the commanders that the retreat of the Greeks was about to commence at once ; 19 whereupon the Persian right wing was pushed forward into the strait, and carried beyond the Greek position so as to fill the channel where it opens into the bay of Eleusis.20 The remainder of the night passed in preparations for the battle on both sides.21 At daybreak both fleets advanced from their respective shores, the Persians being rather the assailants.22 Their thousand vessels 23 were drawn up in three lines, 24 and charged their antagonists with such spirit that the general inclination on the part of the Greeks was at first to retreat. Some of their ships had almost touched the shore, when the bold example of one of the captains,25 or a cry of reproach from unknown lips,26 produced a revulsion of feeling, and the whole line advanced in good order. The battle was for a short time doubtful;97 but soon the superiority of Greek naval tactics began to tell. The Persian vessels became entangled one with another, and crashing together broke each 17 Herod. ch. 70. 18 Diod. Sic. xi. 17, 52; Æschyl. Pers. 1. 370. 19 Herod. viii. 75; Æschyl. Pers. L. 357-362. The intelligence is said to have been sent by Themistocles. 24 Herod. viii. 76. On the real cha- racter of the movements which preceded the battle of Salamis, see the author's Herodotus, vol. iv. p. 263, note ", 2nd edition. 21 Æschyl, Pers. 11. 376-385; Herod. viü. 78-83. » Herod. viii. 84. 'Avayou:êvoco8€ σφι αυτίκα επεκέατο οι βάρβα, οι. 23 Æschylus made the number 1207. (Pers. 11. 343-345.) So Herodotus, by implication (viii. 66, compared with vii. 89). Ctesias said it exceeded a thousand. (Exc. Pers. & 26.) 24 Æsch. Pers. 1. 368. 25 Herod. viii. 84; Æsch. Pers 11. 411-413. 25 Herod. 1. 8. C. On the importance of this story, as indicating the hesita- tion of the Greeks at first, see Mr. Grote's History of Greece, vol. iii. p. 473. | 7 Esch. Pers. II. 414, 415. Tà TpaTa μεν δή ρεύμα Περσικού στρατου αντείχεν Compare Diod. Sic. xi. 19, SS 1, 2. 464 CRAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. other's oars.28 The triple line increased their difficulties. If a vessel, overmatched, sought to retreat, it necessarily came into collision with the ships stationed in its rear. These moreover pressed too eagerly forward, since their captains were anxious to distinguish themselves, in order to •merit the approval of Xerxes.29 The Greeks found themselves able to practise with good effect their favourite manoeuvre of the periplus 30 and thus increased the confusion. It was not long before the greater part of the Persian fleet became a mere helpless mass of shat- tered or damaged vessels. Five hundred are said to have been sunk31—the majority by the enemy, but some even by their own friends. The sea was covered with wrecks, and with wretches who clung to them, till the ruthless enemy slew them or forced them to let go their bold.33 This defeat was a death-blow to the hopes of Xerxes, and sealed the fate of the expedition. From the moment that he realised to himself the fact of the entire inability of his fleet to cope with that of the Greeks, Xerxes made up his mind to return with all haste to Asia.34 From over-confidence he fell into the opposite extreme of despair, and made no effort to re- trieve his ill fortune. His fleet was ordered to sail straight for the Hellespont, and to guard the bridges until he reached them with his army. He himself retreated hastily along the same road by which he had advanced, his whole army accompanying him as far as Thessaly, where Mardonius was left with 260,000 against Greece in the ensuing year. Xerxes pressed on to the Hellespont, losing vast numbers of his troops by famine and sickness on the way," and finally returned into Asia, not by his 28 Æsch. Pers. II. 417, 418. Pers. l. 799. Herodotus tells us that 29 Herod. viii. 89, ad fin. Mardonius selected the entire contin. 30 Æsch. Pers. 11. 419, 420. gents of the Persians, Medes, Sacæ, 31 Ctes. Exc. Pers. § 26. Diodorus Bactrians, and Indians, while from the says "above 200” (xi. 19, $ 3.) remainder of the troops he chose out 32 Herod. viii. 87. certain individuals. 33 Æsch. Pers. 11. 426-428. • Herod. viii. 115. Æschylus adds 34 Herod. viii. 97. to this that there was a great disaster at 1 Ibid. ch. 107. the passage of the Strymon, which the Ibid. ch. 113. army attempted to cross upon the newly • Ilmoos &KKPITOV OT patoù. Esch. | formed ice. (Pers. ll. 498-509.) CHAP. VII. 465 magnificent bridge, which a storm had destroyed, but on board a vessel, which, according to some, narrowly escaped shipwreck during the passage. Even in Asia disaster pursued him. Between Abydos and Sardis, his army suffered almost as much from over-indulgence as it had previously suffered from want; 8 and of the mighty host which had gone forth from the Lydian capital in the spring not very many thousands can have re- entered it in the autumn. Still, however, there was a possibility that the success, which his own arms had failed to achieve, might reward the exertions of his lieutenants. Mardonius had expressed himself confident that with 300,000 picked soldiers he could overpower all resist- ance, and make Greece a satrapy of Persia. Xerxes had raised his forces to that amount by sending Artabazus back from Sestos at the head of a corps d'armée numbering 40,000 men. The whole army of 300,000 wintered in Thessaly ;' and Mar- donius, when spring came, having vainly endeavoured to detach the Athenians from the Grecian ranks,1° marched through Boeotia into Attica, and occupied Athens for the second time. Hence he proceeded to menace the Peloponnese, where he formed an alliance with the Argives, who promised him that they would openly embrace the Persian cause. 12 At the same time the Athenians, finding that Sparta took no steps to help them, began to waver in their resistance, and to contemplate accepting the terms which Mardonius was still willing to grant them.18 The fate of Greece trembled in the balance, and apparently was determined by the accident of a death and a succession, rather than by any wide-spread patriotic feeling or any settled course of policy. Cleombrotus, regent for the young son of Leonidas, died, 14 and his brother Pausanias-a brave, clever, 5 For two accounts of the return, see Ibid. ch. 129. Compare ix. 1. Herod. viii. 117-120. Compare Justin, 10 Ibid. viii. 136, 140-144. i. 13 ; Juvenal, x. 185. » Ibid. ix. 3. 6 Herod. viii. 117. 12 Ibid. ch. 12. ? Ibid. ch. 100, ad fin. 13 Ibid. ch. 11. 8 The 40,000 were a portion of the 14 See the remarks of Bp Thirlwall troops selected by Mardonius (see note), on the probable time of the death of which had served as an escort to Xerxes Cleombrotus. (History of Greece, vol. ii. as far as the Hellespont. (Herod. viii. 126.) , p. 328, note, and p. 330.) VOL. III. 2 H THE FIFTH MONARCHY. CHAP. VII, and ambitious man-took his place. We can scarcely be wrong in ascribing—at least in part—to this circumstance the un- looked-for change of policy, which electrified the despondent ambassadors of Athens 15 almost as soon as Pausanias was in- stalled in power. It was suddenly announced that Sparta would take the offensive. Ten thousand hoplites and 40,000 light- armed—the largest army that she ever levied—took the field, 16 and, joined at the isthmus by above 25,000 Peloponnesians,"? and soon afterwards by almost as many Athenians and Mega- rians, 18 proceeded to seek the foreigners, first in Attica, and then in the position to which they had retired,19 in Bæotia. On the skirts of Cithæron,20 near Platæa, a hundred and eight thousand Greeks 21 confronted more than thrice their number of Persians and Persian subjects; 22 and now at length the trial was to be made whether, in fair and open fight on land, Greece or Persia would be superior. A suspicion of what the result would be might have been derived from Marathon. But there the Persians had been taken at a disadvantage, when the cavalry, their most important arm, was absent.23 Here the error of Datis was not likely to be repeated. Mardonius had a numer- ous and well-armed cavalry, which he handled with no little skill.24 It remained to be seen, when the general engagement came, whether, with both arms brought fully into play, the vanquished at Marathon would be the victors. The battle of Platæa was brought on under circumstances very unfavourable to the Greeks. Want of water and a diffi- culty about provisions had necessitated a night movement on their part.25 The cowardice of all the small contingents,26 and 15 Herod. ix. 11. the strong town of Thebes close in their 16 Ibid. chs. 10 and 28. rear. 17 Ibid. chs. 19 and 28. The Pelo 20 Herod. ix. 19. 'Eri rîs Útwpeins ponnesian troops at Platæa, exclusive of TO0 K10 alpôvos. 2 Ibid. ch. 30. the Spartans, amounted to 27,200. 22 Besides his 300,000 native troops, 18 Sixteen thousand Athenians (with Mardonius had the services of perhaps 1200 Platæans) and six thousand Me 50,000 Greek auxiliaries. (Herod. ix. garians made up a total of 23,200. 32, sub fin.) 19 Herod. ix. 13-15. This movement 23 See the author's Herodotus, vol. üü. was judicious. It placed the Persians pp. 430-432. in a friendly country, abounding with * 24 Herod. ix. 20-23, 39, 40, 49. forage, gave them a plain and gentle 25 Ibid. ch. 50. slopes on which to manœuvre, and put | 26 Ibid. ch. 52. The Tegeatæ, who CHAP. VII. BATTLE OF PLATÆA. 467 the obstinacy of an individual Spartan, 27 disconcerted the whole plan of the operation, and left the Lacedæmonians and the Athenians at daybreak separated from each other,28 and deserted by the whole body of their allies. Mardonius attacked at once, and prevented the junction of the two allies, so that two distinct and separate engagements went on at the same time. In both the Greeks were victorious. The Spartans repulsed the Persian horse and foot, slew Mardonius, and were the first to assail the Persian camp. The Athenians defeated the medizing Greeks, and effected a breach in the defences of the camp, on which the Spartans had failed to make any impression.29 A terrible car- nage followed. The contingent of 40,000 troops under Arta- bazus alone drew off in good order.81 The remainder were seized with panic, and were either slaughtered like sheep or fled in complete disarray. Seventy thousand Greeks 32 not only defeated but destroyed the army of 300,000 barbarians, which melted away and disappeared, making no further stand anywhere. The disaster of Marathon was repeated on a larger scale, and without the resource of an embarkation. Henceforth the im- mense superiority of Greek troops to Persian was well known on both sides ; and nothing but the distance from Greece of her vital parts, and the quarrels of the Greek states among them- selves, preserved for nearly a century and a half the doomed empire of Persia. The immediate result of the defeats of Salamis and Platæa was a contraction of the Persian boundary towards the west. Though a few Persian garrisons maintained themselves for some years on the further side of the straits,38 soothing thereby the alone remained firm, must be regarded who puts the slain at "something more as forming almost a part of the Spartan than 100,000” (xi. 32, $ 5), taxes our force. credulity quite sufficiently. 29 Amompharetus. (See Herod. ix. 31 Herod. ix. 66. 53-57.) 82 Fifty thousand Spartans, Lacedæ- 23 Ibid. chs. 59, 60. monians, and Helots, 3000 Tegeatæ, and » Ibid. chs. 61 to 70. 16,000 Athenians. Total, 69,000. 30 Æschyl. Pers. 11. 812-814 ; Herod. 33 Byzantium till B.C. 478 (Thucyd. ix. 70. It is impossible, however, to 1 i. 94), Eion till B.C. 477 (ib. i. 98); believe the statement of this latter Doriscus, apparently till B.C. 450, or writer, that of the 300,000 Asiatics only even later (Herod. vii. 106). 43,000 survived the battle. Diodorus, 2 1 2 468 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. wounded vanity of the Great King, who liked to think that he had still a hold on Europe ;34 yet there can be no doubt that, after the double flight of Xerxes and Artabazus, Macedonia, Pæonia, and Thrace recovered their independence. Persia lost her European provinces, and began the struggle to retain those of Asia. Terminus receded, and having once receded never advanced again in this quarter. The Greeks took the offensive. Sailing to Asia, they not only liberated from their Persian bon- dage the islands which lay along the coast, but landing their men on the continent, attacked and defeated an army of 60,000 Persians at Mycalé, and destroyed the remnant of the ships that had escaped from Salamis. Could they have made up their minds to maintain a powerful fleet permanently on the coast of Asia, they might at once have deprived Persia of her whole sea- board on the Propontis and the Egean; but neither of the two great powers of Greece was prepared for such a resolve. Sparta disliked distant expeditions; and Athens did not as yet see her way to undertaking the protection of the continental Greeks. She had much to do at home, and had not yet discovered those weak points in her adversary's harness, which subsequently enabled her to secure by treaty the freedom of the Greek cities upon the mainland. For the present, therefore, Persia only lost the bulk of her European possessions, and the islands of the Propontis and the Egean. The circumstances which caused a renewal of Greek aggres- sions upon Asia towards the close of the reign of Xerxes are not very clearly narrated by the authors who speak of them. It 34 Doriscus was to the Persians under sian empire from that year. He meets Xerxes and Artaxerxes what Calais was the statement of Herodotus, that the to England from the time of Henry continental cities of Ionia continued to VI. to that of Mary,—the sign of past be taxed in his day according to the and the supposed means of future con taxing of Artaphernes (vi. 42) by sup- quest. posing that "rating" and not "pay. | Herod. ix. 90-106; Thucyd. i. 89. ment" is intended a very forced ex- ? Mr. Grote maintains (History of planation ; while he entirely fails to Greece, vol. iv. p. 87, note) that Athens meet the decisive statement of Thucy- undertook this protection from the date dides (i. 138), that Themistocles was of the confederacy of Delos (B.C. 477), assigned by Artaxerxes the revenues of and that the maritime continental Greeks, | Myus and Lampsacus, two maritime or at least those of the Hellespont, Æolis, towns, in B.C. 465. and Ionia, were detached from the Per See below, p. 475. 470 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. to have had only one wife, Amestris,14 the daughter (or grand- daughter) of the conspirator, Otanes,15 permitted himself the free indulgence of illicit passion among the princesses of the Court, the wives of his own near relatives. The most horrible results followed. Amestris vented her jealous spite on those whom she regarded as guilty of stealing from her the affections of her husband; and to prevent her barbarities from producing rebellion, it was necessary to execute the persons whom she had provoked, albeit they were near relations of the monarch.16 Tłe taint of incontinence spread among the members of the royal family; and a daughter of the king, who was married to one of the most powerful nobles, became notorious for her excesses.17 Eunuchs rose into power, and fomented the evils which pre- vailed.18 The king made himself bitter enemies among those whose position was close to his person. At last, Artabanus, chief of the guard, 19 a courtier of high rank, and Aspamitres, a eunuch, who held the office of chamberlain,20 conspired against their master, and murdered him in his sleeping apartment, after he had reigned twenty years.21 The character of Xerxes falls below that of any preceding monarch. Excepting that he was not wholly devoid of a certain magnanimity, which made him listen patiently to those who opposed his views or gave him unpalatable advice, 22 and which prevented him from exacting vengeance on some occasions, as he had scarcely a trait whereon the mind can rest with any satisfaction. Weak and easily led, 24 puerile in his.gusts of passion and his complete abandonment of himself to them 25 - 14 Herod. ix. 109. "Aunotpis ép | Xerxes, see Herod. vii. 104, 105; Ctes. Few yuvú. Ctes. Exc. Pers. § 20. Exc. Pers. SS 20, 27, 29. 15 Herodotus, makes her the daughter 19 Diod. Sic. xi. 69, $ 1; Plut. Pit. of Otanes (vii. 61), Ctesias, of Onophas Themist. c. 27. According to Diodorus, (Anaphes), the son of Otanes (Exc. Pers. Artabanus was a Hyrcanian. (See above, 8 20). p. 242, note :) 16 See the story (told with full details * 20 KarakoyuOTÝS. Diod. Sic, L & C by Herodotus, ix. 108-113), which ends (Compare above, p. 214 note >.) with the death of Masistes, Xerxes' bro . 21 Ctes. Exc. Pers. & 29; Diod. Sic. ther, and a number of his sons, Xerxes' xi. 69, $ 2. 22 Herod, vii. 105, 237 ; vü. 69. 17 Amytis, wife of Megabyzus, the 23 Ibid. vii. 136. grandson of Megabyzus the Conspirator 24 Ibid. vii. 5-7, 12, 18 ; ix. 109. (Ctes. E.cc. Pers. & 28). 25 Ibid. vii. 35, 45, 212, 238 ; viii 18 On the power of the eunuchs under 90. nephews. CHAP. VII. 471 CHARACTER OF XERXES. selfish, fickle, boastful, cruel, superstitious, licentious—he ex- hibits to us the Oriental despot in the most contemptible of all his aspects—that wherein the moral and the intellectual qualities are equally in defect, and the career is one unvarying course of vice and folly. From Xerxes we have to date at once the decline of the Empire in respect of territorial greatness and military strength, and likewise its deterioration in regard to administrative vigour and national spirit. With him commenced the corruption of the Court—the fatal evil, which almost uni- versally weakens and destroys Oriental dynasties. His expe- dition against Greece exhausted and depopulated the Empire ; and though, by abstaining from further military enterprises, he did what lay in his power to recruit its strength, still the losses which his expedition caused were certainly not repaired in his lifetime. As a builder, Xerxes showed something of the same grandeur of conception which is observable in his great military enter- prise and in the works by which it was accompanied.26 His Propylæa, and the sculptured staircase in front of the Chehl Minar, which is undoubtedly his work,” are among the most magnificent erections upon the Persepolitan platform; and are quite sufficient to place him in the foremost rank of Oriental builders. If we were to ascribe the Chehl Minar itself to him, we should have to give him the palm above all other kings of Persia ; but on the whole it is most probable that that edifice and its duplicate at Susa were conceived, and in the main, con- structed, by Darius.28 Xerxes left behind him three sons—Darius, Hystaspes, and Artaxerxes—and two daughters, Amytis and Rhodogune. Hystaspes was satrap of Bactria,” and at the time of their 26 See above, pp. 447-451. 