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diff --git a/17329.txt b/17329.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbe17b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/17329.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10534 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, +Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 9 (of 12), by G. Maspero + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 9 (of 12) + +Author: G. Maspero + +Editor: A.H. Sayce + +Translator: M.L. McClure + +Release Date: December 16, 2005 [EBook #17329] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EGYPT, CHALDAEA *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +[Illustration: Spines] + +[Illustration: Cover] + +HISTORY OF EGYPT CHALDEA, SYRIA, BABYLONIA, AND ASSYRIA + +By G. MASPERO, Honorable Doctor of Civil Laws, and Fellow of Queen's +College, Oxford; Member of the Institute and Professor at the College of +France + +Edited by A. H. SAYCE, Professor of Assyriology, Oxford + +Translated by M. L. McCLURE, Member of the Committee of the Egypt +Exploration Fund + + +CONTAINING OVER TWELVE HUNDRED COLORED PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS + +Volume IX. + + +LONDON + +THE GROLIER SOCIETY + +PUBLISHERS + +[Illustration: 001.jpg Frontispiece] Howling Dervish + +[Illustration: Titlepage] + +[Illustration: 001.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + +[Illustration: 002.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + +_THE IRANIAN CONQUEST_ + +_THE IRANIAN RELIGIONS--CYRUS IN LYDIA AND AT BABYLON; CAMBYSES IN +EGYPT--DARIUS AND THE ORGANISATION OF THE EMPIRE._ + +_The constitution of the Median empire borrowed from the ancient peoples +of the Euphrates: its religion only is peculiar to itself--Legends +concerning Zoroaster, his laws; the Avesta and its history--Elements +contained in it of primitive religion--The supreme god Ahura-maza and +his Amesha-spentas: the Yazatas, the Fravashis--Angro-mainyus and his +agents, the Daivas, the Pairikas, their struggle with Ahura-mazda--The +duties of man here below, funerals, his fate after death---Worship and +temples: fire-altars, sacrifices, the Magi_. + +_Cyrus and the legends concerning his origin: his revolt against +Astyages and the fall of the Median empire--The early years of the reign +of Nabonidus: revolutions in Tyre, the taking of Harran--The end of +the reign of Alyattes, Lydian art and its earliest coinage--Croesus, +his relations with continental Greece, his conquests, his alliances with +Babylon and Egypt--The war between Lydia and Persia: the defeat of +the Lydians, the taking of Sardes, the death of Croesus and subsequent +legends relating to it--The submission of the cities of the Asiatic +littoral._ + +_Cyrus in Bactriana and in the eastern regions of the Iranian table-land +--The impression produced on the Chaldaean by his victories; the Jewish +exiles, Ezekiel and his dreams of restoration, the new temple, the +prophecies against Babylon; general discontent with Nabonidus--The +attach of Cyrus and the battle of Zalzallat, the taking of Babylon +and the fall of Nabonidus: the end of the Chaldaean empire and the +deliverance of the Jews._ + +_Egypt under Amasis: building works, support given to the +Greeks; Naukratis, its temples, its constitution, and its +prosperity--Preparations for defence and the unpopularity of Amasis with +the native Egyptians--The death of Cyrus and legends relating to it: his +palace at Pasargadae and his tomb--Cambyses and Smerdis--The legendary +causes of the war with Egypt--Psammetichus III., the battle of Pelusium; +Egypt reduced to a Persian province._ + +_Cambyses' plans for conquest; the abortive expeditions to the oceans of +Amnion and Carthage--The kingdom of Ethiopia, its kings, its customs: +the Persians fail to reach Napata, the madness of Cambyses--The fraud of +Gaumata, the death of Cambyses and the reign of the pseudo-Smerdis, +the accession of Darius--The revolution in Susiana, Chaldaea, and Media: +Nebuchadrezzar III. and the fall of Babylon, the death of Oraetes, the +defeat of Khshatrita, restoration of peace throughout Asia, Egyptian +affairs and the re-establishment of the royal power._ + +_The organisation of the country and its division into satrapies: the +satrap, the military commander, the royal secretary; couriers, main +roads, the Eyes and Ears of the king--The financial system and the +provincial taxes: the daric--Advantages and drawbacks of the system of +division into satrapies; the royal guard and the military organisation +of the empire--The conquest of the Hapta-Hindu and the prospect of war +with Greece._ + +[Illustration: 003.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + + + +CHAPTER I--THE IRANIAN CONQUEST + + + Drawn by Boudier, from the engraving in Coste and Flandin. + The vignette, drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a statuette in + terra-cotta, found in Southern Russia, represents a young + Scythian. + +_The Iranian religions--Cyrus in Lydia and at Babylon: Cambyses in Egypt +--Darius and the organisation of the empire._ + + +The Median empire is the least known of all those which held sway for a +time over the destinies of a portion of Western Asia. The reason of this +is not to be ascribed to the shortness of its duration: the Chaldaean +empire of Nebuchadrezzar lasted for a period quite as brief, and yet the +main outlines of its history can be established with some certainty in +spite of large blanks and much obscurity. Whereas at Babylon, moreover, +original documents abound, enabling us to put together, feature by +feature, the picture of its ancient civilisation and of the chronology +of its kings, we possess no contemporary monuments of Ecbatana to +furnish direct information as to its history. To form any idea of +the Median kings or their people, we are reduced to haphazard notices +gleaned from the chroniclers of other lands, retailing a few isolated +facts, anecdotes, legends, and conjectures, and, as these materials +reach us through the medium of the Babylonians or the Greeks of the +fifth or sixth century B.C., the picture which we endeavour to compose +from them is always imperfect or out of perspective. We seemingly +catch glimpses of ostentatious luxury, of a political and military +organisation, and a method of government analogous to that which +prevailed at later periods among the Persians, but more imperfect, +ruder, and nearer to barbarism--a Persia, in fact, in the rudimentary +stage, with its ruling spirit and essential characteristics as yet +undeveloped. The machinery of state had doubtless been adopted almost +in its entirety from the political organisations which obtained in the +kingdoms of Assyria, Elam, and Chaldaea, with which sovereignties the +founders of the Median empire had held in turns relations as vassals, +enemies, and allies; but once we penetrate this veneer of Mesopotamian +civilisation and reach the inner life of the people, we find in the +religion they profess--mingled with some borrowed traits--a world of +unfamiliar myths and dogmas of native origin. + +The main outlines of this religion were already fixed when the +Medes rose in rebellion against Assur-bani-pal; and the very name of +_Confessor_--Fravartish--applied to the chief of that day, proves that +it was the faith of the royal family. It was a religion common to all +the Iranians, the Persians as well as the Medes, and legend honoured as +its first lawgiver and expounder an ancient prophet named Zarathustra, +known to us as Zoroaster.* Most classical writers relegated Zoroaster +to some remote age of antiquity--thus he is variously said to have lived +six thousand years before the death of Plato,** five thousand before the +Trojan war,*** one thousand before Moses, and six hundred before Xerxes' +campaign against Athens; while some few only affirmed that he had lived +at a comparatively recent period, and made him out a disciple of the +philosopher Pythagoras, who flourished about the middle of the fifth +century B.C. + + * The name Zarathustra has been interpreted in a score of + different ways. The Greeks sometimes attributed to it the + meaning "worshipper of the stars," probably by reason of the + similarity in sound of the termination "-astres" of + Zoroaster with the word "astron." Among modern writers, H. + Rawlinson derived it from the Assyrian Ziru-Ishtar, "the + seed of Ishtar," but the etymology now most generally + accepted is that of Burnouf, according to which it would + signify "the man with gold-coloured camels," the "possessor + of tawny camels." The ordinary Greek form Zoroaster seems to + be derived from some name quite distinct from Zarathustra. + + ** This was, as Pliny records, the opinion of Eudoxus; not + Eudoxus of Cnidus, pupil of Plato, as is usually stated, but + a more obscure personage, Eudoxus of Rhodes. + + *** This was the statement of Hermodorus. + +According to the most ancient national traditions, he was born in the +Aryanem-vaejo, or, in other words, in the region between the Araxes and +the Kur, to the west of the Caspian Sea. Later tradition asserted +that his conception was attended by supernatural circumstances, and +the miracles which accompanied his birth announced the advent of a saint +destined to regenerate the world by the revelation of the True Law. In +the belief of an Iranian, every man, every living creature now existing +or henceforth to exist, not excluding the gods themselves, possesses a +Frohar, or guardian spirit, who is assigned to him at his entrance into +the world, and who is thenceforth devoted entirely to watching over +his material and moral well-being,* About the time appointed for the +appearance of the prophet, his Frohar was, by divine grace, imprisoned +in the heart of a Haoma,** and was absorbed, along with the juice of +the plant, by the priest Purushaspa,*** during a sacrifice, a ray of +heavenly glory descending at the same time into the bosom of a maiden of +noble race, named Dughdova, whom Purushaspa shortly afterwards espoused. + + * The Fravashi (for _fravarti_, from _fra-var_, "to support, + nourish"), or the _frohar (feruer)_, is, properly speaking, + the nurse, the genius who nurtures. Many of the practices + relating to the conception and cult of the Fravashis seem to + me to go back to the primitive period of the Iranian + religions. + + ** The haoma is an _Asclepias Sarcostema Viminalis_. + + *** The name signifies "He who has many horses." + +Zoroaster was engendered from the mingling of the Frohar with the +celestial ray. The evil spirit, whose supremacy he threatened, +endeavoured to destroy him as soon as he saw the light, and despatched +one of his agents, named Bouiti, from the country of the far north to +oppose him; but the infant prophet immediately pronounced the formula +with which the psalm for the offering of the waters opens: "The will of +the Lord is the rule of good!" and proceeded to pour libations in honour +of the river Dareja, on the banks of which he had been born a moment +before, reciting at the same time the "profession of faith which puts +evil spirits to flight." Bouiti fled aghast, but his master set to work +upon some fresh device. Zoroaster allowed him, however, no time to +complete his plans: he rose up, and undismayed by the malicious riddles +propounded to him by his adversary, advanced against him with his hands +full of stones--stones as large as a house--with which the good deity +supplied him. The mere sight of him dispersed the demons, and they +regained the gates of their hell in headlong flight, shrieking out, "How +shall we succeed in destroying him? For he is the weapon which strikes +down evil beings; he is the scourge of evil beings." His infancy +and youth were spent in constant disputation with evil spirits: ever +assailed, he ever came out victorious, and issued more perfect from each +attack. When he was thirty years old, one of the good spirits, Vohumano, +appeared to him, and conducted him into the presence of Ahura-mazda, +the Supreme Being. When invited to question the deity, Zoroaster asked, +"Which is the best of the creatures which are upon the earth?" The +answer was, that the man whose heart is pure, he excels among his +fellows. He next desired to know the names and functions of the angels, +and the nature and attributes of evil. His instruction ended, he crossed +a mountain of flames, and underwent a terrible ordeal of purification, +during which his breast was pierced with a sword, and melted lead poured +into his entrails without his suffering any pain: only after this ordeal +did he receive from the hands of Ahura-mazda the Book of the Law, the +Avesta, was then sent back to his native land bearing his precious +burden. At that time, Vishtaspa, son of Aurvataspa, was reigning over +Bactria. For ten years Zoroaster had only one disciple, his cousin +Maidhyoi-Maonha, but after that he succeeded in converting, one +after the other, the two sons of Hvogva, the grand vizir Jamaspa, who +afterwards married the prophet's daughter, and Frashaoshtra, whose +daughter Hvogvi he himself espoused; the queen, Hutaosa, was the next +convert, and afterwards, through her persuasions, the king Vishtaspa +himself became a disciple. The triumph of the good cause was hastened by +the result of a formal disputation between the prophet and the wise men +of the court: for three days they essayed to bewilder him with their +captious objections and their magic arts, thirty standing on his right +hand and thirty on his left, but he baffled their wiles, aided by grace +from above, and having forced them to avow themselves at the end of +their resources, he completed his victory by reciting the Avesta before +them. The legend adds, that after rallying the majority of the people +round him, he lived to a good old age, honoured of all men for his +saintly life. According to some accounts, he was stricken dead by +lightning,* while others say he was killed by a Turanian soldier, +Bratrok-resh, in a war against the Hyaonas. + + * This is, under very diverse forms, the version preferred + by Western historians of the post-classical period. + +The question has often been asked whether Zoroaster belongs to +the domain of legend or of history. The only certain thing we know +concerning him is his name; all the rest is mythical, poetic, or +religious fiction. Classical writers attributed to him the composition +or editing of all the writings comprised in Persian literature: the +whole consisted, they said, of two hundred thousand verses which had +been expounded and analysed by Hermippus in his commentaries on the +secret doctrines of the Magi. The Iranians themselves averred that he +had given the world twenty-one volumes--the twenty-one _Nasks_ of the +Avesta,* which the Supreme Deity had created from the twenty-one words +of the Magian profession of faith, the _Ahuna Vairya_. King Vishtaspa is +said to have caused two authentic copies of the Avesta--which contained +in all ten or twelve hundred chapters**--to be made, one of which +was consigned to the archives of the empire, the other laid up in +the treasury of a fortress, either Shapigan, Shizigan, Samarcand, or +Persepolis.*** + + * The word _Avesta_, in Pehlevi _Apastak_, whence come the + Persian forms _avasta, osta_, is derived from the + Achaemenian word _Abasta_, which signifies _law_ in the + inscriptions of Darius. The term Zend-Avesta, commonly used + to designate the sacred book of the Persians, is incorrectly + derived from the expression _Apastac u Zend_, which in + Pehlevi designates first the law itself, and then the + translation and commentary in more modern language which + conduces to a _knowledge (Zend)_ of the law. The customary + application, therefore, of the name Zend to the language of + the Avesta is incorrect. + + ** The Dinkart fixes the number of chapters at 1000, and the + Shah-Namak at 1200, written on plates of gold. According to + Masudi, the book itself and the two commentaries formed + 12,000 volumes, written in letters of gold, the twenty-one + Nasks each contained 200 pages, and the whole of these + writings had been inscribed on 12,000 cow-hides. + + *** The site of Shapigan or Shaspigan is unknown. J. + Darmesteter suggests that it ought to be read as _Shizigan_, + which would permit of the identification of the place with + Shiz, one of the ancient religious centres of Iran, whose + temple was visited by the Sassanids on their accession to + the throne. According to the Arda-Viraf the law was + preserved at Istakhr, or Persepolis, according to the Shah- + Namak at Samarcand in the temple of the Fire-god. + +Alexander is said to have burnt the former copy: the latter, stolen by +the Greeks, is reported to have been translated into their language and +to have furnished them with all their scientific knowledge. One of the +Arsacids, Vologesus I., caused a search to be made for all the fragments +which existed either in writing or in the memory of the faithful,* and +this collection, added to in the reign of the Sassanid king, Ardashir +Babagan, by the high priest Tansar, and fixed in its present form under +Sapor I., was recognised as the religious code of the empire in the time +of Sapor II., about the fourth century of the Christian era.*** The text +is composed, as may be seen, of three distinct strata, which are by no +means equally ancient;*** one can, nevertheless, make out from it with +sufficient certainty the principal features of the religion and cult of +Iran, such as they were under the Achaemenids, and perhaps even under the +hegemony of the Medes. + + * Tradition speaks simply of a King Valkash, without + specifying which of the four kings named Vologesus is + intended. James Darmesteter has given good reasons for + believing that this Valkash is Vologesus I. (50-75 A.D.), + the contemporary of Nero. + + ** This is the tradition reproduced in two versions of the + Dinkart. + + *** Darmesteter declares that ancient Zoroastrianism is, in + its main lines, the religion of the Median Magi, even though + he assigns the latest possible date to the composition of + the Avesta as now existing, and thinks he can discern in it + Greek, Jewish, and Christian elements. + +It is a complicated system of religion, and presupposes a long period of +development. The doctrines are subtle; the ceremonial order of worship, +loaded with strict observances, is interrupted at every moment by laws +prescribing minute details of ritual,* which were only put in practice +by priests and strict devotees, and were unknown to the mass of the +faithful. + + * Renan defined the Avesta as "the Code of a very small + religious sect; it is a Talmud, a book of casuistry and + strict observance. I have difficulty in believing that the + great Persian empire, which, at least in religious matters, + professed a certain breadth of ideas, could have had a law + so strict. I think, that had the Persians possessed a sacred + book of this description, the Greeks must have mentioned + it." + +The primitive, base of this religion is difficult to discern clearly: +but we may recognise in it most of those beings or personifications of +natural phenomena which were the chief objects of worship among all the +ancient nations of Western Asia--the stars, Sirius, the moon, the sun, +water and fire, plants, animals beneficial to mankind, such as the cow +and the dog, good and evil spirits everywhere present, and beneficent +or malevolent souls of mortal men, but all systematised, graduated, and +reduced to sacerdotal principles, according to the prescriptions of a +powerful priesthood. Families consecrated to the service of the altar +had ended, as among the Hebrews, by separating themselves from the rest +of the nation and forming a special tribe, that of the Magi, which was +the last to enter into the composition of the nation in historic times. +All the Magi were not necessarily devoted to the service of religion, +but all who did so devote themselves sprang from the Magian tribe; the +Avesta, in its oldest form, was the sacred book of the Magi, as well as +that of the priests who handed down their religious tradition under the +various dynasties, native or foreign, who bore rule over Iran. + +The Creator was described as "the whole circle of the heavens," "the +most steadfast among the gods," for "he clothes himself with the solid +vault of the firmament as his raiment," "the most beautiful, the most +intelligent, he whose members are most harmoniously proportioned; his +body was the light and the sovereign glory, the sun and the moon were +his eyes." The theologians had gradually spiritualised the conception +of this deity without absolutely disconnecting him from the material +universe. + +[Illustration: 012.jpg THE AHURA-MAZDA OF THE BAS-RELIEFS OF PERSEPOLIS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Flandin and Coste. + +He remained under ordinary circumstances invisible to mortal eyes, +and he could conceal his identity even from the highest gods, but he +occasionally manifested himself in human form. He borrowed in such case +from Assyria the symbol of Assur, and the sculptors depict him with the +upper part of his body rising above that winged disk which is carved in +a hovering attitude on the pediments of Assyrian monuments or stelae. + +[Illustration: 012b.jpg HYPOSTYLE OF HALL OF XERXES: DETAIL OF +ENTABLATURE] + +In later days he was portrayed under the form of a king of imposing +stature and majestic mien, who revealed himself from time to time to the +princes of Iran.* + + * In a passage of Philo of Byblos the god is described as + having the head of a falcon or an eagle, perhaps by + confusion with one of the genii represented on the walls of + the palaces. + +[Illustration: 013.jpg AN IRANIAN GENIUS IN FORM OF A WINGED BULL] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph. + +He was named Ahuro-mazdao or Ahura-mazda, the omniscient lord,* +_Spento-mainyus_, the spirit of good, _Mainyus-spenishto_** the most +beneficent of spirits. + + * _Ahura_ is derived from _Ahu_ = _Lord_: Mazdao can be + analysed into the component parts, _maz = great_, and _dao + = he who knows_. At first the two terms were + interchangeable, and even in the Gathas the form Mazda Ahura + is employed much more often than the form Ahura Mazda. In + the Achsemenian inscriptions, Auramazda is only found as a + single word, except in an inscription of Xerxes, where the + two terms are in one passage separated and declined _Aurahya + mazdaha_. The form Ormuzd, Ormazd, usually employed by + Europeans, is that assumed by the name in modern Persian. + + ** These two names are given to him more especially in + connection with his antagonism to Angromainyus. + +Himself uncreated, he is the creator of all things, but he is assisted +in the administration of the universe by legions of beings, who are all +subject to him.* + + * Darius styles Ahura-mazda, _mathishta baganam_, the + greatest of the gods, and Xerxes invokes the protection of + Ahura-mazda along with that of the gods. The classical + writers also mention gods alongside of Ahura-mazda as + recognised not only among the Achaemenian Persians, but also + among the Parthians. Darmesteter considers that the earliest + Achaemenids worshipped Ahura-mazda alone, "placing the other + gods together in a subordinate and anonymous group: May + Ahura-mazda and the other gods protect me." + +[Illustration: 014.jpg AHURA-MAZDA BESTOWING THE TOKENS OF ROYALTY ON AN +IRANIAN KING] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Dieulafoy. + +The most powerful among his ministers were originally nature-gods, such +as the sun, the moon, the earth, the winds, and the waters. The sunny +plains of Persia and Media afforded abundant witnesses of their power, +as did the snow-clad peaks, the deep gorges through which rushed roaring +torrents, and the mountain ranges of Ararat or Taurus, where the +force of the subterranean fires was manifested by so many startling +exhibitions of spontaneous conflagration.* The same spiritualising +tendency which had already considerably modified the essential concept +of Ahura-mazda, affected also that of the inferior deities, and tended +to tone down in them the grosser traits of their character. It had +already placed at their head six genii of a superior order, six +ever-active energies, who, after assisting their master at the creation +of the universe, now presided under his guidance over the kingdoms and +forces of nature.** + + * All these inferior deities, heroes, and genii who presided + over Persia, the royal family, and the different parts of + the empire, are often mentioned in the most ancient + classical authors that have come down to us. + + ** The six Amesha-spentas, with their several + characteristics, are enumerated in a passage of the _De + Iside_. This exposition of Persian doctrine is usually + attributed to Theopompus, from which we may deduce the + existence of a belief in the Amesha-spentas in the + Achsemenian period. J. Darmesteter affirms, on the contrary, + that "the author describes the Zoro-astrianism of his own + times (the second century A.D.), and quotes Theopompus for a + special doctrine, that of the periods of the world's life." + Although this last point is correct, the first part of + Darmesteter's theory does not seem to me justified by + investigation. The whole passage of Plutarch is a well- + arranged composition of uniform style, which may be regarded + as an exposition of the system described by Theopompus, + probably in the eighth of his Philippics. + +[Illustration: 016a.jpg THE MOON-GOD] + +[Illustration: 016b.jpg GOD OF THE WIND] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin of King Kanishka, + published by Percy Gardner. + +These benevolent and immortal beings--_Amesha-spentas_--were, in the +order of precedence, Vohu-mano (good thought), Asha-vahista (perfect +holiness), Khshathra-vairya (good government), Spenta-armaiti (meek +piety), Haurvatat (health), Ameretat (immortality). Each of them had +a special domain assigned to him in which to display his energy +untrammelled: Vohu-mano had charge of cattle, Asha-vahista of fire, +Khshathra-vairya of metals, Spenta-armaiti of the earth, Haurvatat and +Ameretat of vegetation and of water. They were represented in human +form, either masculine as Vohu-mano and Asha-vahista,* or feminine as +Spenta-armaiti, the daughter and spouse of Ahura-mazda, who became +the mother of the first man, Gayomaretan, and, through Gayomaretan, +ancestress of the whole human race. + + * The image of Asha-vahista is known to us from coins of the + Indo-Scythian kings of Bactriana. Vohu-mano is described as + a young man. + +[Illustration: 017a.jpg ATAR THE GOD OF FIRE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin of King Kanishka, + published by Percy Gardner. + +[Illustration: 017b.jpg AURVATASPA] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from coin published by Percy + Gardner. + +[Illustration: 017c.jpg MITHRA] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin of King Huvishka, + published by Percy Gardner. + +Sometimes Ahura-mazda is himself included among the Amesha-spentas, thus +bringing their number up to seven; sometimes his place is taken by a +certain Sraosha (obedience to the law), the first who offered sacrifice +and recited the prayers of the ritual. Subordinate to these great +spirits were the Yazatas, scattered by thousands over creation, +presiding over the machinery of nature and maintaining it in working +order. Most of them received no special names, but many exercised wide +authority, and several were accredited by the people with an influence +not less than that of the greater deities themselves. Such Were the +regent of the stars--Tishtrya, the bull with golden horns, Sirius, the +sparkling one; Mao, the moon-god; the wind, Vato; the atmosphere, Vayu, +the strongest of the strong, the warrior with golden armour, who gathers +the storm and hurls it against the demon; Atar, fire under its principal +forms, divine fire, sacred fire, and earthly fire; Vere-thraghna, the +author of war and giver of victory; Aurva-taspa, the son of the waters, +the lightning born among the clouds; and lastly, the spirit of the dawn, +the watchful Mithra, "who, first of the celestial Yazatas, soars above +Mount Hara,* before the immortal sun with his swift steeds, who, first +in golden splendour, passes over the beautiful mountains and casts his +glance benign on the dwellings of the Aryans."** + + * Hara is Haroberezaiti, or Elburz, the mountain over which + the sun rises, "around which many a star revolves, where + there is neither night nor darkness, no wind of cold or + heat, no sickness leading to a thousand kinds of death, nor + infection caused by the Daovas, and whose summit is never + reached by the clouds." + + ** This is the Mithra whose religion became so powerful in + Alexandrian and Roman times. His sphere of action is defined + in the Bundehesh. + +Mithra was a charming youth of beautiful countenance, his head +surrounded with a radiant halo. The nymph Anahita was adored under the +form of one of the incarnations of the Babylonian goddess Mylitta, a +youthful and slender female, with well-developed breasts and broad hips, +sometimes represented clothed in furs and sometimes nude.* Like the +foreign goddess to whom she was assimilated, she was the dispenser of +fertility and of love; the heroes of antiquity, and even Ahura-mazda +himself, had vied with one another in their worship of her, and she had +lavished her favours freely on all.** + + * The popularity of these two deities was already well + established at the period we are dealing with, for Herodotus + mentions Mithra and confuses him with Anahita. + + ** Her name Ardvi-Sura Anahita seems to signify _the lofty + and immaculate power_. + +The less important Yazatas were hardly to be distinguished from the +innumerable multitude of Fravashis. The Fravasliis are the divine types +of all intelligent beings. They were originally brought into being by +Ahura-mazda as a distinct species from the human, but they had allowed +themselves to be entangled in matter, and to be fettered in the bodies +of men, in order to hasten the final destruction of the demons and the +advent of the reign of good.* + + * The legend of the descent of the Fravashis to dwell among + men is narrated in the Bundehesh. + +[Illustration: 018.jpg MYLITTA-ANAHITA] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Loftus + +[Illustration: 018a.jpg NANA-ANAHITA] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin of King Huvishka, + published by Percy Gardner. + +Once incarnate, a Fravasliis devotes himself to the well-being of the +mortal with whom he is associated; and when once more released from +the flesh, he continues the struggle against evil with an energy whose +efficacy is proportionate to the virtue and purity displayed in life by +the mortal to whom he has been temporarily joined. The last six days +of the year are dedicated to the Fravashis. They leave their heavenly +abodes at this time to visit the spots which were their earthly +dwelling-places, and they wander through the villages inquiring, "Who +wishes to hire us? Who will offer us a sacrifice? Who will make us their +own, welcome us, and receive us with plenteous offerings of food and +raiment, with a prayer which bestows sanctity on him who offers it?" And +if they find a man to hearken to their request, they bless him: "May his +house be blessed with herds of oxen and troops of men, a swift horse +and a strongly built chariot, a man who knoweth how to pray to God, a +chieftain in the council who may ever offer us sacrifices with a hand +filled with food and raiment, with a prayer which bestows sanctity on +him who offers it!" Ahura-mazda created the universe, not by the work +of his hands, but by the magic of his word, and he desired to create it +entirely free from defects. His creation, however, can only exist by +the free play and equilibrium of opposing forces, to which he gives +activity: the incompatibility of tendency displayed by these forces, and +their alternations of growth and decay, inspired the Iranians with the +idea that they were the result of two contradictory principles, the one +beneficent and good, the other adverse to everything emanating from the +former.* + + * Spiegel, who at first considered that the Iranian dualism + was derived from polytheism, and was a preliminary stage in + the development of monotheism, held afterwards that a rigid + monotheism had preceded this dualism. The classical writers, + who knew Zoroastrianism at the height of its glory, never + suggested that the two principles might be derived from a + superior principle, nor that they were subject to such a + principle. The Iranian books themselves nowhere definitely + affirm that there existed a single principle distinct from + the two opposing principles. + +In opposition to the god of light, they necessarily formed the idea of +a god of darkness, the god of the underworld, who presides over death, +Angro-mainyus. The two opposing principles reigned at first, each in his +own domain, as rivals, but not as irreconcilable adversaries: they were +considered as in fixed opposition to each other, and as having coexisted +for ages without coming into actual conflict, separated as they were by +the intervening void. As long as the principle of good was content +to remain shut up inactive in his barren glory, the principle of evil +slumbered unconscious in a darkness that knew no beginning; but when +at last "the spirit who giveth increase"--Spento-mainyus--determined to +manifest himself, the first throes of his vivifying activity roused from +inertia the spirit of destruction and of pain, Angro-mainyus. The heaven +was not yet in existence, nor the waters, nor the earth, nor ox, nor +fire, nor man, nor demons, nor brute beasts, nor any living thing, when +the evil spirit hurled himself upon the light to quench it for ever, +but Ahura-mazda had already called forth the ministers of his +will--Amesha-spentas, Yazatas, Fravashis--and he recited the prayer of +twenty-one words in which all the elements of morality are summed up, +the Ahuna-vairya: "The will of the Lord is the rule of good. Let the +gifts of Vohu-mano be bestowed on the works accomplished, at this +moment, for Mazda. He makes Ahura to reign, he who protects the poor." +The effect of this prayer was irresistible: "When Ahura had pronounced +the first part of the formula, Zanak Minoi, the spirit of destruction, +bowed himself with terror; at the second part he fell upon his knees; +and at the third and last he felt himself powerless to hurt the +creatures of Ahura-mazda."* + + * Theopompus was already aware of this alternation of good + and bad periods. According to the tradition enshrined in the + first chapter of the Bundehesh, it was the result of a sort + of compact agreed upon at the beginning by Ahura-mazda and + Angro-mainyus. Ahura-mazda, rearing to be overcome if he + entered upon the struggle immediately, but sure of final + victory if he could gain time, proposed to his adversary a + truce of nine thousand years, at the expiration of which the + battle should begin. As soon as the compact was made, Angro- + mainyus realised that he had been tricked into taking a + false step, but it was not till after three thousand years + that he decided to break the truce and open the conflict. + +The strife, kindled at the beginning of time between the two gods, has +gone on ever since with alternations of success and defeat; each in turn +has the victory for a regular period of three thousand years; but when +these periods are ended, at the expiration of twelve thousand years, +evil will be finally and for ever defeated. While awaiting this blessed +fulness of time, as Spento-mainyus shows himself in all that is good +and beautiful, in light, virtue, and justice, so Angro-mainyus is to be +perceived in all that is hateful and ugly, in darkness, sin, and crime. +Against the six Amesha-spentas he sets in array six spirits of +equal power--Akem-mano, evil thought; Andra, the devouring fire, who +introduces discontent and sin wherever he penetrates; Sauru, the flaming +arrow of death, who inspires bloodthirsty tyrants, who incites men to +theft and murder; Naongaithya, arrogance and pride; Tauru, thirst; and +Zairi, hunger.* + + * The last five of these spirits are enumerated in the + _Vendidad_, and the first, Akem-mano, is there replaced by + Nasu, the chief spirit of evil. + +To the Yazatas he opposed the Daevas, who never cease to torment +mankind, and so through all the ranks of nature he set over against each +good and useful creation a counter-creation of rival tendency. "'Like +a fly he crept into' and infected 'the whole universe.' He rendered the +world as dark at full noonday as in the darkest night. He covered the +soil with vermin, with his creatures of venomous bite and poisonous +sting, with serpents, scorpions, and frogs, so that there was not a +space as small as a needle's point but swarmed with his vermin. He smote +vegetation, and of a sudden the plants withered.... He attacked the +flames, and mingled them with smoke and dimness. The planets, with their +thousands of demons, dashed against the vault of heaven and waged war on +the stars, and the universe became darkened like a space which the fire +blackens with its smoke." And the conflict grew ever keener over the +world and over man, of whom the evil one was jealous, and whom he sought +to humiliate. + +[Illustration: 022.jpg ONE OF THE BAD GENII, SUBJECT TO ANGRO-MAINYUS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph taken from the + original bas-relief in glazed tiles in the Louvre. + +[Illustration: 023.jpg THE KING STRUGGLING AGAINST AN EVIL GENIUS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the photograph in Marcel Dieulafoy. + +The children of Angro-mainyus disguised themselves under those monstrous +forms in which the imagination of the Chaldaeans had clothed the allies +of Mummu-Tiamat, such as lions with bulls' heads, and the wings and +claws of eagles, which the Achaemenian king combats on behalf of his +subjects, boldly thrusting them through with his short sword. Aeshma of +the blood-stained lance, terrible in wrath, is the most trusted leader +of these dread bands,* the chief of twenty other Daevas of repulsive +aspect--Asto-vidhotu, the demon of death, who would devote to +destruction the estimable Fravashis;** Apaosha, the enemy of Tishtrya +the wicked black horse, the bringer of drought, who interferes with the +distribution of the fertilising waters; and Buiti, who essayed to kill +Zoroaster at his birth.*** + + * The name Aeshma means _anger_. He is the Asmodeus, Aeshmo- + daevo, of Rabbinic legends. + + ** The name of this demon signifies _He who separates the + bones_. + + *** The Greater Bundehesh connects the demon Buiti with the + Indian Buddha, and J. Darmestefer seems inclined to accept + this interpretation. In this case we must either admit that + the demon Buiti is of relatively late origin, or that he + has, in the legend of Zoroaster, taken the place of a demon + whose name resembled his own closely enough to admit of the + assimilation. + +The female demons, the Bruges, the Incubi (Yatus), the Succubi +(Pairika), the Peris of our fairy tales, mingled familiarly with mankind +before the time of the prophet, and contracted with them fruitful +alliances, but Zoroaster broke up their ranks, and prohibited them +from becoming incarnate in any form but that of beasts; their hatred, +however, is still unquenched, and their power will only be effectually +overthrown at the consummation of time. It is a matter of uncertainty +whether the Medes already admitted the possibility of a fresh +revelation, preparing the latest generations of mankind for the advent +of the reign of good. The traditions enshrined in the sacred books +of Iran announce the coming of three prophets, sons of Zoroaster +--Ukhshyatereta, Ukhshyatnemo, and Saoshyant* --who shall bring about +universal salvation. + + * The legend ran that they had been conceived in the waters + of the lake Kansu. The name Saoshyant signifies _the useful + one, the saviour_; Ukshyate-reta, _he who malces the good + increase_; Ukshyatnemo, _he who makes prayer increase_. + +Saoshyant, assisted by fifteen men and fifteen pure women, who have +already lived on earth, and are awaiting their final destiny in a magic +slumber, shall offer the final sacrifice, the virtue of which shall +bring about the resurrection of the dead. "The sovereign light shall +accompany him and his friends, when he shall revivify the world and +ransom it from old age and death, from corruption and decay, and shall +render it eternally living, eternally growing, and master of itself." +The fatal conflict shall be protracted, but the champions of Saoshyant +shall at length obtain the victory. "Before them shall bow Aeshma of the +blood-stained lance and of ominous renown, and Saoshyant shall strike +down the she-demon of the unholy light, the daughter of darkness. +Akem-mano strikes, but Vohu-mano shall strike him in his turn; the lying +word shall strike, but the word of truth shall strike him in his turn; +Haurvatat and Ameretafc shall strike down hunger and thirst; Haurvatat +and Ameretat shall strike down terrible hunger and terrible thirst." +Angro-mainyus himself shall be paralysed with terror, and shall be +forced to confess the supremacy of good: he shall withdraw into the +depths of hell, whence he shall never again issue forth, and all the +reanimated beings devoted to the Mazdean law shall live an eternity of +peace and contentment. + +Man, therefore, incessantly distracted between the two principles, laid +wait for by the Baevas, defended by the Yazatas, must endeavour to act +according to law and justice in the condition in which fate has placed +him. He has been raised up here on earth to contribute as far as in him +lies to the increase of life and of good, and in proportion as he works +for this end or against it, is he the _ashavan_, the pure, the faithful +one on earth and the blessed one in heaven, or the _anashavan_, the +lawless miscreant who counteracts purity. The highest grade in the +hierarchy of men belongs of right to the Mage or the _athravan_, to the +priest whose voice inspires the demons with fear, or the soldier whose +club despatches the impious, but a place of honour at their side is +assigned to the peasant, who reclaims from the power of Angro-mainyus the +dry and sterile fields. Among the places where the earth thrives most +joyously is reckoned that "where a worshipper of Ahura-mazda builds a +house, with a chaplain, with cattle, with a wife, with sons, with a fair +flock; where man grows the most corn, herbage, and fruit trees; where he +spreads water on a soil without water, and drains off water where +there is too much of it." He who sows corn, sows good, and promotes the +Mazdean faith; "he nourishes the Mazdean religion as fifty men would do +rocking a child in the cradle, five hundred women giving it suck from +their breasts.* When the corn was created the Daevas leaped, when it +sprouted the Daevas lost courage, when the stem set the Daevas wept, +when the ear swelled the Daevas fled. In the house where corn is +mouldering the Daevas lodge, but when the corn sprouts, one might say +that a hot iron is being turned round in their mouths." And the reason +of their horror is easily divined: "Whoso eats not, has no power either +to accomplish a valiant work of religion, or to labour with valour, +or yet to beget children valiantly; it is by eating that the universe +lives, and it dies from not eating." The faithful follower of Zoroaster +owes no obligation towards the impious man or towards a stranger,** but +is ever bound to render help to his coreligionist. + + * The original text says in a more enigmatical fashion, "he + nourishes the religion of Mazda as a hundred feet of men and + a thousand breasts of women might do." + + ** Charity is called in Parsee language, _asho-dad_ the + _gift to a pious man_, or the _gift of piety_, and the pious + man, the _ashavan_, is by definition the worshipper of + Ahura-mazda alone. + +He will give a garment to the naked, and by so doing will wound Zemaka, +the demon of winter. He will never refuse food to the hungry labourer, +under pain of eternal torments, and his charity will extend even to +the brute beasts, provided that they belong to the species created by +Ahura-mazda: he has duties towards them, and their complaints, heard +in heaven, shall be fatal to him later on if he has provoked them. +Asha-vahista will condemn to hell the cruel man who has ill-treated the +ox, or allowed his flocks to suffer; and the killing of a hedgehog is +no less severely punished--for does not a hedgehog devour the ants +who steal the grain? The dog is in every case an especially sacred +animal--the shepherd's dog, the watchdog, the hunting-dog, even the +prowling dog. It is not lawful to give any dog a blow which renders him +impotent, or to slit his ears, or to cut his foot, without incurring +grave responsibilities in this world and in the next; it is necessary to +feed the dog well, and not to throw bones to him which are too hard, nor +have his food served hot enough to burn his tongue or his throat. For +the rest, the faithful Zoroastrian was bound to believe in his god, to +offer to him the orthodox prayers and sacrifices, to be simple in heart, +truthful, the slave of his pledged word, loyal in his very smallest +acts. If he had once departed from the right way, he could only return +to it by repentance and by purification, accompanied by pious deeds: +to exterminate noxious animals, the creatures of Angro-mainyus and the +abode of his demons, such as the frog, the scorpion, the serpent or +the ant, to clear the sterile tracts, to restore impoverished land, +to construct bridges over running water, to distribute implements of +husbandry to pions men, or to build them a house, to give a pure and +healthy maiden in marriage to a just man,--these were so many means of +expiation appointed by the prophet.* Marriage was strictly obligatory,** +and seemed more praiseworthy in proportion as the kinship existing +between the married pair was the closer: not only was the sister united +in marriage to her brother, as in Egypt, but the father to his daughter, +and the mother to her son, at least among the Magi. + + * A passage in the _Vendidad_ even enumerates how many + noisome beasts must be slain to accomplish one full work of + expiation--"to kill 1000 serpents of those who drag + themselves upon the belly, and 2000 of the other species, + 1000 land frogs or 2000 water frogs, 1000 ants who steal the + grain," and so on. + + ** The _Vendidad_ says, "And I tell thee, O Spitama + Zarathustra, the man who has a wife is above him who lives + in continency;" and, as we have seen in the text, one of + these forms of expiation consisted in "marrying to a worthy + man a young girl who has never known a man" (_Vendidad_, 14, + Sec. 15). Herodotus of old remarked that one of the chief + merits in an Iranian was to have many children: the King of + Persia encouraged fecundity in his realm, and awarded a + prize each year to that one of his subjects who could boast + the most numerous progeny. + +Polygamy was also encouraged and widely practised: the code imposed no +limit on the number of wives and concubines, and custom was in favour of +a man's having as many wives as his fortune permitted him to maintain. +On the occasion of a death, it was forbidden to burn the corpse, to bury +it, or to cast it into a river, as it would have polluted the fire, +the earth, or the water--an unpardonable offence. The corpse could be +disposed of in different ways. The Persians were accustomed to cover it +with a thick layer of wax, and then to bury it in the ground: the wax +coating obviated the pollution which direct contact would have brought +upon the soil. The Magi, and probably also strict devotees, following +their example, exposed the corpse in the open air, abandoning it to the +birds or beasts of prey. It was considered a great misfortune if these +respected the body, for it was an almost certain indication of the wrath +of Ahura-mazda, and it was thought that the defunct had led an evil +life. When the bones had been sufficiently stripped of flesh, they were +collected together, and deposited either in an earthenware urn or in a +stone ossuary with a cover, or in a monumental tomb either hollowed out +in the heart of the mountain or in the living rock, or raised up +above the level of the ground. Meanwhile the soul remained in the +neighbourhood for three days, hovering near the head of the corpse, and +by the recitation of prayers it experienced, according to its condition +of purity or impurity, as much of joy or sadness as the whole world +experiences. When the third night was past, the just soul set forth +across luminous plains, refreshed by a perfumed breeze, and its good +thoughts and words and deeds took shape before it "under the guise of a +young maiden, radiant and strong, with well-developed bust, noble mien, +and glorious face, about fifteen years of age, and as beautiful as the +most beautiful;" the unrighteous soul, on the contrary, directed its +course towards the north, through a tainted land, amid the squalls of a +pestilential hurricane, and there encountered its past ill deeds, under +the form of an ugly and wicked young woman, the ugliest and most wicked +it had ever seen. The genius Rashnu Razishta, the essentially truthful, +weighed its virtues or vices in an unerring balance, and acquitted or +Condemned it on the impartial testimony of its past life. On issuing +from the judgment-hall, the soul arrived at the approach to the bridge +Cinvaut, which, thrown across the abyss of hell, led to paradise. The +soul, if impious, was unable to cross this bridge, but was hurled down +into the abyss, where it became the slave of Angro-mainyus. If pure, it +crossed the bridge without difficulty by the help of the angel Sraosha, +and was welcomed by Vohu-mano, who conducted it before the throne of +Ahura-mazda, in the same way as he had led Zoroaster, and assigned to it +the post which it should occupy until the day of the resurrection of the +body.* + + * All this picture of the fate of the soul is taken from the + _Vendidad_, where the fate of the just is described, and in + the _Yasht_, where the condition of faithful and impious + souls respectively is set forth on parallel lines. The + classical authors teach us nothing on this subject, and the + little they actually say only proves that the Persians + believed in the immortality of the soul. The main outlines + of the picture here set forth go back to the times of the + Achaemenids and the Medes, except the abstract conception of + the goddess who leads the soul of the dead as an incarnation + of his good or evil deeds. + +The religious observances enjoined on the members of the priestly caste +were innumerable and minute. Ahura-mazda and his colleagues had not, +as was the fashion among the Assyrians and Egyptians, either temples or +tabernacles, and though they were represented sometimes under human or +animal forms, and even in some cases on bas-reliefs, yet no one ever +ventured to set up in their sanctuaries those so-called animated or +prophetic statues to which the majority of the nations had rendered or +were rendering their solicitous homage. Altars, however, were erected +on the tops of hills, in palaces, or in the centre of cities, on which +fires were kindled in honour of the inferior deities or of the supreme +god himself. + +[Illustration: 031.jpg THE TWO IRANIAN ALTAKRAT NAKHSH-I-RUSTEM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a heliogravure in Marcel Dieulafoy. + +Two altars were usually set up together, and they are thus found here +and there among the ruins, as at Nakhsh-i-Kustem, the necropolis of +Persepolis, where a pair of such altars exist; these are cut, each out +of a single block, in a rocky mass which rises some thirteen feet above +the level of the surrounding plain. They are of cubic form and +squat appearance, looking like towers flanked at the four corners by +supporting columns which are connected by circular arches; above a +narrow moulding rises a crest of somewhat triangular projections; the +hearth is hollowed out on the summit of each altar.* + + * According to Perrot and Chipiez, "it is not impossible + that these altars were older than the great buildings of + Persepolis, and that they were erected for the old Persian + town which Darius raised to the position of capital." + +At Meshed-i-Murgab, on the site of the ancient Pasargadas, the altars +have disappeared, but the basements on which they were erected are +still visible, as also the flight of eight steps by which they were +approached. Those altars on which burned, a perpetual fire were not +left exposed to the open air: they would have run too great a risk +of contracting impurities, such as dust borne by the wind, flights of +birds, dew, rain, or snow. They were enclosed in slight structures, well +protected by walls, and attaining in some cases considerable dimensions, +or in pavilion-shaped edifices of stone adorned with columns. + +[Illustration: 032.jpg THE TWO IRANIAN ALTARS OF MURGAB] + + Drawn by Boudier, from Plandin and Coste. + +The sacrificial rites were of long duration, and frequent, and were +rendered very complex by interminable manual acts, ceremonial gestures, +and incantations. + +[Illustration: 032b.jpg THE OCCUPATIONS OF ANI IN THE ELYSIAN FIELDS] + +In cases where the altar was not devoted to maintaining a perpetual +fire, it was kindled when necessary with small twigs previously barked +and purified, and was subsequently fed with precious woods, preferably +cypress or laurel;* care was taken not to quicken the flame by blowing, +for the human breath would have desecrated the fire by merely passing +over it; death was the punishment for any one who voluntarily committed +such a heinous sacrilege. The recognised offering consisted of flowers, +bread, fruit, and perfumes, but these were often accompanied, as in all +ancient religions, by a bloody sacrifice; the sacrifice of a horse was +considered the most efficacious, but an ox, a cow, a sheep, a camel, +an ass, or a stag was frequently offered: in certain circumstances, +especially when it was desired to conciliate the favour of the god of +the underworld, a human victim, probably as a survival of very ancient +rites was preferred.** + + * Pausanias, who witnessed the cult as practised at + Hierocaesarsea, remarked the curious colour of the ashes + heaped upon the altar. + + * Most modern writers deny the authenticity of Herodotus' + account, because a sacrifice of this kind is opposed to the + spirit of the Magian religion, which is undoubtedly the + case, as far as the latest form of the religion is + concerned; but the testimony of Herodotus is so plain that + the fact itself must be considered as indisputable. We may + note that the passage refers to the foundation of a city; + and if we remember how persistent was the custom of human + sacrifice among ancient races at the foundation of + buildings, we shall be led to the conclusion that the + ceremony described by the Greek historian was a survival of + a very ancient usage, which had not yet fallen entirely into + desuetude at the Achaemenian epoch. + +[Illustration: 033.jpg THE SACRED FIRE BURNING ON THE ALTAR] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the impression of a Persian + intaglio. + +The king, whose royal position made him the representative of +Ahura-mazda on earth, was, in fact, a high priest, and was himself +able to officiate at the altar, but no one else could dispense with the +mediation of the Magi. The worshippers proceeded in solemn procession +to the spot where the ceremony was to take place, and there the priest, +wearing the tiara on his head, recited an invocation in a slow and +mysterious voice, and implored the blessings of heaven on the king +and nation. He then slaughtered the victim by a blow on the head, and +divided it into portions, which he gave back to the offerer without +reserving any of them, for Ahura-mazda required nothing but the soul; +in certain cases, the victim was entirely consumed by fire, but more +frequently nothing but a little of the fat and some of the entrails +were taken to feed and maintain the flame, and sometimes even this was +omitted.* Sacrifices were of frequent occurrence. Without mentioning +the extraordinary occasions on which a king would have a thousand bulls +slain at one time,** the Achaemenian kings killed each day a thousand +bullocks, asses, and stags: sacrifice under such circumstances was +another name for butchery, the object of which was to furnish the court +with a sufficient supply of pure meat. The ceremonial bore resemblance +in many ways to that still employed by the modern Zoroastrians of Persia +and India. + + * A relic of this custom may be discerned in the expiatory + sacrifice decreed in the _Vendidad_: "He shall sacrifice a + thousand head of small cattle, and he shall place their + entrails devoutly on the fire, with libations." + + ** The number 1000 seems to have had some ritualistic + significance, for it often recurs in the penances imposed on + the faithful as expiation for their sins: thus it was + enjoined to slay 1000 serpents, 1000 frogs, 1000 ants who + steal the grain, 1000 head of small cattle, 1000 swift + horses, 1000 camels, 1000 brown oxen. + +The officiating priest covered his mouth with the bands which fell from +his mitre, to prevent the god from being polluted by his breath; he held +in his hand the baresman, or sacred bunch of tamarisk, and prepared the +mysterious liquor from the haoma plant.* He was accustomed each morning +to celebrate divine service before the sacred fire, not to speak of the +periodic festivals in which he shared the offices with all the members +of his tribe, such as the feast of Mithra, the feast of the Fravashis,** +the feast commemorating the rout of Angro-mainyus,*** the feast of the +Saksea, during which the slaves were masters of the house.**** + + * The drink mentioned by the author of the _De Iside_, which + was extracted from the plant Omomi, and which the Magi + offered to the god of the underworld, is certainly the + haoma. The rite mentioned by the Greek author, which appears + to be an incantation against Ahriman, required, it seems, a + potion in which the blood of a wolf was a necessary + ingredient: this questionable draught was then carried to a + place where the sun's rays never shone, and was there + sprinkled on the ground as a libation. + + ** Menander speaks of this festival as conducted in his own + times, and tells us that it was called Eurdigan; modern + authorities usually admit that it goes back to the times of + the Achaemenids or even beyond. + + *** Agathias says that every worshipper of Ahura-mazda is + enjoined to kill the greatest possible number of animals + created by Angro-mainyus, and bring to the Magi the fruits + of his hunting. Herodotus had already spoken of this + destruction of life as one of the duties incumbent on every + Persian, and this gives probability to the view of modern + writers that the festival went back to the Achaemenian epoch. + + **** The festival of the Sakoa is mentioned by Ctesias. It + was also a Babylonian festival, and most modern authorities + conclude from this double use of the name that the festival + was borrowed from the Babylonians by the Persians, but this + point is not so certain as it is made out to be, and at any + rate the borrowing must have taken place very early, for the + festival was already well established in the Achaemenian + period. + +All the Magi were not necessarily devoted to the priesthood; but +those only became apt in the execution of their functions who had been +dedicated to them from infancy, and who, having received the necessary +instruction, were duly consecrated. These adepts were divided into +several classes, of which three at least were never confounded in their +functions--the sorcerers, the interpreters of dreams, and the most +venerated sages--and from these three classes were chosen the ruling +body of the order and its supreme head. Their rule of life was +strict and austere, and was encumbered with a thousand observances +indispensable to the preservation of perfect purity in their persons, +their altars, their victims, and their sacrificial vessels and +implements. The Magi of highest rank abstained from every form of +living thing as food, and the rest only partook of meat under certain +restrictions. Their dress was unpretentious, they wore no jewels, and +observed strict fidelity to the marriage vow;* and the virtues with +which they were accredited obtained for them, from very early times, +unbounded influence over the minds of the common people as well as over +those of the nobles: the king himself boasted of being their pupil, and +took no serious step in state affairs without consulting Ahura-mazda or +the other gods by their mediation. The classical writers maintain that +the Magi often cloaked monstrous vices under their apparent strictness, +and it is possible that this was the case in later days, but even then +moral depravity was probably rather the exception than the rule among +them:*** the majority of the Magi faithfully observed the rules of +honest living and ceremonial purity enjoined on them in the books handed +down by their ancestors. + + * Clement of Alexandria assures us that they were strictly + celibate, but besides the fact that married Magi are + mentioned several times, celibacy is still considered by + Zoroastrians an inferior state to that of marriage. + + ** In the Greek period, a spurious epitaph of Darius, son of + Hystaspes, was quoted, in which the king says of himself, "I + was the pupil of the Magi." + + *** These accusations are nearly all directed against their + incestuous marriages: it seems that the classical writers + took for a refinement of debauchery what really was before + all things a religious practice. + +There is reason to believe that the Magi were all-powerful among the +Medes, and that the reign of Astyages was virtually the reign of the +priestly caste; but all the Iranian states did not submit so patiently +to their authority, and the Persians at last proved openly refractory. +Their kings, lords of Susa as well as of Pasargadse, wielded all the +resources of Elam, and their military power must have equalled, if it +did not already surpass, that of their suzerain lords. Their tribes, +less devoted to the manner of living of the Assyrians and Chaldaeans, +had preserved a vigour and power of endurance which the Medes no longer +possessed; and they needed but an ambitious and capable leader, to rise +rapidly from the rank of subjects to that of rulers of Iran, and to +become in a short time masters of Asia. Such a chief they found in +Cyrus,* son of Cambyses; but although no more illustrious name than his +occurs in the list of the founders of mighty empires, the history of no +other has suffered more disfigurement from the imagination of his own +subjects or from the rancour of the nations he had conquered.** + + * The original form of the name is Kuru, Kurush, with a long + _o_, which forces us to reject the proposed connection with + the name of the Indian hero Kuru, in which the _u_ is short. + Numerous etymologies of the name Cyrus have been proposed. + The Persians themselves attributed to it the sense of _the + Sun_. + + ** We possess two entirely different versions of the history + of the origin of Cyrus, but one, that of Herodotus, has + reached us intact, while that of Ctesias is only known to us + in fragments from extracts made by Nicolas of Damascus, and + by Photius. Spiegel and Duncker thought to recognise in the + tradition followed by Ctesias one of the Persian accounts of + the history of Cyrus, but Bauer refuses to admit this + hypothesis, and prefers to consider it as a romance put + together by the author, according to the taste of his own + times, from facts partly different from those utilised by + Herodotus, and partly borrowed from Herodotus himself: but + it should very probably be regarded as an account of Median + origin, in which the founder of the Persian empire is + portrayed in the most unfavourable light. Or perhaps it may + be regarded as the form of the legend current among the + Pharnaspids who established themselves as satraps of + Dascylium in the time of the Achaemenids, and to whom the + royal house of Cappadocia traced its origin. It is almost + certain that the account given by Herodotus represents a + Median version of the legend, and, considering the important + part played in it by Harpagus, probably that version which + was current among the descendants of that nobleman. The + historian Dinon, as far as we can judge from the extant + fragments of his work, and from the abridgment made by + Trogus Pompeius, adopted the narrative of Ctesias, mingling + with it, however, some details taken from Herodotus and the + romance of Xenophon, the Cyropodia. + +The Medes, who could not forgive him for having made them subject to +their ancient vassals, took delight in holding him up to scorn, and not +being able to deny the fact of his triumph, explained it by the adoption +of tortuous and despicable methods. They would not even allow that he +was of royal birth, but asserted that he was of ignoble origin, the son +of a female goatherd and a certain Atradates,* who, belonging to +the savage clan of the Mardians, lived by brigandage. Cyrus himself, +according to this account, spent his infancy and early youth in a +condition not far short of slavery, employed at first in sweeping out +the exterior portions of the palace, performing afterwards the same +office in the private apartments, subsequently promoted to the charge of +the lamps and torches, and finally admitted to the number of the royal +cupbearers who filled the king's goblet at table. + + * According to one of the historians consulted by Strabo, + Cyrus himself, and not his father, was called Atradates. + +[Illustration: 039.jpg A ROYAL HUNTING-PARTY IN HUN] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the silver vase in the Museum + of the Hermitage. + +When he was at length enrolled in the bodyguard,* he won distinction by +his skill in all military exercises, and having risen from rank to rank, +received command of an expedition against the Cadusians. + + * The tradition reproduced by Dinon narrated that Cyrus had + begun by serving among the Kavasses, the three hundred + staff-bearers who accompanied the sovereign when he appeared + in public, and that he passed next into the royal body- + guard, and that once having attained this rank, he passed + rapidly through all the superior grades of the military + profession. + +On the march he fell in with a Persian groom named OEbaras,* who +had been cruelly scourged for some misdeed, and was occupied in the +transportation of manure in a boat: in obedience to an oracle the two +united their fortunes, and together devised a vast scheme for liberating +their compatriots from the Median yoke. + + * This OEbaras whom Ctesias makes the accomplice of Cyrus, + seems to be an antedated forestallment of theoebaras whom + the tradition followed by Herodotus knows as master of the + horse under Darius, and to whom that king owed his elevation + to the throne. + +How Atradates secretly prepared the revolt of the Mardians; how Cyrus +left his camp to return to the court at Ecbatana, and obtained from +Astyages permission to repair to his native country under pretext of +offering sacrifices, but in reality to place himself at the head of the +conspirators; how, finally, the indiscretion of a woman revealed the +whole plot to a eunuch of the harem, and how he warned Astyages in the +middle of his evening banquet by means of a musician or singing-girl, +was frequently narrated by the Median bards in their epic poems, and +hence the story spread until it reached in later times even as far as +the Greeks.* + + * According to Ctesias, it was a singing-girl who revealed + the existence of the plot to Astyages; according to Dinon, + it was the bard Angares. Windischmann has compared this name + with that of the Vedic guild of singers, the Angira. + +Astyages, roused to action by the danger, abandons the pleasures of the +chase in which his activity had hitherto found vent, sets out on the +track of the rebel, wins a preliminary victory on the Hyrba, and kills +the father of Cyrus: some days after, he again overtakes the rebels, at +the entrance to the defiles leading to Pasargadse, and for the second +time fortune is on the point of declaring in his favour, when the +Persian women, bringing back their husbands and sons to the conflict, +urge them on to victory. The fame of their triumph having spread abroad, +the satraps and provinces successfully declared for the conqueror; +Hyrcania, first, followed by the Parthians, the Sakae, and the +Bactrians: Astyages was left almost alone, save for a few faithful +followers, in the palace at Ecbatana. His daughter Amytis and his +son-in-law Spitamas concealed him so successfully on the top of the +palace, that he escaped discovery up to the moment when Cyrus was on +the point of torturing his grandchildren to force them to reveal his +hiding-place: thereupon he gave himself up to his enemies, but was at +length, after being subjected to harsh treatment for a time, set at +liberty and entrusted with the government of a mountain tribe dwelling +to the south-east of the Caspian Sea, that of the Barcanians. Later on +he perished through the treachery of OEbaras, and his corpse was left +unburied in the desert, but by divine interposition relays of lions were +sent to guard it from the attacks of beasts of prey: Cyrus, acquainted +with this miraculous circumstance, went in search of the body and gave +it a magnificent burial.* Another legend asserted, on the contrary, +that Cyrus was closely connected with the royal line of Cyaxares; this +tradition was originally circulated among the great Median families who +attached themselves to the Achaemenian dynasty.** + + * The passage in Herodotus leads Marquart to believe that + the murder of Astyages formed part of the primitive legend, + but was possibly attributed to Cambysos, son of Cyrus, + rather than to OEbaras, the companion of the conqueror's + early years. + + ** This is the legend as told to Herodotus in Asia Minor, + probably by the members of the family of Harpagus, which the + Greek historian tried to render credible by interpreting the + miraculous incidents in a rationalising manner. + +[Illustration: 042.jpg REMAINS OF THE PALACE OF ECBATANA] + + Drawn by Boudier, from Coste and Flandin. + +According to this legend Astyages had no male heirs, and the sceptre +would have naturally descended from him to his daughter Mandane and +her sons. Astyages was much alarmed by a certain dream concerning his +daughter: he dreamt that water gushed forth so copiously from her +womb as to flood not only Ecbatana, but the whole of Asia, and the +interpreters, as much terrified as himself, counselled him not to give +Mandane in marriage to a Persian noble of the race of the Achaemenids, +named Cambyses; but a second dream soon troubled the security into which +this union had lulled him: he saw issuing from his daughter's womb a +vine whose branches overshadowed Asia, and the interpreters, being once +more consulted, predicted that a grandson was about to be born to him +whose ambition would cost him his crown. He therefore bade a certain +nobleman of his court, named Harpagus--he whose descendants preserved +this version of the story of Cyrus--to seize the infant and put it to +death as soon as its mother should give it birth; but the man, touched +with pity, caused the child to be exposed in the woods by one of the +royal shepherds. A bitch gave suck to the tiny creature, who, however, +would soon have succumbed to the inclemency of the weather, had not the +shepherd's wife, being lately delivered of a still-born son, persuaded +her husband to rescue the infant, whom she nursed with the same +tenderness as if he had been her own child. The dog was, as we know, a +sacred animal among the Iranians: the incident of the bitch seems, then, +to have been regarded by them as an indication of divine intervention, +but the Greeks were shocked by the idea, and invented an explanation +consonant with their own customs. They supposed that the woman had borne +the name of Spako: Spako signifying _bitch_ in the language of Media.* + + * Herodotus asserts that the child's foster-mother was + called in Greek _Kyno_, in Median _Spalco_, which comes to + the same thing, for _spaha_ means _bitch_ in Median. Further + on he asserts that the parents of the child heard of the + name of his nurse with joy, as being of good augury; "and, + in order that the Persians might think that Cyrus had been + preserved alive by divine agency, _they spread abroad the + report that Cyrus had been suckled by a bitch_. And thus + arose the fable commonly accepted." Trogus Pompeius received + the original story probably through Dinon, and inserted it + in his book. + +Cyrus grew to boyhood, and being accepted by Mandane as her son, +returned to the court; his grandfather consented to spare his life, but, +to avenge himself on Harpagus, he caused the limbs of the nobleman's own +son to be served up to him at a feast. Thenceforth Harpagus had but +one idea, to overthrow the tyrant and transfer the crown to the young +prince: his project succeeded, and Cyrus, having overcome Astyages, +was proclaimed king by the Medes as well as by the Persians. The real +history of Cyrus, as far as we can ascertain it, was less romantic. We +gather that Kurush, known to us as Cyrus, succeeded his father Cambyses +as ruler of Anshan about 559 or 558 B.C.,* and that he revolted against +Astyages in 553 or 552 B.C.,** and defeated him. The Median army +thereupon seizing its own leader, delivered him into the hands of the +conqueror: Ecbatana was taken and sacked, and the empire fell at one +blow, or, more properly speaking, underwent a transformation (550 B.C.). +The transformation was, in fact, an internal revolution in which the +two peoples of the same race changed places. The name of the Medes lost +nothing of the prestige which it enjoyed in foreign lands, but that of +the Persians was henceforth united with it, and shared its renown: like +Astyages and his predecessors, Cyrus and his successors reigned equally +over the two leading branches of the ancient Iranian stock, but whereas +the former had been kings of the Medes and Persians, the latter became +henceforth kings of the Persians and Medes.*** + + * The length of Cyrus' reign is fixed at thirty years by + Ctesias, followed by Dinon and Trogus Pompeius, but at + twenty-nine years by Herodotus, whose computation I here + follow. Hitherto the beginning of his reign has been made to + coincide with the fall of Astyages, which was consequently + placed in 569 or 568 B.C., but the discovery of the _Annals + of Nabonidus_ obliges us to place the taking of Ecbatana in + the sixth year of the Babylonian king, which corresponds to + the year 550 B.C., and consequently to hold that Cyrus + reckoned his twenty-nine years from the moment when he + succeeded his father Cambyses. + + ** The inscription on the _Rassam Cylinder of Abu-Habba_, + seems to make the fall of the Median king, who was suzerain + of the Scythians of Harran, coincide with the third year of + Nabonidus, or the year 553-2 B.C. But it is only the date of + the commencement of hostilities between Cyrus and Astyages + which is here furnished, and this manner of interpreting the + text agrees with the statement of the Median traditions + handed down by the classical authors, that three combats + took place between Astyages and Cyrus before the final + victory of the Persians. + + *** This equality of the two peoples is indicated by the + very terms employed by Darius, whom he speaks of them, in + the _Great Inscription of Behistun_. He says, for example, + in connection with the revolt of the false Smerdis, that + "the deception prevailed greatly in the land, in Persia and + Media as well as in the other provinces," and further on, + that "the whole people rose, and passed over from Cambyses + to him, Persia and Media as well as the other countries." In + the same way he mentions "the army of Persians and Medes + which was with him," and one sees that he considered Medes + and Persians to be on exactly the same footing. + +The change effected was so natural that their nearest neighbours, the +Chaldaeans, showed no signs of uneasiness at the outset. They confined +themselves to the bare registration of the fact in their annals at the +appointed date, without comment, and Nabonidus in no way deviated from +the pious routine which it had hitherto pleased him to follow. Under +a sovereign so good-natured there was little likelihood of war, at all +events with external foes, but insurrections were always breaking out in +different parts of his territory, and we read of difficulties in Khume +in the first year of his reign, in Hamath in his second year, and +troubles in Plionicia in the third year, which afforded an opportunity +for settling the Tyrian question. Tyre had led a far from peaceful +existence ever since the day when, from sheer apathy, she had accepted +the supremacy of Nebuchadrezzar.