27 Both the propylaea and the stair- case bear inscriptions of Xerxes (Supra, pp. 281 and 296.) * The inscription of Artaxerxes Mne. mon expressly ascribes the erection of the Susian palace to Darius (supra, p. 428): and the exact resemblance of the chief building there to the Chehl Minar at Persepolis makes it almost certain that they are both of the same date. Ctes. E.cc. Pers. § 20. Compare Diod. Sic. xi. 69, $ 2, who, however, makes Hystaspes the youngest of the three sons. Justin knows of two sons only, Darius and Artaxerxes (iii. 1). 2 Diod. Sic, I. s. c. CHAP. VII. REIGN OF ARTAXERXES—REVOLT OF EGYPT. 473 was fought near panded by Achse troops 200 sail ad asked the Persiar Egypt, 10 led the insurrection, and, in conjunction with an Egyptian, named Amyrtæus," attacked the Persian troops stationed in the country, who were commanded by Achæmenes, the satrap.12 A battle was fought near Papremis in the Delta, 13 wherein the Persians were defeated, and Achæmenes fell by the hand of Inarus himself.14 The Egyptians generally now joined in the revolt; and the remnant of the Persian army was shut up in Memphis. Inarus had asked the aid of Athens; and an Athenian fleet of 200 sail was sent to his assistance. This fleet sailed up the Nile, defeated a Persian squadron 15 and took part in the capture of Memphis and the siege of its citadel 16 (White- Castle). When the Persian king first learnt what had hap- pened, he endeavoured to rid himself of his Athenian enemies by inducing the Spartans to invade their country ; 17 but, failing in this attempt, he had recourse to arms, and, levying a vast host,18 which he placed under the command of Megabyzus, sent that officer to recover the revolted province. Megabyzus marched upon Memphis, defeated the Egyptians and their allies in a great battle,'' relieved the citadel of Memphis from its siege, and recovered the rest of the town. The Athenians fled to the tract called Prosôpitis,20 which was a portion of the Delta, completely surrounded by two branch streams of the Nile.21 Here they were besieged for eighteen months, till Megabyzus contrived to turn the water from one of the two streams, whereby the Athenian ships were stranded, and the 10 Inarus was the son of a Pramatik (Thucyd. i. 104). 1 Ctesias does not name Amyrtæus, but probably intends him by the “Egyp- tian who prepared the revolt in conjunc- tion with Inarus” ('Ivápou Albúov åvopos και ετέρου Αίγυπτίου την απόστασιν με- derhoavtos, $ 32). 12 Herod. vii. 7. Ctesias (l. s.c.) makes Artaxerxes send Achæmenes (whom he calls Achæmenides) to put down the revolt; but I gather from Herodotus that he was resident satrap of Egypt when the revolt commenced. Diodorus (xi. 74) follows Ctesias. 13 Herod. iii. 12. ad fin. 14 Ctes. Exc. Pers. § 32. 15 Ibid. Compare Thuycd. i. 104. Toll ποταμου κρατούντες. Thucyd. 1. 8. c; Diod. Sic. xi. 74, 17 Thucyd. i. 109; Diod. Sic. xi. 74, 5. 18 Ctesias estimates the army of Mo- gabyzus at 500,000 men—300,000 of whom he found in Egypt on his arrival, while 200,000 accompanied him into the country (8 33). Diodorus makes the force which Megabyzus took with him exceed 300,000 (xi. 75, $ 1). He also gives him 300 triremes ($ 2). 19 Herod. iii. 160 ; Thucyd. i. 109. 20 Thucyd. I. s. c. 474 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Persian troops were able to march across the river bed, and overwhelm the Athenians with their numbers.22 A few only escaped to Cyrêne.23 The entire fleet fell into the enemy's hands; and a reinforcement of fifty more ships, arriving soon after the defeat, was attacked unawares after it had entered the river, and lost more than half its number 24 Inarus was betrayed by some of his own men,25 and being carried prisoner to Persia, suffered death by crucifixion. Amyrtæus fled to the fens 26 where for a while he maintained his independence.29 Egypt, however, was with this exception recovered to the Empire (B.C. 455); and Athens was taught that she could not always invade the dominions of the Great King with impunity. Six years after this, the Athenians resolved on another effort. A fleet of 200 ships was equipped and placed under the command of the victor of the Eurymedon, Cimon,28 with orders to proceed into the Eastern Mediterranean, and seek to recover the laurels lost in Egypt. Cimon sailed to Cyprus, where he received a communication from Amyrtæus, which induced him to dispatch sixty ships to Egypt, while with the remaining one hundred and forty he commenced the siege of Citium. Here he died, either of disease or from the effects of a wound ; 29 and his armament, pressed for provisions, was forced soon afterwards to raise the siege, and address itself to some other enterprise. Sailing past Salamis, it found there a Cilician and Phænician fleet, con- sisting of 300 vessels,30 which it immediately attacked and defeated, notwithstanding the disparity of number. Besides the ships which were sunk, a hundred triremes were taken ; 31 and the sailors then landed and gained a victory over a Persian army upon the shore.32 Artaxerxes, upon this, fearing lest he 22 Thucyd. i. 109; Diod. Sic. xi. 77,1 27 Thucyd. i. 112. § 2. 28 Ibid. 1. 8. C.; Diod. Sic. xii. 3, § 1; 23 Thucyd. i. 110. 24 Ibid. Plut. Vit. Cim. c. 18. 25 II podovia Anpoets. Thucyd. 1. s. C. 2 Plut. Vit. Cim. c. 19. It is difficult to reconcile with this the So Diod. Sic. xii. 3, § 2. statement of Ctesias, that Inarus sur. 31 Ibid. $ 3. Compare the inscription rendered upon terms to Megabyzus; but on the spoils (Diod. Sic. xi. 62, § 3), perhaps, had we a full account of the which must certainly have been those facts, we should find that they embraced from this battle. both incidents. 32 Thucyd. i. 112 ; Diod. Sic. xi. 3, 26 Herod. ii. 140 ; Thucyd. 1. 8. C. § 4. CHAP. VII. PEACE OF CALLIAS—REBELLION IN SYRIA. 475 should lose Cyprus altogether, and thinking that, if Athens became mistress of this important island, she would always be fomenting insurrection in Egypt, made overtures for peace to the generals who were now in command. His propositions terms :-Athens agreed to relinquish Cyprus, and recall her squadron from Egypt; while the king consented to grant freedom to all the Greek cities on the Asiatic continent, and not to menace them either by land or water. The sea was di- vided between the two powers. Persian ships of war were not to sail to the west of Phaselis in the Levant, or of the Cyanean islands in the Euxine; and Greek war-ships, we may assume, were not to show themselves east of those limits. On these conditions there was to be peace and amity between the Greeks and the Persians, and neither nation was to undertake any expeditions against the territories of the other. Thus terminated the first period of hostility between Greece and Persia, a period of exactly half a century, commencing B.C. 499 and ending B.C. 449, in the seventeenth year of Artaxerxes. It was probably not many years after the conclusion of this peace that a rebellion broke out in Syria. Megabyzus, the satrap of that important province, offended at the execution of Inarus, in violation of the promise which he had himself made to him, raised a revolt against his sovereign, defeated repeatedly the armies sent to reduce him to obedience, and finally treated with Artaxerxes as to the terms on which he would consent to be reconciled. Thus was set an example, if not of successful insurrection, yet at any rate of the possibility of rebelling with impunity—an example which could not fail to have a mis- chievous effect on the future relations of the monarch with his satraps. It would have been better for the Empire had Mega- the reality of the “ Peace of Callias" | den), Manso (Sparta, vol. iii. p. 471), (History of Greece, vol. iv. pp. 85-90), and others. which has been impugned by Thirlwall ? Ctes. Exc. Pers. $$ 37-39. (History of Greece, vol. üi. pp. 37, 38), See above, p. 415. 478 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. of Xerxes.21 He had already two children at his accession,-a daughter, Amestris, and a son, Arsaces, who succeeded him as Artaxerxes. His reign, which lasted nineteen years, was a constant scene of insurrections and revolts, some of which were of great importance, since they had permanent and very disas- trous consequences. The earliest of all was raised by his full- brother, Arsites, who rebelled in conjunction with a son of Megabyzus, and, obtaining the support of a number of Greek mercenaries, gained two victories over the forces dispatched against him by the king. At last, however, the fortune of war changed. Persian gold was used to corrupt the mercenaries; and the rebels, being thus reduced to extremities, were forced to capitulate, yielding themselves on the condition that their lives should be spared. Parysatis induced her husband to dis- regard the pledges given and execute both Arsites and his fellow-conspirator22_thus proclaiming to the world that, unless by the employment of perfidy, the Empire was incapable of dealing with those who rebelled against its authority. The revolt of Pissuthnes, satrap of Lydia, was the next important outbreak. Its exact date is uncertain ; but it seems not to have very long preceded the Athenian disasters in Sicily Pissuthnes, who had held his satrapy for more than twenty years,was the son of a Hystaspes, and probably a member of the royal family. His wealth—the accumulations of so long a term of office-enabled him to hire the services of a body of Greek mercenaries, who were commanded by an Athenian, called Lycon. On these troops he placed his chief dependence; but they failed him in the hour of need. Tissa- phernes, the Persian general sent against him, bribed Lycon and his men, who thereupon quitted Pissuthnes and made common cause with his adversaries. The unfortunate satrap c. 1. 21 Ibid. Compare Plut. Vit. Artax. | position occupied by his son Amorges (ibid.). 22 Ctes. Exc. Pers. 88 50 and 51. ' ? He was satrap before B.C. 440. Tissaphernes first appears as satrap Thucyd. i. 115.) of Lydia, in B.C. 413 (Thucyd. vii. 5). * The royal names are rarely, if ever, That Pissuthnes had not very long been borne by persons not belonging to the removed may be conjectured from the | reigning family, CHAP. VII. 479 REIGN OF DARIUS NOTHUS. could no longer resist, and therefore surrendered upon terms, and accompanied Tissaphernes to the Court. Darius, accus- tomed now to disregard the pledged word of his officers, executed him forthwith, and made over his satrapy to Tissa- phernes, as a reward for his zeal. Lycon, the Athenian traitor, received likewise a handsome return for his services, the revenues of several towns and districts being assigned him by the Great King. The rebellion, however, was not wholly crushed by the destruction of its author. Amorges, a bastard son of Pis- suthnes, continued to maintain himself in Caria, where he was master of the strong city of Iasus, on the north coast of the Sinus Iasicus, and set the power of Tissaphernes at defiance. Having probably inherited the wealth of his father, he hired a number of Peloponnesian mercenaries, and succeeded in maintaining himself as an independent monarch for some years." Such was the condition of things in Asia Minor, when in- telligence arrived of the fearful disasters which had befallen the Athenians in Sicily-disasters without a parallel since those of Salamis—sudden, unexpected, overwhelming. The news, flying through Asia, awoke everywhere a belief that the power of Athens was broken, and that her hostility need no longer be dreaded. The Persian monarch considered that under the altered circumstances it would be safe to treat the Peace of Callias as a dead letter, and sent down orders to the satraps of Lydia and Bithynia that they were once more to demand and collect the tribute of the Greek cities within their provinces. The satraps began to speculate on the advan- tages which they might derive from alliance with the enemies of Athens, and looked anxiously to see a Peloponnesian fleet appear off the coast of Asia. Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus vied with each other in the tempting offers which they made to Sparta ;8 and it was not long before a formal treaty was + Ctes. Exc. Pers. $ 52. Thucyd. viii. 5, 19, and 28. He was captured by Tissaphernes and the Pelo- ponnesian Greeks in B.o. 412. * See Thucyd. vii. 5, 6. 482 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. (Nefaorot) as the leader; and it is quite clear that he placed the re-establishment of the old throne of the Pharaohs in the year that Darius Nothus died. As his authority is the best that we can obtain upon this obscure point, we may regard the last days of the Persian monarch as clouded by news of a rebellion, which had been perhaps for some time contemplated,? but which did not break out until he was known to be in a moribund condition. A few years earlier, B.C. 408 or 409, the Medes had made an unsuccessful attempt to recover their independence. The cir- cumstances of this revolt, which is mentioned by no writer but Xenophon, are wholly unknown, but we may perhaps connect it with the rebellion of Terituchmes, a son-in-law of the king. The story of Terituchmes, which belongs to this period, deserves at any rate to be told, as illustrating, in a very remarkable way, the corruption, cruelty, and dissoluteness of the Persian Court at the time to which we have now come. Terituchmes was the son of Idernes, a Persian noble of high rank, probably a descendant of the conspirator Hydarnes. On the death of his father, he succeeded to his satrapy, as to a hereditary fief, and being high in favour with Darius Nothus, he received in marriage that monarch's daughter, Amestris. Having, how- ever, after his marriage become enamoured of his own half- sister, Roxana, and having persuaded her to an incestuous commerce, he grew to detest his wife, and as he could not rid which constitutes Manetho's 28th dy. | unknown to Manetho. It may be con- nasty, lasted probably from B.C. 460 to jectured that the rebellion of Egypt B.O. 455, or from B.C. 455 to B.C. 450— was now, as usual, accompanied by dis- being thus a reign contemporary with integration, and that different kings a portion of the 27th dynasty. It is reigned in different parts of the country. Manetho's wont thus to exhibit con À Xen. Hell. i. 2$ 19. temporary reigns. The Old Chronicle, • The authority for the story is Cte- on the other hand, which is more sias (Exc. Pers. &S 52-57), who was at strictly chronological, omits the reign the Persian court within a few years of of Amyrtæus. (See the author's Hero the occurrences. dotus, vol. ii. p. 342, note , 2nd edi. 5 Idernes is the form which Ctesias tion.) uses instead of the Hydarnes of Hero- 2 Diodorus has a notice of Egyptian dotus. (See Exc. Pers. § 14.) Persian troubles in the year B.C. 410 (xiii. 46, names were apt to be hereditary; and § 6). He has also a king Psammetil we know that the Great Hydarnes had chus in B.C. 400 (xiv. 35, § 3), a de a son, Hydarnes. (Herod. vii. 83.) scendant of the old Psamatiks, who is 484 CHAP. VII, THE FIFTH MONARCHY. cases be ascribed to her influence, for he was anxious that she should put the innocent Statira to death, and, when she refused, reproached her with being foolishly lenient. In his admini- stration of the Empire he was unsuccessful; for, if he gained some tracts of Asia Minor, he lost the entire African satrapy, Under him we trace a growing relaxation of the checks by which the great officers of the state were intended to have been held under restraint. Satraps came to be practically uncon- trolled in their provinces, and the dangerous custom arose of allowing sons to succeed, almost as a matter of course, to the governments of their fathers.2 Powers unduly large were lodged in the hands of a single officer, 13 and actions, that should have brought down upon their perpetrators sharp and signal punishment, were timorously or negligently condoned by the supreme authority.14 Cunning and treachery were made the weapons wherewith Persia contended with her enemies. Manly habits were laid aside,15 and the nation learned to trust more and more to the swords of mercenaries.16 Shortly before the death of Darius there seems to have been a doubt raised as to the succession."? Parysatis, who preferred her second son to her first-born, imagined that her influence was sufficient to induce her husband to nominate Cyrus, instead of Arsaces, to succeed him; and Cyrus is said to have himself expected to be preferred above his brother. He had the claim, if claim it can be called, that he was the first son born to his father after he became king ; 18 but his main dependence was doubtless on his mother. Darius, however, proved less facile in his dying moments than he had been during most of his life, and declined to set aside the rights of the eldest son on the 11 Ctes. Exc. Pers. & 56. 12 Ibid. 88 53 and 57. 13 Not only was each satrap now, as a matter of course, made commandant (supra, p. 426), but satrapies were united, and two or three committed to a single governor. (See Xen. Anab. i. 9, 87.) 14 As the execution, by Cyrus, of his cousins Autoboesaces and Mitræus, simply because they did not observe in his presence the forms due to royalty. (Xan. Hell. ï. 1, $ 8.) ' 15 Xen. Cyrop. viii. 8, § 12. 16 Xen. Anab. i. 1, § 2; Ctes. Brc. Pers. § 50 ; Thucyd. vü. 25. 17 Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 2. 18 This claim had been put forward in the case of Xerxes (supra, p. 446), but rather as a pretext than as s real ground of preference. CHAP. VII. 485 REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. own feelings me recently offe Cyrus did in cha Arsaces, who frivolous pretence suggested to him. His own feelings may have inclined him towards Arsaces, who resembled him far more than Cyrus did in character; and Cyrus, moreover, had recently offended him, and been summoned to court, to answer a very serious charge.19 Arsaces, therefore, was nominated, and took the name of Artaxerxes 20—as one of a king who had reigned long, and, on the whole, prosperously. An incident of ill omen accompanied the commencement of the new reign (B.C. 405). The inauguration of the monarch was a religious ceremony, and took place in a temple at Pasargadæ, the old capital, to which a peculiar sanctity was still regarded as attaching. Artaxerxes had proceeded to this place, and was about to engage in the ceremonies, when he was interrupted by Tissaphernes, who informed him that his life was in danger. Cyrus, he said, proposed to hide himself in the temple, and assassinate him as he changed his dress, a necessary part of the formalities. One of the officiating priests—a Magus, as it would seem?-confirmed the charge. Cyrus was immediately arrested, and would have been put to death on the spot, had not his mother interfered, and, embracing him in her arms, made it impossible for the executioner to perform his task. With some difficulty she persuaded Artaxerxes to spare his brother's life and allow him to return to his government, assur- ing him, and perhaps believing, that the charges made against her favourite were without foundation. Cyrus returned to Asia Minor with the full determination of attacking his brother at the earliest opportunity. He imme- diately began the collection of a mercenary force, composed wholly of Greeks, on whose arms he was disposed to place fai more reliance than on those of Orientals. As Tissaphernes had returned to the coast with him, and was closely watching all his proceedings, it was necessary to exercise great caution, lest 1 See above, note 4. 20 Ctes. Exc. Pers. § 57 ; Plut. Vit. Artaz. o. 2, ad fin. Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 3; Xen. Anab. i. 1; $ 3. * Plut. l. 8. a "Os ēr taioKúpov της νομιζομένης αγωγής επιστάτης γε- νόμενος, και διδάξας μαγεύειν αυτόν, K.7.. * Vit. Arta, c, 6. Toũ vớp at ToTets ékeival. • Xen. Anab. i. 1, § 4. 486 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. his intentions should become known before he was ready to put them into execution. He therefore had recourse to three different devices. Having found a cause of quarrel with Tissa- phernes in the ambiguous terms of their respective commissions, he pressed it on to an actual war, which enabled him to hire troops openly, as against this enemy;5 and in this way he col- lected from 5000 to 6000 Greeks-chiefly Peloponnesians. He further gave secret commissions to Greek officers, whose ac- quaintance he had made when he was previously in these parts, to collect men for him, whom they were to employ in their own quarrels until he needed their services. From 3000 to 4000 troops were gathered for him by these persons. Finally, when he found himself nearly ready to commence his march, he dis- covered a new foe in the Pisidians of the Western Taurus, and proceeded to levy a force against them,” which amounted to some thousands more. In all, he had in readiness 11,000 heavy-armed and about 2000 light-armed Greeks8 before his purpose became so clear that Tissaphernes could no longer mistake it, and therefore started off to carry his somewhat tardy intelligence to the capital. The aims of Cyrus were different from those of ordinary rebel satraps ; and we must go back to the times of Darius Hystaspis in order to find a parallel to them. Instead of seeking to free a province from the Persian yoke, or to carve out for himself an independent sovereignty in some remote corner of the Empire, his intention was to dethrone his brother, and place on his own brows the diadem of his great namesake. It was necessary for him therefore to assume the offensive. Only by a bold advance, and by taking his enemy to some extent unprepared, and so at a disadvantage, could he hope to succeed in his audacious pro- ject. It is not easy to see that he could have had any consider- able party among the Persians,'° or any ground for expecting to 5 Xen. Anab. i. 1, 88 6, 7, 11. (Vit. Artax. c. 4.) 6 Ibid. i. 1, SS 9, 10. & Xen. A nab. i. 2, $ 9. ? Ibid, i. 1, § 11; 2, $ 1; &c. Plu , Ibid. $ 4; Plut. Vit. Artar, c. 6. tarch sums up these various devices in 10 Plutarch (1. s. c.) makes him have a few words : αλλαχόθι άλλους επί : a party among the Persians at home, hollais a popáoeol Eeroloyoûvtas elxe.' no less than among those of his pro CHAP. VII. 487. REBELLION OF THE YOUNGER CYRUS. be supported by any of the subject nations. His following must have been purely personal;11 and though it may be true that he was of a character to win more admiration and affection unpopular with his subjects, whom he pleased by a familiarity and a good-nature to which they were little accustomed, 12 Cyrus knew that his principal dependence must be on himself, on his Greeks, and on the carelessness and dilatoriness of his adversary,13 who was destitute of military talent and was even thought to be devoid of personal bravery.14 Thus it was important to advance as soon as possible. Cyrus therefore quitted Sardis before all his troops were collected (B.C. 401), and marched through Lydia and Phrygia, by the route formerly followed in the reverse direction by the army of Xerxes,15 as far as Celænæ, where the remainder of his merce- naries joined him.16 With his Greek force thus raised to 13,000 men, and with a native army not much short of 100,000,17 he proceeded on through Phrygia and Lycaonia to the borders of Cilicia, having determined on taking the shortest route to Baby- lon, through the Cilician and Syrian passes, and then along the course of the Euphrates. At Cajstrupedion he was met by Epyaxa, consort of Syennesis, the tributary king of Cilicia, who brought him a welcome supply of money,18 and probably assured him of the friendly disposition of her husband, who was anxious to stand well with both sides. In Lycaonia, Cyrus divided his forces, and sending a small body of troops under Menon to escort Epyaxa across the mountains and enter Cilicia by the more western of the two practicable passes, 19 he proceeded himself with the bulk of his troops to the famous Pylæ Ciliciæ, where he probably knew that Syennesis would only make a feint of resistance. He found the pass occupied ; whether he has any historical grounds for his assertion. "Xen. Anab. i. 9, SS 7-31. 12 Plut. Vit. Arta.. chs. 4 and 5. 13 *H8€ tis kal uénois év TÔL 1 Ibid. c. 6. 15 Herod. vii. 26, 31. 16 Xen. Anab. i. 2, § 9, 11 Ibid. i. 7, § 10. 18 Ibid. i. 2, $ 12. 9 Ibid. $ 20. 488 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY, gence that Menon had already entered the country and that the fleet of Cyrus—composed partly of his own ships, partly of a squadron furnished to him by Sparta20_had appeared off the coast and threatened a landing. Cyrus thus crossed the most difficult and dangerous of all the passes that separated him from the heart of the Empire, without the loss of a man.21 Thus far it would appear that Cyrus had to a certain extent masked his plans. The Greek captains must have guessed, if they had not actually learnt his intentions; but to the bulk of the soldiery they had been hitherto absolutely unknown. It was only in Cilicia that the light broke in upon them, and they began to suspect that they were being marched into the interior of Asia, there to engage in a contest with the entire power of the Great King. Something of the horror which is ascribed to Cleomenes, when it was suggested to him a century earlier that he should conduct his Spartans the distance of a three months' journey from the sea,' appears to have taken possession of the minds of the mercenaries on their awaking to this conviction. They at once refused to proceed. It was only by the most skilful management on the part of their captains, joined to a judicious liberality on the part of Cyrus, that they were induced to forego their intention of returning home at once, and so breaking up the expedition. A perception of the dif- extorted a reluctant assent to continue the march, of which the real term and object were even now not distinctly avowed. Cyrus said he proposed to attack the army of Abrocomas, which he believed to be posted on the Euphrates. If he did not find it there, a fresh consultation might be held to consider any further movement.3 The march now proceeded rapidly. The Gates of Syria-a narrow pass on the east coast of the Gulf of Issus, shut in, like 20 Xen. Hell. iii. 1, § 1; Anab. i. 2, 1 none in his passage by the Gates. (See $ 21 ; 4, $ 2. A nab. i. 2, SS 22 and 25.) 21 Menon lost about a hundred men i Herod. v. 50. in crossing the Taurus by the western 2 Xen. Anab. i. 3, $ 1. pass-probably the route between Kara ' Ibid. i. 3, $ 20. man and Kara Hissar; but Cyrus lost 492 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. hundred and fifty scythed chariots, which were designed to carry terror and confusion into the ranks of the Greeks. On the other side, Cyrus had upon the extreme right a thousand Paphlagonian cavalry with the more lightly armed of the Greeks; next, the Greek heavy-armed, under Clearchus; and then his Asiatics, stretching in a line to about the middle of his adversary's army, his own special command being in the centre; and his left wing being led by the satrap, Ariæus. With Ariæus was posted the great mass of the cavalry; but a band of six hundred, clad in complete armour, with their horses also partially armed,' waited on Cyrus himself, and accompanied him wherever he went. As the enemy drew near, and Cyrus saw how much he was outflanked upon the left, he made an attempt to remedy the evil by ordering Clearchus to move with his troops from the extreme right to the extreme left of the line, where he would be opposite to Artaxerxes himself. This, no doubt, would have been a hazardous movement to make in the face of a superior enemy; and Clearchus, feeling this, and regarding the execution of the order as left to bis discretion, declined to move away from the river. Cyrus, who trusted much to the Greek general's judgment, did not any further press the change, but prepared to fight the battle as he stood. The combat began upon the right. When the enemy had approached within six or seven hundred yards, the impatience of the Greeks to engage could not be restrained. They sang the pæan and started forwards at a pace which in a short time became a run." The Persians did not await their charge. The drivers leaped from their chariots, the line of battle behind them wavered, and then turned and fled without striking a blow. One Greek only was wounded by an arrow. As for Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 10. Cyrus had 20 similar chariots (ib. i. 7, $ 10) ; but their position in the battle is not mentioned. 6 Ibid. i. 8, § 5. Ibid. Ibid. i. 8, SS 6,7. Compare above, p. 178. Xen. A nab. i. 8, § 12. 10 It is clear that Cyrus saw and understood that his order was not being obeyed, and that he suffered Clearchus to have his own way. " Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 18. Compare the charge at Marathon. (Herud. vi. 112.) 12 Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 20. Mr. Grote says another was wounded by not getting out of the way of the chariots (History of Greece, vol. vi. p. 221); but I understand Xenophon to mean that, though in great peril, the man escaped unharmed (OÚ SE TOÛTOV nadeiv toasay). CHAP. VII. 493 BATTLE OF CUNAXA. the scythed chariots, they damaged their own side more than the Greeks; for the frightened horses, in many cases, carried the vehicles into the thick of the fugitives, while the Greeks opened their ranks and gave passage to such as charged in an opposite direction.18 Moderating their pace so as to preserve their tactical arrangement,14 but still advancing with great rapidity, the Greeks pressed on the flying enemy, and pursued him a distance of two or three miles,15 never giving a thought to Cyrus, who, they supposed, would conquer those opposed to him with as much ease as themselves. But the prince meanwhile was in difficulties. Finding himself outnumbered and outflanked, and fearing that his whole army would be surrounded, and even the victorious Greeks attacked in the rear, 16 he set all upon one desperate cast and charged with his Six Hundred against the six thousand horse who protected his brother. Artagerses, their commander, who met him with a Homeric invective, 17 he slew with his own hand.18 The six thousand were routed and took to flight; the person of the king was exposed to view; and Cyrus, transported at the sight, rushed forward shouting, “I see the man,” and hurling his javelin, struck him straight upon the breast, with such force that the cuirass was pierced and a slight flesh-wound inflicted. The king fell from his horse; but at the same moment Cyrus received a wound beneath the eye from the javelin of a Persian,20 and in the mélée which followed he was slain with eight of his followers. 21 The Six Hundred could lend no effectual aid, because they had rashly dispersed in pursuit of the flying enemy.22 As the whole contest was a personal one, the victory was now decided. Fighting, however, continued till nightfall. On learning the death of their leader, the Asiatic troops under Ariæus fled-first to their camp, and then, when Artaxerxes 13 Xen, Anab. I. s.c. Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 11. 14 Ibid. $ 19. 15 Ibid. i 10, § 4. 20 Some said a Carian. (Dino, 1. 8. c.) 16 Ibid. i. 8, 24. But Ctesias assigned the wound under 17 Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 9. the eye to the weapon of a certain Mith. 18 Ibid. Compare Xen. Anab, i. 8, | ridates, a young Persian. 8 24, ad fin. 21 Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 27. 10 Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 26 ; Ctes. ap. | 22 Ibid. $ 25. 494 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. attacked them there, to the last night's station.2 The Grecian the battle had charged through the Greek light-armed, without however, inflicting on them any loss, 44 and had then pressed on, thinking to capture the Grecian baggage.25 But the guard defended their camp with success, and slew many of the assailants. Tissaphernes and the king drew off after a while, and retraced their steps, in order to complete the victory by time returning from his pursuit, having heard that his camp was in danger, and as the two bodies of troops approached, he found his right 26 threatened by the entire host of the enemy, which might have lapped round it and attacked it in front, in flank, and in rear. To escape this peril he was about to wheel his line and make it rest along its whole extent upon the river,27 when the Persians passed him and resumed the position which they had occupied at the beginning of the battle. They were then about to attack, when once more the Greeks anti- cipated them and charged. The effect was again ludicrous. The Persians would not abide the onset, but fled faster than before.28 The Greeks pursued them to a village, close by which was a knoll or mound,29 whither the fugitives had betaken themselves. Again the Greeks made a movement in advance, and immediately the flight recommenced. The last rays of the setting sun fell on scattered masses of Persian horse and foot flying in all directions over the plain from the little band of Greeks.30 The battle of Cunaxa was a double blow to the Persian power. By the death of Cyrus there was lost the sole chance that existed of such a re-invigoration of the Empire as might have » Xen. Anab. i. 10, $ 1. A EÚ OVT O, forbid this rendering. Bp. 24 Ibid. $ 7. 23 Ibid. & 3. | Thirlwall has correctly understood the 26 Xenophon says his left (A nab. i. 10, passage. (History of Greece, vol. iv. p. § 9), because this wing had been the 309.) left when the battle began. 28 'Xen. Anab. i. 10, $ 11. 