* + + * All these events are known through the excerpt from + Menander preserved to us by Josephus in his treatise + _Against Apion_. + +Baal II. had peacefully reigned there for ten years (574-564), but after +his death the people had overthrown the monarchy, and various _suffetes_ +had followed one another rapidly--Eknibaal ruled two months, Khelbes ten +months, the high priest Abbar three months, the two brothers Mutton +and Gerastratus six years, all of them no doubt in the midst of endless +disturbances; whereupon a certain Baalezor restored the royal dignity, +but only to enjoy it for the space of one year. On his death, the +inhabitants begged the Chaldaeans to send them, as a successor to the +crown, one of those princes whom, according to custom, Baal had not long +previously given over as hostages for a guarantee of his loyalty, and +Nergal-sharuzur for this purpose selected from their number Mahar-baal, +who was probably a son of Ithobaal (558-557).* When, at the end of four +years, the death of Mahar-baal left the throne vacant (554-553), the +Tyrians petitioned for his brother Hirom, and Nabonidus, who was then +engaged in Syria, came south as far as Phoenicia and installed the +prince.** + + * The fragment of Menander does not give the Babylonian + king's name, but a simple chronological calculation proves + him to have been Nergal-sharuzur. + + ** _Annals of Nabonidus_, where mention is made of a certain + Nabu-makhdan-uzur--but the reading of the name is uncertain + --who seems to be in revolt against the Chaldaeans. Floigl has + very ingeniously harmonised the dates of the Annals with + those obtained from the fragment of Menander, and has thence + concluded that the object of the expedition of the third + year was the enthroning of Hirom which is mentioned in the + fragment, and during whose fourteenth year Cyrus became King + of Babylon. + +This took place at the very moment when Cyrus was preparing his +expedition against Astyages; and the Babylonian monarch took advantage +of the agitation into which the Medes were thrown by this invasion, to +carry into execution a project which he had been planning ever since his +accession. Shortly after that event he had had a dream, in which Marduk, +the great lord, and Sin, the light of heaven and earth, had appeared +on either side of his couch, the former addressing him in the following +words: "Nabonidus, King of Babylon, with the horses of thy chariot bring +brick, rebuild E-khul-khul, the temple of Harran, that Sin, the great +lord, may take up his abode therein." Nabonidus had respectfully pointed +out that the town was in the hands of the Scythians, who were subjects +of the Medes, but the god had replied: "The Scythian of whom thou +speakest, he, his country and the kings his protectors, are no more." +Cyrus was the instrument of the fulfilment of the prophecy. Nabonidus +took possession of Harran without difficulty, and immediately put the +necessary work in hand. This was, indeed, the sole benefit that he +derived from the changes which were taking place, and it is probable +that his inaction was the result of the enfeebled condition of the +empire. The country over which he ruled, exhausted by the Assyrian +conquest, and depopulated by the Scythian invasions, had not had time to +recover its forces since it had passed into the hands of the Chaldaeans; +and the wars which Nebuchadrezzar had been obliged to undertake for the +purpose of strengthening his own power, though few in number and not +fraught with danger, had tended to prolong the state of weakness into +which it had sunk. If the hero of the dynasty who had conquered Egypt +had not ventured to measure his strength with the Median princes, and +if he had courted the friendship not only of the warlike Cyaxares but of +the effeminate Astyages, it would not be prudent for Nabonidus to come +into collision with the victorious new-comers from the heart of Iran. +Chaldsea doubtless was right in avoiding hostilities, at all events so +long as she had to bear the brunt of them alone, but other nations +had not the same motives for exercising prudence, and Lydia was fully +assured that the moment had come for her to again take up the ambitious +designs which the treaty of 585 had forced her to renounce. Alyattes, +relieved from anxiety with regard to the Medes, had confined his +energies to establishing firmly his kingdom in the regions of Asia Minor +extending westwards from the Halys and the Anti-Taurus. The acquisition +of Colophon, the destruction of Smyrna, the alliance with the towns of +the littoral, had ensured him undisputed possession of the valleys of +the Caicus and the Hermus, but the plains of the Maeander in the south, +and the mountainous districts of Mysia in the north, were not yet fully +brought under his sway. He completed the occupation of the Troad and +Mysia about 584, and afterwards made of the entire province an appanage +for Adramyttios, who was either his son or his brother.* + + * The doings of Alyattes in Troas and in Mysia are vouched + for by the anecdote related by Plutarch concerning this + king's relations with Pittakos. The founding of Adramyttium + is attributed to him by Stephen of Byzantium, after + Aristotle, who made Adramyttios the brother of Croesus. + Radat gives good reasons for believing that Adramyttios was + brother to Alyattes and uncle to Crosus, and the same person + as Adramys, the son of Sadyattes, according to Xanthus of + Lydia. Radet gives the year 584 for the date of these + events. + +He even carried his arms into Bithynia, where, to enforce his rule, he +built several strongholds, one of which, called Alyatta, commanded +the main road leading from the basin of the Rhyndacus to that of +the Sangarius, skirting the spurs of Olympus.* He experienced some +difficulty in reducing Caria, and did not finally succeed in his efforts +till nearly the close of his reign in 566. Adramyttios was then dead, +and his fief had devolved on his eldest surviving brother or nephew, +Crosus, whose mother was by birth a Carian. This prince had incurred +his father's displeasure by his prodigality, and an influential party +desired that he should be set aside in favour of his brother Pantaleon, +the son of Alyattes by an Ionian. Croesus, having sown his wild oats, +was anxious to regain his father's favour, and his only chance of so +doing was by distinguishing himself in the coming war, if only money +could be found for paying his mercenaries. Sadyattes, the richest banker +in Lydia, who had already had dealings with all the members of the royal +family, refused to make him a loan, but Theokharides of Priene advanced +him a thousand gold staters, which enabled Crosus to enroll his +contingent at Bphesus, and to be the first to present himself at the +rallying-place for the troops.** + + * Radet places the operations in Bithynia before the Median + war, towards 594 at the latest. I think that they are more + probably connected with those in Mysia, and that they form + part of the various measures taken after the Median war to + achieve the occupation of the regions west of the Halys. + + ** A mutilated extract from Xanthus of Lydia in Suidas seems + to carry these events back to the time of the war against + Priene, towards the beginning of the reign. The united + evidence of the accompanying circumstances proves that they + belong to the time of the old age of Alyattes, and makes it + very likely that they occurred in 566, the date proposed by + Radet for the Carian campaign. + +Caria was annexed to the kingdom, but the conditions under which the +annexation took place are not known to us;* and Croesus contributed so +considerably to the success of the campaign, that he was reinstated in +popular favour. Alyattes, however, was advancing in years, and was soon +about to rejoin his adversaries Cyaxares and Nebuchadrezzar in Hades. +Like the Pharaohs, the kings of Lydia were accustomed to construct +during their lifetime the monuments in which they were to repose after +death. Their necropolis was situated not far from Sardes, on the shores +of the little lake Gygaea; it was here, close to the resting-place of +his ancestors and their wives, that Alyattes chose the spot for his +tomb,** and his subjects did not lose the opportunity of proving to what +extent he had gained their affections. + + * The fragment of Nicolas of Damascus does not speak of the + result of the war, but it was certainly favourable, for + Herodotus counts the Carians among Croesus' subjects. + + ** The only one of these monuments, besides that of + Alyattes, which is mentioned by the ancients, belonged to + one of the favourites of Gyges, and was called _the Tomb of + the Courtesan_. Strabo, by a manifest error, has applied + this name _to_ the tomb of Alyattes. + +[Illustration: 050.jpg THE TUMULUS OF ALYATTES AND THE ENTRANCE TO THE +PASSAGE] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the sketch by Spiegolthal. + +His predecessors had been obliged to finish their work at their own +expense and by forced labour;* but in the case of Alyattes the three +wealthiest classes of the population, the merchants, the craftsmen, and +the courtesans, all united to erect for him an enormous tumulus, the +remains of which still rise 220 feet above the plains of the Hermus. + + +* This, at least, seems to be the import of the passage in Clearchus of +Soli, where that historian gives an account of the erection of the _Tomb +of the Courtesan_. + + +[Illustration: 051.jpg ONE OF THE LYDIAN ORNAMENTS IN THE LOUVRE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph. + +The sub-structure consisted of a circular wall of great blocks of +limestone resting on the solid rock, and it contained in the centre +a vault of grey marble which was reached by a vaulted passage. A huge +mound of red clay and yellowish earth was raised above the chamber, +surmounted by a small column representing a phallus, and by four stelae +covered with inscriptions, erected at the four cardinal points. It +follows the traditional type of burial-places in use among the old +Asianic races, but it is constructed with greater regularity than most +of them; Alyattes was laid within it in 561, after a glorious reign of +forty-nine years.* + + * Herodotus gave fifty-seven years' length of reign to + Alyattes, whilst the chronographers, who go back as far as + Xanthus of Lydia, through Julius Africanus, attribute to him + only forty-nine; historians now prefer the latter figures, + at least as representing the maximum length of reign. + +[Illustration: 052.jpg MOULD FOR JEWELLERY OF LYDIAN ORIGIN] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph. + +It was wholly due to him that Lydia was for the moment raised to the +level of the most powerful states which then existed on the eastern +shores of the Mediterranean. He was by nature of a violent and +uncontrolled temper, and during his earlier years he gave way to fits of +anger, in which he would rend the clothes of those who came in his way +or would spit in their faces, but with advancing years his character +became more softened, and he finally earned the reputation of being a +just and moderate sovereign. The little that we know of his life reveals +an energy and steadfastness of purpose quite unusual; he proceeded +slowly but surely in his undertakings, and if he did not succeed in +extending his domains as far as he had hoped at the beginning of his +campaigns against the Medes, he at all events never lost any of the +provinces he had acquired. Under his auspices agriculture flourished, +and manufactures attained a degree of perfection hitherto unknown. + +[Illustration: 053.jpg A LYDIAN FUNERY COUCH] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Choisy. + +None of the vases in gold, silver, or wrought-iron, which he dedicated +and placed among the treasures of the Greek temples, has come down to +us, but at rare intervals ornaments of admirable workmanship are found +in the Lydian tombs. Those now in the Louvre exhibit, in addition to +human figures somewhat awkwardly treated, heads of rams, bulls, and +griffins of a singular delicacy and faithfulness to nature. These +examples reveal a blending of Grecian types and methods of production +with those of Egypt or Chaldaea, the Hellenic being predominant,* and +the same combination of heterogeneous elements must have existed in the +other domains of industrial art---in the dyed and embroidered stuffs,** +the vases,*** and the furniture.**** + + * The ornaments, of which we have now no specimens, but only + the original moulds cut in serpentine, betray imitation of + Assyria and Chaldaea. + + + ** The custom of clothing themselves in dyed and embroidered + stuffs was one of the effeminate habits with which the poet + Xenophanes reproached the Ionians as having been learned + from their Lydian neighbours. + + *** M. Perrot points out that one of the vases discovered by + G. Dennis at Bintepe is an evident imitation of the Egyptian + and Phoenician chevroned glasses. The shape of the vase is + one of those found represented, with the same decoration, on + Egyptian monuments subsequent to the Middle Empire, where + the chevroned lines seem to be derived from the undulations + of ribbon-alabaster. + + **** The stone funerary couches which have been discovered + in Lydian tombs are evidently copied from pieces of wooden + furniture similarly arranged and decorated. + +[Illustration: 054a.jpg LYDIAN COIN BEARING A RUNNING FOX] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a specimen in the Cabinet des + Medailles: a stater of electrum weighing 14.19 grammes. + + [These illustrations are larger than the original pieces.--Tr.] + +[Illustration: 054b.jpg LYDIAN COIN WITH A HARE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the _Cabinet des + Medailles._ + +Lydia, inheriting the traditions of Phrygia, and like that state +situated on the border of two worlds, allied moreover with Egypt as well +as Babylon, and in regular communication with the Delta, borrowed from +each that which fell in with her tastes or seemed likely to be most +helpful to her in her commercial relations. As the country produced +gold in considerable quantities, and received still more from extraneous +sources, the precious metal came soon to be employed as a means of +exchange under other conditions than those which had hitherto prevailed. +Besides acting as commission agents and middle-men for the disposal +of merchandise at Sardes, Ephesus, Miletus, Clazomenaa, and all the +maritime cities, the Lydians performed at the same time the functions +of pawnbrokers, money-changers, and bankers, and they were ready to +make loans to private individuals as well as to kings. Obliged by the +exigencies of their trade to cut up the large gold ingots into sections +sufficiently small to represent the smallest values required in daily +life, they did not at first impress upon these portions any stamp as +a guarantee of the exact weight or the purity of the metal; they were +estimated like the _tabonu_ of the Egyptians, by actual weighing on the +occasion of each business transaction. + +[Illustration: 055.jpg LYDIAN COINS WITH A LION AND LION'S HEAD] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the Cabinet des + Medailles. + +The idea at length occurred to them to impress each of these pieces with +a common stamp, serving, like the trade-marks employed by certain guilds +of artisans, to testify at once to their genuineness and their exact +weight: in a word, they were the inventors of money. The most ancient +coinage of their mint was like a flattened sphere, more or less ovoid, +in form: it consisted at first of electrum, and afterwards of smelted +gold, upon which parallel striae or shallow creases were made by a +hammer. There were two kinds of coinage, differing considerably from +each other; one consisted of the heavy stater, weighing about 14.20 +grammes, perhaps of Phoenician origin, the other of the light stater, of +some 10.80 grammes in weight, which doubtless served as money for +the local needs of Lydia: both forms were subdivided into pieces +representing respectively the third, the sixth, the twelfth, and the +twenty-fourth of the value of the original. + +[Illustration: 056a.jpg COIN BEARING HEAD OF MOUFLON GOAT] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the Cabinet des + Medailles. + +[Illustration: 056b.jpg MONEY OF CROESUS] + +The stamp which came to be impressed upon the money was in relief, and +varied with the banker; * when political communities began to follow the +example of individuals, it also bore the name of the city where it was +minted. + + * [The best English numismatists do not agree with M. + Babelon's "banker" theory. Cf. Barclay V. Head, _Historia + Nummorum_, p. xxxiv.---Tr.] + +The type of impression once selected, was little modified for fear of +exciting mistrust among the people, but it was more finely executed and +enlarged so as to cover one of the faces, that which we now call the +_obverse_. Several subjects entered into the composition of the design, +each being impressed by a special punch: thus in the central concavity +we find the figure of a running fox, emblem of Apollo Bassareus, and +in two similar depressions, one above and the other below the central, +appear a horse's or stag's head, and a flower with four petals. Later +on the design was simplified, and contained only one, or at most two +figures--a hare squatting under a tortuous climbing plant, a roaring +lion crouching with its head turned to the left, the grinning muzzle of +a lion, the horned profile of an antelope or mouflon sheep: rosettes and +flowers, included within a square depression, were then used to replace +the stria and irregular lines of the reverse. These first efforts were +without inscriptions; it was not long, however, before there came to be +used, in addition to the figures, legends, from which we sometimes +learn the name of the banker; we read, for instance, "I am the mark of +Phannes," on a stater of electrum struck at Ephesus, with a stag grazing +on the right. We are ignorant as to which of the Lydian kings first made +use of the new invention, and so threw into circulation the gold and +electrum which filled his treasury to overflowing. The ancients say it +was Gyges, but the Gygads of their time cannot be ascribed to him; they +were, without any doubt, simply ingots marked with the stamp of the +banker of the time, and were attributed to Gyges either out of pure +imagination or by mistake.* + + * The gold of Gyges is known to us through a passage in + Pollux. Fr. Lenormant attributed to Gyges the coins which + Babelon restores to the banks of Asia Minor. Babelon sees in + the Gygads only "ingots of gold, struck _possibly_ in the + name of Gyges, capable of being used as coin, doubtless + representing a definitely fixed weight, but still lacking + that ultimate perfection which characterises the coinage of + civilised peoples: from the standpoint of circulation in the + market their shape was defective and inconvenient; their + subdivision did not extend to such small fractions as to + make all payments easy; they were too large and too dear for + easy circulation through many hands." + +The same must be said of the pieces of money which have been assigned +to his successors, and, even when we find on them traces of writing, we +cannot be sure of their identification; one legend which was considered +to contain the name of Sadyattes has been made out, without producing +conviction, as involving, instead, that of Clazomenae. There is no +certainty until after the time of Alyattes, that is, in the reign of +Croesus. It is, as a fact, to this prince that we owe the fine gold and +silver coins bearing on the obverse a demi-lion couchant confronting +a bull treated similarly.* The two creatures appear to threaten one +another, and the introduction of the lion recalls a tradition regarding +the city of Sardes; it may represent the actual animal which was alleged +to have been begotten by King Meles of one of his concubines, and which +he caused to be carried solemnly round the city walls to render them +impregnable. + +Croesus did not succeed to the throne of his father without trouble. His +enemies had not laid down their arms after the Carian campaign, and they +endeavoured to rid themselves of him by all the means in use at Oriental +courts. The Ionian mother of his rival furnished the slave who kneaded +the bread with poison, telling her to mix it with the dough, but the +woman revealed the intended crime to her master, who at once took the +necessary measures to frustrate the plot; later on in life he dedicated +in the temple of Delphi a statue of gold representing the faithful +bread-maker.** The chief of the rival party seems to have been +Sadyattes, the banker from whom Croesus had endeavoured to borrow money +at the beginning of his career, but several of the Lydian nobles, whose +exercise of feudal rights had been restricted by the growing authority +of the Mermnado, either secretly or openly gave their adhesion to +Pantaleon, among them being Glaucias of Sidene; the Greek cities, always +ready to chafe at authority, were naturally inclined to support a +claimant born of a Greek mother, and Pindarus the tyrant of Ephesus, and +grandson of the Melas who had married the daughter of Gyges, joined the +conspirators. + + * Lenormant ascribed an issue of coins without inscriptions + to the kings Ardys, Sadyattes, and Alyattes, but this has + since been believed not to have been their work. + + ** Herodotus mentions the statue of the bread-maker, giving + no reason why Crosus dedicated it. The author quoted by + Plutarch would have it that in revenge he made his half- + brothers eat the poisoned bread. + +[Illustration: 059.jpg VIEW OF THE SITE AND RUINS OF EPHESUS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph. + +As soon as Alyattes was dead, Crosus, who was kept informed by his spies +of their plans, took action with a rapidity which disconcerted his +adversaries. It is not known what became of Pantaleon, whether he was +executed or fled the country, but his friends were tortured to death or +had to purchase their pardon dearly. Sadyattes was stretched on a rack +and torn with carding combs.* Glaucias, besieged in his fortress of +Sidene, opened its gates after a desperate resistance; the king +demolished the walls, and pronounced a solemn curse on those who should +thereafter rebuild them. Pindarus, summoned to surrender, refused, but +as he had not sufficient troops to defend the entire city, he evacuated +the lower quarters, and concentrated all his forces on the defence of +the citadel; he refused to open negotiations until after the fall of a +tower at the moment when a practicable breach had been made, and +succeeded in obtaining an honourable capitulation for himself and his +people by a ruse. + + * The history of Sadyattes and of his part in the conspiracy + results from points of agreement which have been established + between various passages in Herodotus and in Nicolas of + Damascus, where the person is sometimes named and sometimes + not. + +He dedicated the town to Artemis, and by means of a rope connected +the city walls with the temple, which stood nearly a mile away in +the suburbs, and then entreated for peace in the name of the goddess. +Croesus was amused at the artifice, and granted favourable conditions to +the inhabitants, but insisted on the expulsion of the tyrant. The latter +bowed before the decree, and confiding the care of his children and +possessions to his friend Pasicles, left for the Peloponnesus with his +retinue. Bphesus up to this time had been a kind of allied principality, +whose chiefs, united to the royal family of Lydia by marriages from +generation to generation, recognised the nominal suzerainty of the +reigning king rather than his effective authority. It was in fact +a species of protectorate, which, while furthering the commercial +interests of Lydia, satisfied at the same time the passion of the Greek +cities for autonomy. Croesus, encouraged by his first success, could +not rest contented with such a compromise. He attacked, successively, +Miletus and the various Ionian, AEolian, and Dorian communities of +the littoral, and brought them all under his sway, promising on their +capitulation that their local constitutions should be respected if they +became direct dependencies of his empire. He placed garrisons in such +towns as were strategically important for him to occupy, but everywhere +else he razed to the ground the fortresses and ramparts which might +afford protection to his enemies in case of rebellion, compelling the +inhabitants to take up their abode on the open plain where they could +not readily defend themselves.* The administration of the affairs of +each city was entrusted to either a wealthy citizen, or an hereditary +tyrant, or an elected magistrate, who was held responsible for its +loyalty; the administrator paid over the tribute to the sovereign's +treasurers, levied the specified contingent and took command of it in +time of war, settled any quarrels which might occur, and was empowered, +when necessary, to exile turbulent and ambitious persons whose words +or actions appeared to him to be suspicious. Croesus treated with +generosity those republics which tendered him loyal obedience, and +affected a special devotion to their gods. He gave a large number of +ex-voto offerings to the much-revered sanctuary of Bran-chidse, in the +territory of Miletus; he dedicated some golden heifers at the Artemision +of Ephesus, and erected the greater number of the columns of that temple +at his own expense.** + + * He treated thus the Ephesians and the Ilians. + + ** The fragments of columns brought from this temple by Wood + and preserved in the British Museum have on one of the bases + the remains of an inscription confirming the testimony of + Herodotus. + +At one time in his career he appears to have contemplated extending his +dominion over the Greek islands, and planned, as was said, the equipment +of a fleet, but he soon acknowledged the imprudence of such a project, +and confined his efforts to strengthening his advantageous position on +the littoral by contracting alliances with the island populations and +with the nations of Greece proper.* + + * He seems to have been deterred from his project by a + sarcastic remark made, as some say, by Pittakos the + Mitylenian, or according to others, by Bias of Priene. + +Following the diplomacy of his ancestors, he began by devoting himself +to the gods of the country, and took every pains to gain the good graces +of Apollo of Delphi. He dispensed his gifts with such liberality that +neither his contemporaries nor subsequent generations grew weary +of admiring it. On one occasion he is said to have sacrificed three +thousand animals, and burnt, moreover, on the pyre the costly contents +of a palace--couches covered with silver and gold, coverlets and robes +of purple, and golden vials. His subjects were commanded to contribute +to the offering, and he caused one hundred and seventeen hollow +half-bricks to be cast of the gold which they brought him for this +purpose. These bricks were placed in regular layers within the treasury +at Delphi where the gifts of Lydia from the time of Alyattes were +deposited, and the top of the pile was surmounted by a lion of fine +gold of such a size that the pedestal and statue together were worth +L1,200,000 of our present money. These, however, formed only a tithe of +his gifts; many of the objects dedicated by him were dispersed half a +century (548 B.C.) later when the temple was burnt, and found their +way into the treasuries of the Greek states which enjoyed the favour +of Apollo--among them being an enormous gold cup sent to Clazomeme, and +four barrels of silver and two bowls, one of silver and one of gold, +sent to the Corinthians. The people at Delphi, as well as their god, +participated in the royal largesse, and Croesus distributed to them +the sum of two staters per head. No doubt their gratitude led them by +degrees to exaggerate the total of the benefits showered upon them, +especially as time went on and their recollection of the king became +fainter; but even when we reduce the number of the many gifts which +they attributed to him, we are still obliged to acknowledge that they +surpassed anything hitherto recorded, and that they produced throughout +the whole of Greece the effect that Croesus had desired. The oracle +granted to him and to the Lydians the rights of citizenship in +perpetuity, the privilege of priority in consulting it before all +comers, precedence for his legates over other foreign embassies, and a +place of honour at the games and at all religious ceremonies. It was, +in fact, the admission of Lydia into the Hellenic concert, and the +offerings which Croesus showered upon the sanctuaries of lesser +fame--that of Zeus at Dodona, of Amphiaraos at Oropos, of Trophonios at +Lebadsea, on the oracle of Abee in Phocis, and on the Ismenian Apollo +at Thebes--secured a general approval of the act. Political alliances +contracted with the great families of Athens, the Alcmonidae and +Eupatridae,* with the Cypselidae of, Corinth,** and with the Heraclidae of +Sparta,*** completed the policy of bribery which Croesus had inaugurated +in the sacerdotal republics, with the result that, towards 548, being in +the position of uncontested patron of the Greeks of Asia, he could count +upon the sympathetic neutrality of the majority of their compatriots in +Europe, and on the effective support of a smaller number of them in +the event of his being forced into hostilities with one or other of his +Asiatic rivals. + + * Traditions as to Crcesus' relations with Alcrnseon are + preserved by Herodotus. The king compelled the inhabitants of + Lampsacus, his vassals, to release the elder Miltiades, whom + they had taken prisoner, and thus earned the gratitude of + the Eupatridae. + + ** Alyattes had been the ally of Periander, as is proved by + an anecdote in Herodotus. This friendship continued under + Crosus, for after the fall of the monarchy, when the special + treasuries of Lydia were suppressed, the ex-voto offerings + of the Lydian kings were deposited in the treasury of + Corinth. + + *** According to Theopompus, the Lacedaemonians, wishing to + gild the face of the statue of the Amyclsean, Apollo, and + finding no gold in Greece, consulted the Delphian + prophetess: by her advice they sent to Lydia to buy the + precious metal from Croesus. + +This, however, constituted merely one side of his policy, and the +negotiations which he carried on with his western neighbours were +conducted simultaneously with his wars against those of the east. +Alyattes had asserted his supremacy over the whole of the country on the +western side of the Halys, but it was of a very vague kind, having no +definite form, and devoid of practical results as far as several of the +districts in the interior were concerned. Croesus made it a reality, and +in less than ten years all the peoples contained within it, the Lycians +excepted--Mysians, Phrygians, Mariandynians, Paphlagonians, Thynians, +Bithynians, and Pamphylians--had rendered him homage. In its +constitution his empire in no way differed from those which at that time +shared the rule of Western Asia; the number of districts administered +directly by the sovereign were inconsiderable, and most of the states +comprised in it preserved their autonomy. Phrygia had its own princes, +who were descendants of Midas,* and in the same way Caria and Mysia +also retained theirs; but these vassal lords paid tribute and furnished +contingents to their liege of Sardes, and garrisons lodged in their +citadels as well as military stations or towns founded in strategic +positions, such as Prusa** in Bithynia, Cibyra, Hyda, Grimenothyrae, and +Temenothyrae,*** kept strict watch over them, securing the while free +circulation for caravans or individual merchants throughout the whole +country. Croesus had achieved his conquest just as Media was tottering +to its fall under the attacks of the Persians. + + * This is proved by the history of the Prince Adrastus in + Herodotus. Herodotus probably alluded to this colonisation + by Crcesus, when he said that the Mysians of Olympus were + descendants of Lydian colonists. + + ** Strabo merely says that the Kibyrates were descended from + the Lydians who dwelt in Cabalia; since Croesus was, as far + as we know, the only Lydian king who ever possessed this + part of Asia, Radet, with good reason, concludes that Kibyra + was colonised by him. + + *** Radet has given good reasons for believing that at least + some of these towns were enlarged and fortified by Croesus. + +Their victory placed the Lydian king in a position of great perplexity, +since it annulled the treaties concluded after the eclipse of 585, and +by releasing him from the obligations then contracted, afforded him an +opportunity of extending the limits within which his father had confined +himself. Now or never was the time for crossing the Halys in order to +seize those mineral districts with which his subjects had so long had +commercial relations; on the other hand, the unexpected energy of which +the Persians had just given proof, their bravery, their desire for +conquest, and the valour of their leader, all tended to deter him from +the project: should he be victorious, Cyrus would probably not rest +contented with tke annexation of a few unimportant districts or the +imposition of a tribute, but would treat his adversary as he had +Astyages, and having dethroned him, would divide Lydia into departments +to be ruled by one or other of his partisans. Warlike ideas, +nevertheless, prevailed at the court of Sardes, and, taking all into +consideration, we cannot deny that they had reason on their side. The +fall of Ecbatana had sealed the fate of Media proper, and its immediate +dependencies had naturally shared the fortunes of the capital; but the +more distant provinces still wavered, and they would probably attempt +to take advantage of the change of rule to regain their liberty. Cyrus, +obliged to take up arms against them, would no longer have his entire +forces at his disposal, and by attacking him at that juncture it might +be possible to check his power before it became irresistible. Having +sketched out his plan of campaign, Croesus prepared to execute it with +all possible celerity. Egypt and Chaldaea, like himself, doubtless felt +themselves menaced; he experienced little difficulty in persuading them +to act in concert with him in face of the common peril, and he obtained +from both Amasis and Nabonidus promises of effective co-operation. At +the same time he had recourse to the Greek oracles, and that of +Delphi was instrumental in obtaining for him a treaty of alliance and +friendship with Sparta. Negotiations had been carried on so rapidly, +that by the end of 548 all was in readiness for a simultaneous movement; +Sparta was equipping a fleet, and merely awaited the return of the +favourable season to embark her contingent; Egypt had already despatched +hers, and her Cypriot vassals were on the point of starting, while bands +of Thracian infantry were marching to reinforce the Lydian army. These +various elements represented so considerable a force of men, that, had +they been ranged on a field of battle, Cyrus would have experienced +considerable difficulty in overcoming them. An unforeseen act of +treachery obliged the Lydians to hasten their preparations and commence +hostilities before the moment agreed on. Eurybatos, an Ephesian, to whom +the king had entrusted large sums of money for the purpose of raising +mercenaries in the Peloponnesus, fled with his gold into Persia, and +betrayed the secret of the coalition. The Achaemenian sovereign did not +hesitate to forestall the attack, and promptly assumed the offensive. +The transport of an army from Ecbatana to the middle course of the +Halys would have been a long and laborious undertaking, even had it kept +within the territory of the empire; it would have necessitated crossing +the mountain groups of Armenia at their greatest width, and that at a +time when the snow was still lying deep upon the ground and the torrents +were swollen and unfordable. The most direct route, which passed through +Assyria and the part of Mesopotamia south of the Masios, lay for the +most part in the hands of the Chaldaeans, but their enfeebled condition +justified Cyrus's choice of it, and he resolved, in the event of their +resistance, to cut his way through sword in hand. He therefore bore +down upon Arbela by the gorges of Rowandiz in the month Nisan, making as +though he were bound for Karduniash; but before the Babylonians had time +to recover from their alarm at this movement, he crossed the river not +far from Nineveh and struck into Mesopotamia. He probably skirted the +slopes of the Masios, overcoming and killing in the month Iyyar +some petty king, probably the ruler of Armenia,* and debouched into +Cappadocia. This province was almost entirely in the power of the enemy; +Nabonidus had despatched couriers by the shortest route in order to warn +his ally, and if necessary to claim his promised help. + + * Ploigl, who was the first to refer a certain passage in + the _Annals of Nabonidus_ to the expedition against Croesus, + restored Is[parda] as the name of the country mentioned, and + saw even the capture of Sardes in the events of the month + Iyyar, in direct contradiction to the Greek tradition. The + connection between the campaign beyond the Tigris and the + Lydian war seems to me incontestable, but the Babylonian + chronicler has merely recorded the events which affected + Babylonia. Cyrus' object was both to intimidate Nabonidus + and also to secure possession of the most direct, and at the + same time the easiest, route: by cutting across Mesopotamia, + he avoided the difficult marches in the mountainous + districts of Armenia. Perhaps we should combine, with the + information of the _Annals_, the passage of Xenophon, where + it is said that the Armenians refused tribute and service to + the King of Persia: Cyrus would have punished the rebels on + his way, after crossing the Euphrates. + +Croesus, when he received them, had with him only the smaller portion of +his army, the Lydian cavalry, the contingents of his Asiatic subjects, +and a few Greek veterans, and it would probably have been wiser to defer +the attack till after the disembarkation of the Lacedaemonians; but +hesitation at so critical a moment might have discouraged his followers, +and decided his fate before any action had taken place. He therefore +collected his troops together, fell upon the right bank of the Halys,* +devastated the country, occupied Pteria and the neighbouring towns, +and exiled the inhabitants to a distance. He had just completed the +subjection of the White Syrians when he was met by an emissary from the +Persians; Cyrus offered him his life, and confirmed his authority on +condition of his pleading for mercy and taking the oath of vassalage.** +Croesus sent a proud refusal, which was followed by a brilliant +victory, after which a truce of three months was concluded between the +belligerents.*** + + * On this point Herodotus tells a current story of his time: + Thaies had a trench dug behind the army, which was probably + encamped in one of the bends made by the Halys; he then + diverted the stream into this new bed, with the result that + the Lydians found themselves on the right bank of the river + without having had the trouble of crossing it. + + ** Nicolas of Damascus records that Cyrus, after the capture + of Sardes, for a short time contemplated making Croesus a + vassal king, or at least a satrap of Lydia. + + *** We have two very different accounts of this campaign, + viz. that of Herodotus, and that of Polyonus. According to + Herodotus, Croesus gave battle only once in Pteria, with + indecisive result, and on the next day quietly retired to + his kingdom, thinking that Cyrus would not dare to pursue + him. According to Polyonus, Croesus, victorious in a first + engagement owing to a more or less plausible military + stratagem, consented to a truce, but on the day after was + completely defeated, and obliged to return to his kingdom + with a routed army. Herodotus' account of the fall of + Croesus and of Sardes, borrowed partly from a good written + source, Xanthus or Charon of Lampsacus, partly from the + tradition of the Harpagidse, seems to have for its object + the soothing of the vanity both of the Persians and of the + Lydians, since, if the result of the war could not be + contested, the issue of the battle was at least left + uncertain. If he has given a faithful account, no one can + understand why Croesus should have retired and ceded White + Syria to a rival who had never conquered him. The account + given by Polysenus, in spite of the improbability of some of + its details, comes from a well-informed author: the defeat + of the Lydians in the second battle explains the retreat of + Crcesus, who is without excuse in Herodotus' version of the + affair. Pompeius Trogus adopted a version similar to that of + Polysenus. + +Cyrus employed the respite in attempting to win over the Greek cities +of the littoral, which he pictured to himself as nursing a bitter +hatred against the Mermnadae; but it is to be doubted if his emissaries +succeeded even in wresting a declaration of neutrality from the +Milesians; the remainder, Ionians and AEolians, all continued faithful +to their oaths.* On the resumption of hostilities, the tide of fortune +turned, and the Lydians were crushed by the superior forces of the +Persians and the Medes; Crcesus retired under cover of night, burning +the country as he retreated, to prevent the enemy from following him, +and crossed the Halys with the remains of his battalions. The season was +already far advanced; he thought that the Persians, threatened in the +rear by the Babylonian troops, would shrink from the prospect of a +winter campaign, and he fell back upon Sardes without further lingering +in Phrygia. But Nabonidus did not feel himself called upon to show the +same devotion that his ally had evinced towards him, or perhaps the +priests who governed in his name did not permit him to fulfil his +engagements.** + + * Herodotus makes the attempted corruption of the Ionians to + date from the beginning of the war, even before Cyrus took + the field. + + ** The author followed by Pompeius Trogus has alone + preserved the record of this treaty. The fact is important + as explaining Croesus' behaviour after his defeat, but + Schubert goes too far when he re-establishes on this ground + an actual campaign of Cyrus against Babylon: Radet has come + back to the right view in seeing only a treaty made with + Nabonidus. + +As soon as peace was proposed, he accepted terms, without once +considering the danger to which the Lydians were exposed by his +defection. The Persian king raised his camp as soon as all fear of an +attack to rearward was removed, and, falling upon defenceless Phrygia, +pushed forward to Sardes in spite of the inclemency of the season. No +movement could have been better planned, or have produced such +startling results. Croesus had disbanded the greater part of his feudal +contingents, and had kept only his body-guard about him, the remainder +of his army--natives, mercenaries, and allies--having received orders +not to reassemble till the following spring. The king hastily called +together all his available troops, both Lydians and foreigners, +and confronted his enemies for the second time. Even under these +unfavourable conditions he hoped to gain the advantage, had his cavalry, +the finest in the world, been able to take part in the engagement. But +Cyrus had placed in front of his lines a detachment of camels, and the +smell of these animals so frightened the Lydian horses that they snorted +and refused to charge.* + + * Herodotus' mention of the use of camels is confirmed, with + various readings, by Xenophon, by Polysenus, and by AElian; + their employment does not necessarily belong to a legendary + form of the story, especially if we suppose that the camel, + unknown before in Asia Minor, was first introduced there by + the Persian army. The site of the battle is not precisely + known. According to Herodotus, the fight took place in the + great plain before Sardes, which is crossed by several small + tributaries of the Hermus, amongst others the Hyllus. Radet + recognises that the Hyllus of Herodotus is the whole or part + of the stream now called the Kusu-tchai, and he places the + scene of action near the township of Adala, which would + correspond with Xenophon's Thymbrara. This continues to be + the most likely hypothesis. After the battle Croesus would + have fled along the Hermus towards Sardes. Xenophon's story + is a pure romance. + +Croesus was again worsted on the confines of the plain of the Hermus, +and taking refuge in the citadel of Sardes, he despatched couriers to +his allies in Greece and Egypt to beg for succour without delay. The +Lacedaemonians hurried on the mobilisation of their troops, and their +vessels were on the point of weighing anchor, when the news arrived +that Sardes had fallen in the early days of December, and that Croesus +himself was a prisoner.* How the town came to be taken, the Greeks +themselves never knew, and their chroniclers have given several +different accounts of the event.** + + * Radet gives the date of the capture of Sardes as about + November 15, 546; but the number and importance of the + events occurring between the retreat of Croesus and the + decisive catastrophe--the negotiations with Babylon, the + settling into winter quarters, the march of Cyrus across + Phrygia--must have required a longer time than Radet allots + to them in his hypothesis, and I make the date a month + later. + + ** Ctesias and Xenophon seem to depend on Herodotus, the + former with additional fabulous details concerning his + OEbaras, Cyrus' counsellor, which show the probable origin + of his additions. Polysenus had at his disposal a different + story, the same probably that he used for his account of the + campaign in Cappadocia, for in it can be recognised the wish + to satisfy, within possible limits, the pride of the + Lydians: here again the decisive success is preceded by a + check given to Cyrus and a three months' truce. + +The least improbable is that found in Herodotus. The blockade had +lasted, so he tells us, fourteen days, when Cyrus announced that he +would richly reward the first man to scale the walls. Many were tempted +by his promises, but were unsuccessful in their efforts, and their +failure had discouraged all further attempts, when a Mardian soldier, +named Hyreades, on duty at the foot of the steep slopes overlooking the +Tmolus, saw a Lydian descend from rock to rock in search of his helmet +which he had lost, and regain the city by the same way without any great +difficulty. He noted carefully the exact spot, and in company with a few +comrades climbed up till he reached the ramparts; others followed, and +taking the besieged unawares, they opened the gates to the main body of +the army.* + + * About three and a half centuries later Sardes was captured + in the same way by one of the generals of Antiochus the + Great. + +Croesus could not bear to survive the downfall of his kingdom: he +erected a funeral pyre in the courtyard of his palace, and took up his +position on it, together with his wives, his daughters, and the noblest +youths of his court, surrounded by his most precious possessions. +He could cite the example of more than one vanquished monarch of the +ancient Asiatic world in choosing such an end, and one of the fabulous +ancestors of his race, Sandon-Herakles, had perished after this fashion +in the midst of the flames. Was the sacrifice carried out? Everything +leads us to believe that it was, but popular feeling could not be +resigned to the idea that a prince who had shown such liberality towards +the gods in his prosperity should be abandoned by them in the time +of his direst need. They came to believe that the Lydian monarch had +expiated by his own defeat the crime by the help of which his ancestor +Gyges had usurped the throne. Apollo had endeavoured to delay the +punishment till the next generation, that it might fall on the son of +his votary, but he had succeeded in obtaining from fate a respite of +three years only. Even then he had not despaired, and had warned Croesus +by the voice of the oracles. They had foretold him that, in crossing the +Halys, the Lydians ^would destroy a great empire, and that their power +would last till the day when a mule should sit upon the throne of Media. +Croesus, blinded by fate, could not see that Cyrus, who was of mixed +race, Persian by his father and Median by his mother, was the predicted +mule. He therefore crossed the Halys, and a great empire fell, but it +was his own. At all events, the god might have desired to show that to +honour his altars and adorn his temple was in itself, after all, the +best of treasures. "When Sardes, suffering the vengeance of Zeus, was +conquered by the army of the Persians, the god of the golden sword, +Apollo, was the guardian of Croesus. When the day of despair arrived, +the king could not resign himself to tears and servitude; within the +brazen-walled court he erected a funeral pyre, on which, together with +his chaste spouse and his bitterly lamenting daughters of beautiful +locks, he mounted; he raised his hands towards the depths of the ether +and cried: 'Proud fate, where is the gratitude of the gods, where is the +prince, the child of Leto? Where is now the house of Alyattes?... The +ancient citadel of Sardes has fallen, the Pactolus of golden waves +runs red with blood; ignominiously are the women driven from their +well-decked chambers! That which was once my hated foe is now my friend, +and the sweetest thing is to die!' Thus he spoke, and ordered the softly +moving eunuch* to set fire to the wooden structure. + + * The word translated "softly moving eunuch" is here perhaps + a proper name: the slave whose duty it was to kindle the + pyre was called Abrobatas in the version of the story chosen + by Bacchylides, while that adopted by the potter whose work + is reproduced on the opposite page, calls him Euthymos. + +The maidens shrieked and threw their arms around their mother, for the +death before them was that most hated by mortals. But just when the +sparkling fury of the cruel fire had spread around, Zeus, calling up a +black-flanked cloud, extinguished the yellow flame. + +Nothing is incredible of that which the will of the gods has decreed: +Apollo of Delos, seizing the old man, bore him, together with his +daughters of tender feet, into the Hyperborean land as a reward for +his piety, for no mortal had sent richer offerings to the illustrious +Pytho!" + +[Illustration: 075.jpg CIMESUS ON HIS PYRE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph of the original in + the Museum of the Louvre. + +This miraculous ending delighted the poets and inspired many fine +lines, but history could with difficulty accommodate itself to such a +materialistic intervention of a divine being, and sought a less +fabulous solution. The legend which appeared most probable to the worthy +Herodotus did not even admit that the Lydian king took his own life; +it was Cyrus who condemned him, either with a view of devoting the +first-fruits of his victory to the immortals, or to test whether the +immortals would save the rival whose piety had been so frequently held +up to his admiration. The edges of the pyre had already taken light, +when the Lydian king sighed and thrice repeated the name of Solon. It +was a tardy recollection of a conversation in which the Athenian sage +had stated, without being believed, that none can be accounted truly +happy while they still live. Cyrus, applying it to himself, was seized +with remorse or pity, and commanded the bystanders to quench the fire, +but their efforts were in vain. Thereupon Croesus implored the pity of +Apollo, and suddenly the sky, which up till then had been serene and +clear, became overcast; thick clouds collected, and rain fell so +heavily that the burning pile was at once extinguished.* + + * The story told by Nicolas of Damascus comes down probably + from Xanthus of Lydia, but with many additions borrowed + directly from Herodotus and rhetorical developments by the + author himself. Most other writers who tell the story depend + for their information, either directly or indirectly, on + Herodotus: in later times it was supposed that the Lydian + king was preserved from the flames by the use of some + talisman such as the Ephesian letters. + +Well treated by his conqueror, the Lydian king is said to have become +his friend and most loyal counsellor; he accepted from him the fief of +Barene in Media, often accompanied him in his campaigns, and on more +than one occasion was of great service to him by the wise advice which +he gave. + +We may well ask what would have taken place had he gained the decisive +victory over Cyrus that he hoped. Chaldaea possessed merely the semblance +of her former greatness and power, and if she still maintained her hold +over Mesopotamia, Syria, Phoenicia, and parts of Arabia, it was because +these provinces, impoverished by the Assyrian conquest, and entirely +laid waste by the Scythians, had lost the most energetic elements +of their populations, and felt themselves too much enfeebled to +rise against their suzerain. Egypt, like Chaldaea, was in a state of +decadence, and even though her Pharaohs attempted to compensate for the +inferiority of their native troops by employing foreign mercenaries, +their attempts at Asiatic rule always issued in defeat, and just as the +Babylonian sovereigns were unable to reduce them to servitude, so they +on their part were powerless to gain an advantage over the sovereigns of +Babylon. Hence Lydia, in her youth and vigour, would have found little +difficulty in gaining the ascendency over her two recent allies, but +beyond that she could not hope to push her success; her restricted +territory, sparse population, and outlying position would always have +debarred her from exercising any durable dominion over them, and though +absolute mistress of Asia Minor, the countries beyond the Taurus were +always destined to elude her grasp. If the Achaemenian, therefore, had +confined himself, at all events for the time being, to the ancient +limits of his kingdom, Egypt and Chaldaea would have continued to +vegetate each within their respective area, and the triumph of Croesus +would, on the whole, have caused but little change in the actual balance +of power in the East. + +The downfall of Croesus, on the contrary, marked a decisive era in the +world's history. His army was the only one, from the point of numbers +and organisation, which was a match for that of Cyrus, and from the day +of its dispersion it was evident that neither Egypt nor Chaldaea had any +chance of victory on the battle-field. The subjection of Babylon and +Harran, of Hamath, Damascus, Tyre and Sidon, of Memphis and Thebes, now +became merely a question of time, and that not far distant; the whole of +Asia, and that part of Africa which had been the oldest cradle of human +civilisation, were now to pass into the hands of one man and form a +single empire, for the benefit of the new race which was issuing forth +in irresistible strength from the recesses of the Iranian table-land. It +was destined, from the very outset, to come into conflict with an +older, but no less vigorous race than itself, that of the Greeks, whose +colonists, after having swarmed along the coasts of the Mediterranean, +were now beginning to quit the seaboard and penetrate wherever they +could into the interior. + +[Illustration: 078.jpg A PERSIAN KING FIGHTING WITH GREEKS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from an intaglio reproduced in the + _Antiquites du Bosphore cimmerien._ + +They had been on friendly terms with that dynasty of the Meramadae +who had shown reverence for the Hellenic gods; they had, as a whole, +disdained to betray Croesus, or to turn upon him when he was in +difficulties beyond the Halys; and now that he had succumbed to his +fate, they considered that the ties which had bound them to Sardes were +broken, and they were determined to preserve their independence at all +costs. This spirit of insubordination would have to be promptly dealt +with and tightly curbed, if perpetual troubles in the future were to +be avoided. The Asianic peoples soon rallied round their new +master--Phrygians, Mysians, the inhabitants on the shores of the Black +Sea, and those of the Pamphylian coast;* even Cilicia, which had held +its own against Chaldaea, Media, and Lydia, was now brought under the +rising power, and its kings were henceforward obedient to the Persian +rule.** + + * None of the documents actually say this, but the general + tenor of Herodotus' account seems to show clearly that, with + the exception of the Greek cities of the Carians and + Lycians, all the peoples who had formed part of the Lydian + dominion under Croesus submitted, without any appreciable + resistance, after the taking of Sardes. + + ** Herodotus mentions a second Syennesis king of Cilicia + forty years later at the time of the Ionian revolt. + +The two leagues of the Ionians and AEolians had at first offered to +recognise Cyrus as their suzerain under the same conditions as those +with which Croesus had been satisfied; but he had consented to accept +it only in the case of Miletus, and had demanded from the rest an +unconditional surrender. This they had refused, and, uniting in a common +cause perhaps for the first time in their existence, they had resolved +to take up arms. As the Persians possessed no fleet, the Creeks had +nothing to fear from the side of the AEgean, and the severity of the +winter prevented any attack being made from the land side till the +following spring. They meanwhile sought the aid of their mother-country, +and despatched an embassy to the Spartans; the latter did not consider +it prudent to lend them troops, as they would have done in the case of +Croesus, but they authorised Lakrines, one of their principal citizens, +to demand of the great king that he should respect the Hellenic cities, +under pain of incurring their enmity. + +[Illustration: 080.jpg THE PRESENT SITE OF MILETUS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph. + +Cyrus was fully occupied with the events then taking place in the +eastern regions of Iran; Babylon had not ventured upon any move after +having learned the news of the fall of Sardes, but the Bactrians and the +Sakae had been in open revolt during the whole of the year that he had +been detained in the extreme west, and a still longer absence might risk +the loss of his prestige in Media, and even in Persia itself.* + + * The tradition followed by Ctesias maintained that the + submission of the eastern peoples was an accomplished fact + when the Lydian war began. That adopted by Herodotus placed + this event after the fall of Croesus; at any rate, it showed + that fear of the Bactrians and the Sakae, as well as of the + Babylonians and Egyptians was the cause that hastened Cyrus' + retreat. + +The threat of the Lacedaaemonians had little effect upon him; he +inquired as to what Sparta and Greece were, and having been informed, +he ironically begged the Lacedaemonian envoy to thank his compatriots for +the good advice with which they had honoured him; "but," he added, "take +care that I do not soon cause you to babble, not of the ills of the +Ionians, but of your own." He confided the government of Sardes to one +of his officers, named Tabalos, and having entrusted Paktyas, one of the +Lydians who had embraced his cause, with the removal of the treasures +of Croesus to Persia, he hastily set out for Ecbatana. He had scarcely +accomplished half of his journey when a revolt broke out in his rear; +Paktyas, instead of obeying his instructions, intrigued with the +Ionians, and, with the mercenaries he had hired from them, besieged +Tabalos in the citadel of Sardes. If the place capitulated, the entire +conquest would have to be repeated; fortunately it held out, and +its resistance gave Cyrus time to send its governor reinforcements, +commanded by Mazares the Median. As soon as they approached the city, +Paktyas, conscious that he had lost the day, took refuge at Kyme. Its +inhabitants, on being summoned to deliver him up, refused, but helped +him to escape to Mytilene, where the inhabitants of the island attempted +to sell him to the enemy for a large sum of money. The Kymaeans saved him +a second time, and conveyed him to the temple of Athene Poliarchos +at Chios. The citizens, however, dragged him from his retreat, and +delivered him over to the Median general in exchange for Atarneus, a +district of Mysia, the possession of which they were disputing with the +Lesbians.* Paktyas being a prisoner, the Lydians were soon recalled +to order, and Mazares was able to devote his entire energies to the +reduction of the Greek cities; but he had accomplished merely the sack +of Priene,** and the devastation of the suburbs of Magnesia on the +aeander, when he died from some illness. + + * A passage which has been preserved of Charon of Lampsacus + sums up in a few words the account given by Herodotus of the + adventures of Paktyas, but without mentioning the treachery + of the islanders: he confines himself to saying Cyrus caught + the fugitive after the latter had successively left Chios + and Mytilene. + + ** Herodotus attributes the taking of this city to the + Persian Tabules, who is evidently the Tabalos of Herodotus. + +The Median Harpagus, to whom tradition assigns so curious a part as +regards Astyages and the infant Cyrus, succeeded him as governor of the +ancient Lydian kingdom, and completed the work which he had begun. +The first two places to be besieged were Phocaea and Teos, but their +inhabitants preferred exile to slavery; the Phocaeans sailed away to +found Marseilles in the western regions of the Mediterranean, and +the people of Teos settled along the coast of Thracia, near to the +gold-mines of the Pangseus, and there built Abdera on the site of an +ancient Clazomenian colony. The other Greek towns were either taken by +assault or voluntarily opened their gates, so that ere long both Ionians +and AEolians were, with the exception of the Samians, under Persian rule. +The very position of the latter rendered them safe from attack; without +a fleet they could not be approached, and the only people who could have +furnished Cyrus with vessels were the Phoenicians, who were not as yet +under his power. The rebellion having been suppressed in this quarter, +Harpagus made a descent into Caria; the natives hastened to place +themselves under the Persian yoke, and the Dorian colonies scattered +along the coast, Halicarnas-sus, Cnidos, and the islands of Cos and +Rhodes, followed their examples, but Lycia refused to yield without a +struggle. + +[Illustration: 083.jpg A LYCIAN CITY UPON ITS INACCESSIBLE ROCK] + + The rock and tombs of Tlos, drawn by Boudier, from the view + in Fellows. + +Its steep mountain chains, its sequestered valleys, its towns and +fortresses perched on inaccessible rocks, all rendered it easy for the +inhabitants to carry on a successful petty warfare against the enemy. +The inhabitants of Xanthos, although very inferior in numbers, issued +down into the plain and disputed the victory with the invaders for a +considerable time; at length their defeat and the capitulation of their +town induced the remainder of the Lycians to lay down arms, and brought +about the final pacification of the peninsula. It was parcelled out into +several governorships, according to its ethnographical affinities; +as for instance, the governorship of Lydia, that of Ionia, that of +Phrygia,* and others whose names are unknown to us. Harpagus appeared +to have resided at Sardes, and exercised vice-regal functions over the +various districts, but he obtained from the king an extensive property +in Lycia and in Caria, which subsequently caused these two provinces to +be regarded as an appanage of his family. + + * Herodotus calls a certain Mitrobates satrap of Daskylion; + he had perhaps been already given this office by Cyrus. + Orcetes had been made governor of Ionia and Lydia by Cyrus. + +While thus consolidating his first conquest, Cyrus penetrated into the +unknown regions of the far East. Nothing would have been easier for him +than to have fallen upon Babylon and overthrown, as it were by the way, +the decadent rule of Nabonidus; but the formidable aspect which the +empire still presented, in spite of its enfeebled condition, must have +deceived him, and he was unwilling to come into conflict with it until +he had made a final reckoning with the restless and unsettled peoples +between the Caspian and the slopes on the Indian side of the table-land +of Iran. As far as we are able to judge, they were for the most part of +Iranian extraction, and had the same religion, institutions, and customs +as the Medes and Persians. Tradition had already referred the origin of +Zoroaster, and the scene of his preaching, to Bactriana, that land of +heroes whose exploits formed the theme of Persian epic song. It is not +known, as we have already had occasion to remark, by what ties it was +bound to the empire of Cyaxares, nor indeed if it ever had been actually +attached to it. We do not possess, unfortunately, more than almost +worthless scraps of information on this part of the reign of Cyrus, +perhaps the most important period of it, since then, for the first +time, peoples who had been hitherto strangers to the Asiatic world were +brought within its influence. If Ctesias is to be credited, Bactriana +was one of the first districts to be conquered. Its inhabitants were +regarded as being among the bravest of the East, and furnished the best +soldiers. They at first obtained some successes, but laid down arms on +hearing that Cyrus had married a daughter of Astyages.* This tradition +was prevalent at a time when the Achaemenians were putting forward the +theory that they, and Cyrus before them, were the legitimate successors +of the old Median sovereigns; they welcomed every legend which tended to +justify their pretensions, and this particular one was certain to please +them, since it attributed the submission of Bactriana not to a mere +display of brute force, but to the recognition of an hereditary right. +The annexation of this province entailed, as a matter of course, that +of Margiana, of the Khoramnians,** and of Sogdiana. Cyrus constructed +fortresses in all these districts, the most celebrated being that +of Kyropolis, which commanded one of the principal fords of the +Iaxartes.*** + + * This is the campaign which Ctesias places before the + Lydian war, but which Herodotus relegates to a date after + the capture of Sardes. + + ** Ctesias must have spoken of the submission of these + peoples, for a few words of a description which he gave of + the Khoramnians have been preserved to us. + + *** Tomaschek identifies Kyra or Kyropolis with the present + Ura-Tepe, but distinguishes it from the Kyreskhata of + Ptolemy, to which he assigns a site near Usgent. + +The steppes of Siberia arrested his course on the north, but to the +east, in the mountains of Chinese Turkestan, the Sakas, who were +renowned for their wealth and bravery, did not escape his ambitious +designs. The account which has come down to us of his campaigns against +them is a mere romance of love and adventure, in which real history +plays a very small part. He is said to have attacked and defeated +them at the first onset, taking their King Amorges prisoner; but this +capture, which Cyrus considered a decisive advantage, was supposed to +have turned the tide of fortune against him. Sparethra, the wife of +Amorges, rallied the fugitives round her, defeated the invaders in +several engagements, and took so many of their men captive, that they +were glad to restore her husband to her in exchange for the prisoners +she had made. The struggle finally ended, however, in the subjection of +the Sakae; they engaged to pay tribute, and thenceforward constituted +the advance-guard of the Iranians against the Nomads of the East. Cyrus, +before quitting their neighbourhood, again ascended the table-land, and +reduced Ariana, Thatagus, Harauvati, Zaranka, and the country of Cabul; +and we may well ask if he found leisure to turn southwards beyond Lake +Hamun and reach the shores of the Indian Ocean. One tradition, of little +weight, relates that, like Alexander at a later date, he lost his army +in the arid deserts of Gedrosia; the one fact that remains is that the +conquest of Gedrosia was achieved, but the details of it are lost. The +period covered by his campaigns was from five to six years, from 545 to +539, but Cyrus returned from these expeditions into the unknown only to +plan fresh undertakings. There remained nothing now to hinder him from +marching against the Chaldaeans, and the discord prevailing at Babylon +added to his chance of success. Nabonidus's passion for archaeology +had in no way lessened since the opening of his reign. The temple +restorations prompted by it absorbed the bulk of his revenues. He made +excavations in the sub-structures of the most ancient sanctuaries, +such as Larsam, Uruk, Uru, Sippar, and Nipur; and when his digging was +rewarded by the discovery of cylinders placed there by his predecessors, +his delight knew no bounds. Such finds constituted the great events of +his life, in comparison with which the political revolutions of Asia +and Africa diminished in importance day by day. It is difficult to tell +whether this indifference to the weighty affairs of government was as +complete as it appears to us at this distance of time. Certain facts +recorded in the official chronicles of that date go to prove that, +except in name and external pomp, the king was a nonentity. The real +power lay in the hands of the nobles and generals, and Bel-sharuzur, the +king's son, directed affairs for them in his father's name. Nabonidus +meanwhile resided in a state of inactivity at his palace of Tima, and it +is possible that his condition may have really been that of a prisoner, +for he never left Tima to go to Babylon, even on the days of great +festivals, and his absence prevented the celebration of the higher +rites of the national religion, with the procession of Bel and its +accompanying ceremonies, for several consecutive years. The people +suffered from these quarrels in high places; not only the native +Babylonians or Kalda, who were thus deprived of their accustomed +spectacles, and whose piety was scandalised by these dissensions, but +also the foreign races dispersed over Mesopotamia, from the confluence +of the Khabur to the mouths of the Euphrates. Too widely scattered or +too weak to make an open declaration of their independence, their hopes +and their apprehensions were alternately raised by the various reports +of hostilities which reached their ears. The news of the first +victories of the Persians aroused in the exiled Jews the idea of speedy +deliverance, and Cyrus clearly appeared to them as the hero chosen by +Jahveh to reinstate them in the country, of their forefathers. + +The number of the Jewish exiles, which perhaps at first had not exceeded +20,000* had largely increased in the half-century of their captivity, +and even if numerically they were of no great importance, their social +condition entitled them to be considered as the _elite_ of all Israel. + + * The body of exiles of 597 consisted of ten thousand + persons, of whom seven thousand belonged to the wealthy, and + one thousand to the artisan class, while the remainder + consisted of people attached to the court (2 Kings xxiv. 14- + 16). In the body of 587 are reckoned three thousand and + twenty-three inhabitants of Judah, and eight hundred and + thirty-two dwellers in Jerusalem. But the body of exiles of + 581 numbers only seven hundred and forty-five persons (Jer. + lii. 30). These numbers are sufficiently moderate to be + possibly exact, but they are far from being certain. + +There had at first been the two kings, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, their +families, the aristocracy of Judah, the priests and pontiff of the +temple, the prophets, the most skilled of the artisan class and the +soldiery. Though distributed over Babylon and the neighbouring cities, +we know from authentic sources of only one of their settlements, that +of Tell-Abib on the Chebar* though many of the Jewish colonies which +flourished thereabouts in Roman times could undoubtedly trace their +origin to the days of the captivity; one legend found in the Talmud +affirmed that the synagogue of Shafyathib, near Nehardaa, had been built +by King Jehoiachin with stones brought from the ruins of the temple at +Jerusalem. These communities enjoyed a fairly complete autonomy, and +were free to administer their own affairs as they pleased, provided that +they paid their tribute or performed their appointed labours without +complaint. The shekhs, or elders of the family or tribe, who had played +so important a part in their native land, still held their respective +positions; the Chaldaeans had permitted them to retain all the +possessions which they had been able to bring with them into exile, and +recognised them as the rulers of their people, who were responsible to +their conquerors for the obedience of those under them, leaving them +entire liberty to exercise their authority so long as they maintained +order and tranquillity among their subordinates.** + + * Ezek. iii. 15. The Chebar or Kebar has been erroneously + identified with the Khabur; cuneiform documents show that it + was one of the canals near Nipur. + + ** Cf. the assemblies of these chiefs at the house of + Ezekiel and their action (viii. 1; xiv. 1; xx. 1). + +How the latter existed, and what industries they pursued in order to +earn their daily bread, no writer of the time has left on record. The +rich plain of the Euphrates differed so widely from the soil to which +they had been accustomed in the land of Judah, with its bare or sparsely +wooded hills, slopes cultivated in terraces, narrow and ill-watered +wadys, and tortuous and parched valleys, that they must have felt +themselves much out of their element in their Chaldaean surroundings. +They had all of them, however, whether artisans, labourers, soldiers, +gold-workers, or merchants, to earn their living, and they succeeded in +doing so, following meanwhile the advice of Jeremiah, by taking every +precaution that the seed of Israel should not be diminished.