27 Mr. Grote understands Xenopbon 29 Probably one of the many arti- to mean that Clearchus executed this ficial heaps which dot the Babylonian movement. (History of Greece, vol. vi. p. 224.) But the imperfect ėdokei, and Track, &c., p. 97.) the whole phrase, èv Noć TOÛTO & Bov-| 20 Xen. Anab. i. 10, SS 13-15. CHAP. VII. 495 CHARACTER OF CYRUS. enabled it to start again on a new lease of life, with ability to hold its own, and strength to resume once more the aggressive attitude of former times. The talents of Cyrus have perhaps been overrated, but he was certainly very superior to most Orientals; and there can be no doubt that the Empire would have greatly gained by the substitution of his rule for that of his brother. He was active, energetic, prompt in deed, ready in speech, faithful in the observance of his engagements, brave, liberal-he had more foresight and more self-control than most Asiatics; he knew how to deal with different classes of men; he had a great power of inspiring affection and retaining it ;? he was free from the folly of national prejudice, and could appreciate as they deserved both the character and the institu- tions of foreigners. It is likely that he would have proved a better administrator and ruler than any king of Persia since Darius Hystaspis. He would, therefore, undoubtedly have raised his country to some extent. Whether he could really have arrested its decline, and enabled it to "avenge the humi- liations of Marathon, Salamis, and the peace of Callias,"4 is, however, exceedingly doubtful. For Cyrus, though he had considerable merits, was not with- out great and grievous defects. As the Tartar is said always to underlie the Russ, so the true Oriental underlay that coating of Grecian manners and modes of thought and act, with which a real admiration of the Hellenic race induced Cyrus to conceal his native barbarism. When he slew his cousins for an act which he chose to construe as disrespect, and when he executed Orontes for contemplated desertion, secretly and silently, so always 1 Xen. Anab. i. 4, SS 7-9; 6, 83 6, 7. I him to forestal the work afterwards per. 2 Ibid. i. 1, $ 5; 8, § 28; 9, $ 20 ("tes. formed by the Macedonian kings, and to Exc. Pers. § 58. make the Greeks in Europe as well as 3 Xen. Anab. i. 6, $ 3. those in Asia his dependents" (ibid. p. + Grote, History of Greece, vol. vi. 226). I cannot see that Cyrus showed p. 227. Mr. Grote has, I think, over any such power of organization as this rated the character and abi ity of Cyrus. view implies. He gives it as his opinion, that, “ had 5 The French proverb is coarse but he dethroned his brother and become expressive : “ Grattez le Russe, et vous king, the Persian empire would have trouverez le Tartare." acquired under his hand such a degree • Xen. Hellen, ü. 1, § 8. of strength as might probably have enabled CHAP. VII. 497 REVELATION OF PERSIAN WEAKNESS. to execute. He might have trusted the Greeks to fight in line, as they had fought at Marathon ; 12 and by expanding their ranks, and moving off his Asiatics to the left, he might have avoided the danger of being outflanked and surrounded. But his capital error was the wildness and abandon of his charge with the Six Hundred—a charge which it was probably right to make under the circumstances, but which required a combina- tion of coolness and courage that the Persian prince evidently did not possess when his feelings were excited. Had he kept his Six Hundred well in hand, checked their pursuit, and abstained from thrusting his own person into unnecessary danger, he might have joined the Greeks as they returned from their first victory and participated in their final triumph. At the same time, Clearchus cannot but be blamed for pushing his pursuit too far. If, when the enemy in his front fled, he had at once turned against those who were engaging Cyrus, taking them on their left flank, which must have been completely un- covered, he might have been in time to prevent the fatal results of the rash charge made by his leader. Thus the death of Cyrus, though a calamity to Persia, was scarcely the great loss which it has been represented. A far worse result of the Cyreian expedition was the revelation which it made of the weakness of Persia, and of the facility with which a Greek force might penetrate to the very midst of the Empire, defeat the largest army that could be brought against it, and remain,13 or return, as it might think proper. Hitherto Babylon and Susa had been, even to the mind of a Greek statesman,14 remote localities, which it would be the extreme of rashness to attempt to reach by force of arms, and from which it would be utter folly to suppose that a single man could return alive except by permission of the Great King. Hence- forth these towns were looked upon as prizes quite within the legitimate scope of Greek ambition, and their conquest came to 12 See the author's Herodotus, vol. iii. 1 the very centre of the empire, was felt p. 434. by the Persians themselves. (Xen, 18 That the Ten Thousand might have Anab, ii. 4, § 22.) remained, had they chosen so to do, in 1 14 Herod. v. 50. VOL. III. 2 K 498 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. be viewed as little more than a question of time. The opinion of inaccessibility, which had been Persia's safeguard hitherto, was gone, and in its stead grew up a conviction that the heart of the Empire might be reached with very little difficulty.15 It required, however, for the production of this whole change, not merely that the advance to Cunaxa should have been safely made, and the immeasurable superiority of Greek to Asiatic soldiers there exhibited, but also that the retreat should have been effected, as it was effected, without disaster. Had the Ten Thousand perished under the attacks of the Persian horse, or even under the weapons of the Kurds, or bility would have been strengthened rather than weakened by the expedition. But the return to Greece of ten thousand men, who had defeated the hosts of the Great King in the centre of his dominions, and fought their way back to the sea without suffering more than the common casualties of war, was an evi- dence of weakness which could not but become generally known, and of which all could feel the force. Hence the retreat was as important as the battle. If in late autumn and mid-winter a small Greek army, without maps or guides, could make its way for a thousand miles through Asia, and encounter no foe fabric of Persian power was rotten, and would collapse on the first serious attack. Still, it will not be necessary to trace in detail the steps of the retreat. It was the fact of the return, rather than the mode of its accomplishment, which importantly affected the subse- quent history of Persia. We need only note that the retreat was successfully conducted in spite, not merely of the military power of the Empire, but of the most barefaced and cruel treachery :—a fact which showed clearly the strong desire that, there was to hinder the invaders' escape. Persia did not set 15 See some good remarks of Mr. | evident from the speech of Clearchus Grote, History of Greece, vol. .vi. pp. (Xen. Anab. ii. 4, $ 6. Ilotauos de ei 343, 344. μέν τις και άλλος άρα ημίν εστι διαβα- How entirely ignorant of the map Téos, dyw MÈV OÚK oloa). of Asia even the Greek leaders were, is ! ? Xen. Anab. ii. 5, § 32. CHAP. VII. RUPTURE BETWEEN PERSIA AND SPARTA. league between Argos, Thebes, Athens, and Corinth, which jealousy of Sparta caused and Persian gold promoted, 13 proved so formidable, that Agesilaus had to be summoned home: 14 and after his departure, Conon, in alliance with Pharnabazus weakened Spartan influence in Asia. Not content with this result, the two friends, in the year B.C. 393, sailed across the Egean, and the portentous spectacle of a Persian fleet in Greek waters was once more seen—this time in alliance with Athens ! Descents were made upon the coasts of the Peloponnese,16 and the island of Cythera was seized and occupied." The long walls of Athens were rebuilt with Persian money, and all the enemies of Sparta were richly subsidised.18 Sparta was made to feel that if she had been able at one time to make the Great King tremble for his provinces, or even for his throne, the King could at another reach her across the Egean, and approach Sparta as nearly as she had, with the Cyreians, approached Babylon. The lesson of the year B.C. 393 was not thrown away on the Spartan government. The leading men became convinced that unless they could secure the neutrality of the Persians, Sparta must succumb to the hostility of her Hellenic enemies. Under these circumstances they devised, with much skill, a scheme likely to be acceptable to the Persians, which would weaken would leave untouched their own power. They proposed a general peace, the conditions of which should be the entire relinquishment of Asia to the Persians, and the complete auto- nomy of all the Greek States in Europe. The first attempt to procure the acceptance of these terms failed? (B.C. 393); but six years later, after Antalcidas had explained them at the Persian Court, Artaxerxes sent down an ultimatum to the 13 Xen, Hellen. iii. 5, 8 1. 14 Ibid. iv. 2, & 2. 15 By the battle of Cnidus, B.C. 394. Ibid. iv. 3, SS 10-12.) 16 Ibid. iv. 8, $ 7. 17 Ibid. & 8. 18 Ibid. SS 8-12. 1 Xen. Hellen. iv. 8, SS 12-15. 502 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. disputants, modifying the terms slightly as regarded Athens,3 extending them as regarded himself so as to include the islands of Clazomenæ and Cyprus, and requiring their acceptance by all the belligerents, on pain of their incurring his hostility. To this threat all yielded. A Persian king may be excused if he felt it a proud achievement thus to dictate a peace to the Greeks a peace, moreover, which annulled the treaty of Callias, and gave back absolutely into his hands a province which had ceased to belong to his Empire more than sixty years previously. It was the more important to Artaxerxes that his relations with the European Greeks should be put upon a peaceful footing, since all the resources of the Empire were wanted for the repression of disturbances which had some years previously broken out in Cyprus. The exact date of the Cyprian revolt under Evagoras, the Greek tyrant of Salamis, is uncertain ;4 but there is evidence that, at least as early as B.C. 391, he was at open war with the power of Persia, and had made an alliance with the Athenians, who both in that year and in B.C. 388 sent him aid. Assisted also by Achôris, independent monarch of Egypt, and Hecatomnus, vassal king of Caria, he was able to take the offensive, to conquer Tyre, and extend his revolt into Cilicias and Idumæa. An expedition undertaken against him by Autophradates, satrap of Lydia, 10 seems to have failed. It was the first object of the Persians, after concluding the “Peace of Antalcidas,” to crush Evagoras. They collected 300 vessels, partly from the Greeks of Asia, and brought together an army of 300,000 men.11 The fleet of Evagoras numbered 200 tri- remes,12 and with these he ventured on an attack, but was com- ? Mr. Grote notes with reason the pp. 18-20. insulting form of the document on which ** Xen. Hellen. iv. 8, § 24; v, 1, $ 10.. the “Peace of Antalcidas" was founded. | Diod. Sic. xv. 2, § 2. Ibid. $ 3. (History of Greece, vol. vii. pp. 2-5.) It & Isocrat. Orat. ix. 88 75, 76. was a mandate issued by the court of The “ Arabian king" who sent aid Susa, to which obedience was required. | to Evagoras (Diod. Sic. xv. 2, § 3, ad (See Xen. Hellen. v. 1, $ 31.) fin.) probably belonged to this country. 3 Ath -ns was allowed to retain Scy. 10 Theopomp. Fr. 111. ros, Lemnos, and Imbrus. 11 Diod. Sic. xv. 2, § 1. The army * On the difficulties of the chronology was commanded by Orontes, a relation see Clinton, P. H. vol. ii., Appendix, of Artaxerxes, the fleet by Tiribazus. c. 12 ; Grote, History of Greece, vol. vii. ' "Ibid. xv. 3, § 4. 506 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. revolt of the western provinces, in which the satraps of Mysia, Phrygia, and Lydia, Mausolus, prince of Caria, and the people of Lycia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, Syria, and Phænicia participated. Tachos, king of Egypt, fomented the disturbances, which were also secretly encouraged by the Spartans. A terrible conflict appeared to be imminent; but it was avoided by the ordinary resources of bribery and treachery. Orontes, satrap of Phrygia, and Rheomithras, one of the revolted generals, yielding to the attractions of Persian gold, deserted and betrayed their confede- rates.10 The insurrection was in this way quelled, but it had raised hopes in Egypt, which did not at once subside. Tachos, the native king, having secured the services of Agesilaus as general," and of Chabrias, the Athenian, as admiral of his fleet, 12 boldly advanced into Syria, was well received by the Phænicians, and commenced the siege of some of the Syrian cities. Persia might have suffered considerable loss in this quarter, had not the internal quarrels of the Egyptians among themselves proved a better protection to her than her own armies. Two pretenders to the throne sprang up as soon as Tachos had quitted the country,13 and he was compelled to return to Egypt in order to resist them. The force intended to strike a vigorous blow against the power of Artaxerxes was dissipated in civil conflicts; and Persia had once more to congratulate herself on the intestine divisions of her adversaries. A few years after this, Artaxerxes died, having reigned forty- six years,14 and lived, if we may trust Plutarch, ninety-four. 15 Like most of the later Persian kings, he was unfortunate in his domestic relations. To his original queen, Statira, he was indeed fondly attached;16 and she appears to have merited and returned his love ;17 but in all other respects his private life was unhappy. Its chief curse was Parysatis, the queen-mother. This monster 8 Diod. Sic. xv. 90, 3. Ibid. 8 2.1 Diodorus says 43 (xv. 93, § 1); 10 Ibid. xv. 91, 81; 92, $ 1. but the Astronomical Canon is a better 1 Ibid. xv. 92, & 2; Xen. Ages. ii. authority. (See Clinton, F. H. rol ü. 12 Diod. Sic. xv, 92, $ 3. pp. 381, 382.) 13 Xen Ages. ï. § 30, ad fin. ; Diod. * 15 Plut. Vit. Artaxt. c. 30, ad fin. Sic. xv. 92, SS 3, 4 ; Plut. Vit. Agesil. 16 Ibid. c. 2. c. 37. | 17 Ibid, c. 6. $ 28. CHAP. VII. 507 PRIVATE LIFE OF ARTAXERXES. of cruelty held Artaxerxes in a species of bondage during almost the whole of his long reign, and acted as if she were the real sovereign of the country. She encouraged Cyrus in his trea- son,18 and brought to most horrible ends all those who had been prominent in frustrating it.19 She poisoned Statira out of hatred and jealousy, because she had a certain degree of influence over her husband.20 She encouraged Artaxerxes to contract an in- cestuous marriage with his daughter, Atossa, 21 a marriage which proved a fertile source of further calamities. Artaxerxes had three sons by Statira—Darius, Ariaspes, and Ochus. Of these Darius, as the eldest, was formally declared the heir.22 But Ochus, ambitious of reigning, intrigued with Atossa,23 and sought to obtain the succession by her aid. So good seemed to Darius the chances of his brother's success, that he took the rash step of conspiring against the life of his father, as the only way of securing the throne.? His conspiracy was detected, and he was seized and executed, Ariaspes thereby becoming the eldest son, and so the natural heir. Ochus then persuaded Ariaspes that he had offended his father, and was about to be put to a cruel and ignominious death, whereupon that prince in despair committed suicide.25 His elder brothers thus re- moved, there still remained one rival, whom Ochus feared. This was Arsames, one of his half-brothers, an illegitimate son of Artaxerxes, who stood high in his favour. Assassination was the weapon employed to get rid of this rival. It is said that this last blow was too much for the aged and unhappy king, who died of grief on receiving intelligence of the murder.26 Artaxerxes was about the weakest of all the Persian monarchs. He was mild in temperament,27 affable in demeanour, good- 18 Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 4. 19 As the Carian said to have had a part in killing Cyrus (ib. c. 14, ad fin.), Mithridates the Persian, who certainly wounded him (ib. c. 15), Mesabates the eunuch, who cut off his head and his hand (ib. c. 17), and Tissaphernes, who informed Artaxerxes of the intended attack (ib. c. 23). 20 Ibid. c. 19. 21 Ibid. c. 23. 22 Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 26 ; Justin, X. 1. 93 Plut. Vit. Artax. I. 8. C. 21 Ibid. c. 29; Justin, x. 2. 25 Plut. Vit. Artax. c. 30. 26 Justin, 1. 8. C. “Morbo ex dolore contracto decedit." Plut. I. 8. C. 'Tard λύπης και δυσθυμίας απεσβέσθη. 27 II pâos. Plut. l. s.c. 508 CHAP. VIL THE FIFTH MONARCHY. natured, affectionate,29 and well-meaning. But, possessing no strength of will, he allowed the commission of the most atro- cious acts, the most horrible cruelties, by those about him, who were bolder and more resolute than himself. The wife and son, whom he fondly loved, were plotted against before his eyes; and he had neither the skill to prevent nor the courage to avenge their fate. Incapable of resisting entreaty and impor- tunity, he granted boons which he ought to have refused, and condoned offences which it would have been proper to punish. He could not maintain long the most just resentment, but remitted punishments even when they were far milder than the crime deserved. He was fairly successful in the management of his relations with foreign countries, and in the suppression of disturbances within his own dominions ; but he was quite in- capable of anything like a strenuous and prolonged effort to renovate and re-invigorate the Empire. If he held together the territories which he inherited, and bequeathed them to his successor augmented rather than diminished, it is to be attributed more to his good fortune than to his merits, and to the mistakes of his opponents than to his own prudence or sagacity. Ochus, who obtained the crown in the manner related above, was the most cruel and sanguinary of all the Persian kings. He is indeed the only monarch of the Achæmenian line who appears to have been bloodthirsty by temperament. His first act on finding himself acknowledged king (B.C. 359) was to destroy, so far as he could, all the princes of the blood royal, in order that he might have no rival to fear. He even, if we may believe Justin,“ involved in this destruction a number of the princesses, whom any but the most ruthless of despots would have 23 See the anecdotes told by Plutarch, 1 c. 23). ? See above, p. 504. Vit. Artax, c. 4 and 5. Compare c. 25. 3 Ώμότητι και μιαιφονία πάντας υπερ- 23 Ibid. c. 2, 19, 30. Ballóuevos. Plut. Vit. Artax, ad fin. | He banished Parysatis to Babylon Compare Diod. Sic. xvii. 5, $ 3. for murdering Statira (Plut. Vit. Artas. • Justin, x. 3. “Regiam cognatorum c. 19), but within a short time repented cæde et strage principum replet, nulla of his severity, recalled her to Susa, and non sanguinis, non sexus, non ætatis held her in more regard than ever (ibid. 1 misericordia permotus.” Chap. VII. OCHUS—FIRST EXPEDITION AGAINST EGYPT. 509 spared. Having taken these measures for his own security, he proceeded to show himself more active and enterprising than any monarch since Longimanus. It was now nearly half a century since one of the important provinces of the Empire- Egypt-had successfully asserted its independence and restored the throne of its native kings. General after general had been employed in vain attempts to reduce the rebels to obedience. Ochus determined to attempt the recovery of the revolted pro- vince in person. Though a rebellion had broken out in Asia Minor,” which, being supported by Thebes, threatened to be- are serious, he declined to be diverted from his enterprise. Levying a vast army, he marched into Egypt, and engaged Nectanebo, the king, in a contest for existence. Nectanebo, however, having obtained the services of two Greek generals, Diophantus, an Athenian, and Lamius, a citizen of Sparta,? boldly met his enemy in the field, defeated him, and completely repulsed his expedition. Hereupon the contagion of revolt spread. Phænicia assumed independence under the leadership of Sidon, expelled or massacred the Persian garrisons, which held her cities, and formed an alliance with Egypt. Her example was followed by Cyprus, where the kings of the nine principal towns assumed each a separate sovereignty.10 The chronology of this period is somewhat involved; but it seems probable that the attack and failure of Ochus took place about B.C. 351; that the revolts occurred in the next year, B.C. 350; while it was not till B.C. 346, or four years later, that Ochus undertook his second expedition into these regions. He The rebellion of Artabazus appears traps, at any rate till B.C. 353. But to have followed closely on the accession soon afterwards he was overpowered and of Ochus. Heeren places it in B.C. 358 forced to fly to Europe. A refuge was (Manual, ii. 46 ; p. 110, E. T.) Mr. given to him by Philip of Macedon Schmitz (Biograph. Dict. ad voc. ARTA (ibid. xvi. 52, § 3). Bazus) in B.C. 356. ? Ibid. xvi. 48, § 3. 6 Artabazus was at first supported by * We have no details of this war. the Athenians under Chares (Diod. Sic. | | Its general results are stated by Dio- xvi. 22; Dem. Philipp. i. § 28, p. 46). dorus (xvi. 40, 8 3; 44, 81 ; 48, 88 1, 2) When this support was withdrawn, it and glanced at by Isocrates (Orat. iv. was replaced by help from Thebes (Diod. Philipp. § 118). Sic. xvi. 34, § 2). Thus assisted, Arta o Diod. Sic. xvi. 41. bazus maintained his independence 10 Ibid. xvi. 42, $S 3-5. against the attacks of Artaxerxes' sa- " I agree generally with Mr. Groto CHAP. VII. 513 CLOSING YEARS OF OCHUS. found ample room to display themselves. Mentor, who was governor of the entire Asiatic sea-board, exerted himself suc- cessfully to reduce to subjection the many chiefs who during the recent troubles had assumed an independent authority, 15 and in the course of a few years brought once more the whole coast into complete submission and dependence. Bagôas, car- internal administration, and maintained tranquillity through- out the rest of the Empire.16 The last six years of the reign of Ochus form an exceptional period of vigorous and successful government, such as occurs nowhere else in the history of the later Persian monarchy. The credit of bringing about such a state of things may be due especially to the king's officers, Bagôas and Mentor; but a portion of it must reflect upon himself,17 as the person who selected them, assigned them their respective tasks, and permanently maintained them in office. It was during this period of vigour and renewed life, when the Persian monarchy seemed to have rccovered almost its pristine force and strength, that the attention of its rulers was called to a small cloud on the distant horizon, which some were wise enough to see portended storm and tempest. The growing power of Macedon, against which Demosthenes was at this time in vain warning the careless Athenians, attracted the consider- ation of Ochus or of his counsellors; and orders went forth from the Court that Persian influence was to be used to check and depress the rising kingdom. A force was consequently des- patched to assist the Thracian prince, Cersobleptes, to maintain gôas, who had not been on very good he passed his days in sensual pleasures" terms during the Egyptian expedition, (Biogr. Dict. ad voc. ARTAXERXES), or swore at its close an eternal friendship, even for the statement that “Mentor and thenceforth mutually supported one and Bagôas held him in complete de- another. pendence." (Heeren, Manual, ii. & 48, 15 Ibid. xvi. 52. Hermeias, the friend p. 110, E.T.) Diodorus represents him of Aristotle, who held the fortress of as having great confidence in Bagôas, Atarneus opposite Lesbos, was the chief but as continuing to rule savagely and of these. harshly to the last (xvii. 5, § 3). 16 Ibid. xvi. 50, $ 8. Diod. Sic. xvi. 75, § 1. 'O Barl- 17 I can see no grounds for the asser λεύς υφορώμενος την Φιλίππου δύναμιν, tion that Ochus, after the reduction of έγραψε προς τους επί θαλάττη σατρά- Egypt, "withdrew to his seraglio, where | Tas, K.7.. 2 L CHAP. VII. 515 ACCESSION OF CODOMANNUS. himself by a fresh series of murders. He caused Arses and his infant children to be assassinated, and selected one of his friends, Codomannus, the son of Arsanes,' to fill the vacant throne. About the same time (B.C. 336), Philip of Macedon was assassinated by the incensed Pausanias ;10 and the two new monarchs—Codomannus, who took the name of Darius, and Alexander the Great-assumed their respective sceptres almost simultaneously.11 Codomannus, the last of the Persian kings, might with some reason have complained, like Plato,12 that nature had brought him into the world too late. Personally brave, as he proved himself in the Cadusian war,13 tall and strikingly handsome, 14 amiable in temper, capable of considerable exertion,15 and not altogether devoid of military capacity, 16 he would have been a fairly good ruler in ordinary times, and might, had he fallen upon such times, have held an honourable place among the Persian monarchs. But he was unequal to the difficulties of such a position as that in which he found himself. Raised to the throne after the victory of Chæroneia had placed Philip at the head of Greece, and when a portion of the Macedonian forces had already passed into Asia," he was called upon to & Diod. l. 8. C. The assassination of p. 166.) Arses by Bagôas is also noticed by Ar- 12 Plat. Ep. v. IIXSTW Oyè È TÔ rian (Exp. Alex. ii. 14), Strabo (xv. 3, πατρίδι γέγονε. $ 24), and Q. Curtius (Hist. Alex. vi. 3, 18 Diod. Sic. xvii. 6; Justin, x. 3. p. 154). The war intended can scarcely be that According to Strabo, Darius Codo which occurred more than forty years mannus was not of the royal house (OÚK earlier, under Artaxerxes Mnemon ByTa Toộ YẾvous Tv Bao Akav, 1 B. c.). (supra, p. 503). We must consequently According to Diodorus (xvii. 5, § 5), suppose that there had been another he was the grandson of Ostanes, a struggle with the same people under brother of Artaxerxes Mnemon. Some Ochus, of which nothing has been re- said that before he became king he was corded but the gallantry displayed by a mere courier. (Plut. Vit. Alex. c. Codomannus. 18.) " Plut. Vit. Alex. c. 21. 'Av&pwv 10 It is scarcely necessary to vindi. κάλλιστος και μέγιστος. cate Codomannus from the charge of 15 Diod. Sic. xvii. 7, SS 1, 2; 39, $ 4, having stimulated Pausanias by bribes &c. to murder Philip. Mr. Grote has seen 16 Arrian (üi. 22), and Mr. Grote the improbability of such a transaction. following him, have (I think) under- (Hist. of Greece, vol. viii. p. 239.) rated the military capacity of Codo. | 11 Diod. Sic. xvii. 6, § 2. The ac mandus. He scarcely deserves to be cession of Codomannus a little preceded called evne td moléuia, el tis allos, that of Alexander (ibid. xvii. 7, § 1), μαλθακός τε και ου φρενήρης. which fell in July. (Clinton, P. H. ii. ' " Diod. Sic. xvi. 91, $ 2. 2 L 2 516 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. grapple at once with a danger of the most formidable kind, and had but little time for preparation. It is true that Philip's death soon after his own accession gave him a short breathing- space : but at the same time it threw him off his guard. The military talents of Alexander were untried, and of course unknown; the perils which he had to encounter were patent. Codomannus may be excused if for some months after Alex- ander's accession he slackened his preparations for defence, 18 uncertain whether the new monarch would maintain himself, whether he would overpower the combinations which were formed against him in Greece, whether he would inherit his father's genius for war, or adopt his ambitious projects. It would have been wiser, no doubt, as the event proved, to have joined heart and soul with Alexander's European enemies, and to have carried the war at once to the other side of the Egean. But no great blame attaches to the Persian monarch for his brief inaction. As soon as the Macedonian prince had shown by his campaigns in Thrace, Illyria, and Boeotia that he was a person to be dreaded, Darius Codomannus renewed the prepara- tions which he had discontinued, and pushed them forward with all the speed that was possible.19 A fleet was rapidly got ready; the satraps of Asia Minor were reinforced with troops of good quality from the interior of the Empire,20 and were ordered to raise a strong force of mercenaries ; 21 money was sent into Greece to the Lacedæmonians and others in order to induce them to create disturbances in Europe ; 22 above all, Memnon the Rhodian, a brother of Mentor, and a commander of approved skill, was sent to the Hellespont, at the head of a body of Greeks in Persian pay, with an authority co-ordinate to that of the satraps.23 A certain amount of success at first attended these measures. Memnon was able to act on the offensive in North-Western Asia. 18 Diod. Sic. xvii. 7, $ 1. tive Persians. 19 Ibid. & 2. 21 The mercenaries at the Granicus 20 The army which fought at the numbered 20,000. (Arrian, Exp. Aler. Granicus comprised Medes, Hyrcanians, | i. 14.) and Bactrians (ib. xvii. 19), as well as 22 Arrian, ü. 14. Paphlagonian,s Cappadocians, and na. | 23 Diod. Sic. xvii. 7, $ 3. CHÁP. VII. 519 BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS. defend the passage of the small stream above mentioned-one of the many which flow from the northern flank of Ida into the Propontis. The battle thus offered was eagerly accepted by the Mace- donian. If he could not defeat with ease a Persian force not greatly exceeding his own, he had miscalculated the relative goodness of the soldiers on either side, and might as well desist from the expedition. Accordingly, he no sooner came to the bank of the river, and saw the enemy drawn up on the other side, than, rejecting the advice of Parmenio to wait till the next day,14 he gave orders that the whole army should enter the stream and advance across it. The Granicus was in most places fordable; but there were occasional deeper parts, 15 which had to be avoided ; and there was thus some difficulty in reaching the opposite bank in line. That bank itself was generally steep and precipitous, 18 but offered also several gentle slopes where a landing was comparatively easy. The Persians had drawn up their cavalry along the line of the river close to the water's edge, and had placed their infantry in the rear. 17 Alexander consequently attacked with his cavalry. The engage- ment began upon the right. Amyntas and Ptolemy, who were the first to reach the opposite bank, met with a strenuous resist- ance and were driven back into the stream by the forces of Memnon and his sons.18 The battle, however, on this side was restored by Alexander himself, who gradually forced the Persians back after a long hand-to-hand fight, in which he received a slight wound, and slew with his own hand several noble Persians.19 Elsewhere the resistance was less determined. Parmenio crossed on the left with comparative ease,20 by his advance relieving Alexander. The Persians found the long spears of the Macedonians and their intermixture of light- armed foot with heavy-armed cavalry irresistible.21 The Mace- 14 Plut. Vit. Alex. I. s. C. ; Arrian, Exp. Alex. i. 13. ís IIoXXà Baléa. (Arrian, 1. s.c.) 16 "Oxoar imepúyniot kal kpnuvớdels. (Ibid.) 17 Arrian, Esp. Alex. i. 14. 18 Ibid. i. 15. 19 Among these were Mithridates, the son-in-law of Darius, and Rhæsaces, one of the generals. (Arr. 1. s. c. Com- pare Plut. Vit. Alex. c. 16.) 20 Arrian. Exp. Alex. i. 15, ad fin. 21 Ibid. i. 15 and 16. CHAP. VII. 525 to encircle the Macedonian right,15 which, to preserve its ranks unbroken, kept the plain. The cavalry, to the number of 30,000, was massed upon the other wing, near the sea.16 The battle began by certain movements of Alexander against the flank force which menaced his right. These troops, assailed by the Macedonian light-armed, retreated at once to higher ground, and by their manifest cowardice freed Alexander from all anxiety on their account. Leaving 300 horse to keep the 20,000 in check, he moved on his whole line at a slow pace towards the Pinarus till it came within bow-shot of the enemy, when he gave the order to proceed at a run.18 The line advanced as commanded; but before it could reach the river, the Persian horse on the extreme right, unable to restrain them- selves any longer, dashed across the shallow stream, and assailed Alexander's left,19 where they engaged in a fierce battle with the Thessalian cavalry, in which neither obtained any decided advantage.20 The infantry, meanwhile, came into conflict along the rest of the line. Alexander himself, with the right and the right-centre, charged the Asiatic troops on Darius's left, who, like their brethren at Cunaxa,21 instantly broke and fled.22 Parmenio, with the left-centre, was less successful. The north bank of the Pinarus was in this part steep and defended by stakes23 in places; the Greek mercenaries were as brave as the Macedonians, and fought valiantly. It was not till the troops which had routed the Persian right began to act against their centre, assailing it upon the flank, while it was at the same time engaged in front, that the mercenaries were overpowered and gave way.24 Seeing their defeat, the horse likewise fled, and thus the rout became general. It is not quite clear what part Darius took in the battle, or how far he was answerable for its untoward result. According 15 Arrian, ii. 8. 20 Arrian, ii. 11 ; Diod. Sic. xvii. 33, 16 Ibid. ii. 9, ad init. $ 6. 17 Ibid, sub fin. 21 Supra, p. 492. 22 Arrian, ii. 10. 18 Οι κατ' 'Αλέξανδρος και αυτός 1 23 Xdpakt. (Ibid.) 'Altavopos . ... Spouw és TOY TO 24 Arrian, ü. 11, $1; Plut. Vit. Alex. tamòr évéballov. (Arrian, ii. 10.) 1 a 20. 19 Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. ii. 11, § 1. 526 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. to Arrian,25 he was struck with a sudden panic on beholding the flight of his left wing, and gave orders to his charioteer instantly to quit the field. But Curtius and Diodorus represent him as engaged in a long struggle against Alexander himself, and as only flying when he was in imminent danger of falling into the enemy's hands.26 Justin goes further, and states that he was actually wounded.27 The character gained by Darius in his earlier years 28 makes it improbable that he would under any circumstances have exhibited personal cowardice. On the whole it would seem to be most probable that the flight of the Persian monarch occurred, not when the left wing fled, but when the Greek mercenaries among whom he had placed himself began to give way before the irresistible phalanx and the impetuous charges of Alexander. Darius, not unwisely, accepted the defeat of his best troops as the loss of the battle, and hastily retired across Amanus by the pass which had brought him to Issus, whence he hurried on through Sochi' to the Euphrates, anxious to place that obstacle between himself and his victorious enemy? His multitudinous host, entangled in the defiles of the mountains, suffered by its own weight and size, the stronger fugitives treading down the weaker, while at the same time it was ruthlessly slaughtered by the pursuing enemy, so long as the waning light allowed. As many as 100,000 -90,000 foot and 10,000 horse—are said to have fallen.* The ravines were in places choked with the dead bodies, and Ptolemy the son of Lagus related that in one instance he and Alexander 25 Exp. Alex. ii. 11. Eiv Tois mpú- | place which seems to be Sochi is called τους έφευγε. Uncha. 26 Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. iii. 11, p. 43; ? Arrian, Exp. Alex. i. 13. Diod. Sic. xvii. 34. 3 Ου μείον απ' αλλήλων κατατα- 27 “In eo (proelio) uterque res vul. τούμενοι και προς της διώξεως των neratur.” (Justin, xi. 9.) moleulwv &BXÁTTOVTO. (Ibid. ii. 11.) 2 See above, p. 515; and compare 4 This is Arrian's estimate. Diodorus Diod. Sieu xvii. 6, 8 1 (IIaoà Tois Lep (xvii. 36, 8 6) and Q. Curtius (iü. 11, σαις το πρωτείον της ανδρείας απη ad fin.) raise the loss in infantry to véykato) and Justin, x. 3 (“Bellum 100,000, thus making the total loss cum Alexandro magna virtute gessit"). 