* The +imagination of pious writers of a later date delighted to represent the +exiled Jews as giving way to apathy and vain regrets: "By the rivers of +Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Upon +the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps. For there +they that led us captive required of us songs, and they that wasted +us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How +shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"** + + * Jer. xxix. 1-7. + + ** Ps. cxxxvii. 1-4. + +This was true of the priests and scribes only. A blank had been made in +their existence from the moment when the conqueror had dragged them +from the routine of daily rites which their duties in the temple service +entailed upon them. The hours which had been formerly devoted to their +offices were now expended in bewailing the misfortunes of their nation, +in accusing themselves and others, and in demanding what crime had +merited this punishment, and why Jahveh, who had so often shown clemency +to their forefathers, had not extended His forgiveness to them. It +was, however, by the long-suffering of God that His prophets, and +particularly Ezekiel, were allowed to make known to them the true cause +of their downfall. The more Ezekiel in his retreat meditated upon +their lot, the more did the past appear to him as a lamentable conflict +between divine justice and Jewish iniquity. At the time of their sojourn +in Egypt, Jahveh had taken the house of Jacob under His protection, +and in consideration of His help had merely demanded of them that they +should be faithful to Him. "Cast ye away every man the abominations of +his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the +Lord your God." The children of Israel, however, had never observed this +easy condition, and this was the root of their ills; even before +they were liberated from the yoke of Pharaoh, they had betrayed their +Protector, and He had thought to punish them: "But I wrought for My +name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, +among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them.... +So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them +into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes, and showed them My +judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. Moreover also I +gave them My sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them... but the house +of Israel rebelled against Me." As they had acted in Egypt, so they +acted at the foot of Sinai, and again Jahveh could not bring Himself to +destroy them; He confined Himself to decreeing that none of those who +had offended Him should enter the Promised Land, and He extended His +goodness to their children. But these again showed themselves no +wiser than their fathers; scarcely had they taken possession of the +inheritance which had fallen to them, "a land flowing with milk and +honey... the glory of all lands," than when they beheld "every high hill +and every thick tree... they offered there their sacrifices, and there +they presented the provocation of their offering, there also they made +their sweet savour, and they poured out there their drink offerings." +Not contented with profaning their altars by impious ceremonies and +offerings, they further bowed the knee to idols, thinking in their +hearts, "We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, +to serve wood and stone." "As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a +mighty hand and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will +I be King over you."* + + 1 Ezek. xx. + +However just the punishment, Bzekiel did not believe that it would last +for ever. The righteousness of God would not permit future generations +to be held responsible for ever for the sins of generations past and +present. "What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of +Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's +teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have +occasion to use this proverb any more in Israel! Behold, all souls are +Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine; +the soul that sinneth it shall die. But if a man be just... he shall +surely live, saith the Lord God." Israel, therefore, was master of his +own destiny. If he persisted in erring from the right way, the hour +of salvation was still further removed from him; if he repented and +observed the law, the Divine anger would be turned away. "Therefore... O +house of Israel... cast away from you all your transgressions wherein +ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why +will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death +of him that dieth... wherefore turn yourselves and live." 1 There were +those who objected that it was too late to dream of regeneration and of +hope in the future: "Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost; we are +clean cut off." The prophet replied that the Lord had carried him in the +spirit and set him down in the midst of a plain strewn with bones. "So +I prophesied... and as I prophesied there was a noise... and the bones +came together, bone to his bone. And I beheld, and lo, there were sinews +upon them, and flesh came up and skin covered them above; but there was +no breath in them. Then said (the Lord) unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, +prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God: Come +from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they +may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into +them and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great +army. Then He said unto me... these bones are the whole house of +Israel.... Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up +out of your graves, O my people; and I will bring you into the land of +Israel.... And I will put My Spirit in you and ye shall live, and I +will place you in your own land; and ye shall know that I the Lord hath +spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord." + +A people raised from such depths would require a constitution, a new law +to take the place of the old, from the day when the exile should cease. +Ezekiel would willingly have dispensed with the monarchy, as it had been +tried since the time of Samuel with scarcely any good results. For every +Hezekiah or Josiah, how many kings of the type of Ahaz or Manasseh had +there been! The Jews were nevertheless still so sincerely attached to +the house of David, that the prophet judged it inopportune to exclude +it from his plan for their future government. He resolved to tolerate +a king, but a king of greater piety and with less liberty than the +compiler of the Book of Deuteronomy had pictured to himself, a servant +of the servants of God, whose principal function should be to provide +the means of worship. Indeed, the Lord Himself was the only Sovereign +whom the prophet fully accepted, though his concept of Him differed +greatly from that of his predecessors: from that, for instance, of +Amos--the Lord God who would do nothing without revealing "His secret +unto His servants the prophets;" or of Hosea--who desired "mercy, and +not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." +The Jahveh of Ezekiel no longer admitted any intercourse with the +interpreters of His will. He held "the son of man" at a distance, and +would consent to communicate with him only by means of angels who were +His messengers. The love of His people was, indeed, acceptable to +Him, but He preferred their reverence and fear, and the smell of the +sacrifice offered according to the law was pleasing to His nostrils. The +first care of the returning exiles, therefore, would be to build Him +a house upon the holy mountain. Ezekiel called to mind the temple +of Solomon, in which the far-off years of his youth were spent, and +mentally rebuilt it on the same plan, but larger and more beautiful; +first the outer court, then the inner court and its chambers, and lastly +the sanctuary, the dimensions of which he calculates with scrupulous +care: "And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides +of the entrance were five cubits on the one side and five cubits on the +other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits; and +the breadth, twenty cubits"--and so forth, with a wealth of technical +details often difficult to be understood. And as a building so well +proportioned should be served by a priesthood worthy of it, the sons +of Zadok only were to bear the sacerdotal office, for they alone had +preserved their faith unshaken; the other Levites were to fill merely +secondary posts, for not only had they shared in the sins of the nation, +but they had shown a bad example in practising idolatry. The duties and +prerogatives of each one, the tithes and offerings, the sacrifices, the +solemn festivals, the preparation of the feasts,--all was foreseen and +prearranged with scrupulous exactitude. Ezekiel was, as we have seen, a +priest; the smallest details were as dear to him as the noblest offices +of his calling, and the minute ceremonial instructions as to the killing +and cooking of the sacrificial animals appeared to him as necessary to +the future prosperity of his people as the moral law. Towards the end, +however, the imagination of the seer soared above the formalism of the +sacrificing priest; he saw in a vision waters issuing out of the very +threshold of the divine house, flowing towards the Dead Sea through a +forest of fruit trees, "whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall the +fruit thereof fail." The twelve tribes of Israel, alike those of whom +a remnant still existed as well as those which at different times +had become extinct, were to divide the regenerated land by lot among +them--Dan in the extreme north, Reuben and Judah in the south; and they +would unite to found once more, around Mount Sion, that new Jerusalem +whose name henceforth was to be Jahveh-shammah, "The Lord is there."* + + * Ezek. xlvii., xlviii. The image of the river seems to be + borrowed from the _vessel of water_ of Chaldaean mythology. + +The influence of Ezekiel does not seem to have extended beyond a +restricted circle of admirers. Untouched by his preaching, many of the +exiles still persisted in their worship of the heathen gods; most of +these probably became merged in the bulk of the Chaldaean population, +and were lost, as far as Israel was concerned, as completely as were +the earlier exiles of Ephraim under Tiglath-pileser III. and Sargon. The +greater number of the Jews, however, remained faithful to their hopes of +future greatness, and applied themselves to discerning in passing events +the premonitory signs of deliverance. "Like as a woman with child, that +draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her +pangs; so have we been before Thee, O Lord.... Come, my people, enter +thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for +a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the +Lord cometh forth out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the +earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and +shall no more cover her slain."* The condition of the people improved +after the death of Nebuchadrezzar. Amil-marduk took Jehoiachin out of +the prison in which he had languished for thirty years, and treated +him with honour:** this was not as yet the restoration that had been +promised, but it was the end of the persecution. + + * An anonymous prophet, about 570, in Isa. xxvi. 17, 20, 21. + + ** 2 Kings xxv. 27-30; cf. Jer. lii. 31-34. + +A period of court intrigues followed, during which the sceptre of +Nebuchadrezzar changed hands four times in less than seven years; then +came the accession of the peaceful and devout Nabonidus, the fall of +Astyages, and the first victories of Cyrus. Nothing escaped the vigilant +eye of the prophets, and they began to proclaim that the time was at +hand, then to predict the fall of Babylon, and to depict the barbarians +in revolt against her, and Israel released from the yoke by the +all-powerful will of the Persians. "Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, +to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him, +and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and +the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee and make the rugged +places plain: I will break in pieces the doors of brass, rend in sunder +the bars of iron: and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and +hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I am the +Lord which call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel. For Jacob My +servant's sake, and Israel My chosen, I have called thee by thy name: I +have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me."* Nothing can stand +before the victorious prince whom Jahveh leads: "Bel boweth down, Nebo +stoopeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the +things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary +beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the +burden, but themselves are gone into captivity."** "O virgin daughter +of Babylon, sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the +Chaldaeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take +the millstones and grind meal: remove thy veil, strip off the train, +uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. They nakedness shall be +uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen.... Sit thou silent, and get +thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldaeans: for thou shalt no more +be called the lady of kingdoms."*** + + * Second Isaiah, in Isa. xlv. 1-4. + + ** Second Isaiah, in Isa. xlvi. 1, 2. + + *** Second Isaiah, in Isa. xlvii. 1-5. + +The task which Cyrus had undertaken was not so difficult as we might +imagine. Not only was he hailed with delight by the strangers who +thronged Babylonia, but the Babylonians themselves were weary of their +king, and the majority of them were ready to welcome the Persian who +would rid them of him, as in old days they hailed the Assyrian kings who +delivered them from their Chaldaean lords. It is possible that towards +the end of his reign Nabonidus partly resumed the supreme power;* but +anxious for the future, and depending but little on human help, he had +sought a more powerful aid at the hands of the gods. He had apparently +revived some of the old forgotten cults, and had applied to their use +revenues which impoverished the endowment of the prevalent worship of +his own time. As he felt the growing danger approach, he remembered +those towns of secondary grade--Uru, Uruk, Larsam, and Eridu--all +of which, lying outside Nebuchadrezzar's scheme of defence, would be +sacrificed in the case of an invasion: he had therefore brought away +from them the most venerated statues, those in which the spirit of the +divinity was more particularly pleased to dwell, and had shut them up in +the capital, within the security of its triple rampart.** + + * This seems to follow from the part which he plays in the + final crisis, as told in the _Cylinder of Cyrus_ and in the + _Annals_. + + ** The chronicler adds that the gods of Sippar, Kutha, and + Borsippa were not taken to Babylon; and indeed, these cities + being included within the lines of defence of the great + city, their gods were as well defended from the enemy as if + they had been in Babylon itself. + +This attempt to concentrate the divine powers, accentuating as it did +the supremacy of Bel-Marduk over his compeers, was doubtless flattering +to his pride and that of his priests, but was ill received by the rest +of the sacerdotal class and by the populace. All these divine guests had +not only to be lodged, but required to be watched over, decked, fed, and +feted, together with their respective temple retinues; and the prestige +and honour of the local Bel, as well as his revenues, were likely to +suffer in consequence. The clamour of the gods in the celestial heights +soon re-echoed throughout the land; the divinities complained of their +sojourn at Babylon as of a captivity in E-sagilla; they lamented over +the suppression of their daily sacrifices, and Marduk at length took +pity on them. He looked upon the countries of Sumir and Akkad, and saw +their sanctuaries in ruins and their towns lifeless as corpses; "he cast +his eyes over the surrounding regions; he searched them with his glance +and sought out a prince, upright, after his own heart, who should take +his hands. He proclaimed by name Cyrus, King of Anshan, and he called +him by his name to universal sovereignty." Alike for the people +of Babylon and for the exiled Jew, and also doubtless for other +stranger-colonies, Cyrus appeared as a deliverer chosen by the gods; +his speedy approach was everywhere expected, if not with the same +impatience, at least with an almost joyful resignation. His plans were +carried into action in the early months of 538, and his habitual good +fortune did not forsake him at this decisive moment of his career. The +immense citadel raised by Nebuchadrezzar in the midst of his empire, in +anticipation of an attack by the Medes, was as yet intact, and the walls +rising one behind another, the moats, and the canals and marshes which +protected it, had been so well kept up or restored since his time, that +their security was absolutely complete; a besieging army could do little +harm--it needed a whole nation in revolt to compass its downfall. A +whole nation also was required for its defence, but the Babylonians +were not inclined to second the efforts of their sovereign. Nabonidus +concentrated his troops at the point most threatened, in the angle +comprised near Opis between the Medic wall and the bend of the Tigris, +and waited in inaction the commencement of the attack. It is supposed +that Cyrus put two bodies of troops in motion: one leaving Susa under +his own command, took the usual route of all Blamite invasions in the +direction of the confluence of the Tigris and the Diyala; the other +commanded by Gobryas, the satrap of Gutium, followed the course of +the Adhem or the Diyala, and brought the northern contingents to the +rallying-place. From what we know of the facts as a whole, it would +appear that the besieging force chose the neighbourhood of the present +Bagdad to make a breach in the fortifications. Taking advantage of the +months when the rivers were at their lowest, they drew off the water +from the Diyala and the Tigris till they so reduced the level that they +were able to cross on foot; they then cut their way through the ramparts +on the left bank, and rapidly transported the bulk of their forces +into the very centre of the enemy's position. The principal body of the +Chaldaean troops were still at Opis, cut off from the capital; Cyrus +fell upon them, overcame them on the banks of the Zalzallat in the early +days of Tammuz, urging forward Gobryas meanwhile upon Babylon itself.* +On the 14th of Tammuz, Nabonidus evacuated Sippar, which at once fell +into the hands of the Persian outposts; on the 16th Gobryas entered +Babylon without striking a blow, and Nabonidus surrendered himself a +prisoner.** + + * For the strategic interpretation of the events of this + campaign I have generally adopted the explanations of + Billerbeck. Herodotus' account with regard to the river + Gyndes is probably a reminiscence of alterations made in the + river-courses at the time of the attack in the direction of + Bagdad. + + ** The _Cylinder of Cyrus_, 1. 17, expressly says so: + "Without combat or battle did Marduk make him enter + Babylon," The _Annals of Nabonidus_ confirm this testimony + of the official account. + +The victorious army had received orders to avoid all excesses which +would offend the people; they respected the property of the citizens and +of the temples, placed a strong detachment around E-sagilla to protect +it from plunder, and no armed soldier was allowed within the enclosure +until the king' had determined on the fate of the vanquished. Cyrus +arrived after a fortnight had elapsed, on the 3rd of March-esvan, and +his first act was one of clemency. He prohibited all pillage, granted +mercy to the inhabitants, and entrusted the government of the city to +Gobryas. Bel-sharuzur, the son of Nabonidus, remained to be dealt +with, and his energetic nature might have been the cause of serious +difficulties had he been allowed an opportunity of rallying the last +partisans of the dynasty around him. Gobryas set out to attack him, and +on the 11th of March-esvan succeeded in surprising and slaying him. With +him perished the last hope of the Chaldaeans, and the nobles and towns, +still hesitating on what course to pursue, now vied with each other in +their haste to tender submission. The means of securing their good +will, at all events for the moment, was clearly at hand, and it was used +without any delay: their gods were at once restored to them. This exodus +extended over nearly two months, during March-esvan and Adar, and on +its termination a proclamation of six days of mourning, up to the 3rd of +Nisan, was made for the death of Bel-sharuzur, and as an atonement for +the faults of Nabonidus, after which, on the 4th of Nisan, the notables +of the city were called together in the temple of Nebo to join in the +last expiatory ceremonies. Cyrus did not hesitate for a moment to act +as Tiglath-pileser III. and most of the Sargonids had done; he "took the +hands of Bel," and proclaimed himself king of the country, but in order +to secure the succession, he associated his son Cambyses with himself +as King of Babylon. Mesopotamia having been restored to order, the +provinces in their turn transferred their allegiance to Persia; "the +kings enthroned in their palaces, from the Upper Sea to the Lower, those +of Syria and those who dwell in tents, brought their weighty tribute to +Babylon and kissed the feet of the suzerain." Events had followed one +another so quickly, and had entailed so little bloodshed, that popular +imagination was quite disconcerted: it could not conceive that an +empire of such an extent and of so formidable an appearance should have +succumbed almost without a battle, and three generations had not elapsed +before an entire cycle of legends had gathered round the catastrophe. +They related how Cyrus, having set out to make war, with provisions of +all kinds for his household, and especially with his usual stores of +water from the river Choaspes, the only kind of which he deigned to +drink, had reached the banks of the Gyndes. While seeking for a ford, +one of the white horses consecrated to the sun sprang into the river, +and being overturned by the current, was drowned before it could +be rescued. Cyrus regarded this accident as a personal affront, and +interrupted his expedition to avenge it. He employed his army during one +entire summer in digging three hundred and sixty canals, and thus caused +the principal arm of the stream to run dry, and he did not resume his +march upon Babylon till the following spring, when the level of the +water was low enough to permit of a woman crossing from one bank to the +other without wetting her knees. The Babylonians at first attempted +to prevent the blockade of the place, but being repulsed in their +_sorties_, they retired within the walls, much to Cyrus's annoyance, for +they were provisioned for several years. He therefore undertook to +turn the course of the Euphrates into the Bahr-i-Nejif, and having +accomplished it, he crept into the centre of the city by the dry bed of +the river. If the Babylonians had kept proper guard, the Persians would +probably have been surrounded and caught like fish in a net; but on that +particular day they were keeping one of their festivals, and continued +their dancing and singing till they suddenly found the streets alive +with the enemy. + +Babylon suffered in no way by her servitude, and far from its being a +source of unhappiness to her, she actually rejoiced in it; she was rid +of Nabonidus, whose sacrilegious innovations had scandalised her piety, +and she possessed in Cyrus a legitimate sovereign since he had "taken +the hands of Bel." It pleased her to believe that she had conquered her +victor rather than been conquered by him, and she accommodated herself +to her Persian dynasty after the same fashion that she had in turn +accustomed herself to Cossaean or Elamite, Ninevite or Chaldaean dynasties +in days gone by. Nothing in or around the city was changed, and she +remained what she had been since the fall of Assyria, the real capital +of the regions situated between the Mediterranean and the Zagros. It +seems that none of her subjects--whether Syrians, Tyrians, Arabs, or +Idumaeans--attempted to revolt against their new master, but passively +accepted him, and the Persian dominion extended uncontested as far as +the isthmus of Suez; Cyprus even, and such of the Phoenicians as +were still dependencies of Egypt, did homage to her without further +hesitation. The Jews alone appeared only half satisfied, for the +clemency shown by Cyrus to their oppressors disappointed their hopes +and the predictions of their prophets. They had sung in anticipation of +children killed before their fathers' eyes, of houses pillaged, of +women violated, and Babylon, the glory of the empire and the beauty +of Chaldaean pride, utterly destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrha when +overthrown by Jahveh. "It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be +dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch +tent there; neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. +But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be +full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and satyrs +shall dance there. And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in +the pleasant palaces."* + + * The table of the last kings of Ptolemy and the monuments, + is given below:-- + +[Illustration: 105.jpg TABLE OF THE LAST KINGS OF PTOLEMY] + +Cyrus, however, was seated on the throne, and the city of +Nebuchadrezzar, unlike that of Sargon and Sennacherib, still continued +to play her part in the world's history. The revenge of Jerusalem had +not been as complete as that of Samaria, and her sons had to content +themselves with obtaining the cessation of their exile. It is impossible +to say whether they had contributed to the downfall of Nabonidus +otherwise than by the fervency of their prayers, or if they had rendered +Cyrus some service either in the course of his preparations or during +his short campaign. They may have contemplated taking up arms in his +cause, and have been unable to carry the project into execution owing +to the rapidity with which events took place. However this may be, he +desired to reward them for their good intentions, and in the same year +as his victory, he promulgated a solemn edict, in which he granted them +permission to return to Judah and to rebuild not only their city, but +the temple of their God. The inhabitants of the places where they were +living were charged to furnish them with silver, gold, materials, and +cattle, which would be needed by those among them who should claim the +benefits of the edict; they even had restored to them, by order of the +king, what remained in the Babylonian treasury of the vessels of gold +and silver which had belonged to the sanctuary of Jahveh. The heads +of the community received the favour granted to them from such high +quarters, without any enthusiasm. Now that they were free to go, they +discovered that they were well off at Babylon. They would have to +give up their houses, their fields, their business, their habits of +indifference to politics, and brave the dangers of a caravan journey of +three or four months' duration, finally encamping in the midst of +ruins in an impoverished country, surrounded by hostile and jealous +neighbours; such a prospect was not likely to find favour with many, and +indeed it was only the priests, the Levites, and the more ardent of +the lower classes who welcomed the idea of the return with a touching +fervour. The first detachment organised their departure in 536, +under the auspices of one of the princes of the royal house, named +Shauash-baluzur (Sheshbazzar), a son of Jehoiachin.* It comprised only a +small number of families, and contained doubtless a few of the captives +of Nebuchadrezzar who in their childhood had seen the temple standing +and had been present at its destruction. + + * The name which is written Sheshbazzar in the Hebrew text + of the Book of Ezra (i. 9, 11; v. 14, 16) is rendered + Sasabalassaros in Lucian's recension of the Septuagint, and + this latter form confirms the hypothesis of Hoonacker, which + is now universally accepted, that it corresponds to the + Babylonian Shamash-abaluzur. It is known that Shamash + becomes Shauash in Babylonian; thus Saosdukhinos comes from + Shamash-shumukin: similarly Shamash-abaluzur has become + Shauash-abaluzur. Imbert has recognised Sheshbazzar, + Shauash-abaluzur in the Shenazzar mentioned in 1 Chron. iii. + 8, as being one of the sons of Jeconiah, and this + identification has been accepted by several recent + historians of Israel. It should be remembered that Shauash- + abaluzur and Zerubbabel have long been confounded one with + the other. + +The returning exiles at first settled in the small towns of Judah and +Benjamin, and it was not until seven months after their arrival that +they summoned courage to clear the sacred area in order to erect in its +midst an altar of sacrifice.* + + * The history of this first return from captivity is + summarily set forth in Ezra i.; cf. v. 13-17; vi. 3-5, 15. + Its authenticity has been denied: with regard to this point + and the questions relating to Jewish history after the + exile, the modifications which have been imposed on the + original plan of this work have obliged me to suppress much + detail in the text and the whole of the bibliography in the + notes. + +They formed there, in the land of their fathers, a little colony, almost +lost among the heathen nations of former times--Philistines, Idumasans, +Moabites, Ammonites, and the settlers implanted at various times in what +had been the kingdom of Israel by the sovereigns of Assyria and Chaldaea. +Grouped around the Persian governor, who alone was able to protect them +from the hatred of their rivals, they had no hope of prospering, or even +of maintaining their position, except by exhibiting an unshaken fidelity +to their deliverers. It was on this very feeling that Cyrus mainly +relied when he granted them permission to return to their native +hills, and he was actuated as much by a far-seeing policy as from the +promptings of instinctive generosity. It was with satisfaction that he +saw in that distant province, lying on the frontier of the only enemy +yet left to him in the old world, a small band, devoted perforce to his +interests, and whose very existence depended entirely on that of his +empire. He no doubt extended the same favour to the other exiles in +Chaldaea who demanded it of him, but we do not know how many of them +took advantage of the occasion to return to their native countries, and +this exodus of the Jews still remains, so far as we know, a unique +fact. The administration continued the same as it had been under the +Chaldaeans; Aramaean was still the official language in the provincial +dependencies, and the only change effected was the placing of Persians +at the head of public offices, as in Asia Minor, and allowing them a +body of troops to support their authority.* + + * The presence of Persian troops in Asia Minor is proved by + the passage in Herodotus where he says that Orotes had with + him 1000 Persians as his body-guard. + +One great state alone remained of all those who had played a prominent +part in the history of the East. This was Egypt; and the policy which +her rulers had pursued since the development of the Iranian power +apparently rendered a struggle with it inevitable. Amasis had taken part +in all the coalitions which had as their object the perpetuation of +the balance of the powers in Western Asia; he had made a treaty with +Croesus, and it is possible that his contingents had fought in the +battles before Sardes; Lydia having fallen, he did all in his power to +encourage Nabonidus in his resistance. As soon as he found himself face +to face with Cyrus, he understood that a collision was imminent, and +did his best in preparing to meet it. Even if Cyrus had forgotten the +support which had been freely given to his rivals, the wealth of Egypt +was in itself sufficient to attract the Persian hordes to her frontiers. + +A century later, the Egyptians, looking back on the past with a +melancholy retrospection, confessed that "never had the valley been +more flourishing or happier than under Amasis; never had the river +shown itself more beneficent to the soil, nor the soil more fertile +for mankind, and the inhabitated towns might be reckoned at 20,000 in +number." The widespread activity exhibited under Psammetichus II., and +Apries, was redoubled under the usurper, and the quarries of Turah,* +Silsileh,** Assuan, and even those of Hammamat, were worked as in the +palmy days of the Theban dynasties. The island of Philae, whose position +just below the cataract attracted to it the attention of the military +engineers, was carefully fortified and a temple built upon it, the +materials of which were used later on in the masonry of the sanctuary of +Ptolemaic times. Thebes exhibited a certain outburst of vitality under +the impulse given by Ankhnasnofiribri and by Shashonqu, the governor of +her palace;*** two small chapels, built in the centre of the town, still +witness to the queen's devotion to Amon, of whom she was the priestess. +Wealthy private individuals did their best to emulate their sovereign's +example, and made for themselves at Shekh Abd-el-Gurnah and at Assassif +those rock-hewn tombs which rival those of the best periods in their +extent and the beauty of their bas-reliefs.**** + + * A stele of his forty-fourth year still exists in the + quarries of the Mokattam. + + ** According to Herodotus, it was from the quarries of + Elephantine that Amasis caused to be brought the largest + blocks which he used in the building of Sais. + + *** Her tomb still exists at Deir el-Medineh, and the + sarcophagus, taken from the tomb in 1833, is now in the + British Museum. + + **** The most important of these tombs is that of Petenit, + the father of Shashonqu, who was associated with + Ankhnasnofiribri in the government of Thebes. + +Most of the cities of the Said were in such a state of decadence that it +was no longer possible to restore to them their former prosperity, but +Abydos occupied too important a place in the beliefs connected with the +future world, and attracted too many pilgrims, to permit of its being +neglected. The whole of its ancient necropolis had been rifled by +thieves during the preceding centuries, and the monuments were nearly as +much buried by sand as in our own times. + +[Illustration: 111.jpg AN OSIRIS STRETCHED FULL LENGTH ON THE GROUND] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after Mariette. The monument is a + statuette measuring only 15 centimetres in length; it has + been reproduced to give an idea of the probable form of the + statue seen by Herodotus. + +The dismantled fortress now known as the Shunet ez-Zebib served as the +cemetery for the ibises of Thoth, and for the stillborn children of the +sacred singing-women, while the two Memnonia of Seti and Ramses, now +abandoned by their priests, had become mere objects of respectful +curiosity, on which devout Egyptians or passing travellers--Phoenicians, +Aramaeans, Cypriots, Carians, and Greeks from Ionia and the isles--came +to carve their names.* + + * The position occupied by the graffiti on certain portions + of the walls show that in these places in the temple of Seti + there was already a layer of sand varying from one to three + metres in depth. + +Amasis confided the work of general restoration to one of the principal +personages of his court, Pefzaaunit, Prince of Sais, who devoted his +attention chiefly to two buildings--the great sanctuary of Osiris, which +was put into good condition throughout, and the very ancient necropolis +of Omm-el-Graab, where lay hidden the _alquhah_, one of the sepulchres +of the god; he restored the naos, the table of offerings, the barques, +and the temple furniture, and provided for the sacred patrimony by an +endowment of fields, vineyards, palm groves, and revenues, so as to +ensure to the sanctuary offerings in perpetuity. It was a complete +architectural resurrection. The nomes of Middle Egypt, which had +suffered considerably during the Ethiopian and Assyrian wars, had +some chance of prosperity now that their lords were relieved from the +necessity of constantly fighting for some fresh pretender. Horu, son +of Psam-metichus, Prince of the Oleander nome, rebuilt the ancient +sanctuary of Harshafaitu at Heracleopolis, and endowed it with a +munificence which rivalled that of Pefzaaunifc at Abydos. The king +himself devoted his resources chiefly to works at Memphis and in the +Delta. He founded a temple of Isis at Memphis, which Herodotus +described as extending over an immense area and being well worth seeing; +unfortunately nothing now remains of it, nor of the recumbent colossus, +sixty feet in length, which the king placed before the court of Phtah, +nor of the two gigantic statues which he raised in front of the temple, +one on each side of the door. + +[Illustration: 112.jpg THE TWO GODDESSES OF LAW; ANI ADORING OSIRIS] THE +TRIAL OF THE CONSCIENCE; TOTH AND THE FEATHER OF THE LAW. + +Besides these architectural works, Amasis invested the funerary +ceremonies of the Apis-bulls with a magnificence rarely seen before +his time, and the official stelae which he carved to the memory of +the animals who died in his reign exhibit a perfection of style quite +unusual. His labours at Memphis, however, were eclipsed by the admirable +work which he accomplished at Sais. The propylae which he added to the +temple of Nit "surpassed most other buildings of the same kind, as +much by their height and extent, as by the size and quality of the +materials;" he had, moreover, embellished them by a fine colonnade, and +made an approach to them by an avenue of sphinxes. + +[Illustration: 113.jpg AMASIS IN ADORATION BEFORE THE BULL APIS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph taken in the + Louvre. + +In other parts of the same building were to be seen two superb obelisks, +a recumbent figure similar to that at Memphis, and a monolithic naos +of rose granite brought from the quarries of Elephantine. Amasis had a +special predilection for this kind of monument. That which he erected at +Thmuis is nearly twenty-three feet in height,* and the Louvre contains +another example, which though smaller still excites the admiration of +the modern visitor.** + + * The exact measurements are 23 1/2 ft. in height, 12 ft. 9 + ins. in width, and 10 ft. 6 ins. in depth. The naos of Saft + el-Hinneh must have been smaller, but it is impossible to + determine its exact dimensions. + + ** It measures 9 ft. 7 ins. in height, 3 ft. 1 in. in width, + and 3 ft. 8 ins. + +[Illustration: 114.jpg THE NAOS OF AMASIS AT THMUIS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the sketch of Burton. + +The naos of Sais, which amazed Herodotus, was much larger than either of +the two already mentioned, or, indeed, than any known example. Tradition +states that it took two thousand boatmen three years to convey it down +from the first cataract. It measured nearly thirty feet high in the +interior, twenty-four feet in depth, and twelve feet in breadth; even +when hollowed out to contain the emblem of the god, it still weighed +nearly 500,000 kilograms. It never reached its appointed place in the +sanctuary. The story goes that "the architect, at the moment when the +monument had been moved as far as a certain spot in the temple, heaved +a sigh, oppressed with the thought of the time expended on its transport +and weary of the arduous work. Amasis overheard the sigh, and taking it +as an omen, he commanded that the block should be dragged no further. +Others relate that one of the overseers in charge of the work was +crushed to death by the monument, and for this reason it was left +standing on the spot," where for centuries succeeding generations came +to contemplate it.* + + * The measurements given by Herodotus are so different from + those of any naos as yet discovered, that I follow Kenrick + in thinking that Herodotus saw the monument of Amasis lying + on its side, and that he took for the height what was really + the width in depth. It had been erected in the nome of + Athribis, and afterwards taken to Alexandria about the + Ptolemaic era; it was discovered under water in one of the + ports of the town at the beginning of this century, and + Drovetti, who recovered it, gave it to the Museum of the + Louvre in 1825. + +Amasis, in devoting his revenues to such magnificent works, fully shared +the spirit of the older Pharaohs, and his labours were nattering to +the national vanity, even though many lives were sacrificed in their +accomplishment; but the glory which they reflected on Egypt did not +have the effect of removing the unpopularity in which Tie was personally +held. The revolution which overthrew Apries had been provoked by the +hatred of the native party towards the foreigners; he himself had been +the instrument by which it had been accomplished, and it would have been +only natural that, having achieved a triumph in spite of the Greeks and +the mercenaries, he should have wished to be revenged on them, and have +expelled them from his dominions. But, as a fact, nothing of the kind +took place, and Amasis, once crowned, forgot the wrongs he had suffered +as an aspirant to the royal dignity; no sooner was he firmly seated on +the throne, than he recalled the strangers, and showed that he had only +friendly intentions with regard to them. His predecessors had received +them into favour, he, in fact, showed a perfect infatuation for them, +and became as complete a Greek as it was possible for an Egyptian to be. +His first care had been to make a treaty with the Dorians of Oyrene, and +he displayed so much tact in dealing with them, that they forgave him +for the skirmish of Irasa, and invited him to act as arbitrator in their +dissensions. A certain Arkesilas II. had recently succeeded the Battos +who had defeated the Egyptian troops, but his suspicious temper had +obliged his brothers to separate themselves from him, and they had +founded further westwards the independent city of Barca. On his +threatening to evict them, they sent a body of Libyans against him. +Fighting ensued, and he was beaten close to the town of Leukon. He +lost 7000 hoplites in the engagement, and the disaster aroused so +much ill-feeling against him that Laarchos, another of his brothers, +strangled him. Laarchos succeeded him amid the acclamations of the +soldiery; but not long after, Eryxo and Polyarchos, the wife and +brother-in-law of his victim, surprised and assassinated him in his +turn. The partisans of Laarchos then had recourse to the Pharaoh, who +showed himself disposed to send them help; but his preparations were +suspended owing to the death of his mother. Polyarchos repaired to Egypt +before the royal mourning was ended, and pleaded his cause with such +urgency that he won over the king to his side; he obtained the royal +investiture for his sister's child, who was still a minor, Battos III., +the lame, and thus placed Oyrene in a sort of vassalage to the Egyptian +crown.* + + * Herodotus narrates these events without mentioning Amasis, + and Nicolas of Damascus adopted Herodotus' account with + certain modifications taken from other sources. The + intervention of Amasis is mentioned only by Plutarch and by + Polyaanus; but the record of it had been handed down to them + by some more ancient author--perhaps by Akesandros; or + perhaps, in the first instance, by Hellanicos of Lesbos, who + gave a somewhat detailed account of certain points in + Egyptian history. The passage of Herodotus is also found + incorporated in accounts of Cyrenian origin: his informants + were interested in recalling deeds which reflected glory on + their country, like the defeat of Apries at Irasa, but not + in the memory of events so humiliating for them as the + sovereign intervention of Pharaoh only a few years after + this victory. And besides, the merely pacific success which + Amasis achieved was not of a nature to leave a profound mark + on the Egyptian mind. It is thus easy to explain how it was + that Herodotus makes no allusion to the part played by Egypt + in this affair. + +The ties which connected the two courts were subsequently drawn closer +by marriage; partly from policy and partly from a whim, Amasis espoused +a Cyrenian woman named Ladike, the daughter, according to some, of +Arkesilas or of Battos, according to others, of a wealthy private +individual named Kritobulos.* The Greeks of Europe and Asia Minor fared +no less to their own satisfaction at his hand than their compatriots +in Africa; following the example of his ally Croesus, he entered +into relations with their oracles on several occasions, and sent them +magnificent presents. The temple of Delphi having been burnt down in +548, the Athenian family of the Alcmaeonides undertook to rebuild it from +the ground for the sum of three hundred talents, of which one-fourth was +to be furnished by the Delphians. When these, being too poor to pay +the sum out of their own resources, made an appeal to the generosity of +other friendly powers, Amasis graciously offered them a thousand talents +of Egyptian alum, then esteemed the most precious of all others. Alum +was employed in dyeing, and was an expensive commodity in the markets of +Europe; the citizens of Delphi were all the more sensible of Pharaoh's +generosity, since the united Greeks of the Nile valley contributed only +twenty _minae_ of the same mineral as their quota. Amasis erected at +Cyrene a statue of his wife Ladike, and another of the goddess Neit, +gilded from head to foot, and to these he added his own portrait, +probably painted on a wooden panel.** + + * The very fact of the marriage is considered by Wiedemann + as a pure legend, but there is nothing against its + authenticity; the curious story of the relations of the + woman with Amasis told by the Cyrenian commentators is the + only part which need be rejected. + + ** The text of Herodotus can only mean a painted panel + similar to those which have been found on the mummies of the + Graeco-Roman era in the Fayum. + +He gave to Athene of Lindos two stone statues and a corselet of linen +of marvellous fineness;* and Hera of Samos received two wooden statues, +which a century later Herodotus found still intact. The Greeks flocked +to Egypt from all quarters of the world in such considerable numbers +that the laws relating to them had to be remodelled in order to avoid +conflicts with the natives. + + * It seems that one of these statues is that which, after + being taken to Constantinople, was destroyed in a fire in + 476 A.D. Fragments of the corselet still existed in the + first century of our era, but inquisitive persons used to + tear off pieces to see for themselves whether, as Herodotus + assures us, each thread was composed of three hundred and + sixty-five strands, every one visible with the naked eye. + +The townships founded a century earlier along the Pelusiac arm of the +Nile had increased still further since the time of Necho, and to their +activity was attributable the remarkable prosperity of the surrounding +region. But the position which they occupied on the most exposed side +of Egypt was regarded as permanently endangering the security of the +country: her liberty would be imperilled should they revolt during a war +with the neighbouring empire, and hand over the line of defence which +was garrisoned by them to the invader. Amasis therefore dispossessed +their inhabitants, and transferred them to Memphis and its environs. +The change benefited him in two ways, for, while securing himself from +possible treason, he gained a faithful guard for himself in the event of +risings taking place in his turbulent capital. While he thus distributed +these colonists of ancient standing to his best interests, he placed +those of quite recent date in the part of the Delta furthest removed +from Asia, where surveillance was most easy, in the triangle, namely, +lying to the west of Sais, between the Canopic branch of the Nile, the +mountains, and the sea-coast. The Milesians had established here some +time previously, on a canal connected with the main arm of the river, +the factory of Naucratis, which long remained in obscurity, but suddenly +developed at the beginning of the XXVIth dynasty, when Sais became the +favourite residence of the Pharaohs. This town Amasis made over to the +Greeks so that they might make it the commercial and religious centre of +their communities in Egypt. + +[Illustration: 120.jpg THE PRESENT SITE OF NAUCRATIS] + + Reduced by Faucher-Gudin from the plan published by Petrie. + The site of the Hellenion is marked A, the modern Arab + village B, the temenos of Hera and Apollo E, that of the + Dioskuri F, and that of Aphrodite G. + +Temples already existed there, those of Apollo and Aphrodite, together +with all the political and religious institutions indispensable to the +constitution of an Hellenic city; but the influx of immigrants was +so large and rapid, that, after the lapse of a few years, the entire +internal organism and external aspect of the city were metamorphosed. +New buildings rose from the ground with incredible speed--the little +temple of the Dioskuri, the protectors of the sailor, the temple of the +Samian Hera, that of Zeus of AEgina, and that of Athene;* ere long the +great temenos, the Hellenion, was erected at the public expense by nine +AEolian, Ionian, and Dorian towns of Asia Minor, to serve as a place of +assembly for their countrymen, as a storehouse, as a sanctuary, and, +if need be, even as a refuge and fortress, so great was its area and so +thick its walls.** + + * The temple of Athene, the Nit of the Saite nome, is as yet + known only by an inscription in Pctrie. + + ** The site has been rediscovered by Petrie at the southern + extremity of and almost outside the town; the walls were + about 48 feet thick and 39 feet high, and the rectangular + area enclosed by them could easily contain fifty thousand + men. + +It was not possible for the constitution of Naucratis to be very +homogeneous, when a score of different elements assisted in its +composition. It appears to have been a compromise between the +institutions of the Dorians and those of the Ionians. Its supreme +magistrates were called timuchi, but their length of office and +functions are alike unknown to us. The inspectors of the emporia and +markets could be elected only by the citizens of the nine towns, and it +is certain that the chief authority was not entirely in the hands either +of the timuchi or the inspectors; perhaps each quarter of the town had +its council taken from among the oldest residents. A prytanasum was open +to all comers where assemblies and banquets were held on feast-days; +here were celebrated at the public expense the festivals of Dionysos +and Apollo Komasos. Amasis made the city a free port, accessible at all +times to whoever should present themselves with peaceable intent, and +the privileges which he granted naturally brought about the closing of +all the other seaports of Egypt. When a Greek ship, pursued by pirates, +buffeted by storms, or disabled by an accident at sea, ran ashore at +some prohibited spot on the coast, the captain had to appear before the +nearest magistrate, in order to swear that he had not violated the law +wilfully, but from the force of circumstances. If his excuse appeared +reasonable, he was permitted to make his way to the mouth of the Canopic +branch of the Nile; but when the state of the wind or tide did not allow +of his departure, his cargo was transferred to boats of the locality, +and sent to the Hellenic settlement by the canals of the Delta. This +provision of the law brought prosperity to Naucratis; the whole of the +commerce of Egypt with the Greek world passed through her docks, and +in a few years she became one of the wealthiest emporia of the +Mediterranean. The inhabitants soon overflowed the surrounding country, +and covered it with villas and townships. Such merchants as refused to +submit to the rule of their own countrymen found a home in some other +part of the valley which suited them, and even Upper Egypt and the +Libyan desert were subject to their pacific inroads. The Milesians +established depots in the ancient city of Abydos;* the Cypriots and +Lesbians, and the people of Ephesus, Chios, and Samos, were scattered +over the islands formed by the network of canals and arms of the Nile, +and delighted in giving them the names of their respective countries;** +Greeks of diverse origin settled themselves at Neapolis, not far from +Panopolis; and the Samians belonging to the AEschrionian tribe penetrated +as far as the Great Oasis; in fact, there was scarcely a village where +Hellenic traders were not found, like the _bakals_ of to-day, selling +wine, perfumes, oil, and salted provisions to the natives, practising +usury in all its forms, and averse from no means of enriching themselves +as rapidly as possible. + + * In Stephen of Byzantium the name of the town is said to be + derived from that of the Milesian Abydos who founded it, + probably on the testimony of Aristagoras. Letronne has seen + that the historian meant a factory established by the + Milesians probably in the reign of Amasis, at the terminus + of the route leading to the Great Oasis. + + ** The compiler confines himself to stating that there were + in the Nile islands called Ephesus, Chios, Samos, Lesbos, + Cyprus, and so on; the explanation I have given in the text + accounts for this curious fact quite simply. + +Those who returned to their mother-country carried thither +strange tales, which aroused the curiosity and cupidity of their +fellow-citizens; and philosophers, merchants, and soldiers alike set out +for the land of wonders in pursuit of knowledge, wealth, or adventures. +Amasis, ever alert upon his Asiatic frontier, and always anxious +to strengthen himself in that quarter against a Chaldaean or Persian +invasion, welcomed them with open arms: those who remained in the +country obtained employment about his person, while such as left it not +to return, carried away with them the memory of his kindly treatment, +and secured for him in Hellas alliances of which he might one day +stand in need. The conduct of Amasis was politic, but it aroused the +ill-feeling of his subjects against him. Like the Jews under Hezekiah, +the Babylonians under Nabonidus, and all other decadent races threatened +by ruin, they attributed their decline, not to their own vices, but to +the machinations of an angry god, and they looked on favours granted to +strangers as a sacrilege. Had not the Greeks brought their divinities +with them? Did they not pervert the simple country-folk, so that they +associated the Greek religion with that of their own country? Money +was scarce; Amasis had been obliged to debit the rations and pay of +his mercenaries to the accounts of the most venerated Egyptian +temples--those of Sais, Heliopolis, Bubastis, and Memphis; and each +of these institutions had to rebate so much per cent. on their annual +revenues in favour of the barbarians, and hand over to them considerable +quantities of corn, cattle, poultry, stuffs, woods, perfumes, and +objects of all kinds. The priests were loud in their indignation, the +echo of which still rang in the ears of the faithful some centuries +later, and the lower classes making common cause with their priests, a +spirit of hatred was roused among the populace as bitter as that which +had previously caused the downfall of Apries. As the fear of the army +prevented this feeling from manifesting itself in a revolt, it found +expression in the secret calumnies which were circulated against the +king, and misrepresented the motives of all his actions. Scores of +malicious stories were repeated vilifying his character. It was stated +that before his accession he was much addicted to eating and drinking, +but that, suffering from want of money, he had not hesitated in +procuring what he wished for by all sorts of means, the most honest of +which had been secret theft. When made king, he had several times given +way to intoxication to such an extent as to be incapable of attending to +public business; his ministers were then obliged to relate moral tales +to him to bring him to a state of reason. Many persons having taunted +him with his low extraction, he had caused a statue of a divinity to be +made out of a gold basin in which he was accustomed to wash his feet, +and he had exposed it to the adoration of the faithful. When it had been +worshipped by them for some time, he revealed the origin of the idol, +and added "that it had been with himself as with the foot-pan.... If he +were a private person formerly, yet now he had come to be their king, +and so he bade them honour and reverence him." Towards the middle and +end of his reign he was as much detested as he had been beloved at the +outset. + +He had, notwithstanding, so effectively armed Egypt that the Persians +had not ventured to risk a collision with her immediately after their +conquest of Babylon. Cyrus had spent ten years in compassing the +downfall of Nabonidus, and, calculating that that of Amasis would +require no less a period of time, he set methodically to work on the +organisation of his recently acquired territory; the cities of Phoenicia +acknowledged him as their suzerain, and furnished him with what had +hitherto been a coveted acquisition, a fleet. These preliminaries +had apparently been already accomplished, when the movements of the +barbarians suddenly made his presence in the far East imperative. He +hurried thither, and was mysteriously lost to sight (529). Tradition +accounts for his death in several ways. If Xenophon is to be credited, +he died peaceably on his bed, surrounded by his children, and edifying +those present by his wisdom and his almost superhuman resignation.* + + * A similar legend, but later in date, told how Cyrus, when + a hundred years old, asked one day to see his friends. He + was told that his son had had them all put to death: his + grief at the cruelty of Cambyses caused his death in a few + days. + +Berosus tells us that he was killed in a campaign against the Daliae; +Ctesias states that, living been wounded in a skirmish with the +AEerbikes, one of the savage tribes of Bactriana, he succumbed to his +injuries three days after the engagement. According to the worthy +Herodotus, he asked the hand of Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetse, in +marriage, and was refused with disdain. He declared war against her to +avenge his wounded vanity, set out to fight with her beyond the Araxes, +in the steppes of Turkestan, defeated the advance-guard of cavalry, +and took prisoner the heir to the crown, Spargapises, who thereupon ran +himself through with his sword. "Then Tomyris collected all the forces +of her kingdom, and gave him (Cyrus) battle." Of all the combats in which +barbarians have engaged among themselves, I reckon this to have been the +fiercest. The following, as I understand, was the manner of it:--First, +the two armies stood apart and shot their arrows at each other; then, +when their quivers were empty, they closed and fought hand to hand with +lances and daggers; and thus they continued fighting for a length +of time, neither choosing to give ground. At length the Massagetse +prevailed. The greater part of the army of the Persians was destroyed. +Search was made among the slain by order of the queen for the body of +Cyrus; and when it was found, she took a skin, and, filling it full of +human blood, she dipped the head of Cyrus in the gore, saying, as she +thus insulted the corse, "I live and have conquered thee in fight, and +yet by thee am I ruined, for thou tookest my son with guile; but thus I +make good my threat, and give thee thy fill of blood." The engagement +was not as serious as the legend would have us believe, and the growth +of the Persian power was in no way affected, by it. It cost Cyrus his +life, but his army experienced no serious disaster, and his men took +the king's body and brought it to Pasargadae. He had a palace there, the +remains of which can still be seen on the plain of Murgab. The edifice +was unpretentious, built upon a rectangular plan, with two porches of +four columns on the longer sides, a lateral chamber at each of the four +angles, and a hypostyle hall in the centre, divided lengthways by two +rows of columns which supported the roof. The walls were decorated with +bas-reliefs, and wherever the inscriptions have not been destroyed, +we can read in cuneiform characters in the three languages which +thenceforward formed the official means of communication of the +empire--Persian, Medic, and Chaldaean--the name, title, and family of +the royal occupant. Cyrus himself is represented in a standing posture +on the pilasters, wearing a costume in which Egyptian and Assyrian +features are curiously combined. He is clothed from neck to ankle in the +close-fitting fringed tunic of the Babylonian and Mnevite sovereigns; +his feet are covered with laced boots, while four great wings, emblems +of the supreme power, overshadow his shoulders and loins, two of them +raised in the air, the others pointing to the earth; he wears on +his head the Egyptian skull-cap, from which rises one of the most +complicated head-dresses of the royal wardrobe of the Pharaohs. The +monarch raises his right hand with the gesture of a man speaking to an +assembled people, and as if repeating the legend traced above his image: +"I am Cyrus, the king, the Achaemenian." He was buried not far off, in +the monumental tomb which he had probably built for himself in a square +enclosure, having a portico on three of its sides; a small chamber, +with a ridge roof, rises from a base composed of six receding steps, so +arranged as to appear of unequal height. + +[Illustration: 128.jpg CYRUS THE ACHAEMENIAN] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the photograph by Dieulafoy. + +The doorway is narrow, and so low that a man of medium statue finds some +difficulty in entering. It is surmounted by a hollow moulding, quite +Egyptian in style, and was closed by a two-leaved stone door. The +golden coffin rested on a couch of the same metal, covered with precious +stuffs; and a circular table, laden with drinking-vessels and ornaments +enriched with precious stones, completed the furniture of the chamber. +The body of the conqueror remained undisturbed on this spot for two +centuries under the care of the priests; but while Alexander was waging +war on the Indian frontier, the Greek officers, to whom he had entrusted +the government of Persia proper, allowed themselves to be tempted by the +enormous wealth which the funerary chapel was supposed to contain. + +[Illustration: 129.jpg THE TOMB OP CYRUS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the heliogravure of Dieulafoy. + +They opened the coffin, broke the couch and the table, and finding them +too heavy to carry away easily, they contented themselves with stealing +the drinking-vessels and jewels. Alexander on his return visited the +place, and caused the entrance to be closed with a slight wall of +masonry; he intended to restore the monument to its former splendour, +but he himself perished shortly after, and what remained of the +contents probably soon disappeared. After the death of Cyrus, popular +imagination, drawing on the inexhaustible materials furnished by his +adventurous career, seemed to delight in making him the ideal of all +a monarch should be; they attributed to him every virtue--gentleness, +bravery, moderation, justice, and wisdom. There is no reason to doubt +that he possessed the qualities of a good general--activity, energy, and +courage, together with the astuteness and the duplicity so necessary to +success in Asiatic conquest--but he does not appear to have possessed in +the same degree the gifts of a great administrator. He made no changes +in the system of government which from the time of Tiglath-pileser III. +onwards had obtained among all Oriental sovereigns; he placed satraps +over the towns and countries of recent acquisition, at Sardes and +Babylon, in Syria and Palestine, but without clearly defining their +functions or subjecting them to a supervision sufficiently strict to +ensure the faithful performance of their duties. He believed that he was +destined to found a single empire in which all the ancient empires were +to be merged, and he all but carried his task to a successful close: +Egypt alone remained to be conquered when he passed away. + +His wife Kassandane, a daughter of Pharnaspes, and an Achaemenian like +himself, had borne him five children; two sons, Cambyses* and Smerdis,** +and three daughters, Atossa, Roxana, and Artystone.*** + + * The Persian form of the name rendered Kambyses by the + Greeks was Kabuziya or Kambuziya. Herodotus calls him the + son of Kassandane, and the tradition which he has preserved + is certainly authentic. Ctesias has erroneously stated that + his mother was Amytis, the daughter of Astyages, and Dinon, + also erroneously, the Egyptian women Nitetis; Diodorus + Siculus and Strabo make him the son of Meroe. + + ** The original form was Bardiya or Barziya, "the laudable," + and the first Greek transcript known, in AEschylus, is + Mardos, or, in the scholiasts on the passage, Merdias, which + has been corrupted into Marphios by Hellanikos and into + Merges by Pompeius Trogus. The form Smerdis in Herodotus, + and in the historians who follow him, is the result of a + mistaken assimilation of the Persian name with the purely + Greek one of Smerdis or Smerdies. + + *** Herodotus says that Atossa was the daughter of + Kassandane, and the position which she held during three + reigns shows that she must have been so; Justi, however, + calls her the daughter of Amytis. A second daughter is + mentioned by Herodotus, the one whom Cambyses killed in + Egypt by a kick; he gives her no name, but she is probably + the same as the Roxana who according to Ctesias bore a + headless child. The youngest, Artystone, was the favourite + wife of Darius. Josephus speaks of a fourth daughter of + Cyrus called Meroe, but without saying who was the mother of + this princess. + +Cambyses was probably born about 558, soon after his father's accession, +and he was his legitimate successor, according to the Persian custom +which assigned the crown to the eldest of the sons born in the purple. +He had been associated, as we have seen, in the Babylonian regal power +immediately after the victory over Nabonidus, and on the eve of his +departure for the fatal campaign against the Massagetse his father, +again in accordance with the Persian law, had appointed him regent. A +later tradition, preserved by Ctesias, relates that on this occasion the +territory had been divided between the two sons: Smerdis, here called +Tanyoxarkes, having received as his share Bactriana, the Khoramnians, +the Parthians, and the Carmanians, under the suzerainty of his brother. +Cambyses, it is clear, inherited the whole empire, but intrigues +gathered round Smerdis, and revolts broke out in the provinces, incited, +so it was said, whether rightly or wrongly, by his partisans.* The new +king was possessed of a violent, merciless temper, and the Persians +subsequently emphasised the fact by saying that Cyrus had been a +father to them, Cambyses a master. The rebellions were repressed with a +vigorous hand, and finally Smerdis disappeared by royal order, and the +secret of his fate was so well kept, that it was believed, even by his +mother and sisters, that he was merely imprisoned in some obscure Median +fortress.** + + * Herodotus speaks of peoples subdued by Cambyses in Asia, + and this allusion can only refer to a revolt occurring after + the death of Cyrus, before the Egyptian expedition; these + troubles are explicitly recorded in Xenophon. + + ** The inscription of Behistun says distinctly that Cambyses + had his brother Bardiya put to death before the Egyptian + expedition; on the other hand, Herodotus makes the murder + occur during the Egyptian expedition and Ctesias after this + expedition. Ctesias' version of the affair adds that + Cambyses, the better to dissimulate his crime, ordered the + murderer Sphendadates to pass himself off as Tanyoxarkes, as + there was a great resemblance between the two: Sphendadates + --the historian goes on to say--was exiled to Bactriana, + and it was not until five years afterwards that the mother + of the two princes heard of the murder and of the + substitution. These additions to the story are subsequent + developments suggested by the traditional account of the + Pseudo-Smerdis. In recent times several authorities have + expressed the opinion that all that is told us of the murder + of Smerdis and about the Pseudo-Smerdis is merely a legend, + invented by Darius or those about him in order to justify + his usurpation in the eyes of the people: the Pseudo-Smerdis + would be Smerdis himself, who revolted against Cambyses, and + was then, after he had reigned a few months, assassinated by + Darius. Winckler acknowledges "that certainty is impossible + in such a case;" and, in reality, all ancient tradition is + against his hypothesis, and it is best to accept Herodotus' + account, with all its contradictions, until contemporaneous + documents enable us to decide what to accept and what to + reject in it. + +The ground being cleared of his rival, and affairs on the Scythian +frontier reduced to order, Cambyses took up the projects against Egypt +at the exact point at which his predecessor had left them. Amasis, who +for ten years had been expecting an attack, had taken every precaution +in his power against it, and had once more patiently begun to make +overtures of alliance with the Hellenic cities; those on the European +continent did not feel themselves so seriously menaced as to consider it +to their interest to furnish him with any assistance, but the Greeks of +the independent islands, with their chief, Poly crates, tyrant of Samos, +received his advances with alacrity. Polycrates had at his disposal +a considerable fleet, the finest hitherto seen in the waters of the +AEgean, and this, combined with the Egyptian navy, was not any too large +a force to protect the coasts of the Delta, now that the Persians had at +their disposition not only the vessels of the AEolian and Ionian cities, +but those of Phoenicia and Cyprus. A treaty was concluded, bringing +about an exchange of presents and amenities between the two princes +which lasted as long as peace prevailed, but was ruptured at the +critical moment by the action of Polycrates, though not actually through +his own fault. The aristocratic party, whose chiefs were always secretly +plotting his overthrow, had given their adherence to the Persians, +and their conduct became so threatening about the time of the death of +Cyras, that Polycrates had to break his engagements with Egypt in order +to avert a catastrophe.* + + * Herodotus laid the blame for the breach of the treaty to + the King of Egypt, and attributed to his fear of the + constant good fortune of Polycrates. The lattor's accession + to power is fixed at about the year 540 by some, by others + in the year 537, or in the year 533-2; his negotiations with + Amasis must be placed somewhere during the last fifteen + years of the Pharaoh. + +He made a treaty with the Persian king, and sent a squadron of forty +galleys to join the fleet then being equipped in the Phoenician ports.* + + * Herodotus records two opposing traditions: one that the + Samians joined in the Egyptian campaign, the other that they + went only as far as the neighbourhood of Karpathos. + +Amasis, therefore, when war at last broke out, found himself left +to face the enemy alone. The struggle was inevitable, and all the +inhabitants of the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean had long foreseen +its coming. Without taking into consideration the danger to which the +Persian empire and its Syrian provinces were exposed by the proximity of +a strong and able power such as Egypt, the hardy and warlike character +of Cambyses would naturally have prompted him to make an attempt to +achieve what his predecessors, the warrior-kings of Nineveh and Babylon, +had always failed to accomplish successfully. Policy ruled his line of +action, and was sufficient to explain it, but popular imagination sought +other than the very natural causes which had brought the most ancient +and most recent of the great empires of the world into opposition; +romantic reasons were therefore invented to account for the great drama +which was being enacted, and the details supplied varied considerably, +according as the tradition was current in Asia or Africa. It was said +that a physician lent to Cyrus by Amasis, to treat him for an affection +of the eyes, was the cause of all the evil. The unfortunate man, +detained at Susa and chafing at his exile, was said to have advised +Cambyses to ask for the daughter of Pharaoh in marriage, hoping either +that Amasis would grant the request, and be dishonoured in the eyes +of his subjects for having degraded the solar race by a union with a +barbarian, or that he would boldly refuse, and thus arouse the hatred +of the Persians against himself. Amasis, after a slight hesitation, +substituted Nitetis, a daughter of Apries, for his own child. It +happened that one day in sport Cambyses addressed the princess by the +name of her supposed father, whereupon she said, "I perceive, O king, +that you have no suspicion of the way in which you have been deceived by +Amasis; he took me, and having dressed me up as his own daughter, sent +me to you. In reality I am the daughter of Apries, who was his lord and +master until the day that he revolted, and, in concert with the rest of +the Egyptians, put his sovereign to death." The deceit which Cambyses +thus discovered had been put upon him irritated him so greatly as to +induce him to turn his arms against Egypt. So ran the Persian account of +the tale, but on the banks of the Nile matters were explained otherwise. +Here it was said that it was to Cyrus himself that Nitetis had been +married, and that she had borne Cambyses to him; the conquest had thus +been merely a revenge of the legitimate heirs of Psammetichus upon the +usurper, and Cambyses had ascended the throne less as a conqueror than +as a Pharaoh of the line of Apries. It was by this childish fiction that +the Egyptians in their decadence consoled themselves before the stranger +for their loss of power. Always proud of their ancient prowess, but +incapable of imitating the deeds of their forefathers, they none the +less pretended that they could neither be vanquished nor ruled except +by one of themselves, and the story of Nitetis afforded complete +satisfaction to their vanity. If Cambyses were born of a solar princess, +Persia could not be said to have imposed a barbarian king upon Egypt, +but, on the contrary, that Egypt had cleverly foisted her Pharaoh upon +Persia, and through Persia upon half the universe. + +One obstacle still separated the two foes--the desert and the marshes +of the Delta. The distance between the outposts of Pelusium and the +fortress of AEnysos* on the Syrian frontier was scarcely fifty-six miles, +and could be crossed by an army in less than ten days.** Formerly the +width of this strip of desert had been less, but the Assyrians, and +after them the Chaldaeans, had vied with each other in laying waste the +country, and the absence of any settled population now rendered the +transit difficult. Cambyses had his head-quarters at Gaza, at the +extreme limit of his own dominions,*** but he was at a loss how to face +this solitary region without incurring the risk of seeing half his men +buried beneath its sands, and his uncertainty was delaying his departure +when a stroke of fortune relieved him from his difficulty. + + * The AEnysos of Herodotus is now Khan Yunes. + + ** In 1799, Napoleon's army left Kattiyeh on the 18th of + Pluviose, and was at Gaza on the 7th of Ventose, after + remaining from the 21st to the 30th of Pluviose before El- + Arish besieging that place. + + *** This seems to follow from the tradition, according to + which Cambyses left his treasures at Gaza during the + Egyptian campaign, and the town was thence called _Gaza_, + "the treasury." The etymology is false, but the fact that + suggested it is probably correct, considering the situation + of Gaza and the part it must necessarily play in an invasion + of Egypt. + +Phanes of Halicarnassus, one of the mercenaries in the service of Egypt, +a man of shrewd judgment and an able soldier, fell out with Amasis for +some unknown reason, and left him to offer his services to his rival. +This was a serious loss for Egypt, since Phanes possessed considerable +authority over the mercenaries, and was better versed in Egyptian +affairs than any other person. He was pursued and taken within sight of +the Lycian coast, but he treated his captors to wine and escaped from +them while they were intoxicated. He placed Cambyses in communication +with the shekh of the scattered tribes between Syria and the Delta. The +Arab undertook to furnish the Persian king with guides, as one of his +predecessors had done in years gone by for Esar-haddon, and to station +relays of camels laden with water along the route that the invading army +was to follow. Having taken these precautions, Cambyses entrusted the +cares of government and the regulation of his household to Oropastes,* +one of the Persian magi, and gave the order to march forward. + + * Herodotus calls this individual Patizeithes, and Dionysius + of Miletus, who lived a little before Herodotus, gives + Panzythes as a variant of this name: the variant passed into + the Syncellus as Pauzythes, but the original form + Patikhshayathiya is a title signifying _viceroy, regent, or + minister_, answering to the modern Persian _Padishah_: + Herodotus, or the author he quotes, has taken the name of + the office for that of the individual. On the other hand, + Pompeius Trogus, who drew his information from good sources, + mentions, side by side with Cometes or Gaumata, his brother + Oropastes, whose name Ahura-upashta is quite correct, and + may mean, _Him whom Ahura helps_. It is generally admitted + that Pompeius Trogus, or rather Justin, has inverted the + parts they played, and that his Cometes is the Pseudo- + Smerdis, and not, as he says, Oropastes; it was, then, the + latter who was the usurper's brother, and it is his name of + Oropastes which should be substituted for that of the + Patizeithes of Herodotus. + +[Illustration: 138.jpg Psammetichus III. ] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph of the original in the + Louvre. + +On arriving at Pelusium, he learned that his adversary no longer +existed. Amasis had died after a short illness, and was succeeded by his +son Psammetichus III. + +This change of command, at the most critical moment, was almost in +itself, a disaster. Amasis, with his consummate experience of men and +things, his intimate knowledge of the resources of Egypt, his talents as +a soldier and a general, his personal prestige, his Hellenic leanings, +commanded the confidence of his own men and the respect of foreigners; +but what could be expected of his unknown successor, and who could say +whether he were equal to the heavy task which fate had assigned to him? +The whole of the Nile valley was a prey to gloomy presentiment.* + + * Psammetichus III. has left us very few monuments, which is + accounted for by the extreme shortness of his reign. For the + same reason doubtless several writers of classical times + have ignored his existence, and have made the conquest of + Egypt take place under Amasis. Ctesias calls the Pharaoh + Amyrtseus, and gives the same name to those who rebelled + against the Persians in his own time, and he had an account + of the history of the conquest entirely different from that + of Herodotus. + +Egypt was threatened not only, as in the previous century, by the +nations of the Tigris and Euphrates, but all Asia, from the Indus to the +Hellespont, was about to fall on her to crush her. She was destitute +of all human help and allies, and the gods themselves appeared to have +forsaken her. The fellahin, inspired with vague alarm, recognised evil +omens in all around them. Rain is rare in the Thebaid, and storms occur +there only twice or three times in a century: but a few days after the +accession of Psammetichus, a shower of fine rain fell at Thebes, an +event, so it was stated with the exaggeration characteristic of the +bearers of ill news, which had never before occurred.* + + * The inhabitants of the Said have, up to our own time, + always considered rain in the valley as an ill-omened event. + They used to say in the beginning of the nineteenth century, + when speaking of Napoleon's expedition, "We knew that + misfortune threatened us, because it rained at Luxor shortly + before the French came." Wilkinson assures us that rain is + not so rare at Thebes as Herodotus thought: he speaks of + five or six showers a year, and of a great storm on an + average every ten years. But even he admits that it is + confined to the mountain district, and does not reach the + plain: I never heard of rain at Luxor during the six winters + that I spent in Upper Egypt. + +Pharaoh hastened to meet the invader with all the men, chariots, and +native bowmen at his disposal, together with his Libyan and Cyrenoan +auxiliaries, and the Ionians, Carians, and Greeks of the isles and +mainland. The battle took place before Pelusium, and was fought on +both sides with brave desperation, since defeat meant servitude for the +Egyptians, and for the Persians, cut off by the desert from possible +retreat, captivity or annihilation. Phanes had been obliged to leave his +children behind him, and Pharaoh included them in his suite, to serve, +if needful, as hostages. The Carians and Ionians, who felt themselves +disgraced by the defection of their captain, called loudly for them just +before the commencement of the action. They were killed immediately in +front of the lines, their father being a powerless onlooker; their blood +was thrown into a cask half full of wine, and the horrible mixture +was drunk by the soldiers, who then furiously charged the enemy's +battalions. The issue of the struggle was for a long time doubtful, but +the Egyptians were inferior in numbers; towards evening their lines gave +way and the flight began.* All was not, however, lost, if Psammetichus +had but followed the example of Taharqa, and defended the passage of the +various canals and arms of the river, disputing the ground inch by inch +with the Persians, and gaining time meanwhile to collect a fresh army. +The king lost his presence of mind, and without attempting to rally what +remained of his regiments, he hastened to take refuge within the White +Wall. Cambyses halted a few days to reduce Pelusium,** and in the mean +time sent a vessel of Mitylene to summon Memphis to capitulate: the +infuriated populace, as soon as they got wind of the message, massacred +the herald and the crew, and dragged their bleeding limbs through the +streets. + + * According to Herodotus, eighty years later the battle- + field used to be shown covered with bones, and it was said + that the Egyptians could be distinguished from the Persians + by the relative hardness of their skulls. + + ** Polysenus hands down a story that Cambyses, in order to + paralyse the resistance of the besieged, caused cats, dogs, + ibises, and other sacred animals to march at the head of his + attacking columns: the Egyptians would not venture to use + their arms for fear of wounding or killing some of their + gods. + +The city held out for a considerable time; when at length she opened +her gates, the remaining inhabitants of the Said who had hesitated up to +then, hastened to make their submission, and the whole of Egypt as far +as Philae became at one stroke a Persian province. The Libyans did not +wait to be summoned to bring their tribute; Cyrene and Barca followed +their example, but their offerings were so small that the conqueror's +irritation was aroused, and deeming himself mocked, he gave way to his +anger, and instead of accepting them, he threw them to his soldiers with +his own hand (B.C. 525).* + + * The question as to the year in which Egypt was subdued by + Cambyses has long divided historians: I still agree with + those who place the conquest in the spring of 525. + +This sudden collapse of a power whose exalted position had defied all +attacks for centuries, and the tragic fate of the king who had received +his crown merely to lose it, filled contemporary beholders with +astonishment and pity. It was said that, ten days after the capitulation +of Memphis, the victorious king desired out of sport to test the +endurance of his prisoner. Psammetichus beheld his daughter and the +daughters of his nobles pass before him, half naked, with jars on their +shoulders, and go down to the Nile to fetch water from the river like +common slaves; his son and two thousand young men of the same age, in +chains and with ropes round their necks, also defiled before him on +their way to die as a revenge for the murder of the Mitylenians; yet he +never for a moment lost his royal imperturbability. But when one of +his former companions in pleasure chanced to pass, begging for alms +and clothed in rags, Psammetichus suddenly broke out into weeping, and +lacerated his face in despair. Cambyses, surprised at this excessive +grief in a man who up till then had exhibited such fortitude, demanded +the reason of his conduct. "Son of Cyrus," he replied, "the misfortunes +of my house are too unparalleled to weep over, but not the affliction of +my friend. When a man, on the verge of old age, falls from luxury and +abundance into extreme poverty, one may well lament his fate." When the +speech was reported to Cambyses, he fully recognised the truth of it. +Croesus, who was also present, shed tears, and the Persians round him +were moved with pity. Cambyses, likewise touched, commanded that the +son of the Pharaoh should be saved, but the remission of the sentence +arrived too late. He at all events treated Pharaoh himself with +consideration, and it is possible that he might have replaced him on +the throne, under an oath of vassalage, had he not surprised him in +a conspiracy against his own life. He thereupon obliged him to poison +himself by drinking bulls' blood, and he confided the government of the +Nile valley to a Persian named Aryandes. + +No part of the ancient world now remained unconquered except the +semi-fabulous kingdom of Ethiopia in the far-off south. Cities and +monarchies, all the great actors of early times, had been laid in +the dust one after another--Tyre, Damascus, Carchemish, Urartu, Elam, +Assyria, Jerusalem, Media, the Lydians, Babylon, and finally Egypt; and +the prey they had fought over so fiercely and for so many centuries, +now belonged in its entirety to one master for the first time as far +as memory could reach back into the past. Cambyses, following in the +footsteps of Cyrus, had pursued his victorious way successfully, but +it was another matter to consolidate his conquests and to succeed +in governing within the limits of one empire so many incongruous +elements--the people of the Caucasus and those of the Nile valley, the +Greeks of the AEgean and the Iranians, the Scythians from beyond the Oxus +and the Semites of the banks of the Euphrates or of the Mediterranean +coast; and time alone would show whether this heritage would not fall to +pieces as quickly as it had been built up. The Asiatic elements of the +empire appeared, at all events for the moment, content with their lot, +and Babylon showed herself more than usually resigned; but Egypt +had never accepted the yoke of the stranger willingly, and the most +fortunate of her Assyrian conquerors had never exercised more than a +passing supremacy over her. Cambyses realised that he would never master +her except by governing her himself for a period of several years, and +by making himself as Egyptian as a Persian could be without offending +his own subjects at home. He adopted the titles of the Pharaohs, their +double cartouche, their royal costume, and their solar filiation; as +much to satisfy his own personal animosity as to conciliate the Egyptian +priests, he repaired to Sais, violated the tomb of Amasis, and burnt the +mummy after offering it every insult.* + + * Herodotus gives also a second account, which declares that + Cambyses thus treated the body, not of Amasis, but of some + unknown person whom he took for Amasis. The truth of the + story is generally contested, for the deed would have been, + as Herodotus himself remarks, contrary to Persian ideas + about the sanctity of fire. I think that by his cruel + treatment of the mummy, Cambyses wished to satisfy the + hatred of the natives against the Greek-loving king, and so + render himself more acceptable to them. The destruction of + the mummy entailing that of the soul, his act gave the + Saitic population a satisfaction similar to that experienced + by the refined cruelty of those who, a few centuries ago, + killed their enemies when in a state of deadly sin, and so + ensure not only their dismissal from this world, but also + their condemnation in the next. + +[Illustration: 145.jpg THE NAOPHOROS STATUETTE OF THE VATICAN] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph: the head and + hands are a restoration of the eighteenth century, in the + most inappropriate Graeco-Roman style. + +He removed his troops from the temple of Nit, which they had turned into +a barrack to the horror of the faithful, and restored at his own expense +the damage they had done to the building. He condescended so far as +to receive instruction in the local religion, and was initiated in the +worship of the goddess by the priest Uzaharrisniti. This was, after +all, a pursuance of the policy employed by his father towards the +Babylonians, and the projects which he had in view necessitated his +gaining the confidence of the people at all costs. Asia having no more +to offer him, two almost untried fields lay open to his ambition--Africa +and Europe--the Greek world and what lay beyond it, the Carthaginian +world and Ethiopia. The necessity of making a final reckoning with Egypt +had at the outset summoned him to Africa, and it was therefore in that +continent that he determined to carry on his conquests. Memphis was +necessarily the base of his operations, the only point from which +he could direct the march of his armies in a westerly or southerly +direction, and at the same time keep in touch with the rest of his +empire, and he would indeed have been imprudent had he neglected +anything which could make him acceptable to its inhabitants. As soon as +he felt he had gained their sympathies, he despatched two expeditions, +one to Carthage and one to Ethiopia. Cyrene had spontaneously offered +him her homage; he now further secured it by sending thither with all +honour Ladike, the widow of Amasis, and he apparently contemplated +taking advantage of the good will of the Cyrenians to approach Carthage +by sea. The combined fleets of Ionia and Phonicia were without doubt +numerically sufficient for this undertaking, but the Tyrians refused to +serve against their own colonies, and he did not venture to employ the +Greeks alone in waters which were unfamiliar to them. Besides this, the +information which he obtained from those about him convinced him that +the overland route would enable him to reach his destination more surely +if more slowly; it would lead him from the banks of the Nile to the +Oases of the Theban desert, from there to the Ammonians, and thence by +way of the Libyans bordering on the Syrtes and the Liby-phoenicians. He +despatched an advance-guard of fifty thousand men from Thebes to occupy +the Oasis of Ammon and to prepare the various halting-places for +the bulk of the troops. The fate of these men has never been clearly +ascertained. They crossed the Oasis of El-Khargeh and proceeded to +the north-west in the direction of the oracle. The natives afterwards +related that when they had arrived halfway, a sudden storm of wind fell +upon them, and the entire force was buried under mounds of sand during +a halt. Cambyses was forced to take their word; in spite of all his +endeavours, no further news of his troops was forthcoming, except that +they never reached the temple, and that none of the generals or soldiers +ever again saw Egypt (524). The expedition to Ethiopia was not more +successful. Since the retreat of Tanuatamanu, the Pharaohs of Napata had +severed all direct relations with Asia; but on being interfered with +by Psammetichus I. and II., they had repulsed the invaders, and had +maintained their frontier almost within sight of Philae.* In Nubia proper +they had merely a few outposts stationed in the ruins of the towns of +the Theban period--at Derr, at Pnubsu, at Wady-Halfa, and at Semneh; +the population again becoming dense and the valley fertile to the +south of this spot. Kush, like Egypt, was divided into two regions +--To-Qonusit, with its cities of Danguru,** Napata, Asta-muras, and +Barua; and Alo,*** which extended along the White and the Blue Nile +in the plain of Sennaar: the Asmakh, the descendants of the Mashauasha +emigrants of the time of Psammetichus I., dwelt on the southern border +of Alo. + + * The northern boundary of Ethiopia is given us + approximately by the lists of temples in the inscriptions of + Harsiatef and of Nastosenen: Pnubsu is mentioned several + times as receiving gifts from the king, which carries the + permanent dominion of the Ethiopian kings as far as the + second cataract. + + ** Now Old Dongola. + + *** Berua is the Meroe of Strabo, Astaboras the modern Ed- + Dameir, and Alo the kingdom of Aloah of the mediaeval Arab + geographers. + +[Illustration: 147.jpg ETHIOPIAN GKOUP] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the photograph by Berghoff. + +A number of half-savage tribes, Maditi and Bohrehsa, were settled to +the right and to the left of the territory watered by the Nile, between +Darfur, the mountains of Abyssinia, and the Red Sea; and the +warlike disposition of the Ethiopian kings found in these tribes an +inexhaustible field for obtaining easy victories and abundant spoil. +Many of these sovereigns--Pionkhi, Alaru, Harsiatef, Nastosenen--whose +respective positions in the royal line are still undetermined, specially +distinguished themselves in these struggles, but the few monuments +they have left, though bearing witness to their military enterprise and +ability, betray their utter decadence in everything connected with art, +language, and religion. The ancient Egyptian syllabary, adapted to +the needs of a barbarous tongue, had ended by losing its elegance; +architecture was degenerating, and sculpture slowly growing more and +more clumsy in appearance. Some of the work, however, is not wanting in +a certain rude nobility--as, for instance, the god and goddess carved +side by side in a block of grey granite. Ethiopian worship had become +permeated with strange superstitions, and its creed was degraded, +in spite of the strictness with which the priests supervised +its application and kept watch against every attempt to introduce +innovations. Towards the end of the seventh century some of the families +attached to the temple of Am on at Napata had endeavoured to bring about +a kind of religious reform; among other innovations they adopted the +practice of substituting for the ordinary sacrifice, new rites, the +chief feature of which was the offering of the flesh of the victim raw, +instead of roasted with fire. This custom, which was doubtless borrowed +from the negroes of the Upper Nile, was looked upon as a shameful heresy +by the orthodox. The king repaired in state to the temple of Anion, +seized the priests who professed these seditious beliefs, and burnt them +alive. + +[Illustration: 148.jpg Encampment de Bacharis] + +The use of raw meat, nevertheless, was not discontinued, and it gained +such ground in the course of ages that even Christianity was unable to +suppress it; up to the present time, the _brinde_, or piece of beef cut +from the living animal and eaten raw, is considered a delicacy by the +Abyssinians. + +The isolation of the Ethiopians had rather increased than lowered their +reputation among other nations. Their transitory appearance on the +battle-fields of Asia had left a deep impression on the memories of +their opponents. The tenacity they had displayed during their conflict +with Assyria had effaced the remembrance of their defeat. Popular fancy +delighted to extol the wisdom of Sabaco,* and exalted Taharqa to the +first rank among the conquerors of the old world; now that Kush once +more came within the range of vision, it was invested with a share of +all these virtues, and the inquiries Cambyses made concerning it were +calculated to make him believe that he was about to enter on a struggle +with a nation of demigods rather than of men. He was informed that they +were taller, more beautiful, and more vigorous than all other mortals, +that their age was prolonged to one hundred and twenty years and more, +and that they possessed a marvellous fountain whose waters imparted +perpetual youth to then-bodies. There existed near their capital a +meadow, perpetually furnishing an inexhaustible supply of food and +drink; whoever would might partake of this "Table of the Sun," and eat +to his fill.** + + * The eulogy bestowed on him by Herodotus shows the esteem + in which he was held even in the Saite period; later on he + seems to have become two persons, and so to have given birth + to the good Ethiopian king Aktisanes. + + ** Pausanias treats it as a traveller's tale. Heeren thought + that he saw in Herodotus' account a reference to intercourse + by signs, so frequent in Africa. The "Table of the Sun" + would thus have been a kind of market, whither the natives + would come for their provisions, using exchange to procure + them. I am inclined rather to believe the story to be a + recollection, partly of the actual custom of placing meats, + which the first comer might take, on the tombs in the + necropolis, partly of the mythical "Meadow of Offerings" + mentioned in the funerary texts, to which the souls of the + dead and the gods alike had access. This divine region would + have transferred to our earth by some folk-tale, like the + judgment of the dead, the entrance into the solar bark, and + other similar beliefs. + +Gold was so abundant that it was used for common purposes, even for the +chains of their prisoners; but, on the other hand, copper was rare +and much prized. Canibyses despatched some spies chosen from among the +Ichthyophagi of the Bed Sea to explore this region, and acting on the +report they brought back, he left Memphis at the head of an army and +a fleet.* The expedition was partly a success and partly a failure. It +followed the Nile valley as far as Korosko, and then struck across the +desert in the direction of Napata;** but provisions ran short before a +quarter of the march had been achieved, and famine obliged the invaders +to retrace their steps after having endured terrible sufferings.*** + + * Herodotus' text speaks of an army only, but the accounts + of the wars between Ethiopia and Egypt show that the army + was always accompanied by the necessary fleet. + + ** It is usually thought that the expedition marched by the + side of the Nile as far as Napata; to support this theory + the name of a place mentioned in Pliny is quoted, Cambusis + at the third cataract, which is supposed to contain the name + of the conqueror. This town, which is sometimes mentioned by + the classical geographers, is called Kambiusit in the + Ethiopie texts, and the form of the name makes its + connection with the history of Cambyses easy. I think it + follows, from the text of Herodotus, that the Persians left + the grassy land, the river-valley, at a given moment, to + enter the sand, i.e. the desert. Now this is done to-day at + two points--near Korosko to rejoin the Nile at Abu-Hammed, + and near Wady-Halfah to avoid the part of the Nile called + the "Stony belly," Batn el-Hagar. The Korosko route, being + the only one suitable for the transit of a body of troops, + and also the only route known to Herodotus, seems, I think, + likely to be the one which was followed in the present + instance; at all events, it fits in best with the fact that + Cambyses was obliged to retrace his steps hurriedly, when he + had accomplished hardly a fifth of the journey. + + *** Many modern historians are inclined to assume that + Cambyses' expedition was completely successful, and that its + result was the overthrow of the ancient kingdom of Nepata + and the foundation of that of Meroe. Cambyses would have + given the new town which he built there the name of his + sister Meroe. The traditions concerning Cambusis and Meroe + belong to the Alexandrine era, and rest only on chance + similarities of sound. With regard to the Ethiopian province + of the Persian empire and to the Ethiopian neighbours of + Egypt whom Cambyses subdued, the latter are not necessarily + Ethiopians of Napata. Herodotus himself says that the + Ethiopians dwelt in the country above Elephantine, and that + half of what he calls the island of Takhompso was inhabited + by Ethiopians: the subjugated Ethiopians and their country + plainly correspond with the Dodekaschenos of the Graeco-Roman + era. + +Cambyses had to rest content with the acquisition of those portions of +Nubia adjoining the first cataract--the same, in fact, that had been +annexed to Egypt by Psammetichus I. and II. (523). The failure of this +expedition to the south, following so closely on the disaster which +befell that of the west, had a deplorable effect on the mind of +Cambyses. He had been subject, from childhood, to attacks of epilepsy, +during which he became a maniac and had no control over his actions. +These reverses of fortune aggravated the disease, and increased the +frequency and length of the attacks.* + + * Recent historians admit neither the reality of the illness + of Cambyses nor the madness resulting from it, but consider + them Egyptian fables, invented out of spite towards the king + who had conquered and persecuted them. + +The bull Apis had died shortly before the close of the Ethiopian +campaign, and the Egyptians, after mourning for him during the +prescribed number of weeks, were bringing his successor with rejoicings +into the temple of Phtah, when the remains of the army re-entered +Memphis. Cambyses, finding the city holiday-making, imagined that it was +rejoicing over his misfortunes. He summoned the magistrates before him, +and gave them over to the executioner without deigning to listen to +their explanations. He next caused the priests to be brought to him, and +when they had paraded the Apis before him, he plunged his dagger into +its flank with derisive laughter: "Ah, evil people! So you make for +yourselves divinities of flesh and blood which fear the sword! It is +indeed a fine god that you Egyptians have here; I will have you to know, +however, that you shall not rejoice overmuch at having deceived me!" The +priests were beaten as impostors, and the bull languished from its wound +and died in a few days*1 its priests buried it, and chose another in its +place without the usual ceremonies, so as not to exasperate the anger +of the tyrant,** but the horror evoked by this double sacrilege raised +passions against Cambyses which the ruin of the country had failed to +excite. + + * Later historians improved upon the account of Herodotus, + and it is said in the _De Iside_, that Cambyses killed the + Apis and threw him to the dogs. Here there is probably a + confusion between the conduct of Cambyses and that + attributed to the eunuch Bagoas nearly two centuries later, + at the time of the second conquest of Egypt by Ochus. + + ** Mariette discovered in the Serapseum and sent to the + Louvre fragments of the epitaph of an Apis buried in Epiphi + in the sixth year of Cambyses, which had therefore died a + few months previously. This fact contradicts the inference + from the epitaph of the Apis that died in the fourth year of + Darius, which would have been born in the fifth year of + Cambyses, if we allow that there could not have been two + Apises in Egypt at once. This was, indeed, the usual rule, + but a comparison of the two dates shows that here it was not + followed, and it is therefore simplest, until we have + further evidence, to conclude that at all events in cases of + violence, such as sacrilegious murder, there could have been + two Apises at once, one discharging his functions, and the + other unknown, living still in the midst of the herds. + +The manifestations of this antipathy irritated him to such an extent +that he completely changed his policy, and set himself from that time +forward to act counter to the customs and prejudices of the Egyptians. +They consequently regarded his memory with a vindictive hatred. The +people related that the gods had struck him with madness to avenge the +murder of the Apis, and they attributed to him numberless traits of +senseless cruelty, in which we can scarcely distinguish truth from +fiction. It was said that, having entered the temple of Phtah, he had +ridiculed the grotesque figure under which the god was represented, +and had commanded the statues to be burnt. On another occasion he had +ordered the ancient sepulchres to be opened, that he might see what was +the appearance of the mummies. The most faithful members of his family +and household, it was said, did not escape his fury. He killed his own +sister Roxana, whom he had married, by a kick in the abdomen; he slew +the son of Prexaspes with an arrow; he buried alive twelve influential +Persians; he condemned Croesus to death, and then repented, but punished +the officers who had failed to execute the sentence pronounced against +the Lydian king.* + + * The whole of this story of Croesus is entirely fabulous. + +He had no longer any reason for remaining in Egypt, since he had failed +in his undertakings; yet he did not quit the country, and through +repeated delays his departure was retarded a whole year. Meanwhile his +long sojourn in Africa, the report of his failures, and perhaps whispers +of his insanity, had sown the seeds of discontent in Asia; and as Darius +said in after-years, when recounting these events, "untruth had spread +all over the country, not only in Persia and Media, but in other +provinces." Cambyses himself felt that a longer absence would be +injurious to his interests; he therefore crossed the isthmus in the +spring of 521, and was making his way through Northern Syria, perhaps +in the neighbourhood of Hamath,* when he learned that a revolution had +broken out, and that its rapid progress threatened the safety of his +throne and life. + + * Herodotus calls the place where Cambyses died Agbatana + (Ecbatana). Pliny says that the town of Carmel was thus + named at first; but the place here mentioned cannot well + have been in that direction. It has been identified with + Batansea in the country between the Orontes and the + Euphrates, but the most likely theory is the one suggested + by a passage in Stephen of Byzantium, that the place in + question is the large Syrian city of Hamath. Josephus makes + him die at Damascus. + +Tradition asserted that a herald appeared before him and proclaimed +aloud, in the hearing of the whole army, that Cambyses, son of Cyrus, +had ceased to reign, and summoned whoever had till that day obeyed him +to acknowledge henceforth Smerdis, son of Cyrus, as their lord. Cambyses +at first believed that his brother had been spared by the assassins, and +now, after years of concealment, had at length declared himself; but he +soon received proofs that his orders had been faithfully accomplished, +and it is said that he wept at the remembrance of the fruitless crime. +The usurper was Gaumata, one of the Persian Magi, whose resemblance +to Smerdis was so remarkable that even those who were cognisant of it +invariably mistook the one for the other,* and he was brother to that +Oropastes to whom Cambyses had entrusted the administration of his +household before setting out for Egypt.** + + * Greek tradition is unanimous on this point, but the + inscription of Behistun does not mention it. + + ** The inscription of Behistun informs us that the usurper's + name was Gaumata. Pompeius Trogus alone, probably following + some author who made use of Charon of Lampsacus, handed down + this name in the form Cometes or Gometes, which his + abbreviator Justin carelessly applied to the second brother. + Ctesias gives the Mage the name Sphendadates, which answers + to the Old Persian Spentodata, "he who is given by the Holy + One," i.e. by Ahura-mazda. The supporters of the Mage gave + him this name, as an heroic champion of the Mazdoan faith + who had destroyed such sanctuaries as were illegal, and + identified him with Spentodata, son of Wistaspa. + +Both of them were aware of the fate of Smerdis; they also knew that the +Persians were ignorant of it, and that every one at court, including +the mother and sisters of the prince, believed that he was still alive. +Gaumata headed a revolt in the little town of Pasyauvada on the 14th +of Viyakhna, in the early days of March, 521, and he was hailed by the +common people from the moment of his appearance. Persia, Media, and the +Iranian provinces pronounced in his favour, and solemnly enthroned him +three months later, on the 9th of Garmapada; Babylon next accepted him, +followed by Elam and the regions of the Tigris. Though astounded at +first by such a widespread defection, Cambyses soon recovered his +presence of mind, and was about to march forward at the head of the +troops who were still loyal to him, when he mysteriously disappeared. +Whether he was the victim of a plot set on foot by those about him, is +not known. The official version of the story given by Darius states +that he died by his own hand, and it seems to insinuate that it was +a voluntary act, but another account affirms that he succumbed to an +accident;* while mounting his horse, the point of his dagger pierced +his thigh in the same spot in which he had stabbed the Apis of the +Egyptians. Feeling himself seriously wounded, he suddenly asked the +name of the place where he was lying, and was told it was "Agbatana" +(Ecbatana). "Now, long before this, the oracle of Buto had predicted +that he should end his days in Agbatana, and he, believing it to be the +Agbatana in Media where were his treasures, understood that he should +die there in his old age; whereas the oracle meant Agbatana in Syria. +When he heard the name, he perceived his error. He understood what the +god intended, and cried, 'It is here, then, that Cambyses, son of Cyrus, +must perish!'" He expired about three weeks after, leaving no posterity +and having appointed no successor.** + + * It has been pointed out, for the purpose of harmonising + the testimony of Herodotus with that of the inscription of + Behistun, that although the latter speaks of the death of + Cambyses by his own hand, it does not say whether that death + was voluntary or accidental. + + ** The story of a person whose death has been predicted to + take place in some well-known place, and who has died in + some obscure spot of the same name, occurs several times in + different historians, e.g. in the account of the Emperor + Julian, and in that of Henry III. of England, who had been + told that he would die in Jerusalem, and whose death took + place in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster. Ctesias has + preserved an altogether different tradition--that Cambyses + on his return from Babylon wounded himself while carving a + piece of wood for his amusement, and died eleven days after + the accident. + +What took place in the ensuing months still remains an enigma to us. +The episode of Gaumata has often been looked on as a national movement, +which momentarily restored to the Medes the supremacy of which Cyrus had +robbed them; but it was nothing of the sort. Gaumata was not a Mede by +birth: he was a Persian, born in Persia, in the township of Pisyauvada, +at the foot of Mount Ara-kadrish, and the Persians recognised and +supported him as much as did the Medes. It has also been thought that +he had attempted to foment a religious revolution,* and, as a matter of +fact, he destroyed several temples in a few months. + + * Most of the ancient writers shared this opinion, and have + been followed therein by many modern writers. Rawlinson was + the first to show that Gaumata's movement was not Median, + and that he did not in the least alter the position of the + Persians in the empire: but he allows the Magian usurpation + to have been the prelude to a sort of religious reform. + +Here, however, the reform touched less upon a question of belief than on +one of fact. The unity of the empire presupposed the unity of the royal +fire, and where-ever that fire was burning another could not be lighted +without sacrilege in the eyes of the faithful. The pyres that Gaumata +desired to extinguish were, no doubt, those which the feudal families +had maintained for their separate use in defiance of the law, and the +measure which abolished them had a political as well as a religious +side. The little we can glean of the line of action adopted by Smerdis +does not warrant the attribution to him of the vast projects which +some modern writers credit him with. He naturally sought to strengthen +himself on the throne, which by a stroke of good fortune he had +ascended, and whatever he did tended solely to this end. The name and +the character that he had assumed secured him the respect and fidelity +of the Iranians: "there was not one, either among the Medes or the +Persians, nor among the members of the Achaemenian race, who dreamed of +disputing his power" in the early days of his reign. The important thing +in his eyes was, therefore, to maintain among his subjects as long as +possible the error as to his identity. He put to death all, whether +small or great, who had been in any way implicated in the affairs of the +real Smerdis, or whom he suspected of any knowledge of the murder. He +withdrew from public life as far as practicable, and rarely allowed +himself to be seen. Having inherited the harem of his predecessors, +together with their crown, he even went so far as to condemn his wives +to a complete seclusion. He did not venture to hope, nor did those in +his confidence, that the truth would not one day be known, but he hoped +to gain, without loss of time, sufficient popularity to prevent the +revelation of the imposture from damaging his prospects. The seven great +houses which he had dispossessed would, in such a case, refuse to +rally round him, and it was doubtless to lessen their prestige that he +extinguished their pyres; but the people did not trouble themselves as +to the origin of their sovereign, if he showed them his favour and took +proper precautions to secure their good will. He therefore exempted the +provinces from taxes and military service for a period of three years. +He had not time to pursue this policy, and if we may believe tradition, +the very precautions which he took to conceal his identity became the +cause of his misfortunes. In the royal harem there were, together with +the daughters of Cyrus, relatives of all the Persian nobility, and the +order issued to stop all their communications with the outer world had +excited suspicion: the avowals which had escaped Cambyses before the +catastrophe were now called to mind, and it was not long before those +in high places became convinced that they had been the dupes of an +audacious imposture. A conspiracy broke out, under the leadership of the +chiefs of the seven clans, among whom was numbered Darius, the son of +Hystaspes, who was connected, according to a genealogy more or less +authentic, with the family of the Achaemenides:* the conspirators +surprised Gaumata in his palace of Sikayauvatish, which was situated in +the district of Nisaya, not far from Ecbatana, and assassinated him on +the 10th of Bagayadish, 521 B.C. + + * The passage in the Behistun inscription, in which Darius + sets forth his own genealogy, has received various + interpretations. That of Oppert seems still the most + probable, that the text indicates two parallel branches of + Achaemenides, which nourished side by side until Cambyses + died and Darius ascended the throne. Such a genealogy, + however, appears to be fictitious, invented solely for the + purpose of connecting Darius with the ancient royal line, + with which in reality he could claim no kinship, or only a + very distant connection. + +[Illustration: 159.jpg DARIUS, SON OF HYSTASPES] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from M. Dieulafoy. + +The exact particulars of this scene were never known, but popular +imagination soon supplied the defect, furnishing a full and complete +account of all that took place. In the first place, Phaedime, daughter +of Otanes, one of the seven, furnished an authentic proof of the fraud +which had been perpetrated. Her father had opportunely recalled the +marvellous resemblance between Smerdis and the Magian, and remembered +at the same time that the latter had been deprived of his ears in +punishment for some misdeed: he therefore sent certain instructions to +Phffidime, who, when she made the discovery, at the peril of her life, +that her husband had no ears, communicated the information to the +disaffected nobles. The conspirators thereupon resolved to act without +delay; but when they arrived at the palace, they were greeted with an +extraordinary piece of intelligence. The Magi, disquieted by some vague +rumours which were being circulated against them, had besought Prexaspes +to proclaim to the people that the reigning monarch was indeed Smerdis +himself. But Prexaspes, instead of making the desired declaration, +informed the multitude that the son of Cyrus was indeed dead, for he +himself had murdered him at the bidding of Cambyses, and, having +made this confession, he put himself to death, in order to escape +the vengeance of the Magi. This act of Prexaspes was an additional +inducement to the conspirators to execute their purpose. The guard +stationed at the gates of the palace dared not refuse admission to so +noble a company, and when the throne-room was reached and the eunuchs +forbade further advance, the seven boldly drew their swords and forced +their way to the apartment occupied by the two Magi. The usurpers +defended themselves with bravery, but succumbed at length to the +superior number of their opponents, after having wounded two of the +conspirators. Gobryas pinioned Gaumata with his arms, and in such a way +that Darius hesitated to make the fatal thrust for fear of wounding +his comrade; but the latter bade him strike at all hazards, and by good +fortune the sword did not even graze him. The crime accomplished, the +seven conspirators agreed to choose as king that member of their company +whose horse should first neigh after sunrise: a stratagem of his groom +caused the election to fall on Darius. As soon as he was duly enthroned, +he instituted a festival called the "magophonia," or "massacre of the +Magi," in commemoration of the murder which had given him the crown. + +His first care was to recompense the nobles to whom he owed his position +by restoring to them the privileges of which they had been deprived by +the pseudo-Smerdis, namely, the right of free access to the king, as +well as the right of each individual to a funeral pyre; but the usurper +had won the affection of the people, and even the inhabitants of those +countries which had been longest subject to the Persian sway did not +receive the new sovereign favourably. Darius found himself, therefore, +under the necessity of conquering his dominions one after the other.* + + * The history of the early part of the reign of Darius is + recorded in the great inscription which the king caused to + be cut in three languages on the rocks of Behistun. The + order of the events recorded in it is not always easy to + determine. I have finally adopted, with some modifications, + the arrangement of Marquart, which seems to me to give the + clearest "conspectus" of these confused wars. + +The Persian empire, like those of the Chaldaeans and Medes, had consisted +hitherto of nothing but a fortuitous collection of provinces under +military rule, of vassal kingdoms, and of semi-independent cities and +tribes; there was no fixed division of authority, and no regular system +of government for the outlying provinces. The governors assigned by +Cyrus and Cambyses to rule the various provinces acquired by conquest, +were actual viceroys, possessing full control of an army, and in some +cases of a fleet as well, having at their disposal considerable revenues +both in money and in kind, and habituated, owing to their distance from +the capital, to settle pressing questions on their own responsibility, +subject only to the necessity of making a report to the sovereign when +the affair was concluded, or when the local resources were insufficient +to bring it to a successful issue. For such free administrators the +temptation must have been irresistible to break the last slender ties +which bound them to the empire, and to set themselves up as independent +monarchs. The two successive revolutions which had taken place in less +than a year, convinced such governors, and the nations over which they +bore rule, that the stately edifice erected by Cyrus and Cambyses was +crumbling to pieces, and that the moment was propitious for each of them +to carve out of its ruins a kingdom for himself; the news of the murder, +rapidly propagated, sowed the seeds of revolt in its course--in Susiana, +at Babylon, in Media, in Parthia, in Margiana, among the Sattagydes, +in Asia Minor, and even in Egypt itself*--which showed itself in +some places in an open and undisguised form, while in others it was +contemptuously veiled under the appearance of neutrality, or the +pretence of waiting to see the issue of events. + + * In the _Behistun Inscription_, it is stated that + insurrections broke out in all these countries while Darius + was at Babylon; that is to say, while he was occupied in + besieging that city, as is evident from the order of the + events narrated. + +The first to break out into open rebellion were the neighbouring +countries of Elam and Chaldaea: the death of Smerdis took place towards +the end of September, and a fortnight later saw two rebel chiefs +enthroned--a certain Athrina at Susa, and a Nadinta-bel at Babylon.* +Athrina, the son of Umbadaranma, was a scion of the dynasty dispossessed +by the successors of Sargon in the preceding century, but nevertheless +he met with but lukewarm assistance from his own countrymen;** he was +taken prisoner before a month had passed, and sent to Darius, who slew +him with his own hand. + + * The latest known document of the pseudo-Smerdis is dated + the 1st of Tisri at Babylon, and the first of Nebuchadrezzar + III. are dated the 17th and 20th of the same month. The + revolt of Babylon, then, must be placed between the 1st and + 17th of Tisri; that is, either at the end of September or + the beginning of October, 521 B.C. + + ** The revolt cannot have lasted much more than six weeks, + for on the 26th of Athriyadiya following, that is to say, at + the beginning of December, Darius had already joined issue + with the Babylonians on the banks of the Tigris. + +Babylon was not so easily mastered. Her chosen sovereign claimed to +be the son of Nabonidus, and had, on ascending the throne, assumed the +illustrious name of Nebuchadrezzar; he was not supported, moreover, by +only a few busybodies, but carried the whole population with him. The +Babylonians, who had at first welcomed Cyrus so warmly, and had fondly +imagined that they had made him one of themselves, as they had made +so many of their conquerors for centuries past, soon realised their +mistake. The differences of language, manners, spirit, and religion +between themselves and the Persians were too fundamental to allow of +the naturalisation of the new sovereign, and of the acceptance by +the Achaemenides of that fiction of a double personality to which +Tiglath-pileser III., Shalmaneser, and even Assur-bani-pal had +submitted. Popular fancy grew weary of Cyrus, as it had already grown +weary in turn of all the foreigners it had at first acclaimed--whether +Elamite, Kalda, or Assyrian--and by a national reaction the self-styled +son of Nabonidus enjoyed the benefit of a devotion proportionately as +great as the hatred which had been felt twenty years before for his +pretended sire. The situation might become serious if he were given time +to consolidate his power, for the loyalty of the ancient provinces of +the Chaldaean empire was wavering, and there was no security that they +would not feel inclined to follow the example of the capital as soon +as they should receive news of the sedition. Darius, therefore, led +the bulk of his forces to Babylon without a day's more delay than was +absolutely necessary, and the event proved that he had good reason for +such haste. Nebuchadrezzar III. had taken advantage of the few weeks +which had elapsed since his accession, to garrison the same positions +on the right bank of the Tigris, as Nabonidus had endeavoured to defend +against Cyrus at the northern end of the fortifications erected by his +ancestor. A well-equipped flotilla patrolled the river, and his lines +presented so formidable a front that Darius could not venture on a +direct attack. He arranged his troops in two divisions, which he mounted +partly on horses, partly on camels, and eluding the vigilance of his +adversary by attacking him simultaneously on many sides, succeeded in +gaining the opposite bank of the river. The Chaldaeans, striving in vain +to drive him back into the stream, were at length defeated on the 27th +of Athriyadiya, and they retired in good order on Babylon. Six days +later, on the 2nd of Anamaka, they fought a second battle at Zazanu, +on the bank of the Euphrates, and were again totally defeated. +Nebuchadrezzar escaped with a handful of cavalry, and hastened to shut +himself up in his city. Darius soon followed him, but if he cherished a +hope that the Babylonians would open their gates to him without further +resistance, as they had done to Cyrus, he met with a disappointment, +for he was compelled to commence a regular siege and suspend all other +operations, and that, too, at a moment when the provinces were breaking +out into open insurrection on every hand.* + + * The account given by Darius seems to imply that no + interval of time elapsed between the second defeat of + Nebuchadrezzar III. and the taking of Babylon, so that + several modern historians have rejected the idea of an + obstinate resistance. Herodotus, however, speaks of the long + siege the city sustained, and the discovery of tablets dated + in the first and even the second year of Nebuchadrezzar III. + shows that the siege was prolonged into the second year of + this usurper, at least until the month of Nisan (March- + April), 520 B.C. No evidence can be drawn from the tablets + dated in the reign of Darius, for the oldest yet discovered, + which is dated in the month Sebat (Jan.-Feb.), in the year + of his accession, and consequently prior to the second year + of Nebuchadrezzar, comes from Abu-habba. On the other hand, + the statement that all the revolts broke out while Darius + was "at Babylon" does not allow of the supposition that all + the events recorded before his departure for Media could + have been compressed into the space of three or four months. + It seems, therefore, more probable that the siege lasted + till 519 B.C., as it can well have done if credit be given + to the mention of "twenty-one months at least" by Herodotus; + perhaps the siege was brought to an end in the May of that + year, as calculated by Marquart. + +[Illustration: 166.jpg DARIUS PIERCING A REBEL WITH HIS LANCE BEFORE A +GROUP OF FOUR PRISONERS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the impression of an intaglio + at St. Petersburg. + +The attempt of the Persian adventurer Martiya to stir up the Susians to +revolt in his rear failed, thanks to the favourable disposition of the +natives, who refused to recognise in him Ummanish, the heir of +their national princes. Media, however, yielded unfortunately to the +solicitations of a certain Fravartish, who had assumed the personality +of Khshatrita of the race of Cyaxares, and its revolt marked almost the +beginning of a total break-up of the empire. The memory of Astyages and +Cyaxares had not yet faded so completely as to cause the Median nobles +to relinquish the hope of reasserting the supremacy of Media; the +opportunity for accomplishing this aim now seemed all the more +favourable, from the fact that Darius had been obliged to leave this +province almost immediately after the assassination of the Usurper, and +to take from it all the troops that he could muster for the siege of +Babylon. Several of the nomadic tribes still remained faithful to him, +but all the settled inhabitants of Media ranged themselves under the +banner of the pretender, and the spirit of insurrection spread thereupon +into Armenia and Assyria. For one moment there was a fear lest it should +extend to Asia Minor also, where Orcetes, accustomed, in the absence of +Cambyses, to act as an autonomous sovereign, displayed little zeal in +accommodating himself to the new order of things. There was so much +uncertainty as to the leanings of the Persian guard of Orcetes, that +Darius did not venture to degrade the satrap officially, but despatched +Bagseus to Sardes with precise instructions, which enabled him to +accomplish his mission by degrees, so as not to risk a Lydian revolt. +His first act was to show the guard a rescript by which they were +relieved from attendance on Orcetes, and "thereupon they immediately +laid down their spears." Emboldened by their ready obedience, Bagseus +presented to the secretary a second letter, which contained his +instructions: "The great king commands those Persians who are in Sardes +to kill Orestes." "Whereupon," it is recorded, "they drew their swords +and slew him."* + + * The context of Herodotus indicates that the events + narrated took place shortly after the accession of Darius. + Further on Herodotus mentions, as contemporaneous with the + siege of Babylon, events which took place after the death of + Orcetes; it is probable, therefore, that the scene described + by Herodotus occurred in 520 B.C. at the latest. + +A revolt in Asia Minor was thus averted, at a time when civil war +continued to rage in the centre of Iran. The situation, however, +continued critical. Darius could not think of abandoning the siege of +Babylon, and of thus both losing the fruits of his victories and seeing +Nebuchadrezzar reappear in Assyria or Susiana. On the other hand, his +army was a small one, and he would incur great risks in detaching any of +his military chiefs for a campaign against the Mede with an insufficient +force. He decided, however, to adopt the latter course, and while he +himself presided over the blockade, he simultaneously despatched two +columns--one to Media, under the command of the Persian Vidarna, one of +the seven; the other to Armenia, under the Armenian Dadarshish. Vidarna, +encountered Khshatrita near Marush, in the mountainous region of the +old Namri, on the 27th of Anamaka, and gave him battle; but though he +claimed the victory, the result was so indecisive that he halted in +Kambadene, at the entrance to the gorges of the Zagros mountains, and +was there obliged to await reinforcements before advancing further. +Dadarshish, on his side, gained three victories over the Armenians--one +near Zuzza on the 8th of Thuravahara, another at Tigra ten days later, +and the third on the 2nd of Thaigarshish, at a place not far from +Uhyama--but he also was compelled to suspend operations and remain +inactive pending the arrival of fresh troops. Half the year was spent in +inaction on either side, for the rebels had not suffered less than their +opponents, and, while endeavouring to reorganise their forces, they +opened negotiations with the provinces of the north-east with the view +of prevailing on them to join their cause. Darius, still detained before +Babylon, was unable to recommence hostilities until the end of 520 +B.C. He sent Vaumisa to replace Dadarshish as the head of the army in +Armenia, and the new general distinguished himself at the outset by +winning a decisive victory on the 15th of Anamaka, near Izitush in +Assyria; but the effect which he hoped to secure from this success was +neutralised almost immediately by grievous defections. Sagartia, in the +first place, rose in rebellion at the call of a pretended descendant +of Oyaxares, named Chitrantakhma; Hyrcania, the province governed by +Hystaspes, the father of Darius, followed suit and took up the cause +of Khshatrita, and soon after Margiana broke out into revolt at the +instigation of a certain Frada. Even Persia itself deserted Darius, and +chose another king instead of a sovereign whom no one seemed willing to +acknowledge. Many of the mountain tribes could not yet resign themselves +to the belief that the male line of Cyrus had become extinct with the +death of Cambyses. The usurpation of Gaumata and the accession of Darius +had not quenched their faith in the existence of Smerdis: if the Magian +were an impostor, it did not necessarily follow that Smerdis had been +assassinated, and when a certain Vahyazdata rose up in the town of +Tarava in the district of Yautiya, and announced himself as the younger +son of Cyrus, they received him with enthusiastic acclamations. A +preliminary success gained by Hystaspes at Vispauzatish, in Parthia, on +the 22nd of Viyakhna, 519 B.C., prevented the guerilla bands of Hyrcania +from joining forces with the Medes, and some days later the fall of +Babylon at length set Darius free to utilise his resources to the +utmost. The long resistance of Nebuchadrezzar furnished a fruitful theme +for legend: a fanciful story was soon substituted for the true account +of the memorable siege he had sustained. Half a century later, when +his very name was forgotten, the heroism of his people continued to +be extolled beyond measure. When Darius arrived before the ramparts he +found the country a desert, the banks of the canals cut through, and the +gardens and pleasure-houses destroyed. The crops had been gathered and +the herds driven within the walls of the city, while the garrison had +reduced by a massacre the number of non-combatants, the women having all +been strangled, with the exception of those who were needed to bake the +bread. At the end of twenty months the siege seemed no nearer to its +close than at the outset, and the besiegers were on the point of losing +heart, when at length Zopyrus, one of the seven, sacrificed himself +for the success of the blockading army. Slitting his nose and ears, and +lacerating his back with the lash of a whip, he made his way into the +city as a deserter, and persuaded the garrison to assign him a post of +danger under pretence of avenging the ill-treatment he had received +from his former master. He directed some successful sallies on points +previously agreed upon, and having thus lulled to rest any remaining +feelings of distrust on the part of the garrison, he treacherously +opened to the Persians the two gates of which he was in charge; three +thousand Babylonians were impaled, the walls were razed to the ground, +and the survivors of the struggle were exiled and replaced by strange +colonists.* The only authentic fact about this story is the length of +the siege. Nebuchadrezzar was put to death, and Darius, at length +free to act, hastened to despatch one of his lieutenants, the Persian +Artavardiya, against Vahyazdata, while he himself marched upon the Medes +with the main body of the royal army.** + + * Ctesias places the siege of Babylon forty years later, + under Xerxes I.; according to him, it was Megabysus, son of + Zopyrus, who betrayed the city. Polysenus asserts that the + stratagem of Zopyrus was adopted in imitation of a Sakian + who dwelt beyond the Oxus. Latin writers transferred the + story to Italy, and localised it at Gabii: but the Roman + hero, Sextus Tarquinius, did not carry his devotion to the + point of mutilating himself. + + ** _Beldstun Inscr_.: "Then I sent the army of the Persians + and Medes which was with me. One named Artavardiya, a + Persian, my servant, I made their general; the rest of the + Persian army went to Media with me." + +The rebels had hitherto been confronted by the local militia, brave +but inexperienced troops, with whom they had been able to contend on a +fairly equal footing: the entry into the field of the veteran regiments +of Cyrus and Cambyses changed the aspect of affairs, and promptly +brought the campaign to a successful issue. Darius entered Media by +the defiles of Kerend, reinforced Vidarna in Kambadcne, and crushed the +enemy near the town of Kundurush, on the 20th of Adukanish, 519 B.C. +Khshatrita fled towards the north with some few horsemen, doubtless +hoping to reach the recesses of Mount Elburz, and to continue there +the struggle; but he was captured at Baga and carried to Ecbatana. His +horrible punishment was proportionate to the fear he had inspired: his +nose, ears, and tongue were cut off, and his eyes gouged out, and in +this mutilated condition he was placed in chains at the gate of the +palace, to demonstrate to his former subjects how the Achaemenian' +king could punish an impostor. When the people had laid this lesson +sufficiently to heart, Khshatrita was impaled; many of his principal +adherents were ranged around him and suffered the same fate, while +the rest were decapitated as an example. Babylon and Media being thus +successfully vanquished, the possession of the empire was assured to +Darius, whatever might happen in other parts of his territory, and +henceforth the process of repressing disaffection went on unchecked. +Immediately after the decisive battle of Kundurush, Vaumisa accomplished +the pacification of Armenia by a victory won near Autiyara, and +Artavardiya defeated Vahyazdata for the first time at Eakha in Persia. +Vahyazdata had committed the mistake of dividing his forces and sending +a portion of them to Arachosia. Vivana, the governor of this province, +twice crushed the invaders, and almost at the same time the Persian +Dadardish of Bactriana was triumphing over Frada and winning Margiana +back to allegiance. For a moment it seemed as if the decisive issue of +the struggle might be prolonged for months, since it was announced that +the appearance of a new pseudo-Smerdis on the scene had been followed +by the advent of a second pseudo-Nebuchadrezzar in Chaldaea. Darius left +only a weak garrison at Babylon when he started to attack Khshatrita: +a certain Arakha, an Armenian by birth, presenting himself to the +Babylonian people as the son of Nabonidus, caused himself to be +proclaimed king in December, 519 B.C.; but the city was still suffering +so severely from the miseries of the long siege, that it was easy for +the Mede Vindafra to reduce it promptly to submission after a month or +six weeks of semi-independence. This was the last attempt at revolt. +Chitran-takhma expiated his crimes by being impaled, and Hystaspes +routed the Hyrcanian battalions at Patigrabana in Parthia: Artavardiya +having defeated Vahyazdata, near Mount Paraga, on the 6th of Garmapada, +618 B.C., besieged him in his fortress of Uvadeshaya, and was not long +in effecting his capture. The civil war came thus to an end. + +It had been severe, but it had brought into such prominence the +qualities of the sovereign that no one henceforth dared to dispute his +possession of the crown. A man of less energetic character and calm +judgment would have lost his head at the beginning of the struggle, when +almost every successive week brought him news of a fresh rebellion--in +Susiana, Babylon, Media, Armenia, Assyria, Margiana, Hyrcania, and even +Persia itself, not to speak of the intrigues in Asia Minor and Egypt; +he would have scattered his forces to meet the dangers on all sides +at once, and would assuredly have either succumbed in the struggle, or +succeeded only by chance after his fate had trembled in the balance for +years. Darius, however, from the very beginning knew how to single out +the important points upon which to deal such vigorous blows as would +ensure him the victory with the least possible delay. He saw that +Babylon, with its numerous population, its immense wealth and prestige, +and its memory of recent supremacy, was the real danger to his empire, +and he never relaxed his hold on it until it was subdued, leaving +his generals to deal with the other nations, the Medes included, and +satisfied if each of them could but hold his adversary in check +without gaining any decided advantage over him. The event justified his +decision. When once Babylon had fallen, the remaining rebels were +no longer a source of fear; to defeat Khshatrita was the work of a +few weeks only, and the submission of the other provinces followed as a +natural consequence on the ruin of Media.* + + * Mention of some new wars is made towards the end of the + inscription, but the text here is so mutilated that the + sense can no longer be easily determined. + +[Illustration: 174.jpg REBELS BROUGHT TO DARIUS BY AHURA-MAZD] This is +the scene depicted on the rock of Behistun. + +After consummating his victories, Darius caused an inscription in +commemoration of them to be carved on the rocks in the pass of Bagistana +[Behistun], one of the most frequented routes leading from the basin of +the Tigris to the tableland of Iran. + +[Illustration: 175.jpg THE ROCKS OF BEHISTUN] + + Drawn by Boudier, from Flandin and Coste. + +There his figure is still to be seen standing, with his foot resting on +the prostrate body of an enemy, and his hand raised in the attitude of +one addressing an audience, while nine figures march in file to meet +him, their arms tied behind their backs, and cords round their +necks, representing all the pretenders whom he had fought and put +to death--Athrina, Nadinta-bel, Khshatrita, Vahyazdata, Arakha, and +Chitrantakhma; an inscription, written in the three official languages +of the court, recounts at full length his mighty deeds. The drama did +not, however, come to a close with the punishment of Vahyazdata, for +though no tribe or chieftain remained now in open revolt, many of those +who had taken no active share in the rebellion had, by their conduct +during the crisis, laid themselves open to grave suspicions, and it +seemed but prudent to place them under strict surveillance or to remove +them from office altogether. Orotes had been summarily despatched, and +his execution did not disturb the peace of Asia Minor; but Aryandes, to +whose rule Cambyses had entrusted the valley of the Nile, displayed no +less marked symptoms of disaffection, and deserved the same fate. Though +he had not ventured to usurp openly the title of king, he had arrogated +to himself all the functions and rights of royalty, and had manifested +as great an independence in his government as if he had been an actual +Pharaoh. The inhabitants of Gyrene did not approve of the eagerness +displayed by their tyrant Arkesilas III. to place himself under the +Persian yoke: after first expelling and then recalling him, they drove +him away a second time, and at length murdered him at Barca, whither +he had fled for refuge. Pheretimo came to Egypt to seek the help of +Aryandes, just as Laarchos had formerly implored the assistance of +Amasis, and represented to him that her son had fallen a victim to his +devotion to his suzerain. It was a good opportunity to put to ransom +one of the wealthiest countries of Africa; so the governor sent to the +Cyrenaica all the men and vessels at his disposal. Barca was the only +city to offer any resistance, and the Persian troops were detained +for nine months motionless before its walls, and the city then only +succumbed through treachery. Some detachments forced their way as far +as the distant town of Euesperides,* and it is possible that Aryandes +dreamt for a moment of realising the designs which Cambyses had formed +against Carthage. Insufficiency of supplies stayed the advance of his +generals; but the riches of their ally, Cyrene, offered them a strong +temptation, and they were deliberating how they might make this wealth +their own before returning to Memphis, and were, perhaps, on the point +of risking the attempt, when they received orders to withdraw. The march +across the desert proved almost fatal to them. The Libyans of Marmarica, +attracted by the spoils with which the Persian troops were laden, +harassed them incessantly, and inflicted on them serious losses; they +succeeded, however, in arriving safely with their prisoners, among whom +were the survivors of the inhabitants of Barca. At this time the tide of +fortune was setting strongly in favour of Darius: Aryandes, anxious to +propitiate that monarch, despatched these wretched captives to Persia as +a trophy of his success, and Darius sent them into Bactriana, where they +founded a new Barca.** + + * This is the town which later on under the Lagidae received + the name of Berenice, and which is now called Benghazi. + + ** It is doubtless to these acts of personal authority on + the part of Aryandes that Darius alludes in the Behistun + Inscription, when he says, "While I was before Babylon, the + following provinces revolted against me--Persia and Susiana, + the Medes and Assyria, and the Egyptians..." + +But this tardy homage availed him nothing. Darius himself visited Egypt +and disembarrassed himself of 'his troublesome subject by his summary +execution, inflicted, some said, because he had issued coins of a +superior fineness to those of the royal mint,* while, according to +others, it was because he had plundered Egypt and so ill-treated the +Egyptians as to incite them to rebellion. + + * It is not certain that Aryandes did actually strike any + coinage in his own name, and perhaps Herodotus has only + repeated a popular story current in Egypt in his days. If + this money actually existed, its coinage was but a pretext + employed by Darius; the true motive of the condemnation of + Aryandes was certainly an armed revolt, or a serious + presumption of revolutionary intentions. + +After the suppression of this rival, Darius set himself to win the +affection of his Egyptian province, or, at least, to render its +servitude bearable. With a country so devout and so impressed with its +own superiority over all other nations, the best means of accomplishing +his object was to show profound respect for its national gods and +its past glory. Darius, therefore, proceeded to shower favours on the +priests, who had been subject to persecution ever since the disastrous +campaign in Ethiopia. Cambyses had sent into exile in Elam the chief +priest of Sais--that Uza-harrisniti who had initiated him into the +sacred rites; Darius gave permission to this important personage to +return to his native land, and commissioned him to repair the damage +inflicted by the madness of the son of Cyrus. Uzaharrisniti, escorted +back with honour to his native city, re-established there the colleges +of sacred scribes, and restored to the temple of Nit the lands and +revenues which had been confiscated. Greek tradition soon improved upon +the national account of this episode, and asserted that Darius took an +interest in the mysteries of Egyptian theology, and studied the sacred +books, and that on his arrival at Memphis in 517 B.C., immediately after +the death of an Apis, he took part publicly in the general mourning, +and promised a reward of a hundred talents of gold to whosoever should +discover the successor of the bull. According to a popular story still +current when Herodotus travelled in Egypt, the king visited the temple +of Pthah before leaving Memphis, and ordered his statue to be erected +there beside that of Sesostris. The priests refused to obey this +command, for, said they, "Darius has not equalled the deeds of +Sesostris: he has not conquered the Scythians, whom Sesostris overcame." +Darius replied that "he hoped to accomplish as much as Sesostris +had done, if he lived as long as Sesostris," and so conciliated +the patriotic pride of the priests. The Egyptians, grateful for his +moderation, numbered him among the legislators whose memory they +revered, by the side of Menes, Asykhis, Bocchoris, and Sabaco. + +The whole empire was now obedient to the will of one man, but the ordeal +from which it had recently escaped showed how loosely the elements of it +were bound together, and with what facility they could be disintegrated. +The system of government in force hitherto was that introduced +into Assyria by Tiglath-pileser III., which had proved so eminently +successful in the time of Sargon and his descendants; Babylon and +Ecbatana had inherited it from Nineveh, and Persepolis had in turn +adopted it from Ecbatana and Babylon. It had always been open to +objections, of which by no means the least was the great amount of power +and independence accorded by it to the provincial governors; but this +inconvenience had been little felt when the empire was of moderate +dimensions, and when no province permanently annexed to the empire lay +at any very great distance from the capital for the time being. But this +was no longer the case, now that Persian rule extended over nearly the +whole of Asia, from the Indus to the Thracian Bosphorus, and over a +portion of Africa also. It must have seemed far from prudent to set +governors invested with almost regal powers over countries so distant +that a decree despatched from the palace might take several weeks +to reach its destination. The heterogeneity of the elements in each +province was a guarantee of peace in the eyes of the sovereign, and +Darius carefully abstained from any attempt at unification: not only did +he allow vassal republics, and tributary kingdoms and nations to subsist +side by side, but he took care that each should preserve its own local +dynasty, language, writing, customs, religion, and peculiar legislation, +besides the right to coin money stamped with the name of its chief or +its civic symbol. The Greek cities of the coast maintained their own +peculiar constitutions which they had enjoyed under the Mernmadas; +Darius merely required that the chief authority among them should rest +in the hands of the aristocratic party, or in those of an elective or +hereditary tyrant whose personal interest secured his fidelity. The +Carians,* Lycians,** Pamphylians, and Cilicians*** continued under the +rule of their native princes, subject only to the usual obligations. +of the _corvee_, taxation, and military service as in past days; the +majority of the barbarous tribes which inhabited the Taurus and the +mountainous regions in the centre of Asia Minor were even exempted from +all definite taxes, and were merely required to respect the couriers, +caravans, and armies which passed through their territory. + + * Herodotus cites among the commanders of the Persian fleet + three Carian dynasts, Histiseus, Pigres, and Damasithymus, + besides the famous Artemisia of Halicarnassus. + + ** In Herodotus where a dynast named Kyberniskos, son of + Sika, is mentioned among the commanders of the fleet. The + received text of Herodotus needs correction, and we should + read Kybernis, son of Kossika, some of whose coins are still + in existence. + + *** The Cilician contingent in the fleet of Xerxes at + Salamis was commanded by Syennesis himself, and Cilicia + never had a satrap until the time of Cyrus the younger. + +[Illustration: 181.jpg MAP OF THE ARCHAEMENIAN STRAPIES] + +Native magistrates and kings still bore sway in Phoenicia* and Cyprus, +and the shekhs of the desert preserved their authority over the +marauding and semi-nomadic tribes of Idumasa, Nabatsea, Moab, and Ammon, +and the wandering Bedawin on the Euphrates and the Khabur. Egypt, +under Darius, remained what she had been under the Saitic and Ethiopian +dynasties, a feudal state governed by a Pharaoh, who, though a +foreigner, was yet reputed to be of the solar race; the land continued +to be divided unequally into diverse principalities, Thebes still +preserving its character as a theocracy under the guidance of the +pallacide of Amon and her priestly counsellors, while the other +districts subsisted under military chieftains. Our information +concerning the organisation of the central and eastern provinces is +incomplete, but it is certain that here also the same system prevailed. +In the years of peace which succeeded the troubled opening of his reign, +that is, from 519 to 515 B.C.,** Darius divided the whole empire into +satrapies, whose number varied at different periods of his reign from +twenty to twenty-three, and even twenty-eight.