110,000. This total is also given by The identity of Sochi with the Plutarch (Vit. Alex. c. 20). Justin, “plain of Umk,” which has been already while agreeing as to the number of asserted (see above, p. 522, note"?), is cavalry that fell, reduces the loss in confirmed by Q. Curt. iv. 1, where a | infantry to 61,000 (xi. 9). CHAP. VII. 527 LOSSES OF THE TWO ARMIES. crossed a gully on a bridge of this kind. Among the slain were Sabaces, satrap of Egypt, Bubaces, a noble of high rank, and Arsames, Rheomithres, and Atizyes, three of the commanders at the Granicus. Forty thousand prisoners were made. The whole of the Persian camp and camp-equipage fell into the enemy's hands, who found in the royal pavilion the mother, wife, and sister of the king, an infant son, two daughters, and a number of female attendants, wives of noblemen.? The treasure captured amounted to 3000 silver talents. Among the trophies of victory were the chariot, bow, shield, and robe of the king, which he had abandoned in his hurried flight.8 The loss on the side of the Macedonians was trivial. The highest estimate places it at 450 killed, the lowest at 182.9 Besides these, 504 were wounded.10 Thus Alexander had less than 1000 men placed hors de combat. He himself received a slight wound in the thigh from a sword," which, used a little more resolutely, might have changed the fortunes of the world. The defeat of the Persians at Issus seems to have been due simply to the fact that, practically, the two adversaries engaged with almost equal numbers, and that the troops of Alexander were of vastly superior quality to those of Darius. The Asiatic infantry—notwithstanding their proud title of “ braves ”-proved to be worthless; the Greek mercenaries were personally courageous, but their inferior arms and training rendered them incapable of coping with the Mace- donian phalanx,12 The cavalry was the only arm in which the • Arrian, 1. s. C. * So Arrian. Diodorus gives the name as Tasiaces (xvii. 34, § 5). ? Arrian, l. 8. C. The remainder of the females, who had accompanied the army from Babylon, including 329 con- cubines of Darius, had been placed for greater security at Damascus, where they were taken by Parmenio subse- quently. (Arr. Exp. Alex. ii. 11, sub fin.; Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. iii. 13; Parmen. ap. Athen. Deipn, xiii. p. 608 A.) Arrian, 1. 8. c. 9 The highest estimate is that of Dio- dorus, who says that 300 foot were killed and 150 horse (xvii. 36, 8 6); the lowest that of Q. Curtius (üi. ii, ad fin.), who agrees as to the horse, but makes the footmen slain no more than 32. Justin makes the total loss 280— 130 foot and 150 horse (xi. 9). 10 Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. 1. s. C. 11 Arrian, Exp. Alex. ii. 13, § 1; Plut. Vit. Alex. c. 20. (Some said the wound was given by Darius himself ; | but this is very improbable.) 12 Diod. Sic. xvii. 53, & 1. 528 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. Persians were not greatly at a disadvantage; and cavalry alone cannot gain, or even save a battle. When Darius put himself into a position where he lost all the advantages derivable from superiority of numbers, he made his own defeat and his adver- sary's triumph certain. It remained, therefore, before the Empire could be con- sidered as entirely lost, that this error should be corrected, this false step retrieved. All hope for Persia was not gone, so long as her full force had not been met and defeated in a fair and open field. When Darius fled from Issus, it was not simply to preserve for a few months longer his own wretched life; it was to make an effort to redeem the past 13—to give his country that last chance of maintaining her independence which she had a right to claim at his hands—to try what the award of battle would be under the circumstances which he had fair grounds for regarding as the most favourable possible to his own side and the most disadvantageous to his adversary. Before the heart of the Empire could be reached from the West, the wide Mesopotamian plain had to be traversed—there, in those vast flats, across which the enemy must come, a position might be chosen where there would be room for the largest numbers that even his enormous Empire could furnish—where cavalry and even chariots would be everywhere free to act—where con- sequently he might engage the puny force of his antagonist to the greatest advantage, outflank it, envelop it, and perhaps destroy it. Darius would have been inexcusable bad he given up the contest without trying this last chance—the chance of a battle in the open field with the full collected force of Persia. His adversary gave him ample time to prepare for this final struggle. The battle of Issus was fought in November, B.C. 333.14 It was not till the summer of B.C. 331, twenty months later, that the Macedonian forces were set in motion towards the interior of the Empire. 25 More than a year and a half was consumed in the reduction of Phænicia, 16 the siege of 13 Diod. Sic. xvii. 39, SS 3, 4. 15 Arrian, iji. 7§ 1. 14 Clinton, P. H. vol. ii. p. 168. Com. / 16 The siege of Tyre occupied setep pare Arrian, ii. 11, ad fin. months. (Plute Vit. Alex. c. 24 ; Diod. CHAP. VII. PREPARATIONS FOR RENEWING THE CONFLICT. 531 conqueror. He can scarcely have thought that a lasting peace was possible between himself and his young antagonist, who had only just fleshed his maiden sword, and was naturally eager to pursue his career of conquest. Indeed, he seems from the moment of his defeat at Issus to have looked forward to another battle as inevitable, and to have been unremitting in his efforts to collect and arm a force which might contend, with a good hope of victory, against the Macedonians. He replaced the panoplies lost at Issus with fresh ones ;he armed his forces anew with swords and spears longer than the Persians had been previously accustomed to employ, on account of the great length of the Macedonian weapons ;? he caused to be con- structed 200 scythed chariots ; 8 he prepared spiked balls to use against his enemy's cavalry; above all, he laid under contribu- tion for the supply of troops all the provinces, even the most remote, of his extensive Empire, and asked and obtained im- portant aid from allies situated beyond his borders. The forces which he collected for the final struggle comprised- besides Persians, Medes, Babylonians, and Susianians from the centre of the Empire—Syrians from the banks of the Orontes, Armenians from the neighbourhood of Ararat, Cappadocians and Albanians from the regions bordering on the Euxine, Cadusians from the Caspian, Bactrians from the Upper Oxus, Sogdians from the Jaxartes, Arachosians from Cabul, Arians from Herat, Indians from the Punjab, and even Sacæ from the country about Kashgar and Yarkand, on the borders of the Great Desert of Gobi. Twenty-five nations followed the standard of the Great King, and swelled the ranks of his vast army, iv. 9. o Diod. Sic. xvii. 39, § 3 ; Q. Curt. | Syrians of Mesopotamia, the Tapyri, the Hyrcanians, the Parthians, the Diod. xvii. 53, § 1. Arians, the Bactrians, the Sogdians, & Ibid. Compare Q. Curt. l. 8. C. the Sacæ, the Indians, the Daans, the Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 8. EITOVTO Arachosians, the tribes along the “Red Kal Edrai : . . oux itńkool . . . Allà Sea" coast, the Mardians, and the κατά συμμαχίαν τήν Δαρείου. transplanted Carians. (Arrian, iii. 8 10 So Arrian. These twenty-five na. and 11.) To this list Q. Curtius adds tions were the following: The Persians, the Massagetæ, the Caspians, the Cos- the Medes, the Babylonians, the Susia sæans, the Belitæ, the Gortyæ, the nians, the Sitaceni, the Armenians, the Phrygians, and the Cataonians. (Vit. Cadusians, the Albanians, the Sacesinæ, | Alex. iv. 11.) Darius had also in his the Cappadocians, the Cæle-Syrians, the army a number of mercenary Greeks 2 M 2 THE FIFTH MONARCHY. CHAP. VII. and about him were grouped the best troops—the Household brigade, the Melophori or Persian foot-guards, the Mardian archers, some Albanians and Carians, the entire body of Greek mercenaries, and the Indians with their elephants. Alexander, on his side, determined to leave nothing to chance. Advancing leisurely, resting his troops at intervals, carefully feeling his way by means of scouts, and gradually learning from the prisoners whom he took, and the deserters who came over to him, all the dispositions and preparations of the enemy, 10 he arrived opposite the position of Darius on the ninth day after his passage of the Tigris.11 His officers were eager to attack at once ; 12 but with great judgment he restrained them, gave his troops a night's rest, and obtained time to reconnoitre completely the whole position of the enemy and the arrange- ment which he had made of his forces. He then formed his own dispositions. The army with which he was to attack above a inillion of men consisted of 40,000 foot and 7000 horse.13 Alexander drew them up in three lines. The first consisted of light-armed troops, horse and foot, of good quality, which were especially intended to act against the enemy's chariots. The next was the main line of battle, and contained the phalanx with the rest of the heavy infantry in the centre, the heavy cavalry upon the two wings. The third line consisted of light troops, chiefly horse, and was instructed to act against such of the Persians as should outflank the Macedonian main line and so threaten their rear.14 As at Issus, Alexander took the command of the right wing himself, and assigned the left to Parmenio. As the two armies drew near, Alexander, who found himself greatly outflanked on both wings, and saw in front of him smooth ground carefully prepared for the operations of chariots | laying till next day. (Arrian, iii. 9.) 9 Arrian, üü. 11 and 13. 10 As especially the position of the spiked balls intended to damage his cavalry, which he was thus enabled to avoid on the day of battle. (See Q. Curt. iv. 13, sub fin.) 11 Arrian, Exp. Alex. ü. 7, sub fin.; 9, ad init. 14 The account here followed is that of Arrian (iii. 12). Curtius (iv. 13), and Diodorus (xvii. 57) agree in the main. 536 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. bristling with its thick array of lances, bore them down.19 Alexander found himself sufficiently near Darius to hurl a spear at him, which transfixed his charioteer.20 The cry arose, that the king had fallen, and the ranks at once grew unsteady. The more timid instantly began to break and fly; the con- tagion of fear spread; and Darius was in a little while almost denuded of protection on one side.21 Seeing this, and regarding the battle as lost, since his line was broken, his centre and left wing defeated," while only his right wing remained firm, the Persian monarch yielded to his alarm, and, hastily quitting the field, made his way to Arbela.? The centre and left fled with him. The right, which was under the command of the Syrian satrap, Mazæus, made a firmer stand. On this side the chariots had done some damage, and the horse was more than a match for the Thessalian cavalry.* Parmenio found himself in difficulties about the time when the Persian king fled. His messengers detained a part of the phalanx, which was about to engage in the pursuit, and even recalled Alexander, who was hastening upon the track of Darius. The careful prince turned back, but before he could make his way through the crowd of fugitives to the side of his lieutenant, victory had declared in favour of the Macedonians in this part of the field also.? Mazæus and his troops, learning that the king was fled, 19 Arrian, 1. 8. C. OP TE Intels ol | danger and flight of Darius. (Arrian dude 'Albarpov kal aỦrds 'Alavopos | iii. 14.) eúpúotws ¢VÉKELVTO, Olouois 'TE : Ibid. 15; Q. Curt. iv. J6; v. 1. Xpúuevou, kal tois &votois rå Id. iv. 15. πρόσωπα των Περσών κοπ. Diod. Sic. xvii. 59, § 5; 60, $ 6; τοντες, ή τε φάλαγξ ή Μακεδονική | Q. Curt. iv. 16. Arrian touches very πυκνή και ταϊς σαρίσσαις πε- I slightly indeed on the difficulties of the Opervia Šußeßankey Hon aútois, left wing. K. T. . • Arrian, üï. 14. 20 So Diodorus (xvii. 60, 8 2). Cur . Ibid. 15; Q. C. iv. 16. tius (iv. 15) mentions the death of the · Arrian, 1. 8. C. Diod. Sic. xvü. 60, charioteer, but does not assign the blow $ 8. Two episodes of the battle have to any individual. I cannot think that been omitted in the text, but deserve Arrian's silence throws any serious a cursory notice. When the phalanx doubt on the fact thus attested. divided, part staying to assist Par- 21 Της ετέρας πλευράς παραγυμ menio in his difficulties, and part ac- νωθείσης των συναγωνιζομένων, companying Alexander in the pursuit, (Diod. Sic. xvii. 60, $ 3.) a body of Median and Persian cavalry The discomfiture of the left wing dashed through the gap thus left in the was nearly simultaneous with the Macedonian line, and hastening to the 538 CHAP. VII. THE FIFTH MONARCHY. ment. All the rest followed as a matter of course. Far too much importance has been assigned to Darius's flight,1° which was the effect rather than the cause of victory. When the centre of an Asiatic army is so deeply penetrated that the person of the monarch is exposed and his near attendants begin to fall, the battle is won. Darius did not-indeed he could not—"set the example of flight."11 Hemmed in by vast masses of troops, it was not until their falling away from him on his left flank at once exposed him to the enemy and gave him room to escape, that he could extricate himself from the mélée, No doubt it would have been nobler, finer, more heroic, had the Persian monarch, seeing that all was lost, and that the Empire of the Persians was over, resolved not to outlive the independence of his country. Had he died in the thick of the fight, a halo of glory would have surrounded him. But, because he lacked, in common with many other great kings and commanders, the quality of heroism, we are not justified in affixing to his memory the stigma of personal cowardice. Like Pompey, like Napoleon, he yielded in the crisis of his fate to the instinct of self-preservation. He fled from the field where he had lost his crown, not to organize a new army, not to renew the contest, but to prolong for a few weeks a life which had ceased to have any public value. It is needless to pursue further the dissolution of the Empire. The fatal blow was struck at Arbela—all the rest was but the long death-agony. At Arbela the crown of Cyrus passed to the Macedonian; the Fifth Monarchy came to an end. The HE-GOAT, with the notable horn between his eyes, had come 1º Especially by Mr. Grote (History | flight began. Darius with the centre of Greece, vol. viii. p. 384). fled first; then, just afterwards, the 11 Ibid. p. 383. It is true that Mr. horse upon the left was defeated by Grote has in his favour Arrian's words Aretas, and put to flight also. This (πρώτος αυτος επιστρέψας έφευ mode of understanding Arrian (which gev) ; but I question whether he has is, I think, what the context requires) rightly apprehended Arrian's meaning. brings him into harmony with Curtius Arrian is not, I think, contrasting and Diodorus, whom Mr. Grote is com. Darius's conduct with that of those pelled wholly to discard. (See his note, about him, but merely speaking of the pp. 383, 384.) part of the army in which the Persian CHAP. VII. 539 CONCLUSION. from the west to the ram which had two horns, and had run into him with the fury of his power. He had come close to him, and, moved with choler, had smitten the ram and broken his two horns—there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he had cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him and there was none to deliver the ram out of his hand.12 12 Daniel rüi. 5-7, ANDROMEDA. 541 INDEX. ARTEMISIUM. ANDROMEDA, connected with Medes, ii, ARIANS might assist Cyaxares in Ar- 375. menia, ii, 400. ANGARUS, ii, 364. ARIARAMNES, iii, 433. ANGELS (under Ormazd), names of, ii, ARIASPÆ, iii, 382. 326. ARID-SIN, i, 162. ANGROMAINYUS, ü, 331. See Ahriman. ARIOBARZANES, iii, 505. ANIMALS, Chaldæan, i, 39-42. As- ARIOCH, king of an Arian race, i, 56. syrian, 220-235. Median, ii, 294, ARISTAGORAS, raises an Ionian revolt, 300—303. Babylonian, 489, 493. iii, 439. Takes Sardis, 440. Deserts Persian, üži, 141, 145. to Europe, and is killed, 441. ANTALCIDAS, peace of, iii, 501. ARISTAZANES, iii, 511. ANU, worship of, ii, 10, 11. ARITHMETIC, Chaldæan, i, 102. Nota- ANUNIT, same as Ai, i, 128. tion, 102. APIs, supposed incarnations of, iii, 396, ARK, of Noah, i, 147. 512. ARMAITI, angel of Earth, ii, 327. APOLLODORUS, his genealogy of Belus, i, | ARMENIA, Assyrian campaigns in, ii, 49. 101, 141, 187, 211. Border of Media, APOSTANA, iü, 93. 280. Turanian and Arian people of, APRIES (Uaphris), iii, 52, 55. 400 ; description of, iii, 108, 109. ARABIA, desert of, i, 25 ; ii, 476 ; iji, ARMIES, Assyrian, i, 406—441. Baby. 131. Esarhaddon's invasion of, ii, lonian, iii, 11. Persian, 187–193. 190, 191. ARMS, Assyrian, i, 441–461. Helmets, ARABIANS, govern Chaldæa, i, 167. 441, 442. Coats of mail, 443, 444. Dynasty of kings, 167—172 Shields, 445—449. Bows, 449—456. Arabs, Beni Lam, i, 12. Affej, 12; ii, Median, ii, 313–315. Persian, iii, 191. Cha'b, i, 28. Conquered by 172–178. Tiglatb-Pileser II., ii, 133. Con- ARMUZA (Ormuz), iii, 93. quered by Sargon and settled in on and settled in AROER, ii, 142 note. Samaria, 146. Esarhaddon's war | ARRIAN, his accuracy, ii, 273. Descrip- against, 190. Asshur-bani-pal's war tion of Rhages, 273. against 210. Make alliance with Cam ARSACES, i, 32. See Artaxerxes Mn. byses, iü, 392. Assist Evagoras, ARSAMES, iii, 507. 502. ARSANES, iii, 515. ARACHOTIANS, iii, 100, 382, 414. ARSES, iii, 514. ARADUS, submits to Asshur-izir-pal, ii, ARSITES, iii, 478. 89; besieged by Asshur-bani-pal, 202. Art, Chaldæan, i, 70. Assyrian, origin ARAM-DAMASEK, ii, 445. of, 370, 371. Median, ii, 320. Baby- ARAM-NAHARAIM, or Mesopotamia, i, 2. lonian, 557. Persian, iii, 332–344. ARAMÆAN dialect, i, 44, 272. ARTABANUS, assassinates Xerxes, üi, ARAS, river of Media, ii, 257. 470. Executed by Artaxerxes L., 472. ARAXES, R. (Jaxartes), iii, 387. ARTABARDES, iii, 414. ARBA-LISUN (four tongues), the four ARTABAZUS, iii, 465, 467. tribes of Chaldæa, i, 61. ARTABE, ii, 364. ARBELA, battle of, iii, 533–537. ARTAPHERNES, iii, 440. ARCEANUS (Sargon), ii, 149; ii, 41, 43. ARTAXERXES Longimanus, iii, 471, 477. ARCHES, Chaldæan, i, 82. Assyrian, Revolt of Egypt, 473, 474. Peace of 327-330. Babylonian, ii, 553 note.' Callias, 475. Death and character of, ARCHITECTURE, Chaldæan, confined to brick, i, 71. Temples, 74. Domestic, ARTAXERXES, Mnemon, i, 32 ; iii, 360, 82. Assyrian, 277, 278. Compared 361, 485–508. Rebellion of Cyrus, with other nations, 335–339. ` Do 485—494. Peace of Antalcidas, 501. mestic Assyrian, 322–324. Of As War with Cadusians, 503. Decay of shur-izir-pal, ii, 96. Median, 266. Persian Empire under, 505. Death Babylonian, 542—557. Persian, iii, and character of, 506–508. 