*** + + * Three kings, viz. the kings of Sidon, Tyre, and Arvad, + bore commands in the Phoenician fleet of Xerxes. + + ** Herodotus states that this dividing of the empire into + provinces took place immediately after the accession of + Darius, and this mistake is explained by the fact that he + ignores almost entirely the civil wars which filled the + earliest years of the reign. His enumeration of twenty + satrapies comprises India and omits Thrace, which enables us + to refer the drawing up of his list to a period before the + Scythian campaign, viz. before 514 B.C. Herodotus very + probably copied it from the work of Hecatseus of Miletus, + and consequently it reproduces a document contemporary with + Darius himself. + + *** The number twenty is, as has been remarked, that given + by Herodotus, and probably by Hecataeus of Miletus. The great + Behistun Inscription enumerates twenty-three countries, and + the Inscription of Nakhsh-i-Rustem gives twenty-eight. + +Persia proper was not included among these, for she had been the cradle +of the reigning house, and the instrument of conquest.* + + * In the great Behistun Inscription Darius mentions Persia + first of all the countries in his possession. In the + Inscription E of Persepolis he omits it entirely, and in + that of Nakhsh-i-Rustem he does not include it in the + general catalogue. + +The Iranian table-land, and the parts of India or regions +beyond the Oxus which bordered on it, formed twelve important +vice-royalties--Media, Hyrcania, Parthia, Zaranka, Aria, Khorasmia, +Bactriana, Sogdiana, Gandaria, and the country of the Sakae--reaching +from the plains of Tartary almost to the borders of China, the country +of the Thatagus in the upper basin of the Elmend, Arachosia, and the +land of Maka on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Ten satrapies were +reckoned in the west--Uvaya, Elam, in which lay Susa, one of the +favourite residences of Darius; Babirus (Babylon) and Chaldaea; Athura, +the ancient kingdom of Assyria; Arabaya, stretching from the Khabur to +the Litany, the Jordan, and the Orontes; Egypt, the peoples of the sea, +among whom were reckoned the Phoenicians, Cilicians, and Cypriots, and +the islanders of the AEgean; Yauna, which comprised Lycia, Caria, and the +Greek colonies along the coast; Sparda, with Phrygia and Mysia; Armenia; +and lastly, Katpatuka or Cappadocia, which lay on both sides of the +Halys from the Taurus to the Black Sea. If each of these provinces had +been governed, as formerly, by a single individual, who thus became king +in all but name and descent, the empire would have run great risk of a +speedy dissolution. Darius therefore avoided concentrating the civil and +military powers in the same hands. In each province he installed three +officials independent of each other, but each in direct communication +with himself--a satrap, a general, and a secretary of state. The satraps +were chosen from any class in the nation, from among the poor as well as +from among the wealthy, from foreigners as well as from Persians;* but +the most important satrapies were bestowed only on persons allied by +birth** or marriage with the Achaemenids,*** and, by preference, on the +legitimate descendants of the six noble houses. They were not appointed +for any prescribed period, but continued in office during the king's +pleasure. They exercised absolute authority in all civil matters, and +maintained a court, a body-guard,**** palaces and extensive parks, or +_paradises_, where they indulged in the pleasures of the chase; they +controlled the incidence of taxation,^ administered justice, and +possessed the power of life and death. + + * Herodotus mentions a satrap chosen from among the Lydians, + Pactyas, and another satrap of Greek extraction, Xenagoras + of Halicarnassus. + + ** The most characteristic instance is that of Hystaspes, + who was satrap of Persia under Oambyses, and of Parthia and + Hyrcania under his own son. One of the brothers of Darius, + Artaphernes, was satrap of Sardes, and three of the king's + sons, Achemenes, Ariabignes, and Masistes, were satraps of + Egypt, Ionia, and Bactriana respectively. + + *** To understand how well established was the custom of + bestowing satrapies on those only who were allied by + marriage to the royal house, it is sufficient to recall the + fact that, later on, under Xerxes I., when Pausanias, King + of Sparta, had thoughts of obtaining the position of satrap + in Greece, he asked for the hand of an Achaemenian princess. + + **** We know, for example, that Orcotes, satrap of Sardes + under Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius, had a body-guard of 1000 + Persians. + + ^ Thus, Artaphernes, satrap of Sardes, had a cadastral + survey made of the territory of the Ionians, and by the + results of this survey he regulated the imposition of taxes, + "which from that time up to the present day are exacted + according to his ordinance." + +Attached to each satrap was a secretary of state, who ostensibly acted +as his chancellor, but whose real function was to exercise a secret +supervision over his conduct and report upon it to the imperial +ministers.* The Persian troops, native militia and auxiliary forces +quartered in the province, were placed under the orders, moreover, of +a general, who was usually hostile to the satrap and the secretary.** +These three officials counterbalanced each other, and held each other +mutually in check, so that a revolt was rendered very difficult, if not +impossible. All three were kept in constant communication with the +court by relays of regular couriers, who carried their despatches on +horseback or on camels, from one end of Asia to the other, in the space +of a few weeks.*** + + * The role played by the secretary is clearly indicated by + the history of Orotes, satrap of Sardes. + + ** While Darius appoints his brother Artaphernes satrap of + Lydia, he entrusts the command of the army and the fleet to + Otanes, son of Sisamnes. Similarly several generals are met + with at the side of Artaphernes in the Ionic revolt. + + *** Xenophon compares their speed in travelling to the + flight of birds. A good example of the use of the camel for + the postal service is cited by Strabo, on the occasion of + the death of Philotas and the execution of Parmenion under + Alexander. + +The most celebrated of the post-roads was that which ran from Sardes +to Susa through Lydia and Phrygia, crossing the Halys, traversing +Cappadocia and Cilicia, and passing through Armenia and across the +Euphrates, until at length, after passing through Matiene and the +country of the Cossaeans, it reached Elam. This main route was divided +into one hundred and eleven stages, which were performed by couriers on +horseback and partly in ferry-boats, in eighty-four days. Other routes, +of which we have no particular information, led to Egypt, Media, +Bactria, and India,* and by their means the imperial officials in the +capital were kept fully informed of all that took place in the most +distant parts of the empire. As an extra precaution, the king sent +out annually certain officers, called his "eyes" or his "ears,"** who +appeared on the scene when they were least expected, and investigated +the financial or political situation, reformed abuses in the +administration, and reprimanded or even suspended the government +officials; they were accompanied by a body of troops to support their +decisions, whose presence invested their counsels with the strongest +sanction.*** An unfavourable report, a slight irregularity, a mere +suspicion, even, was sufficient to disqualify a satrap. Sometimes he +was deposed, often secretly condemned to death without a trial, and the +execution of the judgment was committed even to his own servants. + + * Ctesias at the end of his work describes the route leading + from Ephesus to Bactriana and India. It is probable that the + route described by Isidorus of Charax in his _Stathma + Parthica_ already existed in the times of the Achaemenids, + and was traversed by their postal couriers. + + ** Mention of the _Eye of the king_ occurs in Herodotus, in + AEschylus, and in Plutarch, of the _Ear_ in Xenophon; cf. + the Persian proverb, according to which "The king has many + eyes and many ears." + + *** Xenophon affirms that these inspections were still held + in his day. + +[Illustration: 186.jpg Street Vender of Curios] After the Painting by +Gerome. + +A messenger would arrive unexpectedly, and remit to the guards an order +charging them to put their chief to death--an order which was promptly +executed at the mere sight of the royal decree. + +This reform in the method of government was displeasing to the Persian +nobles, whose liberty of action it was designed to curtail, and they +took their revenge in sneering at the obedience they could not refuse +to render. Cyrus, they said, had been a father, Cambyses a master, +but Darius was only a pedler greedy of gain. The chief reason for this +division of the empire into provinces was, indeed, fiscal rather than +political: to arrange the incidence of taxation in his province, to +collect the revenue in due time and forward the total amount to the +imperial treasury, formed the fundamental duty of a satrap, to which all +others had to yield. Persia proper was exempt from the payment of any +fixed sum, its inhabitants being merely required to offer presents +to the king whenever he passed through their districts. These +semi-compulsory gifts were proportioned to the fortunes of the +individual contributors; they might consist merely of an ox or a +sheep, a little milk or cheese, some dates, a handful of flour, or some +vegetables. The other provinces, after being subjected to a careful +survey, were assessed partly in money, partly in kind, according to +their natural capacity or wealth. The smallest amount of revenue +raised in any province amounted to 170 talents of silver--the sum, for +instance, collected from Arachosia with its dependencies Gedrosia and +Grandara; while Egypt yielded a revenue of 700 talents, and the amount +furnished by Babylon, the wealthiest province of all, amounted to +1000 talents. The total revenue of the empire reached the enormous sum +of.L3,311,997, estimated by weight of silver, which is equivalent to +over L26,000,000 of modern English money, if the greater value of silver +in antiquity is taken into consideration. In order to facilitate the +collection of the revenue, Darius issued the gold and silver coins which +are named after him. On the obverse side these darics are stamped with a +figure of the sovereign, armed with the bow or javelin. They were coined +on the scale of 3000 gold darics to one talent, each daric weighing +normally.2788 oz. troy, and being worth exactly 20 silver drachmae +or Medic shekels; so that the relative value of the two metals was +approximately 1 to 13 1/2|. + +[Illustration: 188.jpg daric of darius, SON OF HYSTASPES] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a specimen in the Bibliotheque + Nationale. + +The most ancient type of daric was thick and irregular in shape, and +rudely stamped, but of remarkable fineness, the amount of alloy being +never more than three per cent. The use of this coinage was nowhere +obligatory, and it only became general in the countries bordering on the +Mediterranean, where it met the requirements of international traffic +and political relations, and in the payment of the army and the navy. +In the interior, the medium of exchange used in wholesale and retail +commercial transactions continued to be metals estimated by weight, and +the kings of Persia themselves preferred to store their revenues in the +shape of bullion; as the metal was received at the royal treasury it +was melted and poured into clay moulds, and was minted into money only +gradually, according to the whim or necessity of the moment.* + + * Arrian relates that Alexander found 50,000 talents' weight + of silver in the treasury at Susa; other hoards quite as + rich were contained in the palaces of Persepolis and + Pasargadae. + +Taxes in kind were levied even more largely than in money, but the exact +form they assumed in the different regions of the empire has not yet +been ascertained. The whole empire was divided into districts, which +were charged with the victualling of the army and the court, and Babylon +alone bore a third of the charges under this head. We learn elsewhere +that Egypt was bound to furnish corn for the 120,000 men of the army +of occupation, and that the fisheries of the Fayum yielded the king a +yearly revenue of 240 talents. The Medes furnished similarly 100,000 +sheep, 4000 mules, and 3000 horses; the Armenians, 30,000 foals; +the Cilicians, 365 white horses, one for each day in the year; the +Babylonians, 500 youthful eunuchs; and any city or town which produced +or manufactured any valuable commodity was bound to furnish a regular +supply to the sovereign. Thus, Chalybon provided wine; Libya and the +Oases, salt; India, dogs, with whose support four large villages in +Babylonia were charged; the AEolian Assos, cheese; and other places, in +like manner, wool, wines, dyes, medicines, and chemicals. These imperial +taxes, though they seem to us somewhat heavy, were not excessive, but +taken by themselves they give us no idea of the burdens which each +province had to resign itself to bear. The state provided no income for +the satraps; their maintenance and that of their suite were charged on +the province, and they made ample exactions on the natives. The province +of Babylon was required to furnish its satrap daily with an _ardeb_ of +silver; Egypt, India, Media, and Syria each provided a no less generous +allowance for its governor, and the poorest provinces were not less +heavily burdened. The satraps required almost as much to satisfy their +requirements as did the king; but for the most part they fairly earned +their income, and saved more to their subjects than they extorted +from them. They repressed brigandage, piracy, competition between the +various cities, and local wars; while quarrels, which formerly would +have been settled by an appeal to arms, were now composed before their +judgment-seats, and in case of need the rival factions were forcibly +compelled to submit to their decisions. They kept up the roads, +and afforded complete security to travellers by night and day; they +protected industries and agriculture, and, in accordance with the +precepts of their religious code, they accounted it an honourable task +to break up waste land or replant deserted sites. Darius himself did +not disdain to send congratulations to a satrap who had planted trees +in Asia Minor, and laid out one of those wooded parks in which the king +delighted to refresh himself after the fatigues of government, by the +exercise of walking or in the pleasures of the chase. In spite of its +defects, the system of government inaugurated by Darius secured real +prosperity to his subjects, and to himself a power far greater than that +enjoyed by any of his predecessors. It rendered revolts on the part of +the provincial governors extremely difficult, and enabled the court to +draw up a regular budget and provide for its expenses without any undue +pressure on its subjects; in one point only was it defective, but that +point was a cardinal one, namely, in the military organisation. Darius +himself maintained, for his personal protection, a bodyguard recruited +from the Persians and the Medes. It was divided into three corps, +consisting respectively of 2000 cavalry, 2000 infantry of noble birth, +armed with lances whose shafts were ornamented below with apples of gold +or silver--whence their name of _melophori_--and under them the 10,000 +"immortals," in ten battalions, the first of which had its lances +ornamented with golden pomegranates. This guard formed the nucleus of +the standing army, which could be reinforced by the first and second +grades of Persian and Median feudal nobility at the first summons. +Forces of varying strength garrisoned the most important fortresses of +the empire, such as Sardes, Memphis, Elephantine, Daphnae, Babylon, and +many others, to hold the restless natives in check. These were, indeed, +the only regular troops on which the king could always rely. Whenever +a war broke out which demanded no special effort, the satraps of the +provinces directly involved summoned the military contingents of the +cities and vassal states under their control, and by concerted action +endeavoured to bring the affair to a successful issue without the +necessity of an appeal to the central authority. If, on the contrary, +troubles arose which threatened the welfare of the whole empire, and the +sovereign felt called upon to conduct the campaign in person, he would +mobilise his guard, and summon the reserves from several provinces or +even from all of them. Veritable hordes of recruits then poured in, but +these masses of troops, differing from each other in their equipment and +methods of fighting, in disposition and in language, formed a herd +of men rather than an army. They had no cohesion or confidence in +themselves, and their leaders, unaccustomed to command such enormous +numbers, suffered themselves to be led rather than exercise authority +as guides. Any good qualities the troops may have possessed were +neutralised by lack of unity in their methods of action, and their +actual faults exaggerated this defect, so that, in spite of their +splendid powers of endurance and their courage under every ordeal, they +ran the risk of finding themselves in a state of hopeless inferiority +when called upon to meet armies very much smaller, but composed of +homogenous elements, all animated with the same spirit and drilled in +the same school. + +By continual conquests, the Persians were now reduced to only two +outlets for their energies, in two opposite directions--in the east +towards India, in the west towards Greece. Everywhere else their advance +was arrested by the sea or other obstacles almost as impassable to their +heavily armed battalions: to the north the empire was bounded by the +Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, and the Siberian steppes; to +the south, by the Indian Ocean, the sandy table-land of Arabia, and the +African deserts. At one moment, about 512 B.C., it is possible that they +pushed forward towards the east.* + + * India is not referred to in the Behistun Inscription, but + is mentioned in one of the Inscriptions of Persepolis, and + in that of Nakhsh-i-Rustem. The campaign in which it was + subjugated must be placed about 512 B.C. + +[Illustration: 192.jpg FUNERAL OFFERINGS.] + +From the Iranian plateau they beheld from afar the immense plain of the +Hapta Hindu (or the Punjab). Darius invaded this territory, and made +himself master of extensive districts which he formed into a new +satrapy, that of India, but subsequently, renouncing all idea of +pushing eastward as far as the Granges, he turned his steps towards the +southeast. A fleet, constructed at Peukela and placed under the command +of a Greek admiral, Scylax of Caryanda, descended the Indus by order +of the king;* subjugating the tribes who dwelt along the banks as he +advanced, Scylax at length reached the ocean, on which he ventured +forth, undismayed by the tides, and proceeded in a westerly direction, +exploring, in less than thirty months, the shores of Gedrosia and +Arabia. + + * Scylax published an account of his voyage which was still + extant in the time of Aristotle. Hugo Berger questions the + authenticity of the circumnavigation of Arabia, as that of + the circumnavigation of Africa under Necho. + +Once on the threshold of India, the Persians saw open before them a +brilliant and lucrative career: the circumstances which prevented them +from following up this preliminary success are unknown--perhaps the +first developments of nascent Buddhism deterred them--but certain it +is that they arrested their steps when they had touched merely the +outskirts of the basin of the Indus, and retreated at once towards the +west. The conquest of Lydia, and subsequently of the Greek cities and +islands along the coast of the AEgean, had doubtless enriched the empire +by the acquisition of active subject populations, whose extraordinary +aptitude in the arts of peace as well as of war might offer incalculable +resources to a sovereign who should know how to render them tractable +and rule them wisely. Not only did they possess the elements of a navy +as enterprising and efficacious as that of the Phoenicians, but the +perfection of their equipment and their discipline on land rendered them +always superior to any Asiatic army, in whatever circumstances, unless +they were crushed by overwhelming numbers. Inquisitive, bold, and +restless, greedy of gain, and inured to the fatigues and dangers of +travel, the Greeks were to be encountered everywhere--in Asia Minor, +Egypt, Syria, Babylon, and even Persia itself; and it was a Greek, we +must remember, whom the great king commissioned to navigate the course +of the Indus and the waters of the Indian Ocean. At the same time, the +very ardour of their temperament, and their consequent pride, their +impatience of all regular control, their habitual proneness to +civic strife, and to sanguinary quarrels with the inhabitants of +the neighbouring cities, rendered them the most dangerous subjects +imaginable to govern, and their loyalty very uncertain. Moreover, +their admission as vassals of the Persian empire had not altered their +relations with European Greece, and commercial transactions between the +opposite shores of the AEgean, inter-marriages, the travels of voyagers, +movements of mercenaries, and political combinations, went on as freely +and frequently under the satraps of Sardes as under the Mermnadas. It +was to Corinth, Sparta, and Athens that the families banished by Cyrus +after his conquest fled for refuge, and every time a change of party +raised a new tyrant to power in one of the AEolian, Ionian, or Doric +communities, the adherents of the deposed ruler rushed in similar manner +to seek shelter among their friends across the sea, sure to repay their +hospitality should occasion ever require it. Plots and counterplots were +formed between the two shores, without any one paying much heed to the +imperial authority of Persia, and the constant support which the subject +Greeks found among their free brethren was bound before long to rouse +the anger of the court at Susa. When Polycrates, foreseeing the fall of +Amasis, placed himself under the suzerainty of Cambyses, the Corinthians +and Spartans came to besiege him in Samos without manifesting any +respect for the great king. They failed in this particular enterprise,* +but later on, after Oroetes had been seized and put to death, it was to +the Spartans that the successor of Polycrates, Maaandrios, applied +for help to assert his claim to the possession of the tyranny against +Syloson, brother of Polycrates and a personal friend of Darius.** + + * The date of the death of Polycrates must be placed between + that of the conquest of Egypt and that of the revolt of + Gaumata, either in 524 or 523 B.C. + + ** The reinstatement of Syloson may be placed in 516 B.C., + about the time when Darius was completing the reorganisation + of the empire and preparing to attack Greece. + +This constant intervention of the foreigner was in evident contradiction +to the spirit which had inspired the reorganisation of the empire. Just +when efforts were being made to strengthen the imperial power and ensure +more effective obedience from the provincials by the institution of +satrapies, it was impossible to put up with acts of unwarrantable +interference, which would endanger the prestige of the sovereign and the +authority of his officers. Conquest presented the one and only natural +means of escape from the difficulties of the present situation and of +preventing their recurrence; when satraps should rule over the European +as well as over the Asiatic coasts of the AEgean, all these turbulent +Greeks would be forced to live at peace with one another and in awe of +the sovereign, as far as their fickle nature would allow. It was not +then, as is still asserted, the mere caprice of a despot which brought +upon the Greek world the scourge of the Persian wars, but the imperious +necessity of security, which obliges well-organised empires to subjugate +in turn all the tribes and cities which cause constant trouble on its +frontiers. Darius, who was already ruler of a good third of the Hellenic +world, from Trebizond to Barca, saw no other means of keeping what he +already possessed, and of putting a stop to the incessant fomentation of +rebellion in his own territories, than to conquer the mother-country as +he had conquered the colonies, and to reduce to subjection the whole of +European Hellas. + + + + +CHAPTER II--THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD EASTERN WORLD + + +_THE MEDIAN WAR--THE LAST NATIVE DYNASTIES OF EGYPT--THE EASTERN WORLD +ON THE EVE OP THE MACEDONIAN CONQUEST._ + +_The Persians in 512 B.C.--European Greece and the dangers which its +independence presented to the safety of the empire--The preliminaries +of the Median wars: the Scythian expedition, the conquest of Thrace and +Macedonia--The Ionic revolt, the intervention of Athens and the taking +of Sardes; the battle of Lade--Mardonius in Thrace and in Macedonia._ + +_The Median wars--The expedition of Datis and Artaphernes: the taking +of Eretria, the battle of Marathon (490)--The revolt of Egypt under +Khabbisha; the death of Darius and the accession of Xerxes I.--The +revolt of Babylon under Shamasherib--The invasion of Greece: Artemision, +Thermopylae, the taking of Athens, Salamis--Platsae and the final retreat +of the Persians: Mycale--The war carried on by the Athenians and the +league of Delos: Inaros, the campaigns in Cyprus and Egypt, the peace of +Oallias--The death of Xerxes._ + +_Artaxerxes I. (465-424): the revolt of Megabyzos--The palaces of +Pasargadae. Persepolis, and Susa; Persian architecture and sculpture; +court life, the king and his harem--Revolutions in the palace--Xerxes +I., Sekudianos, Darius II.--Intervention in Greek affairs and the +convention of Miletus; the end of the peace of Gallias--Artaxerxes II. +(404-359) and Gyrus the Younger: the battle of Kunaxa and the retreat of +the ten thousand (401)._ + +_Troubles in Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt--Amyrtxus and the XXVIIIth +Saite dynasty--The XXIXth Sebennytic dynasty--Nephorites I, Hakoris, +Psammutis, their alliances with Evagoras and with the states of +Continental Greece--The XXXth Mendesian dynasty--Nectanebo I, Tachos +and the invasion of Syria, the revolt of Nectanebo II.--The death of +Artaxerxes II.--The accession of Ochus (359 B.C.), his unfortunate wars +in the Delta, the conquest of Egypt (342) and the reconstitution of the +empire._ + +_The Eastern world: Elam, Urartu, the Syrian kingdoms, the ancient +Semitic states decayed and decaying--Babylon in its decline--The Jewish +state and its miseries--Nehemiah, Ezra--Egypt in the eyes of the Greeks: +Sais, the Delta, the inhabitants of the marshes--Memphis, its monuments, +its population--Travels in Upper Egypt: the Fayum, Khemmis, Thebes, +Elephantine--The apparent vigour and actual feebleness of Egypt._ + +_Persia and its powerlessness to resist attack: the rise of Macedonia, +Philippi --Arses (337) and Darius Codomannos (336)--Alexander the +Great--The invasion of Asia--The battle of Granicus and the conquest +of the Asianic peninsula--Issus, the siege of Tyre and of Gaza, the +conquest of Egypt, the foundation of Alexandria--Arbela: the conquest +of Babylon, Susa, and Ecbatana--The death of Darius and the last days of +the old Eastern world._ + +[Illustration: 199.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + +[Page 200 and 201 need to be rescanned] + + + + +CHAPTER II--THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD EASTERN WORLD + + +_The Median wars--The last native dynasties of Egypt--The Eastern world +on the eve of the Macedonian conquest._ + + [Drawn by Boudier, from one of the sarcophagi of Sidon, now + in the Museum of St. Irene. The vignette, which is by + Faucher-Gudin, represents the sitting cyno-cephalus of + Nectanebo I., now in the Egyptian Museum at the Vatican.] + +Darius appears to have formed this project of conquest immediately after +his first victories, when his initial attempts to institute satrapies +had taught him not only the condition and needs of Asia Minor, but of +the teaching the Scythians such a lesson as would prevent them from +bearing down upon his right flank during his march, or upon his rear +while engaged in a crucial struggle in the Hellenic peninsula. On the +other hand, the geographical information possessed by the Persians with +regard to the Danubian regions was of so vague a character, that Darius +must have believed the Scythians to have been nearer to his line of +operations, and their country less desolate than was really the case.* A +flotilla, commanded by Ariaramnes, satrap of Cappadocia, ventured across +the Black Sea in 515,** landed a few thousand men upon the opposite +shore, and brought back prisoners who furnished those in command with +the information they required.*** + + * The motives imputed to Darius by the ancients for making + this expedition are the desire of avenging the disasters of + the Scythian invasion, or of performing an exploit which + should render him as famous as his predecessors in the eyes + of posterity. + + ** The reconnaissance of Ariaramnes is intimately connected + with the expedition itself in Ctesias, and could have + preceded it by a few months only. If we take for the date of + the latter the year 514-513, the date given in the Table of + the Capitol, that of the former cannot be earlier than 515. + Ariaramnes was not satrap of Cappadocia, for Cappadocia + belonged then to the satrapy of Daskylion. + + *** The supplementary paragraphs of the Inscription of + Behistun speak of an expedition of Darius against the Sako, + which is supposed to have had as its objective either the + sea of Aral or the Tigris. Would it not be possible to + suppose that the sea mentioned is the Pontus Euxinus, and to + take the mutilated text of Behistun to be a description + either of the campaign beyond the Danube, or rather of the + preliminary _reconnaissance_ of Ariaramnes a year before the + expedition itself? + +Darius, having learned what he could from these poor wretches, crossed +the Bosphorus in 514, with a body of troops which tradition computed +at 800,000, conquered the eastern coast of Thrace, and won his way in +a series of conflicts as far as the Ister. The Ionian sailors built for +him a bridge of boats, which he entrusted to their care, and he then +started forward into the steppes in search of the enemy. The Scythians +refused a pitched battle, but they burnt the pastures before him on +every side, filled up the wells, carried off the cattle, and then slowly +retreated into the interior, leaving Darius to face the vast extent of +the steppes and the terrors of famine. Later tradition stated that he +wandered for two months in these solitudes between the Ister and the +Tanais; he had constructed on the banks of this latter river a series +of earthworks, the remains of which were shown in the time of Herodotus, +and had at length returned to his point of departure with merely the +loss of a few sick men. The barbarians stole a march upon him, and +advised the Greeks to destroy the bridge, retire within their cities, +and abandon the Persians to their fate. The tyrant of the Ohersonnesus, +Miltiades the Athenian, was inclined to follow their advice; but +Histiasus, the governor of Miletus, opposed it, and eventually carried +his point. Darius reached the southern bank without difficulty, and +returned to Asia.* + + * Ctesias limits the campaign beyond the Danube to a fifteen + days' march; and Strabo places the crossing of the Danube + near the mouth of that river, at the island of Peuke, and + makes the expedition stop at the Dniester. Neither the line + of direction of the Persian advance nor their farthest point + reached is known. The eight forts which they were said to + have built, the ruins of which were shown on the banks of + the Oaros as late as the time of Herodotus, were probably + tumuli similar to those now met with on the Russian steppes, + the origin of which is ascribed by the people to persons + celebrated in their history or traditions. + +The Greek towns of Thrace thought themselves rid of him, and rose in +revolt; but he left 80,000 men in Europe who, at first under Megabyzos, +and then under Otanes, reduced them to subjection one after another, and +even obliged Amyntas I., the King of Macedonia, to become a tributary of +the empire. The expedition had not only failed to secure the submission +of the Scythians, but apparently provoked reprisals on their part, and +several of their bands penetrated ere long into the Chersonnesus. It +nevertheless was not without solid result, for it showed that Darius, +even if he could not succeed in subjugating the savage Danubian tribes, +had but little to fear from them; it also secured for him a fresh +province, that of Thrace, and, by the possession of Macedonia, brought +his frontier into contact with Northern Greece. The overland route, in +any case the more satisfactory of the two, was now in the hands of the +invader. + +Revolutions at Athens prevented him from setting out on his expedition +as soon as he had anticipated. Hippias had been overthrown in 510, and +having taken refuge at Sigoum, was seeking on all sides for some one +to avenge him against his fellow-citizens. The satrap of Sardes, +Arta-phernes, declined at first to listen to him, for he hoped that the +Athenians themselves would appeal to him, without his being obliged to +have recourse to their former tyrant. As a matter of fact, they sent him +an embassy, and begged his help against the Spartans. He promised it +on condition that they would yield the traditional homage of earth and +water, and their delegates complied with his demand, though on their +return to Athens they were disowned by the citizens (508). Artaphernes, +disappointed in this direction, now entered into communications with +Hippias, and such close relations soon existed between the two that +the Athenians showed signs of uneasiness. Two years later they again +despatched fresh deputies to Sardes to beg the satrap not to espouse +the cause of their former ruler. For a reply the satrap summoned them +to recall the exiles, and, on their refusing (506),* their city became +thenceforward the ostensible objective of the Persian army and fleet. +The partisans of Hippias within the town were both numerous and active; +it was expected that they would rise and hand over the city as soon as +their chief should land on a point of territory with a force sufficient +to intimidate the opposing faction. Athens in the hands of Hippias, +would mean Athens in the hands of the Persians, and Greece accessible to +the Persian hordes at all times by the shortest route. Darius therefore +prepared to make the attempt, and in order to guard against any mishap, +he caused all the countries that he was about to attack to be explored +beforehand. Spies attached to his service were sent to scour the coasts +of the Peloponnesus and take note of all its features, the state of +its ports, the position of the islands and the fortresses; and they +penetrated as far as Italy, if we may believe the story subsequently +told to Herodotus.** + + * Herodotus fixes the date at the time when the Athenians + first ostracised the principal partisans of the + Pisistratids, and amongst others Hipparchus, son of Charmes, + i.e. in 507-6. + + ** Herodotus said that Darius sent spies with the physician + Democedes of Crotona shortly before the Scythian expedition. + +While he thus studied the territory from a distance, he did not neglect +precautions nearer to hand, but ordered the Milesians to occupy in +his name the principal stations of the AEgean between Ionia and Attica. +Histiasus, whose loyalty had stood Darius in such good stead at the +bridge over the Danube, did not, however, appear to him equal to so +delicate a task: the king summoned him to Susa on some slight pretext, +loaded him with honours, and replaced him by his nephew Aristagoras. +Aristagoras at once attempted to justify the confidence placed in him by +taking possession of Naxos; but the surprise that he had prepared ended +in failure, discontent crept in among his men, and after a fruitless +siege of four months he was obliged to withdraw (499).* His failure +changed the tide of affairs. He was afraid that the Persians would +regard it as a crime, and this fear prompted him to risk everything to +save his fortune and his life. He retired from his office as tyrant, +exhorted the Milesians, who were henceforth free to do so, to make war +on the barbarians, and seduced from their allegiance the crews of the +vessels just returned from Naxos, and still lying in the mouths of the +Meander; the tyrants who commanded them were seized, some exiled, +and some put to death. The AEolians soon made common cause with their +neighbours the Ionians, and by the last days of autumn the whole of the +AEgean littoral was under arms (499).** + + * Herodotus attributes an unlikely act of treachery to + Megabates the Persian, who was commanding the Iranian + contingent attached to the Ionian troops. + + ** The Dorian cities took no part in the revolt--at least + Herodotus never mentions them among the confederates. The + three Ionian cities of Ephesus, Kolophon, and Lebedos also + seem to have remained aloof, and we know that the Ephesians + were not present at the battle of Lade. + +From the outset Aristagoras realised that they would be promptly +overcome if Asiatic Hellas were not supported by Hellas in Europe. +While the Lydian satrap was demanding reinforcements from his sovereign, +Aristagoras therefore repaired to the Peloponnesus as a suppliant for +help. Sparta, embroiled in one of her periodical quarrels with Argos, +gave him an insolent refusal;* even Athens, where the revolution had +for the moment relieved her from the fear of the Pisistratidaa and +the terrors of a barbarian invasion, granted him merely twenty +triremes--enough to draw down reprisals on her immediately after their +defeat, without sensibly augmenting the rebels' chances of success; to +the Athenian contingent Bretria added five vessels, and this comprised +his whole force. The leaders of the movement did not hesitate to assume +the offensive with these slender resources. As early as the spring +of 498, before Artaphernes had received reinforcements, they marched +suddenly on Sardes. They burnt the lower town, but, as on many previous +occasions, the citadel held out; after having encamped for several +days at the foot of its rock, they returned to Ephesus laden with the +spoil.** + + * Aristagoras had with him a map of the world engraved on a + bronze plate, which was probably a copy of the chart drawn + up by Hecatseus of Miletus. + + ** Herodotus says that the Ionians on their return suffered + a serious reverse near Ephesus. The author seems to have + adopted some Lydian or Persian tradition hostile to the + Ionians, for Charon of Lampsacus, who lived nearer to the + time of these events, mentions only the retreat, and hints + at no defeat. If the expedition had really ended in this + disaster, it is not at all likely that the revolt would have + attained the dimensions it did immediately afterwards. + +This indeed was a check to their hostilities, and such an abortive +attempt was calculated to convince them of their powerlessness against +the foreign rule. None the less, however, when it was generally known +that they had burnt the capital of Asia Minor, and had with impunity +made the representative of the great king feel in his palace the smoke +of the conflagration, the impression was such as actual victory could +have produced. The cities which had hitherto hesitated to join them, now +espoused their cause--the ports of the Troad and the Hellespont, Lycia, +the Carians, and Cyprus--and their triumph would possibly have been +secured had Greece beyond the AEgean followed the general movement and +joined the coalition. Sparta, however, persisted in her indifference, +and Athens took the opportunity of withdrawing from the struggle. The +Asiatic Greeks made as good a defence as they could, but their resources +fell far short of those of the enemy, and they could do no more than +delay the catastrophe and save their honour by their bravery. Cyprus +was the first to yield during the winter of 498-497. Its vessels, +in conjunction with those of the Ionians, dispersed the fleet of the +Phoenicians off Salamis, but the troops of their princes, still imbued +with the old system of military tactics, could not sustain the charge +of the Persian battalions; they gave way under the walls of Salamis, and +their chief, Onesilus, was killed in a final charge of his chariotry.* + + * The movement in Cyprus must have begun in the winter of + 499-498, for Onesilus was already in the field when Darius + heard of the burning of Sardes; and as it lasted for a year, + it must have been quelled in the winter of 498-497. + +His death effected the ruin of the Ionian cause in Cyprus, which on the +continent suffered at the same time no less serious reverses. The towns +of the Hellespont and of AEolia succumbed one after another; Kyme and +Clazomenae next opened their gates; the Carians were twice beaten, once +near the White Columns, and again near Labranda, and their victory at +Pedasos suspended merely for an instant the progress of the Persian +arms, so that towards the close of 497 the struggle was almost entirely +concentrated round Miletus. Aristagoras, seeing that his cause was +now desperate, agreed with his partisans that they should expatriate +themselves. He fell fighting against the Edonians of Thrace, attempting +to force the important town of Enneahodoi, near the mouth of the Strymon +(496);* but his defection had not discouraged any one, and Histiseus, +who had been sent to Sardes by the great king to negotiate the +submission of the rebels, failed in his errand. Even when blockaded on +the land side, Miletus could defy an attack so long as communication +with the sea was not cut off. + + * In Herodotus the town is not named, but a passage in + Thucydides shows that it was Enneahodoi, afterwards + Amphipolis, and that the death of Aristagoras took place + thirty-two years before the Athenian defeat at Drabeskos, + i.e. probably in 496. + +[Illustration: 209.jpg A CYPRIOT CHARIOT] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the terra-cotta group in the + New York Museum. + +Darius therefore brought up the Phoenician fleet, reinforced it with +the Cypriot contingents, and despatched the united squadrons to the +Archipelago during the summer of 494. The confederates, even after the +disasters of the preceding years, still possessed 353 vessels, most of +them of 30 to 50 oars; they were, however, completely defeated near the +small island of Lade, in the latter part of the summer, and Miletus, +from that moment cut off from the rest of the world, capitulated a few +weeks later. A small proportion of its inhabitants continued to dwell +in the ruined city, but the greater number were carried away to Ampe, at +the mouth of the Tigris, in the marshes of the Nar-Marratum.* + + * The year 497, i.e. three years before the capture of the + town, appears to be an unlikely date for the battle of Lade: + Miletus must have fallen in the autumn or winter months + following the defeat. + +Caria was reconquered during the winter of 494-493, and by the early +part of 493, Chios, Lesbos, Tenedos, the cities of the Chersonnesus +and of Propontis--in short, all which yet held out--were reduced to +obedience. Artaphernes reorganised his vanquished states entirely in the +interest of Persia. He did not interfere with the constitutions of +the several republics, but he reinstated the tyrants. He regulated and +augmented the various tributes, prohibited private wars, and gave to the +satrap the right of disposing of all quarrels at his own tribunal. The +measures which he adopted had long after his day the force of law among +the Asiatic Greeks, and it was by them they regulated their relations +with the representatives of the great king. + +If Darius had ever entertained doubts as to the necessity for occupying +European Greece to ensure the preservation of peace in her Asiatic +sister-country, the revolt of Ionia must have completely dissipated +them. It was a question whether the cities which had so obstinately +defied him for six long years, would ever resign themselves to servitude +as long as they saw the peoples of their race maintaining their +independence on the opposite shores of the AEgean, and while the misdeeds +of which the contingents of Eretria and Athens had been guilty during +the rebellion remained unpunished. A tradition, which sprang up soon +after the event, related that on hearing of the burning of Sardes, +Darius had bent his bow and let fly an arrow towards the sky, praying +Zeus to avenge him on the Athenians: and at the same time he had +commanded one of his slaves to repeat three times a day before him, at +every meal, "Sire, remember the Athenians!"* + + * The legend is clearly older than the time of Herodotus, + for in the _Persae_ of Eschylus the shade of Darius, when + coming out of his tomb, cries to the old men, "Remember + Athens and Greece!" + +As a matter of fact, the intermeddling of these strangers between +the sovereign and his subjects was at once a serious insult to the +Achaemenids and a cause of anxiety to the empire; to leave it unpunished +would have been an avowal of weakness or timidity, which would not fail +to be quickly punished in Syria, Egypt, Babylon, and on the Scythian +frontiers, and would ere long give rise to similar acts of revolt and +interference. Darius, therefore, resumed his projects, but with greater +activity than before, and with a resolute purpose to make a final +reckoning with the Greeks, whatever it might cost him. The influence of +his nephew Mardonius at first inclined him to adopt the overland route, +and he sent him into Thrace with a force of men and a fleet of galleys +sufficient to overcome all obstacles. Mardonius marched against the +Greek colonies and native tribes which had throw off the yoke during the +Ionian war, and reduced those who had still managed to preserve their +independence. The Bryges opposed him with such determination, that +summer was drawing to its close before he was able to continue his +march. He succeeded, however, in laying hands on Macedonia, and obliged +its king, Alexander, to submit to the conditions accepted by his father +Amyntas; but at this juncture half of his fleet was destroyed by a +tempest in the vicinity of Mount Athos, and the disaster, which +took place just as winter was approaching, caused him to suspend his +operations (492). He was recalled on account of his failure, and +the command was transferred to Datis the Mede and to the Persian +Artaphernes. Darius, however, while tentatively using the land routes +through Greece for his expeditions, had left no stone unturned to secure +for himself that much-coveted sea-way which would carry him straight +into the heart of the enemy's position, and he had opened negotiations +with the republics of Greece proper. Several of them had consented to +tender him earth and water, among them being AEgina,* and besides this, +the state of the various factions in Athens was such, that he had every +reason to believe that he could count on the support of a large section +of the population when the day came for him to disembark his force on +the shores of Attica. + + * Herodotus states that _all_ the island-dwelling Greeks + submitted to the great king. But Herodotus himself says + later on that the people of Naxos, at all events, proved + refractory. + +[Illustration: 212a.jpg ALEXANDER I. OF MACEDON] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the _Cabinet des + Medailles_. + +[Illustration: 212b.jpg A PHOENICIAN GALLEY] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin of Byblos in the + _Cabinet des Medailles_. + +He therefore decided to direct his next expedition against Athens +itself, and he employed the year 491 in concentrating his troops and +triremes in Cilicia, at a sufficient distance from the European coast +to ensure their safety from any sudden attack. In the spring of 490 the +army recruited from among the most warlike nations of the empire--the +Persians, Medes, and Sakse--went aboard the Phoenician fleet, while +galleys built on a special model were used as transports for the +cavalry. The entire convoy sailed safely out of the mouth of the Pyramos +to the port of Samos, coasting the shores of Asia Minor, and then +passing through the Cyclades, from Samos to Naxos, where they met +with no opposition from the inhabitants, headed for Delos, where Datis +offered a sacrifice to Apollo, whom he confounded with his god +Mithra; finally they reached Eubaea, where Eretria and Carystos vainly +endeavoured to hold their own against them. Eretria was reduced to +ashes, as Sardes had been, and such of its citizens as had not fled into +the mountains at the enemy's approach were sent into exile among the +Kissians in the township of Arderikka. Hippias meanwhile had joined the +Persians and had been taken into their confidence. While awaiting the +result of the intrigues of his partisans in Athens, he had advised +Datis to land on the eastern coast of Attica, in the neighbourhood of +Marathon, at the very place from whence his father Pisistratus had set +out forty years before to return to his country after his first exile. +The position was well chosen for the expected engagement. + +[Illustration: 214.jpg MAP OF MARATHON] + +The bay and the strand which bordered it afforded an excellent station +for the fleet, and the plain, in spite of its marshes and brushwood, was +one of those rare spots where cavalry might be called into play without +serious drawbacks. A few hours on foot would bring the bulk of the +infantry up to the Acropolis by a fairly good road, while by the same +time the fleet would be able to reach the roadstead of Phalerum. All had +been arranged beforehand for concerted action when the expected rising +should take place; but it never did take place, and instead of the +friends whom the Persians expected, an armed force presented itself, +commanded by the polemarch Callimachus and the ten strategi, among whom +figured the famous Miltiades. At the first news of the disembarkation +of the enemy, the republic had despatched the messenger Phidippides to +Sparta to beg for immediate assistance, and in the mean time had sent +forward all her able-bodied troops to meet the invaders. They comprised +about 10,000 hoplites, accompanied, as was customary, by nearly as many +more light infantry, who were shortly reinforced by 1000 Plataeans. They +encamped in the valley of Avlona, around a small temple of Heracles, in +a position commanding the roads into the interior, and from whence +they could watch the enemy without exposing themselves to an unexpected +attack. + +[Illustration: 215.jpg THE BATTLE-FIELD OF MARATHON] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. Amedee Hauvette. + +The two armies watched each other for a fortnight, Datis expecting a +popular outbreak which would render an engagement unnecessary, Miltiades +waiting patiently till the Lacedaemonians had come up, or till some +false move on the part of his opponent gave him the opportunity of +risking a decisive action. What took place at the end of this time is +uncertain. Whether Datis grew tired of inaction, or whether he suddenly +resolved to send part of his forces by sea, so as to land on the +neighbouring shore of Athens, and Miltiades fell upon his rear when +only half his men had got on board the fleet, is not known. At any rate, +Miltiades, with the Plataeans on his left, set his battalions in movement +without warning, and charged the enemy with a rush. The Persians and +the Sakae broke the centre of the line, but the two wings, after having +dispersed the assailants on their front, wheeled round upon them and +overcame them: 6000 barbarians were left dead upon the field as against +some 200 Athenians and Plataeans, but by dint of their valiant efforts +the remainder managed to save the fleet with a loss of only seven +galleys. Datis anchored that evening off the island of AEgilia, and at +the same moment the victorious army perceived a signal hoisted on the +heights of Pentelicus apparently to attract his attention; when he set +sail the next morning and, instead of turning eastwards, proceeded to +double Cape Sunion, Miltiades had no longer any doubt that treachery was +at work, and returned to Athens by forced marches. Datis, on entering +the roads of Phalerum, found the shore defended, and the army that he +had left at Marathon encamped upon the Cynosarge. He cruised about for +a few hours in sight of the shore, and finding no movement made to +encourage him to land, he turned his vessels about and set sail for +Ionia. + +The material loss to the Persians was inconsiderable, for even the +Cyclades remained under their authority; Miltiades, who endeavoured +to retake them, met with a reverse before Paros, and the Athenians, +disappointed by his unsuccessful attempt, made no further efforts to +regain them. The moral effect of the victory on Greece and the empire +was extraordinary. Up till then the Median soldiers had been believed +to be the only invincible troops in the world; the sight of them +alone excited dread in the bravest hearts, and their name was received +everywhere with reverential awe. But now a handful of hoplites from one +of the towns of the continent, and that not the most renowned for its +prowess, without cavalry or bowmen, had rushed upon and overthrown the +most terrible of all Oriental battalions, the Persians and the Sakae. +Darius could not put up with such an affront without incurring the risk +of losing his prestige with the people of Asia and Europe, who up till +then had believed him all-powerful, and of thus exposing himself to the +possibility of revolutions in recently subdued countries, such as Egypt, +which had always retained the memory of her past greatness. In the +interest of his own power, as well as to soothe his wounded pride, a +renewed attack was imperative, and this time it must be launched with +such dash and vigour that all resistance would be at once swept before +it. Events had shown him that the influence of the Pisistratidae had not +been strong enough to secure for him the opening of the gates of Athens, +and that the sea route did not permit of his concentrating an adequate +force of cavalry and infantry on the field of battle; he therefore +reverted to the project of an expedition by the overland route, skirting +the coasts of Thrace and Macedonia. During three years he collected +arms, provisions, horses, men, and vessels, and was ready to commence +hostilities in the spring of 487, when affairs in Egypt prevented him. +This country had undeniably prospered under his suzerainty. It formed, +with Cyrene and the coast of Libya, the sixth of his satrapies, to which +were attached the neighbouring Nubian tribes of the southern frontier.* +The Persian satrap, installed at the White Wall in the ancient palace of +the Pharaohs, was supported by an army of 120,000 men, who occupied the +three entrenched camps of the Saites--Daphnae and Marea on the confines +of the Delta, and Elephantine in the south.** Outside these military +stations, where the authority of the great king was exercised in a +direct manner, the ancient feudal organisation existed intact. The +temples retained their possessions and their vassals, and the nobles +within their principalities were as independent and as inclined to +insurrection as in past times. The annual tribute, the heaviest paid by +any province with the exception of Cossaea and Assyria, amounted only +to 700 talents of silver. To this sum must be added the farming of the +fishing in Lake Moeris, which, according to Herodotus,*** brought in one +talent a day during the six months of the high Nile, but, according to +Diodorus,**** during the whole year, as well as the 120,000 medimni of +wheat required for the army of occupation, and the obligation to furnish +the court of Susa with Libyan nitre and Nile water; the total of these +impositions was far from constituting a burden disproportionate to the +wealth of the Nile valley. + + * The Nubian tribes, who are called Ethiopians by Herodotus + and the cuneiform inscriptions, paid no regular tribute, but + were obliged to send annually two chaenikes of pure gold, two + hundred pieces of ebony, twenty elephants' tusks, and five + young slaves, all under the name of a free gift. + + ** Herodotus states that in his own time the Persians, like + the Saite Pharaohs, still had garrisons at Daphnae and at + Elephantine. + + *** Herodotus says that the produce sank to the value of a + third of a talent a day during the six other months. + + **** Diodorus Siculus says that the revenue produced by the + fisheries in the Lake had been handed over by Moris to his + wife for the expenses of her toilet. + +[Illustration: 219.jpg DARIUS ON THE STELE OF THE ISTHMUS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the _Description de l'Egypte_. + +Commerce brought in to it, in fact, at least as much money as the +tribute took out of it. Incorporated with an empire which extended over +three continents, Egypt had access to regions whither the products of +her industry and her soil had never yet been carried. The produce of +Ethiopia and the Sudan passed through her emporia on its way to attract +customers in the markets of Tyre, Sidon, Babylon, and Susa, and the +isthmus of Suez and Kosseir were the nearest ports through which Arabia +and India could reach the Mediterranean. Darius therefore resumed the +work of Necho, and beginning simultaneously at both extremities, he cut +afresh the canal between the Nile and the Gulf of Suez. Trilingual +stelae in Egyptian, Persian, and Medic were placed at intervals along its +banks, and set forth to all comers the method of procedure by which the +sovereign had brought his work to a successful end. In a similar manner +he utilised the Wadys which wind between Koptos and the Red Sea, and +by their means placed the cities of the Said in communication with the +"Ladders of Incense," Punt and the Sabaeans.* + + * Several of the inscriptions engraved on the rocks of the + Wady Hammamat show to what an extent the route was + frequented at certain times during the reign. They bear the + dates of the 26th, 27th, 28th, 30th, and 36th years of + Darius. The country of Saba (Sheba) is mentioned on one of + the stelae of the isthmus. + +He extended his favour equally to the commerce which they carried on +with the interior of Africa; indeed, in order to ensure the safety of +the caravans in the desert regions nearest to the Nile, he skilfully +fortified the Great Oasis. He erected at Habit, Kushit, and other +places, several of those rectangular citadels with massive walls of +unburnt brick, which resisted every effort of the nomad tribes to break +through them; and as the temple at Habit, raised in former times by the +Theban Pharaohs, had become ruinous, he rebuilt it from its foundations. + +[Illustration: 220.jpg WALLS OF THE FORTRESS OF DITSH-EL-QALAA] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the engraving by Cailliaud. Dush is + the Kushit of the hieroglyphs, the Kysis of Graeco-Roman + times, and is situated on the southern border of the Great + Oasis, about the latitude of Assuan. + +He was generous in his gifts to the gods, and even towns as obscure as +Edfu was then received from him grants of money and lands. The Egyptians +at first were full of gratitude for the favours shown them, but the news +of the defeat at Marathon, and the taxes with which the Susian court +burdened them in order to make provision for the new war with Greece, +aroused a deep-seated discontent, at all events amongst those who, +living in the Delta, had had their patriotism or their interests most +affected by the downfall of the Saite dynasty. It would appear that the +priests of Buto, whose oracles exercised an indisputable influence alike +over Greeks and natives, had energetically incited the people to revolt. +The storm broke in 486, and a certain Khabbisha, who perhaps belonged +to the family of Psammetichus, proclaimed himself king both at Sais and +Memphis.* + + * Herodotus does not give the name of the leader of the + rebellion, but says that it took place in the fourth year + after Marathon. A demotic contract in the Turin Museum bears + the date of the third month of the second season of the + thirty-fifth year of Darius I.: Khabbisha's rebellion + therefore broke out between June and September, 486. Stern + makes this prince to have been of Libyan origin. From the + form of his name, Revillout has supposed that he was an + Arab, and Birch was inclined to think that he was a Persian + satrap who made a similar attempt to that of Aryandes. But + nothing is really known of him or of his family previous to + his insurrection against Darius. + +[Illustration: 221.jpg THE GREAT TEMPLE OF DARIUS AT HABIT] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the engraving by Cailliaud. + +Darius did not believe the revolt to be of sufficient gravity to delay +his plans for any length of time. He hastily assembled a second +army, and was about to commence hostilities on the banks of the Nile +simultaneously with those on the Hellespont, when he died in 485, in the +thirty-sixth year of his reign. He was one of the great sovereigns of +the ancient world--the greatest without exception of those who had ruled +over Persia. Cyrus and Cambyses had been formidable warriors, and the +kingdoms of the Bast had fallen before their arms, but they were purely +military sovereigns, and if their successor had not possessed other +abilities than theirs, their empire would have shared the fate of that +of the Medes and the Chaldaeans; it would have sunk to its former level +as rapidly as it had risen, and the splendour of its opening years +would have soon faded from remembrance. Darius was no less a general +by instinct and training than they, as is proved by the campaigns which +procured him his crown; but, after having conquered, he knew how to +organise and build up a solid fabric out of the materials which his +predecessors had left in a state of chaos; if Persia maintained her rule +over the East for two entire centuries, it was due to him and to him +alone. The question of the succession, with its almost inevitable +popular outbreaks, had at once to be dealt with. Darius had had several +wives, and among them, the daughter of Gobryas, who had borne him +three children: Artabazanes, the eldest, had long been regarded as the +heir-presumptive, and had probably filled the office of regent during +the expedition in Scythia. But Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, who had +already been queen under Cambyses and Gaumata, was indignant at the +thought of her sons bowing down before the child of a woman who was not +of Achaemenian race, and at the moment when affairs in Egypt augured +ill for the future, and when the old king, according to custom, had +to appoint his successor, she intreated him to choose Khshayarsha, the +eldest of her children, who had been borne to the purple, and in whose +veins flowed the blood of Cyrus. Darius acceded to her request, and +on his death, a few months after, Khshayarsha ascended the throne. His +brothers offered no opposition, and the Persian nobles did homage to +their new king. Khshayarsha, whom the Greeks called Xerxes, was at that +time thirty-four years of age. He was tall, vigorous, of an imposing +figure and noble countenance, and he had the reputation of being the +handsomest man of his time, but neither his intelligence nor disposition +corresponded to his outward appearance; he was at once violent and +feeble, indolent, narrow-minded, and sensual, and was easily swayed by +his courtiers and mistresses. The idea of a war had no attractions for +him, and he was inclined to shirk it. His uncle Artabanus exhorted him +to follow his inclination for peace, and he lent a favourable ear to his +advice until his cousin Mardonius remonstrated with him, and begged him +not to leave the disgrace of Marathon unpunished, or he would lower the +respect attached to the name of Persia throughout the world. He wished, +at all events, to bring Egyptian affairs to an issue before involving +himself in a serious European war. Khabbisha had done his best to +prepare a stormy reception for him. During a period of two years +Khabbisha had worked at the extension of the entrenchments along the +coast and at the mouths of the Nile, in order to repulse the attack that +he foresaw would take place simultaneously with that on land, but his +precautions proved fruitless when the decisive moment arrived, and he +was completely crushed by the superior numbers of Xerxes. + +[Illustration: 224.jpg Xerxes] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a daric in the _Cabinet des + Medailles_. + +The nomes of the Delta which had taken a foremost part in the rising +were ruthlessly raided, the priests heavily fined, and the oracle of +Buto deprived of its possessions as a punishment for the encouragement +freely given to the rebels. Khabbisha disappeared, and his fate is +unknown. Achaemenes, one of the king's brothers, was made satrap, but, +as on previous occasions, the constitution of the country underwent +no modification. The temples retained their inherited domains, and the +nomes continued in the hands of their hereditary princes, without a +suspicion crossing the mind of Xerxes that his tolerance of the priestly +institutions and the local dynasties was responsible for the maintenance +of a body of chiefs ever in readiness for future insurrection (483).* + + * The only detailed information on this revolt furnished by + the Egyptian monuments is given in the Stele of Ptolemy, the + son of Lagos. An Apis, whose sarcophagus still exists, was + buried by Khabbisha in the Serapoum in the second year of + his reign, which proves that he was in possession of + Memphis: the White Wall had perhaps been deprived of its + garrison in order to reinforce the army prepared against + Greece, and it was possibly thus that it fell into the hands + of Khabbisha. + +Order was once more restored, but he was not yet entirely at liberty to +pursue his own plan of action. Classical tradition tells us, that on +the occasion of his first visit to Babylon he had offended the religious +prejudices of the Chaldaeans by a sacrilegious curiosity. He had, in +spite of the entreaties of the priests, forced an entrance into the +ancient burial-place of Bel-Etana, and had beheld the body of the old +hero preserved in oil in a glass sarcophagus, which, however, was not +quite full of the liquid. A notice posted up beside it, threatened the +king who should violate the secret of the tomb with a cruel fate, unless +he filled the sarcophagus to the brim, and Xerxes had attempted to +accomplish this mysterious injunction, but all his efforts had failed. +The example set by Egypt and the change of sovereign are sufficient to +account for the behaviour of the Babylonians; they believed that the +accession of a comparatively young monarch, and the difficulties of the +campaign on the banks of the Nile, afforded them a favourable occasion +for throwing off the yoke. They elected as king a certain Shamasherib, +whose antecedents are unknown; but their independence was of short +duration,* for Megabyzos, son of Zopyrus, who governed the province by +hereditary right, forced them to disarm after a siege of a few months. + + * This Shamasherib is mentioned only on a contract dated + from his accession, which is preserved in the British + Museum. + +It would appear that Xerxes treated them with the greatest severity: he +pillaged the treasury and temple of Bel, appropriated the golden statue +which decorated the great inner hall of the ziggurat, and carried away +many of the people into captivity (581). Babylon never recovered this +final blow: the quarters of the town that had been pillaged remained +uninhabited and fell into ruins; commerce dwindled and industry flagged. +The counsellors of Xerxes had, no doubt, wished to give an object-lesson +to the province by their treatment of Babylon, and thus prevent the +possibility of a revolution taking place in Asia while its ruler was +fully engaged in a struggle with the Greeks. Meanwhile all preparations +were completed, and the contingents of the eastern and southern +provinces concentrated at Kritalla, in Cappadocia, merely awaited the +signal to set out. Xerxes gave the order to advance in the autumn of +481, crossed the Halys and took up his quarters at Sardes, while his +fleet prepared to winter in the neighbouring ports of Phocae and Kyme.* + + * Diodorus, who probably follows Ephorus, is the only writer + who informs us of the place where the fleet was assembled. + +Gathered together in that little corner of the world, were forces such +as no king had ever before united under his command; they comprised 1200 +vessels of various build, and probably 120,000 combatants, besides the +rabble of servants, hucksters, and women which followed all the armies +of that period. The Greeks exaggerated the number of the force beyond +all probability. They estimated it variously at 800,000, at 3,000,000, +and at 5,283,220 men; 1,700,000 of whom were able-bodied foot-soldiers, +and 80,000 of them horsemen.* + + * Herodotus records the epigram to the effect that 3,000,000 + men attacked Thermopylae. Ctesias and Ephorus adopt the same + figures; Iso-crates is contented with 700,000 combatants and + 5,000,000 men in all. + +[Illustration: 227.jpg A TRIREME IN MOTION] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin: the left portion is a free + reproduction of a photograph of the bas-relief of the + Acropolis; the right, of the picture of Pozzo. The two + partly overlap one another, and give both together the idea + of a trireme going at full speed. + +The troops which they could bring up to oppose these hordes were, +indeed, so slender in number, when reckoned severally, that all hope +of success seemed impossible. Xerxes once more summoned the Greeks to +submit, and most of the republics appeared inclined to comply; Athens +and Sparta alone refused, but from different motives. Athens knew that, +after the burning of Sardes and the victory of Marathon, they could hope +for no pity, and she was well aware that Persia had decreed her complete +destruction; the Athenians were familiar with the idea of a struggle in +which their very existence was at stake, and they counted on the navy +with which Themistocles had just provided them to enable them to emerge +from the affair with honour. Sparta was not threatened with the same +fate, but she was at that time the first military state in Greece, and +the whole of the Peloponnesus acknowledged her sway; in the event of her +recognising the suzerainty of the barbarians, the latter would not fail +to require of her the renunciation of her hegemony, and she would then +be reduced to the same rank as her former rivals, Tegea and Argos. +Athens and Sparta therefore united to repulse the common enemy, and the +advantage that this alliance afforded them was so patent that none of +the other states ventured to declare openly for the great king. Argos +and Crete, the boldest of them, announced that they would observe +neutrality; the remainder, Thessalians, Boeotians, and people +of Corcyra, gave their support to the national cause, but did so +unwillingly. + +Xerxes crossed the Hellespont in the spring of 480, by two bridges of +boats thrown across it between Abydos and Sestos; he then formed his +force into three columns, and made his way slowly along the coast, +protected on the left by the whole of his fleet from any possible attack +by the squadrons of the enemy. The Greeks had three lines of defence +which they could hold against him, the natural strength of which nearly +compensated them for the inferiority of their forces; these were Mount +Olympus, Mount OEta, and the isthmus of Corinth. The first, however, was +untenable, owing to the ill will of the Thessalians; as a precautionary +measure 10,000 hoplites were encamped upon it, but they evacuated the +position as soon as the enemy's advance-guard came into sight. The +natural barrier of OEta, less formidable than that of Olympus, was +flanked by the Euboean straits on the extreme right, but the range +was of such extent that it did not require to be guarded with equal +vigilance along its whole length. The Spartans did not at first occupy +it, for they intended to accumulate all the Greek forces, both troops +and vessels, around the isthmus. At that point the neck of land was so +narrow, and the sea so shut in, that the numbers of the invading force +proved a drawback to them, and the advantage almost of necessity lay +with that of the two adversaries who should be best armed and best +officered. This plan of the Spartans was a wise one, but Athens, which +was thereby sacrificed to the general good, refused to adopt it, and +as she alone furnished almost half the total number of vessels, her +decision had to be deferred to. A body of about 10,000 hoplites +was therefore posted in the pass of Thermopylae under the command of +Leonidas, while a squadron of 271 vessels disposed themselves near the +promontory of Artemision, off the Euripus, and protected the right flank +of the pass against a diversion from the fleet. Meanwhile Xerxes had +been reinforced in the course of his march by the contingents from +Macedonia, and had received the homage of the cities of Thessaly; having +reached the defiles of the OEta and the Euboea, he began by attacking +the Creeks directly in front, both fleets and armies facing one another. +Leonidas succeeded in withstanding the assault on two successive days, +and then the inevitable took place. A detachment of Persians, guided +by the natives of the country, emerged by a path which had been left +unguarded, and bore down upon the Greeks in the rear; a certain number +managed to escape, but the bulk of the force, along with the 300 +Spartans and their king, succumbed after a desperate resistance. As for +the fleet, it had borne itself bravely, and had retained the ascendency +throughout, in spite of the superiority of the enemy's numbers; on +hearing the news of the glorious death of Leonidas, they believed their +task ended for the time being, and retired with the Athenians in their +wake, ready to sustain the attack should they come again to close +quarters. The victorious side had suffered considerable losses in men +and vessels, but they had forced the passage, and Central Greece now +lay at their mercy. Xerxes received the submission of the Thebans, the +Phocaeans, the Locrians, the Dorians, and of all who appealed to his +clemency; then, having razed to the ground Plataea and Thespisae, the only +two towns which refused to come to terms with him, he penetrated into +Attica by the gorges of the Cithssron. The population had taken refuge +in Salamis, AEgina, and Troezen. The few fanatics who refused to desist +in their defence of the Acropolis, soon perished behind their ramparts; +Xerxes destroyed the temple of Pallas by fire to avenge the burning of +Sardes, and then entrenched his troops on the approaches to the isthmus, +stationing his squadrons in the ports of Munychia, Phalerum, and the +Piraeus, and suspended all hostilities while waiting to see what policy +the Greeks would pursue. It is possible that he hoped that a certain +number of them would intreat for mercy, and others being encouraged +by their example to submit, no further serious battle would have to be +fought. When he found that no such request was proffered, he determined +to take advantage of the superiority of his numbers, and, if possible, +destroy at one blow the whole of the Greek naval reserve; he therefore +gave orders to his admirals to assume the offensive. The Greek fleet lay +at anchor across the bay of Salamis. The left squadron of the Persians, +leaving Munychia in the middle of the night, made for the promontory of +Cynosura, landing some troops as it passed on the island of Psyttalia, +on which it was proposed to fall back in case of accident, while +the right division, sailing close to the coast of Attica, closed +the entrance to the straits in the direction of Eleusis; this double +movement was all but completed, when the Greeks were informed by +fugitives of what was taking place, and the engagement was inevitable. +They accepted it fearlessly. Xerxes, enthroned with his Immortals on the +slopes of AEgialeos, could, from his exalted position, see the Athenians +attack his left squadron: the rest of the allies followed them, and +from afar these words were borne upon the breeze: "Go, sons of Greece, +deliver your country, deliver your children, your wives, and the temples +of the gods of your fathers and the tombs of your ancestors. A single +battle will decide the fate of all you possess." The Persians fought +with their accustomed bravery, "but before long their numberless +vessels, packed closely together in a restricted space, begin to hamper +each other's movements, and their rams of brass collide; whole rows of +oars are broken." The Greek vessels, lighter and easier to manoeuvre +than those of the Phoenicians, surround the latter and disable them in +detail. "The surface of the sea is hidden with floating wreckage and +corpses; the shore and the rocks are covered with the dead." At length, +towards evening, the energy of the barbarians beginning to flag, they +slowly fell back upon the Piraeus, closely followed by their adversaries, +while Aristides bore down upon Psyttalia with a handful of Athenians. +"Like tunnies, like fish just caught in a net, with blows from broken +oars, with fragments of spars, they fall upon the Persians, they tear +them to pieces. The sea resounds from afar with groans and cries of +lamentation. Night at length unveils her sombre face" and separates the +combatants.* + + * AEschylus gives the only contemporaneous account of the + battle, and the one which Herodotus and all the historians + after him have paraphrased, while they also added to it oral + traditions. + +[Illustration: 233.jpg PART OF THE BATTLEFIELD OF SALAMIS] + +The advantage lay that day with the Greeks, but hostilities might +be resumed on the morrow, and the resources of the Persians were so +considerable that their chances of victory were not yet exhausted. +Xerxes at first showed signs of wishing to continue the struggle; he +repaired the injured vessels and ordered a dyke to be constructed, +which, by uniting Salamis to the mainland, would enable him to oust the +Athenians from their last retreat. But he had never exhibited much zest +for the war; the inevitable fatigues and dangers of a campaign were +irksome to his indolent nature, and winter was approaching, which he +would be obliged to spend far from Susa, in the midst of a country +wasted and trampled underfoot by two great armies. Mardonius, guessing +what was passing in his sovereign's mind, advised him to take advantage +of the fine autumn weather to return to Sardes; he proposed to take over +from Xerxes the command of the army in Greece, and to set to work to +complete the conquest of the Peloponnesus. He was probably glad to +be rid of a sovereign whose luxurious habits were a hindrance to his +movements. Xerxes accepted his proposal with evident satisfaction, +and summarily despatching his vessels to the Hellespont to guard the +bridges, he set out on his return journey by the overland route. + +At the time of his departure the issue of the struggle was as yet +unforeseen. Mardonius evacuated Attica, which was too poor and desolate +a country to support so large an army, and occupied comfortable winter +quarters in the rich plains of Thessaly, where he recruited his strength +for a supreme effort in the spring. He had with him about 60,000 men, +picked troops from all parts of Asia--Medes, Sakae, Bactrians, and +Indians, besides the regiment of the Immortals and the Egyptian veterans +who had distinguished themselves by their bravery at Salamis; the heavy +hoplites of Thebes and of the Boeotian towns, the Thessalian cavalry, +and the battalions of Macedonia were also in readiness to join him as +soon as called on. The whole of these troops, relieved from the presence +of the useless multitude which had impeded its movements under Xerxes, +and commanded by a bold and active general, were anxious to distinguish +themselves, and the probabilities of their final success were great. The +confederates were aware of the fact, and although resolved to persevere +to the end, their maoeuvres betrayed an unfortunate indecision. Their +fleet followed the Persian squadron bound for the Hellespont for several +days, but on realising that the enemy were not planning a diversion +against the Peloponnesus, they put about and returned to their various +ports. The winter was passed in preparations on both sides. Xerxes, on +his return to Sardes, had got together a fleet of 200 triremes and an +army of 60,000 men, and had stationed them at Cape Mycale, opposite +Samos, to be ready in case of an Ionian revolt, or perhaps to bear down +upon any given point in the Peloponnesus when Mardonius had gained +some initial advantage. The Lacaedemonians, on their part, seem to have +endeavoured to assume the defensive both by land and sea; while their +foot-soldiers were assembling in the neighbourhood of Corinth, their +fleet sailed as far as Delos and there anchored, as reluctant to venture +beyond as if it had been a question of proceeding to the Pillars of +Hercules. Athens, which ran the risk of falling into the enemy's hands +for the second time through these hesitations, evinced such marked +displeasure that Mardonius momentarily attempted to take advantage of +it. He submitted to the citizens, through Alexander, King of Macedon, +certain conditions, the leniency of which gave uneasiness to the +Spartans; the latter at once promised Athens all she wanted, and on the +strength of their oaths she at once broke off the negotiations with the +Persians. Mardonius immediately resolved on action: he left his quarters +in Thessaly in the early days of May, reached Attica by a few +quick marches, and spread his troops over the country before the +Peloponnesians were prepared to resist. The people again took refuge in +Salamis; the Persians occupied Athens afresh, and once more had recourse +to diplomacy. This time the Spartans were alarmed to good purpose; they +set out to the help of their ally, and from that moment Mardonius showed +no further consideration in his dealing with Athens. He devastated the +surrounding country, razed the city walls to the ground, and demolished +and burnt the remaining houses and temples; he then returned to Boeotia, +the plains of which were more suited to the movements of his squadrons, +and took up a position in an entrenched camp on the right bank of the +Asopos. The Greek army, under the command of Pausanias, King of Sparta, +subsequently followed him there, and at first stationed themselves on +the lower slopes of Mount Cithseron. Their force was composed of about +25,000 hoplites, and about as many more light troops, and was scarcely +inferior in numbers to the enemy, but it had no cavalry of any kind. +Several days passed in skirmishing without definite results, Mardonius +fearing to let his Asiatic troops attack the heights held by the heavy +Greek infantry, and Pausanias alarmed lest his men should be crushed by +the Thessalian and Persian horse if he ventured down into the plains. +Want of water at length obliged the Greeks to move slightly westwards, +their right wing descending as far as the spring of Gargaphia, and their +left to the bank of the Asopos. But this position facing east, exposed +them so seriously to the attacks of the light Asiatic horse, that after +enduring it for ten days they raised their camp and fell back in the +night on Plataea. Unaccustomed to manouvre together, they were unable +to preserve their distances; when day dawned, their lines, instead +of presenting a continuous front, were distributed into three unequal +bodies occupying various parts of the plain. Mardonius unhesitatingly +seized his opportunity. He crossed the Asopos, ordered the Thebans to +attack the Athenians, and with the bulk of his Asiatic troops charged +the Spartan contingents. Here, as at Marathon, the superiority of +equipment soon gave the Greeks the advantage: Mardonius was killed while +leading the charge of the Persian guard, and, as is almost always the +case among Orientals, his death decided the issue of the battle. The +Immortals were cut to pieces round his dead body, while the rest took +flight and sought refuge in their camp. + +[Illustration: 238.jpg MAP] + +[Illustration: 239.jpg THE BATTLE-FIELD OF PLATAEA] + +Almost simultaneously the Athenians succeeded in routing the Boeotians. +They took the entrenchments by assault, gained possession of an immense +quantity of spoil, and massacred many of the defenders, but they could +not prevent Artabazus from retiring in perfect order with 40,000 of +his best troops protected by his cavalry. He retired successively from +Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace, reached Asia after suffering severe +losses, and European Greece was freed for ever from the presence of the +barbarians. While her fate was being decided at Platsae, that of Asiatic +Greece was being fought out on the coast of Ionia. The entreaties of the +Samians had at length encouraged Leotychidas and Xanthippus to take the +initiative. The Persian generals, who were not expecting this aggressive +movement, had distributed the greater part of their vessels throughout +the Ionian ports, and had merely a small squadron left at their disposal +at Mycale. Surprised by the unexpected appearance of the enemy, they +were compelled to land, were routed, and their vessels burnt (479). This +constituted the signal for a general revolt: Samos, Chios, and Lesbos +affiliated themselves to the Hellenic confederation, and the cities of +the littoral, which Sparta would have been powerless to protect for want +of a fleet, concluded an alliance with Athens, whose naval superiority +had been demonstrated by recent events. The towns of the Hellespont +threw off the yoke as soon as the triremes of the confederates appeared +within their waters, and Sestos, the only one of them prevented by its +Persian garrison from yielding to the Athenians, succumbed, after a long +siege, during the winter of 479-478. The campaign of 478 completed the +deliverance of the Greeks. A squadron commanded by Pausanias roused the +islands of the Carian coast and Cyprus itself, without encountering +any opposition, and then steering northwards drove the Persians from +Byzantium. The following winter the conduct of operations passed out of +the hands of Sparta into those of Athens--from the greatest military to +the greatest naval power in Greece; and the latter, on assuming command, +at once took steps to procure the means which would enable her to carry, +out her task thoroughly. She brought about the formation of a permanent +league between the Asiatic Greeks and those of the islands. Each city +joining it preserved a complete autonomy as far as its internal affairs +were concerned, but pledged itself to abide by the advice of Athens +in everything connected with the war against the Persian empire, and +contributed a certain quota of vessels, men, and money, calculated +according to its resources, for the furtherance of the national cause. +The centre of the confederation was fixed at Delos; the treasure held +in common was there deposited under the guardianship of the god, and the +delegates from the confederate states met there every year at the solemn +festivals, Athens to audit the accounts of her administration, and +the allies to discuss the interests of the league and to decide on the +measures to be taken against the common enemy. + +Oriental empires maintain their existence only on condition of being +always on the alert and always victorious. They can neither restrict +themselves within definite limits nor remain upon the defensive, for +from the day when they desist from extending their area their ruin +becomes inevitable; they must maintain their career of conquest, or they +must cease to exist. This very activity which saves them from downfall +depends, like the control of affairs, entirely on the ruling sovereign; +when he chances to be too indolent or too incapable of government, he +retards progress by his inertness or misdirects it through his want of +skill, and the fate of the people is made thus to depend entirely on the +natural disposition of the prince, since none of his subjects possesses +sufficient authority to correct the mistakes of his master. Having +conquered Asia, the Persian race, finding itself hemmed in by +insurmountable obstacles--the sea, the African and Arabian deserts, the +mountains of Turkestan and the Caucasus, and the steppes of Siberia--had +only two outlets for its energy, Greece and India. Darius had led +his army against the Greeks, and, in spite of the resistance he had +encountered from them, he had gained ground, and was on the point of +striking a crucial blow, when death cut short his career. The impetus +that he had given to the militant policy was so great that Xerxes was +at first carried away by it; but he was naturally averse to war, without +individual energy and destitute of military genius, so that he allowed +himself to be beaten where, had he possessed anything of the instincts +of a commander, he would have been able to crush his adversary with the +sheer weight of his ships and battalions. Even after Salamis, even after +Plataea and Mycale, the resources of Hellas, split up as it was into +fifty different republics, could hardly bear comparison with those +of all Asia concentrated in the hands of one man: Xerxes must have +triumphed in the end had he persevered in his undertaking, and utilised +the inexhaustible amount of fresh material with which his empire could +have furnished him. But to do that he would have had to take a serious +view of his duties as a sovereign, as Cyrus and Darius had done, whereas +he appears to have made use of his power merely for the satisfaction of +his luxurious tastes and his capricious affections. During the winter +following his return, and while he was reposing at Sardes after the +fatigues of his campaign in Greece, he fell in love with the wife of +Masistes, one of his brothers, and as she refused to entertain his suit, +he endeavoured to win her by marrying his son Darius to her daughter +Artayntas. He was still amusing himself with this ignoble intrigue +during the year which witnessed the disasters of Plataea and Mycale, when +he was vaguely entertaining the idea of personally conducting a fresh +army beyond the AEgean: but the marriage of his son having taken place, +he returned to Susa in the autumn, accompanied by the entire court, and +from thenceforward he remained shut up in the heart of his empire. After +his departure the war lost its general character, and deteriorated into +a series of local skirmishes between the satraps in the vicinity of the +Mediterranean and the members of the league of Delos. The Phoenician +fleet played the principal part in the naval operations, but the +central and eastern Asiatics--Bactrians, Indians, Parthians, Arians, +Arachosians, Armenians, and the people from Susa and Babylon--scarcely +took any part in the struggle. The Athenians at the outset assumed the +offensive under the intelligent direction of Cimon. They expelled the +Persian garrisons from Eion and Thrace in 476. They placed successively +under their own hegemony all the Greek communities of the Asianic +littoral. Towards 466, they destroyed a fleet anchored within the Gulf +of Pamphylia, close to the mouth of the Eurymedon, and, as at Mycale, +they landed and dispersed the force destined to act in concert with +the squadron. Sailing from thence to Cyprus, they destroyed a second +Phoenician fleet of eighty vessels, and returned to the Piraeus laden +with booty. Such exploits were not devoid of glory and profit for +the time being, but they had no permanent results. All these naval +expeditions were indeed successful, and the islands and towns of the +AEgean, and even those of the Black Sea and the southern coasts of Asia +Minor, succeeded without difficulty in freeing themselves from the +Persian yoke under the protection of the Athenian triremes; but their +influence did not penetrate further inland than a few miles from the +shore, beyond which distance they ran the risk of being cut off from +their vessels, and the barbarians of the interior--Lydians, Phrygians, +Mysians, Pamphylians, and even most of the Lycians and Carians--remained +subject to the rule of the satraps. The territory thus liberated formed +but a narrow border along the coast of the peninsula; a border rent and +interrupted at intervals, constantly in peril of seizure by the enemy, +and demanding considerable efforts every year for its defence. Athens +was in danger of exhausting her resources in the performance of this +ungrateful task, unless she could succeed in fomenting some revolution +in the vast possessions of her adversary which should endanger the +existence of his empire, or which, at any rate, should occupy the +Persian soldiery in constantly recurring hostilities against the +rebellious provinces. If none of the countries in the centre of Asia +Minor would respond to their call, and if the interests of their +commercial rivals, the Phoenicians, were so far opposed to their own as +to compel them to maintain the conflict to the very end, Egypt, at any +rate, always proud of her past glory and impatient of servitude, +was ever seeking to rid herself of the foreign yoke and recover her +independent existence under, the authority of her Pharaohs. It was not +easy to come to terms with her and give her efficient help from Athens +itself; but Cyprus, with its semi-Greek population hostile to the +Achaemenids, could, if they were to take possession of it, form an +admirable base of operations in that corner of the Mediterranean. The +Athenians were aware of this from the outset, and, after their victory +at the mouth of the Eurymedon, a year never elapsed without their +despatching a more or less numerous fleet into Cypriot waters; by so +doing they protected the AEgean from the piracy of the Phoenicians, and +at the same time, in the event of any movement arising on the banks of +the Nile, they were close enough to the Delta to be promptly informed +of it, and to interfere to their own advantage before any repressive +measures could be taken. + +The field of hostilities having shifted, and Greece having now set +herself to attempt the dismemberment of the Persian empire, we may well +ask what has become of Xerxes. The little energy and intelligence he +had possessed at the outset were absorbed by a life of luxury and +debauchery. Weary of his hopeless pursuit of the wife of Masistes, +he transferred his attentions to the Artayntas whom he had given in +marriage to his son Darius, and succeeded in seducing her. The vanity +of this unfortunate woman at length excited the jealously of the queen. +Amestris believed herself threatened by the ascendency of this mistress; +she therefore sent for the girl's mother, whom she believed guilty of +instigating the intrigue, and, having cut off her breasts, ears, nose, +lips, and torn out her tongue, she sent her back, thus mutilated, to her +family. Masistes, wishing to avenge her, set out for Bactriana, of which +district he was satrap: he could easily have incited the province to +rebel, for its losses in troops during the wars in Europe had been +severe, and a secret discontent was widespread; but Xerxes, warned in +time, despatched horsemen in pursuit, who overtook and killed him. The +incapacity of the king, and the slackness with which he held the reins +of government', were soon so apparent as to produce intrigues at court: +Artabanus, the chief captain of the guards, was emboldened by the +state of affairs to attempt to substitute his own rule for that of +the Achaemenids, and one night he assassinated Xerxes. His method of +procedure was never exactly known, and several accounts of it were soon +afterwards current. One of them related that he had as his accomplice +the eunuch Aspamithres. Having committed the crime, both of them rushed +to the chamber of Artaxerxes,* one of the sons of the sovereign, but +still a child; they accused Darius, the heir to the throne, of the +murder, and having obtained an order to seize him, they dragged him +before his brother and stabbed him, while he loudly protested his +innocence. + + * Artaxerxes is the form commonly adopted by the Greek + historians and by the moderns who follow them, but Ctcsias + and others after him prefer Artoxerxes. The original form of + the Persian name was Artakhshathra. + +[Illustration: 247.jpg Artaxerxes] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a daric in the _Cabinet des + Medailles_. + +Other tales related that Artabanus had taken advantage of the free +access to the palace which his position allowed him, to conceal himself +one night within it, in company with his seven sons. Having murdered +Xerxes, he convinced Artaxerxes of the guilt of his brother, and +conducting him to the latter's chamber, where he was found asleep, +Artabanus stabbed him on the spot, on the pretence that he was only +feigning slumber.* + + * Of the two principal accounts, the first is as old as + Ctesias, who was followed in general outline by Ephorus, of + whose account Diodorus Siculus preserves a summary + compilation; the second was circulated by Dinon, and has + come down to us through the abbreviation of Pompeius Trogus. + The remains of a third account are met with in Aristotle. + AElian knew a fourth in which the murder was ascribed to the + son of Xerxes himself. + +The murderer at first became the virtual sovereign, and he exercised his +authority so openly that later chronographers inserted his name in the +list of the Achaemenids, between that of his victim and his _protege_; +but at the end of six months, when he was planning the murder of the +young prince, he was betrayed by Megabyzos and slain, together with his +accomplices. His sons, fearing a similar fate, escaped into the country +with some of the troops. They perished in a skirmish, sword in hand; but +their prompt defeat, though it helped to establish the new king upon his +throne, did not ensure peace, for the most turbulent provinces at the +two extremes of the empire, Bactriana on the northeast and Egypt in the +south-west, at once rose in arms. The Bactrians were led by Hystaspes, +one of the sons of Xerxes, who, being older than Artaxerxes, claimed +the throne; his pretensions were not supported by the neighbouring +provinces, and two bloody battles soon sealed his fate (462).* The +chastisement of Egypt proved a harder task. Since the downfall of the +Saites, the eastern nomes of the Delta had always constituted a single +fief, which the Greeks called the kingdom of Libya. Lords of Marea and +of the fertile districts extending between the Canopic arm of the Nile, +the mountains, and the sea, its princes probably exercised suzerainty +over several of the Libyan tribes of Marmarica. Inaros, son of +Psammetichus,** who was then the ruling sovereign, defied the Persians +openly. The inhabitants of the Delta, oppressed by the tax-gatherers of +Achaemenes,*** welcomed him with open arms, and he took possession of +the country between the two branches of the Nile, probably aided by the +Cyrenians; the Nile valley itself and Memphis, closely guarded by the +Persian garrisons, did not, however, range themselves on his side. + + * The date 462 is approximate, and is inferred from the fact + that the war in Bactriana is mentioned in Ctesias between + the war against the sons of Artabanus which must have + occupied a part of 463, and the Egyptian rebellion which + broke out about 462, as Diodorus Siculus points out, + doubtless following Ephorus. + + ** The name of the father of Inaros is given us by the + contemporary testimony of Thucydides. + + *** Achomenes is the form given by Herodotus and by Diodorus + Siculus, who make him the son of Darius I., appointed + governor of Egypt after the repression of the revolt of + Khabbisha. Ctesias calls him Achaemenides, and says that he + was the son of Xerxes. + +Meanwhile the satrap, fearing that the troops at his disposal were +insufficient, had gone to beg assistance of his nephew. Artaxerxes had +assembled an army and a fleet, and, in the first moment of enthusiasm, +had intended to assume the command in person; but, by the advice of his +counsellors, he was with little difficulty dissuaded from carrying this +whim into effect, and he delegated the conduct of affairs to Achaemenes. +The latter at first repulsed the Libyans (460), and would probably +have soon driven them back into their deserts, had not the Athenians +interfered in the fray. They gave orders to their fleet at Cyprus +to support the insurgents by every means in their power, and their +appearance on the scene about the autumn of 469 changed the course +of affairs. Achaemenes was overcome at Papremis, and his army almost +completely exterminated. Inaros struck him down with his own hand in the +struggle; but the same evening he caused the body to be recovered, and +sent it to the court of Susa, though whether out of bravado, or from +respect to the Achaemenian race, it is impossible to say.* + + * Diodorus Siculus says in so many words that the Athenians + took part in the battle of Papremis; Thucydides and + Herodotus do not speak of their being there, and several + modern historians take this silence as a proof that their + squadron arrived after the battle had been fought. + +His good fortune did not yet forsake him. Some days afterwards, the +Athenian squadron of Charitimides came up by chance with the Phoenician +fleet, which was sailing to the help of the Persians, and had not yet +received the news of the disaster which had befallen them at Papremis. +The Greeks sunk thirty of the enemy's vessels and took twenty more, and, +after this success, the allies believed that they had merely to show +themselves to bring about a general rising of the fellahin, and effect +the expulsion of the Persians from the whole of Egypt. They sailed up +the river and forced Memphis after a few days' siege; but the garrison +of the White Wall refused to surrender, and the allies were obliged to +lay siege to it in the ordinary manner (459):* in the issue this proved +their ruin. Artaxerxes raised a fresh force in Cilicia, and while +completing his preparations, attempted to bring about a diversion in +Greece. The strength of Pharaoh did not so much depend on his Libyan and +Egyptian hordes, as on the little body of hoplites and the crews of +the Athenian squadron; and if the withdrawal of the latter could be +effected, the repulse of the others would be a certainty. Persian agents +were therefore employed to beg the Spartans to invade Attica; but the +remembrance of Salamis and Plataea was as yet too fresh to permit of the +Lacedaemonians allying themselves with the common enemy, and their virtue +on this occasion was proof against the darics of the Orientals.** The +Egyptian army was placed in the field early in the year 456, under the +leadership of Megabyzos, the satrap of Syria: it numbered, so it was +said, some 300,000 men, and it was supported by 300 Phoenician vessels +commanded by Artabazos.*** + + * The date of 459-8 for the arrival of the Athenians is + concluded from the passage of Thucydides, who gives an + account of the end of the war after the cruise of Tolmides + in 455, in the sixth year of its course. + + ** Megabyzos opened these negotiations, and his presence at + Sparta during the winter of 457-6 is noticed. + + *** Ctesias here introduces the Persian admiral Horiscos, + but Diodorus places Artabazos and Megabyzos side by side, as + was the case later on in the war in Cyprus, one at the head + of the fleet, the other of the army; it is probable that the + historian from whom Diodorus copied, viz. Ephorus, + recognised the same division of leadership in the Egyptian + campaign. + +The allies raised the blockade of the White Wall as soon as he +entered the Delta, and hastened to attack him; but they had lost their +opportunity. Defeated in a desperate encounter, in which Charitimides +was killed and Inaros wounded in the thigh, they barricaded themselves +within the large island of Prosopitis, about the first fortnight in +January of the year 455, and there sustained a regular siege for the +space of eighteen months. At the end of that time Megabyzos succeeded in +turning an arm of the river, which left their fleet high and dry, and, +rather than allow it to fall into his hands, they burned their vessels, +whereupon he gave orders to make the final assault. The bulk of the +Athenian auxiliaries perished in that day's attack, the remainder +withdrew with Inaros into the fortified town of Byblos, where Megabyzos, +unwilling to prolong a struggle with a desperate enemy, permitted them +to capitulate on honourable terms. Some of them escaped and returned to +Cyrene, from whence they took ship to their own country; but the main +body, to the number of 6000, were carried away to Susa by Megabyzos in +order to receive the confirmation of the treaty which he had concluded. +As a crowning stroke of misfortune, a reinforcement of fifty Athenian +triremes, which at this juncture entered the Mendesian mouth of the +Nile, was surrounded by the Phoenician fleet, and more than half of them +destroyed. The fall of Prosopitis brought the rebellion to an end.* + + * The accounts of these events given by Ctesias and + Thucydides are complementary, and, in spite of their + brevity, together form a whole which must be sufficiently + near the truth. That of Ephorus, preserved in Diodorus, is + derived from an author who shows partiality to the + Athenians, and who passes by everything not to their honour, + while he seeks to throw the blame for the final disaster on + the cowardice of the Egyptians. The summary of Aristodemus + comes directly from that of Thucydides. + +The nomes of the Delta were restored to order, and, as was often +customary in Oriental kingdoms, the vanquished petty princes or their +children were reinvested in their hereditary fiefs; even Libya was not +taken from the family of Inaros, but was given to his son Thannyras and +a certain Psammetichus. A few bands of fugitives, however, took refuge +in the marshes of the littoral, in the place where the Saites in former +times had sought a safe retreat, and they there proclaimed king a +certain Amyrtgeus, who was possibly connected with the line of Amasis, +and successfully defied the repeated attempts of the Persians to +dislodge them. + +The Greek league had risked the best of its forces in this rash +undertaking, and had failed in its enterprise. It had cost the allies so +dearly in men and galleys, that if the Persians had at once assumed the +offensive, most of the Asiatic cities would have found themselves in a +most critical situation; and Athens, then launched in a quarrel with +the states of the Peloponnesus, would have experienced the greatest +difficulty in succouring them. The feebleness of Artaxerxes, however, +and possibly the intrigues at court and troubles in various other parts +of the empire, prevented the satraps from pursuing their advantage, and +when at length they meditated taking action, the opportunity had gone +by. They nevertheless attempted to regain the ascendency over Cyprus; +Artabazos with a Sidonian fleet cruised about the island, Megabyzos +assembled troops in Cilicia, and the petty kings of Greek origin raised +a cry of alarm. Athens, which had just concluded a truce with the +Peloponnesians, at once sent two hundred vessels to their assistance +under the command of Oimon (449). Cimon acted as though he were about +to reopen the campaign in Egypt and despatched sixty of his triremes to +King Amyrtceus, while he himself took Marion and blockaded Kition with +the rest of his forces. The siege dragged on; he was perhaps about to +abandon it, when he took to his bed and died. Those who succeeded him in +the command were obliged to raise the blockade for want of provisions, +but as they returned and were passing Salamis, they fell in with the +Phoenician vessels which had just been landing the Cilician troops, and +defeated them; they then disembarked, and, as at Mycale and Eurymedon, +they gained a second victory in the open field, after which they joined +the squadron which had been sent to Egypt, and sailed for Athens with +the dead body of their chief. They had once more averted the danger of +an attack on the AEgean, but that was all. The Athenian statesmen had +for some time past realised that it was impossible for them to sustain +a double conflict, and fight the battles of Greece against the common +enemy, while half of the cities whose safety was secured by their heroic +devotion were harassing them on the continent, but the influence of +Cimon had up till now encouraged them to persist; on the death of Cimon, +they gave up the attempt, and Callias, one of their leaders, repaired in +state to Susa for the purpose of opening negotiations. The peace which +was concluded on the occasion of this embassy might at first sight +appear advantageous to their side. The Persian king, without actually +admitting his reverses, accepted their immediate consequences. He +recognised the independence of the Asiatic Creeks, of those at least who +belonged to the league of Delos, and he promised that his armies on +land should never advance further than three days' march from the AEgean +littoral. On the seas, he forbade his squadrons to enter Hellenic waters +from the Chelidonian to the Cyanaean rocks--that is, from the eastern +point of Lycia to the opening of the Black Sea: this prohibition did +not apply to the merchant vessels of the contracting parties, and +they received permission to traffic freely in each other's waters--the +Phoenicians in Greece, and the Greeks in Phonicia, Cilicia, and Egypt. +And yet, when we consider the matter, Athens and Hellas were, of the +two, the greater losers by this convention, which appeared to imply +their superiority. Not only did they acknowledge indirectly that they +felt themselves unequal to the task of overthrowing the empire, but +they laid down their arms before they had accomplished the comparatively +restricted task which they had set themselves to perform, that of +freeing all the Greeks from the Iranian yoke: their Egyptian compatriots +still remained Persian tributaries, in company with the cities of +Cyrenaica, Pamphylia, and Cilicia, and, above all, that island of +Cyprus in which they had gained some of their most signal triumphs. +The Persians, relieved from a war which for a quarter of a century had +consumed their battalions and squadrons, drained their finances, and +excited their subjects to revolt, were now free to regain their former +wealth and perhaps their vigour, could they only find generals to +command their troops and guide their politics. Artaxerxes was incapable +of directing this revival, and his inveterate weakness exposed him +perpetually to the plotting of his satraps or to the intrigues of +the women of his harem. The example of Artabanus, followed by that of +Hystaspes, had shown how easy it was for an ambitious man to get rid +secretly of a monarch or a prince and seriously endanger the crown. The +members of the families who had placed Darius on the throne, possessed +by hereditary right, or something little short of it, the wealthiest +and most populous provinces--Babylonia, Syria, Lydia, Phrygia, and the +countries of the Halys--and they were practically kings in all but name, +in spite of the _surveillance_ which the general and the secretary were +supposed to exercise over their actions. Besides this, the indifference +and incapacity of the ruling sovereigns had already tended to destroy +the order of the administrative system so ably devised by Darius: the +satrap had, as a rule, absorbed the functions of a general within his +own province, and the secretary was too insignificant a personage +to retain authority and independence unless he received the constant +support of the sovereign. The latter, a tool in the hands of women and +eunuchs, usually felt himself powerless to deal with his great vassals. +His toleration went to all lengths if he could thereby avoid a revolt; +when this was inevitable, and the rebels were vanquished, he still +continued to conciliate them, and in most cases their fiefs and rights +were preserved or restored to them, the monarch knowing that he could +rid himself of them treacherously by poison or the dagger in the case +of their proving themselves too troublesome. Megabyzos by his turbulence +was a thorn in the side of Artaxerxes during the half of his reign. He +had ended his campaign in Egypt by engaging to preserve the lives of +Inaros and the 6000 Greeks who had capitulated at Byblos, and, in spite +of the anger of the king, he succeeded in keeping his word for five +years, but at the end of that time the demands of Amestris prevailed. +She succeeded in obtaining from him some fifty Greeks whom she beheaded, +besides Inaros himself, whom she impaled to avenge Achaemenes. Megabyzos, +who had not recovered from the losses he had sustained in his last +campaign against Cimon, at first concealed his anger, but he asked +permission to visit his Syrian province, and no sooner did he reach it, +than he resorted to hostilities. He defeated in succession Usiris and +Menostates, the two generals despatched against him, and when force +failed to overcome his obstinate resistance, the government condescended +to treat with him, and swore to forget the past if he would consent +to lay down arms. To this he agreed, and reappeared at court; but once +there, his confidence nearly proved fatal to him. Having been invited to +take part in a hunt, he pierced with his javelin a lion which threatened +to attack the king: Artaxerxes called to mind an ancient law which +punished by death any intervention of that kind, and he ordered that +the culprit should be beheaded. Megabyzos with difficulty escaped this +punishment through the entreaties of Amestris and of his wife Amytis; +but he was deprived of his fiefs, and sent to Kyrta, on the shores of +the Persian Gulf. After five years this exile became unbearable; he +therefore spread the report that he was attacked by leprosy, and he +returned home without any one venturing to hinder him, from fear of +defiling themselves by contact with his person. Amestris and Amytis +brought about his reconciliation with his sovereign; and thenceforward +he regulated his conduct so successfully that the past was completely +forgotten, and when he died, at the age of seventy-six years, Artaxerxes +deeply regretted his loss.* + + * These events are known to us only through Ctesias. Their + date is uncertain, but there is no doubt that they occurred + after Cimon's campaign in Cyprus and the conclusion of the + peace of Callias. + +Peace having been signed with Athens, and the revolt of Megabyzos being +at an end, Artaxerxes was free to enjoy himself without further care +for the future, and to pass his time between his various capitals and +palaces. + +[Illustration: 258.jpg VIEW OF THE ACHAEMENIAN RUINS OF ISTAKHR] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the engraving of Flandin and Coste. + +His choice lay between Susa and Persepolis, between Ecbatana and +Babylon, according as the heat of the summer or the cold of the winter +induced him to pass from the plains to the mountains, or from the latter +to the plains. During his visits to Babylon he occupied one of the +old Chaldaean palaces, but at Ecbatana he possessed merely the ancient +residence of the Median kings, and the seraglio built or restored by +Xerxes in the fashion of the times: at Susa and in Persia proper, the +royal buildings were entirely the work of the Achaemenids, mostly that +of Darius and Xerxes. The memory of Cyrus and of the kings to whom +primitive Persia owed her organisation in the obscure century preceding +her career of conquest, was piously preserved in the rude buildings of +Pasargadae, which was regarded as a sacred city, whither the sovereigns +repaired for coronation as soon as their predecessors had expired. +But its lonely position and simple appointments no longer suited their +luxurious and effeminate habits, and Darius had in consequence fixed +his residence a few miles to the south of it, near to the village, which +after its development became the immense royal city of Persepolis. He +there erected buildings more suited to the splendour of his court, and +found the place so much to his taste during his lifetime, that he was +unwilling to leave it after death. He therefore caused his tomb to be +cut in the steep limestone cliff which borders the plain about half a +mile to the north-west of the town. It is an opening in the form of a +Greek cross, the upper part of which contains a bas-relief in which the +king, standing in front of the altar, implores the help of Ahura-mazda +poised with extended wings above him; the platform on which the king +stands is supported by two rows of caryatides in low relief, whose +features and dress are characteristic of Persian vassals, while other +personages, in groups of three on either side, are shown in the attitude +of prayer. Below, in the transverse arms of the cross, is carved a flat +portico with four columns, in the centre of which is the entrance to +the funeral vault. Within the latter, in receptacles hollowed out of the +rock, Darius and eight of his family were successively laid. + +Xerxes caused a tomb in every way similar to be cut for himself near +that of Darius, and in the course of years others were added close by.* + + * The tomb of Darius alone bears an inscription. Darius III. + was also buried there by command of Alexander. + + +[Illustration: 260.jpg THE TOMB OF DARIUS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the heliogravure by Marcel + Dieulafoy. + +Both the tombs and the palace are built in that eclectic style which +characterises the Achaemenian period of Iranian art. The main features +are borrowed from the architecture of those nations which were vassals +or neighbours of the empire--Babylonia, Egypt, and Greece; but these +various elements have been combined and modified in such a manner as to +form a rich and harmonious whole. + +[Illustration: 261.jpg THE HILL OF THE ROYAL ACHAEMENIAN TOMBS AT +NAKUSH-I-RUSTEM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the engraving of Flandin and Coste. + +The core of the walls was of burnt bricks, similar to those employed in +the Euphrates valley, but these were covered with a facing of enamelled +tiles, disposed as a skirting or a frieze, on which figured those +wonderful processions of archers, and the lions which now adorn the +Louvre, while the pilasters at the angles, the columns, pillars, +window-frames, and staircases were of fine white limestone or of hard +bluish-grey marble. + +[Illustration: 262.jpg ONE OF THE CAPITALS FROM SUSA] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph taken in the Louvre by + Faucher-Gudin. + +[Illustration: 262b.jpg FREIZE OF ARCHERS AT SUZA] + +[Illustration: 263.jpg GENERAL RUINS OF PERSIPOLIS] + +The doorways are high and narrow; the moulding which frames them +is formed of three Ionic fillets, each projecting beyond the other, +surmounted by a coved Egyptian lintel springing from a row of alternate +eggs and disks. The framing of the doors is bare, but the embrasures are +covered with bas-reliefs representing various scenes in which the king +is portrayed fulfilling his royal functions--engaged in struggles with +evil genii which have the form of lions or fabulous animals, occupied in +hunting, granting audiences, or making an entrance in state, shaded by +an umbrella which is borne by a eunuch behind him. The columns employed +in this style of architecture constitute its most original feature. +The base of them usually consists of two mouldings, resting either on +a square pedestal or on a cylindrical drum, widening out below into a +bell-like curve, and sometimes ornamented with several rows of inverted +leaves. The shafts, which have forty-eight perpendicular ribs cut on +their outer surface, are perhaps rather tall in proportion to their +thickness. They terminate in a group of large leaves, an evident +imitation of the Egyptian palm-leaf capital, from which spring a sort of +rectangular fluted die or abacus, flanked on either side with four rows +of volutes curved in opposite directions, generally two at the base and +two at the summit. The heads and shoulders of two bulls, placed back to +back, project above the volutes, and take the place of the usual abacus +of the capital. The dimensions of these columns, their gracefulness, and +the distance at which they were placed from one another, prove that they +supported not a stone architrave, but enormous beams of wood, which +were inserted between the napes of the bulls' necks, and upon which the +joists of the roof were superimposed. The palace of Persepolis, built by +Darius after he had crushed the revolts which took place at the outset +of his reign, was situated at the foot of a chain of rugged mountains +which skirt the plain on its eastern side, and was raised on an +irregularly shaped platform or terrace, which was terminated by a wall +of enormous polygonal blocks of masonry. The terrace was reached by +a double flight of steps, the lateral walls of which are covered +with bas-reliefs, representing processions of satellites, slaves, and +tributaries, hunting scenes, fantastic episodes of battle, and lions +fighting with and devouring bulls. The area of the raised platform was +not of uniform level, and was laid out in gardens, in the midst of which +rose the pavilions that served as dwelling-places. The reception-rooms +were placed near the top of the flight of steps, and the more important +of them had been built under the two preceding kings. Those nearest to +the edge of the platform were the propylae of Xerxes--gigantic entrances +whose gateways were guarded on either side by winged bulls of Assyrian +type; beyond these was the _apadana_, or hall of honour, where the +sovereign presided in state at the ordinary court ceremonies. To the +east of the _apadana_, and almost in the centre of the raised terrace, +rose the Hall of a Hundred Columns, erected by Darius, and used only +on special occasions. Artaxerxes I. seems to have had a particular +affection for Susa. It had found favour with his predecessors, and they +had so frequently resided there, even after the building of Persepolis, +that it had continued to be regarded as the real capital of the empire +by other nations, whereas the Persian sovereigns themselves had sought +to make it rather an impregnable retreat than a luxurious residence. +Artaxerxes built there an _apadana_ on a vaster scale than any hitherto +designed. + +[Illustration: 267.jpg THE PROPYLAEA OF XERXES I. AT PERSEPOLIS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the heliogravure of Marcel Dieulafoy. + +It comprised three colonnades, which, taken together, formed a rectangle +measuring 300 feet by 250 feet on the two sides, the area being +approximately that of the courtyard of the Louvre. The central +colonnade, which was the largest of the three, was enclosed by walls on +three sides, but was open to the south. Immense festoons of drapery hung +from the wooden entablature, and curtains, suspended from rods between +the first row of columns, afforded protection from the sun and from the +curiosity of the vulgar. + +[Illustration: 268.jpg BAS-RELIEF OF THE STAIRCASE LEADING TO THE +APADANA OF XERXES] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Marcel Dieulafoy. + +At the hour appointed for the ceremonies, the great king took his seat +in solitary grandeur on the gilded throne of the Achaemenids; at the +extreme end of the colonnade his eunuchs, nobles, and guards ranged +themselves in silence on either side, each in the place which etiquette +assigned to him. Meanwhile the foreign ambassadors who had been honoured +by an invitation to the audience--Greeks from Thebes, Sparta, or Athens; +Sakae from the regions of the north; Indians, Arabs, nomad chiefs from +mysterious Ethiopia-ascended in procession the flights of steps which +led from the town to the palace, bearing the presents destined for its +royal master. + +[Illustration: 269.jpg THE KING ON HIS THRONE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Plandin and Coste. + +Having reached the terrace, the curtains of the _apadana_ were suddenly +parted, and in the distance, through a vista of columns, they perceived +a motionless figure, resplendent with gold and purple, before whom +they fell prostrate with their faces to the earth. The heralds were +the bearers of their greetings, and brought back to them a gracious or +haughty reply, as the case may be. When they rose from the ground, the +curtains had closed, the kingly vision was eclipsed, and the escort +which had accompanied them into the palace conducted them back to the +town, dazzled with the momentary glimpse of the spectacle vouchsafed to +them. + +[Illustration: 270.jpg A VIEW OF THE APADANA OF SUSA, RESTORED] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the restoration by Marcel Dieulafoy. + +The Achaeemenian monarchs were not regarded as gods or as sons of gods, +like the Egyptian Pharaohs, and the Persian religion forbade their +ever becoming so, but the person of the king was hedged round with such +ceremonial respect as in other Oriental nations was paid only to the +gods: this was but natural, for was he not a despot, who with a word +or gesture could abase the noblest of his subjects, and determine the +well-being or misery of his people? His dress differed from that of his +nobles only by the purple dye of its material and the richness of the +gold embroideries with which it was adorned, but he was distinguished +from all others by the peculiar felt cap, or _kidaris_, which he wore, +and the blue-and-white band which encircled it like a crown; the king +is never represented without his long sceptre with pommelled handle, +whether he be sitting or standing, and wherever he went he was attended +by his umbrella- and fan-bearers. The prescriptions of court etiquette +were such as to convince his subjects and persuade himself that he was +sprung from a nobler race than that of any of his magnates, and that he +was outside the pale of ordinary humanity. The greater part of his +time was passed in privacy, where he was attended only by the eunuchs +appointed to receive his orders; and these orders, once issued, were +irrevocable, as was also the king's word, however much he might desire +to recall a promise once made. His meals were, as a rule, served to him +alone; he might not walk on foot beyond the precincts of the palace, and +he never showed himself in public except on horseback or in his chariot, +surrounded by his servants and his guards. The male members of the royal +family and those belonging to the six noble houses enjoyed the privilege +of approaching the king at any hour of the day or night, provided he was +not in the company of one of his wives. These privileged persons formed +his council, which he convoked on important occasions, but all ordinary +business was transacted by means of the scribes and inferior officials, +on whom devolved the charge of the various departments of the +government. A vigorous ruler, such as Darius had proved himself, +certainly trusted no one but himself to read the reports sent in by the +satraps, the secretaries, and the generals, or to dictate the answers +required by each; but Xerxes and Artaxerxes delegated the heaviest part +of such business to their ministers, and they themselves only fulfilled +such state functions as it was impossible to shirk--the public +administration of justice, receptions of ambassadors or victorious +generals, distributions of awards, annual sacrifices, and state +banquets: they were even obliged, in accordance with an ancient and +inviolable tradition, once a year to set aside their usual sober habits +and drink to excess on the day of the feast of Mithra. Occasionally they +would break through their normal routine of life to conduct in person +some expedition of small importance, directed against one of the +semi-independent tribes of Iran, such as the Cadusians, but their +most glorious and frequent exploits were confined to the chase. They +delighted to hunt the bull, the wild boar, the deer, the wild ass, and +the hare, as the Pharaohs or Assyrian kings of old had done; and they +would track the lion to his lair and engage him single-handed; in fact, +they held a strict monopoly in such conflicts, a law which punished with +death any huntsman who had the impertinence to interpose between the +monarch and his prey being only abolished by Artaxerxes. A crowd of +menials, slaves, great nobles, and priests filled the palace; grooms, +stool-bearers, umbrella- and fan-carriers, _havasses_, "Immortals," +bakers, perfumers, soldiers, and artisans formed a retinue so numerous +as to require a thousand bullocks, asses, and stags to be butchered +every day for its maintenance; and when the king made a journey in full +state, this enormous train looked like an army on the march. The women +of the royal harem lived in seclusion in a separate wing of the palace, +or in isolated buildings erected in the centre of the gardens. The +legitimate wives of the sovereign were selected from the ladies of +the royal house, the sisters or cousins of the king, and from the six +princely Persian families; but their number were never very large, +usually three or four at most.* + + * Cambyses had had three wives, including his two sisters + Atossa and Roxana. Darius had four wives--two daughters of + Cyrus, Atossa and Artystone, Parmys daughter of Srnerdis, + and a daughter of Otanes. + +The concubines, on the other hand, were chosen from all classes of +society, and were counted by hundreds. + +[Illustration: 273.jpg PROCESSIONAL DISPLAY OF TRIBUTE BROUGHT TO THE +KING OF PERSIA] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from plates in Flandin and Coste. + +They sang or played on musical instruments at the state banquets of the +court, they accompanied their master to the battle-field or the chase, +and probably performed the various inferior domestic duties in the +interior of the harem, such as spinning, weaving, making perfumes, and +attending to the confectionery and cooking. Each of the king's wives +had her own separate suite of apartments and special attendants, and +occupied a much higher position than a mere concubine; but only one was +actually queen and had the right to wear the crown, and this position +belonged of right to a princess of Achae-menian race. Thus Atossa, +daughter of Cyrus, was queen successively to Cambyses, Gaumata, and +Darius; Amestris to Xerxes; and Damaspia to Artaxerxes. Besides the +influence naturally exerted by the queen over the mind of her husband, +she often acquired boundless authority in the empire, in spite of her +secluded life.* + + * Thus Atossa induced Darius to designate Xerxes as his + heir-apparent. + +Her power was still further increased when she became a widow, if the +new king happened to be one of her own sons. In such circumstances she +retained the external attributes of royalty, sitting at the royal +table whenever the king deigned to dine in the women's apartments, and +everywhere taking precedence of the young queen; she was attended by her +own body of eunuchs, of whom, as well as of her private revenues, +she had absolute control. Those whom the queen-mother took under her +protection escaped punishment, even though they richly deserved it, +but the object of her hatred was doomed to perish in the end, either by +poison treacherously administered, or by some horrible form of torture, +being impaled, suffocated in ashes, tortured in the trough, or flayed +alive. Artaxerxes reigned for forty-two years, spending his time between +the pleasures of the chase and the harem; no serious trouble disturbed +his repose after his suppression of the revolt under Megabyzos, but on +his death in 424 B.C. there was a renewal of the intrigues and ambitious +passions which had stained with bloodshed the opening years of his +reign. The legitimate heir, Xerxes II., was assassinated, after a reign +of forty-five days, by Secudianus (Sogdianus), one of his illegitimate +brothers, and the _cortege_ which was escorting the bodies of his +parents conveyed his also to the royal burying-place at Persepolis. +Meanwhile Secudianus became suspicious of another of his brothers, +named Ochus, whom Artaxerxes had caused to marry Parysatis, one of the +daughters of Xerxes, and whom he had set over the important province of +Hyrcania. Ochus received repeated summonses to appear in his brother's +presence to pay him homage, and at last obeyed the mandate, but arrived +at the head of an army. The Persian nobility rose at his approach, and +one by one the chief persons of the state declared themselves in his +favour: first Arbarius, commander of the cavalry; then Arxanes, the +satrap of Egypt; and lastly, the eunuch Artoxares, the ruler of +Armenia. These three all combined in urging Ochus to assume the _Edaris_ +publicly, which he, with feigned reluctance, consented to do, and +proceeded, at the suggestion of Parysatis, to open negotiations with +Secudianus, offering to divide the regal power with him. Secudianus +accepted the offer, against the advice of his minister Menostanes, and +gave himself up into the hands of the rebels. He was immediately seized +and cast into the ashes, where he perished miserably, after a reign of +six months and fifteen days. + +On ascending the throne, Ochus assumed the name of Darius. His +confidential advisers were three eunuchs, who ruled the empire in his +name--Artoxares, who had taken such a prominent part in the campaign +which won him the crown, Artibarzanes, and Athoos; but the guiding +spirit of his government was, in reality, his wife, the detestable +Parysatis. She had already borne him two children before she became +queen; a daughter, Amestris, and a son, Arsaces, who afterwards became +king under the name of Artaxerxes. Soon after the accession of her +husband, she bore him a second son, whom she named Cyrus, in memory +of the founder of the empire, and a daughter, Artoste; several other +children were born subsequently, making thirteen in all, but these all +died in childhood, except one named Oxendras. Violent, false, jealous, +and passionately fond of the exercise of power, Parysatis hesitated at +no crime to rid herself of those who thwarted her schemes, even though +they might be members of her own family; and, not content with putting +them out of the way, she delighted in making them taste her hatred to +the full, by subjecting them to the most skilfully graduated refinements +of torture; she deservedly left behind her the reputation of being one +of the most cruel of all the cruel queens, whose memory was a terror not +only to the harems of Persia, but to the whole of the Eastern world. +The numerous revolts which broke out soon after her husband's accession, +furnished occasions for the revelation of her perfidious cleverness. +All the malcontents of the reign of Artaxerxes, those who had +been implicated in the murder of Xerxes II., or who had sided with +Secudianus, had rallied round a younger brother of Darius, named +Arsites, and one of them, Artyphios, son of Megabyzos, took the field in +Asia Minor. Being supported by a large contingent of Greek mercenaries, +he won two successive victories at the opening of the campaign, but was +subsequently defeated, though his forces still remained formidable. But +Persian gold accomplished what Persian bravery had failed to achieve, +and prevailed over the mercenaries so successfully that all deserted him +with the exception of three Milesians. + +[Illustration: 276.jpg Darius II.] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the coins in the + _Cabinet des Medailles._ + +Artyphios and Arsites, thus discouraged, committed the imprudence of +capitulating on condition of receiving a promise that their lives should +be spared, and that they should be well treated; but Parysatis persuaded +her husband to break his plighted word, and they perished in the ashes. +Their miserable fate did not discourage the satrap of Lydia, Pissuthnes, +who was of Achaemenian race: he entered the lists in 418 B.C., with the +help of the Athenians. The relations between the Persian empire and +Greece had continued fairly satisfactory since the peace of 449 +B.C., and the few outbreaks which had taken place had not led to any +widespread disturbance. The Athenians, absorbed in their quarrel with +Sparta, preferred to close their eyes to all side issues, lest the +Persians should declare war against them, and the satraps of Asia Minor, +fully alive to the situation, did not hesitate to take advantage of any +pretext for recovering a part of the territory they coveted: it was thus +that they had seized Colophon about 430 B.C., and so secured once more a +port on the AEgean. Darius despatched to oppose Pissuthnes a man of noble +birth, named Tissaphernes, giving him plenary power throughout the whole +of the peninsula, and Tissaphernes endeavoured to obtain by treachery +the success he would with difficulty have won on the field of battle: he +corrupted by his darics Lycon, the commander of the Athenian contingent, +and Pissuthnes, suddenly abandoned by his best auxiliaries, was forced +to surrender at discretion. He also was suffocated in the ashes, and +Darius bestowed his office on Tissaphernes. + +But the punishment of Pissuthnes did not put an end to the troubles: +his son Amorges roused Caria to revolt, and with the title of king +maintained his independence for some years longer. While these incidents +were taking place, the news of the disasters in Sicily reached the East: +as soon as it was known in Susa that Athens had lost at Syracuse the +best part of her fleet and the choicest of her citizens, the moment was +deemed favourable to violate the treaty and regain control of the whole +of Asia Minor. Two noteworthy men were at that time set over the +western satrapies, Tissaphernes ruling at Sardes, and Tiribazus over +Hellespontine Phrygia. These satraps opened negotiations with Sparta +at the beginning of 412 B.C., and concluded a treaty with her at +Miletus itself, by the terms of which the Peloponnesians recognised the +suzerainty of Darius over all the territory once held by his ancestors +in Asia, including the cities since incorporated into the Athenian +league. They hoped shortly to be strong enough to snatch from him what +they now ceded, and to set free once more the Greeks whom they thus +condemned to servitude after half a century of independence, but their +expectations were frustrated. The towns along the coast fell one after +another into the power of Tissaphernes, Amorges was taken prisoner in +lassos, and at the beginning of 411 B.C. there remained to the Athenians +in Ionia and Caria merely the two ports of Halicarnassus and Notium, and +the three islands of Cos, Samos, and Lesbos: from that time the power of +the great king increased from year to year, and weighed heavily on the +destinies of Greece. Meanwhile Darius II. was growing old, and intrigues +with regard to the succession were set on foot. Two of his sons put +forward claims to the throne: Arsaces had seniority in his favour, but +had been born when his father was still a mere satrap; Cyrus, on the +contrary, had been born in the purple, and his mother Parysatis +was passionately devoted to him.* Thanks to her manouvres, he was +practically created viceroy of Asia Minor in 407 B.C., with such +abundant resources of men and money at his disposal, that he was +virtually an independent sovereign. While he was consolidating his +power in the west, his mother endeavoured to secure his accession to the +throne by intriguing at the court of the aged king; if her plans failed, +Cyrus was prepared to risk everything by an appeal to arms. + + * Cyrus was certainly not more than seventeen years old in + 407 B.C., evening admitting that he was born immediately + after his father's accession in 424-3 B.C. + +[Illustration: 279.jpg CYRUS THE YOUNGER] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the coins in the + _Cabinet des Medailles_. + +He realised that the Greeks would prove powerful auxiliaries in such +a contingency; and as soon as he had set up his court at Sardes, he +planned how best to conciliate their favour, or at least to win over +those whose support was likely to be most valuable. Athens, as a +maritime power, was not in a position to support him in an enterprise +which especially required the co-operation of a considerable force of +heavily armed infantry. He therefore deliberately espoused the cause +of the Peloponnesians, and the support he gave them was not without its +influence on the issue of the struggle: the terrible day of AEgos Potamos +was a day of triumph for him as much as for the Lacedaemonians (405 +B.C.). + +His intimacy with Lysander, however, his constant enlistments of +mercenary troops, and his secret dealings with the neighbouring +provinces, had already aroused suspicion, and the satraps placed under +his orders, especially Tissaphernes, accused him to the king of treason. +Darius summoned him to Susa to explain his conduct (405 B.C.), and he +arrived just in time to be present at his father's death (404), but +too late to obtain his designation as heir to the throne through the +intervention of his mother, Parysatis; Arsaces inherited the crown, and +assumed the name of Artaxerxes. + +[Illustration: 280.jpg ARTAXERXES MNEMON] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the Cabinet des + Medailles. This coin, which was struck at Mallos, in + Cilicia, bears as a counter-mark the figure of a bull and + the name of the city of Issus. + +Cyrus entered the temple of Pasargadae surreptitiously during the +coronation ceremony, with the intention of killing his brother at the +foot of the altar; but Tissaphernes, warned by one of the priests, +denounced him, and he would have been put to death on the spot, had not +his mother thrown her arms around him and prevented the executioner from +fulfilling his office. Having with difficulty obtained pardon and been +sent back to his province, he collected thirty thousand Greeks and a +hundred thousand native troops, and, hastily leaving Sardes (401 B.C.), +he crossed Asia Minor, Northern Syria, and Mesopotamia, encountered the +royal army at Cunaxa, to the north of Babylon, and rashly met his end +at the very moment of victory. He was a brave, active, and generous +prince, endowed with all the virtues requisite to make a good Oriental +monarch, and he had, moreover, learnt, through contact with the Greeks, +to recognise the weak points of his own nation, and was fully determined +to remedy them: his death, perhaps, was an irreparable misfortune for +his country. Had he survived and supplanted the feeble Artaxerxes, it is +quite possible that he might have confirmed and strengthened the power +of Persia, or, at least, temporarily have arrested its decline. Having +lost their leader, his Asiatic followers at once dispersed; but the +mercenaries did not lose heart, and, crossing Asia and Armenia, gained +at length the shores of the Black Sea. Up to that time the Greeks had +looked upon Persia as a compact state, which they were sufficiently +powerful to conquer by sea and hold in check by land, but which +they could not, without imprudence, venture to attack within its own +frontiers. The experience of the Ten Thousand was a proof to them that +a handful of men, deprived of their proper generals, without guides, +money, or provisions, might successfully oppose the overwhelming forces +of the great king, and escape from his clutches without any serious +difficulty. National discords prevented them from at once utilising +the experience they thus acquired, but the lesson was not lost upon +the court of Susa. The success of Lysander had been ensured by Persian +subsidies, and now Sparta hesitated to fulfil the conditions of the +treaty of Miletus; the Lacedaemonians demanded liberty once more for the +former allies of Athens, fostered the war in Asia in order to enforce +their claims, and their king Agesilaus, penetrating to the very heart of +Phrygia, would have pressed still further forward in the tracks of the +Ten Thousand, had not an opportune diversion been created in his rear by +the bribery of the Persians. Athens once more flew to arms: her fleet, +in conjunction with the Phoenicians, took possession of Cythera; the +Long Walls were rebuilt at the expense of the great king, and Sparta, +recalled by these reverses to a realisation of her position, wisely +abandoned her inclination for distant enterprises. Asia Minor was +reconquered, and Persia passed from the position of a national enemy +to that of the friend and arbiter of Greece; but she did so by force of +circumstances only, and not from having merited in any way the supremacy +she attained. Her military energy, indeed, was far from being exhausted; +but poor Artaxerxes, bewildered by the rivalries between his mother and +his wives, did not know how to make the most of the immense resources +still at his disposal, and he met with repeated checks as soon as he +came face to face with a nation and leaders who refused to stoop to +treachery. He had no sooner recovered possession of the AEgean littoral +than Egypt was snatched from his grasp by a new Pharaoh who had arisen +in the Nile valley. The peace had not been seriously disturbed in Egypt +during the forty years which had elapsed since the defeat of Inarus. +Satrap had peaceably succeeded satrap in the fortress of Memphis; +the exhaustion of Libya had pre-vented any movement on the part of +Thannyras; the aged Amyrtaeus had passed from the scene, and his son, +Pausiris, bent his neck submissively to the Persian yoke. More than +once, however, unexpected outbursts had shown that the fires of +rebellion were still smouldering. A Psammetichus, who reigned about 445 +B.C. in a corner of the Delta, had dared to send corn and presents to +the Athenians, then at war with Artaxerxes I., and the second year of +Darius II. had been troubled by a sanguinary sedition, which, however, +was easily suppressed by the governor then in power; finally, about +410 B.C., a king of Egypt had, not without some show of evidence, +laid himself open to the charge of sending a piratical expedition into +Phoenician waters, an Arab king having contributed to the enterprise.* + + * The revolt mentioned by Ctesias has nothing to do with the + insurrection of the satrap of Egypt which is here referred + to, the date of which is furnished by the Syncellus. + +It was easy to see, moreover, from periodical revolts--such as that of +Megabyzos in Syria, those of Artyphios and Arsites, of Pissuthnes and +Amorges in Asia Minor--with what impunity the wrath of the great king +could be defied: it was not to be wondered at, therefore, that, about +405 B.C., an enemy should appear in the heart of the Delta in the person +of a grandson and namesake of Amyrtaeus. He did not at first rouse the +whole country to revolt, for Egyptian troops were still numbered in the +army of Artaxerxes at the battle of Cunaxa in 401 B.C.; but he succeeded +in establishing a regular native government, and struggled so resolutely +against the foreign domination that the historians of the sacred +colleges inscribed his name on the list of the Pharaohs. He is there +made to represent a whole dynasty, the XXVIIIth which lasted six years, +coincident with the six years of his reign. It was due to a Mendesian +dynasty, however, whose founder was Nephorites, that Egypt obtained its +entire freedom, and was raised once more to the rank of a nation. This +dynasty from the very outset adopted the policy which had proved so +successful in the case of the Saites three centuries previously, and +employed it with similar success. Egypt had always been in the position +of a besieged fortress, which needed, for its complete security, that +its first lines of defence should be well in advance of its citadel: she +must either possess Syria or win her as an ally, if she desired to be +protected against all chance of sudden invasion. Nephorites and his +successors, therefore, formed alliances beyond the isthmus, and even on +the other side of the Mediterranean, with Cyprus, Caria, and Greece, in +one case to purchase support, and in another to re-establish the ancient +supremacy exercised by the Theban Pharaohs.