267-332. ARTAXERXES, Ochus, iii, 507, 508. His ARDYS, ii. 406. first expedition against Egypt, 509. ARIA (Herat), iii, 382. His second expedition, 511. Death ARLÆUS, iii, 492. of, 514. ARIAN, words in Chaldæan, i, 138 ; ii, | ARTEMAN (Adrapan), ii, 276. 374. Race, 306—308 ; iii, 164. ARTEMISIUM, battle of, iii, 461. 476. BABYLONIA. 543 INDEX. BIRDS. of Chaldæan goverument, 166. Taken | Balis, i, 6. by Tiglath-Pileser I., ii, 77. Taken BANQUETS, Issyrian, i, 579. Persian, by Sennacherib, 157. Esarhaddon's iii, 214. palace'at, 200. Conquest of, by Medes, Bar, Nin or Ninip, Chaldæan god, i, 373. Size, 510. Plan, 511. Forti. 1 131. fications, 513. River, 514. Build- | BARADA, R., ii, 462. ings, 514. Hanging gardens, 517. | Barca, iii, 394. Walls, 518. Ruins, 520, &c. Forti BAS-RELIEFS, Assyrian, i, 343-364. Cha- fied by Nabonadius, iii, 66. Besieged racter of earliest, 344-347. Second and taken by Cyrus, 72, 384. Re period, 347. Third period, 358. volts, of, 410, 414. Colouring, 357. Persian, iii, 333—- BABYLONIA, first conquered by Assyria, 340. ü, 58. Wars against Asshur-ris-ilim, BATANÆA, iii, 397. 62. Attacked by Tiglath-Pileser I., Bazu, where situated, ii, 189. 77. Wars of Shalmaneser II. and BEHISTUN (Bagistan), ii, 274; Inscrip- Shamas-Vul against, 102, 114. Con tion at, iii, 416. quered by Vul-lush IV., 116. United Bel or Bil, ii, 12. Worship of, iii, 27. with Assyria, 149. War with As See Belus. shur-bani-pal, 205. Size, 436, 453. BELIBUS, ii, 164. Sce Bel-ipni. Later acquisitions, 436. Inconveni BELIK, i, 9, 187. ent site of capital, 453. Rivers, 454. BEL-Ipni, ii, 164. Meaning of, iii, 79. Lakes, 466. Neighbours, 476. Cli BEL-KUDUR-UZUR, Assyrian king, ii, mate, 479—483. Products, 483. Mi. 60. nerals, 487. Gems, 488. Animals, BEL-LUSH, ü, 56. 489–496. People, 497. Type of BEL-MERODACH, the planet Jupiter, i, face, 499. Learning, 502. Luxury, 134. Tutelary god of Babylon, 135. 504. Brarery, 505. Honesty, 508. Temple of, described by Herodotus, Religious tone, 507. Architecture, 135.' No certain emblem of, 135. 542. Bricks, 555. Art, 557. As Son of Hoa and Dav-Kina, 123. tronomy, 571-580. Scientific instru. BELSHAZZAR, iï, 70. Killed in Babylon, ments, 577. Astrology, 579. Dress, 72. Meaning of name, 80. iii, 1. Weapons, 8. Armies, 11. BEL-SUMILI-KAPI, ii, 49. Priests, 11. "Commerce, 14. Agri. BELTESHAZZAR, meaning of, iii, 82. culture, 16. Music, 19. Women, BELTIS, wife of Bel-Nimrod, i, 119. 21. Religion and gods, 25. History, Worshipped at Erech, Nipur, Ur, &c., 34. Meaning of names, 79. ü, 15, 41. BABYLONIANS, Éarly, akin to Cushites, BELU-BAGAR, Ü, 205. i, 48, 51. Regarded by Herodotus Belus, legends of, i, 48,143. Genealogy as Assyrians, 262; ii, 498, 501. of, 48. Identified with Nimrod, 50. BACTRIA, language of, ii, 357 ; great Temple of, ii, 514, 533, 536. ness of, iii, 380. Conquered by Cy BENDAMIR, the, iii, 88. rus, 370. Faithful to Darius, 404, BENHADAD, ii, 102–104. 414. BEROSUS, i, 16. Origin of Chaldæans, BADACA, taken by Sennacherib, ii, 173. 47. Antiquity of Chaldæans, 59. By Asshur-bani-pal, 208. Chaldæan cosmogony, 142. Chro- BAGHDAD, i, 7, 10, 13. Abode of In nology of Chaldæan kingdom, 149, dian princes, 30. &c. Median dynasty, 160. Authority Bagistan, ii, 274. Origin of name, on Assyrian history, ii, 47. Chro- 363. nology of, 47. Notice of Medes by, Bagôas, iii, 511, 512, 514. 372, 376. BAHMAN, ii, 334. See Vohu-mâno. BETH-ADINA, ii, 88. BAHR-EL-ABYAD (Sea of Antioch), ii, BETHSAN (Beth-shean), house of the 474. sun (San), i, 126. BAHR-EL-HULEH (Merom), ii, 470. BETH-YAKIN, battle at, ii, 148. BAHR-EL-KADES (L. of Hems), ii, 470. BIKAN, ii, 192. See Bikni. BAHR-EL-MELAK, lake, ii, 466. BIKNI, district of Media, ii, 192. BAHRET-ESH-SHURKIYEH, &c., three lakes BIL or Exu, probably same as Nimrod, of Damascus, ii, 467. i, 117. Worshipped at Nipur, 118. BAHR-I-NEDJIF, i, 14. BILICHUS (Belik), i, 8. BAHR LUT (Dead Sea), ii, 467. BIRDS, Chaldæan, i, 40. Assyrian, i, CHARIOTS. 545 INDEX. CYRUS. CHARIOTS, Assyrian, i, 406-414, Baby Courts of palaces, Median and Assy- lonian, iii, 10. Persian, 179, 181. rian, ii, 265. CHECKS, system of, followed by Darius CPENTA-ARMAITI, Ü, 324. I., iii, 425. CROESUS, contest with Cyrus, iïi, 371. CHEDORLAOMER, i, 55. Elamitic king Alliance with Babylon and Egypt, of Chaldæa, 161. Invades Palestine, 372. Defeated in Pteria, 373. At defeats the five kings, 161. Defeated Sardis, 375. Taken prisoner by by Abraham, 162. Not the same as Cyrus, 375. Treatment by Camhyses, Kudur-Mabuk, 172. Derivation of 399. name, 163. Doings of, 176. CTESIAS, Assyrian list of, a forgery, i, CHEHL MINAR, staircase to, iii, 280, 165 – 167. Account of Assyrian 281. Hall of Audience, 303–312. luxury, 245. Of Assyrian greatness, CHILMAD, i, 15, 21, 168. 422. Of Assyrian kings, 504. Unre- CHINESE Tartary, iii, 107. liable as an authority on Assyrian CHINZINUS, iii, 39. history, ii, 395. Account of capture CHOASPES (Kherkah), ii, 457. of Nineveh, 228. View of Median CHOMASBELUS, i, 150. history, iii, 377, 382. CHORASMIA, iii, 103. Conquered by | CTESIPHON, ruins of, i, 10. Cyrus, 332. Cunaxa, battle of, iii, 493, 494. CHRONOLOGY, Chaldæan, i, 149, 151. Cush, connected with Nimrod and Assyrian, ii, 43Authorities on, Mizraim, i, 50, 51. 44. Median, 371. Babylonian, üi, 43. CUSHITES, connected with Babylonians, CHUSHAN-RISHATHAIM, ii, 61. i, 48. Migrated from E. Africa to CILICJA, Sennacherib's war with, ii, 175. Chaldæa, 54. Chedorlaomer a Cush- Conquered by Esarhaddon, ii, 188. ite, 55. Type of face, ii, 500. Wars with Asshur-bani-pal, 203; iii, CUTCHI Gandava, iii, 104. 111. CUTHA, i, 15, 21; city dedicated to Ner- CIMMERIANS, ii, 404. Invade Lydia, | gal, 136. 405. Defeated by Gyges, 405. Defeat CYAXARES, ii, 220. Besieges Nineveh, him in a second battle, 405. Take 231. Origin of name, 361. Defeated Sardis, 405. Expelled from Asia by Asshur-bani-pal, 384. Defeats Minor, 406. him, 385. Wars with Scythians, Cimon, expedition of, against Persia, iii, 386. Expels Scythians, 393. At- 469. Death of, 474. tacks Assyria again, 393. Takes CINNELADANUS, ii, 219. Nineveh, 395. Divides Assyria with CISSIA (Elam), or Susiana, i, 26–50; Nabopolassar, 397. Conquers all ii, 435. Asia up to the Halys, 398, 399. CITIUM, siege of, üi, 474. Helped by Arian tribes, 401. Con- CLEARCHUS, iii, 494, 496. tact with Lydia, 402. Quarrels with CLEOMBROTUS, iii, 465. Alyattes, 407. Alliance with Baby- CLIMATE of Chaldæa, i, 28. Assyria, lon, 409. Makes peace with Lydia, 210-213. Media, ii, 284–289. 411. Assists Nebuchadnezzar in Babylonia, 479. Susiana, 480. Syria Judæa, 414. Death, 414. and Palestine, 481. Persia, iii, 134— CYLINDERS, Chaldæan, i, 93–95. As- 139. syrian, 263, 382—384; Babylonian, CNIDUS, reduced by Harpagus, iii, 379. ii, 361-363 ; Persian, iii, 341. CELE-SYRIA, its boundaries, ii, 441. CYPRIOTS, tribute paid to Sargon by, ü, COFFINS, Chaldæan, i, 87, 90. 150. Assist Cilicians against Senna- Coins, Lydian, ü, 407. Persian, iii, 342, cherib, 175. Furnish materials for 427. his palace to Esarhaddon, 200. List COMANI, conquered by Assyria, ii, 67. of kings, 200 note. COMMERCE, “Assyrian, i, 551–563. CYPRUS, iii, 112, 441, 502. Revolt of, Babylonian, iii, 14. Persian view of, 509. 242. CYRENAICA, iii, 114. CONCOBAR (Kungawar), ü, 276. CYRÉNÉ, üi, 394. CONON, üži, 501. CYROPOLIS, iii, 382. COSMOGONY, Chaldæan, i, 142. Resem. CYRUS I., üi, 367. blance to Scripture, 143. CYRUS II., king of Persia, ii, 420. At the Cossza (Cissia, Elam, Elymais), i, 50. Median Court, 421. Religious views Cosszans, ii, 282 ; iii, 98. of, 421. Escapes from Median Caprt, VOL. 2 N 546 EDUCATION, CYRUS. INDEX. 423. Defeated by Astyages, 424. DEAD, exposure of, ii, 350. Defeats Astyages, 426. Causes of | DEAD SEA (Bahr Lut), ii, 466, success, 431. Defeats Crcesus, iii, 67. DEPOCES, palace of, ü, 268. Name ex- Defeats Nabonadius, 69. Attacks plained, 361. Not a real person, 383. Babylon, 72. Takes it, 73. Par DEMARATUS, of Sparta, üi, 446. dons Nabonadius, 73. Recognised DEMAVEND, snowy peak of, ii, 252, and as king of Persia, 369. Conquest note. of Lydia, 371-376. Reduction of DEMOCEDES, üi, 431. Asiatic Greeks, 376–379. Conquest DEPORTATION, largely practised by Sar. of Bactria and other countries, 381– gon, ii, 152. By Assyrian kings ge- 384. Conquest of Babylon, 384, 385. nerally, 238. Restoration of Jews, 385. Character, DERBICES, war of Cyrus against, iii, 387. 388-390. DERIAH-I-NEMEK, lake of, üi. 89. CYRUS, tomb of, iii, 91, 313, 318, 368. DESHTISTAN, üi, 94. CYRUS THE YOUNGER, iii, 485—497. Life DEVAS, ii, 323, 324, 330. saved by his mother, 485. Prepara DIARBEKR, i, 6. River of, the true tions against his brother, 485. His Tigris, 9. Mines at, 219; ü, 89. march, 487. Battle of Cunaxa, 493. DICE-PLAYING, Persian, iii, 228. Death and character, 493. Dino, quoted, ü, 417, 421, 423 ; iii, 370. CYTHERA, iii, 501. DIODORUS, description of Nineveh, i, 249. Of Babylon, ii, 514, 517. DABAN, battle of, ii, 114. DIOPHANTUS, iii, 509. Dagon,supposed identity with Bel, ii, 14. | DIRIDOTIS (Teredon), ii, 473. DAMASCUS, wars of Shalmaneser II. DIVINITIES, minor Assyrian, ïi, 26–28. against, ii, 102. Conquered by Tig DIWANIYEH, i, 10. lath-Pileser II., 130. Description of, DIYALEH, I, 10, 184. 445. Lakes of, 467. Dor or Dur, ii, 132. DAMASPIA, iii, 477. DORIANs, conquered by Harpagus, iii, DARADAX (qy. Nahr-el-Dhahab), ii, 466. 379. DARIUS CODOMANNUS, iii, 515—–539. DoRiscus, review, of Xerxes' army at, Preparations against Alexander, 516. iii, 455, 469. At Issus, 523. Attempts to make DRAINAGE, of tombs, i, 89. peace, 529. Fresh preparations, 531. || DRANGIANA, conquered by Cyrus, iii, 382. Battle of Arbela, capture, 536. DRAPERIES, Assyrian, i, 396-399. Darius HYSTASPIS, tomb of, ii, 320. Roman ideas of, 396. His descent, 404. Kills Pseudo DRESS, Chaldæan, i, 105. In time of Smerdis, 405. Restores Zoroastri Urukh, i, 158. Assyrian, 568. Of anism, 409. Revolts against, 409. common people, 568. Of upper Organisation of empire, 417. Ex. pedition against the Punjab, 430. dian, ii, 315—317. Babylonian, iii, 1. Scythian expedition, 433. Submission Royal, 5. Priestly, 6. Military, 7. of Macedonia, 436. Ionian revolt, Persian, 233, 234. 437. First expedition against Greece, DUair, i, 24. 441. Second expedition, 444. Death Dualism, ii, 331. and character, 444. DARIUS, NOTHUS, iii, 477–484. Rebel DURABA, i, 15. lions against, 478. Alliance with Duran, i, 15. Sparta, 440. Loses Egypt, 481. DUR-ASSHUR, ii, 86. Death and character, 483. DUR-KURRI-GALZU, i, 170. DARIUS, son of Xerxes, iii, 471. DASCYLEIUM, üi, 128, 518. ECBATANA, ii, 262. Its site, 262. Palace, DATAMES, iii, 505. 264. Citadel, 267. Unwalled, 268 DATE PALM, i, 33. Its uses, 35. Its Date of, 267. North and south, 269, cultivation, 35. Royal, 36 ; iii, 17. 363; iii, 270, 412. Datis, expedition of, against Greece, iü, Eclipse, in Lydian war, ü, 410, 411. 443. In reign of Asshur-dayan III., i, Dav-Kina, Chaldæan goddess, wife of Hoa, i, 123. Mother of Belus (Me Babylonians, ii, 575. rodach), 123. Edom, conquered by Assyria, ii, 117. LAYN-ASSHUR, ii, 101. EDUCATION, Persian, iii, 238. EGYPT. 547 i GAMBULU. INDEX. 10. Low banks of, 11. Flood season, 12. Variation of course, 13. Its date-palms, 35. EURYMEDON, battle of, iii, 469. EVÆNETUS, iii, 458. EVAGORAS, iii, 502. EVECHIUS, founder of first Chaldæan dynasty, i, 150. EVIL-MERODACH, ii, 427 ; iii, 62. Death of, 62. EXCAVATIONS at Niffer, &c., in Chaldæa, 1, 52. At Khorsabad, 203. At Nim- rud, 248. At Nebbi-Yunus, ü, 200, note. EXECUTIONS, modes of, used by As- syrians, i, 477. Exodus, date of, ii, 372. EGYPT, Assyria compared with, i, 247; Connection with Assyrian art, 369; ii, 81. Condition of, under Shebek I., 136. At time of Sargon, 145. At- tacked by Sennacherib, 159. Esar- haddon's conquest of, 192. Under Neco, 413. Wars with Palestine and Babylon, 414, 477. Dependency of Persia, iii, 114. Conquered by Cambyses, 393. First revolt of, 396. Second revolt, 444. Revolt of, from Artaxerxes L., 472. Re-conquered, 473. Lost to Persia, 481. Attacks of Ochus on, 509. Recovery of, 512. Alexander's conquest of, 528. EKRON, ii, 159. ELAM (Cissia, Susis, or Susiana), i, 26 ; ii, 435. ELAMI, ü, 84. See Numi. ELBURZ, iii. 96, 106. ELEPHANTS, used by Persians, ii, 182, 532. By Derbices, 387, 532 note. Elgi, i, 159. See Ilgi. EL KHÍTR, i, 7. ELLASAR, i, 15, 16. EL-TIJ, desert of, iii, 392. ELULÆUS. 1. Of Babylon, üži, 39. 2. Of Sidon, ii, 158. See Luliya. ENAMEL, on brick, i, 376—382 ; i, 563, 565. ENCAMPMENT, Assyrian mode of, i, 464. Persian mode of, iii, 190. EPHESUS, battle of, iii, 440. EPYAXA, iii, 487. ERECH, i, 15. Ruins of, 18. ERETRIA, iii, 442. ESARHADDON, his treatment of Tiglath Pileser's monuments, ii, 134, 185. Invasion of Arabia, 191. Conquest of Egypt, 192. Colonization of Pales- tine, 193. Palaces, 196, 381, 383. ESDRAELON, ii, 448. ETHIOPIA, or Cush, name applied to the country between Indus and Tigris, i, 50. ETHIOPIANS. 1. Asiatic. Spoken of by Homer, i, 47. By Strabo, 47. Other traces of, 50-54. 2. African. Con- quer Egypt, ii, 144. Submit to Esar. haddon, 193. Defeated by Asshur. bani-pal, 202. Expedition of Cam- byses against, iii, 396. ETRUSCANS, colony from Lydia, ii, 403. EUERGETÆ, iii, 382. EULÆUS (Ulai), R., i, 457. EUNUCHS, Assyrian, i, 496. Babylonian, iii, 127. Persian, 221–223. EUPHRATES, course of, i, 6, 7. Length of, 7. How far navigable, 7. Tri- butaries, 8. Breadth and depth of, FABRICS, textile, of Chaldæa, i, 99. Of Babylon, ii, 571. FAMUR, lake of, iii, 89. FARGARD, first of Vendidad, date of, ii, 332. Translation of, 432-434. FARS, or Farsistan, iii, 85, 86. FEASTS, Babylonian, iii, 19. FELUJIAH, i, 10. FERGUSSON, theory respecting Assyrian palaces, i, 298. Restoration of Chehl Minar, iii, 308–311. FERIDUN, (Thraêtona), ii, 341. FESTIVALS, religious, in Babylonia, iii, 29. In Persia, 406. FIRDAUSI, ïi, 344 ; ii, 167. FIRE-WORSHIP, ii, 346 ; iii, 359. FISH, Chaldæan, i, 41. Assyrian, 231. Median, ii, 297. Babylonian, 492. Persian, iii, 143. FLEETS, Assyrian, i, 483 ; ii, 137, 171. Persian, iii, 194—201. The trireme, I 195. Triaconter and penteconter, 197. FLOOD, Chaldæan legends of, i, 145. Food of Chaldæans, i, 107. Chiefly vegetable, 108. Of Assyrians, 576– 581. Of Babylonians, iii, 18. Of Persians, 214, 235. FORTIFICATION, Assyrian, i, 324–327. Persian, iii, 191. FURNITURE, Chaldæan, in time of Urukh, 1, 158. Assyrian, 391–396. Tables, 392. Thrones and chairs, 394. Couches and footstools, 395. Babylonian, iii, 24. Persian, 235, 344. FUTURE state, Arian belief in, ii, 339. GABÆ, iii, 93. GALILEE, ii, 448. GAMBULO, tribe of, ü, 148 note, 157, 175 note, 191. 2 N 2 550 LANGUAGE. JIDR. INDEX. JIR, I, 22. Hall of punishment, 292. Temple- Jonas, description of Nineveh, by, i, court, 297. Hareem court, 297, Upper 251. Supposed tomb of, 254. His story, 298. Roofing of, 300. Lighting visit to Nineveh, ii, 126. of, 303. Walls of, 324. Temples of JORDAN, valley, ii, 446. Course of, 447, gods at, ii, 13, 17. 464. KHOSR-SU, i, 255, Josiah, üi, 413. Defeated by Neco, ü, KASHATHRA-VAIRYA, I, 334. 48. KHUKHURUNA, battle of, ii, 210. JUDÆA, ii, 448. First contact with KHUZISTAN, i, 50; ii, 438. Assyria, 103. Subjection by As. KILEH SHERGAT, i, 10. Temple at, 164. syria, 117. Submits to Tiglath Ruins of, 203. Pileser II., 131. Attacked by Sen KING, Assyrian, costume of, i, 485. At- nacherib, 158–168. By Esarhaddon, tendants of, 495. Private life of, 504. 194. Included in Babylonian Em Babylonian, costume of, ii, 560 ; iii, 4. pire, 448. Attacked by Neco, iii, 48. Persian costume of, 202. Officers Submits to Cyrus, 385. in attendance on, 209. Harem and JUDITH, book of, account of Ecbatana wives of, 216. Eunuchs of, 221. Oc- in, ii, 268. . cupations of, 226. Tombs of, 231. JUMJUMA (or Amram), ü, 525. KIPRAT-ARBAT (the four nations), name JUPITER, same as Chaldæan god Bel of early Chaldæans, in the inscrip- Merodach, i, 134. tions, i, 55. Jyhun, iii, 102. See Amoo. KIRKHI, ii, 84. Kis, battle of, ü, 157. Kafshan, iii, 382. KIZIL-UZEN (Sefid Rud), river of Media, KAL-Ana, the fort of Ana, i, 116. ii, 258. KALWADHA (Chilmad), i, 21. KOUKAB, i, 189. Kanats, ii, 291. See Irrigation. KOWEIK, R. (Chalus), ii, 458. KARACHOK, i, 183. KOYUNJIK, Mound of, i, 252 ; ü, 213. KARA-IN-Das, Chaldæan king, i, 171. KODRŪS, battle of, iii, 412. KARAJAH Dagh (Masius), i, 25. KUDUR-LAGAMER, or Chedorlaomer, KARA-KHAR-DAS, Chaldæan king, i, 169. summary doings of, i, 176. Great Kara Su, tributary of Euphrates, i, 8. conqueror, 176. KAR-BANIT, battle of, ii, 201. KUDUR-MABUK, probably not same as KARKAR, battle of, ii, 142. Chedorlaomer, i, 162, 172. Bricks of, KASIYA found at Ur, 163. KASR El-, Palace of Babylon, i, 21 ; KUDUR-NAKHUNTA. 1. Early king of ii, 524. Elam, i, 160. 2. King of Elam con- KEBRITIYEH, i, 192. temporary with Sargon, ii, 174. KERDISTAN, R., ii, 454. KUNGAWAR (Concobar), ii, 276. KEREK-SAIDEH (Canal of Saideh), iii, KURAN R., i, 26; ü, 455. 57. KURDISTAN (Gordyene), iii, 533. KERESASPA, ii, 342, 343. KURKH, ii, 84. KERKHAH, R. (Choaspes), i, 26 ; ii, 457. KURNAH, i, 7, 9. KHABIBA, ii, 131. KURNIB (Eastern Khabour), i, 184. KHABOUR. 1. Western (Habor or Cha KURRI-GALZU, Chaldæan king, i, 170. boras), i, 8, 9, 10, Boundary of As. KUSAN, i, 50. syria, 181, 187, 195. 2. Eastern, 184. Khaldi, the Moon-god, i, 56. LABOROSOARCHOD (Labossoracus), iii, 63. KHalili, battle of, ii, 175. LABYNETUS, ïi, 409, 411 ; ii, 66, 372. KHAMMURABI, Chaldæan king, i, 168. LACHISH, besieged by Sennacherib, ü, Date and memorials of, 169. 165. KHAMSIN, ži, 482. LACRATES, ïïi, 511. Khanun, king of Gaza, ii, 144. LADE, battle of, iii, 441. KHATOUNIYEH, lake of, i, 189. LAILÉ, king of Bazu, ü, 189. KHATTI (Hittites), conquered by As LAKI, ii, 84, 87. syria, ii, 65. LAMIUS, iii, 509. KHEIR, iii, 89. See Neyriz. LAMLUN, i, 10. KHOONAZABERNI, the, iii, 88. | Lamps, Chaldæan, i, 92. KHORSABAD, i, 203. Palace at, 285. LANGUAGE, Chaldæan, i, 44. Assyrian, First court, 289. Second court, 291. 