* + + * This is, at any rate, the idea given of him by Egyptian + tradition in the time of the Ptolemies, as results from a + passage in the _Demotic Rhapsody_, where his reign is + mentioned. + +Every revolt against the Persians, every quarrel among the satraps, +helped forward their cause, since they compelled the great king to +suspend his attacks against Egypt altogether or to prosecute them at +wide intervals: the Egyptians therefore fomented such quarrels, or even, +at need, provoked them, and played their game so well that for a long +time they had to oppose only a fraction of the Persian forces. Like the +Saite Pharaohs before them, they were aware how little reliance could +be placed on native troops, and they recruited their armies at great +expense from the European Greeks. This occurred at the time when +mercenary forces were taking the place of native levies throughout +Hellas, and war was developing into a lucrative trade for those who +understood how to conduct it: adventurers, greedy for booty, flocked +to the standards of the generals who enjoyed the best reputation for +kindness or ability, and the generals themselves sold their services +to the highest bidder. The Persian kings took large advantage of this +arrangement to procure troops: the Pharaohs imitated their example, and +in the years which followed, the most experienced captains, Iphicrates, +Chabrias, and Timotheus, passed from one camp to another, as often +against the will as with the consent of their fatherland. The power of +Sparta was at her zenith when Nephorites ascended the throne, and she +was just preparing for her expedition to Phrygia. The Pharaoh concluded +an alliance with the Lacedomonians, and in 396 B.C. sent to Agesilaus +a fleet laden with arms, corn, and supplies, which, however, was +intercepted by Conon, who was at that moment cruising in the direction +of Rhodes in command of the Persian squadron. This misadventure and the +abrupt retreat of the Spartans from Asia Minor cooled the good will of +the Egyptian king towards his allies. Thinking that they had abandoned +him, and that he was threatened with an imminent attack on the shore +of the Delta, he assembled, probably at Pelusium, the forces he had +apparently intended for a distant enterprise. + +Matters took longer to come to a crisis than he had expected. The +retreat of Agesilaus had not pacified the AEgean satrapies; after the +disturbance created by Cyrus the Younger, the greater number of the +native tribes--Mysians, Pisidians, people of Pontus and Paphlagonia--had +shaken off the Persian yoke, and it was a matter of no small difficulty +to reduce them once more to subjection. Their incessant turbulence gave +Egypt time to breathe and to organise new combinations. Cyprus entered +readily into her designs. Since the subjugation of that island in 445 +B.C., the Greek cities had suffered terrible oppression at the hands of +the great king. Artaxerxes I., despairing of reducing them to obedience, +depended exclusively for support on the Phoenician inhabitants of the +island, who, through his favour, regained so much vigour that in the +space of less than two generations they had recovered most of the ground +lost during the preceding centuries: Semitic rulers replaced the Achaean +tyrants at Salamis, and in most of the other cities, and Citium became +what it had been before the rise of Salamis, the principal commercial +centre in the island. Evagoras, a descendant of the ancient kings, +endeavoured to retrieve the Grecian cause: after driving out of Salamis +Abdemon, its Tyrian ruler, he took possession of all the other towns +except Citium and Amathus. This is not the place to recount the +brilliant part played by Evagoras, in conjunction with Conon, during the +campaigns against the Spartans in the Peloponnesian war. The activity he +then displayed and the ambitious designs he revealed soon drew upon him +the dislike of the Persian governors and their sovereign; and from +391 B.C. he was at open war with Persia. He would have been unable, +single-handed, to maintain the struggle for any length of time, but +Egypt and Greece were at his back, ready to support him with money or +arms. Hakoris had succeeded Nephorites I. in 393 B.C.,* and had repulsed +an attack of Artaxerxes between 390 and 386.** + + * The length of the reign of Nephorites I. is fixed at six + years by the lists of Manetho; the last-known date of his + reign is that of his fourth year, on a mummy-bandage + preserved in the Louvre. + + ** This war is alluded to by several ancient authors in + passages which have been brought together and explained by + Judeah; but unfortunately the detailed history of the + events is not known. + +He was not unduly exalted by his success, and had immediately taken wise +precautions in view of a second invasion. After safeguarding his western +frontier by concluding a treaty with the Libyans of Barca, he entered +into an alliance with Evagoras and the Athenians. + +[Illustration: 287.jpg HAKORIS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius. + +He sent lavish gifts of corn to the Cypriots, as well as munitions of +war, ships, and money while Athens sent them several thousand men under +the command of Chabrias; not only did an expedition despatched +against them under Autophradates fail miserably, but Evagoras seized +successively Citium and Amathus, and, actually venturing across the sea, +took Tyre by assault and devastated Phoenicia and Cilicia. The princes +of Asia Minor were already preparing for revolt, and one of them, +Hecatomnus of Caria, had openly joined the allies, when Sparta suddenly +opened negotiations with Persia: Antalcidas presented himself at Susa +to pay homage before the throne of the great king. The treaty of Miletus +had brought the efforts of Athens to naught, and sold the Asiatic +Greeks to their oppressors: the peace obtained by Antalcidas effaced the +results of Salamis and Platsae, and laid European Greece prostrate at +the feet of her previously vanquished foes. An order issuing from the +centre of Persia commanded the cities of Greece to suspend hostilities +and respect each other's liberties; the issuing of such an order was +equivalent to treating them as vassals whose quarrels it is the function +of the suzerain to repress, but they nevertheless complied with the +command (387 B.C.), Artaxerxes, relieved from anxiety for the moment, +as to affairs on the AEgean, was now free to send his best generals into +the rebel countries, and such was the course his ministers recommended. +Evagoras was naturally the first to be attacked. Cyprus was, in fact, an +outpost of Egypt; commanding as she did the approach by sea, she was in +a position to cut the communications of any army, which, issuing from +Palestine, should march upon the Delta. Artaxerxes assembled three +hundred thousand foot-soldiers and three hundred triremes under the +command of Tiribazus, and directed the whole force against the island. +At first the Cypriot cruisers intercepted the convoys which were +bringing provisions for this large force, and by so doing reduced the +invaders to such straits that sedition broke out in their camp; but +Evagoras was defeated at sea off the promontory of Citium, and +his squadron destroyed. He was not in any way discouraged by this +misfortune, but leaving his son, Pnytagoras, to hold the barbarian +forces in check, he hastened to implore the help of the Pharaoh (385 +B.C.). But Hakoris was too much occupied with securing his own immediate +safety to risk anything in so desperate an enterprise. Evagoras was +able to bring back merely an insufficient subsidy; he shut himself up +in Salamis, and there maintained the conflict for some years longer. +Meanwhile Hakoris, realising that the submission of Cyprus would oppose +his flank to attack, tried to effect a diversion in Asia Minor, and by +entering into alliance with the Pisidians, then in open insurrection, he +procured for it a respite, of which he himself took advantage to prepare +for the decisive struggle. The peace effected by Antalcidas had left +most of the mercenary soldiers of Greece without employment. Hakoris +hired twenty thousand of them, and the Phoenician admirals, still +occupied in blockading the ports of Cyprus, failed to intercept the +vessels which brought him these reinforcements. It was fortunate for +Egypt that they did so, for the Pharaoh died in 381 B.C., and his +successors, Psamuthis IL, Mutis, and Nephorites IL, each occupied the +throne for a very short time, and the whole country was in confusion for +rather more than two years (381-379 B.c.) during the settlement of the +succession.* + + * Hakoris reigned thirteen years, from 393 to 381 B.C. The + reigns of the three succeeding kings occupied only two years + and four months between them, from the end of 381 to the + beginning of 378. Muthes or Mutis, who is not mentioned in + all the lists of Manetho, seems to have his counterpart in + the _Demotic Rhapsody_. Wiedemann has inverted the order + usually adopted, and proposed the following series: + Nephorites I., Muthes, Psamuthis, Hakoris, Nephorites II. + The discovery at Karnak of a small temple where Psamuthis + mentions Hakoris as his predecessor shows that on this point + at least Manetho was well informed. + +The turbulent disposition of the great feudatory nobles, which had so +frequently brought trouble upon previous Pharaohs during the +Assyrian wars, was no less dangerous in this last century of Egyptian +independence; it caused the fall of the Mendesian dynasty in the very +face of the enemy, and the prince of Sebennytos, Nakht-har-habit, +Nectanebo I., was raised to the throne by the military faction. +According to a tradition current in Ptolemaic times, this sovereign was +a son of Nephorites I., who had been kept out of his heritage by the +jealousy of the gods; whatever his origin, the people had no cause +to repent of having accepted him as their king. He began his reign +by suppressing the slender subsidies which Evagoras had continued to +receive from his predecessors, and this measure, if not generous, was +at least politic. For Cyprus was now virtually in the power of the +Persians, and the blockade of a few thousand men in Salamis did not +draught away a sufficiently large proportion of their effective force to +be of any service to Egypt: the money which had hitherto been devoted to +the Cypriots was henceforth reserved for the direct defence of the Nile +valley. Evagoras obtained unexpectedly favourable conditions: Artaxerxes +conceded to him his title of king and the possession of his city (383 +B.C.), and turned his whole attention to Nectanebo, the last of his +enemies who still held out. + +Nectanebo had spared no pains in preparing effectively to receive his +foe. He chose as his coadjutor the Athenian Chabrias, whose capacity as +a general had been manifested by recent events, and the latter accepted +this office although he had received no instructions from his government +to do so, and had transformed the Delta into an entrenched camp. He had +fortified the most vulnerable points along the coast, had built towers +at each of the mouths of the river to guard the entrance, and had +selected the sites for his garrison fortresses so judiciously that they +were kept up long after his time to protect the country. Two of them are +mentioned by name: one, situated below Pelusium, called the Castle of +Chabrias; the other, not far from Lake Mareotis, which was known as his +township.* + + * Both are mentioned by Strabo; the exact sites of these two + places are not yet identified. Diodorus Siculus, describing + the defensive preparations of Egypt, does not state + expressly that they were the work of Chabrias, but this fact + seems to result from a general consideration of the context. + +[Illustration: 291.jpg PHARNABAZUS] + + Drawn by faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the _Cabinet des + Medailles_. + +The Persian generals endeavoured to make their means of attack +proportionate to the defences of the enemy. Acre was the only port in +Southern Syria large enough to form the rendezvous for a fleet, where it +might be secure from storms and surprises of the enemy. This was chosen +as the Persian headquarters, and formed the base of their operations. +During three years they there accumulated supplies of food and military +stores, Phoenician and Creek vessels, and both foreign and native +troops. The rivalries between the military commanders, Tithraustes, +Datames, and Abrocomas, and the intrigues of the court, had on several +occasions threatened the ruin of the enterprise, but Pharnabazus, who +from the outset had held supreme command, succeeded in ridding himself +of his rivals, and in the spring of 374 B.C. was at length ready for +the advance. The expedition consisted of two hundred thousand Asiatic +troops, and twenty thousand Greeks, three hundred triremes, two hundred +galleys of thirty oars, and numerous transports. Superiority of numbers +was on the side of the Persians, and that just at the moment when +Nectanebo lost his most experienced general. Artaxerxes had remonstrated +with the Athenians for permitting one of their generals to serve in +Egypt, in spite of their professed friendship for himself, and, besides +insisting on his recall, had requested for himself the services of the +celebrated Iphicrates. The Athenians complied with his demand, and while +summoning Chabrias to return to Athens, despatched Iphicrates to Syria, +where he was placed in command of the mercenary troops. Pharnabazus +ordered a general advance in May, 374 B.C.,* but when he arrived before +Pelusium, he perceived that he was not in a position to take the town +by storm; not only had the fortifications been doubled, but the banks of +the canals had been cut and the approaches inundated. Iphicrates advised +him not to persevere in attempting a regular siege: he contended that it +would be more profitable to detach an expeditionary force towards some +less well-protected point on the coast, and there to make a breach in +the system of defence which protected the enemies' front. + + * As Kenrick justly observes, "the Persian and Athenian + generals committed the same mistake which led to the defeat + of Saint Louis and the capture of his army in 1249 A.D., and + which Bonaparte avoided in his campaign of 1798." Anyhow, it + seems that the fault must be laid on Pharnabazus alone, and + that Iphicrates was entirely blameless. + +Three thousand men were despatched with all secrecy to the mouth of the +Mendesian branch of the Nile, and there disembarked unexpectedly before +the forts which guarded the entrance. The garrison, having imprudently +made a sortie in face of the enemy, was put to rout, and pursued so +hotly that victors and vanquished entered pell-mell within the walls. + +[Illustration: 293.jpg ARTAXERXES II.] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a silver stater in the _Cabinet + des Medailles_. + +After this success victory was certain, if the Persians pursued their +advantage promptly and pushed forward straight into the heart of the +Delta; the moment was the more propitious for such a movement, since +Nectanebo had drained Memphis of troops to protect his frontier. +Iphicrates, having obtained this information from one of the prisoners, +advised Pharnabazus to proceed up the Nile with the fleet, and take +the capital by storm before the enemy should have time to garrison it +afresh; the Persian general, however, considered the plan too hazardous, +and preferred to wait until the entire army should have joined him. +Iphicrates offered to risk the adventure with his body of auxiliary +troops only, but was suspected of harbouring some ambitious design, and +was refused permission to advance. Meanwhile these delays had given the +Egyptians time to recover from their first alarm; they boldly took +the offensive, surrounded the position held by Pharnabazus, and were +victorious in several skirmishes. Summer advanced, the Nile rose more +rapidly than usual, and soon the water encroached upon the land; the +invaders were obliged to beat a retreat before it, and fall back towards +Syria. Iphicrates, disgusted at the ineptitude and suspicion of his +Asiatic colleagues, returned secretly to Greece: the remains of the +army were soon after disbanded, and Egypt once more breathed freely. +The check received by the Persian arms, however, was not sufficiently +notorious to shake that species of supremacy which Artaxerxes had +exercised in Greece since the peace of 387. Sparta, Thebes, and Athens +vied with each other in obtaining an alliance with him as keenly as if +he had been successful before Pelusium. Antalcidas reappeared at Susa in +372 B.C. to procure a fresh act of intervention; Pelopidas and Ismenias, +in 367, begged for a rescript similar to that of Antalcidas; and finally +Athens sent a solemn embassy to entreat for a subsidy. It seemed as if +the great king had become a kind of supreme arbiter for Greece, and that +all the states hitherto leagued against him now came in turn to submit +their mutual differences for his decision. But this arbiter who thus +imposed his will on states beyond the borders of his empire was never +fully master within his own domains. Of gentle nature and pliant +disposition, inclined to clemency rather than to severity, and, +moreover, so lacking in judgment as a general that he had almost +succumbed to an attack by the Cadusians on the only occasion that he +had, in a whim of the moment, undertaken the command of an army in +person, Artaxerxes busied himself with greater zeal in religious reforms +than in military projects. He introduced the rites of Mithra and Anahita +into the established religion of the state, but he had not the energy +necessary to curb the ambitions of his provincial governors. Asia Minor, +whose revolts followed closely on those of Egypt, rose in rebellion +against him immediately after the campaign on the Nile, Ariobarzanes +heading the rebellion in Phrygia, Datames and Aspis that in Cilicia and +Cappadocia, and both defying his power for several years. When at length +they succumbed through treachery, the satraps of the Mediterranean +district, from the Hellespont to the isthmus of Suez, formed a coalition +and simultaneously took the field: the break-up of the empire would have +been complete had not Persian darics been lavishly employed once more in +the affair. Meanwhile Nectanebo had died in 361,* and had been succeeded +by Tachos.** + + * The lists of Manetho assign ten or eighteen years to his + reign. A sarcophagus in Vienna bears the date of his + fifteenth year, and the great inscription of Edfu speaks of + gifts he made to the temple in this town in the eighteenth + year of his reign. The reading eighteen is therefore + preferable to the reading ten in the lists of Manetho; if + the very obscure text of the _Demotic Rhapsody_ really + applies the number nine or ten to the length of the reign, + this reckoning must be explained by some mystic calculations + of the priests of the Ptolemaic epoch. + + ** The name of this king, written by the Greeks Teos or + Tachos, in accordance with the pronunciation of different + Egyptian dialects, has been discovered in hieroglyphic + writing on the external wall of the temple of Khonsu at + Karnak. + +The new Pharaoh deemed the occasion opportune to make a diversion +against Persia and to further secure his own safety: he therefore +offered his support to the satraps, who sent Eheomitres as a delegate +to discuss the terms of an offensive and defensive alliance. Having +inherited from Nectanebo a large fleet and a full treasury, Tachos +entrusted to the ambassador 500 talents of silver, and gave him fifty +ships, with which he cruised along the coast of Asia Minor towards +Leuke. His accomplices were awaiting him there, rejoicing at the success +of his mission, but he himself had no confidence in the final issue of +the struggle, and merely sought how he might enter once more into favour +with the Persian court; he therefore secured his safety by betraying his +associates. He handed over the subsidies and the Egyptian squadron to +Orontes, the satrap of Daskylium, and then seizing the insurgent +chiefs sent them in chains to Susa. These acts of treachery changed +the complexion of affairs; the league suddenly dissolved after the +imprisonment of its leaders, and Arta-xerxes re-established his +authority over Asia Minor. + +[Illustration: 296.jpg DATAMES III.] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the _Cabinet des + Medailles_. + +Egypt became once more the principal object of attack, and by the +irony of fate Pharaoh had himself contributed to enrich the coffers and +reinforce the fleet of his foes. In spite of this mischance, however, +circumstances were so much in his favour that he ventured to consider +whether it would not be more advantageous to forestall the foe by +attacking him, rather than passively to await an onslaught behind his +own lines. He had sought the friendship of Athens,* and, though it had +not been granted in explicit terms, the republic had, nevertheless, +permitted Ghabrias to resume his former post at his side. + + * The memory of this embassy has been preserved for us by a + decree of the Athenian assembly, unfortunately much + mutilated, which has been assigned to various dates between + 362 and 358 B.C. M. Paul Foucart has shown that the date of + the decree must be referred to one of three archon-ships-- + the archonship of Callimedes, 360-59; that of Eucharistus, + 359-8; or that of Cephisodotus, 358-7^ Without entering into + a discussion of the other evidence on the subject, it seems + to me probable that the embassy may be most conveniently + assigned to the archonship of Callimedes, towards the end of + 360 B.C., at the moment when Chabrias had just arrived in + Egypt, and was certain to endeavour to secure the help of + Athens for the king he served. + +Chabrias exhorted him to execute his project, and as he had not +sufficient money to defray the expenses of a long campaign outside his +own borders, the Athenian general instructed him how he might procure +the necessary funds. He suggested to him that, as the Egyptian priests +were wealthy, the sums of money annually assigned to them for the +sacrifices and maintenance of the temples would be better employed +in the service of the state, and counselled him to reduce or even to +suppress most of the sacerdotal colleges. The priests secured their own +safety by abandoning their personal property, and the king graciously +deigned to accept their gifts, and then declared to them that in future, +as long as the struggle against Persia continued, he should exact from +them nine-tenths of their sacred revenues. This tax would have sufficed +for all requirements if it had been possible to collect it in full, but +there is no doubt that very soon the priests must have discovered means +of avoiding part of the payment, for it was necessary to resort to other +expedients. Chabrias advised that the poll and house taxes should be +increased; that one obol should be exacted for each "ardeb" of corn +sold, and a tithe levied on the produce of all ship-building yards, +manufactories, and manual industries. Money now poured into the +treasury, but a difficulty arose which demanded immediate solution. +Egypt possessed very little specie, and the natives still employed +barter in the ordinary transactions of life, while the foreign +mercenaries refused to accept payment in kind or uncoined metal; they +demanded good money as the price of their services. Orders were issued +to the natives to hand over to the royal exchequer all the gold and +silver in their possession, whether wrought or in ingots, the state +guaranteeing gradual repayment through the nomarchs from the future +product of the poll-tax, and the bullion so obtained was converted into +specie for the payment of the auxiliary troops. These measures, though +winning some unpopularity for Tachos, enabled him to raise eighty +thousand native troops and ten thousand Greeks, to equip a fleet of +two hundred vessels, and to engage the best generals of the period. His +eagerness to secure the latter, however, was injurious to his cause. +Having already engaged Chabrias and obtained the good will of Athens, he +desired also to gain the help of Agesilaus and the favourable opinion +of the Lacedaemonians. Though now eighty years old, Agesilaus was still +under the influence of cupidity and vanity; the promise of being placed +in supreme command enticed him, and he set sail with one thousand +hoplites. A disappointment awaited him at the moment of his +disembarkation: Tachos gave him command of the mercenary troops only, +reserving for himself the general direction of operations, and placing +the whole fleet under the orders of Chabrias. The aged hero, having +vented his indignation by indulging a more than ordinary display of +Spartan rudeness, allowed himself to be appeased by abundant presents, +and assumed the post assigned to him. But soon after a more serious +subject of disagreement arose between him and his ally; Agesilaus was +disposed to think that Tachos should remain quietly on the banks of the +Nile, and leave to his generals the task of conducting the campaign. +The ease with which mercenary leaders passed from one camp to the other, +according to the fancy of the moment, was not calculated to inspire the +Egyptian Pharaoh with confidence: he refused to comply with the wishes +of Agesilaus, and, entrusting the regency to one of his relatives, +proceeded to invade Syria. He found the Persians unprepared: they shut +themselves up in their strongholds, and the Pharaoh confided to his +cousin Nectanebo, son of the regent, the task of dislodging them. The +war dragged on for some time; discontent crept in among the native +levies, and brought treachery in its train. The fiscal measures which +had been adopted had exasperated the priests and the common people; +complaints, at first only muttered in fear, found bold expression as +soon as the expeditionary force had crossed the frontier. + +[Illustration: 299.jpb NECTANEBO I] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius. + +The regent secretly encouraged the malcontents, and wrote to his son +warning him of what was going on, and advised him to seize the crown. +Nectanebo could easily have won over the Egyptian troops to his cause, +but their support would have proved useless as long as the Greeks did +not pronounce in his favour, and Chabrias refused to break his oaths. +Agesilaus, however, was not troubled by the same scruples. His vanity +had been sorely wounded by the Pharaoh: after being denied the position +which was, he fancied, his by right, his short stature, his ill-health, +and native coarseness had exposed him to the unseemly mockery of the +courtiers. Tachos, considering his ability had been over-estimated, +applied to him, it is said, the fable of the mountain bringing forth a +mouse; to which he had replied, "When opportunity offers, I will prove +to him that I am the lion." When Tachos requested him to bring the +rebels to order, he answered ironically that he was there to help the +Egyptians, not to attack them; and before giving his support to either +of the rival claimants, he should consult the Ephors. The Ephors +enjoined him to act in accordance with the welfare of his country, and +he thereupon took the side of Nectanebo, despite the remonstrances of +Chabrias. Tachos, deserted by his veterans, fled to Sidon, and thence to +Susa, where Artaxerxes received him hospitably and without reproaching +him (359 B.C.); but the news of his fall was not received on the banks +of the Nile with as much rejoicing as he had anticipated. The people had +no faith in any revolution in which the Greeks whom they detested took +the chief part, and the feudal lords refused to acknowledge a sovereign +whom they had not themselves chosen; they elected one of their +number--the prince of Mendes--to oppose Nectanebo. The latter was +obliged to abandon the possessions won by his predecessor, and return +with his army to Egypt: he there encountered the forces of his enemy, +which, though as yet undisciplined, were both numerous and courageous. +Agesilaus counselled an immediate attack before these troops had time to +become experienced in tactics, but he no longer stood well at court; +the prince of Mendes had endeavoured to corrupt him, and, though he had +shown unexpected loyalty, many, nevertheless, suspected his good +faith. Nectanebo set up his headquarters at Tanis, where he was shortly +blockaded by his adversary. It is well known how skilfully the Egyptians +handled the pick-axe, and how rapidly they could construct walls of +great strength; the circle of entrenchments was already near completion, +and provisions were beginning to fail, when Agesilaus received +permission to attempt a sortie. He broke through the besieging lines +under cover of the night, and some days later won a decisive victory +(359 B.C.). Nectanebo would now have gladly kept the Spartan general at +his side, for he was expecting a Persian attack; but Agesilaus, who had +had enough of Egypt and its intrigues, deserted his cause, and shortly +afterwards died of exhaustion on the coast near Cyrene. The anticipated +Persian invasion followed shortly after, but it was conducted without +energy or decision. Artaxerxes had entrusted the conduct of the +expedition to Tachos, doubtless promising to reinstate him in his former +power as satrap or vassal king of Egypt, but Tachos died before he could +even assume his post,* and the discords which rent the family of the +Persian king prevented the generals who replaced him from taking any +effective action. + + * AElian narrates, probably following Dinon, that Tachos died + of dysentery due to over-indulgence at dinner. + +The aged Artaxerxes had had, it was reported, one hundred and fifteen +sons by the different women in his harem, but only three of those by his +queen Statira were now living--Darius, Ariaspes, and Ochus. Darius, +the eldest of the three, had been formally recognised as +heir-apparent--perhaps at the time of the disastrous war against the +Cadusians* --but the younger brother, Ochus, who secretly aspired to +the throne, had managed to inspire him with anxiety with regard to +the succession, and incited him to put the aged king out of the way. +Contemporary historians, ill informed as to the intrigues in the +palace, whose effects they noted without any attempt to explore their +intricacies, invented several stories to account for the conduct of the +young prince. Some assigned as the reason of his conspiracy a romantic +love-affair. They said that Cyrus the Younger had had an Ionian mistress +named Aspasia, who, after the fatal battle of Cunaxa, had been taken +into the harem of the conqueror, and had captivated him by her beauty. +Darius conceived a violent passion for this damsel, and his father was +at first inclined to give her up to him, but afterwards, repenting of +his complaisance, consecrated her to the service of Mithra, a cult which +imposed on her the obligation of perpetual chastity. Darius, exasperated +by this treatment, began to contemplate measures of vengeance, but, +being betrayed by his brother Ochus, was put to death with his whole +family.** + + * Pompeius Trogus asserts that such co-regencies were + contrary to Persian law; we have seen above that, on the + contrary, they were obligatory when the sovereign was + setting out on a campaign. + + ** This is the version of the story given by Dinon and + accepted by Pompoius Trogus. A chronological calculation + easily demonstrates its unlikelihood. It follows from the + evidence given by Justin himself that Artaxerxes died of + grief soon after the execution of his son; but, on the other + hand, that the battle of Cunaxa took place in 400 B.C.: + Aspasia must then have been fifty or sixty years old when + Darius fell in love with her. + +By the removal of this first obstacle the crafty prince found himself +only one step nearer success, for his brother Ariaspes was acknowledged +as heir-apparent: Ochus therefore persuaded him that their father, +convinced of the complicity of Ariaspes in the plot imputed to Darius, +intended to put him to an ignominious death, and so worked upon him that +he committed suicide to escape the executioner. A bastard named Arsames, +who might possibly have aspired to the crown, was assassinated by Ochus. +This last blow was too much for Artaxerxes, and he died of grief after a +reign of forty-six years (358 B.C.).* Ochus, who immediately assumed the +name of Artaxerxes, began his reign by the customary massacre: he put to +death all the princes of the royal family,** and having thus rid +himself of all the rival claimants to the supreme power, he hastened on +preparations for the war with Egypt which had been interrupted by his +father's death and his own accession. + + * This is the length attributed by Plutarch to this reign, + and which is generally accepted. It was narrated in after- + days that the king kept the fact of his father's death + hidden for ten months, but it is impossible to tell how much + truth there is in this statement, which was accepted by + Dinon. + + ** According to the author followed by Pompeius Trogus, the + princesses themselves were involved in this massacre. This + is certainly an exaggeration, for we shall shortly see that + Darius III., the last king of Persia, was accounted to be + the grandson of Darius II.; the massacre can only have + involved the direct heirs of Artaxerxes. + +The necessity for restoring Persian dominion on the banks of the Nile +was then more urgent than at any previous time. During the half-century +which had elapsed since the recovery of her independence, Egypt had +been a perpetual source of serious embarrassment to the great king. The +contemporaries of Amyrtseus, whether Greeks or barbarians, had at first +thought that his revolt was nothing more than a local rising, like many +a previous one which had lasted but a short time and had been promptly +suppressed. But when it was perceived that the native dynasties had +taken a hold upon the country, and had carried on a successful contest +with Persia, in spite of the immense disproportion in their respective +resources; when not only the bravest soldiers of Asia, but the best +generals of Greece, had miserably failed in their attacks on the +frontier of the Delta, Phoenicia and Syria began to think whether what +was possible in Africa might not also be possible in Asia. From that +time forward, whenever a satrap or vassal prince meditated revolt, it +was to Egypt that he turned as a natural ally, and from Egypt he sought +the means to carry out his project; however needy the Pharaoh of that +day might be, he was always able to procure for such a suitor sufficient +money, munitions of war, ships, and men to enable him to make war +against the empire. The attempt made by Ochus failed, as all previous +attempts had done: the two adventurers who commanded the forces of +Nectanebo, the Athenian Diophantes and Lamius of Sparta, inflicted a +disastrous defeat on the imperial troops, and forced them to beat a +hasty retreat. This defeat was all the more serious in its consequences +because of the magnitude of the efforts which had been made: the king +himself was in command of the troops, and had been obliged to turn his +back precipitately on the foe. The Syrian provinces, which had been in +an unsettled condition ever since the invasion under Tachos, flew to +arms; nine petty kings of Cyprus, including Evagoras II., nephew of the +famous prince of that name, refused to pay tribute, and Artabazus +roused Asia Minor to rebellion. The Phoenicians still hesitated; but +the insolence of their satrap, the rapacity of the generals who had +been repulsed from Egypt, and the lack of discipline in the Persian +army forced them to a decision. In a convention summoned at Tripoli, the +representatives of the Phoenician cities conferred on Tennes, King +of Sidon, the perilous honour of conducting the operations of the +confederate army, and his first act was to destroy the royal villa +in the Lebanon, and his next to burn the provisions which had been +accumulated in various ports in view of the Egyptian war (351-350 B.C.). + +[Illustration: 305.jpg evagoras ii. of salamis] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the _Cabinet des + Medailles_. + +Ochus imagined at the outset that his generals would soon suppress these +rebellions, and, in fact, Idrieus, tyrant of Caria, supported by eight +thousand mercenaries under the Athenian Phocion, overcame the petty +tyrants of Cyprus without much difficulty; but in Asia Minor, Artabazus, +supported by Athens and Thebes, held at bay the generals sent to oppose +him, and Tennes won a signal victory in Syria. He turned for support +to Egypt, and Nectanebo, as might be expected, put Greek troops at his +disposal to the number of four thousand, commanded by one of his best +generals, Mentor of Ehodes: Belesys, the satrap of Syria, and Mazseus, +satrap of Cilicia, suffered a total defeat. Ochus, exasperated at their +want of success, called out every available soldier, three hundred +thousand Asiatics and ten thousand Greeks; the Sidonians, on their side, +dug a triple trench round their city, raised their ramparts, and set +fire to their ships, to demonstrate their intention of holding out +to the end. Unfortunately, their king, Tennes, was not a man of firm +resolution. Hitherto he had lived a life of self-indulgence, surrounded +by the women of his harem, whom he had purchased at great cost in Ionia +and Greece, and had made it the chief object of his ambition to surpass +in magnificence the most ostentatious princes of Cyprus, especially +Nicocles of Salamis, son of Evagoras. The approach of Ochus confused +his scanty wits; he endeavoured to wipe out his treachery towards his +suzerain by the betrayal of his own subjects. He secretly despatched +his confidential minister, a certain Thessalion, to the Persian camp, +promising to betray Sidon to the Persian king, and to act as his guide +into Egypt on condition of having his life preserved and his royal rank +guaranteed to him. Ochus had already agreed to these conditions, when +an impulse of vanity on his part nearly ruined the whole arrangement. +Thessalion, not unreasonably doubting the king's good faith, had +demanded that he should swear by his right hand to fulfil to the letter +all the clauses of the treaty; whereupon Ochus, whose dignity was +offended by this insistence, gave orders for the execution of the +ambassador. But as the latter was being dragged away, he cried out that +the king could do as he liked, but that if he disdained the help of +Tennes, he would fail in his attacks both upon Phonicia and Egypt. These +words produced a sudden reaction, and Thessalion obtained all that he +demanded. When the Persians had arrived within a few days' march of +Sidon, Tennes proclaimed that a general assembly of the Phoenician +deputies was to be held, and under pretext of escorting the hundred +leading men of his city to the appointed place of meeting, led them into +the enemy's camp, where they were promptly despatched by the javelins of +the soldiery. The Sidonians, deserted by their king, were determined +to carry on the struggle, in the expectation of receiving succour from +Egypt; but the Persian darics had already found their way into the hands +of the mercenary troops, and the general whom Nectanebo had lent them, +declared that his men considered the position desperate, and that he +should surrender the city at the first summons. The Sidonians thereupon +found themselves reduced to the necessity of imploring the mercy of the +conqueror, and five hundred of them set out to meet him as suppliants, +carrying olive branches in their hands. Bub Ochus was the most cruel +monarch who had ever reigned in Persia--the only one, perhaps, who was +really bloodthirsty by nature; he refused to listen to the entreaties of +the suppliants, and, like the preceding hundred delegates, they were all +slain. The remaining citizens, perceiving that they could not hope for +pardon, barricaded themselves in their houses, to which they set fire +with their own hands; forty thousand persons perished in the flames, and +so great was the luxury in the appointments of the private houses, +that large sums were paid for the right to dig for the gold and silver +ornaments buried in the ruins. The destruction of the city was almost as +complete as in the days of Esarhaddon. When Sidon had thus met her fate, +the Persians had no further reason for sparing its king, Tennes, and he +was delivered to the executioner; whereupon the other Phoenician kings, +terrified by his fate, opened their gates without a struggle. + +Once more the treachery of a few traitors had disconcerted the plans of +the Pharaoh, and delivered the outposts of Egypt into the hands of the +enemy: but Ochus renewed his preparations with marvellous tenacity, and +resolved to neglect nothing which might contribute to his final success. +His victories had confirmed the cities of the empire in their loyalty, +and they vied with one another in endeavouring to win oblivion for their +former hesitation by their present zeal: "What city, or what nation of +Asia did not send embassies to the sovereign? what wealth did they not +lavish on him, whether the natural products of the soil, or the rare and +precious productions of art? Did he not receive a quantity of tapestry +and woven hangings, some of purple, some of diverse colours, others of +pure white? many gilded pavilions, completely furnished, and containing +an abundant supply of linen and sumptuous beds? chased silver, wrought +gold, cups and bowls, enriched with precious stones, or valuable for the +perfection and richness of their work? He also received untold supplies +of barbarian and Grecian weapons, and still larger numbers of draught +cattle and of sacrificial victims, bushels of preserved fruits, bales +and sacks full of parchments or books, and all kinds of useful articles? +So great was the quantity of salted meats which poured in from all +sides, that from a distance the piles might readily be mistaken for +rows of hillocks or high mounds." The land-force was divided into three +corps, each under a barbarian and a Greek general. It advanced along +the sea coast, following the ancient route pursued by the armies of the +Pharaohs, and as it skirted the marshes of Sirbonis, some detachments, +having imprudently ventured over the treacherous soil, perished to a +man. When the main force arrived in safety before Pelusium, it found +Nectanebo awaiting it behind his ramparts and marshes. He had fewer men +than his adversary, his force numbering only six thousand Egyptians, +twenty thousand Libyans, and the same number of Greeks; but the +remembrance of the successes won by himself and his predecessors with +inferior numbers inspired him with confidence in the issue of the +struggle. His fleet could not have ventured to meet in battle the +combined squadrons of Cyprus and Phoenicia, but, on the other hand, he +had a sufficient number of flat-bottomed boats to prevent any adversary +from entering the mouths of the Nile. The weak points along his +Mediterranean seaboard and eastern frontier were covered by strongholds, +fortifications, and entrenched camps: in short, his plans were +sufficiently well laid to ensure success in a defensive war, if the +rash ardour of his Greek mercenaries had not defeated his plans. Five +thousand of these troops were in occupation of Pelusium, under command +of Philophron. Some companies of Thebans, who were serving under +Lacrates in the Persian army, crossed a deep canal which separated them +from the city, and provoked the garrison to risk an encounter in +the open field. Philophron, instead of treating their challenge with +indifference, accepted it, and engaged in a combat which lasted till +nightfall. On the following day, Lacrates, having drawn off the waters +of the canal and thrown a dyke across it, led his entire force up to the +glacis of the fortifications, dug some trenches, and brought up a +line of battering-rams. He would soon have effected a breach, but the +Egyptians understood how to use the spade as well as the lance, and +while the outer wall was crumbling, they improvised behind it a second +wall, crowned with wooden turrets. Nectanebo, who had come up with +thirty thousand native, five thousand Greek troops, and half the +Libyan contingent, observed the vicissitudes of the siege from a short +distance, and by his presence alone opposed the advance of the bulk +of the Persian army. Weeks passed by, the time of the inundation was +approaching, and it seemed as if this policy of delay would have its +accustomed success, when an unforeseen incident decided in a moment the +fate of Egypt. Among the officers of Ochus was a certain Nicostratus of +Argos, who on account of his prodigious strength was often compared to +Heracles, and who out of vanity dressed himself up in the traditional +costume of that hero, the lion's skin and the club. Having imbibed, +doubtless, the ideas formerly propounded by Iphicrates, Nicostratus +forced some peasants, whose wives and children he had seized as +hostages, to act as his guides, and made his way up one of the canals +which traverse the marshes of Menzaleh: there he disembarked his men in +the rear of Nectanebo, and took up a very strong position on the +border of the cultivated land. This enterprise, undertaken with a very +insufficient force, was an extremely rash one; if the Egyptian generals +had contented themselves with harassing Nicostratus without venturing on +engaging him in a pitched battle, they would speedily have forced him to +re-embark or to lay down his arms. Unfortunately, however, five thousand +mercenaries, who formed the garrison of one of the neighbouring towns, +hastened to attack him under the command of Clinias of Cos, and suffered +a severe defeat. As a result, the gates of the town were thrown open +to the enemy, and if the Persians, encouraged by the success of this +forlorn hope, had followed it up boldly, Nectanebo would have run the +risk of being cut off from his troops which were around Pelusium, and of +being subsequently crushed. He thought it wiser to retreat towards the +apex of the Delta, but this very act of prudence exposed him to one of +those accidental misfortunes which are wont to occur in armies formed +of very diverse elements. While he was concentrating his reserves at +Memphis, the troops of the first line thought that, by leaving +them exposed to the assaults of the great king, he was deliberately +sacrificing them. Pelusium capitulated to Lacrates; Mentor of Ehodes +pushed forward and seized Bubastis, and the other cities in the eastern +portion of the Delta, fearing to bring upon themselves the fate +of Sidon, opened their gates to the Persians after a mere show of +resistance. The forces which had collected at Memphis thereupon +disbanded, and Nectanebo, ruined by these successive disasters, +collected his treasures and fled to Ethiopia. The successful issue of +the rash enterprise of Nicostratus had overthrown the empire of the +Pharaohs, and re-established the Persian empire in its integrity (342 +B.C.).* + + * The complete history of this war is related by Diodorus + Siculus, who generally follows the narrative of Theopompus. + The chronology is still sufficiently uncertain to leave some + doubt as to the exact date of each event; I have followed + that arrangement which seems to accord best with the general + history of the period. The following table may be drawn up + of the last Egyptian dynasties as far as they can be + restored at present:-- + +[Illustration: 312.jpg TABLE OF THE LAST EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES] + +Egypt had prospered under the strong rule of its last native Pharaohs. +Every one of them, from Amyrtous down to Nectanebo, had done his best +to efface all traces of the Persian invasions and restore to the country +the appearance which it had presented before the days of its servitude; +even kings like Psamutis and Tachos, whose reign had been of the +briefest, had, like those who ruled for longer periods, constructed or +beautified the monuments of the country. The Thebaid was in this respect +a special field of their labours. The island of Philae, exposed to the +ceaseless attacks of the Ethiopians, had been reduced to little more +than a pile of ruins. + +[Illustration: 313.jpg SMALL TEMPLE OF NECTANEBO, AT THE SOUTHERN +EXTREMITY OF PHILAE] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Beato. + +Nectanebo II. erected a magnificent gate there, afterwards incorporated +into the first pylon of the temple built by the Ptolemies, and one +at least of the buildings that still remain, the charming rectangular +kiosk, the pillars of which, with their Hathor capitals, rise above +the southern extremity of the island and mark the spot at which the +Ethiopian pilgrims first set foot on the sacred territory of the +bountiful Isis. Nectanebo I. restored the sanctuaries of Nekhabit at +El-Kab, and of Horus at Edfu, in which latter place he has left an +admirable naos which delights the modern traveller by its severe +proportions and simplicity of ornament, while Nectanebo II. repaired the +ancient temple of Minu at Coptos; in short, without giving a detailed +list of what was accomplished by each of these later Pharaohs, it may be +said that there are few important sites in the valley of the Nile where +some striking evidence of their activity may not still be discovered +even after the lapse of so many centuries. + +[Illustration: 314.jpg NAOS OF NECTANEBO IN THE TEMPLE AT EDFU] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Beato. + +It will be sufficient to mention Thebes, Memphis, Sebennytos, Bubastis, +Pahabit, Patumu, and Tanis. Nor did the Theban oases, including that of +Amon himself, escape their zeal, for the few Europeans who have visited +them in modern times have observed their cartouches there. + +[Illustration: 315.jpg GREAT GATE OF NECTANEBO AT KARNAK] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Beato. + +Moreover, in spite of the brief space of time within which they were +carried out, the majority of these works betray no signs of haste +or slipshod execution; the craftsmen employed on them seem to have +preserved in their full integrity all the artistic traditions of earlier +times, and were capable of producing masterpieces which will bear +comparison with those of the golden age. The Eastern gate, erected at +Karnak in the time of Nectanebo II., is in no way inferior either in +purity of proportion or in the beauty of its carvings to what remains of +the gates of Amenothes III. + +[Illustration: 316.jpg fragment of a Naos of THE time of nectanebo II. +in the Bologna Museum] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Flinders Petrie. + +The sarcophagus of Nectanebo I. is carved and decorated with a +perfection of skill which had never been surpassed in any age, and +elsewhere, on all the monuments which bear the name of this monarch the +hieroglyphics have been designed and carved with as much care as though +each one of them had been a precious cameo.* + + * The sarcophagus was for a long time preserved near the + mosque of Ibn-Tulun, and was credited with peculiar virtues + by the superstitious inhabitants of Cairo. + +The basalt torso of Nectanebo II., which attracts so much admiration +in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris for accuracy of proportion and +delicacy of modelling, deserves to rank with the finest statues of the +ancient empire. The men's heads are veritable portraits, in which such +details as a peculiar conformation of the skull, prominent cheekbones, +deep-set eyes, sunken cheeks, or the modelling of the chin, have all +been observed and reproduced with a fidelity and keenness of observation +which we fail to find in such works of the earlier artists as have come +down to us. These later sculptors display the same regard for truth in +their treatment of animals, and their dog-headed divinities; their dogs, +lions, and sphinxes will safely bear comparison with the most lifelike +presentments of these creatures to be found among the remains of the +Memphite or Theban eras. Egypt was thus in the full tide of material +prosperity when it again fell under the Persian yoke, and might have +become a source of inexhaustible wealth to Ochus had he known how to +secure acceptance of his rule, as Darius, son of Hystaspes, had done in +the days of Amasis. + +[Illustration: 317.jpg ONE OF THE LIONS IN THE VATICAN] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Flinders Petrie. + +The violence of his temperament, however, impelled him to a course of +pitiless oppression, and his favourite minister, the eunuch Bagoas, +seems to have done his best to stimulate his master's natural cruelty. +In the days when they felt themselves securely protected from his anger +by their Libyan and Greek troops, the fellahin had freely indulged in +lampoons at the expense of their Persian suzerain; they had compared him +to Typhon on account of his barbarity, and had nicknamed him "the Ass," +this animal being in their eyes a type of everything that is vile. +On his arrival at Memphis, Ochus gave orders that an ass should be +installed in the temple of Phtah, and have divine honours paid to it; he +next had the bull Apis slaughtered and served up at a set banquet which +he gave to his friends on taking possession of the White Wall. The +sacred goat of Mendes suffered the same fate as the Apis, and doubtless +none of the other sacred animals were spared. Bagoas looted the temples +in the most systematic way, despatched the sacred books to Persia, razed +the walls of the cities to the ground, and put every avowed partisan of +the native dynasty to the sword. After these punitive measures had been +carried out, Ochus disbanded his mercenaries and returned to Babylon, +leaving Pherendates in charge of the reconquered province.* + + * It seems that a part of the atrocities committed by Ochus + and Bagoas soon came to be referred to the time of the + "Impure" and to that of Cambyses. + +The downfall of Egypt struck terror into the rebellious satraps who were +in arms elsewhere. Artabazus, who had kept Asia Minor in a ferment ever +since the time of Artaxerxes II., gave up the struggle of his own accord +and took refuge in Macedonia. The petty kings of the cities on the +shores of the Hellespont and the AEgean submitted themselves in order to +regain favour, or if, like Hermias of Atarnasa, the friend of Aristotle, +they still resisted, they were taken prisoners and condemned to death. +The success of Ochus was a reality, but there was still much to be done +before things were restored to the footing they had occupied before the +crisis. We know enough of the course of events in the western provinces +to realise the pitch of weakness to which the imbecility of Darius II. +and his son Artaxerxes II. had reduced the empire of Darius and +Xerxes, but it is quite certain that the disastrous effects of their +misgovernment were not confined to the shores of the Mediterranean, +but were felt no less acutely in the eastern and central regions of the +empire. There, as on the Greek frontiers, the system built up at the +cost of so much ingenuity by Darius was gradually being broken down with +each year that passed, and the central government could no longer +make its power felt at the extremities of the empire save at irregular +intervals, when its mandates were not intercepted or nullified in +transmission. The functions of the "Eyes" and "Ears" of the king had +degenerated into a mere meaningless formality, and were, more often +than not, dispensed with altogether. The line of demarcation between +the military and civil power had been obliterated: not only had the +originally independent offices of satrap, general, and secretary ceased +to exist in each separate province, but, in many instances, the satrap, +after usurping the functions of his two colleagues, contrived to extend +his jurisdiction till it included several provinces, thus establishing +himself as a kind of viceroy. Absorbed in disputes among themselves, or +in conspiracies against the Achsemenian dynasty, these officials had no +time to look after the well-being of the districts under their control, +and the various tribes and cities took advantage of this to break the +ties of vassalage. To take Asia Minor alone, some of the petty kings +of Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and certain districts of Cappadocia or the +mountainous parts of Phrygia still paid their tribute intermittently, +and only when compelled to do so; others, however, such as the +Pisidians, Lycaonians, a part of the Lycians, and some races of Mount +Taurus, no longer dreamed of doing so. The three satrapies on the shores +of the Caspian, which a hundred years before had wedged themselves in +between that sea and the Euxine, were now dissolved, all trace of them +being lost in a confused medley of kingdoms and small states, some of +which were ready enough to acknowledge the supremacy of Persia, while +others, such as the Gordiseans, Taochi, Chalybes, Colchi, Mosynoki, and +Tibarenians, obeyed no rule but their own. + +[Illustration: 321.jpg MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE] + +All along the Caspian, the Cadusians and Amardians, on either side of +the chain of mountains bordering the Iranian plateau, defied all the +efforts made to subdue them.* India and the Sakse had developed from +the condition of subjects into that of friendly allies, and the +savage hordes of Gedrosia and the Paropamisus refused to recognise any +authority at all.** + + * They appear in the history of every epoch as the + irreconcilable foes of the great king, enemies against whom + even the most peacefully disposed sovereigns were compelled + to take the field in person. + + ** The Sakae fought at Arbela, but only as allies of the + Persians. The Indians who are mentioned with them came from + the neighbourhood of Cabul; most of the races who had + formerly figured in Darius' satrapy of India had become + independent by the time Alexander penetrated into the basin + of the Indus. + +The whole empire needed to be reconquered and reorganised bit by bit if +it was to exercise that influence in the world to which its immense size +entitled it, and the question arose whether the elements of which it +consisted would lend themselves to any permanent reorganisation or +readjustment. + +The races of the ancient Eastern world, or, at any rate, that portion of +them which helped to make its history, either existed no longer or had +sunk into their dotage. They had worn each other out in the centuries +of their prime, Chaldaeans and Assyrians fighting against Cossaeans or +Elamites, Egyptians against Ethiopians and against Hittites, Urartians, +Armaeans, the peoples of Lebanon and of Damascus, the Phoenicians, +Canaanites and Jews, until at last, with impoverished blood and flagging +energies, they were thrown into conflict with younger and more vigorous +nations. The Medes had swept away all that still remained of Assyria +and Urartu; the Persians had overthrown the Medes, the Lydians, and the +Chaldaeans, till Egypt alone remained and was struck down by them in her +turn. What had become of these conquered nations during the period +of nearly two hundred years that the Achaemenians had ruled over them? +First, as regards Elam, one of the oldest and formerly the most powerful +of them all. She had been rent into two halves, each of them destined +to have a different fate. In the mountains, the Uxians, Mardians, +Elymasans, and Cossaeans--tribes who had formerly been the backbone of +the nation--had relapsed into a semi-barbarous condition, or rather, +while the rest of the world had progressed in civilization and +refinement, they had remained in a state of stagnation, adhering +obstinately to the customs of their palmy days: just as they had harried +the Chaldaeans or Assyrians in the olden times, so now they harried the +Persians; then, taking refuge in their rocky fastnesses, they lived on +the proceeds of their forays, successfully resisting all attempts made +to dislodge them. The people of the plains, on the other hand, kept in +check from the outset by the presence of the court at Susa, not only +promptly resigned themselves to their fate, but even took pleasure in +it, and came to look upon themselves as in some sort the masters of +Asia. Was it not to their country, to the very spot occupied by the +palace of their king, that, for nearly two hundred years, satraps, +vassal kings, the legates of foreign races, ambassadors of Greek +republics--in a word, all the great ones of this world--came every year +to render homage, and had not the treasures which these visitors brought +with them been expended, in part at any rate, on their country? The +memory of their former prosperity paled before the splendours of their +new destiny, and the glory of their ancestors suffered eclipse. The +names of the national kings, the story of their Chaldaean and Syrian +conquests, the trophies of their victories over the great generals +of Nineveh, the horrors of their latest discords and of the final +catastrophe were all forgotten; even the documents which might have +helped to recall them lay buried in the heart of the mound which served +as a foundation for the palace of the Achgernenides. Beyond the vague +consciousness of a splendid past, the memory of the common people was +a blank, and when questioned by strangers they could tell them nothing +save legends of the gods or the exploits of mythical heroes; and from +them the Greeks borrowed their Memnon, that son of Tithonus and Eos +who rushed to the aid of Priam with his band of Ethiopians, and whose +prowess had failed to retard by a single day the downfall of Troy. +Further northwards, the Urartians and peoples of ancient Nairi, less +favoured by fortune, lost ground with each successive generation, +yielding to the steady pressure of the Armenians. In the time of +Herodotus they were still in possession of the upper basins of the +Euphrates and Araxus, and, in conjunction with the Matieni and Saspires, +formed a satrapy--the eighteenth--the boundaries of which coincided +pretty closely with those of the kingdom ruled over by the last kings +of Van in the days of Assur-bani-pal; the Armenians, on their side, +constituted the thirteenth satrapy, between Mount Taurus and the Lower +Arsanias. + +[Illustration: 325.jpg COINS OF THE SATRAPS WITH ARAMAEAN INSCRIPTIONS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from coins in the _Cabinet des + Medailles_ + +The whole face of their country had undergone a profound change since +that time: the Urartians, driven northwards, became intermingled with +the tribes on the slopes of the Caucasus, while the Armenians, carried +along towards the east, as though by some resistless current, were +now scaling the mountainous bulwark of Ararat, and slowly but surely +encroaching on the lower plains of the Araxes. These political +changes had been almost completed by the time of Ochus, and Urartu had +disappeared from the scene, but an Armenia now flourished in the very +region where Urartu had once ruled, and its princes, who were related +to the family of the Achaemenides, wielded an authority little short of +regal under the modest name of satraps. Thanks to their influence, the +religions and customs of Iran were introduced into the eastern borders +of Asia Minor. They made their way into the valleys of the Iris and the +Halys, into Cappadocia and the country round Mount Taurus, and thither +they brought with them the official script of the empire, the Persian +and Aramaean cuneiform which was employed in public documents, in +inscriptions, and on coins. The centre of the peninsula remained very +much the same as it had been in the period of the Phrygian supremacy, +but further westward Hellenic influences gradually made themselves felt. + +[Illustration: 326.jpg A LYCIAN TOMB] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a woodcut in Bonndorff. + +The arts of Greece, its manners, religious ideals, and modes of thought, +were slowly displacing civilisations of the Asianic type, and even in +places like Lycia, where the language successfully withstood the Greek +invasion, the life of the nations, and especially of their rulers, +became so deeply impregnated with Hellenism as to differ but little from +that in the cities on the Ionic, AEolian, or Doric seaboard. The Lycians +still adhered to the ancient forms which characterised their funerary +architecture, but it was to Greek sculptors, or pupils from the Grecian +schools, that they entrusted the decoration of the sides of their +sarcophagi and of their tombs. + +[Illustration: 327b.jpg STATUE OF MAUSOLUS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph of the original in + the British Museum. + +[Illustration: 327a.jpg COIN OF A LYCIAN KING] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a silver stater in the _Cabinet + des Medailles._ The king in question was named Deneveles, + and is only known by the coins bearing his superscription. + He flourished about 395 B.C. + +Their kings minted coins many of which are reckoned among the +masterpieces of antique engraving; and if we pass from Lycia to the +petty states of Caria, we come upon one of the greatest triumphs of +Greek art--that huge mausoleum in which the inconsolable Artemisia +enclosed the ashes and erected the statue of her husband. The Asia Minor +of Egyptian times, with its old-world dynasties, its old-world names, +and old-world races, had come to be nothing more than an historic +memory; even that martial world, in which the Assyrian conquerors fought +so many battles from the Euphrates to the Black Sea, was now no more, +and its neighbours and enemies of former days had, for the most part, +disappeared from the land of the living. + +[Illustration: 328.jpg LYCIAN SARCOPHAGUS DECORATED WITH GREEK CARVINGS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photogravure published by + Hamdy-Beg and Th. Reinach. + +The Lotanu were gone, the Khati were gone, and gone, too, were +Carchemish, Arpad, and Qodshu, much of thSec.ir domain having been +swallowed up again by the desert for want of hands to water and till it; +even Assyria itself seemed but a shadow half shrouded in the mists of +oblivion. Sangara, Nisibis, Resaina, and Edessa still showed some signs +of vigour, but on quitting the slopes of the Masios and proceeding +southwards, piles of ruins alone marked the sites of those wealthy +cities through which the Ninevite monarchs had passed in their +journeyings towards Syria. Here wide tracts of arid and treeless +country were now to be seen covered with aromatic herbage, where the +Scenite Arabs were wont to pursue the lion, wild ass, ostrich, bustard, +antelope, and gazelle; a few abandoned forts, such as Korsorte, Anatho, +and Is (Hit) marked the halting-places of armies on the banks of the +Euphrates. In the region of the Tigris, the descendants of Assyrian +captives who, like the Jews, had been set free by Cyrus, had rebuilt +Assur, and had there grown wealthy by husbandry and commerce,* but in +the district of the Zab solitude reigned supreme.** Calah and Nineveh +were alike deserted, and though their ruins still littered the sites +where they had stood, their names were unknown in the neighbouring +villages. Xenophon, relying on his guides, calls the former place +Larissa, the second Mespila.*** + + * This seems to be indicated by a mutilated passage in the + _Cylinder of Gyrus_, where Assur is mentioned in the list of + towns and countries whose inhabitants were sent back to + their homes by Cyrus after the capture of Babylon. Xenophon + calls it Esense, this being, possibly, a translation of the + name given to it by its inhabitants. Nothing could be more + natural than for exiles to call the villages founded by them + on their return "new." The town seems to have been a large + and wealthy one. + + ** Xenophon calls this country Media, a desert region which + the Ten Thousand took six days to cross. + + *** The name Larissa is, possibly, a corruption of some name + similar to that of the city of Larsam in Chaldaea; Mespila + may be a generic term. [Mespila is Muspula, "the low ground" + at the foot of Kouyunjik; Larissa probably Al Resen or + Res-eni, between Kouyunjik and Nebi Yunus.--Ed.] + +Already there were historians who took the ziggurat at Nineveh to be +the burial-place of Sardanapalus. They declared that Cyrus had pulled it +down in order to strengthen his camp during the siege of the town, and +that formerly it had borne an epitaph afterwards put into verse by the +poet Choerilus of Iassus: "I reigned, and so long as I beheld the light +of the sun, I ate, I drank, I loved, well knowing how brief is the +life of man, and to how many vicissitudes it is liable." Many writers, +remembering the Assyrian monument at Anchiale in Cilicia, were inclined +to place the king's tomb there. It was surmounted by the statue of a +man--according to one account, with his hands crossed upon his breast, +according to another, in the act of snapping his fingers--and bore the +following inscription in Chaldaic letters: "I, Sardanapalus, son of +Anakyndaraxes, founded Anchiale and Tarsus in one day, but now am dead." +Thus ten centuries of conquests and massacre had passed away like a +vapour, leaving nothing but a meagre residue of old men's tales and +moral axioms. + +In one respect only does the civilisation of the Euphrates seem to have +fairly held its own. Cossaea, though it had lost its independence, had +lost but little of its wealth; its former rebellions had done it no +great injury, and its ancient cities were still left standing, though +shorn of their early splendour. Uru, it is true, numbered but few +citizens round its tottering sanctuaries, but Uruk maintained a school +of theologians and astronomers no less famous throughout the East than +those of Borsippa. The swamps, however, which surrounded it possessed +few attractions, and Greek travellers rarely ventured thither. They +generally stopped at Babylon, or if they ventured off the beaten track, +it was only to visit the monuments of Nebuchadrezzar, or the tombs of +the early kings in its immediate neighbourhood. Babylon was, indeed, one +of the capitals of the empire--nay, for more than half a century, during +the closing years of Artaxerxes I., in the reign of Darius II., and +in the early days of Artaxerxes IL, it had been the real capital; even +under Ochus, the court spent the winter months there, and resorted +thither in quest of those resources of industry and commerce which Susa +lacked. The material benefits due to the presence of the sovereign seem +to have reconciled the city to its subject condition; there had been no +seditious movement there since the ill-starred rising of Shamasherib, +which Xerxes had quelled with ruthless severity. The Greek mercenaries +or traders who visited it, though prepared for its huge size by general +report, could not repress a feeling of astonishment as they approached +it. First of all there was the triple wall of Nebuchadrezzar, with its +moats, its rows of towers, and its colossal gateways. Unlike the Greek +cities, it had been laid out according to a regular plan, and formed a +perfect square, inside which the streets crossed one another at right +angles, some parallel to the Euphrates, others at right angles to it; +every one of the latter terminated in a brazen gate opening through the +masonry of the quay, and giving access to the river. The passengers who +crowded the streets included representatives of all the Asiatic races, +the native Babylonians being recognisable by their graceful dress, +consisting of a linen tunic falling to the feet, a fringed shawl, round +cap, and heavy staff terminating in a knob. From this ever-changing +background stood out many novel features calculated to stimulate Greek +curiosity, such as the sick persons exposed at street-corners in +order that they might beg the passers-by to prescribe for them, the +prostitution of her votaries within the courts of the goddess Mylitta, +and the disposal of marriageable girls by auction: Herodotus, however, +regretted that this latter custom had fallen into abeyance. And yet to +the attentive eye of a close observer even Babylon must have furnished +many unmistakable symptoms of decay. The huge boundary wall enclosed +too large an area for the population sheltered behind it; whole quarters +were crumbling into heaps of ruins, and the flower and vegetable gardens +were steadily encroaching on spaces formerly covered with houses. Public +buildings had suffered quite as much as private dwellings from the +Persian wars. Xerxes had despoiled the temples, and no restoration +had been attempted since his time. The ziggurat of Bel lay half buried +already beneath piles of rubbish; the golden statues which had once +stood within its chambers had disappeared, and the priests no longer +carried on their astronomical observations on its platform.* + + * Herodotus merely mentions that Xerxes had despoiled the + temple; Strabo tells us that Alexander wished to restore it, + but that it was in such a state of dilapidation that it + would have taken ten thousand men two months merely to + remove the rubbish. + +The palaces of the ancient kings were falling to pieces from lack of +repairs, though the famous hanging gardens in the citadel were still +shown to strangers. The guides, of course, gave them out to be a device +of Semiramis, but the well-informed knew that they had been constructed +by Nebuchadrezzar for one of his wives the daughter of Oyaxares, who +pined for the verdure of her native mountains. "They were square in +shape, each side being four hundred feet long; one approached them by +steps leading to terraces placed one above the other, the arrangement +of the whole, resembling that of an amphitheatre. Each terrace rested on +pillars which, gradually increasing in size, supported the weight of +the soil and its produce. The loftiest pillar attained a height of fifty +feet; it reached to the upper part of the garden, its capital being on +a level with the balustrades of the boundary wall. The terraces were +covered with a layer of soil of sufficient depth for the roots of the +largest trees; plants of all kinds that delight the eye by their shape +or beauty were grown there. One of the columns was hollowed from top +to bottom; it contained hydraulic engines which pumped up quantities of +water, no part of the mechanism being visible from the outside." +Many travellers were content to note down only such marvels as they +considered likely to make their narratives more amusing, but others took +pains to collect information of a more solid character, and before +they had carried their researches very far, were at once astounded and +delighted with the glimpses they obtained of Chaldaean genius. No doubt, +they exaggerated when they went so far as to maintain that all their +learning came to them originally from Babylon, and that the most famous +scholars of Greece, Pherecydes of Scyros, Democritus of Abdera, and +Pythagoras,* owed the rudiments of philosophy, mathematics, physics, and +astrology to the school of the _Magi_. + + * The story which asserts that Pythagoras served under + Nergilos, King of Assyria, is probably based on some + similarity of names: thus among the Greek kings of Cyprus, + and in the time of Assur-bani-pal, we find one whose name + would recall that of Pythagoras, if the accuracy of the + reading were beyond question. + +Yet it is not surprising that they should have believed this to be the +case, when increasing familiarity with the priestly seminaries revealed +to them the existence of those libraries of clay tablets in which, side +by side with theoretic treatises dating from two thousand years back +and more, were to be found examples of applied mechanics, observations, +reckonings, and novel solutions of problems, which generations +of scribes had accumulated in the course of centuries. The Greek +astronomers took full advantage of these documents, but it was their +astrologers and soothsayers who were specially indebted to them. The +latter acknowledged their own inferiority the moment they came into +contact with their Euphratean colleagues, and endeavoured to make good +their deficiencies by taking lessons from the latter or persuading them +to migrate to Greece. A hundred years later saw the Babylonian Berosus +opening at Cos a public school of divination by the stars. From +thenceforward "Chaldaean" came to be synonymous with "astrologer" or +"sorcerer," and Chaldaean magic became supreme throughout the world at +the very moment when Chaldaea itself was in its death-throes. + +Nor was its unquestioned supremacy in the black art the sole legacy that +Chaldaea bequeathed to the coming generations: its language survived, and +reigned for centuries afterwards in the regions subjugated by its arms. +The cultivated tongue employed by the scribes of Nineve and Babylon +in the palmy days of their race, had long become a sort of literary +dialect, used in writings of a lofty character and understood by a +select few, but unintelligible to the common people. The populace in +town or country talked an Aramaic jargon, clumsier and more prolix +than Assyrian, but easier to understand. We know how successfully the +Aramaeans had managed to push their way along the Euphrates and into +Syria towards the close of the Hittite supremacy: their successive +encroachments had been favoured, first by the Assyrian, later by the +Chaldaean conquests, and now they had become sole possessors of the +ancient Naharaina, the plains of Cilicia, the basin of the Orontes, and +the country round Damascus; but the true home of the Aramaeans was in +Syria rather than in the districts of the Lower Euphrates. Even in the +time of the Sargonids their alphabet had made so much headway that at +Nineveh itself and at Calah it had come into everyday use; when Chaldaean +supremacy gave way to that of the Persians, its triumph--in the western +provinces, at any rate--was complete, and it became the recognised +vehicle of the royal decrees: we come upon it in every direction, on +the coins issued by the satraps of Asia Minor, on the seals of local +governors or dynasts, on inscriptions or stelae in Egypt, in the letters +of the scribes, and in the rescripts of the great king. From Nisib +to Baphia, between the Tigris and the Mediterranean, it gradually +supplanted most of the other dialects--Semitic or otherwise--which had +hitherto prevailed. Phoenician held its ground in the seaports, but +Hebrew gave way before it, and ended by being restricted to religious +purposes, as a literary and liturgical language. It was in the +neighbourhood of Babylon itself that the Judaean exiles had, during the +Captivity, adopted the Aramaic language, and their return to Canaan +failed to restore either the purity of their own language or the dignity +and independence of their religious life. Their colony at Jerusalem +possessed few resources; the wealthier Hebrews had, for the most part, +remained in Chaldaea, leaving the privilege of repopulating the holy city +to those of their brethren who were less plenteously endowed with this +world's goods. These latter soon learned to their cost that Zion was not +the ideal city whose "gates shall be open continually; they shall not +be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the wealth of +the nations;" far from "sucking the milk of nations and the breast of +kings,"* their fields produced barely sufficient to satisfy the more +pressing needs of daily life. "Ye have sown much, and bring in little," +as Jahveh declared to them "ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, +but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none +warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with +holes."** + + * An anonymous prophet in Isa. lx. 11-16. + + ** Hagg. i. 6. + +They quickly relinquished the work of restoration, finding themselves +forgotten by all--their Babylonian brethren included--in the midst of +the great events which were then agitating the world, the preparations +for the conquest of Egypt, the usurpation of the pseudo-Smerdis, the +accession of Darius, the Babylonian and Median insurrections. Possibly +they believed that the Achaemenides had had their day, and that a new +Chaldaean empire, with a second Nebuchadrezzar at its head, was about to +regain the ascendency. It would seem that the downfall of Nadintav-bel +inspired them with new faith in the future and encouraged them to +complete their task: in the second year of Darius, two prophets, Haggai +and Zechariah, arose in their midst and lifted up their voices. + +[Illustration: 337.jpg CHALDEAN SEAL WITH ARAMAIC INSCRIPTION] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photogravure published in + Menant. + +Zerubbabel, a prince of the royal line, governed Judah in the Persian +interest, and with him was associated the high priest Joshua, who looked +after the spiritual interests of the community: the reproaches of the +two prophets aroused the people from their inaction, and induced them to +resume their interrupted building operations. Darius, duly informed of +what was going on by the governor of Syria, gave orders that they were +not to be interfered with, and four years later the building of the +temple was completed.* + + * Ezra iv.-vi.; the account given by Josephus of the two + expeditions of Zerubbabel seems to have been borrowed partly + from the canonical book, partly from the Apocryphal writing + known as the _1st Book of Esdras_. + +For nearly a century after this the little Jewish republic remained +quiescent. It had slowly developed until it had gradually won back +a portion of the former territories of Benjamin and Judah, but its +expansion southwards was checked by the Idumaeans, to whom Nebuchadrezzar +had years before handed over Hebron and Acrabattene (Akrabbim) as a +reward for the services they had rendered. + +On the north its neighbours were the descendants of those Aramaean +exiles whom Sargon, Sennacherib, and Esar-haddon, kings of Assyria, +had, on various occasions, installed around Samaria in Mount Ephraim. At +first these people paid no reverence to the "God of the land," so that +Jahveh, in order to punish them, sent lions, which spread carnage in +their ranks. Then the King of Assyria allotted them an Israelitish +priest from among his prisoners, who taught them "the law" of Jahveh, +and appointed other priests chosen from the people, and showed them how +to offer up sacrifices on the ancient high places.* + + * Kings xvii. 24-40. There do not seem to have been the + continual disputes between the inhabitants of Judaea and + Samaria before the return of Nehemiah, which the compilers + of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah seem to have believed. + +Thus another Israel began to rise up again, and, at first, the new +Judah seems to have been on tolerably friendly terms with it: the two +communities traded and intermarried with one another, the Samaritans +took part in the religious ceremonies, and certain of their leaders +occupied a court in the temple at Jerusalem. The alliance, however, +proved dangerous to the purity of the faith, for the proselytes, while +they adopted Jahveh and gave Him that supreme place in their devotions +which was due to "the God of the land," had by no means entirely +forsworn their national superstitions, and Adrammelek, Nergal, Tartak, +Anammelek, and other deities still found worshippers among them. Judah, +which in the days of its independence had so often turned aside after +the gods of Canaan and Moab, was in danger of being led away by the +idolatrous practices of its new neighbours; intermarriage with the +daughters of Moab and Ammon, of Philistia and Samaria, was producing +a gradual degeneracy: the national language was giving way before the +Aramaean; unless some one could be found to stem the tide of decadence +and help the people to remount the slope which they were descending, +the fate of Judah was certain. A prophet--the last of those whose +predictions have survived to our time--stood forth amid the general +laxity and called the people to account for their transgressions, in +the name of the Eternal, but his single voice, which seemed but a +feeble echo of the great prophets of former ages, did not meet with +a favourable hearing. Salvation came at length from the Jews outside +Judah, the naturalised citizens of Babylon, a well-informed and wealthy +body, occupying high places in the administration of the empire, and +sometimes in the favour of the sovereign also, yet possessed by an +ardent zeal for the religion of their fathers and a steadfast faith +in the vitality of their race. One of these, a certain Nehemiah, was +employed as cupbearer to Artaxerxes II. He was visited at Susa by some +men of Judah whose business had brought them to that city and inquired +of them how matters fared in Jerusalem. Hanani, one of his visitors, +replied that "the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the +province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem +also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire." +Nehemiah took advantage of a moment when the king seemed in a jovial +mood to describe the wretched state of his native land in moving terms: +he obtained leave to quit Susa and authority to administer the city in +which his fathers had dwelt.* + + * Nehemiah i., ii. + +This took place in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, about 385 B.C. +Nehemiah at once made his way to Jerusalem with such escort as +befitted his dignity, and the news of his mission, and, apparently, +the sentiments of rigid orthodoxy professed by him from the beginning, +provoked the resentment of the neighbouring potentates against him: +Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, chief of the Samaritans, +and Geshem the Bedawin did their best to thwart him in the execution of +his plans. He baffled their intrigues by his promptitude in rebuilding +the walls, and when once he had rendered himself safe from any sudden +attack, he proceeded with the reforms which he deemed urgent. His tenure +of office lasted twelve years--from 384 to 373 B.C.--and during the +whole of that time he refused to accept any of the dues to which he was +entitled, and which his predecessors had received without scruple. Ever +since their return from exile, the common people had been impoverished +and paralysed by usury. The poor had been compelled to mortgage their +fields and their vineyards in order to pay the king's taxes; then, when +their land was gone, they had pledged their sons and their daughters; +the moneyed classes of the new Israel thus absorbed the property of +their poorer brethren, and reduced the latter to slavery. Nehemiah +called the usurers before him and severely rebuking them for their +covetousness, bade them surrender the interest and capital of existing +debts, and restore the properties which had fallen into their hands +owing to their shameful abuse of wealth, and release all those of their +co-religionists whom they had enslaved in default of payment of their +debts.* His high place in the royal favour doubtless had its effect +on those whose cupidity suffered from his zeal, and prevented external +enemies from too openly interfering in the affairs of the community: +by the time he returned to the court, in 372 B.C., after an absence of +twelve years, Jerusalem and its environs had to some extent regained +the material prosperity of former days. The part played by Nehemiah was, +however, mainly political, and the religious problem remained in very +much the same state as before. The high priests, who alone possessed the +power of solving it, had fallen in with the current that was carrying +away the people, and--latterly, at any rate--had become disqualified +through intermarriage with aliens: what was wanted was a scribe deeply +versed in sacred things to direct them in the right way, and such a man +could be found only in Babylonia, the one country in which the study of +the ancient traditions still flourished. A certain Ezra, son of Seraiah, +presented himself in 369 B.C., and, as he was a man of some standing, +Artaxerxes not only authorised him to go himself, but to take with him +a whole company of priests and Levites and families formerly attached to +the service of the temple.** The books containing the Law of God and +the history of His people had, since the beginning of the captivity, +undergone alterations which had profoundly modified their text and +changed their spirit. + + * Neh. v. + + ** Neh. xiii. 6: "in the two and thirtieth year of + Artaxerxes, King of Babylon, I went unto the king." + +This work of revision, begun under the influence of Ezekiel, and perhaps +by his own followers, had, since his time, been carried on without +interruption, and by mingling the juridical texts with narratives of +the early ages collected from different sources, a lengthy work had been +produced, very similar in composition and wording to the five Books +of Moses and the Book of Joshua as we now possess them.* It was this +version of the Revelation of Jahveh that Ezra brought with him from +Babylon in order to instruct the people of Judah, and the first +impressions received by him at the end of his journey convinced him that +his task would be no light one, for the number of mixed marriages had +been so great as to demoralise not only the common people, but even +the priests and leading nobles as well. Nevertheless, at a general +assembly** of the people he succeeded in persuading them to consent to +the repudiation of alien wives. + + * This is the priestly revision presupposed by recent + critics; here again, in order to keep within the prescribed + limits of space, I have been compelled to omit much that I + should have liked to add in regard to the nature of this + work and the spirit in which it was carried out. + + ** Ezra, vii.-xi., where the dates given do not form part of + the work as written by Ezra, but have been introduced later + by the editor of the book as it now stands. + +But this preliminary success would have led to nothing unless he +could secure formal recognition of the rigorous code of which he had +constituted himself the champion, and protracted negotiations were +necessary before he could claim a victory on this point as well as +on the other. At length, about 367 B.C., more than a year after his +arrival, he gained his point, and the covenant between Jahveh and His +people was sealed with ceremonies modelled on those which had attended +the promulgation of Deuteronomy in the time of Josiah. On the first day +of the seventh month, a little before the autumn festival, the people +assembled at Jerusalem in "the broad place which was before the water +gate." Ezra mounted a wooden pulpit, and the chief among the priests sat +beside him. He "opened the book in the sight of all the people... and... +all the people stood up: and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. +And all the people answered 'Amen, amen!' with the lifting up of their +hands; and they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their +faces to the ground." Then began the reading of the sacred text. As each +clause was read, the Levites stationed here and there among the people +interpreted and explained its provisions in the vulgar tongue, so as +to make their meaning clear to all. The prolix enumeration of sins and +their expiation, and threats expressed in certain chapters, produced +among the crowd the same effect of nervous terror as had once before +been called forth by the precepts and maledictions of Deuteronomy. The +people burst into tears, and so vehement were their manifestations of +despair, that all the efforts of Ezra and his colleagues were needed to +calm them. Ezra took advantage of this state of fervour to demand the +immediate application of the divine ordinances. And first of all, it was +"found written in the law, how that the Lord had commanded by Moses +that the children of Israel should dwell in booths." For, seven days +Jerusalem was decked with leaves; tabernacles of olive, myrtle, and palm +branches rose up on all sides, on the roofs of houses, in courtyards, +in the courts of the temple, at the gates of the city. Then, on the 27th +day of the same month, the people put on mourning in order to confess +their own sins and the sins of their fathers. Finally, to crown the +whole, Ezra and his followers required the assembly to swear a solemn +oath that they would respect "the law of Moses," and regulate their +conduct by it.* After the first enthusiasm was passed, a reaction +speedily set in. Many even among the priests thought that Ezra had gone +too far in forbidding marriage with strangers, and that the increase of +the tithes and sacrifices would lay too heavy a burden on the nation. +The Gentile women reappeared, the Sabbath was no longer observed either +by the Israelites or aliens; Eliashib, son of the high priest Joiakim, +did not even deprive Tobiah the Ammonite of the chamber in the +temple which he had formerly prepared for him, and things were +almost imperceptibly drifting back into the same state as before the +reformation, when Nehemiah returned from Susa towards the close of the +reign of Artaxerxes. He lost no time in re-establishing respect for the +law, and from henceforward opposition, if it did not entirely die out, +ceased to manifest itself in Jerusalem.** + + * Neh. viii., ix., with an interpolation in ver. 9 of chap, + viii., inserted in order to identify Nehemiah with the + representative of the Persian government. + + ** Neh. xiii. + +Elsewhere, however, among the Samaritans, Indumaeans, and Philistines, it +continued as keen as ever, and the Jews themselves were imprudent enough +to take part in the political revolutions that were happening around +them in their corner of the empire. Their traditions tell how they +were mixed up in the rising of the Phoenician cities against Ochus, and +suffered the penalty; when Sidon capitulated, they were punished with +the other rebels, the more recalcitrant among them being deported into +Hyrcania. + +Assyria was nothing more than a name, Babylon and Phoenicia were growing +weaker every day; the Jews, absorbed in questions of religious ethics, +were deficient in material power, and had not as yet attained sufficient +moral authority to exercise an influence over the eastern world: the +Egypt indestructible had alone escaped the general shipwreck, and +seemed fated to survive her rivals for a long time. Of all these ancient +nations it was she who appealed most strongly to the imagination of the +Greeks: Greek traders, mercenaries, scholars, and even tourists wandered +freely within her borders, and accounts of the strange and marvellous +things to be found there were published far and wide in the writings +of Hecataeus of Miletus, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, and Hellanicus of +Lesbos. As a rule, they entered the country from the west, as European +tourists and merchants still do; but Eakotis, the first port at which +they touched, was a mere village, and its rocky Pharos had no claim to +distinction beyond the fact that it had been mentioned by Homer. +From hence they followed the channel of the Canopic arm, and as +they gradually ascended, they had pointed out to them Anthylla, +Arkandrupolis, and Gyna> copolis, townships dependent on Naucratis, +lying along the banks, or situated some distance off on one of the minor +canals; then Naucratis itself, still a flourishing place, in spite +of the rebellions in the Delta and the suppressive measures of the +Persians. All this region seemed to them to be merely an extension of +Greece under the African sky: to their minds the real Egypt began at +Sais, a few miles further eastwards. Sais was full in memories of the +XXVIth dynasty; there they had pointed out to them the tombs of +the Pharaohs in the enclosure of Nit, the audience hall in which +Psammetichus II. received the deputation of the Eleians, the prison +where the unfortunate Apries had languished after his defeat. The +gateways of the temple of Nit seemed colossal to eyes accustomed to the +modest dimensions of most Greek sanctuaries; these were, moreover, the +first great monuments that the strangers had seen since they landed, and +the novelty of their appearance had a good deal to do with the keenness +of the impression produced. The goddess showed herself in hospitable +guise to the visitors; she welcomed them all, Greek or Persian, at her +festivals, and initiated them into several of her minor rites, without +demanding from them anything beyond tolerance on certain points of +doctrine. + +[Illustration: 346.jpg FOUNTAIN AND SCHOOL OF THE MOTHER OF LITTLE +MOHAMAD] + +Her dual attributes as wielder of the bow and shuttle had inspired the +Greeks with the belief that she was identical with that one of their own +goddesses who most nearly combined in her person this complex mingling +of war and industry: in her they Fountain and School of the Mother of +Little Mohammed worshipped the prototype of their own Pallas. On the +evening of the 17th day of Thoth, Herodotus saw the natives, rich and +poor, placing on the fronts of their dwellings large flat lamps filled +with a mixture of salt and oil which they kept alight all night in +honour of Osiris and of the dead.* + + * In my opinion it is not the festivals of Athyr that are + here referred to, but those of the month of Thoth, when, as + the inscriptions show, it was the practice to _light the new + fire_, according to the ritual, after first extinguishing + the fire of the previous year, not only in the temple of the + god, but in all the houses of the city. + +He made his way into the dwelling of the ineffable god, and there, +unobserved among the crowd, he witnessed scenes from the divine life +represented by the priests on the lake by the light of torches, episodes +of his passion, mourning, and resurrection. The priests did not disclose +their subtler mysteries before barbarian eyes, nor did they teach the +inner meaning of their dogmas, but the little they did allow him +to discern filled the traveller with respect and wonder, recalling +sometimes by their resemblance to them the mysteries in which he was +accustomed to take part in his own country. Then, as now, but little +attention was paid to the towns in the centre and east of the Delta; +travellers endeavoured to visit one or two of them as types, and +collected as much information as they could about the remainder. +Herodotus and his rivals attached little importance to those details of +landscape which possess so much attraction for the modern tourist. They +bestowed no more than a careless glance on the chapels scattered up and +down the country like the Mohammedan shrines at the present day, and the +waters extending on all sides beneath the acacias and palm trees during +the inundation, or the fellahin trotting along on their little asses +beside the pools, did not strike them as being of sufficient interest to +deserve passing mention in an account of their travels. + +[Illustration: 348.jpg MODERN MOHAMMEDAN SHEKHS TOMBS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Gautier. + +They passed by the most picturesque villages with indifference, and +it was only when they reached some great city, or came upon some +exceptionally fine temple or eccentric deity, that their curiosity was +aroused. Mendes worshipped its patron god in the form of a live ram,* +and bestowed on all members of the same species some share of the +veneration it lavished on the divine animal. The inhabitants of +Atarbekhis,** on the island of Prosopitis, gave themselves up to the +worship of the bull. + + * Herodotus says that both the goats and the god were named + Mendes in Egyptian, but he is here confusing ordinary goats + with the special goat which was supposed to contain the soul + of Osiris. It was the latter that the Egyptians named after + the god himself, Bainibdiduit, i.e. _the soul of the master + of the city of Diduit_. + + ** The old explanation of this name as the _City of Hathor_ + has been rightly rejected as inconsistent with one of the + elementary rules of hieroglyphic grammar. The name, when + properly divided into its three constituent parts, means + literally _the Castle of horus the Sparrow-hawk, or Hat-har- + baki_ + +When one of these animals died in the neighbourhood they buried it, +leaving one horn above the earth in order to mark the spot, and once +every year the boats of Atarbekhis made a tour round the island to +collect the skeletons or decaying bodies, in order that they might be +interred in a common burying-place. + +[Illustration: 349.jpg PART OF THE INUNDATION IN A PALM GROVE] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Gautier. + +The people of Busiris patronised a savage type of religion. During the +festival of Isis they gave themselves up to fierce conflicts, their +fanatical fury even infecting strangers who chanced to be present. The +Carians also had hit upon a means of outdoing the extravagance of the +natives themselves: like the Shiite Mohammedans of the present day +at the festival of the Hassanen, they slashed their faces with knives +amidst shrieks and yells. At Papremis a pitched battle formed part of +the religious observances: it took place, however, under certain special +conditions. On the evening of the festival of Anhurit, as the sun went +down, a number of priests performed a hasty sacrifice in the temple, +while the remainder of the local priesthood stationed themselves at +the gate armed with heavy cudgels. When the ceremony was over, the +celebrants placed the statue of the god on a four-wheeled car as though +about to take it away to some other locality, but their colleagues +at the gate opposed its departure and barred the way. It was at this +juncture that the faithful intervened; they burst in the door and set +upon the priests with staves, the latter offering a stout resistance. +The cudgels were heavy, the arms that wielded them lusty, and the fight +lasted a long time, yet no one was ever killed in the fray--at least, +so the priests averred--and I am at a loss to understand why Herodotus, +who was not a native of Papremis, should have been so unkind as to doubt +their testimony.* + + * The god whom the Greeks identified with their Ares was + Anhurit, as is proved by one of the Leyden Papyri. So, too, + in modern times at Cairo, it used to be affirmed that no + Mohammedan who submitted to the doseh was ever seriously + injured by the hoofs of the horse which trampled over the + bodies extended on the ground. + +[Illustration: 350.jpg EPHEMERAL HOVELS OF CLAY OR DRIED BRICKS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Haussoullier. + +It is nearly always in connection with some temple or religious festival +that he refers to the towns of the Delta, and, indeed, in most of the +minor cities of Egypt, just as in those of modern Italy there is little +to interest visitors except the religious monuments or ceremonies. +Herodotus went to Tanis or Mendes as we go to Orvieto or Loretto, to +admire the buildings or pay our devotions at a famous shrine. More +often than not the place was nothing in itself, consisting merely of a +fortified enclosure, a few commonplace houses occupied by the wealthy +inhabitants or by government officials, and on mounds of ancient +_debris_, the accumulation of centuries, a number of ephemeral hovels +built of clay, or dried bricks, divided into irregular blocks by winding +alleys. The whole local interest was centred in the sanctuary and its +inmates, human and divine. The traveller made his way in as best he +could, went into ecstasies over the objects that were shown to him, and +as soon as he had duly gone the rounds, set out for the next place on +his list, deeming himself lucky if he happened to arrive during one +of the annual fairs, such as that of Bubastis, for instance. Bands +of pilgrims flocked in from all parts of Egypt; the river craft were +overflowing with men and women, who converted the journey into one long +carnival. Every time the vessel put in to land, the women rushed on +shore, amid the din of castanets and flutes, and ran hither and thither +challenging the women of the place with abuse to dance against them with +uplifted garments. To the foreigners there was little to distinguish the +festival of Bastit from many other Egyptian ceremonies of the kind; it +consisted of a solemn procession, accompanied by the singing of hymns +and playing of harps, dancing and sacrifices, but for weeks before and +after it the town was transformed into one vast pleasure-ground. The +people of Bubastis took a certain pride in declaring that more wine was +drunk in it during a single day than during the rest of the whole year. +Buto enjoyed exceptional popularity among the Greeks in Egypt. Its +patron goddess, the Isis who took refuge amid the pools in a moving +thicket of reeds and lotus, in order that she might protect her son +Horus from the jealousy of Typhon, reminded them of the story of Latona +and the cycle of the Delian legends; they, visited her in crowds, +and her oracle became to most of them what that of Delos was to their +brethren in Europe. At Buto they found a great temple, similar to all +Egyptian temples, a shrine in which the statues of the goddess continued +her mysterious existence, and, in the midst of the sacred lake, the +little island of Khemmis, which was said to float hither and thither +upon the waters. Herodotus did not venture to deny this absolutely, +but states that he had never seen it change its position or even stir: +perhaps his incredulity may have been quickened by the fact that this +miracle had already been inquired into by Hecatasus of Miletus, an +author who was his pet aversion. The priests of Buto declared that their +prophets had foretold everything that had happened for a long time past, +and for each event they had a version which redounded to the credit of +their goddess: she had shown Pheron how he might recover his sight, +had foretold how long the reign of Mykerinos would last, had informed +Psammetichus that he would be saved by men of brass rising out of the +sea, and had revealed to Cambyses that he should die in a town named +Ecbatana. Her priests had taken an active part in the revolt of +Khabbisha against Darius, and had lost a goodly portion of their +treasure and endowments for their pains. They still retained their +prestige, however, in spite of the underhand rivalry of the oracle +of Zeus Ammon. The notaries of the Libyan deity could bring forward +miracles even more marvellous than those credited to the Egyptian +Latona, and in the case of many of the revolutions which had taken place +on the banks of the Nile, a version of the legend in his honour was +circulated side by side with the legends of Buto. The latter city lay +on the very outskirts of one of those regions which excited the greatest +curiosity among travellers, the almost inaccessible Bucolicum, where, +it was said, no rebel ever failed to find a safe refuge from his alien +pursuers. The Egyptians of the marshes were a very courageous race, +but savage, poor, and ill fed. They drank nothing but beer, and obtained +their oil not from the olive, but from the castor-oil plant,* and having +no corn, lived on the seeds or roots of the lotus, or even on the stalks +of the papyrus, which they roasted or boiled. + + * It seems, moreover, that this custom was not confined to + the Delta; Herodotus, in contrasting the custom of Bucolicum + with that of the rest of Egypt, was evidently thinking of + Sais, Memphis, and other great cities in which he had + resided, where foreign olive oil obtained from Greece or + Syria was generally used. + +Fish was their staple article of food, and this they obtained in +considerable quantity from Lake Menzaleh, the lagoons along the coast, +and the canals or pools left by the inundation. But little was known +of their villages or monuments, and probably they were not worth the +trouble of a visit after those of the cities of the plain: endless +stories were told of feats of brigandage and of the mysterious +hiding-places which these localities offered to every outlaw, one of the +most celebrated being the isle of Elbo, where the blind Anysis defied +the power of Ethiopia for thirty years, and in which the first Amyrtasus +found refuge. With the exception of a few merchants or adventurers +who visited them with an eye to gain, most travellers coming from or +returning to Asia avoided their territory, and followed the military +road along the Pelusiac arm of the Nile from Pehisium to Daphno or Zalu, +and from Daphnae or Zalu to Bubastis. A little below Kerkasoron, near +the apex of the Delta, the pyramids stood out on the horizon, looking +insignificant at first, but afterwards so lofty that, during the period +of inundation, when the whole valley, from the mountains of Arabia to +those of Libya, was nothing but one vast river, a vessel seemed to +sail in their shadow for a long time before it reached their base. The +traveller passed Heliopolis on his left with its temple of the Sun, +next the supposed sources of the Northern Nile, the quarries of the Red +Mountain, and then entering at length the Nile itself, after a journey +of some hours, came to anchor by the quays of Memphis. + +To the Greeks of that time, Memphis was very much what Cairo is to +us, viz. the typical Oriental city, the quintessence and chief +representative of ancient Egypt. In spite of the disasters which had +overwhelmed it during the last few centuries, it was still a very +beautiful city, ranking with Babylon as one of the largest in the world. +Its religious festivals, especially those in honour of Apis, attracted +numberless pilgrims to it at certain seasons of the year, and hosts of +foreigners, recruited from every imaginable race of the old continent, +resorted to it for purposes of trade. Most of the nationalities who +frequented it had a special quarter, which was named after them; the +Phoenicians occupied the _Tyrian Camp_, the Greeks and Carians the +_Hellenic Wall and Carian Wall_, and there were Oaromemphites or +Hellenomemphites side by side with the native inhabitants. A Persian +garrison was stationed within the White Wall, ready to execute the +satrap's orders in the event of rebellion, and could have held out for +a long time even after the rest of the country had fallen into the hands +of the insurgents. Animals which one would scarcely have expected +to find in the streets of a capital, such as cows, sheep, and goats, +wandered about unheeded in the most crowded thoroughfares; for the +common people, instead of living apart from their beasts, as the Greeks +did, stabled them in their own houses. Nor was this the only custom +which must have seemed strange in the eyes of a newly arrived visitor, +for the Egyptians might almost have been said to make a point of doing +everything differently from other nation's. The baker, seen at the +kneading-trough inside his shop, worked the dough with his foot; on the +other hand, the mason used no trowel in applying his mortar, and the +poorer classes scraped up handfuls of mud mixed with dung when they had +occasion to repair the walls of their hovels. In Greece, even the very +poorest retired to their houses and ate with closed doors; the Egyptians +felt no repugnance at eating and drinking in the open air, declaring +that unbecoming and improper acts should be performed in secret, but +seemly acts in public. The first blind alley they came to, a recess +between two hovels, the doorstep of a house or temple, any of these +seemed to them a perfectly natural place to dine in. Their bill of +fare was not a sumptuous one. A sort of flat pancake somewhat bitter in +taste, and made--not of corn or barley--but of spelt, a little oil, an +onion or a leek, with an occasional scrap of meat or poultry, washed +down by a jug of beer or wine; there was nothing here to tempt the +foreigner, and, besides, it would not have been thought right for him +to invite himself. A Greek who lived on the flesh of the cow was looked +upon as unclean in the highest degree; no Egyptian would have thought of +using the same pot or knife with him, or of kissing him on the mouth by +way of greeting. Moreover, Egyptian etiquette did not tolerate the same +familiarities as the Greek: two friends on catching sight of one another +paused before they met, bowed, then clasped one another round the knees +or pretended to do so. Young people gave way to an old man, or, if +seated, rose to let him pass. The traveller recalled the fact that the +Spartans behaved in the same way, and approved this mark of deference; +but nothing in his home-life had prepared him for the sight of +respectable women coming and going as they pleased, without escort and +unveiled, carrying burdens on their shoulders (whereas the men carried +them on their heads), going to market, keeping stalls or shops, while +their husbands or fathers stayed comfortably at home, wove cloth, +kneaded the potter's clay or turned the wheel, and worked at their +trades; no wonder that they were ready to believe that the man was the +slave, and the wife the mistress of the family. Some historians traced +the origin of these customs back to Osiris, others only as far as +Sesostris: Sesostris was the last resource of Greek historians when they +got into difficulties. The city was crowded with monuments; there was +the temple of the Phoenician Astarte, in which priests of Syrian descent +had celebrated the mysteries of the great goddess ever since the days +of the XVIIIth dynasty; then there was the temple of Ra, the temple of +Amon, the temple of Tamu, the temple of Bastit, and the temple of Isis.* + + * This list is taken mainly from one of the mutilated + letters found on the back of the _Sallier Papyrus_. The + Phoenician Astarte, called a foreign Aphrodite by Herodotus, + was regarded by the Egyptians as a counterpart of Bastit, + lady of Onkhtoui. + +The temple of Phtah, as yet intact, provided the visitor with a +spectacle scarcely less admirable than that offered by the temple of the +Theban Amon at Karnak. The kings had modified the original plan as each +thought best, one adding obelisks or colossal statues, another a pylon, +a third a pillared hall. Completed in this way by the labours of a score +of dynasties, it formed, as it were, a microcosm of Egyptian history, in +which each image, inscription and statue, aroused the attention of the +curious. They naturally desired to learn who were the strangely dressed +races shown struggling in a battle scene, the name of the king who had +conquered them, and the reasons which had led him to construct this or +that part of a monument, and there were plenty of busybodies ready to +satisfy, as far as they could, the curiosity of visitors. Interpreters +were at hand who bartered such information as they possessed, and +the modern traveller who has had occasion to employ the services of a +dragoman will have no difficulty in estimating the value of intelligence +thus hawked about in ancient times. Priests of the lower class, +doorkeepers and sacristans were trained to act as _ciceroni_, and knew +the main outlines of the history of the temple in which they lived. +Menes planned it, Moeris added the northern propylae, Ehampsinitus those +on the west, Psammetichus the south, Asychis those on the east, the most +noteworthy of them all. A native of Memphis, born at the foot of the +pyramids, had been familiar with the names of Menes and Cheops from +childhood; he was consequently apt to attribute to them everything of +importance achieved by the Pharaohs of the old days. Menes had built the +temple, Menes had founded the city, Menes had created the soil on +which the city stood, and preserved it from floods by his dykes. The +thoughtful traveller would assent, for had he not himself observed the +action of the mud; a day's journey from the coast one could not let down +a plummet without drawing it up covered with a blackish slime, a clear +proof that the Nile continued to gain upon the sea. Menes, at all +events, had really existed; but as to Asychis, Moris, Proteus, Pheron, +and most of the characters glibly enumerated by Herodotus, it would be +labour lost to search for their names among the inscriptions; they are +mere puppets of popular romance, some of their names, such as Piraui or +Pruti, being nothing more than epithets employed by the story-tellers to +indicate in general terms the heroes of their tales. We can understand +how strangers, placed at the mercy of their dragoman, were misled by +this, and tempted to transform each title into a man, taking Pruti and +Piraui to be Pharaoh Proteus and Pharaoh Pheron, each of them celebrated +for his fabulous exploits. The guides told Herodotus, and Herodotus +retails to us, as sober historical facts, the remedy employed by this +unhistorical Pheron in order to recover his sight; the adventures of +Paris and Helen at the court of Proteus,* and the droll tricks played by +a thief at the expense of the simple Ehampsinitus. + + * Some dragomans identified the Helen of the Homeric legend + with the "foreign Aphrodite" who had a temple in the Tyrian + quarter at Memphis, and who was really a Semitic divinity. + +[Illustration: 359.jpg THE STEP PYRAMID SEEN FROM THE GROVE OP PALM +TREES TO THE NORTH OF SAQQARAH] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Haussoullier. + +The excursions made by the Greek traveller in the environs of Memphis +were very similar to those taken by modern visitors to Cairo: on the +opposite bank of the Nile there was Heliopolis with its temple of Ra, +then there were the quarries of Turah, which had been worked from time +immemorial, yet never exhausted, and from which the monuments he had +been admiring, and the very Pyramids themselves had been taken stone by +stone.* + + * These are "the quarries in the Arabian Mountain," + mentioned by Herodotus without indication of the local name. + +The Sphinx probably lay hidden beneath the sand, and the nearest +Pyramids, those at Saqqarah, were held in small esteem by visitors;* +they were told as they passed by that the step Pyramid was the most +ancient of all, having been erected by Uenephes, one of the kings of the +first dynasty, and they asked no further questions. + + * Herodotus does not mention it, nor does any other writer + of the Greek period. + +Their whole curiosity was reserved for the three giants at Gizeh and +their inmates, Cheops, Chephren, Mykerinos, and the fair Nitokris with +the rosy cheeks. Through all the country round, at Heliopolis, and even +in the Fayum itself, they heard the same names that had been dinned into +their ears at Memphis; the whole of the monuments were made to fit into +a single cycle of popular history, and what they learned at one place +completed, or seemed to complete, what they had learned at another. + +I cannot tell whether many of them cared to stray much beyond Lake +Moris: the repressive measures of Ochus had, as it would appear, +interrupted for a time the regular trade which, ever since the Saite +kings of the XXVIth dynasty, had been carried on by the Greeks with the +Oases, by way of Abydos. A stranger who ventured as far as the Thebaid +would have found himself in the same plight as a European of the last +century who undertook to reach the first cataract. Their point +of departure--Memphis or Cairo--was very much the same; their +destinations--Elephantine and Assuan--differed but little. They employed +the same means of transport, for, excepting the cut of the sails, the +modern dahabeah is an exact counterpart of the pleasure and passenger +boats shown on the monuments. Lastly, they set out at the same time of +year, in November or December, after the floods had subsided. The same +length of time was required for the trip; it took a month to reach +Assuan from Cairo if the wind-were favourable, and if only such +stoppages were made as were strictly necessary for taking in fresh +provisions. Pococke, having left Cairo on the 6th of December, 1737, +about midday, was at Akhmim by the 17th. He set sail again on the 18th, +stayed at Thebes from the 13th of January, 1738, till the 17th, and +finally moored at Assuan on the evening of January 20th, making in +all forty-five days, fourteen of which were spent at various +stopping-places. If the diary of a Greek excursionist or tourist had +come down to us, we should probably find in it entries of a very similar +kind.* The departure from Memphis would take place in November or +December; ten or twelve days later the traveller would find himself +at Panopolis;** from Panopolis to Elephantine, stopping at Coptos and +Thebes, would take about a month, allowing time for a stay at Thebes, +and returning to Memphis in February or March. + + * Herodotus fixes twenty days for the voyage from Sais to + Elephantine. This period of time must be probably correct, + since at the present day dahabeahs constantly run from Cairo + to the second cataract and back in two months, including + stoppages of ten days to a fortnight for seeing the + monuments. The twenty days of Herodotus represent the + minimum duration of the voyage, without taking into account + the stoppages and accidents which often delay sailing + vessels on the Nile. Nine days, which Herodotus gives as the + time for reaching Thebes, is not sufficient, if the voyage + is undertaken in the usual way, stopping every evening for + the night; but it would be possible if the navigation were + uninterrupted day and night. This is now rarely done, but it + might have been frequent in ancient times, especially in the + service of the State. + + ** It would seem clear that Herodotus stopped at Panopolis + and had communications with the people of the town. + [Panopolis or Khemmis is the present Ekhmim.--Tr.] + +[Illustration: 362a.jpg LONG STRINGS OF LADEN VESSELS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Gautier. + +The greater part of the time was employed in getting from one point to +another, and the necessity of taking advantage of a favourable wind in +going up the river, often obliged the travellers to neglect more than +one interesting locality. + +[Illustration: 302b.jpg THE VAST SHEET OF WATER IN THE MIDDAY HEAT] + +The Greek was not so keenly alive to the picturesqueness of the scenes +through which he passed as the modern visitor, and in the account of +his travels he took no note of the long lines of laden boats going up or +down stream, nor of the vast sheet of water glowing in the midday sun, +nor of the mountains honeycombed with tombs and quarries, at the foot of +which he would be sailing day after day. What interested him above all +things was information with regard to the sources of the immense river +itself, and the reasons for its periodic inundation, and, according to +the mental attitude impressed on him by his education, he accepted the +mythological solution offered by the natives, or he sought for a more +natural one in the physical lore of his own _savants_: thus he was told +that the Nile took its rise at Elephantine, between the two rocks called +Krophi and Mophi, and in showing them to him his informant would add +that Psammetichus I. had attempted to sound the depth of the river at +this point, but had failed to fathom it. At the few places where the +pilot of the barque put in to port, the population showed themselves +unfriendly, and refused to hold any communication with the Greeks. + +[Illustration: 363.jpg the mountains honeycombed with tombs AND +Quarries] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Gautier. + +The interpreters, who were almost all natives of the Delta, were not +always familiar with the people and customs of the Said, and felt almost +as completely foreign at Thebes as did their employers. Their office +was confined to translating the information furnished by the inhabitants +when the latter were sufficiently civilised to hold communication with +the travellers. What most astonished Herodotus at Panopolis was the +temple and the games held in honour, so he believed, of Perseus, the son +of Danae. These exercises terminated in an attempt to climb a regular +"greasy pole" fixed in the ground, and strengthened right and left by +three rows of stays attached to the mast at different heights; as for +Perseus, he was the ithyphallic god of the locality, Minu himself, one +of whose epithets--Pehresu, the runner--was confounded by the Greek ear +with the name of the hero. The dragomans, enlarging on this mistaken +identity, imagined that the town was the birthplace of Danaos and +Lyncseus; that Perseus, returning from Libya with the head of Medusa, +had gone out of his way to visit the cradle of his family, and that he +had instituted the games in remembrance of his stay there. Thebes had +become the ghost of its former self; the Persian governors had neglected +the city, and its princesses and their ministers were so impoverished +that they were unable to keep up its temples and palaces. Herodotus +scarcely mentions it, and we can hardly wonder at it: he had visited +the still flourishing Memphis, where the temples were cared for and +were filled with worshippers. What had Thebes to show him in the way of +marvels which he had not already seen, and that, too, in a better state +of preservation? His Theban ciceroni also told him the same stories that +he had heard in Lower Egypt, and he states that their information agreed +in the main with that which he had received at Memphis and Heliopolis, +which made it unnecessary to repeat it at length. Two or three things +only appeared to him worthy of mention. His admiration was first roused +by the 360 statues of the high priests of Amon which had already excited +the wonder of his rival Hecataeus; he noted that all these personages +were, without exception, represented as mere men, each the son of +another man, and he took the opportunity of ridiculing the vanity of his +compatriots, who did not hesitate to inscribe the name of a god at the +head of their genealogies, removed by some score of generations only +from their own. On the other hand, the temple servitors related to him +how two Theban priestesses, carried off by the Phoenicians and sold, one +in Libya and the other in Greece, had set up the first oracles known +in those two countries: Herodotus thereupon remembered the story he had +heard in Epirus of two black doves which had flown away from Thebes, one +towards the Oasis of Ammon, the other in the direction of Dodona; the +latter had alighted on an old beech tree, and in a human voice had +requested that a temple consecrated to Zeus should be founded on the +spot.* + + * This indicates a confusion in the minds of the Egyptian + dragomans with the two brooding birds of Osiris, Isis and + Nephthys, considered as _Zarait_, that is to say, as two + birds of a different species, according to the different + traditions either vultures, rooks, or doves. + +Herodotus is quite overcome with joy at the thought that Greek +divination could thus be directly traced to that of Egypt, for like most +of his contemporaries, he felt that the Hellenic cult was ennobled by +the fact of its being derived from the Egyptian. The traveller on the +Nile had to turn homewards on reaching Elephantine, as that was the +station of the last Persian garrison. Nubia lay immediately beyond the +cataract, and the Ethiopians at times crossed the frontier and carried +their raids as far as Thebes. Elephantine, like Assuan at the present +day, was the centre of a flourishing trade. Here might be seen +Kushites from Napata or Meroe, negroes from the Upper Nile and the Bahr +el-Ghazal, and Ammonians, from all of whom the curious visitor might +glean information while frequenting the bazaars. The cataract was +navigable all the year round, and the natives in its vicinity enjoyed +the privilege of piloting freight boats through its difficult channel. +It took four days to pass through it, instead of the three, or even +two, which suffice at the present day. Above it, the Nile spread out +and resembled a lake dotted over with islands, several of which, such +as Phike and Biggeh, contained celebrated temples, which were as much +frequented by the Ethiopians as by the Egyptians. + +Correctly speaking, it was not Egypt herself that the Greeks saw, +but her external artistic aspect and the outward setting of Egyptian +civilisation. The vastness of her monuments, the splendour of her tombs, +the pomp of her ceremonies, the dignity and variety of her religious +formulas, attracted their curiosity and commanded their respect: the +wisdom of the Egyptians had passed into a proverb with them, as it had +with the Hebrews. But if they had penetrated behind the scenes, they +would have been obliged to acknowledge that beneath this attractive +exterior there was hopeless decay. As with all creatures when they have +passed their prime, Egypt had begun to grow old, and was daily losing +her elasticity and energy. Her spirit had sunk into a torpor, she +had become unresponsive to her environment, and could no longer adapt +herself to the form she had so easily acquired in her youth: it was as +much as she could do to occupy fully the narrower limits to which she +had been reduced, and to maintain those limits unbroken. The instinct +which made her shrink from the intrusion of foreign customs and ideas, +or even mere contact with nations of recent growth, was not the mere +outcome of vanity. She realised that she maintained her integrity only +by relying on the residue of her former solidarity and on the force of +custom. The slightest disturbance of the equilibrium established among +her members, instead of strengthening her, would have robbed her of the +vigour she still possessed, and brought about her dissolution. + +[Illustration: 367.jpg DARIUS III.] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the Cabinet des + Medailles. + +She owed whatever activity she possessed to impulses imparted to her by +the play of her ancient mechanism--a mechanism so stable in its action, +and so ingeniously constructed, that it had still a reserve of power +within it sufficient to keep the whole in motion for centuries, provided +there was no attempt to introduce new wheels among the old. She had +never been singularly distinguished for her military qualities; not that +she was cowardly, and shrank from facing death, but because she lacked +energy and enthusiasm for warlike enterprise. The tactics and armaments +by which she had won her victories up to her prime, had at length become +fetters which she was no longer inclined to shake off, and even if she +was still able to breed a military caste, she was no longer able to +produce armies fit to win battles without the aid of mercenaries. In +order to be successful in the field, she had to associate with her own +troops recruits from other countries--Libyans, Asiatics, and Greeks, who +served to turn the scale. The Egyptians themselves formed a compact body +in this case, and bearing down upon the enemy already engaged by the +mercenaries, broke through his ranks by their sheer weight, or, if they +could not accomplish this, they stood their ground bravely, taking to +flight only when the vacancies in their ranks showed them that further +resistance was impossible. The machinery of government, like the +organisation of their armies, had become antiquated and degenerate. + +[Illustration: 368.jpg AN ELEPHANT ARMED FOR WAR] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a little terra-cotta group from + Myrrhina now in the Louvre. This object dates from the time + of the kings of Pergamos, and the soldier round whom the + elephant winds his trunk in order to dash him to the ground + is a Gaul of Asia Minor. + +The nobility were as turbulent as in former times, and the royal +authority was as powerless now as of old to assert itself in the absence +of external help, or when treason was afoot among the troops. Religion +alone maintained its ascendency, and began to assume to itself +the loyalty once given to the Pharaoh, and the devotion previously +consecrated to the fatherland. The fellahin had never fully realised the +degradation involved in serving a stranger, and what they detested in +the Persian king was not exactly the fact that he was a Persian. Their +national pride, indeed, always prompted them to devise some means +of connecting the foreign monarch with their own solar line, and to +transform an Achaemenian king into a legitimate Pharaoh. That which was +especially odious to them in a Cambyses or an Ochus was the disdain +which such sovereigns displayed for their religion, and the persecution +to which they subjected the immortals. They accustomed themselves +without serious repining to have no longer one of their own race upon +the throne, and to behold their cities administered by Asiatics, but +they could not understand why the foreigner preferred his own gods, +and would not admit Amon, Phtah, Horus, and Ra to the rank of supreme +deities. Ochus had, by his treatment of the Apis and the other divine +animals, put it out of his power ever to win their good will. His +brutality had made an irreconcilable enemy of that state which alone +gave signs of vitality among the nations of the decaying East. This was +all the more to be regretted, since the Persian empire, in spite of the +accession of power which it had just manifested, was far from having +regained the energy which had animated it, not perhaps in the time +of Darius, but at all events under the first Xerxes. The army and the +wealth of the country were doubtless still intact--an army and a revenue +which, in spite of all losses, were still the largest in the world--but +the valour of the troops was not proportionate to their number. The +former prowess of the Persians, Medians, Bactrians, and other tribes of +Iran showed no degeneracy: these nations still produced the same race +of brave and hardy foot-soldiers, the same active and intrepid horsemen; +but for a century past there had not been the improvements either in +the armament of the troops or in the tactics of the generals which were +necessary to bring them up to the standard of excellence of the Greek +army. The Persian king placed great faith in extraordinary military +machines. He believed in the efficacy of chariots armed with scythes; +besides this, his relations with India had shown him what use his +Oriental neighbours made of elephants, and having determined to employ +these animals, he had collected a whole corps of them, from which he. +hoped great things. In spite of the addition of these novel recruits, it +was not on the Asiatic contingents that he chiefly relied in the event +of war, but on the mercenaries who' were hired at great expense, and who +formed the chief support of his power. From the time of Artaxerxes II. +onwards, it was the Greek hoplites and peltasts who had always decided +the issue of the Persian battles. The expeditions both by land and +sea had been under the conduct of Athenian or Spartan generals--Conon, +Chabrias, Iphi-crates, Agesilas, Timotheus, and their pupils; and again +also it was to the Greeks--to the Rhodian Mentor and to, Memnon--that +Ochus had owed his successes. The older nations--Egypt, Syria, Chaldaea, +and Elam--had all had their day of supremacy; they had declined in the +course of centuries, and Assyria had for a short time united them under +her rule. On the downfall of Assyria, the Iranians had succeeded to +her heritage, and they had built up a single empire comprising all the +states which had preceded them in Western Asia; but decadence had fallen +upon them also, and when they had been masters for scarcely two short +centuries, they were in their turn threatened with destruction. Their +rule continued to be universal, not by reason of its inherent vigour, +but on account of the weakness of their subjects and neighbours, and a +determined attack on any of the frontiers of the empire would doubtless +have resulted in its overthrow. + +Greece herself was too demoralised to cause Darius any grave anxiety. +Not only had she renounced all intention of attacking the great king in +his own domain, as in the days of the Athenian hegemony, when she could +impose her own conditions of peace, but her perpetual discords had +yielded her an easy prey to Persia, and were likely to do so more and +more. The Greek cities chose the great king as the arbiter in their +quarrels; they vied with each other in obtaining his good will, his +subsidies in men and vessels, and his darics: they armed or disarmed at +his command, and the day seemed at hand when they would become a normal +dependency of Persia, little short of a regular satrapy like Asiatic +Hellas. One chance of escape from such a fate remained to them--if one +or other of them, or some neighbouring state, could acquire such an +ascendency as to make it possible to unite what forces remained to them +under one rule. Macedonia in particular, having hitherto kept aloof from +the general stream of politics, had at this juncture begun to shake +off its lethargy, and had entered with energy into the Hellenic concert +under the auspices of its king, Philip. Bagoas recognised the danger +which threatened his people in the person of this ambitious sovereign, +and did not hesitate to give substantial support to the adversaries of +the Macedonian prince; Chersobleptes of Thrace and the town of Perinthus +receiving from him such succour as enabled them to repulse Philip +successfully (340). Unfortunately, while Bagoas was endeavouring +to avert danger in this quarter, his rivals at court endeavoured to +prejudice the mind of the king against him, and their intrigues were so +successful that he found himself ere long condemned to the alternative +of murdering his sovereign or perishing himself. He therefore poisoned +Ochus, to avoid being assassinated or put to the torture, and placed on +the throne Arses, the youngest of the king's sons, while he caused the +remaining royal children to be put to death (336).* Egypt hailed +this tragic end as a mark of the vengeance of the gods whom Ochus had +outraged. A report was spread that the eunuch was an Egyptian, that he +had taken part in the murder of the Apis under fear of death, but that +when he was sure of his own safety he had avenged the sacrilege. As soon +as the poison had taken effect, it was said he ate a portion of the dead +body and threw the remainder to the cats: he then collected the bones +and made them into whistles and knife-handles.** + + * Plutarch calls the successor of Ochus Oarses, which + recalls the name which Dinon gives to Artaxerxes II. + Diodorus says that Bagoas destroyed the whole family of + Ochus, but he is mistaken. Arrian mentions a son of Ochus + about 330, and several other members of the royal Achaemenian + race are known to have been living in the time of Alexander. + + ** The body of the enemy thrown to the cats to be devoured + is a detail added by the popular imagination, which crops up + again in the Tale of Satni Khamois. + +Ochus had astonished his contemporaries by the rapidity with which he +had re-established the integrity of the empire; they were pleased to +compare him with the heroes of his race, with Cyrus, Cambyses, and +Darius. But to exalt him to such a level said little for their moral or +intellectual perceptions, since in spite of his victories he was merely +a despot of the ordinary type; his tenacity degenerated into brutal +obstinacy, his severity into cruelty, and if he obtained successes, +they were due rather to his generals and his ministers than to his own +ability. His son Arses was at first content to be a docile instrument +in the hands of Bagoas; but when the desire for independence came to him +with the habitual exercise of power, and he began to chafe at his bonds, +the eunuch sacrificed him to his own personal safety, and took his life +as he had done that of his father in the preceding year (336). So +many murders following each other in rapid succession had considerably +reduced the Achsemenian family, and Bagoas for a moment was puzzled +where to find a king: he at length decided in favour of Codomannos, who +according to some was a great-grandson of Darius II., but according to +others was not of the royal line, but had in his youth been employed as +a courier. He had distinguished himself in the hostilities against the +Casduians, and had been nominated satrap of Armenia by Ochus as a reward +for his bravery. He assumed at his accession the name of Darius; brave, +generous, clement, and possessed with an ardent desire to do right, +he was in every way the superior of his immediate predecessors, and he +deserved to have reigned at a time when the empire was less threatened. +Bagoas soon perceived that his new protege, whose conduct he had +reckoned on directing as he pleased, intended to govern for himself, and +he therefore attempted to get rid of him; Bagoas was, however, betrayed +by his accomplices, and compelled to drink the poison which he had +prepared for Darius. These revolutions had distracted the attention of +the court of Susa from the events which were taking place on the shores +of the AEgean, and Philip had taken advantage of them to carry into +effect the designs against Persia which he had been long meditating. +After having been victorious against the Greeks, he had despatched an +army of ten thousand men into Asia under the command of Parmenion and +Attains (336). We may ask if it were not he who formed the project of +universal conquest which was so soon to be associated with the name of +his son Alexander. He was for the moment content to excite revolt among +the cities of the AEgean littoral, and restore to them that liberty of +which they had been deprived for nearly a century. He himself followed +as soon as these lost children of Greece had established themselves +firmly in Asia. The story of his assassination on the eve of his +departure is well known (336), and of the difficulties which compelled +Alexander to suspend the execution of the plans which his father had +made. Darius attempted to make use of the respite thus afforded him by +fortune; he adopted the usual policy of liberally bribing one part of +Greece to take up arms against Macedonia--a method which was at first +successful. While Alexander was occupied in the destruction of Thebes, +the Rhodian general Memnon, to whom had been entrusted the defence of +Asia Minor, forced the invaders to entrench themselves in the Troad. If +the Persian fleet had made its appearance in good time, and had kept +an active watch over the straits, the advance-guard of the Macedonians +would have succumbed to the enemy before the main body of the troops +had succeeded in joining them in Asia, and it was easy to foretell +what would have been the fate of an enterprise inaugurated by such +a disaster. Persia, however, had not yet learnt to seize the crucial +moment for action: her vessels were still arming when the enemy made +their appearance on the European shore of Hellespont, and Alexander had +ample time to embark and disembark the whole of his army without having +to draw his sword from the scabbard. He was accompanied by about thirty +thousand foot soldiers and four thousand five hundred horse; the finest +troops commanded by the best generals of the time--Parmenion, his two +sons Nikanor and Philotas, Crater, Clitos, Antigonus, and others +whose names are familiar to us all; a larger force than Memnon and his +subordinates were able to bring up to oppose him, at all events at +the opening of the campaign, during the preliminary operations which +determined the success of the enterprise. + +The first years of the campaign seem like a review of the countries +and nations which in bygone times had played the chief part in Oriental +history. An engagement at the fords of the Granicus, only a few days +after the crossing of the Hellespont, placed Asia Minor at the mercy +of the invader (334). Mysia, Lydia, Caria, and Lycia tendered their +submission, Miletus and Halicarnassus being the only towns to offer any +resistance. In the spring of 333, Phrygia followed the general movement, +in company with Cappadocia and Cilicia; these represented the Hittite +and Asianic world, the last representatives of which thus escaped from +the influences of the East and passed under the Hellenic supremacy. + +[Illustration: 376.jpg THE BATTLEFIELD OF ISSUS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Lortet. + +At the foot of the Amanus, Alexander came into conflict not only with +the generals of Darius, but with the great king himself. The Amanus, and +the part of the Taurus which borders on the Euphrates valley, had always +constituted the line of demarcation between the domain of the races of +the Asianic peninsula and that of the Semitic peoples. + +[Illustration: 377.jpg A BAS-RELIEF ON A SIDONIAN SARCOPHAGUS] + +A second battle near the Issus, at the entrance to the Cilician gates, +cleared the ground, and gave the conqueror time to receive the homage of +the maritime provinces. Both Northern and Coele-Syria submitted to him +from Samosata to Damascus. + +[Illustration: 379.jpg THE ISTHMUS OF TYRE AT THE PRESENT DAY] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a sketch by Lortet. + +The less important towns of Phonicia, such as Arvad, Byblos, Sidon, and +those of Cyprus, followed their example; but Tyre closed its gates, +and trusted to its insular position for the preservation of its +independence, as it had done of old in the time of Sennacherib and of +Nebuchadrezzar. It was not so much a scrupulous feeling of loyalty which +emboldened her to take this step, as a keen realisation of what her +conquest by the Macedonian would entail. It was entirely-owing to Persia +that she had not succumbed in all parts of the Eastern Mediterranean in +that struggle with Greece which had now lasted for centuries: Persia had +not only arrested the progress of Hellenic colonisation in Cyprus, but +had given a fresh impulse to that of Tyre, and Phoenician influence +had regained its ascendency over a considerable part of the island. The +surrender of Tyre, therefore, would be equivalent to a Greek victory, +and would bring about the decay of the city; hence its inhabitants +preferred hostilities, and they were prolonged in desperation over a +period of seven months. At the end of that time Alexander succeeded in +reducing the place by constructing a dyke or causeway, by means of +which he brought his machines of war up to the foot of the ramparts, and +filled in the channel which separated the town from the mainland; the +island thus became a peninsula, and Tyre henceforth was reduced to +the rank of an ordinary town, still able to maintain her commercial +activity, but having lost her power as an independent state (332). +Phoenicia being thus brought into subjection, Judaea and Samaria yielded +to the conqueror without striking a blow, though the fortress of Gaza +followed the example set by Tyre, and for the space of two months +blocked the way to the Delta. Egypt revolted at the approach of her +liberator, and the rising was so unanimous as to dismay the satrap +Mazakes, who capitulated at the first summons. Alexander passed the +winter on the banks of the Nile. Finding that the ancient capitals of +the country--Thebes, Sais, and even Memphis itself--occupied positions +which were no longer suited to the exigencies of the times, he founded +opposite to the island of Pharos, in the township of Eakotis, a city +to which he gave his own name. The rapid growth of the prosperity of +Alexandria showed how happy the founder had been in the choice of its +site: in less than half a century from the date of its foundation, it +had eclipsed all the other capitals of the Eastern Mediterranean, and +had become the centre of African Hellenism. While its construction +was in progress, Alexander, having had opportunities of studying the +peculiarities and characteristics of the Egyptians, had decided to +perform the one act which would conciliate the good feeling of the +natives, and secure for him their fidelity during his wars in the East: +he selected from among their gods the one who was also revered by the +Greeks, Zeus-Amnion, and repaired to the Oasis that he might be adopted +by the deity. As a son of the god, he became a legitimate Pharaoh, +an Egyptian like themselves, and on returning to Memphis he no longer +hesitated to adopt the _pschent_ crown with the accompanying ancient +rites. He returned to Asia early in the year 331, and crossed the +Euphrates. Darius had attempted to wrest Asia Minor from his grasp, but +Antigonus, the governor of Phrygia, had dispersed the troops despatched +for this purpose in 332, and Alexander was able to push forward +fearlessly into those regions beyond the Euphrates, where the Ten +Thousand had pursued their victorious march before him. He crossed the +Tigris about the 20th of September, and a week later fell in with +his rival in the very heart of Assyria, not far from, the village +of Gaugamela, where he took up a position which had been previously +studied, and was particularly suited for the evolutions of cavalry. + +[Illustration: 382.jpg THE BATTLE OF ARBELA, FROM THE MOSAIC OF +HERCULANUM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph. + +At the Granicus and near Issus, the Greek element had played an +important part among the forces which contested the field; on this +occasion, however, the great king was accompanied by merely two or three +thousand mercenaries, while, on the other hand, the whole of Asia seemed +to have roused herself for a last effort, and brought forward her most +valiant troops to oppose the disciplined ranks of the Macedonians. +Persians, Susians, Medes, Armenians, Iranians from Bactriana, Sakae, and +Indians were all in readiness to do their best, and were accompanied +by every instrument of military warfare employed in Oriental tactics; +chariots armed with scythes, the last descendants of the chariotry which +had dominated all the battle-fields from the time of the XVIIIth Theban +dynasty down to the latest Sargonids, and, employed side by side with +these relics of a bygone day, were Indian elephants, now for the first +time brought into use against European battalions. These picked troops +sold their lives dearly, but the perfection of the Macedonian arms, and, +above all, the superiority of the tactics employed by their generals, +carried the day; the evening of the 30th of September found Darius in +flight, and the Achaemenian empire crushed by the furious charges of +Alexander's squadrons. Babylon fell into their hands a few days later, +followed by Susa, and in the spring of 330, Ecbatana; and shortly after +Darius met his end on the way to Media, assassinated by the last of his +generals. + +With his death, Persia sank back into the obscurity from which Cyrus had +raised her rather more than two centuries previously. With the exception +of the Medes, none of the nations which had exercised the hegemony of +the East before her time, not even Assyria, had had at their disposal +such a wealth of resources and had left behind them so few traces of +their power. A dozen or so of palaces, as many tombs, a few scattered +altars and stelae, remains of epics preserved by the Greeks, fragments of +religious books, often remodelled, and issuing in the Avesta--when +we have reckoned up all that remains to us of her, what do we find +to compare in interest and in extent with the monuments and wealth of +writings bequeathed to us by Egypt and Chaldaea? The Iranians received +Oriental civilisation at a time when the latter was in its decline, and +caught the spirit of decadence in their contact with it. In succeeding +to the patrimony of the nations they conquered, they also inherited +their weakness; in a few years they had lost all the vigour of their +youth, and were barely able to maintain the integrity of the empire +they had founded. Moreover, the great peoples to whom they succeeded, +although lacking the vigour necessary for the continuance of their +independent existence, had not yet sunk so low as to acquiesce in their +own decay, and resign themselves to allowing their national life to be +absorbed is that of another power: they believed that they would emerge +from the crisis, as they had done from so many others, with fresh +strength, and, as soon as an occasion presented itself, they renewed the +war against their Iranian suzerain. Prom, the first to the latest of the +sovereigns bearing the name of Darius, the history of the Achaemenids in +an almost uninterrupted series of internal wars and provincial revolts. +The Greeks of Ionia, the Egyptians, Chaldaeans, Syrians, and the tribes +of Asia Minor, all rose one after another, sometimes alone, sometimes +in concert; some carrying on hostilities for not more than two or +three years; others, like Egypt, maintaining them for more than half a +century. They were not discouraged by the reprisals which followed each +of these rebellions; they again had recourse to arms as soon as there +seemed the least chance of success, and they renewed the struggle till +from sheer exhaustion the sword fell from their hand. Persia was worn +out by this perpetual warfare, in which at the same time each of her +rivals expended the last relics of their vitality, and when Macedonia +entered on the scene, both lords and vassals were reduced to such a +state of prostration, that it was easy to foretell their approaching +end. The old Oriental world was in its death-throes; but before it +passed away, the successful audacity of Alexander had summoned Greece to +succeed to its inheritance. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, +Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 9 (of 12), by G. 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