262-276. Characters, 269. Median, 552 MYRIANDRUS. MEDIA. INDEX. of history, 376. Conquered by As included in Babylonian empire, i, syria, 378. Under Cyaxares, 385. 440. Court of, 415. Corrupt the worship METALLURGY, Chaldæan i, 98. As- of Ormazd, 421. Overthrown by syrian, 365. Embossed work, 367, Cyrus, 426. Character of empire, 372. Babylonian, ii, 564. 427. Causes of weakness, 429. Iden METALS, in Chaldæan remains, i, 167. tical in race with Persians, iii, 164. Assyrian, 219. Median, ii, 294. Baby- Early political relations with Persia, lonian, 487. Persian, iii, 146, 158. 367.' Conquered by Cyrus, 369. Re MIGRATION, Cushite, into Chaldæa, i, volt from Darius I., 411, 412. Revolt 54. Arian, ii, 383. from Darius II., 482. MILETUS, submits to Cyrus, iii, 378. MEDIA, its geographical position, i, Taken after her revolt, 441. 251—253. Boundaries and dimen MILITARY ENGINES, Assyrian, i, 471– sions, 254. Sterility, 255. Rivers 475. Persian, iii, 184. and lakes, 257. Divisions of, 261. MILTIADES, revolts against Persia, iži, Magna, 262. Few towns, 277. Border 440. Flies to Athens, 442. Fights countries, ib. Climates, 284. Pro at Marathon, 443. ducts, 289. Minerals, 293. Animals, MIMETIC ART, Assyrian, i, 339—365. 294. Ancient products, 303. Medina Median, ii, 320. Babylonian, 557– apple noticed by Virgil, ib. 565. Persian, iii, 332. Figures in MEGABATES, iii, 438. relief, ib. Processional scenes, 335. MEGABAZUS, conquers Thrace and Mace MINERALS, Assyrian, i, 219. Median, donia, iii, 435. ii, 293, 304. Babylonian, 487. Per. MEGABYZUS, iï, 473, 475. sian, iii, 158. MEGIDDO, ii, 132. MINNI, ii, 112. MELES, iii, 375. MIRAGE, i, 30; ii, 288. MEMNON, i, 16, 48. Traditions of, 49. MITHIN, the, i, 226. Statue of, 48. Unites E. and W. Mithra, cult of, ii, 328 ; ü, 348, 352, Ethiopians, 48 ; üi, 516. 361. MEMNON, of Rhodes, iii, 517, 518. His MITROBATES, üi, 415. death, 522. MERIS, lake, iii, 126. MEMPHIS, battle of, iü, 392. Taken, MOHAMMED, mounds of, i, 7. 473. MOHAMMRAH, high temperature of, i, 28. MENAHEM, ii, 117, 122, 130. MOON-GOD, Khaldi (Chaldæan), i, 56. MENANDER, quoted, ii, 135. MORTAR, in Chaldæa, i, 39. In Baby- MENON, üi, 487. lonia, ii, 556. MENTOR, iii, 510, 511, 512. MOSAIB, i, 21. MERCURY, Chaldæan, Nebo, i, 140. MOSCHIANS, or Muskai, conquered by MERDASHI Assyria, ii, 64. MERMNAD MOSES (of Chorêné), ii, 269. MERODACH, ü, 23. Tutelary god of, Mosul, i, 7, 8. Opposite Nineveh, 198. Babylon, derivation of name, i, 134. MOUNTAINS, Assyrian, i, 181–183. Me. See Bel-Merodach. Worship of, 327. dian, ii, 252, 253. Syrian, 441–448. MERODACH-BALADAN, ii, 130. Defeated Persian, iji, 86, 89. Affghan, 98. by Sargon, 148. Escapes from prison Elburz, 106. Taurus, 108. Arme- and seizes crown of Babylon, 157. nian, ib. Argæus, 109. Caucasus, Expelled from Babylon by Senna 129. cherib, 164 ; iii, 38. Embassy to MUGHEIR, I, 9, 76, 86. Hezekiah, 40. Second reign of six MURGAB, ruins at, ii, 313. months, 42. Meaning of name, 81. MUSIC, Assyrian, i, 528–544. Lydian MERODACH-BELATZU-IKBI, iii, 37. ii, 408. Babylonian, ii, 19. MERODACH-IDDIN-AKHI, king of Babylon, MUSKAI, ii, 64. See Moschians. ii, 78 ; iii, 35. Meaning of name, 81. Muslins, Babylonian, ii, 570. MERODACH-SHAPIK-ZIRI, ii, 79. Musk, conquered by Assyria, ü, 67. MERODACH-SUM-ADIN, ii, 102. Meaning MUTAGGIL-NEBO, ü, 61. of, iii, 81. MYAFAREKIN, R., i, 9. MESESIMORDACHUS, iii, 42. MYCALE, battle of, iii, 468. MESHECH, ii, 64. See Moschians. MYGDONIA, i, 195. MESOPOTAMIA, position of, i, 1. Divided | MyLitta, ii, 15. See Beltis, into Upper and Lower, 3. Proper, | MYRIANDRUS, iii, 523. 556 SENXACHERIB. RODS. INDEX. Rods, divining, ii, 351. Romans, Assyrians compared to, i, 239. Roxana, iii, 482. ROXANACE, ii, 391. RUBESI, i, 15, 21. Ruins of Ur, i, 16. Erech, 18. Nipur (Calneh), 20. Babylon, 21. Chal- dæan cities, 21--23. Abounding between Shat-el-Hie and the Lower Tigris, 24. Disintegration of, ib. Distinct connection with Chaldæan period, ib. Assyrian, 197. Median, ii, 271. Babylonian, 520. Persian, iii, 271–326. SABACO, ii, 144. SABAKHAH, lake, ii, 466. SACÆ, subdued by Cyrus, iii, 381. Assist him against Derbices, 387. Retained by Mardonius, 464. Allies of Codo. mannus, 531. SACRIFICE, Assyrian, ü, 35. Median, 339. Persian, iii, 359. SADYATTES, i, 406. Sagarria, revolt of, against Persia, iii, 413. SAGARTIANS, ü, 282; iii, 98. SAJUR, I, 8; ii, 458. SAKLAWIYEH, canal, i, 10, 12. SALAMBO, Chaldæan goddess, i, 131. SALAMIS, battle of, iii, 462, 463. SAMARAH, on Tigris, i, 3, 7, 10. SAMARIA, conquered by Tiglath-Pileser II., ii, 130. Finally subdued by Sargon, 141, 448. SAMAVA, i, 12. SAMGAR-NEBO, meaning of, iii, 81. Samos, revolt of, iii, 476. SAMOSATA (Sumeïsat), i, 7. SAMSHU-ILUNA, I, 169. San, or Sansi, Chaldæan Sun-god, i, 126. Worshipped in Larsa (Ellasar) and Sippara, 127. SANDSTORM, in Chaldæa, i, 29. SaoSDUCHINUS, i, 205. See Saül- Mugina. Saracus, ii, 228-232. Attacked by Medes, 231. Nineveh taken, 232. Burns himself, ib. SARDANAPALUS, probably to be identi. SARGONIDS, race of, ii, 203. SATRAPIES, foundation of, by Darius, ü, 417. SATTAGYDIANS, iii, 100. Conquered by Cyrus, 383. SATURN, Chaldæan god Nin, i, 131. SAUL-MUGINA, i, 205 ; iii, 42. SAUROMATÆ, ü, 375. SCAMANDER, iii, 454. SCHOOLS, Persian, iii, 346. SCIENCE, Chaldæan, i, 100 Assyrian, extent of, 399. Mechanical, 401. Babylonian, ii, 571-580. Persian, iii, 346. SCRIPTURE, a witness to antiquity of Chaldæan people, i, 43. Resemblance to, in Chaldæan legends, 145. Evi- dence of, as to size of Babylonian empire, ii, 437. SCULPTURES, Assyrian, ii, 108. Median, 320. Babylonian, 557. Persian, iü, 333. SCYTHIANS, invasion of Media by, ii, 225. Checked by diplomacy of Psam- metichus, 227. Soothsayers, 350, 386. Invasion of S. Asia, 386. Defeat Medes, 387. Massacre of, by Cyaxares, 390. Length of dominion in Media, 391. Expulsion of, 393. Take refuge with Alyattes, 407; iii, 129. Espe- dition of Darius against, 433. SCYTHOPOLIS, ü, 391. SEALS, Chaldæan, i, 93. Of king Urukh, 94.' Of Ilgi, ib. Of Kurri-galzu, 170. Assyrian, 264. Babylonian, ü, 566. SECYDIANUS, or Sogdianus, iii, 477. SEFID-RUD (Kizil-Uzen), river of Media, ii, 258. SEISTAN, ii, 100, 125, 382. SELAMIYAH, I, 204. SEMIRAMIS, incestuous marriage of, ex. plained, i, 121 ; ii, 119. Park, &c., at Bagistan, ü, 274 ; ü, 39. SEMITIC race, i, 236 ; ii, 498 ; idolatry, and decline of, iii, 384. SENKEREH, or Sinkara, i, 15. Sce Larsa. SENNACHERIB, recovers images from Ba- fied with Asshur-bani-pal, ii, 215. SARDIS, battle of, iii, 374. Fall of town, 375. Revolt at, 376. Taken and burnt by Aristagoras, 440. SARGANA, ii, 28. Sargon, cavalry of, i, 423. Infantry of, 430, 439. Invades Media, ii, 379; iii, 40. Account of his reign, ii, 140-155. Of his palace, i, 281 -298. bylon, i, 164. Chariot of, 412. Ca- valry, 426. Infantry, 435. Authorities for his reign, ii, 155. First attack on Hezekiah, 158. Battle of Altaku, 159. Judæa ravaged, 162. Second expedition against Hezekiah and de- struction of Sennacherib's army, 168. War with Susiana, 171. Fall of Ba- daca, 173. Cilician war, 175. De- fection of Babylon, 175. Palace at Nineveh, 178. Murder, 184, 381; iii, 42, 558 TOUZ-GHIEUL. SUSIS. INDEX. pal with, 204. Description of, 435. 318. Ornamentation of, 320. Roof. Conquered by Cyrus, iii, 384. Revolt ing and lighting of, 322. Babylonian, of, against Darius, iii, 410, 411. ii, 542. Names of Babylonian, iii, Susis or Susiana (Elam), i, 26. 32. SUSISCANES, ü, 363. TENNES, iii, 510. SUSUB, ii, 173 ; iii, 42. TEN THOUSAND, the return of the, iii, SUTRUK-NAKHUNTA, ii, 148. 498. SWAJE, i, 24. TEREDON (Diridotis), ii, 473. SYCAMORE, ii, 487. TERITUCHMES, iii, 482. SYENNESIS, ii, 409, 411 ; iii, 487. TETRARCHY, in Chaldæa, i, 15. Syhun, iii, 102. See Sir. THALES, of Miletus, iii, 378. SYMBOLISM, Babylonian, iii, 31. THAMANÆANS, iii, 99. SYRIA, Asshur-izir-pal's wars against, THAPSACUS, iii, 489, 533. ii, 88. Part of Babylonian empire, THARTHAR, the, i, 193. 440 ; iii, 475. Thasos, taken by Mardonius, iii, 443. SYRIANS, conquered by Assyria, ü, 66, THEMISTOCLES, iii, 216. 104, 111, 131. THEODORE, of Samos, üi, 458. THEOPHRASTUS, account of produce of TAB, or Oroatis, iii, 87. Chaldæa, i, 31. TABALUS, iii, 377. THERMOPYLÆ, iii, 457; assault of Xerxes TABLETS, Chaldæan, i, 67. Assyrian, on, 459. Battle of, 459. 265, 400. THIMBRON, üi, 517. Tabus, ii, 189. THRAỆTONA (Feridun), ü, 341. Tachos, iii, 506. TIBARENI, Ü, 188. Tactics in war, Persian, iïi, 182–184. TIBERIAS, sea of, ii, 464, 469. TAKHT-I-SULEÏMAN (perhaps Northern TIDAL, a Turanian, i, 55. Ecbatana), ii, 270. TIGGABA, or Cutha, city dedicated to TAMAsus, iii, 112. worship of Nergal, i, 136. TAMMARIT, ii, 207. TIGLATHI-NIN I., ii, 58. TAÖCÉ, iii, 93. TIGLATHI-NIN II., ï, 81. TAOCÊNÉ, iii, 94. TIGLATH-PILESER I., i, 164; ii, 62–68. TARBISA, shrine of Nergal at, i, 136. Inscription of, 63. Wars of, 64. Ruins of, 204. Hunting exploits of, 68. Restora- TARIC, ii, 336. tion of temples by, 69. Condition Tarsus, founded by Sennacherib, ii, of Assyria under, 74. Wars with 175. Illness of Alexander at, iii, Babylon, 77. Rock tablet, 79; iii, 523. 35, 38. TAURUS, Mts., iii, 108. TIGLATH-PILESER II., ii, 127. His wars TAXATION, Persian, iii, 420. against Israel, 131. TEHRAK (Tirhakah), ii, 166, TIGRANES, struggle with Astyages, ü, TEISPES, king of Persia, iii, 367. 417. TEL-APNI, ii, 110. TIGRIS, source and course of, i, 6. TEL-DHALAB, i, 23. Length, 7. How far navigable, 8. TEL-EDE, i, 22, 23. Tributaries, 9. True, 9. Flood TEL-EL-LAHM, i, 24. season, 12. Variation of course, 13. TEL-HUMBA, i, 15. Divides Assyria in two, 182. Sudden TEL-KHEIR, i, 23. rise of, ii, 397. TEL-MEDINEH, i, 22. | Til, i, 7. TEL-SIFR, i, 22.' Tablets from, 169. TIRJAKAH, ii, 193. Defeated by Asshur. TEMIN-UMMAN, ii, 205. bani-pal, 202. TEMPERATURE of Chaldæa, i, 28. Of TIRIBAZUS, iii, 503. Mesopotamia, 211. Of Azerbijan, TISSAPHERNES, iii, 478. Opposed to ii, 284, 285.' Of Media Magna, 286. Cyrus, 486. At Cunaxa, 494. Of Susiana, 480. Of Persia Proper, TITHÆUS, ii, 363. iii, 134. TIUspa, ii, 188. TEMPLES, Chaldæan, at Warka, i, 74. TIYARI, Mts., i, 219. Mugheir, 76. Character of early TOMBS, Chaldaean, i, 86. Drainage of, Chaldæans, 79. Abu-Shahrein, 79. 90. Persian, iii, 231, 317. Built by Urukh, 157. Assyrian, 308. TOLDOTH BENI Noah, i, 50. Towers, 313–317. Ground plan of, | Touz-GHIEUL, lake of, iii, 124. TRACHIS. 559 INDEX. токНА. TRACHIS, iii, 457. VOHUÔ-Man, or Bahman, ii, 334 ; iii, TRADE, Chaldæan, i, 102, 108. Baby 361. lonian, iii, 15. Persian contempt for, Vul, or Iva, god of the atmosphere, i, 242. 129; ii, 18. TREBIZOND, iii, 499. VUL-LUSH I., ii, 56. TRIACONTER, Persian, iii, 197. VUL-LUSH II., ii, 82. TRIREME, Persian, ii, 159. VUL-LUSH III., ii, 116. TRITANTÆCHMES, i, 32. TSIBIR, ïïi, 36 note. Wadys, torrent-courses, i, 25. TSUKHI, ii, 87. W'ar customs of Assyrians, i, 406. Of TsUPNAT, ii, 85. Medes, ii, 312–315. Of Persians, TURANIANS, in Chaldæa, i, 55. In Ar- iii, 172—201. menia, ii, 400. TYRE, submits to Asshur-izir-pal, ii, 89. Warka (Erech), ruins of, i, 18, 156. Conquered by Tiglath-Pileser Water in Arabian desert, i, 25. On II., 130. Revolt of, subdued by Shal- plateau of Iran, ii, 291. WATERCOURSES, neglect of, in Chaldæa, maneser IV., 138. Attacked by As- shur-bani-pal, 203, 475. Siege of, by i, 33. Nebuchadnezzar, üži, 51. Siege of, by WATER-TAX, Persian, iii, 422. Alexander, 529. WEAPONS, Chaldæan, i, 95. Assyrian, 449—460. Median, ii, 313–315. Babylonian, iii, 8. Persian, 173- UAPHRIS, iii, 52. See Apries. 176. UDIASTES, iii, 483. WERDI, i, 10. UMMAN-ALDAS, iii, 205. WHEAT-PLANT, i, 33. UNGUENTS, Persian, iii, 211. WOMEN, Assyrian, i, 571–573. Median, UR (Hur), i, 15. Now Mugheir, re ü, 307. Babylonian, iii, 21. Persian, mains of, 17. A great maritime em 237, 238. porium, 27. Ships of, 108. Early WORSHIP, Iranic, two forms of, ii, 328. capital of Chaldæa, 153. WRITING, Chaldæan, i, 64, 67. Assy- URANOGRAPHY, Babylonian, ii, 573. rian, 268—271. Median, ii, 365. URDAMENÉ, ii, 202. Persian, iii, 264–266. Urtaki, ii, 205. URUKH (Orchamus), i, 94, 155. Re- XANTHUS, city, ü, 380. markable temples built by, 157. His XANTHUS, Lydus, ii, 352. signet, 158. Summary of doings of, XATARITES, iii, 411. 176. Earliest monumental Chaldæan XENOPHON, on wealth of Chaldæa, i, 32. king, 119. Builds temple to Bil at XERXES I., palace of, iii, 292, 469. His Niffer, 119. preparations against Greece, 447. URUMIYEH, L., ii, 204, 260. Army of, 452. March, 453. Passage Uxia, iii, 93. of Hellespont, 455. Assault on Ther- mopylæ, 459. Occupation of Attica, VAITEHA, ü, 206. 462. Battle of Salamis, 463. Return Van, lake of, ii, 280; iii, 123. Monarchs to Asia, 464. Death and character of, ii, 280. of, 470. VABAMIT, or Urmit, wife of Nebo, i, | XERXES II., iii, 477. 139. XISUTHRus, in Chaldæan legends, Noah, Vayu, the wind-god, ii, 328. i, 145. VEGETATION, of Chaldæa, i, 33——37. Of Assyria, 215-219. Of Media, ii, 289, YAŞNA, ii, 323. 303. Of Babylonia, 483. Of Susiana, YAHU-BID, conquered by Sargon, i, 484. Euphrates valley, 485. N. Syria, 142. 485. Palestine, 486. Yakin, father of Merodach-Baladan, iii, VENDIDAD, ii, 332. Translation from, 37. 432-434. Yaman, ü, 146. VENUs, Chaldæan goddess Ishtar, i, YARKAND, ii, 381, 563. 138. YEAR, length of, known to Babylonians, VIRGIL, on Median vegetation, ii, ii, 476. 303.' YIMA, ii, 340. VIZIER, Assyrian, i, 499. YOKHA, i, 23. 560 ZUR-SIX. ZAB. INDEX. ZAB, Upper and Lower, i, 10, 184. ZERREH, lake of, iii, 125. Zagros, i, 9. Boundary of Assyria, ZIBBLIYEH, I, 22. 181 ; ii, 74. Border of Media, iï, ZIGGURAT, i, 314 ; ii, 543. 280. Climate of, 288. Description ZIMRI, ii, 113. of, i, 207. ZIR-BANIT, Chaldæan goddess, wife of ZANASANES, ü, 363. Bel-Merodach, i, 135. Zardul Kun (Yellow Mountain), ii, ZODIAC, Babylonian, ü, 574. 455. ZOPYRUS, iii, 447, 476. ZARIC, ii, 336. ZOROASTER, first of Median kings of ZARINA, ii, 390. Babylon, i, 160. A Bactrian, iii, 380. ZEDEKIAH, iii, 52. ZOROASTRIANISM, ii, 326, 330, 348. Con. ZEND language, theory of, ii, 356. trast with Magism, 353. Restored by ZEND-Avesta, ii, 322; iii, 169, 351. Darius, iii, 408. Editions of, 354. Language of, 356. ! ZURKA, R. (Jabbok), ii, 465. ZENDERUD, R., ii, 259. ZUR-Srn, founder of Abu-Shabrein, i, ZERGHUL (Rubesi), i, 21. 166. INDEX TO SCRIPTURE REFERENCES. 563 VOLUME II. Book. Chap Verse. Page 1 Book. Chap. Verse. | Page. Genesis 2 Kings xiv. xiv. 25, 28 xv. 117 125 125 117, 122 131, 132 XV. 10, 11 11 16 XV. A VÀ X X X XARE xv. 124 22 142 3,500 542 xvi. 2.5 54 xvi. xvi. xvi. xvi. xvii. 1.12 21 7,9 10 5, 7, 9 3,4 6,24 374 239 190 495 496 189 495 495 450 117 174 132 | 133, 236 241 132 135 239 136, 236 9 195 xxiv, xvii. 16 24, 25, 26 Numb 8 Xxxi. xxxi. Xxxvii. xii. xxii. xxiii. xxiv. viii. xxiii. vii. xvii. xvii. xvii. xviii. xviii. xviii. xviii. xviii. xviii. xviii. 4, 22, 34 17, 21 Deut. 11 Joshua 14 13-17 31, 32 379 33 165 | 152, 379 237, 238 | 156, 160, 161 142 165 166 167 169 xiii. xviii. xix. XV xix. xix. 450 143 159 159 159, 160 227 23 23, 44 43-46 27 8, 9-16 Judges 12 88 37 26, 28 xix. xix. xix. xix. xix. xix. xix. xix. xx. xx. xxi. 23-28 20-34 35 12 30, 184, 185 178 167 167 130 506 1 Sam. Yiv xiv. 104 495 xxiii. xxiii. Xxx. 81 2 Sam. 1 Kings 29 16 21, 24 6-18 235 200 444 xxi. xxiii. xxiv. xxiv. xxiv. xxiv, XXV. XXV. v. ii. 549 38, 235 66 25 232 29 17 1-7 7 10-17 1-21 7, 21, 27 10, 18-22 236, 239, 413 133 133 487 413 437 437 506 157 200 444 164 14 xw 18 19 xviii 2 Kings 126 1 Chron. 2 Chron. 3-18 66 viii. 15 8, 16 4-8 104 L 564 INDEX TO SCRIPTURE REFERENCES. VOLUME II.-continued. Book. Chap. Verse. Page. Book. Chap Verse. Page. 2 Chron. 26 123, 132 235 Isaiah 1-3 2,6 13-28 3. 163 3. 4 20-23 165 xiv. xxii. XXV. xxix. Xxxi. xxxii. xxxii. Xxxv. xxxi. Xxxvi. Xxxvii. Xxxvii. Xxxvii. xxxix. xlii. xliv. xlv. xlv. xlvii. xlvii. xlvii. 165 156. 165 156 88 33, 184 130 172, 504 325 325 423 594 507 503 148 113. 190 Xxxvi. xxvi. 11, 12, 13 20, 23 6, 20 22, 23 1-4 2, 3 2,9 Ezra 165 186, 194 413, 437 437 325 325 326 195 186 239 267 325 146 146 306 427 306 190 1.8 7.8, 10 10,13 21 25 3-6, 7 437 6, 7 XXV. xxvii. xxix. xlvi. xlvi. xlix. . 10. 12 19 Nehemp. 437, 4! 414, 437 437 505 Esther 2 2-26 28. 33 23 29-32 26 35 13 31 - 3. 14 507 TO P.-- 436 xxxi. E EFFE- 87 58 Psalms 11 190 496 236 235 157 81 xlii. Ixxii. lxxii. lxxxiii. lxxxiii. сxx. vii. 8-11 | 10, 23.1 24. 27 lii. ! 4, 30 17 521 503 504 519 521 520 506 437 351 504 504 497 563 148 64 446 yiï. xvii. 64 viü. ܠܪ 15 15, 17 14, 16 23 18 X. xiii. xiii. 12. 14 15-18 11 19 18 132 245 131, 132 178 310 507 521, 529 520 506 505 507 521 25, 27 xxiii. xxiii. i xxiii. xxii. xxvii, xxvii. xxvii. xxvii. xxix. xxxi. xxxi. xxxi, Xxxii, Xxxviii. xiii. xiv. xiv. xiv. xiv, xiv. xix, xx, xxi. 88 4-6 6, 16 13, 14 23 444 437 218 17-20 3-8 5,6 11. 12 113 309 167 26 64 147 495 xxxix. Dan. 3,10 64 64 506 503 506 xxii. xxii. xxiv, xxix. XXX 236 163 162 162 165 9, 10, 11 1.12 1.4 5-13 FF:: 38 437 4 503 INDEX TO SCRIPTURE REFERENCES. 567 VOLUME III.—continued. Book. Chap Verse. Page Book. Chap. Verse. Page. xlvi. 14, 16 Daniel 58 - 37 2, 12, 47-49 1-29 SI 2, 14, 26, 27, 385 185 72 72 385 2129 32, 43 5, 7, 10, 15 20 11 185 30 61, 52 37, 41 2, 6-8, 34, | 58, 60 385 385 52, 53, 186 4 37 6, 7, 9, 18 28 4-6 10, 11, 31 :5 ܩܕܝܕܟܬ ܤ 12 365 384 389 19 25, 30 12 22, 64, 66 59 62 56 11, 185 Ezek. iv. 15 53 7, 8, 11 10-12 28 72 vi. 225 11, 185 1,4 10, 11 viji. 70 23 24 viii. viii. viii. 7.11 viii. Xvi xvii. xxi. xxiii. xxiii. xxiii. xxvi. xxvi. xxvi. xxvii. Xxvii. xxvii. xxviii. xxix. xxix. Xxx. Xxxvi. 8, 10 109 7,16 156 345 865 Amos Nahum Habak. Haggai 7, 8, 10 1, 14 5 14 311, 365 164 864 539 389 345 870 10, 11 389 408 389 386 386 386 45 31 412 362 8-20 18 4-26 Zech. 11 Daniel 4, 17, 20 2-4, 10 :: S 2-11, 12, 14, 24, 28, 48 Tobit Baruch Judith 1 Macc. 2 Macc. 22, 23 15 43 3,6 2 13, 15 360 Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesburse THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY REFERENCE DEPARTMENT This book is under no circumstances to be taken from the Building form 1